"
"Ah!" said Joe, with his habitual insouciance, "when I told you that
they give me the 'ump."
"Yes, what abaht it, sir? 'Ave they been sayin' anything particular
vicious?" His face flying up just then with the cork which he was
extracting encountered the expression on Mr. Lavender's visage, and he
added: "Don't take wot I say to 'eart, sir; try as you like you'll never
be a public man."
Those words, which seemed to Mr. Lavender to seal his doom, caused a
faint pink flush to invade his cheeks.
"No," continued Joe, pouring out the wine; "you 'aven't got the brass
in times like these. I dare say you've noticed, sir, that the times
is favourable for bringing out the spots on the body politic. 'Ere's
'ealth!"
"Joe," said Mr. Lavender, raising the glass to his lips with solemnity,
"I wish you a most happy and prosperous life. Let us drink to all those
qualities which make you par excellence one of that great race, the best
hearted in the world, which never thinks of to-morrow, never knows when
it is beaten, and seldom loses its sense of humour.
"Ah!" returned Joe enigmatically, half-closing one of his greenish eyes,
and laying the glass to one side of his reddish nose. Then, with a quick
movement, he swallowed its contents and refilled it before Mr.
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