Here and Hereafter.
by Barry Pain.
MALA
I
It was Sat.u.r.day night at the end of a hard week. I was just finishing my dinner when I was told that a man wished to see me at once in the surgery. The name, Tarn, was unknown to me.
I found a fair-haired man of thirty in a faded and frayed suit of mustard-colour, holding in his hand a broken straw hat. His face was rather fat and roundish; his build powerful but paunchy. The colour of face and hands showed open-air life and work. His manner was slow, apathetic, heavy. His speech was slow too, but it was the speech of an educated man, and the voice was curiously gentle.
"My wife"s ill, doctor. Can you come?"
"I can. What"s the matter with her, Mr Tarn?"
He explained. I do not regard child-bearing as illness, and told him so.
I told him further that he ought to have made his arrangements and to have engaged a doctor and nurse beforehand.
"In her own country they do not regard it as illness either. The women there do not have doctor or nurse. She did not wish it. But, however, as she seemed to suffer--"
"Well, well. We"ll get on. Where do you live?"
"Felonsdene."
"Eight miles away and right up on the downs. Phew! Can I get my car there?"
"Most of the way at any rate--we could always walk the rest."
"We"ll chance it. I"ll bring the car round. Shan"t keep you a minute, Mr Tarn."
I kept him rather longer than that. There were the lamps to see to, and I had directions to give to my servants. I did not take my driver with me. He had been at work since eight in the morning. When I re-entered the surgery I found Tarn still standing in just the same pose and place, as if he had not moved a hair"s-breadth since I left him.
"Ready now," I said, as I picked up my bag.
He took out a pinch of sovereigns from his waistcoat-pocket, seven or eight of them.
"Your fee, doctor," he said.
"That can wait until I"ve done my work. Come along. Shall I lend you an overcoat?"
He thanked me but refused it, saying that he was used to all weathers.
The night was fairly warm too. He sat beside me on the front seat. The first six miles were easy enough along a good road, and I talked to him as I drove. I omit the professional part of our conversation--the questions which a doctor would naturally put on such an occasion.
"So your wife"s a foreigner," I said. "What nationality?"
"She is a woman of colour--a negress."
It is true that all coloured people inspire me with a feeling of physical repulsion, and equally true that I can set all feelings of repulsion aside when there is work to be done.
"Ah!" I said. "And you live up at Felonsdene. To tell the truth, I didn"t know anybody lived there. I remember the place--came on it two years ago or more when I was roaming over the downs. There was a farm-house all in ruins--and, let me see, was there a cottage? I didn"t come upon anybody living there then. I remember that, because I was thirsty after my walk and couldn"t get a drink."
"There was no one there then, and there is no cottage. We came last year. Part of the farm-house has been repaired."
"Well, you"ve struck about the loneliest spot in England. Who"s your landlord?"
"Eh? It"s mine--I bought it. Two acres and the farm-house. Had trouble to get it--a deal of trouble."
"And who"s with your wife now?" I asked.
"n.o.body. She"s alone in the house."
"Well, that"s not right," I said.
"We have no servants--do everything ourselves. The nearest house is a farmer"s at Sandene, three miles away, and we"ve had no dealings with him. It couldn"t be helped, and--she"s different, you know. I was not long in coming to you. I caught the mail-cart as soon as I reached the road, and got a lift."
"Still, I"m thinking--how am I to get on?"
"You"ll find I can do anything a woman can do, and do it better. I am more intelligent and I have no nerves. You must pull up at the next gate, doctor. We strike across the downs there."
We had done the six miles, mostly up hill, in twenty-one minutes. Now we turned through the gate, along a turf track deeply rutted. Luckily the weather had been dry for the last fortnight. We crawled up to the top of the crest and then along it for a mile. I saw lights ahead in a hollow below. A dog barked savagely.
"That Felonsdene?" I asked.
"That"s it. The descent is bad."
When I got to it I found that it was very bad. I stopped the engines.
"If we break our necks we shan"t be much use," I said. "I"ll leave the car here. There"s n.o.body to run away with it."
"Shall we take a lamp?" he asked.
"Better."
He picked up my bag, unhitched one lamp, and extinguished the other, while I spread the rug over the seats. His ordinary slowness was deceptive. When he was actually doing something he was remarkably quick without being hurried. He was quick too in seeing a mechanical device--that was clear from the way he handled the lamps. We began the brief descent, and the dog barked more furiously than ever.
"Is that dog loose?" I asked, as we neared the house.
"Yes," he said. "But he"s educated. He"d kill a stranger who came alone; he won"t touch you."
He gave a whistle and the barking stopped. The dog, an enormous black retriever, came running towards us; his eyes in the lamplight had a liquid trustfulness.
"Heel," said Tarn sharply, and the dog paced quietly behind him, taking no notice of me whatever.
We went through a yard surrounded by a wall of rough stone. By the light of the lamp I saw that the wall had been mended in places. There was a rough shed on the left, with crates and packing-cases under it. The front door was flush with the wall of the house. It was unlocked, and when Tarn opened it a bright light streamed out. Within was a small square hall, and I noticed that the light was incandescent gas.
Tarn saw that I had noticed it. "I put in a gas-plant," he said. "Will you come this way?"