Death is--' A sudden recollection of the death of her two parents seemed to stop him, and he said in a softer tone, and evidently inserting the negative as an after-thought: 'Death is _not_ pounds, shillings, and pence.' His voice was as hard and dry as himself, and Fancy might have ground it straight, like himself, into high-dried snuff.

And yet, through the very limited means of expression that he possessed, he seemed to express kindness.

If Nature had but finished him off, kindness might have been recognisable in his face at this moment.

But if the notches in his forehead wouldn't fuse together, and if his face would work and couldn't play, what could he do, poor man! '"Pounds, shillings, and pence." You find your allowance always sufficient for your wants, my dear ?' Rosa wanted for nothing, and therefore it was ample.
'And you are not in debt ?' Rosa laughed at the idea of being in debt.

It seemed, to her inexperience, a comical vagary of the imagination.