"Tut tut," said the Bounder. "Are you blessed with an appetite, yet grudge its entertainment? Is dinner-time a time to think of thrift? Go to, woman. Do you never give thanks? It is Saturday night. The Cheshire Cheese pudding is now on. Take this poor victim of your avarice to the Cheshire Cheese, and let him for once be decently fed." "All right," answered my frugal spouse; "if it's the Board's orders, and the Board pays, I don't object," and with a laughing "Good-night," she prepared to depart. But as we were crossing the threshold the Bounder stopped me. "Are you going to the Cheese?" he asked. "I expect so." "Hum! and I'm doomed to the bun-and-milk shop." His voice quivered as he spoke. Then suddenly--"No, hang it! I'll come with you. That doctor of mine is an ass. I'll try the pudding." And he did--several times; though I, in robust health, could stomach no more than one helping of the rich and bilious compound. As we came out he walked on his heels and slapped his chest. "Haw! haw!" he said, "I never felt better in my life. That doctor is an ass. Bread and milk? Bah!" And he swaggered all the way down Fleet Street. On the next evening I found him crouching again over the little fire in Bouverie Street. I could feel his "hump" as soon as I opened the door. He was very bad. "What's the matter, old chap? Don't you feel well?" "No," he said, very ruefully; "I'm very bad. You know, I begin to think my doctor is a fool. I've been trying this perishing bread-and-milk diet for nearly two months, and, upon my word, I never felt worse. Really, I've given this doctor a fair trial, but, hang it all, the fellow does not understand me at all!" * * * * * Oh the gaps left by the passing years in a man's little circle of friends! Time was when the cordial hand-grip of friends met me in Manchester at every corner, and almost every face in the streets was familiar. I was there last Christmas, and I walked for half a day without a welcoming voice or smiling countenance to greet me. I thought of them that I had known, and walked with, and drank and eaten with there, and desolation fell upon me. To stroll through the crowded, bustling thoroughfare was like walking through a graveyard at midnight. The buildings loomed upon my gaze like monuments of the departed; and the only inhabitants I saw were spectres of the dead. It was holiday time, and the passers-by were many. Their laughter sounded in my ears like the sobbing of wind through willows. Then I fell into a cluster of survivors from the fray, a band of staunch and hearty friends of old, who took me by the hand and "trated me dacent." "Well, I am glad to see you," said one; then another, then another, and all together in lusty chorus. That was good. Then they began to talk. "Do you remember being here with Tom Sutton on such a night? Ah, poor old Tom! His death was an awful shock!"