manner. It was evidently the chamber reserved only for
unfortunate gentlemen of the utmost distinction. It was amply furnished
with a mirror, a loo-table, and a very hard sofa. The walls were hung
with old-fashioned caricatures by Bunbury; the fire-irons were of
polished brass; over the mantel-piece was the portrait of the master of
the house, which was evidently a speaking likeness, and in which
Captain Armine fancied he traced no slight resemblance to his friend Mr.
Levison; and there were also some sources of literary amusement in the
room, in the shape of a Hebrew Bible and the Racing Calendar.

After walking up and down the room for an hour, meditating over the
past, for it seemed hopeless to trouble himself any further with the
future, Ferdinand began to feel faint, for it may be recollected that he
had not even breakfasted. So pulling the bell-rope with such force that
it fell to the ground, a funny little waiter immediately appeared, awed
by the sovereign ring, and having, indeed, received private intelligence
from the bailiff that the gentleman in the drawing-room was a regular
nob.

And here, perhaps, I should remind the reader, that of all the great
distinctions in life none perhaps is more important than that which
divides mankind into the two great sections of NOBS and SNOBS. It might
seem at the first glance, that if there were a place in the world which
should level all distinctions, it would be a debtors' prison. But this
would be quite an error. Almost at the very moment that Captain Armine
arrived at his sorrowful hotel, a poor devil of a tradesman who had been
arrested for fifty pounds, and torn from his wife and family, had been
forced to repair to the same asylum. He was introduced into what is
styled the coffee-room, being a long, low, unfurnished sanded chamber,
with a table and benches; and being very anxious to communicate with
some friend, in order, if possible, to effect his release, and prevent
himself from being a bankrupt, he had continued meekly to ring at
intervals for the last half-hour in order that he might write and
forward his letter. The waiter heard the coffee-room bell ring, but
never dreamed of noticing it, though the moment the signal of the
private room sounded, and sounded with so much emphasis, he rushed
upstairs, three steps at a time, and instantly appeared before our hero:
and all this difference was occasioned by the simple circumstance, that
Captain Armine was a NOB, an