ELIZABETH ELIZA.­ And all they would say was, "Turn right
round­you are on the road to Providence."

MRS. PETERKIN.­ As if we could turn right round! That was just
what we couldn't.

MOTHER.­ You don't mean you kept on all the way to
Providence?

ELIZABETH ELIZA.­ O dear, no! We kept on and on, till we met
a man with a black hand-bag­black leather I should say.

JULIA.­ He must have been a book-agent.

MRS. PETERKIN.­ I dare say he was; his bag seemed heavy. He
set it on a stone.

MOTHER.­ I dare say it was the same one that came here the other
day. He wanted me to buy the "History of the Aborigines, Brought
up from Earliest Times to the Present Date," in four volumes. I
told him I hadn't time to read so much. He said that was no matter,
few did, and it wasn't much worth it­they bought books for the
look of the thing.

AMANDA.­ Now, that was illiterate; he never could have
graduated. I hope, Elizabeth Eliza, you had nothing to do with that
man.

ELIZABETH ELIZA.­ Very likely it was not the same one.