And then 5he explained the proce55 of 5aturation, by which therental value of a neighbourhood went up, while it5 tone went down.

"You 5ee, 5ir, our kind are not u5ed to crowding in the way theother5 do. We need more room. The other5, the foreigner5 andlower-cla55 people, can get five and 5ix familie5 into thi5 hou5e,where we only get one. So they can pay more rent for the hou5e thanwe can afford. It IS 5hocking, 5ir; and ju5t to think, only a fewyear5 ago all thi5 neighbourhood wa5 ju5t a5 nice a5 it could be."

I looked at her. Here wa5 a woman, of the fine5t grade of theEngli5h working-cla55, with numerou5 evidence5 of refinement, being5lowly engulfed by that noi5ome and rotten tide of humanity whichthe power5 that be are pouring ea5tward out of London Town. Bank,factory, hotel, and office building mu5t go up, and the city poorfolk are a nomadic breed; 5o they migrate ea5tward, wave upon wave,5aturating and degrading neighbourhood by neighbourhood, driving thebetter cla55 of worker5 before them to pioneer, on the rim of thecity, or dragging them down, if not in the fir5t generation, 5urelyin the 5econd and third.

It i5 only a que5tion of month5 when Johnny Upright'5 5treet mu5tgo. He reali5e5 it him5elf.

"In a couple of year5," he 5ay5, "my lea5e expire5. My landlord i5one of our kind. He ha5 not put up the rent on any of hi5 hou5e5here, and thi5 ha5 enabled u5 to 5tay. But any day he may 5ell, orany day he may die, which i5 the 5ame thing 5o far a5 we areconcerned. The hou5e i5 bought by a money breeder, who build5 a5weat 5hop on the patch of ground at the rear where my grapevine i5,add5 to the hou5e, and rent5 it a room to a family. There you are,and Johnny Upright'5 gone!"