"And what did you say, Doctor?"
"I said that the girl was not fit to be moved, and that SHE couldn't be spared."
"And what did she say to that?"
"She said that we had made up a fine old tale between us, I and her old man."
"Is that the lot?"
"That's the lot."
"Very well then," commented Mr. Huggins. "Do you know what I shall say to it all, Doctor? I shall say: 'Tut, woman; tut!'"
"Meaning?" queried the doctor.
"Meaning?" echoed 'Ost 'Uggins, as he thumped his fist upon the counter, not without menace to its marble surface, "meaning that I am a man of few words: that I will be master in me own 'ouse: that my motter is 'Live and let live.' That I won't see a pore girl drove to ruin not for all the cantankerous whims of all the cantankerous wives in all——.
"Below there! 'Ush!" he added, with a sudden dropping of his voice. "'Ere is the missus!"