 door, he
raised his eyes, picked up his hat, and thus addressed him:
    »Mr. Chuzzlewit, sir! you have partaken of my hospitality.«
    »And paid for it,« he observed.
    »Thank you. That savours,« said Mr. Pecksniff, taking out his
pocket-handkerchief, »of your old familiar frankness. You have paid for it. I
was about to make the remark. You have deceived me, sir. Thank you again. I am
glad of it. To see you in the possession of your health and faculties on any
terms, is, in itself, a sufficient recompense. To have been deceived, implies a
trusting nature. Mine is a trusting nature. I am thankful for it. I would rather
have a trusting nature, do you know, sir, than a doubting one!«
    Here Mr. Pecksniff, with a sad smile, bowed, and wiped his eyes.
    »There is hardly any person present, Mr. Chuzzlewit,« said Pecksniff, »by
whom I have not been deceived. I have forgiven those persons on the spot. That
was my duty; and, of course, I have done it. Whether it was worthy of you to
partake of my hospitality, and to act the part you did act in my house, that,
sir, is a question which I leave to your own conscience. And your conscience
does not acquit you. No, sir, no!«
    Pronouncing these last words in a loud and solemn voice, Mr. Pecksniff was
not so absolutely lost in his own fervour as to be unmindful of the expediency
of getting a little nearer to the door.
    »I have been struck this day,« said Mr. Pecksniff, »with a walking-stick
(which I have every reason to believe has knobs upon it), on that delicate and
exquisite portion of the human anatomy, the brain. Several blows have been
inflicted, sir, without a walking-stick, upon that tenderer portion of my frame:
my heart. You have mentioned, sir, my being bankrupt in my purse. Yes, sir, I
am. By an unfortunate speculation, combined with treachery, I find myself
reduced to poverty; at a time, sir, when the child of my bosom is widowed, and
affliction and disgrace are in my family.«
    Here Mr. Pecksniff wiped his eyes again, and gave himself two or three
little knocks upon the breast, as if he were answering two or three other little
knocks from within, given by the tinkling hammer of
