Mat, as he was familiarly called by his numerous acquaintances, was a short, florid, rosy little gentleman of some four or five-and-forty, with a well-curled wig of the fairest imaginable auburn, the gentle wave of the front locks, which played in infantine loveliness upon his little bullet forehead, contrasting strongly enough with a cunning leer of his eye, and a certain _nisi prius_ laugh that however it might please a client, rarely brought pleasurable feelings to his opponent in a cause.
"Mat was a character in his way; deep, double, and tricky in everything that concerned his profession, he affected the gay fellow,--liked a jolly dinner at Brown's Hotel, would go twenty miles to see a steeple-chase and a coursing match, bet with any one when the odds were strong in his favor, with an easy indifference about money that made him seem, when winning, rather the victim of good luck than anything else.

As he kept a rather pleasant bachelor's house, and liked the military much, we soon became acquainted.

Upon him, therefore, for reasons I can't explain, both our hopes reposed; and Shaugh and myself at once agreed that if Mat could not assist us in our distresses, the case was a bad one.
"A pretty little epistle was accordingly concocted, inviting the worthy attorney to a small dinner at five o'clock the next day, intimating that we were to be perfectly alone, and had a little business to discuss.

True to the hour, Mat was there; and as if instantly guessing that ours was no regular party of pleasure, his look, dress, and manner were all in keeping with the occasion,--quiet, subdued, and searching.
"When the claret had been superseded by the whiskey, and the confidential hours were approaching, by an adroit allusion to some heavy wager then pending, we brought our finances upon the _tapis_.

The thing was done beautifully,--an easy _adagio_ movement, no violent transition; but hang me if old Mat didn't catch the matter at once.
"'Oh, it's there ye are, Captain!' said he, with his peculiar grin.
'Two-and-sixpence in the pound, and no assets.' "'The last is nearer the mark, my old boy,' said Shaugh, blurting out the whole truth at once.