FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42  
43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   >>   >|  
w he was jolly. He went straight to the sink where his wife was washing up. "What, are thee there!" he said boisterously. "Sluthe off an' let me wesh mysen." "You may wait till I've finished," said his wife. "Oh, mun I? An' what if I shonna?" This good-humoured threat amused Mrs. Morel. "Then you can go and wash yourself in the soft-water tub." "Ha! I can' an' a', tha mucky little 'ussy." With which he stood watching her a moment, then went away to wait for her. When he chose he could still make himself again a real gallant. Usually he preferred to go out with a scarf round his neck. Now, however, he made a toilet. There seemed so much gusto in the way he puffed and swilled as he washed himself, so much alacrity with which he hurried to the mirror in the kitchen, and, bending because it was too low for him, scrupulously parted his wet black hair, that it irritated Mrs. Morel. He put on a turn-down collar, a black bow, and wore his Sunday tail-coat. As such, he looked spruce, and what his clothes would not do, his instinct for making the most of his good looks would. At half-past nine Jerry Purdy came to call for his pal. Jerry was Morel's bosom friend, and Mrs. Morel disliked him. He was a tall, thin man, with a rather foxy face, the kind of face that seems to lack eyelashes. He walked with a stiff, brittle dignity, as if his head were on a wooden spring. His nature was cold and shrewd. Generous where he intended to be generous, he seemed to be very fond of Morel, and more or less to take charge of him. Mrs. Morel hated him. She had known his wife, who had died of consumption, and who had, at the end, conceived such a violent dislike of her husband, that if he came into her room it caused her haemorrhage. None of which Jerry had seemed to mind. And now his eldest daughter, a girl of fifteen, kept a poor house for him, and looked after the two younger children. "A mean, wizzen-hearted stick!" Mrs. Morel said of him. "I've never known Jerry mean in MY life," protested Morel. "A opener-handed and more freer chap you couldn't find anywhere, accordin' to my knowledge." "Open-handed to you," retorted Mrs. Morel. "But his fist is shut tight enough to his children, poor things." "Poor things! And what for are they poor things, I should like to know." But Mrs. Morel would not be appeased on Jerry's score. The subject of argument was seen, craning his thin neck over the scullery curtain. He ca
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42  
43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

things

 

handed

 

children

 

looked

 
violent
 

conceived

 

consumption

 

dislike

 

eldest

 

daughter


caused

 

haemorrhage

 

husband

 
charge
 
wooden
 
spring
 

nature

 

dignity

 

eyelashes

 

walked


brittle

 

shrewd

 

Generous

 
intended
 

boisterously

 

generous

 
washing
 
retorted
 

craning

 
scullery

curtain
 

argument

 
appeased
 

subject

 
knowledge
 

straight

 

wizzen

 
hearted
 

younger

 

accordin


couldn

 
protested
 

opener

 

fifteen

 
toilet
 

Usually

 

preferred

 

humoured

 
shonna
 

alacrity