the quality of our prize the captors, above all, are entitled to select from their prisoners.' "There were three of us, only three, and when we woke up in the morning we were all dead corpses.' The next day my butcher pal brought us a saddle of mutton, I lifted half a salmon, my young master, who was a natural thief, added a lobster, and having invited our sweethearts, a jollification of the most recherché character was successfully got through. On the following Sunday and upon every succeeding Sunday, the same scene was enacted, the same bill of fare provided, varied merely in the viands, although by the bye a fruiterer's apprentice, who had joined us, added grapes, filberts, walnuts, and other delicate relishes, until at last the old gentleman's cellar being high and dry and swallowed to the final, final drop, we were reduced to the more contemptible beverages of gin and beer, with pipes and baccy. Nevertheless we continued for a length of time to dine like noblemen off the fat of the land, and luxuries afforded us by the contents of our masters' shops." "Well," I exclaimed, "this is a pretty state of things indeed! No wonder there are bankrupts and failures through losses in trade, and that thieves are so plentiful!" "All these practices," continued my cell-mate with a smile, and a wink of the eye, "are common enough, and although well known are difficult to prevent, or whenever discovered rarely prosecuted. Our delinquencies were varied by many amusing interludes in this the first stage of robbery. For instance, one day a customer coming in to give orders for his family was followed by a remarkably fine Newfoundland dog, which, sniffing about, finally entered the cupboard formed by the underneath part of the counter, and wherein we kept fish-baskets, sacks, and other necessary utensils of the trade. The idea instantly occurred to me that I should like to nail him, the thought was no sooner engendered than I executed it by closing the cupboard-door, thus safely securing him, unobserved by any one. His owner having finished his marketing, quietly departed, but returned in haste for his missing favourite. To the anxious, breathless questions of Have you seen my dog? Where can he have got to?' and so on, he, of course, received "No" for an answer. In about two hours' time the poor helpless animal, to my intense satisfaction, was cried by the town crier, a reward of two guineas being offered for him. With the assistance of my partner in guilt, the butcher, the dog was restored, and the money received, divided between us. This we looked upon as a great coup de main but the very many ways we found of plundering everybody, and of pinching everything, whether of great value or small, the scrapes we got into, and the awfully narrow escapes we had of being pinched ourselves, would take me a week in recounting to you. can only assure you that the petty pilfering after the fashion I have described, gave me a thorough liking for stealing on a larger scale. You said you thought I must be fond of thieving to run such risks as I do, and I now candidly confess to you that I am, and I have told you how it was that this fascinating taste was first created in me, and I believe that many others have been led the same road, by the same means; in spite of all my good resolutions I am irreclaimable. Love of luxury, finding means for extravagance are at the bottom of it all, I and to be an accomplished thief, you must possess a certain quantity of good breeding. I can only now add, in the words of the humourous Sir John Falstaff to Prince Henry, Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. My theatricals, you see, have not quite left me.'." This extraordinary juvenile sample of misled humanity finished recounting his first step in thieving, uncrossed his legs, rose up, and walked about in a fit of immoderate laughter. "What can you be laughing at ?" said I, ashamed and astonished beyond measure at his behaviour. "I was just thinking of this," he replied. "I wonder what has become of my pals, especially the butcher's boy, and the chicken strangler. If Lou only knew the particulars during the performances of the first act of the incantation scene, you would, I am sure, die with laughter. I have often thought of the old saw, which says, birds of a feather flock together; but it ought to go further, and tell us what they do when they part." We passed many days and nights together, and I found my companion in the jug a very agreeable relief from the monotony of that solitary confinement which I had previously suffered under, and which, I believe, to be the severest punishment that man can undergo in this world. One morning to my surprise and joy, I was suddenly called forth to appear before the Prefect of Police, for I was, indeed, as you may imagine, growing desperate with doubt. The ceremony was short, and fortunately sweet, for it ended in my acquittal and dismissal, which coming so unexpectedly, bewildered me with gratitude. What next to do, when free, puzzled and worried me beyond measure; I was now truly alone in the world; no wife, no mistress, no friends, my acquaintances shy, offended, suspicious, and cool towards me. I had nothing to live for, nothing to look forward to; no prospects, no future, no hereafter, and nowhere to go to. I was, in every sense of the word, completely écrasé: the book of life was closed. Finis stared me in the face. "To lead a new life," to "turn over a fresh leaf" in the chapter of the eventful current of our careers, to attempt to alter or dive into that mysterious and unfathomable fate which apparently directs every movement, thought, and result of our actions, is the great step in our exist ence which either makes or mars us. As I wandered along the Boulevards, miserable and down-hearted, shunning and almost shunned by all, meditating upon the fearful pre dicament I had escaped from, and secretly searching in my mind for the "helping hand" in my release, I felt myself touched from behind by a walking stick. Turning quickly round, I found myself in the arms of my long-loved friend and schoolfellow Jemmy Wadham. "My dear Guy," said he in affectionate warmth. But, my kind readers, what he did say, and the effects of his readpearance and advice, we had better postpone to the next chapter. 174 EXPECTATION; A PRIZE HUNTER, THE PROPERTY OF SIR WATKIN W. WYNN, BART., M.P. ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY E. CORBET. Expectation comes from the Emerald Isle, and was bought by Sir Watkin or Lord Combermere, of Mr. McGarne, the well-known Dublin dealer. He has carried Sir Wakin four seasons, and was awarded the first prize of £80 at Islington this year for the best weight-carrying hunter, up to not less than fifteen stone with hounds, with the Gold Medal as the best horse in any of the hunting classes, beating, among others, Iris, the Wetherby prize-horse; Harkaway and Tyrconnel, seconds at Islington; Brian Boru, a well-known prizetaker; Heroine, the first of the light weights at Islington; Comrade, the selected four-year-old; and Coxcomb, a prize hunter and ladies' horse; as well as Loiterer, who played third to The Heroine in the light weights, and was not placed in the weight-carriers up to fifteen stone, but afterwards was proclaimed the winner of the Badsworth Hunt Cup at Wakefield. Expectation is a rich chesnut, standing over sixteen hands high, and is a grand square-looking horse, with a deal of quality. Like all goodmade ones, he looks smaller than he is, and when going collects himself together, so that he almost gives one the idea of a short horse; but he is quite the reverse, as, when standing up to him, he is very lengthy, covering a deal of ground, with room enough for half-a-dozen twelve-stone men from his withers to his tail, which he carries and feathers like a game cock. He has a good sensible head, in the right place, with nicely-laid shoulders, and his hind legs well under himthree great points in a hunter. Then he is very muscular throughout, and adding to this a neat, strong neck, running nicely into capital hunting withers and shoulders that balance well with his great quarters, a very deep girth, capital back and niiddle, standing on a short leg, with knees and hocks near the ground, and good feet, we have something near perfection in hunting form. His fetlock-joints tell of the four seasons that he has carried the welter weight of Sir Watkin; and on this account some said he ought not to have had a prize, but would have given it to some perfectly sound horse, that perhaps had never done a day's work, and that would have sunk into the earth at the sight of Sir Watkin in scarlet. |