256 WOLF-HUNTING. 



rather to show that customers would still be attended to than to> 

 exhibit the variety and quality of the goods within. Dismal as 

 the aspect was, however, out of doors, right pleasant was it to 

 see Marseillier's hearty and ever-cheerful countenance beaming 

 with joy at our unexpected return, and bidding us welcome within 

 his portals as if we had been old friends he had lost sight of for 

 many a long day. Verily, his warm greeting acted like a cordial 

 on our spirits as, wearied by the wet mud-work, and somewhat 

 depressed by the surrounding gloom, we entered his comfortable 

 hotel. 



Then his tongue, which was as long as that of an ant-eater, 

 rattled on like the clapper of a mill, the sole subject of its 

 volubility being the rascality of Johnson, the Jersey horse-dealer. 



" Butcher Kenwyn has had a narrow escape," said he ; " and 

 would probably have lost both his horse and his money if the 

 police had not tracked this villain to his den in the very nick of 

 time." 



"What, our companion of yesterday?" inquired St. Prix, fairly 

 taken by surprise at this startling intelligence. 



" The same," answered Marseillier ; " the man whom I intro- 

 duced to your society as a gentleman, M. de St. Prix ; for which 

 act I owe you and your friends the most ample apology, as a 

 greater rogue never assumed that honourable title." 



" I did not at all like the looks of the man, I own," said 

 St. Prix ; " but inasmuch as he was a stranger, and apparently 

 fond of hunting, I tried to overcome the prejudice one is too apt 

 to feel, either for good or ill, at first sight, and so welcomed him 

 to our hunt. But what has happened, Marseillier ? " 



The garrulous host then proceeded to relate the capture of 

 the horse-dealer by a London detective, aided by a French 

 commissary of police, and the circumstances, so far as he could 

 learn them, that led to his apprehension. 



" No sooner," said he, " had Johnson returned to Carhaix last 



