'I was there,' resumed Mrs. Cluppins, 'unbeknown to Mrs. Bardell; I

had been out with a little basket, gentlemen, to buy three pound of

red kidney pertaties, which was three pound tuppence ha'penny,

when I see Mrs. Bardell's street door on the jar.'

On the what?' exclaimed the little judge.

Partly open, my Lord,' said Serjeant Snubbin.

She said on the jar,' said the little judge, with a cunning look.

It's all the same, my Lord,' said Serjeant Snubbin. The little judge

looked doubtful, and said he'd make a note of it. Mrs. Cluppins then

resumed -

I walked in, gentlemen, just to say good-mornin', and went, in a

permiscuous manner, upstairs, and into the back room. Gentlemen,

there was the sound of voices in the front room, and - '

And you listened, I believe, Mrs. Cluppins?' said Serjeant Buzfuz.

Beggin' your pardon, Sir,' replied Mrs. Cluppins, in a majestic

manner, 'I would scorn the haction. The voices was very loud, Sir, and

forced themselves upon my ear,'

'Well, Mrs. Cluppins, you were not listening, but you heard the voices.

Was one of those voices Pickwick's?'

'Yes, it were, Sir.' And Mrs. Cluppins, after distinctly stating that Mr

Pickwick addressed himself to Mrs. Bardell, repeated by slow degrees,

and by dint of many questions, the conversation with which our

readers are already acquainted.

The jury looked suspicious, and Mr Serjeant Buzfuz smiled as he sat

down. They looked positively awful when Serjeant Snubbin intimated

that he should not cross-examine the witness, for Mr Pickwick wished

it to be distinctly stated that it was due to her to say, that her account

was in substance correct.

Mrs. Cluppins having once broken the ice, thought it a favourable

opportunity for entering into a short dissertation on her own domestic

affairs; so she straightway proceeded to inform the court that she was

the mother of eight children at that present speaking, and that she

entertained confident expectations of presenting Mr Cluppins with a

ninth, somewhere about that day six months. At this interesting point,

the little judge interposed most irascibly; and the effect of the

interposition was, that both the worthy lady and Mrs. Sanders were

The Pickwick Papers