ear the head of the table, if it please you. Paddy
had his hand on the shoulder of a bishop, and Jem was telling some
tale into the sympathetic ear of a marquis. At least this is the way
matters appeared to my stupefied sense.

The singing ceased, and a distinguished peer at my elbow resumed a
talk which evidently had been broken by the chorus:

"And so the Duke spoke with somewhat more than his accustomed vigour,"
said the distinguished peer.

My worst suspicions were confirmed. Here was a man talking of what had
been said by a duke. I cast my eye toward my happy pair of rogues and
wondered how I could ever extricate them from their position.

Suddenly there was a loud pounding upon the table, and in the ensuing
quiet the grave and dignified voice of the chairman could be heard:

"Gentlemen," he said, "we crave your attention to a song by Mr. John
Snowden."

Whereupon my very own Jem Bottles arose amid a burst of applause, and
began to sing a ballad which had been written in Bristol or Bath in
celebration of the notorious scoundrel Jem Bottles.

Here I could see that if impudence could serve us we would not lack
success in England. The ballad was answered with wild cheers of
appreciation. It was the great thing of the evening. Jem was
strenuously pressed to sing again, but he buried his face in his mug
and modestly refused. However, they devoted themselves to his chorus
and sang it over and over with immense delight. I had never imagined
that the nobility were so free and easy.

During the excitement over Jem's ballad I stole forward to Paddy.
"Paddy," I whispered, "come out of this now. 'Tis no place for you
here among all these reverend fathers and gentlemen of title. Shame on
you!"

He saw my idea in a flash.

"Whist, sir," he answered. "There are being no reverend fathers or
gentlemen of title here. They are all after being footmen and valets."

I was extremely vexed with myself. I had been in London only a brief
space; and Paddy had been in the city no longer. However, he had
already managed his instruction so well that he could at once tell a
member of the gentry from a servant. I admired Paddy's cleverness, but
at the same time I felt a certain resentment against the prelates and
nobles who had so imposed upon me.

But, to be truthful, I have never seen a finer display of manners.
These menials could have put courtiers to the blush. And from time to
time somebody spoke out loud and clear an opinio