Anne rushed to open the next door, trying to focus on the conversation and not on the dead body. "I've only heard of it in school..." she said.

Gus nodded as he pushed the body through the darkness beyond the doorway, only his voice coming back to her. "Be happy about that. War is a dreadful business and leads to misery." There was a sound and he had turned on a distant oil lamp and she could see the basement was full of shelves with boxes and spare caskets and the like organized around the room. There were a few empty tables against the back area with another door closed at the very end. He pushed the table with the body to line up with the others and started to walk back. "I hope that I do not see another war in my life time and I would be happy."

Anne held the door open for him to come back out, not looking at the basement. "It would never come 'ere," she said. "The navy would handle them before they could set foot on shore."

Gus looked at her and smiled sadly. "We can hope so. Though we could still lose some very good men in the Navy. But let us not even think about such terrible things." He closed the door and pulled the rope to get them back to the main floor and walked out with her, rubbing his hands that were now sore from it. "I may one day look into getting a mechanical lift though it would be so very expensive, I can't keep using my hands."

"Oh!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry! I should have pulled that rope!" Anne said, and she felt stupid for not doing so in the first place.

Gus smiled and waved her off, "No, my dear. I didn't ask you to so it wasn't expected. Besides, if your hands slipped and were injured by the ropes I would feel very bad about it. Your hands are important to a young lady, I wouldn't risk them being burned or caught. It is alright, I am used to it, I just think I am starting to get too old. It wouldn't be a bad thing to update, if someone takes over the place after I am gone they would appreciate it."

The skin on Anne's hands was coarse from laundry, the cold air, repairing nets, preparing lines and other labour. She believed she could handle more than the man thought her capable of, but she did not repond. "I ain't never seen a mechanical lift," she said instead. "Isn't it dangerous?"

Gus nodded, "It could be, anything mechanical could fail. But one day these ropes could snap, that would be the same thing. I do think it wouldn't be too hard to survive a fall one floor though. I haven't tried it myself though, maybe I should ask a doctor what they would think. I may see what people in bigger cities do. I've done it my own way for so long."

"Can't ye keep 'em elsewhere in t' house so you don't have to carry 'em down?" Anne suggested.

Gus shook his head. "My basement is the only place large enough and it keeps the bodies cool to help them not deteriorate. I have stairs but I don't want to just drag a body down there like that, they could be damaged." Not to mention the chances of falling and getting hurt were greater. "it is alright, I can keep doing this for now."