It has been said that Morgiana carried home her fortune in her own
reticule, and, smiling, placed the money in her husband's lap; and
hence the reader may imagine, who knows Mr. Walker to be an
extremely selfish fellow, that a great scene of anger must have
taken place, and many coarse oaths and epithets of abuse must have
come from him, when he found that five hundred pounds was all that
his wife had, although he had expected five thousand with her. But,
to say the truth, Walker was at this time almost in love with his
handsome rosy good-humoured simple wife. They had made a
fortnight's tour, during which they had been exceedingly happy; and
there was something so frank and touching in the way in which the
kind creature flung her all into his lap, saluting him with a hearty
embrace at the same time, and wishing that it were a thousand
billion billion times more, so that her darling Howard might enjoy
it, that the man would have been a ruffian indeed could he have
found it in his heart to be angry with her; and so he kissed her in
return, and patted her on the shining ringlets, and then counted
over the notes with rather a disconsolate air, and ended by locking
them up in his portfolio. In fact, SHE had never deceived him;
Eglantine had, and he in return had out-tricked Eglantine and so
warm were his affections for Morgiana at this time that, upon my
word and honour, I don't think he repented of his bargain. Besides,
five hundred pounds in crisp bank-notes was a sum of money such as
the Captain was not in the habit of handling every day; a dashing
sanguine fellow, he fancied there was no end to it, and already
thought of a dozen ways by which it should increase and multiply
into a plum. Woe is me! Has not many a simple soul examined five
new hundred-pound notes in this way, and calculated their powers of
duration and multiplication?