"'Compadre, said she, in the Andalusian fashion, 'won't you give me your chain for the keys of my strong box? "'It's for my priming-pin, said I. "'Your priming-pin! she cried, with a laugh. 'Oho! I suppose the gentleman makes lace, as he wants pins! "Everybody began to laugh, and I felt myself getting red in the face, and couldn't hit on anything in answer.

I was making a chain to hold my priming-pin, out of a bit of wire: all at once, my comrades said, 'there's the bell ringing, the girls are coming back to work. You must know, sir, that there are quite four or five hundred women employed in the factory.