104 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



' 'ord blesh ye !' 



Added to a toss up of the chin out of the cravat, 

 to give emphasis to the middle word, this invoca- 

 tion conveyed all the answer that was heard, to the 

 difficulty started by Mr. Bowles. What the exact 

 meaning was that lay wrapped up in the blessing 

 whether it was peremptorily favourable to young 

 Leejohn's pecuniosity, or conclusive of some indif- 

 ference attaching in toto to the inquiry, has remained 

 dark to the present day. The subject fell, strangled 

 by some larger topic of news-room discussion : and 

 the Chronicle is without a scholiast. 



Two or three days after the appearance of this 

 epigrammatic announcement in the ' Mercury,' a 

 thick and weighty-looking pacquet, directed in what 

 may for contradistinction's sake, be called ' Square- 

 text,' might be seen lying upon the margin of a 

 breakfast table on which lay also an admired dis- 

 order of newspapers, books, farm accounts, and 

 coffee-cups. The room itself in which the table 

 stood is just worth a moment's notice before any- 

 one comes in. Small, oak-panelled, and too 

 square for good proportion, it was crammed, in 

 every corner and upon every table, with miscel- 



