"Ah!" said the Tinker, "it sounds better--a sight better--besides,
I never read a nov-el with a tinker in it as I remember; they're
generally dooks, or earls, or barronites--nobody wants to read
about a tinker."

"That all depends," said I; "a tinker may be much more
interesting than an earl or even a duke."

The Tinker examined the piece of bacon upon his knifepoint with a
cold and disparaging eye.

"I've read a good many nov-els in my time," said he, shaking his
head, "and I knows what I'm talking of;" here he bolted the
morsel of bacon with much apparent relish. "I've made love to
duchesses, run off with heiresses, and fought dooels--ah! by the
hundred--all between the covers of some book or other and enjoyed
it uncommonly well--especially the dooels. If you can get a
little blood into your book, so much the better; there's nothing
like a little blood in a book--not a great deal, but just enough
to give it a 'tang,' so to speak; if you could kill your
highwayman to start with it would be a very good beginning to
your story."

"I could do that, certainly," said I, "but it would not be
according to fact."

"So much the better," said the Tinker; "who wants facts in a
nov-el?"