Poor people, indeed! Why, May, you know nothing about these things.

Failing, failing; why, my dear, that's nothing.

A New York merchant expects to fail, just as an English lord expects to have the gout.

It isn't exactly a pleasant thing, but it's extremely respectable.
Every body fails.

It's understood." "What's understood ?" asked May.
"Why, that business is a kind of game, and that every body runs for luck.
Oh, I know all about it, my dear! It's all a string of cards--as Colonel Burr used to say; and I think if any body knew the world he did--it's all a string of blocks.