CHAPTER IX.
Mrs. Smith.—A brutal husband.—My second adultery.—A
chaste servant.—Road harlots.—A poke in the open.—Use for
a silk handkerchief.—A shilling a tail.—Clapped.
Henry had now much business to attend to, I had none. I used to wander into the back street just as the men's wives brought them their dinners, so as to look at them. They were not allowed inside, but if the men chose to eat inside they could do so, their wives waiting outside. Six or eight men had their dinners brought, the rest went away. The women most frequently sat on a door-step, or loitered over the gratings up which we used to look at night; or squatted down against the wall. I had once or twice looked up their clothes, but found little inviting, with the exception of a plump little pair of legs which belonged
