"Mrs. Drake said I wur to have all the furniture in the house."
"I wouldn't like to have to call you anything," said Bessie.
"And I'd be cruel sorry to fancy you craved to hear the like," retorted Kezia.
Then they paused to think out new ideas, and to place their arms in more aggressive attitudes.
"When furniture be left to more than one person simultaneous, 'tis usual to divide it," explained the Wallower of Wealth.
"Half a musical box b'ain't of no use to me."
"You sell me the box, and I'll give you twelve shillings, and twelve shillings to Mrs. Mudge, and I'll get it put right at my own expense," said the Wallower in Wealth, seeking to introduce the peaceful principle of compromise.
"I wouldn't take twelve pounds. The Captain told me there warn't another box like that in this world," said Kezia.
"He told me there wur another, but 'twas lost," replied Bessie, adding with the same spirit of determination, "I wouldn't take twelve pounds neither. Robert ses not a thing in the house can be sold without his consent."
"Who's Robert Mudge?" cried Kezia, in the voice of passion.
"Sure enough! They'm husband and wife. I saw 'em married," said the Wallower in Wealth, with a distinct impression that Bessie was winning on points.
"I don't know what's going to happen to us, I'm sure," said Kezia. Then, in accordance with military strategy, she conquered the enemy by abandoning her position and slamming the door after her.
That evening Bessie advanced as usual for coffee, which included a hot meal, and during this campaign Robert did not accompany her, being detained, according to the best of his wife's belief, in the bakery, working overtime at buns. Kezia distrusted this communication, as no festival of buns was impending, and arrived at the conclusion that the assistant baker had absented himself from coffee drinking owing to a bashfulness not uncommon in the time of war and tumults. Having, as she supposed, abated the pride of Robert, Kezia sought to assuage the malice of Bessie by small talk concerning Miss Yard's convalescence, the departure of George, which was positively final like the last appearance of an actor, and the Turkish state of things at Black Anchor. But the musical box remained an obsession, playing a seductive jig for Bessie, and a triumphal march for Kezia; and at last the former said: