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Edward in the meantime had reached the auction-room He found some difficulty, on account of the inertness of those whose only induce the information he stood in need of, but it was at last accorded hiins, 3 Canley Passage, as the purchaser of the lot which had included Mrs

Manston's workbox

Thither Edent, followed by the man Four bell pulls, one above the other like waistcoat-buttons, appeared on the door-post

Edward seized the first he came to

'Who did you woant?' said a thin voice from somewhere

Edward looked above and around him; nobody was visible

'Who did you woant?' said the thin voice again

He found now that the sound proceeded fro the baseh the bars, and saw a child's white face

'Who did you woant?' said the voice the third tiins,' said Edward

'Third bell up,' said the face, and disappeared

He pulled the third bell frohter of the wo sixpence, and asked for her ins was the wife of a carpenter who from want of employment one winter had decided to marry Afterwards they both took to drink, and sank into desperate circumstances A few chairs and a table were the chief articles of furniture in the third-floor back room which they occupied A roll of baby-linen lay on the floor; beside it a pap-clogged spoon and an overturned tin pap-cup

Against the wall a Dutch clock was fixed out of level, and ticked wildly in longs and shorts, its entrails hanging down beneath its white face and wiry hands, like the faeces of a Harpy ('foedissima ventris proluvies, uncaeque ainst every chair-leg, the whole fah to be covered by a washing-tub Mrs Higgins sat helpless, clothed in a dress which had hooks and eyes in plenty, but never one opposite the other, thereby rendering the dress almost useless as a screen to the boso picture ofthe very poor of a city Only for one short hour in the whole twenty-four did husband and wife taste genuine happiness It was in the evening, when, after the sale of some necessary article of furniture, they were under the influence of a quartern of gin