The Roll-Call

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The Roll-Call

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Title: The Roll-Call
Author: Arnold Bennett
Release Date: June 19, 2004 [EBook #12654]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ROLL-CALL ***

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THE ROLL-CALL
BY

ARNOLD BENNETT
THIRD EDITION
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
NOVELS
A Man from the North Anna of the Five Towns Leonora A Great Man
Sacred and Profane Love Whom God hath Joined Buried Alive The
Old Wives' Tale The Glimpse Helen with the High Hand Clayhanger
Hilda Lessways These Twain The Card The Regent The Price of Love
The Lion's Share The Pretty Lady
FANTASIAS
The Ghost The Grand Babylon Hotel The Gates of Wrath Teresa of
Watling Street The Loot of Cities The City of Pleasure
SHORT STORIES
Tales of the Five Towns The Grim Smile of the Five Towns The
Matador of the Five Towns
BELLES-LETTRES
Journalism for Women Fame and Fiction How to become an Author
The Truth about an Author How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Mental Efficiency The Human Machine Literary Taste Those United
States Paris Nights Friendship and Happiness Married Life Liberty
Over There The Author's Craft Books and Persons Self and
Self-Management
DRAMA
Polite Farces Cupid and Common Sense What the Public Wants The
Honeymoon The Great Adventure The Title Judith Milestones (in
collaboration with EDWARD KNOBLOCK)

(In collaboration with EDEN PHILLPOTTS) The Sinews of War: A
Romance The Statue: A Romance

THE ROLL-CALL
BY
ARNOLD BENNETT
THIRD EDITION
_LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO. PATERNOSTER ROW_
NOTE This novel was written before "The Pretty Lady", and is the first
of the author's war-novels. A.B.
CONTENTS

PART I
CHAP.
I. THE NEW LODGING II. MARGUERITE III. THE CHARWOMAN
IV. THE LUNCHEON V. THE TEA VI. THE DINNER VII. THE
RUPTURE VIII. INSPIRATION IX. COMPETITION

PART II
I. THE TRIUMPH
II. THE ROLL-CALL III. IN THE MACHINE

THE ROLL-CALL

CHAPTER I
">
PART I
CHAPTER I
THE NEW LODGING
I
In the pupils' room of the offices of Lucas & Enwright, architects,
Russell Square, Bloomsbury, George Edwin Cannon, an articled pupil,
leaned over a large drawing-board and looked up at Mr. Enwright, the
head of the firm, who with cigarette and stick was on his way out after
what he called a good day's work. It was past six o'clock on an evening
in early July 1901. To George's right was an open door leading to the
principals' room, and to his left another open door leading to more
rooms and to the staircase. The lofty chambers were full of lassitude;
but round about George, who was working late, there floated the tonic
vapour of conscious virtue. Haim, the factotum, could be seen and
heard moving in his cubicle which guarded the offices from the stairs.
In the rooms shortly to be deserted and locked up, and in the decline of
the day, the three men were drawn together like survivors.
"I gather you're going to change your abode," said Mr. Enwright,
having stopped.
"Did Mr. Orgreave tell you, then?" George asked.
"Well, he didn't exactly tell me...."

John Orgreave was Mr. Enwright's junior partner; and for nearly two
years, since his advent in London from the Five Towns, George had
lived with Mr. and Mrs. Orgreave at Bedford Park. The Orgreaves, too,
sprang from the Five Towns. John's people and George's people were
closely entwined in the local annals.
Pupil and principal glanced discreetly at one another, exchanging in
silence vague, malicious, unutterable critical verdicts upon both John
Orgreave and his wife.
"Well, I am!" said George at length.
"Where are you going to?"
"Haven't settled a bit," said George. "I wish I could live in Paris."
"Paris wouldn't be much good to you yet," Mr. Enwright laughed
benevolently.
"I suppose it wouldn't. Besides, of course----"
George spoke in a tone of candid deferential acceptance, which
flattered Mr. Enwright very much, for it was the final proof of the
prestige which the grizzled and wrinkled and peculiar Fellow and
Member of the Council of the Royal Institute of British Architects had
acquired in the estimation of that extremely independent, tossing sprig,
George Edwin Cannon. Mr. Enwright had recently been paying a visit
to Paris, and George had been sitting for the Intermediate Examination.
"You can join me here for a few days after the exam., if you care to,"
Mr. Enwright had