GEORGE SPINDLES. 13 



he could, and keep as much as could possibly be got." Being 

 guided by this comprehensive principle throughout his ad- 

 venturous public career as a public man in a public stable, Mr. 

 James Sloper found himself, now that his hair was thin and 

 white, and his eyesight demanded the aid of spectacles, in a fair 

 position to be called rich, and with a strong inclination, strongly 

 developed, to become considerably richer. 



The means by which the end was accomplished were — 

 " Stable Secrets." 



CHAPTER II. 



Nothing could be more positive, in the shape of a foregone 

 conclusion, than the directions given by Mr. James Sloper, that 

 the interview between George Spindles and Puffy Doddles 

 should be carried out with the utmost precision; and conse- 

 quently these hitherto personal strangers to each other quickly 

 found themselves in that common position known as " face to 

 face." 



" Ho ! " exclaimed the head lad of the Great Stable of the 

 North, imitating his master's searching style of receiving Puffy 

 Doddles, by " running his eye over him." " Ho ! " repeated he, 

 " you're he, are ye 1 " 



Puffy Doddles intimated that the conjecture was correct in 

 his being the identical he, and no counterfeit. 



" Old Robert's best boy, eh 1 " resumed the interrogator. 



Puffy Doddles always did the best he knew how; but that 

 was as much as he could say about himself. 



" And quite enough, too," rejoined George Spindles, senten- 

 tiously. " Can't say too little about oneself. None but a-nass 

 speaks much about hisself. Step in, and let's finish your portrait." 



Luckily for the future peace of mind of Puffy Doddles, he 

 refrained from yielding to an impulse, and making a request 

 that his likeness should not be drawn until he had had the 



