Hatchway was the only person whom the temper of
Mrs. Trunnion respected, either because she dreaded his ridicule,
or looked upon his person with eyes of affection. This being the
situation of things in the garrison, it is not to be doubted that
the old gentleman highly enjoyed the presence of Peregrine, who
found means to ingratiate himself so effectually with his aunt,
that while he remained at home, she seemed to have exchanged the
disposition of a tigress for that of a gentle kid; but he found
his own mother as implacable, and his father as much henpecked, as
ever.
Gamaliel, who now very seldom enjoyed the conversation of his old
friend the commodore, had some time ago entered into an amicable
society, consisting of the barber, apothecary, attorney, and
exciseman of the parish, among whom he used to spend the evening at
Tunley's, and listen to their disputes upon philosophy and politics
with great comfort and edification, while his sovereign lady
domineered at home as usual, visited with pomp in the neighbourhood,
and employed her chief care in the education of her darling son
Gam, who was now in the fifteenth year of his age, and so remarkable
for his perverse disposition, that, in spite of his mother's
influence and authority, he was not only hated, but also despised,
both at home and abroad.
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