You understand me ; that 's enough . It 's quite correct , ladies and gentlemen all , and perfectly satisfactory . Good morning ! '' With these words he carried it off , and carried himself off too : merely stopping at the door to take the flowers and favours from his horse 's head , and to kick that animal once in the ribs , as a means of informing him that there was a screw loose in his arrangements . Of course , it became a serious duty now to make such a day of it as should mark these events for a high Feast and Festival in the Peerybingle Calendar for evermore . Accordingly , Dot went to work to produce such an entertainment as should reflect undying honour on the house and on every one concerned ; and , in a very short space of time , she was up to her dimpled elbows in flour , and whitening the Carrier 's coat , every time he came near her , by stopping him to give him a kiss . That good fellow washed the greens , and peeled the turnips , and broke the plates , and upset iron pots full of cold water on the fire , and made himself useful in all sorts of ways : while a couple of professional assistants , hastily called in from somewhere in the neighbourhood , as on a point of life or death , ran against each other in all the doorways and round all the corners , and everybody tumbled over Tilly Slowboy and the Baby , everywhere . Tilly never came out in such force before . Her ubiquity was the theme of general admiration . She was a stumbling-block in the passage at five-and-twenty minutes past two ; a man-trap in the kitchen at half-past two precisely ; and a pitfall in the garret at five-and-twenty minutes to three . The Baby 's head was , as it were , a test and touchstone for every description of matter , animal , vegetable , and mineral . Nothing was in use that day that did n't come , at some time or other , into close acquaintance with it . Then there was a great Expedition set on foot to go and find out Mrs. Fielding ; and to be dismally penitent to that excellent gentlewoman ; and to bring her back , by force , if needful , to be happy and forgiving . And when the Expedition first discovered her , she would listen to no terms at all , but said , an unspeakable number of times , that ever she should have lived to see the day ! and could n't be got to say anything else , except `` Now carry me to the grave '' : which seemed absurd , on account of her not being dead , or anything at all like it . After a time she lapsed into a state of dreadful calmness , and observed that , when that unfortunate train of circumstances had occurred in the Indigo Trade , she had foreseen that she would be exposed , during her whole life , to every species of insult and contumely ; and that she was glad to find it was the case ; and begged they would n't trouble themselves about her , -- for what was she ? -- oh dear ! a nobody ! -- but would forget that such a being lived , and would take their course in life without her . From this bitterly sarcastic mood she passed into an angry one , in which she gave vent to the remarkable expression that the worm would turn if trodden on ; and , after that , she yielded to a soft regret , and said , if they had only given her their confidence , what might she not have had it in her power to suggest !
Taking advantage of this crisis in her feelings , the Expedition embraced her ; and she very soon had her gloves on , and was on her way to John XXXXX 's in a state of unimpeachable gentility ; with a paper parcel at her side containing a cap of state , almost as tall , and quite as stiff , as a mitre .
Peerybingle Slowboy Tilly Trade contumely day fire garret gentlewoman ubiquity