"I do!" cried Lionel; and Sophy, whom by this time he had drawn upon his
lap, put her arm gratefully round his neck.

"There is your money, sir, beforehand," said Vance, declining downward
his betrayed and resentful nose, and depositing three sovereigns on the
table.

"And how do you know," said Waife, smiling, "that I may not be off
to-night with your money and your model!"

"Well," said Vance, curtly, "I think it is on the cards. Still, as John
Kemble said when rebuked for too large an alms,

"'It is not often that I do these things,
But when I do, I do them handsomely.'"

"Well applied, and well delivered, sir," said the Comedian, "only you
should put a little more emphasis on the word do."

"Did I not put enough? I am sure I felt it strongly; no one can feel the
do more!"

Waife's pliant face relaxed into a genial brightness. The /equivoque/
charmed him. However, not affecting to comprehend it, he thrust back the
money, and said,--"No, sir, not a shilling till the picture is completed.
Nay, to relieve your mind, I will own that, had I no scruple more
delicate, I would rather receive nothing till Mr. Rugge is gone. True,
he has no right to any share in it. But you see before you a man who,
when it comes to arguing, could never take a wrangler's degree,--never
get over the Asses' Bridge, sir. Plucked at it scores of times clean as