In food and clothing and the common expenses of a civilised man, he pinched remorselessly; there was no choice.

His lodgings cost him very little; but Mrs.Wick, whose profound suspiciousness was allied with unperfect honesty, now and then made paltry overcharges in her bill, and he was angry with himself for his want of courage to resist them.

It meant only a shilling or two, but retail trade had taught him the importance of shillings.

He had to remind himself that, if he was poor, his landlady was poorer still, and that in cheating him she did but follow the traditions of her class.

To debate an excess of sixpence for paraffin, of ninepence for bacon, would have made him flush and grind his teeth for hours afterwards; but he noticed the effect upon himself of the new habit of niggardliness--how it disposed him to acerbity of temper.