Something told him that he would
be compelled to accept in lieu of these necessities a silly overcoat
or a pair of shoes from the cheap department store up the street. He
was too young and no doubt too selfish to admit that he was by way of
outgrowing his clothes at least once if not twice a year, or that
there is such a spectre as wear and tear. He became sullen, irritable
and not infrequently rude to Mr. Bingle. Once when Melissa sharply
rebuked him for his ingratitude, he came back at her with an argument
that baffled her for the time being: he could not see why Mr. Bingle
had been so good to Kathleen. Why had she been given a rich, happy
home while he and all of the others were brought to a place like this?
Melissa, finding no immediate response to this, boxed his ears.
The younger members of the brood were not involved in this graceless
agitation. The complaints stopped with Guinivere. Harold, Rosemary and
Rutherford were too young to realise the state of destitution into
which the family had fallen. They were quite happy, contented and, so
far, unaware of the gravity of a situation which was more or less
apparent to their elders.
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