“Well, it's what a friend of mine called them just now,” said Merl; “and remarked, moreover, that the large horse had been slightly fired on the—the—I forget the name he gave it.”
“You probably remember your friend's name better,” said Cavendish, sneeringly. “Who was he, pray?”
“Massingbred,—we call him Jack Massingbred; he's the Member for somewhere in Ireland.”
“Poor Jack!” muttered Cavendish, “how hard up he must be!”
“But you like the equipage, Merl?” said Martin, who had a secret suspicion that it was now Cavendish's turn for a little humiliation.
“Well, it's neat. The buggy—”
“The buggy! By Jove, sir, you have a precious choice of epithets! Please to let me inform you that full-blooded horses are not called hacks, nor one of Leader's park-phaetons is not styled a buggy.”
Martin threw himself into a chair, and after a moment's struggle, burst out into a fit of laughter.
“I think we may make a deal after all, Sir Spencer,” said Merl, who accepted the baronet's correction with admirable self-control.
“No, sir; perfectly impossible; take my word for it, any transaction would be difficult between us. Good-bye, Martin; adieu, Claude.” And with this brief leave-taking the peppery Sir Spencer left the room, more flushed and fussy than he had entered it.