All the villagers knew his strong-and-weak point, and he rarely appeared amongst them without having various stones and imaginary curiosities presented to him, particularly by the young people.

Many of these stones found their way into his bag, and it was not to be wondered at that he had a somewhat round back, as he frequently carried a load upon it, that a beast of burden would not have rejoiced in.
He and Mrs Jonathan were a remarkable pair; one of those ill-assorted couples that you wonder at.

'How in the world did they come together ?' was the usual question, the philosophic reply to which would have been, that theirs was actually one of the 'Matches made in heaven.' The gentleman got money to enable him to follow the bent of his genius without anxiety for his daily bread, and therewith a stirring wife to take care of him and his house; the wife got her great desideratum, a husband, and therewith the desideratum of all women, her own way.
But we must return to Netta and the other belligerents.

As nothing more was to be made of her at present, they let her alone, perhaps the wisest thing they could do, and sat down to dinner.

Netta declined eating, and consequently was left to her own reflections.