in his profession, heightening his charges five guineas
at a time, and if Clary had not possessed that six thousand pounds'
fortune, they would have done off the matter in a trice, like Will Locke
and Dulcie Cowper. Poor Sam! poor Clary!--what an expenditure of hours
and days and emotions, they contrived for themselves! They were often
wretched! and they shook each other's faith: it is doubtful if they ever
quite recovered it. They were so low occasionally that it must have been
dreadfully difficult for them to get up again; they were so bitter that
how they became altogether sweet once more, without any lingering
remains of the acrid flavour in their mouths, is scarcely to be
imagined. They were good and true in their inmost hearts; but it does
appear that some of the tricks of which they were guilty left them less
honest human creatures. There was a strong dash of satire in Sam's fun
afterwards; there was a sharpness in Clary's temper, and a despotism in
her dignity. To be sure, Clary always liked Sam's irony a thousand times
better than another man's charity, and Sam ever thought Clary's
impatient, imperious ways far before the cooing of any turtle-dove in
the wood; but that was only an indication that the real metal was
there, not that it was not smirched and corroded with rust.

The first effect of Will and Dulcie's exploit was extremely prejudicial
to the second case on the books. Uncle Barnet, a flourishing London
barrister, a man with strong lines about his mouth, a wart on his
forehead, and great laced flaps at his coat pockets, and who was
supposed to be vehemently irresistible in the courts, hurried down to
Redwater on purpose to overhaul Clary. What sort of doings were those
she presided over in her maiden house at Redwater? Not the runaway
marriage of a companion; that occurred every day in the most polite
circles; Clary could not fairly be called to account for such a trifle;
besides, a girl without a penny might do as she chose. But there was
something a vast deal more scandalous lurking in the background: there
was word of another fellow of the same kidney buzzing about Clary--Clary
with her six thousand pounds' fortune, her Uncle Barnet, her youth, her
handsome person, her what not? Now, as sure as Uncle Barnet's name was
Barnet, as he wore a wig, as there was justice in the country, he would
have the law of the fellow. Don't tell him the man was advancing rapidly
in his profession. What was a painter's