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Back A Man of Honour Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. PART ONE
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. PART TWO
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. PART THREE
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. PART FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. FIFTY-THREE
  60. PART FIVE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. FIFTY-FIVE
  63. FIFTY-SIX
  64. FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. FIFTY-NINE
  67. SIXTY
  68. SIXTY-ONE
  69. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  70. Keep Reading …
  71. About the Author
  72. Also by Barbara Taylor Bradford
  73. About the Publisher

Hardest of all, Angela was gone. She had died very quickly, lingering only a few weeks after her sister Sarah had told them about the diagnosis, when they learned that her old boyfriend Barry had beaten her up. The doctors at Harrogate Hospital had told Sarah that she was riddled with cancer; it had spread throughout her body.

Blackie had never seen her again. Only her sister and mother had been with her in Harrogate.

He had wept when Sarah had told him that Angela was no longer with them. Dead and buried in Harrogate and he hadn’t even known. He would have gone to her funeral.

And now there was Aunt Eileen, not well at all. So fragile. Pale and wan, and Uncle Patrick was worried about her – he was well aware of that. He was always bringing her tonics home from the chemist or suggesting new foods. Yet she still managed the house, did the cooking and looked after her two boys, as she called Uncle Pat and him. No working at the bakery on Saturday morning, though. His uncle had insisted that she stay at home, and he would not agree she could return when she felt better. Very simply, he did not want his wife to work any more.

Blackie sighed again under his breath as he continued down the main street in Upper Armley. He felt down in the dumps, depressed, and he didn’t like being in this state of mind. Normally, he was cheerful and optimistic, looking towards the future with hope, driven by ambition and the desire to succeed, by his curiosity about the world and appetite for life. He sometimes longed for Ireland, for the green fields and rushing rivers he’d grown up with, for voices like his and people who knew his family. But he knew there was nothing for him there. No work. Little to eat. No way to make a lot of money.

He must shake off this sense of defeat, his preoccupation with the bad things that had happened to him lately. And he must stop being angry with Sarah, who had believed he had physically assaulted Angela. She had made a bad judgement, that was all. He must let it go, wipe it out of his mind.

When he arrived home, Aunt Eileen greeted him warmly, and hid her surprise that he was suddenly back. Normally, he came home at twelve noon for dinner, and then hurried off to work, returning at five. Why was he here at two?

‘Is everything all right, Blackie lad?’ she asked as he came in and sat opposite her, giving her a brief smile. She was mending Uncle Pat’s shirts, sitting in the small sewing chair close to the window. She looked a bit brighter today.