Mr. Boffin, who had a deep respect for his wife’s intuitive wisdom, replied, though rather pensively: “I suppose we must.”

“It’s never been acted up to yet, and, consequently, no good has come of it,” said Mrs. Boffin.

“True, to the present time,” Mr. Boffin assented, with his former pensiveness, as he took his seat upon his settle. “I hope good may be coming of it in the future time. Towards which, what’s your views, old lady?”

Mrs. Boffin, a smiling creature, broad of figure and simple of nature, with her hands folded in her lap, and with buxom creases in her throat, proceeded to expound her views.