of Mr Joseph Finsbury. 'You, Michael!' he cried. 'There's no one with
you, is there?'

'No,' replied Michael, ordering a brandy and soda, 'there's nobody with
me; whom do you expect?'

'I thought of Morris or John,' said the old gentleman, evidently greatly
relieved.

'What the devil would I be doing with Morris or John?' cried the nephew.

'There is something in that,' returned Joseph. 'And I believe I can
trust you. I believe you will stand by me.'

'I hardly know what you mean,' said the lawyer, 'but if you are in need
of money I am flush.'

'It's not that, my dear boy,' said the uncle, shaking him by the hand.
'I'll tell you all about it afterwards.'

'All right,' responded the nephew. 'I stand treat, Uncle Joseph; what
will you have?'

'In that case,' replied the old gentleman, 'I'll take another
sandwich. I daresay I surprise you,' he went on, 'with my presence in
a public-house; but the fact is, I act on a sound but little-known
principle of my own--'

'O, it's better known than you suppose,' said Michael sipping his brandy
and soda. 'I always act on it myself when I want a drink.'

The old gentleman, who was anxious to propitiate Michael, laughed a
cheerless laugh. 'You have such a flow of spirits,' said he, 'I am sure
I often find it quite amusing. But regarding this principle of which
I was about to speak. It is that of accommodating one's-self to the
manners of any land (however humble) in which our lot may be cast. Now,
in France, for instance, every one goes to a cafe for his meals; in
America, to what is called a "two-bit house"; in England the people
resort to such an institution as the present for refreshment. With
sandwiches, tea, and an occasional glass of bitter beer, a man can live
luxuriously in London for fourteen pounds twelve shillings per annum.'

'Yes, I know,' returned Michael, 'but that's not including clothes,
washing, or boots. The whole thing, with cigars and occasional sprees,
costs me over seven hundred a year.'

But this was Michael's last interruption. He listened in good-humoured
silence to the remainder of his uncle's lecture, which speedily branched
to political reform, thence to the theory of the weather-glass, with an
illustrative account of a bora in the Adriatic; thence again to the best
manner of teaching arithmetic to the deaf-and-dumb; and with that, the
sandwich being then no more, explicuit valde feliciter. A moment later
the pair issued forth on the King's