A Mummer's Wife

f what she could say to satisfy her customer. Her anxiety of mind caused her to walk faster than she was aware of, up the hill towards the square of sky where the passers-by seemed like figures on the

Hanley and the Wever Hills were quite different from the scene she was now looking upon. She saw the valley with different eyes: she saw it now with a woman's eyes; before she had seen it with a child's eyes. She remembered the ruined collieries and the black cinder-heaps protruding through the hillside on which she was now standing. In childhood, these ruins were convenient places to play hide-and-seek in. But now they seemed to convey a meaning to her mind, a meaning that was not very clear, that perplexed her, that she tried to put aside and yet could not. At her left, some fifty feet below, running in the shape of a fan, round a belt of green, were the roofs of Northwood-black brick unrelieved except by the yellow chimney-pots, specks of colour upon a line of soft cotton-like clouds melting into grey, the grey passing into blue, and the blue spaces widening. 'It will be a hot day,' she said to herself, and fell

ight the wheels of the most distant collieries could almost be counted,

he sorrow she felt for the heroes and heroines. It seemed to her strange that that time was so long past and she wondered why she had forgotten it. Now it all seemed so near to her that she felt like one only just awakened from a dream. And these mem

ory, hidden amid masses of trees, glittered now and then in an entangled beam that fl

f pits, brick, and smoke; and beyond Bucknell an

e hills with all their fields could be seen sleeping under great shadows, or basking in the light. A deluge of rays fell upon them, defining every angle of Watle

ard reality; her life was like a colliery, every wheel was turning, no respite day or night; her life would be always the same, a burden and a misery. There never could be any change now. She remembered her marriage, and how Mrs. Ede had persuaded her into it, and for the first time she blamed the old woman for her interference. But this was not all. Kate was willing to admit that there was no one she loved like Mr. Ede, but still it was hard to live with a mother-in-law who had a finger in everything and used the house like her own. It would be all very well if she were not so obstinate, so certain that she was always right. Religion was very well, but that perpetual 'I'm a Christian woman,' was wearisome. No wonder Mr. Lennox was leaving. Poor man, why shouldn

rested that I felt curious to know what could be wo

ew from here is considered very fine. Don't you think so, si

gallery of a theatre. We're on the stage, the footlights run round here, and the valley is the pit;

d! I'm very fond of the t

nd so still was the air that the smoke-clouds trailed like the wings of gigantic birds slowly balancing themselves. And waves of white light rolled up the valley as if jealous

hills before your eyes when you are shut up in a red brick oven. How fresh and cool

d her mind with a thousand forgotten dreams. She felt she liked hi

he fairies lived beyond those hills; even now I can't help imagining that the world is quite different

,' Mr. Lennox said, laughing at the pun. 'When you were

born over in one

large dark masses of trees was Bucknell Rectory. The fragment of the cliff on the top of the highest ridge half-way up the sky was Watley Rocks; then came Western Coyney, the plains of Standon, and far away in a blue mist the outlines of the Wever Hi

go down Market Street; but if

ou will; but Market Stre

is just the w

he was ashamed to ask him, and they walked on for some time without speaking. But every moment the silence became more irritating, and a

hed before this

ou say, some of the profession live in the street, and now you

into the big blue eyes. 'I ought not to have come

. You mustn't think I want to change. If you could only g

ld guarantee anything that would prev

ut that,' she said eagerly. 'I'll bring your breakf

romise not to bring home any

d you'll be ve

ou to talk t

mportant conclusion. Then after a long pause, and without any transition, Mr. Lennox spoke of the heat of the weather and of the harm it was likely to do

y places there were about the town. Pointing down a red perspective backed by the us

e hills? That mu

I went once to see the Duke's place, and we had tea in the inn. That was the only time I was ever really

were yo

th my h

invalid,

ers very much at times, b

oth thought of how happy they would be were t

reat shop with 'Commercial House' written across the second story in gold letters. Bright carpets and coarse goods were piled about the doorway; and from these t

it; the red brick that turns to purple; and all the roofs were

have a tree in Hanl

answered, and they gazed at the ba

f work; a town in which the shrill scream of the steam train as it rolled sol

the town is that there's nothing to do. And it's so blazing h

ey crossed over they b

omplaint that there was nothing to do in the town. 'Everybody th

I shall turn in some afternoon. I've heard some of our people say they are worth seeing. But,' he added, as if a sudd

e Mr. Lennox understand her, she consented to go with him. He had a kind, soft manner of speaking which drew Kate towards

s they stopped before an archway and looked in

nt rooms. You must go up to the office a

re to go by myself. W

very little to do at hom

d kept he

a pause, during which h

home.' The matter being so arranged, they entered the yard, and Kate pointed out a rough staircase placed against the

. She remembered how she was reproved for peeping over her neighbour's shoulder, and how proud she felt sitting among all the workwomen. She could recall the smell of the paint and turpentine, and her grief when she was told that she was too delicate to learn painting, and was going to be put out to dressmaking. But that time was long ago; her mother was dead and she was married. Everything was changed or broken, as was that beautiful v

she said, pointing

be in such a hurry,' s

. The packing straw seemed ready to catch fire; the heaps of wet clay, which two boys were shovelling, smoked, emitting as it did so a

sappointed, 'we'll have to go

er? It will be amusi

r knows al

e town or they wouldn't be vi

at was being shown round. The Dissenting clergymen looked askance at Mr. Lennox, and as he showed them

Lennox wiped his face, and they were then hurried into a second cell, where unbaked dishes were piled all around upon shelves. It was said to be the dishmakers' place, and was followed by another and ano

scattered over the ground like beehives in a garden. Lennox patted their round sides, approvingly saying that they reminded him of oyster boys in a pantomime

s. A man in a paper cap bent over a stove, and as if dissatisfied with the guide's explanation of his work, broke out into a wearisome flow of technical details. At the other end of this vast workroom there was a line of young girls who cut the printed matter out of sheets of paper, the scissors running in and out of flowers, tendrils, and little birds without ever injuring one. The clergy

, he said, usually suffered from what is known as the potter's asthma. This interested Kate, and she delayed the guide with questions as to how the potter's asthma differed from the ordinary form of the disease, and when their little procession was again put in motion she told Mr. Lennox how her husband was affected, and the nights she had spent watching at his side. But although Lennox listened attentively, she could not help thinking that he seemed rather glad than otherwise that her husband was an invalid. The

resented his familiarities. Once their hands met. The contact caused her a thrill; she put aside

the three clergymen lost something of their stolid manner and asked Lennox his opi

ecting a comic innocence which he

yans,' said

-house, and Lennox could not help laughing outright, so amusing did the scene appear to him. Women went dancing up and down on one leg, and at such regular intervals that they seemed absolutely like machines. They were at once the motive power and the feeders of the different lathes. It was they who handed the men lumps of dry clay, which they turned into shapes. The strangeness of the spectacle gave rise to much comment. The clergymen were anxious to know if the constant jigging was injurious to health. Lennox inquired how much coin they made by their one-leg dancing. He spoke of their good looks, and this led him easily into the question of morals, a subject in which he was much interested. He wanted to know if this crowding together of the sexes could be effected without danger. Surely cases of seduction must occur occasionally. In answering him the guide betrayed a certain reticence of manner which encouraged Lennox to ask him if he really meant to say that nothing ever befell these young women who were working all day side by side with people of the other sex. Did their thoughts never wander from their work? The guide assured

sted an absent owner, and a refined countenance was sought for in the different groups of women. There was also a difference in the hats and shawls, and it was easy to tell which belonged to the young girls, which to the mothers of families. Every

eld with one hand a piece of crockery on her knees, whilst with a chisel she chopped away at it as if it cou

nnox until they came to the ovens. The entrance was from an immense corridor, prolonged by shadow and divided down the middle by presses full of drying earthenware, the smell of wh

e neck of a champagne bottle. The fires glared so furiously that they suggested many impious thoughts to Lennox, and he proposed to ask the ministers if there were any warmer corners in hell, and was with difficulty dissuaded by Kate, about whose waist he had passed his arm. His constant whispering in her ear, which had at first amused her, now irritated and annoyed her; other emotions filled her mind with a vague tumult, and she longed to be left to think in peace. She begged of him to k

same way, and these alterations deprived her of the emotions she had expected. Still it g

e, bowl, or vase, on which she executed some design. The clergy showed more interest than they had hitherto done, and as they leaned to and fro examining the work, one of them discovered the something Gua

t-hand side presses were overcharged with dusty tea-services. On the right were square grey windows, under which the convex sides of salad-bowls sparkled in the sun; and from raf

und, and against all this white and grey effacement the men who stood on hi

going the rounds. The guide had, therefore, either to conduct the whole party to the door or transgress his orders. After a slight hesitation, influenced no doubt by a conversation he had had with Lennox, in which mention was made of tickets for the theatre, he decided to take the responsibility on himself, and asked that gentleman if he would mind waiting a few minutes with his lady while the religious gentlemen were being shown the way out. Lennox assented with readiness, and the three black figures and the guide disappeared a moment after behind the bedroom utensils. After an anxious glance round Lennox looked at Kate, who, at that moment, was gathering to herself all the recollections that the place evoked. She knew the room she was in well, for she use

t she became gradually consciou

never have thought of revisitin

ned to see if they were watched. At their feet a pile of plates and teacups slept in a

alling about your shoulders. Had I known you then, I should have taken you in m

ing still more clearly that this moment was his moment, Lennox affected to examine a ring on her finger. The

wn you then, I should hav

as his, Lennox took her in his arms and kissed her rudely. But quick, angry thoughts rushed to her head at the first movement of

are; and about a kiss,

half hearing what he said, ir

to offend you,' he con

zzled him; 'I lo

vertheless a tone of interrogation in her voi

first moment; I a

ankness in his big blue eyes, and his face said as clearly as words, 'I think you a deuced pret

that he would resist trying for one, and he strove to think of the famous love scene in The Lady of Lyons. But it was years since he had played the part, and he could only murmur something about reading no books but lo

in twisting her face away, and not liking to be beaten he put forth all his strength. She staggered backwards and placed one hand on his throat, and with the other strove to catch at his moustache; she had given it a wrench that had brought tears into his eyes, but n

row of salad-bowls was over, and then with a heavy stagger Mr. Lennox went down

ner-service with nothing apparently worse than a cut hand, a murmur of voices asking the cause of the disaster was heard. But before a word could be said the guide came running tow

them doubtfully. There was a large gash in his right hand, from which he picked a piece of delf, and as he tied the wound up with a pocket-handkerc

office that he was subject to fits, and that in striving to hold him up the lady had fallen too, that she remembered how he had behaved, how he had disgraced her. But her mouth was closed, and she listened in amazement to him as he invented detail after detail with

ikewise subject to fits, and, possibly influenced by the remembrance, refused to receive any remuneration

kerchief, his was now saturated-to tie round his hand: he confessed to a bad cut in the leg, saying he could feel the blood trickling down

d you're in Church Street; but there

you are; you're like a lion. You mu

fety that it was only for a moment. She had hardly noticed that he called her 'dear'; he used the word so natur

otective, every word he uttered was kind, the very intonation of his voice was co