Spring Days Part 24

"They are too big for your bed."

Sally seized the sheet and strove to drag it from Maggie, who, although the weaker, held her own bravely for some time. Finding her strength failing her, she loosed her hold, letting her sister fall against the wall, and taking up the pillow she launched it with her full force. "If you want what he slept in, you can have it all."

"I'll give it to you, my lady," cried the bully, making a rush round the bed, but Maggie fled through the dressing-room, shutting the door behind her, and locked herself into her room.

IX

As w.i.l.l.y would not pay the extra fare, Frank had to travel second cla.s.s. He was telling his friend of the Stock Exchange, and his losses--nearly four thousand pounds. He had suspected that the firm of which he was junior partner had not played fair with him. Anyhow, he was going to get out of the business, having something better in view --a shop in Brighton. Yes, a shop in Brighton, a greengrocer's shop. No one had any idea, until they went into the calculation, of the amount of profit that was made on vegetables. Lord This and Lord That, every one who had a handsome place with large gardens, counted on being able to pay his gardener's wages by the sale of the surplus carrots, artichokes, potatoes, parsley, onions, tomatoes, especially tomatoes-- every one nowadays ate tomatoes. He had it all down in figures, and was perfectly astonished at the sums of money that could be made.

Grapes had been overdone, that was true; but a profit could be made out of everything else. Flowers, especially gardenias, were sold in the London market at two shillings apiece. Now, there was he within five miles of a large town like Brighton; the rent of a shop in the Western Road would not come to more than seventy or eighty pounds a year; the missus he would put in as shopwoman, and, there was no doubt of it, she would make as good a shopwoman as you could find, after a little practice; the child could run on errands, so it should be all profit. "I shall have none of the expenses that other people have to contend with. In the garden at the Manor House about three times as much stuff is grown as required. I shall buy all the fruit, vegetables, and flowers from my father at cost price, or a little over, and shall sell in my shop at retail price, that is, twenty or thirty per cent more. There is, therefore, no reason why the shop should not bring in from three to four hundred a year. And--would you believe it?--my father, who will be benefited by my scheme, if not more, quite as much as I shall be, is opposed to it; he will get a fair price for a lot of things for which he now gets nothing. But no.

He cannot, or will not, see it. I never saw any one like my father. He will not help himself and you can do nothing to help him. The distillery business is going very badly. He had a bad year last year.

I know for a fact that he did not make five per cent on his capital.

Putting these things together, I should have thought that he would have been glad to make a little money to retrench; but no! he prefers to go on in the old way. He made money in the old way, and he doesn't see why he shouldn't make money again in the old way. Odd man my father is, isn't he?"

It appeared to Frank that Mr. Brookes had managed to help himself very liberally indeed to all the good things in life; but with his false, facile, Celtic nature, he had no difficulty in re-adjusting his ideas and adopting a view of Mr. Brookes more in harmony with w.i.l.l.y's. He was, as usual, enthusiastic about his friends, and was effervescing with love and goodwill. He saw nothing of their faults--they were the best and truest people he had ever known, and he could not love them too much. Indeed he was angry, and regretted the limitations that nature has set on the human heart, and would if he could have lost himself in one immense and eternal love of the Brookeses.

When he bade w.i.l.l.y good-bye at London Bridge, and wished him well with his shop, these sentiments ceased to be active forces in him, and they lay latent in his life of restaurants and bar rooms until the summer returned, and he received an invitation from the Manor House to come down for a garden party at Mrs. Berkins's. When he opened the letter he basked in thoughts of them--of Maggie and her fascinating subtleties, of Sally's blunt speech and st.u.r.dy good looks, of w.i.l.l.y, and all the quiet talks they would have together. He counted the tunnels, and, striving to recall the landscape, guessed extravagantly the number of miles that separated him from them. He walked up the drive with a beating heart, looking for the girls between the laurel bushes. He found them, and their habits which endeared them to him, unchanged; and to slip back into the old ways without experiencing the slightest difficulty or jar was like waking from a dream and entering again on a pleasant reality. There was the excellent dinner and the usual complaints about the Southdown Road, the cigars in the billiard- room, conversation about pictures and investments, gin and water, and then a long yarn with w.i.l.l.y in his bedroom. Life moved at the Manor House without any spring creaking, without jolt or jar, and it was this beautiful regularity that made Frank feel so healthily and so unexpectedly happy. He loved the desolation of Ireland. This was the stronger sense, but there was another sense, a half stifled sense, that found an echo in these southern downs interwoven with suburban life--in other words, a faint resurrection of the original English mind in him. He enjoyed and he grew akin to this Saxon prosperity; he learned to recognise it as manifested in the various prospects of the weald and the wold, and he loved this medley of contradictory aspects --the spires of the village churches, the porches of the villas, the rich farmhouses and their elm trees, the orchards jammed between ma.s.ses of chalk, the shepherds seen against the sky of the Downs. It is true that he felt that this country was alien to him, but he was not individually conscious that his love of suburban Suss.e.x was a morbid affection, opposed to the normal and indissoluble bonds of inherited aspirations and prejudices, and the forms and colours that had filled his eyes in childhood. Consciousness in Frank Escott was always slow, and always so governed and coloured by the sentiment of the moment that his comprehension of things were always deformed or incomplete. In his mind the phenomenon of life was ever in nebulae, and though very often one thought would define itself, no group of thoughts, or part of a group, ever became clear, so there was no abiding principle, nothing that he might know and steer by. He was, of course, aware that the Brookes were not equal to him in rank, but he did not know, or, rather, he would not know, that they were vulgar; nor did he think that Mount Rorke might marry again, if he were to marry Maggie or Sally. All that was really alive and distinct in him was love of them; and this love thrived in a sensation of cla.s.s which he would not acknowledge, even to himself, had any existence. The gla.s.s-houses, and swards, and laurels had a meaning and fascination for him that he could not account for or describe, and he found these feelings, which were mainly cla.s.s feelings of an unusual kind, not only in the aspect of the country but in the accent and speech of his friends, in the expression of their eyes and very hands. The English servants pleased him, and he strove to detect qualities in the carriage and horses, and he compared them to their advantage with Mount Rorke's. He loved to wrap the rug about the young ladies' knees, and they seemed to him quite perfect and delightful as they lay back in their carriage, driving beneath a sky full of blue, and through the changing views of the Downs, all distinct with light and shade. Sally and Maggie made much of him, covered him up, and addressed to him pleasant speeches. His eyes and ears were open and eager for new impressions, and his heart panted with readiness to admire and praise all he saw. He was ready to think that he had never seen anything so lovely as the laurels and the numerous gla.s.s-houses; and he wondered why he had ever thought so little of Berkins, and he listened with interest to that gentleman's explanation of the superiority of his possessions over everybody else's possessions. He even allowed himself to be persuaded that there was no pheasant shooting in the kingdom-- for its size--equal to that in the little wood. Sally, who did not attempt to conceal her dislike of her brother-in-law, whispered: "That's the way to bring them down," and Frank was obliged to laugh.

Then she and Maggie disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them for several hours. The Grenadier Guards played on the lawn, and Frank was introduced to ladies of all ages and sizes; and as these bored him, he began to see that the place was vulgar and the people shoddy, and he wondered what Mount Rorke would say if he were to come suddenly across him. Grace was the subject of much concern, and obviously _enceinte,_ she pa.s.sed through the different groups. She had introduced Frank as Lord Mount Rorke's son, then as his nephew, then as his heir, and, fearing she might succ.u.mb to the temptation of introducing him as Mount Rorke himself, Frank escaped from her, and joined a party that Berkins was personally conducting through the grounds.

The stables had been built by So-and-so on the most approved principles. There were no stables like them in Suss.e.x--the fittings of the harness-room alone had cost him three hundred. The horses he had bought at the Duke's sale, the Duke would not have thought of parting with them had he known how they would turn out. He had driven them along the Brighton road at the rate of fifteen miles an hour; he would back them to do fifteen miles in the hour. There was not a pair of horses in England equal to them. That was Mrs. Berkins's riding horse --was it possible to imagine a more perfect cob? He could get a hundred for him any day, he did not know of anything like him. "Did any of you gentleman ever see anything like him?" They went to the kennels. A brace of Irish setters were declared to be the finest dogs that Ireland had ever produced, they had taken two prizes, one in Dublin and another in Brighton--and the little fox terrier was the gamest dog in Suss.e.x. She would go into any hole after a fox, and never leave him till she brought him out. You couldn't find her equal. Then the gla.s.s- houses were perfect. They contained all the latest improvements, and all these were fully explained. "Berkins is excelling himself to-day,"

thought Frank.

Presently they came upon a basket of peaches.

"These peaches were, of course, grown under gla.s.s, but I think I am right in saying, Jackson, that they were produced without artificial heat."

"Yes, sir, quite right, sir. It couldn't be done nowhere else, sir, but all the sun in Suss.e.x seems to come down here--a regular little sun trap, I think that's what you called it the other day, sir, when you were speaking to me about them there peaches."

"Yes, I did. If you move nearer the sea you get fogs and cold winds, further inland you lose the sun, but just here the climate is equal to the south of Europe! I ask you to look at these peaches, it seems impossible--does it not?--to have peaches like these at the end of May, and without any heat, merely gla.s.s."

"It seems to me quite impossible," declared a little fat man with flaxen hair. "I am devoted to peach-growing, and I confess I am quite at a loss. Gardener, did you say that those peaches were grown entirely without artificial heat?"

The gardener pretended not to hear, and tried to slip away, but the little man, who had been taken on his hobby, was not to be baulked, and he pursued the wretched horticulturist.

"You mean to say that these peaches ripened without any artificial heat, any?"

"You have no idea what a sun we get here, sir. I have never seen anything like it. In my last situation, when I was living with Lord ---, we couldn't get our fruit forward, use whatever heat he might, and Houghton is not more than fifty miles from here--the difference of climate is positively wonderful."

Jackson had reckoned that Mr. Berkins would move on, and that the inquisitive little man would find himself obliged to follow, but chance was against him, for Berkins, with his guests around him, stood listening to the discussion.

"You mean to say that these peaches were grown without heat. I wouldn't mind giving you five-and-twenty pounds for the recipe for doing it."

"You must take a small place down here, sir, and then you will be able to do it."

This raised a laugh, but the little man was not to be beaten, and he said: "I should like to see some of those peaches of yours on the trees. You haven't plucked them all; let me see them."

"Yes, Jackson, show us the trees. Some will not believe without seeing; let us see the peaches on the trees."

Jackson appeared to be a little disconcerted; he murmured excuses, and strove to escape. Driven to bay he brought them into a gla.s.s-house where there were hot water-pipes, and when his tormentor pointed triumphantly to the pipes he attempted a faint explanation--he had meant to say that heat had only been used within the last three weeks.

"So you see, Berkins," exclaimed little flaxen-haired fatty, "your south of Europe is no better than my south of Europe, or anybody else's south of Europe."

"Jackson, you have told me many deliberate falsehoods about these peaches. I keep no one in my employment whose word cannot be depended upon. You take your warning."

"Falsehoods! What do you want a man to do, if you will have everything better than anybody else's?"

Berkins turned suddenly on his heel, he drew himself up to his full height, and stood speechless with indignation. Never, not even on the most important Board meetings, did his friends wait to hear him speak with more anxiety; but at that moment a crash of flower pots was heard, and Sally and a young man were discovered hiding in the potting shed; and to make matters worse, in the very next house they visited, they suddenly came upon Maggie sitting with another young man in strangely compromising circ.u.mstances. Explanations were attempted, and some stupid remarks were made. Berkins was seriously annoyed, and he took the first opportunity of taking Mr. Brookes's arm and leading him away to a quiet path. Frank saw the men pa.s.s through the laurels, and ten minutes after he saw them return. Evidently Berkins had read Mr.

Brookes an exhaustive lecture on the conduct of his daughters.

"Now, Mr. Brookes, now Mr. Brookes, I must beg of you--calm yourself.

What would my guests think if they found you in tears? What would they think I had been saying to reduce you to such a condition? It is veryunfortunate that Sally and Maggie should act as they do, particularly at my place; but really you must not give way."

"Since the death of their poor mother I am all alone. My position is a very trying one." Then, with a sudden burst of laughter, "However, I suppose it will be all the same a hundred years hence!"

X

The girls walked to the station with Escott. A fleecy evening, with the clouds growing pale towards the sea, the sun like fire in the elms, and the woods showing upon a purple tinge.

"How delightful!" exclaimed Frank. "How charming this is--this old English green, the horse pond at one end, the various houses, the inn, the grocery business, the linen drying in that yard, the smith, and the wheelwright. I don't like that modern Queen Anne school-house, and I wish I could remove the dead level of the embankment and see the sea. The green is better from this side with the view of the Downs-- those lines waving against the sky, where the gorse grows and the sheep feed, and inclining to the road all the fields pale green and deep green. But what game are those men playing--what game do you call that?"

"Bat and trap."

"I have pa.s.sed the green twenty times before, and I never really saw it till now. It is charming--so thoroughly English. I should like to live here for a month--for two months. How nice it would be to breakfast in the morning looking out on the green, to see the c.o.c.ks and hens and all the children and all this English life! How different from Pump Court! I am sick of Pump Court--dirt and smoke, a horrid servant, stale eggs. I suppose you can always get fresh eggs and new bread here? I would give anything to spend a month on the green."

"Well, you can!" cried Sally. "I wish you would, and you could come and play tennis with us every afternoon. Mrs. Heald has some rooms to let; why it was only last week I heard that she hadn't let her rooms this season, and was most anxious to do so."

"There's no use my coming here until I begin to write my novel. I am painting now, and I must see if I can get my picture finished for one of the autumn exhibitions."

"I knew you would find some excuse."

"No, I a.s.sure you, but I can't do anything without a studio, and I'm not likely to find a studio on Southwick Green."

"I don't suppose Mrs. Heald has a room large enough for a studio,"

said Maggie; "but I don't see why you shouldn't find a place where you can paint."

"Where? Not in that eighteenth-century house where the two old ladies are standing! Supposing I were to go and ask them if they would let me have their drawing-room to paint in! That is the only house on the green, all the rest are cottages."

"I suppose you are not very particular where you paint," said Maggie reflectively. "You don't mind appearances, I suppose? I wonder if you could manage to fit up a farm building."