ETEXT THE GRIM SMILE OF THE FIVE ***
Produced by Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE GRIM SMILE OF THE FIVE TOWNS
ARNOLD BENNETT
To my old and constant friend
JOSEPH DAWSON
a student profoundly versed
in the human nature of
the Five Towns
CONTENTS
The Lion's Share
Baby's Bath
The Silent Brothers
The Nineteenth Hat
Vera's First Christmas Adventure
The Murder of the Mandarin
Vera's Second Christmas Adventure
The Burglary
News of the Engagement
Beginning the New Year
From One Generation to Another
The Death of Simon Fuge
In a New Bottle
THE LION'S SHARE
I
In the Five Towns the following history is related by those who
know it as something side-splittingly funny--as one of the best
jokes that ever occurred in a district devoted to jokes. And I,
too, have hitherto regarded it as such. But upon my soul, now that
I come to write it down, it strikes me as being, after all, a
pretty grim tragedy. However, you shall judge, and laugh or cry as
you please.
It began in the little house of Mrs Carpole, up at Bleakridge, on
the hill between Bursley and Hanbridge. Mrs Carpole was the second
Mrs Carpole, and her husband was dead. She had a stepson, Horace,
and a son of her own, Sidney.
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