On week days he was not so careful to remove every sign of
the labour by which he earned his bread; but when his work was over till
the morning, and he was free to sit down to a book, he would never even
touch one without first carefully washing his hands and face. In the
workshop, Maggie's place was a leather-seated stool like her father's, a
yard or so away from his, to leave room for his elbows in drawing out the
lingels (_rosined threads_): there she would at once resume the work she
had left unfinished the night before; for it was a curious trait in the
father, early inherited by the daughter, that he would never rise from a
finished job, however near might be the hour for dropping work, without
having begun another to go on with in the morning. It was wonderful how
much cleaner Maggie managed to keep her hands; but then to her fell
naturally the lighter work for women and children. She declared herself
ambitious, however, of one day making with her own hands a perfect pair of
top-boots.
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