"Anne, you know she's always stuttered. You did just the same when you were her age, she's highly strung." The old woman took off her spectacles, breathed on them, and rubbed them with a corner of her sewing apron.
"Well, the last thing in the world to do her any good is to let her imagine that" answered Anne, shaking out one of the green frocks, and pricking at the pleats with her needle. "She is treated exactly like Rose, and the Boy hasn't a nerve. Did you see him when I put him on the rocking-horse to-day, for the first time? He simply gurgled with joy. He's more the image of his father every day."
"Yes, he certainly is a thorough Carsfield," assented the old woman, nodding her head.
"Now that's another thing about Helen," said Anne. "The peculiar way she treats Boy, staring at him and frightening him as she does. You remember when he was a baby how she used to take away his bottle to see what he would do? Rose is perfect with the child—but Helen..."
The old woman put down her work on the table. A little silence fell, and through the silence the loud ticking of the dining-room clock. She wanted to speak her mind to Anne once and for all about the way she and Henry were treating Helen, ruining the child, but the ticking noise distracted her. She could not think of the words and sat there stupidly, her brain going tick, tick, to the dining-room clock.
"How loudly that clock ticks," was all she said.
"Oh there's mother—off the subject again—giving me no help or encouragement," thought Anne. She glanced at the clock.
"Mother, if you've finished that frock, would you go into the kitchen and heat up some coffee, and perhaps cut a plate of ham. Henry will be in directly. I'm practically through with this second frock by myself." She held it up for inspection. "Aren't they charming? They ought to last the children a good two years, and then I expect they'll do for school—lengthened, and perhaps dyed."
"I'm glad we decided on the more expensive material," said the old woman.
Left alone in the dining-room Anne's frown deepened, and her mouth drooped—a sharp line showed from nose to chin. She breathed deeply, and pushed back her hair. There seemed to be no air in the room, she felt stuffed up, and it seemed so useless to be tiring herself out with fine sewing for Helen. One never got through with children, and never had any gratitude from them—except Rose—who was exceptional. Another sign of old age in mother was her absurd point of view about Helen, and her "touchiness" on the subject. There was one thing, Mrs. Carsfield said to herself. She was determined to keep Helen apart from Boy. He had all his father's sensitiveness to unsympathetic influences. A blessing that the girls were at school all day!
At last the dresses were finished and folded over the back of the chair. She carried the sewing machine over to the book-shelves, spread the table-cloth, and went over to the window. The blind was up, she could see the garden quite plainly: there must be a moon about. And then she caught sight of something shining on the garden seat. A book, yes, it must be a book, left there to get soaked through by the dew. She went out into the hall, put on her goloshes, gathered up her skirt, and ran into the garden. Yes, it was a book. She picked it up carefully. Damp already—and the cover bulging. She shrugged her shoulders in the way that her little daughter had caught from her. In the shadowy garden that smelled of grass and rose leaves, Anne's heart hardened. Then the gate clicked and she saw Henry striding up the front path.
"Henry!" she called.
"Hullo," he cried, "what on earth are you doing down there...Moon-gazing, Anne?" She ran forward and kissed him.
"Oh, look at this book," she said. "Helen's been leaving it about, again. My dear, how you smell of cigars!"
Said Henry: "You've got to smoke a decent cigar when you're with, these other chaps. Looks so bad if you don't. But come inside, Anne; you haven't got anything on. Let the book go hang! You're cold, my dear, you're shivering." He put his arm round her shoulder. "See the moon over there, by the chimney? Fine night. By jove! I had the fellows roaring to-night—I made a colossal joke. One of them said: 'Life is a game of cards,' and I, without thinking, just straight out..." Henry paused by the door and held up a finger. "I said...well I've forgotten the exact words, but they shouted, my dear, simply shouted. No, I'll remember what I said in bed to-night; you know I always do."
"I'll take this book into the kitchen to dry on the stove-rack," said Anne, and she thought, as she banged the pages, "Henry has been drinking beer again, that means indigestion tomorrow. No use mentioning Helen to-night."
When Henry had finished the supper, he lay back in the chair, picking his teeth, and patted his knee for Anne to come and sit there.
"Hullo," he said, jumping her up and down, "what's the green fandangles on the chair back? What have you and mother been up to, eh?"
Said Anne, airily, casting a most careless glance at the green dresses, "Only some frocks for the children. Remnants for Sunday."
The old woman put the plate and cup and saucer together, then lighted a candle.
"I think I'll go to bed," she said, cheerfully.
"Oh, dear me, how unwise of Mother," thought Anne. "She makes Henry suspect by going away like that, as she always does if there's any unpleasantness brewing."
"No, don't go to bed yet, mother," cried Henry, jovially. "Let's have a look at the things." She passed him over the dresses, faintly smiling. Henry rubbed them through his fingers.
"So these are the remnants, are they, Anne? Don't feel much like the Sunday trousers my mother used to make me out of an ironing blanket. How much did you pay for this a yard, Anne?"
Anne took the dresses from him, and played with a button of his waistcoat.
"Forget the exact price, darling. Mother and I rather skimped them, even though they were so cheap. What can great big men bother about clothes...? Was Lumley there, tonigh?"
"Yes, he says their kid was a bit bandylegged at just the same age as Boy. He told me of a new kind of chair for children that the draper has just got in—makes them sit with their legs straight. By the way, have you got this month's draper's bill?"
She had been waiting for that—had known it was coming. She slipped off his knee and yawned.
"Oh, dear me," she said, "I think I'll follow mother. Bed's the place for me." She stared at Henry, vacantly. "Bill—bill did you say, dear? Oh, I'll look it out in the morning."
"No, Anne, hold on." Henry got up and went over to the cupboard where the bill file was kept. "To-morrow's no good—because it's Sunday. I want to get that account off my chest before I turn in. Sit down there—in the rocking-chair—you needn't stand!"
She dropped into the chair, and began humming, all the while her thoughts coldly busy, and her eyes fixed on her husband's broad back as he bent over the cupboard door. He dawdled over finding the file.
"He's keeping me in suspense on purpose," she thought. "We can afford it—otherwise why should I do it? I know our income and our expenditure. I'm not a fool. They're a hell upon earth every month, these bills." And she thought of her bed upstairs, yearned for it, imagining she had never felt so tired in her life.
"Here we are!" said Henry. He slammed the file on to the table.
"Draw up your chair..."
"Clayton: Seven yards green cashmere at five shillings a yard—thirty-five shillings." He read the item twice—then folded the sheet over, and bent towards Anne. He was flushed and his breath smelt of beer. She knew exactly how he took things in that mood, and she raised her eyebrows and nodded.
"Do you mean to tell me," stormed Henry, "that lot over there cost thirty-five shillings—that stuff you've been mucking up for the children. Good God! Anybody would think you'd married a millionaire. You could buy your mother a trousseau with that money. You're making yourself a laughing-stock for the whole town. How do you think I can buy Boy a chair or anything