Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. II, 1889.djvu/312

 she asked him, “Have you got that piece of newspaper still?”

He had, and at her wish produced it. Clara held it in the light of the fire, and regarded the pencilled words closely. Then she inquired if he wished to keep it, and on his answering in the negative threw it to be burnt. Hewett took her hand, and for a while they kept silence.

“Do you live comfortably here, father?” she said presently.

“We do, Clara. It’s a bit high up, but that don’t matter much.”

“You’ve got new furniture,”

“Yes, some new things. The old was all done for, you know.”

“And where did you live before you came here?”

“Oh, we had a place in King’s Cross Road,—it wasn’t much of a place, but I suppose it might a’ been worse.”

“And that was where?”

“Yes—yes—it was there.”

“And how did you manage to buy this furniture? " Clara asked, after a pause.