CHAPTER XXXV.
Francis Ardry--Certain sharpers--Brave and eloquent--Opposites--Flinging the bones--Strange places--Dog-fighting--Learning and letters--Batch of dogs--Redoubled application.
One evening I was visited by the tall young gentleman, Francis Ardry, whose acquaintance I had formed at the coffee-house.

As it is necessary that the reader should know something more about this young man, who will frequently appear in the course of these pages, I will state in a few words who and what he was.

He was born of an ancient Roman Catholic family in Ireland; his parents, whose only child he was, had long been dead.

His father, who had survived his mother several years, had been a spendthrift, and at his death had left the family property considerably embarrassed.

Happily, however, the son and the estate fell into the hands of careful guardians, near relations of the family, by whom the property was managed to the best advantage, and every means taken to educate the young man in a manner suitable to his expectations.