.

" He gave me a little shock.

I thought he was going to say the "son of the poet" as usual; but his mind was not running on such vanities now.

His unspoken thought must have gone on "and uncle of my girls." I suspect that he had been roughly handled by Captain Anthony up there, and the resentment gave a tremendous fillip to the slow play of his wits.

Those men of sober fancy, when anything rouses their imaginative faculty, are very thorough.