athe through the legs, vich is holler. Have a passage ready taken for
'Mericker. The 'Merikin gov'ment will never give him up when they finds
as he's got money to spend, Sammy. Let him stop there till Mrs.
Bardell's dead, then let him come back and write a book about the
'Merikins as'll pay all his expenses and more if he blows 'em up
enough."

But Mr. Pickwick did not avail himself of this plan to escape to
America. Day by day he wandered about the prison, learning its tales of
misery and hopelessness, till his head and his heart ached and he could
bear no more. For three months he remained there, shut up all day,
stealing from his room only at night, and no entreaties would induce him
to pay the money which was keeping him a prisoner.

Mrs. Bardell's lawyers meanwhile grew impatient. They had not been paid
even the costs of the trial, and these Mrs. Bardell had agreed to pay if
they won the suit. As Mr. Pickwick had not paid the damages, however,
she had no money, and so the lawyers at last had her arrested, and she,
too, was sent to the Fleet Prison. After a few hours there, Mrs. Bardell
was willing to do anything to escape, and she agreed if Mr. Pickwick
paid the costs, to release him from the damages.

Mr. Pickwick was still so indignant that he would possibly not have
consented, but at this juncture Winkle entered, leading by the hand the
beautiful girl who had been Arabella Allen, but whom he introduced now
as Mrs. Winkle. He had run away with her from the old aunt's house, with
the help of Mary, the pretty housemaid, and they had been married
without the knowledge of Winkle's father. They had come to Mr. Pickwick
to beg him to go and plead with old Mr. Winkle for forgiveness.

Arabella's tears and Winkle's plight proved too much for Mr. Pickwick's
resolution. He paid Mrs. Bardell's costs and left Fleet Prison that very
day, with Sam Weller, whose father, of course, immediately released him
also.

IX

SNODGRASS GETS INTO DIFFICULTIES, BUT WINS HIS
LADY-LOVE. THE ADVENTURES OF THE
PICKWICKIANS COME TO AN END

Mr. Pickwick journeyed first to Bristol, to break the news of Arabella's
marriage to her brother, Ben Allen. The latter was angry at first, but
finally he and Bob Sawyer shook hands with the visitor and agreed to
treasure no ill-feeling.

Both the young gentlemen insisted on going with Mr. Pickwick to the
Winkle homestead--a circumstance which did not make that visit an