 or I shouldn't have called you one.
We should not have been there at all, if we had not been hypocrites. The only
difference between you and the rest was - shall I tell you the difference
between you and the rest now, Pecksniff?«
    »If you please, my good sir; if you please.«
    »Why, the annoying quality in you, is,« said the old man, »that you never
have a confederate or partner in your juggling; you would deceive everybody,
even those who practise the same art; and have a way with you, as if you - he,
he, he! - as if you really believed yourself. I'd lay a handsome wager now,«
said the old man, »if I laid wagers, which I don't and never did, that you keep
up appearances by a tacit understanding, even before your own daughters here.
Now I, when I have a business scheme in hand, tell Jonas what it is, and we
discuss it openly. You're not offended, Pecksniff?«
    »Offended, my good sir!« cried that gentleman, as if he had received the
highest compliments that language could convey.
    »Are you travelling to London, Mr. Pecksniff?« asked the son.
    »Yes, Mr. Jonas, we are travelling to London. We shall have the pleasure of
your company all the way, I trust?«
    »Oh! ecod, you had better ask father that,« said Jonas. »I am not a going to
commit myself.«
    Mr. Pecksniff was, as a matter of course, greatly entertained by this retort
His mirth having subsided, Mr. Jonas gave him to understand that himself and
parent were in fact travelling to their home in the metropolis: and that, since
the memorable day of the great family gathering, they had been tarrying in that
part of the country, watching the sale of certain eligible investments, which
they had had in their copartnership eye when they came down; for it was their
custom, Mr. Jonas said, whenever such a thing was practicable, to kill two birds
with one stone, and never to throw away sprats, but as bait for whales. When he
had communicated to Mr. Pecksniff these pithy scraps of intelligence, he said,
»That if it was all the same to him, he would turn him over to father, and have
a chat with the gals;« and in furtherance of this polite scheme, he vacated his
seat adjoining that gentleman, and
