Page:Eliot - Daniel Deronda, vol. I, 1876.djvu/63

 no more expense than an ordinary house at Wancester would have done.

"And it is always worth while to make a little sacrifice for a good style of house," said Mr Gascoigne, in his easy, pleasantly confident tone, which made the world in general seem a very manageable place of residence. "Especially where there is only a lady at the head. All the best people will call upon you; and you need give no expensive dinners. Of course I have to spend a good deal in that way; it is a large item. But then I get my house for nothing. If I had to pay three hundred a-year for my house I could not keep a table. My boys are too great a drain on me. You are better off than we are, in proportion; there is no great drain on you now, after your house and carriage."

"I assure you, Fanny, now the children are growing up, I am obliged to cut and contrive," said Mrs Gascoigne. "I am not a good manager by nature, but Henry has taught me. He is wonderful for making the best of everything; he allows himself no extras, and gets his curates for nothing. It is rather hard that he has not been made a prebendary or something, as others have been, considering the friends he has made, and the need there is for men of moderate opinions in all