eceived incredulously; and no further conjectures being hazarded on the
subject, a long pause ensued, during which the company occupied
themselves in coughing and blowing their noses, until the entrance of
Mrs. Budden caused a general rise.

The ceremony of introduction being over, dinner was announced, and
down-stairs the party proceeded accordingly--Mr. Minns escorting Mrs.
Budden as far as the drawing-room door, but being prevented, by the
narrowness of the staircase, from extending his gallantry any farther.
The dinner passed off as such dinners usually do. Ever and anon, amidst
the clatter of knives and forks, and the hum of conversation, Mr. B.'s
voice might be heard, asking a friend to take wine, and assuring him he
was glad to see him; and a great deal of by-play took place between Mrs.
B. and the servants, respecting the removal of the dishes, during which
her countenance assumed all the variations of a weather-glass, from
'stormy' to 'set fair.'

Upon the dessert and wine being placed on the table, the servant, in
compliance with a significant look from Mrs. B., brought down 'Master
Alexander,' habited in a sky-blue suit with silver buttons; and
possessing hair of nearly the same colour as the metal. After sundry
praises from his mother, and various admonitions as to his behaviour from
his father, he was introduced to his godfather.

'Well, my little fellow--you are a fine boy, ain't you?' said Mr. Minns,
as happy as a tomtit on birdlime.

'Yes.'

'How old are you?'

'Eight, next We'nsday. How old are _you_?'

'Alexander,' interrupted his mother, 'how dare you ask Mr. Minns how old
he is!'

'He asked me how old _I_ was,' said the precocious child, to whom Minns
had from that moment internally resolved that he never would bequeath one
shilling. As soon as the titter occasioned by the observation had
subsided, a little smirking man with red whiskers, sitting at the bottom
of the table, who during the whole of dinner had been endeavouring to
obtain a listener to some stories about Sheridan, called, out, with a
very patronising air, 'Alick, what part of speech is _be_.'

'A verb.'

'That's a good boy,' said Mrs. Budden, with all a mother's pride.

'Now, you know what a verb is?'

'A verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer; as, I am--I
rule--I am ruled. Give me an apple, Ma.'

'I'll give you an apple,' replied the man with the red whiskers, who was
an established friend of th