ker would pocket the ten
pounds; but he was too easy to care for paying it, and too timid to
quarrel with such a powerful friend. And he had on three different
occasions already paid ten pounds' fine for the renewal of the bill in
question, all of which bonuses he knew went to his friend Mr. Walker.

Here, too, the reader will perceive what was, in part, the meaning of
the word "Agency" on Mr. Walker's door. He was a go-between between
money-lenders and borrowers in this world, and certain small sums always
remained with him in the course of the transaction. He was an agent for
wine, too; an agent for places to be had through the influence of
great men; he was an agent for half-a-dozen theatrical people, male and
female, and had the interests of the latter especially, it was said,
at heart. Such were a few of the means by which this worthy gentleman
contrived to support himself, and if, as he was fond of high living,
gambling, and pleasures of all kinds, his revenue was not large enough
for his expenditure--why, he got into debt, and settled his bills that
way. He was as much at home in the Fleet as in Pall Mall, and quite as
happy in the one place as in the other. "That's the way I take things,"
would this philosopher say. "If I've money, I spend; if I've credit,
I borrow; if I'm dunned, I whitewash; and so you can't beat me down."
Happy elasticity of temperament! I do believe that, in spite of his
misfortunes and precarious position, there was no man in England whose
conscience was more calm, and whose slumbers were more tranquil, than
those of Captain Howard Walker.

As he was sitting under the hands of Mr. Eglantine, he reverted to "the
ladies," whom the latter gentleman professed to expect; said he was a
sly dog, a lucky ditto, and asked him if the ladies were handsome.

Eglantine thought there could be no harm in telling a bouncer to a
gentleman with whom he was engaged in money transactions; and so, to
give the Captain an idea of his solvency and the brilliancy of his
future prospects, "Captain," said he, "I've got a hundred and eighty
pounds out with you, which you were obliging enough to negotiate for me.
Have I, or have I not, two bills out to that amount?"

"Well, my good fellow, you certainly have; and what then?"

"What then? Why, I bet you five pounds to one, that in three months
those bills are paid."

"Done! five pounds to one. I take it."

This sudden closing with him made the perfumer rather une