 rising. »If they
disturb me, they lose a good tenant. If they know me to be that, they know
enough. If they try to know more, it's a notice to quit. It's better to
understand these things at once. Good day.«
    »I beg your pardon,« said Dick, halting in his passage to the door, which
the lodger prepared to open. »When he who adores thee has left but the name -«
    »What do you mean?«
    »- But the name,« said Dick - »has left but the name - in case of letters or
parcels -«
    »I never have any,« returned the lodger.
    »Or in case anybody should call.«
    »Nobody ever calls on me.«
    »If any mistake should arise from not having the name, don't say it was my
fault, sir,« added Dick, still lingering. - »Oh blame not the bard -«
    »I'll blame nobody,« said the lodger, with such irascibility that in a
moment Dick found himself on the staircase, and the locked door between them.
    Mr. Brass and Miss Sally were lurking hard by, having been, indeed, only
routed from the keyhole by Mr. Swiveller's abrupt exit. As their utmost
exertions had not enabled them to overhear a word of the interview, however, in
consequence of a quarrel for precedence, which, though limited of necessity to
pushes and pinches and such quiet pantomime, had lasted the whole time, they
hurried him down to the office to hear his account of the conversation.
    This Mr. Swiveller gave them - faithfully as regarded the wishes and
character of the single gentleman, and poetically as concerned the great trunk,
of which he gave a description more remarkable for brilliancy of imagination
than a strict adherence to truth; declaring, with many strong asseverations,
that it contained a specimen of every kind of rich food and wine, known in these
times, and in particular that it was of a self-acting kind and served up
whatever was required, as he supposed by clock-work. He also gave them to
understand that the cooking apparatus roasted a fine piece of sirloin of beef,
weighing about six pounds avoirdupois, in two minutes and a quarter, as he had
himself witnessed, and proved by his sense of taste; and further, that, however
the effect was produced, he had distinctly seen water boil and bubble up when
the single gentleman winked; from which facts he (Mr. Swiveller) was led
