When a man is lying helpless on his back, with nothing in hand, he pays
nothing off a building society mortgage, because, as his wife pawns the
goods of the house, the resulting money goes for necessaries. To such a
man the society shows no useless grace: especially when the secretary
has a friend always ready to take over a forfeited house at forced sale
price. So the lease of Twenty-seven vanished, and old Jack's savings
with it.
And one day, some months later, old Jack, supported by the missis and a
stick, took his way across the workhouse forecourt. There was a door
some twenty yards from that directly before them, and two men came out
of it, carrying a laden coffin of plain deal.
"Look there, Jack," the missis said, as she checked her step; "what a
common caufin!" And indeed there was a distinct bulge in the bottom.