Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/111

 poor, least original and least articulate beings within the confines of civilisation—has also to do duty for friendly emphasis. "If Mrs. Peckover can't afford to do things respectable, who can?"

And the speaker looked defiantly about her, as if daring contradiction. But only approving murmurs replied. Mrs. Peckover had, in fact, the reputation of being wealthy; she was always inheriting, always accumulating what her friends called "interess," never expending as other people needs must. The lodgings she let enabled her to live rent-free and rate-free. Clem's earnings at an artificial-flower factory more than paid for that young lady's board and clothing; and all other outlay was not worth mentioning as a deduction from the income created by her sundry investments. Her husband—ten years deceased—had been a "moulder;" he earned on an average between three and four pounds a week, and was so prudently disposed that, for the last decade of his life, he made it a rule never to spend a farthing of