The room he sleeps in was
once a lobby, and opens into the passage; so it comes very convenient
to Brook. Everybody likes old Mat Brook, you see; and there isn't one
amongst us would peach if he got into trouble."
"And a jolly old chap he is as ever lived," answered Black Milsom, who
seemed to have taken a wonderful fancy to the convivial coachman.
"You come down to my place whenever you like, Mr. Brook," he said,
presently, putting his arm through that of the coachman, in a very
friendly manner. "You shall be free and welcome to everything I've got
in my house. And I know how to brew a decent jorum of punch when I give
my mind to it, don't I, Jim?"
Mr. James Harwood protested that no one else could brew such punch as
that concocted by the landlord of the "Cat and Fiddle."
The supper was a very cheery banquet; ponderous slices of underdone
roast beef disappeared as if by magic, and the consumption of pickles,
from a physiological or sanitary point of view, positively appalling.
After the beef and pickles came a Titanic cheese and a small stack of
celery; while the brown beer pitcher went so often to the barrel that
it is a matter of wonder that it escaped unbroken.
At a quarter past ten Mr. Maunders bade his new acquaintance good
night; but before departing he begged, as a great favour, to be
permitted one peep at the grand oak hall.
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