 tumult swelled
into a roar; the hosts of objects seemed to thicken and expand a hundredfold;
and after gazing round him, quite scared, he turned into Todgers's again, much
more rapidly than he came out; and ten to one he told M. Todgers afterwards that
if he hadn't done so, he would certainly have come into the street by the
shortest cut; that is to say, headforemost.
    So said the two Miss Pecksniffs, when they retired with Mrs. Todgers from
this place of espial, leaving the youthful porter to close the door and follow
them down stairs: who being of a playful temperament, and contemplating with a
delight peculiar to his sex and time of life, any chance of dashing himself into
small fragments, lingered behind to walk upon the parapet.
    It being the second day of their stay in London, the Miss Pecksniffs and
Mrs. Todgers were by this time highly confidential, insomuch that the last-named
lady had already communicated the particulars of three early disappointments of
a tender nature; and had furthermore possessed her young friends with a general
summary of the life, conduct, and character of Mr. Todgers. Who, it seemed, had
cut his matrimonial career rather short, by unlawfully running away from his
happiness, and establishing himself in foreign countries as a bachelor.
    »Your pa was once a little particular, in his attentions, my dears,« said
Mrs. Todgers: »but to be your ma was too much happiness denied me. You'd hardly
know who this was done for, perhaps?«
    She called their attention to an oval miniature, like a little blister,
which was tacked up over the kettle-holder, and in which there was a dreamy
shadowing forth of her own visage.
    »It's a speaking likeness!« cried the two Miss Pecksniffs.
    »It was considered so once,« said Mrs. Todgers, warming herself in a
gentlemanly manner at the fire: »but I hardly thought you would have known it,
my loves.«
    They would have known it anywhere. If they could have met with it in the
street, or seen it in a shop window, they would have cried: »Good gracious! Mrs.
Todgers!«
    »Presiding over an establishment like this, makes sad havoc with the
features, my dear Miss Pecksniffs,« said Mrs. Todgers. »The gravy alone, is
enough to add twenty years to one's age, I do assure you.«
    »Lor!« cried the two Miss Pecksniffs.
    »The anxiety of that one
