Brunford, a large manufacturing town which stood well-nigh in
the centre of the cotton district of Lancashire, had enjoyed what was
called "a great boom in trade." Mills had been working overtime, and
money had been earned freely. During the last five years poor men had
become rich, while the operatives had had their share in the general
prosperity. This fact was manifest in the general life of the town.
The sober and thrifty part of the population had increased their
savings. Hundreds of people had bought their own cottages, and had
laid by for a rainy day. The thriftless were none the better for the
prosperity which abounded, rather they were the worse. Big wages had
only meant increased drunkenness and increased misery. Still all the
people hoped that good trade would continue and that there would be
plenty of work.

On the following day Tom went to work as usual, but he felt that a new
element had come into his life. He was not given to self-analysis, but
while on the one hand he felt suddenly free, he knew on the other that
he had sacrificed something which meant a great deal to him. Still he
would not think about it. After all, all the time he had been keeping
company with Alice he felt like a man tied to the end of a rope. He
would now have his liberty. He was glad to be free from a girl who
made him uncomfortable when he drank a glass of beer or went out to
enjoy himself.

Tom was by no means a hero. There was a great deal of good in his
nature, but there were coarse elements which affected him strongly. If
Polly Powell had not appeared, it is possible, such was Alice's
influence over him, that he would have remained true to his former
ambitions, and probably have risen in the social scale. He was
intelligent, and possessed a large degree of what the Lancashire people
called gumption. On the other hand he was the child of his
surroundings and of his order. The coarse life of the town had gripped
him, and his home influences had not helped him toward the ideal which
Alice Lister had helped him to strive after.

"Ay, Tom, I 'ear as Alice Lister has give thee the sack," said a youth
a few days after Tom had parted from Alice.

"Maybe 'twas t'other way around," replied Tom.

"Why, yo doan't main that you chucked 'er?"

"She wur too goody-goody for me," replied Tom. "I am noan baan to be a
saint, I am going to enjoy mysen."

"Weel, tha' won't be a saint if tha' has much to do with Polly Po