Ranter Flees After Forced Leap Over Sword
Instead of leaping, Ranter snatches his hat and hanger, assumes the swagger of Pistol, and delivers a bombastic declamation drawn from Shakespeare’s Henry IV. The performance fails to amuse the company, who urge him to demonstrate his leaping ability. When Bragwell applies the point of his sword to the player’s posteriors, Ranter springs over in an instant and vanishes through the unguarded door, evidently relieved to have settled his share of the reckoning so easily.
Group Departs Venue, Bragwell Left Asleep
With the hour now near two in the morning, the company discharges the bill and sallies into the street. The painter slips away without taking leave, the inebriated Billy Chatter is dispatched to a bagnio, and Banter accompanies the narrator in escorting Bragwell to Moll King’s coffee-house. After Bragwell kicks half a dozen hungry whores, he is left asleep on a bench while the narrator and Banter make their way toward Charing-cross, where both lodge nearby.
Narrator Reconciles With Banter Over Earlier Comment
Buoyed by liquor, Banter offers the narrator compliments and professions of friendship as they walk. The narrator responds that he is pleased to have removed the unfavourable impression Banter initially formed of him, and mentions having overheard Banter’s remarks about him to Wagtail in the coffee-house. Banter laughs, apologizes for his freedom, and explains that the narrator’s appearance had actually prepossessed him in his favour, his earlier words being intended only as a joke on the doctor’s solemnity. The narrator is pleased to be undeceived, and the two part with a handshake and a promise to meet the next day at the ordinary.
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