" Why, so they are, Uncle Venner, " remarked Phoebe after a pause; for she had been trying to fathom the profundity and appositeness of this concluding apothegm.
To this last apothegm poor Hepzibah responded with a sigh so deep and heavy that it almost rustled Uncle Venner quite away, like a withered leaf, —as he was, —before an autumnal gale.