Suppose you were down on your
luck, still stunned by a horrible shock, and this bright vista of a
happy future floated suddenly before you, how long under these
circumstances do you think you would reflect before you would decide
on embracing what chance had thrown in your way?
It did not take my hero long, for before he got past the ham and
beef shop near the top of Fetter Lane, he had told Ellen that she must
come home with him and live with him till they could get married,
which they would do upon the first day that the law allowed.
I think the devil must have chuckled and made tolerably sure of
his game this time.
CHAPTER LXXII
ERNEST told Ellen of his difficulty about finding employment. "But
what do what do you think of going into a shop for, my dear," said
Ellen. "Why not take a little shop yourself?"
Ernest asked how much this would cost. Ellen told him that he
might take a house in some small street, say near the "Elephant and
Castle," for 17s. or 18s. a week, and let off the two top floors for
10s., keeping the back parlour and shop for themselves. If he could
raise five or six pounds to buy some second-hand clothes to stock
the shop with, they could mend them and clean them, and she could look
after the women's clothes while he did the men's.
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