ad
orders to see to the funeral,' and that Mrs. Molinos was on the point of
starting for the Continent, not to return for some years. When Fitz-Roy
was discharged, he came to me limping on two sticks, to pawn his court
suit, and told me his story. I was really sorry for the fellow, such a
handsome, thoroughbred-looking man. He was going then into the west
somewhere, to try to hunt out a friend. 'What to do, Balance,' he said, 'I
don't know. I can't dig, and unless somebody will make me their
gamekeeper, I must starve, or beg, as my Jezebel bade me when we parted!'

"I lost sight of Molinos for a long time, and when I next came upon him it
was in the Rookery of Westminster, in a low lodging-house, where I was
searching with an officer for stolen goods. He was pointed out to me as
the 'gentleman cadger,' because he was so free with his money when 'in
luck.' He recognized me, but turned away then. I have since seen him, and
relieved him more than once, although he never asks for any thing. How he
lives, Heaven knows. Without money, without friends, without useful
education of any kind, he tramps the country, as you saw him, perhaps
doing a little hop-picking or hay-making, in season, only happy when he
obtains the means to get drunk. I have heard through the kitchen whispers,
that you know come to me, that he is entitled to some property; and I
expect if he were to die his wife would pay the hundred pound bill I hold;
at any rate, what I have told you I know to be true, and the bundle of
rags I relieved just now is known in every thieves' lodging in England as
the 'gentleman cadger.' "

This story produced an impression on me--I am fond of speculation, and like
the excitement of a legal hunt as much as some do a fox-chase: A gentleman
a beggar, a wife rolling in wealth, rumors of unknown property due to the
husband: it seemed as if there were pickings for me amidst this carrion of
pauperism.

Before returning from Liverpool, I had purchased the gentleman beggar's
acceptance from Balance. I then inserted in the "Times" the following
advertisement: "_Horatio Molinos Fitz-Roy_.--If this gentleman will apply
to David Discount, Esq., Solicitor, St. James's, he will hear of something
to his advantage. Any person furnishing Mr. F.'s correct address, shall
receive 1L. 1_s._ reward. He was last seen," &c. Within twenty-four hours
I had ample proof of the wide circulation of the "Times." My office was
besieged with beggars of ever