Two things only were pleasant to remember. One was that the Church
embroidery she had begun in her young zeal at Leicester, using her
odds and ends of time, to supplement the needs of a struggling
church depending entirely on voluntary contributions, was now
probably to become her trade. For she had shown remarkable aptitude
for it; and she carried introductions to a large church-furniture
shop in Manchester which would almost certainly employ her.
The other was the fact that somewhere in Manchester she had a
girl-cousin--Lucy Purcell--who must be about sixteen. Purcell had
married after his migration to Half Street; his wife proved to be
delicate and died in a few years; this little girl was all that was
left to him. Dora had only seen her once or twice in her life. The
enmity between Lomax and Purcell of course kept the families apart,
and, after her mother's early death, Purcell sent his daughter to a
boarding-school and so washed his hands of the trouble of her
bringing up. But in spite of these barriers Dora well remembered a
slim, long-armed schoolgirl, much dressed and becurled, who once in
a by-street of Salford had run after her and, looking round
carefully to see that no one was near, had thrust an eager face
into hers and kissed her suddenly. 'Dora,--is your mother better? I
wish I could come and see you. Oh, it's horrid of people to
quarrel! But I mustn't stay,--some one'll see, and I should just
catch it! Good-bye, Dora!' and so another kiss, very hasty and
frightened, but very welcome to the cheek it touched.
As they neared Manchester, Dora, in her loneliness of soul, thought
very tenderly of Lucy--wondered how she had grown up, whether she
was pretty and many other things. She had certainly been a pretty
child. Of course they must know each other and be friends. Dora
could not let her father's feud come between her and her only
relation. Purcell might keep them apart; but she would show him she
meant no harm; and she would bring her father round--she would and
must.
Two years had gone by. Of Daddy's two objects in leaving Leicester,
one had so far succeeded better than any rational being would have
foreseen.
On the first morning after their arrival he went out, giving Dora
the slip lest she might cramp him inconveniently in his decision;
and came back radiant, having taken a deserted seed-shop in Market
Place, which had a long, irregular addition at the back, formerly a
warehouse, providentially suited, so Daddy declared, to the
purposes of a restaurant. The rent he had promised to give seemed
to Dora a crime, considering their resources. The thought of it,
the terror of the servants he was engaging, the knowledge of the
ridicule and blame with which their old friends regarded her
father's proceedings, these things kept the girl awake night after
night.
But he would hear no remonstrances, putting all she had to say
aside with an arrogant boastfulness, which never failed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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