How they
came to love vileness, well, that is quite another matter, and shall
not for the present concern us.
Pennyloaf ran into the jaws of this black horror with the
indifference of habit; it had never occurred to her that the Gardens
were fearful in the night's gloom, nor even that better lighting
would have been a convenience. Did it happen that she awoke from her
first sleep with the ring of ghastly shrieking in her ears, that was
an incident of too common occurrence to cause her more than a brief
curiosity; she could wait till the morning to hear who had
half-killed whom. Four days ago it was her own mother's turn to be
pounded into insensibility; her father (a journeyman baker, often
working nineteen hours out of the twenty-four, which probably did
not improve his temper), maddened by his wife's persistent
drunkenness, was stopped just on the safe side of murder. To the
amazement and indignation of the Gardens, Mrs. Candy prosecuted her
sovereign lord; the case had been heard to-day, and Candy had been
east in a fine. The money was paid, and the baker went his way,
remarking that his family were to 'expect him back when they saw
him.
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