546 POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF
"Hush, hush !*' cried Pott, drawing Sam into the room, and closing the door, with a countenance of mysterious dread and apprehension.
" Wot's the matter, Sir?" enquired Sam, looking vacantly about him.
- ' Not a whisper of my name," replied Pott — " this is a buff neigh-
bourhood. If the excited and irritable populace knew I was here, 1 should be torn to pieces."
" No; vould you, Sir?" enquired Sam.
" I should be the victim of their fury," replied Pott. "Now, young man, what of your master r "
- He's a stoppin' here to-night on his vay to town, vith a couple of
friends, replied Sam.
" Is Mr. Winkle one of them ? " enquired Pott, with a slight frown.
" No, Sir ; Mr. Vinkle stops at home now,*' rejoined Sam. " He's married."
- ' Married!" exclaimed Pott, with frightful vehemence. He stop-
ped, smiled darkly, and added, in a low, vindictive tone, " It serves him right !
Having given vent to this cruel ebullition of deadly malice and cold- blooded triumph over a fallen enemy, Mr. Pott enquired whether Mr. Pickwick's friends were " blue ;" receiving a most satisfactory answer jn the affirmative from Sam, who knew as much about the matter as Pott himself, he consented to accompany him to Mr. Pickwick's room, where a hearty welcome awaited him, and an agreement to club their dinners together was at once made and ratified.
- ' And how are matters going on in Eatanswill?" inquired Mr. Pick-
wick, when Pott had taken a seat near the fire, and the whole party had got their wet boots off, and dry slippers on. *^ Is the Independent still in being?"
"The Independent, Sir," replied Pott, "is still dragging on a wretched and lingering career, abhorred and despised by even the few who are cognizant of its miserable and disgraceful existence ; stified by the very filth it so profusely scatters : rendered deaf and blind by the exhalations of its own slime, the obscene journal, happily uncon- scious of its degraded state, is rapidly sinking beneath that treacherous mud which, while it seems to give it a firm standing with the low and debased classes of society, is, nevertheless, rising above its detested head, and will speedily engulf it for ever."
Having delivered this manifesto (which formed a portion of his last week's leader) with vehement articulation, the editor paused to take breath, and looked majestically at Bob Sawyer.
" You are a young man, Sir," said Pott.
Mr. Bob Sawyer nodded.
" So are you. Sir," said Pott, addressing Mr. Ben Allen. Ben admitted the soft impeachment.
" And are both deeply imbued with those blue principles, which so long as I live, I have pledged myself to the people of these kingdoms to suppyrt and to maintain ? " suggested Pott.
" Why, I don't exactly know about that," replied Bob Sawver, " I am-1 "
