CHAPTER IV.
A CRISIS.
While Wyllard made arrangements for his journey, and Sally Creighton went very quietly about her work on the lonely prairie farm, it happened one evening that Miss Winifred Rawlinson sat uneasily expectant far back under the gallery of a concert hall in an English manufacturing town. She could not hear very well there, but it was the cheapest place she could obtain, and economy was of some importance to her. Besides, by craning her neck a little to avoid the hat of the rather strikingly dressed young woman in front of her, she could, at least, see the stage. The programme which she held in one hand announced that Miss Agatha Ismay would sing a certain aria from a great composer"s oratorio, and she leaned further forward in her chair when a girl of about her own age, which was twenty-four, slowly advanced to the centre of the stage.
She was a tall, well-made, brown-haired girl, with a quiet grace of movement and a comely face, attired in a long trailing dress of a shimmering corn-straw tint, but when she stood looking at the audience Miss Rawlinson noticed a hint of tension in her expression. Agatha Ismay had sung at unimportant concerts with marked success, but that evening there was something very like shrinking in her eyes.
Then a crash of chords from the piano melted into a rippling prelude, and Winifred breathed easier when her friend began to sing. Her voice was sweet and excellently trained, and there was a deep stillness of appreciation when the clear notes thrilled through the close-packed hall. No one could doubt that the first part of the aria was a success, for half-subdued applause broke out when the voice sank into silence, and for a few moments the piano rippled on alone; but it seemed to Winifred that the look of tension was still in the singer"s face, and once more she grew uneasy, for she understood the cause for it.
"The last bit of the second part"s rather trying," said a young man behind her. "There"s an awkward jump of two full tones that was too much for our soprano when we tried it at the choral union. Miss Ismay"s very true in intonation, but I don"t suppose most of the rest would notice it if she shirked a little and left that high sharp out."
Winifred had little knowledge of music, but she was sufficiently acquainted with her friend"s character to be certain that Agatha would not attempt to leave the sharp in question out. This was one reason why she sat rigidly still when the clear voice rang out again. It rose from note to note, full and even, but she could see the singer"s face, and there was no doubt whatever that she was making a strenuous effort.
n.o.body else, however, seemed to notice it, for Winifred flung a swift glance round, and then fixed her eyes upon the dominant figure in the corn-straw dress that the glare of light fell shimmering on. The sweet voice was still rising, and she longed that the accompanist would force the tone to cover it a little, and put the loud pedal on. He, however, was gazing at his music, and played on quietly until, with startling suddenness, the climax came.
The voice sank a full tone, jarring horribly on the theme, rose, and hoa.r.s.ely trailed off into silence again. Then the accompanist glanced over his shoulder, and struck a ringing chord while he waited for a sign, and there was a curious stirring among the audience. The girl in the shimmering dress stood quite still for a moment with a spot of crimson in her cheek and a half-dazed look in her eyes, and then, turning swiftly, moved off the stage.
Then Winifred rose with a gasp, and turned upon the young man next her, who looked up inquiringly.
"Yes," she said sharply; "can"t you let me pa.s.s? I"m going out."
It was about half-past nine when she reached the wet and miry street.
A fine rain drove into her face, and she had rather more than a mile to walk without an escort, but that was a matter which caused her no concern. She was a self-reliant young woman, and accustomed to going about unattended, while she was also quite aware that the scene she had just witnessed would bring about a crisis in her and her friend"s affairs. For all that, she was unpleasantly conscious of the leak in one rather shabby boot when she stepped down from the sidewalk to cross the street, and when she opened her umbrella beneath a gas lamp she pursed up her mouth. There were a couple of holes in it near where the ribs ran into the ferrule, which she had not noticed before. She, however, plodded on resolutely through the drizzle, until three striplings who came with linked arms down the pavement of a quieter street barred her way. One wore his hat on one side, the one nearest the kerb flourished a little cane, and the third of them smiled at her fatuously.
"Oh my!" he said. "Where"s dear Jemima off in such a hurry?"
Winifred drew herself up. She was little and determined, and, it must be admitted, not quite unaccustomed to that kind of thing.
"Will you let me pa.s.s?" she said. "There"s a policeman at the next turning."
"There really is," said one of them. "The Dook has another engagement.
Dream of me, Olivia!"
A beat of heavy feet drew nearer, and the three roysterers disappeared in the direction of a flaming music-hall, where the second "house" was probably commencing, while Winifred, who had stepped into the gutter to avoid the one with the cane, turned as a stalwart, blue-coated figure moved towards her.
"Thank you, officer," she said; "they"ve gone."
The man merely raised a hand as if in comprehension, and plodded back to his post. Perhaps he felt sorry for young women who have to earn their living, for he had, at least, appeared promptly when he was needed; and perhaps he attached no great importance to the matter.
There is a good deal that the policeman knows and accepts with undisturbed equanimity, which if plainly expressed would, no doubt, form a somewhat grim commentary on our complex civilisation.
In the meanwhile Winifred went on until she let herself into a house in a quiet street, and ascending to the second floor entered a simply furnished room. It, however, contained a piano; and a little table on which a typewriter stood amidst a litter of papers occupied the opposite side of it. The girl sloughed off her waterproof, and rather flung than hung it on a peg behind the door, after which she sat down in a low chair beside the little fire. She was not a handsome girl, and it was evident that she did not trouble herself greatly about her attire. Her face was too thin, her figure too slight and spare, but there was usually, even when she was anxious, as she certainly was that night, a shrewdly whimsical twinkle in her eyes, and though her lips were set her expression was compa.s.sionate.
She was, however, not the person to sit still very long, and in a minute or two she rose and placed a little kettle on the fire, after which she took a few scones, a coffee-pot, and a tin of condensed milk from a cupboard. When she had spread them out upon a table she discovered that there was some of the condensed milk upon her fingers, and it must be admitted that she sucked them. They were little, stubby fingers, which somehow looked capable.
"It must have been four o"clock when I had that bun and a cup of tea,"
she said.
She glanced at the table longingly: for she occasionally found it necessary to place a certain check upon a healthy appet.i.te. She was, however, not singular in this respect, since the practice of such self-denial is, unfortunately, not a very unusual thing in the case of a good many young women in our cities who work remarkably hard. Then she resolutely shook her head.
"I must wait for Agatha," she said, and crossing the room towards the typewriter table stopped to glance at a little framed photograph that stood upon the mantel. It was a portrait of Gregory Hawtrey taken some years ago, and she apostrophied it with quiet scorn.
"Now you"re wanted you"re naturally away out yonder," she said.
"You"re like the rest of them--despicable!"
This seemed to relieve her feelings, and she sat down before the machine, which clicked and rattled for several minutes under her stubby fingers. Then the clicking ceased with sudden abruptness, and she prodded the mechanism viciously with a hairpin. As this appeared unavailing she used her forefinger, and when at length the carriage slid along the rod with a clash there was a smear of grimy oil upon her cheek and her somewhat tilted nose. The machine, however, gave no further trouble, and she endeavoured to make up some, at least, of the time she had spent at the concert. It was necessary that it should be made up, but she was also conscious that she was putting off an evil moment.
At length the door opened, and Agatha Ismay, wrapped in a long cloak, came in. She permitted Winifred to take it from her, and then sank down into a chair. There was a strained look in her eyes, and her face was very weary.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "At length the door opened, and Agatha Ismay, wrapped in a long cloak, came in."]
"You"re working late again?" she said.
Winifred nodded. "It"s the men who loaf, my dear," she said. "When you undertake the transcription of an author"s scrawl at ninepence the thousand words you have to work unusually hard, especially when, as it is in this case, the thing"s practically unreadable. Besides, the woman in it makes me lose my temper. If I"d had a man of the kind described to deal with I"d have thrashed him."
She was throwing words about, partly to conceal her anxiety, and partly with the charitable purpose of giving her companion time to approach the subject that must be mentioned as she thought best; but she rather over-did it, and Agatha looked at her sharply.
"Winny," she said, "you know. You"ve been there."
Winifred turned towards her quietly, for she could face a crisis.
"Yes," she said, "I have, but you"re not going to talk about it until you have had supper. Don"t move until I make the coffee."
She was genuinely hungry, but while she satisfied her own appet.i.te she took care that her companion, who did not seem inclined to eat, made a simple meal. Then she bundled the plates into a cupboard, and sat down facing her.
"Well," she said, "you have broken down exactly as that throat specialist said you would. The first question is, How long it will be before you can go on again?"
Agatha laughed, a little harsh laugh. "I didn"t tell you everything at the time: I"ve broken down for good."
There was a moment or two"s tense silence after that, and then Agatha made a dejected gesture. "He warned me that this might happen if I went on singing, but what could I do? I couldn"t cancel my engagements without telling people why. He said I must go to Norway and give my throat and chest a rest."
They looked at one another, and there was in their eyes the half-bitter, half-weary smile of those to whom the cure prescribed is ludicrously impossible. It was Winifred who spoke first.
"Then," she said, "we have to face the situation, and it"s not an encouraging one. Our joint earnings just keep us here in decency--we won"t say comfort--and they"re evidently to be subject to a big reduction. It strikes me as a rather curious coincidence that a letter from that man in Canada and one from your prosperous friends in the country arrived just before you went out."
She saw the look in Agatha"s eyes, and spread her hands out.
"Yes," she admitted; "I hid them. It seemed to me that you had quite enough upon your mind this evening. I don"t know if they"re likely to throw any fresh light upon the question what we"re going to do."
She produced the letters from a drawer in her table, and Agatha straightened herself suddenly in her chair when she had opened the first of them.
"Oh," she cried, "he wants me to go out to him!"
Winifred"s face set hard for a moment, but it relaxed again, and she contrived to hide her dismay.
"Then," she suggested with a trace of dryness, "I suppose you"ll certainly go. After all, he"s probably not worse to live with than most of them."
Miss Rawlinson was occasionally a little bitter, but she had, like others of her kind, been compelled to compete in an overcrowded market with hard-driven men. She was, however, sincerely attached to her friend, and she smiled when she saw the flash in Agatha"s eyes.
"Oh," she added, "you needn"t try to wither me with your indignation.
No doubt he"s precisely what he ought to be, and I dare say it will ease your feelings if you talk about him again; at least, it will help you to formulate your reasons for going out to him. I"ll listen patiently, and try not to be uncharitable."