I am over forty-five."

Mr. Spinks emitted a look to signify that if his head was not finished,
nobody's head ever could be.

"Talk of knowing people by their feet!" said Reuben. "Rot me, my
sonnies, then, if I can tell what a man is from all his members put
together, oftentimes."

"But still, look is a good deal," observed grandfather William absently,
moving and balancing his head till the tip of grandfather James's nose
was exactly in a right line with William's eye and the mouth of a
miniature cavern he was discerning in the fire. "By the way," he
continued in a fresher voice, and looking up, "that young crater, the
schoolmis'ess, must be sung to to-night wi' the rest? If her ear is as
fine as her face, we shall have enough to do to be up-sides with her."

"What about her face?" said young Dewy.

"Well, as to that," Mr. Spinks replied, "'tis a face you can hardly
gainsay. A very good pink face, as far as that do go. Still, only a
face, when all is said and done."

"Come, come, Elias Spinks, say she's a pretty maid, and have done wi'
her," said the tranter, again preparing to visit the cider-barrel.



CHAPTER IV: GOING THE ROUNDS