Mr. Metal. in 



tremely dilapidated mansion situated thereon, and, with 

 the help of an aspiring architect, built a hideous-looking 

 yellow-coloured, slate-roofed, plateglass-windowed house, 

 which he dignified with the high-sounding but somewhat 

 eccentric name of " Cockamaroo Hall," so called because 

 a horse of his of that name won the Cesarewitch, or, 

 as he himself would call it, '' Seizerwitch," a few years 

 ago. 



The builders and painters, and plumbers and glaziers, 

 painters and decorators, upholsterers, and such like 

 having at last all taken their departure, Mr. Metal 

 one fine day, with his daughter, Arabella, his thorough- 

 bred nags, his Racing Calendar, and his Ruffs 

 Guide, arrived by the midday train at the little out- 

 of-the-way station belonging to the Great Smasham 

 and Crumple-em-up Railway, called Sleepyfield, and was 

 soon installed comfortably at Cockamaroo Hall. The news 

 of the arrival of course spread like wildfire, and many 

 were the conjectures as to what the Metals were like. 



Mrs. Blenkinsop, their next-door neighbour, went 

 about asking everybody what sort of a person a " Black- 

 leg" was. She had heard the poor dear Major, she said, 

 often speak in terms of horror and disgust of them. The 

 late Major Blenkinsop, we have heard, was uncommonly 

 well qualified to pass an opinion, for a little bird once 

 whispered to us that it was during that gallant officer's 

 sojourn in that distinguished regiment, the 40th Lancers 

 (The Queen's Own Blusterers), that that ugly card-playing 

 scandal arose, winding up with a duel and a court-martial 

 to follow, in which occurrences the Major played one of 

 the principal parts, rumour said, with anything but credit 

 to himself. 



