Have you nearly finished?'

Wery nigh, mum.' And indeed, after scraping the dish all round with

his knife and carrying the choice brown morsels to his mouth, and

after taking such a scientific pull at the stone bottle that, by degrees

almost imperceptible to the sight, his head went further and further

back until he lay nearly at his full length upon the ground, this

gentleman declared himself quite disengaged, and came forth from his

retreat.

'I hope I haven't hurried you, George,' said his mistress, who appeared

to have a great sympathy with his late pursuit.

'If you have,' returned the follower, wisely reserving himself for any

favourable contingency that might occur, 'we must make up for it next

time, that's all.'

'We are not a heavy load, George?'

That's always what the ladies say,' replied the man, looking a long

way round, as if he were appealing to Nature in general against such

monstrous propositions. 'If you see a woman a driving, you'll always

perceive that she never will keep her whip still; the horse can't go fast

enough for her. If cattle have got their proper load, you never can

persuade a woman that they'll not bear something more. What is ' the

cause of this here?'

'Would these two travellers make much difference to the horses, if we

took them with us?' asked his mistress, offering no reply to the

philosophical inquiry, and pointing to Nell and the old man, who were

painfully preparing to resume their journey on foot.

They'd make a difference in course,' said George doggedly.

'Would they make much difference?' repeated his mistress. 'They can't

be very heavy.'

The weight o' the pair, mum,' said George, eyeing them with the look

of a man who was calculating within half an ounce or so, 'would be a

trifle under that of Oliver Cromwell.’

Nell was very much surprised that the man should be so accurately

acquainted with the weight of one whom she had read of in books as

having lived considerably before their time, but speedily forgot the

subject in the joy of hearing that they were to go forward in the

caravan, for which she thanked its lady with unaffected earnestness.

She helped with great readiness and alacrity to put away the tea-

things and other matters that were lying about, and, the horses being

The Old Curiosity Shop