features, and would scarcely have been noticed by any casual observer.

Madgin junior was a fresh complexioned, sprightly young fellow of six or
seven and twenty, with dark, frank-looking eyes, a prominent nose, and
thin mobile lips. He had dark-brown hair, closely cropped; and, as
became one of his profession, he was guiltless of either beard or
moustache. Like Mirpah, he inherited his eyes and nose from his mother,
but in no other feature could he be said to resemble his beautiful
sister.

Father and son were very merry over dinner, and did not spare the wine
afterwards. The old man could not sufficiently admire the shrewd
business-like aptitude shown by his son in their recent conference. The
latter's extraction of a written promise by his own father was an action
that the elder man could fully appreciate; it was a stroke of business
that touched him to the heart, and made him feel proud of his "dear
James."

"But how will you manage about waiting at table?" asked Solomon of his
son as they strolled out together to smoke their cigars on the little
bridge by the hotel. "I am afraid that you will betray your ignorance,
and break down when you come to be put to the test."

"Never fear; I shall pull through somehow," answered James. "I am not so
ignorant on such matters as you may suppose. Geary used to say that I
did the flunkey business better than any man he ever had at the Tabard:
I have always been celebrated for my footmen. Of course I am quite aware
that the real article is very different from its stage counterfeit, but
I have actually been at some pains to study the genus in its different
varieties, and to arrive at some knowledge of the special duties it has