"I stared at him, but did not speak.

"'Madam,' he continued, 'the penalty of
sitting at table with you, or taking the hand
you paid me the compliment to proffer me—
yourself in ignorance of the fact I am about
to disclose—would have been the forfeiture
of my ticket-of-leave, a hundred lashes, and
employment on the roads in irons. As it is,
I dread the Major's wrath; but I cherish
a hope that you will endeavour to appease
it, if your advocacy be only a return for the
brief amusement I afforded your beautiful
children.'

"'You are a convict?' I said, indignantly,
my hand on the bell-rope.

"'Madam,' he said, with an expression
of countenance which moved me to pity,
in spite of my indignation, 'hear me for one
moment.'

"'A convicted felon, how dared you enter
my drawing-room as a visitor?' I asked
him, my anger again getting the better of all
my other feelings.

"'The Major, madam,' said the stranger,
'requested me to be at his house at the hour
when I presented myself: and he bade me
wait if he were from home when I called.
The Major wishes to know, who was the person
who received from me a diamond necklace
which belonged to the Marchioness of
Dorrington, and came into my possession at a
state ball some four or five years ago—a state
ball at which I had the honour of being
present. Now, madam, when the orderly who
opened the front door informed me that the
Major was not at home, but that you
were, that indomitable impudence which so
often carried me into the drawing-rooms
of the aristocracy of our country, took
possession of me; and, warmed as I was with
generous wine—just sufficiently to give me
courage—I determined to tread once more on
a lady's carpet, and enter into conversation
with her. That much I felt the Major would
forgive me; and, therefore, I requested the
orderly to announce a gentleman. Indeed,
madam, I shall make the forgiveness of the
liberties I have taken in this room the
condition of my giving that information
which shall restore to the Marchioness of
Dorrington the gem of which I deprived her
—a gem which is still unpledged, and in the
possession of one who will restore it on an
application, accompanied by a letter in my
handwriting.'

"Again I kept silence.

"'Madam!' he exclaimed, somewhat
impassionedly, and rather proudly, 'I am no
other man than Barrington, the illustrious
pickpocket; and this is the hand which in its
day has gently plucked from ladies of rank
and wealth, jewels which realised, in all,
upwards of thirty-five thousand pounds,
irrespective of those which were in my
possession, under lock and key, when fortune
turned her back upon me.'

"'Barrington, the pickpocket!' Having
heard so much of this man and of his exploits
(although, of course, I had never seen him),
I could not help regarding him with curiosity;
so much so, that I could scarcely be angry
with him any longer.

"'Madam,' he continued, 'I have told you
that I longed to satisfy myself whether
that skill which rendered me so illustrious
in Europe still remained to me, in this country,
after five years of desuetude? I can
conscientiously say that I am just as perfect
in the art, that the touch is just as soft, and
the nerve as steady as when I sat in
the dress-circle at Drury Lane or Covent
Garden.'

"'I do not comprehend you, Mr.
Barrington,' I replied. (I could not help saying
Mister.)

"'But you will, madam, in one moment.
Where are your keys?'

"I felt my pocket, in which I fancied they
were, and discovered that they were gone.

"'And your thimble and pencil-case, and
your smelling-salts? They are here!' (He
drew them from his coat-pocket.)

''My anger was again aroused. It was
indeed, I thought, a frightful liberty for a
convict to practise his skill upon me, and
put his hand into the pocket of my dress.
But, before I could request him to leave the
room and the house, he spoke again; and, as
soon as I heard his voice and looked in his
face, I was mollified, and against my will, as
it were, obliged to listen to him.

"'Ah, madam,' he sighed, 'such is the
change that often comes over the affairs of
men! There was a time when ladies boasted
of having been robbed by Barrington. Many
whom I had never robbed gave it out that
I had done so; simply that they might be
talked about. Alas! such is the weakness
of poor human nature that some people care
not by what means they associate their
names with the name of any celebrity. I
was in power then, not in bondage.
'Barrington has my diamond ear-rings!' once
exclaimed the old Countess of Kettlebank,
clasping her hands. Her ladyship's statement
was not true. Her diamonds were paste,
and she knew it, and I caused them to be
returned to her. Had you not a pair of very
small pearl-drops in your ears this morning,
madam?'

"I placed my hands to my ears, and
discovered that the drops were gone. Again
my anger returned, and I said, 'How dared
you, sir, place your fingers on my face?'

"'Upon my sacred word and honour,
madam,' he replied, placing his hand over his
left breast, and bowing, 'I did nothing of the
kind! The ear is the most sensitive part of
the human body to the touch of another
person. Had I touched your ear my hope of
having these drops in my waistcoat-pocket
would have been gone. It was the springs
only that I touched, and the drops fell into
in the palm of my left-hand.' He placed the