ther pocket," he exclaimed to Lord Tomnoddy.

"I would with pleasure, old fellow, if I had it. But, unfortunately, I
haven't a farthing about me."

Thereupon the waiter proceeded deliberately to gather up the glasses
again, and was about to take them and the wine away, when I interposed
with a proposal to pay.

"No," said Fitz-Johnes fiercely; "I won't hear of it; I'll perish at the
stake first. But if you really don't mind _lending_ me a sovereign
until to-morrow--"

I said I should be most happy; and forthwith produced the coin, which
Fitz-Johnes, having received it, flung disdainfully down upon the table
with the exclamation:

"There, caitiff, is the lucre. Now, avaunt! begone! Thy bones are
marrowless; and you have not a particle of speculation about you."

The waiter, quite unmoved, took up the sovereign, laid down the change--
which Fitz-Johnes promptly pocketed--and retired from the room, leaving
us to discuss our wine in peace; which we did, I taking three glasses,
and my companions disposing of the remainder.

Fitz-Johnes now became very communicative on the subject of his cousin
Lady Mary; and finally the recollection came to him suddenly that she
had sent him her miniature only a day or two before. This he proposed
to show me, in order that I might pronounce an opinion as to the
correctness of the likeness; but on instituting a search for it, he
discovered--much to my relief, I must confess--that he had left it, with
his purse, in the pocket of his other jacket.

The wine at length finished, we parted company at the door of the "Blue
Posts;" I shaping a course homeward, and my new friends heading in the
direction of the Hard, their uproarious laughter reaching my ear for
some time after they had passed out of sight.

CHAPTER TWO.

I QUIT THE PATERNAL ROOF.

On reaching home I found that my father had preceded me by a few minutes
only, and was to be found in the surgery. Thither, accordingly, I
hastened to give him an opportunity of seeing me in my new rig.

"Good Heavens, boy!" he exclaimed when he had taken in all the details
of my appearance, "do you mean to say that you have presented yourself
in public in that extraordinary guise?"

I respectfully intimated that I had, and that, moreover, I failed to
observe anything at all extraordinary in my appearance.

"Well," observed he, bursting into a fit of hearty laughter,
notwithstanding his evident annoyance, "_you_ may not have noti