-man, sir, with perhaps more liquor than sense; but
I'm the Queen's servant, and touch my pension every quarter day. I
don't claim to be R. N., but I'm not merchant service either. Here I
am, rotting in lodgings, but by ----, Dr. Munro, sir, I carried seven
thousand stinking Turks from Varna to Balaclava Bay. I'm with you, Dr.
Munro, and we put this thing through together."

We came to the auction rooms and we stood on the fringe of the crowd
waiting for our chance. Presently up went a very neat little table. I
gave a nod and got it for nine shillings. Then three rather striking
looking chairs, black wood and cane bottoms. Four shillings each I gave
for those. Then a metal umbrella-stand, four and sixpence. That was a
mere luxury, but I was warming to the work. A job lot of curtains all
tied together in a bundle went up. Somebody bid five shillings. The
auctioneer's eye came round to me, and I nodded. Mine again for five
and sixpence. Then I bought a square of red drugget for half-a-crown,
a small iron bed for nine shillings, three watercolour paintings,
"Spring," "The Banjo Player," and "Windsor Castle," for five shillings;
a tiny fender, half-a-crown; a toilet set, five shillings; another
very small square-topped table, three and sixpence. Whenever I bid
for anything, Whitehall thrust his black-thorn up into the air, and
presently I found him doing so on my behalf when I had no intention of
buying. I narrowly escaped having to give fourteen and sixpence for a
stuffed macaw in a glass case.

"It would do to hang in your hall, Dr. Munro, sir," said he when I
remonstrated with him.

"I should have to hang myself in my hall soon if I spent my money like
that," said I. "I've got as much as I can afford now, and I must stop."

When the auction was over, I paid my bill and had my goods hoisted on
to a trolly, the porter undertaking to deliver them for two shillings.
I found that I had over-estimated the cost of furnishing, for the total
expense was little more than three pounds. We walked round to Oakley
Villa, and I proudly deposited all my goods in the hall. And here came
another extraordinary example of the kindness of the poorer classes. The
porter when I had paid him went out to his trolly and returned with a
huge mat of oakum, as ugly a thing as I have ever set eyes upon. This he
laid down inside my door, and then without a word, brushing aside every
remonstrance or attempt at thanks, he vanished away with his troll