  He had a hard time of it, but
did not know it.  It was the sort of time that all the Offal Court boys
had, therefore he supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing.
 When he came home empty-handed at night, he knew his father would
curse him and thrash him first, and that when he was done the awful
grandmother would do it all over again and improve on it; and that away
in the night his starving mother would slip to him stealthily with any
miserable scrap or crust she had been able to save for him by going
hungry herself, notwithstanding she was often caught in that sort of
treason and soundly beaten for it by her husband.