made no reply, but grasped the hand and pressed it to his lips.
Then rising, and taking from the trunk a little desk, he placed it on
a table near the fire, unlocked it with a key he carried in his pocket,
sat down before it, took out a pen, and, before dipping it in the
inkstand, sucked it--to compose the fashion of his mouth perhaps, on
which a smile was hovering yet.

'How do our numbers stand since last enrolling-night?' inquired Lord
George. 'Are we really forty thousand strong, or do we still speak in
round numbers when we take the Association at that amount?'

'Our total now exceeds that number by a score and three,' Gashford
replied, casting his eyes upon his papers.

'The funds?'

'Not VERY improving; but there is some manna in the wilderness, my lord.
Hem! On Friday night the widows' mites dropped in. "Forty scavengers,
three and fourpence. An aged pew-opener of St Martin's parish, sixpence.
A bell-ringer of the established church, sixpence. A Protestant infant,
newly born, one halfpenny. The United Link Boys, three shillings--one
bad. The anti-popish prisoners in Newgate, five and fourpence. A friend
in Bedlam, half-a-crown. Dennis the hangman, one shilling."'

'That Dennis,' said his lordship, 'is an earnest man. I marked him in
the crowd in Welbeck Street, last Friday.'

'A good man,' rejoined the secretary, 'a staunch, sincere, and truly
zealous man.'

'He should be encouraged,' said Lord George. 'Make a note of Dennis.
I'll talk with him.'

Gashford obeyed, and went on reading from his list:

'"The Friends of Reason, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Liberty,
half-a-guinea. The Friends of Peace, half-a-guinea. The Friends of
Charity, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Mercy, half-a-guinea. The
Associated Rememberers of Bloody Mary, half-a-guinea. The United
Bulldogs, half-a-guinea."'

'The United Bulldogs,' said Lord George, biting his nails most horribly,
'are a new society, are they not?'

'Formerly the 'Prentice Knights, my lord. The indentures of the old
members expiring by degrees, they changed their name, it seems, though
they still have 'prentices among them, as well as workmen.'

'What is their president's name?' inquired Lord George.

'President,' said Gashford, reading, 'Mr Simon Tappertit.'

'I remember him. The little man, who sometimes brings an elderly sister
to our meetings, and sometimes another female too, who is conscientious,
I have no doubt, but not well-favoured?'

'The very