Aw richt, auntie.
[Mary goes to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Ellen looks to see it is shut, and moves rapidly and purposefully to the door to the street. It is now daylight. The confused murmur of a distant crowd is heard. She stands on the threshold and looks out. Presently she speaks to some one approaching but not yet visible.
ELLEN
Whit is’t, Polly?
A middle-aged woman in a drab skirt and blouse with a shawl thrown over her head appears breathless at the door; it is a neighbour, Polly Walker.
POLLY
Ropes slipped and the cage fell doon the shaft.
Is your’s oot at his wark.
ELLEN
First cage doon?