Three or four hundred a year is a great fortune for a woman, but it
don't go far in keeping a house in London. And when a woman has got
a little money she generally knows how to spend it. He has begun at
the wrong end, and they who do that never get themselves right at
the last."
At this time Phineas had become somewhat of a fine gentleman, which
made Mrs. Low the more angry with him. He showed himself willing
enough to go to Mrs. Low's house, but when there he seemed to her
to give himself airs. I think that she was unjust to him, and that
it was natural that he should not bear himself beneath her remarks
exactly as he had done when he was nobody. He had certainly been very
successful. He was always listened to in the House, and rarely spoke
except on subjects which belonged to him, or had been allotted to him
as part of his business. He lived quite at his ease with people of
the highest rank,--and those of his own mode of life who disliked him
did so simply because they regarded with envy his too rapid rise. He
rode upon a pretty horse in the park, and was careful in his dress,
and had about him an air of comfortable wealth which Mrs. Low thought
he had not earned. When her husband told her of his sufficient
salary, she would shake her head and express her opinion that a good
time was coming.
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