wild-beast tiger; but then what can you do? There's never any good
comes out of makin' a bother with other people's business, is there?
Fancy him comin' to see you! Mrs. Peckover's afraid of him, I can
see that, though she pretends she isn't goin' to stand him
interferin'. What do you think about him, Sidney? He's sent for a
doctor out of Islington; wouldn't have nothin' to say to the other.
He must have plenty of money, don't you think? Mrs. Peckover says
he's goin' to pay the money owin' to her for Jane's keep. As if the
poor thing hadn't more than paid for her bits of meals an' her bed
in the kitchen! Do you think that woman 'ud ever have kept her if it
wasn't she could make her a servant with no wages? If Jane 'ud been
a boy, she'd a gone to the workhouse long ago. She's been that
handy, poor little mite! I've always done what I could for her; you
know that, Sidney. I do hope she'll get over it. If anything
happens, mind my word, there'll be a nice to-do! Clara says she'll
go to a magistrate an' let it all out, if nobody else will. She
hates the Peckovers, Clara does.'

'It won't come to that,' said Sidney. 'I can see the old man'll take
her away as soon as possible. He may have a little money; he's just
come back from Australia. I like the look of him myself.'

He began to talk of other subjects; waxed wrath at the misery of
this housing to which the family had shrunk; urged a removal from
the vile den as soon as ever it could be managed. Sidney always lost
control of himself when he talked with the Hewetts of their
difficulties; the people were, from his point of view, so lacking in
resource, so stubbornly rooted in profitless habit. Over and over
again he had implored them to take a rational view of the case, to
borrow a few pounds of him, to make a new beginning on clean soil.