aving carefully scanned the garment, declared that he was
ready to take his chance of recognising his man--other circumstances
corroborating--by its particular cut and adornments; and, in truth, he
needed have little hesitation about the matter; for, indeed, the
surtout was, as Fairly had said, one of a thousand. It was altogether
a very marked sort of article, especially in the department of
braiding, that being singularly rich and voluminous; and if, as its
maker had also said, it had not its fellow in the town (barring, of
course, the duplicate which he was now exhibiting), there could be no
difficulty whatever in identifying the devoted debtor.

Matters being thus arranged, the messenger, after having obtained
Simmins' address, took leave of his employer, with full authority to
visit the unhappy owner of the surtout with the utmost vengeance of
the law, and with a promise on his own part that he would duly inform
the latter of his subsequent proceedings in the case--meaning thereby,
that, so soon as the bird was caged, he would give due intimation
thereof.

Leaving the process just detailed at the point to which we have
brought it, we beg to introduce the reader to another personage who
figures in our little drama: this is Mr Jacob Merrilees, a student of
medicine, a gentlemanly young man, of limited means, but fair
prospects, and, withal, talented and promising. He was at this moment
pursuing his studies at the college of ----, and was making a progress
in professional learning that augured well for his future success in
the world. But, with this part of his history we have little or
nothing to do--our interest in him being on a totally different
account.

Talented, however, as our young friend was, he had, like other men,
his little weaknesses; one in particular--but it was a natural and a
harmless one--this was a rather excessive fastidiousness on the score
of dress. He loved, of all things, to be smartly attired; and was
thus, upon the whole, something of a dandy in his way. Unfortunately
for poor Jacob, however, this was a taste which he was not always able
to indulge in to the extent he could have wished. His circumstances,
or rather his father's penuriousness, prevented it; and the
consequence was, that he frequently found himself considerably below
his own standard of perfection in the article toggery. It is true,
that one less particular in this matter would hardly have agreed with
him; but such were hi