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make! And those granite setts at Tinder Hill—he might well
call them kidney pebbles—they’ll jolt him almost to bits.
I wonder why they can’t mend them, the state they’re in,
an’ all the men as go across in that ambulance. You’d think
they’d have a hospital here. The men bought the ground,
and, my sirs, there’d be accidents enough to keep it going.
But no, they must trail them ten miles in a slow ambulance
to Nottingham. It’s a crying shame! Oh, and the fuss he’ll
make! I know he will! I wonder who’s with him. Barker, I s’d
think. Poor beggar, he’ll wish himself anywhere rather. But
he’ll look after him, I know. Now there’s no telling how long
he’ll be stuck in that hospital—and WON’T he hate it! But
if it’s only his leg it’s not so bad.’
All the time she was getting ready. Hurriedly taking off
her bodice, she crouched at the boiler while the water ran
slowly into her lading-can.
‘I wish this boiler was at the bottom of the sea!’ she ex-
claimed, wriggling the handle impatiently. She had very
handsome, strong arms, rather surprising on a smallish
woman.
Paul cleared away, put on the kettle, and set the table.
‘There isn’t a train till four-twenty,’ he said. ‘You’ve time
enough.’
‘Oh no, I haven’t!’ she cried, blinking at him over the
towel as she wiped her face.
‘Yes, you have. You must drink a cup of tea at any rate.
Should I come with you to Keston?’
‘Come with me? What for, I should like to know? Now,
what have I to take him? Eh, dear! His clean shirt—and it’s

1 Sons and Lovers