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 interest of one regarding the evil fortune of an acquaintance.

On the morning on which he reckoned that the lawyer of Mr. Montague Fitzgerald, having received no answer to his demand for the sum of seven hundred and fifty-four pounds, would set the law in motion by issuing a writ, he proclaimed the state of siege.

Then he said, "The object, Mrs. Bride, of this state of siege in which we are now living, is to prevent the common bailiff from presenting me with a blue document purporting to come from his Gracious Majesty the King, but really coming from a most unpleasant little greasy shark in Bloomsbury."

"Yes, sir," said Pollyooly gravely.

"Well, I'm relying very much on you to prevent a common bailiff from entering my presence. Do you know what a common bailiff is like?"

"No, sir," said Pollyooly.

"Well, a common bailiff is a very respectable man with a quite inconsistently red nose. He wears either a black frock-coat of ancient fashion, or a morning coat of the same shape as I wear at the Courts. But whether he wears a frock-coat or a