John could only
return again and again to his assertion that Reardon must get 'a
decent berth.' At length Amy left the room in weariness and
disgust.
'I suppose they have quarrelled terrifically,' said her brother,
as soon as she was gone.
'I am afraid so.'
'Well, you must do as you please. But it's confounded hard lines
that you should have to keep her and the kid. You know I can't
afford to contribute.'
'My dear, I haven't asked you to.'
'No, but you'll have the devil's own job to make ends meet; I
know that well enough.'
'I shall manage somehow.'
'All right; you're a plucky woman, but it's too bad. Reardon's a
humbug, that's my opinion. I shall have a talk with Carter about
him. I suppose he has transferred all their furniture to the
slum?'
'He can't have removed yet. It was only this morning that he went
to search for lodgings.'
'Oh, then I tell you what it is: I shall look in there the first
thing to-morrow morning, and just talk to him in a fatherly way.
You needn't say anything to Amy. But I see he's just the kind of
fellow that, if everyone leaves him alone, he'll be content with
Carter's five-and-twenty shillings for the rest of his life, and
never trouble his head about how Amy is living.
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