W. Pett Ridge

“ Advertisements flash disturbingly; the stress of traffic becomes for a while more insistent. The Bridge at no hour sleeps, but after midnight it dozes—dozes to be awakened, perhaps, by a fire-engine dashing and spluttering across to a Shoreditch outbreak, followed by a regiment of people hastily recruited from nowhere; dozes until the market vans begin to rumble and the dawn comes; dozes until the world requires it to be wakeful. Wherein, indeed, is London Bridge a pattern and example to us all. ”

“ What was it old Ladd had once called him? A lucky cove! Old Ladd was right, too! Luck had always seemed on his side. He might have gone on at the old game, perhaps, and never have been caught. One seldom heard of anyone who practised the fine arts of crime and came out scatheless at the end, but it seemed conceivable that this might have happened over and over again; careful men might have made bagfuls of money at the work and then retired, taking gorgeous public-houses for a hobby in the autumn of their days. That would be something like a career. ”

“ The shrill tones of women mingled with the bass voices of men in a verse from the National Anthem. After a pause and a few inaudible words from the oldest workman, young Barraclough arranged his notes and, fixing his pince-nez, rose to acknowledge the toast, 'The Firm. May it flourish, root and branch!' At this there was a great clattering of spoons against plates, and the white-waistcoated foreman distinguished himself from all the other foremen (giving them at the same time cause for jealousy) by rising and crying for three cheers for Master Arthur. ”

“ At Great Titchfield Street, when Miss Rabbit and Gertie happened to be, for the moment, alone, the forewoman begged her in a low, confidential whisper not to put off till to-morrow anything she could do to-day, adding that procrastination was the thief of time.
"The fact is," said Miss Rabbit, with a burst of private candour, "I don't care what happens so long as you are safe. Very strange, isn't it, dear?"
It seemed to the perplexed girl, at this period, that life was made up of incidents which could not be spoken about freely. ”

“ All this rapidity of action made the boy extremely sulky; when the Slogger, in workhouse uniform, offered him a few choice flowers of advice culled from the spacious gardens of experience, in the shape of hints on the way of living in the world at the minimum of labour to yourself and the maximum of expense to other people, Bobbie growled at the Slogger’s well-meant counsel, and would have found the journey away into Essex tedious but for the fact that he heard a woman in the next compartment remark that he possessed a bright little face. ”

“ An excellent man Mayer, seated now at his window, the blinds up and the gas alight, so that all the world in swishing home through the pelting rain might glance up and note that here at any rate was a house free from guile and a man abhorring secrecy. Mr. Mayer, in tasselled smoking-cap, read the evening paper, looking down now and again from his first floor at the rain-peppered roadway when a skirt uplifted recklessly flew along. ”

“ It was pleasant to get about the square of the station—where luggage had to be labelled and heated passengers stormed at porters and a rather stout brass bell was rung, and where at moments of pressure it did seem that the world had suddenly gone mad—pleasant to stroll there and to feel you were one of the few who recognised the identity of the quiet man smoking a briar pipe and carrying an umbrella, over near the label case. ”

“ The curate had an artificial voice, and he glanced anxiously at Lady Douglass's aspect of jaded resignation; but it soon became evident he had something to say; Gertie, listening attentively, wondered whether he might, in some remarkable manner, have become acquainted with the particulars of her own case. Truth, he contended, was indispensable to the wise and comfortable conduct of life. Truth could only run on the main line; any deviation led to serious disaster. Truth might, at times, hurt others at the moment, but, in the end, it did nothing but good. ”

“ To the intense annoyance of East Street, Caroline did not join this debating society, with the result that her clean window-curtains and her bright sunshiny self became sources of great annoyance to East Street, and chattering matrons, with bare scarlet arms rolled in aprons, and ropes of hair that were always coming untied, whilst disagreeing on most topics, agreed that Caroline was not the only married woman in Greenwich; that her husband was, perhaps, no better than he should be; that people who lived in part of a house had no excuse for holding their heads high ”

“ Maity gave a sort of smile and was about to make some further remark when he took out his watch, lifted his straw hat, hurried away.
“Really,” she said to me, still flushed with the conversation and looking quite young, “really a very well-spoken gentleman. Depends a good deal on how we approach them. If they think we want silly talk, why naturally enough they give it. In a general way,” concluded Maity, as though she possessed a wide and considerable experience, “in a general way men treat us as we deserve to be treated.” ”

“ A few young shopmen and shop-ladies strolled in the narrow roadway, saluting each other with gravity, feeling that they at any rate were doing their best to elevate the general tone of the place, and speaking when necessity arose with the slightly tired and complaining manner that marks unmistakably those of gentle birth.
'Oh, I think Barnstaple's a horrid dull place!' one young woman said in a high voice. 'There's no society, same as there is in Bideford.'
He found himself out of the town, and away from its lamplights in the dark, still road. ”

“ The foreman waited at the entrance to the railway arch where the up parcels office, after many experiments in other places, had decided to settle; he looked on narrowly as the vans drove up the side street. The van foreman had been a carman in his day (to say nothing of a more lowly start in boyhood) , and he openly flattered himself that he knew the whole bag of tricks: he also sometimes remarked acutely that anyone who had the best of him had only one other person to get over, and that other person did not live on this earth. ”

“ A hoarse-voiced man sold cough tablets for the voice; a mild, sightless old man, with bootlaces, had an eager little girl with him, who cried shrilly and commandingly and unceasingly, “Petronise the belind, petronise the belind, petronise the belind.” Boys and girls thrust bunches of flowers against the noses of passers-by; a depressed woman cried, “Twenty-four comic papers for a punny,” with a catch in her voice that expressed regret at the small demand for humour. Erb nodded to the uniformed men whom he recognised, and, going into the bar, found his competitor Spanswick. ”

“ He looked at the lights that starred the borders of the wide river, saw the Terrace where a member of Parliament walked up and down, following the red glow of a cigar, and he knew that if he were ever to get there it would only be by leaping successfully over many obstacles similar to the one which at present confronted him; to allow himself to be distracted from the straight road of progress would be to court disaster. ”

“ The regular tramp of mules attached to the tram-cars, the rattle of other traffic, the indignant whistling by tram-car drivers when the other traffic dared to intrude upon their lines—all these came into Mitchell's with the fresh air, and made the customers, as they talked to each other, raise their voices to a higher pitch. As Mord Em'ly stood at the open doorway, looking thoughtfully at the street, Miss Mitchell came to the pew where Henry Barden was seated, with a view to rallying him upon his absorbed appearance. ”

“ He was not used to heroic physical exercise, but on this unique occasion there seemed nothing else to do that would have been appropriate, and he mingled with the evening tide of people receding from London, beating it easily, and finally arriving beyond Dulwich, and well out into the country, where the rare gas-lamps were being lighted and a mist came like a decorous veil and protected the face of the roadway modestly. Easier to think here than in the hurry and turmoil and clatter of town. ”

“ Mord Em’ly smiled at the nodding green bird as she hung her hat on the nail near the doorway. These promises were always made on Saturday nights, and there were times when, knowing quite well that there was no chance whatever of their realisation, she, nevertheless, felt joy in listening to her mother's dreamy projects.
“You'd look nice in a light pink silk, my dear,” said her mother, opening one eye. “My eldest sis'r had a light pink silk once.”
“I should look well in anything,” said Mord Em’ly cheerfully. “Fine, tall, upstanding lady like me can’t be off from it.” ”

“ Two white eyes came slowly out of one of the two dark smoke-filled arches; Alfred limped to the front, where he assumed the third-class carriages would be, and found, when the train drew up to a standstill, that the seconds were there. So like a railway company to make confusing changes.
'Jump in if you're goin' on,' shouted the guard.
He opened the door of a second-class compartment and stepped in. The train started, flinging him down in the corner, and then stopped suddenly, to the great consternation of the only other passenger in the compartment. The train went on again into the tunnel. ”

“ A middle-aged clean-shaven, cheerful-looking man sitting on a deck-chair near the funnel glanced up. French children trying to sell mechanical dolls from the edge of the quay, watched casually the melancholy person who walked up and down in a clumsy suit of innumerable fancy baskets, articles which did not appear to be indispensable to the happiness of the evening-boat passengers. At the back, lights of the town speckled the edge of the harbour, and the bell of a tram-car rang warningly. ”

“ Assuming that you stay at Zwinger’s, this is what happens. The carrier of your bag (who looks like a fisherman, and walks as a fisherman, but is not a fisherman) throws it down outside the restaurant, and, sinking on one of the green iron chairs, groans aloud a protest against the scheme by which one has to work ere one can gain five pence; he rolls a cigarette of black tobacco, and strikes a match which makes other customers choke and cough. Then comes, leisurely, one of the Misses Zwinger, accepting salutations with the austere air of a lady bored by deference. ”

“ The marriage club was only one of the new features that Erb introduced to the society, but it was the one which had a tinge of melancholy, in that it appeared to him that he was almost alone in not having in hand a successful affair of the heart. Lady Frances came frequently to Bermondsey, where she threw herself with great earnestness into the excellent work of providing amusing hours for children—children who had never been taught games, and knew no other sport than that of imperilling their little lives in the street. ”

“ A will, drawn up in commendable order, directed that all this was left to “my dear daughter Rosalind, and may she forgive her father for many shortcomings, and think of him if she can, with affection and regard.”
“This,” said Erb, when he had reckoned up the amounts on a slip of paper, “this is very satisfactory for you, but it makes all the difference to me.”
“It's going to make no sort of difference whatever,” said Rosalind emphatically.
“Money matters always do.”
“Depends on the people who have the money. Money in itself doesn't bring happiness, but it doesn't follow that it destroys it. ”

“ Unfortunately the gods, who had once done so much for her, appeared now to be taking no trouble in her regard. Some boarders came, attracted by her appearance, and made such fierce love to her that she was obliged to go about from one floor to another armed with a fork; others of the more desirable and reputable sort no sooner met her in the hall than they decided hastily that a young woman of her age could not possibly know even the first page of the cookery book, retiring instantly to find a plainer landlady whose appearance inspired confidence. ”

“ There was no harm in being polite to so old a woman.
"And now zere is but one zing to be done."
She felt in the bosom of her dress and looked anxiously at the clock.
"Oh," said Northfleet. "It's not really finished yet, then."
"Ah," said the Sister of Mercy, "allevays the merry one of the party. You like my disguise, eh?"
She had a small canvas bag in her hands.
"Oh, I think it capital," said Frank Northfleet, with an amused air. "You look exceedingly well in it; but I must take my seat in the train." ”

“ Louisa, her head twitching with pride and agitation, went across the floor, and stood swinging her programme round and round.
“You can play!” admitted Louisa. “Where did you pick it up?”
“I want you to bring your brother over to me,” said Lady Frances.
Quite useless for the kitchen to pretend that it was giving its entire mind to the subject of refreshments. The situation demanded their eyes and ears; they ate oblong pieces of cake in a detached way, rather as though they were feeding someone else; the housekeeper looked at Alice, and shook her head desolately. ”

“ William Finnis accompanied them by afternoon boat up to London Bridge, and on to Westminster, where they went over the empty Houses of Parliament, and Alfred pretended to be a peer of the realm under the title of Lord Bateson. Then they rested on the Embankment, and the sun shining cheerfully upon them, and a pleasant breeze coming off the river, they watched the slow, overgorged barges going along laboriously, noted the crowded steamboats pulling from pier to pier, and saw the trains strolling off across the railway bridge with passengers for the Continent. ”

“ The girl looked at him, at her father, then again at Erb. She had a pencil resting between the buttons of her pink blouse, and but for a slight contraction of the forehead that is the public sign of private worry, would have been a very happy-looking young person indeed.
“A would-be student,” said her father with a proud wave of the hand towards Erb, as though he had just made him, “a would-be student, my love: one anxious to gain at our hands the principles of voice pro-duction and ee-locution.” ”

“ Masterson, note-book in hand, stood at the doorway when the meal was over, taking names. As Miss Rodgers and her sister came near, he looked up inquiringly, but the girl stared at him in a distant manner, and went past, ignoring the half-completed question which he put to her; Masterson gazed after them with the abashed look of one who has discovered that he does not fully understand women, and to the next offer replied, rather brusquely, that the list was now complete. ”

“ Alfred drove the van twice between Exmouth Terrace and Lewisham—a neat van, with its plain black tarpaulin; one could, he thought, do much with a van like that.
Thus it happened that no happier young woman existed in all Lewisham (and Lewisham is a large and a well-filled parish) than Caroline. The shop had been stuck against the ground-floor of a small dwelling-house which had few rooms, but just enough of them, and Caroline, finding herself for the first time mistress of an entire house, sang at her work like a cheerful young bird. ”

“ Young farmers in shouting suits of tweed hurried with flushed faces to the station; older farmers, who did not trust railway trains, were cramming themselves into dog-carts, having perfect confidence in the quick-trotting pony between the shafts—'Her knaws her way home alone'—that flew the moment the word was given, as though bored with waiting and tired of the joys of town. ”

“ Through the iron gates Gertie saw two figures coming around the curve of the gravelled carriage-way; she took ambush hurriedly near to an oak tree. Henry's voice could be heard, with an occasional remark from Miss Loriner. "And if I promise to worship you all my life," Henry was saying, "will you then give me my heart's desire?" His companion did not reply; he repeated the last words. "You must first," she said, "make a name in the world, and show yourself worthy of a woman's love." ”

“ At the Hoxton Theatre of Varieties, the early crowd streamed out into Pitfield Street flushed with two hours of joy for twopence, and the late crowd which had been waiting patiently for some time at the doors, flowed in. When these two crowds had disappeared, the Old Street end of Pitfield Street belonged once more to the men and women who were shopping, and at the obtrusive fruiterer’s (with a shop that bulged almost to the kerb and a wife whose size was really beyond all reason) , even there one could just pass without stepping into the road. ”

“ The gang, spurred to instant action, snatched a share of the meringues from Miss Gilliken, and flew, in accordance with the rules, in various directions. Mord Em'ly, distracted for the moment ran half-way across the road. There came shouting from a street near, a bawling "Fah, fah, fah!" taken up and repeated by everyone, a shining brass fire-engine, with excited helmeted men atop, and drawn by wild-eyed, galloping horses, swung round into the main road; sparks flying from the funnel and giving the atmosphere a not displeasing scent of burning wood. ”

“ Some hesitation occurring amongst those to whom soup was a foreigner and a stranger, it was here that Caroline became important. That delightful young woman having had the good fortune to live in a house where Society's tricks were known, the etiquette of eating had for her no secrets, so that those on the opposite side and those near to her, including Alfred and Finnis, took her from the soup onwards as their pilot through the rocky, perilous voyage. ”

“ Because these adventures are not to be entered upon without rehearsal and taking thought, the two had a brief game round the tipsy railings of the old square; Bobbie starting from the county court was a restive steed conveying a stage coach which bore untold gold, and just as he galloped round by the untidy public-house at the north-west corner, who should rush out upon him but Master Sullivan with black dirt upon his face so that he should not be recognized, and presenting the toy pistol with a stern warning. ”