asy; but he was
not to pay for three months, and so he said, "Done!" too, and went on:
"What would you say if your bills were paid?"

"Not mine; Pike's."

"Well, if Pike's were paid; and the Minories' man paid, and every single
liability I have cleared off; and that Mossrose flung out of winder, and
me and my emporium as free as hair?"

"You don't say so? Is Queen Anne dead? and has she left you a fortune?
or what's the luck in the wind now?"

"It's better than Queen Anne, or anybody dying. What should you say to
seeing in that very place where Mossrose now sits (hang him!)--seeing
the FINEST HEAD OF 'AIR NOW IN EUROPE? A woman, I tell you--a
slap-up lovely woman, who, I'm proud to say, will soon be called Mrs.
Heglantine, and will bring me five thousand pounds to her fortune."

"Well, Tiny, this IS good luck indeed. I say, you'll be able to do a
bill or two for ME then, hay? You won't forget an old friend?"

"That I won't. I shall have a place at my board for you, Capting; and
many's the time I shall 'ope to see you under that ma'ogany."

"What will the French milliner say? She'll hang herself for despair,
Eglantine."

"Hush! not a word about 'ER. I've sown all my wild oats, I tell you.
Eglantine is no longer the gay young bachelor, but the sober married
man. I want a heart to share the feelings of mine. I want repose. I'm
not so young as I was: I feel it."

"Pooh! pooh! you are--you are--"

"Well, but I sigh for an 'appy fireside; and I'll have it."

"And give up that club which you belong to, hay?"

"'The Kidneys?' Oh! of course, no married man should belong to such
places: at least, I'LL not; and I'll have my kidneys broiled at home.
But be quiet, Captain, if you please; the ladies appointed to--"

"And is it THE lady you expect? eh, you rogue!"

"Well, get along. It's her and her Ma."

But Mr. Walker determined he wouldn't get along, and would see these
lovely ladies before he stirred.

The operation on Mr. Walker's whiskers being concluded, he was arranging
his toilet before the glass in an agreeable attitude: his neck out,
his enormous pin settled in his stock to his satisfaction, his eyes
complacently directed towards the reflection of his left and favourite
whisker. Eglantine was laid on a settee, in an easy, though melancholy
posture; he was twiddling the tongs with which he had just operated on
Walker with one hand, and his right-hand ringlet with the other, and he
was thinking--thinking o