ht to bother them too. He had a notion, up in the clouds, of a
Sailors' Convalescent Hospital at Crikswich to seduce a prince with, hand
him the trowel, make him "lay the stone," and then poor prince! refresh
him at table. But that was a matter for by and by.

His purchase of herrings completed, Mr. Tinman walked across the mound of
shingle to the house on the beach. He was rather a fresh-faced man, of
the Saxon colouring, and at a distance looking good-humoured. That he
should have been able to make such an appearance while doing daily battle
with his wine, was a proof of great physical vigour. His pace was
leisurely, as it must needs be over pebbles, where half a step is
subtracted from each whole one in passing; and, besides, he was aware of
a general breath at his departure that betokened a censorious assembly.
Why should he not market for himself? He threw dignity into his
retreating figure in response to the internal interrogation. The moment
>was one when conscious rectitude =pliers man should have a tail for its
just display. Philosophers have drawn attention to the power of the human
face to express pure virtue, but no sooner has it passed on than the
spirit erect within would seem helpless. The breadth of our shoulders is
apparently presented for our critics to write on. Poor duty is done by
the simple sense of moral worth, to supplant that absence of feature in
the plain flat back. We are below the animals in this. How charged with
language behind him is a dog! Everybody has noticed it. Let a dog turn
away from a hostile circle, and his crisp and wary tail not merely
defends him, it menaces; it is a weapon. Man has no choice but to surge
and boil, or stiffen preposterously. Knowing the popular sentiment about
his marketing--for men can see behind their backs, though they may have
nothing to speak with--Tinman resembled those persons of principle who
decline to pay for a "Bless your honour!" from a voluble beggar-woman,
and obtain the reverse of it after they have gone by. He was sufficiently
sensitive to feel that his back was chalked as on a slate. The only
remark following him was, "There he goes!"

He went to the seaward gate of the house on the beach, made practicable
in a low flint wall, where he was met by his sister Martha, to whom he
handed the basket. Apparently he named the cost of his purchase per
dozen. She touched the fish and pressed the bellies of the topmost, it
might be to question them tende