The Angel stopped, startled at the strange sounds of Mother Gustick"s voice. "Put yer best clo"es on, and yer feather in yer "at, and off you goes to meet en, fal lal, and me at "ome slaving for ye. "Tis a Fancy Lady you"ll be wantin" to be, my gal, a walkin" Touch and Go, with yer idleness and finery----"
The voice ceased abruptly, and a great peace came upon the battered air.
"Most grotesque and strange!" said the Angel, still surveying this wonderful box of discords. "Walking Touch and Go!" He did not know that Mrs Gustick had suddenly become aware of his existence, and was scrutinizing his appearance through the window-blind. Abruptly the door flew open, and she stared out into the Angel"s face. A strange apparition, grey and dusty hair, and the dirty pink dress unhooked to show the stringy throat, a discoloured gargoyle, presently to begin spouting incomprehensible abuse.
"Now, then, Mister," began Mrs Gustick. "Have ye nothin" better to do than listen at people"s doors for what you can pick up?"
The Angel stared at her in astonishment.
"D"year!" said Mrs Gustick, evidently very angry indeed. "Listenin"."
"Have you any objection to my hearing...."
"Object to my hearing! Course I have! Whad yer think? You aint such a Ninny...."
"But if ye didn"t want me to hear, why did you cry out so loud? I thought...."
"_You thought!_ Softie--that"s what _you_ are! You silly girt staring Gaby, what don"t know any better than to come holding yer girt mouth wide open for all that you can catch holt on? And then off up there to tell! You great Fat-Faced, Tale-Bearin" Silly-Billy! I"d be ashamed to come poking and peering round quiet people"s houses...."
The Angel was surprised to find that some inexplicable quality in her voice excited the most disagreeable sensations in him and a strong desire to withdraw. But, resisting this, he stood listening politely (as the custom is in the Angelic Land, so long as anyone is speaking). The entire eruption was beyond his comprehension. He could not perceive any reason for the sudden projection of this vituperative head, out of infinity, so to speak. And questions without a break for an answer were outside his experience altogether.
Mrs Gustick proceeded with her characteristic fluency, a.s.sured him he was no gentleman, enquired if he called himself one, remarked that every tramp did as much nowadays, compared him to a Stuck Pig, marvelled at his impudence, asked him if he wasn"t ashamed of himself standing there, enquired if he was rooted to the ground, was curious to be told what he meant by it, wanted to know whether he robbed a scarecrow for his clothes, suggested that an abnormal vanity prompted his behaviour, enquired if his mother knew he was out, and finally remarking, "I got somethin"ll move you, my gentleman," disappeared with a ferocious slamming of the door.
The interval struck the Angel as singularly peaceful. His whirling mind had time to a.n.a.lyse his sensations. He ceased bowing and smiling, and stood merely astonished.
"This is a curious painful feeling," said the Angel. "Almost worse than Hungry, and quite different. When one is hungry one wants to eat. I suppose she was a woman. Here one wants to get away. I suppose I might just as well go."
He turned slowly and went down the road meditating. He heard the cottage door re-open, and turning his head, saw through intervening scarlet runners Mrs Gustick with a steaming saucepan full of boiling cabbage water in her hand.
""Tis well you went, Mister Stolen Breeches," came the voice of Mrs Gustick floating down through the vermilion blossoms. "Don"t you come peeping and prying round this yer cottage again or I"ll learn ye manners, I will!"
The Angel stood in a state of considerable perplexity. He had no desire to come within earshot of the cottage again--ever. He did not understand the precise import of the black pot, but his general impression was entirely disagreeable. There was no explaining it.
"I _mean_ it!" said Mrs Gustick, crescendo. "Drat it!--I _mean_ it."
The Angel turned and went on, a dazzled look in his eyes.
"She was very grotesque!" said the Angel. "_Very._ Much more than the little man in black. And she means it.---- But what she means I don"t know!..." He became silent. "I suppose they all mean something,", he said, presently, still perplexed.
XXV.
Then the Angel came in sight of the forge, where Sandy Bright"s brother was shoeing a horse for the carter from Upmorton. Two hobbledehoys were standing by the forge staring in a bovine way at the proceedings. As the Angel approached these two and then the carter turned slowly through an angle of thirty degrees and watched his approach, staring quietly and steadily at him. The expression on their faces was one of abstract interest.
The Angel became self-conscious for the first time in his life. He drew nearer, trying to maintain an amiable expression on his face, an expression that beat in vain against their granitic stare. His hands were behind him. He smiled pleasantly, looking curiously at the (to him) incomprehensible employment of the smith. But the battery of eyes seemed to angle for his regard. Trying to meet the three pairs at once, the Angel lost his alertness and stumbled over a stone. One of the yokels gave a sarcastic cough, and was immediately covered with confusion at the Angel"s enquiring gaze, nudging his companion with his elbow to cover his disorder. None spoke, and the Angel did not speak.
So soon as the Angel had pa.s.sed, one of the three hummed this tune in an aggressive tone.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Music]
Then all three of them laughed. One tried to sing something and found his throat contained phlegm. The Angel proceeded on his way.
"Who"s _e_ then?" said the second hobbledehoy.
"Ping, ping, ping," went the blacksmith"s hammer.
"Spose he"s one of these here foweners," said the carter from Upmorton.
"Daamned silly fool he do look to be sure."
"Tas the way with them foweners," said the first hobbledehoy sagely.
"Got something very like the "ump," said the carter from Upmorton.
"Daa-a-amned if "E ent."
Then the silence healed again, and they resumed their quiet expressionless consideration of the Angel"s retreating figure.
"Very like the "ump et is," said the carter after an enormous pause.
XXVI.
The Angel went on through the village, finding it all wonderful enough.
"They begin, and just a little while and then they end," he said to himself in a puzzled voice. "But what are they doing meanwhile?" Once he heard some invisible mouth chant inaudible words to the tune the man at the forge had hummed.
"That"s the poor creature the Vicar shot with that great gun of his,"
said Sarah Glue (of 1, Church Cottages) peering over the blind.
"He looks Frenchified," said Susan Hopper, peering through the interstices of that convenient veil on curiosity.
"He has sweet eyes," said Sarah Glue, who had met them for a moment.
The Angel sauntered on. The postman pa.s.sed him and touched his hat to him; further down was a dog asleep in the sun. He went on and saw Mendham, who nodded distantly and hurried past. (The Curate did not care to be seen talking to an angel in the village, until more was known about him). There came from one of the houses the sound of a child screaming in a pa.s.sion, that brought a puzzled look to the angelic face.
Then the Angel reached the bridge below the last of the houses, and stood leaning over the parapet watching the glittering little cascade from the mill.
"They begin, and just a little while, and then they end," said the weir from the mill. The water raced under the bridge, green and dark, and streaked with foam.
Beyond the mill rose the square tower of the church, with the churchyard behind it, a spray of tombstones and wooden headboards splashed up the hillside. A half dozen of beech trees framed the picture.
Then the Angel heard a shuffling of feet and the gride of wheels behind him, and turning his head saw a man dressed in dirty brown rags and a felt hat grey with dust, who was standing with a slight swaying motion and fixedly regarding the Angelic back. Beyond him was another almost equally dirty, pushing a knife grinder"s barrow over the bridge.
"Mornin"," said the first person smiling weakly. "Goomorn"." He arrested an escaping hiccough.
The Angel stared at him. He had never seen a really fatuous smile before. "Who are you?" said the Angel.