148 THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF 'TOM' 



The promise, and the immediate removal of Tom, 

 appeared to satisfy the complainants. The porter's little 

 girl dried her eyes, the old lady paused in the middle of 

 her third attack of hysterics, and the bridegroom nobly 

 declared his willingness to content himself with some 

 other delicacy for want of a tipsy-cake. 



All retired to their own apartments, and an hour later 

 everything was as still as usual. 



As 'for Tom, he first tried, like Enceladus, to get rid 

 of the mountain weighing on him ; but finding he could 

 not succeed, he made a hole in the wall and passed 

 through it into the garden of the adjoining house. 



Paet II 



The tenant of the ground-floor of No. 107 was not a 

 little surprised next morning at seeing a bear walking 

 about amidst his' flower beds. He had just opened the 

 glass door leading to the garden steps with a view to 

 enjoying the same exercise, but he quickly shut it again, 

 and proceeded to examine the strange intruder through 

 its panes. 



Unluckily the hole Tom had made in the wall was 

 hidden by some shrubs, so there appeared to be no clue 

 as to where he came from. The ground-floor tenant then 

 remembered having read lately in his newspaper an 

 account of a most remarkable shower of toads which had 

 fallen at Valenciennes, accompanied by thunder and 

 lightning. The toads, moreover, fell in such quantities 

 that the streets and roofs of the houses were covered 

 with them. 



The ground-floor tenant raised his eyes, and seeing a 

 sky as black as ink overhead, and a bear, for which he 

 could in no way account, in his garden, he began to fear 

 that the Valenciennes phenomenon was about to be re- 

 peated on a larger scale, and that, in fact, Tom was but 

 the first drop of a heavy shower of bears. 



