Page 968 - of-human-bondage-

The beds consisted of a thick layer of hopvine, on the top
of which was a coating of straw, and this was covered with a
blanket. After a day in the open air, with the aromatic scent
of the hops all round them, the happy pickers slept like tops.
By nine o’clock all was quiet in the meadow and everyone
in bed but one or two men who still lingered in the pub-
lic-house and would not come back till it was closed at ten.
Athelny walked there with Philip. But before he went Mrs.
Athelny said to him:
‘We breakfast about a quarter to six, but I daresay you
won’t want to get up as early as that. You see, we have to set
to work at six.’
‘Of course he must get up early,’ cried Athelny, ‘and he
must work like the rest of us. He’s got to earn his board. No
work, no dinner, my lad.’
‘The children go down to bathe before breakfast, and
they can give you a call on their way back. They pass The
Jolly Sailor.’
‘If they’ll wake me I’ll come and bathe with them,’ said
Philip.
Jane and Harold and Edward shouted with delight at
the prospect, and next morning Philip was awakened out
of a sound sleep by their bursting into his room. The boys
jumped on his bed, and he had to chase them out with his
slippers. He put on a coat and a pair of trousers and went
down. The day had only just broken, and there was a nip in
the air; but the sky was cloudless, and the sun was shining
yellow. Sally, holding Connie’s hand, was standing in the
middle of the road, with a towel and a bathing-dress over