little more as he spoke; to the evident relief of his partner, who by these means was gradually getting into the outer office.

"You are," continued Mr. Pickwick, resuming the thread of his discourse, "you are a well-matched pair of mean, rascally, pettifogging robbers."

"Well," interposed Perker, "is that all?"

"It is all summed up in that," rejoined Mr. Pickwick; "they are mean, rascally, pettifogging robbers."

"

"There," said Perker, in a most conciliatory tone, my dear Sirs, he has said all he has to say: now pray go. Lowten, is that door open ?"

Mr. Lowten, with a distant giggle, replied in the affirmative.

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There, there-good-morning-good-morning- now pray, my dear Sirs,-Mr. Lowten, the door," cried the little man, pushing Dodson and Fogg, nothing loth, out of the office, "this way, my dear Sirs,-now pray don't prolong this dear me Mr. Lowten-the door, Sir, why don't you attend?"

"If there's law in England, Sir," said Dodson, looking towards Mr. Pickwick, as he put on his hat,

smart for this."

"You are a couple of mean

you shall

"Remember, Sir, you pay dearly for this," said Fogg, shaking his fist.

"Rascally, pettifogging robbers!" continued Mr. Pickwick, taking not the least notice of the threats that were addressed to him.

Robbers!" cried Mr Pickwick, running to the stairhead, as the two attorneys descended.

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Robbers!" shouted Mr. Pickwick, breaking from Lowten and Perker, and thrusting his head out of the staircase window.

When Mr. Pickwick drew in his head again, his counten. ance was smiling and placid; and, walking quietly back into the office, he declared that he had now removed a great weight from his mind, and that he felt perfectly comfortable and happy.

Perker said nothing at all until he had emptied his snuff-box and sent Lowten out to fill it, when he was seized with a fit of laughing, which lasted for five minutes, at the expiration of which time he said that he supposed he ought to be very angry, but he couldn't think of the business seriously yet-when he could, he would be.

"Well, now," said Mr. Pickwick, "let me have a settlement with you."

"Of the same kind as the last?" inquired Perker, with another laugh.

"Not exactly," rejoined Mr. Pickwick, drawing out his pocket-book, and shaking the little man heartily by the hand, "I only mean a pecuniary settlement. You have done me many acts of kindness that I can never repay, and have no wish to, for I prefer continuing the obligation.'

With this preface the two friends dived into some very complicated accounts and vouchers, which having been duly displayed and gone through by Perker, were at once discharged by Mr. Pickwick, with many professions of esteem and friendship.

They had no sooner arrived at this point, than a most violent and startling knocking was heard at the door; it was not an ordinary double knock, but a constant and uninterrupted succession of the loudest single raps, as if the knocker were endowed with the perpetual motion, or the person outside had forgotten to leave off.

"Dear me, what's that?" exclaimed Perker, starting. "I think it is a knock at the door," said Mr. Pickwick, as if there could be the smallest doubt of the fact!

The knocker made a more energetic reply than words could have yielded, for it continued to hammer with surprising force and noise, without a moment's cessation.

"Dear me!" said Perker, ringing his bell, "we shall alarm the Inn-Mr. Lowten, don't you hear a knock?" "I'll answer the door in one moment, Sir," replied the clerk.

The knocker appeared to hear the response, and to assert that it was quite impossible he could wait so long. It made a stupendous uproar.

ears.

It's quite dreadful," said Mr. Pickwick, stopping his

"Make haste, Mr. Lowten," Perker called out, we shall have the panels beaten in."

Mr. Lowten, who was washing his hands in a dark closet, hurried to the door, and turning the handle, beheld the appearance which is described in the next chapter.

CHAPTER LIII

CONTAINING SOME PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO THE DOUBLE KNOCK, AND OTHER MATTERS, AMONG WHICH CERTAIN INTERESTING DISCLOSURES RELATIVE TO MR. SNODGRASS AND A YOUNG LADY ARE BY NO MEANS IRRELEVANT TO THIS HISTORY

HE object that presented itself to the eyes of the

Tastonished clerk was a boy a wonderfully fat boy

-habited as a serving lad, standing upright on the mat, with his eyes closed as if in sleep. He had never seen such a fat boy in or out of a travelling caravan; and this, coupled with the utter calmness and repose of his appearance, so very different from what was reasonably to have been expected of the inflicter of such knocks, smote him with wonder.

"What's the matter?" inquired the clerk.

The extraordinary boy replied not a word, but he nodded once, and seemed, to the clerk's imagination, to snore feebly.

"Where do you come from?" inquired the clerk.

The boy made no sign. He breathed heavily, but in all other respects was motionless.

The clerk repeated the question thrice, and receiving no answer, prepared to shut the door, when the boy suddenly opened his eyes, winked several times, sneezed once, and raised his hand as if to repeat the knocking. Finding the door open he stared about him with great astonishment, and at length fixed his eyes on Mr. Lowten's face.

"What the devil do you knock in that way for?" inquired the clerk, angrily.

"What way?" said the boy, in a slow, sleepy voice.

66

Why, like forty hackney coachmen," replied the clerk. "Because master said I wasn't to leave off knocking till they opened the door, for fear I should go to sleep," said the boy.

"Well," said the clerk, "what message have you brought?"

"He's down stairs," rejoined the boy.

"Who?"

"Master. He wants to know whether you're at home." Mr. Lowten bethought himself at this juncture of looking out of the window. Seeing an open carriage with a hearty old gentleman in it, looking up very anxiously, he

ventured to beckon him, on which the old gentleman jumped out directly.

"That's your master in the carriage, I suppose?" said Lowten.

The boy nodded.

All further inquiries were superseded by the appearance of old Wardle, who, running up stairs and just recognising Lowten, passed at once into Mr. Perker's room.

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Pickwick!" said the old gentleman, "your hand, my boy; why have I never heard till the day before yesterday of your suffering yourself to be cooped up in jail? And why did you let him do it, Perker?"

"I couldn't help it, my dear Sir," replied Perker, with a smile and a pinch of snuff, "you know how obstinate he is."

"Of course I do, of course I do," replied the old gentleman. "I am heartily glad to see him, notwithstanding. I will not lose sight of him again in a hurry."

With these words, Wardle shook Mr. Pickwick's hand once more, and, having done the same to Perker, threw himself into an arm-chair, his jolly red face shining again with smiles and health.

"Well," said Wardle, "here are pretty goings on-a pinch of your snuff, Perker, my boy-never were such times, eh?"

"What do you mean?" inquired Mr. Pickwick.

"Mean!" replied Wardle, "why, I think the girls are all running mad; that's no news, you'll say? Perhaps it's not, but it's true for all that."

"You have not come up to London, of all places in the world, to tell us that, my dear Sir, have you?" inquired Perker.

"No, not altogether," replied Wardle; "though it was the main cause of my coming. How's Arabella?" "Very well," replied Mr. Pickwick,

lighted to see you, I am sure."

and will be de

Black-eyed little jilt!" replied Wardle.

"I had a

great idea of marrying her myself, one of these odd days. But I am glad of it too, very glad."

"How did the intelligence reach you?" asked Mr. Pickwick.

"Oh, it came to my girls, of course," replied Wardle. "Arabella wrote the day before yesterday to say she had made a stolen match without her husband's father's consent, and so you had gone down to get it when his refusing it couldn't prevent the match, and all the rest of it. I thought it a very good time to say something serious to

my girls, so I said what a dreadful thing it was that children should marry without their parents' consent, and so forth; but, bless your hearts, I couldn't make the least impression upon them. They thought it such a much more dreadful thing that there should have been a wedding without bridesmaids, that I might as well have preached to Joe himself."

Here the old gentleman stopped to laugh; and having done so, to his heart's content, presently resumed.

"But this is not the best of it, it seems. This is only half the love-making and plotting that have been going forward. We have been walking on mines for the last six months, and they're sprung at last."

"What do you mean!" exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, turning pale; "no other secret marriage, I hope?"

"No, no," replied old Wardle; "not so bad as thatno."

"What then?" inquired Mr. Pickwick; "am I interested in it?"

"Shall I answer that question, Perker?" said Wardle. "If you don't commit yourself by doing so, my dear Sir."

"Well then, you are," said Wardle.

"How?" asked Mr. Pickwick, anxiously. "In what way?"

"Really," replied Wardle, "you're such a fiery sort of young fellow that I am almost afraid to tell you; but, however, if Perker will sit between us to prevent mischief, I'll venture."

Having closed the room-door, and fortified himself with another application to Perker's snuff-box, the old gentleman proceeded with his great disclosure in these words. "The fact is, that my daughter Bella-Bella, that married young Trundle, you know."

·

Yes, yes, we know," said Mr. Pickwick, impatiently. "Don't alarm me at the very beginning. My daughter Bella, Emily having gone to bed with a headache after she had read Arabella's letter to me, set herself down by my side the other evening, and began to talk over this marriage affair. Well, pa,' she says, 'what do you think of it?' Why, my dear,' I said, 'I suppose it's all very well; I hope it's for the best.' I answered in this way because I was sitting before the fire at the time, drinking my grog rather thoughtfully, and I knew my throwing in an undecided word now and then, would induce her to continue talking. Both my girls are pictures of their dear mother, and as I grow old I like to sit with only them by