ing to Dinneford to-night; and he,
or some of his, have a seat in all regularly; so, if you'll step in
and sit half-an-hour in my bachelor's parlour, you may catch him as he
passes without much trouble. I think though you'd better let him alone
to-night, he'll have so many customers to serve; Tuesday is his busy day
in X---- and Dinneford; come in at all events."

He swung the wicket open as he spoke.

"Do you really wish me to go in?" I asked.

"As you please--I'm alone; your company for an hour or two would be
agreeable to me; but, if you don't choose to favour me so far, I'll not
press the point. I hate to bore any one."

It suited me to accept the invitation as it suited Hunsden to give it.
I passed through the gate, and followed him to the front door, which he
opened; thence we traversed a passage, and entered his parlour; the door
being shut, he pointed me to an arm-chair by the hearth; I sat down, and
glanced round me.

It was a comfortable room, at once snug and handsome; the bright grate
was filled with a genuine ----shire fire, red, clear, and generous, no
penurious South-of-England embers heaped in the corner of a grate. On
the table a shaded lamp diffused around a soft, pleasant, and equal
light; the furniture was almost luxurious for a young bachelor,
comprising a couch and two very easy chairs; bookshelves filled the
recesses on each side of the mantelpiece; they were well-furnished, and
arranged with perfect order. The neatness of the room suited my taste;
I hate irregular and slovenly habits. From what I saw I concluded that
Hunsden's ideas on that point corresponded with my own. While he removed
from the centre-table to the side-board a few pamphlets and periodicals,
I ran my eye along the shelves of the book-case nearest me. French and
German works predominated, the old French dramatists, sundry modern
authors, Thiers, Villemain, Paul de Kock, George Sand, Eugene Sue; in
German--Goethe, Schiller, Zschokke, Jean Paul Richter; in English there
were works on Political Economy. I examined no further, for Mr. Hunsden
himself recalled my attention.

"You shall have something," said he, "for you ought to feel disposed for
refreshment after walking nobody knows how far on such a Canadian night
as this; but it shall not be brandy-and-water, and it shall not be
a bottle of port, nor ditto of sherry. I keep no such poison. I have
Rhein-wein for my own drinking, and you may choose between that and
coffee."