l70 POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF
upon the stairs, and upon each other ; and never was such a screaming, and fainting, and struggling, beheld. In the midst of the tumult, Mr. Pickwick emerged from his concealment, and presented himself amongst them.
" Ladies — dear ladies," said Mr. Pickwick.
" Oh, he says we're dear," cried the oldest and ugliest teacher. " Oh the wretch."
Ladies," roared Mr. Pickwick, rendered desperate by the danger of his situation. " Hear me. I am no robber. I want the lady of the house."
" Oh, what a ferocious monster ! " screamed another teacher. " He wants Miss Tomkins."
Here there was a general scream.
•' Ring the alarm bell, somebody," cried a dozen voices.
" Don't — don't," shouted Mr. Pickwick. " Look at me. Do I look like a robber ? My dear ladies — you may bind me hand and leg, or lock me up in a closet, if you like. Only hear what I have got to "ay — only hear me."
" How did you come in our garden ? " faultered the house-maid.
- ' Call the lady of the house, and I'll tell her everything — every-
thing :" said Mr. Pickwick, exerting his lungs to the utmost pitch.
- 'Call her — only be quiet, and call her, and you shall hear every-
thing."
It might have been Mr. Pickwick's appearance, or it might have been his manner, or it might have been the temptation — so irresistible to a female mind — of hearing something at present enveloped in mys- tery, that reduced the more reasonable portion of the establishment (some four individuals) to a state of comparative quiet. By them it was proposed, as a test of Mr. Pickwick's sincerity, that he should immediately submit to personal restraint ; and that gentleman having consented to hold a conference with Miss Tomkins, from the interior of a closet in which the day boarders hung their bonnets and sandwich- bags, he at once stepped into it, of his own accord, and was securely locked in. This revived the others ; and Miss Tomkins having been brought to, and brought down, the conference began.
" What did you do in my garden, man ? " said Miss Tomkins, in a faint voice.
" I came to warn you, that one of your young ladies was going to elope to-night," 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."
" Then, I have been deceived, and deluded," said Mr. Pickwick. " I have been the victim of a conspiracy — a foul and base conspiracy. Send to the Angel, my dear ma'am, if you don't believe me. Send to the Angel for Mr. Pickwick's man-servant, I implore you ma'am."
