Brady looked as angry now as the gipsies had done when they heard that Uriah was to be flogged; but neither party could long withstand Pim's authoritative style of good humour. He ended with making everybody laugh, turning the attention of the guard seawards, dispersing the group of complainers in different directions, and adjourning the quarrel, if he could not dissolve it. As he attended the lady to the station-house, he explained to her the little hope there was of establishing a good understanding between the Coast Guard and the country people. "I pity the poor fellows down below, with all my heart," said he, turning from the first point of the ascent to observe the guard, now again loitering along the margin. "Not so much for being out in the cold, though they slap themselves with their swinging arms like yon flag in a high wind. It is not for the cold I pity them, since a young lady keeps them company in it." "I seldom stay within all day, especially when Miss Storey is with me," replied Matilda; "but I would not promise to bear this cold for six hours; and I do pity those poor men very much." "So do I, madam, because they moreover meet cold looks at every turn; which you, not being a spy, will never do." "But these men are spies only upon those who break the laws. You do not mean that the innocent are not glad to be watched?" Pim looked sly while he said he knew but of one innocent in all the neighbourhood, and he happened to be among the spies, and so was very popular. Mrs. Storey would go deeper than the pun, however, and asked whether the neighbours generally had need to fear the enforcement of the law. "I bring up all my scholars so religious, it would do your heart good to see them," replied Pim. "They know the Bible all through, and understand the whole of the Church Catechism, as you will find, if you will give us the honour of a visit some day." "I will, to morrow, Mr. Pim." "Suppose we say the end of the week, ma'am, when they are furbished up for the parson. You will be more sure of being pleased towards the end of the week. I make my scholars very moral." "Then they have no reason to fear spies, I should think." "Why, as to that, ma'am, it all depends on people's notions of what it is to be moral; and when there is so much difference of opinion on that, it seems natural enough that each party should settle the point as seems most agreeable. I wonder, now, what you think of the gentlefolks that come to Hastings and Brighton, and all the bathing places along this coast." "I suppose they are much like other gentlefolks, are they not? How do their morals affect those of your scholars?"