w I ever saw,' said the grateful Ferdinand.

'And capital manners?'

'Most distinguished.'

'Neatest dressed man in town!'

'Exquisite taste!'

'What a house!'

'Capital!'

'Did you ever see such furniture? It beats your rooms at Malta.'

'I never saw anything more complete in my life.'

'What plate!' 'Miraculous!' 'And, believe me, we shall have the best
dinner in town.'

'Well, he has given me an appetite,' said Ferdinand. 'But who is he?'

'Why, by business he is what is called a conveyancer; that is to say, he
is a lawyer by inspiration.'

'He is a wonderful man,' said Ferdinand. 'He must be very rich.'

'Yes; Sharpe must be worth his quarter of a million. And he has made it
in such a deuced short time!'

'Why, he is not much older than we are!'

'Ten years ago that man was a prizefighter,' said Lord Catchimwhocan.

'A prizefighter!' exclaimed Ferdinand.

'Yes; and licked everybody. But he was too great a genius for the ring,
and took to the turf.'

'Ah!'

'Then he set up a hell.'

'Hum!'

'And then he turned it into a subscription-house.'

'Hoh!'

'He keeps his hell still, but it works itself now. In the mean time he
is the first usurer in the world, and will be in the next Parliament.'

'But if he lends money on the terms he accommodates me, he will hardly
increase his fortune.'

'Oh! he can do the thing when he likes. He took a fancy to you. The fact
is, my dear fellow, Sharpe is very rich and wants to get into society.
He likes to oblige young men of distinction, and can afford to risk a
few thousands now and then. By dining with him to-day you have quite
repaid him for his loan. Besides, the fellow has a great soul; and,
though born on a dung-hill, nature intended him for a palace, and he has
placed himself there.'

'Well, this has been a remarkable morning,' said Ferdinand Armine, as
Lord Catchimwhocan set him down at his club. 'I am very much obliged to
you, dear Catch!'

'Not a word, my dear fellow. You have helped me before this, and glad am
I to be the means of assisting the best fellow in the world, and that we
all think you. _Au revoir!_ We dine at eight.'

CHAPTER XII.

_Miss Grandison Makes a Remarkable Discovery_.

IN THE mean time, while the gloomy morning which Ferdinand had
anticipated terminated with so agreeable an adventure, Henrietta and
Miss Grandison, accompanied by Lord Montfort and Glastonbury, paid their
promised visit to the British Mus