‘Her lodger never returned, however, and his friend meeting him some time afterwards in York, alluded to the manner in which he had “mysteriously dried up,” as his friend called it.
‘“Ah, I was under a heavy cloud!” observed the defaulter. “What did the old lady say about me?”
‘“That she was sure to see you again, because you had left a heavy box in the room you occupied,” replied his friend.
‘“I should think it was heavy,” said the other. “Couldn’t move it, could she?”
‘His friend replied in the negative, and he laughed so heartily that he spilled some of the ale he was drinking.
‘“What is the joke?” inquired his friend.
‘“Why, you see, the box was once full of togs,” replied the mysterious lodger, “but when I left Middlesborough such of them as were not adorning the person of this swell were hypothecated.”
‘“What is the meaning of that hard word?” inquired a third circus man who was present.
‘“In the vulgar tongue, up the spout,” replied the defaulter.
‘“Then what made the box so heavy?” inquired his friend.