it is I should ever care to take, with the power of my own will, ma'am.

Why, the little brown jug, ma'am, is as much as I can manage even of our

small beer now. Ah! I know the time when I would no more have thought

of rounding of my mouth for such small stuff than of your growing up,

ma'am, to be a young woman with the sponsorship of this big place upon

you. Wonderful! wonderful! And only yesterday, as a man with a gardening

mind looks at it, you was the prettiest young maiden on the green, and

the same--barring marriage--if you was to encounter with the young men

now."

"Oh," said Mrs. Cloam, who was fifty, if a day, "how you do make me

think of sad troubles, Mr. Swipes! Jenny, take the yellow jug with the

three beef-eaters on it, and go to the third cask from the door--the key

turns upside down, mind--and let me hear you whistle till you bring me

back the key. Don't tell me nonsense about your lips being dry. You can

whistle like a blackbird when you choose."

"Here's to your excellent health, Mrs. Cloam, and as blooming as it

finds you now, ma'am! As pretty a tap as I taste since Christmas, and

another dash of malt would 'a made it worthy a'most to speak your health

in. Well, ma'am, a leetle drop in crystal for yourself, and then for

my business, which is to inquire after your poor dear health to-day.

Blooming as you are, ma'am, you must bear in mind that beauty is only

skin-deep, Mrs. Cloam; and the purtier a flower is, the more delicate it

grows. I've a-been a-thinking of you every night, ma'am, knowing how

you must 'a been put about and driven. The Admiral have gone down to the

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