Alone all through the day, and very often in the evening Clem was
not at all disposed to occupy herself in domestic activity. The
lodgings were taken furnished, and a bondmaid of the house did such
work as was indispensable. Dirt and disorder were matters of
indifference to the pair, who represented therein the large class
occupying cheap London lodgings; an impure atmosphere, surroundings
more or less squalid, constant bickering with the landlady, coarse
usage of the servant--these things Clem understood as necessaries
of independent life, and it would have cost her much discomfort had
she been required to live in a more civilised manner. Her ambitions
were essentially gross. In the way of social advancement she
appreciated nothing but an increased power of spending money, and
consequently of asserting herself over others. She had no desire
whatever to enter a higher class than that in which she was born; to
be of importance in her familiar circle was the most she aimed at.
In visiting the theatre, she did not so much care to occupy a
superior place--indeed, such a position made her ill at ease--as
to astonish her neighbours in the pit by a lavish style of costume,
by loud remarks implying a free command of cash, by purchase between
the acts of something expensive to eat or drink.
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