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“Her house had a floating population made up of tourists from Liverpool and the Isle of Man and, occasionally, artistes from the music-halls. Its resident population was made up of clerks from the city. She governed her house cunningly and firmly, knew when to give credit, when to be stern and when to let things pass. All the resident young men spoke of her as The Madam.”
This passage describes Mrs. Mooney’s boarding house, which is the story’s only setting. The quote opens with a summary of the type of lodgers that Mrs. Mooney’s boarding house attracts. It is a useful overview because it gives the reader much-needed information about who is staying in Mrs. Mooney’s establishment and why they are there. It also highlights the rigid manner in which Mrs. Mooney runs her place of business, adding to her characterization as a “stern” woman.
“Breakfast was over in the boarding house and the table of the breakfast-room was covered with plates on which lay yellow streaks of eggs with morsels of bacon-fat and bacon-rind. Mrs Mooney sat in the straw arm-chair and watched the servant Mary remove the breakfast things. She made Mary collect the crusts and pieces of broken bread to help to make Tuesday’s bread-pudding. When the table was cleared, the broken bread collected, the sugar and butter safe under lock and key, she began to reconstruct the interview which she had had the night before with Polly.”
Here, Mrs. Mooney surveys the maintenance of the breakfast-room after all of her boarders have eaten and left for the day. This moment provides insight into how the boarding house is run as Mrs. Mooney directs Mary on how to properly clean up and use the leftovers. Additionally, the detail that Mrs. Mooney keeps sugar and butter “under lock and key” is also significant because it implies that Mrs. Mooney does not trust all of the people in the boarding house and is taking preventative measures to be sure that nobody steals from her.
“...and then her mother’s boarding house was beginning to get a certain fame.”
This line is thought by Mr. Doran as he lists all of the cons to marrying Polly. One of his major concerns is that his family will not approve of Polly and the rest of the Mooney family. He is particularly sensitive to the way his family will react to the boarding house’s reputation. Mr. Doran’s anxiety implies that the boarding house is a hub of iniquity that breeds licentious behavior. Mr. Doran conveniently glosses over the fact that he is an active participant in the activities that produced the boarding house’s unsavory fame.
