rds through the
deserted and silent streets, their clothes redolent of tobacco smoke,
their stomachs overcharged, their heads often muddled, swimming, and
throbbing with their multifarious potations--having thus spent a "_jolly
night_," and "_seen life_." 'T was thus that Snap greatly endeared
himself to Titmouse, and secretly (for he enjoined upon Titmouse, as the
condition of their continuance, strict secrecy on the subject of these
nocturnal adventures) stole a march upon his older competitors for the
good opinion of Titmouse--Messrs. Quirk, Tag-rag, and even the astute
and experienced Gammon himself. Such doings as these required, however,
as may easily be believed, some slight augmentations of the allowance
made to Titmouse by Messrs. Quirk and Gammon; and it was fortunate that
Snap was in a condition, having a few hundreds at his command, to supply
the necessities of Titmouse, receiving with a careless air, on the
occasion of such advances, small slips of paper by way of
acknowledgments; some on stamped paper, others on unstamped
paper,--promissory notes, and I. O. U's. Inasmuch, however, as Snap was
not always possessed of a stamp on the occasion of a sudden advance, and
having asked the opinion of his pleader (a sharp fellow who had been
articled at the same time as himself to Messrs. Quirk and Gammon) as to
whether an instrument in this form, "I. O. U. so much--_with interest_,"
would be available without a stamp, and being informed that it was a
very doubtful point, Snap ingeniously met the difficulty by quietly
adding to the principal what might become due in respect of interest:
_e. g._ if L5 were lent, the acknowledgment would stand for L15--these
little slips of paper being generally signed by Titmouse in moments of
extreme exhilaration, when he never thought of scrutinizing anything
that his friend Snap would lay before him. For the honor of Snap, I
must say that I hardly think he deliberately purposed to perpetuate the
fraud which such a transaction appears to amount to; all he wanted
was--so he satisfied himself at least--to have it in his power to
recover the full amount of principal _really_ advanced, with interest,
on one or other of these various securities, and hold the surplus as
trustee for Titmouse. If, for instance, any unfortunate difference
should hereafter arise between himself and Titmouse, and he should
refuse to recognize his pecuniary obligations to Snap, the latter
gentleman would be pro