silent, until the stranger should resume it. At length, after a struggle
that was evidently a severe one, he said,

"Now, my good fellow, no more of this buffoonery. Will you take service
with me for three months, since I am willing to accept you? Ay or no?"

"As willing as the flowers of May, your honor; and I trust you will
never have cause to find fault with me, so far as truth, honesty, and
discretion goes. I can see a thing and not see it. I can hear a thing
and not hear it. I can do a thing and not do it--but it must be honest.
In short, sir, if you have no objection, I'm your man. I like your face,
sir; there's something honorable and manly in it."

"Perhaps you would wish to name the amount of the wages you expect. If
so, speak."

"Divil a wage or wages I'll name, sir; that's a matter I'll lave to your
own generosity."

"Very well, then; I start by the 'Fly' tonight, and you, observe, are to
accompany me. The trunk which I shall bring with me is already packed,
so that you will have very little trouble."

Dandy and his relative both left him, and he, with a view of allaying
the agitation which he felt, walked toward the residence of Father
M'Mahon, who had promised, if he could, to furnish him with further
instructions ere he should start for the metropolis.

After they had left the room, our friend Crackenfudge peeped out of the
back apartment, in order to satisfy himself that the coast was clear;
and after stretching his neck over the stairs to ascertain that there
was no one in the hall, he tripped down as if he were treading on
razors, and with a face brimful of importance made his escape from the
inn, for, in truth, the mode of his disappearing could be termed little
else.

Now, in the days of which we write, it so happened that there was a vast
portion of bitter rivalry between mail coaches and their proprietors.
At this time an opposition coach, called "the Flash of Lightning"--to
denominate, we presume, the speed at which it went--ran against the
"Fly," to the manifest, and frequently to the actual, danger of the
then reigning monarch's liege and loyal subjects. To the office of this
coach, then, did Crackenfudge repair, with an honorable intention of
watching the motions of our friend the stranger, prompted thereto by
two motives--first, a curiosity that was naturally prurient and mean;
secondly, by an anxious wish to serve Sir Thomas Gourlay, and, if
possible, to involve himself in his affair