d Brass.

'Very obstinate-looking articles they are too,' quoth Richard
Swiveller. And truly, they were as sturdy and bluff a pair of boots as
one would wish to see; as firmly planted on the ground as if their
owner's legs and feet had been in them; and seeming, with their broad
soles and blunt toes, to hold possession of their place by main force.

'I can't see anything but the curtain of the bed,' said Brass, applying
his eye to the keyhole of the door. 'Is he a strong man, Mr Richard?'

Very,' answered Dick.

It would be an extremely unpleasant circumstance if he was to bounce
out suddenly,' said Brass. 'Keep the stairs clear. I should be more
than a match for him, of course, but I'm the master of the house, and
the laws of hospitality must be respected.--Hallo there! Hallo, hallo!'

While Mr Brass, with his eye curiously twisted into the keyhole,
uttered these sounds as a means of attracting the lodger's attention,
and while Miss Brass plied the hand-bell, Mr Swiveller put his stool
close against the wall by the side of the door, and mounting on the top
and standing bolt upright, so that if the lodger did make a rush, he
would most probably pass him in its onward fury, began a violent
battery with the ruler upon the upper panels of the door. Captivated
with his own ingenuity, and confident in the strength of his position,
which he had taken up after the method of those hardy individuals who
open the pit and gallery doors of theatres on crowded nights, Mr
Swiveller rained down such a shower of blows, that the noise of the
bell was drowned; and the small servant, who lingered on the stairs
below, ready to fly at a moment's notice, was obliged to hold her ears
lest she should be rendered deaf for life.

Suddenly the door was unlocked on the inside, and flung violently open.
The small servant flew to the coal-cellar; Miss Sally dived into her
own bed-room; Mr Brass, who was not remarkable for personal courage,
ran into the next street, and finding that nobody followed him, armed
with a poker or other offensive weapon, put his hands in his pockets,
walked very slowly all at once, and whistled.

Meanwhile, Mr Swiveller, on the top of the stool, drew himself into as
flat a shape as possible against the wall, and looked, not
unconcernedly, down upon the single gentleman, who appeared at the door
growling and cursing in a very awful manner, and, with the boots in his
hand, seemed to have an intention of hurling