The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinners, by Eden PhillpottsThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: The SpinnersAuthor: Eden PhillpottsRelease Date: March 20, 2005 [EBook #15416]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINNERS ***Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.THE SPINNERSBY EDEN PHILLPOTTSAuthor of "Old Delabole," "Brunel's Tower," etc.1918CONTENTSBOOK II THE FUNERAL II AT 'THE TIGER' III THE HACKLER IV CHAINS FOR RAYMOND V IN THE MILL VI 'THE SEVEN STARS' VII A WALK VIII THE LECTURE IXTHE PARTY X WORK XI THE OLD STORE-HOUSE XII CREDIT XIII IN THE FOREMAN'S GARDEN XIV THE CONCERT XV A VISIT TO MISS IRONSYDE XVI ATCHILCOMBE XVII CONFUSION XVIII THE LOVERS' GROVE XIX JOB LEGG'S AMBITION XX A CONFERENCE XXI THE WARPING MILL XXII THE TELEGRAMXXIII A LETTER FOR SABINA XXIV MRS. NORTHOVER DECIDES XXV THE WOMAN'S DARKNESS XXVI OF HUMAN NATURE XXVII THE MASTER OF THEMILL XXVIII CLASH OF OPINIONS XXIX THE BUNCH OF GRAPES XXX A TRIUMPH OF REASON XXXI THE OFFER DECLINEDBOOK III THE FLYING YEARS II THE SEA GARDEN III A TWIST FRAME IV THE RED HAND V AN ACCIDENT VI THE GATHERING PROBLEM VII THE WALK HOME VIIIEPITAPH IX THE FUTURE OF ABEL X THE ADVERTISEMENT XI THE HEMP ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinners, by Eden Phillpotts
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Spinners
Author: Eden Phillpotts
Release Date: March 20, 2005 [EBook #15416]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINNERS ***
Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE SPINNERS
BY EDEN PHILLPOTTS
Author of "Old Delabole," "Brunel's Tower," etc.
1918CONTENTS
BOOK I
I THE FUNERAL II AT 'THE TIGER' III THE HACKLER IV CHAINS FOR RAYMOND V IN THE MILL VI 'THE SEVEN STARS' VII A WALK VIII THE LECTURE IX
THE PARTY X WORK XI THE OLD STORE-HOUSE XII CREDIT XIII IN THE FOREMAN'S GARDEN XIV THE CONCERT XV A VISIT TO MISS IRONSYDE XVI AT
CHILCOMBE XVII CONFUSION XVIII THE LOVERS' GROVE XIX JOB LEGG'S AMBITION XX A CONFERENCE XXI THE WARPING MILL XXII THE TELEGRAM
XXIII A LETTER FOR SABINA XXIV MRS. NORTHOVER DECIDES XXV THE WOMAN'S DARKNESS XXVI OF HUMAN NATURE XXVII THE MASTER OF THE
MILL XXVIII CLASH OF OPINIONS XXIX THE BUNCH OF GRAPES XXX A TRIUMPH OF REASON XXXI THE OFFER DECLINED
BOOK II
I THE FLYING YEARS II THE SEA GARDEN III A TWIST FRAME IV THE RED HAND V AN ACCIDENT VI THE GATHERING PROBLEM VII THE WALK HOME VIII
EPITAPH IX THE FUTURE OF ABEL X THE ADVERTISEMENT XI THE HEMP BREAKER XII THE PICNIC XIII THE RUNAWAY XIV THE MOTOR CAR XV
CRITICISM XVI THE OFFER OF MARRIAGE XVII SABINA AND ABEL XVIII SWAN SONG XIX NEW WORK FOR ABEL XX IDEALS XXI ATROPOS XXII THE
HIDING-PLACEBOOK I
SABINACHAPTER I
THE FUNERAL
The people were coming to church and one had thought it Sunday, but for two circumstances. The ring of bells at St.
Mary's did not peal, and the women were dressed in black as the men.
Through the winding lanes of Bridetown a throng converged, drawn to the grey tower by a tolling bell; and while the sun
shone and a riot of many flowers made hedgerows and cottage gardens gay; while the spirit of the hour was inspired by
June and a sun at the zenith unclouded, the folk of the hamlet drew their faces to sadness and mothers chid the children,
who could not pretend, but echoed the noontide hour in their hearts.
All were not attired for a funeral. A small crowd of women, with one or two men among them, stood together where a
sycamore threw a patch of shade on a triangular space of grass near the church. There were fifty of these people—
ancient women, others in their prime, and many young maidens. Some communion linked them and the few men who
stood with them. All wore a black band upon their left arms. Drab or grey was their attire, but sun-bonnets nodded bright
as butterflies among them, and even their dull raiment was more cheerful than the gathering company in black who now
began to mass their numbers and crane their heads along the highway.
Bridetown lies near the sea in a valley under a range of grassy downs. It is the centre of a network of little lanes with
cottages dotted upon them, or set back behind small gardens. The dwellings stood under thatch, or weathered tile, and
their faces at this season were radiant with roses and honeysuckles, jasmine and clematis. Pinks, lilies, columbines
made the garden patches gay, and, as though so many flowers were not enough, the windows, too, shone with
geraniums and the scarlet tassels of great cactus, that lifted their exotic, thorny bodies behind the window panes. Not a
wall but flaunted red valerian and snapdragon. Indeed Bridetown was decked with blooms.
Here and there in the midst stood better houses, with some expanse of lawn before them and flat shrubs that throve in
that snug vale. Good walnut trees and mulberries threw their shadows on grass plat and house front, while the murmur of
bees came from many bright borders.
South the land rose again to the sea cliffs, for the spirits of ocean and the west wind have left their mark upon Bride Vale.
The white gulls float aloft; the village elms are moulded by Zephyr with sure and steady breath. Of forestal size and
unstunted, yet they turn their backs, as it were, upon the west and, yielding to that unsleeping pressure, incline landward.
The trees stray not far. They congregate in an oasis about Bridetown, then wend away through valley meadows, but leave
the green hills bare. The high ground rolls upward to a gentle skyline and the hillsides, denuded by water springs, or
scratched by man, reveal the silver whiteness of the chalk where they are wounded.
Bride river winds in the midst, and her bright waters throw a loop round the eastern frontier of the hamlet, pass under the
highway, bring life to the cottage gardens and turn more wheels than one. Bloom of apple and pear are mirrored on her
face and fruit falls into her lap at autumn time. Then westward she flows through the water meadows, and so slips
uneventfully away to sea, where the cliffs break and there stretches a little strand. To the last she is crowned with flowers,
and the meadowsweets and violets that decked her cradle give place to sea poppies, sea hollies, and stones encrusted
with lichens of red gold, where Bride flows to one great pool, sinks into the sand and glides unseen to her lover.
"They're coming!" said one of the crowd; but it was a false alarm. A flock of breeding lambs of the Dorset horned sheep
pattered through the village on their way to pasture. The young, healthy creatures, with amber-coloured horns and yellow
eyes, trotted contentedly along together and left an ovine reek in the air. Behind them came the shepherd—a high-
coloured, middle-aged man with a sharp nose and mild, grey eyes. He could give news of the funeral, which was on the
way behind him.
An iron seat stood under the sycamore on the triangular patch of grass, and a big woman sat upon it. She was of vast
dimensions, broad and beamy as a Dutch sloop. Her bulk was clad in dun colour, and on her black bonnet appeared a
layer of yellow dust. She spoke to others of the little crowd who surrounded her. They came from Bridetown Spinning Mill,
for work was suspended because Henry Ironsyde, the mill owner, had died and now approached his grave.
"The Ironsydes bury here, but they don't live here," said Sally Groves. "They lived here once, at North Hill House; but that's
when I first came to the Mill as a bit of a girl."
The big woman fanned herself with a handkerchief, then spoke a grey man with a full beard, small head, and
discontented eyes. He was Levi Baggs, the hackler.
"We shall have those two blessed boys over us now, no doubt," he said. "But what know they? Things will be as they
were, and time and wages the same as before."
"They'll be sure to do what their father wished, and there was a murmur of changes before he died," said Sally Groves;
but Levi shook his head.
"Daniel Ironsyde is built like his father, to let well alone. Raymond
Ironsyde don't count. He'll only want his money.""Have you ever seen Mr. Raymond?" asked a girl. She was Nancy Buckler, a spinner—hard-featured, sharp-voiced, and
wiry. Nancy might have been any age between twenty-five and forty. She owned to thirty.
"He don't come to Bridetown, and if you want to see him, you must go to
'The Tiger,' at Bridport," declared another girl. Her name was Sarah
Northover.
"My Aunt Nelly keeps 'The Seven Stars,' in Barrack Street," she explained, "and that's just alongside 'The Tiger,' and my
Aunt Nelly's very friendly with Mr. Gurd, of 'The Tiger,' and he's told her that Mr. Raymond is there half his time. He's all for
sport and such like, and 'The Tiger's' a very sporting house."
"He won't be no good to the mills if he's that sort," prophesied Sally
Groves.
"I saw him once, with another young fellow called Motyer," answered Sarah Northover. "He's very good-looking—fair and
curly—quite different from Mr. Daniel."
"Light or dark, they're Henry Ironsyde's sons and be brought up in his pattern no doubt," declared Mr. Baggs.
People continued to appear, and among them walked an elderly man, a woman and a girl. They were Mr. Ernest
Churchouse, of 'The Magnolias,' with his widowed housekeeper, Mary Dinnett, and her daughter, Sabina. The girl was
nineteen, dark and handsome, and very skilled in her labour. None disputed her right to be called first spinner at the mills.
She was an impulsive, ambitious maiden, and Mr. Best, foreman at the works, claimed for her that she brought genius as
well as understanding to her task. Sabina joined her friend, Nancy Buckler; Mrs. Dinnett, who had been a mill hand in her
youth, took a seat beside Sally Groves, and Mr. Churchouse paced alone. He was a round-faced, clean-shaven man with
mild, grey eyes and iron grey hair. He looked gentle and genial. His shoulders were high, and his legs short. Walking
irked him, for a sedentary life and hearty appetite had made him stout.
The fall of Henry Ironsyde served somewhat to waken Ernest Churchouse from the placid dream in which he lived, shake
him from his normal quietude, and remind him of the flight of time. He and the dead man were of an age and had been
boys together. Their fathers founded the Bridetown Spinning Mill, and when the elder men passed away, it was Henry
Ironsyde who took over the enterprise and gradually bought out Ernest Churchouse. But while Ironsyde left Bridetown and
lived henceforth at Bridport, that he might develop further interests in the spinning trade, Ernest had been well content to
remain there, enjoy his regular income and live at 'The Magnolias,' his father's old-world house, beside the river. His
tastes were antiquarian and literary. He wrote when in the mood, and sometimes read papers at the Mechanics' Institute
of Bridport. But he was constitutionally averse from real work of any sort, lacked ambition, and found all the fame he
needed in the village community with which his life had been passed. He was a childless wi