Sons and Lovers - Daimon Club

for they scorned overcoats, as all the colliers' children did,
and went out. The entry was very dark, and at the end the whole
great night opened out, in a hollow, with a little tangle of lights
below where Minton pit lay, and another far away opposite for Selby.
The farthest tiny lights seemed to stretch out the darkness for ever.
The children looked anxiously down the road at the one lamp-post,
which stood at the end of the field path. If the little,
luminous space were deserted, the two boys felt genuine desolation.
They stood with their hands in their pockets under the lamp,
turning their backs on the night, quite miserable, watching the
dark houses. Suddenly a pinafore under a short coat was seen,
and a long-legged girl came flying up.
"Where's Billy Pillins an' your Annie an' Eddie Dakin?"
"I don't know."
But it did not matter so much--there were three now. They set
up a game round the lamp-post, till the others rushed up, yelling.
Then the play went fast and furious.
There was only this one lamp-post. Behind was the great scoop
of darkness, as if all the night were there. In front, another wide,
dark way opened over the hill brow. Occasionally somebody came