Page 443 - lady-chatterlys-lover

free. And don’t you bother about Sir Clifford. He’ll want to
get rid of you one of these days. If he leaves you alone, it’s
a lot.
I’ve got lodging in a bit of an old cottage in Engine Row
very decent. The man is engine-driver at High Park, tall,
with a beard, and very chapel. The woman is a birdy bit of a
thing who loves anything superior. King’s English and al-
low-me! all the time. But they lost their only son in the war,
and it’s sort of knocked a hole in them. There’s a long gawky
lass of a daughter training for a school-teacher, and I help
her with her lessons sometimes, so we’re quite the family.
But they’re very decent people, and only too kind to me. I
expect I’m more coddled than you are.
I like farming all right. It’s not inspiring, but then I don’t
ask to be inspired. I’m used to horses, and cows, though
they are very female, have a soothing effect on me. When
I sit with my head in her side, milking, I feel very solaced.
They have six rather fine Herefords. Oat-harvest is just over
and I enjoyed it, in spite of sore hands and a lot of rain. I
don’t take much notice of people, but get on with them all
right. Most things one just ignores.
The pits are working badly; this is a colliery district like
Tevershall. only prettier. I sometimes sit in the Wellington
and talk to the men. They grumble a lot, but they’re not go-
ing to alter anything. As everybody says, the Notts-Derby
miners have got their hearts in the right place. But the rest
of their anatomy must be in the wrong place, in a world that
has no use for them. I like them, but they don’t cheer me
much: not enough of the old fighting-cock in them. They

Lady Chatterly’s Lover