traps down at night."

"Don't let us go into the animal question. The constant smell of dogs
is unpleasant, but I could put up with it--what I can't stand are her
acquaintances in the Southdown Road, and when I think that we should
not have known any of them if it hadn't been for her! Indirectly--I do
not say directly--she is the cause of all my difficulties. It was at
her house Sally met young Meason; it was at her house Grace met that
young officer for whom she is crying her eyes out; and it was at her
house--yes, I hadn't thought of it before--it was at her house that
Willy met that swindler who induced him to put two thousand pounds
into the Bond Street shop. The Southdown Road might have remained here
for the next five hundred years, and we should have known nothing of
it had it not been for Mrs. Horlock; if she likes to know these people
let her know them, but why force them upon us? It was only the other
day she was talking to me about calling on some new friends of hers
who have come to live there. I dare say it is the custom to call on
every one at Calcutta, but I say that Calcutta etiquette is not
Southwick etiquette, and I don't care how many Viceroys called upon
her, I will not know the Southdown Road."

The enunciation of this last sentence was deliberate and impassioned.
Mr. Brookes walked twice across the room; then he stood, his hands
crossed behind his back, looking at his admired Goodall. His anger
melted, and he mused on the price he had paid, and the price he
thought it was now worth. Fearing he would return to the Southdown
Road trouble, Maggie said: "I am afraid we shall be obliged to get rid
of the new cook. She is Irish. Just before you came in I found her in
the stable-yard threatening to break Holt's head with a pair of
dreadful old boots."