merely the publican of his profession, but better fitted indeed
for perhaps any other avocation, as may possibly be discovered in the
progress of our narrative. To his wife, a good quiet sort of body, who,
as Forrester phrased it, did not dare to say the soul was her own, he
deputed the whole domestic management of the tavern; while he would be
gone, nobody could say where or why, for weeks and more at a time, away
from bar and hostel, in different portions of the country. None ventured
to inquire into a matter that was still sufficiently mysterious to
arouse curiosity; people living with and about him generally
entertaining a degree of respect, amounting almost to vulgar awe, for
his person and presence, which prevented much inquiry into his doings.
Some few, however, more bold than the rest, spoke in terms of suspicion;
but the number of this class was inconsiderable, and they themselves
felt that the risk which they incurred was not so unimportant as to
permit of their going much out of the way to trace the doubtful features
in his life.

As we have already stated, he took his place along with his guests; the
bottles and glasses were replenished, the story of the pedler again
told, and each individual once more busied in describing his own
exploits. The lawyer, immersed in visions of grog and glory, rhapsodized
perpetually and clapped his hands. Blundell, drunkenly happy, at every
discharge of the current humor, made an abortive attempt to chuckle, the
ineffectual halloo gurgling away in the abysses of his mighty throat;
until, at length, his head settled down supinely upon his breast, his
eyes were closed, and the hour of his victory had gone by; though, even
then, his huge jaws opening at intervals for the outward passage of
something which by courtesy might be considered a laugh, attested the
still anxious struggles of the inward spirit, battling with the
weaknesses of the flesh.

The example of a leader like Blundell had a most pernicious effect upon
the uprightness of the greater part of the company. Having the sanction
of authority, several others, the minor spirits it is true, settled down
under their chairs without a struggle. The survivors made some
lugubrious efforts at a triumph over their less stubborn companions, but
the laborious and husky laugh was but a poor apology for the proper
performance of this feat. Munro, who to his other qualities added those
of a sturdy _bon-vivant_, together with Forreste