BooksBarbecue
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

‘Birmingham sidelight, we call that,’ Eb said hurriedly. ‘And them things in their mouths, those are blowpipes. That’s how they direct the flame exactly where they want it to go. This thing . . .’ He picked up a long tool in the shape of a cross, with strings attached from the top to each end of the crossbar. ‘The Archimedes Drill – look . . .’ He twisted it round and pumped it up and down, drilling a hole in a little piece of brass scrap. ‘Old as the hills, that is – still the best way of doing it.’

Margaret and Annie exchanged smiles. There were a whole host of tools at each workstation and Margaret found herself fascinated by all of it. Each man was working away, one or two alternating a drag on a Woodbine with blowing into the pipe.

‘So – you’ve got the gist of it. I must get on. If you go and see yer Aunt Hatt, ’er’ll give you an idea what to do next.’

They thanked him and went back into the house. Fanny was sweeping the passage and she pressed herself against the wall to let them pass. They caught a glimpse of Mrs Sullivan in the back kitchen, a gaunt, severe-looking woman, bent over a board of chopped onions.

‘What shall we do?’ Margaret whispered to Annie. ‘I feel as if we’re in the way.’

‘Let’s go out,’ Annie said. ‘We’ll go and ask Aunt.’

They were walking along the passage to the office when scurrying footsteps came down the stairs and Jack Sidwell, who had brought them from the station, squeezed past them.

‘Mornin’!’ he said chirpily. But he was blushing furiously and hurried out of the front door.

Margaret and Annie looked at each other.

‘D’you think he’s sweet on you?’ Annie whispered.

‘Me?’ Margaret said. ‘You, more like!’ Annie made a scornful noise at this and Margaret smiled. ‘I think you’ve got an admirer – heaven help him.’

Six

Six

‘You’ve done what?’Aunt Hatt sank into a chair in the back room later that morning, looking up at Annie with plain horror on her face. ‘Annie Hanson – you’ve only been out of my sight for a couple of hours!’

‘Well, you did say you were going to toughen us up,’ Annie said. She could not help the triumphant grin spreading over her face. Margaret was mortified at Annie’s forwardness, seeing that her aunt looked genuinely upset. They had already quarrelled about it on the way home.

‘Couldn’t you have stopped her?’ Aunt Hatt looked at Margaret. Aunt Hatt didn’t know Annie, Margaret thought. If there was ever a born crusader it was her. Annie thought she was going to convert the world by sheer force of personality.

‘I didn’t know she was going to do it and then it was too late, Auntie – I’m sorry,’ Margaret said, very dismayed by what had happened.