Page:Eliot - Felix Holt, the Radical, vol. I, 1866.djvu/144

134 in the face; but pray excuse me, I have a wife and children—I must lie and simper a little, else they'll starve;' or, 'My wife is nice, she must have her bread well buttered, and her feelings will be hurt if she is not thought genteel.' That is the lot Miss Esther is preparing for some man or other. I could grind my teeth at such self-satisfied minxes, who think they can tell everybody what is the correct thing, and the utmost stretch of their ideas will not place them on a level with the intelligent fleas. I should like to see if she could be made ashamed of herself."