d credit to his nature, and credit to your nature,
ma'am, and his father's nature, and human nature. I trace the same
current now, flowing through all his quiet and unobtrusive
proceedings.--I am about to sign my name, you observe, at the foot of
the articles which Mr Chuckster will witness; and placing my finger
upon this blue wafer with the vandyked corners, I am constrained to
remark in a distinct tone of voice--don't be alarmed, ma'am, it is
merely a form of law--that I deliver this, as my act and deed. Mr Abel
will place his name against the other wafer, repeating the same
cabalistic words, and the business is over. Ha ha ha! You see how
easily these things are done!'

There was a short silence, apparently, while Mr Abel went through the
prescribed form, and then the shaking of hands and shuffling of feet
were renewed, and shortly afterwards there was a clinking of
wine-glasses and a great talkativeness on the part of everybody. In
about a quarter of an hour Mr Chuckster (with a pen behind his ear and
his face inflamed with wine) appeared at the door, and condescending to
address Kit by the jocose appellation of 'Young Snob,' informed him
that the visitors were coming out.

Out they came forthwith; Mr Witherden, who was short, chubby,
fresh-coloured, brisk, and pompous, leading the old lady with extreme
politeness, and the father and son following them, arm in arm. Mr
Abel, who had a quaint old-fashioned air about him, looked nearly of
the same age as his father, and bore a wonderful resemblance to him in
face and figure, though wanting something of his full, round,
cheerfulness, and substituting in its place a timid reserve. In all
other respects, in the neatness of the dress, and even in the
club-foot, he and the old gentleman were precisely alike.

Having seen the old lady safely in her seat, and assisted in the
arrangement of her cloak and a small basket which formed an
indispensable portion of her equipage, Mr Abel got into a little box
behind which had evidently been made for his express accommodation, and
smiled at everybody present by turns, beginning with his mother and
ending with the pony. There was then a great to-do to make the pony
hold up his head that the bearing-rein might be fastened; at last even
this was effected; and the old gentleman, taking his seat and the
reins, put his hand in his pocket to find a sixpence for Kit.

He had no sixpence, neither had the old lady, nor Mr Abel, nor