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Back Sisters of Gold Save as PDF
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

Now that he had agreed to come and meet these two young women off the train, he was beginning to long for the familiarity of his old cloth cap. Bet I look a proper Charlie, and other demoralizing thoughts, started to pester at him, along with the heaviness of his jacket in the heat, the moistness of his back and armpits. He might be a young man with a business all his own – he even employed another lad now – but still, he just felt like a sweaty chump in a silly hat.

Several trains arrived and departed. Sidelong beams of sunlight lit the smoke and steam as it unfurled towards the iron roof beams. There was a feverish feel to the afternoon. The stenches of horse muck and industry blooming in the heat, light glancing off the tracks in the distance, the talk all around of the hanging this morning at the gaol over in Winson Green. He shuddered. Made you feel queer, thinking about that. Jack tugged nervously at his collar and drew in a hot, smut-laced breath.

What were these two women doing, anyway, coming to Birmingham? He’d picked up rumours in the house – some trouble, them needing a bolt hole. But he hadn’t dared ask Mr Watts. It all seemed a bit rum and he was curious to see what these wenches would look like. Not that they were ‘wenches’ exactly, not by the sound of it.

The Bristol train came steaming in, pulled by a magnificent, thudding beast of an engine. By the time the air had cleared and the bulk of passengers began to disperse, halfway along the platform he saw two young women in plain grey clothes and straw bonnets standing, uncertainly, close together. They had to be the ones. In outline, he saw that the taller of the two had a stately bearing, her dark hair fixed in a sober style and fastened low on her neck. The other was smaller, almost elfish in appearance.

Jack, while theoretically intensely interested in women, found that few of these real, alarming creatures seemed to cross his path. His heart began to pound like one of the pistons turning the engine wheels.

‘Here goes, m’lad.’ Pulling his shoulders back, he strode towards them.

Four eyes fixed upon him: two of them wide with some emotion which, oversensitive, he mistook for snootiness. The face of this taller girl was grey-eyed and sternly beautiful, though even Jack could recognize that at this moment it looked hollowed out by exhaustion. The smaller girl’s eyes were set in a heart-shaped little face with strong cheekbones, slender but definite brows, and brown hair hauled back under her hat. These greenish eyes blazed at him with an expression of burning defiance which he found most intimidating. That look she was giving – it was fit to blow you over. She wasn’t pretty exactly, not in a pin-up way – but my goodness, what a girl!