" A very solid breakfast followed,
and business began. It was very slow, but it was very human--much
more so than business at the present day in the City. Every customer
had something to say beyond his own immediate errand, and the shop
was the place where everything touching Cowfold interests was
abundantly discussed. Cowfold too, did much trade in the country
round it. Most of the inhabitants kept a gig, and two or three
times, perhaps, in a week a journey somewhere or other was necessary
which was not in the least like a journey in a railway train. Debts
in the villages were collected by the creditor in person, who called
and invited his debtors to a most substantial dinner at the inn. At
one o'clock Cowfold dined. Between one and two nobody was to be seen
in the streets, and the doors were either fastened or a bell was put
upon them. After dinner the same duties returned in the shop; but
inside the house dinner was the turning-point of the day. When the
"things were washed, up," servant and mistress began to smarten
themselves, and disappearing into their bedrooms, emerged at four, to
make preparations for tea, the meal most enjoyed in all Cowfold.
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