'But it was a public-house!' cried the clerk--only these were
not his words. 'And w'y didn't you take the carpet there instead
of trundling in a growler?'

'I didn't want to startle a quiet street,' said the narrator.

'Bad form. And besides, it was a hansom.'

'Well, and what did you do next?' inquired the captain.

'Oh, I went in,' said Herrick.

'The old folks?' asked the captain.

'That's about it,' said the other, chewing a grass.

'Well, I think you are about the poorest 'and at a yarn!' cried
the clerk. 'Crikey, it's like Ministering Children! I can tell
you there would be more beer and skittles about my little jaunt.
I would go and have a B. and S. for luck. Then I would get a big
ulster with astrakhan fur, and take my cane and do the la-de-la
down Piccadilly. Then I would go to a slap-up restaurant, and
have green peas, and a bottle of fizz, and a chump chop--Oh!
and I forgot, I'd 'ave some devilled whitebait first--and green
gooseberry tart, and 'ot coffee, and some of that form of vice in
big bottles with a seal--Benedictine--that's the bloomin' nyme!
Then I'd drop into a theatre, and pal on with some chappies,
and do the dancing rooms and bars, and that, and wouldn't go
'ome till morning, till daylight doth appear. And the next day