'Mrs Quilp, pray ask the ladies to stop to supper, and have a couple of lobsters and something light and palatable.' 'I--I--didn't ask them to tea, Quilp,' stammered his wife.

It's quite an accident.' 'So much the better, Mrs Quilp; these accidental parties are always the pleasantest,' said the dwarf, rubbing his hands so hard that he seemed to be engaged in manufacturing, of the dirt with which they were encrusted, little charges for popguns.

'What! Not going, ladies, you are not going, surely!' His fair enemies tossed their heads slightly as they sought their respective bonnets and shawls, but left all verbal contention to Mrs Jiniwin, who finding herself in the position of champion, made a faint struggle to sustain the character.
'And why not stop to supper, Quilp,' said the old lady, 'if my daughter had a mind ?' 'To be sure,' rejoined Daniel.

'Why not ?' 'There's nothing dishonest or wrong in a supper, I hope ?' said Mrs Jiniwin.
'Surely not,' returned the dwarf.

'Why should there be?
Nor anything unwholesome, either, unless there's lobster-salad or prawns, which I'm told are not good for digestion.' 'And you wouldn't like your wife to be attacked with that, or anything else that would make her uneasy would you ?' said Mrs Jiniwin.
'Not for a score of worlds,' replied the dwarf with a grin.