The Man in Possession — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MAN IN POSSESSION. 23 He would scrub her kitchen, white-wash ceilings, light fires, clean windows and boots with equal skill. and even declared himself an excellent ‘‘ plain ” cook, - This statement, however, Biddy received with lofty and incredulous scorn, nor would she be induced to allow him to try his hand at any culinary preparations with the exception of making toast and tea for his own consumption. Fog and gloom still shrouded the city. The shop- keepers grew almost desperate as their attempts to deck their windows in Christmas array were thwarted by the blinding mist and darkness without. No one cared to perambulate the streets save on errands of a compulsory nature, and shopping was reduced to a hurried duty instead of a desultory or delightful amusement. ‘‘Who could feel festive or happy?” thought Kate O’Brien, looking out with wistful eyes from the misty windows of the little drawing-room. The road opposite was a mass of black mud and melted sleet. The fog clung like a filmy chilling shroud to the wet railings, and the dark housetops, and the gaunt, spectral lamp-posts. All was gloomy and wretched and depressing. Upstairs her father lay ill, He had caught cold in crossing from Ireland, and now was threatened with an attack of bronchitis. The doctor had forbidden him to leave his bed, and the additional trouble and expense of illness now threatened the household. She leant her aching head against the window frame and sighed. A sense of melancholy and despair oppressed her. The bravest heart will sometimes give way, and the girl felt to- COMuicloe (Sri C(O)