286 COLONEL VERITY. 



much to my taste among gentlemen, as 

 well as to my own advantage, was not free 

 from those losses to which a want of 

 knowledge of the ingenuity of mankind 

 will sometimes subject the most expe- 

 rienced practitioner, as the following 

 anecdote will show: 



One fine summer's morning a gentle- 

 man called at my office, arid introduced 

 himself to me as Colonel Verity. He 

 was a tall, military-looking man, gen- 

 teelly attired in plain clothes. He said 

 he wanted a pair of light carriage- 

 horses to draw a phaeton, and had been 

 recommended to me as a person who 

 was likely to supply him. 



I told him I had not a pair at pre- 

 sent that would be likely to suit. He 

 professed to be in no immediate hurry; 

 he was staying at Ryde with his lady, 

 for the benefit of her health, and a 

 fortnight hence would do. 



After a little further conversation I 



