Upsidonia Part 7

"Oh, yes," he said. "No good servants would engage us unless we undertook to give them plenty of work. It is one of the many penalties of wealth."

At this point Mr. Perry came into the room, dressed as I had first seen him, and having shaved since we had parted. He renewed his welcome warmly, and introduced me to his wife, a comely grey-haired lady with agreeable manners, who said that she was delighted to see me, and to hear that I was ready to take them as I found them. I was also introduced to Miss Miriam Perry, whom I took to at once, as she was exceptionally pretty, and had a very frank and pleasing way with her.

There was also a younger sister, Mollie, a pretty child of thirteen or so, and Tom, a boy of about a year older, who alone of the family was dressed in old and shabby clothes. But he had a merry freckled face and excellent manners.

"Here," said Mr. Perry, "you see us all, except my married daughter; and I hope you will like us."

I liked them already, with one exception, and I thought it possible that I might even come to like Mr. Perry himself in time, for he showed to better advantage surrounded by his family and in his own beautiful home than he had done outside.

"Mr. Howard," said Edward, "wants to live as we do while he is with us, and to study the conditions of wealth from the inside. He has even bought a great many clothes, and perhaps he would like to put some of them on before luncheon."

This announcement, I could see, brought gratification to my hosts, but Tom looked rather disgusted. He was being educated at a day school, I learnt afterwards, where many of his companions were the sons of very poor men, and he was not yet of an age to sympathise deeply with the family taste for philanthropy.

Edward took me up to my room, and apologised for its air of comfort. The footman was unpacking the parcels we had brought, and it was possibly for his benefit that Edward said: "We keep one or two barely furnished attics for people like yourself who come to see us; but I thought that as you wanted to live for a time as the rich do, you would put up with this. We can always move you."

I said that certainly under the circ.u.mstances I preferred this room to an attic. It had a wide view of the largest slope of lawn and a well-wooded landscape beyond. There was a big bed in it, a well-furnished writing-table, and an easy chair by the window, through which the open flowers of the magnolia outside wafted a sweet perfume.

"Well then, I will go and change my clothes," said Edward. "Lord Arthur will show you the bathroom, and where my room is, if you want to come in to me at any time."

He went out, and I took a closer look at the footman, who seemed to have been indicated as Lord Arthur.

He was a handsome, rather disdainful-looking young man, and when Edward had left the room he said familiarly: "Then you're one of us, eh? Why do you want to rig yourself out in this sort of kit! Which will you wear? I should recommend the white flannel, if you want to do the thing thoroughly."

"The white flannel will do very well," I said. "I am studying social conditions, and, as you say, want to do it thoroughly."

"Well, I think you're rather a fool," he said. "You can see all you want of the rich by taking service with them as I have done. You needn't live like them."

"I rather like making myself comfortable," I said tentatively.

His lip curled. "Is your mind comfortable when your body is comfortable?" he asked.

"It is more likely to be so," I replied.

"There are a good many people with low tastes in the world," he said, "but they don't generally acknowledge them in that unblushing way. If you want a life of comfort because you like it, why don't you say so?

You'll find plenty of swabs[10] in your own cla.s.s to join in with, who don't pretend to be social students."

"I was only chaffing," I said. "Have you got a good place here?"

"Well, it's rather a bore to have to mix socially with your employers, although the Perrys are very nice people really, and if it weren't for all this philanthropic nonsense as good as anybody. Still, you can't treat them exactly as you would other rich people, and we often have to do ourselves a good deal better than we want to in the servants' hall, simply because we can't foist all the best food on to them and see that they get through it themselves. We're really helping them all the time in their silly experiment, and although the between maid and the head coachman and one or two more are reformers, most of us aren't, and simply want to be let alone to live a hard life, as we should anywhere else."

"Yes, I see. I suppose most of you are of good family and that sort of thing?"

"One of the undergardeners is a baronet, but he's got more hard work to do than you can get indoors. I'm the only other fellow with a t.i.tle, but I was never very strong. All my brothers are navvies, and it's hard luck that I was pilled in my medical examination. Oh, yes, we're a pretty good lot on the whole. Still, domestic service isn't what it used to be.

It is so crowded as a profession that it's difficult to get a place where there's enough work to do. The women are better off, because they can go out as generals. But for men it is getting more and more difficult, owing to the spread of education amongst the lower cla.s.ses.

The masters and mistresses are often so independent that if you don't let them live as poorly as you do yourselves they'll just give you notice. Well, I think that's all. The bathroom is just opposite. I'll go and turn on the water."

"Thanks," I said. "Quite cold, please."

An indulgent smile illumined Lord Arthur's aristocratic features. "It's plain that you've never learnt how to treat servants," he said. "If you weren't a gentleman, I should turn you on a stewing hot one for that, and see that you got into it."

CHAPTER VIII

The luncheon to which we presently sat down was everything that it should have been from my point of view. It is true that Mrs. Perry had thoughtfully provided some large hunks of bread and cold bacon, with some beer in a tin can, for my especial benefit; but I made it quite clear that I wanted no difference made on my account. My request to be treated as one of themselves made an excellent impression on all of them except Tom, who made a frugal meal of bread and cheese, and went off to school before we were halfway through. I thought it rather remarkable that a boy of his age should be able to refuse all the delicacies provided, apparently without flinching, but there was no mistaking his look of pained disgust when I refused the cold bacon.[11]

I noticed that all the rest of the family ate sparingly, except Mr.

Perry, who asked for second supplies of omelette, asparagus, and strawberries, on the ground that he must do his duty. They left a good deal on their plates, while making it look as little as possible, and for every fruit that was not quite perfect they rejected at least three, saying that they were bad. This was done with an eye on the servants, who took their share in the conversation, and whose business it appeared to be to see that everyone ate and drank as much as possible. I was hungry, and did what I could to oblige them. But I could see that I was not really pleasing them, for both butler and footman treated my handsome appet.i.te as an indelicate thing, while doing all they could to satisfy it.

Towards the end of luncheon, the butler, whose name was Blother, said to Mrs. Perry: "Duff has sent in to say that the carriage horses want exercise, and you had better pay a good long round of calls this afternoon."

Mrs. Perry's face fell. "I rather wanted to stay at home this afternoon," she said. "It is very hot, and I thought I would read a book in the garden. Can't Mr. Duff have the horses exercised by one of the grooms this afternoon?"

"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Perry," said Blother. "He says he gave you an afternoon off yesterday, and two last week. It is not fair to refuse him employment. He is in rather an excited state about it. I should go if I were you."

"I suppose I must," she said with a sigh. "What are you going to do, Samuel?"

"I thought of having a little nap," said Mr. Perry piously. "One must not let one's little luxuries drop, or one loses sympathy with the rich.

At half-past three I have a committee meeting of the Society for the Belief of Company Promoters, and at five o'clock I am to introduce a deputation of brewers[12] to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I shall go to the club after that for an hour, and I thought, perhaps, Mr.

Howard would like to join me there."

I said I should like to do so, and it was settled that I should be driven into Culbut to join Mr. Perry at half-past five.

"That will make three carriages then, Blother," said Mr. Perry. "There needn't be any grumbling in the stables this afternoon, at any rate."

Mrs. Perry retired to dress for her afternoon's occupation, Mr. Perry sought the seclusion of the library, and Mollie went off to her governess. This left Edward and Miss Miriam, and I rather hoped that Edward might have some work to do.

My hopes were realised. He had a strenuous programme marked out. He was to instruct a cla.s.s of millionaires' sons in the principles of breeding and running race-horses for loss, to audit the accounts of the Orchid-Growers' Defence a.s.sociation, and to prepare a lecture he had undertaken to deliver at a meeting of the Young Poker-Players' Mutual Improvement Society on "A Good Prose Style." This would take him all the afternoon, and I begged him earnestly not to vary his plans on my account.

He seemed obviously relieved. "If I had known you would be here," he said, "I should not have set myself so much to do; but you will find plenty of improving books in the library, and some uncomfortable chairs, and I am sure that Miriam will talk to you if you wish to converse, or play lawn-tennis with you if you would like to do that."

Miriam then offered, with a charming frankness, to make herself responsible for my entertainment for the afternoon, and I was quite pleased to have it so.[13]

"Would you like to play tennis?" she asked me, "or shall we talk on the verandah? If you really want to suit yourself to your surroundings you can smoke."

"We might sit on the verandah for a bit," I said, "and I will certainly smoke. After that I should like to see the garden, if you will show me round. And then I shall be quite ready for lawn-tennis."

For some reason, which I did not understand, she blushed when I asked her to show me the garden, and turned her head away; but she only said: "Come along, then," and led the way on to the shady verandah, from the roof of which hung long trusses of wistaria, and from which the beautiful garden could be seen spread in front of us with all its colour and cool verdure.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] Buff with canary facings.

[10] Upsidonian word of unknown derivation, signifying a degraded being; one who had lost caste.

[11] I learnt afterwards that it was a matter of "form" and that those amongst Tom's schoolfellows who betrayed a liking for good things were designated "Guts."