"Well, I ain't been to bed in that sort of bed for nearly six months," she said, pointing towards the corner. "I sleep under a cart, or on a heap of straw, or anywhere I can find a nice place; it don't matter much when you're asleep where you are, so long as you're out of the way of the rats."
Susie shook her head. "I shouldn't like that," she said.
"Well, no, I suppose you wouldn't," said Elfie, again looking round the room. "People that's always been used to tables and chairs, and them sort of things, like you've got here, wouldn't like to sleep out under a waggon, I guess."
"How can people do without tables and chairs?" said Susie. "How can they live?"
"Oh, pretty well! Lots of us have to do without them, and other things besides," said Elfie carelessly; "but you couldn't, I suppose, and so we must try to keep these."
"How shall we do it?" asked Susie.
"Well, you can sew shirts, and I can get a job now and then at the market, and sometimes I clean steps for people, and that all brings money. How much do you pay for this little room?" she asked.
"A shilling a week," answered Susie. "Mother's put the shilling away for next week, and she paid the landlord yesterday."
"All right. Have you got any shirts to sew?" asked Elfie.
Susie opened her mother's bundle of work, and took out two that were unfinished.