etter give it her?" replied Mr
Pitskiver.

"A gentleman, sir, gave it to me."

"I'll give it you, too," said the master of the mansion, shaking the
whip over the astonished Snipe. "What are you bothering me with the
ladies' notes for? Any thing for me, Daggles?"

"A few parcels, sir--books, and a couple of pictures."

"No statue? My friend Bristles has deceived me. It was to have been
finished to-day. If he gives the first view to the Whalleys, I'll
never speak to him again. Nothing else? Then have the phaeton at the
door at half past five. I dine at Miss Hendy's, at Hammersmith."

While Mr Pitskiver stepped up stairs, Snipe was going over in his own
mind the different grammatical meanings of the words, "I'll give it
you." And concluding at last that, in the mouth of his master, it
meant nothing but a horsewhipping, he resolved, with the magnanimity
of many other virtuous characters who find treachery unproductive, to
be true to Miss Sophia, and give her the mysterious note with the
greatest possible secrecy.

"Now, donkey," said Daggles, aiding his benevolent advice with a kick
that made it nearly superfluous, "get down them kitchen stairs and
learn pitch-and-toss, for you haven't brains enough for any thing
else--and recollect, you owes me a sovereign; half from master for
telling, and half from the long-backed Ticket for keeping mum. You can
keep the other to yourself; for the job was well worth a sovereign
a-piece."

A knock at the door interrupted the colloquy, and Snipe once more
emerged from the lower regions, and admitted the two fair daughters of
his master.

They were stout, bustling, rosy-cheeked girls, two or three and twenty
years of age, superbly dressed in flashy silks, and bedizened with
ribands like a triumphal arch.

"Miss," said Snipe, "I've got a summut for you." And he looked as
knowing as it was possible for a student of pitch-and-toss to do.

"For me? What is it? Make haste, Thomas."

"A gentleman has been here, and left you this," replied the Mercury,
holding out the note. "He said something about giving me a guinea; but
I wasn't to let any body see."

"It is his hand--I know it!" cried Miss Sophia, and hurried up stairs
to her own room.

"You donkey!" growled Mr Daggles, who had overheard Snipe's
proceedings; "you've done me out of another ten shillings. Blowed if I
don't put you under the pump! She would have given you a guinea for
the letter by way of postage. But it all come