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372 C'I[AIi’Lh'S DICKENS? WORKS.
The Bower was as difficult to find, as Fair Rosamond’s
without the clue. ‘Mr. VVe g, having reached the quar-
ter indicated, inquired for t e Bower half a dozen times
without tLe least success, until he remembered to. ask
for Harmony Jail. This occasioned a quick change in
the spirits of a hoarse gentleman and a donkey, whom he
had much perplexed.
“ lVhy, yer mean old Harmon's do yer?” said the
hoarse gentleman, who was driving his donkey in a truck,
with a carrot for a whip. “ ‘Vii didn’t yer niver say so?
Eddard and me is goin’ by him ly Jump in.”
Mr. VVegg complied, and the hoarse gentleman in-
vited his attention to the third person in the company,
thus:
“ Now, you look at Eddard’s ears. VVhat was it you
named, agini VVhisper.”
Mr. VVegg whispered, “Botiin’s Bower."
“ Eddard I (keep yer hi on his ears) cut away to
Botfin’s Bower I”
bEdward, with his ears lying back, remained imrnove-
a le.
“Eddardl (keep yer.hi on his ears) cut away to old
IIarmon’s.” '
Edward instantly ricked up his ears to the utmost,
and rattled off at sue a pace that Mr. VVegg’s conversa-
tion was jolted out of him in a most dislocated state.
“ W'as-it-Ev-verajail ?” asked Mr. VVegg, holding on.
“Not a proper jail. wot you and me would get com-
mitted to,” returned his escort ; “ they giv’ it the name,
on accounts of Old Harmon living solitary there.”
“ And-why-did-they-callitharm-Ony ‘l " asked VVegg.
“ On accounts of his never agreeing with nobody. Like
a speeches of chaff. Harmon’s Jail ; Harmony Jail.
lvorking it round like.”
“ Doyouknow-Mist-Erboff-in ? ” asked XVegg.
“ I should think so i Everybody do about here. Ed-
dard knows him. ' (Keep yer hi on his ears.) Noddy
Botlin, Eddard l ”
The effect of the name was so very alarming, in re-
spect of causing a temporary disappearance of Edward's
head, casting his hind hoofs in the air, greatly acceler-
ating the pace and increasing the jolting, that Mr. “'egg
was fain to devote his attention exclusively to holding
on, and to relinquish his desire of ascertaining whether
this homage to Boflin was to be considered compliment-
ary or the reverse.
Presently, Edward stopped at a gateway, and VVe g
discreetly lost no, time in slipping out at the back of t e
truck. The moment he was landed, his late driver, with
a wave of the carrot, said, “ Supper, Eddurd l” and he,
the hind hoofs, the truck, and Edward, all seemed to fly
into the air together, in a kind of apotheosis.
Pushing the gate, which stood ajar, VVegg looked into
an enclosed space where certain tall dark mounds rose
high against the sky, and where the pathway to the
Bower was indicated, as the moonlight showed, between
two lines of broken ' crockery set in ashes. A white
figure advancing along this path, proved to be nothing
more ghostly than Mr. Boiiin, easily attired for the pur-
suit of knowledge, in an undress garment of short white
smock-frock. Having received his literary friend with
great. cordiality, he conducted him to the interior of the
Bower and there presented him to Mrs. Bofiin :--a stout
lady of a rubicund and cheerful aspect, dressed (to Mr.
VVegg’s.consternation) in a low evening-dress of sable
satin, and a large black velvet hat and feathers.
“ Mrs. Bofiin, lVegg,” said Boflin, “is a highflyer at
Fashion. And her make is such, that she does it credit.
As to ‘myself, I ain’t yet as Fash’nable as I may come to
be. Henerietty, old lady, this is the gentleman that’s a
going to decline and fall off the Rooshan Empire.”
“ And lam sure I hope it'll do you both good,” said
Mrs. Boflin. - ,
It was the queerest of rooms, fitted and furnished more
like a-luxurious amateur tap-room,tlian anything else
within the hen of Silas Wegg. There were two wooden
settles by the fire, one on either side of it, with a corre-
sponding table before each. On one of these tables "the
eight volumes were ranged flat,’ in a row, like a galvanic
battery; on the other, certain squat case-bottles of invit-
ing appearance seemed,to stand on tiptoe to exchange
glances with Mr. VVegg over a front row of tumblers
and a basin of white sugar. On the hob, akettle steamed;
on the hearth, a cat reposed. Facing the fire between
the settles, a sofa, a footstool, and a little table, formed
a centrepiece devoted to Mrs. Bomm T1105’ Were’gar-
ish in taste and colour, but were expensive articles of
drawing-room furniture, that had a very odd look beside
the settles and the daring gaslight pendent from the
ceiling. There was a flowery carpet on the floor; but,
instead of reachino‘ to the fireside, its glowing vegetation
stopped. short at liirs. Boilin’s footstoolucrnd gave place
to a region of sand and sawdust. Mr. W egg also noticed,
with admiring eyes. that, while the flowery land dis-
played such hollow ornamentation as stufied birds’ and
waxen fruits under glass-shades, there were, in the
territory where vegetation ceased, compensatory shelves
on which the best part of a large pie and likewise of a
cold joint were plainly discernible among other solids.
The room itself was large, though low; and theheavy
frames of its old-fashioned windows, and the heavy
beams in its crooked ceiling, seemed to indicate that it
had once been ahouse of some mark standing alone in
the country.
“Do you like it, VVegg‘2” asked Mr. lloilin, iii his‘
pouncing manner.
“I admire it greatly, sir," said W'egg. “Peculiar.
9
comfort at this fireside, sir.’
“ Do you understand it. VVe ?” .
“ VVhy, in a general way, sir,” Mr. VVegg was be-
ginning slowly and knowingly, with his head stuck on
one side, as evasive people do begin, when the other cut
him short : .
“ You don’t understand it, iVegg, and I'll explain it.
These arrangements is made by mutual consent between
Mrs. Boflin and me. Mrs. Boflin, as I've mentioned, is a
highiiyer at Fashion; at present I'm not. I don’t go
higher than comfort, and comfort of the sort that I'm
equal to the enjyment of. ‘Veil then. XVhcrc'would
be the good of Mrs. Boflin and mo quarrelling overit‘!
“'0 never did quarrel, before we come into Botiin’s
Bower as a property : why quarrel when we have come
into Bofiin’s Bower as a property? So Mrs. Boflin, she
keeps up her part of the room, in her way ; I keep up
my part of the room in mine. In consequence of which
we have at once, Sociability (I should go melancholy
mad without Mrs. Bofiin), Fashion, and Comfort. If I
got by de recs to be a high-flyer at Fashion, then Mrs.
Bofiin wil by degrees come for’arder. If Mrs. Botiin
should ever be less of a dab at Fashion than she is at the
present time, then Mrs. l3ofIin’s carpet would go back-
’arder. If we should both continny as we are, why then
here we are. and give us a ‘kiss, old lady.”
Mrs. Bofiin, who, perpetually smiling, had approached
and drawn her plump arm through her lord's, most will-
ingly complied. Fashion, in the form of her black vel-
vet hat and feathers, tried to prevent it ; but got deserv-
cdl y crushed in the endeavour. ' '
“ So now, XVegg,” said Mr. Boffin, wiping his mouth
with an air of much refreshment, “ you begin .to know
us as we are. This is a charming spot, is the Bower,
but you must get to appreciate it by degrees. lt’s aspot
to find out the merits of, little by little, and a new’un
every day. ’l‘here’s a serpentining walk up each of the .
mounds, that gives you the vard and neiglibourliood
changing every moment. VVhen you get to the top,
tl1ere’s a view of the neighbouring premises, not to be
surpassed. The premises of Mrs. Boflin’s late father
(Canine Provision Trade), you look down into, as if they
was your own. And the top of the High, Mound is
crowned with a lattice-work Arbour, in which,'Vif you
don't read out loud many a book in the summer, ay. and
as a friend, drop many a time into poetry too, it,shan’t
be my fault. N ow, what’ll you read on?" 3 ..
“ Thank you, sir,” returned ‘Vegg, as if there were
nothing new in his reading at all. “ I generally do it on
gin and water.” , .. . .‘ ' ‘ ’
“ Keeps the organ moist, does it, VVegg ?” asked Mr.
Bofiin, with innocent eagerness. , , .
‘.‘ N o-no, sir,” rcplied‘“’egg, coolly, ‘,‘ I should hardly
describe it so, sir. I should say, mellers it. Mellers it,
is the word I should employ, Mr. Boflin.” .
His wooden conceit and craft kept exactpacc with the
delighted expectation of his victim. The visions rising
w... .....t-4-vi
.u ‘t , ‘“ --....-so
1 M-.- ....-,-.