'As to the why not, I don't know that I am prepared to speak about that. But it is so. I was engaged to him.'
'I'm well sure of that, Mrs Hurtle.'
'And now I'm no longer engaged to him. That's all.'
'Dearie me! and you going down to Lowestoft with him, and all.' Mrs Pipkin could not bear to think that she should hear no more of such an interesting story.
'We did go down to Lowestoft together, and we both came back not together. And there's an end of it.'
'I'm sure it's not your fault, Mrs Hurtle. When a marriage is to be, and doesn't come off, it never is the lady's fault.'
'There's an end of it, Mrs Pipkin. If you please, we won't say anything more about it.'
'And are you going to leave, ma'am?' said Mrs Pipkin, prepared to have her apron up to her eyes at a moment's notice. Where should she get such another lodger as Mrs Hurtle,--a lady who not only did not inquire about victuals, but who was always suggesting that the children should eat this pudding or finish that pie, and who had never questioned an item in a bill since she had been in the house!
'We'll say nothing about that yet, Mrs Pipkin.' Then Mrs Pipkin gave utterance to so many assurances of sympathy and help that it almost seemed that she was prepared to guarantee to her lodger another lover in lieu of the one who was now dismissed.