Father never called me afore he went out.

No doubt he had a drop too much last night." She went flying up the gravel-path as she spoke.

Her father was the man Jones whom you saw at the railway station; her step-mother (for her own mother was dead) was Mrs.Gum's cousin.
She was a sort of stray sheep, this girl, in the eyes of Calne, not belonging very much to any one; her father habitually neglected her, her step-mother had twice turned her out of doors.

Some three or four months ago, when Mrs.Gum was changing her servant, she had consented to try this girl.

Jabez Gum knew nothing of the arrangement until it was concluded, and disapproved of it.