is
word, Mr. Bardell was no deceiver, Mr. Bardell was once a single
gentleman himself; _to_ single gentlemen I look for protection, for
assistance, for comfort, and for consolation; _in_ single gentlemen I
shall perpetually see something to remind me of what Mr. Bardell was
when he first won my young and untried affections: to a single
gentleman, then, shall my lodgings be let.' Actuated by this
beautiful and touching impulse (among the best impulses of our
imperfect nature, gentlemen) the lonely and desolate widow dried her
tears, furnished her first floor, caught the innocent boy to her
maternal bosom, and put the bill up in her parlour-window. Did it
remain there long? No. The serpent was on the watch, the train was
laid, the mine was preparing, the sapper and miner was at work. Before
the bill had been in the parlour-window three days--three days,
gentlemen--a Being, erect upon two legs, and bearing all the outward
semblance of a man, and not of a monster, knocked at the door of Mrs.
Bardell's house. He inquired within--he took the lodgings; and on the
very next day he entered into possession of them. The man was
Pickwick--Pickwick, the defendant."

Serjeant Buzfuz, who had proceeded with such volubility that his face
was perfectly crimson, here paused for breath. The silence awoke Mr.
Justice Stareleigh, who immediately wrote down something with a pen
without any ink in it, and looked unusually profound, to impress the
jury with the belief that he always thought most deeply with his eyes
shut. Serjeant Buzfuz proceeded.

"Of this man Pickwick I will say little; the subject presents but few
attractions; and I, gentlemen, am not the man, nor are you, gentlemen,
the men, to delight in the contemplation of revolting heartlessness
and of systematic villainy."

Here Mr. Pickwick, who had been writhing in silence for some time,
gave a violent start, as if some vague idea of assaulting Serjeant
Buzfuz, in the august presence of justice and law, suggested itself to
his mind. An admonitory gesture from Perker restrained him, and he
listened to the learned gentleman's continuation with a look of
indignation, which contrasted forcibly with the admiring faces of Mrs.
Cluppins and Mrs. Sanders.

"I say systematic villainy, gentlemen," said Serjeant Buzfuz, looking
through Mr. Pickwick, and talking _at_ him