ck.

"Hello, maister," called down a feeble old voice, as he got up to the
gate.

"Hullo, Jeff, is Cripps about?" replied Loman.

"Yas; he be inside or somewheres, maister," replied the old lock-keeper.

"All right! take the boat up; I want to see Cripps."

Cripps was the son of the old man whom Loman had addressed as Jeff. He
was not exactly a gentleman, for he kept the Cockchafer public-house at
Maltby, and often served behind the bar in his own person. Neither was
he altogether a reputable person, for he frequently helped himself to an
overdose of his own beverages, besides being a sharp hand at billiards,
and possessing several packs of cards with extra aces in them. Neither
was he a particularly refined personage, for his choice of words was
often more expressive than romantic, and his ordinary conversation was
frequently the reverse of edifying; it mainly had to do with details of
the stable or the card-room, and the anecdotes with which he enlivened
it were often "broader than they were long," to put it mildly. In
short, Cripps was a blackguard by practice, whatever he was by
profession. He had, however, one redeeming virtue; he was very partial
to young gentlemen, and would go a good bit out of his way to meet one.
He always managed to know of something that young gentlemen had a fancy
for. He could put them into the way of getting a thoroughbred bull-dog
dirt-cheap; he could put them up to all the tips at billiards and "Nap,"
and he could make up a book for them on the Derby or any other race,
that was bound to win. And he did it all in such a pleasant, frank way
that the young gentlemen quite fell in love with him, and entrusted
their cash to him with as much confidence as if he were the Bank of
England.

Of all the young gentlemen whose privilege it had been to make the
acquaintance of Mr Cripps--and there were a good many--he professed the
greatest esteem and admiration for Loman, of Saint Dominic's school, to
whom he had been only recently introduced. The two had met at the
lock-keeper's house a week ago, when Loman was detained there an hour or
two by stress of weather, and, getting into conversation, as gentlemen
naturally would, Loman chanced to mention that he wanted to come across
a really good fishing-rod.

By a most curious coincidence, Mr Cripps had only the other day been
asked by a particular friend of his, who was removing from the country
to London--"where," said Mr Cripps, "ther