Arnold Bennett

Name: The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar
Author: Arnold Bennett

The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

Summary

“The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar”, published in 1908, is a work by Arnold Bennett. It explores elements such as auctioneer, Constance and Critchlow.

Quotes from The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (Arnold Bennett)

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ Constance responded.
"Are ye thinking o' buying?" he asked. All the assistants, including Miss Insull, were in hearing, but he ignored their presence.
"Buying!" repeated Constance. "Not me! I've got quite enough house property as it is."
Like all owners of real property, she usually adopted towards her possessions an attitude implying that she would be willing to pay somebody to take them from her.
"Shall you?" she added, with Mr. Critchlow's own brusqueness.
"Me! Buy property in St. Luke's Square!" Mr. Critchlow sneered. And then left the shop as suddenly as he had entered it. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ Mericarp had been a considerable owner of property in Bursley. After a prolonged residence at Southport, he had died, at the age of eighty-two, leaving his property behind. For sixty years he had been a name, not a figure; and the news of his death, which was assuredly an event, incited the burgesses to gossip, for they had come to regard him as one of the invisible immortals. Constance was shocked, though she had never seen Mericarp. ("Everybody dies nowadays!" she thought.) He owned the Baines-Povey shop, and also Mr. Critchlow's shop. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ She and Cyril lived between bare boards and dustsheets for twenty days, and neither carpenter nor mason reappeared. Then one surprising day the old window was removed by the carpenter's two journeymen, and late in the afternoon the carpenter brought the new window, and the three men worked till ten o'clock at night, fixing it. Cyril wore his cap and went to bed in his cap, and Constance wore a Paisley shawl. A painter had bound himself beyond all possibility of failure to paint the window on the morrow. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ That's always a good sign."
He glanced round for approval of this sentiment. But everybody seemed too stiff to move. Even the auctioneer was self-conscious.
"Waiter! Offer wine to Mr. Critchlow!" he exclaimed bullyingly, as if saying: "Man! what on earth are you thinking of, to neglect Mr. Critchlow?"
"Yes, sir; yes, sir," said the waiter, who was dispensing wine as fast as a waiter can.
The auction commenced.
Seizing the hammer, the auctioneer gave a short biography of William Clews Mericarp, and, this pious duty accomplished, called upon a solicitor to read the conditions of sale. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ Mericarp had earned the reputation of being 'a good landlord.' Constance said sadly: "We shall never have another as good!" When a lawyer's clerk called and asked her to permit the exhibition of a poster in each of her shop-windows, she had misgivings for the future; she was worried; she decided that she would determine the lease next year, so as to be on the safe side; but immediately afterwards she decided that she could decide nothing.
The posters continued: "To be sold by auction, at the Tiger Hotel at six-thirty for seven o'clock precisely." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ Yet when the men arrived at the topmost course and were at last hidden behind their own erection, and she could see only rough bricks and mortar, she was disconcertingly overtaken by a misty blindness and could not even see bricks and mortar. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ The sale of the Mericarp estate had a particular interest for respectable stake-in-the-town persons. It would indicate to what extent, if at all, 'this football' was ruining Bursley. Constance mentioned to Cyril that she fancied she might like to go to the sale, and as it was dated for one of Cyril's off-nights Cyril said that he fancied he might like to go too. So they went together; Samuel used to attend property sales, but he had never taken his wife to one. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (1908)

“ Houses were never sold by auction in Bursley. At moments of auction burgesses were reminded that the erections they lived in were not houses, as they had falsely supposed, but messuages. Having got as far as 'namely' the posters ruled a line and began afresh: "Lot I. All that extensive and commodious shop and messuage with the offices and appurtenances thereto belonging situate and being No. 4 St. Luke's Square in the parish of Bursley in the County of Stafford and at present in the occupation of Mrs. Constance Povey widow under a lease expiring in September 1889." ”

Arnold Bennett

Summary

Quotes from The Old Wives' Tale — Book II, Chapter VII: Bricks and Mortar (Arnold Bennett)

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