‘Oh! no, no, Mr. Oliver,’ refused ’Liza, in a fresh paroxysm of alarm and trouble. Mother would be fit to kill me outright, if I came in with a man—with a gentleman, at this hour of the morning—though it is morning—not night,’ pleaded ’Liza piteously; ‘and old Betty Miles has come to wash, and had the door opened for her’—taking further refuge in the business of the day’s having really begun—‘or else I should not have dared to get up, and slip out at all. Oh dear! You do not know how hard mother has grown, how hard everything is, since poor ’Mily went wrong,’ protested ’Liza, weeping, not violently, but in a crushed manner. ‘It is so dull you cannot think! We dare not lift up our heads from our work, or make a joke, or speak of running out to pay a single call. Mother says we are all as bad as ’Mily, and have no sense or feeling. She is ashamed of us. No respectable people will wish us to darken their doors, or dream of returning our visits. But oh! it would be nothing, Mr. Oliver,’ broke off ’Liza, returning to the dominant cause of her misery, ‘if Jack Dadd were only a little better. Mother may do or say what she chooses,’ continued the girl, writhing like any other worm trodden on, and turning on its oppressor, ‘I must and will hear how Jack is, or I shall go mad. Mother may serve me as she served ’Mily. I don’t care, there! Anybody may hear me, and go and tell mother that likes.’ ‘Jack is highly honoured,’ said Oliver, at a loss for any other observation. ‘But now, don’t you think, since he is no worse, and will soon, I trust, be a great deal better, it would be as well for you to take care of yourself, and do what your mother wishes you, for his sake, as well as hers, Miss ’Liza?’ ‘Oh! hush, hush! Don’t say my name, in case anybody hear you,’ ’Liza objected with the greatest inconsistency. ‘You are a kind chap—that is, you are very good; but I did not mean you or anybody to see or know me. I thought you would not penetrate my disguise,’ said ’Liza with solemn simplicity. ‘I was too clever,’ said Oliver, tempted to laugh.