as Thingummy.«
    »A church mouse?« Mrs. Merdle suggested with a smile.
    »I was thinking of the other proverbial church person - Job,« said Mrs.
Gowan. »Either will do. It would be idle to disguise, consequently, that there
is a wide difference between the position of your son and mine. I may add, too,
that Henry has talent -«
    »Which Edmund certainly has not,« said Mrs. Merdle, with the greatest
suavity.
    »- And that his talent, combined with disappointment,« Mrs. Gowan went on,
»has led him into a pursuit which - ah dear me! You know, my dear. Such being
Henry's different position, the question is what is the most inferior class of
marriage to which I can reconcile myself.«
    Mrs. Merdle was so much engaged with the contemplation of her arms
(beautifully formed arms, and the very thing for bracelets), that she omitted to
reply for a while. Roused at length by the silence, she folded the arms, and
with admirable presence of mind looked her friend full in the face, and said
interrogatively, »Ye-es? And then?«
    »And then, my dear,« said Mrs. Gowan not quite so sweetly as before, »I
should be glad to hear what you have to say to it.«
    Here the parrot, who had been standing on one leg since he screamed last,
burst into a fit of laughter, bobbed himself derisively up and down on both
legs, and finished by standing on one leg again, and pausing for a reply, with
his head as much awry as he could possibly twist it.
    »Sounds mercenary, to ask what the gentleman is to get with the lady,« said
Mrs. Merdle; »but Society is perhaps a little mercenary, you know, my dear.«
    »From what I can make out,« said Mrs. Gowan, »I believe I may say that Henry
will be relieved from debt -«
    »Much in debt?« asked Mrs. Merdle through her eye-glass.
    »Why tolerably, I should think,« said Mrs. Gowan.
    »Meaning the usual thing; I understand; just so,« Mrs. Merdle observed in a
comfortable sort of way.
    »And that the father will make them an allowance of three hundred a-year, or
perhaps altogether something more. Which, in Italy -«
    »Oh! Going to Italy?« said Mrs. Merdle.
    »For Henry to study. You