sad-dog sort of feeling came
strongly upon John Dounce: he lingered--the lady in blue made no sign.
He coughed--still she came not. He entered the shop.

'Can you open me an oyster, my dear?' said Mr. John Dounce.

'Dare say I can, sir,' replied the lady in blue, with playfulness. And
Mr. John Dounce eat one oyster, and then looked at the young lady, and
then eat another, and then squeezed the young lady's hand as she was
opening the third, and so forth, until he had devoured a dozen of those
at eightpence in less than no time.

'Can you open me half-a-dozen more, my dear?' inquired Mr. John Dounce.

'I'll see what I can do for you, sir,' replied the young lady in blue,
even more bewitchingly than before; and Mr. John Dounce eat half-a-dozen
more of those at eightpence.

'You couldn't manage to get me a glass of brandy-and-water, my dear, I
suppose?' said Mr. John Dounce, when he had finished the oysters: in a
tone which clearly implied his supposition that she could.

'I'll see, sir,' said the young lady: and away she ran out of the shop,
and down the street, her long auburn ringlets shaking in the wind in the
most enchanting manner; and back she came again, tripping over the
coal-cellar lids like a whipping-top, with a tumbler of brandy-and-water,
which Mr. John Dounce insisted on her taking a share of, as it was
regular ladies' grog--hot, strong, sweet, and plenty of it.

So, the young lady sat down with Mr. John Dounce, in a little red box
with a green curtain, and took a small sip of the brandy-and-water, and a
small look at Mr. John Dounce, and then turned her head away, and went
through various other serio-pantomimic fascinations, which forcibly
reminded Mr. John Dounce of the first time he courted his first wife, and
which made him feel more affectionate than ever; in pursuance of which
affection, and actuated by which feeling, Mr. John Dounce sounded the
young lady on her matrimonial engagements, when the young lady denied
having formed any such engagements at all--she couldn't abear the men,
they were such deceivers; thereupon Mr. John Dounce inquired whether this
sweeping condemnation was meant to include other than very young men; on
which the young lady blushed deeply--at least she turned away her head,
and said Mr. John Dounce had made her blush, so of course she _did_
blush--and Mr. John Dounce was a long time drinking the brandy-and-water;
and, at last, John Dounce went home to bed, and dreamed o