"Now," said I to Francis Ardry, "follow me, I am a
person of some authority in this house;" thereupon I led Francis
Ardry into the house, and a word which I said to a waiter forthwith
installed Francis Ardry in a comfortable private sitting-room, and
his trunk in the very best sleeping-room of our extensive
establishment.
It was now about one o'clock: Francis Ardry ordered dinner for
two, to be ready at four, and a pint of sherry to be brought
forthwith, which I requested my friend the waiter might be the very
best, and which in effect turned out as I requested; we sat down,
and when we had drunk to each other's health, Frank requested me to
make known to him how I had contrived to free myself from my
embarrassments in London, what I had been about since I quitted
that city, and the present posture of my affairs.
I related to Francis Ardry how I had composed the Life of Joseph
Sell, and how the sale of it to the bookseller had enabled me to
quit London with money in my pocket, which had supported me during
a long course of ramble in the country, into the particulars of
which I, however, did not enter with any considerable degree of
fulness. I summed up my account by saying that "I was at present a
kind of overlooker in the stables of the inn, had still some pounds
in my purse, and, moreover, a capital horse in the stall.
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