Anna of the Five Towns

bacon and a coffee-pot. Breakfast was already laid for three. She threw a housekeeper's glance over the table, and called: 'Father!' Mr. Tellwright was re-setting some encaustic tile

a plate, and set it carefully in front of Agnes's vacant

Agnes?' h

finishing he

ustomed small jug containing gilly-flow

here?' he said, i

up. She's grown them herself, you know,' An

race of satire in his voice.

n that matter was m

ight golden hair she slipped silently into her seat, cautiously gla

man,' Tellwrig

startled in

ting,' he

said it. "God sanctify this food to our use a

ir chairs, the furniture consisted of an arm-chair, a bent-wood rocking chair, and a sewing-machine. A fatigued Brussels carpet covered the floor. Over the mantelpiece was an engraving of 'The Light of the World,' in a frame of polished brown wood. On the other walls were some family photographs in black frames. A two-light chandelier hung from the ceiling, weighed down on one side by a patent gas-saving mantle and a glass shade; over this the ceiling was deeply discolour

had finished. Then he took from the mantelpiece at his right hand a bundle of letters and opened them methodically.

es asked, and he nodded, looking a

r our good br

solicitors, secretaries of companies, and tenants, he could hear his daughters talking together in the kitchen. Anna wa

ome sombre landscapes in oil, received from the same source; there was no carpet on the floor, and only one other chair. A safe stood in the corner opposite the door. On the mantelpiece were some books-Woodfall's 'Landlord and Tenant,' Jordan's 'Guide to Company Law,' Whitaker's Almanack, and a Gazetteer of the Five Towns. Several wire files, loaded with papers, hung from the mantelpiece. With the exception of a mahogany what-not with a Bib

nn

her voice came

ant

. I'm peelin

him seated at the bureau as

, fa

, waiting for him. She could not guess what she had been summoned for. As a ru

's summat for ye. Your mother had a fortune of her own, and under your grandfeyther's will it comes to you when you're twenty-one. I'm the trustee. Your mother had eighteen thousand pounds i' Government stock.' He laid a slight sneering emphasis on the last two words. 'That was near

-pounds!' she e

, l

calmly. 'Do you mea

ve it to thee this day, and thou mun give me a receipt in due form for the securities. Her

read: 'Toft End Colliery and Brickworks L

s it is they'll pay fiftane this. Let's see what thy arithmetic i

aid, getting the correct answer by a su

eased. 'Recollect that's mor

ompany ordinary stock, ten tho

g up i' th' world. It'll be a five per

inued: 'Five Towns Waterworks Company Limited cons

bsently over his spectacles at something outside in

ed, six hundred ordinar

the market, the aristocracy of investments, based on commercial enterprises of which every business man in the Five Towns knew the entire soundness. They conferred distinction on the possessor

English and American, sundry properties in the Five Towns, and among these was the earthenware manufactory in Edward Street occupied by Titus Price, the Sunday-school superintendent. Anna wa

ellwright ask

t's

net annual income of three thousand two hundred and ninety pounds or thereabouts. There's not many

s received a traction-engine to play with in a back y

up and faced her, putting his lips

es

fal-lals, and then thou mun go to th' Bank, and tell Mester Lovatt I've sent thee. There's four hundred pound there. He'

do, father, and so it's no us

d. 'Here, tak' th' pen, an

r on many seals. Then Tellwright gathered up eve

' he said. 'Have

' she

he was evidently impressed by the grandeur of this supe

, pl

give '

ck all the

call at the

s afternoon-afor

t I shan't kno

e of yours, haven't ye?' he said. 'No

the potatoes with more than her usual thrifty care; the peel was so thin as to be almost transparent. It seemed to her that she could not arrange or examine her emotions until after she had met Henry Mynors again. More than anything else she wishe

or her father. He read it, snorted,

aid, 'that's

his promise, but it was quite impossible for him to pay twenty pounds on account o

en to th' Bank,' said Tellwright, 'and ge

o to Edwa

es

y? I've never be

ter your own property. You mun see owd Price

ch does

wenty-five pun altogether-h

ce's would therefore keep them in food for two years. The idea of being in debt was abhorrent to her. She could not conceive how a man who was in debt could sleep at nights. 'Mr. Price ought to be ashamed of himself,' she said warmly. 'I'm sure he's quite able to pay.' The image of the s

marked, with an apparent benignity whic

shame,' she repe

her, instinctively divining that something very extr

e'd get a tenant for them ramshackle works? A thousand pound spent wouldn't 'tice a tenant. That Edward S

her bad policy, but because she saw that Mr. Price mig

dingly at the top of St. Luke's Square. She looked about her, across broad counters, enormous ledgers, and rows of bent heads, and wondered whom she should address. Then a bearded gentleman, who was weighing gold in a b

noon, Miss

fternoo

her forward, while every clerk's eye watched. Anna tried not to

expect it at this time of year.' He opened a door on the glass of w

to sit in a large leather armchair in front of a large table; on this table lay a large open boo

y a single negative he could have ruined scores of upright merchants and manufacturers. He had only to stop a man in the street and murmur, 'By the way, your overdraft--,' in order to spread discord and desolation through a refined and pious hom

a spot on the large open page of the book, 'and your ord

e aware that she had no ordinary sign

four hundred and twenty pounds in your favour,' said Mr. Lovatt, aft

would fail her to demand it without her father's consent; moreover, she was in a whirl of uncertainty as

od-

, Miss Te

ments to y

d unspoilt now, but these eyes will see yours harden like the rest. W

bound. She no longer felt ashamed of her shabby cotton dress. She surmised that people would find i

nnexe of the town about half a mile east of Bleakridge. From Toft End, lying on the highest hill in the district, one had a panoramic view of Hanbridge and Bursley, with Hillport to the west, and all the moorland and mining vill

itus Price) that the situation of that archway cost five pounds a year in horseflesh, and that five pounds was the interest on a hundred. The place was badly located, badly planned and badly constructed. Its faults defied improvement. Titus Price remained in it only because he was chained there by arrears of rent; Tellwright hesitated to sell it only because the rent was a hundred a year, and the whole freehold would not have fetched eight hundred. He promised repairs in exchange for payment of arrears which he knew would never be paid, and his policy was to squeeze the last penny out of Price without forcing him into bankruptcy. Such was the predicament when Anna assumed ownership. As she surveyed the irregular and huddled frontage from the opposite side of the street, her first feeling was one of depression at the broken

aid, with a sickly, conciliatory smi

re beginning to ascend. He pushed open a flimsy door, and with a nod bade her enter. The office was a long narrow room, the dirtiest that Anna had ever seen. If such was the condition of the master's quarters, she thought, what must the workshops be like? The ceiling, which bulged downwards, was as black as the floor, which sank away in the middle till it was hollow like a saucer. The revolution of an engine somewhere below shook everything with a periodic muffled thud. A greyish light came through one small window. By the window was a large double desk, with chairs facing each other. One of these chairs was occupied by Willie Price. The youth did not observe at first that another person had come in with his father. He was casting up figures in an account book, and murmuring numbers to himself. He wore an office coat, short at t

his hat, holding it afterwa

er, and Willie, with an apologetic sort of c

llie. Her tenant fell into the seat opposite-a leathern chair from which the stuffing had exuded, and wi

hich was entirely fresh to her. 'Father has sai

uch bigger than this, but there's everything you can think of there-all the latest machinery and dodges, and not over-rented, I'm told

dirty, I must s

, acrid laugh-'I suppose yo

er asked m

elongs to you i' your own

t's mine-from my gra

hing now-no, not a cent. But I'll pay twenty pounds in

t first she was fearful at her own temerity in thus addressing a superintendent of the Sunday-s

well speak plain to ye, Miss Tellwright. We canna' stay here; we shall be compelled to give ye notice. What's amiss with this bank[1] is that it wants pullin' down.' He went off into a rapid enumeration of ninety-and-nine al

rdness in her tone which astonished herself perhaps more than Titus Price. A long pause followe

ten pounds now, and I'll do what I can

Anna. She was amaz

door on the opposite side of the quadrangle: the creature was clothed in clayey rags, and carried on her right shoulder a board laden with biscuit[2] cups. She began to mount one of the wooden stairways, and as she did so the board, six feet in length, swayed alarmingly to and fro. Anna expected to see it fall with a destructive

, shutting down the desk wi

hing connected with it grievously sank in her estimation; she contrasted this scene with that on the previous da

is place is in,' said Mr. Price, enheartened by the heroic payment of ten pounds. Anna said nothing; she thought a fire would do more

crate on to a railway lorry. After twirling in the air, the c

leasant bashful smile. She gave an affirmative. Then he came to her, still sm

Special Teachers' Meeting to

t was all: William had achiev

ing into partnership,' she kept

k: manu

plied to ware which ha