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Title: Five Tales
CONTENTS:
THE FIRST AND LAST
A STOIC
THE APPLE TREE
THE JURYMAN
INDIAN SUMMER OF A FORSYTE [Also posted as Etext #2594]
Contains:
Indian Summer of a Forsyte
In Chancery
Author: John Galsworthy
June, 2001 [Etext #2684]
*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Five Tales, by John Galsworthy*
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FIVE TALES
by John Galsworthy
"Life calls the tune, we dance."
CONTENTS:
THE FIRST AND LAST
A STOIC
THE APPLE TREE
THE JURYMAN
INDIAN SUMMER OF A FORSYTE [Also posted as Etext #2594]
Contains:
Indian Summer of a Forsyte
In Chancery
[In this 1919 edition of "Five Tales" the fifth tale was "Indian
Summer of a Forsyte;" in later collections, "Indian Summer..." became
the first section of the second volume of The Forsyte Saga]
FIVE TALES
"Life calls the tune, we dance."
CONTENTS:
THE FIRST AND LAST
A STOIC
THE APPLE TREE
THE JURYMAN
INDIAN SUMMER OF A FORSYTE
THE FIRST AND LAST
"So the last shall be first, and the first last."--HOLY WRIT.
It was a dark room at that hour of six in the evening, when just the
single oil reading-lamp under its green shade let fall a dapple of
light over the Turkey carpet; over the covers of books taken out of
the bookshelves, and the open pages of the one selected; over the
deep blue and gold of the coffee service on the little old stool with
its Oriental embroidery. Very dark in the winter, with drawn
curtains, many rows of leather-bound volumes, oak-panelled walls and
ceiling. So large, too, that the lighted spot before the fire where
he sat was just an oasis. But that was what Keith Darrant liked,
after his day's work--the hard early morning study of his "cases,"
the fret and strain of the day in court; it was his rest, these two
hours before dinner, with books, coffee, a pipe, and sometimes a nap.
In red Turkish slippers and his old brown velvet coat, he was well
suited to that framing of glow and darkness. A painter would have
seized avidly on his clear-cut, yellowish face, with its black
eyebrows twisting up over eyes--grey or brown, one could hardly tell,
and its dark grizzling hair still plentiful, in spite of those daily
hours of wig. He seldom thought of his work while he sat there,
throwing off with practised ease the strain of that long attention to
the multiple threads of argument and evidence to be disentangled--
work profoundly interesting, as a rule, to his clear intellect,
trained to almost instinctive rejection of all but the essential, to
selection of what was legally vital out of the mass of confused
tactical and human detail presented to his scrutiny; yet sometimes
tedious and wearing. As for instance to-day, when he had suspected
his client of perjury, and was almost convinced that he must throw up
his brief. He had disliked the weak-looking, white-faced fellow from
the first, and his nervous, shifty answers, his prominent startled
eyes--a type too common in these days of canting tolerations and weak
humanitarianism; no good, no good!
Of the three books he had taken down, a Volume of Voltaire--curious
fascination that Frenchman had, for all his destructive irony!--a
volume of Burton's travels, and Stevenson's "New Arabian Nights," he
had pitched upon the last. He felt, that evening, the want of
something sedative, a desire to rest from thought of any kind. The
court had been crowded, stuffy; the air, as he walked home, soft,
sou'-westerly, charged with coming moisture, no quality of vigour in
it; he felt relaxed, tired, even nervy, and for once the loneliness
of his house seemed strange and comfortless.
Lowering the lamp, he turned his face towards the fire. Perhaps he
would get a sleep before that boring dinner at the Tellasson's. He
wished it were vacation, and Maisie back from school. A widower for
many years, he had lost the habit of a woman about him; yet to-night
he had a positive yearning for the society of his young daughter,
with her quick ways, and bright, dark eyes. Curious what perpetual
need of a woman some men had! His brother Laurence--wasted--all
through women--atrophy of willpower! A man on the edge of things;
living from hand to mouth; his gifts all down at heel! One would
have thought the Scottish strain might have saved him; and yet, when
a Scotsman did begin to go downhill, who could go faster? Curious
that their mother's blood should have worked so differently in her
two sons. He himself had always felt he owed all his success to it.
His thoughts went off at a tangent to a certain issue troubling his
legal conscience. He had not wavered in the usual assumption of
omniscience, but he was by no means sure that he had given right
advice. Well! Without that power to decide and hold to decision in
spite of misgiving, one would never have been fit for one's position
at the Bar, never have been fit for anything. The longer he lived,
the more certain he became of the prime necessity of virile and
decisive action in all the affairs of life. A word and a blow--and
the blow first! Doubts, hesitations, sentiment the muling and puking
of this twilight age--! And there welled up on his handsome face a
smile that was almost devilish--the tricks of firelight are so many!
It faded again in sheer drowsiness; he slept....
He woke with a start, having a feeling of something out beyond the
light, and without turning his head said: "What's that?" There came
a sound as if somebody had caught his breath. He turned up the lamp.
"Who's there?"
A voice over by the door answered:
"Only I--Larry."
Something in the tone, or perhaps just being startled out of sleep
like this, made him shiver. He said:
"I was asleep. Come in!"
It was noticeable that he did not get up, or even turn his head, now
that he knew who it was, but waited, his half-closed eyes fixed on
the fire, for his brother to come forward. A visit from Laurence was
not an unmixed blessing. He could hear him breathing, and became
conscious of a scent of whisky. Why could not the fellow at least
abstain when he was coming here! It was so childish, so lacking in
any sense of proportion or of decency! And he said sharply:
"Well, Larry, what is it?"
It was always something. He often wondered at the strength of that
sense of trusteeship, which kept him still tolerant of the troubles,
amenable to the petitions of this brother of his; or was it just
"blood" feeling, a Highland sense of loyalty to kith and kin; an old-
time quality which judgment and half his instincts told him was
weakness but which, in spite of all, bound him to the distressful
fellow? Was he drunk now, that he kept lurking out there by the
door? And he said less sharply:
"Why don't you come and sit down?"
He was coming now, avoiding the light, skirting along the walls just
beyond the radiance of the lamp, his feet and legs to the waist
brightly lighted, but his face disintegrated in shadow, like the face
of a dark ghost.
"Are you ill, man?"
Still no answer, save a shake of that head, and the passing up of a
hand, out of the light, to the ghostly forehead under the dishevelled
hair. The scent of whisky was stronger now; and Keith thought:
'He really is drunk. Nice thing for the new butler to see! If he
can't behave--'
The figure against the wall heaved a sigh--so truly from an
overburdened heart that Keith was conscious with a certain dismay of
not having yet fathomed the cause of this uncanny silence. He got
up, and, back to the fire, said with a brutality born of nerves
rather than design:
'What is it, man? Have you committed a murder, that you stand there
dumb as a fish?"
For a second no answer at all, not even of breathing; then, just the
whisper:
"Yes."
The sense of unreality which so helps one at moments of disaster
enabled Keith to say vigorously:
"By Jove! You have been drinking!"
But it passed at once into deadly apprehension.
"What do you mean? Come here, where I can see you. What's the
matter with you, Larry?"
With a sudden lurch and dive, his brother left the shelter of the
shadow, and sank into a chair in the circle of light. And another
long, broken sigh escaped him.
"There's nothing the matter with me, Keith! It's true!"
Keith stepped quickly forward, and stared down into his brother's
face; and instantly he saw that it was true. No one could have
simulated the look in those eyes--of horrified wonder, as if they
would never again get on terms with the face to which they belonged.
To see them squeezed the heart-only real misery could look like that.
Then that sudden pity became angry bewilderment.
"What in God's name is this nonsense?"
But it was significant that he lowered his voice; went over to the
door, too, to see if it were shut. Laurence had drawn his chair
forward, huddling over the fire--a thin figure, a worn, high-
cheekboned face with deep-sunk blue eyes, and wavy hair all ruffled,
a face that still had a certain beauty. Putting a hand on that lean
shoulder, Keith said:
"Come, Larry! Pull yourself together, and drop exaggeration."
"It's true; I tell you; I've killed a man."
The noisy violence of that outburst acted like a douche. What was
the fellow about--shouting out such words! But suddenly Laurence
lifted his hands and wrung them. The gesture was so utterly painful
that it drew a quiver from Keith's face.
"Why did you come here," he said, "and tell me this?"
Larry's face was really unearthly sometimes, such strange gleams
passed up on to it!
"Whom else should I tell? I came to know what I'm to do, Keith?
Give myself up, or what?"
At that sudden introduction of the practical Keith felt his heart
twitch. Was it then as real as all that? But he said, very quietly:
"Just tell me -How did it come about, this--affair?"
That question linked the dark, gruesome, fantastic nightmare on to
actuality.
"When did it happen?"
"Last night."
In Larry's face there was--there had always been--something
childishly truthful. He would never stand a chance in court! And
Keith said:
"How? Where? You'd better tell me quietly from the beginning.
Drink this coffee; it'll clear your head."
Laurence took the little blue cup and drained it.
"Yes," he said. "It's like this, Keith. There's a girl I've known
for some months now--"
Women! And Keith said between his teeth: "Well?"
"Her father was a Pole who died over here when she was sixteen, and
left her all alone. A man called Walenn, a mongrel American, living
in the same house, married her, or pretended to--she's very pretty,
Keith--he left her with a baby six months old, and another coming.
That one died, and she did nearly. Then she starved till another
fellow took her on. She lived with him two years; then Walenn turned
up again, and made her go back to him. The brute used to beat her
black and blue, all for nothing. Then he left her again. When I met
her she'd lost her elder child, too, and was taking anybody who came
along."
He suddenly looked up into Keith's face.
"But I've never met a sweeter woman, nor ,a truer, that I swear.
Woman! She's only twenty now! When I went to her last night, that
brute--that Walenn--had found her out again; and when he came for me,
swaggering and bullying--Look!"--he touched a dark mark on his
forehead--"I took his throat in my hands, and when I let go--"
"Yes?"
"Dead. I never knew till afterwards that she was hanging on to him
behind."
Again he made that gesture-wringing his hands.
In a hard voice Keith said:
"What did you do then?"
"We sat by it a long time. Then I carried it on my back down the
street, round a corner to an archway."
"How far?"
"About fifty yards."
"Was anyone--did anyone see?"
"No."
"What time?"
"Three."
"And then?"
"Went back to her."
"Why--in Heaven's name?"
"She was lonely and afraid; so was I, Keith."
"Where is this place?"
"Forty-two, Borrow Street, Soho."
"And the archway?"
"Corner of Glove Lane."
"Good God! Why--I saw it in the paper!"
And seizing the journal that lay on his bureau, Keith read again that
paragraph: "The body of a man was found this morning under an archway
in Glove Lane, Soho. From marks about the throat grave suspicions of
foul play are entertained. The body had apparently been robbed, and
nothing was discovered leading to identification."
It was real earnest, then. Murder! His own brother! He faced round
and said:
"You saw this in the paper, and dreamed it. Understand--you dreamed
it!"
The wistful answer came:
"If only I had, Keith--if only I had!"
In his turn, Keith very nearly wrung his hands.
"Did you take anything from the--body?"
"This dropped while we were struggling.",
It was an empty envelope with a South American post-mark addressed:
"Patrick Walenn, Simon's Hotel, Farrier Street, London." Again with
that twitching in his heart, Keith said:
"Put it in the fire."
Then suddenly he stooped to pluck it out. By that command--he had--
identified himself with this--this-- But he did not pluck it out. It
blackened, writhed, and vanished. And once more he said:
"What in God's name made you come here and tell me?"
"You know about these things. I didn't mean to kill him. I love the
girl. What shall I do, Keith?
"Simple! How simple! To ask what he was to do! It was like Larry!
And he said:
"You were not seen, you think?" "It's a dark street. There was no
one about."
"When did you leave this girl the second time?"
"About seven o'clock."
"Where did you go?"
"To my rooms."
"In Fitzroy Street?"
"Yes."
"Did anyone see you come in?"
"No."
"What have you done since?"
"Sat there."
"Not been out?"
"No."
"Not seen the girl?"
"No."
"You don't know, then, what she's done since?"
"No."
"Would she give you away?"
"Never."
"Would she give herself away--hysteria?"
"No."
"Who knows of your relations with her?"
"No one."
"No one?"
"I don't know who should, Keith."
"Did anyone see you going in last night, when you first went to her?"
"No. She lives on the ground floor. I've got keys."
"Give them to me. What else have you that connects you with her?"
"Nothing."
"In your rooms?"
"No."
"No photographs. No letters?"
"No."
"Be careful."
"Nothing."
"No one saw you going back to her the second time?"
"No."
"No one saw you leave her in the morning?"
"No."
"You were fortunate. Sit down again, man. I must think."
Think! Think out this accursed thing--so beyond all thought, and all
belief. But he could not think. Not a coherent thought would come.
And he began again:
"Was it his first reappearance with her?"
"Yes."
"She told you so?"
"Yes."
"How did he find out where she was?"
"I don't know."
"How drunk were you?"
"I was not drunk."
"How much had you drunk?"
"About two bottles of claret--nothing."
"You say you didn't mean to kill him?"
"No-God knows!"
"That's something.
What made you choose the arch?"
"It was the first dark place."
"Did his face look as if he had been strangled?"
"Don't!"
"Did it?"
"Yes."
"Very disfigured?"
"Yes."
"Did you look to see if his clothes were marked?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Why not? My God! If you had done it!"
"You say he was disfigured. Would he be recognisable?"
"I don't know."
"When she lived with him last--where was that?"
"I don't know for certain. Pimlico, I think."
"Not Soho?"
"No."
"How long has she been at the Soho place?"
"Nearly a year."
"Always the same rooms?"
"Yes."
"Is there anyone living in that house or street who would be likely
to know her as his wife?"
"I don't think so."
"What was he?"
"I should think he was a professional 'bully.'"
"I see. Spending most of his time abroad, then?"
"Yes."
"Do you know if he was known to the police?"
"I haven't heard of it."
"Now, listen, Larry. When you leave here go straight home, and don't
go out till I come to you, to-morrow morning. Promise that!"
"I promise."
"I've got a dinner engagement. I'll think this out. Don't drink.
Don't talk! Pull yourself together."
"Don't keep me longer than you can help, Keith!"
That white face, those eyes, that shaking hand! With a twinge of
pity in the midst of all the turbulence of his revolt, and fear, and
disgust Keith put his hand on his brother's shoulder, and said:
"Courage!"
And suddenly he thought: 'My God! Courage! I shall want it all
myself!'
II
Laurence Darrant, leaving his brother's house in the Adelphi, walked
northwards, rapidly, slowly, rapidly again. For, if there are men
who by force of will do one thing only at a time, there are men who
from lack of will do now one thing, now another; with equal
intensity. To such natures, to be gripped by the Nemesis which
attends the lack of self-control is no reason for being more self-
controlled. Rather does it foster their pet feeling: "What matter?
To-morrow we die!" The effort of will required to go to Keith had
relieved, exhausted and exasperated him. In accordance with those
three feelings was the progress of his walk. He started from the
door with the fixed resolve to go home and stay there quietly till
Keith came. He was in Keith's hands, Keith would know what was to be
done. But he had not gone three hundred yards before he felt so
utterly weary, body and soul, that if he had but had a pistol in his
pocket he would have shot himself in the street. Not even the
thought of the girl--this young unfortunate with her strange
devotion, who had kept him straight these last five months, who had
roused in him a depth of feeling he had never known before--would
have availed against that sudden black defection. Why go on--a waif
at the mercy of his own nature, a straw blown here and there by every
gust which rose in him? Why not have done with it for ever, and take
it out in sleep?
He was approaching the fatal street, where he and the girl, that
early morning, had spent the hours clutched together, trying in the
refuge of love to forget for a moment their horror and fear. Should
he go in? He had promised Keith not to. Why had he promised? He
caught sight of himself in a chemist's lighted window. Miserable,
shadowy brute! And he remembered suddenly a dog he had picked up
once in the streets of Pera, a black-and-white creature--different
from the other dogs, not one of their breed, a pariah of pariahs, who
had strayed there somehow. He had taken it home to the house where
he was staying, contrary to all custom of the country; had got fond
of it; had shot it himself, sooner than leave it behind again to the
mercies of its own kind in the streets. Twelve years ago! And those
sleevelinks made of little Turkish coins he had brought back for the
girl at the hairdresser's in Chancery Lane where he used to get
shaved--pretty creature, like a wild rose. He had asked of her a
kiss for payment. What queer emotion when she put her face forward
to his lips--a sort of passionate tenderness and shame, at the
softness and warmth of that flushed cheek, at her beauty and trustful
gratitude. She would soon have given herself to him--that one! He
had never gone there again! And to this day he did not know why he
had abstained; to this day he did not know whether he were glad or
sorry not to have plucked that rose. He must surely have been very
different then! Queer business, life--queer, queer business!--to go
through it never knowing what you would do next. Ah! to be like
Keith, steady, buttoned-up in success; a brass pot, a pillar of
society! Once, as a boy, he had been within an ace of killing Keith,
for sneering at him. Once in Southern Italy he had been near killing
a driver who was flogging his horse. And now, that darkfaced,
swinish bully who had ruined the girl he had grown to love--he had
done it! Killed him! Killed a man!
He who did not want to hurt a fly. The chemist's window comforted
him with the sudden thought that he had at home that which made him
safe, in case they should arrest him. He would never again go out
without some of those little white tablets sewn into the lining of
his coat. Restful, even exhilarating thought! They said a man
should not take his own life. Let them taste horror--those glib
citizens! Let them live as that girl had lived, as millions lived
all the world over, under their canting dogmas! A man might rather
even take his life than watch their cursed inhumanities.
He went into the chemist's for a bromide; and, while the man was
mixing it, stood resting one foot like a tired horse. The "life" he
had squeezed out of that fellow! After all, a billion living
creatures gave up life each day, had it squeezed out of them, mostly.
And perhaps not one a day deserved death so much as that loathly
fellow. Life! a breath--aflame! Nothing! Why, then, this icy
clutching at his heart?
The chemist brought the draught.
"Not sleeping, sir?"
"No."
The man's eyes seemed to say: 'Yes! Burning the candle at both ends-
I know!' Odd life, a chemist's; pills and powders all day long, to
hold the machinery of men together! Devilish odd trade!
In going out he caught the reflection of his face in a mirror; it
seemed too good altogether for a man who had committed murder. There
was a sort of brightness underneath, an amiability lurking about its
shadows; how--how could it be the face of a man who had done what he
had done? His head felt lighter now, his feet lighter; he walked
rapidly again.
Curious feeling of relief and oppression all at once! Frightful--to
long for company, for talk, for distraction; and--to be afraid of it!
The girl--the girl and Keith were now the only persons who would not
give him that feeling of dread. And, of those two--Keith was not...!
Who could consort with one who was never wrong, a successful,
righteous fellow; a chap built so that he knew nothing about himself,
wanted to know nothing, a chap all solid actions? To be a quicksand
swallowing up one's own resolutions was bad enough! But to be like
Keith--all willpower, marching along, treading down his own feelings
and weaknesses! No! One could not make a comrade of a man like
Keith, even if he were one's brother? The only creature in all the
world was the girl. She alone knew and felt what he was feeling;
would put up with him and love him whatever he did, or was done to
him. He stopped and took shelter in a doorway, to light a cigarette.
He had suddenly a fearful wish to pass the archway where he had
placed the body; a fearful wish that had no sense, no end in view, no
anything; just an insensate craving to see the dark place again. He
crossed Borrow Street to the little lane. There was only one person
visible, a man on the far side with his shoulders hunched against the
wind; a short, dark figure which crossed and came towards him in the
flickering lamplight. What a face! Yellow, ravaged, clothed almost
to the eyes in a stubbly greyish growth of beard, with blackish
teeth, and haunting bloodshot eyes. And what a figure of rags--one
shoulder higher than the other, one leg a little lame, and thin! A
surge of feeling came up in Laurence for this creature, more
unfortunate than himself. There were lower depths than his!
"Well, brother," he said, "you don't look too prosperous!"
The smile which gleamed out on the man's face seemed as unlikely as a
smile on a scarecrow.
"Prosperity doesn't come my way," he said in a rusty voice. "I'm a
failure--always been a failure. And yet you wouldn't think it, would
you?--I was a minister of religion once."
Laurence held out a shilling. But the man shook his head.
"Keep your money," he said. "I've got more than you to-day, I
daresay. But thank you for taking a little interest. That's worth
more than money to a man that's down."
"You're right."
"Yes," the rusty voice went on; "I'd as soon die as go on living as I
do. And now I've lost my self-respect. Often wondered how long a
starving man could go without losing his self-respect. Not so very
long. You take my word for that." And without the slightest change
in the monotony of that creaking voice he added:
"Did you read of the murder? Just here. I've been looking at the
place."
The words: 'So have I!' leaped up to Laurence's lips; he choked them
down with a sort of terror.
"I wish you better luck," he said. "Goodnight!" and hurried away. A
sort of ghastly laughter was forcing its way up in his throat. Was
everyone talking of the murder he had committed? Even the very
scarecrows?
III
There are some natures so constituted that, due to be hung at ten
o'clock, they will play chess at eight. Such men invariably rise.
They make especially good bishops, editors, judges, impresarios,
Prime ministers, money-lenders, and generals; in fact, fill with
exceptional credit any position of power over their fellow-men. They
have spiritual cold storage, in which are preserved their nervous
systems. In such men there is little or none of that fluid sense and
continuity of feeling known under those vague terms, speculation,
poetry, philosophy. Men of facts and of decision switching
imagination on and off at will, subordinating sentiment to reason...
one does not think of them when watching wind ripple over cornfields,
or swallows flying.
Keith Darrant had need for being of that breed during his dinner at
the Tellassons. It was just eleven when he issued from the big house
in Portland Place and refrained from taking a cab. He wanted to walk
that he might better think. What crude and wanton irony there was in
his situation! To have been made father-confessor to a murderer, he-
-well on towards a judgeship! With his contempt for the kind of
weakness which landed men in such abysses, he felt it all so sordid,
so "impossible," that he could hardly bring his mind to bear on it at
all. And yet he must, because of two powerful instincts--self-
preservation and blood-loyalty.
The wind had still the sapping softness of the afternoon, but rain
had held off so far. It was warm, and he unbuttoned his fur
overcoat. The nature of his thoughts deepened the dark austerity of
his face, whose thin, well-cut lips were always pressing together, as
if, by meeting, to dispose of each thought as it came up. He moved
along the crowded pavements glumly. That air of festive conspiracy
which drops with the darkness on to lighted streets, galled him. He
turned off on a darker route.
This ghastly business! Convinced of its reality, he yet could not
see it. The thing existed in his mind, not as a picture, but as a
piece of irrefutable evidence. Larry had not meant to do it, of
course. But it was murder, all the same. Men like Larry--weak,
impulsive, sentimental, introspective creatures--did they ever mean
what they did? This man, this Walenn, was, by all accounts, better
dead than alive; no need to waste a thought on him! But, crime--the
ugliness--Justice unsatisfied! Crime concealed--and his own share in
the concealment! And yet--brother to brother! Surely no one could
demand action from him! It was only a question of what he was going
to advise Larry to do. To keep silent, and disappear? Had that a
chance of success? Perhaps if the answers to his questions had been
correct. But this girl! Suppose the dead man's relationship to her
were ferreted out, could she be relied on not to endanger Larry?
These women were all the same, unstable as water, emotional,
shiftless pests of society. Then, too, a crime untracked, dogging
all his brother's after life; a secret following him wherever he
might vanish to; hanging over him, watching for some drunken moment,
to slip out of his lips. It was bad to think of. A clean breast of
it? But his heart twitched within him. "Brother of Mr. Keith
Darrant, the wellknown King's Counsel"--visiting a woman of the town,
strangling with his bare hands the woman's husband! No intention to
murder, but--a dead man! A dead man carried out of the house, laid
under a dark archway! Provocation! Recommended to mercy--penal
servitude for life! Was that the advice he was going to give Larry
to-morrow morning?
And he had a sudden vision of shaven men with clay-coloured features,
run, as it were, to seed, as he had seen them once in Pentonville,
when he had gone there to visit a prisoner. Larry! Whom, as a baby
creature, he had watched straddling; whom, as a little fellow, he had
fagged; whom he had seen through scrapes at college; to whom he had
lent money time and again, and time and again admonished in his
courses. Larry! Five years younger than himself; and committed to
his charge by their mother when she died. To become for life one of
those men with faces like diseased plants; with no hair but a bushy
stubble; with arrows marked on their yellow clothes! Larry! One of
those men herded like sheep; at the beck and call of common men! A
gentleman, his own brother, to live that slave's life, to be ordered
here and there, year after year, day in, day out. Something snapped
within him. He could not give that advice. Impossible! But if not,
he must make sure of his ground, must verify, must know. This Glove
Lane--this arch way? It would not be far from where he was that very
moment. He looked for someone of whom to make enquiry. A policeman
was standing at the corner, his stolid face illumined by a lamp;
capable and watchful--an excellent officer, no doubt; but, turning
his head away, Keith passed him without a word. Strange to feel that
cold, uneasy feeling in presence of the law! A grim little driving
home of what it all meant! Then, suddenly, he saw that the turning
to his left was Borrow Street itself. He walked up one side, crossed
over, and returned. He passed Number Forty-two, a small house with
business names printed on the lifeless windows of the first and
second floors; with dark curtained windows on the ground floor, or
was there just a slink of light in one corner? Which way had Larry
turned? Which way under that grisly burden? Fifty paces of this
squalid street-narrow, and dark, and empty, thank heaven! Glove
Lane! Here it was! A tiny runlet of a street. And here--! He had
run right on to the arch, a brick bridge connecting two portions of a
warehouse, and dark indeed.
"That's right, gov'nor! That's the place!" He needed all his self-
control to turn leisurely to the speaker. "'Ere's where they found
the body--very spot leanin' up 'ere. They ain't got 'im yet.
Lytest--me lord!"
It was a ragged boy holding out a tattered yellowish journal. His
lynx eyes peered up from under lanky wisps of hair, and his voice had
the proprietary note of one making "a corner" in his news. Keith
took the paper and gave him twopence. He even found a sort of
comfort in the young ghoul's hanging about there; it meant that
others besides himself had come morbidly to look. By the dim
lamplight he read: "Glove Lane garrotting mystery. Nothing has yet
been discovered of the murdered man's identity; from the cut of his
clothes he is supposed to be a foreigner." The boy had vanished, and
Keith saw the figure of a policeman coming slowly down this gutter of
a street. A second's hesitation, and he stood firm. Nothing
obviously could have brought him here save this "mystery," and he
stayed quietly staring at the arch. The policeman moved up abreast.
Keith saw that he was the one whom he had passed just now. He noted
the cold offensive question die out of the man's eyes when they
caught the gleam of white shirt-front under the opened fur collar.
And holding up the paper, he said:
"Is this where the man was found?"
"Yes, sir."
"Still a mystery, I see?"
"Well, we can't always go by the papers. But I don't fancy they do
know much about it, yet."
"Dark spot. Do fellows sleep under here?"
The policeman nodded. "There's not an arch in London where we don't
get 'em sometimes."
"Nothing found on him--I think I read?"
"Not a copper. Pockets inside out. There's some funny characters
about this quarter. Greeks, Hitalians--all sorts."
Queer sensation this, of being glad of a policeman's confidential
tone!
"Well, good-night!"
"Good-night, sir. Good-night!"
He looked back from Borrow Street. The policeman was still standing
there holding up his lantern, so that its light fell into the
archway, as if trying to read its secret.
Now that he had seen this dark, deserted spot, the chances seemed to
him much better. "Pockets inside out!" Either Larry had had
presence of mind to do a very clever thing, or someone had been at
the body before the police found it. That was the more likely. A
dead backwater of a place. At three o'clock--loneliest of all hours-
-Larry's five minutes' grim excursion to and fro might well have
passed unseen! Now, it all depended on the girl; on whether Laurence
had been seen coming to her or going away; on whether, if the man's
relationship to her were discovered, she could be relied on to say
nothing. There was not a soul in Borrow Street now; hardly even a
lighted window; and he took one of those rather desperate decisions
only possible to men daily accustomed to the instant taking of
responsibility. He would go to her, and see for himself. He came to
the door of Forty-two, obviously one of those which are only shut at
night, and tried the larger key. It fitted, and he was in a gas-
lighted passage, with an oil-clothed floor, and a single door to his
left. He stood there undecided. She must be made to understand that
he knew everything. She must not be told more than that he was a
friend of Larry's. She must not be frightened, yet must be forced to
give her very soul away. A hostile witness--not to be treated as
hostile--a matter for delicate handling! But his knock was not
answered.
Should he give up this nerve-racking, bizarre effort to come at a
basis of judgment; go away, and just tell Laurence that he could not
advise him? And then--what? Something must be done. He knocked
again. Still no answer. And with that impatience of being thwarted,
natural to him, and fostered to the full by the conditions of his
life, he tried the other key. It worked, and he opened the door.
Inside all was dark, but a voice from some way off, with a sort of
breathless relief in its foreign tones, said:
"Oh! then it's you, Larry! Why did you knock? I was so frightened.
Turn up the light, dear. Come in!"
Feeling by the door for a switch in the pitch blackness he was
conscious of arms round his neck, a warm thinly clad body pressed to
his own; then withdrawn as quickly, with a gasp, and the most awful
terror-stricken whisper:
"Oh! Who is it?"
With a glacial shiver down his own spine, Keith answered
"A friend of Laurence. Don't be frightened!"
There was such silence that he could hear a clock ticking, and the
sound of his own hand passing over the surface of the wall, trying to
find the switch. He found it, and in the light which leaped up he
saw, stiffened against a dark curtain evidently screening off a
bedroom, a girl standing, holding a long black coat together at her
throat, so that her face with its pale brown hair, short and square-
cut and curling up underneath, had an uncanny look of being detached
from any body. Her face was so alabaster pale that the staring,
startled eyes, dark blue or brown, and the faint rose of the parted
lips, were like colour stainings on a white mask; and it had a
strange delicacy, truth, and pathos, such as only suffering brings.
Though not susceptible to aesthetic emotion, Keith was curiously
affected. He said gently:
"You needn't be afraid. I haven't come to do you harm--quite the
contrary. May I sit down and talk?" And, holding up the keys, he
added: "Laurence wouldn't have given me these, would he, if he hadn't
trusted me?"
Still she did not move, and he had the impression that he was looking
at a spirit--a spirit startled out of its flesh. Nor at the moment
did it seem in the least strange that he should conceive such an odd
thought. He stared round the room--clean and tawdry, with its
tarnished gilt mirror, marble-topped side-table, and plush-covered
sofa. Twenty years and more since he had been in such a place. And
he said:
"Won't you sit down? I'm sorry to have startled you."
But still she did not move, whispering:
"Who are you, please?"
And, moved suddenly beyond the realm of caution by the terror in that
whisper, he answered:
"Larry's brother."
She uttered a little sigh of relief which went to Keith's heart, and,
still holding the dark coat together at her throat, came forward and
sat down on the sofa. He could see that her feet, thrust into
slippers, were bare; with her short hair, and those candid startled
eyes, she looked like a tall child. He drew up a chair and said:
"You must forgive me coming at such an hour; he's told me, you see."
He expected her to flinch and gasp; but she only clasped her hands
together on her knees, and said:
"Yes?"
Then horror and discomfort rose up in him, afresh.
"An awful business!"
Her whisper echoed him:
"Yes, oh! yes! Awful--it is awful!"
And suddenly realising that the man must have fallen dead just where
he was sitting, Keith became stock silent, staring at the floor.
"Yes," she whispered; "Just there. I see him now always falling!"
How she said that! With what a strange gentle despair! In this girl
of evil life, who had brought on them this tragedy, what was it which
moved him to a sort of unwilling compassion?
"You look very young," he said.
"I am twenty."
"And you are fond of--my brother?"
"I would die for him."
Impossible to mistake the tone of her voice, or the look in her eyes,
true deep Slav eyes; dark brown, not blue as he had thought at first.
It was a very pretty face--either her life had not eaten into it yet,
or the suffering of these last hours had purged away those marks; or
perhaps this devotion of hers to Larry. He felt strangely at sea,
sitting there with this child of twenty; he, over forty, a man of the
world, professionally used to every side of human nature. But he
said, stammering a little:
"I--I have come to see how far you can save him. Listen, and just
answer the questions I put to you."
She raised her hands, squeezed them together, and murmured:
"Oh! I will answer anything."
"This man, then--your--your husband--was he a bad man?"
"A dreadful man."
"Before he came here last night, how long since you saw him?"
"Eighteen months."
"Where did you live when you saw him last?"
"In Pimlico."
"Does anybody about here know you as Mrs. Walenn?"
"No. When I came here, after my little girl died, I came to live a
bad life. Nobody knows me at all. I am quite alone."
"If they discover who he was, they will look for his wife?"
"I do not know. He did not let people think I was married to him. I
was very young; he treated many, I think, like me."
"Do you think he was known to the police?"
She shook her head. "He was very clever."
"What is your name now?"
"Wanda Livinska."
"Were you known by that name before you were married?"
"Wanda is my Christian name. Livinska--I just call myself."
"I see; since you came here."
"Yes."
"Did my brother ever see this man before last night?"
"Never."
"You had told him about his treatment of you?"
"Yes. And that man first went for him."
"I saw the mark. Do you think anyone saw my brother come to you?"
"I do not know. He says not."
"Can you tell if anyone saw him carrying the--the thing away?"
"No one in this street--I was looking."
"Nor coming back?"
"No one."
"Nor going out in the morning?"
"I do not think it."
"Have you a servant?"
"Only a woman who comes at nine in the morning for an hour."
"Does she know Larry?"
"No."
"Friends, acquaintances?"
"No; I am very quiet. And since I knew your brother, I see no one.
Nobody comes here but him for a long time now."
"How long?"
"Five months."
"Have you been out to-day?"
"No."
"What have you been doing?"
"Crying."
It was said with a certain dreadful simplicity, and pressing her
hands together, she went on:
"He is in danger, because of me. I am so afraid for him."
Holding up his hand to check that emotion, he said:
"Look at me!"
She fixed those dark eyes on him, and in her bare throat, from which
the coat had fallen back, he could see her resolutely swallowing down
her agitation.
"If the worst comes to the worst, and this man is traced to you, can
you trust yourself not to give my brother away?"
Her eyes shone. She got up and went to the fireplace:
"Look! I have burned all the things he has given me--even his
picture. Now I have nothing from him."
Keith, too, got up.
"Good! One more question: Do the police know you, because--because
of your life?"
She shook her head, looking at him intently, with those mournfully
true eyes. And he felt a sort of shame.
"I was obliged to ask. Do you know where he lives?"
"Yes."
"You must not go there. And he must not come to you, here."
Her lips quivered; but she bowed her head. Suddenly he found her
quite close to him, speaking almost in a whisper:
"Please do not take him from me altogether. I will be so careful. I
will not do anything to hurt him; but if I cannot see him sometimes,
I shall die. Please do not take him from me." And catching his hand
between her own, she pressed it desperately. It was several seconds
before Keith said:
"Leave that to me. I will see him. I shall arrange. You must leave
that to me."
"But you will be kind?"
He felt her lips kissing his hand. And the soft moist touch sent a
queer feeling through him, protective, yet just a little brutal,
having in it a shiver of sensuality. He withdrew his hand. And as
if warned that she had been too pressing, she recoiled humbly. But
suddenly she turned, and stood absolutely rigid; then almost
inaudibly whispered: "Listen! Someone out--out there!" And darting
past him she turned out the light.
Almost at once came a knock on the door. He could feel--actually
feel the terror of this girl beside him in the dark. And he, too,
felt terror. Who could it be? No one came but Larry, she had said.
Who else then could it be? Again came the knock, louder! He felt
the breath of her whisper on his cheek: "If it is Larry! I must
open." He shrank back against the wall; heard her open the door and
say faintly: "Yes. Please! Who?"
Light painted a thin moving line on the wall opposite, and a voice
which Keith recognised answered:
"All right, miss. Your outer door's open here. You ought to keep it
shut after dark."
God! That policeman! And it had been his own doing, not shutting
the outer door behind him when he came in. He heard her say timidly
in her foreign voice: "Thank you, sir!" the policeman's retreating
steps, the outer door being shut, and felt her close to him again.
That something in her youth and strange prettiness which had touched
and kept him gentle, no longer blunted the edge of his exasperation,
now that he could not see her. They were all the same, these women;
could not speak the truth! And he said brusquely:
"You told me they didn't know you!"
Her voice answered like a sigh:
"I did not think they did, sir. It is so long I was not out in the
town, not since I had Larry."
The repulsion which all the time seethed deep in Keith welled up at
those words. His brother--son of his mother, a gentleman--the
property of this girl, bound to her, body and soul, by this
unspeakable event! But she had turned up the light. Had she some
intuition that darkness was against her? Yes, she was pretty with
that soft face, colourless save for its lips and dark eyes, with that
face somehow so touchingly, so unaccountably good, and like a
child's.
"I am going now," he said. "Remember! He mustn't come here; you
mustn't go to him. I shall see him to-morrow. If you are as fond of
him as you say--take care, take care!"
She sighed out, "Yes! oh, yes!" and Keith went to the door. She was
standing with her back to the wall, and to follow him she only moved
her head--that dove-like face with all its life in eyes which seemed
saying: 'Look into us; nothing we hide; all--all is there!'
And he went out.
In the passage he paused before opening the outer door. He did not
want to meet that policeman again; the fellow's round should have
taken him well out of the street by now, and turning the handle
cautiously, he looked out. No one in sight. He stood a moment,
wondering if he should turn to right or left, then briskly crossed
the street. A voice to his right hand said:
"Good-night, sir."
There in the shadow of a doorway the policeman was standing. The
fellow must have seen him coming out! Utterly unable to restrain a
start, and muttering "Goodnight!" Keith walked on rapidly:
He went full quarter of a mile before he lost that startled and
uneasy feeling in sardonic exasperation that he, Keith Darrant, had
been taken for a frequenter of a lady of the town. The whole thing--
the whole thing!--a vile and disgusting business! His very mind felt
dirty and breathless; his spirit, drawn out of sheath, had slowly to
slide back before he could at all focus and readjust his reasoning
faculty. Certainly, he had got the knowledge he wanted. There was
less danger than he thought. That girl's eyes! No mistaking her
devotion. She would not give Larry away. Yes! Larry must clear
out--South America--the East--it did not matter. But he felt no
relief. The cheap, tawdry room had wrapped itself round his fancy
with its atmosphere of murky love, with the feeling it inspired, of
emotion caged within those yellowish walls and the red stuff of its
furniture. That girl's face! Devotion; truth, too, and beauty, rare
and moving, in its setting of darkness and horror, in that nest of
vice and of disorder!... The dark archway; the street arab, with his
gleeful: "They 'ain't got 'im yet!"; the feel of those bare arms
round his neck; that whisper of horror in the darkness; above all,
again, her child face looking into his, so truthful! And suddenly he
stood quite still in the street. What in God's name was he about?
What grotesque juggling amongst shadows, what strange and ghastly
eccentricity was all this? The forces of order and routine, all the
actualities of his daily life, marched on him at that moment, and
swept everything before them. It was a dream, a nightmare not real!
It was ridiculous! That he -he should thus be bound up with things
so black and bizarre!
He had come by now to the Strand, that street down which every day he
moved to the Law Courts, to his daily work; his work so dignified and
regular, so irreproachable, and solid. No! The thing was all a
monstrous nightmare! It would go, if he fixed his mind on the
familiar objects around, read the names on the shops, looked at the
faces passing. Far down the thoroughfare he caught the outline of
the old church, and beyond, the loom of the Law Courts themselves.
The bell of a fire-engine sounded, and the horses came galloping by,
with the shining metal, rattle of hoofs and hoarse shouting. Here
was a sensation, real and harmless, dignified and customary! A woman
flaunting round the corner looked up at him, and leered out: "Good-
night!" Even that was customary, tolerable. Two policemen passed,
supporting between them a man the worse for liquor, full of fight and
expletives; the sight was soothing, an ordinary thing which brought
passing annoyance, interest, disgust. It had begun to rain; he felt
it on his face with pleasure--an actual thing, not eccentric, a thing
which happened every day!
He began to cross the street. Cabs were going at furious speed now
that the last omnibus had ceased to run; it distracted him to take
this actual, ordinary risk run so often every day. During that
crossing of the Strand, with the rain in his face and the cabs
shooting past, he regained for the first time his assurance, shook
off this unreal sense of being in the grip of something, and walked
resolutely to the corner of his home turning. But passing into that
darker stretch, he again stood still. A policeman had also turned
into that street on the other side. Not--surely not! Absurd! They
were all alike to look at--those fellows! Absurd! He walked on
sharply, and let himself into his house. But on his way upstairs he
could not for the life of him help raising a corner of a curtain and
looking from the staircase window. The policeman was marching
solemnly, about twenty-five yards away, paying apparently no
attention to anything whatever.
IV
Keith woke at five o'clock, his usual hour, without remembrance. But
the grisly shadow started up when he entered his study, where the
lamp burned, and the fire shone, and the coffee was set ready, just
as when yesterday afternoon Larry had stood out there against the
wall. For a moment he fought against realisation; then, drinking off
his coffee, sat down sullenly at the bureau to his customary three
hours' study of the day's cases.
Not one word of his brief could he take in. It was all jumbled with
murky images and apprehensions, and for full half an hour he suffered
mental paralysis. Then the sheer necessity of knowing something of
the case which he had to open at half-past ten that morning forced
him to a concentration which never quite subdued the malaise at the
bottom of his heart. Nevertheless, when he rose at half-past eight
and went into the bathroom, he had earned his grim satisfaction in
this victory of will-power. By half-past nine he must be at Larry's.
A boat left London for the Argentine to-morrow. If Larry was to get
away at once, money must be arranged for. And then at breakfast he
came on this paragraph in the paper:
"SOHO MURDER.
"Enquiry late last night established the fact that the Police have
discovered the identity of the man found strangled yesterday morning
under an archway in Glove Lane. An arrest has been made."
By good fortune he had finished eating, for the words made him feel
physically sick. At this very minute Larry might be locked up,
waiting to be charged-might even have been arrested before his own
visit to the girl last night. If Larry were arrested, she must be
implicated. What, then, would be his own position? Idiot to go and
look at that archway, to go and see the girl! Had that policeman
really followed him home? Accessory after the fact! Keith Darrant,
King's Counsel, man of mark! He forced himself by an effort, which
had something of the heroic, to drop this panicky feeling. Panic
never did good. He must face it, and see. He refused even to hurry,
calmly collected the papers wanted for the day, and attended to a
letter or two, before he set out in a taxi-cab to Fitzroy Street.
Waiting outside there in the grey morning for his ring to be
answered, he looked the very picture of a man who knew his mind, a
man of resolution. But it needed all his will-power to ask without
tremor: "Mr. Darrant in?" to hear without sign of any kind the
answer: "He's not up yet, sir."
"Never mind; I'll go in and see him. Mr. Keith Darrant."
On his way to Laurence's bedroom, in the midst of utter relief, he
had the self-possession to think: 'This arrest is the best thing that
could have happened. It'll keep their noses on a wrong scent till
Larry's got away. The girl must be sent off too, but not with him.'
Panic had ended in quite hardening his resolution. He entered the
bedroom with a feeling of disgust. The fellow was lying there, his
bare arms crossed behind his tousled head, staring at the ceiling,
and smoking one of many cigarettes whose ends littered a chair beside
him, whose sickly reek tainted the air. That pale face, with its
jutting cheek-bones and chin, its hollow cheeks and blue eyes far
sunk back--what a wreck of goodness!
He looked up at Keith through the haze of smoke and said quietly:
"Well, brother, what's the sentence? 'Transportation for life, and
then to be fined forty pounds?'"
The flippancy revolted Keith. It was Larry all over! Last night
horrified and humble, this morning, "Don't care" and feather-headed.
He said sourly:
"Oh! You can joke about it now?"
Laurence turned his face to the wall.
"Must."
Fatalism! How detestable were natures like that!
"I've been to see her," he said.
"You?"
"Last night. She can be trusted."
Laurence laughed.
"That I told you."
"I had to see for myself. You must clear out at once, Larry. She
can come out to you by the next boat; but you can't go together.
Have you any money?"
"No."
"I can foot your expenses, and lend you a year's income in advance.
But it must be a clean cut; after you get out there your whereabouts
must only be known to me."
A long sigh answered him.
"You're very good to me, Keith; you've always been very good. I
don't know why."
Keith answered drily
"Nor I. There's a boat to the Argentine tomorrow. You're in luck;
they've made an arrest. It's in the paper."
"What?"
The cigarette end dropped, the thin pyjama'd figure writhed up and
stood clutching at the bedrail.
"What?"
The disturbing thought flitted through Keith's brain: 'I was a fool.
He takes it queerly; what now?'
Laurence passed his hand over his forehead, and sat down on the bed.
"I hadn't thought of that," he said; "It does me!"
Keith stared. In his relief that the arrested man was not Laurence,
this had not occurred to him. What folly!
"Why?" he said quickly; "an innocent man's in no danger. They
always get the wrong man first. It's a piece of luck, that's all.
It gives us time."
How often had he not seen that expression on Larry's face, wistful,
questioning, as if trying to see the thing with his--Keith's-eyes,
trying to submit to better judgment? And he said, almost gently
"Now, look here, Larry; this is too serious to trifle with. Don't
worry about that. Leave it to me. Just get ready to be off'. I'll
take your berth and make arrangements. Here's some money for kit. I
can come round between five and six, and let you know. Pull yourself
together, man. As soon as the girl's joined you out there, you'd
better get across to Chile, the further the better. You must simply
lose yourself: I must go now, if I'm to get to the Bank before I go
down to the courts." And looking very steadily at his brother, he
added:
"Come! You've got to think of me in this matter as well as of
yourself. No playing fast and loose with the arrangements.
Understand?"
But still Larry gazed up at him with that wistful questioning, and
not till he had repeated, "Understand?" did he receive "Yes" for
answer.
Driving away, he thought: 'Queer fellow! I don't know him, shall
never know him!' and at once began to concentrate on the practical
arrangements. At his bank he drew out L400; but waiting for the
notes to be counted he suffered qualms. A clumsy way of doing
things! If there had been more time! The thought: 'Accessory after
the fact!' now infected everything. Notes were traceable. No other
way of getting him away at once, though. One must take lesser risks
to avoid greater. From the bank he drove to the office of the
steamship line. He had told Larry he would book his passage. But
that would not do! He must only ask anonymously if there were
accommodation. Having discovered that there were vacant berths, he
drove on to the Law Courts. If he could have taken a morning off, he
would have gone down to the police court and seen them charge this
man. But even that was not too safe, with a face so well known as
his. What would come of this arrest? Nothing, surely! The police
always took somebody up, to keep the public quiet. Then, suddenly,
he had again the feeling that it was all a nightmare; Larry had never
done it; the police had got the right man! But instantly the memory
of the girl's awe-stricken face, her figure huddling on the sofa, her
words "I see him always falling!" came back. God! What a business!
He felt he had never been more clear-headed and forcible than that
morning in court. When he came out for lunch he bought the most
sensational of the evening papers. But it was yet too early for
news, and he had to go back into court no whit wiser concerning the
arrest. When at last he threw off wig and gown, and had got through
a conference and other necessary work, he went out to Chancery Lane,
buying a paper on the way. Then he hailed a cab, and drove once more
to Fitzroy Street.
V
Laurence had remained sitting on his bed for many minutes. An
innocent man in no danger! Keith had said it--the celebrated lawyer!
Could he rely on that? Go out 8,000 miles, he and the girl, and
leave a fellow-creature perhaps in mortal peril for an act committed
by himself?
In the past night he had touched bottom, as he thought: become ready
to face anything. When Keith came in he would without murmur have
accepted the advice: "Give yourself up!" He was prepared to pitch
away the end of his life as he pitched from him the fag-ends of his
cigarettes. And the long sigh he had heaved, hearing of reprieve,
had been only half relief. Then, with incredible swiftness there had
rushed through him a feeling of unutterable joy and hope. Clean
away--into a new country, a new life! The girl and he! Out there he
wouldn't care, would rejoice even to have squashed the life out of
such a noisome beetle of a man. Out there! Under a new sun, where
blood ran quicker than in this foggy land, and people took justice
into their own hands. For it had been justice on that brute even
though he had not meant to kill him. And then to hear of this
arrest! They would be charging the man to-day. He could go and see
the poor creature accused of the murder he himself had committed!
And he laughed. Go and see how likely it was that they might hang a
fellow-man in place of himself? He dressed, but too shaky to shave
himself, went out to a barber's shop. While there he read the news
which Keith had seen. In this paper the name of the arrested man was
given: "John Evan, no address." To be brought up on the charge at
Bow Street. Yes! He must go. Once, twice, three times he walked
past the entrance of the court before at last he entered and screwed
himself away among the tag and bobtail.
The court was crowded; and from the murmurs round he could tell that
it was his particular case which had brought so many there. In a
dazed way he watched charge after charge disposed of with lightning
quickness. But were they never going to reach his business? And
then suddenly he saw the little scarecrow man of last night advancing
to the dock between two policemen, more ragged and miserable than
ever by light of day, like some shaggy, wan, grey animal, surrounded
by sleek hounds.
A sort of satisfied purr was rising all round; and with horror
Laurence perceived that this--this was the man accused of what he
himself had done--this queer, battered unfortunate to whom he had
shown a passing friendliness. Then all feeling merged in the
appalling interest of listening. The evidence was very short.
Testimony of the hotel-keeper where Walenn had been staying, the
identification of his body, and of a snake-shaped ring he had been
wearing at dinner that evening. Testimony of a pawnbroker, that this
same ring was pawned with him the first thing yesterday morning by
the prisoner. Testimony of a policeman that he had noticed the man
Evan several times in Glove Lane, and twice moved him on from
sleeping under that arch. Testimony of another policeman that, when
arrested at midnight, Evan had said: "Yes; I took the ring off his
finger. I found him there dead .... I know I oughtn't to have done
it.... I'm an educated man; it was stupid to pawn the ring. I found
him with his pockets turned inside out."
Fascinating and terrible to sit staring at the man in whose place he
should have been; to wonder when those small bright-grey bloodshot
eyes would spy him out, and how he would meet that glance. Like a
baited raccoon the little man stood, screwed back into a corner,
mournful, cynical, fierce, with his ridged, obtuse yellow face, and
his stubbly grey beard and hair, and his eyes wandering now and again
amongst the crowd. But with all his might Laurence kept his face
unmoved. Then came the word "Remanded"; and, more like a baited
beast than ever, the man was led away.
Laurence sat on, a cold perspiration thick on his forehead. Someone
else, then, had come on the body and turned the pockets inside out
before John Evan took the ring. A man such as Walenn would not be
out at night without money. Besides, if Evan had found money on the
body he would never have run the risk of taking that ring. Yes,
someone else had come on the body first. It was for that one to come
forward, and prove that the ring was still on the dead man's finger
when he left him, and thus clear Evan. He clung to that thought; it
seemed to make him less responsible for the little man's position; to
remove him and his own deed one step further back. If they found the
person who had taken the money, it would prove Evan's innocence. He
came out of the court in a sort of trance. And a craving to get
drunk attacked him. One could not go on like this without the relief
of some oblivion. If he could only get drunk, keep drunk till this
business was decided and he knew whether he must give himself up or
no. He had now no fear at all of people suspecting him; only fear of
himself--fear that he might go and give himself up. Now he could see
the girl; the danger from that was as nothing compared with the
danger from his own conscience. He had promised Keith not to see
her. Keith had been decent and loyal to him--good old Keith! But he
would never understand that this girl was now all he cared about in
life; that he would rather be cut off from life itself than be cut
off from her. Instead of becoming less and less, she was becoming
more and more to him--experience strange and thrilling! Out of deep
misery she had grown happy--through him; out of a sordid, shifting
life recovered coherence and bloom, through devotion to him him, of
all people in the world! It was a miracle. She demanded nothing of
him, adored him, as no other woman ever had--it was this which had
anchored his drifting barque; this--and her truthful mild
intelligence, and that burning warmth of a woman, who, long treated
by men as but a sack of sex, now loves at last.
And suddenly, mastering his craving to get drunk, he made towards
Soho. He had been a fool to give those keys to Keith. She must have
been frightened by his visit; and, perhaps, doubly miserable since,
knowing nothing, imagining everything! Keith was sure to have
terrified her. Poor little thing!
Down the street where he had stolen in the dark with the dead body on
his back, he almost ran for the cover of her house. The door was
opened to him before he knocked, her arms were round his neck, her
lips pressed to his. The fire was out, as if she had been unable to
remember to keep warm. A stool had been drawn to the window, and
there she had evidently been sitting, like a bird in a cage, looking
out into the grey street. Though she had been told that he was not
to come, instinct had kept her there; or the pathetic, aching hope
against hope which lovers never part with.
Now that he was there, her first thoughts were for his comfort. The
fire was lighted. He must eat, drink, smoke. There was never in her
doings any of the "I am doing this for you, but you ought to be doing
that for me" which belongs to so many marriages, and liaisons. She
was like a devoted slave, so in love with the chains that she never
knew she wore them. And to Laurence, who had so little sense of
property, this only served to deepen tenderness, and the hold she had
on him. He had resolved not to tell her of the new danger he ran
from his own conscience. But resolutions with him were but the
opposites of what was sure to come; and at last the words:
"They've arrested someone," escaped him.
>From her face he knew she had grasped the danger at once; had divined
it, perhaps, before he spoke. But she only twined her arms round him
and kissed his lips. And he knew that she was begging him to put his
love for her above his conscience. Who would ever have thought that
he could feel as he did to this girl who had been in the arms of
many! The stained and suffering past of a loved woman awakens in
some men only chivalry; in others, more respectable, it rouses a
tigerish itch, a rancorous jealousy of what in the past was given to
others. Sometimes it will do both. When he had her in his arms he
felt no remorse for killing the coarse, handsome brute who had ruined
her. He savagely rejoiced in it. But when she laid her head in the
hollow of his shoulder, turning to him her white face with the faint
colour-staining on the parted lips, the cheeks, the eyelids; when her
dark, wide-apart, brown eyes gazed up in the happiness of her
abandonment--he felt only tenderness and protection.
He left her at five o'clock, and had not gone two streets' length
before the memory of the little grey vagabond, screwed back in the
far corner of the dock like a baited raccoon, of his dreary, creaking
voice, took possession of him again; and a kind of savagery mounted
in his brain against a world where one could be so tortured without
having meant harm to anyone.
At the door of his lodgings Keith was getting out of a cab. They
went in together, but neither of them sat down; Keith standing with
his back to the carefully shut door, Laurence with his back to the
table, as if they knew there was a tug coming. And Keith said:
"There's room on that boat. Go down and book your berth before they
shut. Here's the money!"
"I'm going to stick it, Keith."
Keith stepped forward, and put a roll of notes on the table.
"Now look here, Larry. I've read the police court proceedings.
There's nothing in that. Out of prison, or in prison for a few
weeks, it's all the same to a night-bird of that sort. Dismiss it
from your mind--there's not nearly enough evidence to convict. This
gives you your chance. Take it like a man, and make a new life for
yourself."
Laurence smiled; but the smile had a touch of madness and a touch of
malice. He took up the notes.
"Clear out, and save the honour of brother Keith. Put them back in
your pocket, Keith, or I'll put them in the fire. Come, take them!"
And, crossing to the fire, he held them to the bars. "Take them, or
in they go!"
Keith took back the notes.
"I've still got some kind of honour, Keith; if I clear out I shall
have none, not the rag of any, left. It may be worth more to me than
that--I can't tell yet--I can't tell." There was a long silence
before Keith answered. "I tell you you're mistaken; no jury will
convict. If they did, a judge would never hang on it. A ghoul who
can rob a dead body ought to be in prison. What he did is worse than
what you did, if you come to that!" Laurence lifted his face.
"Judge not, brother," he said; "the heart is a dark well." Keith's
yellowish face grew red and swollen, as though he were mastering the
tickle of a bronchial cough. "What are you going to do, then? I
suppose I may ask you not to be entirely oblivious of our name; or is
such a consideration unworthy of your honour?" Laurence bent his
head. The gesture said more clearly than words: 'Don't kick a man
when he's down!'
"I don't know what I'm going to do--nothing at present. I'm awfully
sorry, Keith; awfully sorry."
Keith looked at him, and without another word went out.
VI
To any, save philosophers, reputation may be threatened almost as
much by disgrace to name and family as by the disgrace of self.
Keith's instinct was always to deal actively with danger. But this
blow, whether it fell on him by discovery or by confession, could not
be countered. As blight falls on a rose from who knows where, the
scandalous murk would light on him. No repulse possible! Not even a
wriggling from under! Brother of a murderer hung or sent to penal
servitude! His daughter niece to a murderer! His dead mother-a
murderer's mother! And to wait day after day, week after week, not
knowing whether the blow would fall, was an extraordinarily atrocious
penance, the injustice of which, to a man of rectitude, seemed daily
the more monstrous.
The remand had produced evidence that the murdered man had been
drinking heavily on the night of his death, and further evidence of
the accused's professional vagabondage and destitution; it was shown,
too, that for some time the archway in Glove Lane had been his
favourite night haunt. He had been committed for trial in January.
This time, despite misgivings, Keith had attended the police court.
To his great relief Larry was not there. But the policeman who had
come up while he was looking at the archway, and given him afterwards
that scare in the girl's rooms, was chief witness to the way the
accused man haunted Glove Lane. Though Keith held his silk hat high,
he still had the uncomfortable feeling that the man had recognised
him.
His conscience suffered few, if any, twinges for letting this man
rest under the shadow of the murder. He genuinely believed that
there was not evidence enough to convict; nor was it in him to
appreciate the tortures of a vagabond shut up. The scamp deserved
what he had got, for robbing a dead body; and in any case such a
scarecrow was better off in prison than sleeping out under archways
in December. Sentiment was foreign to Keith's character, and his
justice that of those who subordinate the fates of the weak and
shiftless to the needful paramountcy of the strong and well
established.
His daughter came back from school for the Christmas holidays. It
was hard to look up from her bright eyes and rosy cheeks and see this
shadow hanging above his calm and ordered life, as in a glowing room
one's eye may catch an impending patch of darkness drawn like a
spider's web across a corner of the ceiling.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve they went, by her desire, to a
church in Soho, where the Christmas Oratorio was being given; and
coming away passed, by chance of a wrong turning, down Borrow Street.
Ugh! How that startled moment, when the girl had pressed herself
against him in the dark, and her terror-stricken whisper: "Oh! Who
is it?" leaped out before him! Always that business--that ghastly
business! After the trial he would have another try to get them both
away. And he thrust his arm within his young daughter's, hurrying
her on, out of this street where shadows filled all the winter air.
But that evening when she had gone to bed he felt uncontrollably
restless. He had not seen Larry for weeks. What was he about? What
desperations were hatching in his disorderly brain? Was he very
miserable; had he perhaps sunk into a stupor of debauchery? And the
old feeling of protectiveness rose up in him; a warmth born of long
ago Christmas Eves, when they had stockings hung out in the night
stuffed by a Santa Claus, whose hand never failed to tuck them up,
whose kiss was their nightly waft into sleep.
Stars were sparkling out there over the river; the sky frosty-clear,
and black. Bells had not begun to ring as yet. And obeying an
obscure, deep impulse, Keith wrapped himself once more into his fur
coat, pulled a motoring cap over his eyes, and sallied forth.
In the Strand he took a cab to Fitzroy Street. There was no light in
Larry's windows, and on a card he saw the words "To Let." Gone! Had
he after all cleared out for good? But how-without money? And the
girl? Bells were ringing now in the silent frostiness. Christmas
Eve! And Keith thought: 'If only this wretched business were off my
mind! Monstrous that one should suffer for the faults of others!'
He took a route which led him past Borrow Street. Solitude brooded
there, and he walked resolutely down on the far side, looking hard at
the girl's window. There was a light. The curtains just failed to
meet, so that a thin gleam shone through. He crossed; and after
glancing swiftly up and down, deliberately peered in.
He only stood there perhaps twenty seconds, but visual records
gleaned in a moment sometimes outlast the visions of hours and days.
The electric light was not burning; but, in the centre of the room
the girl was kneeling in her nightgown before a little table on which
were four lighted candles. Her arms were crossed on her breast; the
candle-light shone on her fair cropped hair, on the profile of cheek
and chin, on her bowed white neck. For a moment he thought her
alone; then behind her saw his brother in a sleeping suit, leaning
against the wall, with arms crossed, watching. It was the expression
on his face which burned the whole thing in, so that always
afterwards he was able to see that little scene--such an expression
as could never have been on the face of one even faintly conscious
that he was watched by any living thing on earth. The whole of
Larry's heart and feeling seemed to have come up out of him.
Yearning, mockery, love, despair! The depth of his feeling for this
girl, his stress of mind, fears, hopes; the flotsam good and evil of
his soul, all transfigured there, exposed and unforgettable. The
candle-light shone upward on to his face, twisted by the strangest
smile; his eyes, darker and more wistful than mortal eyes should be,
seemed to beseech and mock the white-clad girl, who, all unconscious,
knelt without movement, like a carved figure of devotion. The words
seemed coming from his lips: "Pray for us! Bravo! Yes! Pray for
us!" And suddenly Keith saw her stretch out her arms, and lift her
face with a look of ecstasy, and Laurence starting forward. What had
she seen beyond the candle flames? It is the unexpected which
invests visions with poignancy. Nothing more strange could Keith
have seen in this nest of the murky and illicit. But in sheer panic
lest he might be caught thus spying he drew back and hurried on.
So Larry was living there with her! When the moment came he could
still find him.
Before going in, he stood full five minutes leaning on the terrace
parapet before his house, gazing at the star-frosted sky, and the
river cut by the trees into black pools, oiled over by gleams from
the Embankment lamps. And, deep down, behind his mere thoughts, he
ached-somehow, somewhere ached. Beyond the cage of all that he saw
and heard and thought, he had perceived something he could not reach.
But the night was cold, the bells silent, for it had struck twelve.
Entering his house, he stole upstairs.
VII
If for Keith those six weeks before the Glove Lane murder trial came
on were fraught with uneasiness and gloom, they were for Laurence
almost the happiest since his youth. From the moment when he left
his rooms and went to the girl's to live, a kind of peace and
exaltation took possession of him. Not by any effort of will did he
throw off the nightmare hanging over him. Nor was he drugged by
love. He was in a sort of spiritual catalepsy. In face of fate too
powerful for his will, his turmoil, anxiety, and even restlessness
had ceased; his life floated in the ether of "what must come, will."
Out of this catalepsy, his spirit sometimes fell headlong into black
waters. In one such whirlpool he was struggling on the night of
Christmas Eve. When the girl rose from her knees he asked her:
"What did you see?"
Pressing close to him, she drew him down on to the floor before the
fire; and they sat, knees drawn up, hands clasped, like two children
trying to see over the edge of the world.
"It was the Virgin I saw. She stood against the wall and smiled. We
shall be happy soon."
"When we die, Wanda," he said, suddenly, "let it be together. We
shall keep each other warm, out there."
Huddling to him she whispered: "Yes, oh, yes! If you die, I could
not go on living."
It was this utter dependence on him, the feeling that he had rescued
something, which gave him sense of anchorage. That, and his buried
life in the retreat of these two rooms. Just for an hour in the
morning, from nine to ten, the charwoman would come, but not another
soul all day. They never went out together. He would stay in bed
late, while Wanda bought what they needed for the day's meals; lying
on his back, hands clasped behind his head, recalling her face, the
movements of her slim, rounded, supple figure, robing itself before
his gaze; feeling again the kiss she had left on his lips, the gleam
of her soft eyes, so strangely dark in so fair a face. In a sort of
trance he would lie till she came back. Then get up to breakfast
about noon off things which she had cooked, drinking coffee. In the
afternoon he would go out alone and walk for hours, any where, so
long as it was East. To the East there was always suffering to be
seen, always that which soothed him with the feeling that he and his
troubles were only a tiny part of trouble; that while so many other
sorrowing and shadowy creatures lived he was not cut off. To go West
was to encourage dejection. In the West all was like Keith,
successful, immaculate, ordered, resolute. He would come back tired
out, and sit watching her cook their little dinner. The evenings
were given up to love. Queer trance of an existence, which both were
afraid to break. No sign from her of wanting those excitements which
girls who have lived her life, even for a few months, are supposed to
need. She never asked him to take her anywhere; never, in word,
deed, look, seemed anything but almost rapturously content. And yet
he knew, and she knew, that they were only waiting to see whether
Fate would turn her thumb down on them. In these days he did not
drink. Out of his quarter's money, when it came in, he had paid his
debts--their expenses were very small. He never went to see Keith,
never wrote to him, hardly thought of him. And from those dread
apparitions--Walenn lying with the breath choked out of him, and the
little grey, driven animal in the dock--he hid, as only a man can who
must hide or be destroyed. But daily he bought a newspaper, and
feverishly, furtively scanned its columns.
VIII
Coming out of the Law Courts on the afternoon of January 28th, at the
triumphant end of a desperately fought will case, Keith saw on a
poster the words: "Glove Lane Murder: Trial and Verdict"; and with a
rush of dismay he thought: 'Good God! I never looked at the paper
this morning!' The elation which had filled him a second before, the
absorption he had felt for two days now in the case so hardly won,
seemed suddenly quite sickeningly trivial. What on earth had he been
doing to forget that horrible business even for an instant? He stood
quite still on the crowded pavement, unable, really unable, to buy a
paper. But his face was like a piece of iron when he did step
forward and hold his penny out. There it was in the Stop Press!
"Glove Lane Murder. The jury returned a verdict of Guilty. Sentence
of death was passed."
His first sensation was simple irritation. How had they come to
commit such an imbecility? Monstrous! The evidence--! Then the
futility of even reading the report, of even considering how they had
come to record such a verdict struck him with savage suddenness.
There it was, and nothing he could do or say would alter it; no
condemnation of this idiotic verdict would help reverse it. The
situation was desperate, indeed! That five minutes' walk from the
Law Courts to his chambers was the longest he had ever taken.
Men of decided character little know beforehand what they will do in
certain contingencies. For the imaginations of decided people do not
endow mere contingencies with sufficient actuality. Keith had never
really settled what he was going to do if this man were condemned.
Often in those past weeks he had said to himself: "Of course, if they
bring him in guilty, that's another thing!" But, now that they had,
he was beset by exactly the same old arguments and feelings, the same
instincts of loyalty and protection towards Laurence and himself,
intensified by the fearful imminence of the danger. And yet, here
was this man about to be hung for a thing he had not done! Nothing
could get over that! But then he was such a worthless vagabond, a
ghoul who had robbed a dead body. If Larry were condemned in his
stead, would there be any less miscarriage of justice? To strangle a
brute who had struck you, by the accident of keeping your hands on
his throat a few seconds too long, was there any more guilt in that--
was there even as much, as in deliberate theft from a dead man?
Reverence for order, for justice, and established fact, will, often
march shoulder to shoulder with Jesuitry in natures to whom success
is vital.
In the narrow stone passage leading to his staircase, a friend had
called out: "Bravo, Darrant! That was a squeak! Congratulations!"
And with a bitter little smile Keith thought: 'Congratulations! I!'
At the first possible moment the hurried back to the Strand, and
hailing a cab, he told the man to put him down at a turning near to
Borrow Street.
It was the girl who opened to his knock. Startled, clasping her
hands, she looked strange to Keith in her black skirt and blouse of
some soft velvety stuff the colour of faded roses. Her round, rather
long throat was bare; and Keith noticed fretfully that she wore gold
earrings. Her eyes, so pitch dark against her white face, and the
short fair hair, which curled into her neck, seemed both to search
and to plead.
"My brother?"
"He is not in, sir, yet."
"Do you know where he is?"
"No."
"He is living with you here now?"
"Yes."
"Are you still as fond of him as ever, then?"
With a movement, as though she despaired of words, she clasped her
hands over her heart. And he said:
"I see."
He had the same strange feeling as on his first visit to her, and
when through the chink in the curtains he had watched her kneeling--
of pity mingled with some faint sexual emotion. And crossing to the
fire he asked:
"May I wait for him?"
"Oh! Please! Will you sit down?"
But Keith shook his head. And with a catch in her breath, she said:
"You will not take him from me. I should die."
He turned round on her sharply.
"I don't want him taken from you. I want to help you keep him. Are
you ready to go away, at any time?"
"Yes. Oh, yes!"
"And he?"
She answered almost in a whisper:
"Yes; but there is that poor man."
"That poor man is a graveyard thief; a hyena; a ghoul--not worth
consideration." And the rasp in his own voice surprised him.
"Ah!" she sighed. "But I am sorry for him. Perhaps he was hungry.
I have been hungry--you do things then that you would not. And
perhaps he has no one to love; if you have no one to love you can be
very bad. I think of him often--in prison."
Between his teeth Keith muttered: "And Laurence?"
"We do never speak of it, we are afraid."
"He's not told you, then, about the trial?"
Her eyes dilated.
"The trial! Oh! He was strange last night. This morning, too, he
got up early. Is it-is it over?"
"Yes."
"What has come?"
"Guilty."
For a moment Keith thought she was going to faint. She had closed
her eyes, and swayed so that he took a step, and put his hands on her
arms.
"Listen!" he said. "Help me; don't let Laurence out of your sight.
We must have time. I must see what they intend to do. They can't be
going to hang this man. I must have time, I tell you. You must
prevent his giving himself up."
She stood, staring in his face, while he still held her arms,
gripping into her soft flesh through the velvety sleeves.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes-but if he has already!"
Keith felt the shiver which ran through her. And the thought rushed
into his mind: 'My God! Suppose the police come round while I'm
here!' If Larry had indeed gone to them! If that Policeman who had
seen him here the night after the murder should find him here again
just after the verdict! He said almost fiercely:
"Can I trust you not to let Larry out of your sight? Quick!
Answer!"
Clasping her hands to her breast, she answered humbly:
"I will try."
"If he hasn't already done this, watch him like a lynx! Don't let
him go out without you. I'll come to-morrow morning early. You're a
Catholic, aren't you? Swear to me that you won't let him do anything
till he's seen me again."
She did not answer, looking past him at the door; and Keith heard a
key in the latch. There was Laurence himself, holding in his hand a
great bunch of pink lilies and white narcissi. His face was pale and
haggard. He said quietly:
"Hallo, Keith!"
The girl's eyes were fastened on Larry's face; and Keith, looking
from one to the other, knew that he had never had more need for
wariness.
"Have you seen?" he said.
Laurence nodded. His expression, as a rule so tell-tale of his
emotions, baffled Keith utterly.
"Well?"
"I've been expecting it."
"The thing can't stand--that's certain. But I must have time to look
into the report. I must have time to see what I can do. D'you
understand me, Larry--I must have time." He knew he was talking at
random. The only thing was to get them away at once out of reach of
confession; but he dared not say so.
"Promise me that you'll do nothing, that you won't go out even till
I've seen you to-morrow morning."
Again Laurence nodded. And Keith looked at the girl. Would she see
that he did not break that promise? Her eyes were still fixed
immovably on Larry's face. And with the feeling that he could get no
further, Keith turned to go.
"Promise me," he said.
Laurence answered: "I promise."
He was smiling. Keith could make nothing of that smile, nor of the
expression in the girl's eyes. And saying: "I have your promise, I
rely on it!" he went.
IX
To keep from any woman who loves, knowledge of her lover's mood, is
as hard as to keep music from moving the heart. But when that woman
has lived in suffering, and for the first time knows the comfort of
love, then let the lover try as he may to disguise his heart--no use!
Yet by virtue of subtler abnegation she will often succeed in keeping
it from him that she knows.
When Keith was gone the girl made no outcry, asked no questions,
managed that Larry should not suspect her intuition; all that evening
she acted as if she knew of nothing preparing within him, and through
him, within herself.
His words, caresses, the very zest with which he helped her to
prepare the feast, the flowers he had brought, the wine he made her
drink, the avoidance of any word which could spoil their happiness,
all--all told her. He was too inexorably gay and loving. Not for
her--to whom every word and every kiss had uncannily the desperate
value of a last word and kiss--not for her to deprive herself of
these by any sign or gesture which might betray her prescience. Poor
soul--she took all, and would have taken more, a hundredfold. She
did not want to drink the wine he kept tilting into her glass, but,
with the acceptance learned by women who have lived her life, she did
not refuse. She had never refused him anything. So much had been
required of her by the detestable, that anything required by a loved
one was but an honour.
Laurence drank deeply; but he had never felt clearer, never seen
things more clearly. The wine gave him what he wanted, an edge to
these few hours of pleasure, an exaltation of energy. It dulled his
sense of pity, too. It was pity he was afraid of--for himself, and
for this girl. To make even this tawdry room look beautiful, with
firelight and candlelight, dark amber wine in the glasses, tall pink
lilies spilling their saffron, exuding their hot perfume he and even
himself must look their best. And with a weight as of lead on her
heart, she managed that for him, letting him strew her with flowers
and crush them together with herself. Not even music was lacking to
their feast. Someone was playing a pianola across the street, and
the sound, very faint, came stealing when they were silent--swelling,
sinking, festive, mournful; having a far-off life of its own, like
the flickering fire-flames before which they lay embraced, or the
lilies delicate between the candles. Listening to that music,
tracing with his finger the tiny veins on her breast, he lay like one
recovering from a swoon. No parting. None! But sleep, as the
firelight sleeps when flames die; as music sleeps on its deserted
strings.
And the girl watched him.
It was nearly ten when he bade her go to bed. And after she had gone
obedient into the bedroom, he brought ink and paper down by the fire.
The drifter, the unstable, the good-for-nothing--did not falter. He
had thought, when it came to the point, he would fail himself; but a
sort of rage bore him forward. If he lived on, and confessed, they
would shut him up, take from him the one thing he loved, cut him off
from her; sand up his only well in the desert. Curse them! And he
wrote by firelight which mellowed the white sheets of paper; while,
against the dark curtain, the girl, in her nightgown, unconscious of
the cold, stood watching.
Men, when they drown, remember their pasts. Like the lost poet he
had "gone with the wind." Now it was for him to be true in his
fashion. A man may falter for weeks and weeks, consciously,
subconsciously, even in his dreams, till there comes that moment when
the only thing impossible is to go on faltering. The black cap, the
little driven grey man looking up at it with a sort of wonder--
faltering had ceased!
He had finished now, and was but staring into the fire.
"No more, no more, the moon is dead,
And all the people in it;
The poppy maidens strew the bed,
We'll come in half a minute."
Why did doggerel start up in the mind like that? Wanda! The weed-
flower become so rare he would not be parted from her! The fire, the
candles, and the fire--no more the flame and flicker!
And, by the dark curtain, the girl watched.
X
Keith went, not home, but to his club; and in the room devoted to the
reception of guests, empty at this hour, he sat down and read the
report of the trial. The fools had made out a case that looked black
enough. And for a long time, on the thick soft carpet which let out
no sound of footfall, he paced up and down, thinking. He might see
the defending counsel, might surely do that as an expert who thought
there had been miscarriage of justice. They must appeal; a petition
too might be started in the last event. The thing could--must be put
right yet, if only Larry and that girl did nothing!
He had no appetite, but the custom of dining is too strong. And
while he ate, he glanced with irritation at his fellow-members. They
looked so at their ease. Unjust--that this black cloud should hang
over one blameless as any of them! Friends, connoisseurs of such
things--a judge among them--came specially to his table to express
their admiration of his conduct of that will case. Tonight he had
real excuse for pride, but he felt none. Yet, in this well-warmed
quietly glowing room, filled with decorously eating, decorously
talking men, he gained insensibly some comfort. This surely was
reality; that shadowy business out there only the drear sound of a
wind one must and did keep out--like the poverty and grime which had
no real existence for the secure and prosperous. He drank champagne.
It helped to fortify reality, to make shadows seem more shadowy. And
down in the smoking-room he sat before the fire, in one of those
chairs which embalm after-dinner dreams. He grew sleepy there, and
at eleven o'clock rose to go home. But when he had once passed down
the shallow marble steps, out through the revolving door which let in
no draughts, he was visited by fear, as if he had drawn it in with
the breath of the January wind. Larry's face; and the girl watching
it! Why had she watched like that? Larry's smile; and the flowers
in his hand? Buying flowers at such a moment! The girl was his
slave-whatever he told her, she would do. But she would never be
able to stop him. At this very moment he might be rushing to give
himself up!
His hand, thrust deep into the pocket of his fur coat, came in
contact suddenly with something cold. The keys Larry had given him
all that time ago. There they had lain forgotten ever since. The
chance touch decided him. He turned off towards Borrow Street,
walking at full speed. He could but go again and see. He would
sleep better if he knew that he had left no stone unturned. At the
corner of that dismal street he had to wait for solitude before he
made for the house which he now loathed with a deadly loathing. He
opened the outer door and shut it to behind him. He knocked, but no
one came. Perhaps they had gone to bed. Again and again he knocked,
then opened the door, stepped in, and closed it carefully. Candles
lighted, the fire burning; cushions thrown on the floor in front of
it and strewn with flowers! The table, too, covered with flowers and
with the remnants of a meal. Through the half-drawn curtain he could
see that the inner room was also lighted. Had they gone out, leaving
everything like this? Gone out! His heart beat. Bottles! Larry had
been drinking!
Had it really come? Must he go back home with this murk on him;
knowing that his brother was a confessed and branded murderer? He
went quickly, to the half-drawn curtains and looked in. Against the
wall he saw a bed, and those two in it. He recoiled in sheer
amazement and relief. Asleep with curtains undrawn, lights left on?
Asleep through all his knocking! They must both be drunk. The blood
rushed up in his neck. Asleep! And rushing forward again, he called
out: "Larry!" Then, with a gasp he went towards the bed. "Larry!"
No answer! No movement! Seizing his brother's shoulder, he shook it
violently. It felt cold. They were lying in each other's arms,
breast to breast, lips to lips, their faces white in the light
shining above the dressing-table. And such a shudder shook Keith
that he had to grasp the brass rail above their heads. Then he bent
down, and wetting his finger, placed it close to their joined lips.
No two could ever swoon so utterly as that; not even a drunken sleep
could be so fast. His wet finger felt not the faintest stir of air,
nor was there any movement in the pulses of their hands. No breath!
No life! The eyes of the girl were closed. How strangely innocent
she looked! Larry's open eyes seemed to be gazing at her shut eyes;
but Keith saw that they were sightless. With a sort of sob he drew
down the lids. Then, by an impulse that he could never have
explained, he laid a hand on his brother's head, and a hand on the
girl's fair hair. The clothes had fallen down a little from her bare
shoulder; he pulled them up, as if to keep her warm, and caught the
glint of metal; a tiny gilt crucifix no longer than a thumbnail, on a
thread of steel chain, had slipped down from her breast into the
hollow of the arm which lay round Larry's neck. Keith buried it
beneath the clothes and noticed an envelope pinned to the coverlet;
bending down, he read: "Please give this at once to the police.--
LAURENCE DARRANT." He thrust it into his pocket. Like elastic
stretched beyond its uttermost, his reason, will, faculties of
calculation and resolve snapped to within him. He thought with
incredible swiftness: 'I must know nothing of this. I must go!'
And, almost before he knew that he had moved, he was out again in the
street.
He could never have told of what he thought while he was walking
home. He did not really come to himself till he was in his study.
There, with a trembling hand, he poured himself out whisky and drank
it off. If he had not chanced to go there, the charwoman would have
found them when she came in the morning, and given that envelope to
the police! He took it out. He had a right--a right to know what
was in it! He broke it open.
"I, Laurence Darrant, about to die by my own hand, declare that this
is a solemn and true confession. I committed what is known as the
Glove Lane Murder on the night of November the 27th last in the
following way"--on and on to the last words--"We didn't want to die;
but we could not bear separation, and I couldn't face letting an
innocent man be hung for me. I do not see any other way. I beg that
there may be no postmortem on our bodies. The stuff we have taken is
some of that which will be found on the dressing-table. Please bury
us together.
"LAURENCE DARRANT.
"January the 28th, about ten o'clock p.m."
Full five minutes Keith stood with those sheets of paper in his hand,
while the clock ticked, the wind moaned a little in the trees
outside, the flames licked the logs with the quiet click and ruffle
of their intense far-away life down there on the hearth. Then he
roused himself, and sat down to read the whole again.
There it was, just as Larry had told it to him-nothing left out, very
clear; even to the addresses of people who could identify the girl as
having once been Walenn's wife or mistress. It would convince. Yes!
It would convince.
The sheets dropped from his hand. Very slowly he was grasping the
appalling fact that on the floor beside his chair lay the life or
death of yet another man; that by taking this confession he had taken
into his own hands the fate of the vagabond lying under sentence of
death; that he could not give him back his life without incurring the
smirch of this disgrace, without even endangering himself. If he let
this confession reach the authorities, he could never escape the
gravest suspicion that he had known of the whole affair during these
two months. He would have to attend the inquest, be recognised by
that policeman as having come to the archway to see where the body
had lain, as having visited the girl the very evening after the
murder. Who would believe in the mere coincidence of such visits on
the part of the murderer's brother. But apart from that suspicion,
the fearful scandal which so sensational an affair must make would
mar his career, his life, his young daughter's life! Larry's suicide
with this girl would make sensation enough as it was; but nothing to
that other. Such a death had its romance; involved him in no way
save as a mourner, could perhaps even be hushed up! The other--
nothing could hush that up, nothing prevent its ringing to the house-
tops. He got up from his chair, and for many minutes roamed the room
unable to get his mind to bear on the issue. Images kept starting up
before him. The face of the man who handed him wig and gown each
morning, puffy and curious, with a leer on it he had never noticed
before; his young daughter's lifted eyebrows, mouth drooping, eyes
troubled; the tiny gilt crucifix glinting in the hollow of the dead
girl's arm; the sightless look in Larry's unclosed eyes; even his own
thumb and finger pulling the lids down. And then he saw a street and
endless people passing, turning to stare at him. And, stopping in
his tramp, he said aloud: "Let them go to hell! Seven days' wonder!"
Was he not trustee to that confession! Trustee! After all he had
done nothing to be ashamed of, even if he had kept knowledge dark. A
brother! Who could blame him? And he picked up those sheets of
paper. But, like a great murky hand, the scandal spread itself about
him; its coarse malignant voice seemed shouting: "Paiper!...
Paiper!... Glove Lane Murder!... Suicide and confession of brother of
well-known K.C.... Well-known K.C.'s brother.... Murder and
suicide.... Paiper!" Was he to let loose that flood of foulness?
Was he, who had done nothing, to smirch his own little daughter's
life; to smirch his dead brother, their dead mother--himself, his own
valuable, important future? And all for a sewer rat! Let him hang,
let the fellow hang if he must! And that was not certain. Appeal!
Petition! He might--he should be saved! To have got thus far, and
then, by his own action, topple himself down!
With a sudden darting movement he thrust the confession in among the
burning coals. And a smile licked at the folds in his dark face,
like those flames licking the sheets of paper, till they writhed and
blackened. With the toe of his boot he dispersed their scorched and
crumbling wafer. Stamp them in! Stamp in that man's life! Burnt!
No more doubts, no more of this gnawing fear! Burnt? A man--an
innocent-sewer rat! Recoiling from the fire he grasped his forehead.
It was burning hot and seemed to be going round.
Well, it was done! Only fools without will or purpose regretted.
And suddenly he laughed. So Larry had died for nothing! He had no
will, no purpose, and was dead! He and that girl might now have been
living, loving each other in the warm night, away at the other end of
the world, instead of lying dead in the cold night here! Fools and
weaklings regretted, suffered from conscience and remorse. A man
trod firmly, held to his purpose, no matter what!
He went to the window and drew back the curtain. What was that? A
gibbet in the air, a body hanging? Ah! Only the trees--the dark
trees--the winter skeleton trees! Recoiling, he returned to his
armchair and sat down before the fire. It had been shining like
that, the lamp turned low, his chair drawn up, when Larry came in
that afternoon two months ago. Bah! He had never come at all! It
was a nightmare. He had been asleep. How his head burned! And
leaping up, he looked at the calendar on his bureau. "January the
28th!" No dream! His face hardened and darkened. On! Not like
Larry! On!
1914.
A STOIC
I
1
"Aequam memento rebus in arduis
Servare mentem:"--Horace.
In the City of Liverpool, on a January day of 1905, the Board-room of
"The Island Navigation Company" rested, as it were, after the labours
of the afternoon. The long table was still littered with the ink,
pens, blotting-paper, and abandoned documents of six persons--a
deserted battlefield of the brain. And, lonely, in his chairman's
seat at the top end old Sylvanus Heythorp sat, with closed eyes,
still and heavy as an image. One puffy, feeble hand, whose fingers
quivered, rested on the arm of his chair; the thick white hair on his
massive head glistened in the light from a green-shaded lamp. He was
not asleep, for every now and then his sanguine cheeks filled, and a
sound, half sigh, half grunt, escaped his thick lips between a white
moustache and the tiny tuft of white hairs above his cleft chin.
Sunk in the chair, that square thick trunk of a body in short black-
braided coat seemed divested of all neck.
Young Gilbert Farney, secretary of "The Island Navigation Company,"
entering his hushed Board-room, stepped briskly to the table,
gathered some papers, and stood looking at his chairman. Not more
than thirty-five, with the bright hues of the optimist in his hair,
beard, cheeks, and eyes, he had a nose and lips which curled
ironically. For, in his view, he was the Company; and its Board did
but exist to chequer his importance. Five days in the week for seven
hours a day he wrote, and thought, and wove the threads of its
business, and this lot came down once a week for two or three hours,
and taught their grandmother to suck eggs. But watching that red-
cheeked, white-haired, somnolent figure, his smile was not so
contemptuous as might have been expected. For after all, the
chairman was a wonderful old boy. A man of go and insight could not
but respect him. Eighty! Half paralysed, over head and ears in
debt, having gone the pace all his life--or so they said!--till at
last that mine in Ecuador had done for him--before the secretary's
day, of course, but he had heard of it. The old chap had bought it
up on spec'--"de l'audace, toujours de l'audace," as he was so fond
of saying--paid for it half in cash and half in promises, and then--
the thing had turned out empty, and left him with L20,000 worth of
the old shares unredeemed. The old boy had weathered it out without
a bankruptcy so far. Indomitable old buffer; and never fussy like
the rest of them! Young Farney, though a secretary, was capable of
attachment; and his eyes expressed a pitying affection. The Board
meeting had been long and "snadgy"--a final settling of that Pillin
business. Rum go the chairman forcing it on them like this! And
with quiet satisfaction the secretary thought 'And he never would
have got it through if I hadn't made up my mind that it really is
good business!' For to expand the company was to expand himself.
Still, to buy four ships with the freight market so depressed was a
bit startling, and there would be opposition at the general meeting.
Never mind! He and the chairman could put it through--put it
through. And suddenly he saw the old man looking at him.
Only from those eyes could one appreciate the strength of life yet
flowing underground in that well-nigh helpless carcase--deep-coloured
little blue wells, tiny, jovial, round windows.
A sigh travelled up through layers of flesh, and he said almost
inaudibly:
"Have they come, Mr. Farney?"
"Yes, sir. I've put them in the transfer office; said you'd be with
them in a minute; but I wasn't going to wake you."
"Haven't been asleep. Help me up."
Grasping the edge of the table with his trembling hands, the old man
pulled, and, with Farney heaving him behind, attained his feet. He
stood about five feet ten, and weighed fully fourteen stone; not
corpulent, but very thick all through; his round and massive head
alone would have outweighed a baby. With eyes shut, he seemed to be
trying to get the better of his own weight, then he moved with the
slowness of a barnacle towards the door. The secretary, watching
him, thought: 'Marvellous old chap! How he gets about by himself is
a miracle! And he can't retire, they say-lives on his fees!'
But the chairman was through the green baize door. At his tortoise
gait he traversed the inner office, where the youthful clerks
suspended their figuring--to grin behind his back--and entered the
transfer office, where eight gentlemen were sitting. Seven rose, and
one did not. Old Heythorp raised a saluting hand to the level of his
chest and moving to an arm-chair, lowered himself into it.
"Well, gentlemen?"
One of the eight gentlemen got up again.
"Mr. Heythorp, we've appointed Mr. Brownbee to voice our views. Mr.
Brownbee!" And down he sat.
Mr. Brownbee rose a stoutish man some seventy years of age, with
little grey side whiskers, and one of those utterly steady faces only
to be seen in England, faces which convey the sense of business from
father to son for generations; faces which make wars, and passion,
and free thought seem equally incredible; faces which inspire
confidence, and awaken in one a desire to get up and leave the room.
Mr. Brownbee rose, and said in a suave voice:
"Mr. Heythorp, we here represent about L14,000. When we had the
pleasure of meeting you last July, you will recollect that you held
out a prospect of some more satisfactory arrangement by Christmas.
We are now in January, and I am bound to say we none of us get
younger."
>From the depths of old Heythorp a preliminary rumble came travelling,
reached the surface, and materialised
"Don't know about you--feel a boy, myself."
The eight gentlemen looked at him. Was he going to try and put them
off again? Mr. Brownbee said with unruffled calm:
"I'm sure we're very glad to hear it. But to come to the point. We
have felt, Mr. Heythorp, and I'm sure you won't think it
unreasonable, that--er--bankruptcy would be the most satisfactory
solution. We have waited a long time, and we want to know definitely
where we stand; for, to be quite frank, we don't see any prospect of
improvement; indeed, we fear the opposite."
"You think I'm going to join the majority."
This plumping out of what was at the back of their minds produced in
Mr. Brownbee and his colleagues a sort of chemical disturbance. They
coughed, moved their feet, and turned away their eyes, till the one
who had not risen, a solicitor named Ventnor, said bluffly:
"Well, put it that way if you like."
Old Heythorp's little deep eyes twinkled.
"My grandfather lived to be a hundred; my father ninety-six--both of
them rips. I'm only eighty, gentlemen; blameless life compared with
theirs."
"Indeed," Mr. Brownbee said, "we hope you have many years of this
life before you."
"More of this than of another." And a silence fell, till old
Heythorp added: "You're getting a thousand a year out of my fees.
Mistake to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. I'll make it
twelve hundred. If you force me to resign my directorships by
bankruptcy, you won't get a rap, you know."
Mr. Brownbee cleared his throat:
"We think, Mr. Heythorp, you should make it at least fifteen hundred.
In that case we might perhaps consider--"
Old Heythorp shook his head.
"We can hardly accept your assertion that we should get nothing in
the event of bankruptcy. We fancy you greatly underrate the
possibilities. Fifteen hundred a year is the least you can do for
us."
"See you d---d first."
Another silence followed, then Ventnor, the solicitor, said
irascibly:
"We know where we are, then."
Brownbee added almost nervously:
"Are we to understand that twelve hundred a year is your--your last
word?"
Old Heythorp nodded. "Come again this day month, and I'll see what I
can do for you;" and he shut his eyes.
Round Mr. Brownbee six of the gentlemen gathered, speaking in low
voices; Mr. Ventnor nursed a leg and glowered at old Heythorp, who
sat with his eyes closed. Mr. Brownbee went over and conferred with
Mr. Ventnor, then clearing his throat, he said:
"Well, sir, we have considered your proposal; we agree to accept it
for the moment. We will come again, as you suggest, in a month's
time.
We hope that you will by then have seen your way to something more
substantial, with a view to avoiding what we should all regret, but
which I fear will otherwise become inevitable."
Old Heythorp nodded. The eight gentlemen took their hats, and went
out one by one, Mr. Brownbee courteously bringing up the rear.
The old man, who could not get up without assistance, stayed musing
in his chair. He had diddled 'em for the moment into giving him
another month, and when that month was up-he would diddle 'em again!
A month ought to make the Pillin business safe, with all that hung on
it. That poor funkey chap Joe Pillin! A gurgling chuckle escaped
his red lips. What a shadow the fellow had looked, trotting in that
evening just a month ago, behind his valet's announcement: "Mr.
Pillin, sir."
What a parchmenty, precise, thread-paper of a chap, with his bird's
claw of a hand, and his muffled-up throat, and his quavery:
"How do you do, Sylvanus? I'm afraid you're not--"
"First rate. Sit down. Have some port."
"Port! I never drink it. Poison to me! Poison!"
"Do you good!"
"Oh! I know, that's what you always say.
You've a monstrous constitution, Sylvanus. If I drank port and
smoked cigars and sat up till one o'clock, I should be in my grave
to-morrow. I'm not the man I was. The fact is, I've come to see if
you can help me. I'm getting old; I'm growing nervous...."
"You always were as chickeny as an old hen, Joe."
"Well, my nature's not like yours. To come to the point, I want to
sell my ships and retire. I need rest. Freights are very depressed.
I've got my family to think of."
"Crack on, and go broke; buck you up like anything!"
"I'm quite serious, Sylvanus."
"Never knew you anything else, Joe."
A quavering cough, and out it had come:
"Now--in a word--won't your 'Island Navigation Company' buy my
ships?"
A pause, a twinkle, a puff of smoke. "Make it worth my while!" He
had said it in jest; and then, in a flash, the idea had come to him.
Rosamund and her youngsters! What a chance to put something between
them and destitution when he had joined the majority! And so he
said:" We don't want your silly ships."
That claw of a hand waved in deprecation. "They're very good ships--
doing quite well. It's only my wretched health. If I were a strong
man I shouldn't dream...."
"What d'you want for'em?" Good Lord! how he jumped if you asked him
a plain question. The chap was as nervous as a guinea-fowl!
"Here are the figures--for the last four years. I think you'll agree
that I couldn't ask less than seventy thousand."
Through the smoke of his cigar old Heythorp had digested those
figures slowly, Joe Pillin feeling his teeth and sucking lozenges the
while; then he said:
"Sixty thousand! And out of that you pay me ten per cent., if I get
it through for you. Take it or leave it."
"My dear Sylvanus, that's almost-cynical."
"Too good a price--you'll never get it without me."
"But a--but a commission! You could never disclose it!"
"Arrange that all right. Think it over. Freights'll go lower yet.
Have some port."
"No, no! Thank you. No! So you think freights will go lower?"
"Sure of it."
"Well, I'll be going. I'm sure I don't know. It's--it's--I must
think."
"Think your hardest."
"Yes, yes. Good-bye. I can't imagine how you still go on smoking
those things and drinking port.
"See you in your grave yet, Joe." What a feeble smile the poor
fellow had! Laugh-he couldn't! And, alone again, he had browsed,
developing the idea which had come to him.
Though, to dwell in the heart of shipping, Sylvanus Heythorp had
lived at Liverpool twenty years, he was from the Eastern Counties, of
a family so old that it professed to despise the Conquest. Each of
its generations occupied nearly twice as long as those of less
tenacious men. Traditionally of Danish origin, its men folk had as a
rule bright reddish-brown hair, red cheeks, large round heads,
excellent teeth and poor morals. They had done their best for the
population of any county in which they had settled; their offshoots
swarmed. Born in the early twenties of the nineteenth century,
Sylvanus Heythorp, after an education broken by escapades both at
school and college, had fetched up in that simple London of the late
forties, where claret, opera, and eight per cent. for your money
ruled a cheery roost. Made partner in his shipping firm well before
he was thirty, he had sailed with a wet sheet and a flowing tide;
dancers, claret, Cliquot, and piquet; a cab with a tiger; some
travel--all that delicious early-Victorian consciousness of nothing
save a golden time. It was all so full and mellow that he was forty
before he had his only love affair of any depth--with the daughter of
one of his own clerks, a liaison so awkward as to necessitate a
sedulous concealment. The death of that girl, after three years,
leaving him a, natural son, had been the chief, perhaps the only
real, sorrow of his life. Five years later he married. What for?
God only knew! as he was in the habit of remarking. His wife had
been a hard, worldly, well-connected woman, who presented him with
two unnatural children, a girl and a boy, and grew harder, more
worldly, less handsome, in the process. The migration to Liverpool,
which took place when he was sixty and she forty-two, broke what she
still had of heart, but she lingered on twelve years, finding solace
in bridge, and being haughty towards Liverpool. Old Heythorp saw her
to her rest without regret. He had felt no love for her whatever,
and practically none for her two children--they were in his view
colourless, pragmatical, very unexpected characters. His son Ernest-
-in the Admiralty--he thought a poor, careful stick. His daughter
Adela, an excellent manager, delighting in spiritual conversation and
the society of tame men, rarely failed to show him that she
considered him a hopeless heathen. They saw as little as need be of
each other. She was provided for under that settlement he had made
on her mother fifteen years ago, well before the not altogether
unexpected crisis in his affairs. Very different was the feeling he
had bestowed on that son of his "under the rose." The boy, who had
always gone by his mother's name of Larne, had on her death been sent
to some relations of hers in Ireland, and there brought up. He had
been called to the Dublin bar, and married, young, a girl half
Cornish and ,half Irish; presently, having cost old Heythorp in all a
pretty penny, he had died impecunious, leaving his fair Rosamund at
thirty with a girl of eight and a boy of five. She had not spent six
months of widowhood before coming over from Dublin to claim the old
man's guardianship. A remarkably pretty woman, like a full-blown
rose, with greenish hazel eyes, she had turned up one morning at the
offices of "The Island Navigation Company," accompanied by her two
children--for he had never divulged to them his private address. And
since then they had always been more or less on his hands, occupying
a small house in a suburb of Liverpool. He visited them there, but
never asked them to the house in Sefton Park, which was in fact his
daughter's; so that his proper family and friends were unaware of
their existence.
Rosamund Larne was one of those precarious ladies who make uncertain
incomes by writing full-bodied storyettes. In the most dismal
circumstances she enjoyed a buoyancy bordering on the indecent; which
always amused old Heythorp's cynicism. But of his grandchildren
Phyllis and Jock (wild as colts) he had become fond. And this chance
of getting six thousand pounds settled on them at a stroke had seemed
to him nothing but heaven-sent. As things were, if he "went off"--
and, of course, he might at any moment, there wouldn't be a penny for
them; for he would "cut up" a good fifteen thousand to the bad. He
was now giving them some three hundred a year out of his fees; and
dead directors unfortunately earned no fees! Six thousand pounds at
four and a half per cent., settled so that their mother couldn't
"blue it," would give them a certain two hundred and fifty pounds a
year-better than beggary. And the more he thought the better he
liked it, if only that shaky chap, Joe Pillin, didn't shy off when
he'd bitten his nails short over it!
Four evenings later, the "shaky chap" had again appeared at his house
in Sefton Park.
"I've thought it over, Sylvanus. I don't like it.
"No; but you'll do it."
"It's a sacrifice. Fifty-four thousand for four ships--it means a
considerable reduction in my income."
"It means security, my boy."
"Well, there is that; but you know, I really can't be party to a
secret commission. If it came out, think of my name and goodness
knows what."
"It won't come out."
"Yes, yes, so you say, but--"
"All you've got to do's to execute a settlement on some third parties
that I'll name. I'm not going to take a penny of it myself. Get
your own lawyer to draw it up and make him trustee. You can sign it
when the purchase has gone through. I'll trust you, Joe. What stock
have you got that gives four and a half per cent.?"
"Midland"
"That'll do. You needn't sell."
"Yes, but who are these people?"
"Woman and her children I want to do a good turn to." What a face
the fellow had made! "Afraid of being connected with a woman, Joe?"
"Yes, you may laugh--I am afraid of being connected with someone
else's woman. I don't like it--I don't like it at all. I've not led
your life, Sylvanus."
"Lucky for you; you'd have been dead long ago. Tell your lawyer it's
an old flame of yours--you old dog!"
"Yes, there it is at once, you see. I might be subject to
blackmail."
"Tell him to keep it dark, and just pay over the income, quarterly."
"I don't like it, Sylvanus--I don't like it."
"Then leave it, and be hanged to you. Have a cigar?"
"You know I never smoke. Is there no other way?"
"Yes. Sell stock in London, bank the proceeds there, and bring me
six thousand pounds in notes. I'll hold 'em till after the general
meeting. If the thing doesn't go through, I'll hand 'em back to
you."
"No; I like that even less."
"Rather I trusted you, eh!"
"No, not at all, Sylvanus, not at all. But it's all playing round
the law."
"There's no law to prevent you doing what you like with your money.
What I do's nothing to you. And mind you, I'm taking nothing from
it--not a mag. You assist the widowed and the fatherless--just your
line, Joe!"
"What a fellow you are, Sylvanus; you don't seem capable of taking
anything seriously."
"Care killed the cat!"
Left alone after this second interview he had thought: 'The beggar'll
jump.'
And the beggar had. That settlement was drawn and only awaited
signature. The Board to-day had decided on the purchase; and all
that remained was to get it ratified at the general meeting. Let him
but get that over, and this provision for his grandchildren made, and
he would snap his fingers at Brownbee and his crew-the canting
humbugs! "Hope you have many years of this life before you!" As if
they cared for anything but his money--their money rather! And
becoming conscious of the length of his reverie, he grasped the arms
of his chair, heaved at his own bulk, in an effort to rise, growing
redder and redder in face and neck. It was one of the hundred things
his doctor had told him not to do for fear of apoplexy, the humbug!
Why didn't Farney or one of those young fellows come and help him up?
To call out was undignified. But was he to sit there all night?
Three times he failed, and after each failure sat motionless again,
crimson and exhausted; the fourth time he succeeded, and slowly made
for the office. Passing through, he stopped and said in his extinct
voice:
"You young gentlemen had forgotten me."
"Mr. Farney said you didn't wish to be disturbed, sir."
"Very good of him. Give me my hat and coat."
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you. What time is it?"
"Six o'clock, sir."
"Tell Mr. Farney to come and see me tomorrow at noon, about my speech
for the general meeting."
"Yes, Sir."
"Good-night to you."
"Good-night, Sir."
At his tortoise gait he passed between the office stools to the door,
opened it feebly, and slowly vanished.
Shutting the door behind him, a clerk said:
"Poor old chairman! He's on his last!"
Another answered:
"Gosh! He's a tough old hulk. He'll go down fightin'."
2
Issuing from the offices of "The Island Navigation Company," Sylvanus
Heythorp moved towards the corner whence he always took tram to
Sefton Park. The crowded street had all that prosperous air of
catching or missing something which characterises the town where
London and New York and Dublin meet. Old Heythorp had to cross to
the far side, and he sallied forth without regard to traffic. That
snail-like passage had in it a touch of the sublime; the old man
seemed saying: "Knock me down and be d---d to you--I'm not going to
hurry." His life was saved perhaps ten times a day by the British
character at large, compounded of phlegm and a liking to take
something under its protection. The tram conductors on that line
were especially used to him, never failing to catch him under the
arms and heave him like a sack of coals, while with trembling hands
he pulled hard at the rail and strap.
"All right, sir?"
"Thank you."
He moved into the body of the tram, where somebody would always get
up from kindness and the fear that he might sit down on them; and
there he stayed motionless, his little eyes tight closed. With his
red face, tuft of white hairs above his square cleft block of shaven
chin, and his big high-crowned bowler hat, which yet seemed too petty
for his head with its thick hair--he looked like some kind of an idol
dug up and decked out in gear a size too small.
One of those voices of young men from public schools and exchanges
where things are bought and sold, said:
"How de do, Mr. Heythorp?"
Old Heythorp opened his eyes. That sleek cub, Joe Pillin's son!
What a young pup-with his round eyes, and his round cheeks, and his
little moustache, his fur coat, his spats, his diamond pin!
"How's your father?" he said.
"Thanks, rather below par, worryin' about his ships. Suppose you
haven't any news for him, sir?"
Old Heythorp nodded. The young man was one of his pet abominations,
embodying all the complacent, little-headed mediocrity of this new
generation; natty fellows all turned out of the same mould, sippers
and tasters, chaps without drive or capacity, without even vices; and
he did not intend to gratify the cub's curiosity.
"Come to my house," he said; "I'll give you a note for him."
"Tha-anks; I'd like to cheer the old man up."
The old man! Cheeky brat! And closing his eyes he relapsed into
immobility. The tram wound and ground its upward way, and he mused.
When he was that cub's age--twenty-eight or whatever it might be--he
had done most things; been up Vesuvius, driven four-in-hand, lost his
last penny on the Derby and won it back on the Oaks, known all the
dancers and operatic stars of the day, fought a duel with a Yankee at
Dieppe and winged him for saying through his confounded nose that Old
England was played out; been a controlling voice already in his
shipping firm; drunk five other of the best men in London under the
table; broken his neck steeple-chasing; shot a burglar in the legs;
been nearly drowned, for a bet; killed snipe in Chelsea; been to
Court for his sins; stared a ghost out of countenance; and travelled
with a lady of Spain. If this young pup had done the last, it would
be all he had; and yet, no doubt, he would call himself a "spark."
The conductor touched his arm.
"'Ere you are, sir."
"Thank you."
He lowered himself to the ground, and moved in the bluish darkness
towards the gate of his daughter's house. Bob Pillin walked beside
him, thinking: 'Poor old josser, he is gettin' a back number!' And
he said: "I should have thought you ought to drive, sir. My old
guv'nor would knock up at once if he went about at night like this."
The answer rumbled out into the misty air:
"Your father's got no chest; never had."
Bob Pillin gave vent to one of those fat cackles which come so
readily from a certain type of man; and old Heythorp thought:
'Laughing at his father! Parrot!'
They had reached the porch.
A woman with dark hair and a thin, straight face and figure was
arranging some flowers in the hall. She turned and said:
"You really ought not to be so late, Father! It's wicked at this
time of year. Who is it--oh! Mr. Pillin, how do you do? Have you
had tea? Won't you come to the drawing-room; or do you want to see
my father?"
"Tha-anks! I believe your father--" And he thought: 'By Jove! the
old chap is a caution!' For old Heythorp was crossing the hall
without having paid the faintest attention to his daughter.
Murmuring again:
"Tha-anks awfully; he wants to give me something," he followed. Miss
Heythorp was not his style at all; he had a kind of dread of that
thin woman who looked as if she could never be unbuttoned. They said
she was a great churchgoer and all that sort of thing.
In his sanctum old Heythorp had moved to his writing-table, and was
evidently anxious to sit down.
"Shall I give you a hand, sir?"
Receiving a shake of the head, Bob Pillin stood by the fire and
watched. The old "sport" liked to paddle his own canoe. Fancy
having to lower yourself into a chair like that! When an old Johnny
got to such a state it was really a mercy when he snuffed out, and
made way for younger men. How his Companies could go on putting up
with such a fossil for chairman was a marvel! The fossil rumbled and
said in that almost inaudible voice:
"I suppose you're beginning to look forward to your father's shoes?"
Bob Pillin's mouth opened. The voice went on:
"Dibs and no responsibility. Tell him from me to drink port--add
five years to his life."
To this unwarranted attack Bob Pillin made no answer save a laugh; he
perceived that a manservant had entered the room.
"A Mrs. Larne, sir. Will you see her?"
At this announcement the old man seemed to try and start; then he
nodded, and held out the note he had written. Bob Pillin received it
together with the impression of a murmur which sounded like: "Scratch
a poll, Poll!" and passing the fine figure of a woman in a fur coat,
who seemed to warm the air as she went by, he was in the hall again
before he perceived that he had left his hat.
A young and pretty girl was standing on the bearskin before the fire,
looking at him with round-eyed innocence. He thought: 'This is
better; I mustn't disturb them for my hat'; and approaching the fire,
said:
"Jolly cold, isn't it?"
The girl smiled: "Yes-jolly."
He noticed that she had a large bunch of violets at her breast, a lot
of fair hair, a short straight nose, and round blue-grey eyes very
frank and open. "Er" he said, "I've left my hat in there."
"What larks!" And at her little clear laugh something moved within
Bob Pillin.
"You know this house well?"
She shook her head. "But it's rather scrummy, isn't it?"
Bob Pillin, who had never yet thought so answered:
"Quite O.K."
The girl threw up her head to laugh again. "O.K.? What's that?"
Bob Pillin saw her white round throat, and thought: 'She is a
ripper!' And he said with a certain desperation:
"My name's Pillin. Yours is Larne, isn't it? Are you a relation
here?"
"He's our Guardy. Isn't he a chook?"
That rumbling whisper like "Scratch a Poll, Poll!" recurring to Bob
Pillin, he said with reservation:
"You know him better than I do." "Oh! Aren't you his grandson, or
something?"
Bob Pillin did not cross himself.
"Lord! No! My dad's an old friend of his; that's all."
"Is your dad like him?"
"Not much."
"What a pity! It would have been lovely if they'd been Tweedles."
Bob Pillin thought: 'This bit is something new. I wonder what her
Christian name is.' And he said:
"What did your godfather and godmothers in your baptism---?"
The girl laughed; she seemed to laugh at everything.
"Phyllis."
Could he say: "Is my only joy"? Better keep it! But-for what? He
wouldn't see her again if he didn't look out! And he said:
"I live at the last house in the park-the red one. D'you know it?
Where do you?"
"Oh! a long way--23, Millicent Villas. It's a poky little house. I
hate it. We have awful larks, though."
"Who are we?"
"Mother, and myself, and Jock--he's an awful boy. You can't conceive
what an awful boy he is. He's got nearly red hair; I think he'll be
just like Guardy when he gets old. He's awful!"
Bob Pillin murmured:
"I should like to see him."
"Would you? I'll ask mother if you can. You won't want to again; he
goes off all the time like a squib." She threw back her head, and
again Bob Pillin felt a little giddy. He collected himself, and
drawled:
"Are you going in to see your Guardy?"
"No. Mother's got something special to say. We've never been here
before, you see. Isn't he fun, though?"
"Fun!"
"I think he's the greatest lark; but he's awfully nice to me. Jock
calls him the last of the Stoic'uns."
A voice called from old Heythorp's den:
"Phyllis!" It had a particular ring, that voice, as if coming from
beautifully formed red lips, of which the lower one must curve the
least bit over; it had, too, a caressing vitality, and a kind of warm
falsity.
The girl threw a laughing look back over her shoulder, and vanished
through the door into the room.
Bob Pillin remained with his back to the fire and his puppy round
eyes fixed on the air that her figure had last occupied. He was
experiencing a sensation never felt before. Those travels with a
lady of Spain, charitably conceded him by old Heythorp, had so far
satisfied the emotional side of this young man; they had stopped
short at Brighton and Scarborough, and been preserved from even the
slightest intrusion of love. A calculated and hygienic career had
caused no anxiety either to himself or his father; and this sudden
swoop of something more than admiration gave him an uncomfortable
choky feeling just above his high round collar, and in the temples a
sort of buzzing--those first symptoms of chivalry. A man of the
world does not, however, succumb without a struggle; and if his hat
had not been out of reach, who knows whether he would not have left
the house hurriedly, saying to himself: "No, no, my boy; Millicent
Villas is hardly your form, when your intentions are honourable"?
For somehow that round and laughing face, bob of glistening hair,
those wide-opened grey eyes refused to awaken the beginnings of other
intentions--such is the effect of youth and innocence on even the
steadiest young men. With a kind of moral stammer, he was thinking:
'Can I--dare I offer to see them to their tram? Couldn't I even nip
out and get the car round and send them home in it? No, I might miss
them--better stick it out here! What a jolly laugh! What a tipping
face--strawberries and cream, hay, and all that! Millicent Villas!'
And he wrote it on his cuff.
The door was opening; he heard that warm vibrating voice: "Come
along, Phyllis!"--the girl's laugh so high and fresh: "Right-o!
Coming!" And with, perhaps, the first real tremor he had ever known,
he crossed to the front door. All the more chivalrous to escort them
to the tram without a hat! And suddenly he heard: " I've got your
hat, young man!" And her mother's voice, warm, and simulating shock:
"Phyllis, you awful gairl! Did you ever see such an awful gairl;
Mr.---"
"Pillin, Mother."
And then--he did not quite know how--insulated from the January air
by laughter and the scent of fur and violets, he was between them
walking to their tram. It was like an experience out of the "Arabian
Nights," or something of that sort, an intoxication which made one
say one was going their way, though one would have to come all the
way back in the same beastly tram. Nothing so warming had ever
happened to him as sitting between them on that drive, so that he
forgot the note in his pocket, and his desire to relieve the anxiety
of the "old man," his father. At the tram's terminus they all got
out. There issued a purr of invitation to come and see them some
time; a clear: "Jock'll love to see you!" A low laugh: "You awful
gairl!" And a flash of cunning zigzagged across his brain. Taking
off his hat, he said:
"Thanks awfully; rather!" and put his foot back on the step of the
tram. Thus did he delicately expose the depths of his chivalry!
"Oh! you said you were going our way! What one-ers you do tell!
Oh!" The words were as music; the sight of those eyes growing
rounder, the most perfect he had ever seen; and Mrs. Larne's low
laugh, so warm yet so preoccupied, and the tips of the girl's fingers
waving back above her head. He heaved a sigh, and knew no more till
he was seated at his club before a bottle of champagne. Home! Not
he! He wished to drink and dream. "The old man" would get his news
all right to-morrow!
3
The words: "A Mrs. Larne to see you, sir," had been of a nature to
astonish weaker nerves. What had brought her here? She knew she
mustn't come! Old Heythorp had watched her entrance with cynical
amusement. The way she whiffed herself at that young pup in passing,
the way her eyes slid round! He had a very just appreciation of his
son's widow; and a smile settled deep between his chin tuft and his
moustache. She lifted his hand, kissed it, pressed it to her
splendid bust, and said:
"So here I am at last, you see. Aren't you surprised?"
Old Heythorp, shook his head.
"I really had to come and see you, Guardy; we haven't had a sight of
you for such an age. And in this awful weather! How are you, dear
old Guardy?"
"Never better." And, watching her green-grey eyes, he added:
"Haven't a penny for you!"
Her face did not fall; she gave her feather-laugh.
"How dreadful of you to think I came for that! But I am in an awful
fix, Guardy."
"Never knew you not to be."
"Just let me tell you, dear; it'll be some relief. I'm having the
most terrible time."
She sank into a low chair, disengaging an overpowering scent of
violets, while melancholy struggled to subdue her face and body.
"The most awful fix. I expect to be sold up any moment. We may be
on the streets to-morrow. I daren't tell the children; they're so
happy, poor darlings. I shall be obliged to take Jock away from
school. And Phyllis will have to stop her piano and dancing; it's an
absolute crisis. And all due to those Midland Syndicate people.
I've been counting on at least two hundred for my new story, and the
wretches have refused it."
With a tiny handkerchief she removed one tear from the corner of one
eye. "It is hard, Guardy; I worked my brain silly over that story."
>From old Heythorp came a mutter which sounded suspiciously like:
"Rats!"
Heaving a sigh, which conveyed nothing but the generosity of her
breathing apparatus, Mrs. Larne went on:
"You couldn't, I suppose, let me have just one hundred?"
"Not a bob."
She sighed again, her eyes slid round the room; then in her warm
voice she murmured:
"Guardy, you were my dear Philip's father, weren't you? I've never
said anything; but of course you were. He was so like you, and so is
Jock."
Nothing moved in old Heythorp's face. No pagan image consulted with
flowers and song and sacrifice could have returned less answer. Her
dear Philip! She had led him the devil of a life, or he was a
Dutchman! And what the deuce made her suddenly trot out the skeleton
like this? But Mrs. Larne's eyes were still wandering.
"What a lovely house! You know, I think you ought to help me,
Guardy. Just imagine if your grandchildren were thrown out into the
street!"
The old man grinned. He was not going to deny his relationship--it
was her look-out, not his. But neither was he going to let her rush
him.
"And they will be; you couldn't look on and see it. Do come to my
rescue this once. You really might do something for them."
With a rumbling sigh he answered:
"Wait. Can't give you a penny now. Poor as a church mouse."
"Oh! Guardy
"Fact."
Mrs. Larne heaved one of her most buoyant sighs. She certainly did
not believe him.
"Well!" she said; "you'll be sorry when we come round one night and
sing for pennies under your window. Wouldn't you like to see
Phyllis? I left her in the hall. She's growing such a sweet gairl.
Guardy just fifty!"
"Not a rap."
Mrs. Larne threw up her hands. "Well! You'll repent it. I'm at my
last gasp." She sighed profoundly, and the perfume of violets
escaped in a cloud; Then, getting up, she went to the door and
called: "Phyllis!"
When the girl entered old Heythorp felt the nearest approach to a
flutter of the heart for many years. She had put her hair up! She
was like a spring day in January; such a relief from that scented
humbug, her mother. Pleasant the touch of her lips on his forehead,
the sound of her clear voice, the sight of her slim movements, the
feeling that she did him credit--clean-run stock, she and that young
scamp Jock--better than the holy woman, his daughter Adela, would
produce if anyone were ever fool enough to marry her, or that
pragmatical fellow, his son Ernest.
And when they were gone he reflected with added zest on the six
thousand pounds he was getting for them out of Joe Pillin and his
ships. He would have to pitch it strong in his speech at the general
meeting. With freights so low, there was bound to be opposition. No
dash nowadays; nothing but gabby caution! They were a scrim-shanking
lot on the Board--he had had to pull them round one by one--the deuce
of a tug getting this thing through! And yet, the business was sound
enough. Those ships would earn money, properly handled-good money
His valet, coming in to prepare him for dinner, found him asleep. He
had for the old man as much admiration as may be felt for one who
cannot put his own trousers on. He would say to the housemaid Molly:
"He's a game old blighter--must have been a rare one in his day.
Cocks his hat at you, even now, I see!" To which the girl, Irish and
pretty, would reply: "Well, an' sure I don't mind, if it gives um a
pleasure. 'Tis better anyway than the sad eye I get from herself."
At dinner, old Heythorp always sat at one end of the rosewood table
and his daughter at the other. It was the eminent moment of the day.
With napkin tucked high into his waistcoat, he gave himself to the
meal with passion. His palate was undimmed, his digestion
unimpaired. He could still eat as much as two men, and drink more
than one. And while he savoured each mouthful he never spoke if he
could help it. The holy woman had nothing to say that he cared to
hear, and he nothing to say that she cared to listen to. She had a
horror, too, of what she called "the pleasures of the table"--those
lusts of the flesh! She was always longing to dock his grub, he
knew. Would see her further first! What other pleasures were there
at his age? Let her wait till she was eighty. But she never would
be; too thin and holy!
This evening, however, with the advent of the partridge she did
speak.
"Who were your visitors, Father?"
Trust her for nosing anything out! Fixing his little blue eyes on
her, he mumbled with a very full mouth: "Ladies."
"So I saw; what ladies?"
He had a longing to say: 'Part of one of my families under the rose.'
As a fact it was the best part of the only one, but the temptation to
multiply exceedingly was almost overpowering. He checked himself,
however, and went on eating partridge, his secret irritation
crimsoning his cheeks; and he watched her eyes, those cold precise
and round grey eyes, noting it, and knew she was thinking: 'He eats
too much.'
She said: "Sorry I'm not considered fit to be told. You ought not to
be drinking hock."
Old Heythorp took up the long green glass, drained it, and repressing
fumes and emotion went on with his partridge. His daughter pursed
her lips, took a sip of water, and said:
"I know their name is Larne, but it conveyed nothing to me; perhaps
it's just as well."
The old man, mastering a spasm, said with a grin:
"My daughter-in-law and my granddaughter."
"What! Ernest married--Oh! nonsense!"
He chuckled, and shook his head.
"Then do you mean to say, Father, that you were married before you
married my mother?"
"No."
The expression on her face was as good as a play!
She said with a sort of disgust: "Not married! I see. I suppose
those people are hanging round your neck, then; no wonder you're
always in difficulties. Are there any more of them?"
Again the old man suppressed that spasm, and the veins in his neck
and forehead swelled alarmingly. If he had spoken he would
infallibly have choked. He ceased eating, and putting his hands on
the table tried to raise himself. He could not and subsiding in his
chair sat glaring at the stiff, quiet figure of his daughter.
"Don't be silly, Father, and make a scene before Meller. Finish your
dinner."
He did not answer. He was not going to sit there to be dragooned and
insulted! His helplessness had never so weighed on him before. It
was like a revelation. A log--that had to put up with anything! A
log! And, waiting for his valet to return, he cunningly took up his
fork.
In that saintly voice of hers she said:
"I suppose you don't realise that it's a shock to me. I don't know
what Ernest will think--"
"Ernest be d---d."
"I do wish, Father, you wouldn't swear."
Old Heythorp's rage found vent in a sort of rumble. How the devil
had he gone on all these years in the same house with that woman,
dining with her day after day! But the servant had come back now,
and putting down his fork he said:
"Help me up!"
The man paused, thunderstruck, with the souffle balanced. To leave
dinner unfinished--it was a portent!
"Help me up!"
"Mr. Heythorp's not very well, Meller; take his other arm."
The old man shook off her hand.
"I'm very well. Help me up. Dine in my own room in future."
Raised to his feet, he walked slowly out; but in his sanctum he did
not sit down, obsessed by this first overwhelming realisation of his
helplessness. He stood swaying a little, holding on to the table,
till the servant, having finished serving dinner, brought in his
port.
"Are you waiting to sit down, sir?"
He shook his head. Hang it, he could do that for himself, anyway.
He must think of something to fortify his position against that
woman. And he said:
"Send me Molly!"
"Yes, sir." The man put down the port and went.
Old Heythorp filled his glass, drank, and filled again. He took a
cigar from the box and lighted it. The girl came in, a grey-eyed,
dark-haired damsel, and stood with her hands folded, her head a
little to one side, her lips a little parted. The old man said:
"You're a human being."
"I would hope so, sirr."
"I'm going to ask you something as a human being--not a servant--
see?"
"No, sirr; but I will be glad to do anything you like."
"Then put your nose in here every now and then, to see if I want
anything. Meller goes out sometimes. Don't say anything; Just put
your nose in."
"Oh! an' I will; 'tis a pleasure 'twill be to do ut.
He nodded, and when she had gone lowered himself into his chair with
a sense of appeasement. Pretty girl! Comfort to see a pretty face-
not a pale, peeky thing like Adela's. His anger burned up anew. So
she counted on his helplessness, had begun to count on that, had she?
She should see that there was life in the old dog yet! And his
sacrifice of the uneaten souffle, the still less eaten mushrooms, the
peppermint sweet with which he usually concluded dinner, seemed to
consecrate that purpose. They all thought he was a hulk, without a
shot left in the locker! He had seen a couple of them at the Board
that afternoon shrugging at each other, as though saying: 'Look at
him!' And young Farney pitying him. Pity, forsooth! And that
coarse-grained solicitor chap at the creditors' meeting curling his
lip as much as to say: 'One foot in the grave!' He had seen the
clerks dowsing the glim of their grins; and that young pup Bob Pillin
screwing up his supercilious mug over his dog-collar. He knew that
scented humbug Rosamund was getting scared that he'd drop off before
she'd squeezed him dry. And his valet was always looking him up and
down queerly. As to that holy woman--! Not quite so fast! Not
quite so fast! And filling his glass for the fourth time, he slowly
sucked down the dark red fluid, with the "old boots" flavour which
his soul loved, and, drawing deep at his cigar, closed his eyes.
II
1
The room in the hotel where the general meetings of "The Island
Navigation Company" were held was nearly full when the secretary came
through the door which as yet divided the shareholders from their
directors. Having surveyed their empty chairs, their ink and papers,
and nodded to a shareholder or two, he stood, watch in hand,
contemplating the congregation. A thicker attendance than he had
ever seen! Due, no doubt, to the lower dividend, and this Pillin
business. And his tongue curled. For if he had a natural contempt
for his Board, with the exception of the chairman, he had a still
more natural contempt for his shareholders. Amusing spectacle when
you came to think of it, a general meeting! Unique! Eighty or a
hundred men, and five women, assembled through sheer devotion to
their money. Was any other function in the world so single-hearted.
Church was nothing to it--so many motives were mingled there with
devotion to one's soul. A well-educated young man--reader of Anatole
France, and other writers--he enjoyed ironic speculation. What
earthly good did they think they got by coming here? Half-past two!
He put his watch back into his pocket, and passed into the Board-
room.
There, the fumes of lunch and of a short preliminary meeting made
cosy the February atmosphere. By the fire four directors were
conversing rather restlessly; the fifth was combing his beard; the
chairman sat with eyes closed and red lips moving rhythmically in the
sucking of a lozenge, the slips of his speech ready in his hand. The
secretary said in his cheerful voice: "Time, sir."
Old Heythorp swallowed, lifted his arms, rose with help, and walked
through to his place at the centre of the table. The five directors
followed. And, standing at the chairman's right, the secretary read
the minutes, forming the words precisely with his curling tongue.
Then, assisting the chairman to his feet, he watched those rows of
faces, and thought: 'Mistake to let them see he can't get up without
help. He ought to have let me read his speech--I wrote it.'
The chairman began to speak:
"It is my duty and my pleasure,' ladies and gentlemen, for the
nineteenth consecutive year to present to you the directors' report
and the accounts for the past twelve months. You will all have had
special notice of a measure of policy on which your Board has
decided, and to which you will be asked to-day to give your
adherence--to that I shall come at the end of my remarks...."
"Excuse me, sir; we can't hear a word down here."
'Ah!' thought the secretary, 'I was expecting that.'
The chairman went on, undisturbed. But several shareholders now
rose, and the same speaker said testily: "We might as well go home.
If the chairman's got no voice, can't somebody read for him?"
The chairman took a sip of water, and resumed. Almost all in the
last six rows were now on their feet, and amid a hubbub of murmurs
the chairman held out to the secretary the slips of his speech, and
fell heavily back into his chair.
The secretary re-read from the beginning; and as each sentence fell
from his tongue, he thought: 'How good that is!' 'That's very
clear!' 'A neat touch!' 'This is getting them.' It seemed to him a
pity they could not know it was all his composition. When at last he
came to the Pillin sale he paused for a second.
"I come now to the measure of policy to which I made allusion at the
beginning of my speech. Your Board has decided to expand your
enterprise by purchasing the entire fleet of Pillin & Co., Ltd. By
this transaction we become the owners of the four steamships Smyrna,
Damascus, Tyre, and Sidon, vessels in prime condition with a total
freight-carrying capacity of fifteen thousand tons, at the low
inclusive price of sixty thousand pounds. Gentlemen, de l'audace,
toujours de l'audace!"--it was the chairman's phrase, his bit of the
speech, and the secretary did it more than justice. "Times are bad,
but your Board is emphatically of the opinion that they are touching
bottom; and this, in their view, is the psychological moment for a
forward stroke. They confidently recommend your adoption of their
policy and the ratification of this purchase, which they believe
will, in the not far distant future, substantially increase the
profits of the Company." The secretary sat down with reluctance.
The speech should have continued with a number of appealing sentences
which he had carefully prepared, but the chairman had cut them out
with the simple comment: "They ought to be glad of the chance." It
was, in his view, an error.
The director who had combed his beard now rose--a man of presence,
who might be trusted to say nothing long and suavely. While he was
speaking the secretary was busy noting whence opposition was likely
to come. The majority were sitting owl-like-a good sign; but some
dozen were studying their copies of the report, and three at least
were making notes--Westgate, for, instance, who wanted to get on the
Board, and was sure to make himself unpleasant--the time-honoured
method of vinegar; and Batterson, who also desired to come on, and
might be trusted to support the Board--the time-honoured method of
oil; while, if one knew anything of human nature, the fellow who had
complained that he might as well go home would have something
uncomfortable to say. The director finished his remarks, combed his
beard with his fingers, and sat down.
A momentary pause ensued. Then Messieurs Westgate and Batterson rose
together. Seeing the chairman nod towards the latter, the secretary
thought: 'Mistake! He should have humoured Westgate by giving him
precedence.' But that was the worst of the old man, he had no notion
of the suaviter in modo! Mr. Batterson thus unchained--would like,
if he might be so allowed, to congratulate the Board on having
piloted their ship so smoothly through the troublous waters of the
past year. With their worthy chairman still at the helm, he had no
doubt that in spite of the still low--he would not say falling-
barometer, and the-er-unseasonable climacteric, they might rely on
weathering the--er--he would not say storm. He would confess that
the present dividend of four per cent. was not one which satisfied
every aspiration (Hear, hear!), but speaking for himself, and he
hoped for others--and here Mr. Batterson looked round--he recognised
that in all the circumstances it was as much as they had the right--
er--to expect. But following the bold but to his mind prudent
development which the Board proposed to make, he thought that they
might reasonably, if not sanguinely, anticipate a more golden future.
("No, no!") A shareholder said, 'No, no!' That might seem to
indicate a certain lack of confidence in the special proposal before
the meeting. ("Yes!") From that lack of confidence he would like at
once to dissociate himself. Their chairman, a man of foresight and
acumen, and valour proved on many a field and--er--sea, would not
have committed himself to this policy without good reason. In his
opinion they were in safe hands, and he was glad to register his
support of the measure proposed. The chairman had well said in his
speech: 'de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!' Shareholders would
agree with him that there could be no better motto for Englishmen.
Ahem!
Mr. Batterson sat down. And Mr. Westgate rose: He wanted--he said--
to know more, much more, about this proposition, which to his mind
was of a very dubious wisdom.... 'Ah!' thought the secretary, 'I
told the old boy he must tell them more'.... To whom, for instance,
had the proposal first been made? To him!--the chairman said. Good!
But why were Pillins selling, if freights were to go up, as they were
told?
"Matter of opinion."
"Quite so; and in my opinion they are going lower, and Pillins were
right to sell. It follows that we are wrong to buy." ("Hear, hear!"
"No, no!") "Pillins are shrewd people. What does the chairman say?
Nerves! Does he mean to tell us that this sale was the result of
nerves?"
The chairman nodded.
"That appears to me a somewhat fantastic theory; but I will leave
that and confine myself to asking the grounds on which the chairman
bases his confidence; in fact, what it is which is actuating the
Board in pressing on us at such a time what I have no hesitation in
stigmatising as a rash proposal. In a word, I want light as well as
leading in this matter."
Mr. Westgate sat down.
What would the chairman do now? The situation was distinctly
awkward--seeing his helplessness and the lukewarmness of the Board
behind him. And the secretary felt more strongly than ever the
absurdity of his being an underling, he who in a few well-chosen
words could so easily have twisted the meeting round his thumb.
Suddenly he heard the long, rumbling sigh which preluded the
chairman's speeches.
"Has any other gentleman anything to say before I move the adoption
of the report?"
Phew! That would put their backs up. Yes, sure enough it had
brought that fellow, who had said he might as well go home, to his
feet! Now for something nasty!
"Mr. Westgate requires answering. I don't like this business. I
don't impute anything to anybody; but it looks to me as if there were
something behind it which the shareholders ought to be told. Not
only that; but, to speak frankly, I'm not satisfied to be ridden over
roughshod in this fashion by one who, whatever he may have been in
the past, is obviously not now in the prime of his faculties."
With a gasp the secretary thought: 'I knew that was a plain-spoken
man!'
He heard again the rumbling beside him. The chairman had gone
crimson, his mouth was pursed, his little eyes were very blue.
"Help me up," he said.
The secretary helped him, and waited, rather breathless.
The chairman took a sip of water, and his voice, unexpectedly loud,
broke an ominous hush:
"Never been so insulted in my life. My best services have been at
your disposal for nineteen years; you know what measure of success
this Company has attained. I am the oldest man here, and my
experience of shipping is, I hope, a little greater than that of the
two gentlemen who spoke last. I have done my best for you, ladies
and gentlemen, and we shall see whether you are going to endorse an
indictment of my judgment and of my honour, if I am to take the last
speaker seriously. This purchase is for your good. 'There is a tide
in the affairs of men'--and I for one am not content, never have
been, to stagnate. If that is what you want, however, by all means
give your support to these gentlemen and have done with it. I tell
you freights will go up before the end of the year; the purchase is a
sound one, more than a sound one--I, at any rate, stand or fall by
it. Refuse to ratify it, if you like; if you do, I shall resign."
He sank back into his seat. The secretary, stealing a glance,
thought with a sort of enthusiasm: 'Bravo! Who'd have thought he
could rally his voice like that? A good touch, too, that about his
honour! I believe he's knocked them.
It's still dicky, though, if that fellow at the back gets up again;
the old chap can't work that stop a second time. 'Ah! here was 'old
Apple-pie' on his hind legs. That was all right!
"I do not hesitate to say that I am an old friend of the chairman; we
are, many of us, old friends of the chairman, and it has been painful
to me, and I doubt not to others, to hear an attack made on him. If
he is old in body, he is young in mental vigour and courage. I wish
we were all as young. We ought to stand by him; I say, we ought to
stand by him." ("Hear, hear! Hear, hear!") And the secretary
thought: 'That's done it!' And he felt a sudden odd emotion, watching
the chairman bobbing his body, like a wooden toy, at old Appleby; and
old Appleby bobbing back. Then, seeing a shareholder close to the
door get up, thought: 'Who's that? I know his face--Ah! yes;
Ventnor, the solicitor--he's one of the chairman's creditors that are
coming again this afternoon. What now?'
"I can't agree that we ought to let sentiment interfere with our
judgment in this matter. The question is simply: How are our pockets
going to be affected? I came here with some misgivings, but the
attitude of the chairman has been such as to remove them; and I shall
support the proposition." The secretary thought: 'That's all right--
only, he said it rather queerly--rather queerly.'
Then, after a long silence, the chairman, without rising, said:
"I move the adoption of the report and accounts."
"I second that."
"Those in favour signify the same in the usual way. Contrary?
Carried." The secretary noted the dissentients, six in number, and
that Mr. Westgate did not vote.
A quarter of an hour later he stood in the body of the emptying room
supplying names to one of the gentlemen of the Press. The
passionless fellow said: "Haythorp, with an 'a'; oh! an 'e'; he
seems an old man. Thank you. I may have the slips? Would you like
to see a proof? With an 'a' you said--oh! an 'e.' Good afternoon!"
And the secretary thought: 'Those fellows, what does go on inside
them? Fancy not knowing the old chairman by now!'...
2
Back in the proper office of "The Island Navigation Company" old
Heythorp sat smoking a cigar and smiling like a purring cat. He was
dreaming a little of his triumph, sifting with his old brain, still
subtle, the wheat from the chaff of the demurrers: Westgate--nothing
in that--professional discontent till they silenced him with a place
on the board--but not while be held the reins! That chap at the
back--an ill-conditioned fellow! "Something behind!" Suspicious
brute! There was something--but--hang it! they might think
themselves lucky to get four ships at that price, and all due to him!
It was on the last speaker that his mind dwelt with a doubt. That
fellow Ventnor, to whom he owed money--there had been something just
a little queer about his tone--as much as to say, "I smell a rat."
Well! one would see that at the creditors' meeting in half an hour.
"Mr. Pillin, sir."
"Show him in!"
In a fur coat which seemed to extinguish his thin form, Joe Pillin
entered. It was snowing, and the cold had nipped and yellowed his
meagre face between its slight grey whiskering. He said thinly:
"How are you, Sylvanus? Aren't you perished in this cold?"
"Warm as a toast. Sit down. Take off your coat."
"Oh! I should be lost without it. You must have a fire inside you.
So-so it's gone through?"
Old Heythorp nodded; and Joe Pillin, wandering like a spirit,
scrutinised the shut door. He came back to the table, and said in a
low voice:
"It's a great sacrifice."
Old Heythorp smiled.
"Have you signed the deed poll?"
Producing a parchment from his pocket Joe Pillin unfolded it with
caution to disclose his signature, and said:
"I don't like it--it's irrevocable."
A chuckle escaped old Heythorp.
"As death."
Joe Pillin's voice passed up into the treble clef.
"I can't bear irrevocable things. I consider you stampeded me,
playing on my nerves."
Examining the signatures old Heythorp murmured:
"Tell your lawyer to lock it up. He must think you a sad dog, Joe."
"Ah! Suppose on my death it comes to the knowledge of my wife!"
"She won't be able to make it hotter for you than you'll be already."
Joe Pillin replaced the deed within his coat, emitting a queer thin
noise. He simply could not bear joking on such subjects.
"Well," he said, "you've got your way; you always do. Who is this
Mrs. Larne? You oughtn't to keep me in the dark. It seems my boy
met her at your house. You told me she didn't come there."
Old Heythorp said with relish:
"Her husband was my son by a woman I was fond of before I married;
her children are my grandchildren. You've provided for them. Best
thing you ever did."
"I don't know--I don't know. I'm sorry you told me. It makes it all
the more doubtful. As soon as the transfer's complete, I shall get
away abroad. This cold's killing me. I wish you'd give me your
recipe for keeping warm."
"Get a new inside."
Joe Pillin regarded his old friend with a sort of yearning. "And
yet," he said, "I suppose, with your full-blooded habit, your life
hangs by a thread, doesn't it?"
"A stout one, my boy"
"Well, good-bye, Sylvanus. You're a Job's comforter; I must be
getting home." He put on his hat, and, lost in his fur coat, passed
out into the corridor. On the stairs he met a man who said:
"How do you do, Mr. Pillin? I know your son. Been' seeing the
chairman? I see your sale's gone through all right. I hope that'll
do us some good, but I suppose you think the other way?"
Peering at him from under his hat, Joe Pillin said:
"Mr. Ventnor, I think? Thank you! It's very cold, isn't it?" And,
with that cautious remark, he passed on down.
Alone again, old Heythorp thought: 'By George! What a wavering,
quavering, thread paper of a fellow! What misery life must be to a
chap like that! He walks in fear--he wallows in it. Poor devil!'
And a curious feeling swelled his heart, of elation, of lightness
such as he had not known for years. Those two young things were safe
now from penury-safe! After dealing with those infernal creditors of
his he would go round and have a look at the children. With a
hundred and twenty a year the boy could go into the Army--best place
for a young scamp like that. The girl would go off like hot cakes, of
course, but she needn't take the first calf that came along. As for
their mother, she must look after herself; nothing under two thousand
a year would keep her out of debt. But trust her for wheedling and
bluffing her way out of any scrape! Watching his cigar-smoke curl
and disperse he was conscious of the strain he had been under these
last six weeks, aware suddenly of how greatly he had baulked at
thought of to-day's general meeting. Yes! It might have turned out
nasty. He knew well enough the forces on the Board, and off, who
would be only too glad to shelve him. If he were shelved here his
other two Companies would be sure to follow suit, and bang would go
every penny of his income--he would be a pauper dependant on that
holy woman. Well! Safe now for another year if he could stave off
these sharks once more. It might be a harder job this time, but he
was in luck--in luck, and it must hold. And taking a luxurious pull
at his cigar, he rang the handbell.
"Bring 'em in here, Mr. Farney. And let me have a cup of China tea
as strong as you can make it."
"Yes, sir. Will you see the proof of the press report, or will you
leave it to me?"
"To you."
"Yes, sir. It was a good meeting, wasn't it?"
Old Heythorp nodded.
"Wonderful how your voice came back just at the right moment. I was
afraid things were going to be difficult. The insult did it, I
think. It was a monstrous thing to say. I could have punched his
head."
Again old Heythorp nodded; and, looking into the secretary's fine
blue eyes, he repeated: "Bring 'em in."
The lonely minute before the entrance of his creditors passed in the
thought: 'So that's how it struck him! Short shrift I should get if
it came out.'
The gentlemen, who numbered ten this time, bowed to their debtor,
evidently wondering why the deuce they troubled to be polite to an
old man who kept them out of their money. Then, the secretary
reappearing with a cup of China tea, they watched while their debtor
drank it. The feat was tremulous. Would he get through without
spilling it all down his front, or choking? To those unaccustomed to
his private life it was slightly miraculous. He put the cup down
empty, tremblingly removed some yellow drops from the little white
tuft below his lip, refit his cigar, and said:
"No use beating about the bush, gentlemen; I can offer you fourteen
hundred a year so long as I live and hold my directorships, and not a
penny more. If you can't accept that, you must make me bankrupt and
get about sixpence in the pound. My qualifying shares will fetch a
couple of thousand at market price. I own nothing else. The house I
live in, and everything in it, barring my clothes, my wine, and my
cigars, belong to my daughter under a settlement fifteen years old.
My solicitors and bankers will give you every information. That's
the position in a nutshell."
In spite of business habits the surprise of the ten gentlemen was
only partially concealed. A man who owed them so much would
naturally say he owned nothing, but would he refer them to his
solicitors and bankers unless he were telling the truth? Then Mr.
Ventnor said:
"Will you submit your pass books?"
"No, but I'll authorise my bankers to give you a full statement of my
receipts for the last five years--longer, if you like."
The strategic stroke of placing the ten gentlemen round the Board
table had made it impossible for them to consult freely without being
overheard, but the low-voiced transference of thought travelling
round was summed up at last by Mr. Brownbee.
"We think, Mr. Heythorp, that your fees and dividends should enable
you to set aside for us a larger sum. Sixteen hundred, in fact, is
what we think you should give us yearly. Representing, as we do,
sixteen thousand pounds, the prospect is not cheering, but we hope
you have some good years before you yet. We understand your income
to be two thousand pounds."
Old Heythorp shook his head. "Nineteen hundred and thirty pounds in
a good year. Must eat and drink; must have a man to look after me
not as active as I was. Can't do on less than five hundred pounds.
Fourteen hundred's all I can give you, gentlemen; it's an advance of
two hundred pounds. That's my last word."
The silence was broken by Mr. Ventnor.
"And it's my last word that I'm not satisfied. If these other
gentlemen accept your proposition I shall be forced to consider what
I can do on my own account."
The old man stared at him, and answered:
"Oh! you will, sir; we shall see."
The others had risen and were gathered in a knot at the end of the
table; old Heythorp and Mr. Ventnor alone remained seated. The old
man's lower lip projected till the white hairs below stood out like
bristles. 'You ugly dog,' he was thinking, 'you think you've got
something up your sleeve. Well, do your worst!' The "ugly dog" rose
abruptly and joined the others. And old Heythorp closed his eyes,
sitting perfectly still, with his cigar, which had gone out, sticking
up between his teeth. Mr. Brownbee turning to voice the decision
come to, cleared his throat.
"Mr. Heythorp," he said, "if your bankers and solicitors bear out
your statements, we shall accept your offer faute de mieux, in
consideration of your--" but meeting the old man's eyes, which said
so very plainly: "Blow your consideration!" he ended with a stammer:
"Perhaps you will kindly furnish us with the authorisation you spoke
of?"
Old Heythorp nodded, and Mr. Brownbee, with a little bow, clasped his
hat to his breast and moved towards the door. The nine gentlemen
followed. Mr. Ventnor, bringing up the rear, turned and looked back.
But the old man's eyes were already closed again.
The moment his creditors were gone, old Heythorp sounded the hand-
bell.
"Help me up, Mr. Farney. That Ventnor--what's his holding?"
"Quite small. Only ten shares, I think."
"Ah! What time is it?"
"Quarter to four, sir."
"Get me a taxi."
After visiting his bank and his solicitors he struggled once more
into his cab and caused it to be driven towards Millicent Villas. A
kind of sleepy triumph permeated his whole being, bumped and shaken
by the cab's rapid progress. So! He was free of those sharks now so
long as he could hold on to his Companies; and he would still have a
hundred a year or more to spare for Rosamund and her youngsters. He
could live on four hundred, or even three-fifty, without losing his
independence, for there would be no standing life in that holy
woman's house unless he could pay his own scot! A good day's work!
The best for many a long month!
The cab stopped before the villa.
3
There are rooms which refuse to give away their owners, and rooms
which seem to say: 'They really are like this.' Of such was Rosamund
Larne's--a sort of permanent confession, seeming to remark to anyone
who entered: 'Her taste? Well, you can see--cheerful and exuberant;
her habits--yes, she sits here all the morning in a dressing-gown,
smoking cigarettes and dropping ink; kindly observe my carpet.
Notice the piano--it has a look of coming and going, according to the
exchequer. This very deep-cushioned sofa is permanent, however; the
water-colours on the walls are safe, too--they're by herself. Mark
the scent of mimosa--she likes flowers, and likes them strong. No
clock, of course. Examine the bureau--she is obviously always
ringing for "the drumstick," and saying: "Where's this, Ellen, and
where's that? You naughty gairl, you've been tidying." Cast an eye
on that pile of manuscript--she has evidently a genius for
composition; it flows off her pen--like Shakespeare, she never blots
a line. See how she's had the electric light put in, instead of that
horrid gas; but try and turn either of them on--you can't; last
quarter isn't paid, of course; and she uses an oil lamp, you can tell
that by the ceiling: The dog over there, who will not answer to the
name of 'Carmen,' a Pekinese spaniel like a little Djin, all
prominent eyes rolling their blacks, and no nose between--yes, Carmen
looks as if she didn't know what was coming next; she's right--it's a
pet-and-slap-again life! Consider, too, the fittings of the tea-
tray, rather soiled, though not quite tin, but I say unto you that no
millionaire's in all its glory ever had a liqueur bottle on it.'
When old Heythorp entered this room, which extended from back to
front of the little house, preceded by the announcement "Mr. Aesop,"
it was resonant with a very clatter-bodandigo of noises, from Phyllis
playing the Machiche; from the boy Jock on the hearthrug, emitting at
short intervals the most piercing notes from an ocarina; from Mrs.
Larne on the sofa, talking with her trailing volubility to Bob
Pillin; from Bob Pillin muttering: "Ye-es! Qui-ite! Ye-es!" and
gazing at Phyllis over his collar. And, on the window-sill, as far
as she could get from all this noise, the little dog Carmen was
rolling her eyes. At sight of their visitor Jock blew one rending
screech, and bolting behind the sofa, placed his chin on its top, so
that nothing but his round pink unmoving face was visible; and the
dog Carmen tried to climb the blind cord.
Encircled from behind by the arms of Phyllis, and preceded by the
gracious perfumed bulk of Mrs. Larne, old Heythorp was escorted to
the sofa. It was low, and when he had plumped down into it, the boy
Jock emitted a hollow groan. Bob Pillin was the first to break the
silence.
"How are you, sir? I hope it's gone through."
Old Heythorp nodded. His eyes were fixed on the liqueur, and Mrs.
Larne murmured:
"Guardy, you must try our new liqueur. Jock, you awful boy, get up
and bring Guardy a glass."
The boy Jock approached the tea-table, took up a glass, put it to his
eye and filled it rapidly.
"You horrible boy, you could see that glass has been used."
In a high round voice rather like an angel's, Jock answered:
"All right, Mother; I'll get rid of it," and rapidly swallowing the
yellow liquor, took up another glass.
Mrs. Larne laughed.
"What am I to do with him?"
A loud shriek prevented a response. Phyllis, who had taken her
brother by the ear to lead him to the door, let him go to clasp her
injured self.
Bob Pillin went hastening towards her; and following the young man
with her chin, Mrs. Larne said, smiling:
"Aren't those children awful? He's such a nice fellow. We like him
so much, Guardy."
The old man grinned. So she was making up to that young pup!
Rosamund Larne, watching him, murmured:
"Oh! Guardy, you're as bad as Jock. He takes after you terribly.
Look at the shape of his head. Jock, come here!" The innocent boy
approached; with his girlish complexion, his flowery blue eyes, his
perfect mouth, he stood before his mother like a large cherub. And
suddenly he blew his ocarina in a dreadful manner. Mrs. Larne
launched a box at his ears, and receiving the wind of it he fell
prone.
"That's the way he behaves. Be off with you, you awful boy. I want
to talk to Guardy."
The boy withdrew on his stomach, and sat against the wall cross-
legged, fixing his innocent round eyes on old Heythorp. Mrs. Larne
sighed.
"Things are worse and worse, Guardy. I'm at my wits' end to tide
over this quarter. You wouldn't advance me a hundred on my new
story? I'm sure to get two for it in the end."
The old man shook his head.
"I've done something for you and the children," he said. "You'll get
notice of it in a day or two; ask no questions."
"Oh! Guardy! Oh! you dear!" And her gaze rested on Bob Pillin,
leaning over the piano, where Phyllis again sat.
Old Heythorp snorted. "What are you cultivating that young gaby for?
She mustn't be grabbed up by any fool who comes along."
Mrs. Larne murmured at once:
"Of course, the dear gairl is much too young. Phyllis, come and talk
to Guardy!"
When the girl was installed beside him on the sofa, and he had felt
that little thrill of warmth the proximity of youth can bring, he
said:
"Been a good girl?"
She shook her head.
"Can't, when Jock's not at school. Mother can't pay for him this
term."
Hearing his name, the boy Jock blew his ocarina till Mrs. Larne drove
him from the room, and Phyllis went on:
"He's more awful than anything you can think of. Was my dad at all
like him, Guardy? Mother's always so mysterious about him. I
suppose you knew him well."
Old Heythorp, incapable of confusion, answered stolidly:
"Not very."
"Who was his father? I don't believe even mother knows."
"Man about town in my day."
"Oh! your day must have been jolly. Did you wear peg-top trousers,
and dundreary's?"
Old Heythorp nodded.
"What larks! And I suppose you had lots of adventures with opera
dancers and gambling. The young men are all so good now." Her eyes
rested on Bob Pillin. "That young man's a perfect stick of
goodness."
Old Heythorp grunted.
"You wouldn't know how good he was," Phyllis went on musingly,
"unless you'd sat next him in a tunnel. The other day he had his
waist squeezed and he simply sat still and did nothing. And then
when the tunnel ended, it was Jock after all, not me. His face was--
Oh! ah! ha! ha! Ah! ha!" She threw back her head, displaying
all her white, round throat. Then edging near, she whispered:
"He likes to pretend, of course, that he's fearfully lively. He's
promised to take mother and me to the theatre and supper afterwards.
Won't it be scrummy! Only, I haven't anything to go in."
Old Heythorp said: "What do you want? Irish poplin?"
Her mouth opened wide: "Oh! Guardy! Soft white satin!"
"How many yards'll go round you?"
"I should think about twelve. We could make it ourselves. You are a
chook!"
A scent of hair, like hay, enveloped him, her lips bobbed against his
nose,--and there came a feeling in his heart as when he rolled the
first sip of a special wine against his palate. This little house
was a rumty-too affair, her mother was a humbug, the boy a cheeky
young rascal, but there was a warmth here he never felt in that big
house which had been his wife's and was now his holy daughter's. And
once more he rejoiced at his day's work, and the success of his
breach of trust, which put some little ground beneath these young
feet, in a hard and unscrupulous world. Phyllis whispered in his
ear:
"Guardy, do look; he will stare at me like that. Isn't it awful--
like a boiled rabbit?"
Bob Pillin, attentive to Mrs. Larne, was gazing with all his might
over her shoulder at the girl. The young man was moonstruck, that
was clear! There was something almost touching in the stare of those
puppy dog's eyes. And he thought 'Young beggar--wish I were his
age!' The utter injustice of having an old and helpless body, when
your desire for enjoyment was as great as ever! They said a man was
as old as he felt! Fools! A man was as old as his legs and arms,
and not a day younger. He heard the girl beside him utter a
discomfortable sound, and saw her face cloud as if tears were not far
off; she jumped up, and going to the window, lifted the little dog
and buried her face in its brown and white fur. Old Heythorp
thought: 'She sees that her humbugging mother is using her as a
decoy.' But she had come back, and the little dog, rolling its eyes
horribly at the strange figure on the sofa, in a desperate effort to
escape succeeded in reaching her shoulder, where it stayed perched
like a cat, held by one paw and trying to back away into space. Old
Heythorp said abruptly:
"Are you very fond of your mother?"
"Of course I am, Guardy. I adore her."
"H'm! Listen to me. When you come of age or marry, you'll have a
hundred and twenty a year of your own that you can't get rid of.
Don't ever be persuaded into doing what you don't want. And
remember: Your mother's a sieve, no good giving her money; keep what
you'll get for yourself--it's only a pittance, and you'll want it all
--every penny.
Phyllis's eyes had opened very wide; so that he wondered if she had
taken in his words.
"Oh! Isn't money horrible, Guardy?"
"The want of it."
"No, it's beastly altogether. If only we were like birds. Or if one
could put out a plate overnight, and have just enough in the morning
to use during the day."
Old Heythorp sighed.
"There's only one thing in life that matters--independence. Lose
that, and you lose everything. That's the value of money. Help me
up."
Phyllis stretched out her hands, and the little dog, running down her
back, resumed its perch on the window-sill, close to the blind cord.
Once on his feet, old Heythorp said:
"Give me a kiss. You'll have your satin tomorrow."
Then looking at Bob Pillin, he remarked:
"Going my way? I'll give you a lift."
The young man, giving Phyllis one appealing look, answered dully:
"Tha-anks!" and they went out together to the taxi. In that
draughtless vehicle they sat, full of who knows what contempt of age
for youth; and youth for age; the old man resenting this young pup's
aspiration to his granddaughter; the young man annoyed that this old
image had dragged him away before he wished to go. Old Heythorp said
at last:
"Well?"
Thus expected to say something, Bob Pillin muttered
"Glad your meetin' went off well, sir. You scored a triumph I should
think."
"Why?"
"Oh! I don't know. I thought you had a good bit of opposition to
contend with."
Old Heythorp looked at him.
"Your grandmother!" he said; then, with his habitual instinct of
attack, added: "You make the most of your opportunities, I see."
At this rude assault Bob Pillin's red-cheeked face assumed a certain
dignity. "I don't know what you mean, sir. Mrs. Larne is very kind
to me."
"No doubt. But don't try to pick the flowers."
Thoroughly upset, Bob Pillin preserved a dogged silence. This
fortnight, since he had first met Phyllis in old Heythorp's hall, had
been the most singular of his existence up to now. He would never
have believed that a fellow could be so quickly and completely
bowled, could succumb without a kick, without even wanting to kick.
To one with his philosophy of having a good time and never committing
himself too far, it was in the nature of "a fair knock-out," and yet
so pleasurable, except for the wear and tear about one's chances. If
only he knew how far the old boy really counted in the matter! To
say: "My intentions are strictly honourable" would be old-fashioned;
besides--the old fellow might have no right to hear it. They called
him Guardy, but without knowing more he did not want to admit the old
curmudgeon's right to interfere.
"Are you a relation of theirs, sir?"
Old Heythorp nodded.
Bob Pillin went on with desperation:
"I should like to know what your objection to me is."
The old man turned his head so far as he was able; a grim smile
bristled the hairs about his lips, and twinkled in his eyes. What
did he object to? Why--everything! Object to! That sleek head,
those puppy-dog eyes, fattish red cheeks, high collars, pearl pin,
spats, and drawl-pah! the imbecility, the smugness of his mug; no
go, no devil in any of his sort, in any of these fish-veined,
coddled-up young bloods, nothing but playing for safety! And he
wheezed out:
"Milk and water masquerading as port wine."
Bob Pillin frowned.
It was almost too much for the composure even of a man of the world.
That this paralytic old fellow should express contempt for his
virility was really the last thing in jests. Luckily he could not
take it seriously. But suddenly he thought: 'What if he really has
the power to stop my going there, and means to turn them against me!'
And his heart quailed.
"Awfully sorry, sir," he said, "if you don't think I'm wild enough.
Anything I can do for you in that line--"
The old man grunted; and realising that he had been quite witty, Bob
Pillin went on:
"I know I'm not in debt, no entanglements, got a decent income,
pretty good expectations and all that; but I can soon put that all
right if I'm not fit without."
It was perhaps his first attempt at irony, and he could not help
thinking how good it was.
But old Heythorp preserved a deadly silence. He looked like a
stuffed man, a regular Aunt Sally sitting there, with the fixed red
in his cheeks, his stivered hair, square block of a body, and no neck
that you could see-only wanting the pipe in his mouth! Could there
really be danger from such an old idol? The idol spoke:
"I'll give you a word of advice. Don't hang round there, or you'll
burn your fingers. Remember me to your father. Good-night!"
The taxi had stopped before the house in Sefton Park. An insensate
impulse to remain seated and argue the point fought in Bob Pillin
with an impulse to leap out, shake his fist in at the window, and
walk off. He merely said, however:
"Thanks for the lift. Good-night!" And, getting out deliberately,
he walked off.
Old Heythorp, waiting for the driver to help him up, thought 'Fatter,
but no more guts than his father!'
In his sanctum he sank at once into his chair. It was wonderfully
still there every day at this hour; just the click of the coals, just
the faintest ruffle from the wind in the trees of the park. And it
was cosily warm, only the fire lightening the darkness. A drowsy
beatitude pervaded the old man. A good day's work! A triumph--that
young pup had said. Yes! Something of a triumph! He had held on,
and won. And dinner to look forward to, yet. A nap--a nap! And
soon, rhythmic, soft, sonorous, his breathing rose, with now and then
that pathetic twitching of the old who dream.
III
1
When Bob Pillin emerged from the little front garden of 23, Millicent
Villas ten days later, his sentiments were ravelled, and he could not
get hold of an end to pull straight the stuff of his mind.
He had found Mrs. Larne and Phyllis in the sitting-room, and Phyllis
had been crying; he was sure she had been crying; and that memory
still infected the sentiments evoked by later happenings. Old
Heythorp had said: "You'll burn your fingers." The process had
begun. Having sent her daughter away on a pretext really a bit too
thin, Mrs. Larne had installed him beside her scented bulk on the
sofa, and poured into his ear such a tale of monetary woe and
entanglement, such a mass of present difficulties and rosy prospects,
that his brain still whirled, and only one thing emerged clearly-that
she wanted fifty pounds, which she would repay him on quarter-day;
for their Guardy had made a settlement by which, until the dear
children came of age, she would have sixty pounds every quarter. It
was only a question of a few weeks; he might ask Messrs. Scriven and
Coles; they would tell him the security was quite safe. He certainly
might ask Messrs. Scriven and Coles--they happened to be his
father's solicitors; but it hardly seemed to touch the point. Bob
Pillin had a certain shrewd caution, and the point was whether he was
going to begin to lend money to a woman who, he could see, might
borrow up to seventy times seven on the strength of his infatuation
for her daughter. That was rather too strong! Yet, if he didn't she
might take a sudden dislike to him, and where would he be then?
Besides, would not a loan make his position stronger? And then--such
is the effect of love even on the younger generation--that thought
seemed to him unworthy. If he lent at all, it should be from
chivalry--ulterior motives might go hang! And the memory of the
tear-marks on Phyllis's pretty pale-pink cheeks; and her petulantly
mournful: "Oh! young man, isn't money beastly!" scraped his heart,
and ravished his judgment. All the same, fifty pounds was fifty
pounds, and goodness knew how much more; and what did he know of Mrs.
Larne, after all, except that she was a relative of old Heythorp's
and wrote stories--told them too, if he was not mistaken? Perhaps it
would be better to see Scrivens'. But again that absurd nobility
assaulted him. Phyllis! Phyllis! Besides, were not settlements
always drawn so that they refused to form security for anything?
Thus, hampered and troubled, he hailed a cab. He was dining with the
Ventnors on the Cheshire side, and would be late if he didn't get
home sharp to dress.
Driving, white-tied--and waist-coated, in his father's car, he
thought with a certain contumely of the younger Ventnor girl, whom he
had been wont to consider pretty before he knew Phyllis. And seated
next her at dinner, he quite enjoyed his new sense of superiority to
her charms, and the ease with which he could chaff and be agreeable.
And all the time he suffered from the suppressed longing which
scarcely ever left him now, to think and talk of Phyllis. Ventnor's
fizz was good and plentiful, his old Madeira absolutely first chop,
and the only other man present a teetotal curate, who withdrew with
the ladies to talk his parish shop. Favoured by these circumstances,
and the perception that Ventnor was an agreeable fellow, Bob Pillin
yielded to his secret itch to get near the subject of his affections.
"Do you happen," he said airily, "to know a Mrs. Larne--relative of
old Heythorp's--rather a handsome woman-she writes stories."
Mr. Ventnor shook his head. A closer scrutiny than Bob Pillin's
would have seen that he also moved his ears.
"Of old Heythorp's? Didn't know he had any, except his daughter, and
that son of his in the Admiralty."
Bob Pillin felt the glow of his secret hobby spreading within him.
"She is, though--lives rather out of town; got a son and daughter. I
thought you might know her stories--clever woman."
Mr. Ventnor smiled. "Ah!" he said enigmatically, "these lady
novelists! Does she make any money by them?"
Bob Pillin knew that to make money by writing meant success, but that
not to make money by writing was artistic, and implied that you had
private means, which perhaps was even more distinguished. And he
said:
"Oh! she has private means, I know."
Mr. Ventnor reached for the Madeira.
"So she's a relative of old Heythorp's," he said. "He's a very old
friend of your father's. He ought to go bankrupt, you know."
To Bob Pillin, glowing with passion and Madeira, the idea of
bankruptcy seemed discreditable in connection with a relative of
Phyllis. Besides, the old boy was far from that! Had he not just
made this settlement on Mrs. Larne? And he said:
"I think you're mistaken. That's of the past."
Mr. Ventnor smiled.
"Will you bet?" he said.
Bob Pillin also smiled. "I should be bettin' on a certainty."
Mr. Ventnor passed his hand over his whiskered face. "Don't you
believe it; he hasn't a mag to his name. Fill your glass."
Bob Pillin said, with a certain resentment:
"Well, I happen to know he's just made a settlement of five or six
thousand pounds. Don't know if you call that being bankrupt."
"What! On this Mrs. Larne?"
Confused, uncertain whether he had said something derogatory or
indiscreet, or something which added distinction to Phyllis, Bob
Pillin hesitated, then gave a nod.
Mr. Ventnor rose and extended his short legs before the fire.
"No, my boy," he said. "No!"
Unaccustomed to flat contradiction, Bob Pillin reddened.
"I'll bet you a tenner. Ask Scrivens."
Mr. Ventnor ejaculated:
"Scrivens---but they're not--" then, staring rather hard, he added:
"I won't bet. You may be right. Scrivens are your father's
solicitors too, aren't they? Always been sorry he didn't come to me.
Shall we join the ladies?" And to the drawing-room he preceded a
young man more uncertain in his mind than on his feet....
Charles Ventnor was not one to let you see that more was going on
within than met the eye. But there was a good deal going on that
evening, and after his conversation with young Bob he had occasion
more than once to turn away and rub his hands together. When, after
that second creditors' meeting, he had walked down the stairway which
led to the offices of "The Island Navigation Company," he had been
deep in thought. Short, squarely built, rather stout, with moustache
and large mutton-chop whiskers of a red brown, and a faint floridity
in face and dress, he impressed at first sight only by a certain
truly British vulgarity. One felt that here was a hail-fellow--well-
met man who liked lunch and dinner, went to Scarborough for his
summer holidays, sat on his wife, took his daughters out in a boat
and was never sick. One felt that he went to church every Sunday
morning, looked upwards as he moved through life, disliked the
unsuccessful, and expanded with his second glass of wine. But then a
clear look into his well-clothed face and red-brown eyes would give
the feeling: 'There's something fulvous here; he might be a bit too
foxy.' A third look brought the thought: 'He's certainly a bully.'
He was not a large creditor of old Heythorp. With interest on the
original, he calculated his claim at three hundred pounds--unredeemed
shares in that old Ecuador mine. But he had waited for his money
eight years, and could never imagine how it came about that he had
been induced to wait so long. There had been, of course, for one who
liked "big pots," a certain glamour about the personality of old
Heythorp, still a bit of a swell in shipping circles, and a bit of an
aristocrat in Liverpool. But during the last year Charles Ventnor
had realised that the old chap's star had definitely set--when that
happens, of course, there is no more glamour, and the time has come
to get your money. Weakness in oneself and others is despicable!
Besides, he had food for thought, and descending the stairs he chewed
it: He smelt a rat--creatures for which both by nature and profession
he had a nose. Through Bob Pillin, on whom he sometimes dwelt in
connection with his younger daughter, he knew that old Pillin and old
Heythorp had been friends for thirty years and more. That, to an
astute mind, suggested something behind this sale. The thought had
already occurred to him when he read his copy of the report. A
commission would be a breach of trust, of course, but there were ways
of doing things; the old chap was devilish hard pressed, and human
nature was human nature! His lawyerish mind habitually put two and
two together. The old fellow had deliberately appointed to meet his
creditors again just after the general meeting which would decide the
purchase--had said he might do something for them then. Had that no
significance?
In these circumstances Charles Ventnor had come to the meeting with
eyes wide open and mouth tight closed. And he had watched. It was
certainly remarkable that such an old and feeble man, with no neck at
all, who looked indeed as if he might go off with apoplexy any
moment, should actually say that he "stood or fell" by this purchase,
knowing that if he fell he would be a beggar. Why should the old
chap be so keen on getting it through? It would do him personally no
good, unless--Exactly! He had left the meeting, therefore, secretly
confident that old Heythorp had got something out of this transaction
which would enable him to make a substantial proposal to his
creditors. So that when the old man had declared that he was going
to make none, something had turned sour in his heart, and he had said
to himself: "All right, you old rascal! You don't know C. V." The
cavalier manner of that beggarly old rip, the defiant look of his
deep little eyes, had put a polish on the rancour of one who prided
himself on letting no man get the better of him. All that evening,
seated on one side of the fire, while Mrs. Ventnor sat on the other,
and the younger daughter played Gounod's Serenade on the violin--he
cogitated. And now and again he smiled, but not too much. He did
not see his way as yet, but had little doubt that before long he
would. It would not be hard to knock that chipped old idol off his
perch. There was already a healthy feeling among the shareholders
that he was past work and should be scrapped. The old chap should
find that Charles V. was not to be defied; that when he got his teeth
into a thing, he did not let it go. By hook or crook he would have
the old man off his Boards, or his debt out of him as the price of
leaving him alone. His life or his money--and the old fellow should
determine which. With the memory of that defiance fresh within him,
he almost hoped it might come to be the first, and turning to Mrs.
Ventnor, he said abruptly:
"Have a little dinner Friday week, and ask young Pillin and the
curate." He specified the curate, a tee-totaller, because he had two
daughters, and males and females must be paired, but he intended to
pack him off after dinner to the drawing-room to discuss parish
matters while he and Bob Pillin sat over their wine. What he
expected to get out of the young man he did not as yet know.
On the day of the dinner, before departing for the office, he had
gone to his cellar. Would three bottles of Perrier Jouet do the
trick, or must he add one of the old Madeira? He decided to be on
the safe side. A bottle or so of champagne went very little way with
him personally, and young Pillin might be another.
The Madeira having done its work by turning the conversation into
such an admirable channel, he had cut it short for fear young Pillin
might drink the lot or get wind of the rat. And when his guests were
gone, and his family had retired, he stood staring into the fire,
putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Five or six thousand
pounds--six would be ten per cent. on sixty! Exactly! Scrivens--
young Pillin had said! But Crow & Donkin, not Scriven & Coles, were
old Heythorp's solicitors. What could that mean, save that the old
man wanted to cover the tracks of a secret commission, and had
handled the matter through solicitors who did not know the state of
his affairs! But why Pillin's solicitors? With this sale just going
through, it must look deuced fishy to them too. Was it all a mare's
nest, after all? In such circumstances he himself would have taken
the matter to a London firm who knew nothing of anybody. Puzzled,
therefore, and rather disheartened, feeling too that touch of liver
which was wont to follow his old Madeira, he went up to bed and woke
his wife to ask her why the dickens they couldn't always have soup
like that!
Next day he continued to brood over his puzzle, and no fresh light
came; but having a matter on which his firm and Scrivens' were in
touch, he decided to go over in person, and see if he could surprise
something out of them. Feeling, from experience, that any really
delicate matter would only be entrusted to the most responsible
member of the firm, he had asked to see Scriven himself, and just as
he had taken his hat to go, he said casually:
"By the way, you do some business for old Mr. Heythorp, don't you?"
Scriven, raising his eyebrows a little, murmured: "Er--no," in
exactly the tone Mr. Ventnor himself used when he wished to imply
that though he didn't as a fact do business, he probably soon would.
He knew therefore that the answer was a true one. And non-plussed,
he hazarded:
"Oh! I thought you did, in regard to a Mrs. Larne."
This time he had certainly drawn blood of sorts, for down came
Scriven's eyebrows, and he said:
"Mrs. Larne--we know a Mrs. Larne, but not in that connection. Why?"
"Oh! Young Pillin told me--"
"Young Pillin? Why, it's his---!" A little pause, and then: "Old
Mr. Heythorp's solicitors are Crow & Donkin, I believe."
Mr. Ventnor held out his hand. "Yes, yes," he said; "goodbye. Glad
to have got that matter settled up," and out he went, and down the
street, important, smiling. By George! He had got it! "It's his
father"--Scriven had been going to say. What a plant! Exactly! Oh!
neat! Old Pillin had made the settlement direct; and the solicitors
were in the dark; that disposed of his difficulty about them. No
money had passed between old Pillin and old Heythorp not a penny.
Oh! neat! But not neat enough for Charles Ventnor, who had that
nose for rats. Then his smile died, and with a little chill he
perceived that it was all based on supposition--not quite good enough
to go on! What then? Somehow he must see this Mrs. Larne, or
better--old Pillin himself. The point to ascertain was whether she
had any connection of her own with Pillin. Clearly young Pillin
didn't know of it; for, according to him, old Heythorp had made the
settlement. By Jove! That old rascal was deep--all the more
satisfaction in proving that he was not as deep as C. V. To unmask
the old cheat was already beginning to seem in the nature of a public
service. But on what pretext could he visit Pillin? A subscription
to the Windeatt almshouses! That would make him talk in self-defence
and he would take care not to press the request to the actual point
of getting a subscription. He caused himself to be driven to the
Pillin residence in Sefton Park. Ushered into a room on the ground
floor, heated in American fashion, Mr. Ventnor unbuttoned his coat.
A man of sanguine constitution, he found this hot-house atmosphere a
little trying. And having sympathetically obtained Joe Pillin's
reluctant refusal--Quite so! One could not indefinitely extend one's
subscriptions even for the best of causes!--he said gently:
"By the way, you know Mrs. Larne, don't you?"
The effect of that simple shot surpassed his highest hopes. Joe
Pillin's face, never highly coloured, turned a sort of grey; he
opened his thin lips, shut them quickly, as birds do, and something
seemed to pass with difficulty down his scraggy throat. The hollows,
which nerve exhaustion delves in the cheeks of men whose cheekbones
are not high, increased alarmingly. For a moment he looked deathly;
then, moistening his lips, he said:
"Larne--Larne? No, I don't seem---"
Mr. Ventnor, who had taken care to be drawing on his gloves,
murmured:
"Oh! I thought--your son knows her; a relation of old Heythorp's,"
and he looked up.
Joe Pillin had his handkerchief to his mouth; he coughed feebly, then
with more and more vigour:
"I'm in very poor health," he said, at last. "I'm getting abroad at
once. This cold's killing me. What name did you say?" And he
remained with his handkerchief against his teeth.
Mr. Ventnor repeated:
"Larne. Writes stories."
Joe Pillin muttered into his handkerchief
"Ali! H'm! No--I--no! My son knows all sorts of people. I shall
have to try Mentone. Are you going? Good-bye! Good-bye! I'm sorry;
ah! ha! My cough--ah! ha h'h'm! Very distressing. Ye-hes! My
cough-ah! ha h'h'm! Most distressing. Ye-hes!"
Out in the drive Mr. Ventnor took a deep breath of the frosty air.
Not much doubt now! The two names had worked like charms. This
weakly old fellow would make a pretty witness, would simply crumple
under cross-examination. What a contrast to that hoary old sinner
Heythorp, whose brazenness nothing could affect. The rat was as
large as life! And the only point was how to make the best use of
it. Then--for his experience was wide--the possibility dawned on
him, that after all, this Mrs. Larne might only have been old
Pillin's mistress--or be his natural daughter, or have some other
blackmailing hold on him. Any such connection would account for his
agitation, for his denying her, for his son's ignorance. Only it
wouldn't account for young Pillin's saying that old Heythorp had made
the settlement. He could only have got that from the woman herself.
Still, to make absolutely sure, he had better try and see her. But
how? It would never do to ask Bob Pillin for an introduction, after
this interview with his father. He would have to go on his own and
chance it. Wrote stories did she? Perhaps a newspaper would know
her address; or the Directory would give it--not a common name! And,
hot on the scent, he drove to a post office. Yes, there it was,
right enough! "Larne, Mrs. R., 23, Millicent Villas." And thinking
to himself: 'No time like the present,' he turned in that direction.
The job was delicate. He must be careful not to do anything which
might compromise his power of making public use of his knowledge.
Yes-ticklish! What he did now must have a proper legal bottom.
Still, anyway you looked at it, he had a right to investigate a fraud
on himself as a shareholder of "The Island Navigation Company," and a
fraud on himself as a creditor of old Heythorp. Quite! But suppose
this Mrs. Larne was really entangled with old Pillin, and the
settlement a mere reward of virtue, easy or otherwise. Well! in that
case there'd be no secret commission to make public, and he needn't
go further. So that, in either event, he would be all right. Only--
how to introduce himself? He might pretend he was a newspaper man
wanting a story. No, that wouldn't do! He must not represent that
he was what he was not, in case he had afterwards to justify his
actions publicly, always a difficult thing, if you were not careful!
At that moment there came into his mind a question Bob Pillin had
asked the other night. "By the way, you can't borrow on a
settlement, can you? Isn't there generally some clause against it?"
Had this woman been trying to borrow from him on that settlement?
But at this moment he reached the house, and got out of his cab still
undecided as to how he was going to work the oracle. Impudence,
constitutional and professional, sustained him in saying to the
little maid:
"Mrs. Larne at home? Say Mr. Charles Ventnor, will you?"
His quick brown eyes took in the apparel of the passage which served
for hall--the deep blue paper on the walls, lilac-patterned curtains
over the doors, the well-known print of a nude young woman looking
over her shoulder, and he thought: 'H'm! Distinctly tasty!' They
noted, too, a small brown-and-white dog cowering in terror at the
very end of the passage, and he murmured affably: "Fluffy! Come
here, Fluffy!" till Carmen's teeth chattered in her head.
"Will you come in, sir?"
Mr. Ventnor ran his hand over his whiskers, and, entering a room, was
impressed at once by its air of domesticity. On a sofa a handsome
woman and a pretty young girl were surrounded by sewing apparatus and
some white material. The girl looked up, but the elder lady rose.
Mr. Ventnor said easily
"You know my young friend, Mr. Robert Pillin, I think."
The lady, whose bulk and bloom struck him to the point of admiration,
murmured in a full, sweet drawl:
"Oh! Ye-es. Are you from Messrs. Scrivens?"
With the swift reflection: 'As I thought!' Mr. Ventnor answered:
"Er--not exactly. I am a solicitor though; came just to ask about a
certain settlement that Mr. Pillin tells me you're entitled under."
"Phyllis dear!"
Seeing the girl about to rise from underneath the white stuff, Mr.
Ventnor said quickly:
"Pray don't disturb yourself -just a formality!" It had struck him
at once that the lady would have to speak the truth in the presence
of this third party, and he went on: "Quite recent, I think. This'll
be your first interest-on six thousand pounds? Is that right?" And
at the limpid assent of that rich, sweet voice, he thought: 'Fine
woman; what eyes!'
"Thank you; that's quite enough. I can go to Scrivens for any
detail. Nice young fellow, Bob Pillin, isn't he?" He saw the girl's
chin tilt, and Mrs. Larne's full mouth curling in a smile.
"Delightful young man; we're very fond of him."
And he proceeded:
"I'm quite an old friend of his; have you known him long?"
"Oh! no. How long, Phyllis, since we met him at Guardy's? About a
month. But he's so unaffected--quite at home with us. A nice
fellow."
Mr. Ventnor murmured:
"Very different from his father, isn't he?"
"Is he? We don't know his father; he's a shipowner, I think."
Mr. Ventnor rubbed his hands: "Ye-es," he said, "just giving up--a
warm man. Young Pillin's a lucky fellow--only son. So you met him
at old Mr. Heythorp's. I know him too--relation of yours, I
believe."
"Our dear Guardy such a wonderful man."
Mr. Ventnor echoed: "Wonderful--regular old Roman."
"Oh! but he's so kind!" Mrs. Larne lifted the white stuff: "Look
what he's given this naughty gairl!"
Mr. Ventnor murmured: "Charming! Charming! Bob Pillin said, I think,
that Mr. Heythorp was your settlor."
One of those little clouds which visit the brows of women who have
owed money in their time passed swiftly athwart Mrs. Larne's eyes.
For a moment they seemed saying: 'Don't you want to know too much?'
Then they slid from under it.
"Won't you sit down?" she said. "You must forgive our being at
work."
Mr. Ventnor, who had need of sorting his impressions, shook his head.
"Thank you; I must be getting on. Then Messrs. Scriven can--a mere
formality! Goodbye! Good-bye, Miss Larne. I'm sure the dress will
be most becoming."
And with memories of a too clear look from the girl's eyes, of a warm
firm pressure from the woman's hand, Mr. Ventnor backed towards the
door and passed away just in time to avoid hearing in two voices:
"What a nice lawyer!"
"What a horrid man!"
Back in his cab, he continued to rub his hands. No, she didn't know
old Pillin! That was certain; not from her words, but from her face.
She wanted to know him, or about him, anyway. She was trying to hook
young Bob for that sprig of a girl--it was clear as mud. H'm! it
would astonish his young friend to hear that he had called. Well,
let it! And a curious mixture of emotions beset Mr. Ventnor. He saw
the whole thing now so plainly, and really could not refrain from a
certain admiration. The law had been properly diddled! There was
nothing to prevent a man from settling money on a woman he had never
seen; and so old Pillin's settlement could probably not be upset.
But old Heythorp could. It was neat, though, oh! neat! And that
was a fine woman--remarkably! He had a sort of feeling that if only
the settlement had been in danger, it might have been worth while to
have made a bargain--a woman like that could have made it worth
while! And he believed her quite capable of entertaining the
proposition! Her eye! Pity--quite a pity! Mrs. Ventnor was not a
wife who satisfied every aspiration. But alas! the settlement was
safe. This baulking of the sentiment of love, whipped up, if
anything, the longing for justice in Mr. Ventnor. That old chap
should feel his teeth now. As a piece of investigation it was not so
bad--not so bad at all! He had had a bit of luck, of course,--no,
not luck--just that knack of doing the right thing at the right
moment which marks a real genius for affairs.
But getting into his train to return to Mrs. Ventnor, he thought: 'A
woman like that would have been--!' And he sighed.
2
With a neatly written cheque for fifty pounds in his pocket Bob
Pillin turned in at 23, Millicent Villas on the afternoon after Mr.
Ventnor's visit. Chivalry had won the day. And he rang the bell
with an elation which astonished him, for he knew he was doing a soft
thing.
"Mrs. Larne is out, sir; Miss Phyllis is at home."
His heart leaped.
"Oh-h! I'm sorry. I wonder if she'd see me?"
The little maid answered
"I think she's been washin' 'er'air, sir, but it may be dry be now.
I'll see."
Bob Pillin stood stock still beneath the young woman on the wall. He
could scarcely breathe. If her hair were not dry--how awful!
Suddenly he heard floating down a clear but smothered "Oh!
Gefoozleme!" and other words which he could not catch. The little
maid came running down.
"Miss Phyllis says, sir, she'll be with you in a jiffy. And I was to
tell you that Master Jock is loose, sir."
Bob Pillin answered "Tha-anks," and passed into the drawing-room. He
went to the bureau, took an envelope, enclosed the cheque, and
addressing it: "Mrs. Larne," replaced it in his pocket. Then he
crossed over to the mirror. Never till this last month had he really
doubted his own face; but now he wanted for it things he had never
wanted. It had too much flesh and colour. It did not reflect his
passion. This was a handicap. With a narrow white piping round his
waistcoat opening, and a buttonhole of tuberoses, he had tried to
repair its deficiencies. But do what he would, he was never easy
about himself nowadays, never up to that pitch which could make him
confident in her presence. And until this month to lack confidence
had never been his wont. A clear, high, mocking voice said:
"Oh-h! Conceited young man!"
And spinning round he saw Phyllis in the doorway. Her light brown
hair was fluffed out on her shoulders, so that he felt a kind of
fainting-sweet sensation, and murmured inarticulately:
"Oh! I say--how jolly!"
"Lawks! It's awful! Have you come to see mother?"
Balanced between fear and daring, conscious of a scent of hay and
verbena and camomile, Bob Pillin stammered:
"Ye-es. I--I'm glad she's not in, though."
Her laugh seemed to him terribly unfeeling.
"Oh! oh! Don't be foolish. Sit down. Isn't washing one's head
awful?"
Bob Pillin answered feebly:
"Of course, I haven't much experience."
Her mouth opened.
"Oh! You are--aren't you?"
And he thought desperately: 'Dare I--oughtn't I--couldn't I somehow
take'her hand or put my arm round her, or something?' Instead, he
sat very rigid at his end of the sofa, while she sat lax and lissom
at the other, and one of those crises of paralysis which beset would-
-be lovers fixed him to the soul.
Sometimes during this last month memories of a past existence, when
chaff and even kisses came readily to the lips, and girls were fair
game, would make him think: 'Is she really such an innocent? Doesn't
she really want me to kiss her?' Alas! such intrusions lasted but a
moment before a blast of awe and chivalry withered them, and a
strange and tragic delicacy--like nothing he had ever known--resumed
its sway. And suddenly he heard her say:
"Why do you know such awful men?"
"What? I don't know any awful men."
"Oh yes, you do; one came here yesterday; he had whiskers, and he was
awful."
"Whiskers?" His soul revolted in disclaimer. "I believe I only know
one man with whiskers--a lawyer."
"Yes--that was him; a perfectly horrid man. Mother didn't mind him,
but I thought he was a beast."
"Ventnor! Came here? How d'you mean?"
"He did; about some business of yours, too." Her face had clouded
over. Bob Pillin had of late been harassed by the still-born
beginning of a poem:
"I rode upon my way and saw
A maid who watched me from the door."
It never grew longer, and was prompted by the feeling that her face
was like an April day. The cloud which came on it now was like an
April cloud, as if a bright shower of rain must follow. Brushing
aside the two distressful lines, he said:
"Look here, Miss Larne--Phyllis--look here!"
"All right, I'm looking!"
"What does it mean--how did he come? What did he say?"
She shook her head, and her hair quivered; the scent of camomile,
verbena, hay was wafted; then looking at her lap, she muttered:
"I wish you wouldn't--I wish mother wouldn't--I hate it. Oh! Money!
Beastly--beastly!" and a tearful sigh shivered itself into Bob
Pillin's reddening ears.
"I say--don't! And do tell me, because--"
"Oh! you know."
"I don't--I don't know anything at all. I never---"
Phyllis looked up at him. "Don't tell fibs; you know mother's
borrowing money from you, and it's hateful!"
A desire to lie roundly, a sense of the cheque in his pocket, a
feeling of injustice, the emotion of pity, and a confused and black
astonishment about Ventnor, caused Bob Pillin to stammer:
'Well, I'm d---d!" and to miss the look which Phyllis gave him
through her lashes--a look saying:
"Ah! that's better!"
"I am d---d! Look here! D'you mean to say that Ventnor came here
about my lending money? I never said a word to him---"
"There you see--you are lending!"
He clutched his hair.
"We've got to have this out," he added.
"Not by the roots! Oh! you do look funny. I've never seen you with
your hair untidy. Oh! oh!"
Bob Pillin rose and paced the room. In the midst of his emotion he
could not help seeing himself sidelong in the mirror; and on pretext
of holding his head in both his hands, tried earnestly to restore his
hair. Then coming to a halt he said:
"Suppose I am lending money to your mother, what does it matter?
It's only till quarter-day. Anybody might want money."
Phyllis did not raise her face.
"Why are you lending it?"
"Because--because--why shouldn't I?" and diving suddenly, he seized
her hands.
She wrenched them free; and with the emotion of despair, Bob Pillin
took out the envelope.
"If you like," he said, "I'll tear this up. I don't want to lend it,
if you don't want me to; but I thought--I thought--" It was for her
alone he had been going to lend this money!
Phyllis murmured through her hair:
"Yes! You thought that I--that's what's so hateful!"
Apprehension pierced his mind.
"Oh! I never--I swear I never--"
"Yes, you did; you thought I wanted you to lend it."
She jumped up, and brushed past him into the window.
So she thought she was being used as a decoy! That was awful--
especially since it was true. He knew well enough that Mrs. Larne
was working his admiration for her daughter for all that it was
worth. And he said with simple fervour:
"What rot!" It produced no effect, and at his wits' end, he almost
shouted: "Look, Phyllis! If you don't want me to--here goes!"
Phyllis turned. Tearing the envelope across he threw the bits into
the fire. "There it is," he said.
Her eyes grew round; she said in an awed voice: "Oh!"
In a sort of agony of honesty he said:
"It was only a cheque. Now you've got your way."
Staring at the fire she answered slowly:
"I expect you'd better go before mother comes.
Bob Pillin's mouth fell afar; he secretly agreed, but the idea of
sacrificing a moment alone with her was intolerable, and he said
hardily:
"No, I shall stick it!"
Phyllis sneezed.
"My hair isn't a bit dry," and she sat down on the fender with her
back to the fire.
A certain spirituality had come into Bob Pillin's face. If only he
could get that wheeze off: "Phyllis is my only joy!" or even:
"Phyllis--do you--won't you--mayn't I?" But nothing came--nothing.
And suddenly she said:
"Oh! don't breathe so loud; it's awful!"
"Breathe? I wasn't!"
"You were; just like Carmen when she's dreaming."
He had walked three steps towards the door, before he thought: 'What
does it matter? I can stand anything from her; and walked the three
steps back again.
She said softly:
"Poor young man!"
He answered gloomily:
"I suppose you realise that this may be the last time you'll see me?"
"Why? I thought you were going to take us to the theatre."
"I don't know whether your mother will--after---"
Phyllis gave a little clear laugh.
"You don't know mother. Nothing makes any difference to her."
And Bob Pillin muttered:
"I see." He did not, but it was of no consequence. Then the thought
of Ventnor again ousted all others. What on earth-how on earth! He
searched his mind for what he could possibly have said the other
night. Surely he had not asked him to do anything; certainly not
given him their address. There was something very odd about it that
had jolly well got to be cleared up! And he said:
"Are you sure the name of that Johnny who came here yesterday was
Ventnor?"
Phyllis nodded.
"And he was short, and had whiskers?"
"Yes; red, and red eyes."
He murmured reluctantly:
"It must be him. Jolly good cheek; I simply can't understand. I
shall go and see him. How on earth did he know your address?"
"I expect you gave it him."
"I did not. I won't have you thinking me a squirt."
Phyllis jumped up. "Oh! Lawks! Here's mother!" Mrs. Larne was
coming up the garden. Bob Pillin made for the door. "Good-bye," he
said; "I'm going." But Mrs. Larne was already in the hall.
Enveloping him in fur and her rich personality, she drew him with her
into the drawing-room, where the back window was open and Phyllis
gone.
"I hope," she said, "those naughty children have been making you
comfortable. That nice lawyer of yours came yesterday. He seemed
quite satisfied."
Very red above his collar, Bob Pillin stammered:
"I never told him to; he isn't my lawyer. I don't know what it
means."
Mrs. Larne smiled. "My dear boy, it's all right. You needn't be so
squeamish. I want it to be quite on a business footing."
Restraining a fearful inclination to blurt out: "It's not going to be
on any footing!" Bob Pillin mumbled: "I must go; I'm late."
"And when will you be able---?"
"Oh! I'll--I'll send--I'll write. Good-bye!" And suddenly he found
that Mrs. Larne had him by the lapel of his coat. The scent of
violets and fur was overpowering, and the thought flashed through
him: 'I believe she only wanted to take money off old Joseph in the
Bible. I can't leave my coat in her hands! What shall I do?'
Mrs. Larne was murmuring:
"It would be se sweet of you if you could manage it today"; and her
hand slid over his chest. "Oh! You have brought your cheque-book--
what a nice boy!"
Bob Pillin took it out in desperation, and, sitting down at the
bureau, wrote a cheque similar to that which he had torn and burned.
A warm kiss lighted on his eyebrow, his head was pressed for a moment
to a furry bosom; a hand took the cheque; a voice said: "How
delightful!" and a sigh immersed him in a bath of perfume. Backing
to the door, he gasped:
"Don't mention it; and--and don't tell Phyllis, please. Good-bye!"
Once through the garden gate, he thought: 'By gum! I've done it now.
That Phyllis should know about it at all! That beast Ventnor!'
His face grew almost grim. He would go and see what that meant
anyway!
3
Mr. Ventnor had not left his office when his young friend's card was
brought to him. Tempted for a moment to deny his own presence, he
thought: 'No! What's the good? Bound to see him some time!' If he
had not exactly courage, he had that peculiar blend of self-
confidence and insensibility which must needs distinguish those who
follow the law; nor did he ever forget that he was in the right.
"Show him in!" he said.
He would be quite bland, but young Pillin might whistle for an
explanation; he was still tormented, too, by the memory of rich
curves and moving lips, and the possibilities of better
acquaintanceship.
While shaking the young man's hand his quick and fulvous eye detected
at once the discomposure behind that mask of cheek and collar, and
relapsing into one of those swivel chairs which give one an advantage
over men more statically seated, he said:
"You look pretty bobbish. Anything I can do for you?"
Bob Pillin, in the fixed chair of the consultor, nursed his bowler on
his knee.
"Well, yes, there is. I've just been to see Mrs. Larne."
Mr. Ventnor did not flinch.
"Ah! Nice woman; pretty daughter, too!" And into those words he put
a certain meaning. He never waited to be bullied. Bob Pillin felt
the pressure of his blood increasing.
"Look here, Ventnor," he said, "I want an explanation."
"What of?"
"Why, of your going there, and using my name, and God knows what."
Mr. Ventnor gave his chair two little twiddles before he said
"Well, you won't get it."
Bob Pillin remained for a moment taken aback; then he muttered
resolutely:
"It's not the conduct of a gentleman."
Every man has his illusions, and no man likes them disturbed. The
gingery tint underlying Mr. Ventnor's colouring overlaid it; even the
whites of his eyes grew red."
"Oh!" he said; "indeed! You mind your own business, will you?"
"It is my business--very much so. You made use of my name, and I
don't choose---"
"The devil you don't! Now, I tell you what---"
"Mr. Ventnor leaned forward--"you'd better hold your tongue, and not
exasperate me. I'm a good-tempered man, but I won't stand your
impudence."
Clenching his bowler hat, and only kept in his seat by that sense of
something behind, Bob Pillin ejaculated:
"Impudence! That's good--after what you did! Look here, why did
you? It's so extraordinary!"
Mr. Ventnor answered:
"Oh! is it? You wait a bit, my friend!"
Still more moved by the mystery of this affair, Bob Pillin could only
mutter:
"I never gave you their address; we were only talking about old
Heythorp."
And at the smile which spread between Mr. Ventnor's whiskers, he
jumped up, crying:
"It's not the thing, and you're not going to put me off. I insist on
an explanation."
Mr. Ventnor leaned back, crossing his stout legs, joining the tips of
his thick fingers. In this attitude he was always self-possessed.
"You do--do you?"
"Yes. You must have had some reason.'
Mr. Ventnor gazed up at him.
"I'll give you a piece of advice, young cock, and charge you nothing
for it, too: Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies. And
here's another: Go away before you forget yourself again."
The natural stolidity of Bob Pilings face was only just proof against
this speech. He said thickly:
"If you go there again and use my name, I'll Well, it's lucky for you
you're not my age. Anyway I'll relieve you of my acquaintanceship in
future. Good-evening!" and he went to the door. Mr. Ventnor had
risen.
"Very well," he said loudly. "Good riddance! You wait and see which
boot the leg is on!"
But Bob Pillin was gone, leaving the lawyer with a very red face, a
very angry heart, and a vague sense of disorder in his speech. Not
only Bob Pillin, but his tender aspirations had all left him; he no
longer dallied with the memory of Mrs. Larne, but like a man and a
Briton thought only of how to get his own back, and punish evildoers.
The atrocious words of his young friend, "It's not the conduct of a
gentleman," festered in the heart of one who was made gentle not
merely by nature but by Act of Parliament, and he registered a solemn
vow to wipe the insult out, if not with blood, with verjuice. It was
his duty, and they should d---d well see him do it!
IV
Sylvanus Heythorp seldom went to bed before one or rose before
eleven. The latter habit alone kept his valet from handing in the
resignation which the former habit prompted almost every night.
Propped on his pillows in a crimson dressing-gown, and freshly
shaved, he looked more Roman than he ever did, except in his bath.
Having disposed of coffee, he was wont to read his letters, and The
Morning Post, for he had always been a Tory, and could not stomach
paying a halfpenny for his news. Not that there were many letters--
when a man has reached the age of eighty, who should write to him,
except to ask for money?
It was Valentine's Day. Through his bedroom window he could see the
trees of the park, where the birds were in song, though he could not
hear them. He had never been interested in Nature--full-blooded men
with short necks seldom are.
This morning indeed there were two letters, and he opened that which
smelt of something. Inside was a thing like a Christmas card, save
that the naked babe had in his hands a bow and arrow, and words
coming out of his mouth: "To be your Valentine." There was also a
little pink note with one blue forget-me-not printed at the top. It
ran:
"DEAREST GUARDY,-I'm sorry this is such a mangy little valentine; I
couldn't go out to get it because I've got a beastly cold, so I asked
Jock, and the pig bought this. The satin is simply scrumptious. If
you don't come and see me in it some time soon, I shall come and show
it to you. I wish I had a moustache, because my top lip feels just
like a matchbox, but it's rather ripping having breakfast in bed.
Mr. Pillin's taking us to the theatre the day after to-morrow
evening. Isn't it nummy! I'm going to have rum and honey for my
cold.
"Good-bye,
"Your PHYLLIS."
So this that quivered in his thick fingers, too insensitive to feel
it, was a valentine for him!
Forty years ago that young thing's grandmother had given him his
last. It made him out a very old chap! Forty years ago! Had that
been himself living then? And himself, who, as a youth came on the
town in 'forty-five? Not a thought, not a feeling the same! They
said you changed your body every seven years. The mind with it, too,
perhaps! Well, he had come to the last of his bodies, now! And that
holy woman had been urging him to take it to Bath, with her face as
long as a tea-tray, and some gammon from that doctor of his. Too
full a habit--dock his port--no alcohol--might go off in a coma any
night! Knock off not he! Rather die any day than turn tee-totaller!
When a man had nothing left in life except his dinner, his bottle,
his cigar, and the dreams they gave him--these doctors forsooth must
want to cut them off! No, no! Carpe diem! while you lived, get
something out of it. And now that he had made all the provision he
could for those youngsters, his life was no good to any one but
himself; and the sooner he went off the better, if he ceased to enjoy
what there was left, or lost the power to say: "I'll do this and
that, and you be jiggered!" Keep a stiff lip until you crashed, and
then go clean! He sounded the bell beside him twice-for Molly, not
his man. And when the girl came in, and stood, pretty in her print
frock, her fluffy over-fine dark hair escaping from under her cap, he
gazed at her in silence.
"Yes, sirr?"
"Want to look at you, that's all."
"Oh I an' I'm not tidy, sirr."
"Never mind. Had your valentine?"
"No, sirr; who would send me one, then?"
"Haven't you a young man?"
"Well, I might. But he's over in my country.
"What d'you think of this?"
He held out the little boy.
The girl took the card and scrutinised it reverently; she said in a
detached voice:
"Indeed, an' ut's pretty, too."
"Would you like it?"
"Oh I if 'tis not taking ut from you."
Old Heythorp shook his head, and pointed to the dressing-table.
"Over there--you'll find a sovereign. Little present for a good
girl."
She uttered a deep sigh. "Oh! sirr, 'tis too much; 'tis kingly."
"Take it."
She took it, and came back, her hands clasping the sovereign and the
valentine, in an attitude as of prayer.
The old man's gaze rested on her with satisfaction.
"I like pretty faces--can't bear sour ones. Tell Meller to get my
bath ready."
When she had gone he took up the other letter--some lawyer's writing,
and opening it with the usual difficulty, read:
"February 13, 1905.
"SIR,--Certain facts having come to my knowledge, I deem it my duty
to call a special meeting of the shareholders of 'The Island
Navigation Coy.,' to consider circumstances in connection with the
purchase of Mr. Joseph Pillin's fleet. And I give you notice that at
this meeting your conduct will be called in question.
"I am, Sir,
"Yours faithfully,
"CHARLES VENTNOR.
"SYLVANUS HEYTHORP, ESQ."
Having read this missive, old Heythorp remained some minutes without
stirring. Ventnor! That solicitor chap who had made himself
unpleasant at the creditors' meetings!
There are men whom a really bad bit of news at once stampedes out of
all power of coherent thought and action, and men who at first simply
do not take it in. Old Heythorp took it in fast enough; coming from
a lawyer it was about as nasty as it could be. But, at once, with
stoic wariness his old brain began casting round. What did this
fellow really know? And what exactly could he do? One thing was
certain; even if he knew everything, he couldn't upset that
settlement. The youngsters were all right. The old man grasped the
fact that only his own position was at stake. But this was enough in
all conscience; a name which had been before the public fifty odd
years--income, independence, more perhaps. It would take little,
seeing his age and feebleness, to make his Companies throw him over.
But what had the fellow got hold of? How decide whether or no to
take notice; to let him do his worst, or try and get into touch with
him? And what was the fellow's motive? He held ten shares! That
would never make a man take all this trouble, and over a purchase
which was really first-rate business for the Company. Yes! His
conscience was quite clean. He had not betrayed his Company--on the
contrary, had done it a good turn, got them four sound ships at a low
price--against much opposition. That he might have done the Company
a better turn, and got the ships at fifty-four thousand, did not
trouble him--the six thousand was a deuced sight better employed; and
he had not pocketed a penny piece himself! But the fellow's motive?
Spite? Looked like it. Spite, because he had been disappointed of
his money, and defied into the bargain! H'm! If that were so, he
might still be got to blow cold again. His eyes lighted on the pink
note with the blue forget-me-not. It marked as it were the high
water mark of what was left to him of life; and this other letter in
his hand-by Jove! Low water mark! And with a deep and rumbling sigh
he thought: 'No, I'm not going to be beaten by this fellow.'
"Your bath is ready, sir."
Crumpling the two letters into the pocket of his dressing-gown, he
said:
"Help me up; and telephone to Mr. Farney to be good enough to come
round." ....
An hour later, when the secretary entered, his chairman was sitting
by the fire perusing the articles of association. And, waiting for
him to look up, watching the articles shaking in that thick, feeble
hand, the secretary had one of those moments of philosophy not too
frequent with his kind. Some said the only happy time of life was
when you had no passions, nothing to hope and live for. But did you
really ever reach such a stage? The old chairman, for instance,
still had his passion for getting his own way, still had his
prestige, and set a lot of store by it! And he said:
"Good morning, sir; I hope you're all right in this east wind. The
purchase is completed."
"Best thing the company ever did. Have you heard from a shareholder
called Ventnor. You know the man I mean?"
"No, sir. I haven't."
"Well! You may get a letter that'll make you open your eyes. An
impudent scoundrel! Just write at my dictation."
"February 14th, 1905.
"CHARLES VENTNOR, Esq.
"SIR,--I have your letter of yesterday's date, the contents of which
I am at a loss to understand. My solicitors will be instructed to
take the necessary measures.
'Phew What's all this about?' the secretary thought.
"Yours truly...."
"I'll sign." And the shaky letters closed the page:
"SYLVANUS HEYTHORP."
"Post that as you go."
"Anything else I can do for you, sir?"
"Nothing, except to let me know if you hear from this fellow."
When the secretary had gone the old man thought: 'So! The ruffian
hasn't called the meeting yet. That'll bring him round here fast
enough if it's his money he wants-blackmailing scoundrel!'
"Mr. Pillin, sir; and will you wait lunch, or will you have it in the
dining-room?"
"In the dining-room."
At sight of that death's-head of a fellow, old Heythorp felt a sort
of pity. He looked bad enough already--and this news would make him
look worse. Joe Pillin glanced round at the two closed doors.
"How are you, Sylvanus ? I'm very poorly." He came closer, and
lowered his voice: "Why did you get me to make that settlement? I
must have been mad. I've had a man called Ventnor--I didn't like his
manner. He asked me if I knew a Mrs. Larne."
"Ha! What did you say?"
"What could I say? I don't know her. But why did he ask?"
"Smells a rat."
Joe Pillin grasped the edge of the table with both hands.
"Oh!" he murmured. "Oh! don't say that!"
Old Heythorp held out to him the crumpled letter.
When he had read it Joe Pillin sat down abruptly before the fire.
"Pull yourself together, Joe; they can't touch you, and they can't
upset either the purchase or the settlement. They can upset me,
that's all."
Joe Pillin answered, with trembling lips:
"How you can sit there, and look the same as ever! Are you sure they
can't touch me?"
Old Heyworth nodded grimly.
"They talk of an Act, but they haven't passed it yet. They might
prove a breach of trust against me. But I'll diddle them. Keep your
pecker up, and get off abroad."
"Yes, yes. I must. I'm very bad. I was going to-morrow. But I
don't know, I'm sure, with this hanging over me. My son knowing her
makes it worse. He picks up with everybody. He knows this man
Ventnor too. And I daren't say anything to Bob. What are you
thinking of, Sylvanus? You look very funny!"
Old Heythorp seemed to rouse himself from a sort of coma.
"I want my lunch," he said. "Will you stop and have some?"
Joe Pillin stammered out:
"Lunch! I don't know when I shall eat again. What are you going to
do, Sylvanus?"
"Bluff the beggar out of it."
"But suppose you can't?"
"Buy him off. He's one--of my creditors."
Joe Pillin stared at him afresh. "You always had such nerve," he
said yearningly. "Do you ever wake up between two and four? I do--
and everything's black."
"Put a good stiff nightcap on, my boy, before going to bed."
"Yes; I sometimes wish I was less temperate. But I couldn't stand
it. I'm told your doctor forbids you alcohol."
"He does. That's why I drink it."
Joe Pillin, brooding over the fire, said: "This meeting--d'you think
they mean to have it? D'you think this man really knows? If my name
gets into the newspapers--" but encountering his old friend's deep
little eyes, he stopped. "So you advise me to get off to-morrow,
then?"
Old Heythorp nodded.
"Your lunch is served, sir."
Joe Pillin started violently, and rose.
"Well, good-bye, Sylvanus-good-bye! I don't suppose I shall be back
till the summer, if I ever come back!" He sank his voice: "I shall
rely on you. You won't let them, will you?"
Old Heythorp lifted his hand, and Joe Pillin put into that swollen
shaking paw his pale and spindly fingers. "I wish I had your pluck,"
he said sadly. "Good-bye, Sylvanus," and turning, he passed out.
Old Heythorp thought: 'Poor shaky chap. All to pieces at the first
shot!' And, going to his lunch, ate more heavily than usual.
2
Mr. Ventnor, on reaching his office and opening his letters, found,
as he had anticipated, one from "that old rascal." Its contents
excited in him the need to know his own mind. Fortunately this was
not complicated by a sense of dignity--he only had to consider the
position with an eye on not being made to look a fool. The point was
simply whether he set more store by his money than by his desire for-
-er--Justice. If not, he had merely to convene the special meeting,
and lay before it the plain fact that Mr. Joseph Pillin, selling his
ships for sixty thousand pounds, had just made a settlement of six
thousand pounds on a lady whom he did not know, a daughter, ward, or
what-not--of the purchasing company's chairman, who had said,
moreover, at the general meeting, that he stood or fell by the
transaction; he had merely to do this, and demand that an explanation
be required from the old man of such a startling coincidence.
Convinced that no explanation would hold water, he felt sure that his
action would be at once followed by the collapse, if nothing more, of
that old image, and the infliction of a nasty slur on old Pillin and
his hopeful son. On the other hand, three hundred pounds was money;
and, if old Heythorp were to say to him: "What do you want to make
this fuss for--here's what I owe you!" could a man of business and
the world let his sense of justice--however he might itch to have it
satisfied--stand in the way of what was after all also his sense of
Justice?--for this money had been owing to him for the deuce of along
time. In this dilemma, the words:
"My solicitors will be instructed" were of notable service in helping
him to form a decision, for he had a certain dislike of other
solicitors, and an intimate knowledge of the law of libel and
slander; if by any remote chance there should be a slip between the
cup and the lip, Charles Ventnor might be in the soup--a position
which he deprecated both by nature and profession. High thinking,
therefore, decided him at last to answer thus:
"February 19th, 1905.
"SIR,--I have received your note. I think it may be fair, before
taking further steps in this matter, to ask you for a personal
explanation of the circumstances to which I alluded. I therefore
propose with your permission to call on you at your private residence
at five o'clock to-morrow afternoon.
"Yours faithfully,
"CHARLES VENTNOR.
"SYLVANUS HEYTHORP, Esq."
Having sent this missive, and arranged in his mind the damning, if
circumstantial, evidence he had accumulated, he awaited the hour with
confidence, for his nature was not lacking in the cock-surety of a
Briton. All the same, he dressed himself particularly well that
morning, putting on a blue and white striped waistcoat which, with a
cream-coloured tie, set off his fulvous whiskers and full blue eyes;
and he lunched, if anything, more fully than his wont, eating a
stronger cheese and taking a glass of special Club ale. He took care
to be late, too, to show the old fellow that his coming at all was in
the nature of an act of grace. A strong scent of hyacinths greeted
him in the hall; and Mr. Ventnor, who was an amateur of flowers,
stopped to put his nose into a fine bloom and think uncontrollably of
Mrs. Larne. Pity! The things one had to give up in life--fine
women--one thing and another. Pity! The thought inspired in him a
timely anger; and he followed the servant, intending to stand no
nonsense from this paralytic old rascal.
The room he entered was lighted by a bright fire, and a single
electric lamp with an orange shade on a table covered by a black
satin cloth. There were heavily gleaming oil paintings on the walls,
a heavy old brass chandelier without candles, heavy dark red
curtains, and an indefinable scent of burnt acorns, coffee, cigars,
and old man. He became conscious of a candescent spot on the far
side of the hearth, where the light fell on old Heythorp's thick
white hair.
"Mr. Ventnor, sir."
The candescent spot moved. A voice said: "Sit down."
Mr. Ventnor sat in an armchair on the opposite side of the fire; and,
finding a kind of somnolence creeping over him, pinched himself. He
wanted all his wits about him.
The old man was speaking in that extinct voice of his, and Mr.
Ventnor said rather pettishly:
"Beg pardon, I don't get you."
Old Heythorp's voice swelled with sudden force:
"Your letters are Greek to me."
"Oh! indeed, I think we can soon make them into plain English!"
"Sooner the better."
Mr. Ventnor passed through a moment of indecision. Should he lay his
cards on the table? It was not his habit, and the proceeding was
sometimes attended with risk. The knowledge, however, that he could
always take them up again, seeing there was no third person here to
testify that he had laid them down, decided him, and he said:
"Well, Mr. Heythorp, the long and short of the matter is this: Our
friend Mr. Pillin paid you a commission of ten per cent. on the sale
of his ships. Oh! yes. He settled the money, not on you, but on
your relative Mrs. Larne and her children. This, as you know, is a
breach of trust on your part.
The old man's voice: "Where did you get hold of that cock-and-bull
story?" brought him to his feet before the fire.
"It won't do, Mr. Heythorp. My witnesses are Mr. Pillin, Mrs. Larne,
and Mr. Scriven."
"What have you come here for, then--blackmail?"
Mr. Ventnor straightened his waistcoat; a rush of conscious virtue
had dyed his face.
"Oh! you take that tone," he said, "do you? You think you can ride
roughshod over everything? Well, you're very much mistaken. I
advise you to keep a civil tongue and consider your position, or I'll
make a beggar of you. I'm not sure this isn't a case for a
prosecution!"
"Gammon!"
The choler in Charles Ventnor kept him silent for a moment; then he
burst out:
"Neither gammon nor spinach. You owe me three hundred pounds, you've
owed it me for years, and you have the impudence to take this
attitude with me, have you? Now, I never bluster; I say what I mean.
You just listen to me. Either you pay me what you owe me at once, or
I call this meeting and make what I know public. You'll very soon
find out where you are. And a good thing, too, for a more
unscrupulous--unscrupulous---" he paused for breath.
Occupied with his own emotion, he had not observed the change in old
Heythorp's face. The imperial on that lower lip was bristling, the
crimson of those cheeks had spread to the roots of his white hair.
He grasped the arms of his chair, trying to rise; his swollen hands
trembled; a little saliva escaped one corner of his lips. And the
words came out as if shaken by his teeth:
"So-so-you-you bully me!"
Conscious that the interview had suddenly passed from the phase of
negotiation, Mr. Ventnor looked hard at his opponent. He saw nothing
but a decrepit, passionate, crimson-faced old man at bay, and all the
instincts of one with everything on his side boiled up in him. The
miserable old turkey-cock--the apoplectic image! And he said:
"And you'll do no good for yourself by getting into a passion. At
your age, and in your condition, I recommend a little prudence. Now
just take my terms quietly, or you know what'll happen. I'm not to
be intimidated by any of your airs." And seeing that the old man's
rage was such that he simply could not speak, he took the opportunity
of going on: "I don't care two straws which you do--I'm out to show
you who's master. If you think in your dotage you can domineer any
longer--well, you'll find two can play at that game. Come, now,
which are you going to do?"
The old man had sunk back in his chair, and only his little deep-blue
eyes seemed living. Then he moved one hand, and Mr. Ventnor saw that
he was fumbling to reach the button of an electric bell at the end of
a cord. 'I'll show him,' he thought, and stepping forward, he put it
out of reach.
Thus frustrated, the old man remained-motionless, staring up. The
word "blackmail" resumed its buzzing in Mr. Ventnor's ears. The
impudence the consummate impudence of it from this fraudulent old
ruffian with one foot in bankruptcy and one foot in the grave, if not
in the dock.
"Yes," he said, "it's never too late to learn; and for once you've
come up against someone a leetle bit too much for you. Haven't you
now? You'd better cry 'Peccavi.'
Then, in the deathly silence of the room, the moral force of his
position, and the collapse as it seemed of his opponent, awakening a
faint compunction, he took a turn over the Turkey carpet to readjust
his mind.
"You're an old man, and I don't want to be too hard on you. I'm only
showing you that you can't play fast and loose as if you were God
Almighty any longer. You've had your own way too many years. And
now you can't have it, see!" Then, as the old man again moved
forward in his chair, he added: "Now, don't get into a passion again;
calm yourself, because I warn you--this is your last chance. I'm a
man of my word; and what I say, I do."
By a violent and unsuspected effort the old man jerked himself up and
reached the bell. Mr. Ventnor heard it ring, and said sharply:
"Mind you, it's nothing to me which you do. I came for your own
good. Please yourself. Well?"
He was answered by the click of the door and the old man's husky
voice:
"Show this hound out! And then come back!"
Mr. Ventnor had presence of mind enough not to shake his fist.
Muttering: "Very well, Mr. Heythorp! Ah! Very well!" he moved with
dignity to the door. The careful shepherding of the servant renewed
the fire of his anger. Hound! He had been called a hound
3
After seeing Mr. Ventnor off the premises the man Meller returned to
his master, whose face looked very odd--"all patchy-like," as he put
it in the servants' hall, as though the blood driven to his head had
mottled for good the snowy whiteness of the forehead. He received
the unexpected order:
"Get me a hot bath ready, and put some pine stuff in it."
When the old man was seated there, the valet asked:
"How long shall I give you, sir?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Very good, sir."
Lying in that steaming brown fragrant liquid, old Heythorp heaved a
stertorous sigh. By losing his temper with that ill-conditioned cur
he had cooked his goose. It was done to a turn; and he was a ruined
man. If only--oh! if only he could have seized the fellow by the
neck and pitched him out of the room! To have lived to be so spoken
to; to have been unable to lift hand or foot, hardly even his voice--
he would sooner have been dead! Yes--sooner have been dead! A dumb
and measureless commotion was still at work in the recesses of that
thick old body, silver-brown in the dark water, whose steam he drew
deep into his wheezing lungs, as though for spiritual relief. To be
beaten by a cur like that! To have that common cad of a pettifogging
lawyer drag him down and kick him about; tumble a name which had
stood high, in the dust! The fellow had the power to make him a
byword and a beggar! It was incredible! But it was a fact. And to-
morrow he would begin to do it--perhaps had begun already. His tree
had come down with a crash! Eighty years-eighty good years! He
regretted none of them-regretted nothing; least of all this breach of
trust which had provided for his grandchildren--one of the best
things he had ever done. The fellow was a cowardly hound, too! The
way he had snatched the bell-pull out of his reach-despicable cur!
And a chap like that was to put "paid" to the account of Sylvanus
Heythorp, to "scratch" him out of life--so near the end of
everything, the very end! His hand raised above the surface fell
back on his stomach through the dark water, and a bubble or two rose.
Not so fast--not so fast! He had but to slip down a foot, let the
water close over his head, and "Good-bye" to Master Ventnor's triumph
Dead men could not be kicked off the Boards of Companies. Dead men
could not be beggared, deprived of their independence. He smiled and
stirred a little in the bath till the water reached the white hairs
on his lower lip. It smelt nice! And he took a long sniff: He had
had a good life, a good life! And with the thought that he had it in
his power at any moment to put Master Ventnor's nose out of joint--to
beat the beggar after all, a sense of assuagement and well-being
crept over him. His blood ran more evenly again. He closed his
eyes. They talked about an after-life--people like that holy woman.
Gammon! You went to sleep--a long sleep; no dreams. A nap after
dinner! Dinner! His tongue sought his palate! Yes! he could eat a
good dinner! That dog hadn't put him off his stroke! The best
dinner he had ever eaten was the one he gave to Jack Herring,
Chichester, Thornworthy, Nick Treffry and Jolyon Forsyte at Pole's.
Good Lord! In 'sixty--yes--'sixty-five? Just before he fell in love
with Alice Larne--ten years before he came to Liverpool. That was a
dinner! Cost twenty-four pounds for the six of them--and Forsyte an
absurdly moderate fellow. Only Nick Treff'ry and himself had been
three-bottle men! Dead! Every jack man of them. And suddenly he
thought: 'My name's a good one--I was never down before--never
beaten!'
A voice above the steam said:
"The twenty minutes is up, sir."
"All right; I'll get out. Evening clothes."
And Meller, taking out dress suit and shirt, thought: 'Now, what does
the old bloomer want dressin' up again for; why can't he go to bed
and have his dinner there? When a man's like a baby, the cradle's
the place for him.'....
An hour later, at the scene of his encounter with Mr. Ventnor, where
the table was already laid for dinner, old Heythorp stood and gazed.
The curtains had been drawn back, the window thrown open to air the
room, and he could see out there the shapes of the dark trees and a
sky grape-coloured, in the mild, moist night. It smelt good. A
sensuous feeling stirred in him, warm from his bath, clothed from
head to foot in fresh garments. Deuce of a time since he had dined
in full fig! He would have liked a woman dining opposite--but not
the holy woman; no, by George!--would have liked to see light falling
on a woman's shoulders once again, and a pair of bright eyes! He
crossed, snail-like, towards the fire. There that bullying fellow
had stood with his back to it--confound his impudence!--as if the
place belonged to him. And suddenly he had a vision of his three
secretaries' faces--especially young Farney's as they would look,
when the pack got him by the throat and pulled him down. His co-
directors, too! Old Heythorp! How are the mighty fallen! And that
hound jubilant!
His valet passed across the room to shut the window and draw the
curtains. This chap too! The day he could no longer pay his wages,
and had lost the power to say "Shan't want your services any more"--
when he could no longer even pay his doctor for doing his best to
kill him off! Power, interest, independence, all--gone! To be
dressed and undressed, given pap, like a baby in arms, served as they
chose to serve him, and wished out of the way--broken, dishonoured!
By money alone an old man had his being! Meat, drink, movement,
breath! When all his money was gone the holy woman would let him
know it fast enough. They would all let him know it; or if they
didn't, it would be out of pity! He had never been pitied yet--thank
God! And he said:
"Get me up a bottle of Perrier Jouet. What's the menu?"
"Germane soup, sir; filly de sole; sweetbread; cutlet soubees, rum
souffly."
"Tell her to give me a hors d'oeuvre, and put on a savoury."
"Yes, sir."
When the man had gone, he thought: 'I should have liked an oyster--
too late now!' and going over to his bureau, he fumblingly pulled out
the top drawer. There was little in it--Just a few papers, business
papers on his Companies, and a schedule of his debts; not even a copy
of his will--he had not made one, nothing to leave! Letters he had
never kept. Half a dozen bills, a few receipts, and the little pink
note with the blue forget-me-not. That was the lot! An old tree
gives up bearing leaves, and its roots dry up, before it comes down
in a wind; an old man's world slowly falls away from him till he
stands alone in the night. Looking at the pink note, he thought:
'Suppose I'd married Alice--a man never had a better mistress!' He
fumbled the drawer to; but still he strayed feebly about the room,
with a curious shrinking from sitting down, legacy from the quarter
of an hour he had been compelled to sit while that hound worried at
his throat. He was opposite one of the pictures now. It gleamed,
dark and oily, limning a Scots Grey who had mounted a wounded Russian
on his horse, and was bringing him back prisoner from the Balaclava
charge. A very old friend--bought in 'fifty-nine. It had hung in
his chambers in the Albany--hung with him ever since. With whom
would it hang when he was gone? For that holy woman would scrap it,
to a certainty, and stick up some Crucifixion or other, some new-
fangled high art thing! She could even do that now if she liked--for
she owned it, owned every mortal stick in the room, to the very glass
he would drink his champagne from; all made over under the settlement
fifteen years ago, before his last big gamble went wrong. "De
l'audace, toujours de l'audace!" The gamble which had brought him
down till his throat at last was at the mercy of a bullying hound.
The pitcher and the well! At the mercy---! The sound of a popping
cork dragged him from reverie. He moved to his seat, back to the
window, and sat down to his dinner. By George! They had got him an
oyster! And he said:
"I've forgotten my teeth!"
While the man was gone for them, he swallowed the oysters,
methodically touching them one by one with cayenne, Chili vinegar,
and lemon. Ummm! Not quite what they used to be at Pimm's in the
best days, but not bad--not bad! Then seeing the little blue bowl
lying before him, he looked up and said:
"My compliments to cook on the oysters. Give me the champagne." And
he lifted his trembling teeth. Thank God, he could still put 'em in
for himself! The creaming goldenish fluid from the napkined bottle
slowly reached the brim of his glass, which had a hollow stem;
raising it to his lips, very red between the white hairs above and
below, he drank with a gurgling noise, and put the glass down-empty.
Nectar! And just cold enough!
"I frapped it the least bit, sir."
"Quite right. What's that smell of flowers?"
"It's from those 'yacinths on the sideboard, sir. They come from
Mrs. Larne, this afternoon."
"Put 'em on the table. Where's my daughter?"
"She's had dinner, sir; goin' to a ball, I think."
"A ball!"
"Charity ball, I fancy, sir."
"Ummm! Give me a touch of the old sherry with the soup."
"Yes, sir. I shall have to open a bottle:"
"Very well, then, do!"
On his way to the cellar the man confided to Molly, who was carrying
the soup:
"The Gov'nor's going it to-night! What he'll be like tomorrow I
dunno."
The girl answered softly:
"Poor old man, let um have his pleasure." And, in the hall, with the
soup tureen against her bosom, she hummed above the steam, and
thought of the ribbons on her new chemises, bought out of the
sovereign he had given her.
And old Heythorp, digesting his osyters, snuffed the scent of the
hyacinths, and thought of the St. Germain, his favourite soup. It
would n't be first-rate, at this time of year--should be made with
little young home-grown peas. Paris was the place for it. Ah! The
French were the fellows for eating, and--looking things in the face!
Not hypocrites--not ashamed of their reason or their senses!
The soup came in. He sipped it, bending forward as far as he could,
his napkin tucked in over his shirt-front like a bib. He got the
bouquet of that sherry to a T--his sense of smell was very keen to-
night; rare old stuff it was--more than a year since he had tasted
it--but no one drank sherry nowadays, hadn't the constitution for it!
The fish came up, and went down; and with the sweetbread he took his
second glass of champagne. Always the best, that second glass--the
stomach well warmed, and the palate not yet dulled. Umm! So that
fellow thought he had him beaten, did he? And he said suddenly:
"The fur coat in the wardrobe, I've no use for it. You can take it
away to-night."
With tempered gratitude the valet answered:
"Thank you, sir; much obliged, I'm sure." So the old buffer had
found out there was moth in it!
"Have I worried you much?"
"No, sir; not at all, sir--that is, no more than reason."
"Afraid I have. Very sorry--can't help it. You'll find that, when
you get like me."
"Yes, sir; I've always admired your pluck, sir.
"Um! Very good of you to say so."
"Always think of you keepin' the flag flying', sir."
Old Heythorp bent his body from the waist.
"Much obliged to you."
"Not at all, sir. Cook's done a little spinach in cream with the
soubees."
"Ah! Tell her from me it's a capital dinner, so far."
"Thank you, sir."
Alone again, old Heythorp sat unmoving, his brain just narcotically
touched. "The flag flyin'--the flag flyin'!" He raised his glass
and sucked. He had an appetite now, and finished the three cutlets,
and all the sauce and spinach. Pity! he could have managed a snipe
fresh shot! A desire to delay, to lengthen dinner, was strong upon
him; there were but the souffle' and the savoury to come. He would
have enjoyed, too, someone to talk to. He had always been fond of
good company--been good company himself, or so they said--not that he
had had a chance of late. Even at the Boards they avoided talking to
him, he had noticed for a long time. Well! that wouldn't trouble
him again--he had sat through his last Board, no doubt. They
shouldn't kick him off, though; he wouldn't give them that pleasure--
had seen the beggars hankering after his chairman's shoes too long.
The souffle was before him now, and lifting his glass, he said:
"Fill up."
"These are the special glasses, sir; only four to the bottle."
"Fill up."
The servant filled, screwing up his mouth.
Old Heythorp drank, and put the glass down empty with a sigh. He had
been ,faithful to his principles, finished the bottle before touching
the sweet--a good bottle--of a good brand! And now for the souffle!
Delicious, flipped down with the old sherry! So that holy woman was
going to a ball, was she! How deuced funny! Who would dance with a
dry stick like that, all eaten up with a piety which was just sexual
disappointment? Ah! yes, lots of women like that--had often noticed
'em--pitied 'em too, until you had to do with them and they made you
as unhappy as themselves, and were tyrants into the bargain. And he
asked:
"What's the savoury?"
"Cheese remmykin, sir."
His favourite.
"I'll have my port with it--the 'sixty-eight." The man stood gazing
with evident stupefaction. He had not expected this. The old man's
face was very flushed, but that might be the bath. He said feebly:
"Are you sure you ought, sir?"
"No, but I'm going to."
"Would you mind if I spoke to Miss Heythorp, Sir?"
"If you do, you can leave my service."
"Well, Sir, I don't accept the responsibility."
"Who asked you to?"
"No, Sir...."
"Well, get it, then; and don't be an ass."
"Yes, Sir." If the old man were not humoured he would have a fit,
perhaps!
And the old man sat quietly staring at the hyacinths. He felt happy,
his whole being lined and warmed and drowsed--and there was more to
come! What had the holy folk to give you compared with the comfort
of a good dinner? Could they make you dream, and see life rosy for a
little? No, they could only give you promissory notes which never
would be cashed. A man had nothing but his pluck--they only tried to
undermine it, and make him squeal for help. He could see his
precious doctor throwing up his hands: "Port after a bottle of
champagne--you'll die of it!" And a very good death too--none
better. A sound broke the silence of the closed-up room. Music?
His daughter playing the piano overhead. Singing too! What a
trickle of a voice! Jenny Lind! The Swedish nightingale--he had
never missed the nights when she was singing--Jenny Lind!
"It's very hot, sir. Shall I take it out of the case?"
Ah! The ramequin!
"Touch of butter, and the cayenne!"
"Yes, sir."
He ate it slowly, savouring each mouthful; had never tasted a better.
With cheese--port! He drank one glass, and said:
"Help me to my chair."
And settled there before the fire with decanter and glass and hand-
bell on the little low table by his side, he murmured:
"Bring coffee, and my cigar, in twenty minutes."
To-night he would do justice to his wine, not smoking till he had
finished. As old Horace said:
"Aequam memento rebus in arduis Servare mentem."
And, raising his glass, he sipped slowly, spilling a drop or two,
shutting his eyes.
The faint silvery squealing of the holy woman in the room above, the
scent of hyacinths, the drowse of the fire, on which a cedar log had
just been laid, the feeling of the port soaking down into the
crannies of his being, made up a momentary Paradise. Then the music
stopped; and no sound rose but the tiny groans of the log trying to
resist the fire. Dreamily he thought: 'Life wears you out--wears you
out. Logs on a fire!' And he filled his glass again. That fellow
had been careless; there were dregs at the bottom of the decanter and
he had got down to them! Then, as the last drop from his tilted
glass trickled into the white hairs on his chin, he heard the coffee
tray put down, and taking his cigar he put it to his ear, rolling it
in his thick fingers. In prime condition! And drawing a first
whiff, he said:
"Open that bottle of the old brandy in the sideboard."
"Brandy, sir? I really daren't, sir."
"Are you my servant or not?"
"Yes, sir, but---"
A minute of silence, then the man went hastily to the sideboard, took
out the bottle, and drew the cork. The tide of crimson in the old
man's face had frightened him.
"Leave it there."
The unfortunate valet placed the bottle on the little table. 'I'll
have to tell her,' he thought; 'but if I take away the port decanter
and the glass, it won't look so bad.' And, carrying them, he left the
room.
Slowly the old man drank his coffee, and the liqueur of brandy. The
whole gamut! And watching his cigar-smoke wreathing blue in the
orange glow, he smiled. The last night to call his soul his own, the
last night of his independence. Send in his resignations to-morrow--
not wait to be kicked off! Not give that fellow a chance
A voice which seemed to come from far off, said:
"Father! You're drinking brandy! How can you--you know it's simple
poison to you!" A figure in white, scarcely actual, loomed up close.
He took the bottle to fill up his liqueur glass, in defiance; but a
hand in a long white glove, with another dangling from its wrist,
pulled it away, shook it at him, and replaced it in the sideboard.
And, just as when Mr. Ventnor stood there accusing him, a swelling
and churning in his throat prevented him from speech; his lips moved,
but only a little froth came forth.
His daughter had approached again. She stood quite close, in white
satin, thin-faced, sallow, with eyebrows raised, and her dark hair
frizzed--yes! frizzed--the holy woman! With all his might he tried
to say: 'So you bully me, do you--you bully me to-night!' but only
the word "so" and a sort of whispering came forth. He heard her
speaking. "It's no good your getting angry, Father. After
champagne--it's wicked!" Then her form receded in a sort of rustling
white mist; she was gone; and he heard the sputtering and growling of
her taxi, bearing her to the ball. So! She tyrannised and bullied,
even before she had him at her mercy, did she? She should see!
Anger had brightened his eyes; the room came clear again. And slowly
raising himself he sounded the bell twice, for the girl, not for that
fellow Meller, who was in the plot. As soon as her pretty black and
white-aproned figure stood before him, he said:
"Help me up."
Twice her soft pulling was not enough, and he sank back. The third
time he struggled to his feet.
"Thank you; that'll do." Then, waiting till she was gone, he crossed
the room, fumbled open the sideboard door, and took out the bottle.
Reaching over the polished oak, he grasped a sherry glass; and
holding the bottle with both hands, tipped the liquor into it, put it
to his lips and sucked. Drop by drop it passed over his palate mild,
very old, old as himself, coloured like sunlight, fragrant. To the
last drop he drank it, then hugging the bottle to his shirt-front, he
moved snail-like to his chair, and fell back into its depths. For
some minutes he remained there motionless, the bottle clasped to his
chest, thinking: 'This is not the attitude of a gentleman. I must
put it down on the table-on the table;' but a thick cloud was between
him and everything. It was with his hands he would have to put the
bottle on the table! But he could not find his hands, could not feel
them. His mind see-sawed in strophe and antistrophe: "You can't
move!"--"I will move!" "You're beaten"--"I'm not beat." "Give up"--
"I won't." That struggle to find his hands seemed to last for ever--
he must find them! After that--go down--all standing--after that!
Everything round him was red. Then the red cloud cleared just a
little, and he could hear the clock--"tick-tick-tick"; a faint
sensation spread from his shoulders down to his wrists, down his
palms; and yes--he could feel the bottle! He redoubled his struggle
to get forward in his chair; to get forward and put the bottle down.
It was not dignified like this! One arm he could move now; but he
could not grip the bottle nearly tight enough to put it down.
Working his whole body forward, inch by inch, he shifted himself up
in the chair till he could lean sideways, and the bottle, slipping
down his chest, dropped slanting to the edge of the low stool-table.
Then with all his might he screwed his trunk and arms an inch
further, and the bottle stood. He had done it--done it! His lips
twitched into a smile; his body sagged back to its old position. He
had done it! And he closed his eyes ....
At half-past eleven the girl Molly, opening the door, looked at him
and said softly: "Sirr! there's some ladies, and a gentleman!" But
he did not answer. And, still holding the door, she whispered out
into the hall:
"He's asleep, miss."
A voice whispered back:
"Oh! Just let me go in, I won't wake him unless he does. But I do
want to show him my dress."
The girl moved aside; and on tiptoe Phyllis passed in. She walked to
where, between the lamp-glow and the fire-glow, she was lighted up.
White satin--her first low-cut dress--the flush of her first supper
party--a gardenia at her breast, another in her fingers! Oh! what a
pity he was asleep! How red he looked! How funnily old men
breathed! And mysteriously, as a child might, she whispered:
"Guardy!"
No answer! And pouting, she stood twiddling the gardenia. Then
suddenly she thought: 'I'll put it in his buttonhole! When he wakes
up and sees it, how he'll jump!'
And stealing close, she bent and slipped it in. Two faces looked at
her from round the door; she heard Bob Pillin's smothered chuckle;
her mother's rich and feathery laugh. Oh! How red his forehead was!
She touched it with her lips; skipped back, twirled round, danced
silently a second, blew a kiss, and like quicksilver was gone.
And the whispering, the chuckling, and one little out-pealing laugh
rose in the hall.
But the old man slept. Nor until Meller came at his usual hour of
half-past twelve, was it known that he would never wake.
THE APPLE TREE
"The Apple-tree, the singing and the gold."
MURRAY'S "HIPPOLYTUS of EURIPIDES."
In their silver-wedding day Ashurst and his wife were motoring along
the outskirts of the moor, intending to crown the festival by
stopping the night at Torquay, where they had first met. This was
the idea of Stella Ashurst, whose character contained a streak of
sentiment. If she had long lost the blue-eyed, flower-like charm,
the cool slim purity of face and form, the apple-blossom colouring,
which had so swiftly and so oddly affected Ashurst twenty-six years
ago, she was still at forty-three a comely and faithful companion,
whose cheeks were faintly mottled, and whose grey-blue eyes had
acquired a certain fullness.
It was she who had stopped the car where the common rose steeply to
the left, and a narrow strip of larch and beech, with here and there
a pine, stretched out towards the valley between the road and the
first long high hill of the full moor. She was looking for a place
where they might lunch, for Ashurst never looked for anything; and
this, between the golden furze and the feathery green larches
smelling of lemons in the last sun of April--this, with a view into
the deep valley and up to the long moor heights, seemed fitting to
the decisive nature of one who sketched in water-colours, and loved
romantic spots. Grasping her paint box, she got out.
"Won't this do, Frank?"
Ashurst, rather like a bearded Schiller, grey in the wings, tall,
long-legged, with large remote grey eyes which sometimes filled with
meaning and became almost beautiful, with nose a little to one side,
and bearded lips just open--Ashurst, forty-eight, and silent, grasped
the luncheon basket, and got out too.
"Oh! Look, Frank! A grave!"
By the side of the road, where the track from the top of the common
crossed it at right angles and ran through a gate past the narrow
wood, was a thin mound of turf, six feet by one, with a moorstone to
the west, and on it someone had thrown a blackthorn spray and a
handful of bluebells. Ashurst looked, and the poet in him moved. At
cross-roads--a suicide's grave! Poor mortals with their
superstitions! Whoever lay there, though, had the best of it, no
clammy sepulchre among other hideous graves carved with futilities--
just a rough stone, the wide sky, and wayside blessings! And,
without comment, for he had learned not to be a philosopher in the
bosom of his family, he strode away up on to the common, dropped the
luncheon basket under a wall, spread a rug for his wife to sit on--
she would turn up from her sketching when she was hungry--and took
from his pocket Murray's translation of the "Hippolytus." He had
soon finished reading of "The Cyprian" and her revenge, and looked at
the sky instead. And watching the white clouds so bright against the
intense blue, Ashurst, on his silver-wedding day, longed for--he knew
not what. Maladjusted to life--man's organism! One's mode of life
might be high and scrupulous, but there was always an, undercurrent
of greediness, a hankering, and sense of waste. Did women have it
too? Who could tell? And yet, men who gave vent to their appetites
for novelty, their riotous longings for new adventures, new risks,
new pleasures, these suffered, no doubt, from the reverse side of
starvation, from surfeit. No getting out of it--a maladjusted
animal, civilised man! There could be no garden of his choosing, of
"the Apple-tree, the singing, and the gold," in the words of that
lovely Greek chorus, no achievable elysium in life, or lasting haven
of happiness for any man with a sense of beauty--nothing which could
compare with the captured loveliness in a work of art, set down for
ever, so that to look on it or read was always to have the same
precious sense of exaltation and restful inebriety. Life no doubt
had moments with that quality of beauty, of unbidden flying rapture,
but the trouble was, they lasted no longer than the span of a cloud's
flight over the sun; impossible to keep them with you, as Art caught
beauty and held it fast. They were fleeting as one of the glimmering
or golden visions one had of the soul in nature, glimpses of its
remote and brooding spirit. Here, with the sun hot on his face, a
cuckoo calling from a thorn tree, and in the air the honey savour of
gorse--here among the little fronds of the young fern, the starry
blackthorn, while the bright clouds drifted by high above the hills
and dreamy valleys here and now was such a glimpse. But in a moment
it would pass--as the face of Pan, which looks round the corner of a
rock, vanishes at your stare. And suddenly he sat up. Surely there
was something familiar about this view, this bit of common, that
ribbon of road, the old wall behind him. While they were driving he
had not been taking notice--never did; thinking of far things or of
nothing--but now he saw! Twenty-six years ago, just at this time of
year, from the farmhouse within half a mile of this very spot he had
started for that day in Torquay whence it might be said he had never
returned. And a sudden ache beset his heart; he had stumbled on just
one of those past moments in his life, whose beauty and rapture he
had failed to arrest, whose wings had fluttered away into the
unknown; he had stumbled on a buried memory, a wild sweet time,
swiftly choked and ended. And, turning on his face, he rested his
chin on his hands, and stared at the short grass where the little
blue milkwort was growing....
I
And this is what he remembered.
On the first of May, after their last year together at college, Frank
Ashurst and his friend Robert Garton were on a tramp. They had
walked that day from Brent, intending to make Chagford, but Ashurst's
football knee had given out, and according to their map they had
still some seven miles to go. They were sitting on a bank beside
the-road, where a track crossed alongside a wood, resting the knee
and talking of the universe, as young men will. Both were over six
feet, and thin as rails; Ashurst pale, idealistic, full of absence;
Garton queer, round-the-corner, knotted, curly, like some primeval
beast. Both had a literary bent; neither wore a hat.
Ashurst's hair was smooth, pale, wavy, and had a way of rising on
either side of his brow, as if always being flung back; Carton's was
a kind of dark unfathomed mop. They had not met a soul for miles.
"My dear fellow," Garton was saying, "pity's only an effect of self-
consciousness; it's a disease of the last five thousand years. The
world was happier without."
Ashurst, following the clouds with his eyes, answered:
"It's the pearl in the oyster, anyway."
"My dear chap, all our modern unhappiness comes from pity. Look at
animals, and Red Indians, limited to feeling their own occasional
misfortunes; then look at ourselves--never free from feeling the
toothaches of others. Let's get back to feeling for nobody, and have
a better time."
"You'll never practise that."
Garton pensively stirred the hotch-potch of his hair.
"To attain full growth, one mustn't be squeamish. To starve oneself
emotionally's a mistake. All emotion is to the good--enriches life."
"Yes, and when it runs up against chivalry?"
"Ah! That's so English! If you speak of emotion the English always
think you want something physical, and are shocked. They're afraid
of passion, but not of lust--oh, no!--so long as they can keep it
secret."
Ashurst did not answer; he had plucked a blue floweret, and was
twiddling it against the sky. A cuckoo began calling from a thorn
tree. The sky, the flowers, the songs of birds! Robert was talking
through his hat! And he said:
"Well, let's go on, and find some farm where we can put up." In
uttering those words, he was conscious of a girl coming down from the
common just above them. She was outlined against the sky, carrying a
basket, and you could see that sky through the crook of her arm. And
Ashurst, who saw beauty without wondering how it could advantage him,
thought: 'How pretty!' The wind, blowing her dark frieze skirt
against her legs, lifted her battered peacock tam-o'-shanter; her
greyish blouse was worn and old, her shoes were split, her little
hands rough and red, her neck browned. Her dark hair waved untidy
across her broad forehead, her face was short, her upper lip short,
showing a glint of teeth, her brows were straight and dark, her
lashes long and dark, her nose straight; but her grey eyes were the
wonder-dewy as if opened for the first time that day. She looked at
Ashurst--perhaps he struck her as strange, limping along without a
hat, with his large eyes on her, and his hair falling back. He could
not take off what was not on his head, but put up his hand in a
salute, and said:
"Can you tell us if there's a farm near here where we could stay the
night? I've gone lame."
"There's only our farm near, sir." She spoke without shyness, in a
pretty soft crisp voice.
"And where is that?"
"Down here, sir."
"Would you put us up?"
"Oh! I think we would."
"Will you show us the way?"
"Yes, Sir."
He limped on, silent, and Garton took up the catechism.
"Are you a Devonshire girl?"
"No, Sir."
"What then?"
"From Wales."
"Ah! I thought you were a Celt; so it's not your farm?"
"My aunt's, sir."
"And your uncle's?"
"He is dead."
"Who farms it, then?"
"My aunt, and my three cousins."
"But your uncle was a Devonshire man?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Have you lived here long?" "Seven years."
"And how d'you like it after Wales?" "I don't know, sir."
"I suppose you don't remember?" "Oh, yes! But it is different."
"I believe you!"
Ashurst broke in suddenly: "How old are you?"
"Seventeen, Sir."
"And what's your name?" "Megan David."
"This is Robert Garton, and I am Frank Ashurst. We wanted to get on
to Chagford."
"It is a pity your leg is hurting you."
Ashurst smiled, and when he smiled his face was rather beautiful.
Descending past the narrow wood, they came on the farm suddenly-a
long, low, stone-built dwelling with casement windows, in a farmyard
where pigs and fowls and an old mare were straying. A short steep-up
grass hill behind was crowned with a few Scotch firs, and in front,
an old orchard of apple trees, just breaking into flower, stretched
down to a stream and a long wild meadow. A little boy with oblique
dark eyes was shepherding a pig, and by the house door stood a woman,
who came towards them. The girl said:
"It is Mrs. Narracombe, my aunt."
"Mrs. Narracombe, my aunt," had a quick, dark eye, like a mother
wild-duck's, and something of the same snaky turn about her neck.
"We met your niece on the road," said Ashurst; "she thought you might
perhaps put us up for the night."
Mrs. Narracombe, taking them in from head to heel, answered:
"Well, I can, if you don't mind one room. Megan, get the spare room
ready, and a bowl of cream. You'll be wanting tea, I suppose."
Passing through a sort of porch made by two yew trees and some
flowering-currant bushes, the girl disappeared into the house, her
peacock tam-o'-shanter bright athwart that rosy-pink and the dark
green of the yews.
"Will you come into the parlour and rest your leg? You'll be from
college, perhaps?"
"We were, but we've gone down now."
Mrs. Narracombe nodded sagely.
The parlour, brick-floored, with bare table and shiny chairs and sofa
stuffed with horsehair, seemed never to have been used, it was so
terribly clean. Ashurst sat down at once on the sofa, holding his
lame knee between his hands, and Mrs. Narracombe gazed at him. He
was the only son of a late professor of chemistry, but people found a
certain lordliness in one who was often so sublimely unconscious of
them.
"Is there a stream where we could bathe?"
"There's the strame at the bottom of the orchard, but sittin' down
you'll not be covered!"
"How deep?"
"Well, 'tis about a foot and a half, maybe."
"Oh! That'll do fine. Which way?"
"Down the lane, through the second gate on the right, an' the pool's
by the big apple tree that stands by itself. There's trout there, if
you can tickle them."
"They're more likely to tickle us!"
Mrs. Narracombe smiled. "There'll be the tea ready when you come
back."
The pool, formed by the damming of a rock, had a sandy bottom; and
the big apple tree, lowest in the orchard, grew so close that its
boughs almost overhung the water; it was in leaf, and all but in
flower-its crimson buds just bursting. There was not room for more
than one at a time in that narrow bath, and Ashurst waited his turn,
rubbing his knee and gazing at the wild meadow, all rocks and thorn
trees and feld flowers, with a grove of beeches beyond, raised up on
a flat mound. Every bough was swinging in the wind, every spring
bird calling, and a slanting sunlight dappled the grass. He thought
of Theocritus, and the river Cherwell, of the moon, and the maiden
with the dewy eyes; of so many things that he seemed to think of
nothing; and he felt absurdly happy.
2
During a late and sumptuous tea with eggs to it, cream and jam, and
thin, fresh cakes touched with saffron, Garton descanted on the
Celts. It was about the period of the Celtic awakening, and the
discovery that there was Celtic blood about this family had excited
one who believed that he was a Celt himself. Sprawling on a horse
hair chair, with a hand-made cigarette dribbling from the corner of
his curly lips, he had been plunging his cold pin-points of eyes into
Ashurst's and praising the refinement of the Welsh. To come out of
Wales into England was like the change from china to earthenware!
Frank, as a d---d Englishman, had not of course perceived the
exquisite refinement and emotional capacity of that Welsh girl! And,
delicately stirring in the dark mat of his still wet hair, he
explained how exactly she illustrated the writings of the Welsh bard
Morgan-ap-Something in the twelfth century.
Ashurst, full length on the horsehair sofa, and jutting far beyond
its end, smoked a deeply-coloured pipe, and did not listen, thinking
of the girl's face when she brought in a relay of cakes. It had been
exactly like looking at a flower, or some other pretty sight in
Nature-till, with a funny little shiver, she had lowered her glance
and gone out, quiet as a mouse.
"Let's go to the kitchen," said Garton, "and see some more of her."
The kitchen was a white-washed room with rafters, to which were
attached smoked hams; there were flower-pots on the window-sill, and
guns hanging on nails, queer mugs, china and pewter, and portraits of
Queen Victoria. A long, narrow table of plain wood was set with
bowls and spoons, under a string of high-hung onions; two sheep-dogs
and three cats lay here and there. On one side of the recessed
fireplace sat two small boys, idle, and good as gold; on the other
sat a stout, light-eyed, red-faced youth with hair and lashes the
colour of the tow he was running through the barrel of a gun; between
them Mrs. Narracombe dreamily stirred some savoury-scented stew in a
large pot. Two other youths, oblique-eyed, dark-haired, rather sly-
faced, like the two little boys, were talking together and lolling
against the wall; and a short, elderly, clean-shaven man in
corduroys, seated in the window, was conning a battered journal. The
girl Megan seemed the only active creature-drawing cider and passing
with the jugs from cask to table. Seeing them thus about to eat,
Garton said:
"Ah! If you'll let us, we'll come back when supper's over," and
without waiting for an answer they withdrew again to the parlour.
But the colour in the kitchen, the warmth, the scents, and all those
faces, heightened the bleakness of their shiny room, and they resumed
their seats moodily.
"Regular gipsy type, those boys. There was only one Saxon--the
fellow cleaning the gun. That girl is a very subtle study
psychologically."
Ashurst's lips twitched. Garton seemed to him an ass just then.
Subtle study! She was a wild flower. A creature it did you good to
look at. Study!
Garton went on:
"Emotionally she would be wonderful. She wants awakening."
"Are you going to awaken her?"
Garton looked at him and smiled. 'How coarse and English you are!'
that curly smile seemed saying.
And Ashurst puffed his pipe. Awaken her! That fool had the best
opinion of himself! He threw up the window and leaned out. Dusk had
gathered thick. The farm buildings and the wheel-house were all dim
and bluish, the apple trees but a blurred wilderness; the air smelled
of woodsmoke from the kitchen fire. One bird going to bed later than
the others was uttering a half-hearted twitter, as though surprised
at the darkness. From the stable came the snuffle and stamp of a
feeding horse. And away over there was the loom of the moor, and
away and away the shy stars which had not as yet full light, pricking
white through the deep blue heavens. A quavering owl hooted.
Ashurst drew a deep breath. What a night to wander out in! A
padding of unshod hoofs came up the lane, and three dim, dark shapes
passed--ponies on an evening march. Their heads, black and fuzzy,
showed above the gate. At the tap of his pipe, and a shower of
little sparks, they shied round and scampered. A bat went fluttering
past, uttering its almost inaudible "chip, chip." Ashurst held out
his hand; on the upturned palm he could feel the dew. Suddenly from
overhead he heard little burring boys' voices, little thumps of boots
thrown down, and another voice, crisp and soft--the girl's putting
them to bed, no doubt; and nine clear words "No, Rick, you can't have
the cat in bed"; then came a skirmish of giggles and gurgles, a soft
slap, a laugh so low and pretty that it made him shiver a little. A
blowing sound, and the glim of the candle which was fingering the
dusk above, went out; silence reigned. Ashurst withdrew into the
room and sat down; his knee pained him, and his soul felt gloomy.
"You go to the kitchen," he said; "I'm going to bed."
3
For Ashurst the wheel of slumber was wont to turn noiseless and slick
and swift, but though he seemed sunk in sleep when his companion came
up, he was really wide awake; and long after Carton, smothered in the
other bed of that low-roofed room, was worshipping darkness with his
upturned nose, he heard the owls. Barring the discomfort of his
knee, it was not unpleasant--the cares of life did not loom large in
night watches for this young man. In fact he had none; just enrolled
a barrister, with literary aspirations, the world before him, no
father or mother, and four hundred a year of his own. Did it matter
where he went, what he did, or when he did it? His bed, too, was
hard, and this preserved him from fever. He lay, sniffing the scent
of the night which drifted into the low room through the open
casement close to his head. Except for a definite irritation with
his friend, natural when you have tramped with a man for three days,
Ashurst's memories and visions that sleepless night were kindly and
wistful and exciting. One vision, specially clear and unreasonable,
for he had not even been conscious of noting it, was the face of the
youth cleaning the gun; its intent, stolid, yet startled uplook at
the kitchen doorway, quickly shifted to the girl carrying the cider
jug. This red, blue-eyed, light-lashed, tow-haired face stuck as
firmly in his memory as the girl's own face, so dewy and simple. But
at last, in the square of darkness through the uncurtained casement,
he saw day coming, and heard one hoarse and sleepy caw. Then
followed silence, dead as ever, till the song of a blackbird, not
properly awake, adventured into the hush. And, from staring at the
framed brightening light, Ashurst fell asleep.
Next day his knee was badly swollen; the walking tour was obviously
over. Garton, due back in London on the morrow, departed at midday
with an ironical smile which left a scar of irritation--healed the
moment his loping figure vanished round the corner of the steep lane.
All day Ashurst rested his knee, in a green-painted wooden chair on
the patch of grass by the yew-tree porch, where the sunlight
distilled the scent of stocks and gillyflowers, and a ghost of scent
from the flowering-currant bushes. Beatifically he smoked, dreamed,
watched.
A farm in spring is all birth-young things coming out of bud and
shell, and human beings watching over the process with faint
excitement feeding and tending what has been born. So still the
young man sat, that a mother-goose, with stately cross-footed waddle,
brought her six yellow-necked grey-backed goslings to strop their
little beaks against the grass blades at his feet. Now and again
Mrs. Narracombe or the girl Megan would come and ask if he wanted
anything, and he would smile and say: "Nothing, thanks. It's
splendid here." Towards tea-time they came out together, bearing a
long poultice of some dark stuff in a bowl, and after a long and
solemn scrutiny of his swollen knee, bound it on. When they were
gone, he thought of the girl's soft "Oh!"--of her pitying eyes, and
the little wrinkle in her brow. And again he felt that unreasoning
irritation against his departed friend, who had talked such rot about
her. When she brought out his tea, he said:
"How did you like my friend, Megan?"
She forced down her upper lip, as if afraid that to smile was not
polite. "He was a funny gentleman; he made us laugh. I think he is
very clever."
"What did he say to make you laugh?"
"He said I was a daughter of the bards. What are they?"
"Welsh poets, who lived hundreds of years ago."
"Why am I their daughter, please?"
"He meant that you were the sort of girl they sang about."
She wrinkled her brows. "I think he likes to joke. Am I?"
"Would you believe me, if I told you?"
"Oh, yes."
"Well, I think he was right."
She smiled.
And Ashurst thought: 'You are a pretty thing!'
"He said, too, that Joe was a Saxon type. What would that be?"
"Which is Joe? With the blue eyes and red face?"
"Yes. My uncle's nephew."
"Not your cousin, then?"
"No."
"Well, he meant that Joe was like the men who came over to England
about fourteen hundred years ago, and conquered it."
"Oh! I know about them; but is he?"
"Garton's crazy about that sort of thing; but I must say Joe does
look a bit Early Saxon."
"Yes."
That "Yes" tickled Ashurst. It was so crisp and graceful, so
conclusive, and politely acquiescent in what was evidently. Greek to
her.
"He said that all the other boys were regular gipsies. He should not
have said that. My aunt laughed, but she didn't like it, of course,
and my cousins were angry. Uncle was a farmer--farmers are not
gipsies. It is wrong to hurt people."
Ashurst wanted to take her hand and give it a squeeze, but he only
answered:
"Quite right, Megan. By the way, I heard you putting the little ones
to bed last night."
She flushed a little. "Please to drink your tea--it is getting cold.
Shall I get you some fresh?"
"Do you ever have time to do anything for yourself?"
"Oh! Yes."
"I've been watching, but I haven't seen it yet.
She wrinkled her brows in a puzzled frown, and her colour deepened.
When she was gone, Ashurst thought: 'Did she think I was chaffing
her? I wouldn't for the world!' He was at that age when to some men
"Beauty's a flower," as the poet says, and inspires in them the
thoughts of chivalry. Never very conscious of his surroundings, it
was some time before he was aware that the youth whom Garton had
called "a Saxon type" was standing outside the stable door; and a
fine bit of colour he made in his soiled brown velvet-cords, muddy
gaiters, and blue shirt; red-armed, red-faced, the sun turning his
hair from tow to flax; immovably stolid, persistent, unsmiling he
stood. Then, seeing Ashurst looking at him, he crossed the yard at
that gait of the young countryman always ashamed not to be slow and
heavy-dwelling on each leg, and disappeared round the end of the
house towards the kitchen entrance. A chill came over Ashurst's
mood. Clods? With all the good will in the world, how impossible to
get on terms with them! And yet--see that girl! Her shoes were
split, her hands rough; but--what was it? Was it really her Celtic
blood, as Garton had said?--she was a lady born, a jewel, though
probably she could do no more than just read and write!
The elderly, clean-shaven man he had seen last night in the kitchen
had come into the yard with a dog, driving the cows to their milking.
Ashurst saw that he was lame.
"You've got some good ones there!"
The lame man's face brightened. He had the upward look in his eyes
which prolonged suffering often brings.
"Yeas; they'm praaper buties; gude milkers tu."
"I bet they are."
"'Ope as yure leg's better, zurr."
"Thank you, it's getting on."
The lame man touched his own: "I know what 'tes, meself; 'tes a main
worritin' thing, the knee. I've a-'ad mine bad this ten year."
Ashurst made the sound of sympathy which comes so readily from those
who have an independent income, and the lame man smiled again.
"Mustn't complain, though--they mighty near 'ad it off."
"Ho!"
"Yeas; an' compared with what 'twas, 'tes almost so gude as nu."
"They've put a bandage of splendid stuff on mine."
"The maid she picks et. She'm a gude maid wi' the flowers. There's
folks zeem to know the healin' in things. My mother was a rare one
for that. 'Ope as yu'll zune be better, zurr. Goo ahn, therr!"
Ashurst smiled. "Wi' the flowers!" A flower herself!
That evening, after his supper of cold duck, junket, and cider, the
girl came in.
"Please, auntie says--will you try a piece of our Mayday cake?"
"If I may come to the kitchen for it."
"Oh, yes! You'll be missing your friend."
"Not I. But are you sure no one minds?"
"Who would mind? We shall be very pleased."
Ashurst rose too suddenly for his stiff knee, staggered, and
subsided. The girl gave a little gasp, and held out her hands.
Ashurst took them, small, rough, brown; checked his impulse to put
them to his lips, and let her pull him up. She came close beside
him, offering her shoulder. And leaning on her he walked across the
room. That shoulder seemed quite the pleasantest thing he had ever
touched. But, he had presence of mind enough to catch his stick out
of the rack, and withdraw his hand before arriving at the kitchen.
That night he slept like a top, and woke with his knee of almost
normal size. He again spent the morning in his chair on the grass
patch, scribbling down verses; but in the afternoon he wandered about
with the two little boys Nick and Rick. It was Saturday, so they
were early home from school; quick, shy, dark little rascals of seven
and six, soon talkative, for Ashurst had a way with children. By
four o'clock they had shown him all their methods of destroying life,
except the tickling of trout; and with breeches tucked up, lay on
their stomachs over the trout stream, pretending they had this
accomplishment also. They tickled nothing, of course, for their
giggling and shouting scared every spotted thing away. Ashurst, on a
rock at the edge of the beech clump, watched them, and listened to
the cuckoos, till Nick, the elder and less persevering, came up and
stood beside him.
"The gipsy bogle zets on that stone," he said.
"What gipsy bogie?"
"Dunno; never zeen 'e. Megan zays 'e zets there; an' old Jim zeed 'e
once. 'E was zettin' there naight afore our pony kicked--in father's
'ead. 'E plays the viddle."
"What tune does he play?"
"Dunno."
"What's he like?"
"'E's black. Old Jim zays 'e's all over 'air. 'E's a praaper bogle.
'E don' come only at naight." The little boy's oblique dark eyes
slid round. "D'yu think 'e might want to take me away? Megan's
feared of 'e."
"Has she seen him?"
"No. She's not afeared o' yu."
"I should think not. Why should she be?"
"She zays a prayer for yu."
"How do you know that, you little rascal?"
"When I was asleep, she said: 'God bless us all, an' Mr. Ashes.' I
yeard 'er whisperin'."
"You're a little ruffian to tell what you hear when you're not meant
to hear it!"
The little boy was silent. Then he said aggressively:
"I can skin rabbets. Megan, she can't bear skinnin' 'em. I like
blood."
"Oh! you do; you little monster!"
"What's that?"
"A creature that likes hurting others."
The little boy scowled. "They'm only dead rabbets, what us eats."
"Quite right, Nick. I beg your pardon."
"I can skin frogs, tu."
But Ashurst had become absent. "God bless us all, and Mr. Ashes!"
And puzzled by that sudden inaccessibility, Nick ran back to the
stream where the giggling and shouts again uprose at once.
When Megan brought his tea, he said:
"What's the gipsy bogle, Megan?"
She looked up, startled.
"He brings bad things."
"Surely you don't believe in ghosts?"
"I hope I will never see him."
"Of course you won't. There aren't such things. What old Jim saw
was a pony."
"No! There are bogies in the rocks; they are the men who lived long
ago."
"They aren't gipsies, anyway; those old men were dead long before
gipsies came."
She said simply: "They are all bad."
"Why? If there are any, they're only wild, like the rabbits. The
flowers aren't bad for being wild; the thorn trees were never
planted--and you don't mind them. I shall go down at night and look
for your bogie, and have a talk with him."
"Oh, no! Oh, no!"
"Oh, yes! I shall go and sit on his rock."
She clasped her hands together: "Oh, please!"
"Why! What 'does it matter if anything happens to me?"
She did not answer; and in a sort of pet he added:
"Well, I daresay I shan't see him, because I suppose I must be off
soon."
"Soon?"
"Your aunt won't want to keep me here."
"Oh, yes! We always let lodgings in summer."
Fixing his eyes on her face, he asked:
"Would you like me to stay?"
"Yes."
"I'm going to say a prayer for you to-night!"
She flushed crimson, frowned, and went out of the room. He sat,
cursing himself, till his tea was stewed. It was as if he had hacked
with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells. Why had he said such a
silly thing? Was he just a towny college ass like Robert Garton, as
far from understanding this girl?
Ashurst spent the next week confirming the restoration of his leg, by
exploration of the country within easy reach. Spring was a
revelation to him this year. In a kind of intoxication he would
watch the pink-white buds of some backward beech tree sprayed up in
the sunlight against the deep blue sky, or the trunks and limbs of
the few Scotch firs, tawny in violent light, or again, on the moor,
the gale-bent larches which had such a look of life when the wind
streamed in their young green, above the rusty black underboughs. Or
he would lie on the banks, gazing at the clusters of dog-violets, or
up in the dead bracken, fingering the pink, transparent buds of the
dewberry, while the cuckoos called and yafes laughed, or a lark, from
very high, dripped its beads of song. It was certainly different
from any spring he had ever known, for spring was within him, not
without. In the daytime he hardly saw the family; and when Megan
brought in his meals she always seemed too busy in the house or among
the young things in the yard to stay talking long. But in the
evenings he installed himself in the window seat in the kitchen,
smoking and chatting with the lame man Jim, or Mrs. Narracombe, while
the girl sewed, or moved about, clearing the supper things away. And
sometimes, with the sensation a cat must feel when it purrs, he would
become conscious that Megan's eyes--those dew-grey eyes--were fixed
on him with a sort of lingering soft look which was strangely
flattering.
It was on Sunday week in the evening, when he was lying in the
orchard listening to a blackbird and composing a love poem, that he
heard the gate swing to, and saw the girl come running among the
trees, with the red-cheeked, stolid Joe in swift pursuit. About
twenty yards away the chase ended, and the two stood fronting each
other, not noticing the stranger in the grass--the boy pressing on,
the girl fending him off. Ashurst could see her face, angry,
disturbed; and the youth's--who would have thought that red-faced
yokel could look so distraught! And painfully affected by that
sight, he jumped up. They saw him then. Megan dropped her hands,
and shrank behind a tree trunk; the boy gave an angry grunt, rushed
at the bank, scrambled over and vanished. Ashurst went slowly up to
her. She was standing quite still, biting her lip-very pretty, with
her fine, dark hair blown loose about her face, and her eyes cast
down.
"I beg your pardon," he said.
She gave him one upward look, from eyes much dilated; then, catching
her breath, turned away. Ashurst followed.
"Megan!"
But she went on; and taking hold of her arm, he turned her gently
round to him.
"Stop and speak to me."
"Why do you beg my pardon? It is not to me you should do that."
"Well, then, to Joe."
"How dare he come after me?"
"In love with you, I suppose."
She stamped her foot.
Ashurst uttered a short laugh. "Would you like me to punch his
head?"
She cried with sudden passion:
"You laugh at me-you laugh at us!"
He caught hold of her hands, but she shrank back, till her passionate
little face and loose dark hair were caught among the pink clusters
of the apple blossom. Ashurst raised one of her imprisoned hands and
put his lips to it. He felt how chivalrous he was, and superior to
that clod Joe--just brushing that small, rough hand with his mouth I
Her shrinking ceased suddenly; she seemed to tremble towards him. A
sweet warmth overtook Ashurst from top to toe. This slim maiden, so
simple and fine and pretty, was pleased, then, at the touch of his
lips! And, yielding to a swift impulse, he put his arms round her,
pressed her to him, and kissed her forehead. Then he was frightened-
-she went so pale, closing her eyes, so that the long, dark lashes
lay on her pale cheeks; her hands, too, lay inert at her sides. The
touch of her breast sent a shiver through him. "Megan!" he sighed
out, and let her go. In the utter silence a blackbird shouted. Then
the girl seized his hand, put it to her cheek, her heart, her lips,
kissed it passionately, and fled away among the mossy trunks of the
apple trees, till they hid her from him.
Ashurst sat down on a twisted old tree growing almost along the
ground, and, all throbbing and bewildered, gazed vacantly at the
blossom which had crowned her hair--those pink buds with one white
open apple star. What had he done? How had he let himself be thus
stampeded by beauty--pity--or--just the spring! He felt curiously
happy, all the same; happy and triumphant, with shivers running
through his limbs, and a vague alarm. This was the beginning of--
what? The midges bit him, the dancing gnats tried to fly into his
mouth, and all the spring around him seemed to grow more lovely and
alive; the songs of the cuckoos and the blackbirds, the laughter of
the yaflies, the level-slanting sunlight, the apple blossom which had
crowned her head! He got up from the old trunk and strode out of the
orchard, wanting space, an open sky, to get on terms with these new
sensations. He made for the moor, and from an ash tree in the hedge
a magpie flew out to herald him.
Of man--at any age from five years on--who can say he has never been
in love? Ashurst had loved his partners at his dancing class; loved
his nursery governess; girls in school-holidays; perhaps never been
quite out of love, cherishing always some more or less remote
admiration. But this was different, not remote at all. Quite a new
sensation; terribly delightful, bringing a sense of completed
manhood. To be holding in his fingers such a wild flower, to be able
to put it to his lips, and feel it tremble with delight against them!
What intoxication, and--embarrassment! What to do with it--how meet
her next time? His first caress had been cool, pitiful; but the next
could not be, now that, by her burning little kiss on his hand, by
her pressure of it to her heart, he knew that she loved him. Some
natures are coarsened by love bestowed on them; others, like
Ashurst's, are swayed and drawn, warmed and softened, almost exalted,
by what they feel to be a sort of miracle.
And up there among the tors he was racked between the passionate
desire to revel in this new sensation of spring fulfilled within him,
and a vague but very real uneasiness. At one moment he gave himself
up completely to his pride at having captured this pretty, trustful,
dewy-eyed thing! At the next he thought with factitious solemnity:
'Yes, my boy! But look out what you're doing! You know what comes
of it!'
Dusk dropped down without his noticing--dusk on the carved, Assyrian-
looking masses of the rocks. And the voice of Nature said: "This is
a new world for you!" As when a man gets up at four o'clock and goes
out into a summer morning, and beasts, birds, trees stare at him and
he feels as if all had been made new.
He stayed up there for hours, till it grew cold, then groped his way
down the stones and heather roots to the road, back into the lane,
and came again past the wild meadow to the orchard. There he struck
a match and looked at his watch. Nearly twelve! It was black and
unstirring in there now, very different from the lingering, bird-
befriended brightness of six hours ago! And suddenly he saw this
idyll of his with the eyes of the outer world--had mental vision of
Mrs. Narracombe's snake-like neck turned, her quick dark glance
taking it all in, her shrewd face hardening; saw the gipsy-like
cousins coarsely mocking and distrustful; Joe stolid and furious;
only the lame man, Jim, with the suffering eyes, seemed tolerable to
his mind. And the village pub!--the gossiping matrons he passed on
his walks; and then--his own friends--Robert Carton's smile when he
went off that morning ten days ago; so ironical and knowing!
Disgusting! For a minute he literally hated this earthy, cynical
world to which one belonged, willy-nilly. The gate where he was
leaning grew grey, a sort of shimmer passed be fore him and spread
into the bluish darkness. The moon! He could just see it over the
bank be hind; red, nearly round-a strange moon! And turning away, he
went up the lane which smelled of the night and cowdung and young
leaves. In the straw-yard he could see the dark shapes of cattle,
broken by the pale sickles of their horns, like so many thin moons,
fallen ends-up. He unlatched the farm gate stealthily. All was dark
in the house. Muffling his footsteps, he gained the porch, and,
blotted against one of the yew trees, looked up at Megan's window.
It was open. Was she sleeping, or lying awake perhaps, disturbed--
unhappy at his absence? An owl hooted while he stood there peering
up, and the sound seemed to fill the whole night, so quiet was all
else, save for the never-ending murmur of the stream running below
the orchard. The cuckoos by day, and now the owls--how wonderfully
they voiced this troubled ecstasy within him! And suddenly he saw
her at her window, looking out. He moved a little from the yew tree,
and whispered: "Megan!" She drew back, vanished, reappeared, leaning
far down. He stole forward on the grass patch, hit his shin against
the green-painted chair, and held his breath at the sound. The pale
blur of her stretched-down arm and face did not stir; he moved the
chair, and noiselessly mounted it. By stretching up his arm he could
just reach. Her hand held the huge key of the front door, and he
clasped that burning hand with the cold key in it. He could just see
her face, the glint of teeth between her lips, her tumbled hair. She
was still dressed--poor child, sitting up for him, no doubt! "Pretty
Megan!" Her hot, roughened fingers clung to his; her face had a
strange, lost look. To have been able to reach it--even with his
hand! The owl hooted, a scent of sweetbriar crept into his nostrils.
Then one of the farm dogs barked; her grasp relaxed, she shrank back.
"Good-night, Megan!"
"Good-night, sir!" She was gone! With a sigh he dropped back to
earth, and sitting on that chair, took off his boots. Nothing for it
but to creep in and go to bed; yet for a long while he sat unmoving,
his feet chilly in the dew, drunk on the memory of her lost, half-
smiling face, and the clinging grip of her burning fingers, pressing
the cold key into his hand.
5
He awoke feeling as if he had eaten heavily overnight, instead of
having eaten nothing. And far off, unreal, seemed yesterday's
romance! Yet it was a golden morning. Full spring had burst at
last--in one night the "goldie-cups," as the little boys called them,
seemed to have made the field their own, and from his window he could
see apple blossoms covering the orchard as with a rose and white
quilt. He went down almost dreading to see Megan; and yet, when not
she but Mrs. Narracombe brought in his breakfast, he felt vexed and
disappointed. The woman's quick eye and snaky neck seemed to have a
new alacrity this morning. Had she noticed?
"So you an' the moon went walkin' last night, Mr. Ashurst! Did ye
have your supper anywheres?"
Ashurst shook his head.
"We kept it for you, but I suppose you was too busy in your brain to
think o' such a thing as that?"
Was she mocking him, in that voice of hers, which still kept some
Welsh crispness against the invading burr of the West Country? If
she knew! And at that moment he thought: 'No, no; I'll clear out. I
won't put myself in such a beastly false position.'
But, after breakfast, the longing to see Megan began and increased
with every minute, together with fear lest something should have been
said to her which had spoiled everything. Sinister that she had not
appeared, not given him even a glimpse of her! And the love poem,
whose manufacture had been so important and absorbing yesterday
afternoon under the apple trees, now seemed so paltry that he tore it
up and rolled it into pipe spills. What had he known of love, till
she seized his hand and kissed it! And now--what did he not know?
But to write of it seemed mere insipidity! He went up to his bedroom
to get a book, and his heart began to beat violently, for she was in
there making the bed. He stood in the doorway watching; and
suddenly, with turbulent joy, he saw her stoop and kiss his pillow,
just at the hollow made by his head last night.
How let her know he had seen that pretty act of devotion? And yet,
if she heard him stealing away, it would be even worse. She took the
pillow up, holding it as if reluctant to shake out the impress of his
cheek, dropped it, and turned round.
"Megan!"
She put her hands up to her cheeks, but her eyes seemed to look right
into him. He had never before realised the depth and purity and
touching faithfulness in those dew-bright eyes, and he stammered:
"It was sweet of you to wait up for me last night."
She still said nothing, and he stammered on:
"I was wandering about on the moor; it was such a jolly night. I--
I've just come up for a book."
Then, the kiss he had seen her give the pillow afflicted him with
sudden headiness, and he went up to her. Touching her eyes with his
lips, he thought with queer excitement: 'I've done it! Yesterday all
was sudden--anyhow; but now--I've done it!' The girl let her forehead
rest against his lips, which moved downwards till they reached hers.
That first real lover's kiss-strange, wonderful, still almost
innocent--in which heart did it make the most disturbance?
"Come to the big apple tree to-night, after they've gone to bed.
Megan-promise!"
She whispered back: "I promise."
Then, scared at her white face, scared at everything, he let her go,
and went downstairs again. Yes! He had done it now! Accepted her
love, declared his own! He went out to the green chair as devoid of
a book as ever; and there he sat staring vacantly before him,
triumphant and remorseful, while under his nose and behind his back
the work of the farm went on. How long he had been sitting in that
curious state of vacancy he had no notion when he saw Joe standing a
little behind him to the right. The youth had evidently come from
hard work in the fields, and stood shifting his feet, breathing
loudly, his face coloured like a setting sun, and his arms, below the
rolled-up sleeves of his blue shirt, showing the hue and furry sheen
of ripe peaches. His red lips were open, his blue eyes with their
flaxen lashes stared fixedly at Ashurst, who said ironically:
"Well, Joe, anything I can do for you?"
"Yeas."
"What, then?"
"Yu can goo away from yere. Us don' want yu."
Ashurst's face, never too humble, assumed its most lordly look.
"Very good of you, but, do you know, I prefer the others should speak
for themselves."
The youth moved a pace or two nearer, and the scent of his honest
heat afflicted Ashurst's nostrils.
"What d'yu stay yere for?"
"Because it pleases me."
"Twon't please yu when I've bashed yure head in!"
"Indeed! When would you like to begin that?"
Joe answered only with the loudness of his breathing, but his eyes
looked like those of a young and angry bull. Then a sort of spasm
seemed to convulse his face.
"Megan don' want yu."
A rush of jealousy, of contempt, and anger with this thick, loud-
breathing rustic got the better of Ashurst's self-possession; he
jumped up, and pushed back his chair.
"You can go to the devil!"
And as he said those simple words, he saw Megan in the doorway with a
tiny brown spaniel puppy in her arms. She came up to him quickly:
"Its eyes are blue!" she said.
Joe turned away; the back of his neck was literally crimson.
Ashurst put his finger to the mouth of the little brown bullfrog of a
creature in her arms. How cosy it looked against her!
"It's fond of you already. Ah I Megan, everything is fond of you."
"What was Joe saying to you, please?"
"Telling me to go away, because you didn't want me here."
She stamped her foot; then looked up at Ashurst. At that adoring
look he felt his nerves quiver, just as if he had seen a moth
scorching its wings.
"To-night!" he said. "Don't forget!"
"No." And smothering her face against the puppy's little fat, brown
body, she slipped back into the house.
Ashurst wandered down the lane. At the gate of the wild meadow he
came on the lame man and his cows.
"Beautiful day, Jim!"
"Ah! 'Tes brave weather for the grass. The ashes be later than th'
oaks this year. 'When th' oak before th' ash---'"
Ashurst said idly: "Where were you standing when you saw the gipsy
bogie, Jim?"
"It might be under that big apple tree, as you might say."
"And you really do think it was there?"
The lame man answered cautiously:
"I shouldn't like to say rightly that 't was there. 'Twas in my mind
as 'twas there."
"What do you make of it?"
The lame man lowered his voice.
"They du zay old master, Mist' Narracombe come o' gipsy stock. But
that's tellin'. They'm a wonderful people, yu know, for claimin'
their own. Maybe they knu 'e was goin', and sent this feller along
for company. That's what I've a-thought about it."
"What was he like?"
"'E 'ad 'air all over 'is face, an' goin' like this, he was, zame as
if 'e 'ad a viddle. They zay there's no such thing as bogies, but
I've a-zeen the 'air on this dog standin' up of a dark naight, when I
couldn' zee nothin', meself."
"Was there a moon?"
"Yeas, very near full, but 'twas on'y just risen, gold-like be'ind
them trees."
"And you think a ghost means trouble, do you?"
The lame man pushed his hat up; his aspiring eyes looked at Ashurst
more earnestly than ever.
"'Tes not for me to zay that but 'tes they bein' so unrestin'like.
There's things us don' understand, that's zartin, for zure. There's
people that zee things, tu, an' others that don't never zee nothin'.
Now, our Joe--yu might putt anything under'is eyes an e'd never zee
it; and them other boys, tu, they'm rattlin' fellers. But yu take
an' putt our Megan where there's suthin', she'll zee it, an' more tu,
or I'm mistaken."
"She's sensitive, that's why."
"What's that?"
"I mean, she feels everything."
"Ah! She'm very lovin'-'earted."
Ashurst, who felt colour coming into his cheeks, held out his tobacco
pouch.
"Have a fill, Jim?"
"Thank 'ee, sir. She'm one in an 'underd, I think."
"I expect so," said Ashurst shortly, and folding up his pouch, walked
on.
"Lovin'-hearted! "Yes! And what was he doing? What were his
intentions-as they say towards this loving-hearted girl? The thought
dogged him, wandering through fields bright with buttercups, where
the little red calves were feeding, and the swallows flying high.
Yes, the oaks were before the ashes, brown-gold already; every tree
in different stage and hue. The cuckoos and a thousand birds were
singing; the little streams were very bright. The ancients believed
in a golden age, in the garden of the Hesperides!... A queen wasp
settled on his sleeve. Each queen wasp killed meant two thousand
fewer wasps to thieve the apples which would grow from that blossom
in the orchard; but who, with love in his heart, could kill anything
on a day like this? He entered a field where a young red bull was
feeding. It seemed to Ashurst that he looked like Joe. But the
young bull took no notice of this visitor, a little drunk himself,
perhaps, on the singing and the glamour of the golden pasture, under
his short legs. Ashurst crossed out unchallenged to the hillside
above the stream. From that slope a for mounted to its crown of
rocks. The ground there was covered with a mist of bluebells, and
nearly a score of crab-apple trees were in full bloom. He threw
himself down on the grass. The change from the buttercup glory and
oak-goldened glamour of the fields to this ethereal beauty under the
grey for filled him with a sort of wonder; nothing the same, save the
sound of running water and the songs of the cuckoos. He lay there a
long time, watching the sunlight wheel till the crab-trees threw
shadows over the bluebells, his only companions a few wild bees. He
was not quite sane, thinking of that morning's kiss, and of to-night
under the apple tree. In such a spot as this, fauns and dryads
surely lived; nymphs, white as the crab-apple blossom, retired within
those trees; fauns, brown as the dead bracken, with pointed ears, lay
in wait for them. The cuckoos were still calling when he woke, there
was the sound of running water; but the sun had couched behind the
tor, the hillside was cool, and some rabbits had come out.
'Tonight!' he thought. Just as from the earth everything was pushing
up, unfolding under the soft insistent fingers of an unseen hand, so
were his heart and senses being pushed, unfolded. He got up and
broke off a spray from a crab-apple tree. The buds were like Megan--
shell-like, rose-pink, wild, and fresh; and so, too, the opening
flowers, white, and wild; and touching. He put the spray into his
coat. And all the rush of the spring within him escaped in a
triumphant sigh. But the rabbits scurried away.
6
It was nearly eleven that night when Ashurst put down the pocket
"Odyssey" which for half an hour he had held in his hands without
reading, and slipped through the yard down to the orchard. The moon
had just risen, very golden, over the hill, and like a bright,
powerful, watching spirit peered through the bars of an ash tree's
half-naked boughs. In among the apple trees it was still dark, and
he stood making sure of his direction, feeling the rough grass with
his feet. A black mass close behind him stirred with a heavy
grunting sound, and three large pigs settled down again close to each
other, under the wall. He listened. There was no wind, but the
stream's burbling whispering chuckle had gained twice its daytime
strength. One bird, he could not tell what, cried "Pippip," "Pip-
pip," with perfect monotony; he could hear a night-Jar spinning very
far off; an owl hooting. Ashurst moved a step or two, and again
halted, aware of a dim living whiteness all round his head. On the
dark unstirring trees innumerable flowers and buds all soft and
blurred were being bewitched to life by the creeping moonlight. He
had the oddest feeling of actual companionship, as if a million white
moths or spirits had floated in and settled between dark sky and
darker ground, and were opening and shutting their wings on a level
with his eyes. In the bewildering, still, scentless beauty of that
moment he almost lost memory of why he had come to the orchard. The
flying glamour which had clothed the earth all day had not gone now
that night had fallen, but only changed into this new form. He moved
on through the thicket of stems and boughs covered with that live
powdering whiteness, till he reached the big apple tree. No
mistaking that, even in the dark, nearly twice the height and size of
any other, and leaning out towards the open meadows and the stream.
Under the thick branches he stood still again, to listen. The same
sounds exactly, and a faint grunting from the sleepy pigs. He put
his hands on the dry, almost warm tree trunk, whose rough mossy
surface gave forth a peaty scent at his touch. Would she come--would
she? And among these quivering, haunted, moon-witched trees he was
seized with doubts of everything! All was unearthly here, fit for no
earthly lovers; fit only for god and goddess, faun and nymph not for
him and this little country girl. Would it not be almost a relief if
she did not come? But all the time he was listening. And still that
unknown bird went "Pip-pip," "Pip-pip," and there rose the busy
chatter of the little trout stream, whereon the moon was flinging
glances through the bars of her tree-prison. The blossom on a level
with his eyes seemed to grow more living every moment, seemed with
its mysterious white beauty more and more a part of his suspense. He
plucked a fragment and held it close--three blossoms. Sacrilege to
pluck fruit-tree blossom--soft, sacred, young blossom--and throw it
away! Then suddenly he heard the gate close, the pigs stirring again
and grunting; and leaning against the trunk, he pressed his hands to
its mossy sides behind him, and held his breath. She might have been
a spirit threading the trees, for all the noise she made! Then he
saw her quite close--her dark form part of a little tree, her white
face part of its blossom; so still, and peering towards him.
He whispered: "Megan!" and held out his hands. She ran forward,
straight to his breast. When he felt her heart beating against him,
Ashurst knew to the full the sensations of chivalry and passion.
Because she was not of his world, because she was so simple and young
and headlong, adoring and defenceless, how could he be other than her
protector, in the dark! Because she was all simple Nature and
beauty, as much a part of this spring night as was the living
blossom, how should he not take all that she would give him how not
fulfil the spring in her heart and his! And torn between these two
emotions he clasped her close, and kissed her hair. How long they
stood there without speaking he knew not. The stream went on
chattering, the owls hooting, the moon kept stealing up and growing
whiter; the blossom all round them and above brightened in suspense
of living beauty. Their lips had sought each other's, and they did
not speak. The moment speech began all would be unreal! Spring has
no speech, nothing but rustling and whispering. Spring has so much
more than speech in its unfolding flowers and leaves, and the
coursing of its streams, and in its sweet restless seeking! And
sometimes spring will come alive, and, like a mysterious Presence
stand, encircling lovers with its arms, laying on them the fingers of
enchantment, so that, standing lips to lips, they forget everything
but just a kiss. While her heart beat against him, and her lips
quivered on his, Ashurst felt nothing but simple rapture--Destiny
meant her for his arms, Love could not be flouted! But when their
lips parted for breath, division began again at once. Only, passion
now was so much the stronger, and he sighed:
"Oh! Megan! Why did you come?" She looked up, hurt, amazed.
"Sir, you asked me to."
"Don't call me 'sir,' my pretty sweet." "What should I be callin"
you?"
"Frank."
"I could not. Oh, no!"
"But you love me--don't you?"
"I could not help lovin' you. I want to be with you--that's all."
"All!"
So faint that he hardly heard, she whispered: "I shall die if I can't
be with you."
Ashurst took a mighty breath.
"Come and be with me, then!"
"Oh!"
Intoxicated by the awe and rapture in that "Oh!" he went on,
whispering:
"We'll go to London. I'll show you the world.
And I will take care of you, I promise, Megan. I'll never be a brute
to you!"
"If I can be with you-that is all."
He stroked her hair, and whispered on:
"To-morrow I'll go to Torquay and get some money, and get you some
clothes that won't be noticed, and then we'll steal away. And when
we get to London, soon perhaps, if you love me well enough, we'll be
married."
He could feel her hair shiver with the shake of her head.
"Oh, no! I could not. I only want to be with you!"
Drunk on his own chivalry, Ashurst went on murmuring "It's I who am
not good enough for you. Oh! Megan, when did you begin to love me?"
"When I saw you in the road, and you looked at me. The first night I
loved you; but I never thought you would want me."
She slipped down suddenly to her knees, trying to kiss his feet.
A shiver of horror went through Ashurst; he lifted her up bodily and
held her fast--too upset to speak.
She whispered: "Why won't you let me?"
"It's I who will kiss your feet!"
Her smile brought tears into his eyes. The whiteness of her moonlit
face so close to his, the faint pink of her opened lips, had the
living unearthly beauty of the apple blossom.
And then, suddenly, her eyes widened and stared past him painfully;
she writhed out of his arms, and whispered: "Look!"
Ashurst saw nothing but the brightened stream, the furze faintly
gilded, the beech trees glistening, and behind them all the wide loom
of the moonlit hill. Behind him came her frozen whisper: "The gipsy
bogie!"
"Where?"
"There--by the stone--under the trees!"
Exasperated, he leaped the stream, and strode towards the beech
clump. Prank of the moonlight! Nothing! In and out of the boulders
and thorn trees, muttering and cursing, yet with a kind of terror, he
rushed and stumbled. Absurd! Silly! Then he went back to the apple
tree. But she was gone; he could hear a rustle, the grunting of the
pigs, the sound of a gate closing. Instead of her, only this old
apple tree! He flung his arms round the trunk. What a substitute
for her soft body; the rough moss against his face--what a substitute
for her soft cheek; only the scent, as of the woods, a little the
same! And above him, and around, the blossoms, more living, more
moonlit than ever, seemed to glow and breathe.
7
Descending from the train at Torquay station, Ashurst wandered
uncertainly along the front, for he did not know this particular
queen of English watering places. Having little sense of what he had
on, he was quite unconscious of being remarkable among its
inhabitants, and strode along in his rough Norfolk jacket, dusty
boots, and battered hat, without observing that people gazed at him
rather blankly. He was seeking a branch of his London bank, and
having found one, found also the first obstacle to his mood. Did he
know anyone in Torquay? No. In that case, if he would wire to his
bank in London, they would be happy to oblige him on receipt of the
reply. That suspicious breath from the matter-of-fact world somewhat
tarnished the brightness of his visions. But he sent the telegram.
Nearly opposite to the post office he saw a shop full of ladies'
garments, and examined the window with strange sensations. To have
to undertake the clothing of his rustic love was more than a little
disturbing. He went in. A young woman came forward; she had blue
eyes and a faintly puzzled forehead. Ashurst stared at her in
silence.
"Yes, sir?"
"I want a dress for a young lady."
The young woman smiled. Ashurst frowned the peculiarity of his
request struck him with sudden force.
The young woman added hastily:
"What style would you like--something modish?"
"No. Simple."
"What figure would the young lady be?"
"I don't know; about two inches shorter than you, I should say."
"Could you give me her waist measurement?"
Megan's waist!
"Oh! anything usual!"
"Quite!"
While she was gone he stood disconsolately eyeing the models in the
window, and suddenly it seemed to him incredible that Megan--his
Megan could ever be dressed save in the rough tweed skirt, coarse
blouse, and tam-o'-shanter cap he was wont to see her in. The young
woman had come back with several dresses in her arms, and Ashurst
eyed her laying them against her own modish figure. There was one
whose colour he liked, a dove-grey, but to imagine Megan clothed in
it was beyond him. The young woman went away, and brought some more.
But on Ashurst there had now come a feeling of paralysis. How
choose? She would want a hat too, and shoes, and gloves; and,
suppose, when he had got them all, they commonised her, as Sunday
clothes always commonised village folk! Why should she not travel as
she was? Ah! But conspicuousness would matter; this was a serious
elopement. And, staring at the young woman, he thought: 'I wonder if
she guesses, and thinks me a blackguard?'
"Do you mind putting aside that grey one for me?" he said
desperately at last. "I can't decide now; I'll come in again this
afternoon."
The young woman sighed.
"Oh! certainly. It's a very tasteful costume. I don't think you'll
get anything that will suit your purpose better."
"I expect not," Ashurst murmured, and went out.
Freed again from the suspicious matter-of-factness of the world, he
took a long breath, and went back to visions. In fancy he saw the
trustful, pretty creature who was going to join her life to his; saw
himself and her stealing forth at night, walking over the moor under
the moon, he with his arm round her, and carrying her new garments,
till, in some far-off wood, when dawn was coming, she would slip off
her old things and put on these, and an early train at a distant
station would bear them away on their honeymoon journey, till London
swallowed them up, and the dreams of love came true.
"Frank Ashurst! Haven't seen you since Rugby, old chap!"
Ashurst's frown dissolved; the face, close to his own, was blue-eyed,
suffused with sun--one of those faces where sun from within and
without join in a sort of lustre. And he answered:
"Phil Halliday, by Jove!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh! nothing. Just looking round, and getting some money. I'm
staying on the moor."
"Are you lunching anywhere? Come and lunch with us; I'm here with my
young sisters. They've had measles."
Hooked in by that friendly arm Ashurst went along, up a hill, down a
hill, away out of the town, while the voice of Halliday, redolent of
optimism as his face was of sun, explained how "in this mouldy place
the only decent things were the bathing and boating," and so on, till
presently they came to a crescent of houses a little above and back
from the sea, and into the centre one an hotel--made their way.
"Come up to my room and have a wash. Lunch'll be ready in a jiffy."
Ashurst contemplated his visage in a looking-glass. After his
farmhouse bedroom, the comb and one spare shirt regime of the last
fortnight, this room littered with clothes and brushes was a sort of
Capua; and he thought: 'Queer--one doesn't realise But what--he did
not quite know.
When he followed Halliday into the sitting room for lunch, three
faces, very fair and blue-eyed, were turned suddenly at the words:
"This is Frank Ashurst my young sisters."
Two were indeed young, about eleven and ten. The third was perhaps
seventeen, tall and fair-haired too, with pink-and-white cheeks just
touched by the sun, and eyebrows, rather darker than the hair,
running a little upwards from her nose to their outer points. The
voices of all three were like Halliday's, high and cheerful; they
stood up straight, shook hands with a quick movement, looked at
Ashurst critically, away again at once, and began to talk of what
they were going to do in the afternoon. A regular Diana and
attendant nymphs! After the farm this crisp, slangy, eager talk,
this cool, clean, off-hand refinement, was queer at first, and then
so natural that what he had come from became suddenly remote. The
names of the two little ones seemed to be Sabina and Freda; of the
eldest, Stella.
Presently the one called Sabina turned to him and said:
"I say, will you come shrimping with us?--it's awful fun!"
Surprised by this unexpected friendliness, Ashurst murmured:
"I'm afraid I've got to get back this afternoon."
"Oh!"
"Can't you put it off?"
Ashurst turned to the new speaker, Stella, shook his head, and
smiled. She was very pretty! Sabina said regretfully: "You might!"
Then the talk switched off to caves and swimming.
"Can you swim far?"
"About two miles."
"Oh!"
"I say!"
"How jolly!"
The three pairs of blue eyes, fixed on him, made him conscious of his
new importance--The sensation was agreeable. Halliday said:
"I say, you simply must stop and have a bathe. You'd better stay the
night."
"Yes, do!"'
But again Ashurst smiled and shook his head. Then suddenly he found
himself being catechised about his physical achievements. He had
rowed--it seemed--in his college boat, played in his college football
team, won his college mile; and he rose from table a sort of hero.
The two little girls insisted that he must see "their" cave, and they
set forth chattering like magpies, Ashurst between them, Stella and
her brother a little behind. In the cave, damp and darkish like any
other cave, the great feature was a pool with possibility of
creatures which might be caught and put into bottles. Sabina and
Freda, who wore no stockings on their shapely brown legs, exhorted
Ashurst to join them in the middle of it, and help sieve the water.
He too was soon bootless and sockless. Time goes fast for one who
has a sense of beauty, when there are pretty children in a pool and a
young Diana on the edge, to receive with wonder anything you can
catch! Ashurst never had much sense of time. It was a shock when,
pulling out his watch, he saw it was well past three. No cashing his
cheque to-day-the bank would be closed before he could get there.
Watching his expression, the little girls cried out at once:
"Hurrah! Now you'll have to stay!"
Ashurst did not answer. He was seeing again Megan's face, when at
breakfast time he had whispered: "I'm going to Torquay, darling, to
get everything; I shall be back this evening. If it's fine we can go
to-night. Be ready." He was seeing again how she quivered and hung
on his words. What would she think? Then he pulled himself
together, conscious suddenly of the calm scrutiny of this other young
girl, so tall and fair and Diana-like, at the edge of the pool, of
her wondering blue eyes under those brows which slanted up a little.
If they knew what was in his mind--if they knew that this very night
he had meant! Well, there would be a little sound of disgust, and he
would be alone in the cave. And with a curious mixture of anger,
chagrin, and shame, he put his watch back into his pocket and said
abruptly:
"Yes; I'm dished for to-day."
"Hurrah! Now you can bathe with us."
It was impossible not to succumb a little to the contentment of these
pretty children, to the smile on Stella's lips, to Halliday's
"Ripping, old chap! I can lend you things for the night!" But again
a spasm of longing and remorse throbbed through Ashurst, and he said
moodily:
"I must send a wire!"
The attractions of the pool palling, they went back to the hotel.
Ashurst sent his wire, addressing it to Mrs. Narracombe: "Sorry,
detained for the night, back to-morrow." Surely Megan would
understand that he had too much to do; and his heart grew lighter.
It was a lovely afternoon, warm, the sea calm and blue, and swimming
his great passion; the favour of these pretty children flattered him,
the pleasure of looking at them, at Stella, at Halliday's sunny face;
the slight unreality, yet extreme naturalness of it all--as of a last
peep at normality before be took this plunge with Megan! He got his
borrowed bathing dress, and they all set forth. Halliday and he
undressed behind one rock, the three girls behind another. He was
first into the sea, and at once swam out with the bravado of
justifying his self-given reputation. When he turned he could see
Halliday swimming along shore, and the girls flopping and dipping,
and riding the little waves, in the way he was accustomed to despise,
but now thought pretty and sensible, since it gave him the
distinction of the only deep-water fish. But drawing near, he
wondered if they would like him, a stranger, to come into their
splashing group; he felt shy, approaching that slim nymph. Then
Sabina summoned him to teach her to float, and between them the
little girls kept him so busy that he had no time even to notice
whether Stella was accustomed to his presence, till suddenly he heard
a startled sound from her: She was standing submerged to the waist,
leaning a little forward, her slim white arms stretched out and
pointing, her wet face puckered by the sun and an expression of fear.
"Look at Phil! Is he all right? Oh, look!"
Ashurst saw at once that Phil was not all right. He was splashing
and struggling out of his depth, perhaps a hundred yards away;
suddenly he gave a cry, threw up his arms, and went down. Ashurst
saw the girl launch herself towards him, and crying out: "Go back,
Stella! Go back!" he dashed out. He had never swum so fast, and
reached Halliday just as he was coming up a second time. It was a
case of cramp, but to get him in was not difficult, for he did not
struggle. The girl, who had stopped where Ashurst told her to,
helped as soon as he was in his depth, and once on the beach they sat
down one on each side of him to rub his limbs, while the little ones
stood by with scared faces. Halliday was soon smiling. It was--he
said--rotten of him, absolutely rotten! If Frank would give him an
arm, he could get to his clothes all right now. Ashurst gave him the
arm, and as he did so caught sight of Stella's face, wet and flushed
and tearful, all broken up out of its calm; and he thought: 'I called
her Stella! Wonder if she minded?'
While they were dressing, Halliday said quietly "You saved my life,
old chap!"
"Rot!,"
Clothed, but not quite in their right minds, they went up all
together to the hotel and sat down to tea, except Halliday, who was
lying down in his room. After some slices of bread and jam, Sabina
said:
"I say, you know, you are a brick!" And Freda chimed in:
"Rather!"
Ashurst saw Stella looking down; he got up in confusion, and went to
the window. From there he heard Sabina mutter: "I say, let's swear
blood bond. Where's your knife, Freda?" and out of the corner of
his eye could see each of them solemnly prick herself, squeeze out a
drop of blood and dabble on a bit of paper. He turned and made for
the door.
"Don't be a stoat! Come back!" His arms were seized; imprisoned
between the little girls he was brought back to the table. On it lay
a piece of paper with an effigy drawn in blood, and the three names
Stella Halliday, Sabina Halliday, Freda Halliday--also in blood,
running towards it like the rays of a star. Sabina said:
"That's you. We shall have to kiss you, you know."
And Freda echoed:
"Oh! Blow--Yes!"
Before Ashurst could escape, some wettish hair dangled against his
face, something like a bite descended on his nose, he felt his left
arm pinched, and other teeth softly searching his cheek. Then he was
released, and Freda said:
"Now, Stella."
Ashurst, red and rigid, looked across the table at a red and rigid
Stella. Sabina giggled; Freda cried:
'Buck up--it spoils everything!"
A queer, ashamed eagerness shot through Ashurst: then he said
quietly:
"Shut up, you little demons!"
Again Sabina giggled.
"Well, then, she can kiss her hand, and you can put it against your
nose. It is on one side!"
To his amazement the girl did kiss her hand and stretch it out.
Solemnly he took that cool, slim hand and laid it to his cheek. The
two little girls broke into clapping, and Freda said:
"Now, then, we shall have to save your life at any time; that's
settled. Can I have another cup, Stella, not so beastly weak?"
Tea was resumed, and Ashurst, folding up the paper, put it in his
pocket. The talk turned on the advantages of measles, tangerine
oranges, honey in a spoon, no lessons, and so forth. Ashurst
listened, silent, exchanging friendly looks with Stella, whose face
was again of its normal sun-touched pink and white. It was soothing
to be so taken to the heart of this jolly family, fascinating to
watch their faces. And after tea, while the two little girls pressed
seaweed, he talked to Stella in the window seat and looked at her
water-colour sketches. The whole thing was like a pleasurable dream;
time and incident hung up, importance and reality suspended.
Tomorrow he would go back to Megan, with nothing of all this left
save the paper with the blood of these children, in his pocket.
Children! Stella was not quite that--as old as Megan! Her talk--
quick, rather hard and shy, yet friendly--seemed to flourish on his
silences, and about her there was something cool and virginal--a
maiden in a bower. At dinner, to which Halliday, who had swallowed
too much sea-water, did not come, Sabina said:
"I'm going to call you Frank."
Freda echoed:
"Frank, Frank, Franky."
Ashurst grinned and bowed.
"Every time Stella calls you Mr. Ashurst, she's got to pay a forfeit.
It's ridiculous."
Ashurst looked at Stella, who grew slowly red. Sabina giggled; Freda
cried:
"She's 'smoking'--'smoking!'--Yah!"
Ashurst reached out to right and left, and grasped some fair hair in
each hand.
"Look here," he said, "you two! Leave Stella alone, or I'll tie you
together!"
Freda gurgled:
"Ouch! You are a beast!"
Sabina murmured cautiously:
"You call her Stella, you see!"
"Why shouldn't I? It's a jolly name!"
"All right; we give you leave to!"
Ashurst released the hair. Stella! What would she call him--after
this? But she called him nothing; till at bedtime he said,
deliberately:
"Good-night, Stella!"
"Good-night, Mr.---- Good-night, Frank! It was jolly of you, you
know!"
"Oh-that! Bosh!"
Her quick, straight handshake tightened suddenly, and as suddenly
became slack.
Ashurst stood motionless in the empty sitting-room. Only last night,
under the apple tree and the living blossom, he had held Megan to
him, kissing her eyes and lips. And he gasped, swept by that rush of
remembrance. To-night it should have begun-his life with her who
only wanted to be with him! And now, twenty-four hours and more must
pass, because-of not looking at his watch! Why had he made friends
with this family of innocents just when he was saying good-bye to
innocence, and all the rest of it? 'But I mean to marry her,' he
thought; 'I told her so!'
He took a candle, lighted it, and went to his bedroom, which was next
to Halliday's. His friend's voice called, as he was passing:
"Is that you, old chap? I say, come in."
He was sitting up in bed, smoking a pipe and reading.
"Sit down a bit."
Ashurst sat down by the open window.
"I've been thinking about this afternoon, you know," said Halliday
rather suddenly. "They say you go through all your past. I didn't.
I suppose I wasn't far enough gone."
"What did you think of?"
Halliday was silent for a little, then said quietly
"Well, I did think of one thing--rather odd--of a girl at Cambridge
that I might have--you know; I was glad I hadn't got her on my mind.
Anyhow, old chap, I owe it to you that I'm here; I should have been
in the big dark by now. No more bed, or baccy; no more anything. I
say, what d'you suppose happens to us?"
Ashurst murmured:
"Go out like flames, I expect."
"Phew!"
"We may flicker, and cling about a bit, perhaps."
"H'm! I think that's rather gloomy. I say, I hope my young sisters
have been decent to you?"
"Awfully decent."
Halliday put his pipe down, crossed his hands behind his neck, and
turned his face towards the window.
"They're not bad kids!" he said.
Watching his friend, lying there, with that smile, and the candle-
light on his face, Ashurst shuddered. Quite true! He might have
been lying there with no smile, with all that sunny look gone out for
ever! He might not have been lying there at all, but "sanded" at the
bottom of the sea, waiting for resurrection on the ninth day, was it?
And that smile of Halliday's seemed to him suddenly something
wonderful, as if in it were all the difference between life and
death--the little flame--the all! He got up, and said softly:
"Well, you ought to sleep, I expect. Shall I blow out?"
Halliday caught his hand.
"I can't say it, you know; but it must be rotten to be dead. Good-
night, old boy!"
Stirred and moved, Ashurst squeezed the hand, and went downstairs.
The hall door was still open, and he passed out on to the lawn before
the Crescent. The stars were bright in a very dark blue sky, and by
their light some lilacs had that mysterious colour of flowers by
night which no one can describe. Ashurst pressed his face against a
spray; and before his closed eyes Megan started up, with the tiny
brown spaniel pup against her breast. "I thought of a girl that I
might have you know. I was glad I hadn't got her on my mind!" He
jerked his head away from the lilac, and began pacing up and down
over the grass, a grey phantom coming to substance for a moment in
the light from the lamp at either end. He was with her again under
the living, breathing white ness of the blossom, the stream
chattering by, the moon glinting steel-blue on the bathing-pool; back
in the rapture of his kisses on her upturned face of innocence and
humble passion, back in the suspense and beauty of that pagan night.
He stood still once more in the shadow of the lilacs. Here the sea,
not the stream, was Night's voice; the sea with its sigh and rustle;
no little bird, no owl, no night-Jar called or spun; but a piano
tinkled, and the white houses cut the sky with solid curve, and the
scent from the lilacs filled the air. A window of the hotel, high
up, was lighted; he saw a shadow move across the blind. And most
queer sensations stirred within him, a sort of churning, and twining,
and turning of a single emotion on itself, as though spring and love,
bewildered and confused, seeking the way, were baffled. This girl,
who had called him Frank, whose hand had given his that sudden little
clutch, this girl so cool and pure--what would she think of such
wild, unlawful loving? He sank down on the grass, sitting there
cross-legged, with his back to the house, motionless as some carved
Buddha. Was he really going to break through innocence, and steal?
Sniff the scent out of a wild flower, and--perhaps--throw it away?
"Of a girl at Cambridge that I might have--you know!" He put his
hands to the grass, one on each side, palms downwards, and pressed;
it was just warm still--the grass, barely moist, soft and firm and
friendly. 'What am I going to do?' he thought. Perhaps Megan was at
her window, looking out at the blossom, thinking of him! Poor little
Megan! 'Why not?' he thought. 'I love her! But do I really love
her? or do I only want her because she is so pretty, and loves me?
What am I going to do?' The piano tinkled on, the stars winked; and
Ashurst gazed out before him at the dark sea, as if spell-bound. He
got up at last, cramped and rather chilly. There was no longer light
in any window. And he went in to bed.
Out of a deep and dreamless sleep he was awakened by the sound of
thumping on the door. A shrill voice called:
"Hi! Breakfast's ready."
He jumped up. Where was he--? Ah!
He found them already eating marmalade, and sat down in the empty
place between Stella and Sabina, who, after watching him a little,
said:
"I say, do buck up; we're going to start at half-past nine."
"We're going to Berry Head, old chap; you must come!"
Ashurst thought: 'Come! Impossible. I shall be getting things and
going back.' He looked at Stella. She said quickly:
"Do come!"
Sabina chimed in:
"It'll be no fun without you."
Freda got up and stood behind his chair.
"You've got to come, or else I'll pull your hair!"
Ashurst thought: 'Well--one day more--to think it over! One day
more!' And he said:
"All right! You needn't tweak my mane!"
"Hurrah!"
At the station he wrote a second telegram to the farm, and then tore
it up; he could not have explained why. From Brixham they drove in a
very little wagonette. There, squeezed between Sabina and Freda,
with his knees touching Stella's, they played "Up, Jenkins "; and the
gloom he was feeling gave way to frolic. In this one day more to
think it over, he did not want to think! They ran races, wrestled,
paddled--for to-day nobody wanted to bathe--they sang catches, played
games, and ate all they had brought. The little girls fell asleep
against him on the way back, and his knees still touched Stella's in
the narrow wagonette. It seemed incredible that thirty hours ago he
had never set eyes on any of those three flaxen heads. In the train
he talked to Stella of poetry, discovering her favourites, and
telling her his own with a pleasing sense of superiority; till
suddenly she said, rather low:
"Phil says you don't believe in a future life, Frank. I think that's
dreadful."
Disconcerted, Ashurst muttered:
"I don't either believe or not believe--I simply don't know."
She said quickly:
"I couldn't bear that. What would be the use of living?"
Watching the frown of those pretty oblique brows, Ashurst answered:
"I don't believe in believing things because a one wants to."
"But why should one wish to live again, if one isn't going to?"
And she looked full at him.
He did not want to hurt her, but an itch to dominate pushed him on to
say:
"While one's alive one naturally wants to go on living for ever;
that's part of being alive. But it probably isn't anything more."
"Don't you believe in the Bible at all, then?"
Ashurst thought: 'Now I shall really hurt her!'
"I believe in the Sermon on the Mount, because it's beautiful and
good for all time."
"But don't you believe Christ was divine?"
He shook his head.
She turned her face quickly to the window, and there sprang into his
mind Megan's prayer, repeated by little Nick: "God bless us all, and
Mr. Ashes!" Who else would ever say a prayer for him, like her who
at this moment must be waiting--waiting to see him come down the
lane? And he thought suddenly: 'What a scoundrel I am!'
All that evening this thought kept coming back; but, as is not
unusual, each time with less poignancy, till it seemed almost a
matter of course to be a scoundrel. And--strange!--he did not know
whether he was a scoundrel if he meant to go back to Megan, or if he
did not mean to go back to her.
They played cards till the children were sent off to bed; then Stella
went to the piano. From over on the window seat, where it was nearly
dark, Ashurst watched her between the candles--that fair head on the
long, white neck bending to the movement of her hands. She played
fluently, without much expression; but what a Picture she made, the
faint golden radiance, a sort of angelic atmosphere hovering about
her! Who could have passionate thoughts or wild desires in the
presence of that swaying, white-clothed girl with the seraphic head?
She played a thing of Schumann's called "Warum?" Then Halliday
brought out a flute, and the spell was broken. After this they made
Ashurst sing, Stella playing him accompaniments from a book of
Schumann songs, till, in the middle of "Ich grolle nicht," two small
figures clad in blue dressing-gowns crept in and tried to conceal
themselves beneath the piano. The evening broke up in confusion, and
what Sabina called "a splendid rag."
That night Ashurst hardly slept at all. He was thinking, tossing and
turning. The intense domestic intimacy of these last two days, the
strength of this Halliday atmosphere, seemed to ring him round, and
make the farm and Megan--even Megan--seem unreal. Had he really made
love to her--really promised to take her away to live with him? He
must have been bewitched by the spring, the night, the apple blossom!
This May madness could but destroy them both! The notion that he was
going to make her his mistress--that simple child not yet eighteen--
now filled him with a sort of horror, even while it still stung and
whipped his blood. He muttered to himself: "It's awful, what I've
done--awful!" And the sound of Schumann's music throbbed and mingled
with his fevered thoughts, and he saw again Stella's cool, white,
fair-haired figure and bending neck, the queer, angelic radiance
about her. 'I must have been--I must be-mad!' he thought. 'What
came into me? Poor little Megan!' "God bless us all, and Mr.
Ashes!" "I want to be with you--only to be with you!" And burying
his face in his pillow, he smothered down a fit of sobbing. Not to
go back was awful! To go back--more awful still!
Emotion, when you are young, and give real vent to it, loses its
power of torture. And he fell asleep, thinking: 'What was it--a few
kisses--all forgotten in a month!'
Next morning he got his cheque cashed, but avoided the shop of the
dove-grey dress like the plague; and, instead, bought himself some
necessaries. He spent the whole day in a queer mood, cherishing a
kind of sullenness against himself. Instead of the hankering of the
last two days, he felt nothing but a blank--all passionate longing
gone, as if quenched in that outburst of tears. After tea Stella put
a book down beside him, and said shyly:
"Have you read that, Frank?"
It was Farrar's "Life of Christ." Ashurst smiled. Her anxiety about
his beliefs seemed to him comic, but touching. Infectious too,
perhaps, for he began to have an itch to justify himself, if not to
convert her. And in the evening, when the children and Halliday were
mending their shrimping nets, he said:
"At the back of orthodox religion, so far as I can see, there's
always the idea of reward--what you can get for being good; a kind of
begging for favours. I think it all starts in fear."
She was sitting on the sofa making reefer knots with a bit of string.
She looked up quickly:
"I think it's much deeper than that."
Ashurst felt again that wish to dominate.
"You think so," he said; "but wanting the 'quid pro quo' is about the
deepest thing in all of us! It's jolly hard to get to the bottom of
it!"
She wrinkled her brows in a puzzled frown.
"I don't think I understand."
He went on obstinately:
"Well, think, and see if the most religious people aren't those who
feel that this life doesn't give them all they want. I believe in
being good because to be good is good in itself."
"Then you do believe in being good?"
How pretty she looked now--it was easy to be good with her! And he
nodded and said:
"I say, show me how to make that knot!"
With her fingers touching his, in manoeuvring the bit of string, he
felt soothed and happy. And when he went to bed he wilfully kept his
thoughts on her, wrapping himself in her fair, cool sisterly
radiance, as in some garment of protection.
Next day he found they had arranged to go by train to Totnes, and
picnic at Berry Pomeroy Castle. Still in that resolute oblivion of
the past, he took his place with them in the landau beside Halliday,
back to the horses. And, then, along the sea front, nearly at the
turning to the railway station, his heart almost leaped into his
mouth. Megan--Megan herself!--was walking on the far pathway, in her
old skirt and jacket and her tam-o'-shanter, looking up into the
faces of the passers-by. Instinctively he threw his hand up for
cover, then made a feint of clearing dust out of his eyes; but
between his fingers he could see her still, moving, not with her free
country step, but wavering, lost-looking, pitiful-like some little
dog which has missed its master and does not know whether to run on,
to run back--where to run. How had she come like this?--what excuse
had she found to get away?--what did she hope for? But with every
turn of the wheels bearing him away from her, his heart revolted and
cried to him to stop them, to get out, and go to her! When the
landau turned the corner to the station he could stand it no more,
and opening the carriage door, muttered: "I've forgotten something!
Go on--don't wait for me! I'll join you at the castle by the next
train!" He jumped, stumbled, spun round, recovered his balance, and
walked forward, while the carriage with the astonished Hallidays
rolled on.
>From the corner he could only just see Megan, a long way ahead now.
He ran a few steps, checked himself, and dropped into a walk. With
each step nearer to her, further from the Hallidays, he walked more
and more slowly. How did it alter anything--this sight of her? How
make the going to her, and that which must come of it, less ugly?
For there was no hiding it--since he had met the Hallidays he had
become gradually sure that he would not marry Megan. It would only
be a wild love-time, a troubled, remorseful, difficult time--and
then--well, then he would get tired, just because she gave him
everything, was so simple, and so trustful, so dewy. And dew--wears
off! The little spot of faded colour, her tam-o'-shanter cap,
wavered on far in front of him; she was looking up into every face,
and at the house windows. Had any man ever such a cruel moment to go
through? Whatever he did, he felt he would be a beast. And he
uttered a groan which made a nursemaid turn and stare. He saw Megan
stop and lean against the sea-wall, looking at the sea; and he too
stopped. Quite likely she had never seen the sea before, and even in
her distress could not resist that sight. 'Yes-she's seen nothing,'
he thought; 'everything's before her. And just for a few weeks'
passion, I shall be cutting her life to ribbons. I'd better go and
hang myself rather than do it!' And suddenly he seemed to see
Stella's calm eyes looking into his, the wave of fluffy hair on her
forehead stirred by the wind. Ah! it would be madness, would mean
giving up all that he respected, and his own self-respect. He turned
and walked quickly back towards the station. But memory of that
poor, bewildered little figure, those anxious eyes searching the
passers-by, smote him too hard again, and once more he turned towards
the sea.
The cap was no longer visible; that little spot of colour had
vanished in the stream of the noon promenaders. And impelled by the
passion of longing, the dearth which comes on one when life seems to
be whirling something out of reach, he hurried forward. She was
nowhere to be seen; for half an hour he looked for her; then on the
beach flung himself face downward in the sand. To find her again he
knew he had only to go to the station and wait till she returned from
her fruitless quest, to take her train home; or to take train himself
and go back to the farm, so that she found him there when she
returned. But he lay inert in the sand, among the indifferent groups
of children with their spades and buckets. Pity at her little figure
wandering, seeking, was well-nigh merged in the spring-running of his
blood; for it was all wild feeling now--the chivalrous part, what
there had been of it, was gone. He wanted her again, wanted her
kisses, her soft, little body, her abandonment, all her quick, warm,
pagan emotion; wanted the wonderful feeling of that night under the
moonlit apple boughs; wanted it all with a horrible intensity, as the
faun wants the nymph. The quick chatter of the little bright trout-
stream, the dazzle of the buttercups, the rocks of the old "wild
men"; the calling of the cuckoos and yaffles, the hooting of the
owls; and the red moon peeping out of the velvet dark at the living
whiteness of the blossom; and her face just out of reach at the
window, lost in its love-look; and her heart against his, her lips
answering his, under the apple tree--all this besieged him. Yet he
lay inert. What was it which struggled against pity and this
feverish longing, and kept him there paralysed in the warm sand?
Three flaxen heads--a fair face with friendly blue--grey eyes, a slim
hand pressing his, a quick voice speaking his name--"So you do
believe in being good?" Yes, and a sort of atmosphere as of some old
walled-in English garden, with pinks, and cornflowers, and roses, and
scents of lavender and lilaccool and fair, untouched, almost holy--
all that he had been brought up to feel was clean and good. And
suddenly he thought: 'She might come along the front again and see
me!' and he got up and made his way to the rock at the far end of the
beach. There, with the spray biting into his face, he could think
more coolly. To go back to the farm and love Megan out in the woods,
among the rocks, with everything around wild and fitting--that, he
knew, was impossible, utterly. To transplant her to a great town, to
keep, in some little flat or rooms, one who belonged so wholly to
Nature--the poet in him shrank from it. His passion would be a mere
sensuous revel, soon gone; in London, her very simplicity, her lack
of all intellectual quality, would make her his secret plaything--
nothing else. The longer he sat on the rock, with his feet dangling
over a greenish pool from which the sea was ebbing, the more clearly
he saw this; but it was as if her arms and all of her were slipping
slowly, slowly down from him, into the pool, to be carried away out
to sea; and her face looking up, her lost face with beseeching eyes,
and dark, wet hair-possessed, haunted, tortured him! He got up at
last, scaled the low rock-cliff, and made his way down into a
sheltered cove. Perhaps in the sea he could get back his control--
lose this fever! And stripping off his clothes, he swam out. He
wanted to tire himself so that nothing mattered and swam recklessly,
fast and far; then suddenly, for no reason, felt afraid. Suppose he
could not reach shore again--suppose the current set him out--or he
got cramp, like Halliday! He turned to swim in. The red cliffs
looked a long way off. If he were drowned they would find his
clothes. The Hallidays would know; but Megan perhaps never--they
took no newspaper at the farm. And Phil Halliday's words came back
to him again: "A girl at Cambridge I might have Glad I haven't got
her on my mind!" And in that moment of unreasoning fear he vowed he
would not have her on his mind. Then his fear left him; he swam in
easily enough, dried himself in the sun, and put on his clothes. His
heart felt sore, but no longer ached; his body cool and refreshed.
When one is as young as Ashurst, pity is not a violent emotion. And,
back in the Hallidays' sitting-room, eating a ravenous tea, he felt
much like a man recovered from fever. Everything seemed new and
clear; the tea, the buttered toast and jam tasted absurdly good;
tobacco had never smelt so nice. And walking up and down the empty
room, he stopped here and there to touch or look. He took up
Stella's work-basket, fingered the cotton reels and a gaily-coloured
plait of sewing silks, smelt at the little bag filled with woodroffe
she kept among them. He sat down at the piano, playing tunes with
one finger, thinking: 'To-night she'll play; I shall watch her while
she's playing; it does me good to watch her.' He took up the book,
which still lay where she had placed it beside him, and tried to
read. But Megan's little, sad figure began to come back at once, and
he got up and leaned in the window, listening to the thrushes in the
Crescent gardens, gazing at the sea, dreamy and blue below the trees.
A servant came in and cleared the tea away, and he still stood,
inhaling the evening air, trying not to think. Then he saw the
Hallidays coming through the gate of the Crescent, Stella a little in
front of Phil and the children, with their baskets, and instinctively
he drew back. His heart, too sore and discomfited, shrank from this
encounter, yet wanted its friendly solace--bore a grudge against this
influence, yet craved its cool innocence, and the pleasure of
watching Stella's face. From against the wall behind the piano he
saw her come in and stand looking a little blank as though
disappointed; then she saw him and smiled, a swift, brilliant smile
which warmed yet irritated Ashurst.
"You never came after us, Frank."
"No; I found I couldn't."
"Look! We picked such lovely late violets!" She held out a bunch.
Ashurst put his nose to them, and there stirred within him vague
longings, chilled instantly by a vision of Megan's anxious face
lifted to the faces of the passers-by.
He said shortly: "How jolly!" and turned away. He went up to his
room, and, avoiding the children, who were coming up the stairs,
threw himself on his bed, and lay there with his arms crossed over
his face. Now that he felt the die really cast, and Megan given up,
he hated himself, and almost hated the Hallidays and their atmosphere
of healthy, happy English homes.
Why should they have chanced here, to drive away first love--to show
him that he was going to be no better than a common seducer? What
right had Stella, with her fair, shy beauty, to make him know for
certain that he would never marry Megan; and, tarnishing it all,
bring him such bitterness of regretful longing and such pity? Megan
would be back by now, worn out by her miserable seeking--poor little
thing!--expecting, perhaps, to find him there when she reached home.
Ashurst bit at his sleeve, to stifle a groan of remorseful longing.
He went to dinner glum and silent, and his mood threw a dinge even
over the children. It was a melancholy, rather ill tempered evening,
for they were all tired; several times he caught Stella looking at
him with a hurt, puzzled expression, and this pleased his evil mood.
He slept miserably; got up quite early, and wandered out. He went
down to the beach. Alone there with the serene, the blue, the sunlit
sea, his heart relaxed a little. Conceited fool--to think that Megan
would take it so hard! In a week or two she would almost have
forgotten! And he well, he would have the reward of virtue! A good
young man! If Stella knew, she would give him her blessing for
resisting that devil she believed in; and he uttered a hard laugh.
But slowly the peace and beauty of sea and sky, the flight of the
lonely seagulls, made him feel ashamed. He bathed, and turned
homewards.
In the Crescent gardens Stella herself was sitting on a camp stool,
sketching. He stole up close behind. How fair and pretty she was,
bent diligently, holding up her brush, measuring, wrinkling her
brows.
He said gently:
"Sorry I was such a beast last night, Stella."
She turned round, startled, flushed very pink, and said in her quick
way:
"It's all right. I knew there was something. Between friends it
doesn't matter, does it?"
Ashurst answered:
"Between friends--and we are, aren't we?"
She looked up at him, nodded vehemently, and her upper teeth gleamed
again in that swift, brilliant smile.
Three days later he went back to London, travelling with the
Hallidays. He had not written to the farm. What was there he could
say?
On the last day of April in the following year he and Stella were
married....
Such were Ashurst's memories, sitting against the wall among the
gorse, on his silver-wedding day. At this very spot, where he had
laid out the lunch, Megan must have stood outlined against the sky
when he had first caught sight of her. Of all queer coincidences!
And there moved in him a longing to go down and see again the farm
and the orchard, and the meadow of the gipsy bogle. It would not
take long; Stella would be an hour yet, perhaps.
How well he remembered it all--the little crowning group of pine
trees, the steep-up grass hill behind! He paused at the farm gate.
The low stone house, the yew-tree porch, the flowering currants--not
changed a bit; even the old green chair was out there on the grass
under the window, where he had reached up to her that night to take
the key. Then he turned down the lane, and stood leaning on the
orchard gate-grey skeleton of a gate, as then. A black pig even was
wandering in there among the trees. Was it true that twenty-six
years had passed, or had he dreamed and awakened to find Megan
waiting for him by the big apple tree? Unconsciously he put up his
hand to his grizzled beard and brought himself back to reality.
Opening the gate, he made his way down through the docks and nettles
till he came to the edge, and the old apple tree itself. Unchanged!
A little more of the greygreen lichen, a dead branch or two, and for
the rest it might have been only last night that he had embraced that
mossy trunk after Megan's flight and inhaled its woody savour, while
above his head the moonlit blossom had seemed to breathe and live.
In that early spring a few buds were showing already; the blackbirds
shouting their songs, a cuckoo calling, the sunlight bright and warm.
Incredibly the same-the chattering trout-stream, the narrow pool he
had lain in every morning, splashing the water over his flanks and
chest; and out there in the wild meadow the beech clump and the stone
where the gipsy bogie was supposed to sit. And an ache for lost
youth, a hankering, a sense of wasted love and sweetness, gripped
Ashurst by the throat. Surely, on this earth of such wild beauty,
one was meant to hold rapture to one's heart, as this earth and sky
held it! And yet, one could not!
He went to the edge of the stream, and looking down at the little
pool, thought: 'Youth and spring! What has become of them all, I
wonder?'
And then, in sudden fear of having this memory jarred by human
encounter, he went back to the lane, and pensively retraced his steps
to the crossroads.
Beside the car an old, grey-bearded labourer was leaning on a stick,
talking to the chauffeur. He broke off at once, as though guilty of
disrespect, and touching his hat, prepared to limp on down the lane.
Ashurst pointed to the narrow green mound. "Can you tell me what
this is?"
The old fellow stopped; on his face had come a look as though he were
thinking: 'You've come to the right shop, mister!'
"'Tes a grave," he said.
"But why out here?"
The old man smiled. "That's a tale, as yu may say. An' not the
first time as I've a-told et--there's plenty folks asks 'bout that
bit o' turf. 'Maid's Grave' us calls et, 'ereabouts."
Ashurst held out his pouch. "Have a fill?"
The old man touched his hat again, and slowly filled an old clay
pipe. His eyes, looking upward out of a mass of wrinkles and hair,
were still quite bright.
"If yu don' mind, zurr, I'll zet down my leg's 'urtin' a bit today."
And he sat down on the mound of turf.
"There's always a flower on this grave. An' 'tain't so very
lonesome, neither; brave lot o' folks goes by now, in they new motor
cars an' things--not as 'twas in th' old days. She've a got company
up 'ere. 'Twas a poor soul killed 'erself."
"I see!" said Ashurst. "Cross-roads burial. I didn't know that
custom was kept up."
"Ah! but 'twas a main long time ago. Us 'ad a parson as was very
God-fearin' then. Let me see, I've a 'ad my pension six year come
Michaelmas, an' I were just on fifty when t'appened. There's none
livin' knows more about et than what I du. She belonged close 'ere;
same farm as where I used to work along o' Mrs. Narracombe 'tes Nick
Narracombe's now; I dus a bit for 'im still, odd times."
Ashurst, who was leaning against the gate, lighting his pipe, left
his curved hands before his face for long after the flame of the
match had gone out.
"Yes?" he said, and to himself his voice sounded hoarse and queer.
"She was one in an 'underd, poor maid! I putts a flower 'ere every
time I passes. Pretty maid an' gude maid she was, though they
wouldn't burry 'er up to th' church, nor where she wanted to be
burried neither." The old labourer paused, and put his hairy,
twisted hand flat down on the turf beside the bluebells.
"Yes?" said Ashurst.
"In a manner of speakin'," the old man went on, "I think as 'twas a
love-story--though there's no one never knu for zartin. Yu can't
tell what's in a maid's 'ead but that's wot I think about it." He
drew his hand along the turf. "I was fond o' that maid--don' know as
there was anyone as wasn' fond of 'er. But she was to lovin'-
'earted--that's where 'twas, I think." He looked up. And Ashurst,
whose lips were trembling in the cover of his beard, murmured again:
"Yes?"
"'Twas in the spring, 'bout now as 't might be, or a little later--
blossom time--an' we 'ad one o' they young college gentlemen stayin'
at the farm-nice feller tu, with 'is 'ead in the air. I liked 'e
very well, an' I never see nothin' between 'em, but to my thinkin' 'e
turned the maid's fancy." The old man took the pipe out of his
mouth, spat, and went on:
"Yu see, 'e went away sudden one day, an' never come back. They got
'is knapsack and bits o' things down there still. That's what stuck
in my mind--'is never sendin' for 'em. 'Is name was Ashes, or
somethen' like that."
"Yes?" said Ashurst once more.
The old man licked his lips.
"'Er never said nothin', but from that day 'er went kind of dazed
lukin'; didn'seem rightly therr at all. I never knu a'uman creature
so changed in me life--never. There was another young feller at the
farm--Joe Biddaford 'is name wer', that was praaperly sweet on 'er,
tu; I guess 'e used to plague 'er wi 'is attentions. She got to luke
quite wild. I'd zee her sometimes of an avenin' when I was bringin'
up the calves; ther' she'd stand in th' orchard, under the big apple
tree, lukin' straight before 'er. 'Well,' I used t'think, 'I dunno
what 'tes that's the matter wi' yu, but yu'm lukin' pittiful, that yu
be!'"
The old man refit his pipe, and sucked at it reflectively.
"Yes?" said Ashurst.
"I remembers one day I said to 'er: 'What's the matter, Megan?'--'er
name was Megan David, she come from Wales same as 'er aunt, ol'
Missis Narracombe. 'Yu'm frettin' about somethin'. I says. 'No,
Jim,' she says, 'I'm not frettin'.' 'Yes, yu be!' I says. 'No,' she
says, and to tears cam' rollin' out. 'Yu'm cryin'--what's that,
then?' I says. She putts 'er 'and over 'er 'eart: 'It 'urts me,' she
says; 'but 'twill sune be better,' she says. 'But if anything shude
'appen to me, Jim, I wants to be burried under this 'ere apple tree.'
I laughed. 'What's goin' to 'appen to yu?' I says; 'don't 'ee be
fulish.' 'No,' she says, ' I won't be fulish.' Well, I know what
maids are, an' I never thought no more about et, till two days arter
that, 'bout six in the avenin' I was comin' up wi' the calves, when I
see somethin' dark lyin' in the strame, close to that big apple tree.
I says to meself: 'Is that a pig-funny place for a pig to get to!'
an' I goes up to et, an' I see what 'twas."
The old man stopped; his eyes, turned upward, had a bright, suffering
look.
"'Twas the maid, in a little narrer pool ther' that's made by the
stoppin' of a rock--where I see the young gentleman bathin' once or
twice. 'Er was lyin' on 'er face in the watter. There was a plant
o' goldie-cups growin' out o' the stone just above 'er'ead. An' when
I come to luke at 'er face, 'twas luvly, butiful, so calm's a baby's-
-wonderful butiful et was. When the doctor saw 'er, 'e said: "Er
culdn' never a-done it in that little bit o' watter ef' er 'adn't a-
been in an extarsy.' Ah! an' judgin' from 'er face, that was just
'ow she was. Et made me cry praaper-butiful et was! 'Twas June
then, but she'd afound a little bit of apple-blossom left over
somewheres, and stuck et in 'er 'air. That's why I thinks 'er must
abeen in an extarsy, to go to et gay, like that. Why! there wasn't
more than a fute and 'arf o' watter. But I tell 'ee one thing--that
meadder's 'arnted; I knu et, an' she knu et; an' no one'll persuade
me as 'tesn't. I told 'em what she said to me 'bout bein' burried
under th' apple tree. But I think that turned 'em--made et luke to
much 's ef she'd 'ad it in 'er mind deliberate; an' so they burried
'er up 'ere. Parson we 'ad then was very particular, 'e was."
Again the old man drew his hand over the turf.
"'Tes wonderful, et seems," he added slowly, "what maids 'll du for
love. She 'ad a lovin-'eart; I guess 'twas broken. But us never knu
nothin'!"
He looked up as if for approval of his story, but Ashurst had walked
past him as if he were not there.
Up on the top of the hill, beyond where he had spread the lunch,
over, out of sight, he lay down on his face. So had his virtue been
rewarded, and "the Cyprian," goddess of love, taken her revenge! And
before his eyes, dim with tears, came Megan's face with the sprig of
apple blossom in her dark, wet hair. 'What did I do that was wrong?'
he thought. 'What did I do?' But he could not answer. Spring, with
its rush of passion, its flowers and song-the spring in his heart and
Megan's! Was it just Love seeking a victim! The Greek was right,
then--the words of the "Hippolytus" as true to-day!
"For mad is the heart of Love,
And gold the gleam of his wing;
And all to the spell thereof
Bend when he makes his spring.
All life that is wild and young
In mountain and wave and stream
All that of earth is sprung,
Or breathes in the red sunbeam;
Yea, and Mankind. O'er all a royal throne,
Cyprian, Cyprian, is thine alone!"
The Greek was right! Megan! Poor little Megan--coming over the
hill! Megan under the old apple tree waiting and looking! Megan
dead, with beauty printed on her!
A voice said:
"Oh, there you are! Look !"
Ashurst rose, took his wife's sketch, and stared at it in silence.
"Is the foreground right, Frank?"
"Yes."
"But there's something wanting, isn't there?"
Ashurst nodded. Wanting? The apple tree, the singing, and the gold!
And solemnly he put his lips to her forehead. It was his silver-
wedding day.
1916
THE JURYMAN
"Don't you see, brother, I was reading yesterday the Gospel
about Christ, the little Father; how He suffered, how He walked
on the earth. I suppose you have heard about it?"
"Indeed, I have," replied Stepanuitch; "but we are people in
darkness; we can't read."--TOLSTOI.
Mr. Henry Bosengate, of the London Stock Exchange, seated himself in
his car that morning during the great war with a sense of injury.
Major in a Volunteer Corps; member of all the local committees;
lending this very car to the neighbouring hospital, at times even
driving it himself for their benefit; subscribing to funds, so far as
his diminished income permitted--he was conscious of being an asset
to the country, and one whose time could not be wasted with impunity.
To be summoned to sit on a jury at the local assizes, and not even
the grand jury at that! It was in the nature of an outrage.
Strong and upright, with hazel eyes and dark eyebrows, pinkish-brown
cheeks, a forehead white, well-shaped, and getting high, with greyish
hair glossy and well-brushed, and a trim moustache, he might have
been taken for that colonel of Volunteers which indeed he was in a
fair way of becoming.
His wife had followed him out under the porch, and stood bracing her
supple body clothed in lilac linen. Red rambler roses formed a sort
of crown to her dark head; her ivory-coloured face had in it just a
suggestion of the Japanese.
Mr. Bosengate spoke through the whirr of the engine:
"I don't expect to be late, dear. This business is ridiculous.
There oughtn't to be any crime in these days."
His wife--her name was Kathleen--smiled. She looked very pretty and
cool, Mr. Bosengate thought. To him bound on this dull and stuffy
business everything he owned seemed pleasant--the geranium beds
beside the gravel drive, his long, red-brick house mellowing
decorously in its creepers and ivy, the little clock-tower over
stables now converted to a garage, the dovecote, masking at the other
end the conservatory which adjoined the billiard-room. Close to the
red-brick lodge his two children, Kate and Harry, ran out from under
the acacia trees, and waved to him, scrambling bare-legged on to the
low, red, ivy-covered wall which guarded his domain of eleven acres.
Mr. Bosengate waved back, thinking: 'Jolly couple--by Jove, they
are!' Above their heads, through the trees, he could see right away
to some Downs, faint in the July heat haze. And he thought: 'Pretty
a spot as one could have got, so close to Town!'
Despite the war he had enjoyed these last two years more than any of
the ten since he built "Charmleigh" and settled down to semi-rural
domesticity with his young wife. There had been a certain piquancy,
a savour added to existence, by the country's peril, and all the
public service and sacrifice it demanded. His chauffeur was gone,
and one gardener did the work of three. He enjoyed-positively
enjoyed, his committee work; even the serious decline of business and
increase of taxation had not much worried one continually conscious
of the national crisis and his own part therein. The country had
wanted waking up, wanted a lesson in effort and economy; and the
feeling that he had not spared himself in these strenuous times, had
given a zest to those quiet pleasures of bed and board which, at his
age, even the most patriotic could retain with a good conscience. He
had denied himself many things--new clothes, presents for Kathleen
and the children, travel, and that pine-apple house which he had been
on the point of building when the war broke out; new wine, too, and
cigars, and membership of the two Clubs which he had never used in
the old days. The hours had seemed fuller and longer, sleep better
earned--wonderful, the things one could do without when put to it!
He turned the car into the high road, driving dreamily for he was in
plenty of time. The war was going pretty well now; he was no fool
optimist, but now that conscription was in force, one might
reasonably hope for its end within a year. Then there would be a
boom, and one might let oneself go a little. Visions of theatres and
supper with his wife at the Savoy afterwards, and cosy night drives
back into the sweet-smelling country behind your own chauffeur once
more teased a fancy which even now did not soar beyond the confines
of domestic pleasures. He pictured his wife in new dresses by Jay--
she was fifteen years younger than himself, and "paid for dressing"
as they said. He had always delighted--as men older than their wives
will--in the admiration she excited from others not privileged to
enjoy her charms. Her rather queer and ironical beauty, her cool
irreproachable wifeliness, was a constant balm to him. They would
give dinner parties again, have their friends down from town, and he
would once more enjoy sitting at the foot of the dinner table while
Kathleen sat at the head, with the light soft on her ivory shoulders,
behind flowers she had arranged in that original way of hers, and
fruit which he had grown in his hot-houses; once more he would take
legitimate interest in the wine he offered to his guests--once more
stock that Chinese cabinet wherein he kept cigars. Yes--there was a
certain satisfaction in these days of privation, if only from the
anticipation they created.
The sprinkling of villas had become continuous on either side of the
high road; and women going out to shop, tradesmen's boys delivering
victuals, young men in khaki, began to abound. Now and then a
limping or bandaged form would pass--some bit of human wreckage; and
Mr. Bosengate would think mechanically: 'Another of those poor
devils! Wonder if we've had his case before us!'
Running his car into the best hotel garage of the little town, he
made his way leisurely over to the court. It stood back from the
market-place, and was already lapped by a sea of persons having, as
in the outer ring at race meetings, an air of business at which one
must not be caught out, together with a soaked or flushed appearance.
Mr. Bosengate could not resist putting his handkerchief to his nose.
He had carefully drenched it with lavender water, and to this fact
owed, perhaps, his immunity from the post of foreman on the jury--
for, say what you will about the English, they have a deep instinct
for affairs.
He found himself second in the front row of the jury box, and through
the odour of "Sanitas" gazed at the judge's face expressionless up
there, for all the world like a bewigged bust. His fellows in the
box had that appearance of falling between two classes characteristic
of jurymen. Mr. Bosengate was not impressed. On one side of him the
foreman sat, a prominent upholsterer, known in the town as "Gentleman
Fox." His dark and beautifully brushed and oiled hair and moustache,
his radiant linen, gold watch and chain, the white piping to his
waistcoat, and a habit of never saying "Sir" had long marked him out
from commoner men; he undertook to bury people too, to save them
trouble; and was altogether superior. On the other side Mr.
Bosengate had one of those men, who, except when they sit on juries,
are never seen without a little brown bag, and the appearance of
having been interrupted in a drink. Pale and shiny, with large loose
eyes shifting from side to side, he had an underdone voice and uneasy
flabby hands. Mr. Bosengate disliked sitting next to him. Beyond
this commercial traveller sat a dark pale young man with spectacles;
beyond him again, a short old man with grey moustache, mutton chops,
and innumerable wrinkles; and the front row was completed by a
chemist. The three immediately behind, Mr. Bosengate did not
thoroughly master; but the three at the end of the second row he
learned in their order of an oldish man in a grey suit, given to
winking; an inanimate person with the mouth of a moustachioed cod-
fish, over whose long bald crown three wisps of damp hair were
carefully arranged; and a dried, dapperish, clean-shorn man, whose
mouth seemed terrified lest it should be surprised without a smile.
Their first and second verdicts were recorded without the necessity
for withdrawal, and Mr. Bosengate was already sleepy when the third
case was called. The sight of khaki revived his drooping attention.
But what a weedy-looking specimen! This prisoner had a truly
nerveless pitiable dejected air. If he had ever had a military
bearing it had shrunk into him during his confinement. His ill-
shaped brown tunic, whose little brass buttons seemed trying to keep
smiling, struck Mr. Bosengate as ridiculously short, used though he
was to such things. 'Absurd,' he thought--'Lumbago! Just where they
ought to be covered!' Then the officer and gentleman stirred in him,
and he added to himself: 'Still, there must be some distinction
made!' The little soldier's visage had once perhaps been tanned, but
was now the colour of dark dough; his large brown eyes with white
showing below the iris, as so often in the eyes of very nervous
people--wandered from face to face, of judge, counsel, jury, and
public. There were hollows in his cheeks, his dark hair looked damp;
around his neck he wore a bandage. The commercial traveller on Mr.
Bosengate's left turned, and whispered: "Felo de se! My hat! what a
guy!" Mr. Bosengate pretended not to hear--he could not bear that
fellow!--and slowly wrote on a bit of paper: "Owen Lewis." Welsh!
Well, he looked it--not at all an English face. Attempted suicide--
not at all an English crime! Suicide implied surrender, a putting-up
of hands to Fate--to say nothing of the religious aspect of the
matter. And suicide in khaki seemed to Mr. Bosengate particularly
abhorrent; like turning tail in face of the enemy; almost meriting
the fate of a deserter. He looked at the prisoner, trying not to
give way to this prejudice. And the prisoner seemed to look at him,
though this, perhaps, was fancy.
The Counsel for the prosecution, a little, alert, grey, decided man,
above military age, began detailing the circumstances of the crime.
Mr. Bosengate, though not particularly sensitive to atmosphere, could
perceive a sort of current running through the Court. It was as if
jury and public were thinking rhythmically in obedience to the same
unexpressed prejudice of which he himself was conscious. Even the
Caesar-like pale face up there, presiding, seemed in its ironic
serenity responding to that current.
"Gentlemen of the jury, before I call my evidence, I direct your
attention to the bandage the accused is still wearing. He gave
himself this wound with his Army razor, adding, if I may say so,
insult to the injury he was inflicting on his country. He pleads not
guilty; and before the magistrates he said that absence from his wife
was preying on his mind"--the advocate's close lips widened--"Well,
gentlemen, if such an excuse is to weigh with us in these days, I'm
sure I don't know what's to happen to the Empire."
'No, by George!' thought Mr. Bosengate.
The evidence of the first witness, a room-mate who had caught the
prisoner's hand, and of the sergeant, who had at once been summoned,
was conclusive and he began to cherish a hope that they would get
through without withdrawing, and he would be home before five. But
then a hitch occurred. The regimental doctor failed to respond when
his name was called; and the judge having for the first time that day
showed himself capable of human emotion, intimated that he would
adjourn until the morrow.
Mr. Bosengate received the announcement with equanimity. He would be
home even earlier! And gathering up the sheets of paper he had
scribbled on, he put them in his pocket and got up. The would-be
suicide was being taken out of the court--a shambling drab figure
with shoulders hunched. What good were men like that in these days!
What good! The prisoner looked up. Mr. Bosengate encountered in
full the gaze of those large brown eyes, with the white showing
underneath. What a suffering, wretched, pitiful face! A man had no
business to give you a look like that! The prisoner passed on down
the stairs, and vanished. Mr. Bosengate went out and across the
market place to the garage of the hotel where he had left his car.
The sun shone fiercely and he thought: 'I must do some watering in
the garden.' He brought the car out, and was about to start the
engine, when someone passing said: 'Good evenin'. Seedy-lookin'
beggar that last prisoner, ain't he? We don't want men of that
stamp." It was his neighbour on the jury, the commercial traveller,
in a straw hat, with a little brown bag already in his hand and the
froth of an interrupted drink on his moustache. Answering curtly:
"Good evening!" and thinking: 'Nor of yours, my friend!' Mr.
Bosengate started the car with unnecessary clamour. But as if
brought back to life by the commercial traveller's remark, the
prisoner's figure seemed to speed along too, turning up at Mr.
Bosengate his pitifully unhappy eyes. Want of his wife!--queer
excuse that for trying to put it out of his power ever to see her
again! Why! Half a loaf, even a slice, was better than no bread.
Not many of that neurotic type in the Army--thank Heaven! The
lugubrious figure vanished, and Mr. Bosengate pictured instead the
form of his own wife bending over her "G3oire de Dijon roses" in the
rosery, where she generally worked a little before tea now that they
were short of gardeners. He saw her, as often he had seen her, raise
herself and stand, head to one side, a gloved hand on her slender
hip, gazing as it were ironically from under drooped lids at buds
which did not come out fast enough. And the word 'Caline,' for he
was something of a French scholar, shot through his mind: 'Kath3een-
Caline!' If he found her there when he got in, he would steal up on
the grass and--ah! but with great care not to crease her dress or
disturb her hair! 'If only she weren't quite so self-contained,' he
thought; 'It's like a cat you can't get near, not really near!'
The car, returning faster than it had come down that morning, had
already passed the outskirt villas, and was breasting the hill to
where, among fields and the old trees, Charm3eigh lay apart from
commoner life. Turning into his drive, Mr. Bosengate thought with a
certain surprise: 'I wonder what she does think of! I wonder!' He
put his gloves and hat down in the outer hall and went into the
lavatory, to dip his face in cool water and wash it with sweet-
smelling soap--delicious revenge on the unclean atmosphere in which
he had been stewing so many hours. He came out again into the hall
dazed by soap and the mellowed light, and a voice from half-way up
the stairs said: "Daddy! Look!" His little daughter was standing up
there with one hand on the banisters. She scrambled on to them and
came sliding down, her frock up to her eyes, and her holland knickers
to her middle. Mr. Bosengate said mildly:
"Well, that's elegant!"
"Tea's in the summer-house. Mummy's waiting. Come on!"
With her hand in his, Mr. Bosengate went on, through the drawing-
room, long and cool, with sun-blinds down, through the billiard-room,
high and cool, through the conservatory, green and sweet-smelling,
out on to the terrace and the upper lawn. He had never felt such
sheer exhilarated joy in his home surroundings, so cool, glistening
and green under the July sun; and he said:
"Well, Kit, what have you all been doing?"
"I've fed my rabbits and Harry's; and we've been in the attic; Harry
got his leg through the skylight."
Mr. Bosengate drew in his breath with a hiss.
"It's all right, Daddy; we got it out again, it's only grazed the
skin. And we've been making swabs--I made seventeen, Mummy made
thirty-three, and then she went to the hospital. Did you put many
men in prison?"
Mr. Bosengate cleared his throat. The question seemed to him
untimely.
"Only two."
"What's it like in prison, Daddy?"
Mr. Bosengate, who had no more knowledge than his little daughter,
replied in an absent voice:
"Not very nice."
They were passing under a young oak tree, where the path wound round
to the rosery and summer-house. Something shot down and clawed Mr.
Bosengate's neck. His little daughter began to hop and suffocate
with laughter.
"Oh, Daddy! Aren't you caught! I led you on purpose!"
Looking up, Mr. Bosengate saw his small son lying along a low branch
above him--like the leopard he was declaring himself to be (for fear
of error), and thought blithely: 'What an active little chap it is!'
"Let me drop on your shoulders, Daddy--like they do on the deer."
"Oh, yes! Do be a deer, Daddy!"
Mr. Bosengate did not see being a deer; his hair had just been
brushed. But he entered the rosery buoyantly between his offspring.
His wife was standing precisely as he had imagined her, in a pale
blue frock open at the neck, with a narrow black band round the
waist, and little accordion pleats below. She looked her coolest.
Her smile, when she turned her head, hardly seemed to take Mr.
Bosengate seriously enough. He placed his lips below one of her
half-drooped eyelids. She even smelled of roses. His children began
to dance round their mother, and Mr. Bosengate,--firmly held between
them, was also compelled to do this, until she said:
"When you've quite done, let's have tea!"
It was not the greeting he had imagined coming along in the car.
Earwigs were plentiful in the summer-house--used perhaps twice a
year, but indispensable to every country residence--and Mr. Bosengate
was not sorry for the excuse to get out again. Though all was so
pleasant, he felt oddly restless, rather suffocated; and lighting his
pipe, began to move about among the roses, blowing tobacco at the
greenfly; in war-time one was never quite idle! And suddenly he
said:
"We're trying a wretched Tommy at the assizes."
His wife looked up from a rose.
"What for?"
"Attempted suicide."
"Why did he?"
"Can't stand the separation from his wife."
She looked at him, gave a low laugh, and said:
"Oh dear!"
Mr. Bosengate was puzzled. Why did she laugh? He looked round, saw
that the children were gone, took his pipe from his mouth, and
approached her.
"You look very pretty," he said. "Give me a kiss!"
His wife bent her body forward from the waist, and pushed her lips
out till they touched his moustache. Mr. Bosengate felt a sensation
as if he had arisen from breakfast, without having eaten marmalade.
He mastered it, and said:
"That jury are a rum lot."
His wife's eyelids flickered. "I wish women sat on juries."
"Why?"
"It would be an experience."
Not the first time she had used that curious expression! Yet her
life was far from dull, so far as he could see; with the new
interests created by the war, and the constant calls on her time made
by the perfection of their home life, she had a useful and busy
existence. Again the random thought passed through him: 'But she
never tells me anything!' And suddenly that lugubrious khaki-clad
figure started up among the rose bushes. "We've got a lot to be
thankful for!" he said abruptly. "I must go to work!" His wife,
raising one eyebrow, smiled. "And I to weep!" Mr. Bosengate
laughed--she had a pretty wit! And stroking his comely moustache
where it had been kissed, he moved out into the sunshine. All the
evening, throughout his labours, not inconsiderable, for this jury
business had put him behind time, he was afflicted by that restless
pleasure in his surroundings; would break off in mowing the lower
lawn to look at the house through the trees; would leave his study
and committee papers, to cross into the drawing-room and sniff its
dainty fragrance; paid a special good-night visit to the children
having supper in the schoolroom; pottered in and out from his
dressing room to admire his wife while she was changing for dinner;
dined with his mind perpetually on the next course; talked volubly of
the war; and in the billiard room afterwards, smoking the pipe which
had taken the place of his cigar, could not keep still, but roamed
about, now in conservatory, now in the drawing-room, where his wife
and the governess were still making swabs. It seemed to him that he
could not have enough of anything. About eleven o'clock he strolled
out beautiful night, only just dark enough--under the new arrangement
with Time--and went down to the little round fountain below the
terrace. His wife was playing the piano. Mr. Bosengate looked at
the water and the flat dark water lily leaves which floated there;
looked up at the house, where only narrow chinks of light showed,
because of the Lighting Order. The dreamy music drifted out; there
was a scent of heliotrope. He moved a few steps back, and sat in the
children's swing under an old lime tree. Jolly--blissful--in the
warm, bloomy dark! Of all hours of the day, this before going to bed
was perhaps the pleasantest. He saw the light go up in his wife's
bed room, unscreened for a full minute, and thought: 'Aha! If I did
my duty as a special, I should "strafe" her for that.' She came to
the window, her figure lighted, hands up to the back of her head, so
that her bare arms gleamed. Mr. Bosengate wafted her a kiss, knowing
he could not be seen. 'Lucky chap!' he mused; 'she's a great joy!'
Up went her arm, down came the blind the house was dark again. He
drew a long breath. 'Another ten minutes,' he thought, 'then I'll go
in and shut up. By Jove! The limes are beginning to smell already!'
And, the better to take in that acme of his well-being, he tilted the
swing, lifted his feet from the ground, and swung himself toward the
scented blossoms. He wanted to whelm his senses in their perfume,
and closed his eyes. But instead of the domestic vision he expected,
the face of the little Welsh soldier, hare-eyed, shadowy, pinched and
dark and pitiful, started up with such disturbing vividness that he
opened his eyes again at once. Curse! The fellow almost haunted
one! Where would he be now poor little devil!--lying in his cell,
thinking--thinking of his wife! Feeling suddenly morbid, Mr.
Bosengate arrested the swing and stood up. Absurd!--all his well-
being and mood of warm anticipation had deserted him! 'A d---d
world!' he thought. 'Such a lot of misery! Why should I have to sit
in judgment on that poor beggar, and condemn him?' He moved up on to
the terrace and walked briskly, to rid himself of this disturbance
before going in. 'That commercial traveller chap,' he thought, 'the
rest of those fellows--they see nothing!' And, abruptly turning up
the three stone steps, he entered the conservatory, locked it, passed
into the billiard room, and drank his barley water. One of the
pictures was hanging crooked; he went up to put it straight. Still
life. Grapes and apples, and--lobsters! They struck him as odd for
the first time. Why lobsters? The whole picture seemed dead and
oily. He turned off the light, and went upstairs, passed his wife's
door, into his own room, and undressed. Clothed in his pyjamas he
opened the door between the rooms. By the light coming from his own
he could see her dark head on the pillow. Was she asleep? No--not
asleep, certainly. The moment of fruition had come; the crowning of
his pride and pleasure in his home. But he continued to stand there.
He had suddenly no pride, no pleasure, no desire; nothing but a sort
of dull resentment against everything. He turned back; shut the
door, and slipping between the heavy curtains and his open window,
stood looking out at the night. 'Full of misery!' he thought. 'Full
of d---d misery!'
II
Filing into the jury box next morning, Mr. Bosengate collided
slightly with a short juryman, whose square figure and square head of
stiff yellow-red hair he had only vaguely noticed the day before.
The man looked angry, and Mr. Bosengate thought: 'An ill-bred dog,
that!'
He sat down quickly, and, to avoid further recognition of his
fellows, gazed in front of him. His appearance on Saturdays was
always military, by reason of the route march of his Volunteer Corps
in the afternoon. Gentleman Fox, who belonged to the corps too, was
also looking square; but that commercial traveller on his other side
seemed more louche, and as if surprised in immorality, than ever;
only the proximity of Gentleman Fox on the other side kept Mr.
Bosengate from shrinking. Then he saw the prisoner being brought in,
shadowy and dark behind the brightness of his buttons, and he
experienced a sort of shock, this figure was so exactly that which
had several times started up in his mind. Somehow he had expected a
fresh sight of the fellow to dispel and disprove what had been
haunting him, had expected to find him just an outside phenomenon,
not, as it were, a part of his own life. And he gazed at the carven
immobility of the judge's face, trying to steady himself, as a
drunken man will, by looking at a light. The regimental doctor,
unabashed by the judge's comment on his absence the day before, gave
his evidence like a man who had better things to do, and the case for
the prosecution was forthwith rounded in by a little speech from
counsel. The matter--he said--was clear as daylight. Those who wore
His Majesty's uniform, charged with the responsibility and privilege
of defending their country, were no more entitled to desert their
regiments by taking their own lives than they were entitled to desert
in any other way. He asked for a conviction. Mr. Bosengate felt a
sympathetic shuffle passing through all feet; the judge was speaking:
"Prisoner, you can either go into the witness box and make your
statement on oath, in which case you may be cross-examined on it; or
you can make your statement there from the dock, in which case you
will not be cross-examined. Which do you elect to do?"
"From here, my lord."
Seeing him now full face, and, as it might be, come to life in the
effort to convey his feelings, Mr. Bosengate had suddenly a quite
different impression of the fellow. It was as if his khaki had
fallen off, and he had stepped out of his own shadow, a live and
quivering creature. His pinched clean-shaven face seemed to have an
irregular, wilder, hairier look, his large nervous brown eyes
darkened and glowed; he jerked his shoulders, his arms, his whole
body, like a man suddenly freed from cramp or a suit of armour.
He spoke, too, in a quick, crisp, rather high voice, pinching his
consonants a little, sharpening his vowels, like a true Welshman.
"My lord and misters the jury," he said: "I was a hairdresser when
the call came on me to join the army. I had a little home and a
wife. I never thought what it would be like to be away from them, I
surely never did; and I'm ashamed to be speaking it out like this--
how it can squeeze and squeeze a man, how it can prey on your mind,
when you're nervous like I am. 'Tis not everyone that cares for his
home--there's lots o' them never wants to see their wives again. But
for me 'tis like being shut up in a cage, it is!" Mr. Bosengate saw
daylight between the skinny fingers of the man's hand thrown out with
a jerk. "I cannot bear it shut up away from wife and home like what
you are in the army. So when I took my razor that morning I was
wild--an' I wouldn't be here now but for that man catching my hand.
There was no reason in it, I'm willing to confess. It was foolish;
but wait till you get feeling like what I was, and see how it draws
you. Misters the jury, don't send me back to prison; it is worse
still there. If you have wives you will know what it is like for
lots of us; only some is more nervous than others. I swear to you,
sirs, I could not help it---?' Again the little man flung out his
hand, his whole thin body shook and Mr. Bosengate felt the same
sensation as when he drove his car over a dog--"Misters the jury, I
hope you may never in your lives feel as I've been feeling."
The little man ceased, his eyes shrank back into their sockets, his
figure back into its mask of shadowy brown and gleaming buttons, and
Mr. Bosengate was conscious that the judge was making a series of
remarks; and, very soon, of being seated at a mahogany table in the
jury's withdrawing room, hearing the, voice of the man with hair like
an Irish terrier's saying: "Didn't he talk through his hat, that
little blighter!" Conscious, too, of the commercial traveller, still
on his left--always on his left!--mopping his brow, and muttering:
"Phew! It's hot in there to-day!" while an effluvium, as of an
inside accustomed to whisky came from him. Then the man with the
underlip and the three plastered wisps of hair said:
"Don't know why we withdrew, Mr. Foreman!"
Mr. Bosengate looked round to where, at the head of the table,
Gentleman Fox sat, in defensive gentility and the little white piping
to his waistcoat saying blandly:
"I shall be happy to take the sense of the jury."
There was a short silence, then the chemist murmured:
"I should say he must have what they call claustrophobia."
"Clauster fiddlesticks! The feller's a shirker, that's all. Missed
his wife--pretty excuse! Indecent, I call it!"
The speaker was the little wire-haired man; and emotion, deep and
angry, stirred in Mr. Bosengate. That ill-bred little cur! He
gripped the edge of the table with both hands.
"I think it's d-----d natural!" he muttered. But almost before the
words had left his lips he felt dismay. What had he said--he, nearly
a colonel of volunteers--endorsing such a want of patriotism! And
hearing the commercial traveller murmuring: "'Ear, 'ear!" he
reddened violently.
The wire-headed man said roughly:
"There's too many of these blighted shirkers, and too much pampering
of them."
The turmoil in Mr. Bosengate increased; he remarked in an icy voice:
"I agree to no verdict that'll send the man back to prison."
At this a real tremor seemed to go round the table, as if they all
saw themselves sitting there through lunch time. Then the large
grey-haired man given to winking, said:
"Oh! Come, sir--after what the judge said! Come, sir! What do you
say, Mr. Foreman?"
Gentleman Fox--as who should say 'This is excellent value, but I
don't wish to press it on you!'--answered:
"We are only concerned with the facts. Did he or did he not try to
shorten his life?"
"Of course he did--said so himself," Mr. Bosengate heard the wire-
haired man snap out, and from the following murmur of assent he alone
abstained. Guilty! Well--yes! There was no way out of admitting
that, but his feelings revolted against handing "that poor little
beggar" over to the tender mercy of his country's law. His whole
soul rose in arms against agreeing with that ill-bred little cur, and
the rest of this job-lot. He had an impulse to get up and walk out,
saying: "Settle it your own way. Good morning."
"It seems, sir," Gentleman Fox was saying, "that we're all agreed to
guilty, except yourself. If you will allow me, I don't see how you
can go behind what the prisoner himself admitted."
Thus brought up to the very guns, Mr. Bosengate, red in the face,
thrust his hands deep into the side pockets of his tunic, and,
staring straight before him, said:
"Very well; on condition we recommend him to mercy."
"What do you say, gentlemen; shall we recommend him to mercy?"
"'Ear, 'ear!" burst from the commercial traveller, and from the
chemist came the murmur:
"No harm in that."
"Well, I think there is. They shoot deserters at the front, and we
let this fellow off. I'd hang the cur."
Mr. Bosengate stared at that little wire-haired brute. "Haven't you
any feeling for others?" he wanted to say. "Can't you see that this
poor devil suffers tortures?" But the sheer impossibility of doing
this before ten other men brought a slight sweat out on his face and
hands; and in agitation he smote the table a blow with his fist. The
effect was instantaneous. Everybody looked at the wire-haired man,
as if saying: "Yes, you've gone a bit too far there!" The "little
brute" stood it for a moment, then muttered surlily:
"Well, commend 'im to mercy if you like; I don't care."
"That's right; they never pay any attention to it," said the grey-
haired man, winking heartily. And Mr. Bosengate filed back with the
others into court.
But when from the jury box his eyes fell once more on the hare-eyed
figure in the dock, he had his worst moment yet. Why should this
poor wretch suffer so--for no fault, no fault; while he, and these
others, and that snapping counsel, and the Caesar-like judge up
there, went off to their women and their homes, blithe as bees, and
probably never thought of him again? And suddenly he was conscious
of the judge's voice:
"You will go back to your regiment, and endeavour to serve your
country with better spirit. You may thank the jury that you are not
sent to prison, and your good fortune that you were not at the front
when you tried to commit this cowardly act. You are lucky to be
alive."
A policeman pulled the little soldier by the arm; his drab figure
with eyes fixed and lustreless, passed down and away. From his very
soul Mr. Bosengate wanted to lean out and say: "Cheer up, cheer up!
I understand."
It was nearly ten o'clock that evening before he reached home,
motoring back from the route march. His physical tiredness was
abated, for he had partaken of a snack and a whisky and soda at the
hotel; but mentally he was in a curious mood. His body felt
appeased, his spirit hungry. Tonight he had a yearning, not for his
wife's kisses, but for her understanding. He wanted to go to her and
say: "I've learnt a lot to-day-found out things I never thought of.
Life's a wonderful thing, Kate, a thing one can't live all to
oneself; a thing one shares with everybody, so that when another
suffers, one suffers too. It's come to me that what one has doesn't
matter a bit--it's what one does, and how one sympathises with other
people. It came to me in the most extraordinary vivid way, when I
was on that jury, watching that poor little rat of a soldier in his
trap; it's the first time I've ever felt--the--the spirit of Christ,
you know. It's a wonderful thing, Kate--wonderful! We haven't been
close--really close, you and I, so that we each understand what the
other is feeling. It's all in that, you know; understanding--
sympathy--it's priceless. When I saw that poor little devil taken
down and sent back to his regiment to begin his sorrows all over
again--wanting his wife, thinking and thinking of her just as you
know I would be thinking and wanting you, I felt what an awful
outside sort of life we lead, never telling each other what we really
think and feel, never being really close. I daresay that little chap
and his wife keep nothing from each other--live each other's lives.
That's what we ought to do. Let's get to feeling that what really
matters is--understanding and loving, and not only just saying it as
we all do, those fellows on the jury, and even that poor devil of a
judge--what an awful life judging one's fellow-creatures
When I left that poor little Tommy this morning, and ever since, I've
longed to get back here quietly to you and tell you about it, and
make a beginning. There's something wonderful in this, and I want
you to feel it as I do, because you mean such a lot to me."
This was what he wanted to say to his wife, not touching, or kissing
her, just looking into her eyes, watching them soften and glow as
they surely must, catching the infection of his new ardour. And he
felt unsteady, fearfully unsteady with the desire to say it all as it
should be said: swiftly, quietly, with the truth and fervour of his
feeling.
The hall was not lit up, for daylight still lingered under the new
arrangement. He went towards the drawing-room, but from the very
door shied off to his study and stood irresolute under the picture of
a "Man catching a flea" (Dutch school), which had come down to him
from his father. The governess would be in there with his wife! He
must wait. Essential to go straight to Kathleen and pour it all out,
or he would never do it. He felt as nervous as an undergraduate
going up for his viva' voce. This thing was so big, so astoundingly
and unexpectedly important. He was suddenly afraid of his wife,
afraid of her coolness and her grace, and that something Japanese
about her--of all those attributes he had been accustomed to admire
most; afraid, as it were, of her attraction. He felt young to-night,
almost boyish; would she see that he was not really fifteen years
older than herself, and she not really a part of his collection, of
all the admirable appointments of his home; but a companion spirit to
one who wanted a companion badly. In this agitation of his soul he
could keep still no more than he could last night in the agitation of
his senses; and he wandered into the dining-room. A dainty supper
was set out there, sandwiches, and cake, whisky and the cigarettes-
even an early peach. Mr. Bosengate looked at this peach with sorrow
rather than disgust. The perfection of it was of a piece with all
that had gone before this new and sudden feeling. Its delicious
bloom seemed to heighten his perception of the hedge around him, that
hedge of the things he so enjoyed, carefully planted and tended these
many years. He passed it by uneaten, and went to the window. Out
there all was darkening, the fountain, the lime tree, the flower-
beds, and the fields below, with the Jersey cows who would come to
your call; darkening slowly, losing form, blurring into soft
blackness, vanishing, but there none the less--all there--the hedge
of his possessions. He heard the door of the drawing-room open, the
voices of his wife and the governess in the hall, going up to bed.
If only they didn't look in here! If only! The voices ceased. He
was safe now--had but to follow in a few minutes, to make sure of
Kathleen alone. He turned round and stared down the length of the
dark dining-room, over the rosewood table, to where in the mirror
above the sideboard at the far end, his figure bathed, a stain, a
mere blurred shadow; he made his way down to it along the table edge,
and stood before himself as close as he could get. His throat and
the roof of his mouth felt dry with nervousness; he put out his
finger and touched his face in the glass. 'You're an ass!' he
thought. 'Pull yourself together, and get it over. She will see; of
course she will!' He swallowed, smoothed his moustache, and walked
out. Going up the stairs, his heart beat painfully; but he was in
for it now, and marched straight into her room.
Dressed only in a loose blue wrapper, she was brushing her dark hair
before the glass. Mr. Bosengate went up to her and stood there
silent, looking down. The words he had thought of were like a swarm
of bees buzzing in his head, yet not one would fly from between his
lips. His wife went on brushing her hair under the light which shone
on her polished elbows. She looked up at him from beneath one lifted
eyebrow.
"Well, dear--tired?"
With a sort of vehemence the single word "No" passed out. A faint, a
quizzical smile flitted over her face; she shrugged her shoulders
ever so gently. That gesture--he had seen it before! And in
desperate desire to make her understand, he put his hand on her
lifted arm.
"Kathleen, stop--listen to me!" His fingers tightened in his
agitation and eagerness to make his great discovery known. But
before he could get out a word he became conscious of that cool round
arm, conscious of her eyes half-closed, sliding round at him, of her
half-smiling lips, of her neck under the wrapper. And he stammered:
"I want--I must--Kathleen, I---"
She lifted her shoulders again in that little shrug. "Yes--I know;
all right!"
A wave of heat and shame, and of God knows what came over Mr.
Bosengate; he fell on his knees and pressed his forehead to her arm;
and he was silent, more silent than the grave. Nothing--nothing came
from him but two long sighs. Suddenly he felt her hand stroke his
cheek--compassionately, it seemed to him. She made a little movement
towards him; her lips met his, and he remembered nothing but that....
In his own room Mr. Bosengate sat at his wide open window, smoking a
cigarette; there was no light. Moths went past, the moon was
creeping up. He sat very calm, puffing the smoke out in to the night
air. Curious thing-life! Curious world! Curious forces in it--
making one do the opposite of what one wished; always--always making
one do the opposite, it seemed! The furtive light from that creeping
moon was getting hold of things down there, stealing in among the
boughs of the trees. 'There's something ironical,' he thought,
'which walks about. Things don't come off as you think they will. I
meant, I tried but one doesn't change like that all of a sudden, it
seems. Fact is, life's too big a thing for one! All the same, I'm
not the man I was yesterday--not quite!' He closed his eyes, and in
one of those flashes of vision which come when the senses are at
rest, he saw himself as it were far down below--down on the floor of
a street narrow as a grave, high as a mountain, a deep dark slit of a
street walking down there, a black midget of a fellow, among other
black midgets--his wife, and the little soldier, the judge, and those
jury chaps--fantoches straight up on their tiny feet, wandering down
there in that dark, infinitely tall, and narrow street. 'Too much
for one!' he thought; 'Too high for one--no getting on top of it.
We've got to be kind, and help one another, and not expect too much,
and not think too much. That's--all!' And, squeezing out his
cigarette, he took six deep breaths of the night air, and got into
bed.
INDIAN SUMMER OF A FORSYTE
"And Summer's lease hath all
too short a date."
--Shakespeare
I
In the last day of May in the early 'nineties, about six o'clock of
the evening, old Jolyon Forsyte sat under the oak tree below the
terrace of his house at Robin Hill. He was waiting for the midges to
bite him, before abandoning the glory of the afternoon. His thin
brown hand, where blue veins stood out, held the end of a cigar in
its tapering, long-nailed fingers--a pointed polished nail had
survived with him from those earlier Victorian days when to touch
nothing, even with the tips of the fingers, had been so
distinguished. His domed forehead, great white moustache, lean
cheeks, and long lean jaw were covered from the westering sunshine by
an old brown Panama hat. His legs were crossed; in all his attitude
was serenity and a kind of elegance, as of an old man who every
morning put eau de Cologne upon his silk handkerchief. At his feet
lay a woolly brown-and-white dog trying to be a Pomeranian--the dog
Balthasar between whom and old Jolyon primal aver-sion had changed
into attachment with the years. Close to his chair was a swing, and
on the swing was seated one of Holly's dolls --called 'Duffer Alice'-
-with her body fallen over her legs and her doleful nose buried in a
black petticoat. She was never out of disgrace, so it did not matter
to her how she sat. Below the oak tree the lawn dipped down a bank,
stretched to the fernery, and, beyond that refinement, became fields,
dropping to the pond, the coppice, and the prospect 'Fine,
remarkable'--at which Swithin Forsyte, from under this very tree, had
stared five years ago when he drove down with Irene to look at the
house. Old Jolyon had heard of his brother's exploit--that drive
which had become quite celebrated on Forsyte 'Change.' Swithin! And
the fellow had gone and died, last November, at the age of only
seventy-nine, renewing the doubt whether Forsytes could live for
ever, which had first arisen when Aunt Ann passed away. Died! and
left only Jolyon and James, Roger and Nicholas and Timothy, Julia,
Hester, Susan! And old Jolyon thought: 'Eighty-five! I don't feel
it--except when I get that pain.'
His memory went searching. He had not felt his age since he had
bought his nephew Soames' ill-starred house and settled into it here
at Robin Hill over three years ago. It was as if he had been getting
younger every spring, living in the country with his son and his
grandchildren--June, and the little ones of the second marriage,
Jolly and Holly; living down here out of the racket of London and the
cackle of Forsyte 'Change,' free of his boards, in a delicious
atmosphere of no work and all play, with plenty of occupation in the
perfecting and mellowing of the house and its twenty acres, and in
ministering to the whims of Holly and Jolly. All the knots and
crankiness, which had gathered in his heart during that long and
tragic business of June, Soames, Irene his wife, and poor young
Bosinney, had been smoothed out. Even June had thrown off her
melancholy at last--witness this travel in Spain she was taking now
with her father and her stepmother. Curiously perfect peace was left
by their departure; blissful, yet blank, because his son was not
there. Jo was never anything but a comfort and a pleasure to him
nowadays--an amiable chap; but women, somehow--even the best--got a
little on one's nerves, unless of course one admired them.
Far-off a cuckoo called; a wood-pigeon was cooing from the first
elm-tree in the field, and how the daisies and buttercups had sprung
up after the last mowing! The wind had got into the sou'-west, too--a
delicious air, sappy! He pushed his hat back and let the sun fall on
his chin and cheek. Somehow, to-day, he wanted company wanted a
pretty face to look at. People treated the old as if they wanted
nothing. And with the un-Forsytean philosophy which ever intruded on
his soul, he thought: 'One's never had enough'
With a foot in the grave one'll want something, I shouldn't be
surprised!' Down here--away from the exigencies of affairs--his
grandchildren, and the flowers, trees, birds of his little domain, to
say nothing of sun and moon and stars above them, said, 'Open,
sesame,' to him day and night. And sesame had opened--how much,
perhaps, he did not know. He had always been responsive to what they
had begun to call 'Nature,' genuinely, almost religiously responsive,
though he had never lost his habit of calling a sunset a sunset and a
view a view, however deeply they might move him. But nowadays Nature
actually made him ache, he appreciated it so. Every one of these
calm, bright, lengthening days, with Holly's hand in his, and the dog
Balthasar in front looking studiously for what he never found, he
would stroll, watching the roses open, fruit budding on the walls,
sunlight brightening the oak leaves and saplings in the coppice,
watching the water-lily leaves unfold and glisten, and the silvery
young corn of the one wheat field; listening to the starlings and
skylarks, and the Alderney cows chewing the cud, flicking slow their
tufted tails; and every one of these fine days he ached a little from
sheer love of it all, feeling perhaps, deep down, that he had not
very much longer to enjoy it. The thought that some day perhaps not
ten years hence, perhaps not five--all this world would be taken away
from him, before he had exhausted his powers of loving it, seemed to
him in the nature of an injustice brooding over his horizon. If
anything came after this life, it wouldn't be what he wanted; not
Robin Hill, and flowers and birds and pretty faces--too few, even
now, of those about him! With the years his dislike of humbug had
increased; the orthodoxy he had worn in the 'sixties, as he had worn
side-whiskers out of sheer exuberance, had long dropped off, leaving
him reverent before three things alone--beauty, upright conduct, and
the sense of property; and the greatest of these now was beauty. He
had always had wide interests, and, indeed could still read The
Tines, but he was liable at any moment to put it down if he heard a
blackbird sing. Upright conduct, property--somehow, they were
tiring; the blackbirds and the sunsets never tired him, only gave him
an uneasy feeling that he could not get enough of them. Staring into
the stilly radiance of the early evening and at the little gold and
white flowers on the lawn, a thought came to him: This weather was
like the music of 'Orfeo,' which he had recently heard at Covent
Garden. A beautiful opera, not like Meyerbeer, nor even quite
Mozart, but, in its way, perhaps even more lovely; some-thing
classical and of the Golden Age about it, chaste and mellow, and the
Ravogli 'almost worthy of the old days'--highest praise he could
bestow. The yearning of Orpheus for the beauty he was losing, for
his love going down to Hades, as in life love and beauty did go--the
yearning which sang and throbbed through the golden music, stirred
also in the lingering beauty of the world that evening. And with the
tip of his cork-soled, elastic-sided boot he involuntarily stirred
the ribs of the dog Balthasar, caus-ing the animal to wake and attack
his fleas; for though he was supposed to have none, nothing could
persuade him of the fact. When he had finished, he rubbed the place
he had been scratching against his master's calf, and settled down
again with his chin over the instep of the disturbing boot. And into
old Jolyon's mind came a sudden recollection--a face he had seen at
that opera three weeks ago--Irene, the wife of his precious nephew
Soames, that man of property! Though he had not met her since the day
of the 'At Home' in his old house at Stanhope Gate, which celebrated
his granddaughter June's ill-starred engagement to young Bosinney, he
had remembered her at once, for he had always admired her--a very
pretty creature. After the death of young Bosinney, whose mistress
she had so reprehensibly become, he had heard that she had left
Soames at once. Goodness only knew what she had been doing since.
That sight of her face--a side view--in the row in front, had been
literally the only reminder these three years that she was still
alive. No one ever spoke of her. And yet Jo had told him some-thing
once--something which had upset him completely. The boy had got it
from George Forsyte, he believed, who had seen Bosinney in the fog
the day he was run over--something which explained the young fellow's
distress--an act of Soames towards his wife--a shocking act. Jo had
seen her, too, that afternoon, after the news was out, seen her for a
moment, and his description had always lingered in old Jolyon's mind-
-'wild and lost' he had called her. And next day June had gone there
bottled up her feelings and gone there, and the maid had cried and
told her how her mistress had slipped out in the night and vanished.
A tragic business altogether! One thing was certain--Soames had never
been able to lay hands on her again. And he was living at Brighton,
and journeying up and down--a fitting fate, the man of property! For
when he once took a dislike to anyone--as he had to his nephew--old
Jolyon never got over it. He remembered still the sense of relief
with which he had heard the news of Irene's disappearance. It had
been shocking to think of her a prisoner in that house to which she
must have wandered back, when Jo saw her, wandered back for a
moment--like a wounded animal to its hole after seeing that news,
'Tragic death of an Architect,' in the street. Her face had struck
him very much the other night--more beautiful than he had remem-
bered, but like a mask, with something going on beneath it. A young
woman still--twenty-eight perhaps. Ah, well! Very likely she had
another lover by now. But at this subversive thought--for married
women should never love: once, even, had been too much--his instep
rose, and with it the dog Balthasar's head. The sagacious animal
stood up and looked into old Jolyon's face. 'Walk?' he seemed to
say; and old Jolyon answered: "Come on, old chap!"
Slowly, as was their wont, they crossed among the constellations of
buttercups and daisies, and entered the fernery. This feature, where
very little grew as yet, had been judiciously dropped below the level
of the lawn so that it might come up again on the level of the other
lawn and give the impression of irregularity, so important in
horticulture. Its rocks and earth were beloved of the dog Balthasar,
who sometimes found a mole there. Old Jolyon made a point of passing
through it because, though it was not beautiful, he intended that it
should be, some day, and he would think: 'I must get Varr to come
down and look at it; he's better than Beech.' For plants, like houses
and human complaints, required the best expert consideration. It was
inhabited by snails, and if accompanied by his grandchildren, he
would point to one and tell them the story of the little boy who
said: 'Have plummers got leggers, Mother? 'No, sonny.' 'Then darned
if I haven't been and swallowed a snileybob.' And when they skipped
and clutched his hand, thinking of the snileybob going down the
little boy's 'red lane,' his, eyes would twinkle. Emerging from the
fernery, he opened the wicket gate, which just there led into the
first field, a large and park-like area, out of which, within brick
walls, the vegetable garden had been carved. Old Jolyon avoided
this, which did not suit his mood, and made down the hill towards the
pond. Balthasar, who knew a water-rat or two, gambolled in front, at
the gait which marks an oldish dog who takes the same walk every day.
Arrived at the edge, old Jolyon stood, noting another water-lily
opened since yesterday; he would show it to Holly to-morrow, when
'his little sweet' had got over the upset which had followed on her
eating a tomato at lunch--her little arrangements were very delicate.
Now that Jolly had gone to school--his first term--Holly was with him
nearly all day long, and he missed her badly. He felt that pain too,
which often bothered him now, a little dragging at his left side. He
looked back up the hill. Really, poor young Bosinney had made an
uncommonly good job of the house; he would have done very well for
himself if he had lived! And where was he now? Perhaps, still
haunting this, the site of his last work, of his tragic love affair.
Or was Philip Bosinney's spirit diffused in the general? Who could
say? That dog was getting his legs muddy! And he moved towards the
coppice. There had been the most delightful lot of bluebells, and--
he knew where some still lingered like little patches of sky fallen
irk between the trees, away out of the sun. He passed the cow-houses
and the hen-houses there installed, and pursued a path into the thick
of the saplings, making for one of the bluebell plots. Balthasar,
preceding him once more, uttered a low growl. Old Jolyon stirred him
with his foot, but the dog remained motionless, just where there was
no room to pass, and the hair rose slowly along the centre of his
woolly back. Whether from the growl and the look of the dog's
stivered hair, or from the sensation which a man feels in a wood, old
Jolyon also felt something move along his spine. And then the path
turned, and there was an old mossy log, and on it a woman sitting.
Her face was turned away, and he had just time to think: 'She's
trespassing--I must have a board put up!' before she turned. Powers
above! The face he had seen at the opera--the very woman he had just
been thinking of! In that confused moment he saw things blurred, as
if a spirit--queer effect--the slant of sunlight perhaps on her
violet-grey frock! And then she rose and stood smiling, her head a
little to one side. Old Jolyon thought: 'How pretty she is!' She did
not speak, neither did he; and he realized why with a certain
admiration. She was here no doubt because of some memory, and did
not mean to try and get out of it by vulgar explanation.
"Don't let that dog touch your frock," he said; "he's got wet feet.
Come here, you!"
But the dog Balthasar went on towards the visitor, who put her hand
down and stroked his head. Old Jolyon said quickly:
"I saw you at the opera the other night; you didn't notice me."
"Oh, yes! I did."
He felt a subtle flattery in that, as though she had added: 'Do you
think one could miss seeing you?'
"They're all in Spain," he remarked abruptly. "I'm alone; I drove up
for the opera. The Ravogli's good. Have you seen the cow-houses?"
In a situation so charged with mystery and something very like
emotion he moved instinctively towards that bit of property, and she
moved beside him. Her figure swayed faintly, like the best kind of
French figures; her dress, too, was a sort of French grey. He
noticed two or three silver threads in her amber-coloured hair,
strange hair with those dark eyes of hers, and that creamy-pale face.
A sudden sidelong look from the velvety brown eyes disturbed him. It
seemed to come from deep and far, from another world almost, or at
all events from some one not living very much in this. And he said
mechanically
"Where are you living now?"
"I have a little flat in Chelsea."
He did not want to hear what she was doing, did not want to hear
anything; but the perverse word came out:
"Alone?"
She nodded. It was a relief to know that. And it came into his mind
that, but for a twist of fate, she would have been mistress of this
coppice, showing these cow-houses to him, a visitor.
"All Alderneys," he muttered; "they give the best milk. This one's a
pretty creature. Woa, Myrtle!"
The fawn-coloured cow, with eyes as soft and brown as Irene's own,
was standing absolutely still, not having long been milked. She
looked round at them out of the corner of those lustrous, mild,
cynical eyes, and from her grey lips a little dribble of saliva
threaded its way towards the straw. The scent of hay and vanilla and
ammonia rose in the dim light of the cool cow-house; and old Jolyon
said:
"You must come up and have some dinner with me. I'll send you home
in the carriage."
He perceived a struggle going on within her; natural, no doubt, with
her memories. But he wanted her company; a pretty face, a charming
figure, beauty! He had been alone all the afternoon. Perhaps his
eyes were wistful, for she answered: "Thank you, Uncle Jolyon. I
should like to."
He rubbed his hands, and said:
"Capital! Let's go up, then!" And, preceded by the dog Balthasar,
they ascended through the field. The sun was almost level in their
faces now, and he could see, not only those silver threads, but
little lines, just deep enough to stamp her beauty with a coin-like
fineness--the special look of life unshared with others. "I'll take
her in by the terrace, "he thought: "I won't make a common visitor of
her."
"What do you do all day?" he said.
"Teach music; I have another interest, too."
"Work!" said old Jolyon, picking up the doll from off the swing, and
smoothing its black petticoat. "Nothing like it, is there? I don't
do any now. I'm getting on. What interest is that?"
"Trying to help women who've come to grief." Old Jolyon did not
quite understand. "To grief?" he repeated; then realised with a
shock that she meant exactly what he would have meant himself if he
had used that expression. Assisting the Magdalenes of London! What
a weird and terrifying interest! And, curiosity overcoming his
natural shrinking, he asked:
"Why? What do you do for them?"
"Not much. I've no money to spare. I can only give sympathy and
food sometimes."
Involuntarily old Jolyon's hand sought his purse. He said hastily:
"How d'you get hold of them?"
"I go to a hospital."
"A hospital! Phew!"
"What hurts me most is that once they nearly all had some sort of
beauty."
Old Jolyon straightened the doll. "Beauty!" he ejaculated: "Ha! Yes!
A sad business!" and he moved towards the house. Through a French
window, under sun-blinds not yet drawn up, he preceded her into the
room where he was wont to study 'The Times' and the sheets of an
agricultural magazine, with huge illustrations of mangold wurzels,
and the like, which provided Holly with material for her paint brush.
"Dinner's in half an hour. You'd like to wash your hands! I'll take
you to June's room."
He saw her looking round eagerly; what changes since she had last
visited this house with her husband, or her lover, or both perhaps--
he did not know, could not say! All that was dark, and he wished to
leave it so. But what changes! And in the hall he said:
"My boy Jo's a painter, you know. He's got a lot of taste. It isn't
mine, of course, but I've let him have his way."
She was standing very still, her eyes roaming through the hall and
music room, as it now was--all thrown into one, under the great
skylight. Old Jolyon had an odd impression of her. Was she trying
to conjure somebody from the shades of that space where the colouring
was all pearl-grey and silver? He would have had gold himself; more
lively and solid. But Jo had French tastes, and it had come out
shadowy like that, with an effect as of the fume of cigarettes the
chap was always smoking, broken here and there by a little blaze of
blue or crimson colour. It was not his dream! Mentally he had hung
this space with those gold-framed masterpieces of still and stiller
life which he had bought in days when quantity was precious. And now
where were they? Sold for a song! That something which made him,
alone among Forsytes, move with the times had warned him against the
struggle to retain them. But in his study he still had 'Dutch
Fishing Boats at Sunset.'
He began to mount the stairs with her, slowly, for he felt his side.
"These are the bathrooms," he said, "and other arrangements. I've
had them tiled. The nurseries are along there. And this is Jo's and
his wife's. They all communicate. But you remember, I expect."
Irene nodded. They passed on, up the gallery and entered a large
room with a small bed, and several windows.
"This is mine," he said. The walls were covered with the photographs
of children and watercolour sketches, and he added doubtfully:
"These are Jo's. The view's first-rate. You can see the Grand Stand
at Epsom in clear weather."
The sun was down now, behind the house, and over the 'prospect' a
luminous haze had settled, emanation of the long and prosperous day.
Few houses showed, but fields and trees faintly glistened, away to a
loom of downs.
"The country's changing," he said abruptly, "but there it'll be when
we're all gone. Look at those thrushes--the birds are sweet here in
the mornings. I'm glad to have washed my hands of London."
Her face was close to the window pane, and he was struck by its
mournful look. 'Wish I could make her look happy!' he thought. 'A
pretty face, but sad!' And taking up his can of hot water he went
out into the gallery.
"This is June's room," he said, opening the next door and putting the
can down; "I think you'll find everything." And closing the door
behind her he went back to his own room. Brushing his hair with his
great ebony brushes, and dabbing his forehead with eau de Cologne, he
mused. She had come so strangely--a sort of visit-ation; mysterious,
even romantic, as if his desire for company, for beauty, had been
fulfilled by whatever it was which fulfilled that sort of thing. And
before the mirror he straightened his still upright figure, passed
the brushes over his great white moustache, touched up his eyebrows
with eau de Cologne, and rang the bell.
"I forgot to let them know that I have a lady to dinner with me. Let
cook do something extra, and tell Beacon to have the landau and pair
at half-past ten to drive her back to Town to-night. Is Miss Holly
asleep?"
The maid thought not. And old Jolyon, passing down the gallery,
stole on tiptoe towards the nursery, and opened the door whose hinges
he kept specially oiled that he might slip in and out in the evenings
without being heard.
But Holly was asleep, and lay like a miniature Madonna, of that type
which the old painters could not tell from Venus, when they had
completed her. Her long dark lashes clung to her cheeks; on her face
was perfect peace--her little arrangements were evidently all right
again. And old Jolyon, in the twilight of the room, stood adoring
her! It was so charming, solemn, and loving--that little face. He
had more than his share of the blessed capacity of living again in
the young. They were to him his future life--all of a future life
that his fundamental pagan sanity perhaps admitted. There she was
with everything before her, and his blood--some of it--in her tiny
veins. There she was, his little companion, to be made as happy as
ever he could make her, so that she knew nothing but love. His heart
swelled, and he went out, stilling the sound of his patent-leather
boots. In the corridor an eccentric notion attacked him: To think
that children should come to that which Irene had told him she was
helping! Women who were all, once, little things like this one
sleeping there! 'I must give her a cheque!' he mused; 'Can't bear to
think of them!' They had never borne reflecting on, those poor
outcasts; wounding too deeply the core of true refinement hidden
under layers of conformity to the sense of property--wounding too
grievously the deepest thing in him--a love of beauty which could
give him, even now, a flutter of the heart, thinking of his evening
in the society of a pretty woman. And he went downstairs, through
the swinging doors, to the back regions. There, in the wine-cellar,
was a hock worth at least two pounds a bottle, a Steinberg Cabinet,
better than any Johan-nisberg that ever went down throat; a wine of
perfect bouquet, sweet as a nectarine--nectar indeed! He got a bottle
out, handling it like a baby, and holding it level to the light, to
look. Enshrined in its coat of dust, that mellow coloured, slender--
necked bottle gave him deep pleasure. Three years to settle down
again since the move from Town--ought to be in prime condition!
Thirty-five years ago he had bought it--thank God he had kept his
palate, and earned the right to drink it. She would appreciate this;
not a spice of acidity in a dozen. He wiped the bottle, drew the
cork with his own hands, put his nose down, inhaled its perfume, and
went back to the music room.
Irene was standing by the piano; she had taken off her hat and a lace
scarf she had been wearing, so that her gold-coloured hair was
visible, and the pallor of her neck. In her grey frock she made a
pretty picture for old Jolyon, against the rosewood of the piano.
He gave her his arm, and solemnly they went. The room, which had
been designed to enable twenty-four people to dine in comfort, held
now but a little round table. In his present solitude the big
dining-table oppressed old Jolyon; he had caused it to be removed
till his son came back. Here in the company of two really good
copies of Raphael Madonnas he was wont to dine alone. It was the
only disconsolate hour of his day, this summer weather. He had never
been a large eater, like that great chap Swithin, or Sylvanus
Heythorp, or Anthony Thornworthy, those cronies of past times; and to
dine alone, overlooked by the Madonnas, was to him but a sorrowful
occupation, which he got through quickly, that he might come to the
more spiritual enjoyment of his coffee and cigar. But this evening
was a different matter! His eyes twinkled at her across the little
table and he spoke of Italy and Switzerland, telling her stories of
his travels there, and other experiences which he could no longer
recount to his son and grand-daughter because they knew them. This
fresh audience was precious to him; he had never become one of those
old men who ramble round and round the fields of reminiscence.
Himself quickly fatigued by the insensitive, he instinctively avoided
fatiguing others, and his natural flirtatiousness towards beauty
guarded him specially in his relations with a woman. He would have
liked to draw her out, but though she murmured and smiled and seemed
to be enjoying what he told her, he remained conscious of that
mysterious remoteness which constituted half her fascination. He
could not bear women who threw their shoulders and eyes at you, and
chattered away; or hard-mouthed women who laid down the law and knew
more than you did. There was only one quality in a woman that
appealed to him--charm; and the quieter it was, the more he liked it.
And this one had charm, shadowy as afternoon sunlight on those
Italian hills and valleys he had loved. The feeling, too, that she
was, as it were, apart, cloistered, made her seem nearer to himself,
a strangely desirable companion. When a man is very old and quite
out of the running, he loves to feel secure from the rivalries of
youth, for he would still be first in the heart of beauty. And he
drank his hock, and watched her lips, and felt nearly young. But the
dog Balthasar lay watching her lips too, and despising in his heart
the interruptions of their talk, and the tilting of those greenish
glasses full of a golden fluid which was distasteful to him.
The light was just failing when they went back into the music-room.
And, cigar in mouth, old Jolyon said:
"Play me some Chopin."
By the cigars they smoke, and the composers they love, ye shall know
the texture of men's souls. Old Jolyon could not bear--a strong
cigar or Wagner's music. He loved Beethoven and Mozart, Handel and
Gluck, and Schumann, and, for some occult reason, the operas of
Meyerbeer; but of late years he had been seduced by Chopin, just as
in painting he had succumbed to Botticelli. In yielding to these
tastes he had been conscious of divergence from the standard of the
Golden Age. Their poetry was not that of Milton and Byron and
Tennyson; of Raphael and Titian; Mozart and Beethoven. It was, as it
were, behind a veil; their poetry hit no one in the face, but slipped
its fingers under the ribs and turned and twisted, and melted up the
heart. And, never certain that this was healthy, he did not care a
rap so long as he could see the pictures of the one or hear the music
of the other.
Irene sat down at the piano under the electric lamp festooned with
pearl-grey, and old Jolyon, in an armchair, whence he could see her,
crossed his legs and drew slowly at his cigar. She sat a few moments
with her hands on the keys, evidently searching her mind for what to
give him. Then she began and within old Jolyon there arose a
sorrowful pleasure, not quite like anything else in the world. He
fell slowly into a trance, interrupted only by the movements of
taking the cigar out of his mouth at long intervals, and replacing
it. She was there, and the hock within him, and the scent of
tobacco; but there, too, was a world of sunshine lingering into
moonlight, and pools with storks upon them, and bluish trees above,
glowing with blurs of wine-red roses, and fields of lavender where
milk-white cows were grazing, and a woman all shadowy, with dark eyes
and a white neck, smiled, holding out her arms; and through air which
was like music a star dropped and was caught on a cow's horn. He
opened his eyes. Beautiful piece; she played well--the touch of an
angel! And he closed them again. He felt mirac-ulously sad and
happy, as one does, standing under a lime-tree in full honey flower.
Not live one's own life again, but just stand there and bask in the
smile of a woman's eyes, and enjoy the bouquet! And he jerked his
hand; the dog Balthasar had reached up and licked it.
"Beautiful!" He said: "Go on--more Chopin!"
She began to play again. This time the resemblance between her and
'Chopin' struck him. The swaying he had noticed in her walk was in
her playing too, and the Nocturne she had chosen and the soft
darkness of her eyes, the light on her hair, as of moonlight from a
golden moon. Seductive, yes; but nothing of Delilah in her or in
that music. A long blue spiral from his cigar ascended and
dispersed. 'So we go out!' he thought. 'No more beauty! Nothing?'
Again Irene stopped.
"Would you like some Gluck? He used to write his music in a sunlit
garden, with a bottle of Rhine wine beside him."
"Ah!; yes. Let's have 'Orfeo."' Round about him now were fields of
gold and silver flowers, white forms swaying in the sunlight, bright
birds flying to and fro. All was summer. Lingering waves of
sweetness and regret flooded his soul. Some cigar ash dropped, and
taking out a silk handkerchief to brush it off, he inhaled a mingled
scent as of snuff and eau de Cologne. 'Ah!' he thought, 'Indian
summer--that's all!' and he said: "You haven't played me 'Che faro.'"
She did not answer; did not move. He was conscious of something--
some strange upset. Suddenly he saw her rise and turn away, and a
pang of remorse shot through him. What a clumsy chap! Like Orpheus,
she of course--she too was looking for her lost one in the hall of
memory! And disturbed to the heart, he got up from his chair. She
had gone to the great window at the far end. Gingerly he followed.
Her hands were folded over her breast; he could just see her cheek,
very white. And, quite emotionalized, he said:
"There, there, my love!" The words had escaped him mechanically, for
they were those he used to Holly when she had a pain, but their
effect was instantaneously distressing. She raised her arms, covered
her face with them, and wept.
Old Jolyon stood gazing at her with eyes very deep from age. The
passionate shame she seemed feeling at her abandonment, so unlike the
control and quietude of her whole presence was as if she had never
before broken down in the presence of another being.
"There, there--there, there!" he murmured, and putting his hand out
reverently, touched her. She turned, and leaned the arms which
covered her face against him. Old Jolyon stood very still, keeping
one thin hand on her shoulder. Let her cry her heart out--it would
do her good.
And the dog Balthasar, puzzled, sat down on his stern to examine
them.
The window was still open, the curtains had not been drawn, the last
of daylight from without mingled with faint intrusion from the lamp
within; there was a scent of new-mown grass. With the wisdom of a
long life old Jolyon did not speak. Even grief sobbed itself out in
time; only Time was good for sorrow--Time who saw the passing of each
mood, each emotion in turn; Time the layer-to-rest. There came into
his mind the words: 'As panteth the hart after cooling streams'--but
they were of no use to him. Then, conscious of a scent of violets,
he knew she was drying her eyes. He put his chin forward, pressed
his moustache against her forehead, and felt her shake with a
quivering of her whole body, as of a tree which shakes itself free of
raindrops. She put his hand to her lips, as if saying: "All over
now! Forgive me!"
The kiss filled him with a strange comfort; he led her back to where
she had been so upset. And the dog Balthasar, following, laid the
bone of one of the cutlets they had eaten at their feet.
Anxious to obliterate the memory of that emotion, he could think of
nothing better than china; and moving with her slowly from cabinet to
cabinet, he kept taking up bits of Dresden and Lowestoft and Chelsea,
turning them round and round with his thin, veined hands, whose skin,
faintly freckled, had such an aged look.
"I bought this at Jobson's," he would say; "cost me thirty pounds.
It's very old. That dog leaves his bones all over the place. This
old 'ship-bowl' I picked up at the sale when that precious rip, the
Marquis, came to grief. But you don't remember. Here's a nice piece
of Chelsea. Now, what would you say this was?" And he was
comforted, feeling that, with her taste, she was taking a real
interest in these things; for, after all, nothing better composes the
nerves than a doubtful piece of china.
When the crunch of the carriage wheels was heard at last, he said
"You must come again; you must come to lunch, then I can show you
these by daylight, and my little sweet--she's a dear little thing.
This dog seems to have taken a fancy to you."
For Balthasar, feeling that she was about to leave, was rubbing his
side against her leg. Going out under the porch with her, he said:
"He'll get you up in an hour and a quarter. Take this for your
protegees," and he slipped a cheque for fifty pounds into her hand.
He saw her brightened eyes, and heard her murmur: "Oh Uncle Jolyon!"
and a real throb of pleasure went through him. That meant one or two
poor creatures helped a little, and it meant that she would come
again. He put his hand in at the window and grasped hers once more.
The carriage rolled away. He stood looking at the moon and the
shadows of the trees, and thought: 'A sweet night! She ...!'
II
Two days of rain, and summer set in bland and sunny. Old Jolyon
walked and talked with Holly. At first he felt taller and full of a
new vigour; then he felt restless. Almost every afternoon they would
enter the coppice, and walk as far as the log. 'Well, she's not
there!' he would think, 'of course not!' And he would feel a little
shorter, and drag his feet walking up the hill home, with his hand
clapped to his left side. Now and then the thought would move in
him: 'Did she come--or did I dream it?' and he would stare at space,
while the dog Balthasar stared at him. Of course she would not come
again! He opened the letters from Spain with less excitement. They
were not returning till July; he felt, oddly, that he could bear it.
Every day at dinner he screwed up his eyes and looked at where she
had sat. She was not there, so he unscrewed his eyes again.
On the seventh afternoon he thought: 'I must go up and get some
boots.' He ordered Beacon, and set out. Passing from Putney towards
Hyde Park he reflected: 'I might as well go to Chelsea and see her.'
And he called out: "Just drive me to where you took that lady the
other night." The coachman turned his broad red face, and his juicy
lips answered: "The lady in grey, sir?"
"Yes, the lady in grey." What other ladies were there! Stodgy chap!
The carriage stopped before a small three-storied block of flats,
standing a little back from the river. With a practised eye old
Jolyon saw that they were cheap. 'I should think about sixty pound a
year,' he mused; and entering, he looked at the name-board. The
name 'Forsyte' was not on it, but against 'First Floor, Flat C' were
the words: 'Mrs. Irene Heron.' Ah! She had taken her maiden name
again! And somehow this pleased him. He went upstairs slowly,
feeling his side a little. He stood a moment, before ringing, to
lose the feeling of drag and fluttering there. She would not be in!
And then Boots! The thought was black. What did he want with boots
at his age? He could not wear out all those he had.
"Your mistress at home?"
"Yes, sir."
"Say Mr. Jolyon Forsyte."
"Yes, sir, will you come this way?"
Old Jolyon followed a very little maid--not more than sixteen one
would say--into a very small drawing-room where the sun-blinds were
drawn. It held a cottage piano and little else save a vague
fragrance and good taste. 'He stood in the middle, with his top hat
in his hand, and thought: 'I expect she's very badly off!' There was
a mirror above the fireplace, and he saw himself reflected. An
old-looking chap! He heard a rustle, and turned round. She was so
close that his moustache almost brushed her forehead, just under her
hair.
"I was driving up," he said. "Thought I'd look in on you, and ask
you how you got up the other night."
And, seeing her smile, he felt suddenly relieved. She was really
glad to see him, perhaps.
"Would you like to put on your hat and come for a drive in the Park?"
But while she was gone to put her hat on, he frowned. The Park!
James and Emily! Mrs. Nicholas, or some other member of his precious
family would be there very likely, prancing up and down. And they
would go and wag their tongues about having seen him with her,
afterwards. Better not! He did not wish to revive the echoes of the
past on Forsyte 'Change.' He removed a white hair from the lapel of
his closely-buttoned-up frock coat, and passed his hand over his
cheeks, moustache, and square chin. It felt very hollow there under
the cheekbones. He had not been eating much lately--he had better
get that little whippersnapper who attended Holly to give him a
tonic. But she had come back and when they were in the carriage, he
said:
"Suppose we go and sit in Kensington Gardens instead?" and added with
a twinkle: "No prancing up and down there," as if she had been in the
secret of his thoughts.
Leaving the carriage, they entered those select precincts, and
strolled towards the water.
"You've gone back to your maiden name, I see," he said: "I'm not
sorry."
She slipped her hand under his arm: "Has June forgiven me, Uncle
Jolyon?"
He answered gently: "Yes--yes; of course, why not?"
"And have you?"
"I? I forgave you as soon as I saw how the land really lay." And
perhaps he had; his instinct had always been to forgive the
beautiful.
She drew a deep breath. "I never regretted--I couldn't. Did you
ever love very deeply, Uncle Jolyon?"
At that strange question old Jolyon stared before him. Had he? He
did not seem to remember that he ever had. But he did not like to
say this to the young woman whose hand was touching his arm, whose
life was suspended, as it were, by memory of a tragic love. And he
thought: 'If I had met you when I was young I--I might have made a
fool of myself, perhaps.' And a longing to escape in generalities
beset him.
"Love's a queer thing," he said, "fatal thing often. It was the
Greeks--wasn't it?--made love into a goddess; they were right, I dare
say, but then they lived in the Golden Age."
"Phil adored them."
Phil! The word jarred him, for suddenly--with his power to see all
round a thing, he perceived why she was putting up with him like
this. She wanted to talk about her lover! Well! If it was any
pleasure to her! And he said: "Ah! There was a bit of the sculptor
in him, I fancy."
"Yes. He loved balance and symmetry; he loved the whole-hearted way
the Greeks gave themselves to art."
Balance! The chap had no balance at all, if he remembered; as for
symmetry--clean-built enough he was, no doubt; but those queer eyes
of his, and high cheek-bones--Symmetry?
"You're of the Golden Age, too, Uncle Jolyon.
Old Jolyon looked round at her. Was she chaffing him? No, her eyes
were soft as velvet. Was she flattering him? But if so, why? There
was nothing to be had out of an old chap like him.
"Phil thought so. He used to say: 'But I can never tell him that I
admire him."'
Ah! There it was again. Her dead lover; her desire to talk of him!
And he pressed her arm, half resentful of those memories, half
grateful, as if he recognised what a link they were between herself
and him.
"He was a very talented young fellow," he murmured. "It's hot; I
feel the heat nowadays. Let's sit down."
They took two chairs beneath a chestnut tree whose broad leaves
covered them from the peaceful glory of the afternoon. A pleasure to
sit there and watch her, and feel that she liked to be with him. And
the wish to increase that liking, if he could, made him go on:
"I expect he showed you a side of him I never saw. He'd be at his
best with you. His ideas of art were a little new--to me "--he had
stiffed the word 'fangled.'
"Yes: but he used to say you had a real sense of beauty." Old Jolyon
thought: 'The devil he did!' but answered with a twinkle: "Well, I
have, or I shouldn't be sitting here with you." She was fascinating
when she smiled with her eyes, like that!
"He thought you had one of those hearts that never grow old. Phil
had real insight."
He was not taken in by this flattery spoken out of the past, out of a
longing to talk of her dead lover--not a bit; and yet it was precious
to hear, because she pleased his eyes and heart which quite true!--
had never grown old. Was that because--unlike her and her dead
lover, he had never loved to desperation, had always kept his
balance, his sense of symmetry. Well! It had left him power, at
eighty-four, to admire beauty. And he thought, 'If I were a painter
or a sculptor! But I'm an old chap. Make hay while the sun shines.'
A couple with arms entwined crossed on the grass before them, at the
edge of the shadow from their tree. The sunlight fell cruelly on
their pale, squashed, unkempt young faces. "We're an ugly lot!" said
old Jolyon suddenly. "It amazes me to see how--love triumphs over
that."
"Love triumphs over everything!"
"The young think so," he muttered.
"Love has no age, no limit; and no death."
With that glow in her pale face, her breast heaving, her eyes so
large and dark and soft, she looked like Venus come to life! But
this extravagance brought instant reaction, and, twinkling, he said:
"Well, if it had limits, we shouldn't be born; for by George! it's
got a lot to put up with."
Then, removing his top hat, he brushed it round with a cuff. The
great clumsy thing heated his forehead; in these days he often got a
rush of blood to the head--his circulation was not what it had been.
She still sat gazing straight before her, and suddenly she murmured:
"It's strange enough that I'm alive."
Those words of Jo's 'Wild and lost' came back to him.
"Ah!" he said: "my son saw you for a moment--that day."
"Was it your son? I heard a voice in the hall; I thought for a second
it was--Phil."
Old Jolyon saw her lips tremble. She put her hand over them, took it
away again, and went on calmly: "That night I went to the Embankment;
a woman caught me by the dress. She told me about herself. When one
knows that others suffer, one's ashamed."
"One of those?"
She nodded, and horror stirred within old Jolyon, the horror of one
who has never known a struggle with desperation. Almost against his
will he muttered: "Tell me, won't you?"
"I didn't care whether I lived or died. When you're like that, Fate
ceases to want to kill you. She took care of me three days--she
never left me. I had no money. That's why I do what I can for them,
now."
But old Jolyon was thinking: 'No money!' What fate could compare
with that? Every other was involved in it.
"I wish you had come to me," he said. "Why didn't you?" But Irene
did not answer.
"Because my name was Forsyte, I suppose? Or was it June who kept you
away? How are you getting on now?" His eyes involuntarily swept her
body. Perhaps even now she was--! And yet she wasn't thin--not
really!
"Oh! with my fifty pounds a year, I make just enough." The answer
did not reassure him; he had lost confidence. And that fellow
Soames! But his sense of justice stifled condemnation. No, she
would certainly have died rather than take another penny from him.
Soft as she looked, there must be strength in her somewhere--strength
and fidelity. But what business had young Bosinney to have got run
over and left her stranded like this!
"Well, you must come to me now," he said, "for anything you want, or
I shall be quite cut up." And putting on his hat, he rose. "Let's
go and get some tea. I told that lazy chap to put the horses up for
an hour, and come for me at your place. We'll take a cab presently;
I can't walk as I used to."
He enjoyed that stroll to the Kensington end of the gardens--the
sound of her voice, the glancing of her eyes, the subtle beauty of a
charming form moving beside him. He enjoyed their tea at Ruffel's in
the High Street, and came out thence with a great box of chocolates
swung on his little finger. He enjoyed the drive back to Chelsea in
a hansom, smoking his cigar. She had promised to come down next
Sunday and play to him again, and already in thought he was plucking
carnations and early roses for her to carry back to town. It was a
pleasure to give her a little pleasure, if it WERE pleasure from an
old chap like him! The carriage was already there when they arrived.
Just like that fellow, who was always late when he was wanted! Old
Jolyon went in for a minute to say good-bye. The little dark hall of
the fiat was impregnated with a disagreeable odour of patchouli, and
on a bench against the wall--its only furniture--he saw a figure
sitting. He heard Irene say softly: "Just one minute." In the
little drawing-room when the door was shut, he asked gravely: "One of
your protegees?"
"Yes. Now thanks to you, I can do something for her."
He stood, staring, and stroking that chin whose strength had
frightened so many in its time. The idea of her thus actually in
contact with this outcast, grieved and frightened him. What could
she do for them? Nothing. Only soil and make trouble for herself,
perhaps. And he said: "Take care, my dear! The world puts the worst
construction on everything."
"I know that."
He was abashed by her quiet smile. "Well then--Sunday," he murmured:
"Good-bye."
She put her cheek forward for him to kiss.
"Good-bye," he said again; "take care of yourself." And he went out,
not looking towards the figure on the bench. He drove home by way of
Hammersmith; that he might stop at a place he knew of and tell them
to send her in two dozen of their best Burgundy. She must want
picking-up sometimes! Only in Richmond Park did he remember that he
had gone up to order himself some boots, and was surprised that he
could have had so paltry an idea.
III
The little spirits of the past which throng an old man's days had
never pushed their faces up to his so seldom as in the seventy hours
elapsing before Sunday came. The spirit of the future, with the
charm of the unknown, put up her lips instead. Old Jolyon was not
restless now, and paid no visits to the log, because she was coming
to lunch. There is wonderful finality about a meal; it removes a
world of doubts, for no one misses meals except for reasons beyond
control. He played many games with Holly on the lawn, pitching them
up to her who was batting so as to be ready to bowl to Jolly in the
holidays. For she was not a Forsyte, but Jolly was--and Forsytes
always bat, until they have resigned and reached the age of
eighty-five. The dog Balthasar, in attendance, lay on the ball as
often as he could, and the page-boy fielded, till his face was like
the harvest moon. And because the time was getting shorter, each day
was longer and more golden than the last. On Friday night he took a
liver pill, his side hurt him rather, and though it was not the liver
side, there is no remedy like that. Anyone telling him that he had
found a new excitement in life and that excitement was not good for
him, would have been met by one of those steady and rather defiant
looks of his deep-set iron-grey eyes, which seemed to say: 'I know my
own business best.' He always had and always would.
On Sunday morning, when Holly had gone with her governess to church,
he visited the strawberry beds. There, accompanied by the dog
Balthasar, he examined the plants narrowly and succeeded in finding
at least two dozen berries which were really ripe. Stooping was not
good for him, and he became very dizzy and red in the forehead.
Having placed the strawberries in a dish on the dining-table, he
washed his hands and bathed his forehead with eau de Cologne. There,
before the mirror, it occurred to him that he was thinner. What a
'threadpaper' he had been when he was young! It was nice to be slim-
-he could not bear a fat chap; and yet perhaps his cheeks were too
thin! She was to arrive by train at half-past twelve and walk up,
entering from the road past Drage's farm at the far end of the
coppice. And, having looked into June's room to see that there was
hot water ready, he set forth to meet her, leisurely, for his heart
was beating. The air smelled sweet, larks sang, and the Grand Stand
at Epsom was visible. A perfect day! On just such a one, no doubt,
six years ago, Soames had brought young Bosinney down with him to
look at the site before they began to build. It was Bosinney who had
pitched on the exact spot for the house--as June had often told him.
In these days he was thinking much about that young fellow, as if his
spirit were really haunting the field of his last work, on the chance
of seeing--her. Bosinney--the one man who had possessed her heart,
to whom she had given her whole self with rapture! At his age one
could not, of course, imagine such things, but there stirred in him a
queer vague aching--as it were the ghost of an impersonal jealousy;
and a feeling, too, more generous, of pity for that love so early
lost. All over in a few poor months! Well, well! He looked at his
watch before entering the coppice--only a quarter past, twenty-five
minutes to wait! And then, turning the corner of the path, he saw
her exactly where he had seen her the first time, on the log; and
realised that she must have come by the earlier train to sit there
alone for a couple of hours at least. Two hours of her society
missed! What memory could make that log so dear to her? His face
showed what he was thinking, for she said at once:
"Forgive me, Uncle Jolyon; it was here that I first knew."
"Yes, yes; there it is for you whenever you like. You're looking a
little Londony; you're giving too many lessons."
That she should have to give lessons worried him. Lessons to a
parcel of young girls thumping out scales with their thick fingers.
"Where do you go to give them?" he asked.
"They're mostly Jewish families, luckily."
Old Jolyon stared; to all Forsytes Jews seem strange and doubtful.
"They love music, and they're very kind."
"They had better be, by George!" He took her arm--his side always
hurt him a little going uphill--and said:
"Did you ever see anything like those buttercups? They came like
that in a night."
Her eyes seemed really to fly over the field, like bees after the
flowers and the honey. "I wanted you to see them--wouldn't let them
turn the cows in yet." Then, remembering that she had come to talk
about Bosinney, he pointed to the clock-tower over the stables:
"I expect be wouldn't have let me put that there--had no notion of
time, if I remember."
But, pressing his arm to her, she talked of flowers instead, and he
knew it was done that he might not feel she came because of her dead
lover.
"The best flower I can show you," he said, with a sort of triumph,
"is my little sweet. She'll be back from Church directly. There's
something about her which reminds me a little of you," and it did not
seem to him peculiar that he had put it thus, instead of saying:
"There's something about you which reminds me a little of her." Ah!
And here she was!
Holly, followed closely by her elderly French governess, whose
digestion had been ruined twenty-two years ago in the siege of
Strasbourg, came rushing towards them from under the oak tree. She
stopped about a dozen yards away, to pat Balthasar and pretend that
this was all she had in her mind. Old Jolyon who knew better, said:
"Well, my darling, here's the lady in grey I promised you."
Holly raised herself and looked up. He watched the two of them with
a twinkle, Irene smiling, Holly beginning with grave inquiry, passing
into a shy smile too, and then to something deeper. She had a sense
of beauty, that child--knew what was what! He enjoyed the sight of
the kiss between them.
"Mrs. Heron, Mam'zelle Beauce. Well, Mam'zelle--good sermon?"
For, now that he had not much more time before him, the only part of
the service connected with this world absorbed what interest in
church remained to him. Mam'zelle Beauce stretched out a spidery
hand clad in a black kid glove--she had been in the best families--
and the rather sad eyes of her lean yellowish face seemed to ask:
"Are you well-brrred?" Whenever Holly or Jolly did anything
unpleasing to her--a not uncommon occurrence he would say to them:
"The little Tayleurs never did that--they were such well-brrred
little children." Jolly hated the little Tayleurs; Holly wondered
dreadfully how it was she fell so short of them. 'A thin rum little
soul,' old Jolyon thought her--Mam'zelle Beauce.
Luncheon was a successful meal, the mushrooms which he himself had
picked in the mushroom house, his chosen strawberries, and another
bottle of the Steinberg cabinet filled him with a certain aromatic
spirituality, and a conviction that he would have a touch of eczema
to-morrow.
After lunch they sat under the oak tree drinking Turkish coffee. It
was no matter of grief to him when Mademoiselle Beauce withdrew to
write her Sunday letter to her sister, whose future had been
endangered in the past by swallowing a pin--an event held up daily in
warning to the children to eat slowly and digest what they had eaten.
At the foot of the bank, on a carriage rug, Holly and the dog
Balthasar teased and loved each other, and in the shade old Jolyon
with his legs crossed and his cigar luxuriously savoured, gazed at
Irene sitting in the swing. A light, vaguely swaying, grey figure
with a fleck of sunlight here and there upon it, lips just opened,
eyes dark and soft under lids a little drooped. She looked content;
surely it did her good to come and see him! The selfishness of age
had not set its proper grip on him, for he could still feel pleasure
in the pleasure of others, realising that what he wanted, though
much, was not quite all that mattered.
"It's quiet here," he said; "you mustn't come down if you find it
dull. But it's a pleasure to see you. My little sweet's is the only
face which gives me any pleasure, except yours."
>From her smile he knew that she was not beyond liking to be
appreciated, and this reassured him. "That's not humbug," he said.
"I never told a woman I admired her when I didn't. In fact I
don't know when I've told a woman I admired her, except my wife in
the old days; and wives are funny." He was silent, but resumed
abruptly:
"She used to expect me to say it more often than I felt it, and there
we were." Her face looked mysteriously troubled, and, afraid that
he had said something painful, he hurried on: "When my little sweet
marries, I hope she'll find someone who knows what women feel. I
shan't be here to see it, but there's too much topsy-turvydom in
marriage; I don't want her to pitch up against that." And, aware
that he had made bad worse, he added: "That dog will scratch."
A silence followed. Of what was she thinking, this pretty creature
whose life was spoiled; who had done with love, and yet was made for
love? Some day when he was gone, perhaps, she would find another
mate--not so disorderly as that young fellow who had got himself run
over. Ah! but her husband?
"Does Soames never trouble you?" he asked.
She shook her head. Her face had closed up suddenly. For all her
softness there was something irreconcilable about her. And a glimpse
of light on the inexorable nature of sex antipathies strayed into a
brain which, belonging to early Victorian civil-isation--so much
older than this of his old age--had never thought about such
primitive things.
"That's a comfort," he said. "You can see the Grand Stand to-day.
Shall we take a turn round?"
Through the flower and fruit garden, against whose high outer walls
peach trees and nectarines were trained to the sun, through the
stables, the vinery, the mushroom house, the asparagus beds, the
rosery, the summer-house, he conducted her--even into the kitchen
garden to see the tiny green peas which Holly loved to scoop out of
their pods with her finger, and lick up from the palm of her little
brown hand. Many delightful things he showed her, while Holly and
the dog Balthasar danced ahead, or came to them at intervals for
attention. It was one of the happiest afternoons he had ever spent,
but it tired him and he was glad to sit down in the music room and
let her give him tea. A special little friend of Holly's had come
in--a fair child with short hair like a boy's. And the two sported
in the distance, under the stairs, on the stairs, and up in the
gallery. Old Jolyon begged for Chopin. She played studies,
mazurkas, waltzes, till the two children, creeping near, stood at the
foot of the piano their dark and golden heads bent forward,
listening. Old Jolyon watched.
"Let's see you dance, you two!"
Shyly, with a false start, they began. Bobbing and circling,
earnest, not very adroit, they went past and past his chair to the
strains of that waltz. He watched them and the face of her who was
playing turned smiling towards those little dancers thinking:
'Sweetest picture I've seen for ages.'
A voice said:
"Hollee! Mais enfin--quest-ce que tu fais la--danser, le dimanche!
Viens, donc!"
But the children came close to old Jolyon, knowing that he would save
them, and gazed into a face which was decidedly 'caught out.'
"Better the day, better the deed, Mam'zelle. It's all my doing.
Trot along, chicks, and have your tea."
And, when they were gone, followed by the dog Balthasar, who took
every meal, he looked at Irene with a twinkle and said:
"Well, there we are! Aren't they sweet? Have you any little ones
among your pupils?"
"Yes, three--two of them darlings."
"Pretty?"
"Lovely!"
Old Jolyon sighed; he had an insatiable appetite for the very young.
"My little sweet," he said, "is devoted to music; she'll be a
musician some day. You wouldn't give me your opinion of her playing,
I suppose?"
"Of course I will."
"You wouldn't like--" but he stifled the words "to give her lessons."
The idea that she gave lessons was unpleasant to him; yet it would
mean that he would see her regularly. She left the piano and came
over to his chair.
"I would like, very much; but there is--June. When are they coming
back?"
Old Jolyon frowned. "Not till the middle of next month. What does
that matter?"
"You said June had forgiven me; but she could never forget, Uncle
Jolyon."
Forget! She must forget, if he wanted her to.
But as if answering, Irene shook her head. "You know she couldn't;
one doesn't forget."
Always that wretched past! And he said with a sort of vexed finality:
"Well, we shall see."
He talked to her an hour or more, of the children, and a hundred
little things, till the carriage came round to take her home. And
when she had gone he went back to his chair, and sat there smoothing
his face and chin, dreaming over the day.
That evening after dinner he went to his study and took a sheet of
paper. He stayed for some minutes without writing, then rose and
stood under the masterpiece 'Dutch Fishing Boats at Sunset.' He was
not thinking of that picture, but of his life. He was going to leave
her something in his Will; nothing could so have stirred the stilly
deeps of thought and memory. He was going to leave her a portion of
his wealth, of his aspirations, deeds, qualities, work--all that had
made that wealth; going to leave her, too, a part of all he had
missed in life, by his sane and steady pursuit of wealth. All! What
had he missed? 'Dutch Fishing Boats' responded blankly; he crossed
to the French window, and drawing the curtain aside, opened it. A
wind had got up, and one of last year's oak leaves which had somehow
survived the gardener's brooms, was dragging itself with a tiny
clicking rustle along the stone terrace in the twilight. Except for
that it was very quiet out there, and he could smell the heliotrope
watered not long since. A bat went by. A bird uttered its last
'cheep.' And right above the oak tree the first star shone. Faust
in the opera had bartered his soul for some fresh years of youth.
Morbid notion! No such bargain was possible, that was real tragedy!
No making oneself new again for love or life or anything. Nothing
left to do but enjoy beauty from afar off while you could, and leave
it something in your Will. But how much? And, as if he could not
make that calculation looking out into the mild freedom of the
country night, he turned back and went up to the chimney-piece.
There were his pet bronzes--a Cleopatra with the asp at her breast; a
Socrates; a greyhound playing with her puppy; a strong man reining in
some horses. 'They last!' he thought, and a pang went through his
heart. They had a thousand years of life before them!
'How much?' Well! enough at all events to save her getting old before
her time, to keep the lines out of her face as long as possible, and
grey from soiling that bright hair. He might live another five
years. She would be well over thirty by then. 'How much?' She had
none of his blood in her! In loyalty to the tenor of his life for
forty years and more, ever since he married and founded that
mysterious thing, a family, came this warning thought--None of his
blood, no right to anything! It was a luxury then, this notion. An
extravagance, a petting of an old man's whim, one of those things
done in dotage. His real future was vested in those who had his
blood, in whom he would live on when he was gone. He turned away
from the bronzes and stood looking at the old leather chair in which
he had sat and smoked so many hundreds of cigars. And suddenly he
seemed to see her sitting there in her grey dress, fragrant, soft,
dark-eyed, graceful, looking up at him. Why! She cared nothing for
him, really; all she cared for was that lost lover of hers. But she
was there, whether she would or no, giving him pleasure with her
beauty and grace. One had no right to inflict an old man's company,
no right to ask her down to play to him and let him look at her--for
no reward! Pleasure must be paid for in this world. 'How much?'
After all, there was plenty; his son and his three grandchildren
would never miss that little lump. He had made it himself, nearly
every penny; he could leave it where he liked, allow himself this
little pleasure. He went back to the bureau. 'Well, I'm going to,'
he thought, 'let them think what they like. I'm going to!' And he
sat down.
'How much?' Ten thousand, twenty thousand--how much? If only with his
money he could buy one year, one month of youth. And startled by
that thought, he wrote quickly:
'DEAR HERRING,--Draw me a codicil to this effect: "I leave to my
niece Irene Forsyte, born Irene Heron, by which name she now goes,
fifteen thousand pounds free of legacy duty."
'Yours faithfully,
'JOLYON FORSYTE.'
When he had sealed and stamped the envelope, he went back to the
window and drew in a long breath. It was dark, but many stars shone
now.
IV
He woke at half-past two, an hour which long experience had taught
him brings panic intensity to all awkward thoughts. Experience had
also taught him that a further waking at the proper hour of eight
showed the folly of such panic. On this particular morning the
thought which gathered rapid momentum was that if he became ill, at
his age not improbable, he would not see her. From this it was but a
step to realisation that he would be cut off, too, when his son and
June returned from Spain. How could he justify desire for the
company of one who had stolen--early morning does not mince words--
June's lover? That lover was dead; but June was a stubborn little
thing; warm-hearted, but stubborn as wood, and--quite true--not one
who forgot! By the middle of next month they would be back. He had
barely five weeks left to enjoy the new interest which had come into
what remained of his life. Darkness showed up to him absurdly clear
the nature of his feeling. Admiration for beauty--a craving to see
that which delighted his eyes.
Preposterous, at his age! And yet--what other reason was there for
asking June to undergo such painful reminder, and how prevent his son
and his son's wife from thinking him very queer? He would be reduced
to sneaking up to London, which tired him; and the least
indisposition would cut him off even from that. He lay with eyes
open, setting his jaw against the prospect, and calling himself an
old fool, while his heart beat loudly, and then seemed to stop
beating altogether. He had seen the dawn lighting the window chinks,
heard the birds chirp and twitter, and the cocks crow, before he fell
asleep again, and awoke tired but sane. Five weeks before he need
bother, at his age an eternity! But that early morning panic had
left its mark, had slightly fevered the will of one who had always
had his own way. He would see her as often as he wished! Why not go
up to town and make that codicil at his solicitor's instead of
writing about it; she might like to go to the opera! But, by train,
for he would not have that fat chap Beacon grinning behind his back.
Servants were such fools; and, as likely as not, they had known all
the past history of Irene and young Bosinney--servants knew
everything, and suspected the rest. He wrote to her that morning:
"MY DEAR IRENE,--I have to be up in town to-morrow. If you would
like to have a look in at the opera, come and dine with me quietly
...."
But where? It was decades since he had dined anywhere in London save
at his Club or at a private house. Ah! that new-fangled place close
to Covent Garden....
"Let me have a line to-morrow morning to the Piedmont Hotel whether
to expect you there at 7 o'clock."
"Yours affectionately,
"JOLYON FORSYTE."
She would understand that he just wanted to give her a little
pleasure; for the idea that she should guess he had this itch to see
her was instinctively unpleasant to him; it was not seemly that one
so old should go out of his way to see beauty, especially in a woman.
The journey next day, short though it was, and the visit to his
lawyer's, tired him. It was hot too, and after dressing for dinner
he lay down on the sofa in his bedroom to rest a little. He must
have had a sort of fainting fit, for he came to himself feeling very
queer; and with some difficulty rose and rang the bell. Why! it was
past seven! And there he was and she would be waiting. But suddenly
the dizziness came on again, and he was obliged to relapse on the
sofa. He heard the maid's voice say:
"Did you ring, sir?"
"Yes, come here"; he could not see her clearly, for the cloud in
front of his eyes. "I'm not well, I want some sal volatile."
"Yes, sir." Her voice sounded frightened.
Old Jolyon made an effort.
"Don't go. Take this message to my niece--a lady waiting in the
hall--a lady in grey. Say Mr. Forsyte is not well--the heat. He is
very sorry; if he is not down directly, she is not to wait dinner."
When she was gone, he thought feebly: 'Why did I say a lady in grey--
she may be in anything. Sal volatile!' He did not go off again, yet
was not conscious of how Irene came to be standing beside him,
holding smelling salts to his nose, and pushing a pillow up behind
his head. He heard her say anxiously: "Dear Uncle Jolyon, what is
it?" was dimly conscious of the soft pressure of her lips on his
hand; then drew a long breath of smelling salts, suddenly discovered
strength in them, and sneezed.
"Ha!" he said, "it's nothing. How did you get here? Go down and
dine--the tickets are on the dressing-table. I shall be all right in
a minute."
He felt her cool hand on his forehead, smelled violets, and sat
divided between a sort of pleasure and a determination to be all
right.
"Why! You are in grey!" he said. "Help me up." Once on his feet he
gave himself a shake.
"What business had I to go off like that!" And he moved very slowly
to the glass. What a cadaverous chap! Her voice, behind him,
murmured:
"You mustn't come down, Uncle; you must rest."
"Fiddlesticks! A glass of champagne'll soon set me to rights. I
can't have you missing the opera."
But the journey down the corridor was troublesome. What carpets they
had in these newfangled places, so thick that you tripped up in them
at every step! In the lift he noticed how concerned she looked, and
said with the ghost of a twinkle:
"I'm a pretty host."
When the lift stopped he had to hold firmly to the seat to prevent
its slipping under him; but after soup and a glass of champagne he
felt much better, and began to enjoy an infirmity which had brought
such solicitude into her manner towards him.
"I should have liked you for a daughter," he said suddenly; and
watching the smile in her eyes, went on:
"You mustn't get wrapped up in the past at your time of life; plenty
of that when you get to my age. That's a nice dress--I like the
style."
"I made it myself."
Ah! A woman who could make herself a pretty frock had not lost her
interest in life.
"Make hay while the sun shines," he said; "and drink that up. I want
to see some colour in your cheeks. We mustn't waste life; it doesn't
do. There's a new Marguerite to-night; let's hope she won't be fat.
And Mephisto--anything more dreadful than a fat chap playing the
Devil I can't imagine."
But they did not go to the opera after all, for in getting up from
dinner the dizziness came over him again, and she insisted on his
staying quiet and going to bed early. When he parted from her at the
door of the hotel, having paid the cabman to drive her to Chelsea, he
sat down again for a moment to enjoy the memory of her words: "You
are such a darling to me, Uncle Jolyon!" Why! Who wouldn't be! He
would have liked to stay up another day and take her to the Zoo, but
two days running of him would bore her to death. No, he must wait
till next Sunday; she had promised to come then. They would settle
those lessons for Holly, if only for a month. It would be something.
That little Mam'zelle Beauce wouldn't like it, but she would have to
lump it. And crushing his old opera hat against his chest he sought
the lift.
He drove to Waterloo next morning, struggling with a desire to say:
'Drive me to Chelsea.' But his sense of proportion was too strong.
Besides, he still felt shaky, and did not want to risk another
aberration like that of last night, away from home. Holly, too, was
expecting him, and what he had in his bag for her. Not that there
was any cupboard love in his little sweet--she was a bundle of
affection. Then, with the rather bitter cynicism of the old, he
wondered for a second whether it was not cupboard love which made
Irene put up with him. No, she was not that sort either. She had,
if anything, too little notion of how to butter her bread, no sense
of property, poor thing! Besides, he had not breathed a word about
that codicil, nor should he--sufficient unto the day was the good
thereof.
In the victoria which met him at the station Holly was restraining
the dog Balthasar, and their caresses made 'jubey' his drive home.
All the rest of that fine hot day and most of the next he was content
and peaceful, reposing in the shade, while the long lingering
sunshine showered gold on the lawns and the flowers. But on Thursday
evening at his lonely dinner he began to count the hours; sixty-five
till he would go down to meet her again in the little coppice, and
walk up through the fields at her side. He had intended to consult
the doctor about his fainting fit, but the fellow would be sure to
insist on quiet, no excitement and all that; and he did not mean to
be tied by the leg, did not want to be told of an infirmity--if there
were one, could not afford to hear of it at his time of life, now
that this new interest had come. And he carefully avoided making any
mention of it in a letter to his son. It would only bring them back
with a run! How far this silence was due to consideration for their
pleasure, how far to regard for his own, he did not pause to
consider.
That night in his study he had just finished his cigar and was dozing
off, when he heard the rustle of a gown, and was conscious of a scent
of violets. Opening his eyes he saw her, dressed in grey, standing
by the fireplace, holding out her arms. The odd thing was that,
though those arms seemed to hold nothing, they were curved as if
round someone's neck, and her own neck was bent back, her lips open,
her eyes closed. She vanished at once, and there were the
mantelpiece and his bronzes. But those bronzes and the mantelpiece
had not been there when she was, only the fireplace and the wall!
Shaken and troubled, he got up. 'I must take medicine,' he thought;
'I can't be well.' His heart beat too fast, he had an asthmatic
feeling in the chest; and going to the window, he opened it to get
some air. A dog was barking far away, one of the dogs at Gage's farm
no doubt, beyond the coppice. A beautiful still night, but dark. 'I
dropped off,' he mused, 'that's it! And yet I'll swear my eyes were
open!' A sound like a sigh seemed to answer.
"What's that?" he said sharply, "who's there?"
Putting his hand to his side to still the beating of his heart, he
stepped out on the terrace. Something soft scurried by in the dark.
"Shoo!" It was that great grey cat. 'Young Bosinney was like a
great cat!' he thought. 'It was him in there, that she--that she
was--He's got her still!' He walked to the edge of the terrace, and
looked down into the darkness; he could just see the powdering of the
daisies on the unmown lawn. Here to-day and gone to-morrow! And
there came the moon, who saw all, young and old, alive and dead, and
didn't care a dump! His own turn soon. For a single day of youth he
would give what was left! And he turned again towards the house. He
could see the windows of the night nursery up there. His little
sweet would be asleep. 'Hope that dog won't wake her!' he thought.
'What is it makes us love, and makes us die! I must go to bed.'
And across the terrace stones, growing grey in the moonlight, he
passed back within.
How should an old man live his days if not in dreaming of his
well-spent past? In that, at all events, there is no agitating
warmth, only pale winter sunshine. The shell can withstand the
gentle beating of the dynamos of memory. The present he should
distrust; the future shun. From beneath thick shade he should watch
the sunlight creeping at his toes. If there be sun of summer, let
him not go out into it, mistaking it for the Indian-summer sun! Thus
peradventure he shall decline softly, slowly, imperceptibly, until
impatient Nature clutches his wind-pipe and he gasps away to death
some early morning before the world is aired, and they put on his
tombstone: 'In the fulness of years!' yea! If he preserve his
principles in perfect order, a Forsyte may live on long after he is
dead.
Old Jolyon was conscious of all this, and yet there was in him that
which transcended Forsyteism. For it is written that a Forsyte shall
not love beauty more than reason; nor his own way more than his own
health. And something beat within him in these days that with each
throb fretted at the thinning shell. His sagacity knew this, but it
knew too that he could not stop that beating, nor would if he could.
And yet, if you had told him he was living on his capital, he would
have stared you down. No, no; a man did not live on his capital; it
was not done! The shibboleths of the past are ever more real than
the actualities of the present. And he, to whom living on one's
capital had always been anathema, could not have borne to have
applied so gross a phrase to his own case. Pleasure is healthful;
beauty good to see; to live again in the youth of the young--and what
else on earth was he doing!
Methodically, as had been the way of his whole life, he now arranged
his time. On Tuesdays he journeyed up to town by train; Irene came
and dined with him. And they went to the opera. On Thursdays he
drove to town, and, putting that fat chap and his horses up, met her
in Kensington Gardens, picking up the carriage after he had left her,
and driving home again in time for dinner. He threw out the casual
formula that he had business in London on those two days. On
Wednesdays and Saturdays she came down to give Holly music lessons.
The greater the pleasure he took in her society, the more
scrupulously fastidious he became, just a matter-of-fact and friendly
uncle. Not even in feeling, really, was he more--for, after all,
there was his age. And yet, if she were late he fidgeted himself to
death. If she missed coming, which happened twice, his eyes grew sad
as an old dog's, and he failed to sleep.
And so a month went by--a month of summer in the fields, and in his
heart, with summer's heat and the fatigue thereof. Who could have
believed a few weeks back that he would have looked forward to his
son's and his grand-daughter's return with something like dread!
There was such a delicious freedom, such recovery of that
independence a man enjoys before he founds a family, about these
weeks of lovely weather, and this new companionship with one who
demanded nothing, and remained always a little unknown, retaining the
fascination of mystery. It was like a draught of wine to him who has
been drinking water for so long that he has almost forgotten the stir
wine brings to his blood, the narcotic to his brain. The flowers
were coloured brighter, scents and music and the sunlight had a
living value--were no longer mere reminders of past enjoy-ment.
There was something now to live for which stirred him continually to
anticipation. He lived in that, not in retrospection; the difference
is considerable to any so old as he. The pleasures of the table,
never of much consequence to one naturally abstemious, had lost all
value. He ate little, without knowing what he ate; and every day
grew thinner and more worn to look at. He was again a 'threadpaper';
and to this thinned form his massive forehead, with hollows at the
temples, gave more dignity than ever. He was very well aware that he
ought to see the doctor, but liberty was too sweet. He could not
afford to pet his frequent shortness of breath and the pain in his
side at the expense of liberty. Return to the vegetable existence he
had led among the agricultural journals with the life-size mangold
wurzels, before this new attraction came into his life--no! He
exceeded his allowance of cigars. Two a day had always been his
rule. Now he smoked three and sometimes four--a man will when he is
filled with the creative spirit. But very often he thought: 'I must
give up smoking, and coffee; I must give up rattling up to town.'
But he did not; there was no one in any sort of authority to notice
him, and this was a priceless boon.
The servants perhaps wondered, but they were, naturally, dumb.
Mam'zelle Beauce was too concerned with her own digestion, and too
'wellbrrred' to make personal allusions. Holly had not as yet an eye
for the relative appearance of him who was her plaything and her god.
It was left for Irene herself to beg him to eat more, to rest in the
hot part of the day, to take a tonic, and so forth. But she did not
tell him that she was the a cause of his thinness--for one cannot see
the havoc oneself is working. A man of eighty-five has no passions,
but the Beauty which produces passion works on in the old way, till
death closes the eyes which crave the sight of Her.
On the first day of the second week in July he received a letter from
his son in Paris to say that they would all be back on Friday. This
had always been more sure than Fate; but, with the pathetic
improvidence given to the old, that they may endure to the end, he
had never quite admitted it. Now he did, and something would have to
be done. He had ceased to be able to imagine life without this new
interest, but that which is not imagined sometimes exists, as
Forsytes are perpetually finding to their cost. He sat in his old
leather chair, doubling up the letter, and mumbling with his lips the
end of an unlighted cigar. After to-morrow his Tuesday expeditions
to town would have to be abandoned. He could still drive up,
perhaps, once a week, on the pretext of seeing his man of business.
But even that would be dependent on his health, for now they would
begin to fuss about him. The lessons! The lessons must go on! She
must swallow down her scruples, and June must put her feelings in her
pocket. She had done so once, on the day after the news of
Bosinney's death; what she had done then, she could surely do again
now. Four years since that injury was inflicted on her--not
Christian to keep the memory of old sores alive. June's will was
strong, but his was stronger, for his sands were running out. Irene
was soft, surely she would do this for him, subdue her natural
shrinking, sooner than give him pain! The lessons must continue; for
if they did, he was secure. And lighting his cigar at last, he began
trying to shape out how to put it to them all, and explain this
strange intimacy; how to veil and wrap it away from the naked truth--
that he could not bear to be deprived of the sight of beauty. Ah!
Holly! Holly was fond of her, Holly liked her lessons. She would
save him--his little sweet! And with that happy thought he became
serene, and wondered what he had been worrying about so fearfully.
He must not worry, it left him always curiously weak, and as if but
half present in his own body.
That evening after dinner he had a return of the dizziness, though he
did not faint. He would not ring the bell, because he knew it would
mean a fuss, and make his going up on the morrow more conspicuous.
When one grew old, the whole world was in conspiracy to limit
freedom, and for what reason?--just to keep the breath in him a
little longer. He did not want it at such cost. Only the dog
Balthasar saw his lonely recovery from that weakness; anxiously
watched his master go to the sideboard and drink some brandy, instead
of giving him a biscuit. When at last old Jolyon felt able to tackle
the stairs he went up to bed. And, though still shaky next morning,
the thought of the evening sustained and strengthened him. It was
always such a pleasure to give her a good dinner--he suspected her of
undereating when she was alone; and, at the opera to watch her eyes
glow and brighten, the unconscious smiling of her lips. She hadn't
much pleasure, and this was the last time he would be able to give
her that treat. But when he was packing his bag he caught himself
wishing that he had not the fatigue of dressing for dinner before
him, and the exertion, too, of telling her about June's return.
The opera that evening was 'Carmen,' and he chose the last entr'acte
to break the news, instinctively putting it off till the latest
moment.
She took it quietly, queerly; in fact, he did not know how she had
taken it before the wayward music lifted up again and silence became
necessary. The mask was down over her face, that mask behind which
so much went on that he could not see. She wanted time to think it
over, no doubt! He would not press her, for she would be coming to
give her lesson to-morrow afternoon, and he should see her then when
she had got used to the idea. In the cab he talked only of the
Carmen; he had seen better in the old days, but this one was not bad
at all. When he took her hand to say good-night, she bent quickly
forward and kissed his forehead.
"Good-bye, dear Uncle Jolyon, you have been so sweet to me."
"To-morrow then," he said. "Good-night. Sleep well." She echoed
softly: "Sleep welll" and from the cab window, already moving away,
he saw her face screwed round towards him, and her hand put out in a
gesture which seemed to linger.
He sought his room slowly. They never gave him the same, and he
could not get used to these 'spick-and-spandy' bedrooms with new
furniture and grey-green carpets sprinkled all over with pink roses.
He was wakeful and that wretched Habanera kept throbbing in his head.
His French had never been equal to its words, but its sense he knew,
if it had any sense, a gipsy thing--wild and unaccountable. Well,
there was in life something which upset all your care and plans--
something which made men and women dance to its pipes. And he lay
staring from deep-sunk eyes into the darkness where the unaccountable
held sway. You thought you had hold of life, but it slipped away
behind you, took you by the scruff of the neck, forced you here and
forced you there, and then, likely as not, squeezed life out of you!
It took the very stars like that, he shouldn't wonder, rubbed their
noses together and flung them apart; it had never done playing its
pranks. Five million people in this great blunderbuss of a town, and
all of them at the mercy of that Life-Force, like a lot of little
dried peas hopping about on a board when you struck your fist on it.
Ah, well! Himself would not hop much longer--a good long sleep would
do him good!
How hot it was up here!--how noisy! His forehead burned; she had
kissed it just where he always worried; just there--as if she had
known the very place and wanted to kiss it all away for him. But,
instead, her lips left a patch of grievous uneasiness. She had never
spoken in quite that voice, had never before made that lingering
gesture or looked back at him as she drove away.
He got out of bed and pulled the curtains aside; his room faced down
over the river. There was little air, but the sight of that breadth
of water flowing by, calm, eternal, soothed him. 'The great thing,'
he thought 'is not to make myself a nuisance. I'll think of my
little sweet, and go to sleep.' But it was long before the heat and
throbbing of the London night died out into the short slumber of the
summer morning. And old Jolyon had but forty winks.
When he reached home next day he went out to the flower garden, and
with the help of Holly, who was very delicate with flowers, gathered
a great bunch of carnations. They were, he told her, for 'the lady
in grey'--a name still bandied between them; and he put them in a
bowl in his study where he meant to tackle Irene the moment she came,
on the subject of June and future lessons. Their fragrance and
colour would help. After lunch he lay down, for he felt very tired,
and the carriage would not bring her from the station till four
o'clock. But as the hour approached he grew restless, and sought the
schoolroom, which overlooked the drive. The sun-blinds were down,
and Holly was there with Mademoiselle Beauce, sheltered from the heat
of a stifling July day, attending to their silkworms. Old Jolyon had
a natural antipathy to these methodical creatures, whose heads and
colour reminded him of elephants; who nibbled such quantities of
holes in nice green leaves; and smelled, as he thought, horrid. He
sat down on a chintz-covered windowseat whence he could see the
drive, and get what air there was; and the dog Balthasar who
appreciated chintz on hot days, jumped up beside him. Over the
cottage piano a violet dust-sheet, faded almost to grey, was spread,
and on it the first lavender, whose scent filled the room. In spite
of the coolness here, perhaps because of that coolness the beat of
life vehemently impressed his ebbed-down senses. Each sunbeam which
came through the chinks had annoying brilliance; that dog smelled
very strong; the lavender perfume was overpowering; those silkworms
heaving up their grey-green backs seemed horribly alive; and Holly's
dark head bent over them had a wonderfully silky sheen. A marvellous
cruelly strong thing was life when you were old and weak; it seemed
to mock you with its multitude of forms and its beating vitality. He
had never, till those last few weeks, had this curious feeling of
being with one half of him eagerly borne along in the stream of life,
and with the other half left on the bank, watching that helpless
progress. Only when Irene was with him did he lose this double
consciousness.
Holly turned her head, pointed with her little brown fist to the
piano--for to point with a finger was not 'well-brrred'--and said
slyly:
"Look at the 'lady in grey,' Gran; isn't she pretty to-day?"
Old Jolyon's heart gave a flutter, and for a second the room was
clouded; then it cleared, and he said with a twinkle:
"Who's been dressing her up?"
"Mam'zelle."
"Hollee! Don't be foolish!"
That prim little Frenchwoman! She hadn't yet got over the music
lessons being taken away from her. That wouldn't help. His little
sweet was the only friend they had. Well, they were her lessons.
And he shouldn't budge shouldn't budge for anything. He stroked the
warm wool on Balthasar's head, and heard Holly say: "When mother's
home, there won't be any changes, will there? She doesn't like
strangers, you know."
The child's words seemed to bring the chilly atmosphere of opposition
about old Jolyon, and disclose all the menace to his new-found
freedom. Ah! He would have to resign himself to being an old man at
the mercy of care and love, or fight to keep this new and prized
companionship; and to fight tired him to death. But his thin, worn
face hardened into resolution till it appeared all Jaw. This was his
house, and his affair; he should not budge! He looked at his watch,
old and thin like himself; he had owned it fifty years. Past four
already! And kissing the top of Holly's head in passing, he went
down to the hall. He wanted to get hold of her before she went up to
give her lesson. At the first sound of wheels he stepped out into
the porch, and saw at once that the victoria was empty.
"The train's in, sir; but the lady 'asn't come."
Old Jolyon gave him a sharp upward look, his eyes seemed to push away
that fat chap's curiosity, and defy him to see the bitter
disappointment he was feeling.
"Very well," he said, and turned back into the house. He went to his
study and sat down, quivering like a leaf. What did this mean? She
might have lost her train, but he knew well enough she hadn't.
'Good-bye, dear Uncle Jolyon.' Why 'Good-bye' and not 'Good-night'?
And that hand of hers lingering in the air. And her kiss. What did
it mean? Vehement alarm and irritation took possession of him. He
got up and began to pace the Turkey carpet, between window and wall.
She was going to give him up! He felt it for certain--and he
defenceless. An old man wanting to look on beauty! It was
ridiculous! Age closed his mouth, paralysed his power to fight. He
had no right to what was warm and living, no right to anything but
memories and sorrow. He could not plead with her; even an old man
has his dignity. Defenceless! For an hour, lost to bodily fatigue,
he paced up and down, past the bowl of carnations he had plucked,
which mocked him with its scent. Of all things hard to bear, the
prostration of will-power is hardest, for one who has always had his
way. Nature had got him in its net, and like an unhappy fish he
turned and swam at the meshes, here and there, found no hole, no
breaking point. They brought him tea at five o'clock, and a letter.
For a moment hope beat up in him. He cut the envelope with the
butter knife, and read:
"DEAREST UNCLE JOLYON,--I can't bear to write anything that may
disappoint you, but I was too cowardly to tell you last night. I
feel I can't come down and give Holly any more lessons, now that June
is coming back. Some things go too deep to be forgotten. It has
been such a joy to see you and Holly. Perhaps I shall still see you
sometimes when you come up, though I'm sure it's not good for you; I
can see you are tiring yourself too much. I believe you ought to
rest quite quietly all this hot weather, and now you have your son
and June coming back you will be so happy. Thank you a million times
for all your sweetness to me.
"Lovingly your IRENE."
So, there it was! Not good for him to have pleasure and what he
chiefly cared about; to try and put off feeling the inevitable end of
all things, the approach of death with its stealthy, rustling
footsteps. Not good for him! Not even she could see how she was his
new lease of interest in life, the incarnation of all the beauty he
felt slipping from him.
His tea grew cold, his cigar remained unlit; and up and down he
paced, torn between his dignity and his hold on life. Intolerable to
be squeezed out slowly, without a say of your own, to live on when
your will was in the hands of others bent on weighing you to the
ground with care and love. Intolerable! He would see what telling
her the truth would do--the truth that he wanted the sight of her
more than just a lingering on. He sat down at his old bureau and
took a pen. But he could not write. There was some-thing revolting
in having to plead like this; plead that she should warm his eyes
with her beauty. It was tantamount to confessing dotage. He simply
could not. And instead, he wrote:
"I had hoped that the memory of old sores would not be allowed to
stand in the way of what is a pleasure and a profit to me and my
little grand-daughter. But old men learn to forego their whims; they
are obliged to, even the whim to live must be foregone sooner or
later; and perhaps the sooner the better.
"My love to you,
"JOLYON FORSYTE."
'Bitter,' he thought, 'but I can't help it. I'm tired.' He sealed
and dropped it into the box for the evening post, and hearing it fall
to the bottom, thought: 'There goes all I've looked forward to!'
That evening after dinner which he scarcely touched, after his cigar
which he left half-smoked for it made him feel faint, he went very
slowly upstairs and stole into the night-nursery. He sat down on the
window-seat. A night-light was burning, and he could just see
Holly's face, with one hand underneath the cheek. An early
cockchafer buzzed in the Japanese paper with which they had filled
the grate, and one of the horses in the stable stamped restlessly.
To sleep like that child! He pressed apart two rungs of the venetian
blind and looked out. The moon was rising, blood-red. He had never
seen so red a moon. The woods and fields out there were dropping to
sleep too, in the last glimmer of the summer light. And beauty, like
a spirit, walked. 'I've had a long life,' he thought, 'the best of
nearly everything. I'm an ungrateful chap; I've seen a lot of beauty
in my time. Poor young Bosinney said I had a sense of beauty.
There's a man in the moon to-night!' A moth went by, another,
another. 'Ladies in grey!' He closed his eyes. A feeling that he
would never open them again beset him; he let it grow, let himself
sink; then, with a shiver, dragged the lids up. There was something
wrong with him, no doubt, deeply wrong; he would have to have the
doctor after all. It didn't much matter now! Into that coppice the
moon-light would have crept; there would be shadows, and those
shadows would be the only things awake. No birds, beasts, flowers,
insects; Just the shadows--moving; 'Ladies in grey!' Over that log
they would climb; would whisper together. She and Bosinney! Funny
thought! And the frogs and little things would whisper too! How the
clock ticked, in here! It was all eerie-out there in the light of
that red moon; in here with the little steady night-light and, the
ticking clock and the nurse's dressing-gown hanging from the edge of
the screen, tall, like a woman's figure. 'Lady in grey!' And a very
odd thought beset him: Did she exist? Had she ever come at all? Or
was she but the emanation of all the beauty he had loved and must
leave so soon? The violet-grey spirit with the dark eyes and the
crown of amber hair, who walks the dawn and the moonlight, and at
blue-bell time? What was she, who was she, did she exist? He rose
and stood a moment clutching the window-sill, to give him a sense of
reality again; then began tiptoeing towards the door. He stopped at
the foot of the bed; and Holly, as if conscious of his eyes fixed on
her, stirred, sighed, and curled up closer in defence. He tiptoed on
and passed out into the dark passage; reached his room, undressed at
once, and stood before a mirror in his night-shirt. What a
scarecrow--with temples fallen in, and thin legs! His eyes resisted
his own image, and a look of pride came on his face. All was in
league to pull him down, even his reflection in the glass, but he was
not down--yet! He got into bed, and lay a long time without
sleeping, trying to reach resignation, only too well aware that
fretting and disappointment were very bad for him. He woke in the
morning so unrefreshed and strengthIess that he sent for the doctor.
After sounding him, the fellow pulled a face as long as your arm, and
ordered him to stay in bed and give up smoking. That was no
hardship; there was nothing to get up for, and when he felt ill,
tobacco always lost its savour. He spent the morning languidly with
the sun-blinds down, turning and re-turning The Times, not reading
much, the dog Balthasar lying beside his bed. With his lunch they
brought him a telegram, running thus:
'Your letter received coming down this afternoon will be with you at
four-thirty. Irene.'
Coming down! After all! Then she did exist--and he was not
deserted. Coming down! A glow ran through his limbs; his cheeks and
forehead felt hot. He drank his soup, and pushed the tray-table
away, lying very quiet until they had removed lunch and left him
alone; but every now and then his eyes twinkled. Coming down! His
heart beat fast, and then did not seem to beat at all. At three
o'clock he got up and dressed deliberately, noiselessly. Holly and
Mam'zelle would be in the schoolroom, and the servants asleep after
their dinner, he shouldn't wonder. He opened his door cautiously,
and went downstairs. In the hall the dog Balthasar lay solitary,
and, followed by him, old Jolyon passed into his study and out into
the burning afternoon. He meant to go down and meet her in the
coppice, but felt at once he could not manage that in this heat. He
sat down instead under the oak tree by the swing, and the dog
Balthasar, who also felt the heat, lay down beside him. He sat there
smiling. What a revel of bright minutes! What a hum of insects, and
cooing of pigeons! It was the quintessence of a summer day. Lovely!
And he was happy--happy as a sand-boy, what-ever that might be. She
was coming; she had not given him up! He had everything in life he
wanted--except a little more breath, and less weight--just here! He
would see her when she emerged from the fernery, come swaying just a
little, a violet-grey figure passing over the daisies and dandelions
and 'soldiers' on the lawn--the soldiers with their flowery crowns.
He would not move, but she would come up to him and say: 'Dear Uncle
Jolyon, I am sorry!' and sit in the swing and let him look at her and
tell her that he had not been very well but was all right now; and
that dog would lick her hand. That dog knew his master was fond of
her; that dog was a good dog.
It was quite shady under the tree; the sun could not get at him, only
make the rest of the world bright so that he could see the Grand
Stand at Epsom away out there, very far, and the cows crop-ping the
clover in the field and swishing at the flies with their tails. He
smelled the scent of limes, and lavender. Ah! that was why there
was such a racket of bees. They were excited--busy, as his heart was
busy and excited. Drowsy, too, drowsy and drugged on honey and
happiness; as his heart was drugged and drowsy. Summer--summer--they
seemed saying; great bees and little bees, and the flies too!
The stable clock struck four; in half an hour she would be here. He
would have just one tiny nap, because he had had so little sleep of
late; and then he would be fresh for her, fresh for youth and beauty,
coming towards him across the sunlit lawn--lady in grey! And
settling back in his chair he closed his eyes. Some thistle-down
came on what little air there was, and pitched on his moustache more
white than itself. He did not know; but his breathing stirred it,
caught there. A ray of sunlight struck through and lodged on his
boot. A bumble-bee alighted and strolled on the crown of his Panama
hat. And the delicious surge of slumber reached the brain beneath
that hat, and the head swayed forward and rested on his breast.
Summer--summer! So went the hum.
The stable clock struck the quarter past. The dog Balthasar
stretched and looked up at his master. The thistledown no longer
moved. The dog placed his chin over the sunlit foot. It did not
stir. The dog withdrew his chin quickly, rose, and leaped on old
Jolyon's lap, looked in his face, whined; then, leaping down, sat on
his haunches, gazing up. And suddenly he uttered a long, long howl.
But the thistledown was still as death, and the face of his old
master.
Summer--summer--summer! The soundless footsteps on the grass!
End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Five Tales, by John Galsworthy