They carry it on at Windsor, your father says.'
"Pistol gives Target a wink, for they are honouring the party by their
company, though the mother of one keeps a lodging-house at Bath, and
the father of the other makes real genuine East India curry in London.
They look down on the whole of the townspeople. It is natural; pot
always calls kettle an ugly name.
"'No, Ma,' sais Di--all the girls address her as Di; ain't it a pretty
abbreviation for a die-away young lady? But she is not a die-away
lass; she is more of a Di Vernon. 'No, Ma,' sais Di, 'gipsey--ing,
what a hard word it is! Mr Russel says it's what they call these
parties in England. It is so like the gipsy life.'
"'There is one point,' sais Pistol, 'in which they differ.'
"'What's that?' sais Di.
"'Do you give it up?'
"'Yes.'
"'There the gipsy girls steal poultry; and here they steal hearts,'
and he puts his left hand by mistake on his breast, not knowing that
the pulsation there indicates that his lungs, and not his gizzard is
affected, and that he is broken-winded, and not broken-hearted.
"'Very good,' every one sais; but still every one hasn't heard it, so
it has to be repeated; and what is worse, as the habits of the gipsies
are not known to all, the point has to be explained.
"Target sais, 'He will send it to the paper, and put Trigger's name to
it,' and Pistol says, 'That is capital, for if he calls you out, he
can't hit you,' and there is a joyous laugh.
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