ith chests, very much resembling tea-chests; one of the chests
falling down, burst, and out flew, not tea, but various books, in a neat,
small size, and in neat leather covers; Bibles, said I,--Bibles,
doubtless. I was not quite right, nor quite wrong; picking up one of the
books, I looked at it for a moment, and found it to be the New Testament.
"Come, young lad," said a man who stood by, in the dress of a porter,
"put that book down, it is none of yours; if you want a book, go in and
deal for one."

Deal, thought I, deal,--the man seems to know what I am coming
about,--and going in, I presently found myself in a very large room.
Behind a counter two men stood with their backs to a splendid fire,
warming themselves, for the weather was cold.

Of these men one was dressed in brown, and the other was dressed in
black; both were tall men--he who was dressed in brown was thin, and had
a particularly ill-natured countenance; the man dressed in black was
bulky, his features were noble, but they were those of a lion.

"What is your business, young man?" said the precise personage, as I
stood staring at him and his companion.

"I want a Bible," said I.

"What price, what size?" said the precise-looking man.

"As to size," said I, "I should like to have a large one--that is, if you
can afford me one--I do not come to buy."

"Oh, friend," said the precise-looking man, "if you come here expecting
to have a Bible for nothing, you are mistaken--we--"

"I would scorn to have a Bible for nothing," said I, "or anything else; I
came not to beg, but to barter; there is no shame in that, especially in
a country like this, where all folks barter."

"Oh, we don't barter," said the precise man, "at least Bibles; you had
better depart."

"Stay, brother," said the man with the countenance of a lion, "let us ask
a few questions; this may be a very important case; perhaps the young man
has had convictions."

"Not I," I exclaimed, "I am convinced of nothing, and with regard to the
Bible--I don't believe--"

"Hey!" said the man with the lion countenance, and there he stopped. But
with that "Hey" the walls of the house seemed to shake, the windows
rattled, and the porter whom I had seen in front of the house came
running up the steps, and looked into the apartment through the glass of
the door.

There was silence for about a minute--the same kind of silence which
succeeds a clap of thunder.

At last the man with the lion counte