'I beg your pardon,
sir,' he added, as he looked me in the face.

'Ay, ay, servants,' thought I, as I followed the man into the house,
'always look people in the face when you open the door, and do so before
you look at their shoes, or you may mistake the heir of a Prime Minister
for a shopkeeper's son.'

I found his worship a jolly, red-faced gentleman, of about fifty-five; he
was dressed in a green coat, white corduroy breeches, and drab gaiters,
and sat on an old-fashioned leather sofa, with two small, thoroughbred,
black English terriers, one on each side of him. He had all the
appearance of a genuine old English gentleman who kept good wine in his
cellar.

'Sir,' said I, 'I have brought you a thousand pounds'; and I said this
after the servant had retired, and the two terriers had ceased the
barking which is natural to all such dogs at the sight of a stranger.

And when the magistrate had received the money, and signed and returned a
certain paper which I handed to him, he rubbed his hands, and looking
very benignantly at me, exclaimed--

'And now, young gentleman, that our business is over, perhaps you can
tell me where the fight is to take place?'

'I am sorry, sir,' said I, 'that I can't inform you, but everybody seems
to be anxious about it'; and then I told him what had occurred to me on
the road with the alehouse-keeper.

'I know him,' said his worship; 'he's a tenant of mine, and a good
fellow, somewhat too much in my debt though. But how is this, young
gentleman, you look as if you had been walking; you did not come on
foot?'

'Yes, sir, I came on foot.'

'On foot! why it is sixteen miles.'

'I shan't be tired when I have walked back.'

'You can't ride, I suppose?'

'Better than I can walk.'

'Then why do you walk?'

'I have frequently to make journeys connected with my profession;
sometimes I walk, sometimes I ride, just as the whim takes me.'

'Will you take a glass of wine?'

'Yes.'

'That's right; what shall it be?'

'Madeira!'

The magistrate gave a violent slap on his knee; 'I like your taste,' said
he, 'I am fond of a glass of Madeira myself, and can give you such a one
as you will not drink every day; sit down, young gentleman, you shall
have a glass of Madeira, and the best I have.'

Thereupon he got up, and followed by his two terriers, walked slowly out
of the room.

I looked round the room, and, seeing nothing which promised me much
amusement, I sat down, and fell