Liza of LambethMaugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
General
Liza of Lambeth
Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
Working class -- England -- Fiction
The beer had restored Liza: she went back to work without a headache,
and, except for a slight languor, feeling no worse for the previous
day's debauch. As she worked on she began going over in her mind the
events of the preceding day, and she found entwined in all her
thoughts the burly person of Jim Blakeston. She saw him walking by her
side in the Forest, presiding over the meals, playing the concertina,
singing, joking, and finally, on the drive back, she felt the heavy
form by her side, and the big, rough hand holding hers, while Tom's
arm was round her waist. Tom! That was the first time he had entered
her mind, and he sank into a shadow beside the other. Last of all she
remembered the walk home from the pub, the good nights, and the rapid
footsteps as Jim caught her up, and the kiss. She blushed and looked
up quickly to see whether any of the girls were looking at her; she
could not help thinking of that moment when he took her in his arms;
she still felt the roughness of his beard pressing on her mouth. Her
heart seemed to grow larger in her breast, and she caught for breath
as she threw back her head as if to receive his lips again. A shudder
ran through her from the vividness of the thought.
'Wot are you shiverin' for, Liza?' asked one of the girls. 'You ain't
cold.'
'Not much,' answered Liza, blushing awkwardly on her meditations being
broken into. 'Why, I'm sweatin' so--I'm drippin' wet.'
'I expect yer caught cold in the Faurest yesterday.'
'I see your mash as I was comin' along this mornin'.'
Liza stared a little.
'I ain't got one, 'oo d'yer mean, ay?'
'Yer only Tom, of course. 'E did look washed aht. Wot was yer doin'
with 'im yesterday?'
''E ain't got nothin' ter do with me, 'e ain't.'
'Garn, don't you tell me!'
The bell rang, and, throwing over their work, the girls trooped off,
and after chattering in groups outside the factory gates for a while,
made their way in different directions to their respective homes. Liza
and Sally went along together.
'I sy, we are comin' aht!' cried Sally, seeing the advertisement of a
play being acted at the neighbouring theatre.
'I should like ter see thet!' said Liza, as they stood arm-in-arm in
front of the flaring poster. It represented two rooms and a passage in
between; in one room a dead man was lying on the floor, while two
others were standing horror-stricken, listening to a youth who was in
the passage, knocking at the door.
'You see, they've 'killed im,' said Sally, excitedly.
'Yus, any fool can see thet! an' the one ahtside, wot's 'e doin' of?'
'Ain't 'e beautiful? I'll git my 'Arry ter tike me, I will. I should
like ter see it. 'E said 'e'd tike me to the ply.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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