"
"But contrariwise," Billy resumed, "it must be stronger than I
reckoned, for here I be safe, as you may say, and here I should be
grateful; whereas I bain't, and, what's more, my appetite's failin'.
Be you goin' to give me something for it?" he asked, as Mr. Badcock
dived a hand suddenly into a tail pocket and drew forth what at first
appeared to be the neck of a bottle, but to closer view revealed
itself as the upper half of a flute. A second dive produced the
remainder.
"Good Lord! Badcock has another accomplishment!" ejaculated Mr. Fett.
"The gift of music," said Mr. Badcock, screwing the two portions of
the instrument together, "is born in some. The great Batch--John
Sebastian Batch, gentlemen--as I am credibly informed, composed a
fugue in his bed at the tender age of four."
"He was old enough to have given his nurse warning," said Mr. Fett.
"With me," pursued Mr. Badcock, modestly, "it has been the result of
later and (I will not conceal the truth, sirs) more assiduous
cultivation. This instrument"--he tapped it affectionately--"came to
me in the ordinary way of trade and lay unredeemed in my shop for no
less than eight years; nor when exposed for sale could it tempt a
purchaser.
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