Nor could he very well present himself at the gothic villa without some excuse for so doing.

He went to Gray's Inn therefore; but on his way thither called at a tavern near the Strand, which was the head-quarters of a literary association known as the Ragamuffins.

Here he was fortunate enough to meet with an acquaintance in the person of a Ragamuffin in the dramatic-author line, who was reading the morning's criticisms on a rival's piece produced the night before, with a keen enjoyment of every condemnatory sentence.

From this gentleman Mr.Hawkehurst obtained a box-ticket for a West-end theatre; and, armed with this mystic document, he felt himself able to present a bold countenance at Mr.Sheldon's door.
"Will she be glad to see me again ?" he asked himself.

"Pshaw! I daresay she has forgotten me by this time.