"Where are my Senses, I say?" recommences my _Father_; on which Mr. _Caryl_, unable to stand it any longer, rushes into the Shop, and Mr. _Fenwick_ after him. There we hear them, while my poor _Father_ still continues raging, giving way to fresh Peals of Laughter, which they vainly attempt to smother; and at length Mr. _Caryl_ departs, without returning to wish us good bye; and Dr. _Elwes_ shortly goes also, giving us knowing Looks, and advising _Gatty_ and me to go immediately to Bed. And so ended the Evening. [Illustration] CHAPTER V. _Two Poets under a Dairy-Window._ Next Morning, my _Father_ at his Breakfast questioned us straitly as to what had been going on during his Absence, and seemed scarcely to know whether to take Offence at it or not. The receiving and nursing a Stranger under Mrs. _Gatty's_ Circumstances would have been Something to cavil at; but then she was own Woman to Lady _Betty_, for whom, though he only knew her in Public, he entertained great Respect; and besides, Mrs. _Gatty_ was a fine Woman, which of itself was a Letter of Recommendation to him. Moreover, she sat by all the While, knitting a White Silk Mitten; so that he could not, for Manners, speak against her in her Hearing; and my _Father_, when himself, was a well-mannered Man. So he hemmed once or twice, and swallowed any Objections he might have made, had we been by ourselves; and then, to turn the Subject, "Mrs. _Gatty_," says he, "that Mitten will become your Hand well; but most other Women's Fingers, coming out of it, would look like Radishes. And now, let us clear Decks, and make way for the Carpenters." "The Carpenters, _Father_?" repeated _Prue_ and I in a breath. "Aye, there are a couple of Fellows coming down to put up two little Shelves and Brackets, for some little Matters that the Mantel-Piece is too shallow for. I bespoke the Men overnight, and brought the Toys in with me. Here, _Peter_, you Knave, bring them in." Where was the Use of saying Anything? "Now," says he, laughing as he unpacked them, "here are the comicallest Things you ever saw in your life; and so _you'll_ say, Mrs. _Gatty_. Look here--a rural Piece in Cherry-Wood Carving, Farm-Yard and Farm-House; a Beggar approaching the Door. I wind it up behind, like a Time-Piece. Now, mark you, the Fun of the Thing! The Beggar advances--out flies a Mastiff from the House, and furiously attacks him! ha, ha, ha! "Now, look at this other, its Companion; a lone House in the Country; Time, Peep of Day.... A Thief getting in at a First-Floor Window, by Means of a Ladder ... _Hodge_, coming out of the Barn, with a Pitchfork, assails him from behind,--you shall see how, as soon as I have wound it up. Now then! ho! ho! ho! see how he digs into him." _Gatty_ burst into such an irrepressible Fit of pretty Laughter, that my _Father_ was her sworn Friend from that Moment; while _Prue_ and I, influenced by mixed Feelings of Vexation and Amusement, laughed with more Constraint.