Chapter FourThe village where the coal mine was situated was picturesque and, Ilitta thought, surprisingly clean.
She had always believed, from what she had read, that coal mining villages were black from the coal dust and that the people themselves gradually developed a dark skin from continually either working in the mine or living on top of it.
As the horses drew to a standstill, Captain Daltry said to the Duke,
“Don’t forget that you are just an ordinary visitor interested in the countryside.”
Ilitta thought that he was rather over-emphasising what he wanted the locals to believe and she was sure the Duke thought so too.
They stepped out and walked some distance past a huge slagheap to where some machinery rose high above ground level, its wheels and iron girders being exactly wha
