the poor children should go without,--but if they have such a father,
they, poor things, must suffer for it.

"Nearly a whole leg of pork and a pint of brandy! A pint of brandy
and a leg of pork. A leg of--leg--leg--pint--"


"And mumbling the syllables," says Mr. Caudle's MS., "she went to
sleep."



LECTURE VI--MR. CAUDLE HAS LENT AN ACQUAINTANCE THE FAMILY UMBRELLA



"Bah! That's the third umbrella gone since Christmas.

"WHAT WERE YOU TO DO?

"Why, let him go home in the rain, to be sure. I'm very certain
there was nothing about HIM that could spoil. Take cold, indeed! He
doesn't look like one of the sort to take cold. Besides, he'd have
better taken cold than take our only umbrella. Do you hear the rain,
Mr. Caudle? I say, do you hear the rain? And as I'm alive, if it
isn't St. Swithin's day! Do you hear it against the windows?
Nonsense; you don't impose upon me. You can't be asleep with such a
shower as that! Do you hear it, I say? Oh, you DO hear it! Well,
that's a pretty flood, I think, to last for six weeks; and no
stirring all the time out of the house. Pooh! don't think me a fool,