and a
habit which he had of throwing out a number of interjectional sounds,
uttered with a strange variety of intonation running from bass up to
treble in a very extraordinary manner, or breaking off his sentences
with a whiff of his pipe, seemed adopted to give an air of thought and
mature deliberation to his opinions and decisions. Notwithstanding
all this, Alan, it might be DOOTED, as our old Professor used to say,
whether the Justice was anything more then an ass. Certainly, besides a
great deference for the legal opinion of his clerk, which might be quite
according to the order of things, he seemed to be wonderfully under the
command of his brother squire, if squire either of them were, and indeed
much more than was consistent with so much assumed consequence of his
own.

'Ho--ha--aye--so--so--hum--humph--this is the young man, I
suppose--hum--aye--seems sickly. Young gentleman, you may sit down.'

I used the permission given, for I had been much more reduced by my
illness than I was aware of, and felt myself really fatigued, even by
the few paces I had walked, joined to the agitation I suffered.

'And your name, young man, is--humph--aye--ha--what is it?'

'Darsie Latimer.'

'Right--aye--humph--very right. Darsie Latimer is the very
thing--ha--aye--where do you come from?'

'From Scotland, sir,' I replied.

'A native of Scotland--a--humph--eh--how is it?'

'I am an Englishman by birth, sir.'

'Right--aye--yes, you are so. But pray, Mr. Darsie Latimer, have you
always been called by that name, or have you any other?--Nick, write
down his answers, Nick.'

'As far as I remember, I never bore any other,' was my answer.

'How, no? well, I should not have thought so, Hey, neighbour, would
you?'

Here he looked towards the other squire, who had thrown himself into a
chair; and, with his legs stretched out before him, and his arms folded
on his bosom, seemed carelessly attending to what was going forward.
He answered the appeal of the Justice by saying, that perhaps the young
man's memory did not go back to a very early period.

'Ah--eh--ha--you hear the gentleman. Pray, how far may your memory be
pleased to run back to?--umph?'

'Perhaps, sir, to the age of three years, or a little further.'

'And will you presume to say, sir,' said the squire, drawing himself
suddenly erect in his seat, and exerting the strength of his powerful
voice, 'that you then bore your present name?'

I was startled at the co