“ ‘Lor, Sir!’ said the widow⁠—as well she might; Tom’s mode of commencing the conversation being rather unusual, not to say startling; the fact of his never having set eyes upon her before the previous night being taken into consideration. ‘Lor, Sir!’

“ ‘I scorn to flatter, my dear ma’am,’ said Tom Smart. ‘You deserve a very admirable husband, and whoever he is, he’ll be a very lucky man.’ As Tom said this, his eye involuntarily wandered from the widow’s face to the comfort around him.