Five minutes sufficed for Jack to tell me that he was come down on a bold speculation at this unseasonable time for Cheltenham; that he was quite sure his fortune was about to be made in a few weeks at farthest, and what seemed nearly as engrossing a topic—­that he was perfectly famished, and desired a hot supper, “de suite.”

Jack having despatched this agreeable meal with a traveller’s appetite, proceeded to unfold his plans to me as follows: 

There resided somewhere near Cheltenham, in what direction he did not absolutely know, an old East India colonel, who had returned from a long career of successful staff-duties and government contracts, with the moderate fortune of two hundred thousand.  He possessed, in addition, a son and a daughter; the former, being a rake and a gambler, he had long since consigned to his own devices, and to the latter he had avowed his intention of leaving all his wealth.  That she was beautiful as an angel —­highly accomplished—­gifted—­agreeable—­and all that, Jack, who had never seen her, was firmly convinced; that she was also bent resolutely on marrying him, or any other gentleman whose claims were principally the want of money, he was quite ready to swear to; and, in fact, so assured did he feel that “the whole affair was feasible,” (I use his own expression,) that he had managed a two months’ leave, and was come down express to see, make love to, and carry her off at once.

“But,” said I, with difficulty interrupting him, “how long have you known her father?”

“Known him?  I never saw him.”

“Well, that certainly is cool; and how do you propose making his acquaintance.  Do you intend to make him a ‘particeps criminis’ in the elopement of his own daughter, for a consideration to be hereafter paid out of his own money?”

“Now, Harry, you’ve touched upon the point in which, you must confess, my genius always stood unrivalled—­acknowledge, if you are not dead to gratitude—­acknowledge how often should you have gone supperless to bed in our bivouacs in the Peninsula, had it not been for the ingenuity of your humble servant—­avow, that if mutton was to be had, and beef to be purloined, within a circuit of twenty miles round, our mess certainly kept no fast days.  I need not remind you of the cold morning on the retreat from Burgos, when the inexorable Lake brought five men to the halberds for stealing turkeys, that at the same moment, I was engaged in devising an ox-tail soup, from a heifer brought to our tent in jack-boots the evening before, to escape detection by her foot tracks.”

“True, Jack, I never questioned your Spartan talent; but this affair, time considered, does appear rather difficult.”

“And if it were not, should I have ever engaged in it?  No, no, Harry.  I put all proper value upon the pretty girl, with her two hundred thousand pounds pin-money.  But I honestly own to you, the intrigue, the scheme, has as great charm for me as any part of the transaction.”