It was very provoking, he was absent-
minded, and forgot his usual pinch before he sat down to his meal. For
three-quarters of an hour his wife was afflicted with painfully uneasy
impatience, and found it very difficult to reply to Mr. Cobb's
occasional remarks. At last the cheese was finished, the snuff-box
appeared, and after it the handkerchief.
"A pretty mess that handkerchief is in, Cobb." She always called him
simply "Cobb."
"Yes, it was an a-a-accident. I must have a clean one. I didn't think
it was so dirty."
"The washing of your snuffy handkerchiefs costs quite enough as it is,
Cobb, without using them in that way."
"What way?" said Mr. Cobb weakly.
"Oh, I saw it all, going out without your hat and standing there like a
silly fool cleaning that bit of paper. I wonder what the lightermen
thought of you."
It will already have been noticed that the question what other people
thought was always the test which was put in Langborough whenever
anything was done or anything happened not in accordance with the usual
routine, and Mrs.
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