242 ARGUING THE MATTES. 



a Doctor), 'Nobody, Mr. W ? Did you say no- 

 body ?' 



" ' Absolutely nobody,' said I. ' A perfect nonentity. 

 You are less even than a legal fiction.' 



" ' Look you/ said she, as she applied the whip to her 

 pony, in a way that brought him, with a bound, across the 

 road directly in fronts of me (she rode like a belted knight), 



obstructing my progress, ' Look you, Mr. W / and there 



was a red spot on her cheek, and her eye sparkled like 

 the sheen of a diamond, ' let us settle this matter now. I 

 can bear being of small consideration, occupying very little 

 space in the world, but to be stricken out of existence en- 

 tirely, to possess no legal identity, to be regarded as abso- 

 lutely nobody, is a thing I don't intend to stand mark that, 

 Mr. W .' 



" ' Keep cool, my dear,' said I ; 'let us argue this mat- 

 ter.' I was calm, for I knew the law was on my side ; I 

 had the books, and the courts, and the s'tatutes all in my 

 favor. I w3 fortified, you see. 



" ' Argue the matter ! J she exclaimed ; ' not till it is ad- 

 mitted that I'm somebody. If I'm nobody, I can't be argued 



with, I can't reason, nor talk. Now, Mr. W , Pve a 



tongue.' 



'"Gospel truth,' said I, 'whatever the authorities may 

 say. But we will admit, for the sake of the argument, that 

 you are somebody ; BLACKSTONE says ' 



" ' Out on BLACKSTONE,' she exclaimed ; ' what do I care 

 for BLACKSTONE, whose bones have been mouldering in the 



