second PS. she says, 'I open this to say the bellman is gone,
and that you must not expect it till the next post.'

In the old days it was the custom for the letter-carriers to
collect letters by ringing a bell.

There is no doubt that a most extraordinary, certainly a
most original, musical effect is that secured by Mr. George
(_B.H._), who had just finished smoking.

'Do you know what that tune is, Mr. Smallweed?' he adds,
after breaking off to whistle one, accompanied on the
table with the empty pipe.

'Tune,' replies the old man. 'No, we never have
tunes here.'

'That's the "Dead March" in _Saul_. They bury soldiers
to it, so it's the natural end of the subject.'

Surely a highly original way of bringing a conversation to
a close!

This march is referred to in _Our Mutual Friend_, where
Mr. Wilfer suggests that going through life with Mrs. Wilfer
is like keeping time to the 'Dead March' in _Saul_, from
which singular simile we may gather that this lady was not
the liveliest of companions.

Several other instruments are casually mentioned. Mr. Hardy