egaling herself with a choice cigar! He
was giving the finishing touch to a large pair of moustaches, with which
he had embellished her countenance, and which he declared was the only
thing wanting to complete the likeness to an old aunt of Dr. Mildman's,
whom the pupils usually designated by the endearing appellation of
"Growler," when the door opened, and Thomas announced that "Smithson"
was waiting to see Mr. Lawless.

"Oh yes, to be sure, let him come in; no, wait a minute. Here, you,
Coleman and Mullins, untie Fairlegh; be quick!--confound that desk,
how it smells of burning, and I have made my hands all black too. Well,
Smithson, have you brought the things?"

The person to whom this query was addressed was a ~30~~young man,
attired in the extreme of the fashion, who lounged into the room with
a "quite at home" kind of air, and, nodding familiarly all around,
arranged his curls with a ring-adorned hand, as he replied in a drawling
tone:--

"Ya'as, Mr. Lawless, we're all right--punctual to a moment--always ready
'to come to time,' as we say in the ring".

"Who is he?" whispered I to Coleman.

"Who is he?" replied Coleman; "why the best fellow in the world, to
be sure'. Not know Smithson, the prince of tailors, the tailor _par
excellence_! I suppose you never heard of the Duke of Wellington, have
you?"

I replied humbly that I believed I had heard the name of that
illustrious individual mentioned in connection with Waterloo and the
Peninsula--and that I was accustomed to regard him as the first man of
the age.

"Aye, well then, Smithson is the second; though I really don't know
whether he is not quite as great in his way as Wellington, upon my
honour. The last pair of trousers he made for Lawless were something
sublime, too good for this wicked world, a great deal."

During this brief conversation Smithson had been engaged in extricating
a somewhat voluminous garment from the interior of a blue bag, which a
boy, who accompanied him, had just placed inside the study-door.

"There, this is the new invention I told you about; a man named
Macintosh hit upon it. Now, with this coat on, you might stand under a
water-fall without getting even damp. Try it on, Mr. Lawless; just the
thing, eh, gents?"

Our curiosity being roused by this panegyric, we gathered round Lawless
to examine the garment which had called it forth. Such of my readers as
recollect the first introduction of Macintoshes will doubtless rememb