us shall stir then. Painting in July, with a family in the house!
We shall all be poisoned, of course; but what do you care for that?

"WHY CAN'T I TELL YOU WHAT IT WILL COST?

"How can I or any woman tell exactly what it will cost? Of course
lodgings--and at Margate, too--are a little dearer than living at
your own house.

"POOH! YOU KNOW THAT?

"Well, if you did, Mr. Caudle, I suppose there's no treason in naming
it. Still, if you take 'em for two months, they're cheaper than for
one. No, Mr. Caudle, I shall not be quite tired of it in one month.
No: and it isn't true that I no sooner get out than I want to get
home again. To be sure, I was tired of Margate three years ago, when
you used to leave me to walk about the beach by myself, to be stared
at through all sorts of telescopes. But you don't do that again, Mr.
Caudle, I can tell you.

"WHAT WILL I DO AT MARGATE?

"Why, isn't there bathing, and picking up shells; and aren't there
the packets, with the donkeys; and the last new novel, whatever it
is, to read?--for the only place where I really relish a book is at
the sea-side. No; it isn't that I like salt with my reading, Mr.
Caudle! I suppose you call that a joke? You might keep your jokes
for the daytime, I think. But as I was saying--only you always will
interrupt me--the ocean always seems to me to open the mind. I see
nothing to laugh at; but you always laugh when I say anything.