490 THE BOARDING-HOUSE. 



" The idea has struck me already/' said Mr. Calton : " but, you 

 see, Matilda, for what reason I know not, is very anxious that Mrs. 

 Tibbs should know nothing about it till it's all over. It's a natural 

 delicacy after all, you know." 



" He's the best-natured little man in existence, if you manage him 

 properly," said Mr. Septimus Hicks. " Tell him not to mention it to 

 his wife, and assure him she won't mind it, and he'll do it directly. 

 My marriage is to be a secret one, on account of the mother and my 

 father ; therefore he must be enjoined to secrecy." 



A small double knock, like a presumptuous single one, was that 

 instant heard at the street door. It was Tibbs ; it could be no one 

 else, for no one else occupied five minutes in rubbing their shoes. 

 He had been out to pay the baker's bill. 



" Mr. Tibbs," called out Mr. Calton in a very bland tone, looking 

 over the bannisters. 



" Sir !" replied he of the dirty face. 



{f Will you have the kindness to step up stairs for a moment." 



" Certainly, Sir," said Tibbs, delighted to be taken notice of. The 

 bed-room door was carefully closed, and Tibbs, having put his hat on 

 the floor (as all timid men do), and been accommodated with a seat, 

 looked as astounded as if he were suddenly summoned before the 

 familiars of the Inquisition. 



fc A rather unpleasant occurrence, Mr. Tibbs," said Calton, in a 

 very portentous manner, " obliges me to consult you, and to beg you 

 will not communicate what I am about to say to your wife." 



Tibbs acquiesced, wondering in his own mind what the deuce the 

 other could have done, and imagining that at least he must have 

 broken the best decanters. 



Mr. Calton resumed : " I am placed, Mr. Tibbs, in rather an un- 

 pleasant situation." 



Tibbs looked at Mr. Septimus Hicks, as if he thought his being in 

 the immediate vicinity of his fellow-boarder constituted the un- 

 pleasantness of his situation ; but as he did not exactly know what to 

 say, he merely ejaculated the monosyllable " Lor !" 



" Now," continued the knocker, " let me beg you will exhibit no 

 manifestations of surprise, which may be overheard by the domestics, 

 when I tell you command your feelings of astonishment that two 

 inmates of this house intend to be married to-morrow morning," 

 and he drew back his chair several feet to perceive the effect of the 

 unlooked-for announcement. 



If Tibbs had rushed from the room, staggered down stairs, and 

 fainted in the passage if he had instantaneously jumped out of the 

 window into the mews behind the house, in an agony of surprise his 

 behaviour would have been much less inexplicable to Mr. Calton 

 than it was, when he merely put his hands into his inexpressible- 

 pockets, and said, with a half-chuckle, " Just so." 



" You are not surprised, Mr. Tibbs?" inquired Mr. Calton. 



" God bless you, no, Sir," returned Tibbs ; " after all, it's very 

 natural. When two young people get together, you know " 



" Certainly, certainly," said Calton, with an indescribable air of 

 self-satisfaction. 



