"Only through the shop window as I went by to my work. And of late, when he saw me coming, he would screw a magnifying glass in his eye and pretend to be busy with his watch-making. I believe he did it to avoid looking at me, and also because he knew I couldn't bear him with his face screwed up. It makes such a difference to his appearance."
"Gently, gently, Miss Cox! You must not give us your mere suppositions.
Now, did he never pay you a visit, or take you for a walk, say on
Wednesdays? That would be early-closing day, I believe."
"Never for the last three years, sir, after he became a Freemason.
Wednesdays was lodge-night."
"Well then, on Saturday, after shop hours?"
"Yes, he used to come on Saturdays, till he was made a Forester.
The Foresters meet every Saturday evening."
"Mondays then, or Tuesdays? We haven't exhausted the week yet, Miss
Cox."
"No, sir. Mondays he was a Rechabite and went to tent. Tuesdays he would be an Ancient Druid—"
"Gently! On Mondays, you say, he was a Rechabite and went to tent.
What is a Rechabite? And what does he do in a tent?"
Plaintiff (dissolving in tears): "Ah, sir, if I only knew!"
Here the Judge interposed. A Rechabite, he believed, went to a tent, or habitation, for the purpose (among others) of abstaining from alcoholic drinks.