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I don't mind where, miss. But I don't want Lily to have to start married life in these hovels round here. I can say this to you, miss, because they're not your property; you would never have put up with places like these. An' I don't mind where it is, this side or yon side of Gateshead, Low Fell, Birtley, or anywhere, because we could always get the cart in, at least in the mornings.''Oh, I'm sure I can help you there, Joe; there's bound to be a house going empty somewhere. It would be a two up, two down you'd like, would it?''Oh yes, miss. That would be simply grand.''Well, I'll get in touch with my agent tomorrow and I'll get a message to you.''By! you are kind, miss. You are indeed. I've had a lot to thank you for over the years: I knew you had been behind me getton' the gaffer's job; and now you're making me manager. Well, there's one thing I can Say miss, I'll never be out of your debt. And, know, when people say anythin' like
    60that they always end up by sayin', "If there's anythin' ever I can do for you, you've just got to ask." But at this minute I can't see you ever bein' in such a position that you would have to call on me for assistance. Yet, I'll say it, if there's anythin' . . . well'-he grinned now.-*yů know the rest. But I mean it.'
    He took a step back from her and, as a gentleman of rank might have done, he bowed to her from the shoulders, then turned and went out.If there's anything I can ever do for you . . . Under different circumstances, what he could have done for her! Yes, indeed . . . under different circumstances. She rose from the chair and went out of the office.George Fields was waiting for her, and he greeted her with, 'He looks like a bairn with a new toy, miss, but he knows only too well it's no new toy. He won't let you down. Don't worry. No, he won't let you down. And I'll show him some more ropes afore I leave. Yes, that's what I'll do.'They were walking through the factory again and she was nodding in answer to a farewell here and there. Out in the yard, after the old man had called for her horse, she 61thanked him warmly for suggesting Joe as his successor. Then, as always, she mounted her horse without help; her left foot in the stirrup, she threw her right leg over the animal 'as good as any bloke', as the workers nearly always remarked among themselves, and to raised caps she walked the horse across the yard on to the road, past Honeybee Place, on to Ponder's Lane, deserted at this time of day. Beyond here she turned left and crossed three fields, letting the horse have its head; then at a gentle trot through woodland before skirting farm fields which bordered the outskirts of Low Fell and Birtley; then on to a long bridle path, past the iron gates of Grove House and the Filmore estate. Another half-mile's ride and her horse knowingly turned and trotted between two stone pillars which supported a filigree iron arch in which the words Milton Place were woven.The drive to the house was comparatively short. It was not, as seemed to be usual, bordered by huge trees but, on both sides, by a neatly clipped beech hedge. On the large stretch of lawn that fronted the ivy-coloured and standing like sentinels were two 62enormous blue sitka spruce. Between these, six broad stone steps led down into a terraced rose garden, now ablaze with colour.She rode into the stable yard, and before she could have dismounted on her own, Danny Croft was holding out one hand to her while taking the reins in his other hand and saying,
    'By! miss, you must be sweltered. And he's stewed an' all.''Yes, he is somewhat, Danny. Give him a good rub down, but a short drink first.''I'll do that, miss, I'll do that this minute.'She did not go back out of the stable yard to enter the house by the front door, but she made for the kitchen door at the far end of the yard, loosening the buttons of her riding jacket as she went. At the door she pulled off her hat and was fanning herself with it as she entered the kitchen, saying,