Wemyss had a cold and was staying in bed, and Mr. Wemyss had gone up to London by the usual train. It couldn"t be much that was wrong, or he wouldn"t have gone. Hadn"t she, she thought uneasily as she found herself uninvited within Wemyss"s gates, perhaps been a little impulsive? Yet the idea of that child alone in the sinister house----
She peered out of the cab window. Not at all sinister, she said, correcting herself severely; all most neat. Perfect order. Shrubs as they should be. Strong railings. Nice cows.
The cab stopped. Chesterton came down the steps and opened its door.
Nice parlourmaid. Most normal.
"How is Mrs. Wemyss?" asked Miss Entwhistle.
"About the same I believe, ma"am," said Chesterton; and inquired if she should pay the man.
Miss Entwhistle paid the man, and then proceeded up the steps followed by Chesterton carrying her bag. Fine steps. Handsome house.
"Does she know I"m coming?"
"I believe the housemaid did mention it, ma"am."
Nice roomy hall. With a fire it might be quite warm. Fine windows. Good staircase.
"Do you wish for tea, ma"am?"
"No thank you. I should like to go up at once, if I may."
"If you please, ma"am."
At the turn of the stairs, where the gong was, Miss Entwhistle stood aside and let Chesterton precede her. "Perhaps you had better go and tell Mrs. Wemyss I am here," she said.
"If you please, ma"am."
Miss Entwhistle waited, gazing at the gong with the same benevolence she had brought to bear on everything else. Fine gong. She also gazed at the antlers on the wall, for the wall continued to bristle with antlers right up to the top of the house. Magnificent collection.
"If you please, ma"am," said Chesterton, reappearing, tiptoeing gingerly to the head of the stairs.
Miss Entwhistle went up. Chesterton ushered her into the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her.
Miss Entwhistle knew Lucy was small, but not how small till she saw her in the treble bed. There really did appear to be nothing of her except a little round head. "Why, but you"ve shrunk!" was her first exclamation.
Lucy, who was tucked up to her chin by Lizzie, besides having a wet bandage encased in flannel round her throat, could only move her eyes and smile. She was on the side of the bed farthest from the door, and Miss Entwhistle had to walk round it to reach her. She was still hoa.r.s.e, but not as voiceless as when Wemyss left in the morning, for Lizzie had been diligently plying her with things like hot honey, and her face, as her eyes followed Miss Entwhistle"s approach, was one immense smile. It really seemed too wonderful to be with Aunt Dot again; and there was a peace about being ill, a relaxation from strain, that had made her quiet day, alone in bed, seem sheer bliss. It was so plain that she couldn"t move, that she couldn"t do anything, couldn"t get up and go in trains, that her conscience was at rest in regard to Everard; and she lay in the blessed silence after he left, not minding how much her limbs ached because of the delicious tranquillity of her mind. The window was open, and in the garden the birds were busy. The wind had dropped. Except for the birds there was no sound. Divine quiet. Divine peace. The luxury of it after the week-end, after the birthday, after the honeymoon, was extraordinary. Just to be in bed by oneself seemed an amazingly felicitous condition.
"Lovely of you to come," she said hoa.r.s.ely, smiling broadly and looking so unmistakably contented that Miss Entwhistle, as she bent over her and kissed her hot forehead, thought, "It"s a success. He"s making her happy."
"You darling little thing," she said, smoothing back her hair. "Fancy seeing you again like this!"
"Yes," said Lucy, heavy-eyed and smiling. "Lovely," she whispered, "to see you. Tea, Aunt Dot?"
It was evidently difficult for her to speak, and her forehead was extremely hot.
"No, I don"t want tea."
"You"ll stay?"
"Yes," said Miss Entwhistle, sitting down by the pillow and continuing to smooth back her hair. "Of course I"ll stay. How did you manage to catch such a cold, I wonder?"
She was left to wonder, undisturbed by any explanations of Lucy"s.
Indeed it was as much as Lucy could manage to bring out the most necessary words. She lay contentedly with her eyes shut, having her hair stroked back, and said as little as possible.
"Everard--" said Miss Entwhistle, stroking gently, "is he coming back to-night?"
"No," whispered Lucy contentedly.
Aunt Dot stroked in silence.
"Has your temperature been taken?" she asked presently.
"No," whispered Lucy contentedly.
"Oughtn"t you--" after another pause "to see a doctor?"
"No," whispered Lucy contentedly. Delicious, simply delicious, to lie like that having one"s hair stroked back by Aunt Dot, the dear, the kind, the comprehensible.
"So sweet of you to come," she whispered again.
Well, thought Miss Entwhistle as she sat there softly stroking and watching Lucy"s face of complete content while she dozed off even after she was asleep the corners of her mouth still were tucked up in a smile--it was plain that Everard was making the child happy. In that case he certainly must be all that Lucy had a.s.sured her he was, and she, Miss Entwhistle, would no doubt very quickly now get fond of him. Of course she would. No doubt whatever. And what a comfort, what a relief, to find the child happy. Backgrounds didn"t matter where there was happiness. Houses, indeed. What did it matter if they weren"t the sort of houses you would, left to yourself, choose so long as in them dwelt happiness? What did it matter what their past had been so long as their present was illuminated by contentment? And as for furniture, why, that only became of interest, of importance, when life had nothing else in it. Loveless lives, empty lives, filled themselves in their despair with beautiful furniture. If you were really happy you had antlers.
In this spirit, while she stroked and Lucy slept, Miss Entwhistle"s eye, full of benevolence, wandered round the room. The objects in it, after her own small bedroom in Eaton Terrace and its necessarily small furniture, all seemed to her gigantic. Especially the bed. She had never seen a bed like it before, though she had heard of such beds in history.
Didn"t Og the King of Bashan have one? But what an excellent plan, for then you could get away from each other. Most sensible. Most wholesome.
And a certain bleakness about the room would soon go when Lucy"s little things got more strewn about,--her books, and photographs, and pretty dressing-table silver.
Miss Entwhistle"s eye arrived at and dwelt on the dressing-table. On it were two oval wooden-backed brushes without handles. Hairbrushes. Men"s.
Also shaving things. And, hanging over one side of the looking-gla.s.s, were three neckties.
She quickly recovered. Most friendly. Most companionable. But a feeling of not being in Lucy"s room at all took possession of her, and she fidgeted a little. With no business to be there whatever, she was in a strange man"s bedroom. She averted her eyes from Wemyss"s toilet arrangements, they were the last things she wanted to see; and, in averting them, they fell on the washstand with its two basins and on an enormous red-brown indiarubber sponge. No such sponge was ever Lucy"s.
The conclusion was forced upon her that Lucy and Everard washed side by side.
From this, too, she presently recovered. After all, marriage was marriage, and you did things in marriage that you would never dream of doing single. She averted her eyes from the washstand. The last thing she wanted to do was to become familiar with Wemyss"s sponge.
Her eyes, growing more and more determined in their benevolence, gazed out of the window. How the days were lengthening. And really a beautiful look-out, with the late afternoon light reflected on the hills across the river. Birds, too, twittering in the garden,--everything most pleasant and complete. And such a nice big window. Lots of air and light. It reached nearly to the floor. Two housemaids at least, and strong ones, would be needed to open or shut it,--ah no, there were cords. A thought struck her: This couldn"t be the room, that couldn"t be the window, where----
She averted her eyes from the window, and fixed them on what seemed to be the only satisfactory resting-place for them, the contented face on the pillow. Dear little loved face. And the dear, pretty hair,--how pretty young hair was, so soft and thick. No, of course it wasn"t the window; that tragic room was probably not used at all now. How in the world had the child got such a cold. She could hear by her breathing that her chest was stuffed up, but evidently it wasn"t worrying her, or she wouldn"t in her sleep look so much pleased. Yes; that room was either shut up now and never used, or--she couldn"t help being struck by yet another thought--it was a spare room. If so, Miss Entwhistle said to herself, it would no doubt be her fate to sleep in it. Dear me, she thought, taken aback.
But from this also she presently recovered; and remembering her determination to eject all prejudices merely remarked to herself, "Well, well." And, after a pause, was able to add benevolently, "A house of varied interest."
XXVII
Later on in the dining-room, when she was reluctantly eating the meal prepared for her--Lucy still slept, or she would have asked to be allowed to have a biscuit by her bedside--Miss Entwhistle said to Chesterton, who attended her, Would she let her know when Mr. Wemyss telephoned, as she wished to speak to him.