140 MY LIFE 



what he was driving at. Mrs. Wright, on the other hand, was 

 a great and rather voluble talker, and she would often inter- 

 pose with, " Now, Samiwell, you don't tell that right," and, of 

 course, that would only lengthen out the story. She was a very 

 active woman, a great scrubber and cleaner, and unusually 

 fond of fresh air; but these good qualities were sometimes 

 inconvenient, as we all sat in a small room behind the shop, 

 which had three or four doors in it, which we usually found 

 open, and had to shut every time we came in. There was, 

 in fact, such a constant draught in this room that I jokingly 

 suggested a small windmill being put up, which might be 

 used to grind coffee, but she always said that it was the 

 warmest room in the house. Mr. Wright also seemed to 

 enjoy fresh air and water to an unusual degree in those days, 

 for early every morning, winter and summer, he would come 

 down undressed into his little back yard, and there pour cold 

 water all over his body, then scrub himself with a rough 

 towel, put on his underclothing, and return upstairs to finish 

 his toilet. But Mrs. Wright was an excellent cook, and 

 gave us very good meals, and the alderman was very good- 

 natured, let me look on while he cleaned and repaired guns, 

 and once, when I went with some friends to shoot young 

 rooks, he lent me an excellent double-barrelled gun for the 

 occasion ; and these good qualities made up for the little 

 eccentricities of both of them, who, though so different in 

 some respects, were evidently very attached to each other, 

 and never quarrelled. Mrs. Wright used to be fond of saying 

 how dreadful it would be if Samiwell should die first after 

 they had lived together so many years. 



Our employers, two brothers, were also well-contrasted 

 characters. The elder, Mr. Morris Sayce, was a rather tall, 

 grey-haired man of serious aspect and rather silent and un- 

 communicative manner. He, I believe, devoted himself 

 chiefly to valuations and estate agency. The younger partner, 

 Mr. William Sayce, was a small, active, dark-haired man, 

 rather talkative and fond of a joke, and as he attended to the 

 surveying business, we saw most of him, and found him a 

 pleasant superior. Both were married and had families of 



