Both the cooper and his wife had an instinctive foreboding as to his visit.
He came in, rubbing his hands in a social way, as was his custom.

No one, to look at him, would have suspected the hardness of heart that lay veiled under his velvety softness of manner.
"Good-evening, Mr.Harding," he said, affably.

"I trust you and your excellent wife are in good health." "That blessing, at least, is continued to us," said the cooper, gravely.
"And how comfortable you're looking, too, eh! It makes an old bachelor like me feel lonesome when he contrasts his own solitary room with such a scene of comfort as this.

You've got a comfortable home, and dog cheap, too.

All my other tenants are grumbling to think you don't have to pay any more for such superior accommodations.