the lantern how much more difficult when at the old man s bidding she drew her hand through his � tom pinch s � arm and so mr pinch said martin on the way you are comfortably situated here are you tom answered with even more than his usual enthusiasm that he was under obligations to mr which the devotion of a lifetime would but imperfectly repay how long have you known my nephew asked martin your nephew sir tom mr said mary oh dear yes cried tom greatly relieved for his mind was running upon martin certainly i never spoke to him before to night sir perhaps half a lifetime will suffice for the acknowledgment of his kindness observed the old man tom felt that this was a for him and could not but understand it as a left handed hit at his employer so he was silent mary felt that mr pinch was not remarkable for presence of mind and that he could not say too little under existing circumstances so she was silent the old man ted by what in his suspicious nature he considered a and puff of mr which was a part of tom s hired service and in which he was determined to set him down at once for a miserable so he was silent and though they were martin all sufficiently uncomfortable it is fair to say that martin perhaps the most so for he had felt kindly towards tom at first and had been interested by his seeming simplicity you re like the rest he thought glancing at the face of the unconscious tom you had nearly imposed upon me but yon have lost your labour you re too zealous a and betray yourself mr pinch during the whole remainder of the walk not another word was spoken first among the meetings to which tom had long looked forward with a beating heart it was memorable for nothing but embarrassment and confusion they parted at the door and sighing as he extinguished the candle in the lantern tom turned back again over the gloomy fields as he approached the first which was in a lonely part made very dark by a plantation of young a man slipped p� u t him and went on before coming to the he stopped and took his seat upon it tom was rather startled and for a moment stood still but he stepped forward again immediately and went dose up to him it was swinging his legs to and fro the head of a stick and looking with a sneer at tom good gracious me cried tom who would have thought of its being you you followed us then what s that said go to the devil you are not very civil i think remarked tom civil enough for you retorted who are you one who has as good a right to common consideration as another said tom mildly you re a liar said you haven t a right to any consideration you haven t a right to anything you re a pretty sort of fellow to talk about your rights upon my soul ha ha � rights too if you proceed in this way returned tom you wiu oblige me to talk about my wrongs but i hope your joke is over it s the way with you said mr that when you know a man s in real earnest you pretend to think he s joking so that you may turn it off but that won t do with me it s too stale no r just attend to me for a bit mr pitch or witch or or whatever your name is my name is pinch observed tom have the goodness to call me by it life and op � what you mustn t even be called out of your name mustn t you cried are looking up i we manage em a little better in the never mind what you do in the city said tom what have you got to say to me just this pinch retorted his � so dose to tom s that tom was obliged to retreat a step i advise to ke your own counsel and to avoid and not to cut in where you re not wanted i ve heard something of you my and your meek ways and i recommend you to foi t em till i m married to one of s and not to among my but to leave the course dear you know when won t leave the course dear they re whipped off so this is kind advice do you understand eh who are you cried with increased contempt that you should walk home with them unless it was behind em like any other servant out of � come cried tom i see that you had better get off the and let me pursue my way home make room for me if you please don t think it said spreading out his legs not tm i choose and i don t choose now what you re afraid of my making you split upon some of just now are you i am not afraid of many things i hope said tom and not of anything that you will do i am not a tale bearer and i despise all meanness you quite mistake me ah cried tom indignantly is this manly from one in your position to one in mine please to make room for me to pass the less i say the better the less you say retorted dangling his legs the more and taking no heed of this request you say very little don t you i should like to know what goes on between you and a vagabond member of my family there s very little in that too i i know no vagabond member of your family cried tom stoutly you do i said i don t said 