Hollow elm tree, eh! Ha, ha! Very good
indeed. I've seen worse than that in the Sunday papers, my love.'
Mrs Mould, thus encouraged, took a little more of the punch, and handed
it to her daughters, who dutifully followed the example of their mother.
'Hollow ELM tree, eh?' said Mr Mould, making a slight motion with his
legs in his enjoyment of the joke. 'It's beech in the song. Elm, eh?
Yes, to be sure. Ha, ha, ha! Upon my soul, that's one of the best things
I know?' He was so excessively tickled by the jest that he couldn't
forget it, but repeated twenty times, 'Elm, eh? Yes, to be sure. Elm,
of course. Ha, ha, ha! Upon my life, you know, that ought to be sent to
somebody who could make use of it. It's one of the smartest things that
ever was said. Hollow ELM tree, eh? of course. Very hollow. Ha, ha, ha!'
Here a knock was heard at the room door.
'That's Tacker, I know,' said Mrs Mould, 'by the wheezing he makes. Who
that hears him now, would suppose he'd ever had wind enough to carry the
feathers on his head! Come in, Tacker.'
'Beg your pardon, ma'am,' said Tacker, looking in a little way.
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