rooms, were let to good-looking young women, who were presumed to
belong to the theatrical profession. If they were correctly described,
there was no gainsaying their devotion to their calling. They would
leave home well before the theatre doors were open to the public, with
their faces made up all ready to go on the stage; also, they were
apparently so reluctant to leave the scene of their labours that they
would commonly not return till the small hours. The top front room was
rented by an author, who made a precarious living by writing improving
stories for weekly and monthly journals and magazines. Whenever the
postman's knock was heard at the door, it was invariably followed by
the appearance of the author in the passage, often in the scantiest of
raiment, to discover whether the post had brought him any luck.
Although his stories were the delight of the more staid among his
readers, the writer was on the best of terms with the "theatrical"
young women, he spending most of his time in their company. The lodgers
at Mrs Gussle's were typical of the inhabitants of Halverton Street.
And if a house influences the natures of those who dwell within its
walls, how much more does the character of tenants find expression in
the appearance of the place they inhabit? Hence the shabbiness and
decay which Halverton Street suggested.

Mavis heard from Perigal at infrequent intervals, when he would write
scrappy notes inquiring after her health, and particularly after his
child. Once, he sent a sovereign, asking Mavis to have the boy
photographed and to send him a copy. Mavis did as she was asked. The
photographs cost eight shillings. Although she badly wanted a few
shillings to get her boots soled and heeled, she returned the money
which was over after paying for the photographs, to Perigal. She was
resolved that no sordid question of money should soil their
relationship, however attenuated this might become.

Much of Mavis's time was taken up with her baby. She washed, dressed,
undressed, and took out her little one, duties which took up a
considerable part of each day. From lack of means she was compelled to
wash her own and the baby's body-linen, which she dried by suspending
from cords stretched across the room. All these labours were an aspect
of maternity which she had never encountered in books. Much of the work
was debasing and menial; its performance left her weak and irritable;
she believed that it was gradually break