ttered
was not addressed to him.

"What--what," exclaimed the latter, rising up and stretching himself,
in order to call back his scattered faculties. "Eh, Gillespie!--what
brought you here, sirrah? Are you too come to triumph over the ambitious
projector? What am I saying? I sent for you, Gillespie, did I not?"

"You did, Sir Thomas; and with regard to what we were speaking about--I
mean religion--I'll hould a pound note with Charley Corbet, when he
comes back, that I have less of it than him; and we'll both leave it to
your honor, as the best judge; now, if I have less of it than Charley, I
think I deserve the preference."

The baronet looked at him, or rather in the direction where he stood,
which induced Gillespie to suppose that he was paying the strictest
attention to what he said.

"Besides, I once caught Charley at his prayers, Sir Thomas; but I'd be
glad to see the man that ever caught me at them--that's the chat."

Sir Thomas placed his two hands upon his eyes for as good as a minute,
after which he removed them, and stared about him like one awakening
from a disturbed dream.

"Eh?--Begone, Gillespie; I believe I sent for you, but you may go. I am
unwell, and not in a condition to speak to you. When I want you again,
you shall be sent for."

"I don't care a d---- about either hell or the devil, Sir Thomas,
especially when I'm drunk; and I once, for a wager, outswore Squire
Leatherings, who was so deaf that I was obliged to swear with my mouth
to the end of his ear-trumpet. I was backed for fifty guineas by Colonel
Brimstone, who was head of the Hellfire Club."

The baronet signed to him impatiently to begone, and this worthy
moralist withdrew, exclaiming as he went:

"Take my word for it, you will find nothing to your hand equal to
myself; and if there's anything to be done, curse me but I deserve a
preference. I think merit ought to have its reward at any rate."

Sir Thomas, we need not say, felt ill at ease. The tumults of his mind
resembled those of the ocean after the violence of the tempest has swept
over it, leaving behind that dark and angry agitation which indicates
the awful extent of its power. After taking a turn or two through the
room, he felt fatigued and drowsy, with something like a feeling of
approaching illness. Yielding to this heaviness, he stretched himself on
a sofa, and in a few minutes was fast asleep.

All minds naturally vicious, or influenced by the impulses of bad and