“‘We don’t,’ said I, rather nettled; ‘we carry a pocket-book like this.’ And here I produced my specimen order; but with one shy of his foot the Duke sent it flying to the ceiling, as he exclaimed,—
“‘Confound your patchwork!—try to be a gentleman for once!’
“‘So I will, then,’ said I. ‘Here’s your health, Devonshire.’
“‘Take care,—take care,’ said he, solemnly. ‘Don’t dare to take any liberties with me,—they won’t do;’ and the words made my blood freeze.
“I tossed off a glass neat to gain courage; for my head swam round, and I thought I saw his Grace sitting before me, in his dress as Knight of the Garter, with a coronet on his head, his ‘George’ round his neck, and he was frowning at me most awfully.
“‘I did n’t mean it,’ said I, pitifully. ‘I am only a bagman, but very well known on the western road,—could get security for three hundred pounds, any day, in soft goods.’
“‘I am not angry, old Raggs,’ said the Duke. ‘None of my family ever bear malice. Let us have a toast,—“A speedy return to our rightful position on the Treasury benches.”’
“I pledged his Grace with every enthusiasm; and when I laid my glass on the table, he wrung my hand warmly and said,—
“‘Raggs, I must do something for you.’
“From that moment I felt my fortune was made. The friendship—and was I wrong in giving it that title?—the friendship of such a man was success assured; and as I sipped my liquor, I ran over in my mind the various little posts and offices I would accept of or decline. They ‘ll be offering me some chief-justiceship in Gambia, or to be port-surveyor in the Isle of Dogs, or something of that kind; but I won’t take it, nor will I go out as bishop, nor commander of the forces, nor collector of customs to any newly discovered island in the Pacific Ocean. ‘I must have something at home here; I never could bear a sea-voyage,’ said I, aloud, concluding my meditation by this reflection.