The captain's arguments, too, had produced considerable effect: the attempted influence of the vestry produced a greater.

A threat of exclusive dealing was clearly established against the vestry-clerk--a case of heartless and profligate atrocity.

It appeared that the delinquent had been in the habit of purchasing six penn'orth of muffins, weekly, from an old woman who rents a small house in the parish, and resides among the original settlers; on her last weekly visit, a message was conveyed to her through the medium of the cook, couched in mysterious terms, but indicating with sufficient clearness, that the vestry-clerk's appetite for muffins, in future, depended entirely on her vote on the beadleship.

This was sufficient: the stream had been turning previously, and the impulse thus administered directed its final course.

The Bung party ordered one shilling's-worth of muffins weekly for the remainder of the old woman's natural life; the parishioners were loud in their exclamations; and the fate of Spruggins was sealed.
It was in vain that the twins were exhibited in dresses of the same pattern, and night-caps, to match, at the church door: the boy in Mrs.
Spruggins's right arm, and the girl in her left--even Mrs.Spruggins herself failed to be an object of sympathy any longer.