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192
LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES
“Well, as for Longpuddle, we rub on there much as usual. Old figures have dropped out o’ their frames, so to speak it, and new ones have been put in their places. You mentioned Tony Kytes as having been the one to drive your family and your goods to Casterbridge in his father’s wagon when you left. Tony is, I believe, living still, but not at Longpuddle. He went away and settled at Lewgate, near Mellstock, after hia marriage. Ah, Tony was a sort o’ man !”
“ His character had hardly come out when I knew him.”
“No. But 'twas well enough, as far aa that goes—except as to women. I shall never forget bis courting—never!”
‘The returned villager waited silently, and the carrier wont on:
