The assurance seemed hardly as comforting to Mr. Wegg, as Mr. Boffin intended it to be. Indeed, an appreciable elongation of his visage might have been observed as he replied:

“Don’t you, indeed, sir?”

“No,” pursued Mr. Boffin; “because that would express, as I understand it, that you were not going to do anything to deserve your money. But you are; you are.”

“That, sir,” replied Mr. Wegg, cheering up bravely, “is quite another pair of shoes. Now, my independence as a man is again elevated. Now, I no longer