“My dear parson, your remark is like that excellent condiment which I wish I could see at this otherwise well-provided table—­caviare to the multitude.  Why is it not furnished?  You have only to say the word.”  Here he addressed himself to Yorke:  “This worthy divine who sits at the bottom of the table, young gentleman, and who has neglected his duty in not having introduced us, is all-powerful here; and we all endeavor to make friends of him; nor is that circumstance, it is whispered, the only respect in which he resembles the mammon of unrighteousness.”

A shadow of annoyance crossed the parson’s smiling face.

“Mr. Richard Yorke,” said he, “this is Mr. Byam Ryll, our unlicensed jester.”

“The parson, on the contrary,” retorted the other, with twinkling eyes, “is our Vice, and gives himself every license.  What is the matter with Carew to-night?  He looks glum.  I dare say he has been eating greens and bacon at some farm-house, and is now regretting the circumstance.  He has no moral courage, poor fellow, and knows not how to deny his appetite.”

“You never did such a wasteful thing in your life, Byam, I’ll warrant,” said the parson, smiling; “and yet some say that you have been a profligate.”

“I know it,” replied the gourmand, shaking his head; “and I forgive them.  They call me a slave to my stomach; if it be so, I at least serve a master of some capacity, which is not the case with every body.”

“You are saying something about me, you big fat man,” cried Carew, from the other end of the table, and his voice had a very unpleasant grasp in it.  “Come, out with it!”

“If our venerable friend does not stoop to deception,” whispered the parson into Yorke’s ear, “he will now find himself in an ugly hole.”

“I was observing that you did not eat your lamperns, Squire,” said the stout gentleman, “and remarked that you were in no want of a feeder.”

“What’s a feeder?” returned the host, ill-temperedly.  “If it’s a bib, you’ll soon want one yourself, for, egad, you’re getting near your second childhood!”

“It must have been my plumpness and innocence which suggested that idea,” responded the other, smiling.  “But if you have never known a feeder, you have missed a great advantage, Squire.  When you dine with my Lord Mayor the question is always asked, will you have a feeder, or will you not?  If you say ‘Yes,’ you pay your half-guinea, and get him.  He is generally a grave old gentleman like myself, and much resembles a beneficed clergyman.  He stands behind your chair throughout the feast, and delicately suggests what it is best for you to eat, to drink, and to avoid.  ‘No; no salmon,’ he murmurs, if you have had turbot already; and, ‘Now, a glass of Burgundy, if you please, Sir;’ or, ‘Now, a glass of sherry.’  If an indigestible or ill-compounded entree is handed, he will whisper ‘No, Sir:  neither now nor never,’ with quite