‘And I beg of you, sir, don’t betray me to the Vis-count,’ he pleaded. ‘I’ll not deny but what my ’eart failed me a trifle; but it was only a word, sir, what anybody might have said in the ’eat of the moment, and over with it.’ ‘Certainly,’ said I. ‘That is quite my own opinion.’ ‘The way I came to be anxious about the Vis-count,’ he continued, ‘is that I believe he might be induced to form an ’asty judgment. And the business, in a pecuniary point of view, is all that I could ask; only trying, sir—very trying. It’s making an old man of me before my time. You might have observed yourself, sir, that I ’aven’t got the knees I once ’ad. The knees and the breathing, there’s where it takes me. But I’m very sure, sir, I address a gentleman as would be the last to make trouble between friends.’ ‘I am sure you do me no more than justice,’ said I; ‘and I shall think it quite unnecessary to dwell on any of these passing circumstances in my report to the Vicomte.’ ‘Which you do favour him (if you’ll excuse me being so bold as to mention it) exac’ly!’ said he. ‘I should have known you anywheres. May I offer you a pot of ’ome-brewed ale, sir? By your leave! This way, if you please. I am ’eartily grateful—’eartily pleased to be of any service to a gentleman like you, sir, which is related to the Vis-count, and really a fambly of which you might well be proud! Take care of the step, sir. You have good news of ’is ’ealth, I trust? as well as that of Monseer the Count?’ God forgive me! the horrible fellow was still puffing and panting with the fury of his assault, and already he had fallen into an obsequious, wheedling familiarity like that of an old servant,—already he was flattering me on my family connections! I followed him through the house into the stable-yard, where I observed the driver washing the cart in a shed. He must have heard the explosion of the pistol. He could not choose but hear it: the thing was shaped like a little blunderbuss, charged to the mouth, and made a report like a piece of field artillery. He had heard, he had paid no attention; and now, as we came forth by the back-door, he raised for a moment a pale and tell-tale face that was as direct as a confession. The rascal had expected to see Fenn come forth alone; he was waiting to be called on for that part of sexton, which I had already allotted to him in fancy.