myself at ease, like a released bird; with what zest did I join in the
rude jokes and the knavish tricks, the stolen feasts and the roofless
nights of those careless vagabonds!"

"I left my fellow-travellers at the entrance of the town where my
sister lived. Now came the contrast. Somewhat hot, rather coarsely
clad, and covered with the dust of a long summer's day, I was ushered
into a little drawing-room, eighteen feet by twelve, as I was
afterwards somewhat pompously informed. A flaunting carpet, green,
red, and yellow, covered the floor. A full-length picture of a thin
woman, looking most agreeably ill-tempered, stared down at me from the
chimney-piece; three stuffed birds--how emblematic of domestic life!--
stood stiff and imprisoned, even after death, in a glass cage. A
fire-screen and a bright fireplace; chairs covered with holland, to
preserve them from the atmosphere; and long mirrors, wrapped as to the
frame-work in yellow muslin, to keep off the flies,--finish the
panorama of this watering-place mansion. The door opened, silks
rustled, a voice shrieked 'My Brother!' and a figure, a thin figure,
the original of the picture over the chimney-piece, rushed in."

"I can well fancy her joy," said the youth.

"You can do no such thing, begging your pardon, sir," resumed King
Cole. "She had no joy at all: she was exceedingly surprised and
disappointed. In spite of my early adventures, I had nothing
picturesque or romantic about me at all. I was very thirsty, and I
called for beer; I was very tired, and I lay down on the sofa; I wore
thick shoes and small buckles; and my clothes were made God knows
where, and were certainly put on God knows how. My sister was
miserably ashamed of me: she had not even the manners to disguise it.