attempt. They had been talking
now for some hours, and I, who had long before been waved from
their immediate presence, was hiding my curiosity and growing
excitement behind one of the pictures, when suddenly I heard
Joe say:

"'He has the most remarkable memory I ever met. He can tell to
a day when any notable event occurred.'

"'Pshaw!' answered his companion, who, by the by, was known to
pride himself upon his own memory for dates, 'I can state
where I went and what I did on every day in the year. That may
not embrace what you call 'notable events,' but the memory
required is all the more remarkable, is it not?'

"'Pooh!' was his friend's provoking reply, 'you are bluffing,
Ben; I will never believe that.'

"Mr. T----, who had passed by this time into that state of
intoxication which makes persistence in an assertion a duty as
well as a pleasure, threw back his head, and as the wreaths of
smoke rose in airy spirals from his lips, reiterated his
statement, and offered to submit to any test of his vaunted
powers which the other might dictate.

"'You have a diary----' began Joe.

"'Which is at home,' completed the other.

"'Will you allow me to refer to it to-morrow, if I am
suspicious of the accuracy of your recollections?'

"'Undoubtedly,' returned the other.

"'Very well, then, I will wager you a cool fifty, that you
cannot tell where you were between the hours of ten and eleven
on a certain night which I will name.'

"'Done!' cried the other, bringing out his pocket-book and
laying it on the table before him.

"Joe followed his example and then summoned me.

"'Write a date down here,' he commanded, pushing a piece of
paper towards me, with a look keen as the flash of a blade.
'Any date, man,' he added, as I appeared to hesitate in the
embarrassment I thought natural under the circumstances. 'Put
down day, month, and year, only don't go too far back; not
farther than two years.'

"Smiling with the air of a flunkey admitted to the sports of
his superiors, I wrote a line and laid it before Mr.
Smithers, who at once pushed it with a careless gesture
towards his companion. You can of course guess the date I made
use of: July 17, 1851. Mr. T----, who had evidently looked upon
this matter as mere p