Killed By The Natives.

ultimately cheated tho wretched little , frightened , trembling , vendor out ot twopence of the miserable eighteenpence consideration ? Well , I had plenty of time to recall these scenes , ancl to think of several other things , and to ponder and muse over the wonderful allusions to the bed ancl under the bed . Was he—the proprietor—in bed ? Did he keep the butter under the bed ? Was he too ill to get up and come down and serve me ? andjso forth , and so

forth . But for an uncontrollable desire to see the adventure out , I should—as any incurious mortal would—have left the emporium ancl directed my steps elsewhere to seek a mollusc meal ; indeed I had just made up my mind to do so , ancl was turning my back to seek the door , when my departing footsteps were arrested by the sound of a body seemingly flinging itself down the screened ladder aforesaid . I turned . It was the shopkeeper ; but what a shopkeeper ! There was nothuw

peculiar in his dress—nothing remarkable in his figure , which was that of a comparatively young man , but the face ! the face !! so prematurely aged—careworn—so unutterably despairing , dejected , wretched—the countenance of a man of five-and-thirty , with the blue mildew-mould of the neglected week ' s stubble of a man of eighty marking the lines and furrows of the pinched-in cheeks and drawn mouth . The late Mr . Charles Peace at five-and-forty could ancl actuaUy did make himself up to look five-and-sixt

y , and , so counterfeiting , deceived close and experienced observers . Was this a fictiona counte » feit presentment—or a reality ? If the former , Avhat was the motive ? No motive at aU apparently . The man who had appeared to hurl himself clown the steps ancl into the shop in a manner demonstratively hostile , dispelled his truculent air as if by magic . The cloud on his countenance at once vanished as he caught si ght of me . He was instantly gentle ancl assiduous , subdued but civil . Butter of excellent

quality was at once forthcoming . The Colchesters were succulent . The operator opened them deftly , ancl handed the hot vinegar with the insinuating air of the most attentive waiter . The imp had ceased from crying , and was happy with its load of pebbles in its cigar-box wagon . I had already counted five of the flat sheUs denuded of the delicious natives , spread in row before me—when ! My . purveyor had introduced his murderous blade into the sixth bivalve , and was in the act of prising it open and exposing its hidden treasures—when ! Another customer entered !

The former expression—or rather an expression resembling the former , but devoid of any recurrence of a defiant , or hostile , or belligerent aspect—came back to the features of the wielder of the knife as he gazed upon the new-comer . A look of such utter despair , horror , emotion , fear , bewilderment , as I had seldom seen before and trust never to behold again , upon the countenance of any human being ! But the absorbing mystery was that there was apparentlnothing in the appearance

y of the new-comer to inspire this evidently involuntary expression of aversion . He was a cheery , rosy-looking man of middle age , respectably dressed , - and carrying one of those cheap black square small portmanteaus which irresistibly suggest the travelling canvasser ' or order collector .

This impediment he placed upon the sawdusted floor , ancl addressed me at once m an easy tone , — " Fine day , but frosty , sir . " There was not much in this . Then he turned to the man behind the counter and , rapping upon that barrier with a bronze coin , ordered sharply , — " A penny oyster . Meeklsubmissivelpatientlthe tradesmen left seventh Colchester unopened

y , y , y , my and , turning to another barrel , produced and prepared a diminutive specimen of his ware . The stranger peppered it , and applied vinegar , and swaUowed it ; the shop keeper , depositing the bronze piece of money in his till , resumed his attendance upon me . " Ill take another , " said the stranger , "and the performance was repeated . Then with a brisk , " Good-day , " addressed to myself , this hiunble customer departed . He- ot the apron opened my eighth , and began to unburthen his soul to me . '