'A pair of spring chickens, ma'am.'
'Then, Sylvana, eighteenpence is ample—ample. Bring the silver to me in the dining-room. I will hold my hand behind my back—or, stay! No. I have left my pocket-handkerchief above, and whilst giving me that, slip the change into my hand. Do not be long, as with this sort of people one does not know what to say.'
Mrs. Tomkin-Jones descended majestically to the red dining-room in which Jack Rattenbury was awaiting her, looking like a soul in purgatory. He at once handed her the maund, and stated that it was a little remembrance from Mrs. Jose.
'How good of you! I really am eternally obliged. And so you have come all the way from Axmouth? Not on purpose to bring this, I trust?'
'Oh no, ma'am. I am here on business for my master.'
'What, Mr. Jose?'
'No, madam, I am in the Beer quarries with Mrs. Jose's brother, who works them. I have come to Bath on concerns of the quarry.'
'Quite so. It is very good of you. A fine day this with drifting clouds; the sun is hot, but the wind cold. You have, no doubt, found it to be so?'
'Yes, ma'am; but the weather does not trouble me greatly.'
'And how is that excellent Mrs. Jose?'