.'

'Good God, woman, you are lying! you are lying!'

'No, I ain't a-lyin'. She tookt to me the moment she clapped eyes on
me; most people does, and them as don't ought, an' she got up an' put
her arms round my neck, and she called me "Knocker."'

'Called you what?'

'Ain't I a-tellin' you? She called me "Knocker"; and that's the very
name as she allus called me up to the day of 'er death, pore dear! I
tried to make 'er come along o' me, an' she wouldn't stir, an' so I
left 'er, meanin' to go back; but when I got to my sister's by
marriage, there was a letter for me an' it wur from Polly Onion,
a-sayin' as my pore Jenny died the same day as I left London,
a-sayin', "Mother, vi'lets, vi'lets; mother, vi'lets, vi'lets!" an'
was buried by the parish. An' that upset me, p'leaceman, an' made me
swownd, an' when I comed to, I couldn't hear nothink only my pore
Jenny's voice a-sobbin' on the wind, "Mother, vi'lets, vi'lets;
mother, vi'lets, vi'lets!" an' that sent me off my 'ead a bit, an' I
run out o' the 'ouse, an' there was Jenny's voice a-goin' on before
me a-sobbin', "Mother, vi'lets, vi'lets; mother, vi'lets, vi'lets!"
an' it seemed to lead me back to the churchyard; an' lo an' be'old!
there was the pore half-starved creatur' a-settin' there jist as I'd
left 'er, an' I sez, "God bless you, my gal, you're a-starvin'!" an'
she jumped up, an' she comed an' throwed 'er arms round my waist, an'
there we stood both on us a-cryin' togither, an' then I runned back
into Carnarvon, an' fetched 'er some grub, an' she tucked into the
grub.--But hullo! p'leaceman, what's up now? What the devil are you
a-squeedgin' my 'and like that for? Are you a-goin' to kiss it? It
ain't none so clean, p'leaceman. You're the rummest copper in plain
clothes ever I seed in all my born days. Fust you seem as if you want
to bite me, you looks so savage, an' then you looks as if you wants
to kiss me; you'll make me laugh, I know you will, an' that'll make
me cough.--Hi! Poll Onion, come 'ere. Bring my best lookin'-glass out
o' my bowdore, an' let me look at my ole chops, for I'm blowed if
there ain't a copper in plain clothes this time as is fell 'ead over
ears in love with me, jist as the young swell did at the studero.'

'Go on, Mrs. Gudgeon,' I said; 'go on. She ate the food?'

'Oh, didn't she jist! And the pore half-sharp thing took to me, an' I
took to she, an' I thinks to myself, "She's a purty gal, if she's
ever so stupid, an' she'll get '