He's not taken a saucepan yet, nor a flat-iron, I know; but there's everything else, Martha; and I don't mind telling you in confidence I'm thinking of giving you a flat-iron myself as a wedding present, so you needn't wait till he comes for that." "Get out with you!" said Martha again, thrusting the broom-head right into his face, and nearly choking him with dust.

"It's a limb of the old gentleman himself you are." Away in the loft things were getting very comfortable.
A couple of rugs hung on the walls kept out the draught.

Judy's bed, soft and warm, was in a corner; she had a chair to sit in, a table to eat at, even a basin in which to perform her ablutions.
And she had company all day; and nearly always all night.

Once Meg had stolen away, after fastening her bedroom door, and had shared the bed in the loft; once Nellie had gone, and the other night Pip had taken a couple of blankets and made himself a shakedown among the straw.
They used to pay her visits at all hours of the day, creeping up the creaking ladder one after the other, whenever they could get away unnoticed.
The governess had, as it happened, a fortnight's holiday, to nurse a sick mother, so the girls and Bunty had no demands on their time.

Pip used to go to school late and come back early, cajoling notes of excuse, whenever, possible, out of Esther.