The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll

Author:Emma Carroll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

‘I’ll continue writing letters to the newspaper until Mr Bryant listens,’ the woman was saying. ‘Honestly, he’s not kept his word on making any of the improvements we agreed on for the match factory.’

‘Indeed, you’ve not had much success with him, have you?’ the man replied. ‘How long is it that you’ve been trying to make him listen?’

‘A good while,’ the woman admitted. Then in earnest, ‘But I won’t give up. These are people’s livelihoods we’re talking about. Workers are dying, children are losing their mothers and sisters, just to earn a pittance that doesn’t even put enough food on the table.’

The man looked up from his paper. ‘You’ve been to the factory, have you, Annie? You’ve seen this for yourself?’

‘Not yet, though I’ve no reason not to believe what I’ve been told.’

‘Told by whom? The workers themselves?’

Annie looked indignant. ‘By Mrs Hillingsworth at the charity.’

‘Aha!’ The man tried not to smile. ‘The great Mrs Hillingsworth! Living in a comfortable villa with four servants must make her quite the expert on factory work!’

I sat forward, keen to say something. But neither Annie nor her companion saw me move; I was as good as invisible.

Maybe I was invisible.

The magic must’ve worked differently this time. Yet doing a quick check of myself, pinching my arm, tugging my hair, I was all here, all present and real. I’d trailed dirt in on the Turkey carpet, and left smuts on the chair where I’d touched it. Now I was thawing out, the stench of my unwashed clothes seemed stronger than ever.

‘What’s that smell?’ Annie said suddenly, her nose twitching.

‘Erm, that’ll be me,’ I admitted.

At last, she looked straight at me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.