IGNORANCE 75 



means, to increase his establishment ; consequently, he 

 was never dejected, but bided his time. I was put off 

 Avith empty promises, that were from time to time as far 

 from fulfilment as on the day the Cheltenham coach was 

 discontinued. A twelvemonth or near had passed away, 

 when one evening, grown desperate by such repeated dis- 

 appointment, I met him at the end of the gateway. 



" Where are you going, young man ? " said my one- 

 eyed friend, who had been in conversation with the 

 principal but a few minutes before. 



" I don't know," I replied, in a careless and indifferent 

 manner. 



" Come along with me, then," said he. 



I followed him instinctively — silently brooding over my 

 own wrongs, and lamenting my almost destitute condition, 

 We Avalked along Cockspur Street, under the Opera 

 colonnade, turned into and crossed St. James's Square. 

 My friend was a man of very few words — indeed his 

 vocabulary was awkwardly deficient, and he was grossly 

 ignorant on every subject except that of coaching. Yet 

 he was generally pretty well dressed, though not in the 

 extreme of either the fashion or his profession. He was 

 a fine made man, though not tall ; his neck and shoulders 

 being a model for a sculptor, always reminded a sporting 

 friend of mine of Gully, of fighting celebrity. His features 

 were not bad, though a little inclined to the gladiator style, 

 and the loss of his eye had added to his countenance a 

 quaint, if not sinister expression. He always walked with 

 a stick, which gave him more the appearance of a respec- 

 table London horse-dealer than anything I can compare 

 him to. 



