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Borrow, George Henry, 1803-1881

"The Romany Rye"

"
Thereupon I delivered the horse to my friend the ostler.
The landlord of the house on being questioned by me as to the
character and condition of my new acquaintance, informed me that he
was a respectable horsedealer, and an intimate friend of his,
whereupon the purchase was soon brought to a satisfactory
conclusion.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

High Dutch.

It was evening: and myself and the two acquaintances I had made in
the fair--namely, the jockey and the tall foreigner--sat in a large
upstairs room, which looked into a court; we had dined with several
people connected with the fair at a long table d'hote; they had now
departed, and we sat at a small side-table with wine and a candle
before us; both my companions had pipes in their mouths--the jockey
a common pipe, and the foreigner, one, the syphon of which, made of
some kind of wood, was at least six feet long, and the bowl of
which, made of a white kind of substance like porcelain, and
capable of holding nearly an ounce of tobacco, rested on the
ground. The jockey frequently emptied and replenished his glass;
the foreigner sometimes raised his to his lips, for no other
purpose seemingly than to moisten them, as he never drained his
glass. As for myself, though I did not smoke, I had a glass before
me, from which I sometimes took a sip.


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