Page 170 - sons-and-lovers

with what came. And Paul stayed at Jordan’s, although all
the time he was there his health suffered from the darkness
and lack of air and the long hours.
He came in pale and tired. His mother looked at him.
She saw he was rather pleased, and her anxiety all went.
‘Well, and how was it?’ she asked.
‘Ever so funny, mother,’ he replied. ‘You don’t have to
work a bit hard, and they’re nice with you.’
‘And did you get on all right?’
‘Yes: they only say my writing’s bad. But Mr. Papple-
worth— he’s my man—said to Mr. Jordan I should be all
right. I’m Spiral, mother; you must come and see. It’s ever
so nice.’
Soon he liked Jordan’s. Mr. Pappleworth, who had a cer-
tain ‘saloon bar’ flavour about him, was always natural, and
treated him as if he had been a comrade. Sometimes the
‘Spiral boss’ was irritable, and chewed more lozenges than
ever. Even then, however, he was not offensive, but one of
those people who hurt themselves by their own irritability
more than they hurt other people.
‘Haven’t you done that YET?’ he would cry. ‘Go on, be a
month of Sundays.’
Again, and Paul could understand him least then, he was
jocular and in high spirits.
‘I’m going to bring my little Yorkshire terrier bitch to-
morrow,’ he said jubilantly to Paul.
‘What’s a Yorkshire terrier?’
‘DON’T know what a Yorkshire terrier is? DON’T
KNOW A YORKSHIRE—-’ Mr. Pappleworth was aghast.

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