"She isn't worthy to have any sort of a husband, much less such a one as she has." There was a vase of flowers in the centre of the table; but although Miss Panney liked flowers, at meal-times she preferred good honest food.
"Shall I give you a cup of tea ?" asked her hostess.
The old lady did not care for tea, but as she considered that she could not eat strawberries on an empty stomach, she took some, and was just about to cast a critical eye on the bread, when a maid entered, bearing a dish containing two little square pieces of fish, covered with a greenish white sauce, and decorated with bits of water-cress.
As soon as Miss Panney's eyes fell upon this dish, she understood the situation--Mrs.Tolbridge had actually fallen back upon Kipper.

Kipper was a caterer in Thorbury, and a good one.

He was patronized by the citizens on extraordinary festive occasions, but depended for his custom principally upon certain families who came to the village for a few months in the summer, and who did not care to trouble themselves with much domestic machinery.
"Kipper, indeed," thought the old lady; "that is the last peg.

A caterer's tid-bit for a hard-working man.

If she would have her fish cooked properly in her own house, she could give him six times as much for half the money.