enly,
but a cold. He therefore only bestowed a glance of profound astonishment
on his mysterious companion, and proceeded to unfold the note of which he
had been the bearer. Once opened and the idea was caught with very
little difficulty. Mr. Watkins Tottle had been suddenly arrested for
33_l._ 10_s._ 4_d._, and dated his communication from a lock-up house in
the vicinity of Chancery-lane.

'Unfortunate affair this!' said Parsons, refolding the note.

'Oh! nothin' ven you're used to it,' coolly observed the man in the
Petersham.

'Tom!' exclaimed Parsons, after a few minutes' consideration, 'just put
the horse in, will you?--Tell the gentleman that I shall be there almost
as soon as you are,' he continued, addressing the sheriff-officer's
Mercury.

'Werry well,' replied that important functionary; adding, in a
confidential manner, 'I'd adwise the gen'lm'n's friends to settle. You
see it's a mere trifle; and, unless the gen'lm'n means to go up afore the
court, it's hardly worth while waiting for detainers, you know. Our
governor's wide awake, he is. I'll never say nothin' agin him, nor no
man; but he knows what's o'clock, he does, uncommon.' Having delivered
this eloquent, and, to Parsons, particularly intelligible harangue, the
meaning of which was eked out by divers nods and winks, the gentleman in
the boots reseated himself in the cab, which went rapidly off, and was
soon out of sight. Mr. Gabriel Parsons continued to pace up and down the
pathway for some minutes, apparently absorbed in deep meditation. The
result of his cogitations seemed to be perfectly satisfactory to himself,
for he ran briskly into the house; said that business had suddenly
summoned him to town; that he had desired the messenger to inform Mr.
Watkins Tottle of the fact; and that they would return together to
dinner. He then hastily equipped himself for a drive, and mounting his
gig, was soon on his way to the establishment of Mr. Solomon Jacobs,
situate (as Mr. Watkins Tottle had informed him) in Cursitor-street,
Chancery-lane.

When a man is in a violent hurry to get on, and has a specific object in
view, the attainment of which depends on the completion of his journey,
the difficulties which interpose themselves in his way appear not only to
be innumerable, but to have been called into existence especially for the
occasion. The remark is by no means a new one, and Mr. Gabriel Parsons
had practical and painful experience of its