I got tick at a public, and set up to be the Great Vance; so would you, if you were leading such a beastly existence! And a card stood me a lot of ale and stuff, and we got swipey, talking about music-halls and the piles of tin I got for singing; and then they got me on to sing "Around her splendid form I weaved the magic circle," and then he said I couldn't be Vance, and I stuck to it like grim death I was.

It was rot of me to sing, of course, but I thought I could brazen it out with a set of yokels.

It settled my hash at the public,' said John, with a sigh.

'And then the last thing was the carpenter--' 'Our landlord ?' enquired Morris.
'That's the party,' said John.

'He came nosing about the place, and then wanted to know where the water-butt was, and the bedclothes.