'All right,' said I--for, of course, I know how much virtue there is under _their_ skins.

Virtue of the lower orders! Tell that to gentlefolks that don't know them.

I do.

I've been one of 'em--'I know all about that,' says I.'You want to share the plunder, that is the sense of your virtuous cry.' So I had 'em up here; and then there was no more virtuous howling, but a deal of virtuous thieving, and modest drinking, and pure-minded selling of my street-door to the highest male bidder.

And they will corrupt the boy; and if they do, I'll cuts their black hearts out with my riding-whip.
But I suppose I must keep them on; they are my own flesh and blood; and if I was to be ill and dying, they'd do all they knew to keep me alive--for their own sakes.