About this story
He earns the tannery, the mill, and Ursula March, goes into the weir flood with a rope at his middle, and, when the crash calls every bill at once, sells all he can sell rather than his name. Thirty-eight chapters carry him from a Norton Bury alley to the county's first gentleman at Longfield.
How it opens
Autumn rain trapped your small hand-carriage in a narrow alley while your father hurried toward his tannery.
Sally WatkinsMake room for Mr Fletcher, lad, and take your idleness somewhere out of the weather.
The ragged boy moved aside without resentment, then helped pull your carriage under the same shelter.
Abel FletcherThere is space enough for my son and thee if neither mistakes poverty for offence.
My name is John Halifax, I am fourteen, and I will earn the penny by taking him home.
Choose
Ask him to guide the carriage only where the pavement is rough.
Share the shelter until the rain ends before setting out.