“O, as for us, we have every thing we want, as far as I know. There might be little or no difference in our own family; but I know there would be among our customers. Shopkeepers would wonder where all the crowd of buyers came from.” “And the smugglers might turn tax-gatherers, hey, father?” “And there need be no more talk of an income tax,” said the old man; “let the French brazen their matters out as they will.” Henry was not very sure of this, in his own mind. It seemed to him that the more support the state derived from taxes on commodities, the more clearly the people would see the injustice of levying the taxes upon those who were compelled to spend their whole income in the purchase of commodities, while the rich, who chose to live very frugally and hoard, might escape the payment of their due share. A customer now came in; and then the cheese-cellar had to be visited; and then Mr. Farrer wanted Henry to go with him to two or three neighbours’ houses, where there was a due admiration of the blessings of a learned education on the one side, and on the other a prodigious self-complacency about the liberality, and the generosity, and the wisdom, and the glory of making one member of the family a great man, who should do honour to his kith and kin. The evening was spent at Mrs. Peek’s. Mrs. Peek was able to receive her family at home, though she had not yet left the house since her confinement. She was proud of having a brother who had been at college, though no one grumbled more at the expense than she did by her own fireside. She was unwilling to lose this opportunity of showing him off to some neighbours; and when the party from Budge Row entered Peek’s house, at five o’clock, they perceived several shawls and calashes on the window-seat in the passage which was called the hall. One of Mr. Farrer’s candles was flaring in this passage, and two in the waiting-room, as the children’s play-place was called, and six in the parlour, it being Mrs. Peek’s wish to have every thing smart for the reception of her genteel brother. The ample sofa and two arm-chairs were ranged on one side, and four chairs on the other. When the door was thrown open, the party in the ante-room saw two young ladies take flight from the sofa across the room; and by the time that all had entered the parlour, five maidens were wedged in a close rank, in front of the three chairs which were next Mrs. Peek’s. They stood looking shy during the introduction, and were made more awkward still by the old gentleman insisting, as he settled himself by the fire, that one of those young ladies should come and sit on the sofa beside him. None of them stirred. “Miss Mills, suppose you take a seat on the sofa,” observed Mrs. Peek. “No, thank you, ma’am,” said Miss Mills. “Miss Anne Mills, won’t you take a seat on the sofa?” “No, ma’am, thank you.”