‘Where are you off to in such a hurry, you old humbug?’ said a tall handsome man imperiously. ‘You can’t have any business at this time of day.’
‘Not so sure of that,’ chimed in another of the party. ‘I see you’ve got your black hat with you, Selmore.’
Mr. Selmore looked straight into the speaker’s eyes for a moment, and then gravely taking off the upper covering referred to, stroked it, looked at it, and replaced it upon his head.
‘Yes!’ he said, ‘Evelyn, I have; I prefer them, even in this confounded weather. They make a fellow look like a gentleman if it’s in him, and not like a man going to a dog-fight, like that white abomination you have on.’
The trio laughed more heartily and continuously at this rejoinder than Ernest thought the wit justified, to the enjoyment of which Mr. Selmore abandoned them without ceremony, merely remarking to Ernest, though good fellows, they were awfully dissipated, and he could not recommend them as friends.
Before quitting the business part of the city, where the handsome massive stone buildings gave an Italian air to the narrow streets, Ernest’s roving eye happened to light on the name of ‘Frankston,’ legended upon a conspicuously bright brass plate.
‘Ha!’ said he, ‘I remember something about that name. Is he a merchant—do you know him?’
‘Yes,’ said Mr. Selmore indifferently, ‘he is a merchant, and a tolerably sharp man of business too. Takes station accounts; but I forget, you don’t quite understand our phrases yet. He would be called more a private banker where you and I hail from. Why do you ask?’
‘Merely because I happen to have a letter of introduction to him from a man I met abroad once, and I shall deliver it to-morrow.’
Mr. Selmore did not look sympathetic at this announcement, but he said little in contravention of his young friend’s resolve.