or was timidly opened and some one screamed "A man!"
there was a dreadful chorus of shrieks from the lady principal, three
teachers, five female servants and thirty young lady boarders, all
half-dressed and in a forest of curl papers.

Mr. Pickwick was desperate. He protested that he was no robber--that he
would even consent to be tied or locked up, only to convince them. A
closet stood in the hall; as a pledge of good faith he stepped inside
it. Its door was quickly locked and only then the trembling principal
consented to listen to him. By the time he had told his story, he knew
that he had been cruelly hoaxed by Jingle and Job Trotter. She knew not
even the name of Mr. Fitz-Marshall. For her own part she was certain Mr.
Pickwick was crazy, and he had to stay in the stuffy closet over an hour
while at his request some one was sent to find Sam Weller.

The latter came at length, bringing with him old Mr. Wardle, who, as it
happened, unknown to Mr. Pickwick, was stopping at the inn. Explanations
were made and Mr. Pickwick, choking with wrath, returned to the inn to
find Jingle and his servant gone, and to be, himself, for some time
thereafter, a prey to rheumatism.

A serious matter at this juncture called Mr. Pickwick home. This was a
legal summons notifying him that Mrs. Bardell, his landlady, had brought
a suit for damages against him, claiming he had promised to marry her
and had then run away. A firm of tricky lawyers had persuaded her to
this in the hope of getting some money out of it themselves. Mr.
Pickwick was very angry, but there was nothing for it but to hire a
lawyer, so he and Sam Weller set out without delay.

IV

SAM WELLER MEETS HIS FATHER, AND THE PURSUIT OF
JINGLE IS CONTINUED. MR. PICKWICK MAKES
A STRANGE CALL ON A MIDDLE-AGED
LADY IN YELLOW
CURL PAPERS

Having arranged this matter in London, master and servant sat one
evening in a public house when Sam recognized in a stout man with his
face buried in a quart pot, his own father, old Tony Weller, the
stage-coach driver, and with great affection introduced him to Mr.
Pickwick.

"How's mother-in-law?" asked Sam.

The elder Mr. Weller shook his head as he replied, "I've done it once
too often, Samivel. Take example by your father, my boy, and be very
careful o' widders, 'specially if they've kept a public house."

Mrs. Weller the second, indeed, was the proprietress of a pu