presumed to be studied in spare minutes - which were remarkably
spare indeed.


[62 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]

The sporting character of the proprietor of the rooms was further
suggested by the huge pair of antlers over the door, bearing on their
tines a collection of sticks, whips, and spurs; while, to prove that
Mr. Larkyns was not wholly taken up by the charms of the chase,
fishing-rods, tandem-whips, cricket-bats, and Joe Mantons, were piled
up in odd corners; and single-sticks, boxing-gloves, and foils,
gracefully arranged upon the walls, shewed that he occasionally
devoted himself to athletic pursuits. An ingenious wire-rack for
pipes and meerschaums, and the presence of one or two
suspicious-looking boxes, labelled "collorados," "regalia,"
"lukotilla," and with other unknown words, seemed to intimate, that
if Mr. Larkyns was no smoker himself, he at least kept a bountiful
supply of "smoke" for his friends; but the perfumed cloud that was
proceeding from his lips as Verdant entered the room, dispelled all
doubts on the subject.

He was much changed in appearance during the somewhat long interval
since Verdant had last seen him, and his handsome features had
assumed a more manly, though perhaps a more rakish look. He was
lolling on a couch in the ~neglige~ attire of dressing-gown and
slippers, with his pink striped shirt comfortably open at the neck.
Lounging in an easy chair opposite to him was a gentleman clad in
tartan-plaid, whose face might only be partially discerned through
the glass bottom of a pewter, out of which he was draining the last