She had said it before Robina who had laughed. And Mr. Cartaret"s answer to it had been to turn his back on both of them and leave the room. At least he thought it was his answer. Gwendolen had thought that in a flash of intellectual honesty he agreed with her, only that he hadn"t quite enough honesty to say so before Mummy.
All this he recalled, and the question she had pursued him with about that time. "_What_ are the sins that do most easily beset us? _What_ are the temptations to which we are especially p.r.o.ne?" And his own evasive answer. "Ask yourself, my child."
Another year and she had left off asking him questions. She drew back into herself and became every day more self-willed, more solitary, more inaccessible.
And now, if he could have seen things as they really were, Mr.
Cartaret would have perceived that he was afraid of Gwenda. As it was, he thought he was only afraid of what Gwenda might do.
Alice was capable of some things; but Gwenda was capable of anything.
Suddenly, to Gwenda"s surprise, her father sighed; a dislocating sigh.
It came between the Benediction and the Lord"s Prayer.
For, even as he invoked the blessing Mr. Cartaret suddenly felt sorry for himself again. His children were no good to him.
By which he meant that his third wife, Robina, was no good.
But he did not know that he visited his wife"s shortcomings on their heads, any more than he knew that he hated Essy and her sin because he himself was an enforced, reluctant celibate.
XXVII
The next day at dusk, Essy Gale slipped out to her mother"s cottage down by the beck.
Mrs. Gale had just cleared the table after her tea, had washed up the tea-things and was putting them away in the cupboard when Essy entered. She looked round sharply, inimically.
Essy stood by the doorway, shamefaced.
"Moother," she said softly, "I want to speaak to yo."
Mrs. Gale struck an att.i.tude of astonishment and fear, although she had expected Essy to come at such an hour and with such a look, and only wondered that she had not come four months ago.
"Yo"re nat goain" t" saay as yo"ve got yoresel into trooble?"
For four months Mrs. Gale had preserved an innocent face before her neighbors and she desired to preserve it to the last possible moment.
And up to the last possible moment, even to her daughter, she was determined to ignore what had happened.
But she knew and Essy knew that she knew.
"Doan yo saay it, a.s.sy. Doan yo saay it."
Essy said nothing.
"D"yo "ear mae speaakin" to yo? Caann"t yo aanswer? Is it thot, a.s.sy?
Is it thot?"
"Yas, moother, yo knaw "tis thot."
"An" yo dare to coom "ear and tell mae! Yo dirty "oossy! Toorn an"
lat"s "ave a look at yo."
Now that the innocence of her face was gone, Mrs. Gale had a stern duty to perform by Essy.
"They"ve gien yo t" saack?"
"T" Vicar give it mae."
"Troost"im! Whan did "e gie it yo?"
"Yasterda"."
"T"moonth"s nawtice?"
"Naw. I aa.s.sked "im t" kape me anoother two moonths an" "e woonna.
I aa.s.sked "im t" kape me over Christmas an" "e woonna. I"m to leaave Sat.u.r.da"."
"Did yo expact "im t" kape yo, yo gawpie? Did yo think you"d nowt to do but t" laay oop at t" Vicarage an" "ave th yoong laadies t" do yore wark for yo, an" t" waait on yo "and an" foot? Miss Gwanda t" mak"
yore bafe-tae an" chicken jally and t" Vicar t" daandle t" baaby?
""Oo"s goan t" kape yo? Mae? I woonna kape yo an" I canna" kape yo. Yo ain" t" baaby! I doan" waant naw squeechin", squallin" brats mookin"
oop t" plaace as faast as I clanes it, An" "_E_ woonna kape yo--ef yo"re raakonin" on "im. Yo need na tall mae oo t" maan is. I knaw."
""Tis"n "im, Moother. "Tis"n "im."
"Yo lil blaack liar! "_Tis_ "im. Ooo alse could it bae? Yo selly!
Whatten arth possessed yo t" goa an" tak oop wi" Jim Greatorex? Ef yo mun get into trooble yo medda chawsen battern Jim. What for did I tak"
yo from t" Farm an" put yo into t" Vicarage ef "t wasn"t t" get yo out o" Jimmy"s road? "_E_"ll naver maarry yo. Nat "e! Did "e saay as "e"d maarry yo? Naw, I warrant yo did na waat fer thot. Yo was mad t" roon affter "im afore "e called yo. Yo dirty cat!"
That last taunt drew blood. Essy spoke up.
"Naw, naw. "E looved mae. "E wanted mae bad."
""E wanted yo? Coorse "e wanted yo. Yo sud na "ave gien in to "im, yo softie. D"yo think yo"re the only woon thot"s tampted? Look at mae. I could "a got into trooble saven times to yore woonce, ef I "ad"n kaped my "ead an" respected mysel. Yore Jim Greatorex! Ef a maan like Jim "ad laaid a "and on mae, "e"d a got soomthin" t" remamber afore I"d "a gien in to "im. An" yo"ve naw "scuse for disgracin" yoresel. Yo was brought oop ralegious an" res.p.a.ctable. Did yo aver "ear saw mooch aa a bad woord?"
"It"s doon, Moother, it"s doon. There"s naw good taalkin"."
"Eh! Yo saay it"s doon, it"s doon, an" yo think nowt o" "t. An" nowt yo think o" t" trooble yo"re brengin" on mae. I sooppawse yo"ll be tallin" mae naxt yo looved "im! Yo looved"im!"
At that Essy began to cry, softly, in her manner.
"Doan" yo tall mae _thot_ taale."
Mrs. Gale suddenly paused in her tirade and began to poke the fire with fury.