“Rumty iddity, row dow dow,

Sing toodlely, teedlely, bow wow wow.”

“Rumty iddity, row dow dow, Sing toodlely, teedlely, bow wow wow.”

Thus he was constantly addressed, even in minor notes on business, as “Dear Rumty”; in answer to which, he sedately signed himself, “Yours truly, R. Wilfer.”

He was clerk in the drug-house of Chicksey, Veneering, and Stobbles. Chicksey and Stobbles, his former masters, had both become absorbed in Veneering, once their traveller or commission agent: who had signalized his accession to supreme power by bringing into the business a quantity of plate-glass window and French-polished mahogany partition, and a gleaming and enormous doorplate.