Presently Mrs.Morel went out and strained the potatoes.
"They're ruined and black," she said; "but what do I care ?" Not many words were spoken.

Paul almost hated his mother for suffering because his father did not come home from work.
"What do you bother yourself for ?" he said.

"If he wants to stop and get drunk, why don't you let him ?" "Let him!" flashed Mrs.Morel.

"You may well say 'let him'." She knew that the man who stops on the way home from work is on a quick way to ruining himself and his home.

The children were yet young, and depended on the breadwinner.