'
'But there's lots of other theatrical names,' cried Morris. 'Leybourne,
Irving, Brough, Toole--'
'Devil a one will I take!' returned his brother. 'I am going to have my
little lark out of this as well as you.'
'Very well,' said Morris, who perceived that John was determined to
carry his point, 'I shall be Robert Vance.'
'And I shall be George Vance,' cried John, 'the only original George
Vance! Rally round the only original!'
Repairing as well as they were able the disorder of their clothes, the
Finsbury brothers returned to Browndean by a circuitous route in quest
of luncheon and a suitable cottage. It is not always easy to drop at
a moment's notice on a furnished residence in a retired locality; but
fortune presently introduced our adventurers to a deaf carpenter, a man
rich in cottages of the required description, and unaffectedly eager to
supply their wants. The second place they visited, standing, as it did,
about a mile and a half from any neighbours, caused them to exchange a
glance of hope. On a nearer view, the place was not without depressing
features. It stood in a marshy-looking hollow of a heath; tall trees
obscured its windows; the thatch visibly rotted on the rafters; and the
walls were stained with splashes of unwholesome green.
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