y shoulder felt the door-post behind me.

"I was trying to find my way to the Blue Posts," said I.

"Then," said the stout man with obvious truth, "you ain't found it yet."

"No, sir," said I.

"And that bein' the case, you'll march out and close the door behind you.
Not,"--he went on more kindly--"that I'd be inhospitable to his Majesty's
uniform, 'specially when borne by a man of your inches; and to prove it
I'll offer you a drink before parting."

He reached out a hand towards one of the black bottles. I was about to
thank him and decline, withdrawing my eyes from a black-bonneted female
with (unless the shadow of her bonnet played me false) a stiff two-days'
beard on her massive chin, when a noise of feet moving over the boards
above, and of a scuffle, followed by loud whimpering, reminded me of
Hartnoll.

"I don't go without my mate," I answered defiantly enough.

"And what the '--' have I to do with your mate?" demanded the stout man.
"I tell you," said he, losing his temper and striding to the stairway, as
the sounds of a struggle recommenced overhead, "if your mate don't hold
the noise he's kicking up this instant, bringing trouble on respectable
folks, I'll cut his liver out and fling it arter you into the street."

He would have threatened more, though he could hardly have threatened
worse, but at this moment a door opened in the back of the room and a
bullet-head thrust itself forward, followed by a pair of shoulders naked
and magnificently shaped.

"Time to start, is it?" demanded the apparition. "Or elst what in
thunder's the meanin' o' this racket, when I was just a-gettin' of my
beauty sleep?"

The stout man let out a murderous oath, and, rushing back, thrust the door
close upon the vision; but not before I had caught a glimpse of a woman's
skirt enwrapping it from the waist down. The next moment one of the
females had caught me up: I was propelled down the passage at a speed and
with a force that made the blood sing in my ears, and shot forth into the
darkness; where, as I picked myself up, half-stunned, I heard the
house-door slammed behind me.

I take no credit for what I did next. No doubt I remembered that Hartnoll
was still inside; but for aught I know it was mere shame and rage, and the
thought of my insulted uniform, that made me rush back at the door and
batter it with fists and feet. I battered until windows went up in the
houses to right and left. Voices from them called to me