On pleasant days the sunny sides of the vacant factories, especially, furnished settings for lines of scowling faces of misery.
This atmosphere affected Ellen more than any one realized, since the personal bearing of it was kept from her.

She did not know that her father was drawing upon his precious savings for daily needs, she did not know how her aunt Eva and her uncle Jim were getting into greater difficulties every day, but she was too sensitive not to be aware of disturbances which were not in direct contact with herself.
She never forgot what she had overheard that night Lloyd's had shut down; it was always like a blot upon the face of her happy consciousness of life.

She often overheard, as then, those loud, dissenting voices of her father and his friends in the sitting-room, after she had gone to bed; and then, too, Abby Atkins, who was not spared any knowledge of hardship, told her a good deal.

"It's awful the way them rich folks treat us," said Abby Atkins.

"They own the shops and everything, and take all the money, and let our folks do all the work.