Lobkins before you depart?"

"Not that," answered Clifford. "I have already ascertained that she is
above the reach of all want; and her days, poor soul! cannot, I fear, be
many. In all probability she would scarcely recognize me; for her habits
cannot much have improved her memory. Would I could say as much for her
neighbours! Were I to be seen in the purlieus of low thievery, you know,
as well as I do, that some stealer of kerchiefs would turn informer
against the notorious Captain Lovett."

"What, then, takes you to town? Ah! you turn away your face. I guess!
Well, Love has ruined many a hero before; may you not be the worse for
his godship!"

Clifford did not answer, and the conversation made a sudden and long
pause; Tomlinson broke it.

"Do you know, Lovett," said he, "though I have as little heart as most
men, yet I feel for you more than I could have thought it possible.
I would fain join you; there is devilish good tobacco in Germany,
I believe; and, after all, there is not so much difference between
the life of a thief and of a soldier."

"Do profit by so sensible a remark," said Clifford. "Reflect! how
certain of destruction is the path you now tread; the gallows and the
hulks are the only goals!"

"The prospects are not pleasing, I allow," said Tomlinson; "nor is it
desirable to be preserved for another century in the immortality of a
glass case in Surgeons' Hall, grinning from ear to ear, as if one had