The Great Hoggarty Diamond Etc Author:William Makepeace Thackeray General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1903 Original Publisher: Dent Subjects: Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When... more » you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER IV HOW THE HAPPY DIAMOND-WEARER DINES AT PENTONVILLE I Did not go to the office till half-an-hour after opening time on Monday. If the truth must be told, I was not sorry to let Hoskins have the start of me, and tell the chaps what had taken place, -- for we all have our little vanities, and I liked to be thought well of by my companions. When I came in, I saw my business had been done, by the way in which the chaps looked at me ; especially Abednego, who offered me a pinch out of his gold snuffbox the very first thing. Roundhand shook me, too, warmly by the hand, when he came round to look over my day-book, said I wrote a capital hand (and indeed I believe I do, without any sort of flattery), and invited me for dinner next Sunday, in Myddelton Square. ' You won't have,' said he, 'quite such a grand turn-out as with your friends at the West End' -- he said this with a particular accent -- 'but Amelia and I are always happy to see a friend in our plain way, -- pale sherry, old port, and cut and come again. Hey ?' I said I would come, and bring Hoskins too. He answered that I was very polite, and that he should be very happy to see Hoskins ; and we went accordingly at the appointed day and hour ; but though Gus was eleventh clerk and I twelfth, I remarked that at dinner I was helped first and best. I had twice as many forcemeat balls as Hoskins in my mock-turtle, and pretty nearly all the oysters out of the sauce-boat. Once, Roundhand was going to help...« less