‘ They’re all on ‘em men as has met vith some disappointment in life,’ said Mr. Weller, senior.
‘ Ay, ay,’ said Mr. Pickwick.
‘ Yes. Consequence of vich, they retires from the world, and shuts themselves up in pikes; partly with the view of being solitary, and partly to rewenge themselves on mankind by takin’ tolls.’
‘ Dear me,’ said Mr. Pickwick, ‘I never knew that before.’
‘ Fact, Sir,’ said Mr. Weller; ‘if they was gen’l’m’n, you’d call ‘em misanthropes, but as it is, they only takes to pike-keepin’.’
With such conversation, possessing the inestimable charm of blending amusement with instruction, did Mr. Weller beguile the tediousness of the journey, during the greater part of the day. Topics of conversation were never wanting, for even when any pause occurred in Mr. Weller’s
