I will not dwell on this unhappy time. The doctor came twice every day and sometimes oftener, but Mary seemed to be getting no better. I had to go out to get work, but all I could make was not sufficient for our expenses, and I had to run into debt, besides which the widow’s rent was due, and she could not pay it.
One day Jim brought me a few shillings, which he said the watermen had given him, but times were bad with most of them, and they could do but little. This enabled me to get some things absolutely necessary for Mary and food for the rest of us. The landlord called two or three times for rent, and at last said that he must put in a distress if it was not paid. The thought of what the consequence of this would be to Mary made me tremble with fear. Ill as she and Mrs Simmons were, their beds might, notwithstanding, be taken from beneath them. The widow might be carried off to the workhouse, and we should be turned into the street I begged hard for delay, and promised that I would do all I could to raise the money. The landlord replied that he would give us two days more, but would not listen to anything further I had to say. The doctor had just before called, so that I could not then tell him of our difficulty. He had not yet given me any assurance that he thought Mary would recover. Nancy could not leave the house, as she was required every moment to attend on her and Mrs Simmons. I was not likely to find Dr Rolt till the evening, so I determined to consult Jim and Bob Fox. I soon met Jim; he was ready to cry when I told him. He scratched his head and rubbed his brow, in vain trying to suggest something.
“Bob can’t help us either,” he said, at length. “He’s got into trouble. Went away three days ago over to France in a smuggling lugger, the Smiling Lass, and she was catched last night with tubs aboard, so he’s sure to want all the money he can get to pay Lawyer Chalk to keep him out of prison, if that’s to be done, but I’m afeared even old Chalk will be nonplussed this time.”
“I wonder whether Lawyer Chalk would lend me the money,” I said.
“Might as well expect to get a hen’s egg out of a block of granite,” answered Jim.
On inquiry I found that all my friends from whom I had the slightest hope of assistance were away over at Ryde, Cowes, or Southampton.
“I tell you, Peter, as I knowed how much you wanted money, I’d a great mind to go aboard the Smiling Lass t’other day, when Bob axed me. It’s a good job I didn’t, isn’t it?”
“I am very glad you didn’t, not only because you would have been taken, but because you would have broken the law,” I answered. “Father always set his face against smuggling.”
“Yes, maybe he did,” said Jim, who did not see that smuggling was wrong as clearly as I did. “But now what’s to be done?”
“We’ll go down to the Hard, and try to pick up a job,” I answered. “A few pence will be better than nothing.”