"I"m in the service of the Lord," replied Mr. Gupperduck in a harsh tone.
"Trade union wages?" queried Bindle with a.s.sumed innocence.
"Bindle!" admonished Mrs. Bindle, "behave yourself."
"I am a sower of the seed," said Mr. Gupperduck pompously and with evident self-satisfaction.
"Well, personally myself," said Bindle, "I ain"t much belief in them allotments. You spend all your time in diggin", gettin" yourself in an "ell of a mess, an" then somebody comes along an" pinches your bloomin" vegetables."
"I refer to the spiritual seed," said Mr. Gupperduck. "I preach the word of G.o.d, the peace that pa.s.seth all understanding."
Bindle groaned inwardly, and silence fell once more over the board.
"Mrs. Bindle," said Mr. Gupperduck at length, "you have given me a most excellent supper."
Mrs. Bindle"s lips became slightly visible.
"The Lord shall feed his flock," remarked Mr. Gupperduck apropos of nothing in particular, "and----"
""E keeps a few little pickin"s for "Is Gupperducks," flashed Bindle.
"Bindle!" Mrs. Bindle glanced across at Mr. Gupperduck. The two then entered into a conversation upon the ways of the Lord, about which they both seemed to possess vast stores of the most intimate information. From their conversation Bindle gathered that Mr.
Gupperduck was a lecturer in the parks, mission-halls and the like, being connected with the Society for the Suppression of Atheism.
"And what are the tenets of your spiritual faith, Mr. Bindle?" Mr.
Gupperduck suddenly turned and addressed himself to Bindle.
"Wot"s my wot?" enquired Bindle with corrugated forehead.
"He"s a blasphemer, Mr. Gupperduck, I"m sorry to say," volunteered Mrs. Bindle.
Mr. Gupperduck regarded Bindle as if Mrs. Bindle had said he was the "Missing Link."
"Mr. Bindle," he said earnestly, "have you ever thought of the other world?"
"Thought of the other world!" Bindle exclaimed. "If you lived with Mrs. B., you wouldn"t "ave much time for thinkin" of anythink else.
She"s as dotty about "eaven as an "en over a "shop-egg," an" as for "Earty, that"s my brother-in-law, well, "Earty gets my goat when "e starts about "eaven an" angels."
"I fear you speak lightly of serious things, Mr. Bindle," said Mr.
Gupperduck harshly. "Think of when the trumpet shall sound incorruptible and----!"
"Think o" when the all-clear bugle sounds in Fulham," responded Bindle.
Mr. Gupperduck looked at Mrs. Bindle in horror.
"I"m a special, you know," explained Bindle. "I got to be on the listen for that bugle after the air-raids. My! don"t they jest nip back into their little beds again, feelin" "ow brave they"ve all been."
Mr. Gupperduck seemed to come to the conclusion that Bindle was hopeless. For the next half-hour he devoted himself to conversing with Mrs. Bindle about "the message" he was engaged in delivering.
"You plays, don"t you?" enquired Bindle, as Mr. Gupperduck rose.
"I am very fond of my accordion," replied Mr. Gupperduck.
"I suppose you couldn"t give us a tune?" ventured Bindle.
"Not to-night, Mr. Bindle," said Mr. Gupperduck. "I have a lot to do to-morrow." Then, as if suddenly remembering his pose, he added, "There is the Lord"s work to be done on the morrow, and His servant hath need of rest."
Bindle stared. Mrs. Bindle regarded her lodger with admiration tinctured with awe. When Mr. Gupperduck could not call to mind an appropriate pa.s.sage from the Scriptures, he invented one.
"I"m sorry," remarked Bindle, as Mr. Gupperduck moved towards the door. "I wanted you to play a thing I picked up at The Granville the other night. It was a rare good song, "If You Squeeze Me Tighter, Jimmie, I Shall Scream." I can whistle it if----" but Mr. Gupperduck was gone.
Then the storm burst.
"You"re a disgrace to any respectable "ome, Joseph Bindle, that you are," Mrs. Bindle broke out as soon as Mr. Gupperduck"s bedroom door was heard to close.
"Me?" enquired Bindle in obvious surprise.
"What must he think of us?" demanded Mrs. Bindle. "You with your lewd and blasphemous talk."
"Wot "ave I done now?" enquired Bindle in an injured tone.
"Talkin" about babies" legs, and--and--oh! you make me ashamed, you do." Mrs. Bindle proceeded to bang away the supper things.
"Steady on," admonished Bindle, "or you"ll "ave the Duck out o" bed."
"What must "e think of me with such an "usband?" Mrs. Bindle"s aitches were dropping from her under the stress of her pent-up feelings.
"Well! speakin" for myself," said Bindle, relighting his pipe, which had gone out, "he most likely thinks you"re an uncommon lucky woman.
You see, Lizzie," Bindle continued evenly, "you"re fickle, that"s wot"s the matter with you."
Mrs. Bindle paused in the act of pouring water over the piled-up dishes in the sink.
"As soon as you sees another cove wot takes your fancy, you sort o"
loses your taste for your own "usband."
Bindle seated himself at the table and spread out the evening paper.
"First it"s "Earty, then it"s Gupperduck. Now I ask you, Mrs. B., wot would you think if I was to say we must "ave a woman lodger? Now I ask you!"
"That"s quite different," cried Mrs. Bindle angrily. "Mr. Gupperduck is----"
"A sort o" prayer-"og in trousers, judgin" from "is talk," interrupted Bindle. "Me an" "im ain"t goin" to fall out, though you did give "im a extra dose o" gravy; at the same time we ain"t goin" to fall in love with each other. If "e pays "is rent an" behaves quiet like, then I "aven"t nothink to say, for wot"s an "ome without a lodger; but it"s got to be "ands orf my missis, see!"
"Bindle, you"re a dirty-minded beast," retorted Mrs. Bindle, snapping her jaws viciously.
"That may, or may not be," replied Bindle as he walked towards the door on his way to bed; "but if you an" "im start givin" each other the glad-eye, then I"m "urt in my private feelin"s, an" when I"m "urt in my private feelin"s, I"m "ot stuff," and he winked gravely at the text on the kitchen wall containing some home truths for the transgressor.