Mrs Griffith placed herself between him and the door.
"What d"you mean?" she cried. "She"s not coming back into my house."
Mr Griffith started back.
"You don"t want to leave her where she is! She says she"ll kill herself."
"Yes, I believe that," she replied scornfully; and then, gathering up her anger, "D"you mean to say you expect me to have her in the house after what she"s done? I tell you I won"t. She"s never coming in this house again as long as I live; I"m an honest woman and she isn"t. She"s a--" Mrs Griffith called her daughter the foulest name that can be applied to her s.e.x.
Mr Griffith stood indecisively before his wife.
"But think what a state she"s in, mother. She was crying when she wrote the letter."
"Let her cry; she"ll have to cry a lot more before she"s done. And it serves her right; and it serves you right. She"ll have to go through a good deal more than that before G.o.d forgives her, I can tell you."
"Perhaps she"s starving."
"Let her starve, for all I care. She"s dead to us; I"ve told everyone in Blackstable that I haven"t got a daughter now, and if she came on her bended knees before me I"d spit on her."
George had come in and listened to the conversation.
"Think what people would say, father," he said now; "as it is, it"s jolly awkward, I can tell you. No one would speak to us if she was back again. It"s not as if people didn"t know; everyone in Blackstable knows what she"s been up to."
"And what about George?" put in Mrs Griffith. "D"you think the Polletts would stand it?" George was engaged to Edith Pollett.
"She"d be quite capable of breaking it off if Daisy came back," said George. "She"s said as much."
"Quite right too!" cried his mother. "And I"m not going to be like Mrs Jay with Lottie. Everyone knows about Lottie"s goings-on, and you can see how people treat them--her and her mother. When Mrs Gray pa.s.ses them in the street she always goes on the other side. No, I"ve always held my head high, and I"m always going to. I"ve never done anything to be ashamed of as far as I know, and I"m not going to begin now. Everyone knows it was no fault of mine what Daisy did, and all through I"ve behaved so that no one should think the worse of me."
Mr Griffith sank helplessly into a chair, the old habit of submission a.s.serted itself, and his weakness gave way as usual before his wife"s strong will. He had not the courage to oppose her.
"What shall I answer, then?" he asked.
"Answer? Nothing."
"I must write something. She"ll be waiting for the letter, and waiting and waiting."
"Let her wait."
VI
A few days later another letter came from Daisy, asking pitifully why they didn"t write, begging them again to forgive her and take her back.
The letter was addressed to Mr Griffith; the girl knew that it was only from him she might expect mercy; but he was out when it arrived. Mrs Griffith opened it, and pa.s.sed it on to her son. They looked at one another guiltily; the same thought had occurred to both, and each knew it was in the other"s mind.
"I don"t think we"d better let father see it," Mrs Griffith said, a little uncertainly; "it"ll do no good and it"ll only distress him."
"And it"s no good making a fuss, because we can"t have her back."
"She"ll never enter this door as long as I"m in the world.... I think I"ll lock it up."
"I"d burn it, if I was you, mother. It"s safer."
Then every day Mrs Griffith made a point of going to the door herself for the letters. Two more came from Daisy.
_"I know it"s not you; it"s mother and George. They"ve always hated me. Oh, don"t be so cruel, father! You don"t know what I"ve gone through. I"ve cried and cried till I thought I should die. For G.o.d"s sake write to me! They might let you write just once. I"m alone all day, day after day, and I think I shall go mad. You might take me back; I"m sure I"ve suffered enough, and you wouldn"t know me now, I"m so changed. Tell mother that if she"ll only forgive me I"ll be quite different. I"ll do the housework and anything she tells me. I"ll be a servant to you, and you can send the girl away. If you knew how I repent! Do forgive me and have me back. Oh, I know that no one would speak to me; but I don"t care about that, if I can only be with you!"_
"She doesn"t think about us," said George--"what we should do if she was back. No one would speak to us either."
But the next letter said that she couldn"t bear the terrible silence; if her father didn"t write she"d come down to Blackstable. Mrs Griffith was furious.
"I"d shut the door in her face; I wonder how she can dare to come."
"It"s jolly awkward," said George. "Supposing father found out we"d kept back the letters?"
"It was for his own good," said Mrs Griffith, angrily. "I"m not ashamed of what I"ve done, and I"ll tell him so to his face if he says anything to me."
"Well, it is awkward. You know what father is; if he saw her."...
Mrs Griffith paused a moment.
"You must go up and see her, George!"
"Me!" he cried in astonishment, a little in terror.
"You must go as if you came from your father, to say we won"t have anything more to do with her and she"s not to write."
VII
Next day George Griffith, on getting out of the station at Victoria, jumped on a Fulham "bus, taking his seat with the self-a.s.sertiveness of the countryman who intends to show the Londoners that he"s as good as they are. He was in some trepidation and his best clothes. He didn"t know what to say to Daisy, and his hands sweated uncomfortably. When he knocked at the door he wished she might be out--but that would only be postponing the ordeal.
"Does Mrs Hogan live here?"
"Yes. Who shall I say?"
"Say a gentleman wants to see her."
He followed quickly on the landlady"s heels and pa.s.sed through the door the woman opened while she was giving the message. Daisy sprang to her feet with a cry.
"George!"
She was very pale, her blue eyes dim and lifeless, with the lids heavy and red; she was in a dressing gown, her beautiful hair dishevelled, wound loosely into a knot at the back of her head. She had not half the beauty of her old self.... George, to affirm the superiority of virtue over vice, kept his hat on.
She looked at him with frightened eyes, then her lips quivered, and turning away her head she fell on a chair and burst into tears. George looked at her sternly. His indignation was greater than ever now that he saw her. His old jealousy made him exult at the change in her.
"She"s got nothing much to boast about now," he said to himself, noting how ill she looked.
"Oh, George!"... she began, sobbing; but he interrupted her.