A DOUBTFUL COLONEL 161 



which he asked me if I had any objection to take a bill. 

 I certainly thought the request rather an unusual one, 

 but the beautiful gold chronometer was fresh in my 

 vision, as well as the jewelled rings on his fingers, so that 

 I did not long hesitate, but said, " Certainly not, provided 

 you can give me a satisfactory reference." He having 

 named a gentleman, the son and co-partner of an alder- 

 man of the City of London, and an old friend of our family, 

 I readily assented. 



Accordingly the bill was drawn, signed, and accepted, 

 and the business was so far settled. I took the bill, 

 which I carefully deposited in my cash-box, and he took 

 the horses. 



I thouo'ht nothino- more of the matter till about three 

 weeks after, when I had occasion to go to London, and, 

 on entering my father's breakfast-parlour, found there the 

 very gentleman I had been referred to. This incident 

 naturally recalled the individual to my mind, and I asked 

 him if he knew such a person as Colonel Verity. 



" Yes," he said, " I do, and know him to be one of the 

 greatest swindlers in or out of London, and I hope you 

 have had no transactions with him." 



On my relating the circumstance, he assured me that 

 the bill was not worth one farthing, and said I had 

 better get the horses back if I could. 



I returned home, a day or two after this interview, and 

 found that the plot had been blown, and that the gentle- 

 man had decamped without bidding farewell to those 

 who had good reason to remember so accomplished an 

 adept in his art. 



The Hampshire weekly paper had been published, and 



VOL. I. M 



