written
it into a _cause celebre_, and made it a dramatic entertainment for the
beauty and the chivalry of England. So Mr. Bumpkin had still to wait;
but it enabled him to attend comfortably the February sittings of the Old
Bailey, where his other case was to be tried.

When Mr. Prigg read the account of the proceedings before the Lord Mayor,
he was very much concerned, not to say annoyed, because he was under the
impression that he ought to have been consulted. Not knowing what to do
under the circumstances, he resolved, after due consideration, to get
into a hansom and drive down to the "Goose." Mr. Prigg, as I have before
observed, was swift in decision and prompt in action. He had no sooner
resolved to see Bumpkin than to Bumpkin he went. But his client was out;
it was uncertain when he would be in. Judge of Mr. Prigg's
disappointment! He left word that he would call again; he did call
again, and, after much dodging on the part of the wily Bumpkin, he was
obliged to surrender himself a captive to honest Prigg.

"My dear Mr. Bumpkin," exclaimed he, taking both the hands of his client
into his own and yielding him a double measure of friendship; "is it
possible--have you been robbed? Is it you in the paper this morning in
this _very_ extraordinary case?"

Bumpkin looked and blushed. He was not a liar, but truth is not always
the most convenient thing, say what you will.

"I see," said Mr. Prigg; "quite so--quite so! Now _how_ did this
happen?"

Bumpkin still looked and blushed.

"Ah!" said Mr. Prigg; "just so. But who was this companion?"

Bumpkin muttered "A friend!"

"O! O! O!" said Mr. Prigg, drawing a long face and placing the
fore-finger of his left hand perpendicularly from the tip of his nose to
the top of his forehead.

"Noa," said Bumpkin, "'taint none o' that nuther; I beant a man o' that
sort."

"Well, well," said Mr. Prigg, "I only thought I'd call, you know, in case
there should be anything which might in any way affect our action."

Mr. Bumpkin, conscious of his moral rectitude, like all good men, was
fearless: he knew that nothing which he had done would affect the merits
of his case, and, therefore, instead of replying to the subtle question
of his adviser, he merely enquired of that gentleman when he thought the
case would be on. The usual question.

Mr. Prigg rubbed his hands and glanced his eyes as though just under his
left elbow was a very deep well, at the bottom of wh