"You know that Matilda wants sea-bathing; you know it, or ought to
know it, by the looks of the child; and yet--I know you, Caudle--
you'd have let the summer pass over, and never said a word about the
matter. What do you say?

"MARGATE'S SO EXPENSIVE?

"Not at all. I'm sure it will be cheaper for us in the end; for if
we don't go, we shall all be ill--every one of us--in the winter.
Not that my health is of any consequence: I know that well enough.
It never was yet. You know Margate's the only place I can eat a
breakfast at, and yet you talk of Gravesend! But what's my eating to
you? You wouldn't care if I never ate at all. You never watch my
appetite like any other husband, otherwise you'd have seen what it's
come to.

"What do you say?

"HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

"There you are, Mr. Caudle, with your meanness again. When you want
to go yourself to Blackwall or to Greenwich you never ask, how much
will it cost? What?

"YOU NEVER GO TO BLACKWALL?

"Ha! I don't know that; and if you don't, that's nothing at all to
do with it. Yes, you can give a guinea a plate for whitebait for
yourself. No, sir: I'm not a foolish woman: and I know very well