Owen then suggested it would not be a bad plan for Easton to let his front room, now that it was empty, to Mrs Linden, who would be sure to pay her rent, which would help Easton to pay his.Easton agreed and said he would mention it to Ruth, and a few minutes later they parted.
The next morning Nora found Ruth talking to Mary Linden about the room and as the Eastons lived only about five minutes' walk away, they all three went round there in order that Mary might see the room.The appearance of the house from outside was unaltered: the white lace curtains still draped the windows of the front room; and in the centre of the bay was what appeared to be a small round table covered with a red cloth, and upon it a geranium in a flowerpot standing in a saucer with a frill of coloured tissue paper round it.These things and the curtains, which fell close together, made it impossible for anyone to see that the room was, otherwise, unfurnished.The `table' consisted of an empty wooden box - procured from the grocer's - stood on end, with the lid of the scullery copper placed upside down upon it for a top and covered with an old piece of red cloth.The purpose of this was to prevent the neighbours from thinking that they were hard up;although they knew that nearly all those same neighbours were in more or less similar straits.
It was not a very large room, considering that it would have to serve all purposes for herself and the two children, but Mrs Linden knew that it was not likely that she would be able to get one as good elsewhere for the same price, so she agreed to take it from the following Monday at two shillings a week.
As the distance was so short they were able to carry most of the smaller things to their new home during the next few days, and on the Monday evening, when it was dark.Owen and Easton brought the remainder on a truck they borrowed for the purpose from Hunter.
During the last weeks of February the severity of the weather increased.There was a heavy fall of snow on the 20th followed by a hard frost which lasted several days.
About ten o'clock one night a policeman found a man lying unconscious in the middle of a lonely road.At first he thought the man was drunk, and after dragging him on to the footpath out of the way of passing vehicles he went for the stretcher.They took the man to the station and put him into a cell, which was already occupied by a man who had been caught in the act of stealing a swede turnip from a barn.
When the police surgeon came he pronounced the supposed drunken man to be dying from bronchitis and want of food; and he further said that there was nothing to indicate that the man was addicted to drink.
When the inquest was held a few days afterwards, the coroner remarked that it was the third case of death from destitution that had occurred in the town within six weeks.
The evidence showed that the man was a plasterer who had walked from London with the hope of finding work somewhere in the country.He had no money in his possession when he was found by the policeman; all that his pockets contained being several pawn-tickets and a letter from his wife, which was not found until after he died, because it was in an inner pocket of his waistcoat.A few days before this inquest was held, the man who had been arrested for stealing the turnip had been taken before the magistrates.The poor wretch said he did it because he was starving, but Aldermen Sweater and Grinder, after telling him that starvation was no excuse for dishonesty, sentenced him to pay a fine of seven shillings and costs, or go to prison for seven days with hard labour.As the convict had neither money nor friends, he had to go to jail, where he was, after all, better off than most of those who were still outside because they lacked either the courage or the opportunity to steal something to relieve their sufferings.
As time went on the long-continued privation began to tell upon Owen and his family.He had a severe cough: his eyes became deeply sunken and of remarkable brilliancy, and his thin face was always either deathly pale or dyed with a crimson flush.
Frankie also began to show the effects of being obliged to go so often without his porridge and milk; he became very pale and thin and his long hair came out in handfuls when his mother combed or brushed it.
This was a great trouble to the boy, who, since hearing the story of Samson read out of the Bible at school, had ceased from asking to have his hair cut short, lest he should lose his strength in consequence.
He used to test himself by going through a certain exercise he had himself invented, with a flat iron, and he was always much relieved when he found that, notwithstanding the loss of the porridge, he was still able to lift the iron the proper number of times.But after a while, as he found that it became increasingly difficult to go through the exercise, he gave it up altogether, secretly resolving to wait until `Dad' had more work to do, so that he could have the porridge and milk again.He was sorry to have to discontinue the exercise, but he said nothing about it to his father or mother because he did not want to `worry' them...
Sometimes Nora managed to get a small job of needlework.On one occasion a woman with a small son brought a parcel of garments belonging to herself or her husband, an old ulster, several coats, and so on - things that although they were too old-fashioned or shabby to wear, yet might look all right if turned and made up for the boy.
