too had prepared himself for the occasion, being apparelled in his best; but verily he was an admonition by example to all men who delight in coats of many colours.

His coat was of light gray--it had been his wedding garment sometime in the course of the last century--adorned with large brazen crown-broad buttons, the least big enough for the censer of an idol's altar. Mr. Herbert called him the solar system, his buttons being planets and moons, and the spots on his swandown waistcoat the fixed stars. His decencies were of purple plush, and his hose of light blue cotton, over which he wore a pair of half boots, with long leather straps dangling over their outside. His hat was almost as good and bright as new, but it had been kept in too small a box, and had a squarish and compressed shape, something like a cocked-hat in a state of relaxation. Moreover, he sported pair of new olive-coloured. gloves, which being rather large, obliged him to be constantly pressing them into fitting, by interweaving his fingers; and his wonted every-day staff, an oaken sapling he had brought from Renfrewshire, was laid aside, for an ivory-headed Indian cane, which he only displayed at pace and yule, and other high holidays.

The sight of the Baillie in all his paraphernalia was an encouraging omen, but I would have been just as well satisfied had it been so ordained that we were not to have met that morning; so, affecting not to see him, I walked straight on towards the store, mending my pace as I approached it. He was not, however, to be so easily dispensed with, for he increased his pace also, and, taking a diagonal course, was at the door almost as soon as myself.

"Hey! Mr. Waft," said I, "what bridal or banquet are ye for the day, or is there a corn-fair and market in the woods?"

Much to my surprise, the droll bodie wore that day a sedate aspect, and looked from under the brim of his beaver with such composed eyes that he almost seemed another character from what he had hitherto appeared.

"Ye see, Mr. Todd," replied be, "though we may use a spice o' familiarity among oursels, it behooves us to put on our manners afore strangers; so, wishing to uphold the credit of the place, I considered it my duty to dip to the bottom of the muckle chest on this occasion. For you know, when you remove to Judiville, I shall be then the principal mercantile character in Babelmandel."

"That will be a great thing," said I, hardly able to keep my gravity at hearing such a pretension.

"And I thought," resumed the Baillie, "I could do no less, out of the respect I bear you, than to dress myself in time to introduce you to the gentlemen."

I did not like this; and replied,

"I thought, Mr. Waft, you were not acquainted with them; I would be as content that they, being come on business, would introduce themselves."

Here I was again surprised, for the bodie being that morning in a peremptory mood, turned. on his heel and went off in a huff: it was the second time he had done so since he took me in by the hook-crooky bargain, thereby clearly showing that it was naturally upsetting and could not carry a full cup.

Soon after his exit in a huff, Mr. Herbert joined me, also in his modest best; and really he was like a gentleman: so calm and quiet in his manner, so neat in every point, and yet so plain and simple, that it was evident he had been destined for a better condition than that of a backwood's village dominie.

I invited him to take his breakfast with us, intending to ask the two strangers if I fell in with them in time; and in this I was not without a purpose, which in due season will be divulged. In the mean time, while we were conversing, I saw the gentlemen coming towards the store with Mr. Waft, who was plainly making himself as agreeable to them as possible, by directing their attention to different things about the village, turning round and pointing them out with his stick.

As they approached the door, the Baillie stepped aside, and the strangers came in unattended. They cast their eyes round for a moment--then they took a glance at Mr. Herbert, and afterward at me, and finally they did homage to him. At this crisis the Baillie also entered, and leaning his back against the counter, gave me a significant side-long look, as much as to say, "Would you not be the better of my introduction?”

Mr. Van Haarlem was the first who spoke he addressed himself to Mr. Herbert, repeating a good deal of the commendation he had bestowed the preceding evening on the progress of the settlement.

The Baillie began to fidget, and his eyes to twinkle in their wonted manner, but he said nothing.

When Mr. Van Haarlem had finished his compliments, then Mr. Breugle cut in, and expressed the extraordinary satisfaction they had both experienced in their visit to Judiville, through which they had come in their way to Babelmandel."

The Baillie looked from under his brows and brim at me, in a malignant, though a merry manner for all this time I was

standing behind the counter, winding up string, blowing the dust from the scales, and doing such other uncalled for work.

Mr. Van Haarlem, after some farther discourse, inquired of Mr. Herbert when he expected Mr. Hoskins, and nothing could be more polite than the manner in which that gentleman turned to me and said,

"Mr. Todd, when do you expect the old gentleman ?"?

The two strangers looked for an instant confusedly at each other, and the vexatious Baillie rubbed his hands with fidgety fainness, and gave a sort of keckling laugh, as if in triumph for the victory he had gained over me but his joy was not everlasting; for the temporary mistake of the two strangers was happily corrected by the judicious interference of Mr. Herbert, and we were soon on our way to my house, to which I invited the bankers to accompany me to breakfast; SO I was upsides with the Baillie by not asking him. We had not, however, proceeded far from the store, when my heart smote me that I was behaving overly harsh to the bodie, especially as he had dressed himself to do us all honour; so, as he was slowly and slinkingly moving toward his own house, I called out, "Where now, Mr. Waft? are not you coming with us ?"

"I'm thinking," said he, in a sort of out-of-countenance simplicity, "that the eggs will be cold before I can get home." "Then ye should make more haste," cried I, laughing; "but make our way your road to breakfast, and I can assure you that ye shall have a supply both of hot eggs and hot water."

Ah, ye will be cutting your witty jokes at my expense,' replied the bodie, coming back with a lighter foot than he turned to go away. And then we had all a good laugh at the pawkie prank he had played me in letting the strangers, for want of an introduction, mistake Mr. Herbert for me.

As I told the story myself, and not without a garnishing of jocularity, it bespoke an excellent opinion of my good nature with Mr. Van Haarlem and Mr. Breugle, as they afterward told me.

By the time we reached my house, Mr. Hoskins was arrived, and aunty had laid out for him a change of linen and other decorations; but he would not then put them on, for breakfast was by that time ready, and he was averse to keep the two gentlemen waiting. Breakfast, however, was soon despatched, and we all adjourned with our segars to the stoop-I say ours, but neither Mr. Herbert nor I ever smoked, and the Baillie bodie did it so seldom, that he fell ill, and his head grew dizzy, which obliged him to return home.

During the cogitation with the segars, I found an opportunity to tell Mr. Herbert aside that I would let him take the lead in discussing the scheme of the Bank, and that when we heard what the two gentlemen had to propose, we would have some farther deliberation between ourselves.

As it would never do for a history-book to be filled up with the particulars of business, of course it is not expected that I should relate what passed on that occasion. Let it therefore suffice that the proposition of the two gentlemen was both rational and feasible. They were sure that Judiville would to a certainty become speedily a large town, and that its growth. and progress would be helped by a bank. But one thing did surprise me the smallness of the capital which they proposed should be embarked-the amount being only two thousand dollars, of which each of us should advance five hundred, that is, Mr. Hoskins and I, the other two doing the same.

With these two thousand dollars we were to get hard cash to meet a run; a handsome plate made for the notes; and provide the other proper et-ceteras. With the bank's notes we were to discount bills, and we were likewise to take in deposites of cash at one per cent. less interest than we discounted bills.

As Judiville was as yet but in its infancy, and few bills were in the settlement to discount, the scheme did not appear to be either very hazardous or unreasonable; so it was determined, in the end, that the Judiville Bank Company should be established on this moderate scale, as we all thought it, and that Mr. Herbert should be manager; for it was thought by Mr. Hoskins that he could both keep his school at Babelmandel, and superintend the banking affairs at Judiville, the two places, by the bushroad, being only seven miles distant.

Feasible, however, as the plan was, the mysteries of banking were deeper than I could ever well fathom; so I proposed to let Mr. Herbert have my fourth, and that I would advance the five hundred dollars, he to pay me back with interest double the sum in five years.

CHAPTER IX.

"A little Druid wight,

-But his eye was keen."

AFTER some conversation with Mr. Herbert, with reference to the change which the banking arrangement promised to his ostensible circumstances, I urged him seriously to renew his acquaintance with Mrs. Cockspur.

"No," said he; "I mastered my passion when young, respected, and amid the assurances of good fortune ;--can I now, an old man, bent beneath the burden of many disappointments, with a withered heart and a shaking hand, claim more than pity even from affection?"

Seeing him in this mood (I wonder what it is that makes men of superiority so inaccessible to judicious counsel?) I said nothing, but I formed a plan of my own, and, as delays are dangerous, I lost no time in carrying it into effect. Accordingly, on the morning after the departure of the bankers, I went to Judiville, partly to see how the buildings for the house and store were coming on, but chiefly to have a few rational words in a corner with Mrs. Cockspur.

It may be thought, that in taking up this business, I was too much like John Waft, troubling myself with matters that did not appertain to me; but I could not help it. I was much taken with the appeased character of Mr. Herbert: he was so evidently by nature an heir to a rich inheritance of fortune and honour, that I could not but regret so noble a spirit should be so far out of its proper sphere. It was this charity that prompted me; an uplooking charity that finds its best reward in self-approval. But I must not forget a resolution made in early life never to praise myself; so, without more ado, I shall now rehearse what I did at Judiville with the worthy old lady.

I have already mentioned how I was obliged to Mr. Bradshaw Cockspur for the plan of the house and store, and how the business concerning the same led to an intimacy with the family. This intimacy allowed me the freedom of paying my respects at all times to Mrs. Cockspur; and accordingly, at a period of the day when the young gentlemen, I knew, were