Nobody has ever expected any return from me, yet nothing was grudged.

Landladies, policemen, chorus girls, social bounders, prostitutes, the natural enemies, one would say, of such as I, have given me kindness, and often much that they could not easily spare, and always amusement and distraction...." "Ah, how you interest and excite me," said the witch, whose attention had been frankly wandering.

"You are exactly the sort of person we want in this house." "But--ill ?" said Sarah Brown pessimistically.

"Oh, witch, I have been so wearisome to every one, so constantly ill.

The first thing I get to know about a new hostess or a landlady is always the colour of her dressing-gown by candlelight, or whether she has one." "Illnesses are never bad here," said the witch.