ised the diploma
throughout the county; and so now I am a landed gentleman. Look, here on
my signet-ring is my crest."

This joke pleased Master Jock even more than his own. Instead of being
angry, he covered with kisses the astute adventurer who had more
foresight than any one else, had got the better of those who thought
they were getting the better of him, and had accepted in good earnest
the part which had been thrust upon him by way of a joke.

CHAPTER IV.

A FAMILY CURSE.

In those days there lived at Pressburg a famous family, if the sad fate
of becoming a by-word in the community can be indeed considered fame.
They called themselves Meyer, a name borne by so many people that nobody
would care to adopt it unless obliged to.

The father was a counting-house clerk in a public institution, and
blessed with five beautiful daughters. In 1818 two of the girls were
already grown up--the queens of every ball, the toasted beauties of
every public entertainment. The greatest dandies, nay, even magnates,
delighted to dance with them, and they were universally known as "the
pretty Meyer girls."

How their father and mother rejoiced in their beauty! And these pretty
girls, these universal _belles_, were brought up in a manner befitting
their superiority. No sordid work, no domestic occupations for them! No,
they were brought up luxuriously, splendidly; their vocation was
something higher than the dull round of household duties. They were sent
to first-class educational establishments, instead of to the national
schools in the neighbourhood, where they were taught to embroider
exquisitely, sing elegantly, and acquire other lady-like
accomplishments. And all the time their father hugged himself with the
thought that one of his daughters would become a famous _artiste_, and
another would grow rich as a milliner _a la mode_, and the whole lot of
them would be married by some of those rich squires and bankers who were
continually trampling the ground around them. Perhaps he had read of
such cases in some of the old-fashioned romances of the day.

Now, such an elegant education presupposes an elegant income; but, as we
all know, the salary of a cashier in a public establishment is nothing
very remarkable. Housekeeping cost much more than Mr. Meyer could afford
to give to it. Papa knew that only too well, and he would lie busy all
night long thinking of some way out of the difficulty without ever being
able to find