'
They would have known it anywhere. If they could have met with it in
the street, or seen it in a shop window, they would have cried 'Good
gracious! Mrs Todgers!'
'Presiding over an establishment like this, makes sad havoc with the
features, my dear Miss Pecksniffs,' said Mrs Todgers. 'The gravy alone,
is enough to add twenty years to one's age, I do assure you.'
'Lor'!' cried the two Miss Pecksniffs.
'The anxiety of that one item, my dears,' said Mrs Todgers, 'keeps the
mind continually upon the stretch. There is no such passion in human
nature, as the passion for gravy among commercial gentlemen. It's
nothing to say a joint won't yield--a whole animal wouldn't yield--the
amount of gravy they expect each day at dinner. And what I have
undergone in consequence,' cried Mrs Todgers, raising her eyes and
shaking her head, 'no one would believe!'
'Just like Mr Pinch, Merry!' said Charity. 'We have always noticed it in
him, you remember?'
'Yes, my dear,' giggled Merry, 'but we have never given it him, you
know.'
'You, my dears, having to deal with your pa's pupils who can't help
themselves, are able to take your own way,' said Mrs Todgers; 'but in
a commercial establishment, where any gentleman may say any Saturday
evening, "Mrs Todgers, this day week we part, in consequence of the
cheese," it is not so easy to preserve a pleasant understanding.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267