'Do not be too sure. There is something like that wherever rich men are congregated in large numbers to live.'
'Rich men!' cried Betty.
'Yes. So far as I know, this sort of thing is to be found nowhere else, but where rich men dwell. It is the growth of their desire for large incomes. That woman we visited—what did you think of her?'
'She impressed me very much, and oddly. I could not quite read her look. She seemed to be in a manner hostile, not to you, but I thought to all the world beside; a disagreeable look!'
'She is a lace-mender'—
'A lace-mender!' broke in Betty. 'Down in that den of darkness?'
'And she pays— Did you see where she lived?'
'I saw a room not bigger than a good-sized box; is that all?'
'There is an inner room—or box—without windows, where she and her child sleep. For that lodging that woman pays half-a-crown a week—that is, about five shillings American money—to one of the richest noblemen in England.'
'A nobleman!' cried Betty.