to our own
prudence. Now hear what I have to say. You will be as much assisted by a
_trusty_ valet as by any other means. I shall, as a gentleman, be only
an expense and an incumbrance; but as a valet I shall be able to play
into your hands, at the same time more than one half the expense will be
avoided. With your leave, therefore, I will take my proper situation,
put on your livery, and thereby make myself of the greatest use."

I could not help acknowledging the advantages to be derived from this
proposal of Timothy's; but I did not like to accept it.

"It is very kind of you, Timothy," replied I; "but I can only look upon
you as a friend and an equal."

"There you are right and are wrong in the same breath. You are right in
looking upon me as a friend, Japhet; and you would be still more right
in allowing me to prove my friendship as I propose; but you are wrong in
looking upon me as an equal, for I am not so either in personal
appearance, education, or anything else. We are both foundlings, it is
true; but you were christened after Abraham Newland, and I after the
workhouse pump. You were a gentleman foundling, presenting yourself with
a fifty pound note, and good clothes. I made my appearance in rags and
misery. If you find your parents, you will rise in the world; if I find
mine, I shall, in all probability, have no reason to be proud of them. I
therefore must insist upon having my own choice in the part I am to play
in the drama, and I will prove to you that it is my right to choose. You
forget that, when we started, your object was to search after your
father, and I told you mine should be to look after my mother. You have
selected high life as the expected sphere in which he is to be found,
and I select low life as that in which I am most likely to discover the
object of my search. So you perceive," continued Tim, laughing, "that we
must arrange so as to suit the views of both without parting company. Do
you hunt among bag-wigs, amber-headed canes, silks and satins--I will
burrow among tags and tassels, dimity and mob caps; and probably we
shall both succeed in the object of our search. I leave you to hunt in
the drawing-rooms, while I ferret in the kitchen. You may throw yourself
on a sofa and exclaim--'Who is my father?' while I will sit in the
cook's lap, and ask her if she may happen to be my mother."

This sally of Timothy's made even Fleta laugh; and after a little more
remonstrance, I consented that