MS-HRC-SB-4-3

[0788] As he gets on.

[0789] In the filthy kitchen, with its earth floor, Sapo had his
place, by the window. [0790] Big Lambert and his son left their work,
came and shook his hand, then went away, leaving him with the
mother and the daughter. [0791] But they too had ^their work to do^[₰], they too
went away and left him, alone. [0792] There was so much work, so little
time, so few hands.

[0793] The woman, pausing an instand^t between two
tasks, or in the midst of one, flung up her arms and, in the
same breath, unable to sustain their great weight, let them
fall again. [0794] Then she began to toss them about in a way difficult
to describe, and not easy to understand. [0796] The movements resembled
those, ay^t once frantic and slack, of an arm shaking a duster, or
a rag, to rid it of its dust.

[0797] And so rapid was the trepidation of
the limp, empty hands that there seemed to be four or five at the
end of each arm, instead of the usual one. [0798] At the same time
angry unanswerable questions, such as, What's the use? fell from
her lips. [0799] Her hair came m^loose and fell about her face. [0800] It was thic
thick, grey and dirty, for she had no time to care ^tend it, and her
face was pale and thin and as though gouged with worry and its
attendant rancours.

[0801] The bosom - no, what matter^s is the head and
then the hands it calls to its help before all else, that clasp,
wring, then sadly resume their labour, lifting the old inert
objects and changing their position, bringing thel^m closer
together and moving them further apart. [0802] But this pantomime and
these ejaculations were not intent^ded for any living person. [0803] For
every day and several times a day she gave way to them, within