Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/141

 wrong somehow," and had a pleasure in joining the side of revolt for revolt's sake.

Now in the same house with them dwelt a young woman of about nineteen years old; she occupied a garret, was seldom seen about, and had every appearance of being a simple, laborious girl, of the kind familiar enough as the silent victims of industrialism. One day the house was thrown into consternation by the news that Miss Barnes—so she was named—had been arrested on a charge of stealing her employer's goods. It was true, and perhaps the best way of explaining it will be to reproduce a newspaper report which Sidney Kirkwood thereafter preserved.

"On Friday, Margaret Barnes, nineteen, a single woman, was indicted for stealing six jackets, value £5, the property of Mary Oaks, her mistress. The prisoner, who cried bitterly during the proceedings, pleaded guilty. The prosecutrix is a single woman, and gets her living by mantle-making. She engaged the prisoner to do what is termed 'finishing off,' that is, making the button holes and sewing