"At twelve. And as I tell you, when you came it seemed to me a hundred."
"Tony," says Mr. Guppy after considering a little with his legs crossed, "he can't read yet, can he?"
"Read! He'll never read. He can make all the letters separately, and he knows most of them separately when he sees them; he has got on that much, under me; but he can't put them together. He's too old to acquire the knack of it now--and too drunk."
"Tony," says Mr. Guppy, uncrossing and recrossing his legs, "how do you suppose he spelt out that name of Hawdon?"

"Tony," says Mr. Guppy after considering a little, "he can't read yet, can he?"
"Read! He'll never read. He knows most of the letters separately, but he can't put them together. He's too old to acquire the knack now - and too drunk."
"Tony," says Mr. Guppy, "how do you suppose he spelt out that name of Hawdon?"
