Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken

Author:Joan Aiken [Aiken, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Luckily Anna-Marie had again done well on the second day of her reconditioned-cigar business; during the morning she had picked up another three bags of stubs; during the afternoon she rolled and sold them in the market at sixpence apiece. She had earned twenty-eight shillings, deducting the price of papers and the rent paid to Mr. Hobday.

It was possible to pay off the Friendly Club boy entirely and buy more eggs and milk for Mr. Oakapple, and a few necessities, for Lucas and Anna-Marie had escaped from the fire with nothing but the clothes they wore.

"I am thinking, Luc-asse," Anna-Marie said thoughtfully, as they drove home from the infirmary after leaving the food for Mr. Oakapple, who was still feverish, "I am thinking it is better if you do not continue to go down into that dark dirty place, but come and help me. If one of us is picking up the stubs, and the other selling, we shall do better. I am sorry now I arrange you to meet M. 'Obday—if I had known how nasty the work was, I would not have done so."

But Lucas, greatly to her surprise, refused to come and join her in the cigar trade. And when she asked why, why he preferred to go poking about in a dark, horrible, dangerous, dirty underground place, where he did not even have the right to keep what he found, but had to pass it over to Mr. Hobday, he became quite angry.

"Oh, stop bothering on about it, Anna-Marie. It is better if one of us earns a regular wage, so we have something coming in that we can rely on. Suppose you pick up all the cigar ends in the town and there are none left, what then?"

"I do not think that will happen," she said practically.

"Or you may find that once other people notice you are making money at it, they will start doing it, too, and then stubs will be scarcer. Or the constables might stop you. It may be against the law, to make new cigars out of old."

"Oh la la," she said, shrugging. "I don't care abou that, me! I do wish you will come and help me, Luc; besides, you smell so bad. Mrs. Tetley may grumble."

"For the seventh time, no!" he snapped. They had arrived in Haddock Street; he put the pony in the shed, with a frugal feed of hay and just a few oats. Anna-Marie stood shivering silently while he did so, with her hands in her pockets. She looked so small and thin and pale that it made him crosser still.

"Come on, it's late, and tomorrow I have to go out at half past five, let's eat quickly and go to bed."

Anna-Marie had bought a few candles, but they were expensive. After she had lit the way up to their freezing attic and they had huddled into bed with their clothes on, Lucas told her that she had better blow out the candle.

"We have got to learn to be as economical as possible.

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