Victoria looked up at Mrs Holt.
"No, no."
"My boy, my poor boy!" Mrs Holt was on her knees by the side of the motionless figure.
Victoria began to weep, silently at first, then noisily. Mrs Holt started at the sound, then jumped to her feet with a cry of rage.
"Stop that crying," she commanded. "How dare you? How dare you?"
Victoria went on crying, the sobs choking her.
"A murderess," Mrs Holt went on. "You took my boy away; you corrupted him, ruined him, killed him. You"re a vile thing; n.o.body should touch you, you. . . ."
Victoria pulled herself together.
"It"s not my fault," she stumbled. "I didn"t know."
"Didn"t know," sneered Mrs Holt, "as if a woman of your cla.s.s didn"t know."
"That"s enough," snarled Victoria. "I"ve had enough. Understand? I didn"t want your son. He wanted me. That"s all over. He bought me, and now you think the price too heavy. I"ve been heaven to him who only knew misery. He"s not to be pitied, unless it be because his mistress hands him over to his mother."
"How dare you?" cried Mrs Holt again, a break in her voice as she pitied her outraged motherhood.
"It"s you who"ve killed him; you, the family, Rawsley, Bethlehem, your moral laws, your religion. It"s you who starved him, ground him down until he lost all sense of measure, desired nothing but love and life."
"You killed him, though," said the mother.
"Perhaps. I didn"t want to. I was . . . fond of him. But how can I help it? And supposing I did? What of it? Yes, what of it? Who was your son but a man?"
"My son?"
"Your son. A distinction, not a t.i.tle. Your son bears part of the responsibility of making me what I am. He came last but he might have come first, and I tell you that the worker of the eleventh hour is guilty equally with the worker of the first. Your son was nothing and I nothing but p.a.w.ns in the game, little figures which the Society you"re so proud of shifts and breaks. He bought my womanhood; he contributed to my degradation. What else but degradation did you offer me?"
Mrs Holt was weeping now.
"I am a woman, and the world has no use for me. Your Society taught me nothing. Or rather it taught me to dance, to speak a foreign language badly, to make myself an ornament, a pleasure to man. Then it threw me down from my pedestal, knowing nothing, without a profession, a trade, a friend, or a penny. And then your Society waved before my eyes the lily-white banner of purity, while it fed me and treated me like a dog.
When I gave it what it wanted, for there"s only one thing it wants from a woman whom nothing has been taught but that which every woman knows, then it covered me with gifts. A curse on your Society. A Society of men, crushing, grinding down women, sweating their labour, starving their brains, urging them on to the surrender of what makes a woman worth while. Ah . . . ah. . . ."
Breath failed her. Mrs Holt was weeping silently in her hands in utter abandonment.
"I"m going," said Victoria hoa.r.s.ely. She picked up a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes.
As she opened the door the figure moved on the bed, opened its eyes.
Their last lingering look was for the woman at the door.
CHAPTER XX
THE squire of c.u.mberleigh was not sorry that "The Retreat" had found a tenant at last. The house belonged to him, and he might have let it many times over; but so conservative and aristocratic was his disposition that he preferred to sacrifice his rent rather than have anyone who was undesirable in the neighbourhood. Yet, in the case of the lady who had now occupied the house for some three weeks, though the strictest enquiries had been made concerning her, both in c.u.mberleigh and the surrounding district, nothing could be ascertained beyond the scanty facts that she was a widow, well-to-do and had been abroad a good deal.
The squire had seen her on two separate occasions himself and could not but admit that she was far from unprepossessing; she was obviously a lady, well-bred and educated, and, if her frock and hat had been a trifle smarter than those usually seen in a country village, she had owned up to having recently been to Paris to replenish her wardrobe. It was curious, when he came to reflect upon it, how little she had told him about herself, and yet, what was more curious, she had no sooner left him after the second visit than he had betaken himself to his solicitor to get him to make out the lease. She had received and signed it the following day, showing herself remarkably business-like, but not ungenerous when it came to the buying of the fixtures and to the vexed question of outdoor and indoor repairs.
As the squire climbed the hill that gave upon the village from the marshes, one cold March evening, he did not regret his decision; for, standing in front of "The Retreat," he felt bound to admit that there was something cheering and enlivening in the fact that the four front windows now flaunted red curtains and holland blinds, where they had been so dark and forbidding. In the lower one on the left, where the lamps had not yet been lighted or the blinds drawn down, in the light of the dancing fire, he could see distinctly a woman"s workbox on a small inlaid table, a volume of songs on the cottage piano, and, at the back of the room, a hint of china tea cups, glistening silver and white napery. Presently a trim maid came out to bolt the front door, followed by two snuffling yellow dogs who took the air for a few moments in tempestuous spirits, biting each other about the neck and ears and rushing round in giddy circles on the tiny gra.s.s plot until, in response to a call from the maid, they returned with her to the house. They were foreigners evidently, these dogs! The squire could not remember the name of the breed, but he thought he had seen one of the kind before in London. He was not quite sure he approved of foreign dogs; they were not so sporting or reliable as those of the English breeds; still, these were handsome fellows, well kept and (from the green ribbons that adorned their fluffy necks) evidently made much of. He was still looking after the dogs when he was joined by the curate coming out of the blacksmith"s cottage opposite and stopping to light a match in the shelter of the high wall of "The Retreat."
"First pipe I have had to-day," said the newcomer as he puffed at it luxuriously. "It"s more than you can say, squire, I"ll be bound."
"Twenty-first, that"s more like it," said the squire with a laugh. "How is Mrs Johnson?" This in allusion to the curate"s call at the smithy.
"Dying. Won"t last the night out, I think. She is quite unconscious.
Still I am glad I went. Johnson and his daughters seemed to like to have me there, though of course there was nothing for me to do."
"Quite so, quite so," said the squire approvingly, for the village was so small that he took a paternal interest in all its inhabitants. "Any more news?"
"Mrs Golightly has had twins, and young Shaw has enlisted. That"s about all, I think. Oh, by the by, I paid a call here to-day." And he indicate. "The Retreat." "It seemed about time you know, and one mustn"t neglect the new-comers."
"Of course not," the squire a.s.sented with conviction. "Was she . . . did she in any way indicate that she was pleased to see you?"
"She was very gracious, but she seemed to take my call quite as a matter of course. A nice woman I should think, though a little reserved.
However she is going to rent one seat in church if not more, and she said I might put her name down for one or two little things I am interested in at present."
"In fact you made hay while the sun shone. Well, after all, why not? She didn"t tell you anything about herself I suppose, or her connections?"
"No, she never mentioned them. I understood or she implied she had been abroad a good deal and that her husband had died some years ago. Still I really don"t think we need worry about her; the whole thing, if I may say so, was so obviously all right, the house I mean and all its appointments. She is a quiet woman, a little shy and retiring perhaps, belongs to the old-fashioned school."
"Well she is none the worse for that," said the squire with a grunt. "We don"t meet many of that kind nowadays. Even the farmers" daughters are quite ready to set you right whenever they get a chance. This modern education is a curse, I have said so from the very beginning. Still they haven"t robbed us of our Church schools yet, if that is any consolation. Coming back to dine with me to-night, Seaton?"
The young man shook his head. "Very sorry, squire, it"s quite impossible to-night. It is Friday night, choir practice you know, and there is a lantern lecture in the mission hall. I ought to be there already, helping Griffin with the slides."
"All right, Sunday evening then, at the usual time," said the squire cordially as the curate left him, and, as he looked after him, he criticised him as a busy fellow, not likely to set the Thames on fire perhaps, but essentially the right man in the right place.
His own progress was a good deal slower; not that he found the hill too steep, for, in spite of his fifty years, he was still perfectly sound of wind and limb, as was shown by his athletic movements, the fresh healthy colour on his cheeks, and the clear blue of his eyes, but rather because he seemed loth to tear himself away from "The Retreat" and his new tenant. Even when he had reached the little post office that crowned the summit, he did not turn off towards his own place till he had spent another five minutes contemplating the stack of chimney-pots sending out thick puffs of white smoke into the quiet evening sky, and listening attentively to the cheerful sound of a tinkling piano blended with the gentle lowing of the cattle on the marsh below. After all, he told himself, he was very glad Seaton had called, for apart from his duty as a clergyman it was only a kind and neighbourly thing to do.
It was a pity that there were not more of his kind in the neighbourhood, for in spite of his own preference for the country, he could imagine that a woman coming to it fresh from London at such a season might find it dull and a little depressing. He wondered if Mrs Menzies, of Hither Hall, would call if he asked her to do so. Of course she would in a moment if he put it on personal grounds, but that was not the point. All he wished was to be kind and hospitable to a stranger; and Mrs Menzies, much as he respected and admired her, had never been known to err on the side of tolerance, nor did one meet in her drawing-room anyone whose pedigree would not bear a thorough investigation. Yes, there was no doubt about it, though the laws that governed social intercourse were on the whole excellent and had to be kept, there were here, as everywhere else in life, exceptions to the rule, occasions when anyone of a kindly disposition must feel tempted to break them. And Mrs Menzies was certainly a little stiff: witness her behaviour in the case of Captain Clinton"s widow and the fuss she had made because the unfortunate lady had forgotten to tell her of her relationship to the Eglinton Clintons and had only vouchsafed the fact that her father"s people had been in trade. Why, it had taken weeks if not months to clear the matter up; and it had been very awkward for everybody, the Eglinton Clintons included when the truth had transpired. No, on second thoughts he would not ask Mrs Menzies to call; he would far rather make the first venture himself than risk a snub for this lonely defenceless stranger.
He turned into the gates of Redland Hall with a half-formed intention of doing so immediately. He dined alone as usual; it was very rare that the dining-room of Redland Hall extended its hospitality to anybody nowadays; for the squire, like most men over forty, had lost the habit of entertaining and did not know how to recover it. A bachelor friend spent a night with him from time to time; the curate supped with him every Sunday; and his sister came for a week or two during the summer, when she invariably told him that the house was too uncomfortable to live in, and he ought to have it thoroughly done up and modernised. He invariably promised to set about it immediately, with the full intention of doing so; but his resolution began to weaken the day on which he saw her off at the station, and degenerated steadily for the remainder of the year. That night, however, for the first time for many months he made a voyage of discovery into his own drawing-room. Yes, there was no doubt about it, Selina was quite right in calling it draughty and uncomfortable; the gilt French furniture was shabby and tarnished, the Aubusson carpet worn, the wall paper faded, the whole room desolate in its suggestion of past glory. He crossed over to the enormous grand piano, opened it and struck a yellow key gently with one finger. Was he wrong, he wondered, in thinking its tone was lamentably thin and poor? A rat scampered and squeaked in the wainscoting, the windows rattled in their loose sashes; he shut the piano abruptly and left the room. It would cost a good deal to have it thoroughly done up, of course; but that was not the point. Who would superintend the decorations? He did not trust his own taste and had no faith in that of any upholsterer. Selina would come and help him if he asked her, though she would think it strange, for she had paid her annual visit in August, and it was now only March; besides, if she brought her delicate little girls with her at such a time the whole house would be upset in arranging for their comfort. Still, Selina or no, he had quite made up his mind to have the room done up and to buy a new piano immediately; it was ridiculous to harbour an instrument which was merely a nesting place for mice. He returned to the dining-room, poured himself out a stiff whiskey and soda, and dozed over his _Spectator_ for the rest of the evening. Yet, next morning, even in the unromantic light of day, he was surprised to find that his plan of doing up the drawing-room still held good.
He had intended to ride into Wetherton that day to try his new mare across country, for the gates were high in that direction and good enough to test her powers as a jumper. A glance at the glistening frost on the gra.s.s soon sufficed, however, to tell him that his scheme could not be carried out; nor was he sorry until, having spent the morning on his farms and inspected everything and everybody at his leisure, it occurred to him with a desperate sense of conviction that there was still the afternoon to be filled in somehow. About three he set off in the direction of the village, looked in at the church and had a brief colloquy with Seaton regarding the new pews which were being put up, interviewed the postmaster, condoled with the blacksmith upon the death of his wife, and even ventured down as far as the marsh to see if the new carrier who had taken the place of old d.i.c.k Tomlinson was likely to fulfil his duties properly. About four o"clock he found himself once more opposite "The Retreat." It was on the main road certainly, but it was only recently that he had become aware of its importance in the landscape. One could not get to the marsh or come back from it without pa.s.sing it. The windows looked as trim as ever--trimmer perhaps, for short muslin curtains inters.p.a.ced with embroidery seemed to have sprung up in the night. They were very decorative in their way; at the same time they quite shut out all prospect of the interior, and there was no workbox, piano, or suggestion of tea things to be seen to-day. The foreign dogs were snuffling in the garden as he pa.s.sed the second time, and one of them nosed its way through the iron gate and ventured a few yards down the road, but just as the squire had made up his mind it was his duty to take it back, it returned of its own accord. He watched the trim maid come out and call them as she had done the day before, and saw them rush after her frolicking round her skirt.
Suddenly he crossed the road, looked up and down to make sure there was no acquaintance within sight, opened the iron gate of "The Retreat," and pa.s.sed up the gravel pathway into the porch.
"Mrs Fulton is at home," said the trim maid demurely, in answer to his question.
MERCAT PRESS, EDINBURGH