"Indeed, Mr. Peacock, if you remember, I refused to play with you; and so far from wishing to offend you, I now come on purpose to compliment you on your excellent acting, and to inquire if you have heard anything lately of your young friend Mr. Vivian." "Vivian? Never heard the name, sir. Vivian! Pooh, you are trying to hoax me; very good!" "I assure you, Mr. Peac--" "St--st--How the deuce did you know that I was once called Peac--, that is, people called me Peac--. A friendly nickname, no more. Drop it, sir, or you 'touch me with noble anger'!" "Well, well; 'the rose by any name will smell as sweet,' as the Swan, this time at least, judiciously observes. But Mr. Vivian, too, seems to have other names at his disposal. I mean a young, dark, handsome man--or rather boy--with whom I met you in company by the roadside, one morning." "O--h!" said Mr. Peacock, looking much relieved, "I know whom you mean, though I don't remember to have had the pleasure of seeing you before. No; I have not heard any thing of the young man lately. I wish I did know something of him. He was a 'gentleman in my own way.' Sweet Will has hit him off to a hair!-- 'The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword.' "Such a hand with a cue! You should have seen him seek the 'bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth.' I may say," continued Mr. Peacock, emphatically, "that he was a regular trump. Trump!" he reiterated with a start, as if the word had stung him--" trump! he was a Brick!" Then fixing his eyes on mine, dropping his arms, interlacing his fingers in the manner recorded of Talma in the celebrated "Qu'en dis-tu!" he resumed in a hollow voice, slow and distinct-- "When--saw--you--him,--young m--m--a--n--nnn?" Finding the tables thus turned on myself, and not willing to give Mr. Peac-- any clew to poor Vivian (who thus appeared, to my great satisfaction, to have finally dropped an acquaintance more versatile than reputable), I contrived, by a few evasive sentences, to keep Mr. Peac--'s curiosity at a distance till he was summoned in haste to change his attire for the domestic drama. And so we parted. CHAPTER. VI.