s the spirit of
patient industry more strikingly illustrated than in the personage whom
we now addressed. Her needle did not cease to hold its course one
moment; scarcely, indeed, would she lift her eyes above her spectacles;
while, in a tone by no means conciliating, she informed us, that she
had no chamber, no flesh of any kind, no eggs, no white bread, nor any
other article which, in the vanity of our souls, we had rashly named.

"Why they told me these were excellent quarters!" said I, horrified out
of the exercise of my usual tactics.

"So they are!" was the answer; "this is a capital quarter."

"But you have no beds nor bed-rooms!"

"Oh yes, we have!"

"Won't you give us one, then?"

"No, I won't!"

"Why, my dear creature? Depend upon it, we will not run away with
them."

"Very likely; but we have none to give you all the same."

This was a poser, and my companion and I looked at one another with
rueful countenances; At length I resumed:--

"Your house seems to be a large one; how comes it that you have no
sleeping accommodation for your guests?"

"This is a large apartment," interposed the half-clad man from his
distant table; "we can accommodate plenty of guests that are not too
grand for us, here."

"Oho!" exclaimed I, "you can make up beds for us on the floor. That
will do well enough; and now for supper."

The facility with which I slid into their peculiar views of comfortable
sleeping accommodations seemed to have a very salutary effect upon the
tempers of our hosts; for the half-clad man turned out to be the
husband of the sewing woman, as well as a person of considerable
importance in his own neighbourhood. The old lady discovered that there
_were_ some eggs in the cupboard after all, and that certain slices of
bacon remained from a stock which had been laid in some time previously.
Moreover, the cellar contained some wine; neither very strong nor very
high flavoured, certainly, but sound and wholesome, as we discovered on
trial, and more acceptable to our palates than beer. To work,
therefore, the dame and her maidens went, and in half an hour we saw
before us, on a nice clean cloth, and by the flame of a farthing
rushlight, half a dozen eggs, sundry lumps of pork, some rye-bread and
butter, and a flask of white wine. They did not continue long in the
order of their integrity. The eggs disappeared in a twinkling. Several
fierce inroads were made into the bread and butter, and even the bac