“Brother,” said Wegg, when this happy understanding was established, “I should like to ask you something. You remember the night when I first looked in here, and found you floating your powerful mind in tea?”

Still swilling tea, Mr. Venus nodded assent.

“And there you sit, sir,” pursued Wegg with an air of thoughtful admiration, “as if you had never left off! There you sit, sir, as if you had an unlimited capacity of assimilating the flagrant article! There you sit, sir, in the midst of your works, looking as if you’d been called upon for Home, Sweet Home, and was obleeging the company!