And so Jurgis turned and staggered away. He did not go very far⁠—round the corner he gave out completely, and sat down on the steps of a saloon, and hid his face in his hands, and shook all over with dry, racking sobs.

Their home! Their home! They had lost it! Grief, despair, rage, overwhelmed him⁠—what was any imagination of the thing to this heartbreaking, crushing reality of it⁠—to the sight of strange people living in his house, hanging their curtains in his windows, staring at him with hostile eyes! It was monstrous, it was unthinkable⁠—they could not do it⁠—it could not be true! Only think what he had suffered for that house⁠—what miseries they had all suffered for it⁠—the price they had paid for it!