"Certainly," said John Miles, considerably astonished.
"I want to ask you a few questions."
"Go ahead, Mrs. Brown."
"Am I hump-backed?"
"Certainly not. Who said you were?"
"Just attend to my questions, if you please, stranger. Am I squint-eyed?"
"Mrs. Brown must be crazy," thought Miles. However, he answered in the negative.
"Am I as homely as a hedge-fence?" pursued the widow.
"Has anybody been calling you so? If so, tell me who it is."
"Never you mind, stranger. Am I old and wrinkled?"