The dishes of the first course were removed; and the German appeared with a covered dish, followed by Sally, who brought some vegetables, and returned to the kitchen for more. "I'm afraid you will have a very poor dinner," repeated the lady.--"Take off the cover, Sneider.--Will you allow me to help you to a piece of this?" Rainscourt turned his head round to see if the object offered was such as to tempt his appetite, and beheld a--_smoking bullock's heart_! "My wife, my wife!" exclaimed he, as he darted from his chair; and covering his face, as if to hide from his sight the object which occasioned the concatenation of ideas, attempted to run out of the room. But his escape was not so easy. In his hurried movement he had entangled himself with the long table-cloth that trailed on the carpet, and, to the dismay of the party, everything that was on the table was swept off in his retreat; and as he had blindfolded himself, he ran with such force against the German, who was in the act of receiving a dish from Sally, that, precipitating him against her, they both rolled prostrate on the floor. "Ah, mein Got, mein Got!" roared the German, as his face was smothered with the hot stewed peas, a dish of which he was carrying as he fell on his back. "Oh, my eye, my eye!" bellowed Sally, as she rolled upon the floor. "My wife, my wife!" reiterated Rainscourt, as he trampled over them, and secured his retreat. "And oh, my dinner, my dinner!" ejaculated the curate, as he surveyed the general wreck. "And oh, you fool, you fool, Mr Potts!" echoed the lady, with her arms akimbo--"to ask such a man to dine with you!" "Well, I had no idea that he could have taken it so much to _heart_," replied the curate meekly. But we must follow Rainscourt, who--whether really agitated by the circumstance, or, aware that it would be bruited abroad, thought that a display of agitation would be advisable--proceeded with hurried steps to the promenades, where he glided through the thoughtless crowd with the silent rapidity of a ghost. Having sufficiently awakened the curiosity of the spectators, he sank down on one of the most retired benches, with his eyes for some time thrown up in contemplation of the fleecy clouds, beyond which kind spirits are supposed to look down, and weep over the follies and inconsistencies of an erring world. Casting his eyes to earth, he beheld--horror upon horrors--the detested bullock's heart, which his great Polygar dog had seized during the confusion of the dinner scene, and had followed him out with it in his mouth. Finding it too hot to carry immediately after its seizure, he had, for a time, laid it down, and had just arrived with it. There he was, not a foot from the bench, his jaws distended with the prize, tossing up his head as if in mockery of his master, and wagging his long, feathered tail.