THE BOARDING-HOUSE. 483 



been known in Great Coram-street before. Little Mrs. Tibbs was 

 quite in her element, bustling about, talking incessantly, and distri- 

 buting towels and soap, and all the et ceteras, like a head nurse in a 

 hospital. The house was not restored to its usual state of quiet repose 

 until the ladies were safely shut up in their respective bed-rooms, 

 engaged in the important occupation of dressing for dinner. 



" Are these gals andsome ?" inquired Mr. Simpson of Mr. Septimus 

 Hicks, another of the boarders, as they were amusing themselves in 

 the drawing-room before dinner, by lolling on sofas, and contem- 

 plating their pumps. 



" Don't know/ 3 replied Mr. Septimus Hicks, who was a tallish, 

 white-faced young man, with spectacles, and a black ribbon round 

 his neck instead of a neckerchief a most interesting person; a 

 poetical walker of the hospitals, and a " very talented young man." 

 He was very fond of "lugging" into conversation all sorts of quota- 

 tions from Don Juan, without fettering himself by the propriety of 

 their application, in which particular he was remarkably independent. 

 The other, Mr. Simpson, was one of those young men, who are in 

 society what walking gentlemen are upon the stage, only infinitely 

 worse skilled in his vocation than the most indifferent artist. He was 

 as empty headed as the great bell of St, Paul's, and had about as long 

 a tongue. He always dressed according to the caricatures, published 

 in Townsend's monthly fashions, arid spelt Character with a K. 



" I saw a devilish number of parcels in the passage when I came 

 home," simpered Simpson. 



" Materials for the toilet, no doubt," rejoined the Don Juan reader. 



" much linen, lace, and several pair 



Of stockings, slippers, brushes, combs, complete ; 



With other articles of ladies' fair, 



To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat." 



" Is that from Milton ?" inquired Mr. Simpson. 



" No from Byron," returned Mr. Hicks, with a look of profound 

 contempt. He was quite sure of his author, because he had never 

 read any other. " Hush !" said the sapient hospital walker, " Here 

 come the gals/' and they forthwith both commenced talking in a 

 very loud key. 



" Mrs. Maplesone and the Miss Maplesones, Mr. Hicks. Mr. 

 Hicks Mrs. Maplesone and the Miss Maplesones," said Mrs. Tibbs, 

 with a very red face, for she had been superintending the cooking 

 operations below stairs, and looked like a wax doll on a sunny day. 

 Mr. Simpson, I beg your pardon Mr. Simpson Mrs. Maplesone 

 and the Miss Maplesone's," and vice versa. The gentlemen imme- 

 diately began to slide about with much politeness, and looked as if 

 they wished their arms had been legs, so little did they know what to 

 do with them. The ladies smiled, curtsied, and glided into chairs, 

 and dived for dropped pocket handkerchiefs; the gentlemen leant 

 against two of the curtain pegs ; Mrs. Tibbs went through an ad- 

 mirable bit of serious pantomime with a servant who had come up to 

 ask some question about the fish sauce, and then the two young ladies 

 looked at each other ; and every body else appeared to discover some- 

 thing very attractive in the pattern of the fender. 



