Hearts and Farthings by Beryl Kingston

Author:Beryl Kingston [Kingston, Beryl]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Agora Books
Published: 2019-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

Meanwhile the rich man, over in his corner of London, was busily making money. Tooting was changing again, and Harry was down in the dumps. The London County Council had started to lay their tramlines down towards the town, and Mr Pennyman had sold them more than a third of the Totterdown Farm, so that they could build a council estate at the end of the line. Now the farmhands were sure the rest of the land would go under the hammer as soon as the harvest was in. The line was nearly finished, and once the trams started to run, they were convinced the council would be on the hunt for more land. Local builders were already talking of a thousand council houses.

‘A thousand council houses on good rich farmland,’ Harry said morosely. ‘I ask yer. Where’s the sense? All that good land gone ter waste. And everyone out a’ work?’

‘You said that last time,’ Dickie pointed out, trying to be reasonable. ‘When your old man was laid off. Remember?’

‘An ’e was laid off, wasn’t ’e?’ Harry said crossly.

‘Well you expect that,’ Dickie said. ‘’E was gettin’ on. Comes to all of us in the end. But you got another job didn’tcha? They never laid you off.’

‘No,’ Harry had to admit.

‘There you are then,’ Dickie said, but Harry wasn’t convinced or cheered.

‘It’s all very well fer you two,’ he grumbled. ‘More trade fer you, all them buildings, but it’s takin’ away my livelihood.’

The rest of the land was sold that autumn, and by the end of the year the entire farm had been given over to council housing, all thirty-eight acres of it. Mr Pennyman offered Harry a job on the Furzedown farm, looking after the dairy herd, and although he complained that it wouldn’t last five minutes, he was glad enough to take it.

But Albert made a killing, buying up as much land as he could grab. Now he was building houses ten at a time, particularly in the area between the new estate and the Broadway, and they were ridiculously easy to sell. People were quick to see that the new tramline gave them the opportunity to live in the country and work in town, and Albert was quick to see that expansion meant profit, providing you were ruthless.

But Alice was preoccupied with her baby and for all his business success, he often felt lonely and neglected. It made him value his weekly escape into the welcoming hullabaloo of the music hall.

Sometimes he met up with Harry and Em and sometimes he saw the show on his own, because Alice couldn’t bring herself to leave the baby, but alone or in company, the magic never failed to work. It soon became his lifeline, the one moment in the week that he could anticipate and remember with pleasure. In the warmth of the stalls, with the glow of good spirits inside him and around him, it was possible to ignore his sense of isolation and defeat. There was

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