I--I--beg your pardon sir;' he was all in a tremble, and
dropped his hat for the second time 'but I--I'm rather flurried, and I
fear I've wandered from the point.'
'If you will come back to it, Thomas,' said Mr Pecksniff, with an icy
look, 'I shall feel obliged.'
'Yes, sir,' returned Tom, 'certainly. They had a posting carriage at the
porch, sir, and had stopped to hear the organ, they said. And then they
said--SHE said, I mean, "I believe you live with Mr Pecksniff, sir?" I
said I had that honour, and I took the liberty, sir,' added Tom, raising
his eyes to his benefactor's face, 'of saying, as I always will and
must, with your permission, that I was under great obligations to you,
and never could express my sense of them sufficiently.'
'That,' said Mr Pecksniff, 'was very, very wrong. Take your time, Mr
Pinch.'
'Thank you, sir,' cried Tom. 'On that they asked me--she asked, I
mean--"Wasn't there a bridle road to Mr Pecksniff's house?"'
Mr Pecksniff suddenly became full of interest.
'"Without going by the Dragon?" When I said there was, and said how
happy I should be to show it 'em, they sent the carriage on by the road,
and came with me across the meadows.
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