THE SIX OF SPADES. 87 



be extracted from a platform-load of Puritans ; and, 

 though I give you my honour th,at I always thought, 

 until the day of her death, that she was in 

 straightened circumstances, she left me ten thou- 

 sand pounds." " Oh ! " exclaims the sceptic, \vith 

 his unbelieving sneer ; and I only wish the colonel 

 could hear him. He would repeat his small observa- 

 tion in a very different key. 



But where is the Curate ? We left him commu- 

 ning with Cooper pere he is now with Cooper fits. 

 And there can be no question whatever that Tom 

 junior is at this moment the happiest individual out. 

 He has won the first prize for a posy of wild flowers 

 (we call it a bouquet in our schedule, but I like the 

 sweet old English word far better, and so do the little 

 florists), achieving this victory over thirteen competi- 

 tors, and surmounting obstacles of a stupendous 

 magnitude ; for it is currently reported, not only that 

 Billy Jenkinson's mother had been seen, on her 

 return from weeding, with large contributions of field 

 flowers for her sweet William, but further, that Tim 

 Norris's big brother " got all his, and tied 'em up for 

 him." Against these fearful odds, these grand 

 advantages, Tom Cooper has won the day ; he has 

 utterly discomfited the mother of Jenkinson and 

 annihilated the large fraternity of Norris. There he 

 stands, reading the card, which proclaims his con- 

 quest, for the ninety-third time, a conqueror far more 

 proud and happy than Wellington himself when 

 Waterloo was fought, and all that he hoped was won. 



Whence came, I wonder, Tom's taste for wild 

 flowers, and his cleverness in grouping them so 



