“I came to warn you that one of your young ladies was going to elope tonight,” replied Mr. Pickwick, from the interior of the closet.

“Elope!” exclaimed Miss Tomkins, the three teachers, the thirty boarders, and the five servants. “Who with?”

“Your friend, Mr. Charles Fitz-Marshall.”

“ My friend! I don’t know any such person.”

“Well, Mr. Jingle, then.”

“I never heard the name in my life.”