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| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
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in which he was quite absorbed, the merry little man carrying it slung
over his arm by a strap attached to it for the purpose, Nelly having
hold of her grandfather's hand, and Mr Codlin sauntering slowly
behind, casting up at the church tower and neighbouring trees such
looks as he was accustomed in town-practice to direct to drawing-
room and nursery windows, when seeking for a profitable spot on
which to plant the show.
The public-house was kept by a fat old landlord and landlady who
made no objection to receiving their new guests, but praised Nelly's
beauty and were at once prepossessed in her behalf. There was no
other company in the kitchen but the two showmen, and the child felt
very thankful that they had fallen upon such good quarters. The
landlady was very much astonished to learn that they had come all
the way from London, and appeared to have no little curiosity
touching their farther destination. The child parried her inquiries as
well as she could, and with no great trouble, for finding that they
appeared to give her pain, the old lady desisted.
'These two gentlemen have ordered supper in an hour's time,' she
said, taking her into the bar; 'and your best plan will be to sup with
them. Meanwhile you shall have a little taste of something that'll do
you good, for I'm sure you must want it after all you've gone through
to-day. Now, don't look after the old gentleman, because when you've
drank that, he shall have some too.'
As nothing could induce the child to leave him alone, however, or to
touch anything in which he was not the first and greatest sharer, the
old lady was obliged to help him first. When they had been thus
refreshed, the whole house hurried away into an empty stable where
the show stood, and where, by the light of a few flaring candles stuck
round a hoop which hung by a line from the ceiling, it was to be
forthwith exhibited.
And now Mr Thomas Codlin, the misanthrope, after blowing away at
the Pan's pipes until he was intensely wretched, took his station on
one side of the checked drapery which concealed the mover of the
figures, and putting his hands in his pockets prepared to reply to all
questions and remarks of Punch, and to make a dismal feint of being
his most intimate private friend, of believing in him to the fullest and
most unlimited extent, of knowing that he enjoyed day and night a
merry and glorious existence in that temple, and that he was at all
times and under every circumstance the same intelligent and joyful
person that the spectators then beheld him. All this Mr Codlin did
with the air of a man who had made up his mind for the worst and
was quite resigned; his eye slowly wandering about during the
briskest repartee to observe the effect upon the audience, and
particularly the impression made upon the landlord and landlady,
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