Don't thank me, Hardy, in case you break down.

She's a very nice girl, and if she had been born twenty years earlier, or I had been born twenty years later, or you hadn't been born at all, there's no saying what might not have happened." "When I want you to interfere in my business," said Hardy, working sedulously, "I'll let you know." "Very good," replied Swann; "still, remember Thursdays, seven to nine." "Thursdays," said Hardy, incautiously; "why, you said Fridays just now." Mr.Swann made no reply.

His nose was immersed in the folds of a large handkerchief, and his eyes watered profusely behind his glasses.

It was some minutes before he had regained his normal composure, and even then the sensitive nerves of his partner were offended by an occasional belated chuckle.
Although by dint of casual and cautious inquiries Mr.Hardy found that his partner's information was correct, he was by no means guilty of any feelings of gratitude towards him; and he only glared scornfully when that excellent but frivolous man mounted a chair on Friday afternoon, and putting the clock on a couple of hours or so, urged him to be in time.
The evening, however, found him starting slowly in the direction of Fullalove Alley.

His father had gone to sea again, and the house was very dull; moreover, he felt a mild curiosity to see the changes wrought by time in Mr.Wilks.