e thirty miles of the journey had rolled over, and it was now
day,--dark and dreary indeed,--when Jack awoke and found the carriage
pretty thick with smoke. There is a sort of freemasonry in the men of
tobacco which never fails them, and they have a kind of instinctive
guess of a stranger from the mere character of his weed. On the present
occasion Jack recognized a most exquisite Havanna odor, and turned
furtively to see the smoker.

"I ought to have asked," said the stranger, "if this was disagreeable to
you; but you were asleep, and I did not like to disturb you."

"Not in the least; I am a smoker too," said Jack, as he drew forth his
case and proceeded to strike a light.

"Might I offer you one of mine?--they are not bad," said the other,
proffering his case.

"Thanks," said Jack; "my tastes are too vulgar for Cubans. Birdseye,
dashed with strong Cavendish, is what I like."

"I have tried that too, as I have tried everything English, but the same
sort of half success follows me through all."

"If your knowledge of the language be the measure, I 'd say you've not
much to complain of. I almost doubt whether you are a foreigner."

"I was born in Italy," said the other, cautiously, "and never in England
till a few weeks ago."

"I'm afraid," said Jack, with a smile, "I did not impress you very
favorably as regards British politeness, when we met this morning; but I
was a little out of spirits. I was leaving home, not very likely to see
it again for some time, and I wanted to be alone."

"I am greatly grieved not to have known this. I should never have
thought of intruding."

"But there was no question of intruding. It was your right that you
asserted, and no more."

"Half the harsh things that we see in life are done merely by asserting
a right," said the other, in a deep and serious voice.

Jack had little taste for what took the form of a reflection; to his
apprehension, it was own brother of a sermon; and warned by this sample
of his companion's humor, he muttered a broken sort of assent and was
silent. Little passed between them till they met at the dinner-table,
and then they only interchanged a few commonplace remarks. On their
reaching their destination, they took leave of each other courteously,
but half formally, and drove off their several ways.

Almost the first man, however, that Jack met, as he stepped on board
the mail-packet for Holyhead, was his fellow-traveller of the rail.
This time they