CAPTAIN SHABBYHOUNDE 261 



sequence as man could possibly do, a gentleman that none 

 but a public bod}' — the Bank of England, South Sea House, 

 or some such establishment, could purchase, if taken at 

 his own valuation. What a contrast to the lean, haggard, 

 lank-haired, one-eyed man coming up on a worn-out pony 

 with the redoubtable Lambkin in his hand. The old, napless 

 seen-better-days looking hat of the stranger is put out of all 

 countenance by the spic-and-span, fresh-from-the-band-bo.x, 

 blooming-looking affair on the well-anointed curls of the 

 smoker. "Well to do" must the man be who turns out a 

 new tile in February, tempting not only the snow, but Jupiter 

 Pluvius. This, too, Strutt did, in spite of the redoubtable 

 Moore having prophesied in his wonderful weather column, 

 " Now dull with frequent downfall." Strutt, of course, found 

 his own clothes, and affected a sort of mixture of the foreigner 

 and the country gentleman. Not so the stranger, whose 

 seedy old drab coat and broad blue-and-white striped livery 

 waistcoat put all idea of concealment of servitude out of 

 the question, even if the shabby cockade in the hat had 

 been wanting. 



" I'm blowed, if I don't believe this ere kiddey with the 

 ventilator in his old tile is a bringin of my new 'orse," 

 observed Mr. Strutt, taking his cigar out of his mouth, with 

 which, and a hand in each coat pocket, he had been straddling, 

 the observed of all observers of a select circle of post-boys, 

 horse-keepers, and idlers, the usual concomitants of the 

 glorious but now departed greatness of stage-coaches. 



" I say, old chap ! " exclaimed Strutt to the man who had 

 now begun fumbling and smelling at the piece of dirty paper 

 as if he could read, " I say, old chap, are you a lookin' for your 

 nuss ? " 



" Brought a horse for a gentleman," replied the man, again 

 holding the dirty slip of paper upside down before his 

 nose. 



