 the
circumstances; but it might wear an appearance of hurry, and I will not do it;
for I am,« said Mr. Pecksniff, knocking down another penny, »perfectly
self-possessed. Therefore I will say to you, what I have already said to Mr.
Chuzzlewit.«
    Tom glanced at the old gentleman, who nodded now and then as approving of
Mr. Pecksniff's sentences and sentiments, but interposed between them in no
other way.
    »From fragments of a conversation which I overheard in the church, just now,
Mr. Pinch,« said Pecksniff, »between yourself and Miss Graham - I say fragments,
because I was slumbering at a considerable distance from you, when I was roused
by your voices - and from what I saw, I ascertained (I would have given a great
deal not to have ascertained, Mr. Pinch) that you, forgetful of all ties of duty
and of honour, sir; regardless of the sacred laws of hospitality, to which you
were pledged as an inmate of this house; have presumed to address Miss Graham
with un-returned professions of attachment and proposals of love.«
    Tom looked at him steadily.
    »Do you deny it, sir?« asked Mr. Pecksniff, dropping one pound two and
fourpence, and making a great business of picking it up again.
    »No, sir,« replied Tom. »I do not.«
    »You do not,« said Mr. Pecksniff, glancing at the old gentleman. »Oblige me
by counting this money, Mr. Pinch, and putting your name to this receipt. You do
not?«
    No, Tom did not. He scorned to deny it. He saw that Mr. Pecksniff having
overheard his own disgrace, cared not a jot for sinking lower yet in his
contempt. He saw that he had devised this fiction as the readiest means of
getting rid of him at once, but that it must end in that any way. He saw that
Mr. Pecksniff reckoned on his not denying it, because his doing so and
explaining, would incense the old man more than ever against Martin, and against
Mary: while Pecksniff himself would only have been mistaken in his fragments.
Deny it! No.
    »You find the amount correct, do you, Mr. Pinch?« said Pecksniff.
    »Quite correct, sir,« answered Tom.
    »A person is waiting in the kitchen,« said Mr. Pecksniff, »to carry your
luggage wherever you please. We part, Mr. Pinch, at once, and
