exclaimed Trott, in unfeigned astonishment: 'the man's
drunk!'

'You'd better be quiet, young feller,' remarked the boots, going through
a threatening piece of pantomime with the stick.

'Or mad!' said Mr. Trott, rather alarmed. 'Leave the room, sir, and tell
them to send somebody else.'

'Won't do!' replied the boots.

'Leave the room!' shouted Trott, ringing the bell violently: for he began
to be alarmed on a new score.

'Leave that 'ere bell alone, you wretched loo-nattic!' said the boots,
suddenly forcing the unfortunate Trott back into his chair, and
brandishing the stick aloft. 'Be quiet, you miserable object, and don't
let everybody know there's a madman in the house.'

'He _is_ a madman! He _is_ a madman!' exclaimed the terrified Mr. Trott,
gazing on the one eye of the red-headed boots with a look of abject
horror.

'Madman!' replied the boots, 'dam'me, I think he _is_ a madman with a
vengeance! Listen to me, you unfortunate. Ah! would you?' [a slight tap
on the head with the large stick, as Mr. Trott made another move towards
the bell-handle] 'I caught you there! did I?'

'Spare my life!' exclaimed Trott, raising his hands imploringly.

'I don't want your life,' replied the boots, disdainfully, 'though I
think it 'ud be a charity if somebody took it.'

'No, no, it wouldn't,' interrupted poor Mr. Trott, hurriedly, 'no, no, it
wouldn't! I--I-'d rather keep it!'

'O werry well,' said the boots: 'that's a mere matter of taste--ev'ry one
to his liking. Hows'ever, all I've got to say is this here: You sit
quietly down in that chair, and I'll sit hoppersite you here, and if you
keep quiet and don't stir, I won't damage you; but, if you move hand or
foot till half-past twelve o'clock, I shall alter the expression of your
countenance so completely, that the next time you look in the glass
you'll ask vether you're gone out of town, and ven you're likely to come
back again. So sit down.'

'I will--I will,' responded the victim of mistakes; and down sat Mr.
Trott and down sat the boots too, exactly opposite him, with the stick
ready for immediate action in case of emergency.

Long and dreary were the hours that followed. The bell of Great
Winglebury church had just struck ten, and two hours and a half would
probably elapse before succour arrived.

For half an hour, the noise occasioned by shutting up the shops in the
street beneath, betokened something like life in the town, and rendered
Mr. Tro