everything had been satisfactory to all parties - all parties - satisfactory,
sir, to all parties.«
    The Dock of the Steam-Tug, Pancks, had a leaden roof, which, frying in the
very hot sunshine, may have heated the vessel. Be that as it may, one glowing
Saturday evening, on being hailed by the lumbering bottle-green ship, the Tug
instantly came working out of the Dock in a highly heated condition.
    »Mr. Pancks,« was the Patriarchal remark, »you have been remiss, you have
been remiss, sir.«
    »What do you mean by that?« was the short rejoinder.
    The Patriarchal state, always a state of calmness and composure, was so
particularly serene that evening as to be provoking. Everybody else within the
bills of mortality was hot; but the Patriarch was perfectly cool. Everybody was
thirsty, and the Patriarch was drinking. There was a fragrance of limes or
lemons about him; and he had made a drink of golden sherry, which shone in a
large tumbler, as if he were drinking the evening sunshine. This was bad, but
not the worst. The worst was, that with his big blue eyes, and his polished
head, and his long white hair, and his bottle-green legs stretched out before
him, terminating in his easy shoes easily crossed at the instep, he had a
radiant appearance of having in his extensive benevolence made the drink for the
human species, while he himself wanted nothing but his own milk of human
kindness.
    Wherefore, Mr. Pancks said, »What do you mean by that?« and put his hair up
with both hands, in a highly portentous manner.
    »I mean, Mr. Pancks, that you must be sharper with the people, sharper with
the people, much sharper with the people, sir. You don't squeeze them. You don't
squeeze them. Your receipts are not up to the mark. You must squeeze them, sir,
or our connection will not continue to be as satisfactory as I could wish it to
be, to all parties. All parties.«
    »Don't I squeeze 'em?« retorted Mr. Pancks. »What else am I made for?«
    »You are made for nothing else, Mr. Pancks. You are made to do your duty,
but you don't do your duty. You are paid to squeeze, and you must squeeze to
pay.« The Patriarch so much surprised himself by this brilliant turn, after Dr.
Johnson, which he