"She's blind of her ears, papa; you have to speak loud."
"What makes your child's face so red, doctor?" asked the landlady, pouring hot water till it overran the cup; "don't the darling feel well?"
"Yes'm, pitty well; only but the white tea gets in my cheeks and makes 'em too hot."
"White tea, I should think," remarked Dr. Moonshine; "why, Mother Hubbard, the tea-leaf in your urn must feel rather lonesome."
Mother Hubbard took off the cover and peeped in.
"None there, as true as you live! I'll jump right up, doctor, and stew two or three handfuls."
"Don't rise for me, ma'am; don't rise for me. We'll swallow the will for the deed, ma'am; the will for the deed."
"It's always so, doctor," said Lady Magnifico, in an undertone; "we've had to swallow these mistakes from time immortal."
Her ladyship meant "immemorial." She was surprised at the ease with which she used large words.
"All the mistakes are owing to the eccentricity of genius," said the doctor, bowing to Mother Hubbard. "Our landlady is what is called 'absent.' Here's a health to our absent friend."