nce sprung
up between the lady and myself, how it has been met, through the kind
interference of two good friends of mine: one, previously acquainted
with the lady: and one, not. The pint was thrown out, sir, by those two
friends when they did me the great service of waiting on the lady to
try if a union betwixt the lady and me could not be brought to bear--the
pint, I say, was thrown out by them, sir, whether if, after marriage,
I confined myself to the articulation of men, children, and the lower
animals, it might not relieve the lady's mind of her feeling respecting
being as a lady--regarded in a bony light. It was a happy thought, sir,
and it took root.'

'It would seem, Mr Venus,' observed Wegg, with a touch of distrust,
'that you are flush of friends?'

'Pretty well, sir,' that gentleman answered, in a tone of placid
mystery. 'So-so, sir. Pretty well.'

'However,' said Wegg, after eyeing him with another touch of distrust,
'I wish you joy. One man spends his fortune in one way, and another in
another. You are going to try matrimony. I mean to try travelling.'

'Indeed, Mr Wegg?'

'Change of air, sea-scenery, and my natural rest, I hope may bring me
round after the persecutions I have undergone from the dustman with his
head tied up, which I just now mentioned. The tough job being ended and
the Mounds laid low, the hour is come for Boffin to stump up. Would ten
to-morrow morning suit you, partner, for finally bringing Boffin's nose
to the grindstone?'

Ten to-morrow morning would quite suit Mr Venus for that excellent
purpose.

'You have had him well under inspection, I hope?' said Silas.

Mr Venus had had him under inspection pretty well every day.

'Suppose you was just to step round to-night then, and give him orders
from me--I say from me, because he knows I won't be played with--to be
ready with his papers, his accounts, and his cash, at that time in the
morning?' said Wegg. 'And as a matter of form, which will be agreeable
to your own feelings, before we go out (for I'll walk with you part of
the way, though my leg gives under me with weariness), let's have a look
at the stock in trade.'

Mr Venus produced it, and it was perfectly correct; Mr Venus undertook
to produce it again in the morning, and to keep tryst with Mr Wegg on
Boffin's doorstep as the clock struck ten. At a certain point of the
road between Clerkenwell and Boffin's house (Mr Wegg expressly insisted
that there should be no prefix