t large blank stone staircase--were all so many melancholy
features in the general countenance of the house; but the Colonel
thought it perfectly, cheerful and pleasant, and furnished it in his
rough-and-ready way. One day a cartload of chairs; the next a waggonful
of fenders, fire-irons, and glass and crockery--a quantity of supplies,
in a word, he poured into the place. There were a yellow curtain in the
back drawing-room, and green curtains in the front. The carpet was an
immense bargain, bought dirt cheap, sir, at a sale in Euston Square. He
was against the purchase of a carpet for the stairs. What was the good
of it? What did men want with stair-carpets? His own apartment contained
a wonderful assortment of lumber. Shelves which he nailed himself, old
Indian garments, camphor trunks. What did he want with gewgaws? anything
was good enough for an old soldier. But the spare bedroom was endowed
with all sorts of splendour: a bed as big as a general's tent, a cheval
glass--whereas the Colonel shaved in a little cracked mirror, which cost
him no more than King Stephen's breeches--and a handsome new carpet;
while the boards of the Colonel's bedchamber were as bare--as bare as
old Miss Scragg's shoulders, which would be so much more comfortable
were they covered up. Mr. Binnie's bedchamber was neat, snug, and
appropriate. And Clive had a study and bedroom at the top of the house,
which he was allowed to furnish entirely according to his own taste.
How he and Ridley revelled in Wardour Street! What delightful coloured
prints of hunting, racing, and beautiful ladies, did they not purchase,
mount with their own hands, cut out for screens, frame and glaze, and
hang up on the walls. When the rooms were ready they gave a party,
inviting the Colonel and Mr. Binnie by note of hand, two gentlemen from
Lamb Court, Temple, Mr. Honeyman, and Fred Bayham. We must have Fred
Bayham. Fred Bayham frankly asked, "Is Mr. Sherrick, with whom you
have become rather intimate lately--and mind you I say nothing, but I
recommend strangers in London to be cautious about their friends--is
Mr. Sherrick coming to you, young 'un? because if he is, F. B. must
respectfully decline."

Mr. Sherrick was not invited, and accordingly F. B. came. But Sherrick
was invited on other days, and a very queer society did our honest
Colonel gather together in that queer house, so dreary, so dingy, so
comfortless, so pleasant. He, who was one of the most hospitable men