“Fact, Sir,” said Mr. Weller; “if they was gen’l’m’n, you’d call ’em misanthropes, but as it is, they only takes to pike-keepin’.”

With such conversation, possessing the inestimable charm of blending amusement with instruction, did Mr. Weller beguile the tediousness of the journey, during the greater part of the day. Topics of conversation were never wanting, for even when any pause occurred in Mr. Weller’s loquacity, it was abundantly supplied by the desire evinced by Mr. Magnus to make himself acquainted with the whole of the personal history of his fellow-travellers, and his loudly-expressed anxiety at every stage, respecting the safety and well-being of the two bags, the leather hatbox, and the brown-paper parcel.