Is 'artisks' a word? (I met this word in 'The Invisible Man')?

Question

In 'The Invisible Man' by H.G.Wells, there is a sentence;**"Wait till the summer," said Mrs. Hall sagely, "when the *artisks* are beginning to come. ..."** Mrs.Hall is the wife of Mr.Hall, who is the owner of the inn where the invisible man(whose name is Griffin) is staying. Mr.Hall does not like Griffin so whenever he can, he expresses that they should evict him. The quoted sentence is the response of the wife when Mr.Hall said so in the late April. What is '***artisks***'? Why is there the definite article 'the'?

Answer 1

So artisks technically isn't a word, but the general consensus is that Wells meant artists. This is mainly rooted in context clues with Mrs. Hall's point about people paying their tab.