bury the deceased, upon consideration of the
fees to be paid upon the occasion.

The tap-room was crowded, and there was no room for the men, and they
were taken into the kitchen, where they were seated, and earnestly at
work, preparing for the ceremony that had so shortly to be performed.

"Any better, Jacobs?"--"What do you mean?" inquired Jacobs, with a
groan. "It's news to me if I have been ill."

"Oh, yes, you were doleful up stairs, you know."--"I've a proper regard
for my profession--that's the difference between you and I, you know."

"I'll wager you what you like, now, that I'll handle a corpse and drive
a screw in a coffin as well as you, now, although you are so solid and
miserable."--"So you may--so you may."

"Then what do you mean by saying I haven't a proper regard for my
profession?"--"I say you haven't, and there's the thing that shall prove
it--you don't look it, and that's the truth."

"I don't look like an undertaker! indeed I dare say I don't if I ain't
dressed like one."--"Nor when you are," reiterated Jacob.

"Why not, pray?"--"Because you have always a grin on your face as broad
as a gridiron--that's why."

This ended the dispute, for the employer of the men suddenly put his
head in, saying,--

"Come, now, time's up; you are wanted up stairs, all of you. Be quick;
we shall have his reverence waiting for us, and then we shall lose his
recommendation."

"Ready sir," said the round man, taking up his pint and finishing it off
at a draught, at the same moment he thrust the remains of some bread and
cheese into his pocket.

Jacob, too, took his pot, and, having finished it, with great gravity
followed the example of his more jocose companion, and they all left the
kitchen for the room above, where the corpse was lying ready for
interment.

There was an unusual bustle; everybody was on the tip-top of
expectation, and awaiting the result in a quiet hurry, and hoped to have
the first glimpse of the coffin, though why they should do so it was
difficult to define. But in this fit of mysterious hope and expectation
they certainly stood.

"Will they be long?" inquired a man at the door of one inside,--"will
they be long before they come?"--"They are coming now," said the man.
"Do you all keep quiet; they are knocking their heads against the top of
the landing. Hark! There, I told you so."

The man departed, hearing something, and being satisfied that he had got
some information.

"Now, t