“There are also, I believe,” said Mr Wyllie, “owls in Athens and coals at Newcastle.”
He paused in his labour, and glooming round, in a dismally sarcastic spirit, encountered the eyes of the young man fixed keenly on him.
“Well, sir,” he said; “what then?”
“If wood-chopping failed to reduce your fat,” said Gilead distinctly, “you might try butterfly hunting.”
“O! might I?”
“And mountain-climbing.”
“Indeed?”
“The pursuit of unprotected females is also, doubtless, conducive to an active state of body.”
“This may be pleasantry—”
“While a murderous assault or so on a few trusting old gentlemen might help to take something out of you.”