The Curse Upon Mitre Square — page 55: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AT CHAPTER II. MERRY-MAKING AT THE ‘“‘ MITRE’ ’ TAVERN. GREAT preparations were made at the old Mitre Tavern for the <dvent of Railton’s young gallants. Food and wine, the best that could be procured, were - in readiness. The buxom daughters of the stable- men donned their prettiest gowns, and looked their brightest for the occasion. Will Railton, Grale, and others were in attendance, all primed to their duties, and anxious that the meeting should pass off merrily. - The guests were slow in arriving—not one came in time. Railton remembered with a pang that the choicest dishes would be spoilt ; a punctual man him- self, he had timed the cooking to be ready to the minute, and here it was full half an hour behind the hour arranged. What with the scowlings of the cook, the kitchen- maids, and the fair waitresses, he did not know, so he said, which was in the worse state—the burnt-up capons or his own head. But at last they came, and all together; a dissipated crew, richly dressed ; men born in a good position, nobles, soldiers, and the like, polished in manners (when sober), irregular in their habits, they honoured the ‘‘ Mitre” with their presence just (EOIN! OOO) <“S (E() mam