'You see, my good woman,' said Mrs Garland to Kit's mother, 'that it's

necessary to be very careful and particular in such a matter as this,

for we're only three in family, and are very quiet regular folks, and it

would be a sad thing if we made any kind of mistake, and found

things different from what we hoped and expected.'

To this, Kit's mother replied, that certainly it was quite true, and quite

right, and quite proper, and Heaven forbid that she should shrink, or

have cause to shrink, from any inquiry into her character or that of

her son, who was a very good son though she was his mother, in

which respect, she was bold to say, he took after his father, who was

not only a good son to HIS mother, but the best of husbands and the

best of fathers besides, which Kit could and would corroborate she

knew, and so would little Jacob and the baby likewise if they were old

enough, which unfortunately they were not, though as they didn't

know what a loss they had had, perhaps it was a great deal better that

they should be as young as they were; and so Kit's mother wound up

a long story by wiping her eyes with her apron, and patting little

Jacob's head, who was rocking the cradle and staring with all his

might at the strange lady and gentleman.

When Kit's mother had done speaking, the old lady struck in again,

and said that she was quite sure she was a very honest and very

respectable person or she never would have expressed herself in that

manner, and that certainly the appearance of the children and the

cleanliness of the house deserved great praise and did her the utmost

credit, whereat Kit's mother dropped a curtsey and became consoled.

Then the good woman entered in a long and minute account of Kit's

life and history from the earliest period down to that time, not

omitting to make mention of his miraculous fall out of a back-parlour

window when an infant of tender years, or his uncommon sufferings

in a state of measles, which were illustrated by correct imitations of

the plaintive manner in which he called for toast and water, day and

night, and said, 'don't cry, mother, I shall soon be better;' for proof of

which statements reference was made to Mrs Green, lodger, at the

cheesemonger's round the corner, and divers other ladies and

gentlemen in various parts of England and Wales (and one Mr Brown

who was supposed to be then a corporal in the East Indies, and who

could of course be found with very little trouble), within whose

personal knowledge the circumstances had occurred. This narration

ended, Mr Garland put some questions to Kit respecting his

qualifications and general acquirements, while Mrs Garland noticed

the children, and hearing from Kit's mother certain remarkable

circumstances which had attended the birth of each, related certain

other remarkable circumstances which had attended the birth of her

own son, Mr Abel, from which it appeared that both Kit's mother and

herself had been, above and beyond all other women of what condition

or age soever, peculiarly hemmed in with perils and dangers. Lastly,

The Old Curiosity Shop