'Why, Madam,' says another lady, 'we all know Mr H——; he is a very pretty sort of a man.'
'Ay, Madam,' says the emissary again, 'but you know a pretty man is not all that is required.'
'Nay,' says the lady again, 'I don't mean so; he is no beauty, no rarity that way; but I mean a clever good sort of a man in his business, such as we call a pretty tradesman.'
'Ay,' says the lady employed, 'but that is not all neither.'
'Why,' says the other lady, 'he has a very good trade too, and lives in good credit.'
'Yes,' says malice, 'he has some of the first, but not too much of the last, I suppose.'
'No!' says the lady; 'I thought his credit had been very good.'
'If it had, I suppose,' says the first, 'the match had not been broke off.'
'Why,' says the lady, 'I understood it was broken off on his side.'
'And so did I,' says another.