was there; and as if instantly guessing that ours was no
regular party of pleasure, his look, dress, and manner were all in keeping
with the occasion,--quiet, subdued, and searching.

"When the claret had been superseded by the whiskey, and the confidential
hours were approaching, by an adroit allusion to some heavy wager then
pending, we brought our finances upon the _tapis_. The thing was done
beautifully,--an easy _adagio_ movement, no violent transition; but hang me
if old Mat didn't catch the matter at once.

"'Oh, it's there ye are, Captain!' said he, with his peculiar grin.
'Two-and-sixpence in the pound, and no assets.'

"'The last is nearer the mark, my old boy,' said Shaugh, blurting out the
whole truth at once. The wily attorney finished his tumbler slowly, as
if giving himself time for reflection, and then, smacking his lips in a
preparatory manner, took a quick survey of the room with his piercing green
eye.

"'A very sweet mare of yours that little mouse-colored one is, with the dip
in the back; and she has a trifling curb--may be it's a spavin, indeed--in
the near hind-leg. You gave five-and-twenty for her, now, I'll be bound?'

"'Sixty guineas, as sure as my name's Dan,' said Shaugh, not at all pleased
at the value put upon his hackney; 'and as to spavin and curb, I'll wager
double the sum she has neither the slightest trace of one nor the other.'

"'I'll not take the bet,' said Mat, dryly. 'Money's scarce in these parts.'

"This hit silenced us both; and our friend continued,--

"'Then there's the bay horse,--a great strapping, leggy beast he is for a
tilbury; and the hunters, worth nothing here; they don't know this country.
Them's neat pistols; and the tilbury is not bad--'

"'Confound you!' said I, losing all patience; 'we didn't ask you here to
appraise our movables. We want to raise the wind without that.'

"'I see, I perceive,' said Mat, taking a pinch of snuff very leisurely as
he spoke,--'I see. Well, that is difficult, very difficult just now. I've
mortgaged every acre of ground in the two counties near us, and a sixpence
more is not to be had that way. Are you lucky at the races?'

"'Never win a sixpence.'

"'What can you do at whist?'

"'Revoke, and get cursed by my partner; devil a more!'

"'That's mighty bad, for otherwise, we might arrange something for you.
Well, I only see one thing for it; you must marry. A wife with some money
will get you out of your present difficulties