The day after the funeral the Silver Shoe returned to business,and Jonah spent the morning in the shop,too nervous to sit idle.He had spent a sleepless night debating whether he should go to Clara or wait till she came to him of her own accord.The shop was alive with customers,drawn by the red-letter sale,but there was no sign of the one woman above all he desired to see.Suddenly he decided,with a certainty that astonished him,that she would come in the afternoon.After dinner he stayed in the sitting-room,fidgeting with impatience.He looked for something to do,and remembered that he had still to clear up the mystery of Ada's drunken bout.All the shop-hands had denied lending her money,and the mystery was increased by his finding no bottle in the usual hiding places.Ray,when questioned about brandy,had stared at him with bewildered eyes.And to calm his nerves he made another search of the rooms.
He turned out the drawers and cupboards,meeting everywhere evidence of Ada's slovenly habits.And at the sight and touch of the tawdry laces and flaring ribbons he was surprised by an emotion of tenderness and pity for his dead wife.He realized that the last link had snapped that bound him to Cardigan Street and the Push.Something vibrated in him as he thought of the woman who had shared his youth,and he understood suddenly that no other woman could disturb her possession of the years that were dead.
Clara could share the future with him,but half his life belonged irrevocably to Ada.