We wants Abel Fletcher.

Where is 'um ?" "I shall certainly not tell you." As John said this again the noise arose, and again Jacob Baines seemed to have power to quiet the rest.
John Halifax never stirred.

Evidently he was pretty well known.

I caught many a stray sentence, such as "Don't hurt the lad."-- "He were kind to my lad, he were."-- "No, he be a real gentleman."-- "No, he comed here as poor as us," and the like.

At length one voice, sharp and shrill, was heard above the rest.
"I zay, young man, didst ever know what it was to be pretty nigh vamished ?" "Ay, many a time." The answer, so brief, so unexpected, struck a great hush into the throng.