“I would rather he thought well of me,” said Bella, “though he swept the street for bread, than that you did, though you splashed the mud upon him from the wheels of a chariot of pure gold.⁠—There!”

“Well I’m sure!” cried Mr. Boffin, staring.

“And for a long time past, when you have thought you set yourself above him, I have only seen you under his feet,” said Bella⁠—“There! And throughout I saw in him the master, and I saw in you the man⁠—There! And when you used him shamefully, I took his part and loved him⁠—There! I boast of it!”

After which strong avowal Bella underwent reaction, and cried to any extent, with her face on the back of her chair.