k's
as good as a lock and bolt on him. You've as good as made him a
Dolphin--him that was one o' the oldest Green Dragons in Fallifield. My
thanks to you most sincere.'

Mrs. Mel sent out to hear where Dandy had got to after which, she said:
'Who is the man?'

'I told you, Mrs. Harrington--the oldest Green Dragon. His name, you
mean? Do you know, if I was to breathe it out, I believe he'd jump
out of the window. He 'd be off, that you might swear to. Oh, such a
whimsical! not ill-meaning--quite the contrary. Study his whims, and
you'll never want. There's Mrs. Sockley--she 's took ill. He won't go
there--that 's how I've caught him, my dear--but he pays her medicine,
and she looks to him the same. He hate a sick house: but he pity a sick
woman. Now, if I can only please him, I can always look on him as half
a Dolphin, to say the least; and perhaps to-morrow I'll tell you who he
is, and what, but not to-night; for there's his supper to get over, and
that, they say, can be as bad as the busting of one of his own vats.
Awful!'

'What does he eat?' said Mrs. Mel.

'A pair o' chops. That seem simple, now, don't it? And yet they chops
make my heart go pitty-pat.'

'The commonest things are the worst done,' said Mrs. Mel.

'It ain't that; but they must be done his particular way, do you see,
Mrs. Harrington. Laid close on the fire, he say, so as to keep in the
juice. But he ups and bounces in a minute at a speck o' black. So, one
thing or the other, there you are: no blacks, no juices, I say.'

'Toast the chops,' said Mrs. Mel.

The landlady of the Dolphin accepted this new idea with much
enlightenment, but ruefully declared that she was afraid to go against
his precise instructions. Mrs. Mel then folded her hands, and sat in
quiet reserve. She was one of those numerous women who always know
themselves to be right. She was also one of those very few whom
Providence favours by confounding dissentients. She was positive the
chops would be ill-cooked: but what could she do? She was not in command
here; so she waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her.
Not that the matter of the chops occupied her mind particularly: nor
could she dream that the pair in question were destined to form a part
of her history, and divert the channel of her fortunes. Her thoughts
were about her own immediate work; and when the landlady rushed in with
the chops under a cover, and said: 'Look at 'em, dear Mrs. Harrington!'
she h