Pontifex had
decided that they were to form a happy family party; so come they
all must, and be happy they all must, or it would be the worse for
them. Next day the author of all this hubbub was actually
christened. Theobald had proposed to call him George after old Mr.
Pontifex, but strange to say, Mr. Pontifex overruled him in favour
of the name Ernest. The word "earnest" was just beginning to come into
fashion, and he thought the possession of such a name might, like
his having been baptised in water from the Jordan, have a permanent
effect upon the boy's character, and influence him for good during the
more critical periods of his life.
I was asked to be his second godfather, and was rejoiced to have
an opportunity of meeting Alethea, whom I had not seen for some few
years, but with whom I had been in constant correspondence. She and
I had always been friends from the time we had played together as
children onwards. When the death of her grandfather and grandmother
severed her connection with Paleham my intimacy with the Pontifexes
was kept up by my having been at school and college with Theobald, and
each time I saw her I admired her more and more as the best,
kindest, wittiest, most lovable, and, to my mind, handsomest woman
whom I had ever seen.
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