Page:Oliver Twist (1838) vol. 1.djvu/299

Rh gradually and slowly down into a chair,—"Mrs. Mann, ma'am, good morning!" "Well, and good morning to you, sir," replied Mrs. Mann, with many smiles; "and hoping you find yourself well, sir?" "So-so, Mrs. Mann," replied the beadle. "A porochial life is not a bed of roses, Mrs. Mann." "Ah, that it isn't indeed, Mr. Bumble," rejoined the lady. And all the infant paupers might have chorused the rejoinder with great propriety if they had heard it. "A porochial life, ma'am," continued Mr. Bumble, striking the table with his cane, "is a life of worry, and vexation, and hardihood; but all public characters, as I may say, must suffer prosecution." Mrs. Mann, not very well knowing what the beadle meant, raised her hands with a look of sympathy, and sighed.

"Ah! You may well sigh, Mrs. Mann!" said the beadle. Finding she had done right, Mrs. Mann sighed again, evidently to the satisfaction of