KIE. It will be sonorous in the ears of the
Saxon!"
"Bravo!" and another Chief was added to the roll of the clans.
"Now," said Bob, "we must put you down. Recollect, all the
management--that is, the allocation--will be intrusted to you.
Augustus--you haven't a middle name, I think?--well, then, suppose we
interpolate 'Reginald;' it has a smack of the Crusades. Augustus
Reginald Dunshunner, Esq. of--where, in the name of Munchausen!"
"I'm sure I don't know. I never had any land beyond the contents of a
flower-pot. Stay--I rather think I have a superiority somewhere about
Paisley."
"Just the thing," cried Bob. "It's heritable property, and therefore
titular. What's the denomination?"
"St Mirrens."
"Beautiful! Dunshunner of St Mirrens, I give you joy! Had you
discovered that a little sooner--and I wonder you did not think of
it--we might both of us have had lots of allocations. These are not
the times to conceal hereditary distinctions. But now comes the
serious work. We must have one or two men of known wealth upon the
list. The chaff is nothing without a decoy-bird. Now, can't you help
me with a name?"
"In that case," said I, "the game is up, and the whole scheme
exploded. I would as soon undertake to evoke the Ghost of Croesus."
"Dunshunner," said Bob very seriously, "to be a man of information,
you are possessed of marvellous few resources. I am quite ashamed of
you. Now listen to me. I have thought deeply upon this subject, and am
quite convinced that, with some little trouble, we may secure the
co-operation of a most wealthy and influential body--one, too, that is
generally supposed to have stood aloof from all speculation of the
kind, and whose name would be a tower of strength in the moneyed
quarters. I allude," continued Bob, reaching across for the kettle,
"to the great Dissenting Interest."
"The what?" cried I, aghast.
"The great Dissenting Interest. You can't have failed to observe the
row they have lately been making about Sunday travelling and
education. Old Sam Sawley, the coffin-maker, is their principal
spokesman here; and wherever he goes the rest will follow, like a
flock of sheep bounding after a patriarchal ram. I propose, therefore,
to wait upon him to-morrow, and request his co-operation in a scheme
which is not only to prove profitable, but to make head against the
lax principles of the present age. Leave me alone to tickle him. I
consider his name, and those of one or two ot
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