"Er——" he paused. He had been seeking an opportunity of clearing his character with his sister-in-law. Suddenly inspiration gripped him.
"I—we——" he paused. "I'm afraid Martha will have to get rid of Alice."
"And about time, with clothes like she wears," was Mrs. Bindle's uncompromising comment.
"And she tells—she's most untruthful," he continued eagerly; he was smarting under the recollection that Alice had on one occasion pushed aside the half-crown he had tendered, and it had required a ten shilling note to remove from her memory the thought of her "friend" with whom she had threatened him.
"I've been speaking about her to Martha this evening." The line of Mrs. Bindle's lips was still grim.
"I'm afraid she's a bad—not a good girl," amended Mr. Hearty. "I——"
"You don't push yourself forward enough," said Mrs. Bindle, her thoughts still on Mr. Coplestone's victory. "Look at Bindle. He knows a lord, and look what he is." She precipitated into the last two words all the venom of years of disappointment. "And you've got three shops," she added inconsequently.
"I—I never had time to go out and about," stuttered Mr. Hearty, as if that explained the fact of his not possessing a lord among his acquaintance. His thoughts were still preoccupied with the Alice episode.
"You ought to, Mr. Hearty," said Mrs. Bindle with conviction. "You owe it to yourself and to what you've done."
"You see, Joseph is different," said Mr. Hearty, pursuing his own line of thought. "He——"