"Part!" said the subtilizing Tomlinson. "He has nine times as many parts
as we have already. Is he not a critic, and has he not the parts of
speech at his fingers' end?"

"Nonsense!" said MacGrawler, instinctively holding up his hands, with the
fork dropping between the outstretched fingers of the right palm.

"Nonsense yourself," cried Ned; "you have a share in what you never took!
A pretty fellow, truly! Mind your business, Mr. Scot, and fork nothing
but the beefsteaks!"

With this Ned turned to the stables, and soon disappeared among the
horses; but Clifford, eying the disappointed and eager face of the
culinary sage, took ten guineas from his own share, and pushed them
towards his quondam tutor.

"There!" said he, emphatically.

"Nay, nay," grunted MacGrawler; "I don't want the money,--it is my way
to scorn such dross!" So saying, he pocketed the coins, and turned,
muttering to himself, to the renewal of his festive preparations.

Meanwhile a whispered conversation took place between Augustus and the
captain, and continued till Ned returned.

"And the night's viands smoked along the board!"

Souls of Don Raphael and Ambrose Lamela, what a charming thing it is to
be a rogue for a little time! How merry men are when they have cheated