lectual lineaments of Mr. Snodgrass. As Mr. Pickwick greeted
them, Mr. Peter Magnus tripped into the room.

'My friends, the gentleman I was speaking of--Mr. Magnus,' said Mr.
Pickwick.

'Your servant, gentlemen,' said Mr. Magnus, evidently in a high state of
excitement; 'Mr. Pickwick, allow me to speak to you one moment, sir.'

As he said this, Mr. Magnus harnessed his forefinger to Mr. Pickwick's
buttonhole, and, drawing him to a window recess, said--

'Congratulate me, Mr. Pickwick; I followed your advice to the very
letter.'

'And it was all correct, was it?' inquired Mr. Pickwick.

'It was, Sir. Could not possibly have been better,' replied Mr. Magnus.
'Mr. Pickwick, she is mine.'

'I congratulate you, with all my heart,' replied Mr. Pickwick, warmly
shaking his new friend by the hand.

'You must see her. Sir,' said Mr. Magnus; 'this way, if you please.
Excuse us for one instant, gentlemen.' Hurrying on in this way, Mr.
Peter Magnus drew Mr. Pickwick from the room. He paused at the next door
in the passage, and tapped gently thereat.

'Come in,' said a female voice. And in they went.

'Miss Witherfield,' said Mr. Magnus, 'allow me to introduce my very
particular friend, Mr. Pickwick. Mr. Pickwick, I beg to make you known
to Miss Witherfield.'

The lady was at the upper end of the room. As Mr. Pickwick bowed,
he took his spectacles from his waistcoat pocket, and put them on;
a process which he had no sooner gone through, than, uttering an
exclamation of surprise, Mr. Pickwick retreated several paces, and the
lady, with a half-suppressed scream, hid her face in her hands, and
dropped into a chair; whereupon Mr. Peter Magnus was stricken motionless
on the spot, and gazed from one to the other, with a countenance
expressive of the extremities of horror and surprise. This certainly
was, to all appearance, very unaccountable behaviour; but the fact
is, that Mr. Pickwick no sooner put on his spectacles, than he at once
recognised in the future Mrs. Magnus the lady into whose room he had so
unwarrantably intruded on the previous night; and the spectacles had no
sooner crossed Mr. Pickwick's nose, than the lady at once identified
the countenance which she had seen surrounded by all the horrors of a
nightcap. So the lady screamed, and Mr. Pickwick started.

'Mr. Pickwick!' exclaimed Mr. Magnus, lost in astonishment, 'what is the
meaning of this, Sir? What is the meaning of it, Sir?' added Mr. Magnus,
in a thre