hey
meant. 'I strongly advise you,' said he, 'to attempt to make them out,
and also to take moderate exercise, and to see after your concerns.' I
followed his advice; every morning I studied the marks on the teapot, and
in the course of the day took moderate exercise, and attended to little
domestic matters, as became the master of a house.

"I subsequently learned that the surgeon, in advising me to study the
marks, and endeavour to make out their meaning, merely hoped that by
means of them my mind might by degrees be diverted from the mournful idea
on which I had so long brooded. He was a man well skilled in his
profession, but had read and thought very little on matters unconnected
with it. He had no idea that the marks had any particular signification,
or were anything else but common and fortuitous ones. That I became at
all acquainted with their nature was owing to a ludicrous circumstance
which I will now relate.

"One day, chancing to be at a neighbouring town, I was struck with the
appearance of a shop recently established. It had an immense bow-window,
and every part of it, to which a brush could be applied, was painted in a
gaudy flaming style. Large bowls of green and black tea were placed upon
certain chests, which stood at the window. I stopped to look at them,
such a display, whatever it may be at the present time, being, at the
period of which I am speaking, quite uncommon in a country town. The
tea, whether black or green, was very shining and inviting, and the
bowls, of which there were three, standing on as many chests, were very
grand and foreign looking. Two of these were white, with figures and
trees painted upon them in blue; the other, which was the middlemost, had
neither trees nor figures upon it, but, as I looked through the window,
appeared to have on its sides the very same kind of marks which I had
observed on the teapot at home; there were also marks on the tea-chests,
somewhat similar, but much larger, and, apparently, not executed with so
much care. 'Best teas direct from China,' said a voice close to my side;
and looking round I saw a youngish man, with a frizzled head, flat face,
and an immensely wide mouth, standing in his shirt-sleeves by the door.
'Direct from China,' said he; 'perhaps you will do me the favour to walk
in and scent them?' 'I do not want any tea,' said I; 'I was only
standing at the window examining those marks on the bowl and the chests.
I have observed