for any money . No ! nor the good Carrier , so jovial and so ruddy , at the bottom of the table . Nor the brown , fresh sailor-fellow , and his handsome wife . Nor any one among them . To have missed the dinner would have been to miss as jolly and as stout a meal as man need eat ; and to have missed the overflowing cups in which they drank The Wedding Day would have been the greatest miss of all . After dinner Caleb sang the song about the Sparkling Bowl . As I 'm a living man , hoping to keep so for a year or two , he sang it through . And , by-the-bye , a most unlooked-for incident occurred , just as he finished the last verse . There was a tap at the door ; and a man came staggering in , without saying with your leave , or by your leave , with something heavy on his head . Setting this down in the middle of the table , symmetrically in the centre of the nuts and apples , he said : `` Mr. Tackleton 's compliments , and , as he has n't got no use for the cake himself , p ` raps you 'll eat it . '' And , with those words , he walked off . There was some surprise among the company , as you may imagine . Mrs. Fielding , being a lady of infinite discernment , suggested that the cake was poisoned , and related a narrative of a cake which , within her knowledge , had turned a seminary for young ladies blue . But she was overruled by acclamation ; and the cake was cut by May with much ceremony and rejoicing . I do n't think any one had tasted it , when there came another tap at the door , and the same man appeared again , having under his arm a vast brown-paper parcel . `` Mr. Tackleton 's compliments , and he 's sent a few toys for the Babby . They ai n't ugly . '' After the delivery of which expressions , he retired again . The whole party would have experienced great difficulty in finding words for their astonishment , even if they had had ample time to seek them .
But they had none XXXXX all ; for the messenger had scarcely shut the door behind him , when there came another tap , and Tackleton himself walked in .
After To about among as at by in of that