Stunning
with a good head to it"--at twopence half-penny the glass, but the
landlord hesitated to draw it, and gave him a glass of some which he
suspected was _not_ the "genuine stunning"; and the landlady coming into
the bar returned his money, and gave him a "kiss that was half-admiring
and half-compassionate, but all womanly and good [he says], I'm sure."

[Illustration: "My magnificent order at the Public House" (_vide_
"_David Copperfield_").]

The Horse-Guards' clock is the last noteworthy object, and reminds us
that Mark Tapley noticed the time there, on the occasion of his last
meeting with Mary Graham in St. James's Park, before starting for
America. It also reminds us of Mr. Micawber's maxim, "Procrastination is
the thief of time--collar him;"--a few minutes afterwards we are
comfortably seated in the train, and can defy the storm, which overtakes
us precisely in the manner described in _The Old Curiosity Shop_:--

"It had been gradually getting overcast, and now
the sky was dark and lowering, save where the
glory of the departing sun piled up masses of gold
and burning fire, decaying embers of which gleamed
here and there through the black veil, and shone
redly down upon the earth. The wind began to moan
in hollow murmurs, as the sun went down, carrying
glad day elsewhere; and a train of dull clouds
coming up against it menaced thunder and
lightning. Large drops of rain soon began to fall,
and, as the storm clouds came sailing onward,
others supplied the void they left behind, and
spread over all the sky. Then was heard the low
rumbling of distant thunder, then the lightning
quivered, and then the darkness of an hour seemed
to have gathered in an instant."

We pass Dulwich,--where Mr. Snodgrass and Emily Wardle were married,--a
fact that recalls kindly recollections of Mr. Pickwick and his
retirement there, as recorded in the closing pages of the _Pickwick
Papers_, where he is described as "employing his leisure hours in
arranging the memoranda which he afterwards presented to the secretary
of the once famous club, or in hearing Sam Weller read aloud, with such
remarks as suggested themselves to his mind, which never failed to
afford Mr. Pickwick great amusement." He is subsequently described as
"somewhat infirm now, but he retains all his forme