"Hot? Yes, it IS hot. I'm sure one might as well be in an oven as in town this weather. You seem to forget it's July, Mr. Caudle. I've been waiting quietly--have never spoken; yet, not a word have you said of the seaside yet. Not that I care for it myself--oh, no; my health isn't of the slightest consequence. And, indeed, I was going to say--but I won't--that the sooner, perhaps, I'm out of this world, the better. Oh, yes; I dare say you think so--of course you do, else you wouldn't lie there saying nothing. You're enough to aggravate a saint, Caudle; but you shan't vex me. No; I've made up my mind, and never intend to let you vex me again. Why should I worry myself? "But all I want to ask you is this: do you intend to go to the sea- side this summer? "YES? YOU'LL GO TO GRAVESEND? "Then you'll go alone, that's all I know. Gravesend! You might as well empty a salt-cellar in the New River, and call that the sea- side. What? "IT'S HANDY FOR BUSINESS? "There you are again! I can never speak of taking a little enjoyment, but you fling business in my teeth. I'm sure you never let business stand in the way of your own pleasure, Mr. Caudle--not you. It would be all the better for your family if you did. "You know that Matilda wants sea-bathing; you know it, or ought to know it, by the looks of the child; and yet--I know you, Caudle-- you'd have let the summer pass over, and never said a word about the matter. What do you say? "MARGATE'S SO EXPENSIVE? "Not at all. I'm sure it will be cheaper for us in the end; for if we don't go, we shall all be ill--every one of us--in the winter. Not that my health is of any consequence: I know that well enough. It never was yet. You know Margate's the only place I can eat a breakfast at, and yet you talk of Gravesend! But what's my eating to you? You wouldn't care if I never ate at all. You never watch my appetite like any other husband, otherwise you'd have seen what it's come to. "What do you say? "HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? "There you are, Mr. Caudle, with your meanness again. When you want to go yourself to Blackwall or to Greenwich you never ask, how much will it cost? What? "YOU NEVER GO TO BLACKWALL? "Ha! I don't know that; and if you don't, that's nothing at all to do with it. Yes, you can give a guinea a plate for whitebait for yourself. No, sir: I'm not a foolish woman: and I know very well what I'm talking about--nobody better. A guinea for whitebait for yourself, when you grudge a pint of shrimps for your poor family. Eh? "YOU DON'T GRUDGE 'EM ANYTHING? "Yes, it's very well for you to lie there and say so. "WHAT WILL IT COST?