Children of the rich -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
But the cabman would not be made; he pleaded inability to leave his
horse. An individual had appeared who offered to carry up the box for
threepence; so Nora let him. After the cabman had been paid there
remained of her capital less than eight pounds. When they were again
up-stairs she said to the girl--
"What's your name? I'm Miss Lindsay."
"I'm Miss Gibb."
Nora smiled; the child said it as if she wished the fact to be
properly appreciated.
"I meant, what is your Christian name?"
"Angelina; though I'm generally known as Angel, you see it's shorter;
though I don't pretend that there's anything of the angel about me,
because there isn't."
"I fancy I'm tired, my head aches; do you think you could let me have
some tea?"
"Course I could; are you going to do for yourself, or are we going to
do for you?"
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Are we going to do your marketing, or are you going to do it for
yourself? If you take my advice you'll do it for yourself; it'll save
you trouble in the end, and then there won't be no bother about the
bills. The last lodger we had in these rooms he never could be got to
see that he'd had what he had had, there was always a rumpus. Quarter
of a pound of tea a week he used to have, yet he never could
understand how ever it got into his bill. I'll let you have a cup of
tea, and some bread and butter, and perhaps an egg; then afterwards I
dare say you might like to go out and lay in a few stores for
yourself." The girl turned as she was leaving the room to supply the
new-comer with a piece of information. "Number 1, Swan Street, Stoke
Newington, S.E., that's the address you're now in, in case you might
be wanting to tell your friends."
In Swan Street Nora continued to reside, while the days went by,
though she never told her friends. From Cloverlea, and the position of
a great heiress, with all the world at her feet to pick and choose
from, to Swan Street and less than eight pounds between her and
beggary, was a change indeed. Used only to a scale of expenditure in
which cost was never counted she was incapable of making the best of
such resources as she had. Miss Gibb took her to task, on more than
one occasion, for what that young woman regarded as her extravagance.
"Don't want it again? What's the matter with the bread? Why, there's
the better part of half a loaf here."
"Yes, but I had it the day before yesterday."
Nora spoke with something like an air of timidity, as she stood rather
in awe of Miss Gibb when that young person showed a disposition to
expand herself on questions of domestic economy.
"Day before yesterday? Let's hope you'll never be wanting bread. I've
known the time when I'd have been glad to have the week before last's.
Then look at those two rashers of bacon you told me to take away
yesterday, what was the matter with them?"
"They weren't--quite nice."
"Not nice?"
"I didn't think they were--quite fresh."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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