erson of whom he was in pursuit.

CHAPTER IX.

_Which dismisses the Reader._

Mr. Godfrey, in a resolute tone, called out to the coachman to stop, and
not contented with a verbal mandate, he rushed before the horses, and
brandishing a club he held in his hand, bid the driver proceed at his
peril. "Drive on," said lord Martin, thrusting his head out at the
window--"Drive on, and be damned to you!" At this moment the pimp rode up.
"It is nothing," said he, "but a poor gentleman, who has just forced his
wife from the arms of a gallant." "Oh no!" cried Delia. "I am not his
wife. I am an innocent woman, whom he has forced from her father and her
lover."

The thief taker out of curiosity rode forward. "That," said he, fixing his
eye upon the pimp, "that is the very rascal I am in search of." The pimp,
who had only been borrowed by lord Martin of one of his more experienced
acquaintance, no sooner heard the sound, than, accounting for it with
infinite facility and readiness of mind, he turned about his horse, and
attempted to fly. One of the footmen, naturally a coward, and terrified at
these incidents, with the meaning of which he was unacquainted, imitated
his example. The other came forward to the assistance of his master, and
was laid prostrate upon the ground, by Mr. Godfrey with one blow. The
thief taker had the start of the pimp, and overtook him in a moment.

Mr. Godfrey now opened the door of the carriage. But the little peer was
prepared for this incident, and having his sword drawn, made a sudden pass
at our generous knight-errant. The latter, with infinite agility, leaped
aside, and lifting up his club, shivered the sword into a thousand pieces.

"Death and the devil! Pox confound you!" said lord Martin, and endeavoured
to draw a pistol from his pocket. But the unsuccessful pass he had made
had thrown him somewhat off his bias, and though he had employed more than
one effort, he had not been able to recover himself. At this instant, Mr.
Godfrey seized him by the collar, and with a sudden-whirl, threw him into
the middle of the road. "Fire and"--his lordship had not time to finish
his exclamation. The part of the road in which he fell was exceeding
dirty. The workmen had been employed the preceding day, in scraping the
mud together into a heap against the bank, and his lordship, unable to
overcome the velocity with which he trundled along, rolled into the midst
of it in an instant. He was entirely lost