"No, ma'am," said the little tailor, earnestly; "I never saw a better behaved family.--Nor a bigger," he said to himself. "But Solomon said so, my dear," said Jared, drily. "Then Solomon ought to have been ashamed of himself," said Mrs Jared, tartly; "and it must have been when he was nearly driven mad by some of his own children. He said plenty of good things, but I don't consider that one of them; and besides, with all his wisdom, he was not perfect. Between ourselves, I wonder, Mr Ruggles, that you allow it. When the little thing came after you the other day, even her little neck was marked, and as to her arms--why Patty went up--stairs and cried about them. I'm only a plain-spoken woman, and really, sometimes, I wonder that you ever married again, and you must excuse me for saying so." "I often wonder at it myself," thought Tim Ruggles, as he sat poking at his frizzy hair with the stem of his pipe, and looking very intently into his gin and water: all at once, though, he exclaimed: "I'll tell you how it was!" But before telling them how it was, he refilled and lit his pipe, sat thoughtfully for a few minutes, and then refreshed himself with a sip of his gin and water. Volume 1, Chapter XII. TIM'S DITTY. "You see, ma'am," said Tim Ruggles, looking very mysterious, "that little one's name was Prosperine or Propserpine, I'm not sure which, unless I look at where we've got it written down. I'm not sure it ain't Proserpine; but at all events it's a long awkward name, and we took to calling her Pine. I married the present Mrs Ruggles to take her in charge and mind her. And she does take care of her, and brings her up in the way she should go. You should hear her say her Catechism," said Tim, looking proudly at Mrs Jared. "I'd rather hear her say she loved your wife, Mr Ruggles," said Mrs Jared, quietly. Tim was disconcerted, but not beaten. "But she does, ma'am, and me too, wonderful, for Mrs Ruggles is only just a little too strict, and I don't like to interfere; for you know, ma'am, that's a child of mystery--that is, like Fatherless Fanny, as maybe you've read of; and no doubt she'll come to be in a big spear of life. She--that's Mrs Ruggles, you know, ma'am--says that we'll do what's right by the child, ma'am, and what can I say against that, when Mrs Ruggles is such a clever woman?" "I don't quite like such cleverness," said Mrs Jared.