Page:Stevenson and Quiller-Couch - St Ives .djvu/149

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I FOLLOW A COVERED CART
131

prices, had proved a disappointment; how there was "a sight of cold, wet hind as you come along the 'igh road"; how the winds and rains and the seasons had been misdirected, it seemed "o' purpose"; how Mrs. Fenn had died—"I lost her coming two year agone; a remarkable fine woman, my old girl, sir! if you'll excuse me," he added, with a burst of humility. In short, he gave me an opportunity of studying John Bull, as I may say, stuffed naked—his greed, his usuriousness, his hypocrisy, his perfidy of the back-stairs, all swelled to the superlative—such as was well worth the little disarray and fluster of our passage in the hall.