JANE-ELLEN was standing1 in the office, with her hands folded, and an expression of the utmost calm upon her face. Crane came in quickly and would have shut the door, but for the fact that Smithfield was immediately behind him.
"Beg pardon, sir," he said firmly, sliding into the room, "but I must look to the fire."
Crane frowned.
"The fire's all right," he said shortly.
But Smithfield was not to be put off his duties, and began to poke2 the logs and sweep the hearth3 until peremptorily4 ordered to go.
When the door finally closed behind him, Crane stood silent a moment with his hand on the mantelpiece. The whole tone of the interview, upon which it now occurred to him he had rushed somewhat too hastily, would be decided5 by whether he spoke6 standing up or sitting down. His feelings were for the first, his intellect for the latter position.
His intellect won. He sat down in a deep chair and crossed his legs. As he did so, the cook's eyes, which had hitherto been fixed7 on the carpet, now raised themselves to the level of his neat pumps and black silk socks. He was aware of this, but did not allow himself to be disconcerted.
"I suppose you can guess why I sent for you, Jane-Ellen," he said.
"The dinner was not satisfactory, sir?"
"I doubt if you could cook an unsatisfactory dinner if you tried," he returned. "No, the trouble is over something that happened an hour or so before dinner."
"You did not approve, perhaps, of that gentleman, Mr. Tucker, coming into the kitchen? But, indeed, I could not help that."
"Oh," said Crane, "so Tucker was in the kitchen, was he?"
"Yes, sir, until Brindlebury told him the motor was coming with the ladies."
"No," said Crane, "the difficulty is over a former visitor of yours. I think it my right, even my duty to prevent anything happening in this house of which I disapprove8, and I do not approve, Jane-Ellen, of strangers coming into my house and kissing the cook."
He looked at her squarely as he said this, but her eyes remained fixed on his feet as she replied docilely9:
"Yes, sir. Perhaps it would be better for you to speak to the young man about it."
"Ah," returned her employer, as one now going over familiar ground, "you mean to imply that it was not your fault?"
She did not directly answer this question. She said:
"I suppose in your class of life a gentleman would not under any circumstances kiss a young lady against her will?"
"Well," answered Crane, with some amusement, "he certainly never ought to do so. And by the way, one of the points about this incident seems to be that the young man in question had the appearance of being a gentleman."
"He certainly considers himself so."
There was a pause, then Crane said, seriously:
"But I should be so glad to have you offer me advice, sir. It is one of the few things a gentleman may offer a girl in my position and she accept with a clear conscience."
For the first time Crane looked at her with suspicion. Her tone and look were demure11 in the extreme. He decided to go on.
"Well, then," he said, "if I were you I would not have a gentleman, especially such an impulsive12 one, hanging about, unless you are engaged to him with the consent of your family."
She raised her chin, without lifting her eyes.
"It's not the consent of our families that's lacking," she remarked.
"Oh, he's asked you to marry him?"
"Almost every day, sir, until to-day."
"And to-day he didn't?"
"To-day he said he wouldn't marry me, if I were the last woman in the world."
"And what did you think about that?"
"I thought it wasn't true, sir."
Crane laughed aloud at this direct answer.
"And it sounds to me as if you were right, Jane-Ellen," he said. "But, at the same time, I can't see for the life of me why, if you don't mean to marry him, you let him kiss you."
"If you please, sir, it's not always possible to prevent. You see I'm not very large."
Crane looked at her, and had to admit that the feat13 would be extremely easy. She hardly came to one's shoulder; almost any man—Hastily putting aside this train of thought, he said in a more judicial14 tone:
"You know your own affairs best. Is the young man able to support you?"
"Yes, sir, very comfortably."
"And yet you don't consider marrying him?"
"No, sir. I don't love him."
Matters had suddenly become rather serious.
"You would rather work for your living than marry a man you don't love?" Crane asked, almost in spite of himself.
For the first time the cook looked up, straight at him, as she answered:
"I think I would rather die, sir."
This time it was Crane's eyes that dropped. Fortunately, he reflected, she could not have any idea how sharply her remark had touched his own inner state. How clearly she saw that it was wrong to do just what he was contemplating15 doing—to marry for prudence16, rather than for love. He found himself speculating on the genesis of the moral sense, how it developed in difficulties rather than in ease. That was why he could learn something on the subject from his cook. Here was a girl working for her living, working hard and long, for wages which though he had once, he remembered, told Reed they seemed excessive, now appeared to him the merest pittance17; certainly it seemed as if all the hardships of such a life would be smoothed away by this suggested marriage, and yet she could assert clearly that she would rather die than make it; whereas he, with nothing very much at stake, had actually been contemplating for several months the making of just such a marriage—He was interrupted by her respectful tones:
"Will that be all, sir?"
"Yes," he answered in a voice that lacked finality. "I suppose that's all, except if that fellow comes bothering you any more, let me know, and I'll tell him what I think of him."
Jane-Ellen lifted the corner of her mouth in a terrible smile.
"Oh," she said, "I don't think he'll come bothering any more."
"You're very optimistic, Jane-Ellen."
"I beg your pardon, sir, those long words—"
"Very hopeful, I meant. He'll be back to-morrow."
"Not after what I said to him."
"Well, Jane-Ellen, if you have really found the potent18 thing to say under such circumstances, you're a true benefactor19 to your sex."
She looked at him with mild confusion.
"I'm afraid I don't rightly understand, sir."
He smiled.
"It was my way of asking you what you had said to him that you imagined would keep him from coming back."
"I told him I had only pretended to like him, all these years. People, particularly gentlemen, don't like to think you have to pretend to like them."
Crane laughed aloud, wondering if the girl had any idea how amusing she was. In the pause that followed, the sound of a deep masculine voice could be heard suddenly under their feet. The office was immediately above the servants' sitting-room20, and it was but too evident that a visitor had just entered.
Crane looked at the cook questioningly, and she had the grace to color.
"Why, did you ever, sir," she said. "There he is, this very moment!"
"Shall I go down and forbid him the house?" asked Burton, and though he spoke in fun, he would have been delighted to act in earnest.
"Oh, no, sir, thank you," she answered. "I am not going back to the kitchen."
This reminded her employer of the extreme difficulty he had experienced in seeing his cook at all.
"Why did you try and get out of seeing me, Jane-Ellen?" he said. "You knew about what I had to say, I suppose?"
"I had a notion, sir."
"And were you afraid?"
At this question, the cook bent21 her head until a shadow fell upon it, but Crane had a clear impression that she was laughing, so clear that he said:
"And may I ask why it is a comic idea that a servant should be afraid of her employer?"
The cook now raised a mask-like face and said most respectfully:
"No, sir, I was not exactly afraid," and, having said this, without the slightest warning she burst into an unmistakable giggle22.
Nobody probably enjoys finding that the idea of his inspiring terror is merely ludicrous. Crane regarded his cook with a sternness that was not entirely23 false. She, still struggling to regain24 complete gravity at the corners of her mouth, said civilly:
"Oh, I do hope you'll excuse my laughing, sir. The fact is that it was not I who tried to avoid seeing you. It was Smithfield's idea."
"Smithfield!" cried Crane.
"Yes, sir. He had the notion, I think, that you might be very severe with me, sir, and Smithfield is peculiar25, he has a very sensitive nature—"
"Well, upon my word," cried Crane, springing to his feet, "that is exactly what Smithfield says about you. It seems to me I have a damned queer houseful of servants."
The cook edged to the door.
"Perhaps it seems so, sir," she said. "Will that be all for to-night?"
"Yes. No," he added hastily, "I have one more thing to say to you, Jane-Ellen, and it's this. Don't make the mistake of fancying that I have taken this whole incident lightly. I don't. It really must not happen again. Understand that clearly."
"You mean if that gentleman came back, you would dismiss me, sir?"
"I think I would," he answered.
"Even if it weren't my fault?"
"Was the fault entirely his, Jane-Ellen?"
"Ask him, sir."
"You know much more about it than he does. Was the fault entirely his?"
The cook wriggled26 her shoulders, crumpled27 her apron29 and seemed unwilling30 to answer a direct question directly. At last an idea occurred to her. She looked up brightly.
"It was the ice-cream, sir," she said. "I was trying to teach him how to freeze ice-cream slowly. It ought to be done like this." And bending over an imaginary freezer, she imitated with her absurdly small hand the suave31, gentle, rotary32 motion essential to the great American luxury.
As he stood looking down on her, it seemed to Crane extraordinarily33 clear how it had all happened, so clear indeed that for a second it almost seemed as if he himself were in the place of the culprit whose conduct he had just been condemning34.
He stepped back hastily.
"No, Jane-Ellen," he said, "it was not all his fault. Of that you have convinced me."
She stretched out her hand to the door.
"Will that be all, sir? The cook, you know, has to get up so very early in the morning."
He tried to counteract35 the feeling of pity and shame that swept over him at the realization36 that this young and delicate creature had to get up at dawn to work for him and his guests. The effort made his tone rather severe as he said:
"Yes, that's all. Goodnight."
"Good night, sir," she answered, with her unruffled sweetness, and was gone.
He stood still a moment, conscious of an unusual alertness both of mind and emotion. And that very alertness made him aware that at that moment there was a man in his kitchen against whom he felt the keenest personal animosity. Crane would have dearly liked to go down and turn him out, but he resisted the impulse, which somehow savored37 of Tucker in his mind. And what, by the way, had Tucker been doing in the kitchen? And Smithfield, why had Smithfield tried to interfere with his seeing the cook? He found plenty of food for reflection.
Among other things he had to consider his return to the drawing-room. Looking at his watch he observed that a longer time had elapsed since he left it than he had supposed. There would be comments, there would be attempted jokes from Tucker. Well, that would be easily met by a question as to Tucker's own interest in the culinary art. Mrs. Falkener's methods of attack were not subtle, either. But Cora—he wished Cora would not just look at him as if he had done something cruel.
But, as is so often the way when we prepare ourselves for one situation, quite another one turns up. The three were not sitting, awaiting his return. The drawing-room was empty except for Mrs. Falkener, who was reading when he entered, and instead of betraying a conviction that he had been too long away, she looked up and said chattily:
"Well, did you reduce the young woman to order?"
"That is a good deal to expect from an unaided male, isn't it?" said Burton, very much relieved.
"Ah, it depends on the male, my dear Burton. You, I imagine, could be very terrifying if you wished to be. What did the young woman do? Weep, protest, declare that it had all taken place quite without her consent?"
Burton smiled. He had no intention whatsoever38 of sharing his recent experiences with Mrs. Falkener.
"Ah," he said, "I see you know your own sex thoroughly39. Where are Tuck and your daughter?"
"Solon is taking a turn on the piazza40; he hopes it will make him sleep better; and Cora was tired and has gone to bed." Mrs. Falkener sighed. "Cora doesn't seem very well to me."
"I'm sorry to hear that," returned Crane. "I thought she was looking very fit this evening." He spoke more lightly than he felt, however, for something portentous41 in Mrs. Falkener's tone struck him with alarm.
"Sit down, Burton," said she, sweeping42 her hand toward a cushioned stool at her side. "I want to say something to you."
Crane found himself obeying, with his hands between his knees, and his toes turned in, like a school boy who has forgotten his lesson; then, becoming aware of this pose, he suddenly changed it—crossed one leg over the other, as he had done in the office a few minutes before.
In the meantime, Mrs. Falkener was saying:
"The truth is, I'm afraid that we must cut our visit short, delightful43 as it promises to be."
"Oh, Mrs. Falkener, we're not making you comfortable. What is it?"
"No, Burton, no." Mrs. Falkener held up her hand. "You are making us perfectly44 comfortable—at least, in all essentials. And who minds roughing it now and then for a week or so? It's good for us," she added playfully. "The housemaid is not—but no matter."
"What has the housemaid done?" asked Crane with what semblance45 of interest he could summon, but as he spoke his heart went out in sympathy to every hotel and boarding-house keeper in the world. "Good heavens," he thought, "suppose my living depended on my pleasing them, what a state I should be in!" Aloud he said: "What has Lily been doing?"
"Nothing, nothing. Lily means well, I'm sure, in spite of her lackadaisical46 ways. It is quite a privilege, I assure you, to be waited on by such an elegant young lady. She hooked me up wrong twice this evening, and when I not unnaturally47 objected, she stuck a pin in me. Oh, by accident, I'm sure. No, I have no fault to find with Lily, whatsoever."
"I'm glad to hear that," said Crane, punctuating48 his sentence to allow himself to indulge in a half-suppressed yawn. "Who is it, then? Not Smithfield? Or the boy?"
"Oh, I should never have anything to do with that boy," said Mrs. Falkener, bridling49. "Oh, never in the world. I think he's half-witted. I saw him stick out his tongue at Solon this evening."
Crane laughed, though he knew he ought not to.
"Did Solon see?"
"Well, then, perhaps he's not half-witted, after all," said Burton. "It occurs to me that perhaps that is the only reply to a good deal that Solon says."
"I am, I am," said Crane, hastily, "but I am at the same time able to understand why Brindlebury possibly isn't. But come, Mrs. Falkener, if it isn't these servants that are driving you away, what is it?"
"I don't know how to explain it," said Mrs. Falkener. "It's not really clear to me, myself. I'm sure I don't want to be unkind, or to hurt any one's feelings, least of all yours, my dear Burt." And she leaned over and laid her hand on his. Crane gave it a good brisk squeeze and returned it to her lap as if it were too dear for his possessing; and she went on: "I own I am anxious about Cora. She is very deep, very reserved; she tells me nothing, but she is not happy, Burton."
"I'm sorry for that," said Crane, in a very matter-of-fact tone. He got up and went to a table where the cigarettes were. The profound male instinct of self-preservation was now thoroughly awake, and he knew exactly what he was in for. Only, he noted52, that if he had had this interview with Mrs. Falkener before he had seen the cook, he might quite easily have been persuaded that, in the absence of any more definite vocation53, he had been created to make Cora Falkener's life tolerable to her. As it was, he saw perfectly that altruism54 was no sound basis for matrimony.
"You don't understand what it is to be a mother, Burt."
Crane admitted with a shake of his head that he didn't.
"But I have an instinct that this is not the best place for Cora."
"Well, if you were a man, Mrs. Falkener," said Crane, "I should say that that instinct was the result of being poorly valeted. It must be a bore for women to have a wretched maid like Lily. Don't you think that if I found some one a little more competent that you and Cora would feel you could put in at least a week or so with us? The hunting is really going to be good, and Cora does enjoy hunting."
Mrs. Falkener refused to lighten the tone of the conversation. She shook her head.
"No," she said, "no. I'm afraid even a good maid would not help. In fact, to speak plainly, my dear Burton—"
But at this moment the door opened and Tucker came in. His hair was somewhat rumpled28 by the wind, his hands were still in his pockets as he had had them during his constitutional on the front porch, and his eyes, contracted by the sudden light, looked almost white.
"Well," he said, "are you enjoying this musical party downstairs?"
All three listened in silence, and could hear the strains of "Home, Sweet Home" coming from below.
"They have a phonograph and they are singing in parts," said Tucker, as if this somehow made it worse.
"If we got Miss Falkener down, we might do something ourselves," said Crane, but there was nothing frivolous55 in his manner when he rang and told Smithfield there was too much noise downstairs.
Smithfield begged pardon and had not a notion it could be heard upstairs. Crane said the boy's, Brindlebury's, tenor56 carried some distance, and, Mrs. Falkener and Tucker having gone, he added that the house could be shut for the night.
Then he went to the table, and his eye fell again upon the miniature in the pearl frame. He took it up. There was no doubt about it, there was an extraordinary likeness57 to Jane-Ellen. He smiled to himself. How very charming she would look, he thought, in a mauve ball dress.
Raising his eyes, he found Smithfield looking at him with an expression he did not thoroughly like.
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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3
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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5
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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6
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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7
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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8
disapprove
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| v.不赞成，不同意，不批准 | |
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9
docilely
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| adv.容易教地，易驾驶地，驯服地 | |
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10
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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11
demure
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| adj.严肃的；端庄的 | |
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12
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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13
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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14
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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15
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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16
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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pittance
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| n.微薄的薪水，少量 | |
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18
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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21
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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giggle
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| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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26
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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27
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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28
rumpled
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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30
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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32
rotary
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| adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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34
condemning
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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35
counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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37
savored
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| v.意味，带有…的性质( savor的过去式和过去分词 )；给…加调味品；使有风味；品尝 | |
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38
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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39
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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40
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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41
portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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42
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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43
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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44
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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45
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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46
lackadaisical
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| adj.无精打采的，无兴趣的；adv.无精打采地，不决断地 | |
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47
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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48
punctuating
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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49
bridling
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的现在分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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50
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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51
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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52
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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53
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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54
altruism
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| n.利他主义，不自私 | |
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55
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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56
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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