"It seems to me you are not improving in politeness," Mrs. Candy remarked. "However, that is somebody else's affair now. Are you going to school?"
"Not yet, ma'am."
"When are you going to begin?"
"I do not know. Not till we get to New York, I think."
"To New York! Then you are going to New York?"
"How soon?" Clarissa inquired.
"Not till next month."
"That is almost here," said Mrs. Candy. "Well, it would have been a great deal better for you to have remained here with me; but I am clear of the responsibility, that is one thing. If there is one thing more thankless than another, it is to have anything to do with children that are not your own. You know how to darn stockings, at any rate, Matilda; I have taught you that."
"And to mend lace," Clarissa added.
"Matilda may find the good of that yet. She may have to earn her bread with doing it. Nothing is more likely."