of the flourishing circumstances of the Reachall family; the last mark of her condescending confidence being an account of her visit to Margate, and all the money which she had spent of which she had told Mr. Renchall, and all the money she had spent of which she had not told Mr. Renchall, the money she had lost in the roomraffles, and the price of all the yellow shoes which gave such grace to the footsteps of her children, to say nothing of the pair which had been brought home for " pa.'

Now, just at this juncture there came a long and important knock at the door, which the gentleman in black thought might have emanated from the hand of a hackney-coachman, but which all the children in the yellow shoes, and "ma" into the bargain, assured him was "pa;" and "ma," having begged him not to mention to “ pa" what she had disclosed to him in strict confidence respecting the money which she had clandestinely disposed of in the Margate raffles, and having received his guarantee of perfect secrecy, went out into the "hall to meet "pa.

Then came a whispering between them respecting the apparent condition of their visiter, the result of which was, that as "ma" assured "pa" that the gentleman was a gentleman, "pa," wishing to be a gentleman too, went into the back parlour and changed his coat for a dirty dressing- gown, which hung behind the door, and his dirty shoes for the before-mentioned yellow Margate slippers.

Thus accoutred, the head of the Renchall family walked majestically great, and amiably condescending, across the intervening six feet, and entered the presence of his visiter with his head already bent for a bow; but never came thunder-cloud across summer sky so black as the frown that knitted itself into the inch-and-a-half forehead of Mr. Renchall, and the protrusion of his chin could only be measured by its own depth, being, we believe, about six inches.

The gentleman in black rose from his chair with an air of trepidation he felt that he was a coward, and despised himself for being so.

:

"So, so, Mr. Mr.-Meredith, it is you, is it, sir?" said Mr. Renchall, recovering his dignity as he discovered the insignificancy of his guest.

"It is me, sir. I have called upon you, Mr. Renchall—"

"Yes, and I've called upon you, too, Mr. Meredith, no less than two, three, nay, four times, but I never found you at home—at least I was told that you were out. Do you know, Mr. Meredith, that that makes you liable to an act of bankruptcy—an act of bankruptcy, sir ?"

"I am sorry to have given you the trouble of so many journeys." "Trouble, sir! The next time you choose to be denied, tell your people to take your hat out of the passage, sir!—to take your hat out of the passage, sir!"

The poor gentleman in black looked much humiliated, and the great man as much elated.

"At all events, sir," said the gentleman in black, "since I am so fortunate as to meet with you to-day, I hope we may be able to make some arrangement that will release you from any further trouble."

"Have you brought the money with you, sir?-the money, sir? A year's rent, sir?-seventy-five pounds, sir?"

The poor gentleman in black was constrained to allow that he had

not.

"That's all, sir !-that's all, sir! You needn't say no more. Seventy-five pounds, sir !—that's all !—that's enough, sir !"

"If you would accommodate me with a fortnight's time, sir, I am sure that I should be able to

"A fortnight, sir! A fortnight, sir! Couldn't do no such thing! Must make up my own accounts in less than a week. Miss Garvan expects me to be punctual, whatever her tenants may be. She looks to me, sir!—she looks to me! I must send in my account in less than a week, sir, and I must have yours."

"I shall endeavour," said poor Mr. Meredith.

"Endeavour, sir !-endeavour! O yes! your endeavours would be poor things to trust to, I'm thinking. To tell you the truth, I've just taken the matter into my own hands, or, rather, I ought to say, I've put it into the hands of my broker. He-he-he-I've just been to him, sir, for I had half-a-dozen little matters of my own, as well as two or three of Miss Garvan's-yours amongst them, sir. You'll find a man in possession when you get home again, or, at least, you may expect him, sir. And now I need not occupy more of your time, sir-I dare say you have no time to spare, sir; at least, I haven't. I want to look at my broker's inventories, sir. Good morning, sir! Good morning, sir!"

At the comfortable assurances of the honour of his expected guest the gentleman in black turned divers colours, red, and white, and black. He was one of those never-to-be-enough condemned people, who always act upon impulses, and the impulse now was indignation.

"I will not submit to this tyranny from a low upstart!" exclaimed the gentleman in black. "I will appeal from your authority, sir! I will see Miss Garvan !"

"Go to Bath, sir! Go to Bath, sir!-he! he he! he!"

"Yes, sir! I will go to Bath, sir! and lay before Miss Garvan the whole circumstances of the case! I will let her know, sir, the real character of the man in whom she reposes her confidence! I will unveil him, sir! I will unmask him, sir!"

"Go

"Go to Bath, sir! he! he he! Go to Bath, sir !" reiterated the agent, in extreme derision, and pointing his finger to the door. to Bath, sir!"

"I will go to Bath, sir!" exclaimed the gentleman in black in a most direful passion, as he bounced out of the portal to which his host so obligingly directed his attention.

Our poor hero threaded his way through the intricacies of Mr. Renchall's landed property with the celerity of an engine on the railway, his anger, like steam, impelling him into a speed which brought him again into the hospitable region of the White Horse Cellar, before Mr. Renchall had had time to read over one of the inventories supplied by the gentleman who had the honour of being his professional gentleman, that is, his broker. The gentleman in black, stung into madness by what he considered the peculiar atrocity of his own par

ticular injuries, bounced down those cellar steps without consideration either for his ankles or his dignity, booked himself as a passenger to Bath by the New Company's Coach, to set off at seven the following morning, was rather staggered on being asked for half his fare in advance, having quite forgotten that going to Bath required anything in the vulgar shape of money; but on consulting his purse found, to his great satisfaction, that he could not only meet the required demand, but likewise remain the sovereign master of a crown, to say nothing of a whole fourpenny piece: he therefore paid like a prince, and then wended his way homeward.

Now it will be seen from our veritable biography that our poor gentleman in black acted more upon haste and impulse than on any settled plan, or reasonable motive. He was one of those people whose hearts are like buoys: pull them down, and beat them down, and press them down, just as you will, they are sure to rise up again as brisk as ever. Nothing can prevent them from hoping; they will hope, even where, if they had reason or common sense, they ought to despair: they cannot be made to feel that they ought to be miserable for more than five minutes. No! something will arise some corn in Egypt, some light in the darkness, some guidance out of the difficulty, some strength in the weakness, some joy in the sorrow-they know it will; and so they go on trusting and hoping, and not miserable, though other people would contrive to be so with one-half of the material. Well; and who shall say that they are wrong? Is not this hopefulness a divine impulse of their nature-to trust a generous Providence, even without knowing it themselves? Is it not an instinct, and therefore unerring?

The gentleman in black walked on with a hasty and hurried step towards his own dwelling. Certain qualms came over him as he ascended the steps, and remembered the visiter that Miss Garvan's steward had promised him. He thought of the violated sanctity of home, and his heart was a little pulled down, but it sprang up again before he had withdrawn his hand from the knocker, with a sort of assurance that the evil had not yet had time to take effect, and that something would arise to spare him the pain and the degradation.

The hope was speedily dissipated: his children came clustering round him with frightened faces; a certain, shabby, dirty, villanouslooking man was ensconced in the back parlour; he and another had been all over the house, rummaging every drawer, and searching every cupboard, from the garret to the cellar, and had made a long list of every article: the children were in an agony, and the servants in a passion; but now that papa had come home, he would send that horrid man away.

The first impulse of the gentleman in black was to kick the intruder out with all the energy in the world; the second was a sort of tolerating contempt for the subordinate, and superadded indignation against the principal; but he would unmask the man! he would show him in his true colours! he would "go to Bath to-morrow!"

His next trouble came in the shape of sundry long strips of paper, being the solution of the arithmetical question of certain columns

standing in the ledgers of certain butchers, and bakers, and linendrapers, and wine-merchants, and all that sort of people. These, being all accompanied by the question "When will you pay me?" proved far too troublesome for present consideration. The poor gentleman in black wished very much to defer the solution of the enigma to a more convenient opportunity; but as several of the applicants were just then troubled with an impertinent curiosity, and came personally to urge their requests, and as his housekeeper was also urgent for his opinion on a "ways and means" question, he suddenly snatched up his hat, and with rather ungentlemanly precipitation rushed out of the house.

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Here the throbbing of his head and the beating of his heart were, for a few moments, highly inconvenient to him, but when he had walked about five hundred yards from his now troubled home a reaction commenced. "Things must take a turn: the bottom of the wheel to-day must be the top to-morrow." But while these profound reflections were thus springing up, he remembered that the home ways and means question was still unsettled, and by some continuity of thought a partial glimpse of the common-place expediency of a little trifle in the shape of the current coin of the realm to meet his travelling expenses when he should " go to Bath came across his mind, and then he very opportunely recollected that he had about five hundred dear friends who had breakfasted with him, and dined with him, and supped with him, and borrowed money of him, times without number, besides having made him generally useful in getting some of them situations, and being bail and bond for others, and a thousand smaller matters; and it suddenly too came across his mind that he had not for a long time taken any notice of all these dear friends, and doubtless they were wounded and hurt at his estrangement, as they delicately but forcibly proved by forbearing to seek his society; so he would go to them and give them an opportunity of relieving themselves from the burden of their gratitude. Yes, he would go it would now be useful to himself, and it would only be generous to them; he would sacrifice his pride, and borrow a little money of them for his present exigencies that would be very magnanimous !

So the poor silly gentleman in black turned round and directed his steps to sundry squares, and terraces, and streets, in search of these same friends. He found the squares and the terraces and streets, but the friends!-ah, he might well ask where are they?

Our space does not allow us to attend him in his vain search; we can only follow him in his disappointment.

In a paroxysm of wounded feelings, composed of a mingled sense of disgrace and desertion, which acted like an impetus to his body, the gentleman in black came with a sudden concussion against another pedestrian who was progressing at the same ratio in an inverted course. Then came an angry exclamation, then a half-angry apology, interrupted by the exclamations " Ha, Meredith! can that be you?" on the one side, and on the other "Is that you, Prior?"

So, instead of a challenge, the gentleman in black and our new friend shook hands: the concussion had suddenly dislodged or made the former forget his animosity against all mankind.

"Where are you for, Prior ?"

"O, only down to the coach-office: off to Portsmouth in five minutes. But for that lucky thump, I should have gone without seeing you. Under sailing orders-enjoyed myself long enough on shore -get spoiled-won't do-spent all my money."

The gentleman in black sighed a heavy sigh. We wonder how sighs are weighed.

"And you, Meredith, old fellow, what are you doing? Grumbling at the directors ?"

"No; they behaved handsomely enough."

"What did they do for you ?"

"Why, when the charter was up, they of course reduced us poor clerks, but they offered us a choice of an equivalent or superannuation." "All fair and above board; and how did you choose?"

"Like a fool, as you may be sure: I took the equivalent."

"Was that like a fool ?"

"Yes; because I employed it like a fool."

"How ?"

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Why I embarked it in a company, by which I thought to realise some heavy ingots, and instead of that it blew up into bubbles." "Whew! and you?"

"I am shipwrecked.”

"No, no.

"Yes, yes, literally."

"Fiddle faddle, man; times will mend."

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They cannot get worse, that is some comfort."

"But what are you doing now?"

"To-day ?"

"Why yes, then, to-day; I suppose to-day is a sample of other days ?"

"Trudging through this vast city to find a friend who has five pounds worth of care for me. Am I not a beggarly—

"My dear fellow, my dear fellow,-why what a plague shall I do? Now I'll tell you what I've been doing. I have been keeping a cab that I did not know how to drive, and horses that I did not know how to ride, and company that did not care a rush for me, and so I've literally left myself with nothing but a poor petty, paltry, contemptible five pound note to offer to a friend till times may mend. I could cut my own throat-but I shall be too late for the stage; so better times, and good-bye, good-bye."

And with a hearty wring of the hand, in which he left the little promissory pledge of the immutable Bank of England, the sailor ran off at his utmost speed, and the gentleman in black wended his way once more towards his now disconsolate home; his heart, refreshed more by the kindness than the succour of his friend, once more rode buoyantly. He knew that when he should "go to Bath" and tell Miss Garvan of the severity of her steward, she would allow him time to arrange his affairs, and then his home creditors, seeing him continue in the respectable quietness of his dwelling, would not be so urgent in their claims, and then he would look around him for some commercial engagement, and no doubt he should be able to support his chil