acrificed in this manner,"
grumbled out the former speaker. "What is this Mr. Dunn to you or to me
that we should be delayed for his good pleasure?"

"I am afraid, sir," replied the other, whose dress and manner bespoke a
clergyman, "that we live in an age when wealth is all-powerful, and its
possessors dictate the law to all poorer than themselves."

"And can you tell me of any age when it was otherwise?" broke in the
last arrival, with a half-rude chuckle. "It's all very fine to lay the
whole blame of this, that, and t' other to the peculiar degeneracy
of our own time; but my notion is, the world grows neither worse nor
better." There was that amount of defiance in the tone of the speaker
that seemed to warn his companions, for they each of them maintained
a strict silence. Not so with him; he talked away glibly about the
influence of money, pretty plainly intimating that, as nobody ever met
the man who was indifferent to its possession, the abuse showered upon
riches was nothing but cant and humbug. "Look at the parsons," said he;
"they tell you it is all dross and rubbish, and yet they make it the
test of your sincerity whenever they preach a charity sermon. Look at
the lawyers, and they own that it is the only measure they know by which
to recompense an injury; then take the doctors, and you 'll see that
their humanity has its price, and the good Samaritan charges a guinea a
visit."

The individuals to whom these words were addressed made no reply;
indeed, there was a tone of confident assumption in the speaker that was
far from inviting converse, and now a silence ensued on all sides.

"Do either of you gentlemen object to tobacco?" said the last speaker,
after a pause of some duration; and at the same time, without waiting
for the reply, he produced a cigar-case from his pocket, and began
deliberately to strike a light.

"I am sorry to say, sir," responded the clergyman, "that smoking
disagrees with me, and I cannot accustom myself to endure the smell of
tobacco."

"All habit," rejoined the other, as he lighted his cigar. "I was that
way myself for years, and might have remained so, too, but that I saw
the distress and inconvenience I occasioned to many jolly fellows who
loved their pipe; and so I overcame my foolish prejudices, and even took
to the weed myself."

The other travellers muttered some low words of dissatisfaction; and the
clergyman, opening the window, looked out, apparently in search of the