ing all I can
say; nor, indeed, can I blame her--appearances are certainly against me."

"They are so--you had better retire."

I moved towards the door. "Stay, young man, one word more; there is only
one way of proceeding which would induce me to believe that you are
sincere."

"What is that?" said I, stopping and looking at him anxiously.

"The purchase of a Bible."

"Purchase!" said I, "purchase! I came not to purchase, but to barter;
such was my instruction, and how can I barter if I have lost the book?"

The other made no answer, and turning away I made for the door; all of a
sudden I started, and turning round, "Dear me," said I, "it has just come
into my head, that if the book was lost by my negligence, as it must have
been, I have clearly a right to make it good".

No answer.

"Yes," I repeated, "I have clearly a right to make it good; how glad I
am! see the effect of a little reflection. I will purchase a Bible
instantly, that is, if I have not lost--" and with considerable agitation
I felt in my pocket.

The prim-looking man smiled: "I suppose," said he, "that he has lost his
money as well as book".

"No," said I, "I have not;" and pulling out my hand I displayed no less a
sum than three half-crowns.

"O, noble goddess of the Mint!" as Dame Charlotta Nordenflycht, the
Swede, said a hundred and fifty years ago, "great is thy power; how
energetically the possession of thee speaks in favour of man's
character!"

"Only half a crown for this Bible?" said I, putting down the money, "it
is worth three;" and bowing to the man of the noble features, I departed
with my purchase.

"Queer customer," said the prim-looking man, as I was about to close the
door--"don't like him."

"Why, as to that, I scarcely know what to say," said he of the
countenance of a lion.

CHAPTER XLVI.

A few days after the occurrence of what is recorded in the last chapter,
as I was wandering in the City, chance directed my footsteps to an alley
leading from one narrow street to another in the neighbourhood of
Cheapside. Just before I reached the mouth of the alley, a man in a
greatcoat, closely followed by another, passed it; and, at the moment in
which they were passing, I observed the man behind snatch something from
the pocket of the other; whereupon, darting into the street, I seized the
hindermost man by the collar, crying at the same time to the other, "My
good friend, this person has just picked your pocket