rush was
made for a chair, and a regular introduction took place. Mr. John
Evenson made a slight inclination of the head; Mr. Frederick O'Bleary,
Mr. Alfred Tomkins, and Mr. Wisbottle, bowed like the mandarins in a
grocer's shop; Tibbs rubbed hands, and went round in circles. He was
observed to close one eye, and to assume a clock-work sort of expression
with the other; this has been considered as a wink, and it has been
reported that Agnes was its object. We repel the calumny, and challenge
contradiction.

Mrs. Tibbs inquired after Mrs. Bloss's health in a low tone. Mrs. Bloss,
with a supreme contempt for the memory of Lindley Murray, answered the
various questions in a most satisfactory manner; and a pause ensued,
during which the eatables disappeared with awful rapidity.

'You must have been very much pleased with the appearance of the ladies
going to the Drawing-room the other day, Mr. O'Bleary?' said Mrs. Tibbs,
hoping to start a topic.

'Yes,' replied Orson, with a mouthful of toast.

'Never saw anything like it before, I suppose?' suggested Wisbottle.

'No--except the Lord Lieutenant's levees,' replied O'Bleary.

'Are they at all equal to our drawing-rooms?'

'Oh, infinitely superior!'

'Gad! I don't know,' said the aristocratic Wisbottle, 'the Dowager
Marchioness of Publiccash was most magnificently dressed, and so was the
Baron Slappenbachenhausen.'

'What was he presented on?' inquired Evenson.

'On his arrival in England.'

'I thought so,' growled the radical; 'you never hear of these fellows
being presented on their going away again. They know better than that.'

'Unless somebody pervades them with an apintment,' said Mrs. Bloss,
joining in the conversation in a faint voice.

'Well,' said Wisbottle, evading the point, 'it's a splendid sight.'

'And did it never occur to you,' inquired the radical, who never would be
quiet; 'did it never occur to you, that you pay for these precious
ornaments of society?'

'It certainly _has_ occurred to me,' said Wisbottle, who thought this
answer was a poser; 'it _has_ occurred to me, and I am willing to pay for
them.'

'Well, and it has occurred to me too,' replied John Evenson, 'and I ain't
willing to pay for 'em. Then why should I?--I say, why should I?'
continued the politician, laying down the paper, and knocking his
knuckles on the table. 'There are two great principles--demand--'

'A cup of tea if you please, dear,' interrupted Tibbs.