'yack,' sent his leg out a long way. Not to be outdone, Andrew
immediately, with a still louder 'yack,' committed himself to an effort
so violent that the alternative between his leg coming off, or his being
taken off his leg, was propounded by nature, and decided by the laws of
gravity in a trice. Joyful grunts were emitted by Old Tom at the sight
of Andrew prostrate, rubbing his pate. But Mrs. Sockley, to whom the
noise of Andrew's fall had suggested awful fears of a fratricidal
conflict upstairs, hurried forthwith to announce to them that the
sovereign remedy for human ills, the promoter of concord, the healer of
feuds, the central point of man's destiny in the flesh--Dinner, was
awaiting them.

To the dinner they marched.

Of this great festival be it simply told that the supply was copious and
of good quality--much too good and copious for a bankrupt host: that Evan
and Mr. John Raikes were formally introduced to Old Tom before the repast
commenced, and welcomed some three minutes after he had decided the
flavour of his first glass; that Mr. Raikes in due time preferred his
petition for release from a dreadful engagement, and furnished vast
amusement to the company under Old Tom's hand, until, by chance, he
quoted a scrap of Latin, at which the brothers Cogglesby, who would have
faced peers and princes without being disconcerted, or performing mental
genuflexions, shut their mouths and looked injured, unhappy, and in the
presence of a superior: Mr. Raikes not being the man to spare them.
Moreover, a surprise was afforded to Evan. Andrew stated to Old Tom that
the hospitality of Main Street, Lymport,--was open to him. Strange to
say, Old Tom accepted it on the spot, observing, 'You're master of the
house--can do what you like, if you 're man enough,' and adding that he
thanked him, and would come in a day or two. The case of Mr. Raikes was