to which, the young man was ostensibly a student of medicine, and had
the credit in the house of having cured the washerwoman's canary of a
sore throat."

"Well, how did he manage about the fish?"

"Very simply; he went and bought some exactly the same size that were
not in a lethargy; he then, at the risk of breaking his neck or being
taken for a burglar, scaled the balcony, and substituted them for the
defunct. Next morning, when he called to inquire after his patients,
he found the old lady quite joyful."

"Had she no doubts as to their identity?"

"Well, one was a little paler and another was a trifle thinner, but
she was easily persuaded that this difference might arise from their
convalescence. The young man immediately became a great favorite; and
the old lady would rather have shared her own apartments with him,
than allow him to quit the house; he consequently remained."

"What, then, became of the pistols and the French horn?" inquired
Jack.

"From that time on there sprung up a close friendship between the two;
he was induced by her to convert his weapons of war into
pharmacopoeas. Always, when she made some nice compound of jelly and
cream, he had a share of it; he, on his side, scarcely ever passed her
door without softening his tread; and both himself and his dog
managed, eventually, to acquire the favor of the old lady's pug."