t consisted of three courses of scraper, and two of mat; this being
considered by her as strictly necessary to bring his shoes to such a state
of cleanliness as would entitle him to admission into the premises of which
she was the temporary mistress.

Charlie, on two or three occasions finding a window open, made stealthy
descents upon the premises without first having duly observed these
quarantine regulations; whereupon he was attacked by Caddy, who, with the
assistance of the minions under her command, so shook and pummelled him as
to cause his precipitate retreat through the same opening by which he had
entered, and that, too, in so short a space of time as to make the whole
manoeuvre appear to him in the light of a well-executed but involuntary
feat of ground and lofty tumbling. One afternoon he started with his
sister's dinner, consisting of a dish of which she was particularly fond,
and its arrival was therefore looked for with unusual anxiety. Charlie,
having gorged himself to an almost alarming extent, did not make the haste
that the case evidently demanded; and as he several times stopped to act as
umpire in disputed games of marbles (in the rules of which he was regarded
as an authority), he necessarily consumed a great deal of time on the way.

Caddy's patience was severely tried by the long delay, and her temper, at
no time the most amiable, gathered bitterness from the unprecedented length
of her fast. Therefore, when he at length appeared, walking leisurely up
Winter-street, swinging the kettle about in the most reckless manner, and
setting it down on the pavement to play leap-frog over the fire-plugs, her
wrath reached a point that boded no good to the young trifler.

Now, whilst Charlie had been giving his attention to the difficulties
growing out of the games of marbles, he did not observe that one of the
disputants was possessed of a tin kettle, in appearance very similar to his
own, by the side of which, in the excitement of the moment, he deposited
his own whilst giving a practical illustration of his view of the point
under consideration. Having accomplished this to his entire satisfaction,
he resumed what he supposed was his kettle, and went his way rejoicing.

Now, if Caddy Ellis had a fondness for one dish more than any other, it was
for haricot, with plenty of carrots; and knowing she was to have this for
her dinner, she, to use her own pointed expression, "had laid herself out
to have a good