world. But I must bid you good day, sir, for I have three miles to
walk before noon, to inform some boarding-school young ladies
whether their husbands are to be peers of the realm or captains in
the army: a question which I promised to answer them by that time."

Harley had drawn a shilling from his pocket; but Virtue bade him
consider on whom he was going to bestow it. Virtue held back his
arm; but a milder form, a younger sister of Virtue's, not so severe
as Virtue, nor so serious as Pity, smiled upon him; his fingers lost
their compression, nor did Virtue offer to catch the money as it
fell. It had no sooner reached the ground than the watchful cur (a
trick he had been taught) snapped it up, and, contrary to the most
approved method of stewardship, delivered it immediately into the
hands of his master.



CHAPTER XIX--HE MAKES A SECOND EXPEDITION TO THE BARONET'S. THE
LAUDABLE AMBITION OF A YOUNG MAN TO BE THOUGHT SOMETHING BY THE
WORLD



We have related, in a former chapter, the little success of his
first visit to the great man, for whom he had the introductory
letter from Mr. Walton. To people of equal sensibility, the
influence of those trifles we mentioned on his deportment will not
appear surprising, but to his friends in the country they could not
be stated, nor would they have allowed them any place in the
account. In some of their letters, therefore, which he received