gh. The banks suspend paying specie because they haven't any
to redeem their bills; and Fletcher, because he has neither specie nor
bills."

"Fletcher suspended?"

"Yes, _sus. per coll._, as the Newgate records have it,--hung himself
with his handkerchief,--an article he might have put to better use."

And Easelmann blew a vigorous blast with his, as he laid down the pipe.

"You understand, choking is disagreeable,--painful, in fact,--and, if
indulged in long enough, is apt to produce unpleasant effects. Remember,
I once warned you against it."

"This matter of suicide is horrible. Couldn't it have been prevented?"

"Yes, if Fletcher could have got hold of Bullion."

"Coin would have done as well, I suppose."

"Now haven't I been successful in diverting your attention? You have
actually punned. Don't you know Mr. Bullion, the capitalist?"

"I have good reason to remember him, though I don't know him myself. My
father was once connected with him in business, and not at all to his
own advantage."

"I never heard you speak of your father before; in fact, I never knew
you had one."

"It was not necessary to speak of him; he has been dead many years."

"And left you nothing to remember him by. Now a man with an estate has a
perpetual reminder."

"So has the son of a famous man; and people are continually depreciating
him, comparing his little bud of promise with the ripe fruitage of the
ancestral tree. I prefer to acquire my own fortune and my own fame. My
father did his part by giving me being and educating me.--But come; your
pipe is out; you draw like a pump, without puffing even a nebula of
smoke."

"I suppose I must yield. First a lavation; this Virginian incense
is more agreeable to devout worshippers like you and me than to the
uninitiated. There," (wiping the water from his moustaches,) "now I
am qualified to meet that queenly rose, Mrs. Sandford, or even that
delicate spring violet of yours,--if we should find the nook where she
blooms."

"You are the most tantalizing fellow! How provokingly cool you are, to
stand dallying as though you were going on the most indifferent errand!
And all the while to remind me of what I have lost. Come, you look
sufficiently fascinating; your gray moustache has the proper artistic
curl; your hair is carelessly-well-arranged."

"So the boy can't wait for due preparation. There, I believe I am
ready."

Arrived at the house where Mrs. Sandford boarded, they were us