Relieved of the attentions of the Prentice family, he walked the streets a free man; and it was counted to him for righteousness that he never said a hard word about his wife. She had her faults, he said, but they were many thousand miles away, and he preferred to forget them. And he added, with some truth, that he owed her a good deal.
For a few months he had no reason to alter his opinion. Thanks to his presence of mind, the Prentice family had no terrors for him. Heart- whole and fancy free, he led the easy life of a man of leisure, a condition of things suddenly upset by the arrival of Miss Grace Lindsay to take up a post at the elementary school. Mr. Barrett succumbed almost at once, and, after a few encounters in the street and meetings at mutual friends’, went to unbosom him-self to Mr. Jernshaw.
“What has she got to do with you?” demanded that gentleman.
“I — I’m rather struck with her,” said Mr. Barrett.
“Struck with her?” repeated his friend, sharply. “I’m surprised at you. You’ve no business to think of such things.”
“Why not?” demanded Mr. Barrett, in tones that were sharper still.
“Why not?” repeated the other. “Have you forgotten your wife and children?”
Mr. Barrett, who, to do him justice, had forgotten, fell back in his chair and sat gazing at him, open-mouthed.
“You’re in a false position — in a way,” said Mr. Jernshaw, sternly.
“False is no name for it,” said Mr. Barrett, huskily. “What am I to do?”
“Do?” repeated the other, staring at him. “Nothing! Unless, perhaps, you send for your wife and children. I suppose, in any case, you would have to have the little ones if anything happened to her?”
Mr. Barrett grinned ruefully.
“Think it over,” said Mr. Jernshaw. “I will,” said the other, heartily.
He walked home deep in thought. He was a kindly man, and he spent some time thinking out the easiest death for Mrs. Barrett. He decided at last upon heart-disease, and a fort-night later all Ramsbury knew of the letter from Australia conveying the mournful intelligence. It was generally agreed that the mourning and the general behaviour of the widower left nothing to be desired.
“She’s at peace at last,” he said, solemnly, to Jernshaw.
“I believe you killed her,” said his friend. Mr. Barrett started violently.
“I mean your leaving broke her heart,” explained the other.
Mr. Barrett breathed easily again.
“It’s your duty to look after the children,” said Jernshaw, firmly. “And I’m not the only one that thinks so.”
“They are with their grandfather and grand-mother,” said Mr. Barrett.
Mr. Jernshaw sniffed.
“And four uncles and five aunts,” added Mr. Barrett, triumphantly.
“Think how they would brighten up your house,” said Mr. Jernshaw.
His friend shook his head. “It wouldn’t be fair to their grandmother,” he said, decidedly. “Besides, Australia wants population.”
He found to his annoyance that Mr. Jernshaw’s statement that he was not alone in his views was correct. Public opinion seemed to expect the arrival of the children, and one citizen even went so far as to recommend a girl he knew, as nurse.
Ramsbury understood at last that his decision was final, and, observing his attentions to the new schoolmistress, flattered itself that it had discovered the reason. It is possible that Miss Lindsay shared their views, but if so she made no sign, and on the many occasions on which she met Mr. Barrett on her way to and from school greeted him with frank cordiality. Even when he referred to his loneliness, which he did frequently, she made no comment.
He went into half-mourning at the end of two months, and a month later bore no outward signs of his loss. Added to that his step was springy and his manner youthful. Miss Lindsay was twenty-eight, and he persuaded himself that, sexes considered, there was no disparity worth mentioning.
He was only restrained from proposing by a question of etiquette. Even a shilling book on the science failed to state the interval that should elapse between the death of one wife and the negotiations for another. It preferred instead to give minute instructions with regard to the eating of asparagus. In this dilemma he consulted Jernshaw.
“Don’t know, I’m sure,” said that gentle-man; “besides, it doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t matter?” repeated Mr. Barrett. “Why not?”
“Because I think Tillett is paying her attentions,” was the reply. “He’s ten years younger than you are, and a bachelor. A girl would naturally prefer him to a middle-aged widower with five children.”
“In Australia,” the other reminded him.
“Man for man, bachelor for bachelor,” said Mr. Jernshaw, regarding him, “she might prefer you; as things are—”
“I shall ask her,” said Mr. Barrett, doggedly. “I was going to wait a bit longer, but if there’s any chance of her wrecking her prospects for life by marrying that tailor’s dummy it’s my duty to risk it — for her sake. I’ve seen him talking to her twice myself, but I never thought he’d dream of such a thing.”
Apprehension and indignation kept him awake half the night, but when he arose next morning it was with the firm resolve to put his fortune to the test that day. At four o’clock he changed his neck-tie for the third time, and at ten past sallied out in the direction of the school. He met Miss Lindsay just coming out, and, after a well-deserved compliment to the weather, turned and walked with her.
“I was hoping to meet you,” he said, slowly.
“Yes?” said the girl.
“I — I have been feeling rather lonely to-day,” he continued.
“You often do,” said Miss Lindsay, guardedly.
“It gets worse and worse,” said Mr. Barrett, sadly.
“I think I know what is the matter with you,” said the girl, in a soft voice; “you have got nothing to do all day, and you live alone, except for your housekeeper.”
Mr. Barrett assented with some eagerness, and stole a hopeful glance at her.
“You — you miss something,” continued Miss. Lindsay, in a faltering voice.
“I do,” said Mr. Barrett, with ardour.
“You miss” — the girl made an effort— “you miss the footsteps and voices of your little children.”
Mr. Barrett stopped suddenly in the street, and then, with a jerk, went blindly on.
“I’ve never spoken of it before because it’s your business, not mine,” continued the girl. “I wouldn’t have spoken now, but when you referred to your loneliness I thought perhaps you didn’t realize the cause of it.”
Mr. Barrett walked on in silent misery.
“Poor little motherless things!” said Miss Lindsay, softly. “Motherless and — fatherless.”
“Better for them,” said Mr. Barrett, finding his voice at last.
“It almost looks like it,” said Miss Lindsay, with a sigh.
Mr. Barrett tried to think clearly, but the circumstances were hardly favourable. “Suppose,” he said, speaking very slowly, “suppose I wanted to get married?”
Miss Lindsay started. “What, again?” she said, with an air of surprise.
“How could I ask a girl to come and take over five children?”
“No woman that was worth having would let little children be sacrificed for her sake,” said Miss Lindsay, decidedly.
“Do you think anybody would marry me with five children?” demanded Mr. Barrett.
“She might,” said the girl, edging away from him a little. “It depends on the woman.”
“Would — you, for instance?” said Mr. Barrett, desperately.
Miss Lindsay shrank still farther away. “I don’t know; it would depend upon circumstances,” she murmured.
“I will write and send for them,” said Mr. Barrett, significantly.
Miss Lindsay made no reply. They had arrived at her gate by this time, and, with a hurried handshake, she disappeared indoors.
Mr. Barrett, somewhat troubled in mind, went home to tea.
He resolved, after a little natural hesitation, to drown the children, and reproached himself bitterly for not having disposed of them at the same time as their mother. Now he would have to go through another period of mourning and the consequent delay in pressing his suit. Moreover, he would have to allow a decent interval between his conversation with Miss Lindsay and their untimely end.
The news of the catastrophe arrived two or three days before the return of the girl from her summer holidays. She learnt it in the first half- hour from her landlady, and sat in a dazed condition listening to a description of the grief-stricken father and the sympathy extended to him by his fellow-citizens. It appeared that nothing had passed his lips for two days.
“Shocking!” said Miss Lindsay, briefly. “Shocking!”
An instinctive feeling that the right and proper thing to do was to nurse his grief in solitude kept Mr. Barrett out of her way for nearly a week. When she did meet him she received a limp handshake and a greeting in a voice from which all hope seemed to have departed.
“I am very sorry,” she said, with a sort of measured gentleness.
Mr. Barrett, in his hushed voice, thanked her.
“I am all alone now,” he said, pathetically. “There is nobody now to care whether I live or die.”
Miss Lindsay did not contradict him.
“How did it happen?” she inquired, after they had gone some distance in silence.
“They were out in a sailing-boat,” said Mr. Barrett; “the boat capsized in a puff of wind, and they were all drowned.”
“Who was in charge of them?” inquired the girl, after a decent interval.
“Boatman,” replied the other.
“How did you hear?”
“I had a letter from one of my sisters-in-law, Charlotte,” said Mr. Barrett. “A most affecting letter. Poor Charlotte was like a second mother to them. She’ll never be the same woman again. Never!”
“I should like to see the letter,” said Miss Lindsay, musingly.
Mr. Barrett suppressed a start. “I should like to show it to you,” he said, “but I’m afraid I have destroyed it. It made me shudder every time I looked at it.”
“It’s a pity,” said the girl, dryly. “I should have liked to see it. I’ve got my own idea about the matter. Are you sure she was very fond of them?”
“She lived only for them,” said Mr. Barrett, in a rapt voice.
“Exactly. I don’t believe they are drowned at all,” said Miss Lindsay, suddenly. “I believe you have had all this terrible anguish for nothing. It’s too cruel.”
Mr. Barrett stared at her in anxious amazement.
“I see it all now,” continued the girl. “Their Aunt Charlotte was devoted to them. She always had the fear that some day you would return and claim them, and to prevent that she invented the story of their death.”
“Charlotte is the most truthful woman that ever breathed,” said the distressed Mr. Barrett.
Miss Lindsay shook her head. “You are like all other honourable, truthful people,” she said, looking at him gravely. “You can’t imagine anybody else telling a falsehood. I don’t believe you could tell one if you tried.”
Mr. Barrett gazed about him with the despairing look of a drowning mariner.
“I’m certain I’m right,” continued the girl. “I can see Charlotte exulting in her wickedness. Why!”
“What’s the matter?” inquired Mr. Barrett, greatly worried.
“I’ve just thought of it,” said Miss Lindsay. “She’s told you that your children are drowned, and she has probably told them you are dead. A woman like that would stick at nothing to gain her ends.”
“You don’t know Charlotte,” said Mr. Barrett, feebly.
“I think I do,” was the reply. “However, we’ll make sure. I suppose you’ve got friends in Melbourne?”
“A few,” said Mr. Barrett, guardedly.
“Come down to the post-office and cable to one of them.”
Mr. Barrett hesitated. “I’ll write,” he said, slowly. “It’s an awkward thing to cable; and there’s no hurry. I’ll write to Jack Adams, I think.”
“It’s no good writing,” said Miss Lindsay, firmly. “You ought to know that.”
“Why not?” demanded the other.
“Because, you foolish man,” said the girl, calmly, “before your letter got there, there would be one from Melbourne saying that he had been choked by a fish-bone, or died of measles, or something of that sort.”
Mr. Barrett, hardly able to believe his ears, stopped short and looked at her. The girl’s eyes were moist with mirth and her lips trembling. He put out his hand and took her wrist in a strong grip.
“That’s all right,” he said, with a great gasp of relief. “Phew! At one time I thought I had lost you.”
“By heart-disease, or drowning?” inquired Miss Lindsay, softly.
THE WINTER OFFENSIVE
N.B. — Having regard to the eccentricities of the Law of Libel it must be distinctly understood that the following does not refer to the distinguished officer, Lieut. Troup Horne, of the Inns of Court. Anybody trying to cause mischief between a civilian of eight stone and a soldier of seventeen by a statement to the contrary will hear from my solicitors.
Aug. 29, 1916. — We returned from the sea to find our house still our own, and the military still in undisputed possession of the remains of the grass in the fields of Berkhamsted Place. As in previous years, it was impossible to go in search of wild-flowers without stumbling over sleeping members of the Inns of Court; but war is war, and we grumble as little as possible.
Sept. 28. — Unpleasant rumours to the effect that several members of the Inns of Court had attributed cases of curvature of the spine to sleeping on ground that had been insufficiently rolled. Also that they had been heard to smack their lips and speak darkly of featherbeds. Respected neighbour of gloomy disposition said that if Pharaoh were still alive he could suggest an eleventh plague to him beside which frogs and flies were an afternoon’s diversion.
Oct. 3. — Householders of Berkhamsted busy mending bedsteads broken by last year’s billets, and buying patent taps for their beer-barrels.
Oct. 15. — Informed that a representative of the Army wished to see me. Instead of my old friend Q.M.S. Beddem, who generally returns to life at this time of year, found that it was an officer of magnificent presence and two pips. A fine figure of a man, with a great resemblance to the late lamented Bismarck, minus the moustache and the three hairs on the top of the head. Asked him to be seated. He selected a chair that was all arms and legs and no hips to speak of and crushed himself into it. After which he unfastened his belt and “swelled wisibly afore my werry eyes.” Said that his name was True Born and asked if it made any difference to me whether I had one officer or half-a-dozen men billeted on me. Said that he was the officer, and that as the rank-and-file were not allowed to pollute the same atmosphere, thought I should score. After a mental review of all I could remember of the Weights and Measures Table, accepted him. He bade a lingering farewell to the chair, and departed.
Oct. 16. — Saw Q.M.S. Beddem on the other side of the road and gave him an absolutely new thrill by crossing to meet him. Asked diffidently — as diffidently as he could, that is — how many men my house would hold. Replied eight — or ten at a pinch. He gave me a surprised and beaming smile and whipped out a huge note-book. Informed him with as much regret as I could put into a voice not always under perfect control, that I had already got an officer. Q.M.S., favouring me with a look very appropriate to the Devil’s Own, turned on his heel and set off in pursuit of a lady-billetee, pulling up short on the threshold of the baby-linen shop in which she took refuge. Left him on guard with a Casablanca-like look on his face.
Nov. 1. — Lieut. True Born took up his quarters with us. Gave him my dressing-room for bedchamber. Was awakened several times in the night by what I took to be Zeppelins, flying low.
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Nov. 2. — Lieut. True Born offered to bet me five pounds to twenty that the war would be over by 1922.
Nov. 3. — Offered to teach me auction-bridge.
Nov. 4. — Asked me whether I could play “shove ha’penny.”
Nov. 10. — Lieut. True Born gave one of the regimental horses a riding- lesson. Came home grumpy and went to bed early.
Nov. 13. — Another riding-lesson. Over-heard him asking one of the maids whether there was such a thing as a water-bed in the house.
Nov. 17. — Complained bitterly of horse-copers. Said that his poor mount was discovered to be suffering from saddle-soreness, broken wind, splints, weak hocks, and two bones of the neck out of place.
Dec. 9. — 7 p.m. — One of last year’s billets, Private Merited, on leave from a gunnery course, called to see me and to find out whether his old bed had improved since last year. Left his motor-bike in the garage, and the smell in front of the dining-room window.
8 to 12 p.m. — Sat with Private Merited, listening to Lieut. True Born on the mistakes of Wellington.
12.5 a.m. — Rose to go to bed. Was about to turn out gas in hall when I discovered the lieutenant standing with his face to the wall playing pat- a-cake with it. Gave him three-parts of a tumbler of brandy. Said he felt better and went upstairs. Arrived in his bed-room, he looked about him carefully, and then, with a superb sweep of his left arm, swept the best Chippendale looking-glass in the family off the dressing table and dived face down-wards to the floor, missing death and the corner of the chest of drawers by an inch.
12:15 a.m. — Rolled him on to his back and got his feet on the bed. They fell off again as soon as they were cleaner than the quilt. The lieutenant, startled by the crash, opened his eyes and climbed into bed unaided.
12.20 a.m. — Sent Private Merited for the M.O., Captain Geranium.
12.25 a.m. — Mixed a dose of brandy and castor-oil in a tumbler. Am told it slips down like an oyster that way — bad oyster, I should think. Lieut. True Born jibbed. Reminded him that England expects that every man will take his castor-oil. Reply unprintable. Apologized a moment later. Said that his mind was wandering and that he thought he was a colonel. Reassured him.
Works of W. W. Jacobs Page 270
