, with some allowance to the servants of
the house, which was the less necessary, that he saddled his own gelding, as it
seems, without the hostler's assistance.«
    Thus satisfied of the rectitude of Lambourne's conduct, Varney began to talk
to him upon his future prospects, and the mode in which he meant to bestow
himself, intimating that he understood from Foster he was not disinclined to
enter into the household of a nobleman.
    »Have you,« said he, »ever been at court?«
    »No,« replied Lambourne; »but ever since I was ten years old, I have dreamt
once a-week that I was there, and made my fortune.«
    »It may be your own fault if your dream comes not true,« said Varney. »Are
you needy?«
    »Um!« replied Lambourne; »I love pleasure.«
    »That is a sufficient answer, and an honest one,« said Varney. »Know you
aught of the requisites expected from the retainer of a rising courtier?«
    »I have imagined them to myself, sir,« answered Lambourne, »as, for example,
a quick eye - a close mouth - a ready and bold hand - a sharp wit, and a blunt
conscience.«
    »And thine, I suppose,« said Varney, »has had its edge blunted long since?«
    »I cannot remember, sir, that its edge was ever over keen,« replied
Lambourne. »When I was a youth, I had some few whimsies, but I rubbed them
partly out of my recollection on the rough grindstone of the wars, and what
remained I washed out in the broad waves of the Atlantic.«
    »Thou hast served, then, in the Indies?«
    »In both East and West,« answered the candidate for court-service, »by both
sea and land; I have served both the Portugal and the Spaniard - both the
Dutchman and the Frenchman, and have made war on our own account with a crew of
jolly fellows, who held there was no peace beyond the Line.«6
    »Thou mayest do me, and my lord, and thyself good service,« said Varney,
after a pause. »But observe, I know the world - and answer me truly, canst thou
be faithful?«
    »Did you not know the world,« answered Lambourne, »it were my duty to say
ay, without farther circumstance, and to swear to it with life and honour, and
so forth. But as
