They were gone, and the house was cleared out.

"They have had neither fire nor candle in that house for weeks past," said my companion.

We then turned up a narrow entry, which was so dark and low overhead that my companion only told me just in time to "mind my hat!" There are several such entries leading out of Pole Street to little courts behind.

Here we turned into a cold and nearly empty cottage, where a middle-aged woman sat nursing a sick child.

She looked worn and ill herself, and she had sore eyes.