He was a remarkably handy man--could make or mend anything. So she would say:
`I do like that coal-rake of your mother's--it is small and natty.'
`Does ter, my wench? Well, I made that, so I can make thee one.'
`What! why it's a steel one!'
`An' what if it is! Tha s'lt ha'e one very similar, if not exactly same.'
She did not mind the mess, nor the hammering and noise. He was busy and happy.
But in the seventh month, when she was brushing his Sunday coat, she felt papers in the breast-pocket, and, seized with a sudden curiosity, took them out to read. He very rarely wore the frock-coat he was married in: and it had not occurred to her before to feel curious concerning the papers. They were the bills of the household furniture, still unpaid.
`Look here,' she said at night, after he was washed and had had his dinner. `I found these in the pocket of your wedding-coat. Haven't you settled the bills yet?'
`No. I haven't had a chance.'
`But you told me all was paid. I had better go into Nottingham on Saturday and settle them. I don't like sitting on another man's chairs and eating from an unpaid table.'
He did not answer.
`I can have your bank-book, can't I?'
`Tha can ha'e it, for what good it'll be to thee.'
`I thought--' she began. He had told her he had a good bit of money left over. But she realized it was no use asking questions. She sat rigid with bitterness and indignation.
The next day she went down to see his mother.
`Didn't you buy the furniture for Walter?' she asked.
`Yes, I did,' tartly retorted the elder woman.
`And how much did he give you to pay for it?'
The elder woman was stung with fine indignation.
`Eighty pound, if you're so keen on knowin',' she replied.
`Eighty pounds! But there are forty-two pounds still owing!'
`I can't help that.'
`But where has it all gone?'
`You'll find all the papers, I think, if you look--beside ten pound as he owed me, an six pound as the wedding cost down here.'