At King's Cross Station

Non-fiction (?) ~ sketch
Published in Six Common Things, November 1893
(First read 12/07/2014)

It is in the small unnoticed sorrows of average people that I realise most deeply the infinite pathos of human life.

A ~ presumably ~ observational study of a shabby, slovenly woman who can't afford a 3rd-class train ticket from King's Cross to Grantham.
Is this EFB's one-and-only full-length portrait of a poor woman? ~ it's certainly the only one I've read so far; if so, it's a real pity he didn't do more of them as it's very good.  Benson is more or less compassionate, and certainly never comes anywhere near sentimentalizing; and the revealing details are admirably done.
It's available online here.