"Why, not quite, my dear," said Mrs. Jellyby in the calmest manner. "He has been unfortunate in his affairs and is a little out of spirits. Happily for me, I am so much engaged that I have no time to think about it. We have, at the present moment, one hundred and seventy families, Miss Summerson, averaging five persons in each, either gone or going to the left bank of the Niger."
I thought of the one family so near us who were neither gone nor going to the left bank of the Niger, and wondered how she could be so placid.
"You have brought Caddy back, I see," observed Mrs. Jellyby with a glance at her daughter. "It has become quite a novelty to see her here. She has almost deserted her old employment and in fact obliges me to employ a boy."
"I am sure, Ma--" began Caddy.

"Why, not quite, my dear," said Mrs. Jellyby in the calmest manner. "He has been unfortunate in his affairs and is a little out of spirits. Happily for me, I am so much engaged that I have no time to think about it. We have, at present, one hundred and seventy families, Miss Summerson, either gone or going to the left bank of the Niger."
I thought of the one family so near us who were neither gone nor going to the Niger, and wondered how she could be so placid.
"You have brought Caddy back, I see," observed Mrs. Jellyby. "It has become quite a novelty to see her here. She has almost deserted her old employment and in fact obliges me to employ a boy."
