s.

'Unaware that he had been observed, Nimrod sneaked stealthily into the
house and began softly crawling about from room to room, peeping around
corners and squinting through the cracks of doors, and looking through
keyholes. He was almost pleased to see that everybody was very hard at
work, but on going into Newman's room Misery was not satisfied with the
progress made since his last visit. The fact was that Newman had been
forgetting himself again this morning. He had been taking a little
pains with the work, doing it something like properly, instead of
scamping and rushing it in the usual way. The result was that he had
not done enough.

'You know, Newman, this kind of thing won't do!' Nimrod howled. 'You
must get over a bit more than this or you won't suit me! If you can't
move yourself a bit quicker I shall 'ave to get someone else. You've
been in this room since seven o'clock this morning and it's dam near
time you was out of it!'

Newman muttered something about being nearly finished now, and Hunter
ascended to the next landing--the attics, where the cheap man--Sawkins,
the labourer--was at work. Harlow had been taken away from the attics
to go on with some of the better work, so Sawkins was now working
alone. He had been slogging into it like a Trojan and had done quite a
lot. He had painted not only the sashes of the window, but also a
large part of the glass, and when doing the skirting he had included
part of the floor, sometimes an inch, sometimes half an inch.

The paint was of a dark drab colour and the surface of the newly
painted doors bore a strong resemblance to corduroy cloth, and from the
bottom corners of nearly every panel there was trickling down a large
tear, as if the doors were weeping for the degenerate condition of the
decorative arts. But these tears caused to throb of pity in the bosom
of Misery: neither did the corduroy-like surface of the work grate upon
his feelings. He perceived them not. He saw only that there was a Lot
of Work done and his soul was filled with rapture as he reflected that
the man who had accomplished all this was paid only fivepence an hour.
At the same time it would never do to let Sawkins know that he was
satisfied with the progress made, so he said:

'I don't want you to stand too much over this up 'ere, you know,
Sawkins. Just mop it over anyhow, and get away from it as quick as you
can.'

'All right, sir,' replied Sawkins, wiping the sweat