gh it like a
brick.

"And--and I went through it like a brick," said Mr Moffat, with the
gravest possible face, taking up in his utter confusion the words
that were put into his mouth.

"Hurray!--so you did--you're the real brick. Well done, Snip; go it
again with the wax and thread!"

"I am a thorough-paced reformer," continued Mr Moffat, somewhat
reassured by the effect of the opportune words which his friend had
whispered into his ear. "A thorough-paced reformer--a thorough-paced
reformer--"

"Go on, Snip. We all know what that means."

"A thorough-paced reformer--"

"Never mind your paces, man; but get on. Tell us something new. We're
all reformers, we are."

Poor Mr Moffat was a little thrown back. It wasn't so easy to tell
these gentlemen anything new, harnessed as he was at this moment; so
he looked back at his honourable supporter for some further hint.
"Say something about their daughters," whispered George, whose own
flights of oratory were always on that subject. Had he counselled Mr
Moffat to say a word or two about the tides, his advice would not
have been less to the purpose.

"Gentlemen," he began again--"you all know that I am a thorough-paced
reformer--"

"Oh, drat your reform. He's a dumb dog. Go back to your goose,
Snippy; you never were made for this work. Go to Courcy Castle and
reform that."

Mr Moffat, grieved in his soul, was becoming inextricably bewildered
by such facetiae as these, when an egg,--and it may be feared not a
fresh egg,--flung with unerring precision, struck him on the open
part of his well-plaited shirt, and reduced him to speechless
despair.

An egg is a means of delightful support when properly administered;
but it is not calculated to add much spirit to a man's eloquence, or
to ensure his powers of endurance, when supplied in the manner above
described. Men there are, doubtless, whose tongues would not be
stopped even by such an argument as this; but Mr Moffat was not one
of them. As the insidious fluid trickled down beneath his waistcoat,
he felt that all further powers of coaxing the electors out of their
votes, by words flowing from his tongue sweeter than honey, was
for that occasion denied to him. He could not be self-confident,
energetic, witty, and good-humoured with a rotten egg drying through
his clothes. He was forced, therefore, to give way, and with sadly
disconcerted air retired from the open window at which he had been
standing.

It was in vai