People must be clothed, but they needn't read.' He was wise enough to stick to my words, and he made his fortune." "I suppose," said Mrs.Bertram, in a slow, meditative voice, "that a--um--merchant--in a small town like this, might, with care, realize, say, two or three thousand pounds." Mrs.Meadowsweet's eyes almost flashed.
"Two or three thousand!" she said, "dearie me, dearie me.

When people talk of fortunes, in Northbury, they _mean_ fortunes, Mrs.Bertram." "And your daughter will inherit ?" asked the hostess of her guest.
"There's full and plenty for me, Mrs.Bertram, and when Beatrice comes of age, or when she marries with her mother's approval, she'll have twenty thousand pounds.

Twenty thousand invested in the funds, that's her fortune, not bad for a shopkeeper's daughter, is it, Mrs.Bertram ?" Mrs.Bertram said that it was anything but bad, and she inwardly reflected on the best means of absolutely suppressing the memory of the shopkeeper, and how, by a little judicious training, she might induce Mrs.Meadowsweet to speak of her late partner as belonging to the roll of British merchants..