Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/52

 Bob, he's that wasteful with his money; an’ now he talks about goin’ an’ gettin’ a room in another ’ouse, when he might just as well make all the savin' he can. But no, that ain't his idea, nor yet his sister’s. I suppose it's their mother as they take after, though their father he won't own to it, an' I don't blame him for not speakin' ill of her as is gone. I should be that wretched if I thought my own was goin' to turn out the same. But there's John, he ain't a wasteful man; no one can't say it of him. He's got his fancies, but they've never made him selfish to others, as well you know, Sidney. He's been the best 'usband to me as ever a poor woman had, an' I'll say it with my last breath."

She cried pitifully for a few moments. Sidney, mastering his own wretchedness, which he could not altogether conceal, made attempts to strengthen her.

"When things are at the worst they begin to mend," he said. "It can't be much longer before he gets work. And look here, Mrs. Hewett, I won't hear a word against it; you