O'Brallaghan displayed some choler at the tone which Mr. Jinks used,
and his Irish blood began to rise. He stated that Mr. Verty had come
for his clothes, and should have them. Mr. Jinks replied, that he
had'nt said anything about Mr. Verty; but was contending for a
principle. Mr. O'Brallaghan replied to this with an observation which
was lost in his neck-handkerchief, but judging from as much as was
audible, in defiance and contempt of Jinks. Jinks observed, with
dignity and severity, that there were customers in the store, who were
gazing at Mr. Verty, just as he was about to disrobe. O'Brallaghan
muttered thereupon to himself some hostile epithets, and hastily
returned to wait upon the customers, leaving Mr. Jinks dodging to
avoid the eyes of the new-comers, but still preserving an expression
of haughty scorn.

Meanwhile Verty had descried his old forest suit lying upon a shelf,
and, laying down his rifle, had nearly indued his limbs therewith. In
fifteen minutes he had completed the change in his costume, and stood
before Mr. Jinks the same forest-hunter which he had been, before the
purchase of the elegant clothes he had just taken off. Instead of
rosetted shoes, moccasins; instead of silk and velvet, leather and
fur. On his head, his old white hat had taken the place of the
fashionable chapeau. Verty finished, by taking off the bow of ribbon
which secured his hair behind, and scattering the profuse curls over
his shoulders.

"Now," he sighed, looking in a mirror which hung upon the wall, "I
feel more like myself."

Jinks gazed at him with dignified emotion.

"You return to the woods, sir," he said; "would that I could make up
my mind to follow your example. This man, O'Brallaghan, however--"

And Mr. Jinks completed his sentence by savagely clipping a piece of
cloth with the huge shears he held, as though the enemy's neck were
between them.

Verty scarcely observed this irate movement.

"I'll leave the clothes here," he said; "I'm going now--good-bye."

And taking up his rifle, the young man went out, followed by Longears,
who, to the last, bent his head over his shoulder, and gazed upon Mr.
Jinks with curiosity and interest.

Jinks, with a savage look at O'Brallaghan, was about to return to his
work, when a letter, protruding from the pocket of the coat which
Verty had just taken off, attracted his attention, and he pounced upon
it without hesitation.

Jinks had recognized the handwriting of Miss S