"No further explanations are offered, and therefore no handle is given to start an argument about the patheticness of your excuse, the pressingness of the need, or the eventual falsehood at which you may be caught."
"She bought a book to keep accounts in, and she got together all the bills she could lay hands on, and added them up to an appalling total (several, for it came different each time) and she stacked the bills in order of their pressingness, with the requests for payment from lawyers and collectors on top, and she felt an unparalleled glow of virtue and helpfulness."