'A king can make a belted knight, A marquess, duke, and a' that; An honest man's abune his might-- Gude faith, he canna fa' that.' Why need I care about telling these ladies where I live?" "Sir," says I, "have the goodness to send the parcel, when done, to Mr. Titmarsh, No. 3 Bell Lane, Salisbury Square, near St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street. Ring, if you please, the two-pair bell." "_What_, sir?" said Mr. Polonius. "_Hwat_!" shrieked the old lady. "Mr. Hwat? Mais, ma chere, c'est impayable. Come along--here's the carr'age! Give me your arm, Mr. Hwat, and get inside, and tell me all about your thirteen aunts." She seized on my elbow and hobbled through the shop as fast as possible; the young ladies following her, laughing. "Now, jump in, do you hear?" said she, poking her sharp nose out of the window. "I can't, ma'am," says I; "I have a friend." "Pooh, pooh! send 'um to the juice, and jump in!" And before almost I could say a word, a great powdered fellow in yellow-plush breeches pushed me up the steps and banged the door to. I looked just for one minute as the barouche drove away at Hoskins, and never shall forget his figure. There stood Gus, his mouth wide open, his eyes staring, a smoking cheroot in his hand, wondering with all his might at the strange thing that had just happened to me. "Who _is_ that Titmarsh?" says Gus: "there's a coronet on the carriage, by Jingo!" CHAPTER III HOW THE POSSESSOR OF THE DIAMOND IS WHISKED INTO A MAGNIFICENT CHARIOT, AND HAS YET FURTHER GOOD LUCK I sat on the back seat of the carriage, near a very nice young lady, about my dear Mary's age--that is to say, seventeen and three-quarters; and opposite us sat the old Countess and her other grand-daughter--handsome too, but ten years older. I recollect I had on that day my blue coat and brass buttons, nankeen trousers, a white sprig waist-coat, and one of Dando's silk hats, that had just come in in the year '22, and looked a great deal more glossy than the best beaver. "And who was that hidjus manster"--that was the way her Ladyship pronounced,--"that ojous vulgar wretch, with the iron heels to his boots, and the big mouth, and the imitation goold neck-chain, who _steered_ at us so as we got into the carriage?" How she should have known that Gus's chain was mosaic I can't tell; but so it was, and we had bought it for five-and-twenty and sixpence only the week before at M'Phail's, in St. Paul's Churchyard. But I did not like to hear my friend abused, and so spoke out for him-- "Ma'am," says I, "that young gentleman's name is Augustus Hoskins. We live together; and a better or more kind-hearted fellow does not exist." "You are quite right to stand up for your friends, sir," said the second lady; whose name, it appears, was Lady Jane, but whom the grandmamma called Lady Jene.