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Kate hannigan

by

catherine cookson

CATHERINE COOK SON?

LLING AUTHOR

OF

THE

MALL EN AND MANY OTHER COMPELLING IS.

MORE THAN 17,000,000 COPIES F

HER BOOKS SOLD IN CORGI.

UK.

1. Australia. *$3. 79 New Zealand. $3. 90 Everybody knew Kate Hannigan in the fifteen streets. She stood out from the people and the slums around her . quiet. aloof . different. They had watched her grow up--and had wondered how Tim Hannigan, vicious and uncouth, had managed to father such a child.

Everybody knew Kate Hannigan. She was too beautiful to miss.

But the first time Rodney Prince saw her, she was lying inert on a dingy bed in an even dingier upstairs room. And he didn't have time to notice how beautiful she was. He was too busy working to try to save her life . Also by catherine cook son

KATIE MULHOLLAND

THE ROUND TOWER

FEN WICK HOUSES

THE FIFTEEN STREETS

MAGGIE ROWAN

THE LONG CORRIDOR

THE UNBAITED TRAP

COLOUR BLIND

THE MENAGERIE

THE BLIND MILLER

FANNY MCBRIDE

THE GLASS VIRGIN

ROONEY

THE NICE BLOKE

THE INVITATION

THE DWELLING PLACE

OUR KATE

THE INVISIBLE CORD

THE GAMBLING MAN

THE SLOW AWAKENING

THE TIDE OF LIFE

THE GIRL

THB CINDER PATH

The "Mary Ann' series

A GRAND MAN

THE DEVIL AND MARY ANN THE LORD AND MARY ANN LIFE AND MARY ANN LOVE

AND MARY ANN MARRIAGE AND MARY ANN MARY ANN'S ANGELS MARY ANN AND

BILL

The "Mallen' Trilogy

THE MALL EN STREAK THE MALL EN GIRL THE MALL EN LITTER

By Catherine Cookson as Catherine Marchant

HOUSE OF MEN

THE FEN TIGER

HERITAGE OF FOLLY

MISS MARY MARTHA CRAWTORD

IRON FACADE

and published by corgi books Catherine Cookson

Kate Hannisan

CORGI BOOKS

A DIVISION OF TRANSWORID PUBLISHERS LTD

A CORGI BOOK o 552'll370 o

Originally published in Great Britain by Macdonald & Co. (Publishers), Ltd.

printing history Macdonald edition published 1950 Corgi edition published 1969 Corgi edition reprinted 1970 Corgi edition reprinted 1970 Corgi edition reprinted 1972 Corgi edition reprinted 1972 Corgi edition reprinted 1973 Corgi edition reprinted 1974 Corgi edition reprinted 1975 Corgi edition reprinted 1976 Corgi edition reprinted 1977 Corgi edition reprinted 1978 (twice) Corgi edition reissued 1980

"Copyright Catherine Cookson 1950

This book is copyright. No portions of it my be reproduced by any process without written permission. All inquiries should be addressed, to the publishers.

Conditions of sale i: This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

2: This book is sold subject to the Standard Conditions of Sale of Net Books and may not be re-sold in the U.

K.

below the net price fixed by the publishers for the book.

This book is set in Baskerville 10 pt.

Corgi Books are published by TranswoHd Publisher! " Ltd." Century House, 61-63 Uxbridge Road, Ealing, London W5 5SA Made and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press), Ltd. " Bungay, Suffolk.

To M7 MOTHER who has found her expression through me AUTHOR'S NOTE

The characters in this book are entirely fictitious and have no relation to any living person.

Although the setting is Tyneside and several actual place names have been used, 'the fifteen streets' are entirely imaginary.

Owing to difficulty in comprehension by the uninitiated, the Tyneside dialect has not been adhered to.

CONTENTS

PAGE the birth . 'll the kitchen . the drawing-room . the ride .

annie . 86 the path is mapped out . 'll1 the belt . france . the FlELDCARD . always flight . waiting . aog the return .

THE BIRTH

T shall want more hot water, and those towels there will not be enough.

"

"Glory to God, doctor, you have every towel there is in the house!"

"Then bring sheets, old ones, and we can tear them."

"Old ones, and we can tear them," mimicked Dorrie Clarke to herself.

"New brooms sweep clean. By God, if they don't! Old Kelly would have more sense, drunk as he might have been. The way this one's going on you would think sovereigns were as thick as fleas and there was a father downstairs to welcome the brat."

"There's no more sheets, doctor," she said, rolling her already tightly rolled sleeves further up her fat arms. Speak to her like that, would he! She'd been bringing hairns into the world when his arse was still being washed! For two hours now he had said: "Do this, do that," as if Kate Hannigan on the bed there was the Duchess of Connaught, instead of a trollop going to bring a bastard into the world; when it made up its mind to come, which wouldn't be for another couple of hours. And here shed been hanging around since tea-time;

and it was Christmas Eve and all, and not a drop past her lips; an'

couldn't get away for this young swine saying:

"Lend me a hand here, Mrs. Clarke,"

"Let her pull on you, Mrs.

Clarke,"

"Get that damn fire to burn, Mrs. Clarke 1' ... Yes, he even damned her. Now Doctor Kelly, rest his soul, could be as drunk as hell, but he'd never swear at you; more likely to say, " Have a drop, Mrs.

Clarke; you need it. " There was a gentleman for you. This one wouldn't reign long; but he was reigning tonight, blast him! and get out for a wet she must, or die. 'll Into Dorrie Clarke's agile brain flashed an idea; shed trade Sarah Hannigan a pair of sheets for the chiffonier downstairs; shed always had her eyes on that. Begodt shed get the best of this bargain, and get out of this young upstart's sight for five minutes.

Her fat, well-red face rolled itself into a stiff, oily smile.

"There's not a rag in this house but what's in the pawn, doctor; but I've a pair of sheets of me own that I'll gladly go and get this minute, for I couldn't see this poor thing want." She