He used to tell us he'd got a brother there, doin' well.

P'r'aps it wasn't true.' 'Yes, it was true,' replied the old man coldly.

'But you haven't told me what came to pass about the child.' An exact report of all that Mrs.Peckover had to say on this subject would occupy more space than it merits.

The gist of it was that for less than a year she had received certain stipulated sums irregularly; that at length no money at all was forthcoming; that in the tenderness of her heart she had still entertained the child, sent her to school, privately instructed her in the domestic virtues, trusting that such humanity would not lack even its material reward, and that either Joseph Snowdon or someone akin to him would ultimately make good to her the expenses she had not grudged.
'She's a child as pays you back for all the trouble you take, so much I _will_ say for her,' observed the matron in conclusion.

'Not as it hasn't been a little 'ard to teach her tidiness, but she's only a young thing still.