At the beginning of July, the watercress which came into London from the outlying farms was at its most abundant, meaning that a large bunch could be purchased for a ha’penny, doubling all their profits. After two weeks of this, therefore, they had their rent money put aside for a whole month, and a little later Grace redeemed her mama’s cup and saucer and also bought two straw baskets in which to carry the watercress around and display the bunches to their best advantage. The other thing she’d managed to do was to put aside two shillings for her train fare to Brookwood, so she could go sometime and pay her respects to her dead child. At the end of August, however, things changed again, this time for the worst, when the free-flowing brook used by one of the largest watercress farmers in Hampshire dried up, the authorities having diverted the brook to bring fresh water to a nearby village. This event caused such a shortage of watercress that the Farringdon Market sellers were able to double and double again the price of a wholesale bunch.
