in the room where they had supped. This raised his
spirits; for he had no doubt but the case had fallen out of his
pocket; he said he would step to the public house and search for it,
and would be back directly. Not one word of this did the landlord
believe, so inconvenient is it to have a bad character. He swore
Brown should not stir out of his house without a constable, and made
him wait while he sent for one. Brown, guarded by the constable,
went back to the Blue Posts, the landlord charging the officer not
to lose sight of the culprit. The caution was needless; Brown had
not the least design of running away, so firmly persuaded was he
that he should find his leather case.

But who can paint his dismay, when no tale or tidings of the leather
case could be had! The master, the mistress, the boy, the maid of
the public house, all protested they were innocent. His suspicions
soon fell on the strollers with whom he had passed the night; and he
now found out for the first time, that a merry evening did not
always produce a happy morning. He obtained a warrant, and proper
officers were sent in pursuit of the strollers. No one, however,
believed he had really lost any thing; and as he had not a shilling
left to defray the expensive treat he had given, the master of the
inn agreed with the other landlord in thinking this story was a
trick to defraud them both, and Brown remained in close custody. At
length the officers returned, who said they had been obliged to let
the strollers go, as they could not fix the charge on any one, and
they had offered to swear before a justice that they had seen
nothing of the leather case. It was at length agreed that as he had
passed the evening in a crowded barn, he had probably been robbed
there, if at all; and among so many, who could pretend to guess at
the thief?

Brown raved like a madman; he cried, tore his hair, and said he was
ruined for ever. The abusive language of his old landlord, and his
new creditor at the Blue Posts, did not lighten his sorrow. His
landlord would be put off no longer. Brown declared he could neither
find bail nor raise another shilling; and as soon as the forms of
law were made out, he was sent to the county jail.

Here it might have been expected that hard living and much leisure
would have brought him to reflect a little on his past follies. But
his heart was not truly touched. The chief thing which grieved him
at first was his having abused the kindnes