ront of it trying to push him back
down the hill. This was such a funny idea that for a moment he felt
inclined to laugh, but the inclination went almost as soon as it came
and was replaced by the dread that he would not be able to hold out
long enough to reach the lamp-post, after all. Clenching his teeth, he
made a tremendous effort and staggered forward two or three more steps
and then--the cart stopped. He struggled with it despairingly for a
few seconds, but all the strength had suddenly gone out of him: his
legs felt so weak that he nearly collapsed on to the ground, and the
cart began to move backwards down the hill. He was just able to stick
to it and guide it so that it ran into and rested against the kerb, and
then he stood holding it in a half-dazed way, very pale, saturated with
perspiration, and trembling. His legs in particular shook so much that
he felt that unless he could sit down for a little, he would FALL down.

He lowered the handle very carefully so as not to spill the whitewash
out of the pail which was hanging from a hook under the cart, then,
sitting down on the kerbstone, he leaned wearily against the wheel.

A little way down the road was a church with a clock in the tower. It
was five minutes to ten by this clock. Bert said to himself that when
it was ten he would make another start.

Whilst he was resting he thought of many things. Just behind that
church was a field with several ponds in it where he used to go with
other boys to catch effets. It if were not for the cart he would go
across now, to see whether there were any there still. He remembered
that he had been very eager to leave school and go to work, but they
used to be fine old times after all.

Then he thought of the day when his mother took him to Mr Rushton's
office to 'bind' him. He remembered that day very vividly: it was
almost a year ago. How nervous he had been! His hand had trembled so
that he was scarcely able to hold the pen. And even when it was all
over, they had both felt very miserable, somehow. His mother had been
very nervous in the office also, and when they got home she cried a lot
and called him her poor little fatherless boy, and said she hoped he
would be good and try to learn. And then he cried as well, and
promised her that he would do his best. He reflected with pride that
he was keeping his promise about being a good boy and trying to learn:
in fact, he knew a great deal about the trade