The mouths to feed were many--ravenous young mouths, too; and the wife, though anxious and well-meaning, was not the most thrifty in the world.

She liked gossiping better than thrift; but gossip was the most prevalent complaint of Clay Lane, so far as its female population was concerned.
"How long is it that you have been ill ?" asked Lionel, leaning his elbow on the mantel-piece, and looking down on Grind, Mrs.Grind having whisked away the pinafores.
"It's going along of four weeks, sir, now.

It's a illness, sir, I takes it, as must have its course." "All illnesses must have that, as I believe," said Lionel.

"Mine has taken its own time pretty well, has it not ?" Grind shook his head.
"You don't look none the better for your bout, sir.

And it's a long time you must have been a-getting strong.