Helen with the High Hand (2nd ed.)

lacidly for the ship of death to appear above the horizon, and this young girl who imagined that she knew all about

long estrangement; they did not mourn over wasted years that could not be recalled. It must be admitted, in favour of the Five Towns, that when its inhabitants spill milk they do not usually sit down on the p

g about the future; it never occurred to them to be disturbed by

n admiring interest over her dress and up into the dome of her sunshade; and because he put his chin in his palm and leant his head towards her; and because the skin of his hand was so crinkled and glossy. And he liked her because she was so exquisitely fresh and candid, so elegant, so violent and complete a contrast to James Ollerenshaw; so absurdly sagacious and sure of herself, and perhaps because of a curve in her cheek, and a mysterious suggestion of eternal enigma in her large and liquid eye. When she looked right away from him, as she sometimes did in the conversation, the outline of her soft cheek, which drew in at the eye and swelled out again to

hat almost led to the spilling of milk at the very momen

and her caprices, and had reac

what you're doing i' Bo

one week and one day. I'm teaching at the Park Road Board School. I got tr

're teaching up yonder?" He jerked his elbow in the direction of the spacious and imposing ter

thing," He

," said James. "What do they pa

o pounds,"

lass; unless there's a whole crowd on

years. And cookery. And mathematics. I used to give even

ignorant of the world than most wise and experienced men are. He conceived Helen Rathbone as an extraordinary, an amazing creature. Nothing of the kind. There are simply thousands of agreeable and good girls who can accomplish herring-bone, omelettes, and simultaneous equations in a breath, as it were. They are all over t

nshaw had no intentio

tell me the interest on eighty-nine pounds

d to be at eigh

said she. "But I'll bet you a shilling I can. And I'll bet you one shilling aga

ed for the first time that she was carry

e proved what a wise and

, "I'll none

struck

ve they? Helen clearly saw that he had hauled down his flag. Yet did she cease firing? Not a bit. She gave him a

the nearest farthing," said she, a

re the captain in vain tried to catch his eye, and then

lay the piano?" he remark

o walk and drill to. In fact," she added, "for something less than thirty shillings a week we do pretty nearly everything, except build the schools. And soon they'l

ing with fine histrionic skill. "I though

. "So don't try to tease me. I never joke

When he explained matters to himself, and when he grew angry,

es," he said, aloud. "You do it because

dren, and stuffing in classrooms all day, and correcting exercises and preparing sewing all night? Of course,

at, what should ye

f-read, play the piano, pay visits, and have plenty of really nice clothes. Why should I want to do anyth

as he

ion, "that Susan and that there young farmer have gone ga

er is the most generous old thing you can possib

w m

rather over thirt

rty shillings a wik? Bless us! I don'

can live on thirty shillings a week,"

out her frocks

frocks. It's just frocks that I work for; I spend nearly all I earn on the

r on ye clothes! Ye'r

coldly. "I am se

sion of believing it occupied his forces to such an extent that he had no force left to be wise.

aid, sharply. The reflection was blown out of him by the expansion of

ion, and had been defeated with heavy loss. A head-mistress and a chairman of a School Board (a pompous coward) had also suffered severely. And though Helen had been t

mit it either from you or any other man. When I venture to criticise your private life I shall expect yo

f her mother. Yes, thirty years ago Susan had been just as rude to him. But he was thirty years younger then; he was not a sage of sixty then. He continued to blush. He was raging. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to assert that his health was momentar

mplied, gently: "Don't you think you've kept me waiting long e

alised, further, the great universal natural law that under any circumstances-no matter what they may be-when any man-no matter who he may be-differs from any pretty and well-dressed woman-no matter who she may be-he is in the wron

met his eyes. "I'm off home," he s

," she replied,

l come along

is a subject upon which a book ought to be written; but not this history. The essentia

ll be charm

d darling he is!" s