“n.b.--You’l Fine the door onley shut too--Push, an’ it will Opin. “Yours, as Before. “Too Mister Otool, ecc. &c. &c. &c.” “You would not be mad enough to go,” said the captain, as he returned Mrs. Spicer’s flattering invitation. “And how can I get over it?” inquired the fosterer. “Now mark my words--for you’re bent on it, I see,” continued Shemus Rhua--“your taa-drinkin’ will end in trouble. They say here, that Spicer’s house is notorious for harbouring the most desperate characters in the Dials. If you’re caught--no fair play like the wake--but you’ll be set on by half a score, out and out, murdered, and no one to assist you. Mark, _astore_--stay where ye are!” But, like his greater namesake, Mark Antony, led by Dan Cupid, seemed determined to run blindly to destruction; and, disregarding the warnings of the ratcatcher, he resolved “To love again, and be again undone”-- and accordingly departed for the domicile of Mr. Spicer. Shemus Rhua, when left alone, ensconced himself in the casement described in the lady’s letter, as “the wee windy next the door,” to take out-post duty for the evening, and secure the fosterer against surprise. Full of dark forebodings, he recalled to memory the divers misfortunes which had befallen his unlucky _protegee_, Dick Macnamara, and all were clearly attributable to his unfortunate predilection for drinking tea; and therefore, that Mark Antony’s visit to Mrs. Spicer would prove disastrous, he fatally anticipated. Between every blast of the _dhudheeine_, he turned a suspicious eye to the corner of the street from which danger might have been expected, and proved himself thus invaluable as a videt, as he had been prudent as a counsellor. The door of Mr. Spicer’s mansion was exactly in the state that the lady had described it--and, yielding to his push, the fosterer found himself in the presence of the lady. Aware that time was valuable, Mrs. Spicer, after mutual wishes of good health had been ratified by a glass of rum, proceeded at once to business. She hinted at the infelicity of her marriage--and expressed her determination to effect a divorce according to the forms of St. Giles, by which the tedious formalities of law are avoided, and no necessity exists for troubling the House of Peers. Of course, she must, as a prudent woman, provide herself with a future protector; and, in brief terms, she confessed the secret of her love, and tendered her hand and fortune to the safe custody of Mr. O’Toole.