Page 173 - sons-and-lovers

‘But I ought to know how to put needles in.’
She ground at her machine all the while steadily.
‘There are many things you ought to know,’ she replied.
‘Tell me, then, how to stick needles in the machine.’
‘Oh, the boy, what a nuisance he is! Why, THIS is how
you do it.’
He watched her attentively. Suddenly a whistle piped.
Then Polly appeared, and said in a clear voice:
‘Mr. Pappleworth wants to know how much longer you’re
going to be down here playing with the girls, Paul.’
Paul flew upstairs, calling ‘Good-bye!’ and Emma drew
herself up.
‘It wasn’t ME who wanted him to play with the machine,’
she said.
As a rule, when all the girls came back at two o’clock, he
ran upstairs to Fanny, the hunchback, in the finishing-off
room. Mr. Pappleworth did not appear till twenty to three,
and he often found his boy sitting beside Fanny, talking, or
drawing, or singing with the girls.
Often, after a minute’s hesitation, Fanny would begin to
sing. She had a fine contralto voice. Everybody joined in the
chorus, and it went well. Paul was not at all embarrassed,
after a while, sitting in the room with the half a dozen work-
girls.
At the end of the song Fanny would say:
‘I know you’ve been laughing at me.’
‘Don’t be so soft, Fanny!’ cried one of the girls.
Once there was mention of Connie’s red hair.
‘Fanny’s is better, to my fancy,’ said Emma.

1 Sons and Lovers