Pigworth, J. P., landlord of the United States Hotel, and Mr. Boolpin, proprietor, came forward with their little bills, and demanded immediate payment.  This financial difficulty was arranged in one minute by the genius of Wesley Tiffles.  After paying Stoop one dollar and a half (that excellent idiot crying, and vowing that he didn’t want it), the rest of the proceeds, deducting enough for fares to New York, were divided equally between the two other creditors; and the panorama and all the appurtenances were left as a joint security for remaining obligations.  The panorama was worth twice the debts, to be cut into window shades.  After some grumbling, Messrs. Pigworth and Boolpin accepted the terms.

Five minutes later, the polite detective and his party started for New York.  There was a great number of people at the station to see them off, but only one to say “good-by.”  That one was the man-boy Stoop, who cried as if his great, simple heart would break.

BOOK EIGHTH.

A DRAMATIC INTERLUDE.

CHAPTER I.

THE OVERTURE.

It was the last of a delightful series of dramatic nights at Mrs. Slapman’s; and her house was quite filled with embodied Poetry, Travels, Dramatic Literature, Music, Art, and the Sciences.

The dramatic arrangements of Mrs. Slapman’s house were simple, but effective.  A curtain, with rings, hung across the north end of the parlor, established the confines of the stage, which was on a level with the floor, and covered with green baize to represent rural scenes, or a three-ply carpet to indicate refined interiors.  Against the wall were rollers, from which scenes could be dropped, affording perspectives of country, or streets, or gilded saloons, as the necessities of the drama required.  There were six of these scenes, all painted by Patching (to oblige Mrs. Slapman) in his leisure moments, which were numerous; and they all exhibited evidences of his style.  Six sets of flies, or side scenes, matching with the rear views, had been executed by a scene-painter’s assistant, whom Mrs. Slapman had taken under her patronage, and were thought, by some persons, superior to Patching’s efforts.  Such was the belittling criticism to which that great artist was constantly subjected.  There was a space of about four feet between the top of the curtain and the high ceiling.  The light from the parlor chandelier directly in front, aided by six gas jets behind the scenes, made the whole performance and performers as clear as noonday.

This miniature theatre was constructed of portable frames, which could be put up or taken down in half an hour, and was the ingenious invention of the scene-painter’s assistant.  When it was removed, the only traces of its former presence were two brass-headed spikes in the walls, from which the side curtains depended.