I have only been waiting, for some time, for an opportunity.

I can't very well turn him out of his house without some excuse.
"What did you say was the name of the mill wright at Lewes Mrs.
Whitney was wanting to get her son with ?" The schoolmaster repeated the name, which the squire jotted down in a notebook.
"Look here, Shrewsbury," he said, "don't you mention to Mrs.
Whitney that you spoke to me about this matter.

Do you understand ?" "I understand, sir," the schoolmaster said.
And he was not surprised when, a few days afterwards, his wife received a letter from Mrs.Whitney, saying that Mr.Penfold had come in to say that he had changed his mind, and that he would take Reuben as his apprentice for twenty pounds; adding, to her surprise, that he should give him half a crown a week for the first year, and gradually raise his pay, as he considered that boys ought to be able to earn a little money for themselves.
Reuben, therefore, was going to work on the following week.

The half a crown a week which he was to earn was an important matter for his mother.

For although she had found a cottage and opened a little shop, as before, her receipts were extremely small, and she had already begun to fear that she should be obliged to make another move, Lewes being too well supplied with shops for a small concern like hers to flourish.