It was idle to say more, so I proposed that we should join Ada and Richard, who were a little in advance, and I gave up Mr. Skimpole in despair. He had been over the Hall in the course of the morning and whimsically described the family pictures as we walked. There were such portentous shepherdesses among the Ladies Dedlock dead and gone, he told us, that peaceful crooks became weapons of assault in their hands. They tended their flocks severely in buckram and powder and put their sticking-plaster patches on to terrify commoners as the chiefs of some other tribes put on their war-paint. There was a Sir Somebody Dedlock, with a battle, a sprung-mine, volumes of smoke, flashes of lightning, a town on fire, and a stormed fort, all in full action between his horse's two hind legs, showing, he supposed, how little a Dedlock made of such trifles. The whole race he represented as having evidently been, in life, what he called "stuffed people"--a large collection, glassy eyed, set up in the most approved manner on their various twigs and perches, very correct, perfectly free from animation, and always in glass cases.
I was not so easy now during any reference to the name but that I felt it a relief when Richard, with an exclamation of surprise, hurried away to meet a stranger whom he first descried coming slowly towards us.
"Dear me!" said Mr. Skimpole. "Vholes!"

It was idle to say more, so I gave up in despair, and we joined Ada and Richard, walking ahead of us. Mr. Skimpole had been over the Hall in the morning and whimsically described the family pictures as we walked. There were such portentous shepherdesses among the past Ladies Dedlock, he told us, that peaceful crooks became weapons of assault in their hands; and a Sir Somebody Dedlock had a battle, volumes of smoke, flashes of lightning and a town on fire behind him.
I was uneasy now at any reference to the name of Dedlock, and felt it a relief when Richard, with an exclamation of surprise, hurried away to meet a stranger coming slowly towards us.
"Dear me!" said Mr. Skimpole. "Vholes!"
