r he allowed Joey no sleep either, turning and twisting round in
the bed every two minutes. The next morning they arose early, and
proceeded on their way.

"Joey," said Spikeman, after an hour's silence, "I was thinking a great
deal last night."

"So I suppose, for you certainly were not sleeping."

"No, I could not sleep; the fact is, Joey, I am determined to have that
girl, Miss Mathews, if I can; a bold attempt for a tinker, you will say,
but not for a gentleman born as I was. I thought I never should care
for a woman; but there is a current in the affairs of men. I shall now
drift with the current, and if it leads to fortune, so much the better;
if not, he who dares greatly does greatly. I feel convinced that I
should make her a good husband, and it shall not be my fault if I do not
gain her."

"Do you mean to propose in form with your foot on your wheel?"

"No, saucebox, I don't; but I mean to turn my knife-grinder's wheel into
a wheel of fortune; and with your help I will do so."

"You are sure of my help if you are serious," replied Joey; "but how you
are to manage I cannot comprehend."

"I have already made out a programme, although the interweaving of the
plot is not yet decided upon; but I must get to the next town as fast as
I can, as I must make preparations."

On arrival, they took up humble quarters, as usual; and then Spikeman
went to a stationer's, and told them that he had got a commission to
execute for a lady. He bought sealing-wax, a glass seal, with
"Esperance" as a motto, gilt-edged notepaper, and several other
requisites in the stationery line, and ordered them to be packed up
carefully, that he might not soil them; he then purchased scented soap,
a hair-brush, and other articles for the toilet; and having obtained all
these requisites, he added to them one or two pair of common beaver
gloves, and then went to the barber's to get his hair cut.

"I am all ready now, Joey," said he, when he returned to the alehouse;
"and to-morrow we retrace our steps."

"What! back to the village?"

"Yes; and where we shall remain some time, perhaps."

On reaching the village next morning, Spikeman hired a bedroom, and,
leaving Joey to work the grindstone, remained in his apartments. When
Joey returned in the evening, he found Spikeman had been very busy with
the soap, and had restored his hands to something like their proper
colour; he had also shaved himself, and washed his hair clean and
bru