which had thus set in, but, both were content to be carried gently
along it, until its force abated. This happened at about the same
time as a general movement for a country dance; when Mr. Snitchey
proposed himself as a partner to Mrs. Craggs, and Mr. Craggs
gallantly offered himself to Mrs. Snitchey; and after some such
slight evasions as 'why don't you ask somebody else?' and 'you'll
be glad, I know, if I decline,' and 'I wonder you can dance out of
the office' (but this jocosely now), each lady graciously accepted,
and took her place.

It was an old custom among them, indeed, to do so, and to pair off,
in like manner, at dinners and suppers; for they were excellent
friends, and on a footing of easy familiarity. Perhaps the false
Craggs and the wicked Snitchey were a recognised fiction with the
two wives, as Doe and Roe, incessantly running up and down
bailiwicks, were with the two husbands: or, perhaps the ladies had
instituted, and taken upon themselves, these two shares in the
business, rather than be left out of it altogether. But, certain
it is, that each wife went as gravely and steadily to work in her
vocation as her husband did in his, and would have considered it
almost impossible for the Firm to maintain a successful and
respectable existence, without her laudable exertions.

But, now, the Bird of Paradise was seen to flutter down the middle;
and the little bells began to bounce and jingle in poussette; and
the Doctor's rosy face spun round and round, like an expressive
pegtop highly varnished; and breathless Mr. Craggs began to doubt
already, whether country dancing had been made 'too easy,' like the
rest of life; and Mr. Snitchey, with his nimble cuts and capers,
footed it for Self and Craggs, and half-a-dozen more.