140 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. (ur.

 

hold, and striking his hand forcibly upon his knee, he
exclaimed with emphatic vehemence, ‘Dash my wig
if I don’t ask Joe Muggins !’

The person thus referred to was one of consider-
able importance in the estimation of his neighbours as
well as his own. Joe Muggins kept the public house
at the corner of the street, and, what is more, managed
to make the public house keep him. He was a know-
ing man in all matters of sport, from horse-racing
down to rat-killing, and was moreover consulted by
many of his acquaintance upon affairs of a totally
different character. For Joe had an air of wisdom
about him which went a long way of itself towards the
establishment of a reputation for knowledge beyond
that possessed by the average of mankind. He had
not unfrequently a pipe in his mouth, and when he
removed this for the purpose of giving his opinion, in
pithy and oracular words, upon the business which
might be in hand, his appearance and manner were
most impressive, and seldom failed to carry conviction
to the bystanders.

Now Simon Ricketts was not what is called ‘a
public-house man.’ He preferred smoking his pipe in
his own den, and choosing his own company when he
wanted any company at all. But inasmuch as Joe
Muggins could not be expected to visit him in a snug
and confidential manner unless he occasionally joined
the party at the ‘Royal George,’ Simon used as a
matter of duty to frequent that place of entertainment
from time to time, and drink in with contented ears
the instructive remarks which fell from the lips of the
oracle. The latter had gh his part a great respect for