acter or
that of her son, who was a very good son though she was his mother, in
which respect, she was bold to say, he took after his father, who was
not only a good son to HIS mother, but the best of husbands and the
best of fathers besides, which Kit could and would corroborate she
knew, and so would little Jacob and the baby likewise if they were old
enough, which unfortunately they were not, though as they didn't know
what a loss they had had, perhaps it was a great deal better that they
should be as young as they were; and so Kit's mother wound up a long
story by wiping her eyes with her apron, and patting little Jacob's
head, who was rocking the cradle and staring with all his might at the
strange lady and gentleman.

When Kit's mother had done speaking, the old lady struck in again, and
said that she was quite sure she was a very honest and very respectable
person or she never would have expressed herself in that manner, and
that certainly the appearance of the children and the cleanliness of
the house deserved great praise and did her the utmost credit, whereat
Kit's mother dropped a curtsey and became consoled. Then the good
woman entered in a long and minute account of Kit's life and history
from the earliest period down to that time, not omitting to make
mention of his miraculous fall out of a back-parlour window when an
infant of tender years, or his uncommon sufferings in a state of
measles, which were illustrated by correct imitations of the plaintive
manner in which he called for toast and water, day and night, and said,
'don't cry, mother, I shall soon be better;' for proof of which
statements reference was made to Mrs Green, lodger, at the
cheesemonger's round the corner, and divers other ladies and gentlemen
in various parts of England and Wales (and one Mr Brown who was
supposed to be then a corporal in the East Indies, and who could of
course be found with very little trouble), within whose personal
knowledge the circumstances had occurred. This narration ended, Mr
Garland put some questions to Kit respecting his qualifications and
general acquirements, while Mrs Garland noticed the children, and
hearing from Kit's mother certain remarkable circumstances which had
attended the birth of each, related certain other remarkable
circumstances which had attended the birth of her own son, Mr Abel,
from which it appeared that both Kit's mother and herself had been,
above and beyond all other women of what