"I hope not. I 'd rather have things as they are," said Grog, gravely.

"Things as they are! And why so, I 'd wish to ask?"

"Look at it this way, Tom Fisk," said Grog, squaring his arms on the table and talking with slow deliberation; "if you were going to cut into a round game, wouldn't you rather take a hand where the players were all soft ones, with plenty of cash, or would you prefer sitting down with a set of downy coves, all up to every dodge, and not a copper farthing in the company? Well, that's exactly what the world would be if the Manchester fellows had their way; that's exactly what it is, this very hour we 're sitting here, in America. There's nobody on the square there. President, judges, editors, Congressmen, governors, are all rogues; and they've come to that pass, that any fellow with a dash of spirit about him must come over to Europe to gain his livelihood. I have it from their own lips what I 'm telling you, for I was a-thinking about going over there myself; but they said, 'Don't go, sir,'--they always say 'sir,'--'don't go, sir. Our Western fellows are very wide awake; for every trump _you_ 'd have up your _sleeve_, _they_ 'd have two in their _boots!_'"

"For my own part," said Fisk, "I 'd not go live amongst them if you 'd make me Minister at Washington, and so I told Simmy Hankes this morning, when he came in such high feather about his appointment as consul--I forget where to."

"Hankes--Hankes! The same fellow that used to be with Robins?"

"Just so; and for some years back Davenport Dunn managing man."

Grog gave a very slight start, and then asked, carelessly, why he was leaving Dunn's employment.

"Dunn's going to shut up shop. Dunn is to be a peer, next week, and retires from business. He is to be in Tuesday's 'Gazette,' so Hankes tells me."

"He has done the thing well, I suppose?" said Davis, coolly.

"Hankes says something like two millions sterling. Pretty well for a fellow that started without a sixpence."

"I wonder he could n't have done something better for Hankes than that paltry place."

"So he might, and so he would; but you see, Simmy did n't like waiting.

He's a close fellow, and one can't get much out of him; but I can perceive that he was anxious to get off the coach."

"Did n't like the pace,--didn't trust the tackle overmuch," said Grog, carelessly.

"Something of that kind, I 've no doubt," rejoined Fisk.

"Have you any pull over this same Hankes, Tom?" said Grog, confidentially.

"Well, I can't say I have. We were pals together long ago; we did a little in the racing line,--in a very small way, of course. Then he used to have a roulette-table at Doncaster; but somehow there was no 'go'

in him: he was over-cautious, and always saying, 'I 'd rather take to "business;"' and as I hated business, we separated."

"It's odd enough that I can't remember the fellow. I thought I knew every one that was on the 'lay' these five-and-thirty years."

"He wasn't Hankes at the time I speak of; he was a Jew at that period, and went by the name of Simeon."

"Simeon, Simeon,--not the fellow that used to come down to Windsor, with the Hexquite Habannar cigars?"

And Grog mimicked not alone the voice, but the face of the individual alluded to, till Fisk burst into a roar of laughter.

"That's Simmy,--that's the man," cried Fisk, as he dried his eyes.

"Don't I know him! I had a class at that time,--young fellows in the Blues. I used to give them lessons in billiards; and Simmy, as you call him, discounted for the mess on a sliding scale,--ten per cent for the Major, and sixty for cornets the first year they joined. He was good fun, Simmy; he fancied he would have been a first-rate actor, and used to give scenes out of 'Othello,' in Kean's manner: that was the only soft thing about him, and many a fellow got a bill done by applauding 'Now is the winter of our discontent'!" And Grog gave a low growling sort of a laugh at his reminiscences.

"You 'll see him to-morrow; he's to breakfast here," said Fisk, rather amused at the prospect of a recognition between such men.

"He would never play 'Shylock,'" continued Grog, following out his reminiscences, "though we all told him he 'd make a great hit in the part. The Jew, you see,--the Jew couldn't stand _that_. And so Mr. Simmy Hankes is no other than Simeon! It was an old theory of mine, whenever I saw a fellow doing wonderfully well in the world, without any help from friends or family, to fancy that one time or other he must have belonged to what they are so fond of calling 'the Hebrew persuasion'!"

"I wouldn't rake up old memories with him, Grog, if I were you," said Fisk, coaxingly.

"It ain't my way, Tom Fisk," said Davis, curtly.

"He 'll be at his ease at once when he perceives that you don't intend to rip up old scores; and he 'll be just as delicate with _you_."

"Delicate with me?" cried Grog, bursting out into a fit of immoderate laughter. "Well, if that ain't a good one! I wonder what he is! Do you imagine Fitzroy Kelly is ashamed of being thought a lawyer, or Brodie of being a surgeon? You must be precious soft, my worthy friend, if you suppose that I don't know what the world thinks and says of _me_. No, no, there's no need of what you call delicacy at all. You used to be made of other stuff than this, Tom Fisk. It's keeping company with them snobs of half-pay officers, clerks in the Treasury, and Press reporters-has spoiled you; the demi-gents of the 'Garottaman Club' have ruined hundreds."

"The Garottaman is one of the first clubs in town," broke in Fisk.

"You 're too much like sailors on a raft for my fancy," said Grog, dryly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just that you are hungry and have got nothing to eat,--you 're eternally casting lots who is to be devoured next! But we 'll not fall out about that. I 've been turning over in my head about this Simmy Hankes, and I 'd like to have an hour in his company, all alone. Could you manage to be out of the way to-morrow morning and leave me to entertain him at breakfast?"

"It will suit my book to a trivet, for I want to go over to Barnes to look after a yearling I 've got there, and you can tell Hankes that the colt was taken suddenly ill."

"He 'll not be very curious about the cause of your absence," said Grog, dryly. "The pleasure of seeing me so unexpectedly will put everything else out of his head." A grim smile showed the spirit in which he spoke these words.

It was now very late, and Davis threw himself on a sofa, with his great-coat over him, and, wishing his friend a goodnight, was soon sound asleep; nor did he awake till aroused by the maid-servant getting the room into readiness and arranging the table for breakfast. Then, indeed, Grog arose and made his toilet for the day,--not a very elaborate nor a very elegant one, but still a disguise such as the most practised detective could not have penetrated, and yet removable in a moment, so that he might, by merely taking off eyebrows and moustaches, become himself at once.

Having given orders that the gentleman he expected should be shown in on his arrival, Grog solaced himself at the fire with a morning paper, in all the ease of slippers and an arm-chair. Almost the first thing that struck his eye was a paragraph informing the world that the marriage of a distinguished individual--whose approaching elevation to the peerage had been already announced--with one of the most beautiful daughters of the aristocracy would take place early in the ensuing week. And then, like a codicil to a will, followed a brilliant description of the gold dressing-case ordered by Mr. Davenport Dunn, at Storr's, for his bride.

He was yet occupied with the paragraph when Mr. Hankes entered the room.

"I am afraid I have made a mistake," said that bland gentleman. "I thought this was Captain Fisk's apartment."

"You're all right," said Grog, leisurely surveying the visitor, whose "get up" was really splendid. Amethyst studs glittered on his shirt; his ample chest seemed a shrine in its display of amulets and charmed offerings, while a massive chain crossed and recrossed him so frequently that he appeared to be held together by its coils. Fur and velvet, too, abounded in his costume; and even to the immense "gland" that depended from his cane, there was an amount of costliness that bespoke affluence.

"I regret, sir," began Hankes, pompously, "that I have not the honor--"

"Yes, yes; you _have_ the honor," broke in Grog. "You've had it this many a year. Sit down here. I don't wear exactly so well as you, but you 'll remember me presently. I 'm Kit Davis, man. You don't require me to say who you are."

"Davis,--Grog Davis," muttered Hankes to himself, while an ashy paleness spread over his face.

"You don't look overjoyed to meet with an old friend," said Grog, with a peculiar grin; "but you ought, man. There's no friendships like early ones. The fellows who knew us in our first scrapes are always more lenient to our last wickednesses."

"Captain Davis,--Captain Davis!" stammered out Hankes, "this is indeed an unexpected pleasure!"

"So much so that you can hardly get accustomed to it," said Grog, with another grin. "Fisk received a hasty message that called him away to the country this morning, and left me to fill his place; and I, as you may guess, was little loath to have a cosey chat with an old friend that I have not seen--how many years is it?"

"It must be nigh ten, or even twelve!"

"Say, seven or eight and twenty, man, and you 'll be nigher the mark.

Let me see," said he, trying to remember, "the last time I saw you was at Exeter. You were waiting for your trial about those bills of George Colborne. Don't look so frightened; there's no one to hear us here.

It was as narrow an escape there as ever man had. It was after that, I suppose, you took the name of Hankes?"

"Yes," said the other, in a faint whisper.