Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/62

 silence. Of the vapid liquor called tea lie drank cup after cup.

"What's the time? " he asked at length.

"Where's Clara?"

"I daresay she's doin' overtime," replied his wife. "She won't be much longer."

The man was incapable of remaining in one spot for more than a few minutes. Now he went to look at the baby; now he stirred the fire; now he walked across the room aimlessly. He was the embodiment of worry. As soon as the meal was over, Amy, Annie, and Tom were sent off to bed. They occupied the second room, together with Clara; Bob shared the bed of a fellow-workman upstairs. This was great extravagance, obviously; other people would have made two rooms sufficient for all, and many such families would have put up with one. But Hewett had his ideas of decency, and stuck to them with characteristic wilfulness.

"Where do you think I've been this afternoon?" John began, when the three little ones were gone, and Mrs. Hewett had