as ever appeared upon paper, it melted so in the process of collection,
that what was realized was hardly worth his acceptance; saying so, in his
usual blunt way, that if he hunted a country at his own expense he would
hunt one that wasn't encumbered with fools, he just stamped his little
wardrobe into a pair of old black saddle-bags, and rode out of town without
saying 'tar, tar,' good-bye, carding, or P.P.C.-ing anybody.

This was at the end of a season, a circumstance that considerably mitigated
the inconvenience so abrupt a departure might have occasioned, and as one
of the great beauties of Laverick Wells is, that it is just as much in
vogue in summer as in winter, the inhabitants consoled themselves with the
old aphorism, that there is as 'good fish in the sea as ever came out of
it,' and cast about in search of some one to supply his place at as small
cost to themselves as possible. In a place so replete with money and the
enterprise of youth, little difficulty was anticipated, especially when the
old bait of 'a name' being all that was wanted, 'an ample subscription,' to
defray all expenses figuring in the background, was held out.




CHAPTER V

MR. WAFFLES


Among a host of most meritorious young men--(any of whom would get up
behind a bill for five hundred pounds without looking to see that it wasn't
a thousand)--among a host of most meritorious young men who made their
appearance at Laverick Wells towards the close of Mr. Slocdolager's reign,