o, if it had
not been for you, young man, and if you'll walk home with me to
the 'Hoop'--there's a name for an inn!--I'll give you a couple of
sovereigns. ~233~~and that's more than you've earned before to-day, I'll
be bound--umph!"

"I shall be delighted to see you safe home, sir, but you will excuse my
declining your pecuniary offer, though I must plead guilty to the charge
of not having earned as much--I believe I might say, in my whole life
before."

"Umph! I see--a gentleman, eh? and I to offer him money--just like me--a
lord, or a duke, I shouldn't wonder--there are all sorts and sizes of
'em here, they tell me--ask him to dinner. Umph! perhaps you'll
do me the honour of dining with me, young man--my lord, I
mean--mulligatawny--cat smothered in rice, which they call
curry--kibobs, and kickshaws--the cook is not so bad for a white; but
you should go to India if you care about eating--that's the place for
cookery, sir."

"I shall have much pleasure in accepting your invitation," replied I,
"if you will allow me to run away directly after dinner: I am reading for
my degree, and time is precious with me just now."

"Umph! so it should be always. I see, now I come to look at you, you are
one of the cap-and-gown gentlemen." (Then came an aside--"Cap, indeed!
it's a fool's cap would fit one half of 'em best!") "Pray, may I ask
what college you belong to, Mr. ----?"

"Legh is my name, sir--Legh of Trinity."

"Umph! Trinity; just the man I wanted to get hold of. My name's
Frampton, Mr. Lee: they know me well at the India House, sir. When we've
had a bit of dinner, and washed this horrid fog out of our throats with
a few glasses of wine, I shall be glad to ask you a question or two.
Umph!"

"Any information it may be in my power to afford you," I began----

"That'll do, sir, that'll do," was the reply. "Perhaps you won't
be quite so ready when you hear what it is I want." Then, in an
undertone--"Tell me a parcel of lies, most likely; I know how these
young scamps hang by one another, and think it high fun 'to do the
governor,' as they call it. Umph!"

On our arrival at the Hoop we were ushered into one of the best
sitting-rooms the inn afforded, where a blazing fire soon effaced
all traces of the wet-blanket-like fog in which we had been so lately
enveloped. I was shown into a comfortable dressing-room to get ready for
dinner, an opportunity of which I availed myself to render my appearance
as unlike what it ha