e, 'and carried a letter to another.'

'Ah! and who were those fortunate individuals?'

'Poh! I suppose there's no secret about it. The man sued, was one Enoch
Grosket. The other was one Henry Harson; a jolly old boy he _was_ too. I
breakfasted with him; a prime fellow; keeps a d----d ugly cur, though.'

'Enoch Grosket, Henry Harson!' said the stranger, musing; 'I've heard of
them, I think. Who are they?'

'It is more than I can tell,' replied Kornicker. 'That's the mystery of my
situation. I know nothing about any thing I'm doing, or of him, or his
acquaintances.'

'Why, you must know what you sued the man for,' said Mr. Scrake,
earnestly; 'you must know _that_, surely.'

'Yes, but it's a height of knowledge which don't carry much information
with it,' replied Mr. Kornicker. 'I sued him on a promissory note. What he
made it for, or how Rust got it, or any thing more about him, or it, or
Harson, or Rust, I know as little as you.'

The stranger drew himself up, and looking at him gravely, said in a
serious and even stern tone: 'Do you mean to say that you are entirely
ignorant of every thing respecting this Rust; his family, his business,
his acquaintances, his associates, his habits, his plans and
operations?'--in short, that you know nothing more than you have mentioned
to me?'

The other nodded.

'Waiter, my bill,' said he in a peremptory tone.

The boy brought him a slip of paper, on which was written the amount.

He paid it without a word; walked across the room, took down his hat, put
it on his head, and turning to Kornicker, said in a tone of solemn
earnestness: 'Young man, you're in a bad way, a _very_ bad way. Had I
known with what people you were in the habit of associating before I sat
down at that table, Ezra Scrake's legs and yours would never have been
under the same mahogany. A man in the employ of another and know nothing
of him! It's enormous! He might be a murderer, a thief; a man-slaughterer;
a Burker, an arsoner, or any thing that is bad. Young man, in spite of the
injury you've done me, I pity you; nay, I forgive you.'

Mr. Kornicker, was merely waiting for an opportunity to suggest to him
that his company had not only been unsought, but actually forced upon him,
and even under his solemn protest. But before he could do so, Mr. Scrake
was in the street; whereupon, on ascertaining that he was out of the
hearing of Mr. Kornicker, he muttered to himself: 'It was no go. Waited
for him two h