'If this ain't Mr Chuzzlewit, ain't it!' exclaimed the visitor 'How do
YOU git along, sir?'
Martin shook his head, and drew the blanket over it involuntarily; for
he felt that Hannibal was going to spit; and his eye, as the song says,
was upon him.
'You need not regard me, sir,' observed Mr Chollop, complacently. 'I am
fever-proof, and likewise agur.'
'Mine was a more selfish motive,' said Martin, looking out again. 'I was
afraid you were going to--'
'I can calc'late my distance, sir,' returned Mr Chollop, 'to an inch.'
With a proof of which happy faculty he immediately favoured him.
'I re-quire, sir,' said Hannibal, 'two foot clear in a circ'lar
di-rection, and can engage my-self toe keep within it. I HAVE gone ten
foot, in a circ'lar di-rection, but that was for a wager.'
'I hope you won it, sir,' said Mark.
'Well, sir, I realised the stakes,' said Chollop. 'Yes, sir.'
He was silent for a time, during which he was actively engaged in the
formation of a magic circle round the chest on which he sat. When it was
completed, he began to talk again.
'How do you like our country, sir?' he inquired, looking at Martin.
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