Vol.1 f.040 recto

said, as they stood without, in the porch, and the locksmith was equipping himself for his journey home; "I take it very kind of you to say all this, but the time's nearly come when the Maypole and I must part company."
"Roving stones gather no moss, Joe," said Gabriel.
"Nor milestones much," replied Joe. "I'm little better than one here, and see as much of the world."
"Then, what would you do, Joe?" pursued the locksmith, stroking his chin reflectively. "What could you be? where could you go, you see?"
"I must trust to chance, Mr Varden."
"A bad thing to trust to, Joe. I don't like it. I always tell my girl when we talk about a husband for her, never to trust to chance, but to make sure beforehand that she has a good man and true, and then chance will neither make her nor break her. What are you fidgeting about there, Joe? Nothing gone in the harness, I hope?"
"No no," said Joe -- finding, however, something very engrossing to do in the way of strapping and buckling -- "Miss Dolly quite well?"
"Hearty, thankye. She looks pretty enough to be well, and good too."
"She's always both, sir" [dash]
"So she is, thank God!"
"I hope,' said Joe after some hesitation, "that you won't tell this story against me -- this of my having been beat like the boy they'd