st nephew--son of her own married
sister--born in Golden Lion Court, number twenty-sivin, and bred in the
very shadow of the second bell-handle on the right-hand door-post--and
with a plentiful use of her pocket-handkerchief, addressed herself to
him: requesting that on his return home he would console his parents for
the loss of her, his aunt, by delivering to them a faithful statement
of his having left her in the bosom of that family, with which, as his
aforesaid parents well knew, her best affections were incorporated; that
he would remind them that nothing less than her imperious sense of duty,
and devoted attachment to her old master and missis, likewise Miss Dolly
and young Mr Joe, should ever have induced her to decline that pressing
invitation which they, his parents, had, as he could testify, given her,
to lodge and board with them, free of all cost and charge, for evermore;
lastly, that he would help her with her box upstairs, and then repair
straight home, bearing her blessing and her strong injunctions to mingle
in his prayers a supplication that he might in course of time grow up
a locksmith, or a Mr Joe, and have Mrs Vardens and Miss Dollys for his
relations and friends.

Having brought this admonition to an end--upon which, to say the truth,
the young gentleman for whose benefit it was designed, bestowed little
or no heed, having to all appearance his faculties absorbed in the
contemplation of the sweetmeats,--Miss Miggs signified to the company in
general that they were not to be uneasy, for she would soon return; and,
with her nephew's aid, prepared to bear her wardrobe up the staircase.

'My dear,' said the locksmith to his wife. 'Do you desire this?'

'I desire it!' she answered. 'I am astonished--I am amazed--at her
audacity. Let her leave the house this moment.'

Miggs, hearing this, let her end of the box fall heavily to the floor,
gave a very loud sniff, crossed her arms, screwed down the corners of
her mouth, and cried, in an ascending scale, 'Ho, good gracious!' three
distinct times.

'You hear what your mistress says, my love,' remarked the locksmith.
'You had better go, I think. Stay; take this with you, for the sake of
old service.'

Miss Miggs clutched the bank-note he took from his pocket-book and held
out to her; deposited it in a small, red leather purse; put the purse
in her pocket (displaying, as she did so, a considerable portion of some
under-garment, made of flannel, and more