one corner of this singular-looking den, was a yellow, haggard, decrepit old woman, in a tattered gown that had once been black, and the remains of an old straw bonnet, with faded ribbon of the same hue, in earnest conversation with a young girl—a prisoner, of course—of about two-and-twenty. It is impossible to imagine a more poverty-stricken object, or a creature so borne down in soul and body, by excess of misery and destitution, as the old woman.
Dickens hentyder her til det sørgelige i, den unge kvindes måde, at tjene til dagen og vejen på gennem prod. Den unge kvinde er formentlig fængslet for dette.