'Well, they marries an' has a bit fam'ly, an' Jim gans ahead quick; he was marrow' (mate) 'wi' me as a hewer yence, an' then he becomes a deputy, an' bein' a great reader an' a gran' speaker, there was some talk o' makin' him wor Member o' Parlyment when he got a bit older. Well, it had aal been plain sailin' for Jim so far, an' everybody thought his success was sartin, but he soon came tarr'ble nigh makin' a tragedy ov hisself, poor chap. 'There was a young widow woman came ti live doon here at the Prospect House ower there. She'd been married on a fat old chap that had made a lot o' brass i' the toon i' publics, an' they used to come here for a bit i' the summer, an' when he died she comes doon ti the "Prospect" ti bide for good an' aal. 'I sometimes think,' continued my companion after a slight pause, 'that it's a sair pity folks isn't sometimes drooned like kittens or "put under" same as dogs that turn oot no use. It wud save a lot o' misfortunes an' misery, I's warn'd, an' unless ye drooned a Gladstone, or a John Wesley, or mevvies even a "Heckler," the world would be aal the better o't. 'Anyways, she should have been drooned slap off as a babby, for she was a rank bad un--just rank bad ti the bone--an' when a woman is bad, she's just the devil's own viewer[11] or deputy, by Gox! 'She had been on the stage, 'twas said, at one time, an' there was queer stories aboot her, so that the gentry-folk aboot here would have nowt ti do wiv her, sae she had aal the better opportunity ti play her tricks wi' Jim. 'She was free wi' the brass, ye ken, an' give subscriptions awa for the askin', providin' she had her name an' address clagged up large on the play-bills, an' was a champion at gettin' up concerts for wor Mechanic Institute an' such-like entertainments. 'That was hoo she first got a hand upon Jim, for he had a gran' voice--a perfect champion at harmony he was, an' she just buttered him up properly. It was "Oh, Mr. Hedley, an' what a fortin ye would have made in the Opera!" "Sing it again, Mr. Hedley, it's fair ravishin'," an' so she carried on till she had him awa to practise duetties wiv her at her hoos, an' made him stay ti supper wi' glasses o' wine tiv it--yellow shampain wine that'll set your brain iv a froth, I b'lieve, an' at the finish she has him just drugged wiv her enchantments. 'There was one night I mind I was oot walkin' an' chanst ti pass by alang that road there that leads past the hoos--the trees wasn't grown up then, ye ken, an' I could spy a bit in through the windie, which was open on the night--it bein' summer then, d'ye see. 'She was settin' beside the pianner playin' pretence wiv it, an' castin' up white eye-glances at Jim soft-like, noo an' again, with a sort ov insolence, too, as though she kenned her power ower him--drawin' oot the very marrow an' soul ov him wiv her perfections.