‘How can I tell? I’ve got no reason for thinkin’ it, but how can I tell? No, I believe it’s nothin’ but her self-will an’ the fancies she’s got into her ‘ead. Both her an’ Bob, there’s no doin’ nothin’ with them. Bob, he’s that wasteful with his money; an’ now he talks about goin’ an’ gettin’ a room in another ’ouse, when he might just as well make all the savin’ he can. But no, that ain’t his idea, nor yet his sister’s. I suppose it’s their mother as they take after, though their father he won’t own to it, an’ I don’t blame him for not speakin’ ill of her as is gone. I should be that wretched if I thought my own was goin’ to turn out the same. But there’s John, he ain’t a wasteful man; no one can’t say it of him. He’s got his fancies, but they’ve never made him selfish to others, as well you know, Sidney. He’s been the best ’usband to me as ever a poor woman had, an’ I’ll say it with my last breath.’ She cried pitifully for a few moments. Sidney, mastering his own wretchedness, which he could not altogether conceal, made attempts to strengthen her. ‘When things are at the worst they begin to mend,’ he said. ‘It can’t be much longer before he gets work. And look here, Mrs. Hewett, I won’t hear a word against it; you must and shall let me lend you something to go on with!’ ‘I dursn’t, I dursn’t, Sidney! John won’t have it. He’s always a-saying: “Once begin that, an’ it’s all up; you never earn no more of your own.” It’s one of his fancies, an’ you know it is. You’ll only make trouble, Sidney.’ ‘Well, all I can say is, he’s an unreasonable and selfish man!’ ‘No, no; John ain’t selfish! Never say that! It’s only his fancies, Sidney.’ ‘Well, there’s one trouble you’d better get rid of, at all events. Let Clara go to Mrs. Tubbs. You’ll never have any peace till she does, I can see that. Why shouldn’t she go, after all? She’s seventeen; if she can’t respect herself now, she never will, and there’s no help for it. Tell John to let her go.’ There was bitterness in the tone with which he gave this advice; he threw out his hands impatiently, and then flung himself back, so that the cranky chair creaked and tottered.