It had been arranged that they should go to Canada by way of
Liverpool, and on the day before the journey of Denry and Ruth to
Liverpool they had departed from the borough of Bursley (which Mr
Cotterill had so extensively faced with terra-cotta) unhonoured and
unsung. Even Denry, though he had visited them in their lodgings to say
good-bye, had not seen them off at the station; but Ruth Capron-Smith
had seen them off at the station. She had interrupted a sojourn to
Southport in order to come to Bursley, and despatch them therefrom with
due friendliness. Certain matters had to be attended to after their
departure, and Ruth had promised to attend to them.
Now immediately after seeing them off Ruth had met Denry in the street.
"Do you know," she said brusquely, "those people are actually going
steerage? I'd no idea of it. Mr and Mrs Cotterill kept it from me, and I
should not have heard of it only from something Nellie said. That's why
they've gone to-day. The boat doesn't sail till to-morrow afternoon."
"Steerage?" and Denry whistled.
"Yes," said Ruth. "Nothing but pride, of course. Old Cotterill wanted to
have every penny he could scrape, so as to be able to make the least
tiny bit of a show when he gets to Toronto, and so--steerage! Just think
of Mrs Cotterill and Nellie in the steerage.
Pages:
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304