swept by on
the current, until they should reach the bridges below. Then, they
would, perhaps, be formed into one great icefield, stretching from bank
to bank, whereon a grand bullock-roasting festival might be held, or a
fancy fair instituted, as happened in the reign of James, the king, "of
ever pious memory:" that is, if my chronology be right and my memory not
at fault, as may very possibly be the case.

Doggy did not mind the ice a bit, however. He plunged in, time after
time, to fetch out my in-thrown stick, with a frisky bound; emerging
after the performance with ice-pendants to his glossy, silken ears and
coat smartly curled, as if he had just paid a visit to Truefitt's, and
been manipulated by the dexterous hands of one of the assistants at that
celebrated establishment, armed with the crinal tongs and anybody's best
macassar.

By-and-by we returned; and whom should I then meet on my way home but,
positively, my eye-glass acquaintance of Downing Street. Fancy his
being out before nine o'clock in the morning! It was an unparalleled
occurrence.

"Hullo, Horner!" I sang out, "'morning, old fellow. Compliments of the
season!"

"Bai-ey Je-ove! Lorton, how you stawtled me--'do!"

"You don't mean to say," I asked, on getting closer to him, "that you've
actually taken to early rising?"

"No, 'pon honah, I asshaw you, my deah fellah, no!" he replied, quite
excitedly. "No, I asshaw you, no," he repeated.

"Well, then, what on earth makes you come out at this early unearthly
hour?" I said.

"Oh--ah! you see--ah, my deah fellah," he answered, "it was all those
confawnded little bahds and the bells kicking up such a raow; that, 'pon
honah, I couldn't sleep and so I came out. I asshaw you it was all
those bweastwy little bahds and the bells!"

"At all events, I must congratulate you on your reformation," I said.

"Yaas? But it was all those bweastwy little bahds and the bells, you
know; and it's only once a ye-ah you know, Lorton," he added.

"So you will never do so again till next time--is that what you mean,
Horner?" I asked.

"Yaas! But, bai-ey Je-ove, I say, Lorton, my deah fellah, were the
Clydes those ladies in hawf-mawning, eh?" said he, smiling feebly in his
usual suave manner. He thought he had got hold of a grand joke at my
expense.

However, I was not in the least angry with him. I felt too happy to
have lost my temper with any one, especially Horner, whom I generally
regarded as