She wouldn't eat much," said Pollyooly in a tone of cheerful serenity.
"Out of the exiguous wages Mr.Gedge-Tomkins and I pay you ?" "Yes, sir.

I can do it quite well," said Pollyooly confidently; and then she added hopefully: "And perhaps it wouldn't be for long." "On the other hand it may be for years and it may be forever," said the Honourable John Ruffin in a despondent tone.
"Oh, no, sir: I'm sure it wouldn't be as long as that," said Pollyooly confidently.
The Honourable John Ruffin looked at her earnest, anxious pleading face for half a minute.

Then he said: "Let's get it quite exact: you want to saddle yourself with the maintenance of a little girl for weeks, or it may be months, or even years, just to save her from the chief of England's representative institutions ?" Pollyooly's anxious frown grew deeper as she said: "From the workhouse?
Yes, sir." "Where shall the watchful sun, England, my England, Match the master-work you've done, England my own ?" quoted the Honourable John Ruffin with deep feeling.

Then he added sententiously: "Well, we must by no means check the generous impulses of the young.

But before I decide I should like to see your protegee.
I take it that she does not rise to those heights of cleanliness at which you maintain yourself and the Lump; but does she display sufficient of our chief English virtue ?" "Oh, yes, sir: I couldn't have her about with the Lump if she wasn't," said Pollyooly firmly.