--And pray, said my uncle _Toby_, leaning upon _Yorick_, as he and my father were helping him leisurely down the stairs----don't be terrified, madam, this stair-case conversation is not so long as the last ----And pray, _Yorick_, said my uncle _Toby_, which way is this said affair of _Tristram_ at length settled by these learned men? Very satisfactorily, replied _Yorick_; no mortal, Sir, has any concern with it----for Mrs. _Shandy_ the mother is nothing at all a-kin to him----and as the mother's is the surest side ----Mr. _Shandy_, in course, is still less than nothing ------In short, he is not as much a-kin to him, Sir, as I am.----
----That may well be, said my father, shaking his head.
----Let the learned say what they will, there must certainly, quoth my uncle _Toby_, have been some sort of consanguinity betwixt the duchess of _Suffolk_ and her son.
The vulgar are of the same opinion, quoth _Yorick_, to this hour.
'And pray,' said my uncle Toby, leaning upon Yorick, as he and my father were helping him down the stairs - don't be terrified, madam, this staircase conversation is not so long as the last - 'And pray, Yorick,' said my uncle, 'which way is this affair of Tristram at length settled by these learned men?'
'Very satisfactorily,' replied Yorick; 'no mortal, Sir, has any concern with it - for Mrs. Shandy the mother is nothing at all a-kin to him - and as the mother's is the surest side, Mr. Shandy is even less than nothing.'
'That may well be,' said my father, shaking his head.
'Let the learned say what they will, there must certainly,' quoth my uncle Toby, 'have been some shared blood betwixt the duchess of Suffolk and her son.'
'The vulgar are of the same opinion,' quoth Yorick, 'to this hour.'