44 TROTIY'S WEDDING TOUR.

hay, and pieces of a worn-out something — jacket perhaps —
underneath them.

“ Mattrass, bedclo’es, carpet, sofy, all to order, and all to
once, gentlemen,” said Bobbit. “ Fust-class furniture in my
hotel! Hold on a spell till I turn on the gas.” All in a
minute a wonderful thing happened. A little pink candle
blazed up and burned; it had an old nut-socket for a candle-
stick ; it stood quite firm and shone distinctly on the beans
and doughnuts.

“ Gener’lly speaking, I can eat in the dark,” said Bobbit ;
“but when it comes to company, I can’t.”

The fact was that Bobbit had just six matches and this
little penny pink candle put away under a corner of his hotel
“ sofy’ on purpose for “ company.”” Nobody knows now —
I wish that somebody did — how much “ company” Bobbit
had entertained in his hotel.

“Tt doesn’t burn not so long as it might,” said Bobbit,
with a jerk at the penny candle. “ Better fall to while you
can see the way to your mouth.”

So they “fell to” ; and the Irish boys ate up the beans, to
begin with ; but Bobbit did not say anything about to-mor-
row’s dinner.

“Got any names to you?” said he, as they broke the last
doughnut into three pieces, and ate it slowly, to make it last
as long as the candle did.

** Not many to tell on,” said the larger of the little guests,
with his mouth full. ‘The woman as we run beggin’ fur till