′No,′ retorted Clemency. ′Of course not. Then there′s the pony - he fetched eight pound two; and that an′t bad, is it?′
′It′s very good,′ said Ben.
′I′m glad you′re pleased!′ exclaimed his wife. ′I thought you would be; and I think that′s all, and so no more at present from yours and cetrer, C. Britain. Ha ha ha! There! Take all the papers, and lock ′em up. Oh! Wait a minute. Here′s a printed bill to stick on the wall. Wet from the printer′s. How nice it smells!′
′What′s this?′ said Ben, looking over the document.
′I don′t know,′ replied his wife. ′I haven′t read a word of it.′
′"To be sold by Auction,"′ read the host of the Nutmeg-Grater, ′"unless previously disposed of by private contract."′
′They always put that,′ said Clemency.
′Yes, but they don′t always put this,′ he returned. ′Look here, "Mansion," &c. - "offices," &c., "shrubberies," &c., "ring fence," &c. "Messrs. Snitchey and Craggs," &c., "ornamental portion of the unencumbered freehold property of Michael Warden, Esquire, intending to continue to reside abroad"!′
′Intending to continue to reside abroad!′ repeated Clemency.
′Here it is,′ said Britain. ′Look!′
′And it was only this very day that I heard it whispered at the old house, that better and plainer news had been half promised of her, soon!′ said Clemency, shaking her head sorrowfully, and patting her elbows as if the recollection of old times unconsciously awakened her old habits. ′Dear, dear, dear! There′ll be heavy hearts, Ben, yonder.′
Mr. Britain heaved a sigh, and shook his head, and said he couldn′t make it out: he had left off trying long ago. With that remark, he applied himself to putting up the bill just inside the bar window. Clemency, after meditating in silence for a few moments, roused herself, cleared her thoughtful brow, and bustled off to look after the children.
Though the host of the Nutmeg-Grater had a lively regard for his good-wife, it was of the old patronising kind, and she amused him mightily. Nothing would have astonished him so much, as to have known for certain from any third party, that it was she who managed the whole house, and made him, by her plain straightforward thrift, good-humour, honesty, and industry, a thriving man. So easy it is, in any degree of life (as the world very often finds it), to take those cheerful natures that never assert their merit, at their own modest valuation; and to conceive a flippant liking of people for their outward oddities and eccentricities, whose innate worth, if we would look so far, might make us blush in the comparison!
It was comfortable to Mr. Britain, to think of his own condescension in having married Clemency. She was a perpetual testimony to him of the goodness of his heart, and the kindness of his disposition; and he felt that her being an excellent wife was an illustration of the old precept that virtue is its own reward.
He had finished wafering up the bill, and had locked the vouchers for her day′s proceedings in the cupboard - chuckling all the time, over her capacity for business - when, returning with the news that the two Master Britains were playing in the coach-house under the superintendence of one Betsey, and that little Clem was sleeping ′like a picture,′ she sat down to tea, which had awaited her arrival, on a little table.
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