But the stony one is a gruff one likewise, and that hazy state of his is always an uncertain state, highly conscious of its dignity, and prone to take offence. He drops his two keys back into his pocket one by one, and buttons them up; he takes his dinner-bundle from the chair-back on which he hung it when he came in; he distributes the weight he carries, by tying the third key up in it, as though he were an Ostrich, and liked to dine off cold iron; and he gets out of the room, deigning no word of answer.
Mr. Sapsea then proposes a hit at backgammon, which, seasoned with his own improving conversation, and terminating in a supper of cold roast beef and salad, beguiles the golden evening until pretty late. Mr. Sapsea′s wisdom being, in its delivery to mortals, rather of the diffuse than the epigrammatic order, is by no means expended even then; but his visitor intimates that he will come back for more of the precious commodity on future occasions, and Mr. Sapsea lets him off for the present, to ponder on the instalment he carries away.
CHAPTER V—MR. DURDLES AND FRIEND
John Jasper, on his way home through the Close, is brought to a stand-still by the spectacle of Stony Durdles, dinner-bundle and all, leaning his back against the iron railing of the burial-ground enclosing it from the old cloister-arches; and a hideous small boy in rags flinging stones at him as a well-defined mark in the moonlight. Sometimes the stones hit him, and sometimes they miss him, but Durdles seems indifferent to either fortune. The hideous small boy, on the contrary, whenever he hits Durdles, blows a whistle of triumph through a jagged gap, convenient for the purpose, in the front of his mouth, where half his teeth are wanting; and whenever he misses him, yelps out ′Mulled agin!′ and tries to atone for the failure by taking a more correct and vicious aim.
′What are you doing to the man?′ demands Jasper, stepping out into the moonlight from the shade.
′Making a cock-shy of him,′ replies the hideous small boy.
′Give me those stones in your hand.′
′Yes, I′ll give ′em you down your throat, if you come a-ketching hold of me,′ says the small boy, shaking himself loose, and backing. ′I′ll smash your eye, if you don′t look out!′
′Baby-Devil that you are, what has the man done to you?′
′He won′t go home.′
′What is that to you?′
′He gives me a ′apenny to pelt him home if I ketches him out too late,′ says the boy. And then chants, like a little savage, half stumbling and half dancing among the rags and laces of his dilapidated boots:-
′Widdy widdy wen! I—ket—ches—Im—out—ar—ter—ten, Widdy widdy wy! Then—E—don′t—go—then—I—shy - Widdy Widdy Wake-cock warning!′
- with a comprehensive sweep on the last word, and one more delivery at Durdles.
This would seem to be a poetical note of preparation, agreed upon, as a caution to Durdles to stand clear if he can, or to betake himself homeward.
John Jasper invites the boy with a beck of his head to follow him (feeling it hopeless to drag him, or coax him), and crosses to the iron railing where the Stony (and stoned) One is profoundly meditating.
′Do you know this thing, this child?′ asks Jasper, at a loss for a word that will define this thing.
′Deputy,′ says Durdles, with a nod.
′Is that its—his—name?′
′Deputy,′ assents Durdles.
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