d?'

'I have,'--and they shook hands most cordially. The note of hand was
given--the debt and costs were paid--Ikey was satisfied for his trouble,
and the two friends soon found themselves on that side of Mr. Solomon
Jacobs's establishment, on which most of his visitors were very happy
when they found themselves once again--to wit, the outside.

'Now,' said Mr. Gabriel Parsons, as they drove to Norwood together--'you
shall have an opportunity to make the disclosure to-night, and mind you
speak out, Tottle.'

'I will--I will!' replied Watkins, valorously.

'How I should like to see you together,' ejaculated Mr. Gabriel
Parsons.--'What fun!' and he laughed so long and so loudly, that he
disconcerted Mr. Watkins Tottle, and frightened the horse.

'There's Fanny and your intended walking about on the lawn,' said
Gabriel, as they approached the house. 'Mind your eye, Tottle.'

'Never fear,' replied Watkins, resolutely, as he made his way to the spot
where the ladies were walking.

'Here's Mr. Tottle, my dear,' said Mrs. Parsons, addressing Miss
Lillerton. The lady turned quickly round, and acknowledged his courteous
salute with the same sort of confusion that Watkins had noticed on their
first interview, but with something like a slight expression of
disappointment or carelessness.

'Did you see how glad she was to see you?' whispered Parsons to his
friend.

'Why, I really thought she looked as if she would rather have seen
somebody else,' replied Tottle.

'Pooh, nonsense!' whispered Parsons again--'it's always the way with the
women, young or old. They never show how delighted they are to see those
whose presence makes their hearts beat. It's the way with the whole sex,
and no man should have lived to your time of life without knowing it.
Fanny confessed it to me, when we were first married, over and over
again--see what it is to have a wife.'

'Certainly,' whispered Tottle, whose courage was vanishing fast.

'Well, now, you'd better begin to pave the way,' said Parsons, who,
having invested some money in the speculation, assumed the office of
director.

'Yes, yes, I will--presently,' replied Tottle, greatly flurried.

'Say something to her, man,' urged Parsons again. 'Confound it! pay her
a compliment, can't you?'

'No! not till after dinner,' replied the bashful Tottle, anxious to
postpone the evil moment.

'Well, gentlemen,' said Mrs. Parsons, 'you are really very polite; you
stay away the whol