ed what his father would say,
or think. The unexpressed basic idea of the Clayhangers was that the
Clayhangers were as good as other folks, be they who they might. Still,
the Orgreaves were the Orgreaves... In sheer absence of mind he
remounted the muddy stairs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THREE.

He regarded the shabbiness of his clothes; he had been preoccupied by
their defects for about a quarter of an hour; now he examined them in
detail, and said to himself disgusted, that really it was ridiculous for
a man about to occupy a house like that to be wearing garments like
those. Could he call on the Orgreaves in garments like those? His
Sunday suit was not, he felt, in fact much better. It was newer, less
tumbled, but scarcely better. His suits did not cost enough. Finance
was at the root of the crying scandal of his career as a dandy. The
financial question must be reopened and settled anew. He should attack
his father. His father was extremely dependent on him now, and must be
brought to see reason. (His father who had never seen reason!) But the
attack must not be made with the weapon of clothes, for on that subject
Darius was utterly unapproachable. Whenever Darius found himself in a
conversation about clothes, he gave forth the antique and well-tried
witticism that as for him he didn't mind what he wore, because if he was
at home everybody knew him and it didn't matter, and if he was away from
home nobody knew him and it didn't matter. And he always repeated the
saying with gusto, as if it was brand-new and none could possibly have
heard it before.

No, Edwin decided that he would have to found his attack on the
principle of abstract justice; he would never be able to persuade his
father that he lacked any detail truly needful to his happiness. To go
into details would be to invite defeat.

Of course it would be a bad season in which to raise the financial
question. His father would talk savagely in reply about the enormous
expenses of house-building, house-furnishing, and removing,--and
architects' and lawyers' fees; he would be sure to mention the rapacity
of architects and lawyers. Nevertheless Edwin felt that at just this
season, and no other, must the attack be offered.

Because the inauguration of the new house was to be for Edwin, in a very
deep and spiritual sense, the beginning of the new life! He had settled
that. The new house ins