"That’s an unkind cut, after I’ve been spouting ideas galore. I’m afraid the mechanical mind will always be blind to the beauties of literature. ’A primrose by the river’s brim’—Steady, old sport, you nearly capsized us!" Templeton had swung round suddenly into a by-lane. "I was quoting a sublime passage from one William Wordsworth." "Well, never mind him," said Templeton, drawing up in front of a solitary cottage. "Here we are! Go straight up the stairs—you’ll find a clean towel. I’ll tell Mrs. Pouncey you’re here, and follow you." When the two friends entered the little sitting-room a few minutes later the landlady, a short, very stout, pleasant-faced woman of sixty or thereabouts, had just placed two steaming plates of soup on the table. "My friend Mr. Eves, Mrs. Pouncey," said Templeton. "How d’ye do, Mrs. Pouncey?" said Eves, shaking hands. "Mr. Templeton has been telling me you’re the best cook in the three kingdoms. You know you did, Bob; don’t protest. He’s very hard to please, Mrs. Pouncey, very; and if he’s satisfied, you may be sure that a man of my humbler tastes will be absolutely bowled over." "Well, now, I declare I wouldn’t have thought it. Mr. Templeton have never said a single grumble, not one. He’s the best young man lodger as I’ve ever had, that I will say—no trouble at all!" "Ah, Mrs. Pouncey! how many young men lodgers have you said the same thing about? Your last lodger, for instance, now, confess!" "’Deed no, sir. You be very far out. My last lodger was—there, I couldn’t abide en, he was that cantankerous, and such language—I never did! I know a real gentleman when I see en, and he was nothing but a make-believe, for all his fur coat. Thankful I am he was only here a few days, and that to oblige the mayor." "Mr. Noakes?" "Ay, sure, that be the mayor’s name, and well I know it. But do ’ee take your soup, now, ’twill be cold, and cold soup lays heavy, not to speak o’ the nastiness, and the pork chops grilled to a cinder." The good woman had toddled away while speaking, and her last words came faintly through the open door. "Jolly good soup, Bob," said Eves. "And pork chops! Splendid! The old dame is a treasure. I’ll get her to tell us about our worthy mayor." Mrs. Pouncey returned with two well-grilled pork chops and a dish of sprouts and baked potatoes. "Absolutely topping, Mrs. Pouncey!" said Eves. "What on earth did your last lodger find to grumble at, if you treated him like this?" "Lor’ bless ’ee, sir, he’d grumble at everything, pertickler at the bill. He’d want a penny took off here, and a penny there: and he would measure out his tea hisself, and cut his own rashers. I never did see the like." "And a friend of the mayor, too!" "Ay, and more’n a friend, so it do seem. ’Tis said here and there ’twas a gentleman—gentleman, says I, but that’s the talk!—a gentleman from London as have Mr. Noakes in his pocket, so to speak it." "Really!"