Produced by Beth Constantine Juliet Sutherland Charles Franksand the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamA GIRL OF THE PEOPLEBYL T MEADECHAPTER IYou have kept us waiting an age Come along Bet doShe aint going to funk it surelyNo no not sheshes a good un Bet iscome along Bet JoeWilkins is waiting for us round the corner and he says Sam is to bethere and Jimmy and Hester Wright do come along nowWill Hester Wright sing suddenly demanded the girl who was beingassailed by all these remarksYes tiptop a new song from one of the music halls in London Nowthen be you coming or not BetNo no shes funking it suddenly called out a dancing little spriteof a newspaper girl She came up close to Bet as she spoke and shooka dirty hand in her face and gazed up at her with two mirthfulteasing wicked black eyes Bets funking itshes a mammysgirlshes tied to her mammys apronstrings heheheThe other girls all joined in the laugh and Bet who was standingstolid and straight in the centre of the group first flushed angrilythen turned pale and bit her lipsI aint funking she said nobody can ever say as theres any funkabout metheres my share GoodnightShe tossed a shilling on to the pavement and before the astonishedgirls could intercept her turned on her heel and marched awayA mocking laugh or two floated after her on the night air then theblackeyed girl picked up the shilling said Bet was a good unthough she wor that contrairy and the whole party set off singingand shouting up the narrow street of this particular Liverpool slumBet when she left her companions walked quickly in the direction ofthe docks the pallor still continued on her brown cheeks and a dazedexpression filled her heavy eyesThey clinched it when they said I wor a mammys girl she mutteredThere aint no funk in me but there was a look about mother thismorning that I couldnt abear No I aint a mammys girl not IThere was never nought so good about me and I have give away my lastshillingflung it into the gutter Well never mind I aint tiedto nobodys apronstringsno not I Wish I wor wish I worShe walked on not too fast holding herself very stiff and erect nowShe was a tall girl made on a large and generous scale her head waswell set on a pair of shapely shoulders and her coils of redbrownhair were twisted tightly round her massive headBet said a young lad as he rushed up the streethaha handsomeBet give us a kiss will yeBet rewarded him with a smart cuff across his face and marched onmore defiant than everAs she paused at a certain door a sweetlooking girl with a white facedressed in the garb of a Sister came outAh Elizabeth I am glad you have arrived she said I have justleft your mother she has been crying for you andandshe is veryill indeedOh I know that Sister Mary let me go upstairs nowBet pushed past the girl almost rudely and ascended the dark ricketystairs with a light step Her head was held very far back and in hereyes there was a curious mixture of defiance softness and despairTwo little boys with the same reddishbrown hair as hers were playingnoisily on the fourth landing They made a rush at Bet when they sawher climbed up her like little cats and half strangled her with theirthin halfnaked armsBet Bet I say mothers awful bad Bet speak to Nat he stole mymarble he did Fie on you Capn you shouldnt have done itI like that shouted the ragged boy addressed as Capn You tookit from me first you know you did GenralIf mothers bad you shouldnt make a noise said Bet flinging thetwo little boys away with no particular gentleness There of courseIll kiss you Genralpoor little lad Go down now and play on thenext landing and keep quiet for the next ten minutes if its in youBet whispered the youngest boy who was known as Capn shallI tell yer what mother did this morningNo no I dont want to heargo downstairs and keep quiet _do_Oh yerll be in such a steaming rage She burnt yer book yer _JaneEyre_ as yer wor readinglor it were finethe bit as you readto the Genral and me but she said as it wor a hellfire book andshe burnt itI seed her and so did the Genralshe pushed it betweenthe bars with the poker She got up in her nightthings to do it andthen she got back to bed again and she panted for nearly an hourafterdidnt she GenralYesyescome along come along Look at Bet shes going to strikesome unlook at her didnt we say as shed be in a steaming rageCome CapnThe little boys scuttled downstairs shouting and tumbling over oneanother in their flight Bet stood perfectly still on the landing Theboys were right when they said she would be in a rage her heart beatheavily her face was white and for an instant she pressed her foreheadagainst the door of her mothers room and clenched her teethThe book burnt the poor book which had given her pleasure and whichshe had saved up her pence to buythe book which had drawn her outof herself and made her forget her wretched surroundings committedto the flamesignominiously destroyed and called bad names tooHow dared her mother do it how dared she The girls were right whenthey said she was tied to apronstringsshe was she was But shewould bear it no longer She would show her mother that she wouldsubmit to no leadingthat she Elizabeth Granger the handsomestnewspaper girl in Liverpool was a woman and her own mistressShe oughtnt to have done it halfgroaned Bet The poor book AndIll never know now whats come to Jane and RochesterIll never knowIt cuts me to the quick Mother oughtnt to take pleasure from onelike that but its all of a piece Well Ill go in and say goodnight to her and then Ill go back to the girls Im