 his table-beer to make him strong.
    Over and above these extensive privileges, Paul had free right of entry to
Mr. Feeder's room, from which apartment he had twice led Mr. Toots into the open
air in a state of faintness, consequent on an unsuccessful attempt to smoke a
very blunt cigar: one of a bundle which that young gentleman had covertly
purchased on the shingle from a most desperate smuggler, who had acknowledged,
in confidence, that two hundred pounds was the price set upon his head, dead or
alive, by the Custom House. It was a snug room, Mr. Feeder's, with his bed in
another little room inside of it; and a flute, which Mr. Feeder couldn't play
yet, but was going to make a point of learning, he said, hanging up over the
fireplace. There were some books in it, too, and a fishing-rod; for Mr. Feeder
said he should certainly make a point of learning to fish, when he could find
time. Mr. Feeder had amassed, with similar intentions, a beautiful little curly
second-hand key-bugle, a chess-board and men, a Spanish Grammar, a set of
sketching materials, and a pair of boxing-gloves. The art of self-defence Mr.
Feeder said he should undoubtedly make a point of learning, as he considered it
the duty of every man to do; for it might lead to the protection of a female in
distress.
    But Mr. Feeder's great possession was a large green jar of snuff, which Mr.
Toots had brought down as a present, at the close of the last vacation; and for
which he had paid a high price, as having been the genuine property of the
Prince Regent. Neither Mr. Toots nor Mr. Feeder could partake of this or any
other snuff, even in the most stinted and moderate degree, without being seized
with convulsions of sneezing. Nevertheless it was their great delight to moisten
a box-full with cold tea, stir it up on a piece of parchment with a paper-knife,
and devote themselves to its consumption then and there. In the course of which
cramming of their noses, they endured surprising torments with the constancy of
martyrs: and, drinking table-beer at intervals, felt all the glories of
dissipation.
    To little Paul sitting silent in their company, and by the side of his chief
patron, Mr. Toots, there was a dread charm in these reckless occasions: and when
Mr. Feeder spoke of the dark
