acre. "She thanked him humbly for that and all favours; but she could
not afford to buy cows, and she did not wish to be beholden to any one
for her living. And Lenny was well off at Mr. Rickeybockey's, and coming
on wonderfully in the garden way, and she did not doubt she could get
some washing; at all events, her haystack would bring in a good bit of
money, and she should do nicely, thank their honours."

Nothing further could be done in the direct way, but the remark about the
washing suggested some mode of indirectly benefiting the widow; and a
little time afterwards, the sole laundress in that immediate
neighbourhood happening to die, a hint from the squire obtained from the
landlady of the inn opposite the Casino such custom as she had to bestow,
which at times was not inconsiderable. And what with Lenny's wages
(whatever that mysterious item might be), the mother and son contrived to
live without exhibiting any of those physical signs of fast and
abstinence which Riccabocca and his valet gratuitously afforded to the
student in animal anatomy.




CHAPTER XIV.

Of all the wares and commodities in exchange and barter, wherein so
mainly consists the civilization of our modern world, there is not one
which is so carefully weighed, so accurately measured, so plumbed and
gauged, so doled and scraped, so poured out in minima and balanced with
scruples,--as that necessary of social commerce called "an apology"! If
the chemists were half so careful in vending their poisons, there would
be a notable diminution in the yearly average of victims to arsenic and