Mr Weller, senior, listened to the tale with the most profound

attention, and, at its termination, said -

Worn't one o' these chaps slim and tall, with long hair, and the gift o'

the gab wery gallopin'?'

Mr Pickwick did not quite understand the last item of description, but,

comprehending the first, said 'Yes,' at a venture.

T' other's a black-haired chap in mulberry livery, with a wery large

head?'

'Yes, yes, he is,' said Mr Pickwick and Sam, with great earnestness.

'Then I know where they are, and that's all about it,' said Mr Weller;

'they're at Ipswich, safe enough, them two.'

'No!' said Mr Pickwick.

Fact,' said Mr Weller, 'and I'll tell you how I know it. I work an

Ipswich coach now and then for a friend o' mine. I worked down the

wery day arter the night as you caught the rheumatic, and at the

Black Boy at Chelmsford - the wery place they'd come to - I took 'em

up, right through to Ipswich, where the man-servant - him in the

mulberries - told me they was a-goin' to put up for a long time.'

I'll follow him,' said Mr Pickwick; 'we may as well see Ipswich as any

other place. I'll follow him.'

'You're quite certain it was them, governor?' inquired Mr Weller,

junior.

'Quite, Sammy, quite,' replied his father, 'for their appearance is wery

sing'ler; besides that 'ere, I wondered to see the gen'l'm'n so formiliar

with his servant; and, more than that, as they sat in the front, right

behind the box, I heerd 'em laughing and saying how they'd done old

Fireworks.'

Old who?' said Mr Pickwick.

Old Fireworks, Sir; by which, I've no doubt, they meant you, Sir.'

There is nothing positively vile or atrocious in the appellation of 'old

Fireworks,' but still it is by no means a respectful or flattering

designation. The recollection of all the wrongs he had sustained at

Jingle's hands, had crowded on Mr Pickwick's mind, the moment Mr

Weller began to speak; it wanted but a feather to turn the scale, and

'old Fireworks' did it.

I'll follow him,' said Mr Pickwick, with an emphatic blow on the table.

The Pickwick Papers