XI. Mr. Aubrey in deep waters, where he meets with a companion.--News from Dr. Tatham 399 XII. A communication from Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap.--Mr. Gammon in Vivian Street, after the manner of a snake in a dove-cote.--Mr. Quirk's contemplated action for breach of promise of marriage 429 XIII. How Mr. Titmouse courted the Lady Cecilia.--Mr. Titmouse stands for the borough of Yatton, but unexpectedly encounters a formidable opponent 461 NOTES 485 TEN THOUSAND A-YEAR. CHAPTER I. "The Attorney-General did his work very fairly, I thought--eh, Lynx?" said Mr. Subtle, as arm-in-arm with Mr. Lynx, he quitted the Castle-gates, each of them on his way to their respective lodgings, to prepare for the next day's work. "Yes--he's a keen hand, to be sure: he's given us _all_ work enough; and I must say, it's been a capital set-to between you! I'm _very_ glad you got the verdict!" "It wouldn't have done to be beaten on one's own dung-hill, as it were--eh? By the way, Lynx, that was a good hit of yours about the erasure--I ought, really, if it had occurred to me at the time, to have given you the credit of it--'twas entirely yours, Lynx, I must say." "Oh, no!"--replied Lynx, modestly. "It was a mere accident my lighting on it; the merit was, the use you made of it!" "To think of ten thousand a-year turning on that same trumpery erasure!"---- "But are you sure of our verdict on that ground, Mr. Subtle? Do you think Lord Widdrington was right in rejecting that deed?"[1] "Right? to be sure he was! But I own I got rather uneasy at the way the Attorney-General put it--that the estate had once been vested, and could not be subsequently de-vested by an alteration or blemish in the instrument evidencing the passing of the estate--eh? that was a good point, Lynx." "Ay, but as Lord Widdrington put it--that could be only where the defect was proved to exist after a complete and valid deed had been once established." "True--true; that's the answer, Lynx; here, you see, the deed is disgraced in the first instance; no proof, in fact, that it ever _was_ a deed--therefore, mere waste paper." "To be sure, _possession_ has gone along with the deed"---- "Possession gone along with it!--What then?--That is to say, the man who has altered it, to benefit himself and his heirs, keeps it snugly in his own chest--and then that is of itself to be sufficient to"----