At one period of its reverses, the House fell into the occupation of a
Showman. He was found registered as its occupier, on the parish books
of the time when he rented the House, and there was therefore no need of
any clue to his name. But, he himself was less easy to be found; for, he
had led a wandering life, and settled people had lost sight of him, and
people who plumed themselves on being respectable were shy of
admitting that they had ever known anything of him. At last, among the
marsh lands near the river\'s level, that lie about Deptford and the
neighbouring market-gardens, a Grizzled Personage in velveteen, with a
face so cut up by varieties of weather that he looked as if he had been
tattooed, was found smoking a pipe at the door of a wooden house on
wheels. The wooden house was laid up in ordinary for the winter, near
the mouth of a muddy creek; and everything near it, the foggy river, the
misty marshes, and the steaming market-gardens, smoked in company
with the grizzled man. In the midst of this smoking party, the funnelchimney
of the wooden house on wheels was not remiss, but took its pipe
with the rest in a companionable manner.
On being asked if it were he who had once rented the House to Let,
Grizzled Velveteen looked surprised, and said yes. Then his name was
Magsman? That was it, Toby Magsman--which lawfully christened
Robert; but called in the line, from a infant, Toby. There was nothing
agin Toby Magsman, he believed? If there was suspicion of such--
mention it!
There was no suspicion of such, he might rest assured. But, some
inquiries were making about that House, and would he object to say why
he left it?