on an elbow. “Don’t you dare cry for us. It’s yourselves you should be crying for—and your children.” Louisa stared at me, her brows pinched in disapproval. “It’s only getting worse,” I said to them all, “this emergency. This bleakness. It’s only the poor who’ve had it hard, so far, but you mark my words—this is a hungry beast, and once it’s eaten the poor alive, it’ll turn on you next. Your husbands’ money will run out—you’ll see, soon enough. And then it’ll be you and your children who are in the monster’s gullet.” “Shirley!” Louisa exclaimed. “Get control of yourself, for goodness’ sake.”
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