ed the other.

"Only here, sir,--only here, I assure you. He is our stanchest supporter
in the College."

"Of course we shall take Sebastopol, sir," said a colonel from the
end of the table. "The Russians are already on half rations, and their
ammunition is nigh exhausted." And now ensued a lively discussion of
military events, wherein the speakers displayed as much confidence as
skill.

"It strikes me," said Lindley, "we are at war with the Emperor Nicholas
for practising pretty much the same policy we approve of so strenuously
for ourselves. He wanted to treat Turkey like an encumbered estate.
There was the impoverished proprietor, the beggared tenantry, the
incapacity for improvement,--all the hackneyed arguments, in fact, for
selling out the Sultan that we employ so triumphantly against the Irish
gentleman."

"Excuse me," said the Attorney-General, "he wanted to take forcible
possession."

"Nothing of the kind. He was as ready to offer compensation as we
ourselves are when we superannuate a clerk or suppress an office. His
sole mistake was that he proposed a robbery at the unlucky moment that
the nation had taken its periodical attack of virtue,--we were in the
height of our honest paroxysm when he asked us to be knaves; and hence
all that has followed."

"You estimate our national morality somewhat cheaply, sir," said the
Commissioner.

"As to morals, I think we are good political economists. We buy cheaply,
and endeavor, at least, to sell in the dearest markets."

"No more wine, thank you," said the Secretary, rising. "A cup of coffee,
with pleasure."

It was a part of Davenport Dunn's policy to sprinkle his dinner company
with men like Lindley. They were what physicians call a sort of mild
irritants, and occasionally very useful in their way; but, in the
present instance, he rather suspected that the application had been
pushed too far, and he approached the Secretary in the drawing-room with
a kind of half apology for his guest.

"Ireland," said he, "has always possessed two species of place-hunters:
the one, patiently supporting Government for years, look calmly for the
recognition of their services as a debt to be paid; the other, by an
irritating course of action, seem to indicate how vexatious and annoying
they may prove if not satisfactorily dealt with. Lindley is one of
these, and he ought to be provided for."

"I declare to you, Dunn," said the Secretary, as he drew his arm within
the othe