rect, but I rather
incline to believe it one of those calumnies which are so constantly
levelled at any society which assumes to itself exclusiveness and
secrecy. They who were admitted there assuredly were not given to
divulge what they saw, and this very reserve must have provoked its
interpretation.

A truce to these speculations; and now back to my story. I was standing
listlessly on the edge of the flag-way, while a long funeral procession
was passing. The dreary day and drearier object seemed to harmonize well
together. The wheels of the mourning-coaches grated sorrowfully on the
half-frozen ground, and the leaden canopy of sky appeared a suitable
covering to the melancholy picture. My thoughts were of the very
saddest, when suddenly a merry burst of laughing voices broke in upon
my ear; and without turning my head, I recognized the three young men of
whom I have just spoken, as standing close behind me.

Some jocular allusion to the slow march of the procession had set them
a-laughing; and O'Kelly said,--

"Talk as men will about the ills of life, see how tardily they move out
of it."

"That comes of not knowing the road before them," cried Payne.

"Egad! they might remember, though, that it is a well-worn highway by
this time," chimed in Conway; "and now that poor Dick has gone it, who's
to fill his place?"

"No very hard matter," said O'Kelly. "Take every tenth fellow you 'll
meet from this to Temple Bar, and you 'll have about the same kind of
intelligence Harvey had. You gave him credit for knowing everything,
whereas his real quality was knowing everybody."

"For that matter, so does Jack here," cried Conway.

"And capital company he'd be, too, I've no doubt," added Payne.

A moment of whispering conversation ensued, and O'Kelly said, half
aloud,--

"I 'll lay five hundred on it!"

"By Jove! I 'll have no hand in it," said Conway.

"Nor I neither," chimed in Payne.

"Courageous allies both," said O'Kelly, laughing. "Happily I need not
such aid,--I 'll do it myself. I only ask you not to betray me."

[Illustration: 460]

Without heeding the protestations they both poured forth, O'Kelly
stepped forward and whispered in my ear,--

"Will you dine with me to-morrow, Jack?"

I stared at him in silent astonishment, and he went on:

"I have a wager on it; and if I win, you shall have five guineas
for your share; and, to show you my confidence of success, I pay
beforehand."

He opened his pu