m a secret hope that some opportunity might arise to gratify
this cherished passion, than from any desire of witnessing the splendour
of the metropolis; and while the one pictured the glittering scenes of
festive enjoyment to which youth and money are the passports, the other
darkly ruminated on the chances of meeting his enemy and provoking him
to a duel.

It was on the evening of the third day after they left Carrig-na-curra
that they drew near the capital, and after a promise from Mark that in
every thing he should be guided by his friend, nor take any step without
his counsel and advice, they both entered the city.

"You see, Mark," said Talbot, as after passing through some of the wider
and better lighted thoroughfares, they approached a less frequented and
more gloomy part of the town; "you see, Mark, that the day is not come
when we should occupy the place of honour, an humble and quiet hotel
will best suit us for the present, but the hour is not very distant, my
boy, when the proudest mansion of the capital will throw wide its doors
to receive us. The Saxon has but a short tenure of it now."

"I don't see any reason for secrecy," said Mark, half-doggedly, "we have
good names and a good purse, why then must we betake ourselves to this
gloomy and desolate quarter."

"Because I am the guide," said Talbot, laughing; "and, if that's not
reason enough, that's the only one I will give you just now, but
come, here we are, and I do not think you will complain of your
entertainment." And as he spoke, the carriage entered the spacious
court-yard of an old fashioned inn, which, standing in Thomas-street,
commanded a view of the river through one of the narrow streets leading
down to the quay.

"This was the fashionable house some fifty years back," said Talbot as
he assisted his friend to alight; "and though the heyday of its youth
is over, there are many generous qualities in its good old age--not your
father's cellar can boast a better bottle of Burgundy."

Talbot's recommendation was far from being unmerited, the "Black Jack"
as the inn was named, was a most comfortable house of the old school,
with large, low-ceilinged rooms, wide stairs, and spacious corridors;
the whole, furnished in a style, which, though far from pretending to
elegance or fashion, possessed strong claims for the tired traveller,
seeking rest and repose. Here then our young travellers alighted.
Talbot being received with all the courteous urban