Denry the Audacious
erty, stood by itself in Chapel Alley, behind the Wesleyan Chapel; the majority of the tenements were in Carpenter's Square, near to. The neighbourhood was not distinguished for its social
on its adjacency to the Wesleyan Chapel, as though that was the Wesleyan
a table, one or two saucepans, and some antique crockery. What lay at the upper end of the stairway no living person knew, save the old woman, who slept there. The old woman sat at the fire-place, "all bunched up," as they say in the Five Towns. The only fire in the room, however, was in the short clay pipe which she smoked; Mrs. Hullins was one of the last old women in Bursley to smoke a cutty; and even then the pipe was considered coarse, and cigarettes were coming into fashion-though not in Chapel Alley. Mrs. Hullins smoked her pipe, and thought about n
with his bright, optimistic face under his fair brown hair. H
ed Mrs. Hullins, and sat
nt unit, master of his own time and his own movements! In brief, a man! The truth was that he earned now in two days a week slightly more than Mr. Duncalf paid him for the labour of five and a half days. His income, as collector of rents and manager of estates large or small, totalled about a p
e!" said the old
n't do!" said Denry. "Hav
tobacco, and refilled her pi
ouse without half a crown at
the stuffy residence, but the old woman never shivered. She was one of those o
ooking facts in the face. "I 've told ye about my son Jack. He 's been playing
" said Denry, c
arrears, from anybody, that she could not afford to stand any further increase of arrears, that her tenants were ruini
e I been i' this 'ere ho
Denry. "And look at
ss that he invited her attention to what s
to keep you," said De
. Hullins, "and them as is alive h
iliffs," said Denry,
e 'll none t
an, and I 've given you a pinch of tobacco. Besides, you ought
hich ended in Denry repeating,
ve to get out.
h a bright filial smile. And then, in two minutes
said, "I 'll lend you ha
is face, and genuin
for nothing. You must pay me back next week and give me threepence. That's fair.
id in her greasy, dirty rent-boo
ft. He never knew precisely what she meant. Fifteen-twenty years later in
paid him for rent and refuse to mark it as rent, appropriating it to his loans; so that the fear of bailiffs was upon them again. Thus, as the good genius of Chapel Alley and Carpenter's Square, saving the distressed from the rigours of the open street, rescuing the needy from their tightest corners, keeping many a home together when but for him it would have fallen to pieces, always smiling, jolly, sympathetic, and picturesque, Denry at length employed the five-pound note won from Harold Etches. A five-pound note-especially a new and cri
brilliant. But he considered himself peculiarly gifted. He cons
led down to Duncalf and remained
to the ball and asking the Countess to danc
the idea of taking his re
th the rent-collecting. It's simple enough! It's just what they
s that most admired type in the bu