"Nothing can be better, Mr. Lykspittal!" exclaimed the knight. "I should, however, be glad if you will, in the course of the pamphlet, allude especially—and more than once, too—to the fact that I have been the artificer of my own fortune—that I raised myself from nothing—and that the greatest mistake the livery-men of Portsoken ever made was to reject me as a candidate for the aldermanic gown of that ward."
"I shall not forget, Sir Christopher," observed Mr. Lykspittal.
"And you may add, my dear sir," continued the knight, pompously, "that you are well aware that circumstances have since occurred to make me rejoice at that rejection."
"I will declare it to be a well known fact amongst all your friends," said the accommodating literary gentleman.
"And you may touch upon the zeal—the ability—and the efficiency with which I performed the duties of the shrievalty—the very arduous duties of that office," observed the new Justice of the Peace.
"I shall certainly do so, Sir Christopher," replied Mr. Lykspittal; "and it will only be telling the exact truth."
"You may likewise touch upon the reward which it graciously pleased the illustrious Prince to confer upon me," continued the magistrate: "I mean—the honour of knighthood."
"As a matter of course, my dear sir; and never was that title bestowed upon a gentleman better calculated to wear it worthily."
"I thank you, Mr. Lykspittal," returned Sir Christopher, "for your very flattering opinion of me. When can the pamphlet be got ready?"
"I shall set about it immediately, sir," was the answer. "The moment it is published, you must seize upon some point, which I shall purposely leave open for discussion, and write a letter to a morning newspaper, declaring that you agree with the general tenour of the work, but that you totally dissent from that particular doctrine."