Page:Memoirs James Hardy Vaux.djvu/118

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95

the third; when an accidental event induced me to hasten my departure. One afternoon Mr. Dalton had written several letters in the office, and the footman being elsewhere engaged, he requested me to drop them in the post-office, in my way home. I accordingly brought them out in my hand, and happening inadvertently to cast my eye on the superscriptions, I perceived that one was addressed to Mr. Lyne, tailor, Cecil-street, Strand, London. Being curious to know what correspondence Mr. Dalton could have with a tailor, I opened this letter, and found the contents to the following effect: "Mr. Lyne,—By the waggon which goes from hence on Monday next, and arrives at the Blue Boar in Bishopsgate-street on Wednesday night, I shall send you a portmanteau corded and sealed, but not locked, containing two coats, sixteen waistcoats, fourteen pair of breeches, and a suit of uniform of the city Light Horse[1]. Most of these articles are nearly as good as new, but as they have now become unfashionable, I desire you will dispose of them to the best advantage, on my account, and send me down by the same conveyance, two suits made in the present taste," &c.

It immediately struck me, that if I took measures accordingly, I might arrive in town time enough to

  1. It appears from this that Mr, Dalton had formerly resided in London, and been a member of that respectable corps.