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Gissing, George, 1857-1903

"New Grub Street"

They make straw hats there principally, and they
sell pea-nuts. More I remember not.'
'But you didn't starve to death,' said Maud.
'No, I just didn't. I went one afternoon into a lawyer's office,
thinking I might get some copying work, and there I found an odd-
looking old man, sitting with an open Bible on his knees. He
explained to me that he wasn't the lawyer; that the lawyer was
away on business, and that he was just guarding the office. Well,
could he help me? He meditated, and a thought occurred to him.
"Go," he said, "to such-and-such a boarding-house, and ask for Mr
Freeman Sterling. He is just starting on a business tour, and
wants a young man to accompany him." I didn't dream of asking
what the business was, but sped, as fast as my trembling limbs
would carry me, to the address he had mentioned. I asked for Mr
Freeman Sterling, and found him. He was a photographer, and his
business at present was to go about getting orders for the
reproducing of old portraits. A good-natured young fellow. He
said he liked the look of me, and on the spot engaged me to
assist him in a house-to-house visitation.


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