She could see everything within the room. The orderly piles of books ranged on the floor, and the array of provisional shelves which she and her mistress had[Pg 170] built upon odd volumes (still unsold) of The Illustrated10, London News. The top or covering plank11 had disappeared, having been secretly removed, during the master's absence, and sawn and chopped up for firewood in the cellar; for the master had decisively discountenanced the purchase of more firewood, holding that somehow or other the women could "manage"; they had managed. Elsie saw the door open and her mistress enter with a plant-pot in either hand. Violet, all aproned and wearing a renovated12 check frock, gave a start at the sight of Elsie's legs.
"So here you are!" Elsie heard her voice coming weakly through the glass into the uproar13 of the street. "And I've been looking for you everywhere!"
That Elsie had been engaged upon the windows for quite three-quarters of an hour was proof that a servant might go her own ways without attracting the attention even of an employer who flattered herself on missing nothing. Elsie wormed her body back within the room.
"Didn't you see me cleaning the outside of the shop windows, 'm?" she asked, sedately14 benevolent15. (She could clean the inside of the shop windows only by special arrangement with the proprietor16.)
"No, I did not. It's true I've had other matters to think about this morning. Yes, it is! And why must you choose this morning for your windows? You know it's your afternoon out, and there's a lot to do. But perhaps you aren't going out, Elsie?"
"Well, 'm, I was thinking of going out," Elsie answered, bringing in the tin can. "But I thought they looked so dirty."
Here Elsie was deceitful, or at best she was withholding17 part of the truth. Mrs. Earlforward would not have guessed in a million guesses Elsie's real reason for cleaning the windows on just that morning. The real reason was that the vanished Joe had been famous for the super-excellence of his window-cleaning. This day was the anniversary of his disappearance18. Elsie had no genuine expectation that he would reappear. The notion[Pg 171] of his return after precisely19 a year was merely silly. She admitted it. And yet he might come back! If he did he would find her in half an hour by inquiry20, and if he did find her she could not tolerate that he should find "her" windows dirty. He had an eye for windows, and windows must shine for him. Thus mysteriously, mystically, poetically21, passionately22 did Elsie's devotion express itself.
"Now don't shut the window!" Violet admonished23 her sharply. "You know I want to put these plants out."
Elsie's eyes grew moist.
And perhaps Violet was to be excused. How could she, with all her commonsense25 and experience of mankind, divine that stodgy26 Elsie's equanimity27 was at the mercy of any gust28 that windy morning? She could not.
She established the plant-pots on the window-sill. She had bought bulbs with the ten shillings so startlingly given to her by her husband, and with his reluctant approval. She had scrubbed the old plant-pots, stirred the soil in them, and embedded29 the bulbs. She put the pots out in the day-time and brought them in at night; she watered them when necessary in the bathroom. She tended them like a family of children. All unseen, they were the romance of her daily existence, her refuge from trouble, the balm of her anxieties. The sight of the clean, symmetrically arranged pots on the sills might have given the idea that a new era had set in for T. T. Riceyman's, that the terror of the curse of its vice30 had been exorcized by the secret workings within those ruddy pots. Violet hoped that it was so. But it was not so, and Elsie, in the primeval quality of her instincts, knew that it was not so. The bulbs were not pushing upwards31 to happiness; they were pushing upwards to sinister32 consummations, the approach of which rendered them absurd. And Elsie felt this too.
"Were you wanting me for anything particular, 'm?"[Pg 172] Elsie asked, rather contrite33 about her windows and eager to appease34.
"Yes, I should think I was wanting you for something! How dare you give me this money you put on my dressing-table?" She spoke35 with nervous exasperation36, and produced from her pocket some coins wrapped in the bit of paper in which Elsie had wrapped them an hour or two earlier—the price of the ruined double saucepan, now replaced by Violet. "Take it back. You ought to have known I should never let you pay for it."
This after she had most positively37 insisted that Elsie should repair out of her resources the consequence of her unparalleled stupidity! The fact was that Violet, unsentimental and hard as she could be, and generally was, in "practical" matters, had been somewhat moved at the sight of the poor little coins in the dirty paper, deposited in the bedroom dumbly, without a word written or spoken. Also she happened that morning to be in a frame of mind favourable38 to emotion of certain sorts. She sniffed39 ominously40, glancing at Elsie's face and glancing away. She could not bear to think that the lovable, loyal, silly creature had seriously intended to settle for the saucepan out of her wages.
Elsie, astonished and intimidated41, took the money back as dumbly as she had paid it out.
"I'm that sorry, 'm," she murmured simply.
The little episode was closed. And yet Violet sniffed again, and her features slowly suffered distortion, and she began to cry. She was one who "never cried," and this was her third crying within a week! In truth it was not about the money at all that she had wanted to speak to Elsie. She said indistinctly through her tears:
"He's not gone out this morning, Elsie; and he's not going out. He's missing the sale. He says himself he's not well enough; that just means not strong enough. And now he's sitting in the office trying to type, and customers just have to come to him."
The secret that was no secret was suddenly out. There was in Elsie's ingenuous42 dark-blue eyes such devotion,[Pg 173] such reliability43, such an offering of soft comfort as Violet could not resist. The deep-rooted suspiciousness which separates in some degree every woman from every other woman dissolved away, and with it Violet's pride in her superior station and Violet's self-sufficiency. The concealed44 yet notorious fact that Violet lived in torment45 about her husband, that all was not well in the placid46 household, was now openly admitted. In an instant Elsie, ardently47 yielding herself to another's woe48, quite forgot the rasping harshness of Violet's recent onslaught. She was profoundly flattered. And she was filled with an irrational49 gratitude50 because Violet had given her the shelter of a sure, respectable home which knew not revolutions, altercations51, penury52, debauchery, nor the heart-rending stridency of enervated53 mothers and children.
"He's not himself, master isn't," she said gently.
"What do you mean—he's not himself?"
"I mean, he's not well, 'm."
"He'd be all right if he'd eat more—you know that as well as I do."
"Perhaps he hasn't got no appetite, 'm."
"Why shouldn't he have an appetite? He's never suffered from indigestion in all his life; he says so himself."
"Yes, 'm. Not till lately."
"All this talk about saving ...!" said Violet, shrugging her shoulders and wiping her eyes.
It was a curious thing to say, because there had never been any talk about saving, and, even if there had been, clearly Elsie ought not to have heard it. Nevertheless, she received the remark as of course, nodding her head.
Violet was referring, and Elsie knew that she was referring, to the master's outburst on communism, with all its unspoken implications. They had both been impressed at the time; Mr. Earlforward had convicted them of sin. But now they were both femininely scornful of the silent argument of the illogical male. What,[Pg 174] indeed, was the use of fatally depriving yourself now in order not to have to deprive yourself later on? There was something wrong in the master's mysterious head.
"If you could get somebody to talk to him, 'm, somebody from outside."
Elsie stressed these last three words, thereby55 proving that her simplicity56 had led her straight to the heart of the matter. The atmosphere of the sealed house was infected by the strangeness of the master, who himself, in turn, was influenced by it. Fresh air, new breath, a great wind, was needed to dispel57 the corruption58. The house was suffocating59 its owners. An immense deterioration60 had occurred, unperceived till now. Violet was afraid; she was aghast; she realized the change, not fully61, but sufficiently62 to frighten her. The gravity of the danger dried up her tears.
"The doctor—Dr. Raste."
"But do you think he'd let me send for the doctor—for one moment! And if I did send, do you think he'd see him! It's out of the question!"
"You might have the doctor for yourself, 'm. You might send me for him, and then he could see master by accident like."
"But I'm not ill, my girl," Violet protested, though she was impressed by the kind creature's resourcefulness.
"Oh, mum! Why, you've been ill for weeks!"
Violet blushed like a culprit.
"What in the name of goodness are you talking about?" she demanded. "Of course, I'm not ill!" They were all the same, servants. They never understood that familiarity from an employer should not be answered by familiarity.
"Sorry, 'm," said Elsie meekly64, but still with a very slight benevolent obstinacy65, as one who would withdraw and wouldn't withdraw.
Violet stared half a moment at her, and then abruptly66 walked out of the room. The interview was getting to be too much for her. She could not stand any more of[Pg 175] it—not one more word of it. She foresaw the probability of a complete humiliating breakdown67 if she tried herself too far. A few seconds later she popped her head in at the door again and said firmly but quite pleasantly:
"Now, Elsie, you'd better be coming downstairs. There's nothing else up here to keep you."
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1
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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conscientiousness
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| 责任心 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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renovated
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| 翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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sedately
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| adv.镇静地，安详地 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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17
withholding
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| 扣缴税款 | |
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18
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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19
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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20
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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poetically
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| adv.有诗意地，用韵文 | |
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22
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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23
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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24
touchy
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| adj.易怒的；棘手的 | |
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commonsense
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| adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的 | |
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stodgy
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| adj.易饱的；笨重的；滞涩的；古板的 | |
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equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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embedded
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| a.扎牢的 | |
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30
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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31
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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32
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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33
contrite
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| adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的 | |
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34
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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35
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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37
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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38
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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39
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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40
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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41
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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42
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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43
reliability
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| n.可靠性，确实性 | |
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44
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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45
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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46
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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47
ardently
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| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
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48
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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49
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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50
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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51
altercations
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| n.争辩，争吵( altercation的名词复数 ) | |
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52
penury
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| n.贫穷，拮据 | |
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53
enervated
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| adj.衰弱的，无力的v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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55
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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56
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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57
dispel
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| vt.驱走，驱散，消除 | |
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58
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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59
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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60
deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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61
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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62
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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63
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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65
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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66
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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67
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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68
dawdling
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| adj.闲逛的，懒散的v.混（时间）( dawdle的现在分词 ) | |
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