nt himself to Sir Raffle on that very afternoon, and
expel some interloper from his seat. But he would first call in
Burton Crescent and say farewell to the Ropers.

The door was opened for him by the faithful Jemima. "Mr Heames, Mr
Heames! ho dear, ho dear!" and the poor girl, who had always taken
his side in the adventures of the lodging-house, raised her hands on
high and lamented the fate which had separated her favourite from its
fortunes. "I suppose you knows it all, Mister Johnny?" Mister Johnny
said that he believed he did know it all, and asked for the mistress
of the house. "Yes, sure enough, she's at home. She don't dare stir
out much, 'cause of them Lupexes. Ain't this a pretty game? No dinner
and no nothink! Them boxes is Miss Spruce's. She's agoing now, this
minute. You'll find 'em all upstairs in the drawen-room." So upstairs
into the drawing-room he went, and there he found the mother and
daughter, and with them Miss Spruce, tightly packed up in her bonnet
and shawl. "Don't, mother," Amelia was saying; "what's the good of
going on in that way? If she chooses to go, let her go."

"But she's been with me now so many years," said Mrs Roper, sobbing;
"and I've always done everything for her! Haven't I, now, Sally
Spruce?" It struck Eames immediately that, though he had been an
inmate in the house for two years, he had never before heard that
maiden lady's Christian name. Miss Spruce was the first to see Eames
as he entered the room. It is probable that Mrs Roper's pathos might
have produced some answering pathos on her part had she remained
unobserved, but the sight of a young man brought her back to her
usual state of quiescence. "I'm only an old woman," said she; "and
here's Mr Eames come back again."

"How d'ye do, Mrs Roper? how d'ye do, Amelia?--how d'ye do, Miss
Spruce?" and he shook hands with them all.

"Oh, laws," said Mrs Roper, "you have given me such a start!"

"Dear me, Mr Eames; only think of your coming back in that way," said
Amelia.

"Well, what way should I come back? You didn't hear me knock at the
door, that's all. So Miss Spruce is really going to leave you?"

"Isn't it dreadful, Mr Eames? Nineteen years we've been
together;--taking both houses together, Miss Spruce, we have,
indeed." Miss Spruce, at this point, struggled very hard to convince
John Eames that the period in question had in truth extended over
only eighteen years, but Mrs Roper was authoritative, and would not
per