idiotic folly at
thus bearding these lions,--indisputably they WERE lions,--but he had
to go through with it now. Heaven send, his breath, which was already
getting a trifle spasmodic, did not suddenly give out. He fixed his
eye on the face of the fat man with the chins, and spoke in a low,
impressive voice. "I came here, sir," said Mr. Hoopdriver, and paused to
inflate his cheeks, "with a lady."

"Very nice lady," said the man with the gaiters, putting his head on one
side to admire a pearl button that had been hiding behind the curvature
of his calf. "Very nice lady indeed."

"I came here," said Mr. Hoopdriver, "with a lady."

"We saw you did, bless you," said the fat man with the chins, in
a curious wheezy voice. "I don't see there's anything so very
extraordinary in that. One 'ud think we hadn't eyes."

Mr. Hoopdriver coughed. "I came, here, sir--"

"We've 'eard that," said the little man with the beard, sharply and went
off into an amiable chuckle. "We know it by 'art," said the little man,
elaborating the point.

Mr. Hoopdriver temporarily lost his thread. He glared malignantly at the
little man with the beard, and tried to recover his discourse. A pause.

"You were saying," said the fair young man with the white tie, speaking
very politely, "that you came here with a lady."

"A lady," meditated the gaiter gazer.

The man in velveteen, who was looking from one speaker to another with
keen, bright eyes, now laughed as though a point had been scored, and
stimulated Mr. Hoopdriver to speak, by fixing him with an expectant
regard.

"Some dirty cad," said Mr. Hoopdriver, proceeding with his discourse,
and suddenly growing extremely fierce, "made a remark as we went by this
door."

"Steady on!" said the old gentleman with many chins. "Steady on! Don't
you go a-calling us names, please."

"One minute!" said Mr. Hoopdriver. "It wasn't I began calling names."
("Who did?" said the man with the chins.) "I'm not calling any of you
dirty cads. Don't run away with that impression. Only some person in
this room made a remark that showed he wasn't fit to wipe boots on,
and, with all due deference to such gentlemen as ARE gentlemen" (Mr.
Hoopdriver looked round for moral support), "I want to know which it
was."

"Meanin'?" said the fair young man in the white tie.

"That I'm going to wipe my boots on 'im straight away," said Mr.
Hoopdriver, reverting to anger, if with a slight catch in his
throat--than which thr