" THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH." 30I

" Well, brother, is Coleridge or Manning coming up
to town that you seem so gay ? "

"No, B-B- Bridget, but s-s- somebody's dead."

" Dead ! " said Mary, aghast ; " w}iat do you mean ? "

" An old s-s-scion of the aristocracy has ' sh-sh-shuffled
ofEthis mortal coil,' and some b-b-beggars will ride to his
funeral. Not knowing the d-d-defunct, I can but rejoice
with the b-b-beneficiaries. Shelley's grandfather has
k-k-kindly departed in the n-n-nick of time, and couldn't
c-c-carry his estates and p-p-possessions to old Nick
with him," said Lamb, with a wicked twinkle, " and
they are entailed upon Shelley."

" Does not that seem like the hand of Providence, —
just when those poor Shelleys are at their wits' ends for
a living ? " asked Mary.
" Umph ! you know they say the d-d-devil takes care
of his own," said Lamb ; " but, God or devil, it is a
blessed windfall for them."

" You know ' God tempers the wind to the shorn
lamb,' Charles."

" Now, Polly, have we not waited these t-t-twenty
years, and the only t-t-temper I have found has been
thy tongue, when I have tried to find c-c-comfort in
my c-c-cups."

Mary laughed at his adroit allusion to their little
battles over Charles's propensities. She had to watch
this genial brother carefully, especially upon their whist
evenings ; for he was becoming more and more addicted
ta drowning cares and disappointments in the steaming
punch-bowl.
After the Shelleys received their inheritance, or
rather the pension allowed the young poet by his
father, in place of the direct inheritance, they lost no



302 THE DA YS OF LAMB AND COLERIDGE.
