Reuben, 'tis quite a disgrace to see such a man," said Mrs.
Dewy, with the severity justifiable in a long-tried companion, giving him
another turn round, and picking several of Smiler's hairs from the
shoulder of his coat. Reuben's thoughts seemed engaged elsewhere, and he
yawned. "And the collar of your coat is a shame to behold--so plastered
with dirt, or dust, or grease, or something. Why, wherever could you
have got it?"

"'Tis my warm nater in summer-time, I suppose. I always did get in such
a heat when I bustle about."

"Ay, the Dewys always were such a coarse-skinned family. There's your
brother Bob just as bad--as fat as a porpoise--wi' his low, mean, 'How'st
do, Ann?' whenever he meets me. I'd 'How'st do' him indeed! If the sun
only shines out a minute, there be you all streaming in the face--I never
see!"

"If I be hot week-days, I must be hot Sundays."

"If any of the girls should turn after their father 'twill be a bad look-
out for 'em, poor things! None of my family were sich vulgar sweaters,
not one of 'em. But, Lord-a-mercy, the Dewys! I don't know how ever I
cam' into such a family!"

"Your woman's weakness when I asked ye to jine us. That's how it was I
suppose." But the tranter appeared to have heard some such words from
his wife before, and hence his answer had not the energy it might have
shown if the inquiry had possessed the charm of novelty.

"You never did look so well in a pair o' trousers as in them," she
continued in the same unimpassioned voice, so that the unfriendly
criticism of the Dewy family seemed to have been more normal than
spontaneous. "Such a cheap pair as 'twas too. As big as any man could
wish to have, and lined inside, and double-lined in the lower parts, and
an extra piece of stiffening at the bottom. And 'tis a nice high cut
that comes up right under your armpits, and there's enough turned down
inside the seams to make half a pair more, besides a piece of cloth left
that will make an honest waistcoat--all by my contriving in buying the
stuff at a bargain, and having it made up under my eye. It only shows
what may be done by taking a little trouble, and not going straight to
the rascally tailors."

The discourse was cut short by the sudden appearance of Charley on the
scene, with a face and hands of hideous blackness, and a nose like a
guttering candle. Why, on that particularly cleanly afternoon, he should
have discovered that the chimney-crook and c