'Well, it be, sir,' said the woman, resuming her seat. 'It nigh stifles the heart in one, it do!'
'I am afraid you cannot see to work very well, the clouds are so thick?'
'I thank you, sir; the clouds is allays thick, these days. Had you business with me, Mr. Dallas?'
'Not to-day, Mrs. Mills. I am showing this lady a bit of London.'
'And would the lady be your wife, sir?'
'Oh no,' said Pitt, laughing a little; 'you honour me too much. This is an American lady, from over the sea ever so far; and I want her to know what sort of a place London is.'
'It's a bitter poor place for the likes of us,' said the woman. 'You should show her where the grand folk lives, that built these houses for the poor to be stowed in.'
'Yes, I have showed her some of those, and now I have brought her to see your part of the world.'
'It's not to call a part o' the world!' said the woman. 'Do you call this a part of the world, Mr. Dallas? I mind when I lived where trees grow, and there was primroses in the grass; them's happier that hasn't known it. If you axed me sometimes, I would tell you that this is hell! Yet it ain't so bad as most. It's what folk call very decent. Oh yes! it's decent, it is, no doubt. I'll be carried out of it some day, and bless the day!'
'How is your boy?'