Well, in those days, I never spoke to a soul, an' 'ated everybody, an' I got very queer, queerer nor many as is locked up in Claybury this minute.

I got to thinkin' as 'ow there was a debt 'anging over us all, some'ow the sky seemed like a sort of upper floor to all our 'ouses, with the stars an' the moon for windows, an' it seemed like as if there did oughter be some rent to pay, though the Landlord was a reel gent and never pressed for it.

There might be people 'oo lived among flowers in the sunlight, an', so to say, rented the parlour floor, but not me.

I 'ad the upper floor, an' breaved the light o' the moon.

As for flowers--bless you, I'd never 'ardly seen a flower stuck proper to the ground until a year ago.