CHAPTER II.
WILLY GUM.
Had Percival Elster lingered ever so short a time near the clerk's house that morning he would have met that functionary himself; for in less than a minute after he had passed out of sight Jabez Gum's door opened, and Jabez Gum glided out of it.
It is a term chiefly applied to ghosts; but Mr.Gum was a great deal more like a ghost than like a man.

He was remarkably tall and thin; a very shadow; with a white shadow of a face, and a nose that might have served as a model for a mask in a carnival of guys.

A sharp nose, twice the length and half the breadth of any ordinary nose--a very ferret of a nose; its sharp tip standing straight out into the air.

People said, with such a nose Mr.Gum ought to have a great deal of curiosity.

And they were right; he _had_ a great deal in a quiet way.
A most respectable man was Mr.Gum, and he prided himself upon it.