Quotes from W.W. Jacobs

She stooped for a stone and dropped it down. 'Fancy being where that is now,' she said, peering into the blackness; 'fancy going round and round like a mouse in a pail, clutching at the slimy sides, with the water filling your mouth, and looking up to the little patch of sky above.' 'You had better come in,' said Benson, very quietly. 'You are developing a taste for the morbid and horrible.' (The Well)

But the days passed, and expectations gave way to resignation—the hopeless resignation of the old, sometimes miscalled apathy.

It's a bit o' real lace, ses the gal, twisting her 'ead round to look at the collar; it cost me one and two-three only last night. One an' wot? ses Charlie, who, not being a married man, didn't understand 'er. One shilling, ses the gal, two pennies, and three farthings. D'ye understand that?