whose conscience was more calm, and whose slumbers were more
tranquil, than those of Captain Howard Walker.

As he was sitting under the hands of Mr. Eglantine, he reverted to
"the ladies," whom the latter gentleman professed to expect; said he
was a sly dog, a lucky ditto, and asked him if the ladies were
handsome.

Eglantine thought there could be no harm in telling a bouncer to a
gentleman with whom he was engaged in money transactions; and so, to
give the Captain an idea of his solvency and the brilliancy of his
future prospects, "Captain," said he, "I've got a hundred and eighty
pounds out with you, which you were obliging enough to negotiate for
me. Have I, or have I not, two bills out to that amount?"

"Well, my good fellow, you certainly have; and what then?"

"What then? Why, I bet you five pounds to one, that in three months
those bills are paid."

"Done! five pounds to one. I take it."

This sudden closing with him made the perfumer rather uneasy; but he
was not to pay for three months, and so he said, "Done!" too, and
went on: "What would you say if your bills were paid?"

"Not mine; Pike's."

"Well, if Pike's were paid; and the Minories' man paid, and every
single liability I have cleared off; and that Mossrose flung out of