Em'ly

“ Our clients are all rather superior; in fact, there's a lady waiting now to see a country girl, whose husband, I may tell you in confidence, is on the vestry, and gets his name in the local paper week after week. Very well, then! She wouldn't care to rub shoulders with a woman that keeps an eating-house, would she? You see my meaning?"
"I asked you what you had got a call for," pointed out Mord Em'ly, "but you didn't answer." ”

“ Take care I don't 'ave you up in the lor courts, my gel! If I wasn't a good-tempered chap, I should simply up with me fist and—"
"Stop that!" commanded Mord Em'ly.
"I'm only speaking theoretically," he explained
"Mord Em'ly's got a chance now," said Miss Gilliken, "that may never occur again, and if you dare to stand in her way I shall consider that you're no man."
"My word!" said Mr. Wetherell threateningly "If you wasn't a woman I'd spoil your face for you. I'm a chap of wonderful even temper, and jest because of that some of you think you can say what you like to me. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ Wetherell. "There's two sides to every argument."
"I know," said Mord Em'ly. "But I can't look at both at once. Good-night!"
Mord Em'ly, going up the narrow stone staircase, found herself pervaded by a filial emotion for her mother that she had rarely felt before. In Walworth Road she had purchased a bunch of big grapes, and these she now held before her by the string, so that her mother should be propitiated by the sight. She would try to kiss her mother if her reception did not make the act too difficult. ”

“ A man who had been one of Wetherell's comrades stood in a doorway, watching him curiously, and Wetherell, noticing this, changed his intention, and walked along by their side for a space. He looked back in a nervous way over his shoulder as he went, and growled in an undertone to himself. Presently, he left them suddenly, and went off, without another word, through a by-street.
"Who's he?" demanded Dorothy.
"Only a man," replied Mord Em'ly.
"I guessed that. What's he got to do with you? I don't like his style."
"He's got rather a queer manner about him," said Mord Em'ly, half excusingly. ”

“ You're a nagger, a pos'tive nagger, that's what you are. No wonder your 'usband ain't alive. I don't blame him!"
"Nagger or no nagger!" said Mord Em'ly's mother obstinately, "you stop them two gels of your'n, or else I will. If they'd only got a good mother—"
"You're a nice one to talk!" screamed the neighbour indignantly. ”

“ The infant Highlander had eaten some of the sugared bun, and had also contrived to paste a good deal of it on his cheeks. When this had been remedied, and his costume had been shaken into something like order, Mord Em'ly rose. The Highlander ran across the avenue, kicked his friend the boatswain, and returned to sanctuary.
"Good afternoon!" she said.
"No, you don't," remarked Wetherell brusquely. "You ain't going like that. Don't you flatter yourself." ”

“ Two small girls were chasing each other in Alvey Street, and one dodged in front of Mord Em'ly, using Mord Em'ly as ambush. Mord Em'ly, much annoyed by this unseemly behaviour, secured one of the dodging girls and shook her, and told them both to behave.
At Pandora she went up the stone steps quietly. The clean scent of a disinfectant permeated the buildings, and when a door opened the smell of an oil-lamp stole out. From the asphalted open space between the blocks came the voices of children enjoying their games noisily. The wind raced through the narrow passages with a scream. ”

“ Mord Em'ly would look at the diverted women on the landing with half-closed eyes and a glance of condescension. “How do you do, my poor women? What do your poor husbands do for a living, pray? Dear, dear! what dreadful occupations, to be sure! I’d really never heard of them before. And the poor, dear children—I do so hope you look after them. Our country's future, you must remember, lies in their hands, and— This is my daughter, Lady Ella. She, too, is going to be so interested in the poor. In fact, I may tell you that she is going to play the zither at a concert near here some evening.” ”

“ She liked best of all the poster for next week's drama at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, where a gentleman, who was obviously no gentleman, stood, with uplifted" dagger, over a kneeling lady in evening dress, her hair down and her hands clasped, whilst a masked lady in black stood at the doorway, covering him with a pistol.
“Looks as though the toff’s got hisself in a bit of a corner,” said Mord Em'ly, cheerfully. “Dessay, if the truth was known— Now then, clumsy!”
“Who are you calling clumsy?” asked the young policeman who had accidentally stumbled against her. ”

“ Several of the customers at Mitchell's Dining Rooms, too, would miss her. The young secretary of the Home, who married: if she ever heard of it she would be sorry—perhaps she would cry.
"They ain't a big crowd," said Mord Em'ly, with something of bitterness, "when you come to reckon 'em up." ”

“ When "Time!" was called, Mord Em'ly, withdrawing her gaze from the ring, and clapping her hands because Henry Barden had punished Wag Mills rather severely, found that she had to intervene between Ronicker and the quarrelsome, lean-faced man.
"Make her shut her head, then," said the lean-faced man aggrievedly. "I don't want no truck with her. Make the—"
"Less language," commanded Mord Em'ly. "Don't forget you're in the presence of ladies." ”

“ A whole day would pass, and no voice heard in the house which spoke above ordinary tones; out in the road nothing happened of greater moment than the slow-passing of a rare four-wheeler. Mord Em'ly spoke to the girl next door over the dwarfed wall that divided the gardens, and the girl next door, on being told that Mord Em'ly's mother went out charing, dropped the acquaintance hurriedly, and told the other girls in the road ”

“ She heard the sibilant whisper of women's voices, and presently down the stairs came in procession three rather thin and severe-looking middle-aged ladies, preceded by the young sister who had received Mord Em’ly. They looked at Mord Em’ly with a distant air, and filed into the front room. Then, after an interval, the youngest sister came to the door, and beckoned her to come in.
“This, dears,” said the youngest sister, “is the little girl who has come after the place. She looks willing, and my idea is that we might take her for a month, at any rate. Her mother is a good worker.” ”

“ B. Ain't you, Em'ly?" Whereupon Em'ly said that she was delighted to see Mr. Robinson. "And you're just in time for as tidy a bit of roast veal as you won't see again in a hurry,—fed down at Gogham by Em'ly's mother. I killed it myself, with my own hands. Didn't I, Em'ly?"
Robinson stopped and partook of the viands which were so strongly recommended to him; and then, after dinner, he and Brisket and the bride became very intimate and confidential over a glass of hot brandy-and-water. ”

“ Then she shook very fiercely the rolled-up apron that she held in her hand.
"You're no daughter of mine,screamed Mord Em'ly's mother. I disown ye. I'll 'ave no more truck with ye. You shall never no more—"
The tram jerked, and stopped the piece of declamation, by causing Mord Em'ly's mother to slip. Mord Em'ly laughed at this, and, before she turned the corner, waved her hand cheerfully at her vanishing parent.
"We shall 'ave to wait a bit for the train," said the constable. "How'd it be, my girl, if I was to offer you a cup of tea?" ”

“ You're the worse for liquor!"
"Wish I was!" said Mord Em'ly's father.
"And, besides that, you're a low, vulgar, noisy person: You're a disgrace, that's what you are!"
"I'm a-goin' look af'er my gel," said Mord Em'ly's father. "She's been torn from me by cruel fate, she has, and now cruel fate's got to take back seat. This is where I come in. Unnerstand?"
"Take your filthy 'ands off my clean counter!" commanded Mrs. Mitchell.
"Don’t go and throw a man's 'ands in his face," he said pathetically. "Don't do that, mother." He showed the palms of his hands to the customers. "That's work!" ”

“ The customers rose from their seats; Mord Em'ly herself left the kitchen at the back of the dining-rooms, and came forward. She turned very white on seeing her father.
"There!" he said agreeably, "That's the kind of man I am."
"Send for a constable," cried Mrs. Mitchell, panting. "Somebody bolt off for a—"
Mord Em'ly interrupted.
"There she is," exclaimed her father, "There's my daughter. There's sole sport of her remaining parent. Mord Em'ly, how's world using you?" ”

“ The young secretary was going to marry an officer on a P. and O. steamer, and Mord Em'ly grew quite important on being told the details of the engagement. For the three weeks during which Mord Em'ly's little brain was burdened with this secret she made all the heroes of her stories naval officers, who did surprising deeds of valour on behalf of lovely women at places with such distracting names that Mrs. Wingham declared it made her head ache to try and remember them. ”

“ The youngest sister paid a breathless, flying visit to the kitchen to warn Mord Em’ly that, when the visitor went, she was to be in evidence, as it were, at the rear of the hall.
“How's the evening going, miss?” asked Mord Em’ly.
“Turned out much better than I expected, Laura,” said the excited youngest sister. “I was afraid at first it was going to fall flat.”
“He ain't got what I call a tip-top voice,” said Mord Em’ly critically; “but his moral kerricter may be pretty right for all that. Why don't he smoke?”
“I declare I forgot that, Laura. You are a clever girl to think of it. ”

“ Don't you let me see your face within a mile of where I am, or, by Gawd—"
"Make your mind quite easy about that," said Mord Em'ly, trembling.
"You're the cause of all my trouble," complained Wetherell. "Some of you gels ain't 'appy unless you're making mischief between man and wife. If you don't make yourself jolly well scarce, I'll—"
"Tell you what you'd better do, Wetherell," said Suppressed Fury, as Mord Em'ly hurried away. "You'd better sprint back to your lodgings about as quick as you can. Her temper won't be none the better for being kept on the boil. ”

“ Miss Mitchell promised to do as he wished, and mentioned that a bracelet at seven-and-six was just what she had always set her heart upon, and that it would distinctly tend to clear up the Friday evening perplexity. Miss Mitchell went to help a customer, who was in difficulties with the lining of his overcoat, and Mr. Barden summoned Mord Em'ly with a jerk of his head.
"Don't talk about it," said Mord Em'ly, in a low voice. "I don't want them to know about father."
"Wasn't going to say nothing about him. Want to talk about something a lot more urgent." ”

“ You got the man that killed him—plumb. But Em'ly didn't play fair with me—made a fool of me, the only time in my life I ever cared for a woman. You leave Greevy alone, Buck, and tell Em'ly for me I wouldn't let you kill her father."
"You—Sinnet—you, you done it! Why, he'd have fought for you. You— done it—to him—to Clint!" Now that the blood-feud had been satisfied, a great change came over the mountaineer. He had done his work, and the thirst for vengeance was gone. Greevy he had hated, but this man had been with him in many a winter's hunt. ”

“ Wingham that the excellent woman more than once forgave her for outbursts of rebellion, and saved her from terms in Pleasant Cottage. When winter arrived, and the nights became long, and there was less opportunity for going out of doors, Mord Em'ly became increasingly useful at the Home, in that she suddenly developed an ability to sing alto in part songs that were rehearsed, two evenings of the week, in the schoolroom. Other girls also sang alto, but they put too much trust in each other, and were easily led into wrong keys, with results to the part song that were disastrous. ”

“ I'll take all three of you on—one down, t'other come on—if you begin to—"
"Keep him 'ere," she begged, "for ten minutes, till I fetch Enry Barden! He'll make him mind what's said to him."
"Who's that?" demanded Mord Em'ly's father gruffly. "That chap I saw boxing last night! Why, what the— Look 'ere." He turned to the serious-faced, shirt-sleeved men who were still eyeing him steadily. There seems to be a lot of fuss about nothing at all. I don't want to make no disturbance. I'm the peacefullest man you ever come acrost. I'm a perfect babe in arms, in a manner of speaking. ”

“ On the wall of the arch were a few framed photographs of half-stripped men presenting their fists to each other; also a number of portraits of gloomy, important-looking boxers on pink paper, taken from a New York illustrated journal. The square space on the floor was, excepting for the presence of two wooden chairs, empty. Mord Em'ly stood with Ronicker on the topmost form at the back, where they had to crane their heads to avoid contact with the curved roof, and Ronicker pointed out to her the gangway through which Henry Barden would arrive. ”