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Back Sisters of Gold
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

‘He’s got toothache,’ Margaret said. Jack Sidwell had been appearing with his face swollen and wearing an agonized expression.

Eb chuckled. ‘He’ll have more than toothache if ’e works on these. No – Jack’s a badge-and-button boy – I’ll send them over to old Sam Lieberman. In fact . . .’ He scratched his head. ‘P’raps we should’ve got it done with . . . Well, it’s too late now. You’ve done the dies.’

‘What?’ Caleb Turner said. ‘You mean, cloisonné?’

Eb sucked in air through his teeth and thought for a moment.

‘No . . . You’re all right,’ he said, exhaling. ‘Sam’s very experienced at either – he’s the best.’ He clapped Caleb on the shoulder. ‘Fine work, old mate.’ He saw Margaret’s puzzled face. ‘Most of the enamelling round here’s done on metal stamped out from the dies – like these, see? You lay the enamel powders into the different bits when it’s stamped out and then fire it . . . It’s called champlevé. With cloisonné it’s a case of making the shape in wire instead and laying it on the top. Very fine work . . . But we’ll go with it as it is. No one’d make a better job of it than old Sam Lieberman.’

Caleb Turner’s look of doom increased. ‘Well,’ he said, turning to go. ‘We’ll see, won’t we? Oh – and if that lad wants his tooth seen to, send ’im up to me. I’ll soon whip it out for ’im.’

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Four

‘Is that young Daisy again?’ Aunt Hatt looked up from her accounts, hearing a tap at the front door. Susan got to her feet to answer. ‘It’s about that time.’

Margaret, at her own desk, had been musing on Charles’s letter. The very fact of the letter now enraged her. It felt as if her father had once more placed himself on Charles’s side. Yet, at the same time, how was there to be any resolution, any forgiveness? In calmer moments, she wondered whether, sooner or later, she would feel it the right thing to reply, but at Daisy’s arrival this was chased out of her mind. Her heartbeat picked up speed and she blushed, feeling Aunt Hatt’s eyes on her, as if her aunt could see into her head and know how often her thoughts now turned to Daisy’s father.

‘She’s growing fond of you, Margaret.’ It was said this time with a note of reproach, as if to say, You’ll be gone soon. Is it fair on this poor motherless child to allow her to fix on you only to lose you all over again?

They heard Daisy’s young voice, her feet hurrying in the passage.

‘This one’s here again,’ Susan announced at the door. For some reason she had decided to be sniffy about Daisy’s now daily appearances. Bridget, however, was a warm-hearted soul and always treated her very sweetly.