ash.

A. Fish, Esq., dressed as a clown, and certainly looked very funny;
but his bad cold prevented him from speaking his jokes distinctly, and
so the idea was given up.

[Illustration: THE RESULT WAS NOT SATISFACTORY]

In fact it was not till November that the Doctor-in-Law hit upon a
plan which seemed to give him any great satisfaction. We had been
talking a great deal about Guy Fawkes' day and the fireworks at the
Crystal Palace, which we intended going to see in the evening, and
the Doctor-in-Law had been particularly curious to know all about the
day and its customs. He did not say much about his plans, but I felt
sure that he was up to some of his tricks, for I caught him several
times whispering mysteriously to the Rhymester and A. Fish, Esq., and
I noticed that they were all particularly kind and respectful to his
Majesty, as though they wished to keep him in a good humour.

On the morning of the fifth, when I came down to breakfast, I was
greatly surprised to find that the whole party had gone out about an
hour previous, after borrowing from Mrs. Putchy a kitchen chair, four
broomsticks, and a long piece of clothes-line. Whatever were they up
to?

I asked Mrs. Putchy if they had left any message, but no--they had
said nothing as to where they were going, what they were going to do,
or when they would be back; and the only thing that had struck Mrs.
Putchy as being at all remarkable about their appearance, was the fact
that the Rhymester had added little bows of coloured ribbon to his
costume, and wore a tall pointed cap gaily decorated with streamers,
and a deep white frill around his neck--the others were dressed as
usual.

I felt sure that some mischief was brewing, and could not settle down
to my work for thinking of them. About eleven o'clock I went out to
see if I could find any traces of my guests. I had been walking about
unsuccessfully for about an hour, when I heard some boys shouting, and
turning to look in their direction, I beheld his Majesty calmly seated
in a chair which, by means of long poles attached to it, was being
carried along by the Rhymester and A. Fish, Esq.

They were followed by a crowd of people who were cheering lustily, and
the Doctor-in-Law was rushing about collecting money in his hat, and
entreating the people "not to forget the fifth of November," and
repeating some doggerel verse about:

"Guy Fawkes guy,
Stick him up high;
Stick him on a lamp-post,