as Mrs Shawcross had raided her laundry cupboard for ‘spares’ ??? The previous owner had apparently died in situ and so they were now availing themselves of some poor old biddy’s cups and saucers, cushions and lamps, not to mention the brass toasting fork. They presumed a woman because although the curtains and loose covers on the chairs were a worn linen in a Jacobean pattern that could have been favoured by either sex, the cottage was dotted with crocheted blankets and tatted mats and framed cross-stitch pictures of gardens and crinolined ladies that all spoke of an old woman. They thought of her as an invisible benefactor. Their bedding, at least, had not last embraced a corpse as Mrs Shawcross had raided her laundry cupboard for ‘spares’. Please kindly help explain "as Mrs Shawcross had raided her laundry cupboard for ‘spares’". I cannot fully understand it. Thanks.