"I'll tell you why, if you'll listen to me."
"Certainly. But what have you done with the skull?"
"Chucked it away. It weren't no good to nobody—least of all to the owner. And for me—I'd got out of it all I wanted."
"You have not the teeth now?"
"No. I kept them for three days and then chucked them away."
"Have you had toothache since?"
"Terrible; but I had what was wusser when I had the teeth."
"Well, go on and tell me what the wusser was."
"So I will, if you'll listen to me. Well, sir, I had them teeth done up in a bit of silk, and hung round my throat. The first night I went to bed, that was Saturday, I had the little bag round my neck. I hadn't laid my head on the pillow, before—but, I must tell you, I'm a Bible Christian, and a serious man. I'm a local, I am, and I preach in our chapel, and am generally reckoned a rousin' sort of a preacher. For, sir, I knows how to work 'em up. Well, when you understand that,
