"It's no matter what it will cost, for we won't go at all now. No; we'll stay at home. We shall all be ill in the winter--every one of us, all but you; and nothing ever makes you ill. I've no doubt we shall all be laid up, and there'll be a doctor's bill as long as a railroad; but never mind that. It's better--much better--to pay for nasty physic than for fresh air and wholesome salt water. Don't call me 'woman,' and ask 'what it will cost.' I tell you, if you were to lay the money down before me on that quilt, I wouldn't go now-- certainly not. It's better we should all be sick; yes, then you'll be pleased. "That's right, Mr. Caudle; go to sleep. It's like your unfeeling self! I'm talking of our all being laid up; and you, like any stone, turn round and begin to go to sleep. Well, I think that's a pretty insult! "HOW CAN YOU SLEEP WITH SUCH A SPLINTER IN YOUR FLESH? "I suppose you mean to call me the splinter?--and after the wife I've been to you! But no, Mr. Caudle, you may call me what you please; you'll not make me cry now. No, no; I don't throw away my tears upon any such person now. "What? "DON'T? "Ha! that's your ingratitude! But none of you men deserve that any woman should love you. My poor heart! "Everybody else can go out of town except us. Ha! If I'd only married Simmons--What? "WHY DIDN'T I? "Yes, that's all the thanks I get. "WHO'S SIMMONS? "Oh, you know very well who Simmons is. He'd have treated me a little better, I think. He WAS a gentleman. "YOU CAN'T TELL? "May be not: but I can. With such weather as this, to stay melting in London; and when the painters are coming in! "YOU WON'T HAVE THE PAINTERS IN? "But you must; and if they once come in, I'm determined that none of us shall stir then. Painting in July, with a family in the house! We shall all be poisoned, of course; but what do you care for that? "WHY CAN'T I TELL YOU WHAT IT WILL COST? "How can I or any woman tell exactly what it will cost? Of course lodgings--and at Margate, too--are a little dearer than living at your own house. "POOH! YOU KNOW THAT? "Well, if you did, Mr. Caudle, I suppose there's no treason in naming it. Still, if you take 'em for two months, they're cheaper than for one. No, Mr. Caudle, I shall not be quite tired of it in one month. No: and it isn't true that I no sooner get out than I want to get home again. To be sure, I was tired of Margate three years ago, when you used to leave me to walk about the beach by myself, to be stared at through all sorts of telescopes. But you don't do that again, Mr. Caudle, I can tell you. "WHAT WILL I DO AT MARGATE?