She despised people poorer than herself, and thought it a fair subject for boasting that her children always had meat for dinner.

If it was ever so small a morsel, she took care that they had it, in order that the boast might be maintained.

The world had once or twice been almost too much for her,--when, for instance, her husband had been ill; and again, to tell the truth, for the last three months of that long period in which Phineas had omitted to pay his bills; but she had kept a fine brave heart during those troubles, and could honestly swear that the children always had a bit of meat, though she herself had been occasionally without it for days together.

At such times she would be more than ordinarily meek to Mr.Margin, and especially courteous to the old lady who lodged in her first-floor drawing-room,--for Phineas lived up two pairs of stairs,--and she would excuse such servility by declaring that there was no knowing how soon she might want assistance.

But her husband, in such emergencies, would become furious and quarrelsome, and would declare that Labour was going to the wall, and that something very strong must be done at once.