'Oh Simmun!' said the young lady, 'such goings on to-day! Oh, gracious
me, Simmun!'
Mr Tappertit, who was not in the best of humours, and who disliked Miss
Miggs more when she laid her hand on her heart and panted for breath
than at any other time, as her deficiency of outline was most apparent
under such circumstances, eyed her over in his loftiest style, and
deigned to express no curiosity whatever.
'I never heard the like, nor nobody else,' pursued Miggs. 'The idea of
interfering with HER. What people can see in her to make it worth their
while to do so, that's the joke--he he he!'
Finding there was a lady in the case, Mr Tappertit haughtily requested
his fair friend to be more explicit, and demanded to know what she meant
by 'her.'
'Why, that Dolly,' said Miggs, with an extremely sharp emphasis on the
name. 'But, oh upon my word and honour, young Joseph Willet is a brave
one; and he do deserve her, that he do.'
'Woman!' said Mr Tappertit, jumping off the counter on which he was
seated; 'beware!'
'My stars, Simmun!' cried Miggs, in affected astonishment. 'You frighten
me to death! What's the matter?'
'There are strings,' said Mr Tappertit, flourishing his bread-and-cheese
knife in the air, 'in the human heart that had better not be wibrated.
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