But you know what I know, Jack, and it may not be so very easy as it seems, after all.

May it, Pussy ?' To the portrait, with a snap of his thumb and finger.

'We have got to hit it off yet; haven't we, Pussy?
You know what I mean, Jack.' [Picture: On dangerous ground] His speech has become thick and indistinct.

Jasper, quiet and self-possessed, looks to Neville, as expecting his answer or comment.
When Neville speaks, _his_ speech is also thick and indistinct.
'It might have been better for Mr.Drood to have known some hardships,' he says, defiantly.
'Pray,' retorts Edwin, turning merely his eyes in that direction, 'pray why might it have been better for Mr.Drood to have known some hardships ?' 'Ay,' Jasper assents, with an air of interest; 'let us know why ?' 'Because they might have made him more sensible,' says Neville, 'of good fortune that is not by any means necessarily the result of his own merits.' Mr.Jasper quickly looks to his nephew for his rejoinder.
'Have _you_ known hardships, may I ask ?' says Edwin Drood, sitting upright.
Mr.Jasper quickly looks to the other for his retort.
'I have.' 'And what have they made you sensible of ?' Mr.Jasper's play of eyes between the two holds good throughout the dialogue, to the end.
'I have told you once before to-night.' 'You have done nothing of the sort.' 'I tell you I have.

That you take a great deal too much upon yourself.' 'You added something else to that, if I remember ?' 'Yes, I did say something else.' 'Say it again.' 'I said that in the part of the world I come from, you would be called to account for it.' 'Only there ?' cries Edwin Drood, with a contemptuous laugh.