Olney was a dull town, or rather village, inhabited by a population of lace-makers, ill-paid, fever-stricken, and for the most part as brutal as they were poor.

There was not a woman in the place excepting Mrs.Newton with whom Mrs.Unwin could associate, or to whom she could look for help in sickness or other need.

The house in which the pair took up their abode was dismal, prison-like, and tumble-down; when they left it, the competitors for the succession were a cobbler and a publican.

It looked upon the Market Place, but it was in the close neighbourhood of Silver End, the worst part of Olney.

In winter the cellars were full of water.