His speeches sunk below par along with himself; and the
pedler, in his contumelious treatment of the disconsolate jurist, simply
obeyed and indicated the direction of the popular opinion. One or two
rude replies, and a nudge which the elbow of Bunce, effected in the ribs
of the lawyer, did provoke the latter so far as to repeat his threat on
the subject of the prosecution for the horse; but the pedler snapped his
fingers in his face as he did so, and bade him defiance. He also
reminded Pippin of the certain malfeasances to which he had referred
previously, and the consciousness of the truth was sufficiently strong
and awkward to prevent his proceeding to any further measure of disquiet
with the offender. Thus, without fear, and with an audacity of which he
was not a little proud, Bunce perambulated the village and its
neighborhood, in a mood and with a deportment he had never ventured upon
before in that quarter.
He had a variety of reasons for lingering in the village seemingly in a
state of idleness.
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