PART ONE CHAPTER I THE EARLY MARRIED LIFE OF THE MORELS “ THE BOTTOMS ” succeeded to “ Hell Row ” .
Hell Row was a block of thatched , bulging cottages that stood by the brookside on Greenhill Lane .
There lived the colliers who worked in the little gin-pits two fields away .
The brook ran under the alder trees , scarcely soiled by these small mines , whose coal was drawn to the surface by donkeys that plodded wearily in a circle round a gin .
And all over the countryside were these same pits , some of which had been worked in the time of Charles II , the few colliers and the donkeys burrowing down like ants into the earth , making queer mounds and little black places among the corn-fields and the meadows .
And the cottages of these coal-miners , in blocks and pairs here and there , together with odd farms and homes of the stockingers , straying over the parish , formed the village of Bestwood .
Then , some sixty years ago , a sudden change took place , gin-pits were elbowed aside by the large mines of the financiers .
The coal and iron field of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire was discovered .
Carston , Waite and Co. appeared .
Amid tremendous excitement , Lord Palmerston formally opened the company 's first mine at Spinney Park , on the edge of Sherwood Forest .
About this time the notorious Hell Row , which through growing old had acquired an evil reputation , was burned down , and much dirt was cleansed away .
Carston , Waite & Co. found they had struck on a good thing , so , down the valleys of the brooks from Selby and Nuttall , new mines were sunk , until soon there were six pits working .
From Nuttall , high up on the sandstone among the woods , the railway ran , past the ruined priory of the Carthusians and past Robin Hood 's Well , down to Spinney Park , then on to Minton , a large mine among corn-fields ; from Minton across the farmlands of the valleyside to Bunker 's Hill , branching off there , and running north to Beggarlee and Selby , that looks over at Crich and the hills of Derbyshire : six mines like black studs on the countryside , linked by a loop of fine chain , the railway .
To accommodate the regiments of miners , Carston , Waite and Co. built the Squares , great quadrangles of dwellings on the hillside of Bestwood , and then , in the brook valley , on the site of Hell Row , they erected the Bottoms .
The Bottoms consisted of six blocks of miners ' dwellings , two rows of three , like the dots on a blank-six domino , and twelve houses in a block .
This double row of dwellings sat at the foot of the rather sharp slope from Bestwood , and looked out , from the attic windows at least , on the slow climb of the valley towards Selby .
The houses themselves were substantial and very decent .
One could walk all round , seeing little front gardens with auriculas and saxifrage in the shadow of the bottom block , sweet-williams and pinks in the sunny top block ; seeing neat front windows , little porches , little privet hedges , and dormer windows for the attics .
But that was outside ; that was the view on to the uninhabited parlours of all the colliers ' wives .
The dwelling-room , the kitchen , was at the back of the house , facing inward between the blocks , looking at a scrubby back garden , and then at the ash-pits .
And between the rows , between the long lines of ash-pits , went the alley , where the children played and the women gossiped and the men smoked .
So , the actual conditions of living in the Bottoms , that was so well built and that looked so nice , were quite unsavoury because people must live in the kitchen , and the kitchens opened on to that nasty alley of ash-pits .
Mrs. Morel was not anxious to move into the Bottoms , which was already twelve years old and on the downward path , when she descended to it from Bestwood .
But it was the best she could do .
Moreover , she had an end house in one of the top blocks , and thus had only one neighbour ; on the other side an extra strip of garden .
And , having an end house , she enjoyed a kind of aristocracy among the other women of the “ between ” houses , because her rent was five shillings and sixpence instead of five shillings a week .
But this superiority in station was not much consolation to Mrs. Morel .
She was thirty-one years old , and had been married eight years .
A rather small woman , of delicate mould but resolute bearing , she shrank a little from the first contact with the Bottoms women .
She came down in the July , and in the September expected her third baby .
Her husband was a miner .
They had only been in their new home three weeks when the wakes , or fair , began .
Morel , she knew , was sure to make a holiday of it .
He went off early on the Monday morning , the day of the fair .
The two children were highly excited .
William , a boy of seven , fled off immediately after breakfast , to prowl round the wakes ground , leaving Annie , who was only five , to whine all morning to go also .
Mrs. Morel did her work .
She scarcely knew her neighbours yet , and knew no one with whom to trust the little girl .
So she promised to take her to the wakes after dinner .
William appeared at half-past twelve .
He was a very active lad , fair-haired , freckled , with a touch of the Dane or Norwegian about him .
“ Can I have my dinner , mother ? ”
he cried , rushing in with his cap on .
“ 'Cause it begins at half-past one , the man says so . ”
“ You can have your dinner as soon as it 's done , ” replied the mother .
“ Is n't it done ? ”
he cried , his blue eyes staring at her in indignation .
“ Then I 'm goin ' be-out it . ”
“ You 'll do nothing of the sort .
It will be done in five minutes .
It is only half-past twelve . ”
“ They 'll be beginnin ' , ” the boy half cried , half shouted .
“ You wo n't die if they do , ” said the mother .
“ Besides , it 's only half-past twelve , so you 've a full hour . ”
The lad began hastily to lay the table , and directly the three sat down .
They were eating batter-pudding and jam , when the boy jumped off his chair and stood perfectly stiff .
Some distance away could be heard the first small braying of a merry-go-round , and the tooting of a horn .
His face quivered as he looked at his mother .
“ I told you ! ”
he said , running to the dresser for his cap .
“ Take your pudding in your hand -- and it 's only five past one , so you were wrong -- you have n't got your twopence , ” cried the mother in a breath .
The boy came back , bitterly disappointed , for his twopence , then went off without a word .
“ I want to go , I want to go , ” said Annie , beginning to cry .
“ Well , and you shall go , whining , wizzening little stick ! ”
said the mother .
And later in the afternoon she trudged up the hill under the tall hedge with her child .
The hay was gathered from the fields , and cattle were turned on to the eddish .
It was warm , peaceful .
Mrs. Morel did not like the wakes .
There were two sets of horses , one going by steam , one pulled round by a pony ; three organs were grinding , and there came odd cracks of pistol-shots , fearful screeching of the cocoanut man 's rattle , shouts of the Aunt Sally man , screeches from the peep-show lady .
The mother perceived her son gazing enraptured outside the Lion Wallace booth , at the pictures of this famous lion that had killed a negro and maimed for life two white men .
She left him alone , and went to get Annie a spin of toffee .
Presently the lad stood in front of her , wildly excited .
“ You never said you was coming -- is n't the ' a lot of things ?
-- that lion 's killed three men -- I 've spent my tuppence -- an ' look here . ”
He pulled from his pocket two egg-cups , with pink moss-roses on them .
“ I got these from that stall where y' ave ter get them marbles in them holes .
An ' I got these two in two goes - ' aepenny a go-they 've got moss-roses on , look here .
I wanted these . ”
She knew he wanted them for her .
“ H 'm ! ”
she said , pleased .
“ They ARE pretty ! ”
“ Shall you carry 'em , 'cause I 'm frightened o ' breakin ' 'em ? ”
He was tipful of excitement now she had come , led her about the ground , showed her everything .
Then , at the peep-show , she explained the pictures , in a sort of story , to which he listened as if spellbound .
He would not leave her .
All the time he stuck close to her , bristling with a small boy 's pride of her .
For no other woman looked such a lady as she did , in her little black bonnet and her cloak .
She smiled when she saw women she knew .
When she was tired she said to her son : “ Well , are you coming now , or later ? ”
“ Are you goin ' a ' ready ? ”
he cried , his face full of reproach .
“ Already ?
It is past four , I know . ”
“ What are you goin ' a ' ready for ? ”
he lamented .
“ You need n't come if you do n't want , ” she said .
And she went slowly away with her little girl , whilst her son stood watching her , cut to the heart to let her go , and yet unable to leave the wakes .
As she crossed the open ground in front of the Moon and Stars she heard men shouting , and smelled the beer , and hurried a little , thinking her husband was probably in the bar .
At about half-past six her son came home , tired now , rather pale , and somewhat wretched .
He was miserable , though he did not know it , because he had let her go alone .
Since she had gone , he had not enjoyed his wakes .
“ Has my dad been ? ”
he asked .
“ No , ” said the mother .