ake place within the
course of a year; and I forthwith commenced enlarging my house and
getting my affairs in order. Having been left in the easy circumstances
which I have described, I determined to follow no business, but to pass
my life in a strictly domestic manner, and to be very, very happy.
Amongst other property derived from my father were several horses, which
I disposed of in this neighbourhood, with the exception of two remarkably
fine ones, which I determined to take to the next fair at Horncastle, the
only place where I expected to be able to obtain what I considered to be
their full value. At length the time arrived for the commencement of the
fair, which was within three months of the period which my beloved and
myself had fixed upon for the celebration of our nuptials. To the fair I
went, a couple of trusty men following me with the horses. I soon found
a purchaser for the animals, a portly, plausible person {199} of about
forty, dressed in a blue riding coat, brown top boots, and leather
breeches. There was a strange-looking urchin with him, attired in nearly
similar fashion, with a beam in one of his eyes, who called him father.
The man paid me for the purchase in bank-notes--three fifty-pound notes
for the two horses. As we were about to take leave of each other, he
suddenly produced another fifty-pound note, inquiring whether I could
change it, complaining at the same time of the difficulty of procuring
change in the fair. As I happened to have plenty of small money in my
possession, and as I felt obliged to him for having purchased my horses
at what I considered to be a good price, I informed him that I should be
very happy to accommodate him; so I changed him the note, and he, having
taken possession of the horses, went his way, and I myself returned home.

'A month passed; during this time I paid away two of the notes which I
had received at Horncastle from the dealer--one of them in my immediate
neighbourhood, and the other at a town about fifteen miles distant, to
which I had repaired for the purpose of purchasing some furniture. All
things seemed to be going on most prosperously, and I felt quite happy,
when one morning, as I was overlooking some workmen who were employed
about my house, I was accosted by a constable, who informed me that he
was sent to request my immediate appearance before a neighbouring bench
of magistrates. Concluding that I was merely summoned on some
unimportant b