confess that Sir John couldn't have done better than take my advice, and give her a certain choice."

"That will depend upon the nature of it," said Jocelyn.

"Why, I merely recommended him to let me give her a fair start with the cat-o'-nine-tails, when she might have a choice of either leaping over the moat and trudging off, or of falling into it and being drowned, though I must say I should like the last the best, for dead work is sure work."

"This is language," said Jocelyn, “which I ought not to hear, and which Sir John, I am sure, can never have encouraged."

"Then he had better stop my mouth by cramming it with good victuals," said Whittaker, as he walked away in a churlish mood, still mumbling curses against the Vrouw Skinflint as he presumed to designate his mistress. After having wandered about the house, which he

found in a sufficiently forlorn and comfortless plight, Jocelyn betook himself, upon the summons of the bell, to the dining-room, where Sir John and his lady were waiting his arrival before they seated themselves at the table. So sordid and sorry was the repast, that it might well justify Sir John's exclamation-"'Sblood! my lady, is this all? Another fast-day? zooks! I could get better pickings out of a beggar's wallet, or from the orts of a costermonger's Sunday supper. As for your cat-sup water-zootje, you may stir it up as long as you like, but the devil a ladle for me."

"In troebel water is goed visschen," said her ladyship, helping herself very quietly and plentifully to some flounders from the tureen before her- 66 gij zijt wel gelukkig--you are lucky Saar Jan, een dinner to have, when ik heb niet een stuiver, quand je n'ai pas le sous, not a penny in de huis. Koper geld, kopere zielmissen-no farding, no feast."

To the scantiness of the dinner Jocelyn was presently reconciled, but he was shocked at the sordid falsehood which pleaded such utter destitution, when he had seen her receiving and secreting money in the morning. However, he determined not to excite any new altercation by noticing the occurrence, and with the same motive betook himself eagerly to some hashed mutton placed before him, declaring that it was a dish of which he had always been particularly fond, and which would enable him to dine like an emperor. If there were as little abstract truth in this averment, as in her ladyship's declaration that she was without a single stiver to procure more dainty cheer, it is to be hoped that the difference of the motive will make our hero's want of veracity a much more venial, if not indeed an amiable, transgression. Anxious to preserve appearances as long as possible, and avoid any matrimonial squabbles on this first day of Jocelyn's introduction, Sir John fol

lowed his son's example, dispatching the hashed mutton with an alacrity which was rather attributable to the want of any edible substitute than to his preference of that nefarious rifaciThus much we have felt ourselves bound to state in vindication of the baronet's epicurean taste.

mento.

66

Honger is een scherp zevaard, Saar Jan," exclaimed her ladyship, in a voice rendered more

than usually plethorick and wheezing by her having just finished a whole tureen of waterzootje,-"hongry dog zall eat dirt podding.Ha! ha!—Mijn Heer Jocelyn, wat zal u drinken? Hier is goed dun bier."

"Good small beer!" exclaimed Sir John, thrown off his guard by so unmerited, not to say incompatible a character," what a bounce! 'Sblood! Jocelyn, don't touch any such rascally ditch-water. It is swipes-fit for nothing but hog-wash, though my lady will swill you a gallon at a sitting."

As if in confirmation of this assertion, she filled a large mug with this vilipended liquod,

emptied it at a draft, drew in a long breath, puffed it out again with distended cheeks and "Ha! apparent satisfaction, and exclaimed,

dat is goed de keel smeeren; dat is goed!"

Fortunately there was a bottle of wine upon the table, of which Sir John had taken early possession, as if to secure it from his lady. From this he filled Jocelyn's glass and his own without relinquishing possession; but her ladyship seemed to have no wish to contest the division of his prize, contenting herself with the black jack, from which she replenished her mug until the whole was exhausted. Never had Jocelyn hurried to open the door with more satisfaction, than when his beer-drinking stepmother quitted the dining-room; and never, probably, had Sir John prepared himself with greater glee for a rousing bouse, than when he drew his chair close to his son's, slapped him