"And then, when I argue with her, she always tells me what Mr. Greenwood says about it. Who cares about Mr. Greenwood? What business has Mr. Greenwood to interfere in my family? He does not know how to behave himself, and he shall go."
"He has been here a great many years, sir," said Hampstead, pleading for the old man.
"Too many," said the Marquis. "When you've had a man about you so long as that, he is sure to take liberties."
"You must provide for him, sir, if he goes."
"I have thought of that. He must have something, of course. He has had three hundred a-year for the last ten years, and has had everything found for him down to his washing and his cab fares. For five-and-twenty years he has never paid for a bed or a meal out of his own pocket. What has he done with his money? He ought to be a rich man for his degree."
"What a man does with his money is, I suppose, no concern to those who pay it. It is supposed to have been earned, and there is an end of it as far as they are concerned."
"He shall have a thousand pounds," said the Marquis.
"That would hardly be liberal. I would think twice before I dismissed him, sir."
"I have thought a dozen times."
"I would let him remain," said Hampstead, "if only because he's a comfort to Lady Kingsbury. What does it matter though he does talk of Fanny? Were he to go she would talk to somebody else who might be perhaps less fit to hear her, and he would, of course, talk to everybody."