' said Mr. Weller; 'I wos a-going to say, he always
brings now, a flat bottle as holds about a pint and a half, and fills it
vith the pine-apple rum afore he goes avay.'

'And empties it afore he comes back, I s'pose?' said Sam.

'Clean!' replied Mr. Weller; 'never leaves nothin' in it but the cork
and the smell; trust him for that, Sammy. Now, these here fellows, my
boy, are a-goin' to-night to get up the monthly meetin' o' the
Brick Lane Branch o' the United Grand Junction Ebenezer Temperance
Association. Your mother-in-law wos a-goin', Sammy, but she's got the
rheumatics, and can't; and I, Sammy--I've got the two tickets as wos
sent her.' Mr. Weller communicated this secret with great glee, and
winked so indefatigably after doing so, that Sam began to think he must
have got the TIC DOLOUREUX in his right eyelid.

'Well?' said that young gentleman. 'Well,' continued his progenitor,
looking round him very cautiously, 'you and I'll go, punctiwal to the
time. The deputy-shepherd won't, Sammy; the deputy-shepherd won't.'
Here Mr. Weller was seized with a paroxysm of chuckles, which gradually
terminated in as near an approach to a choke as an elderly gentleman
can, with safety, sustain.

'Well, I never see sitch an old ghost in all my born days,' exclaimed
Sam, rubbing the old gentleman's back, hard enough to set him on fire
with the friction. 'What are you a-laughin' at, corpilence?'

'Hush! Sammy,' said Mr. Weller, looking round him with increased
caution, and speaking in a whisper. 'Two friends o' mine, as works
the Oxford Road, and is up to all kinds o' games, has got the
deputy-shepherd safe in tow, Sammy; and ven he does come to the Ebenezer
Junction (vich he's sure to do: for they'll see him to the door, and
shove him in, if necessary), he'll be as far gone in rum-and-water, as
ever he wos at the Markis o' Granby, Dorkin', and that's not sayin'
a little neither.' And with this, Mr. Weller once more laughed
immoderately, and once more relapsed into a state of partial
suffocation, in consequence.

Nothing could have been more in accordance with Sam Weller's feelings
than the projected exposure of the real propensities and qualities of
the red-nosed man; and it being very near the appointed hour of meeting,
the father and son took their way at once to Brick Lane, Sam not
forgetting to drop his letter into a general post-office as they walked
along.

The monthly meetings of the Brick Lane Branch of the United Gr