And here his profound sentiments died away again and were lost to the world; and the worthy man, not long after, was discussing his favourite dish with greedy relish.
“An when’ll this ’ere thing be on, Mr. Prigg, does thee think? It be a hell of a long time.”
“Tom! Tom!” exclaimed Mrs. Bumpkin. But Mr. Prigg was too well bred and too much occupied with his pork and greens to hear the very wayward epithet of the Farmer Bumpkin.
“Quite so,” said the lawyer; “quite so, it is so difficult to tell when a case will come on. You’re in the list to-day and gone to-morrow; a man the other day was just worried as you have been; but mark this; at the trial, Mr. Bumpkin, the jury gave that man a verdict for a thousand pounds!”
“Look at that, Nancy,” exclaimed Mr. Bumpkin; “Will ’ee tak a little more pork, sir?”
“Thank you,” said Mr. Prigg, “it’s uncommonly good; some of your own feeding, I suppose?”
“Were that a pig case, Mr. Prigg, where the man got the thousand pounds?” asked Mrs. Bumpkin.
“Let me see,” answered Prigg, “_was_ it a pig case?” Here he put his finger to the side of his nose. “I really, at this moment, quite forget whether it was or was not a pig case. I’ll trouble you, Mrs. Bumpkin, for a little more greens, if you please.”
“Now, I wur saying,” said Bumpkin, “jist as thee comed in, where be I to lodge when I gooes to Lunnon agin?”
“Ah, now, quite so—yes; and you must go in a day or two. I expect we shall be on shortly. Now, let me see, you don’t like ‘The Goose’? A nice respectable hostelry, too!”
“I wunt ’ave un goo there, Mr. Prigg,” said Mrs. Bumpkin.
“Quite so—quite so. Now what I was thinking was, suppose you took lodgings at some nice suburban place, say—”
“Let us say Camden Town, for instance—nice healthy neighbourhood and remarkably quiet. You could come every morning by ’bus, or if you preferred it, by rail; and if by rail, you could take a season ticket, which would be much cheaper; a six months’ ticket, again, being cheaper than a three months’ ticket.”
“In the name o’ Heaven, sir,” exclaimed Mrs. Bumpkin, “be this ’ere thing gwine on for ever?”
Mr. Prigg smiled benignly, as much as to say, “You ladies are so impatient, so innocent of the business of life.”
“It seems to me, Mr. Prigg, one need live to be as old as thic there Mackthusaler to bring a law-suit now-a-days.”