“Charity!” Nanny exclaimed. “It’s nothing of the sort, Miss Dorina, and you know it!”
“Of course it’s charity,” Dorina replied, “and at least we should have the pride to realise it.”
Nanny put out her hand towards the food as if she would prevent her from taking it from the table and said,
“Read your Bible, Miss Dorina, and see that the people always took offerings to the Priests. There’s nothing wrong in his Lordship giving the Master gifts of the same sort and you should be grateful he’s kind and generous enough to think of us. Even the old Earl had no idea how hard it was to make ends meet!”
This was certainly true and Dorina, knowing how much her father would enjoy the claret, began to weaken as Nanny went on,
“I, for one, am sick to death of seeing the children looking half-starv
