ay, sir, that this what's-its-name turned _yours_ of that
beautiful black?"

"Think? 'Pon my honor, sir,--certain; no mistake, I assure you! I was
fretting myself into my grave about the color of my hair! Why, sir,
there was a nobleman in here (I don't like to mention names) the other
day, with a head that seemed as if it had been dipped into water, and
then powdered with brick-dust; but--I assure you, the
Cyanochaitanthropopoion was too much for it--it turned black in a very
short time. You should have seen his lordship's ecstasy--[the speaker
saw that Titmouse would swallow anything; so he went on with a confident
air]--and in a month's time he had married a beautiful woman whom he had
loved from a child, but who had vowed she could never bring herself to
marry a man with such a head of hair."

"How long does it take to do all this, sir?" interrupted Titmouse,
eagerly, with a beating heart.

"Sometimes two--sometimes three days. In four days' time, I'll answer
for it, your most intimate friend would not know you. My wife did not
know me for a long while, and wouldn't let me salute her--ha, ha!" Here
another customer entered; and Titmouse, laying down the five-pound note
he had squeezed out of Tag-rag, put the wonder-working bottle into his
pocket, and on receiving his change, departed, bursting with eagerness
to try the effects of the Cyanochaitanthropopoion. Within half an hour's
time he might have been seen driving a hard bargain with a pawnbroker
for a massive-looking eyeglass, upon which, as it hung suspended in the
window, he had for months cast a longing eye; and he eventually
purchased it (his eyesight, I need hardly say, was perfect) for only
fifteen shillings. After taking a hearty dinner in a little dusky
eating-house in Rupert Street, frequented by fashionable-looking
foreigners, with splendid heads of curling hair and mustaches, he
hastened home, eager to commence the grand experiment. Fortunately, he
was undisturbed that evening. Having lit his candle, and locked his
door, with tremulous fingers he opened the papers enveloping the little
bottle; and glancing over their contents, got so inflamed with the
numberless instances of its efficacy, detailed in brief but glowing
terms--as--the "Duke of....--the Countess of....--the Earl of, &c. &c.
&c. &c.--the lovely Miss----, the celebrated Sir Little Bull's-eye, (who
was so gratified that he allowed his name to be used)--all of whom, from
having hair of the