'he'd have the law on me if I hadn't.'

'In France, now,' resumed the old man, 'and also, I believe, in the

United States of America, you would have taken the right.'

I would not,' cried Mr Chandler indignantly. 'I would have taken the

left.'

'I observe again,' continued Mr Finsbury, scorning to reply, 'that you

mend the dilapidated parts of your harness with string. I have always

protested against this carelessness and slovenliness of the English

poor. In an essay that I once read before an appreciative audience--'

'It ain't string,' said the carrier sullenly, 'it's pack-thread.'

I have always protested,' resumed the old man, 'that in their private

and domestic life, as well as in their labouring career, the lower

classes of this country are improvident, thriftless, and extravagant. A

stitch in time--'

'Who the devil ARE the lower classes?' cried the carrier. 'You are the

lower classes yourself! If I thought you were a blooming aristocrat, I

shouldn't have given you a lift.'

The words were uttered with undisguised ill-feeling; it was plain the

The Wrong Box