“Yes, but you see,” said the artful Don, “if I was to appear, it would make a sensational case of it in a minute and fill all the papers.”
“Would ur now? Morn’t do that nuther; but, wot d’ye think, sir? As I wur leavin’ the Cooart, a gemman comes up and he says, says he, ‘I spoase, sir, you don’t want this thing put in the papers?’ How the dooce he knowed that, I can’t make out, onless that I wouldn’t say where I lived, for the sake o’ Nancy; no, nor thee couldn’t ha’ dragged un out o’ me wi’ horses.”
“Yes?” said the Don, interrogatively.
“‘Well,’ says I, ‘no, I don’t partickler want it in.’ I thought I’d say that, don’t thee zee (with a wink), ’cos he shouldn’t think I were eager like.”
“Exactly,”
“Well, this ’ere gemman says, says he, ‘It don’t matter to me, sir, whether it’s in or not, but if thee don’t want it in, I’ll keep it out, that’s all. It will pay I better p’raps to put un in.’
“‘And who med thee be, sir?’ I axed.
“‘Only the Times’, said the gemman, ‘that’s all.’ Then, turning to his friend, he said, ‘Come on, Jack, the gemman wants it in, so we’ll have it in, every word, and where he comes from too, and all about the gal; we know all about it, don’t us, Jack?’”
“Ha!” said the O’Rapley, blowing out a large cloud, and fixing his eye on the middle stump.
“Well,” continued Bumpkin, “thee could ha’ knocked I down wi’ a feather. How the doose they knowed where I comed from I can’t make out; but here wur I