I 'm sure I don't know; I never heard of anything so dreadful! My house is all I have.

But that is all Roderick will say.
We must be very economical." Before this speech was finished Mrs.Hudson's voice had begun to quaver softly, and her face, which had no capacity for the expression of superior wisdom, to look as humbly appealing as before.

Rowland turned to Roderick and spoke like a school-master.

"Come away from those statues, and sit down here and listen to me!" Roderick started, but obeyed with the most graceful docility.
"What do you propose to your mother to do ?" Rowland asked.
"Propose ?" said Roderick, absently.

"Oh, I propose nothing." The tone, the glance, the gesture with which this was said were horribly irritating (though obviously without the slightest intention of being so), and for an instant an imprecation rose to Rowland's lips.