"Excuse me, but aren't you Mrs. Falk?" she asked.
"No," answered that lady with an assurance which took even Mrs. Homan's breath away.
"But you're as like her as its possible to be! I knew her father, Ronock, who's now on the flagship."
"That's all very nice, but it doesn't concern us.... Are there any other people in this house who need salvation?"
"No," said the joiner, "they don't need salvation, they need food and clothes, or, better still, work; much work and well-paid work. But the ladies had better not go and see them, for one of them is down with small-pox...."
"Small-pox!" screamed Mrs. Homan, "and nobody said a word about it! Come along Eugenia, let's at once inform the police! What a disgusting set of people they are!"
"But the children? Whose children are these? Answer!" said Mrs. Falk, holding up her pencil, threateningly.
"They're mine, lady," answered the mother.
"But your husband? Where's your husband?"
"Disappeared!" said the joiner.