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And so when Charlie visited his home he was careful that none of his bitter criticisms reached words, for above all, he could not bear to hurt his father.

A group of young miners came along for the bus. They wore smartly shouldered suits, their caps set at angles, and scarves flung back over their shoulders. They greeted Le

Le

It was half an hour on the bus, and Charlie's muscles were set hard in readiness for what Le

Now Le

Charlie said angrily: 'I got fed up with t'earls and t'dukes.

'Eh, said Le

'I know they didn't.

'Mum's right, said Le

'What it I don't pass ^examinations, said Charlie in a rush.

'Eh, but what is this, then? You were always first in school. You were the best of everyone. Why shouldn't you pass, then?

'Sometimes I think I won't, said Charlie lamely, but glad he had let the moment pass.

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His heart beating painfully with guilt, Charlie said: 'It's not as bad as that, I'll pass. The i

Le

'Yes. He said I should take it easy a bit. That's why I came home.

'No point killing yourself working.

'No, it's not serious, he just said I must take it easy.

Le

'Shouldn't worn', Mum.

'I'm not worrying. Charlie's all right.

The i

But the enemy behind his right shoulder said: A man's best friend is his mother, she never lets a thing pass.

Last year he had brought Je

For above everything else, Charlie was made to feel, everytime he came home, that these people, his people, were serious; while he and the people with whom he would now spend his life (if he passed the examination) were not serious. He did not believe this. The i

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They had reached Doncaster. It was raining. Soon they would pass where Doreen, Le

There were another five minutes to go. 'I don't think it's right, the way you get at Mum, Le

'But I haven't said a bloody word, said Charlie, switching without having intended it into his other voice, the middle-class voice which he was careful never to use with his family except in joke. Le

'But it's bloody ridiculous. Charlie's voice was rising. 'She stands in that kitchen all day, pandering to our every whim, when she's not doing housework or making a hundred trips a day with that bloody coal… In the Christmas holidays, when Charlie had visited home last, he had fixed up a bucket on the frame of an old pram to ease his mother's work. This morning he had seen the contrivance collapsed and full of rainwater in the back yard. After breakfast Le