Page 310 - sons-and-lovers

‘Yes, it’s all very well,’ she said; ‘but how do you think I’m
going to manage?’
‘Well, it won’t make it any better to whittle about it.’
‘I should like to know what you’d do if you had it to put
up with.’
‘It won’t be long. You can have my money. Let him go to
hell.’
He went back to his work, and she tied her bonnet-strings
grimly. When she was fretted he could not bear it. But now
he began to insist on her recognizing him.
‘The two loaves at the top,’ she said, ‘will be done in twen-
ty minutes. Don’t forget them.’
‘All right,’ he answered; and she went to market.
He remained alone working. But his usual intense con-
centration became unsettled. He listened for the yard-gate.
At a quarter-past seven came a low knock, and Miriam en-
tered.
‘All alone?’ she said.
‘Yes.’
As if at home, she took off her tam-o’-shanter and her
long coat, hanging them up. It gave him a thrill. This might
be their own house, his and hers. Then she came back and
peered over his work.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘Still design, for decorating stuffs, and for embroidery.’
She bent short-sightedly over the drawings.
It irritated him that she peered so into everything that
was his, searching him out. He went into the parlour and
returned with a bundle of brownish linen. Carefully un-

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