Page 409 - sons-and-lovers

‘Is there anything you want to complain about?’
‘Oh, I say, you needn’t be nasty,’ he said angrily.
‘I don’t know what you want,’ she said, continuing her
task.
‘I want you to treat me nicely and respectfully.’
‘Call you ‘sir’, perhaps?’ she asked quietly.
‘Yes, call me ‘sir’. I should love it.’
‘Then I wish you would go upstairs, sir.’
His mouth closed, and a frown came on his face. He
jumped suddenly down.
‘You’re too blessed superior for anything,’ he said.
And he went away to the other girls. He felt he was be-
ing angrier than he had any need to be. In fact, he doubted
slightly that he was showing off. But if he were, then he
would. Clara heard him laughing, in a way she hated, with
the girls down the next room.
When at evening he went through the department after
the girls had gone, he saw his chocolates lying untouched in
front of Clara’s machine. He left them. In the morning they
were still there, and Clara was at work. Later on Minnie, a
little brunette they called Pussy, called to him:
‘Hey, haven’t you got a chocolate for anybody?’
‘Sorry, Pussy,’ he replied. ‘I meant to have offered them;
then I went and forgot ‘em.’
‘I think you did,’ she answered.
‘I’ll bring you some this afternoon. You don’t want them
after they’ve been lying about, do you?’
‘Oh, I’m not particular,’ smiled Pussy.
‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘They’ll be dusty.’

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