"Then what a jolly pair of fools we should be!"
"Ah-h-h-h! That's the way to try a man's metal!"
"If you talk to me about metal, young man, I'll drop into you. You've been a-sending all manner of messages to me about a barrel of gunpowder and that sort of thing, and it's my mind that you're a little out of your own. Now I ain't going to have anything to do with gunpowder, nor yet with the river. It's a nasty place is the river; and when I want a wash I shan't go there."
"'Dreadfully staring through muddy impurity!'" said Robinson.
"Impurity enough," continued the other; "and I won't have anything to do with it. Now, I'll tell you what. Will you give me your word, as a man, never to have nothing more to say to Maryanne Brown?"
"Never again to speak to her?"
"Not, except in the way of respect, when she's Mrs. Brisket."
"Never again to clasp her hand in mine?"
"Not by no means. And if you want me to remain quiet, you'd a deal better stow that kind of thing. I'll tell you what it is—I'm beginning to see my way with old Brown."
"Et tu, Brute?" said Robinson, clasping his hands together.