exact address, because we have stopped the groceries, she paying no rent
now. In the case of Plummett, I thought you might be interested to know
that she got a month this morning for assaulting the Sanitary
Inspector--pulling his nose, I hear. She told the magistrate it struck
her as being a useless nose if it didn't notice anything wrong with her
drains. The children came into the House this morning."

"What is Tonk's Christian name?" asked Sarah Brown, who had been a
changed woman since Mitten Island was mentioned.

"I forget. Some flower name, I think. Probably Lily or Ivy. In the case
of M'Clubbin, the woman is said to have fallen through a hole in the
floor of the room she and her three children slept in. She was admitted
into the Infirmary last night, and her furniture will be sold to pay her
rent--"

"It begins with P," said Sarah Brown. "P. Tonk, unmarried wife, of
Mitten Island...."

The Relieving Officer went away, for it was dinner-time. Sarah Brown
absently unwrapped the little dinner which she had brought hanging by a
thin string from a strangled finger. Mustard sandwiches with just a
flavouring of ham, and a painfully orthodox 1918-model bun, made of
stubble. Sarah Brown almost always forgot the necessity of food until
she was irrevocably in the 'bus on her way to work. But this morning, as
she had taken her seat with David in the bouncing ferry-boat, there had
been a panting rustling noise behind her, and Harold the Broomstick had
swept a little packet of sandwiches into her lap. He had disappeared
before she had been able to do more than turn over in her mind the
question whether or no broomsticks ever expect to be tipped.