1 84 THE EXETER ROAD 



fact that the sign-board has since disappeared. ' A 

 faded, and an ancient dragon he was ; and many a 

 wintry storm of . rain, snow, sleet, and hail had 

 changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint, 

 lack-lustre shade of grey. But there he hung ; rearing 

 in a state of monstrous imbecility on his hind legs ; 

 waxing, with every month that passed, so much 

 more dim and shapeless, that as you gazed on him 

 at one side of the sign-board, it seemed as if he must 

 be gradually melting through it, and coming out 

 upon the other.' 



The ' Green Dragon ' is a quaint gabled village 

 inn, standing back from the road. It is even more 

 ancient than any one, judging only from its exterior, 

 would suppose, for a fine fifteenth-century mantel- 

 piece, adorned with carved crockets and heraldic 

 roses, yet remains in the parlour, a relic of bygone 

 importance. 



As for Mrs. Lupin, the landlady, it is supposed 

 that Dickens drew the character from a real person. 

 If so, how one would like to have known that cheery 

 woman. Do you remember how Tom Pinch left 

 Salisbury to seek his fortune in London ? and how 

 Mrs. Lupin met the coach on the London road with 

 his box in the trap, and a great basket of provisions, 

 with a bottle of sherry sticking out of it ? and how 

 the open-handed fellow shared the cold roast fowl, 

 the packet of ham in slices, the crusty loaf, and the 

 other half-dozen items — not foro-ettino; the contents 

 of the bottle — with the coachman and guard as they 

 drove along the old road to London through the 

 night ? 



