Gaslight in Page Street by Harry Bowling Read Free Book Online Page A

working away as she darned one of his socks. She had been quiet for some time but suddenly she looked up and said casually, ‘I s’pose they’ll ’ave you runnin’ those stallions again, Will?’
     
    He nodded and leant his head back against the chair, letting his eyes close. He knew Nellie was always worried when he worked the sale horses, and had to admit it got no easier as time went by.
     
    ‘I saw the ’orses comin’ down the turnin’,’ she went on. ‘I s’pose the army’ll be ’ere next week, won’t they, Will?’
     
    ‘Next Friday,’ he replied. ‘About four, so George Galloway said.’
     
    Nellie felt a little guilty about the way she had gleaned the information, but she knew that William would have kept it from her if she had told him of the women’s plans. She had voiced her fears of someone getting hurt before, but he had only shrugged and changed the subject. She knew that her husband did not like having to run the horses along the turning, yet he kept his dissatisfaction to himself to save vexing her. William was a loyal and conscientious man, and it angered her to see that lately he was being taken advantage of more and more. She understood too well how difficult it was for him not to accept the added responsibilities. They were living in one of Galloway’s houses, and if her husband lost his job they would soon be forced to leave. How hard that would be on Carrie! The girl was devoted to the horses and would be heartbroken if they had to move away. Maybe William should not have encouraged her so much when she was younger. He had introduced her to the stables when she was quite small. She had ridden on the backs of those nags almost before she could walk. Her schooling was probably suffering too, Nellie worried. Carrie would make any excuse to miss a day if something was on at the yard. The child was happy and not often given to moodiness though, she had to concede. Maybe William was right. She would be working in a factory or behind a shop counter in a few years’ time, unless her schooling improved dramatically. Perhaps it was best to let the girl carry on as she was doing. It would not be long before she found out how hard life really was.
     
    William’s regular snoring sounded loudly and Nellie reached out with her foot and touched the toe of his boot. He grunted and then moved his head to one side and the snoring ceased. Nellie felt a sudden tenderness as she looked at him sleeping. His fair hair was dishevelled and a tuft lay over his forehead. Maybe he won’t have to run those horses after all, she thought with a wry smile, although he wouldn’t thank her for giving their neighbours the information she had just coaxed out of him. She would have to be careful. If George Galloway found out it was she who had given the news to the women he would make things very difficult for her husband. William was a quiet, easy-going man but he could be pushed only so far, and as for Galloway - he would not allow his childhood friendship with William to influence a business decision, of that she was sure. It had nearly come to that eight years ago, she recalled with a shudder. Thankfully, William had never found out what had taken place. It had been a bad time for everyone then, a time which Nellie tried not to think about, but although she had managed to be a good wife and mother to the children over the years, she knew she would never be allowed to forget what had happened.
     

Chapter Three
     
    George Galloway lived in Tyburn Square, a tidy place where the large Victorian houses looked out on to tall plane trees enclosed in a small garden area in the centre of the square. The garden was surrounded with iron railings and had an arched entrance. Inside there were wooden benches set out under the trees and around the circumference of the garden, and flowers grew from square beds set amongst the paving-stones. The houses were fronted by ornamental iron railings and the place was quiet,