'What do you mean by a reception?' asked Nicholas.

'Jupiter!' exclaimed Mr Folair, 'what an unsophisticated shepherd you
are, Johnson! Why, applause from the house when you first come on. So he
has gone on night after night, never getting a hand, and you getting a
couple of rounds at least, and sometimes three, till at length he got
quite desperate, and had half a mind last night to play Tybalt with a
real sword, and pink you--not dangerously, but just enough to lay you up
for a month or two.'

'Very considerate,' remarked Nicholas.

'Yes, I think it was under the circumstances; his professional
reputation being at stake,' said Mr Folair, quite seriously. 'But his
heart failed him, and he cast about for some other way of annoying
you, and making himself popular at the same time--for that's the point.
Notoriety, notoriety, is the thing. Bless you, if he had pinked you,'
said Mr Folair, stopping to make a calculation in his mind, 'it would
have been worth--ah, it would have been worth eight or ten shillings a
week to him. All the town would have come to see the actor who nearly
killed a man by mistake; I shouldn't wonder if it had got him an
engagement in London. However, he was obliged to try some other mode of
getting popular, and this one occurred to him. It's clever idea, really.
If you had shown the white feather, and let him pull your nose, he'd
have got it into the paper; if you had sworn the peace against him, it
would have been in the paper too, and he'd have been just as much talked
about as you--don't you see?'

'Oh, certainly,' rejoined Nicholas; 'but suppose I were to turn the
tables, and pull HIS nose, what then? Would that make his fortune?'

'Why, I don't think it would,' replied Mr Folair, scratching his head,
'because there wouldn't be any romance about it, and he wouldn't be
favourably known. To tell you the truth though, he didn't calculate much
upon that, for you're always so mild-spoken, and are so popular among
the women, that we didn't suspect you of showing fight. If you did,
however, he has a way of getting out of it easily, depend upon that.'

'Has he?' rejoined Nicholas. 'We will try, tomorrow morning. In the
meantime, you can give whatever account of our interview you like best.
Good-night.'

As Mr Folair was pretty well known among his fellow-actors for a man who
delighted in mischief, and was by no means scrupulous, Nicholas had not
much doubt but that he had secretly prompted the