"Peggotty," says I, suddenly, "were you ever married?"
"Lord, Master Davy!" replied Peggotty. "What's put marriage in your head?"
She answered with such a start that it quite awoke me. And then she stopped in her work and looked at me, with her needle drawn out to its thread's length.
"But were you ever married, Peggotty?" says I. "You are a very handsome woman, ain't you?"
"Me handsome, Davy!" said Peggotty. "Lawk, no, my dear! But what put marriage in your head?"
"I don't know! You mustn't marry more than one person at a time, may you, Peggotty?"
"Certainly not," says Peggotty, with the promptest decision.
"But if you marry a person, and the person dies, why then you may marry another person, mayn't you, Peggotty?"
"You may," says Peggotty, "if you choose, my dear. That's a matter of opinion."
"But what is your opinion, Peggotty?" said I.