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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

Margaret had lost any certainty she ever had. Even walking along the lane that summer, trying to regain strength in her legs, seemed a challenge. She felt a floating sense that everything in life was unsure; her own being – even God – and it frightened her. No other option had ever been shown to her than marriage or the missions and there seemed no one she could ask or with whom she could share her uncertainty and loneliness. She ached for her mother. The only things she could do, she decided, were to remain obedient and pray and all would be revealed to her.

That summer, one evening when the three of them were seated around the tea table, their father announced that an assistant was to join him to work beside him in the church.

‘His name is Charles Barber,’ William Hanson told them. Margaret could hear a tremor of suppressed emotion in his voice that startled her. ‘He is a young minister who has been working in Salford. But lately, he has been struggling.’

‘A crisis of faith?’ Annie asked, not beating about the bush.

‘Annie,’ her father said sternly. ‘When Mr Barber comes, you must be gentle with him.’

‘I will,’ Annie said, spreading butter energetically on her bread. ‘I only asked what was wrong.’

‘I believe it is something like that, yes,’ their father said austerely. He seemed uncomfortable discussing it. ‘So far as I have heard, he has been working very hard and is feeling the strain. They have sent him here for a quieter ministry for a time.’ He told them that a Mr and Mrs Davis, members of the congregation whose sons had now left home, and who lived nearby, had offered to let Charles Barber lodge with them.

‘He will be arriving this weekend,’ William Hanson said. ‘And I know you will do all you can to care for him and make him welcome.’

Nine

Nine

August 1904

Annie was downstairs by seven the next morning. Her whole body felt electric with nervous excitement. Her job started today – she was to be a worker in God’s vineyard, an explorer of social conditions like Dr Barnardo and Mr Rowntree. It felt as though her real life was beginning at last!

Uncle Eb had been up a good while, busy with the furnace in the cellar under the workshop, preparing the gold for working. His clothes gave off an acrid whiff of smoke and chemicals.

‘So,’ he said as they all stood crowded into the kitchen which smelt of the porridge bubbling gently on the range. ‘Off to work for Messrs Masters and Hogg then, eh? Very wealthy men of the city, those two. Very fine house that Mr Masters has, out towards Worcester, I believe – comes into the works in a top hat in his own carriage. And I believe Mr Hogg has got a fine collection of paintings in his country mansion.’