But of a sudden her words seemed to strike him, and he looked up round-eyed.
"You ain't tellin' me _you_ put this in 'Ucks's mind ?" "'Course I did," owned Tilda proudly.
"An' got me sent to Stratford-on-Avon!" Mr.Bossom added.

"Me that stood your friend when _you_ was in a tight place!" "No, I didn'.

It was 'Ucks that mentioned Stratford--said you'd find a cargo of beer there, which sounded all right: an' Mortimer jumped at it soon as ever he 'eard the name.

Mortimer said it was the dream of his youth an' the perspiration of his something else--I can't tell the ezact words; but when he talked like that, how was I to guess there was anything wrong with the place ?" "There ain't anything wrong wi' the _place_, that I know by," Mr.Bossom admitted.
"But I remember another thing he said, because it sounded to me even funnier.

He said, 'Sweet swan of Avon upon the banks of Thames, that did so please Eliza and our James.' Now what did he mean by that ?" Mr.Bossom considered and shook his head.
"Some bank-'oliday couple, I reckon; friends of his, maybe.