Read Online Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks - Free Book Online

to England before he had resolved the conflicting passions that were threatening to overpower him. During dinner he looked at Madame Azaire in the shaded light as she served food to the family and their guests, some cousins of Azaire's, and there was a sense of desperation in the way he registered the features of her face, the loop of her hair, and the certainty of her movements. He could no longer allow himself to be passively beguiled.
    At work the next day he learned that there was a threat that the dyers' strike might spread to other textile workers, causing a complete halt to production. A lunchtime meeting of the workers was addressed by Meyraux, who told them they should support their colleagues in other parts of the industry by taking them food and clothes, but that it would serve no purpose for them to go on strike.
    "You have your own families and lives to consider," Meyraux told them. "I believe the long-term future of this industry lies in bringing all processes together and in having one body to represent all workers. But for the moment we must deal with things as they are. This is not a time for vain gestures, not when we are under such a threat from foreign competitors."
    Meyraux's speech was typically cautious. He distrusted the hotheaded leaders of the strike as much as he did the proprietors. Before he could bring his remarks to a reasoned conclusion, there was a disturbance near the door to the street. It burst open and several young men tumbled in carrying banners and chanting slogans. Meyraux called for calm from the platform as half a dozen police officers, some with dishevelled uniforms that suggested they had already been in a struggle, tried to evict the demonstrators. Many of the female workers nearest the door backed away in alarm as blows began to be exchanged.
    Lucien Lebrun, who had been among the first to force his way in, now took the platform next to the reluctant Meyraux. His candid blue eyes and wavy brown hair made him an attractive figure and compensated to some extent for the suspicion many of the workers felt of his youth. He asked Meyraux with tactful appeals to their fraternity whether he could address the workers, and Meyraux finally conceded his place.
    Lucien gave a compassionate description of the hardships endured by the strikers' families and of the working conditions that had driven them to their extreme action. He spoke of the poverty and exploitation throughout the plain of Picardy which was causing a large migration of people from the valley of the Somme to the towns of Amiens and Lille in the false hope of finding work.
    "I beseech you to support my people," he said. "We must stand together in this matter or we will all fall. We must think of our children and wives. I ask you at least to sign this declaration of support for your fellow-workers." He produced a piece of paper which already carried a hundred or more signatures.
    "Talking of wives," called out a deep voice from the middle of the room, "we all know what they say about you, young man!"
    There was a roar of ribald agreement. Stephen felt his nerves stiffen as his heartbeat filled his chest.
    Lucien shouted, "What was that you said?"
    "I'll not repeat it in front of the law, but I think you know what I mean." Lucien jumped down from the platform to try to find his tormentor. He shouldered his way frantically through the press.
    "And another thing," the same man called out, "we shouldn't be having a spy from England eating with us and coming to our meetings."
    A few voices called out their agreement. The majority had obviously not been aware of Stephen's presence.
    Stephen was not listening. "What do they say about Lucien?" he asked the man standing next to him. "What did they mean about wives?"
    "They say little Lucien and the boss's wife are very good friends." The man gave a throaty laugh.
    Azaire's work force had been good-natured up to this point. They had been lectured at length by Meyraux on the need for