"Wouldn"t like it!" echoed Mrs. Bindle. "Of course he wouldn"t like it.
Bindle won"t like it when he knows," her jaws met grimly and her lips disappeared. "You"re afraid," she added accusingly.
"That"s it, my dear, I am," was the disconcerting reply. "I never "ad no "eart for a fight, that"s why Mr. Gilkes "as come it over me like "e "as. My sister, Mary, was sayin" only last Toosday--no it wasn"t, it was We"n"sday, I remember because it was the day we "ad sausages wot Mr.
Gilkes said wasn"t fresh. "Amelia," she says, "you ain"t got the "eart of a rabbit, or else you wouldn"t stand wot you do,"" and, looking up into Mrs. Bindle"s face, she added, "It"s true, Mrs. Gimble, although I didn"t own it to Mary, "er bein" my sister an" so uppish in "er ways."
"Well, you"ll be sorry," was Mrs. Bindle"s comment, as she turned towards the door. "I"ll be no man"s slave."
"You see, I "aven"t the "eart, Mrs. Gimber."
"Bindle!" snapped Mrs. Bindle over her shoulder.
"I"m sorry, Mrs. Spindle, my mistake."
Mrs. Bindle stalked along the pa.s.sage, through the front door and out of the gate, leaving Mrs. Gilkes murmuring deprecatingly that she ""adn"t no "eart for a fight."
Although she would not own it, Mrs. Bindle was discouraged by the failure of her first attempt at strike-breaking. But for her good-fortune in encountering Mrs. Hopton at her second venture, she might even have relinquished the part of Lysistrata and have returned home to prepare Bindle"s dinner.
It was with something like misgiving that she knocked at No. 32 Wessels Street. This feeling was accentuated when the door was opened with great suddenness by an enormously big woman with a square chin, fighting eyes, and very little hair.
With arms akimbo, one elbow touching either side of the pa.s.sage, as if imbued with the sentiments of Horatius Cocles, Mrs. Hopton stood with tightly-shut mouth regarding her caller. As soon as Mrs. Bindle had made her mission known, however, Mrs. Hopton"s manner underwent an entire change. Her hands dropped from her hips, her fixed expression relaxed, and she stood invitingly aside.
"I"m your woman," she cried. "You come in, Mrs.----"
"Bindle!" prompted Mrs. Bindle.
"You come in, Mrs. Bindle, you got the woman you want in Martha "Opton.
Us women "ave stood this sort of thing long enough. I"ve always said so."
She led the way into an airless little parlour, in which a case of wax-fruit, a dusty stuffed dog and a clothes-horse hung with the familiarities of Mrs. Hopton"s laundry, first struck the eye.
"I"ve always said," continued Mrs. Hopton, "that us women was too meek and mild by half in the way we takes things. My man"s a fool," she added with conviction. ""E"s that easily led by them arbitrators, that"s wot I call "em, that they makes "im do just wotever they wants, dirty, lazy set o" tykes. Never done a day"s work in their lives, they "aven"t, not one of "em."
"That"s what I say," cried Mrs. Bindle, for once in her life finding a congenial spirit outside the walls of the Alton Road Chapel. "I"ve locked up my house," she continued, "and put a note on the door that I"ve struck too."
The effect of these words upon Mrs. Hopton was startling. Her head went back like that of a chicken drinking, her hands rose once more to her hips, and her huge frame shook and pulsated as if it contained a high-power motor-engine. Mrs. Bindle gazed at her with widened eyes.
"Her-her-her!" came in deep, liquid gutturals from Mrs. Hopton"s lips.
"Her-her-her!" Then her head came down again, and Mrs. Bindle saw that the grim lips were parted, displaying some very yellow, unprepossessing teeth. Mrs. Hopton was manifesting amus.e.m.e.nt.
Without further comment, Mrs. Hopton left the room. In her absence, Mrs.
Bindle proceeded to sum-up her character from the evidence that her home contained. The result was unfavourable. She had just decided that her hostess was dirty and untidy, without sense of decency or religion, when Mrs. Hopton re-entered. In one hand she carried a piece of paper, in the other a small ink-bottle, out of which an orange-coloured pen-holder reared its fluted length.
Clearing a s.p.a.ce on the untidy table, she bent down and, with squared elbows and cramped fingers, proceeded to scrawl the words: "I have struck too. M. Hopton."
Then, straightening herself, she once more threw back her head, and another stream of "Her-her-her"s" gushed towards the ceiling.
"Now I"ll come with you," she said at length. Without waiting to don cloak or bonnet, she proceeded to pin the notice on the front door, which she bolted on the inside. She then left by the scullery door, locking it, just as Mrs. Bindle had done, and carrying with her the key.
Although Mrs. Bindle felt that she suffered socially from being seen with the lumbering, untidy Mrs. Hopton, she regarded it as a sacrifice to a just cause. It was not long, however, before she discovered that she had recruited, not a lieutenant, but a leader.
Seizing the list of names and addresses from her companion"s hand, Mrs.
Hopton glanced at it and turned in the direction of the street in which lived the timid Mrs. Gilkes. As they walked, Mrs. Bindle told the story of Mrs. Gilkes"s cowardice, drawing from the Amazon-like Mrs. Hopton the significant words "Leave "er to me."
"Now then, none of this," was her greeting to Mrs. Gilkes as she opened her front door. "Out you comes and joins the strike-breakers. None o"
your nonsense or----" she paused significantly.
Mrs. Gilkes protested her cowardice, she grovelled, she dragged in her sister, Mary, and the wrathful Gilkes; but without avail. Almost before she knew what had happened, she was walking between Mrs. Hopton and Mrs. Bindle, the back-door key clasped in one hand, striving to tie the strings of her bonnet beneath a chin that was obviously too shallow for the purpose. In her heart was a great terror; yet she was conscious of a strange and not unpleasant thrill at the thought of her own daring. She comforted herself with Mrs. Hopton"s promise of protection against her lord"s anger.
The overpowering personality of Mrs. Hopton was too much for the other wives. The one or two who made a valiant endeavour to stand out were overwhelmed by her ponderous ridicule, which bordered upon intimidation.
""Ere, get a pen an" ink," she would cry and, before the reluctant housewife knew what had happened, she had announced that she too had struck, and Mrs. Hopton"s army had been swelled by another recruit.
At one house they found the husband about to sit down to an early dinner. That gave Mrs. Hopton her chance.
"You lazy, guzzling, good-for-nothing son of a G.o.d-d.a.m.n loafer!" she shouted, her deep voice throbbing with pa.s.sion. "Call yourself a man?
Fine sort of man you are, letting your wife work and slave while you strike and fill your belly with beef and beer. I"ve seen better things than you thrown down the sink, that I "ave."
At the first attack, the man had risen from the table in bewilderment.
As Mrs. Hopton emptied upon him the vials of her anger, he had slowly retreated towards the scullery door. She made a sudden movement in his direction; he turned--wrenched open the door, and fled.
"I"m sorry to interrupt you, Mrs.----"
"Bolton," said the neat little woman.
"I"m sorry, Mrs. Bolton," said Mrs. Hopton; "but we"re going to break this "ere strike, me and Mrs. Bindle and all these other ladies." She waved her hand to indicate the army she had already collected.
Then she went on to explain; but Mrs. Bolton was adamant against all her invitations to join the emanc.i.p.ationists.
"I suppose we got to fight your battle," Mrs. Hopton cried, and proceeded to drench her victim with ridicule; but Mrs. Bolton stood fast, and the strike-breakers had to acknowledge defeat.
It was Mrs. Bindle"s idea that they should hold a meeting outside the organising secretary"s house. The suggestion was acclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Let"s get a tidy few, first," counselled Mrs. Hopton. "It"ll make "im think "arder."
At the end of an hour, even Mrs. Hopton was satisfied with the number of her supporters, and she gave the word for the opening of hostilities.
That afternoon, just as he was rising from an excellent meal, Mr. James Cunham was surprised to find that his neatly-kept front-garden was filled with women, while more women seemed to occupy the street.
Neighbours came out, errand-boys called to friends, that they might not miss the episode, children paused on their way to school; all seemed to realise the dramatic possibilities of the situation.
Mrs. Hopton played a fugue upon Mr. Cunham"s knocker, bringing him to the door in person.
"Well, monkey-face," she boomed. There was a scream of laughter from her followers.
Mr. Cunham started back as if he had been struck.
"Want to starve us, do you?" continued Mrs. Hopton.
"What"s all this about?" he enquired, recovering himself. He was a man accustomed to handling crowds, even unfriendly crowds; but never had he encountered anything like the cataract of wrathful contumely that now poured from Mrs. Hopton"s lips.