Page:Romance & Reality 3.pdf/122

120 "You should go into the kitchens here," resumed Mrs. Higgs. Poor woman! her daughters never allowed her to talk, for fear of her disgracing them—so, as she herself used to observe, a little rational conversation did her good. "You've no notion of the dirt, or you'd never eat nothing: but dear, dear! I dare-say you don't take on about these things yet—you must when you're married. I mind what the Bible says, 'a virtuous woman's a crown to her husband'—many a crown have I saved mine. Not that Mr. Higgs need look after a pound even, now—but, as I tell my girls, it is as well to lay up for a rainy day." "Have you seen Rome?" asked Miss Arundel. "Bless you! there was nothing to see—not a shop fit to spend a penny in—and as to comfort, they hav'n't a notion of it. Bob there—I mean Mr. Robert Higgs—has such a taste for the fine arts—he didn't inherit it from me, though—that he would make us go poking about all the great cold rooms to see picturs and staturs. As for those poor staturs, they always set me shivering—they look so like human creaturs froze to death: I am sure, had I been at home, I would have got up a subscription for some cheap flannel for them.