Page 67 - sons-and-lovers

she’s got.’ The children waited in restraint during his prepa-
rations. When he had gone, they sighed with relief.
He closed the door behind him, and was glad. It was
a rainy evening. The Palmerston would be the cosier. He
hastened forward in anticipation. All the slate roofs of the
Bottoms shone black with wet. The roads, always dark with
coal-dust, were full of blackish mud. He hastened along.
The Palmerston windows were steamed over. The passage
was paddled with wet feet. But the air was warm, if foul, and
full of the sound of voices and the smell of beer and smoke.
‘What shollt ha’e, Walter?’ cried a voice, as soon as Morel
appeared in the doorway.
‘Oh, Jim, my lad, wheriver has thee sprung frae?’
The men made a seat for him, and took him in warmly.
He was glad. In a minute or two they had thawed all respon-
sibility out of him, all shame, all trouble, and he was clear as
a bell for a jolly night.
On the Wednesday following, Morel was penniless. He
dreaded his wife. Having hurt her, he hated her. He did not
know what to do with himself that evening, having not even
twopence with which to go to the Palmerston, and being
already rather deeply in debt. So, while his wife was down
the garden with the child, he hunted in the top drawer of
the dresser where she kept her purse, found it, and looked
inside. It contained a half-crown, two halfpennies, and a
sixpence. So he took the sixpence, put the purse carefully
back, and went out.
The next day, when she wanted to pay the greengrocer,
she looked in the purse for her sixpence, and her heart sank

Sons and Lovers