honesty, to do violence to his tastes and
feelings, by guarding against all unnecessary expenditure. But to a
free-handed and generous disposition this is a very hard task; and when
the end came, and he cast up his accounts, he found to his dismay that
he owed more than the balance of his allowance, the last sum paid to
him, would cover.

It was not much, and would not have been pressed for, but Kavanagh,
though rather weak about his personal appearance, had a pound of manly
pride to an ounce of girlish vanity, and would sooner have gone in rags
than owed money to a tailor. The money he had obtained that afternoon
would entirely clear him from every liability, and leave him with a few
pounds in his pocket; and this relief made him quite light-hearted, in
spite of the final tumble of his house of cards.

The question was--where to dine. He knew lots of restaurants and chop-
houses, but even in the most humble of the latter, where the floor was
saw-dusted, his present costume would excite remark. He had from
boyhood been particular about his dress, and his collars and waistcoats
had incited some of his friends to call him a dandy, so his scruples may
have been exaggerated.

At last he saw several better-class artisans go into an eating-house in
Oxford Street, and following them he did very well. The table-cloth was
stained with brown circles from the porter pots, and was otherwise
dirty; the forks were pewter, and there were no napkins; but the meat
was as good as you would get anywhere, so were the vegetables, the beer
also; and the cost was about half that of the most homely chop-houses he
had hitherto patronised.

His dinner done, it was about the time when the theatres were opening,
so he went to the gallery door of one of the principal of them, and
after waiting a little while, amongst the good-humoured crowd, he surged
upstairs with them--many stairs they were, and steep--and got a good
place close to the chandelier. The warmth and light from it were rather
too obtrusive, but did not prevent his taking an interest in the
performance, which was shared by his neighbours in the most intense and
hearty fashion. The women sobbed at the pathetic parts, while the men
set their teeth and turned white when the villain temporarily got the
best of it, and both sexes roared with delight over the comic scenes.
Likewise, all sucked oranges; therefore Kavanagh purchased and sucked an
orange, and ingratiated himself wit