APOLOGY. 207 



swerve. Coming closer to Robert than 

 he liked, and he not willing to let an 

 opportunity escape of showing the tender 

 regard he had for his quondam friend, 

 doubled up his thong, and fetched the 

 farmer such a wipe over the face on 

 passing as to leave the marks of a very 

 sore impression. 



It was impossible so sudden and so 

 unexpected an attack could be resented 

 in kind ; therefore the farmer sought an 

 alternative, more congenial to his feelings, 

 by punishing Bob, as he thought, in a 

 pecuniary way. 



Two or three days after this, my friend 

 Walker had occasion to go to London. 

 He sat on the roof behind me, the box- 

 seat being occupied, and a letter was 

 put into his hand as we were about to 

 start. When we got out of the town, 

 he handed it over to me. It proved to 

 be a letter from one of the lowest of the 

 members of the legal profession, inti- 



