But usually the women and children were alone.

The stay-at-home mothers stood gossiping at the corners of the alley, as the twilight sank, folding their arms under their white aprons.
Mrs.Morel was alone, but she was used to it.

Her son and her little girl slept upstairs; so, it seemed, her home was there behind her, fixed and stable.

But she felt wretched with the coming child.

The world seemed a dreary place, where nothing else would happen for her--at least until William grew up.