"You'll have a cup of tea with me?" she said, looking at Waymark
with the curiosity which seemed to show that she also found
something changed in him. "I only get home about eight o'clock, and
this is the quietest and pleasantest meal in the day for me."
"What do you do all day, then?" Waymark asked, softening the
bluntness of his question with a smile.
She stepped near to him, and held out her hands for him to look at;
then, as he met her eyes again, laughed merrily.
"Do you guess?" she asked.
"I believe I can. You have gone back to the laundry again?"
"Yes."
"And how long is it since you did so?"
"How long is it since we last saw each other?"
"Did you begin at once when you returned to London?"
"Yes."
Waymark kept silence, whilst Ida poured out a cup of tea for him,
and then took her seat at the table.
"Don't you think I'm comfortable here?" Ida said. "It's like having
a house of my own. I see nothing of the other people in the
building, and feel independent."
"Did you buy the furniture yourself?"
"Yes; just the things I couldn't do without. I pay only
three-and-sixpence a week, and so long as I can earn that, I'm sure
at all events of a home, where I can be happy or miserable, as I
please.
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