'Did its mothers make it up a Bed then!' cried
Miss Slowboy to the Baby; 'and did its hair grow
brown and curly, when its caps was lifted off, and
frighten it, a precious Pets, a-sitting by the fires!'
With that unaccountable attraction of the mind to
trifles, which is often incidental to a state of doubt
and confusion, the Carrier, as he walked slowly to
and fro, found himself mentally repeating even these
absurd words, many times. So many times that he
got them by heart, and was still conning them over
and over, like a lesson, when Tilly, after administer-
ing as much friction to the little bald head with her
hand as she thought wholesome (according to the
practice of nurses), had once more tied the Baby's
cap on.
'And frighten it a precious pets, a-sitting by the
fires. What frightened Dot, I wonder!' mused the
Carrier, pacing to and fro.
He scouted, from his heart, the insinuations of the
Toy-merchant, and yet they filled him with a vague,
indefinite uneasiness. For, Tackleton was quick and
sly; and he had that painful sense, himself of being a
man of slow perception, that a broken hint was al-
ways worrying to him.
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