ed
countenance, folded it up with great composure, and then turning
his back to the fire, he burst out into a fit of the most immoderate
laughter.

'Look ye, Jack,' cried he, in a voice almost suffocated with the
emotion, 'I am a poor man, have scarcely a guinea I can call my own,
yet I 'd have given the best hack in my stable to have seen the
Rooneys reading that letter. There, there! don't talk to me, boy, about
villainy, ingratitude, and so forth. The fun of it, man, covers all
the rest. Only to think of Mr. Paul Rooney, the Amphytrion of viceroys,
chancellors, bishops, major-generals, and lord mayors, asked for his
bill--to score up all your champagne and your curacoa, your turtle, your
devilled kidneys; all the heavy brigade of your grand dinners, and
all the light infantry of luncheons, breakfasts, grilled bones, and
sandwiches! The Lord forgive your mother for putting it in his head!
_My_ chalk would be a fearful one, not to speak of the ugly item of
"cash advanced." Oh, it 'll kill me, I know that! Don't look so serious,
man; you may live fifty years, and never have so good a joke to laugh
at. Tell me, Jack, do you think your mother has kept a copy of the
letter? I would give my right eye for it. What a fearful temper Paul
will be in, on circuit! and as to Mrs. Rooney, it will go hard with her
but she cuts the whole aristocracy for at least a week. There never was
anything like it. To hint at transporting the Princess O'Toole, whose
ancestor was here in the time of Moses. Ah, Jack, how little respect
your mother appears to have for an old family! She evidently has no
classical associations to hallow her memory withal.'

'I confess,' said I, somewhat tartly, 'had I anticipated the spirit with
which you have taken up this matter, I doubt whether I should have shown
you the letter.'

'And if you had not,' replied he, 'I 'd not have forgiven you till the
day of my death. Next to a legacy, a good laugh is the best thing I
know; indeed, sometimes it is better, for you can't be choused out of it
by your lawyer.'

'Laughing is a very excellent practice, no doubt, but I looked for some
advice-----'

'Advice! to be sure, my boy; and so you shall have it. Only give me a
good training canter of a hearty laugh, and you 'll see what running
I' ll make, when it comes to sound discretion afterwards. The fun of a
man's temperament is like the froth on your champagne; while it gives a
zest to the liquor of life by its ligh