Read Online Courting Lord Dorney by Sally James - Free Book Online

relatively flat area suitable for carriages, and as they intended to buy riding horses, Jane had decided that Jackson might as well earn his keep by driving a carriage too.
    ‘Besides, it’s so much more comfortable, and we can talk.’
    Mrs Eversley’s double salon was already crowded when they arrived, and after greeting their hostess they found places on two delicate gilt chairs at the side of the room, where they could see the musicians already disposed on a raised dais at the far end.
    To Bella’s relief the musical part of the evening did not last for more than an hour, and was of a far higher standard than she’d endured in Harrogate. Afterwards they were directed to another large room where a lavish buffet awaited them, and were soon seated at a small table chatting to a pair of elderly gentlemen. One had a distinctly military bearing, and seemed to find Jane irresistible. The other spoke with a northern accent and a blunt manner which Bella found refreshing after the meaningless society chit-chat of other people she’d met.
    ‘From Lancashire?’ the northerner, a Mr Kershaw asked. ‘I’m in wool meself, in Leeds, but I’m thinking of moving over to cotton. Much more go-ahead in Lancashire, though I hate to admit it!’
    ‘Go-ahead? How do you mean?’ Jane asked, intrigued.
    ‘Wi’ they new machines, and the use o’ power for driving ‘em,’ Mr Kershaw explained. ‘The spinners and weavers can work in mills now, and be controlled far better than the wool workers can. Instead o’ messin’ about most of the day, working plots o’ land too small to support ‘em, and spinning or weaving only to get a bit extra, the whole family can work a proper day in the mill and earn a decent wage.’
    ‘I don’t call it decent when tiny children have to work twelve hours a day!’ Bella exclaimed. ‘They’re not even fed properly, and were far better off running about the fields, earning a penny scaring birds, or helping to gather wood for the fire. Besides, it’s unhealthy in those mills, with all the steam and the fluff.’
    ‘And what do you know about it, lass?’ Mr Kershaw, although taken aback by her vehemence, was prepared to indulge a little feminine sensibility.
    ‘I found a lad of six, whose mother had just died, from an accident with one of those wonderful machines, and he was being starved, living as a so-called apprentice in one of these dreadful places. Threatened too, if he didn’t submit to inhuman treatment. He was trying to run away, poor mite. And I went to see one of the mills a few years ago,’ Bella informed him curtly. ‘My godfather was interested in the machinery, he had some ideas for improvement, and I was horrified by what I saw.’
    Mr Kershaw smiled benevolently. ‘It’s what you’m used to. They don’t know any better, they haven’t had the advantages of your position in life, my dear, and so don’t miss it.’
    ‘That’s not entirely true,’ Bella declared, her colour high. ‘They did know a better life when they were not forced to slave in those beastly mills all day and half the night! They had fresh air, and good wholesome food, and spring water, as well as better places to live in than the attics of a mill or the hovels they have now!’
    ‘The mill owners weren’t forced to build good houses for their workpeople, but many of them did, out of the goodness of their hearts!’ Mr Kershaw was growing heated and Jane, aware that the raised voices were attracting unwelcome attention from other guests, was doing her best to catch Bella’s eye. But Bella ignored her warning glances.
    ‘Good houses!’ she exclaimed contemptuously. ‘Two damp rooms for a family of eight or ten children? The only water from a tap a hundred or more yards away, and a privy shared with dozens of other families? Is that what you’d wish for your family, sir?’
    ‘I hardly think this is a suitable topic for ladies at an evening party,’ the military gentleman interrupted firmly,