upboard,'
said Ruth. 'You could easily mend all those places. We could hag up a
few almanacks on the walls; our washstand could go there by the window;
a chair just there, and the bed along that wall behind the door. It's
only a small window, so I could easily manage to make a curtain out of
something. I'm sure I could make the room look quite nice without
spending hardly anything.'

Easton reached down the roll of paper. It was the same pattern as that
on the wall. The latter was a good deal faded, of course, but it would
not matter much if the patches showed a little. They returned to the
kitchen.

'Do you think you know anyone who would take it?' asked Ruth. Easton
smoked thoughtfully.

'No,' he said at length. 'But I'll mention it to one or two of the
chaps on the job; they might know of someone.'

'And I'll get Mrs Crass to ask her lodgers: p'raps they might have a
friend what would like to live near them.'

So it was settled; and as the fire was nearly out and it was getting
late, they prepared to retire for the night. The baby was still
sleeping so Easton lifted it, cradle and all, and carried it up the
narrow staircase into the front bedroom, Ruth leading the way, carrying
the lamp and some clothes for the child. So that the infant might be
within easy reach of its mother during the night, two chairs were
arranged close to her side of the bed and the cradle placed on them.

'Now we've forgot the clock,' said Easton, pausing. He was half
undressed and had already removed his slippers.

'I'll slip down and get it,' said Ruth.

'Never mind, I'll go,' said Easton, beginning to put his slippers on
again.

'No, you get into bed. I've not started undressing yet. I'll get it,'
replied Ruth who was already on her way down.

'I don't know as it was worth the trouble of going down,' said Ruth
when she returned with the clock. 'It stopped three or four times
today.'

'Well, I hope it don't stop in the night,' Easton said. 'It would be a
bit of all right not knowing what time it was in the morning. I
suppose the next thing will be that we'll have to buy a new clock.'

He woke several times during the night and struck a match to see if it
was yet time to get up. At half past two the clock was still going and
he again fell asleep. The next time he work up the ticking had ceased.
He wondered what time it was? It was still very dark, but that was
nothing to go by, because it was always dark at