"My dear sir, this is kind indeed," he said as I advanced, struggling
with his feelings, "but take a chair," and he glanced round the room
with a bitter smile, as he observed there was none, "my friends are kind
you see, they think chairs are useless things...."

The loss of his land affected him more than I can describe. He had been
brought up upon it, and it had become as it were part and parcel of
himself; it was not an ordinary loss. The noise and bustle in the house
and sundry interruptions from inquisitive eyes, warned us, as N----
said, that "we must jog." As we were rising, I accidentally inquired
whether he had received his letters that morning. "Good God!" he
exclaimed, "I totally forgot, and poor Andrew I fancy is too much
occupied in bemoaning the fate of the horses, to have thought of it;
but we can get them when I return with you this afternoon."

"Delays are dangerous," I replied, "we will not throw a chance away."

We hastened to the stable, and I despatched the servant on my own horse,
with the utmost expedition to the post-office at ----.

N---- sauntered through a private path in the shrubbery towards the
entrance of the grounds, and I made my way through the careless throng,
who had no thought what their own fate might be perhaps to-morrow--to
Mr. Nibble, and urged him to delay the sale for an hour, but he said it
was impossible, he would not hurry it for half an hour or so, but that
they were already pressed for time. The landed property was first to be
brought to the hammer. I mechanically followed the steps of N----, and
when I overtook him, we saw through a break in the wood, from the
increased density of the mob and the elevation of the auctioneer, that
the sale was commencing.