“One’s clothes are too shabby, and it looks badly to put nothing in at the collection.”
When he said it he had looked out of the window and she only saw the back of his head, which was growing very white and bald.
On a week day he wore an old grey coat, which was also too big for him, and it was also very, very shabby.
But Deborah loved that old grey coat, it was somehow or other so very like him, and he used to wear it in the country; only then it had not been frayed at the corners as it was now.
At night, when she came home from school, he always helped her with her lessons. He used to rule the lines with a round ruler, and he never ruled them crooked nor made a smudge, as she was always doing. But it must have been a bitterly miserable and humiliating time to him; he had never been idle in his life before, and now there seemed absolutely nothing for him to do.
His second son had gone to America, whilst he had placed his third in an engineering office. He had congratulated himself upon this last stroke of business, and felt confident he had given him a good start in life; but very curiously, very depressingly, the whole thing went smash just about this time and added to the general misery.
Jack, therefore, went for a while to stay with an uncle in the country and do his book-keeping.
Of the girls, Marion stayed at home to look after the house, whilst Susan took a situation as mother’s help. But it was a very unsuitable place and she was obliged to leave. However, from there she went to a children’s hospital to nurse. This was at eighteen. She stayed there for several years and then went into one for adults. Afterwards she took up private nursing and got on very nicely.
Elinor, when straits came to a very bad pass, was sent to learn dressmaking. From the accounts she brought home they seemed to be very strange kind of people, and perhaps she was right, as once when she landed at the place in the morning it was to find they had decamped, which naturally brought her home in the greatest state of excitement.
Maggie and Deborah continued at school, being too young to leave it.