"Well, we've got things enough to hold out till then," said Charity, gathering up her dishes. "It's fun, too; I like to set a nice table."
"Why, grandmother?" said Lois. "Don't you like Mrs. Barclay's friend?"
"Well enough, child. I don't want him for none of our'n."
"Why, grandmother?" said Madge.
"His world ain't our world, children, and his hopes ain't our hopes—if the poor soul has any. 'Seems to me he's all in the dark."
"That's only on one subject," said Lois. "About everything else he knows a great deal; and he has seen everything."
"Yes," said Mrs. Armadale; "very like he has; and he likes to talk about it; and he has a pleasant tongue; and he is a civil man. But there's one thing he hain't seen, and that is the light; and one thing he don't know, and that is happiness. And he may have plenty of money—I dare say he has; but he's what I call a poor man. I don't want you to have no such friends."
"But grandmother, you do not dislike to have him in the house these two days, do you?"
"It can't be helped, my dear, and we'll do the best for him we can. But
I don't want you to have no such friends."
"I believe we should go out of the world to suit grandmother," remarked
Charity. "She won't think us safe as long as we're in it."