, dear me, dear me!' exclaimed Wegg with a sigh, but eyeing him while
pretending to keep him company in eyeing the fire, 'such is Woman! And
I remember you said that night, sitting there as I sat here--said that
night when your peace of mind was first laid low, that you had taken an
interest in these very affairs. Such is coincidence!'

'Her father,' rejoined Venus, and then stopped to swallow more tea, 'her
father was mixed up in them.'

'You didn't mention her name, sir, I think?' observed Wegg, pensively.
'No, you didn't mention her name that night.'

'Pleasant Riderhood.'

'In--deed!' cried Wegg. 'Pleasant Riderhood. There's something moving in
the name. Pleasant. Dear me! Seems to express what she might have
been, if she hadn't made that unpleasant remark--and what she ain't,
in consequence of having made it. Would it at all pour balm into your
wounds, Mr Venus, to inquire how you came acquainted with her?'

'I was down at the water-side,' said Venus, taking another gulp of
tea and mournfully winking at the fire--'looking for parrots'--taking
another gulp and stopping.

Mr Wegg hinted, to jog his attention: 'You could hardly have been out
parrot-shooting, in the British climate, sir?'

'No, no, no,' said Venus fretfully. 'I was down at the water-side,
looking for parrots brought home by sailors, to buy for stuffing.'

'Ay, ay, ay, sir!'

'--And looking for a nice pair of rattlesnakes, to articulate for a
Museum--when I was doomed to fall in with her and deal with her. It was
just at the time of that discovery in the river. Her father had seen the
discovery being towed in the river. I made the popularity of the subject
a reason for going back to improve the acquaintance, and I have never
since been the man I was. My very bones is rendered flabby by brooding
over it. If they could be brought to me loose, to sort, I should hardly
have the face to claim 'em as mine. To such an extent have I fallen off
under it.'

Mr Wegg, less interested than he had been, glanced at one particular
shelf in the dark.

'Why I remember, Mr Venus,' he said in a tone of friendly commiseration
'(for I remember every word that falls from you, sir), I remember that
you said that night, you had got up there--and then your words was,
"Never mind."'

'--The parrot that I bought of her,' said Venus, with a despondent rise
and fall of his eyes. 'Yes; there it lies on its side, dried up; except
for its plumage, very like myself. I've