You just listen to me, Jane Snowdon. If I find out as you're havin'
money from him, I'll be revenged on you, mind that! I'll be revenged
on you! D'you remember what my hand feels like? You've had it on the
side of your ----'ed often enough. You just look out for yourself!'
'And you just turn out of my house,' cried Bessie, scarlet with
wrath. 'This minute! Sarah! Sarah! Run out by the arey-steps and
fetch a p'liceman, this minute! The idea!'
Clem had said her say, however, and with a few more volleys of
atrocious language was content to retire. Having slammed the door
upon her, Bessie cried in a trembling voice:
'Oh, if only Sam had been here! My, how I should have liked Sam to
have been here! _Wouldn't_ he have given her something for herself!
Why, such a creature oughtn't be left loose. Oh, if Sam had been
here!'
Jane had sat down on the stairs; her face was hidden in her hands.
That brutal voice had carried her back to her wretched childhood;
everything about her in the present was unreal in comparison with
the terrors, the hardships, the humiliations revived by memory. As
she sat at this moment, so had she sat many a time on the
cellar-steps at Mrs.
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