“Yes, Lavvy, I know what I have got on. I was going to tell Ma when you interrupted. I have left Mr. Boffin’s house for good, Ma, and I have come home again.”

Mrs. Wilfer spake no word, but, having glared at her offspring for a minute or two in an awful silence, retired into her corner of state backward, and sat down: like a frozen article on sale in a Russian market.

“In short, dear Ma,” said Bella, taking off the depreciated bonnet and shaking out her hair, “I have had a very serious difference with Mr. Boffin on the subject of his treatment of a member of his household, and it’s a final difference, and there’s an end of all.”