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for Mr. Guppy is sensible of his talent, and Mrs. Snagsby
feels not only that it gratifies her inquisitive disposition, but
that it lifts her husband’s establishment higher up in the
law. During the progress of this keen encounter, the ves-
sel Chadband, being merely engaged in the oil trade, gets
aground and waits to be floated off.
‘Well!’ says Mr. Guppy. ‘Either this boy sticks to it like
cobbler’s-wax or there is something out of the common here
that beats anything that ever came into my way at Kenge
and Carboy’s.’
Mrs. Chadband whispers Mrs. Snagsby, who exclaims,
‘You don’t say so!’
‘For years!’ replied Mrs. Chadband.
‘Has known Kenge and Carboy’s office for years,’ Mrs.
Snagsby triumphantly explains to Mr. Guppy. ‘Mrs. Chad-
band—this gentleman’s wife—Reverend Mr. Chadband.’
‘Oh, indeed!’ says Mr. Guppy.
‘Before I married my present husband,’ says Mrs. Chad-
band.
‘Was you a party in anything, ma’am?’ says Mr. Guppy,
transferring his cross-examination.
‘No.’
‘NOT a party in anything, ma’am?’ says Mr. Guppy.
Mrs. Chadband shakes her head.
‘Perhaps you were acquainted with somebody who was
a party in something, ma’am?’ says Mr. Guppy, who likes
nothing better than to model his conversation on forensic
principles.
‘Not exactly that, either,’ replies Mrs. Chadband, hu-

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