we know"—here he raised his voice again—"else why is she his companion? harbours the very basest designs upon his weakness and his property."
In their strong feeling on this point, they, who agreed in nothing else, all concurred as one mind. Good Heaven, that she should harbour designs upon his property! The strong-minded lady was for poison, her three daughters were for Bridewell and bread-and-water, the cousin with the tooth-ache advocated Botany Bay, the two Miss Pecksniffs suggested flogging. Nobody but Mr. Tigg, who, notwithstanding his extreme shabbiness, was still understood to be in some sort a lady's-man, in right of his upper lip and his frogs, indicated a doubt of the justifiable nature of these measures; and he only ogled the three Miss Chuzzlewits with the least admixture of banter in his admiration, as though he would observe, "You are positively down upon her to too great an extent, my sweet creatures, upon my soul you are!"
"Now," said Mr. Pecksniff, crossing his two fore-fingers in a manner which was at once conciliatory and argumentative: "I will not, upon the one hand, go so far as to say that she deserves all the inflictions which have been so very forcibly and hilariously suggested;" one of his ornamental sentences; "nor will I, upon the other, on any account compromise my common understanding as a man by making the assertion that .she does not. What I would observe is, that I think some practical means might be devised of inducing our respected—shall I say our revered—?"
"No!" interposed the strong-minded woman in a loud voice.
"Then I will not," said Mr. Pecksniff. "You are quite right, my dear madam, and I appreciate and thank you for, your discriminating objection—our respected relative, to dispose himself to listen to the promptings of nature, and not to the—"
"Go on, Pa!" cried Mercy.
"Why, the truth is, my dear," said Mr. Pecksniff, smiling upon his assembled kindred, "that I am at a loss for a word. The name of those fabulous animals (pagan, I regret to say) who used to sing in the water, has quite escaped me."
Mr. George Chuzzlewit suggested "Swans."
"No," said Mr. Pecksniff. "Not swans. Very like swans, too. Thank you."
The nephew with the outline of a countenance, speaking for the first and last time on that occasion, propounded "Oysters."
"No," said Mr. Pecksniff, with his own peculiar urbanity, "nor oysters. But by no means unlike oysters; a very excellent idea; thank you, my dear sir, very much. Wait! Sirens. Dear me! sirens, of course. I think, I say, that means might be devised of disposing our respected relative to listen to the promptings of nature, and not to the siren-like delusions of art. Now we must not lose sight of the fact that our esteemed friend has a grandson, to whom he was, until lately, very much attached, and whom I could have wished to see here to-day, for I have a real and deep regard for him. A fine young man: a very fine young man! I would submit to you, whether we might
