1831.] Too Earhj. 6l7 



standing at the bottom of the flight in wonderment as to whom it 

 might be. 



" Beg your pardon, sir," said the Boots, somewhat suspiciously- 

 inclined • " are you going by any of the morning coaches ?" 



" Not I," quoth Purvis ; " I have just come by a night coach, and 

 have had travelling enough for one while." 



" Oh," cried Boots, with a prolongation to the interjection, as if to 

 make it last while he was making up his mind as to what he had better 

 do next. 



O— h— h— h— h-h— h— h ! 



Now Master Henry Purvis was a thickset, brawny, lusty-looking 

 Yorkshireman ; and though it could not be said of him as of FalstafF, 

 that his waist was " two yards and more" about, yet had it a most 

 respectable substantiality ; and as Mr. Boots eyed it with a growing 

 suspicion, he muttered — " There was a gentleman here last week in a 

 mighty hurry in the morning, so I let him out ; and presently after that 

 down runs Sally, squalling that the sheets were gone from the gemman's 

 bed. Now, sir, I don't mean any offence." 



" So 1 should guess," quoth Purvis, somewhat drily ; "but as I admire 

 plain-dealing, I am quite ready to wait here till you have been up to 

 my room. No. 46, and satisfy yourself that your valuable sheets are quite 

 safe." 



" Thank'ye, sir," quoth Boots, mistaking his sarcasm for civility ; 

 and aAvay he hopped, two steps at a time, to survey the premises. 

 No. 46. 



But if he went up two at a time, down he came three, with a mouth- 

 ful of apologies, supei'induced by having perceived that No. 46 was the 

 owner of one hair trunk and one large portmanteau. He wound up his 

 apologetical oration, to which Purvis listened very good humoui-edly, 

 with the remark — "And, after all, sir, what can gentlemen expect if 

 they will be too early .'"' 



Upon this conclusion our hero walked away, somewhat startled at the 

 new theory that had thus been opened on him ; for three minutes he 

 attempted to take it into consideration, and then with a " Phoo, it only 

 comes from ]Mr. Boots," he dismissed it from his attention. 



jMy record of the adventures of Mr. Henry Purvis does not inform 

 me where he breakfasted that morning ; and indeed 1 lose all sight of 

 him till nine o'clock, at which hour he was in Portman-square, inquir- 

 ing his way to Lord Spanker's. The abode of one so eminent as my 

 lord, was, of course, easily discovered ; and at five minutes past nine 

 Mr. Purvis knocked at the door. 



A footman, in that easy undress which sits so gracefully on the gen- 

 teel lacquej'S of the present day, opened the door; and after a superbly 

 conclusive survey of the stranger, condescended — "Ha! — Oh! — What 

 may you want ? — Ha \" 



" Pray, is this Lord Spanker's?" demanded Purvis. 



" Ha! — Oh ! — You may say that. But, ah, my lord's steward never 

 pays no])ody till the last of the month. Ha!" 



" I did not ask for my lord's steward," quoth Purvis, " it is my lord 

 I want to see." 



" My lord — ha !" ejaculated the footman, with both his eyes very 

 much open. " Phoo ! phoo !" 



" Ilark'ye, .sir," cried our hero, a little nettled, " you will please to go 



i^I. M. New Scries.— Yoh. XII. No. 72. 3 C 



