Nor how, in her determination to grasp this pocket by the throat
and keep it prisoner (for it had a tendency to swing, and twist
itself round the nearest corner), she assumed and calmly
maintained, an attitude apparently inconsistent with the human
anatomy and the laws of gravity. It is enough that at last she
triumphantly produced the thimble on her finger, and rattled the
nutmeg-grater: the literature of both those trinkets being
obviously in course of wearing out and wasting away, through
excessive friction.
'That's the thimble, is it, young woman?' said Mr. Snitchey,
diverting himself at her expense. 'And what does the thimble say?'
'It says,' replied Clemency, reading slowly round as if it were a
tower, 'For-get and For-give.'
Snitchey and Craggs laughed heartily. 'So new!' said Snitchey.
'So easy!' said Craggs. 'Such a knowledge of human nature in it!'
said Snitchey. 'So applicable to the affairs of life!' said
Craggs.
'And the nutmeg-grater?' inquired the head of the Firm.
'The grater says,' returned Clemency, 'Do as you - wold - be - done
by.'
'Do, or you'll be done brown, you mean,' said Mr. Snitchey.
'I don't understand,' retorted Clemency, shaking her head vaguely.
'I an't no lawyer.'
'I am afraid that if she was, Doctor,' said Mr. Snitchey, turning
to him suddenly, as if to anticipate any effect that might
otherwise be consequent on this retort, 'she'd find it to be the
golden rule of half her clients.
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