gentleman's head; "I'll take off his choker and make him easy about
the neck, and then we'll shut him up, and leave him. Why the beggar's
asleep already!" And so the two gentlemen went away, and left him
safe and sleeping.

It is conjectured, however, that he must have got up shortly after
this, and finding himself with his clothes on, must have considered
that a lighted candle was indispensably necessary to undress by; for
when Mrs. Tester came at her usual early hour to light the fires and
prepare the sitting-rooms, she discovered him lying on the carpet
embracing the coal-skuttle, with a candle by his side.
The good woman raised him, and did not leave him until she had, in
the most motherly manner, safely tucked him up in bed.

* * *

Clink, clank! clink, clank! tingle, tangle! tingle, tangle! Are
demons smiting ringing hammers into Mr. Verdant Green's brain, or is
the dreadful bell summoning him to rise for morning chapel?

Mr. Filcher puts an end to the doubt by putting his head in at the
bedroom door, and saying, "Time for chapel, sir! Chapel," thought Mr.
Filcher; "here is a chap ill, indeed! - Bain't you well, sir?
Restless you look!"

Oh, the shame and agony that Mr. Verdant Green felt! The desire to
bury his head under the clothes, away from Robert's and everyone
else's sight; the fever that throbbed his brain and parched his lips,
and made him long to drink up Ocean; the eyes that felt like burning
lead; the powerless hands that trembled like a weak old man's; the