A SECOND-RATE WOMAN
Est fuga, volvitur rota, On we drift: where looms the dim port? One Two Three Four Five contribute their quota: Something is gained if one caught but the import, Show it us, Hugues of Saxe-Gotha. --Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha.
'Dressed! Don't tell me that woman ever dressed in her life. She stoodin the middle of the room while her ayah no, her husband it must havebeen a man threw her clothes at her. She then did her hair with herfingers, and rubbed her bonnet in the flue under the bed. I know shedid, as well as if I had assisted at the orgy. Who is she?' said Mrs.Hauksbee.
'Don't!' said Mrs. Mallowe feebly. 'You make my head ache. I ammiserable to-day. Stay me with fondants, comfort me with chocolates, forI am. Did you bring anything from Peliti's?'
'Questions to begin with. You shall have the sweets when you haveanswered them. Who and what is the creature? There were at leasthalf-a-dozen men round her, and she appeared to be going to sleep intheir midst.'
'Delville,' said Mrs. Mallowe, "'Shady" Delville, to distinguish herfrom Mrs. Jim of that ilk. She dances as untidily as she dresses, Ibelieve, and her husband is somewhere in Madras. Go and call, if you areso interested.'
'What have I to do with Shigramitish women? She merely caught myattention for a minute, and I wondered at the attraction that a dowd hasfor a certain type of man. I expected to see her walk out of her clothesuntil I looked at her eyes.'
'Hooks and eyes, surely,' drawled Mrs. Mallowe.
'Don't be clever, Polly. You make my head ache. And round this hayrickstood a crowd of men a positive crowd!'
'Perhaps they also expected.'
'Polly, don't be Rabelaisian!'
Mrs. Mallowe curled herself up comfortably on the sofa, and turned herattention to the sweets. She and Mrs. Hauksbee shared the same houseat Simla; and these things befell two seasons after the matter of OtisYeere, which has been already recorded.
Mrs. Hauksbee stepped into the verandah and looked down upon the Mall,her forehead puckered with thought.
'Hah!' said Mrs. Hauksbee shortly. 'Indeed!'
'What is it?' said Mrs. Mallowe sleepily.
'That dowd and The Dancing Master to whom I object.'
'Why to The Dancing Master? He is a middle-aged gentleman, of reprobateand romantic tendencies, and tries to be a friend of mine.'
'Then make up your mind to lose him. Dowds cling by nature, and I shouldimagine that this animal how terrible her bonnet looks from above! isspecially clingsome.'
'She is welcome to The Dancing Master so far as I am concerned. I nevercould take an interest in a monotonous liar. The frustrated aim of hislife is to persuade people that he is a bachelor.'
'O-oh! I think I've met that sort of man before. And isn't he?'
'No. He confided that to me a few days ago. Ugh! Some men ought to bekilled.'
'What happened then?'
'He posed as the horror of horrors a misunderstood man. Heaven knows thefemme incomprise is sad enough and bad enough but the other thing!'
'And so fat too! I should have laughed in his face. Men seldom confidein me. How is it they come to you?'
'For the sake of impressing me with their careers in the past. Protectme from men with confidences!'
'And yet you encourage them?'
'What can I do? They talk, I listen, and they vow that I am sympathetic.I know I always profess astonishment even when the plot is of the mostold possible.'
'Yes. Men are so unblushingly explicit if they are once allowed to talk,whereas women's confidences are full of reservations and fibs, except--'
'When they go mad and babble of the Unutter-abilities after a week'sacquaintance. Really, if you come to consider, we know a great deal moreof men than of our own sex.'
'And the extraordinary thing is that men will never believe it. They saywe are trying to hide something.'
'They are generally doing that on their own account. Alas! Thesechocolates pall upon me, and I haven't eaten more than a dozen. I thinkI shall go to sleep.'
'Then you'll get fat, dear. If you took more exercise and a moreintelligent interest in your neighbours you would--'
'Be as much loved as Mrs. Hauksbee. You're a darling in many ways, andI like you you are not a woman's woman but why do you trouble yourselfabout mere human beings?'
'Because in the absence of angels, who I am sure would be horribly dull,men and women are the most fascinating things in the whole wide world,lazy one. I am interested in The Dowd I am interested in The DancingMaster I am interested in the Hawley Boy and I am interested in you.'
'Why couple me with the Hawley Boy? He is your property.'
'Yes, and in his own guileless speech, I'm making a good thing outof him. When he is slightly more reformed, and has passed his HigherStandard, or whatever the authorities think fit to exact from him, Ishall select a pretty little girl, the Holt girl, I think, and' here shewaved her hands airily "'whom Mrs. Hauksbee hath joined together let noman put asunder." That's all.'
'And when you have yoked May Holt with the most notorious detrimentalin Simla, and earned the undying hatred of Mamma Holt, what will you dowith me, Dispenser of the Destinies of the Universe?'
Mrs. Hauksbee dropped into a low chair in front of the fire, and, chinin hand, gazed long and steadfastly at Mrs. Mallowe.
'I do not know,' she said, shaking her head, 'what I shall do withyou, dear. It's obviously impossible to marry you to some one else yourhusband would object and the experiment might not be successful afterall. I think I shall begin by preventing you from what is it? "sleepingon ale-house benches and snoring in the sun."'
'Don't! I don't like your quotations. They are so rude. Go to theLibrary and bring me new books.'
'While you sleep? No! If you don't come with me I shall spread yournewest frock on my 'rickshaw-bow, and when any one asks me what I amdoing, I shall say that I am going to Phelps's to get it let out. Ishall take care that Mrs. MacNamara sees me. Put your things on, there'sa good girl.'
Mrs. Mallowe groaned and obeyed, and the two went off to the Library,where they found Mrs. Delville and the man who went by the nick-name ofThe Dancing Master. By that time Mrs. Mallowe was awake and eloquent.
'That is the Creature!' said Mrs. Hauksbee, with the air of one pointingout a slug in the road.
'No,' said Mrs. Mallowe. 'The man is the Creature. Ugh! Good-evening,Mr. Bent. I thought you were coming to tea this evening.'
'Surely it was for to-morrow, was it not?' answered The Dancing Master.'I understood I fancied I'm so sorry How very unfortunate!'
But Mrs. Mallowe had passed on.
'For the practised equivocator you said he was,' murmured Mrs. Hauksbee,'he strikes me as a failure. Now wherefore should he have preferred awalk with The Dowd to tea with us? Elective affinities, I suppose bothgrubby. Polly, I'd never forgive that woman as long as the world rolls.'
'I forgive every woman everything,' said Mrs. Mallowe. 'He will be asufficient punishment for her. What a common voice she has!'
Mrs. Delville's voice was not pretty, her carriage was even less lovely,and her raiment was strikingly neglected. All these things Mrs. Mallowenoticed over the top of a magazine.
'Now what is there in her?' said Mrs. Hauksbee. 'Do you see what I meantabout the clothes falling off? If I were a man I would perish soonerthan be seen with that rag-bag. And yet, she has good eyes, but Oh!'
'What is it?'
'She doesn't know how to use them! On my honour, she does not. Look! Ohlook! Untidiness I can endure, but ignorance never! The woman's a fool.'
'Hsh! She'll hear you.'
'All the women in Simla are fools. She'll think I mean some one else.Now she's going out. What a thoroughly objectionable couple she and TheDancing Master make! Which reminds me. Do you suppose they'll ever dancetogether?'
'Wait and see. I don't envy her the conversation of The Dancing Masterloathly man! His wife ought to be up here before long?'
'Do you know anythin
g about him?'
'Only what he told me. It may be all a fiction. He married a girl bredin the country, I think, and, being an honourable, chivalrous soul, toldme that he repented his bargain and sent her to her as often as possiblea person who has lived in the Doon since the memory of man and goes toMussoorie when other people go Home. The wife is with her at present. Sohe says.'
'Babies?'
'One only, but he talks of his wife in a revolting way. I hated him forit. He thought he was being epigrammatic and brilliant.'
'That is a vice peculiar to men. I dislike him because he is generallyin the wake of some girl, disappointing the Eligibles. He will persecuteMay Holt no more, unless I am much mistaken.'
'No. I think Mrs. Delville may occupy his attention for a while.'
'Do you suppose she knows that he is the head of a family?'
'Not from his lips. He swore me to eternal secrecy. Wherefore I tellyou. Don't you know that type of man?'
'Not intimately, thank goodness! As a general rule, when a man begins toabuse his wife to me, I find that the Lord gives me wherewith to answerhim according to his folly; and we part with a coolness between us. Ilaugh.'
'I'm different. I've no sense of humour.'
'Cultivate it, then. It has been my mainstay for more years than I careto think about. A well-educated sense of humour will save a womanwhen Religion, Training, and Home influences fail; and we may all needsalvation sometimes.'
'Do you suppose that the Delville woman has humour?'
'Her dress betrays her. How can a Thing who wears her supplement underher left arm have any notion of the fitness of things much less theirfolly? If she discards The Dancing Master after having once seen himdance, I may respect her. Otherwise--'
'But are we not both assuming a great deal too much, dear? You sawthe woman at Peliti's half an hour later you saw her walking with TheDancing Master an hour later you met her here at the Library.'
'Still with The Dancing Master, remember.'
'Still with The Dancing Master, I admit, but why on the strength of thatshould you imagine--'
'I imagine nothing. I have no imagination. I am only convinced that TheDancing Master is attracted to The Dowd because he is objectionablein every way and she in every other. If I know the man as you havedescribed him, he holds his wife in slavery at present.'
'She is twenty years younger than he.'
'Poor wretch! And, in the end, after he has posed and swaggered and liedhe has a mouth under that ragged moustache simply made for lies he willbe rewarded according to his merits.'
'I wonder what those really are,' said Mrs. Mallowe.
But Mrs. Hauksbee, her face close to the shelf of the new books, washumming softly: 'What shall he have who killed the Deer?' She was a ladyof unfettered speech.
One month later she announced her intention of calling upon Mrs.Delville. Both Mrs. Hauksbee and Mrs. Mallowe were in morning wrappers,and there was a great peace in the land.
'I should go as I was,' said Mrs. Mallowe. 'It would be a delicatecompliment to her style.'
Mrs. Hauksbee studied herself in the glass.
'Assuming for a moment that she ever darkened these doors, I should puton this robe, after all the others, to show her what a morning-wrapperought to be. It might enliven her. As it is, I shall go in thedove-coloured sweet emblem of youth and innocence and shall put on mynew gloves.'
'If you really are going, dirty tan would be too good; and you know thatdove-colour spots with the rain.'
'I care not. I may make her envious. At least I shall try, though onecannot expect very much from a woman who puts a lace tucker into herhabit.'
'Just Heavens! When did she do that?'
'Yesterday riding with The Dancing Master. I met them at the back ofJakko, and the rain had made the lace lie down. To complete the effect,she was wearing an unclean terai with the elastic under her chin. I feltalmost too well content to take the trouble to despise her.'
'The Hawley Boy was riding with you. What did he think?'
'Does a boy ever notice these things? Should I like him if he did?He stared in the rudest way, and just when I thought he had seen theelastic, he said, "There's something very taking about that face." Irebuked him on the spot. I don't approve of boys being taken by faces.'
'Other than your own. I shouldn't be in the least surprised if theHawley Boy immediately went to call.'
'I forbade him. Let her be satisfied with The Dancing Master, and hiswife when she comes up. I'm rather curious to see Mrs. Bent and theDelville woman together.'
Mrs. Hauksbee departed and, at the end of an hour, returned slightlyflushed.
'There is no limit to the treachery of youth! I ordered the Hawley Boy,as he valued my patronage, not to call. The first person I stumble overliterally stumble over in her poky, dark little drawing-room is, ofcourse, the Hawley Boy. She kept us waiting ten minutes, and thenemerged as though she had been tipped out of the dirtyclothes-basket.You know my way, dear, when I am at all put out. I was Superior,crrrrushingly Superior! 'Lifted my eyes to Heaven, and had heard ofnothing 'dropped my eyes on the carpet and "really didn't know" 'playedwith my cardcase and "supposed so." The Hawley Boy giggled like a girl,and I had to freeze him with scowls between the sentences.'
'And she?'
'She sat in a heap on the edge of a couch, and managed to convey theimpression that she was suffering from stomach-ache, at the very least.It was all I could do not to ask after her symptoms. When I rose, shegrunted just like a buffalo in the water too lazy to move.'
'Are you certain?'
'Am I blind, Polly? Laziness, sheer laziness, nothing else or hergarments were only constructed for sitting down in. I stayed for aquarter of an hour trying to penetrate the gloom, to guess what hersurroundings were like, while she stuck out her tongue.'
'Lu cy!'
'Well I'll withdraw the tongue, though I'm sure if she didn't do it whenI was in the room, she did the minute I was outside. At any rate, shelay in a lump and grunted. Ask the Hawley Boy, dear. I believe thegrunts were meant for sentences, but she spoke so indistinctly that Ican't swear to it.'
'You are incorrigible, simply.'
'I am not! Treat me civilly, give me peace with honour, don't put theonly available seat facing the window, and a child may eat jam in mylap before Church. But I resent being grunted at. Wouldn't you? Do yousuppose that she communicates her views on life and love to The DancingMaster in a set of modulated "Grmphs"?'
'You attach too much importance to The Dancing Master.'
'He came as we went, and The Dowd grew almost cordial at the sight ofhim. He smiled greasily, and moved about that darkened dog-kennel in asuspiciously familiar way.'
'Don't be uncharitable. Any sin but that I'll forgive.'
'Listen to the voice of History. I am only describing what I saw. Heentered, the heap on the sofa revived slightly, and the Hawley Boy andI came away together. He is disillusioned, but I felt it my duty tolecture him severely for going there. And that's all.'
'Now for Pity's sake leave the wretched creature and The Dancing Masteralone. They never did you any harm.'
'No harm? To dress as an example and a stumbling-block for half Simla,and then to find this Person who is dressed by the hand of God not thatI wish to disparage Him for a moment, but you know the tikka dhurzie wayHe attires those lilies of the field this Person draws the eyes ofmen and some of them nice men? It's almost enough to make one discardclothing. I told the Hawley Boy so.'
'And what did that sweet youth do?'
'Turned shell-pink and looked across the far blue hills like adistressed cherub. Am I talking wildly, Polly? Let me say my say, andI shall be calm. Otherwise I may go abroad and disturb Simla with a feworiginal reflections. Excepting always your own sweet self, there isn'ta single woman in the land who understands me when I am what's theword?'
'Tete-fele suggested Mrs. Mallowe.
'Exactly! And now let us have tiffin. The demands of Society areexhausting, and as Mrs.
Delville says,--' Here Mrs. Hauksbee, to thehorror of the khitmatgars, lapsed into a series of grunts, while Mrs.Mallowe stared in lazy surprise.
'"God gie us a guid conceit of oorselves,"' said Mrs. Hauksbee piously,returning to her natural speech. 'Now, in any other woman that wouldhave been vulgar. I am consumed with curiosity to see Mrs. Bent. Iexpect complications.'
'Woman of one idea,' said Mrs. Mallowe shortly; 'all complications areas old as the hills! I have lived through or near all all All!'
'And yet do not understand that men and women never behave twice alike.I am old who was young if ever I put my head in your lap, you dear, bigsceptic, you will learn that my parting is gauze but never, no never,have I lost my interest in men and women. Polly, I shall see thisbusiness out to the bitter end.'
'I am going to sleep,' said Mrs. Mallowe calmly. 'I never interfere withmen or women unless I am compelled,' and she retired with dignity to herown room.
Mrs. Hauksbee's curiosity was not long left ungratified, for Mrs. Bentcame up to Simla a few days after the conversation faithfully reportedabove, and pervaded the Mall by her husband's side.
'Behold!' said Mrs. Hauksbee, thoughtfully rubbing her nose. 'That isthe last link of the chain, if we omit the husband of the Delville,whoever he may be. Let me consider. The Bents and the Delvilles inhabitthe same hotel; and the Delville is detested by the Waddy do you knowthe Waddy? who is almost as big a dowd. The Waddy also abominates themale Bent, for which, if her other sins do not weigh too heavily, shewill eventually go to Heaven.'
'Don't be irreverent,' said Mrs. Mallowe, 'I like Mrs. Bent's face.'
'I am discussing the Waddy,' returned Mrs. Hauksbee loftily. 'The Waddywill take the female Bent apart, after having borrowed yes! everythingthat she can, from hairpins to babies' bottles. Such, my dear, is lifein a hotel. The Waddy will tell the female Bent facts and fictions aboutThe Dancing Master and The Dowd.'
'Lucy, I should like you better if you were not always looking intopeople's back-bedrooms.'
'Anybody can look into their front drawingrooms; and remember whateverI do, and whatever I look, I never talk as the Waddy will. Let us hopethat The Dancing Master's greasy smile and manner of the pedagogue willsoften the heart of that cow, his wife. If mouths speak truth, I shouldthink that little Mrs. Bent could get very angry on occasion.'
'But what reason has she for being angry?'
'What reason! The Dancing Master in himself is a reason. How does it go?"If in his life some trivial errors fall, Look in his face and you'llbelieve them all." I am prepared to credit any evil of The DancingMaster, because I hate him so. And The Dowd is so disgustingly badlydressed.'
'That she, too, is capable of every iniquity? I always prefer to believethe best of everybody. It saves so much trouble.'
'Very good. I prefer to believe the worst. It saves useless expenditureof sympathy. And you may be quite certain that the Waddy believes withme.'
Mrs. Mallowe sighed and made no answer.
The conversation was holden after dinner while Mrs. Hauksbee wasdressing for a dance.
'I am too tired to go,' pleaded Mrs. Mallowe, and Mrs. Hauksbee lefther in peace till two in the morning, when she was aware of emphaticknocking at her door.
'Don't be very angry, dear,' said Mrs. Hauksbee. 'My idiot of an ayahhas gone home, and, as I hope to sleep to-night, there isn't a soul inthe place to unlace me.'
'Oh, this is too bad!' said Mrs. Mallowe sulkily.
'Cant help it. I'm a lone, lorn grass-widow, dear, but I will not sleepin my stays. And such news too! Oh, do unlace me, there's a darling!The Dowd The Dancing Master I and the Hawley Boy You know the Northverandah?'
'How can I do anything if you spin round like this?' protested Mrs.Mallowe, fumbling with the knot of the laces.
'Oh, I forget. I must tell my tale without the aid of your eyes. Do youknow you've lovely eyes, dear? Well, to begin with, I took the HawleyBoy to a kala juggah.'
'Did he want much taking?'
'Lots! There was an arrangement of loose-boxes in kanats, and she was inthe next one talking to him.'
'Which? How? Explain.'
'You know what I mean The Dowd and The Dancing Master. We could hearevery word, and we listened shamelessly 'specially the Hawley Boy.Polly, I quite love that woman!'
'This is interesting. There! Now turn round. What happened?'
'One moment. Ah h! Blessed relief. I've been looking forward to takingthem off for the last half-hour which is ominous at my time of life.But, as I was saying, we listened and heard The Dowd drawl worsethan ever. She drops her final g's like a barmaid or a blue-bloodedAide-de-Camp. "Look he-ere, you're gettin' too fond o' me," she said,and The Dancing Master owned it was so in language that nearly mademe ill. The Dowd reflected for a while. Then we heard her say, "Lookhe-ere, Mister Bent, why are you such an aw-ful liar?" I nearly explodedwhile The Dancing Master denied the charge. It seems that he never toldher he was a married man.'
'I said he wouldn't.'
'And she had taken this to heart, on personal grounds, I suppose. Shedrawled along for five minutes, reproaching him with his perfidy, andgrew quite motherly. "Now you've got a nice little wife of your own youhave," she said. "She's ten times too good for a fat old man like you,and, look he-ere, you never told me a word about her, and I've beenthinkin' about it a good deal, and I think you're a liar." Wasn't thatdelicious? The Dancing Master maundered and raved till the Hawley Boysuggested that he should burst in and beat him. His voice runs upinto an impassioned squeak when he is afraid. The Dowd must be anextraordinary woman. She explained that had he been a bachelor she mightnot have objected to his devotion; but since he was a married man andthe father of a very nice baby, she considered him a hypocrite, and thisshe repeated twice. She wound up her drawl with: "An' I'm tellin' youthis because your wife is angry with me, an' I hate quarrellin' with anyother woman, an' I like your wife. You know how you have behaved for thelast six weeks. You shouldn't have done it, indeed you shouldn't. You'retoo old an' too fat." Can't you imagine how The Dancing Master wouldwince at that! "Now go away," she said. "I don't want to tell you whatI think of you, because I think you are not nice. I'll stay he-ere tillthe next dance begins." Did you think that the creature had so much inher?'
'I never studied her as closely as you did. It sounds unnatural. Whathappened?'
'The Dancing Master attempted blandishment, reproof, jocularity, and thestyle of the Lord High Warden, and I had almost to pinch the Hawley Boyto make him keep quiet. She grunted at the end of each sentence and, inthe end, he went away swearing to himself, quite like a man in a novel.He looked more objectionable than ever. I laughed. I love that womanin spite of her clothes. And now I'm going to bed. What do you think ofit?'
'I shan't begin to think till the morning,' said Mrs. Mallowe,yawning. 'Perhaps she spoke the truth. They do fly into it by accidentsometimes.'
Mrs. Hauksbee's account of her eavesdropping was an ornate one, buttruthful in the main. For reasons best known to herself, Mrs. 'Shady'Delville had turned upon Mr. Bent and rent him limb from limb, castinghim away limp and disconcerted ere she withdrew the light of her eyesfrom him permanently. Being a man of resource, and anything but pleasedin that he had been called both old and fat, he gave Mrs. Bent tounderstand that he had, during her absence in the Doon, been the victimof unceasing persecution at the hands of Mrs. Delville, and he told thetale so often and with such eloquence that he ended in believing it,while his wife marvelled at the manners and customs of 'some women.'When the situation showed signs of languishing, Mrs. Waddy was always onhand to wake the smouldering fires of suspicion in Mrs. Bent's bosomand to contribute generally to the peace and comfort of the hotel. Mr.Bent's life was not a happy one, for if Mrs. Waddy's story were true,he was, argued his wife, untrustworthy to the last degree. If his ownstatement was true, his charms of manner and conversation were sogreat that he needed constant surveillance. And he received it, tillhe repented genuinely of his marriage and neglected his personalappear
ance. Mrs. Delville alone in the hotel was unchanged. She removedher chair some six paces towards the head of the table, and occasionallyin the twilight ventured on timid overtures of friendship to Mrs. Bent,which were repulsed.
'She does it for my sake,' hinted the virtuous Bent.
'A dangerous and designing woman,' purred Mrs. Waddy.
Worst of all, every other hotel in Simla was full!
'Polly, are you afraid of diphtheria?'
'Of nothing in the world except small-pox, Diphtheria kills, but itdoesn't disfigure. Why do you ask?'
'Because the Bent baby has got it, and the whole hotel is upside down inconsequence. The Waddy has "set her five young on the rail" and fled.The Dancing Master fears for his precious throat, and that miserablelittle woman, his wife, has no notion of what ought to be done. Shewanted to put it into a mustard bath for croup!'
'Where did you learn all this?'
'Just now, on the Mall. Dr. Howlen told me. The manager of the hotelis abusing the Bents, and the Bents are abusing the manager. They are afeckless couple.'
'Well. What's on your mind?'
'This; and I know it's a grave thing to ask.
Would you seriously object to my bringing the child over here, with itsmother?'
'On the most strict understanding that we see nothing of the DancingMaster.'
'He will be only too glad to stay away. Polly, you're an angel. Thewoman really is at her wits' end.'
'And you know nothing about her, careless, and would hold her up topublic scorn if it gave you a minute's amusement. Therefore you riskyour life for the sake of her brat. No, Loo, I'm not the angel. I shallkeep to my rooms and avoid her. But do as you please only tell me whyyou do it.'
Mrs. Hauksbee's eyes softened; she looked out of the window and backinto Mrs. Mallowe's face.
'I don't know,' said Mrs. Hauksbee simply.
'You dear!'
'Polly! and for aught you knew you might have taken my fringe off. Neverdo that again without warning. Now we'll get the rooms ready. I don'tsuppose I shall be allowed to circulate in society for a month.'
'And I also. Thank goodness I shall at last get all the sleep I want.'
Much to Mrs. Bent's surprise she and the baby were brought over tothe house almost before she knew where she was. Bent was devoutly andundisguisedly thankful, for he was afraid of the infection, and alsohoped that a few weeks in the hotel alone with Mrs. Delville might leadto explanations. Mrs. Bent had thrown her jealousy to the winds in herfear for her child's life.
'We can give you good milk,' said Mrs. Hauksbee to her, 'and our houseis much nearer to the Doctor's than the hotel, and you won't feel asthough you were living in a hostile camp. Where is the dear Mrs. Waddy?She seemed to be a particular friend of yours.'
'They've all left me,' said Mrs. Bent bitterly. 'Mrs. Waddy went first.She said I ought to be ashamed of myself for introducing diseases there,and I am sure it wasn't my fault that little Dora--'
'How nice!' cooed Mrs. Hauksbee. 'The Waddy is an infectious diseaseherself "more quickly caught than the plague and the taker runspresently mad." I lived next door to her at the Elysium, three yearsago. Now see, you won't give us the least trouble, and I've ornamentedall the house with sheets soaked in carbolic. It smells comforting,doesn't it? Remember I'm always in call, and my ayah's at your servicewhen yours goes to her meals, and and if you cry I'll never forgiveyou.'
Dora Bent occupied her mother's unprofitable attention through the dayand the night. The Doctor called thrice in the twenty-four hours, andthe house reeked with the smell of the Condy's Fluid, chlorine-water,and carbolic acid washes. Mrs. Mallowe kept to her own rooms sheconsidered that she had made sufficient concessions in the cause ofhumanity and Mrs. Hauksbee was more esteemed by the Doctor as a help inthe sick-room than the half-distraught mother.
'I know nothing of illness,' said Mrs. Hauksbee to the Doctor. 'Onlytell me what to do, and I'll do it.'
'Keep that crazy woman from kissing the child, and let her have aslittle to do with the nursing as you possibly can,' said the Doctor;'I'd turn her out of the sick-room, but that I honestly believe she'ddie of anxiety. She is less than no good, and I depend on you and theayahs, remember.'
Mrs. Hauksbee accepted the responsibility, though it painted olivehollows under her eyes and forced her to her oldest dresses. Mrs. Bentclung to her with more than childlike faith.
'I know you'll make Dora well, won't you?' she said at least twentytimes a day; and twenty times a day Mrs. Hauksbee answered valiantly,'Of course I will.'
But Dora did not improve, and the Doctor seemed to be always in thehouse.
'There's some danger of the thing taking a bad turn,' he said; 'I'llcome over between three and four in the morning to-morrow.'
'Good gracious!' said Mrs. Hauksbee. 'He never told me what the turnwould be! My education has been horribly neglected; and I have only thisfoolish mother-woman to fall back upon.'
The night wore through slowly, and Mrs. Hauksbee dozed in a chair by thefire. There was a dance at the Viceregal Lodge, and she dreamed of ittill she was aware of Mrs. Bent's anxious eyes staring into her own.
'Wake up! Wake up! Do something!' cried Mrs. Bent piteously. 'Dora'schoking to death! Do you mean to let her die?'
Mrs. Hauksbee jumped to her feet and bent over the bed. The child wasfighting for breath, while the mother wrung her hands despairingly.
'Oh, what can I do? What can you do? She won't stay still! I can't holdher. Why didn't the Doctor say this was coming?' screamed Mrs. Bent.'Won't you help me? She's dying!'
'I I've never seen a child die before!' stammered Mrs. Hauksbee feebly,and then let none blame her weakness after the strain of long watchingshe broke down, and covered her face with her hands. The ayahs on thethreshold snored peacefully.
There was a rattle of 'rickshaw wheels below, the clash of an openingdoor, a heavy step on the stairs, and Mrs. Delville entered to find Mrs.Bent screaming for the Doctor as she ran round the room. Mrs. Hauksbee,her hands to her ears, and her face buried in the chintz of a chair, wasquivering with pain at each cry from the bed, and murmuring, 'Thank God,I never bore a child! Oh! thank God, I never bore a child!'
Mrs. Delville looked at the bed for an instant, took Mrs. Bent by theshoulders, and said quietly, 'Get me some caustic. Be quick.'
The mother obeyed mechanically. Mrs. Delville had thrown herself down bythe side of the child and was opening its mouth.
'Oh, you're killing her!' cried Mrs. Bent. 'Where's the Doctor? Leaveher alone!'
Mrs. Delville made no reply for a minute, but busied herself with thechild.
'Now the caustic, and hold a lamp behind my shoulder. Will you do as youare told? The acid-bottle, if you don't know what I mean,' she said.
A second time Mrs. Delville bent over the child. Mrs. Hauksbee, her facestill hidden, sobbed and shivered. One of the ayahs staggered sleepilyinto the room, yawning: 'Doctor Sahib come.'
Mrs. Delville turned her head.
'You're only just in time,' she said. 'It was chokin' her when I came,an' I've burnt it.'
'There was no sign of the membrane getting to the air-passages after thelast steaming. It was the general weakness I feared,' said the Doctorhalf to himself, and he whispered as he looked, 'You've done what Ishould have been afraid to do without consultation.'
'She was dyin',' said Mrs. Delville, under her breath. 'Can you doanythin'? What a mercy it was I went to the dance!'
Mrs. Hauksbee raised her head.
'Is it all over?' she gasped. 'I'm useless I'm worse than useless! Whatare you doing here?'
She stared at Mrs. Delville, and Mrs. Bent, realising for the first timewho was the Goddess from the Machine, stared also.
Then Mrs. Delville made explanation, putting on a dirty long glove andsmoothing a crumpled and ill-fitting ball-dress.
'I was at the dance, an' the Doctor was tellin' me about your baby bein'so ill. So I came away early, an' your door was open, an' I I lost myboy this way si
x months ago, an' I've been tryin' to forget it eversince, an' I I I am very sorry for intrudin' an' anythin' that hashappened.'
Mrs. Bent was putting out the Doctor's eye with a lamp as he stoopedover Dora.
'Take it away,' said the Doctor. 'I think the child will do, thanks toyou, Mrs. Delville. I should have come too late, but, I assure you' hewas addressing himself to Mrs. Delville 'I had not the faintest reasonto expect this. The membrane must have grown like a mushroom. Will oneof you help me, please?'
He had reason for the last sentence. Mrs. Hauksbee had thrown herselfinto Mrs. Delville's arms, where she was weeping bitterly, and Mrs. Bentwas unpicturesquely mixed up with both, while from the tangle came thesound of many sobs and much promiscuous kissing.
'Good gracious! I've spoilt all your beautiful roses!' said Mrs.Hauksbee, lifting her head from the lump of crushed gum and calicoatrocities on Mrs. Delville's shoulder and hurrying to the Doctor.
Mrs. Delville picked up her shawl, and slouched out of the room, moppingher eyes with the glove that she had not put on.
'I always said she was more than a woman,' sobbed Mrs. Hauksbeehysterically, 'and that proves it!'
Six weeks later Mrs. Bent and Dora had returned to the hotel. Mrs.Hauksbee had come out of the Valley of Humiliation, had ceased toreproach herself for her collapse in an hour of need, and was evenbeginning to direct the affairs of the world as before.
'So nobody died, and everything went off as it should, and I kissed TheDowd, Polly. I feel so old. Does it show in my face?'
'Kisses don't as a rule, do they? Of course you know what the result ofThe Dowd's providential arrival has been.'
'They ought to build her a statue only no sculptor dare copy thoseskirts.'
'Ah!' said Mrs. Mallowe quietly. 'She has found another reward. TheDancing Master has been smirking through Simla, giving every one tounderstand that she came because of her undying love for him for him tosave his child, and all Simla naturally believes this.'
'But Mrs. Bent--'
'Mrs. Bent believes it more than any one else. She won't speak to TheDowd now. Isn't The Dancing Master an angel?'
Mrs. Hauksbee lifted up her voice and raged till bed-time. The doors ofthe two rooms stood open.
'Polly,' said a voice from the darkness, 'what did thatAmerican-heiress-globe-trotter girl say last season when she was tippedout of her 'rickshaw turning a corner? Some absurd adjective that madethe man who picked her up explode.'
"'Paltry,"' said Mrs. Mallowe. 'Through her nose like this "Ha-owpahltry!"'
'Exactly,' said the voice. 'Ha-ow pahltry it all is!'
'Which?'
'Everything. Babies, Diphtheria, Mrs. Bent and The Dancing Master, Iwhooping in a chair, and The Dowd dropping in from the clouds. I wonderwhat the motive was all the motives.'
'Um!'
'What do you think?'
'Don't ask me. Go to sleep.'