t shillings or so, to last till next
quarter-day--six weeks off! He sighed heavily, barred his door, and sat
down opposite his little table, on which was nothing but a solitary thin
candle, and on which his eyes rested unconsciously, till the stench of
it, burning right down into the socket, roused him from his wretched
revery. Then he unlocked his box, and took out his Bible and the papers
which had been produced to Mr. Gammon, and gazed at them with intense
but useless scrutiny. Unable to conjecture what bearing they could have
upon himself or his fortunes, he hastily replaced them in his box, threw
off his clothes, and flung himself on his bed, to pass a far more dismal
night than he had known for years.

He ran the gantlet at Messrs. Tag-rag and Co.'s all Tuesday as he had
done on the day preceding. One should have supposed that when his
companions beheld him persecuted by their common tyrant, whom they all
equally hated, they would have made common cause with their suffering
companion, or at all events given no countenance to his persecution; yet
it was far otherwise. Without stopping to analyze the feeling which
produced it, (and which the moderately reflective reader may easily
analyze for himself if so disposed,) I am grieved to have to say, that
when all the young men saw that Tag-rag would be gratified by their
_cutting_ poor Titmouse, who, with all his little vanities, fooleries,
and even selfishness, had never personally offended or injured any of
them--they did cut him; and, when Tag-rag observed it, his miserable
mind was unspeakably gratified with what they had done: and he spoke to
all of them with unusual blandness; to the sinner, Titmouse, with
augmented bitterness and sternness.

CHAPTER II.

A few minutes after ten o'clock that night, a gentle ringing at the bell
of Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap's office, announced the arrival of
poor Titmouse. The door was quickly opened by a very fashionably dressed
clerk, who seemed in the act of quitting for the night.

"Ah--Mr. Titmouse, I presume?" he inquired, with a kind of deference in
his manner to which Titmouse had never been accustomed.

"The same, sir--Tittlebat Titmouse."

"Oh! allow me, sir, to show you in to Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap; I
know they're expecting to see you. It's not often they're here so late!
Walk in, sir"---- With this he led the way to an inner room, and opening
a green-baize door in the farther side of it, anno