“I should get up, sir, to acknowledge such an honour as this visit,” said he, “only my limbs are rather out of sorts, and I am wheeled about. With the exception of my limbs and my breath, howsoever, I am as hearty as a man can be, I’m thankful to say.”

I congratulated him on his contented looks and his good spirits, and saw, now, that his easy-chair went on wheels.

“It’s an ingenious thing, ain’t it?” he inquired, following the direction of my glance, and polishing the elbow with his arm. “It runs as light as a feather, and tracks as true as a mail-coach. Bless you, my little Minnie⁠—my granddaughter you know, Minnie’s child⁠—puts her little strength against the back, gives it a shove, and away we go, as clever and merry as ever you see anything! And I tell you what⁠—it’s a most uncommon chair to smoke a pipe in.”