How suitable is this name!
Emporium would not have been sufficiently distinctive for a town in
which "the merchants" are all in all; in which they must have the
post-office; in which they support the nation by paying all the
revenue; in which the sun must shine and the dew fall to suit their
wants; and in which the winds, themselves, may be recreant to their
duty, when they happen to be foul! Like the Holy Catholic Protestant
Episcopal Church, Trading Commercial Trafficking Emporium should have
been the style of such a place; and I hope, ere long, some of the
"Manor Born" genii of that great town, will see the matter rectified.
"By the way, Captain Wallingford," cut in Jane, at one of Sarah's
breathing intervals, that reminded me strongly of the colloquial
Frenchman's "_s'il crache il est perdu,_" "You know something of
poor Mrs. Bradfort, I believe?"
I assented by a bow.
"It was just as we told you," cried Sarah, taking her revenge. "The
poor woman is dead! and, no doubt, of that cancer. What a frightful
disease! and how accurate has our information been, in all that
affair!"
"I think her will the most extraordinary of all," added Mr. Brigham,
who, as a man, kept an eye more to the main chance. "I suppose you
have heard all about her will, Captain Wallingford?"
I reminded the gentleman that this was the first I had ever heard of
the lady's death.
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