None of these
classes have ideas of what they ought to be, or fit in any legitimate
way into the Bladesover theory that dominates our minds. It was nobody's
concern to see them housed under civilised conditions, and the beautiful
laws of supply and demand had free play. They had to squeeze in. The
landlords came out financially intact from their blundering enterprise.
More and more these houses fell into the hands of married artisans, or
struggling widows or old servants with savings, who became responsible
for the quarterly rent and tried to sweat a living by sub-letting
furnished or unfurnished apartments.
I remember now that a poor grey-haired old woman who had an air of
having been roused from a nap in the dust bin, came out into the area
and looked up at us as we three went out from the front door to "see
London" under my uncle's direction. She was the sub-letting occupier;
she squeezed out a precarious living by taking the house whole and
sub-letting it in detail and she made her food and got the shelter of an
attic above and a basement below by the transaction.
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