'Nonsense; you think them strange, because you know nothing about it.

They are funny, but not uncommon.' 'Funny!' exclaimed Mr.Pickwick involuntarily.

'Yes, funny, are they not ?' replied the little old man, with a diabolical leer; and then, without pausing for an answer, he continued-- 'I knew another man--let me see--forty years ago now--who took an old, damp, rotten set of chambers, in one of the most ancient inns, that had been shut up and empty for years and years before.

There were lots of old women's stories about the place, and it certainly was very far from being a cheerful one; but he was poor, and the rooms were cheap, and that would have been quite a sufficient reason for him, if they had been ten times worse than they really were.

He was obliged to take some mouldering fixtures that were on the place, and, among the rest, was a great lumbering wooden press for papers, with large glass doors, and a green curtain inside; a pretty useless thing for him, for he had no papers to put in it; and as to his clothes, he carried them about with him, and that wasn't very hard work, either.