ceremonies; which is to be attended by four ultra Buff members of

Parliament, and the admission to which, is to be by Buff tickets! Does

our fiendish contemporary wince? Let him writhe, in impotent malice,

as we pen the words, WE WILL BE THERE.'

There, Sir,' said Pott, folding up the paper quite exhausted, 'that is

the state of the case!'

The landlord and waiter entering at the moment with dinner, caused

Mr Pott to lay his finger on his lips, in token that he considered his life

in Mr Pickwick's hands, and depended on his secrecy. Messrs. Bob

Sawyer and Benjamin Allen, who had irreverently fallen asleep during

the reading of the quotation from the Eatanswill GAZETTE, and the

discussion which followed it, were roused by the mere whispering of

the talismanic word 'Dinner' in their ears; and to dinner they went

with good digestion waiting on appetite, and health on both, and a

waiter on all three.

In the course of the dinner and the sitting which succeeded it, Mr Pott

descending, for a few moments, to domestic topics, informed Mr

Pickwick that the air of Eatanswill not agreeing with his lady, she was

then engaged in making a tour of different fashionable watering-places

with a view to the recovery of her wonted health and spirits; this was a

delicate veiling of the fact that Mrs. Pott, acting upon her often-

repeated threat of separation, had, in virtue of an arrangement

negotiated by her brother, the lieutenant, and concluded by Mr Pott,

permanently retired with the faithful bodyguard upon one moiety or

half part of the annual income and profits arising from the editorship

and sale of the Eatanswill GAZETTE.

While the great Mr Pott was dwelling upon this and other matters,

enlivening the conversation from time to time with various extracts

from his own lucubrations, a stern stranger, calling from the window

of a stage-coach, outward bound, which halted at the inn to deliver

packages, requested to know whether if he stopped short on his

journey and remained there for the night, he could be furnished with

the necessary accommodation of a bed and bedstead.

Certainly, sir,' replied the landlord.

I can, can I?' inquired the stranger, who seemed habitually suspicious

in look and manner.

No doubt of it, Sir,' replied the landlord.

Good,' said the stranger. 'Coachman, I get down here. Guard, my

carpet-bag!'

The Pickwick Papers