He had married a meek little dancing-mistress, with a tolerable connexion (having never in his life before done anything but deport himself), and had worked her to death, or had, at the best, suffered her to work herself to death, to maintain him in those expenses which were indispensable to his position. At once to exhibit his deportment to the best models and to keep the best models constantly before himself, he had found it necessary to frequent all public places of fashionable and lounging resort, to be seen at Brighton and elsewhere at fashionable times, and to lead an idle life in the very best clothes. To enable him to do this, the affectionate little dancing-mistress had toiled and laboured and would have toiled and laboured to that hour if her strength had lasted so long. For the mainspring of the story was that in spite of the man's absorbing selfishness, his wife (overpowered by his deportment) had, to the last, believed in him and had, on her death-bed, in the most moving terms, confided him to their son as one who had an inextinguishable claim upon him and whom he could never regard with too much pride and deference. The son, inheriting his mother's belief, and having the deportment always before him, had lived and grown in the same faith, and now, at thirty years of age, worked for his father twelve hours a day and looked up to him with veneration on the old imaginary pinnacle.

He had married a meek little dancing-mistress, (having never in his life before done anything but deport himself), and had worked her to death, or let her work herself to death, to maintain him in those expenses which were indispensable to his position. He had found it necessary to frequent all fashionable public places at Brighton and elsewhere in the very best clothes.
To enable him to do this, the affectionate little dancing-mistress had toiled and laboured. To the last, she had believed in him. The son, inheriting his mother's belief, had lived and grown in the same faith, and now worked for his father twelve hours a day and looked up to him with veneration.
