upercilious silence. Long and earnestly did the meek Dummie gaze on the
face of the gentleman before him. It had been some years since he had
last beheld it; but it was one which did not easily escape the memory;
and although its proprietor was a man who had risen in the world,
and had gained the height of his profession (a station far beyond
the diurnal sphere of Dummie Dunnaker), and the humble purloiner was
therefore astonished to encounter him in these lower regions, yet
Dummie's recollection carried him back to a day when they had gone
shares together without respect of persons, and been right jolly
partners in the practical game of beggar my neighbour. While, however,
Dummie Dunnaker, who was a little inclined to be shy, deliberated as
to the propriety of claiming acquaintanceship, a dirty boy, with a face
which betokened the frost, as Dummie himself said, like a plum dying of
the scarlet fever, entered the room, with a newspaper in his dexter paw.

"Great news! great news!" cried the urchin, imitating his vociferous
originals in the street; "all about the famous Captain Lovett, as large
as life!"

"'Old your blarney, you blattergowl!" said Dummie, rebukingly, and
seizing the journal.

"Master says as how he must have it to send to Clapham, and can't spare
it for more than a 'our!" said the boy, as he withdrew.

"I 'members the day," said Dummie, with the zeal of a clansman, "when
the Mug took a paper all to itsel' instead o' 'iring it by the job
like!"

Thereon he opened the paper with a fillip, and gave himself tip to the
lecture. But the tall stranger, half rising with a start, exclaimed,--

"Can't you have the manners to be communicative? Do you think nobody
cares about Captain Lovett but yourself?" On this, Dummie turned round
on his chair, and, with a "Blow me tight, you're velcome, I'm sure,"
began as follows (we copy the paper, not the diction of the reader):--

"The trial of the notorious Lovett commences this day. Great
exertions have been made by people of all classes to procure seats
in the Town Hall, which will be full to a degree never before known
in this peaceful province. No less than seven indictments are said
to await the prisoner; it has been agreed that the robbery of Lord
Mauleverer should be the first to come on. The principal witness in
this case against the prisoner is understood to be the king's
evidence, MacGrawler. No news as yet have b