At this time a new character made his appearance at C—–­, at Mr. B—–­, an English farmer of the true yeoman breed.  He was a short-legged, long-bodied, corpulent little man.  He wore a brown coat, with ample skirts, and a vast expanse of vest, with drab-coloured small-clothes and gaiters.  B—–­ was a jolly, good-natured looking man, with an easy blunt manner which might easily pass for honesty.

Q—–­ had sold him a lot of wild land in some out-of-the-way township, by making Mr. B—–­ believe that he could sell it again very soon, with a handsome profit.  Of course his bargain was not a good one.  He soon found from its situation that the land was quite unsaleable, there being no settlements in the neighbourhood.  Instead of expressing any resentment, he fairly acknowledged that Q—–­ was his master at a bargain, and gave him full credit for his address and cunning, and quite resolved in his own mind to profit by the lesson he had received.

Now, with all their natural acuteness and habitual dexterity in such matters, the Canadians have one weak point; they are too ready to believe that Englishmen are made of money.  All that an emigrant has to do to acquire the reputation of having money, is to seem quite easy, and free from care or anxiety for the future, and to maintain a certain degree of reserve in talking of his private affairs.  Mr. B—–­ perfectly understood how to play his cards with the land-jobber; and his fat, jolly physiognomy, and rustic, provincial manners and accent, greatly assisted him in the deception.

Every day Q—–­ drove him out to look at different farms.  B—–­ talked carelessly of buying some large “block” of land, that would have cost him some 3000 or 4000 pounds, providing he could only find the kind of soil he particularly liked for farming purposes.  As he seemed to be in no hurry in making his selection, Q—–­ determined to make him useful, in the meantime, in promoting his views with respect to others.  He therefore puffed Mr. B—–­ up to everybody as a Norfolk farmer of large capital, and always appealed to him to confirm the character he gave of any farm he wished to sell to a new comer.  B—–­, on his side, was not slow in playing into Q—–­’s hand on these occasions, and without being at all suspected of collusion.

In the evening, Mr. B—–­ would walk into the public room of the tavern, apparently fatigued with his exertions through the day; fling himself carelessly on a sofa, and unbutton his gaiters and the knees of his small-clothes.  He took little notice of anybody unless he was spoken to, and his whole demeanour seemed to say, as plainly as words, “I care for nobody, nobody cares for me.”  This was just the kind of man for Q—–.  He instantly saw that he would be an invaluable ally and coadjutor, without seeming to be so.  When B—–­ made his appearance in the evening, Q—–­ was seldom at the tavern, for his time had not yet come.  In the meanwhile, B—–­ was sure to be drawn gradually into conversation by