tly before, and he
could find no way of exit. It was futile to attempt anything further,
and, discovering this unwelcome fact, he passively yielded himself up,
and was rewarded for so doing by receiving sundry cuffs and jerks from
his captors, who carried him straightway before the governor.

There are some people in the world who seem to have been born under a
lucky star. Everything upon which their hands are laid at once turns
into gold; all their ventures are successful, or if they have a slight
mishap it is more than compensated for directly afterwards by a grand
success. Fortune is never weary of smiling upon them; they are her
prime favourites, and she marks her approval by heaping favours upon
them in a most indiscriminate and prodigal manner. Upon others she
continually frowns. All their efforts uniformly bring back a plentiful
harvest of disappointment. Their labour is ever in vain, they are left
to languish in misery and to repine over the illusion which tempted
them with a feigned promise of success ever nearer and nearer to ruin.

Edmund was one of these last, and this was the more inexplicable both
to himself and a certain number of his friends, inasmuch as he, being
an astrologer, had discovered that he was born under a lucky star.

His interview with the governor was short, but decisive. The gaoler
stated the case against him, adding to the facts here and there
to embellish his story; and in a very short space of time he found
himself manacled with heavy chains, which fastened him down to the
floor of the damp cell into which he had been thrust.

At the Cock Tavern Sir George was ill at ease when he retired to rest
that night. His slumber was broken, and when he slept it was only to
dream of his trial on the morrow. Hobgoblins were judges, and legions
of little imps bore witness against him. Old Dame Durden rose up from
her grave on purpose to bear witness against him in person, and as, in
his vision, he saw her stretch out her long, bony arms towards him, he
felt her cold, clammy hand upon his head, and awoke to find himself in
a cold perspiration.

He attempted to quieten his fears, and tried to reassure himself, and,
having succeeded in some degree in doing this, he fell asleep again.

It was a vain search for rest. This time a myriad of hostile pygmies
were dragging him down into a bottomless pit. They tugged, and pushed,
and danced upon his helpless body, and laughed in spiteful glee as he
desc