72 TJie Pytchley Hunt^ Past and Present, [chap. n. 



that I could have done so^ as from the strength of your 

 aflfection^ a personal interview might have led to a scene ; 

 and that, of all things_, I mortally abhor. Let us then 

 look forward_, old boy, to our next merry meeting ; and if 

 it be true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, we 

 shall neither of us regret our prolonged separation. 

 Seven years, tliough, is beyond a joke, and it certainly 

 was far more than I had bargained for ; nor can I account 

 fur the severity of the sentence, except upon the presump- 

 tion that the court must have seen something in my 

 appearance that convinced them that it would be against 

 the interests of the community that I should be at large. 

 I had, however, taken every precaution to divest myself 

 of all those indications by which your double-distilled, 

 capped and jewelled rogue is usually known. I had been 

 to a hatter and had the brims of my tile pressed down, 

 and I had exchanged my doeskin gloves for black kid, 

 but it all proved ineffectual. It can't be helped now, 

 however; so we must each of us try to bear up against 

 it. But to come to the more immediate purport of this 

 letter. Our mutual friend, Hutton, as you know, has 

 resigned the chaplaincy of the Northampton gaol. I 

 verily believe that during the nine years that he has held 

 the office, with singleness of heart he has endeavoured to 

 do all the good in his power, and to discharge his duty 

 with credit to himself, and satisfaction to all concerned. 

 He deserves a testimonial, and ought to have one ; and I 

 ask you, my dear fellow, to set the thing a-going at once. 

 Give him some such thing as a silver inkstand ; and if it 

 be said that this suggestion comes with a bad grace from 

 one who sacrifices nothing but his time and trouble in 

 making it, I authorize you to advance on my account the 



