It
was astonishing how much was done, and how the sense of life in the
air--the work of resulting prosperity, made men begin to tread with less
listless steps as they went to and from their labour. In the cottages
things were being done which made downcast women bestir themselves and
look less slatternly. Leaks mended here, windows there, the hopeless
copper in the tiny washhouse replaced by a new one, chimneys cured of
the habit of smoking, a clean, flowered paper put on a wall, a coat of
whitewash--they were small matters, but produced great effect.
Betty had begun to drop into the cottages, and make the acquaintance
of their owners. Her first visits, she observed, created great
consternation. Women looked frightened or sullen, children stared
and refused to speak, clinging to skirts and aprons. She found the
atmosphere clear after her second visit. The women began to talk, and
the children collected in groups and listened with cheerful grins.
She could pick up little Jane's kitten, or give a pat to small Thomas'
mongrel dog, in a manner which threw down barriers.
"Don't put out your pipe," she said to old Grandfather Doby, rising
totteringly respectful from his chimney-side chair.
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