Vindication and Reconciliation with Lavement
The narrator sends the signed declaration to Lavement, who immediately recognizes the narrator’s innocence. Lavement visits with the schoolmaster Mr. Concordance to apologize for the false accusation, and the narrator pleads Mrs. Gawky’s case so effectively that Lavement agrees to pay her a small lifetime annuity, though he refuses to take her home due to his wife’s lasting anger toward her.
第五十三章
After resolving his financial affairs to his own satisfaction, the narrator purchased new clothes and a gold watch, while disposing of his old wardrobe for half its value, and then took the opportunity to confront both Strutwell and Straddle about the disappointments they had caused him. Banter soon observed the change in the narrator’s circumstances and proposed a new matrimonial scheme involving his kinswoman’s daughter, an invalid heiress with a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, offering to arrange a marriage in exchange for a bond of five hundred pounds payable six months after the wedding. Having accepted these advantageous terms, the narrator set out for Bath in the same stage coach as Miss Snapper and her mother, where he witnessed a spirited exchange of witty barbs between Miss Snapper and a boasting lieutenant, whose military exploits and attempts at singing a fashionable air were met with devastating sarcasm from the clever lady.
Purchasing New Clothes
The narrator sells his old clothes at a loss to buy new suits and a plain gold watch, despairing of recovering the watch he had given to Strutwell. He remains at ease and grows more gay, viewing the gaming-table as a certain resource.
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