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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11473 ***
+
+DEEP WATERS
+
+By W.W. JACOBS
+
+
+
+
+MADE TO MEASURE
+
+Mr. Mott brought his niece home from the station with considerable pride.
+Although he had received a photograph to assist identification, he had
+been very dubious about accosting the pretty, well-dressed girl who had
+stepped from the train and gazed around with dove-like eyes in search of
+him.  Now he was comfortably conscious of the admiring gaze of his
+younger fellow-townsmen.
+
+"You'll find it a bit dull after London, I expect," he remarked, as he
+inserted his key in the door of a small house in a quiet street.
+
+"I'm tired of London," said Miss Garland.  "I think this is a beautiful
+little old town--so peaceful."
+
+Mr. Mott looked gratified.
+
+"I hope you'll stay a long time," he said, as he led the way into the
+small front room.  "I'm a lonely old man."
+
+His niece sank into an easy chair, and looked about her.
+
+"Thank you," she said, slowly.  "I hope I shall.  I feel better already.
+There is so much to upset one in London."
+
+"Noise?" queried Mr. Mott.
+
+"And other things," said Miss Garland, with a slight shudder.
+
+Mr. Mott sighed in sympathy with the unknown, and, judging by his niece's
+expression, the unknowable.  He rearranged the teacups, and, going to the
+kitchen, returned in a few minutes with a pot of tea.
+
+"Mrs. Pett leaves at three," he said, in explanation, "to look after her
+children, but she comes back again at eight to look after my supper.  And
+how is your mother?"
+
+Miss Garland told him.
+
+"Last letter I had from her," said Mr. Mott, stealing a glance at the
+girl's ring-finger, "I understood you were engaged."
+
+His niece drew herself up.
+
+"Certainly not," she said, with considerable vigour.  "I have seen too
+much of married life.  I prefer my freedom.  Besides, I don't like men."
+
+Mr. Mott said modestly that he didn't wonder at it, and, finding the
+subject uncongenial, turned the conversation on to worthier subjects.
+Miss Garland's taste, it seemed, lay in the direction of hospital
+nursing, or some other occupation beneficial to mankind at large.  Simple
+and demure, she filled the simpler Mr. Mott with a strong sense of the
+shortcomings of his unworthy sex.
+
+Within two days, under the darkling glance of Mrs. Pett, she had altered
+the arrangements of the house.  Flowers appeared on the meal-table,
+knives and forks were properly cleaned, and plates no longer appeared
+ornamented with the mustard of a previous meal.  Fresh air circulated
+through the house, and, passing from Mrs. Pett's left knee to the lumbar
+region of Mr. Mott, went on its beneficent way rejoicing.
+
+On the fifth day of her visit, Mr. Mott sat alone in the front parlour.
+The window was closed, the door was closed, and Mr. Mott, sitting in an
+easy chair with his feet up, was aroused from a sound nap by the door
+opening to admit a young man, who, deserted by Mrs. Pett, stood bowing
+awkwardly in the doorway.
+
+"Is Miss Garland in?"  he stammered.
+
+Mr. Mott rubbed the remnants of sleep from his eyelids.
+
+"She has gone for a walk," he said, slowly.
+
+The young man stood fingering his hat.
+
+"My name is Hurst," he said, with slight emphasis.  "Mr. Alfred Hurst."
+
+Mr. Mott, still somewhat confused, murmured that he was glad to hear it.
+
+"I have come from London to see Florrie," continued the intruder.  "I
+suppose she won't be long?"
+
+Mr. Mott thought not, and after a moment's hesitation invited Mr. Hurst
+to take a chair.
+
+"I suppose she told you we are engaged?"  said the latter.
+
+"Engaged!" said the startled Mr. Mott.  "Why, she told me she didn't like
+men."
+
+"Playfulness," replied Mr. Hurst, with an odd look.  "Ah, here she is!"
+
+The handle of the front door turned, and a moment later the door of the
+room was opened and the charming head of Miss Garland appeared in the
+opening.
+
+"Back again," she said, brightly.  "I've just been----"
+
+She caught sight of Mr. Hurst, and the words died away on her lips.  The
+door slammed, and the two gentlemen, exchanging glances, heard a hurried
+rush upstairs and the slamming of another door.  Also a key was heard to
+turn sharply in a lock.
+
+"She doesn't want to see you," said Mr. Mott, staring.
+
+The young man turned pale.
+
+"Perhaps she has gone upstairs to take her things off," he muttered,
+resuming his seat.  "Don't--don't hurry her!"
+
+"I wasn't going to," said Mr. Mott.
+
+He twisted his beard uneasily, and at the end of ten minutes looked from
+the clock to Mr. Hurst and coughed.
+
+"If you wouldn't mind letting her know I'm waiting," said the young man,
+brokenly.
+
+Mr. Mott rose, and went slowly upstairs.  More slowly still, after an
+interval of a few minutes, he came back again.
+
+"She doesn't want to see you," he said, slowly.
+
+Mr. Hurst gasped.
+
+"I--I must see her," he faltered.
+
+"She won't see you," repeated Mr. Mott.  "And she told me to say she was
+surprised at you following her down here."
+
+Mr. Hurst uttered a faint moan, and with bent head passed into the little
+passage and out into the street, leaving Mr. Mott to return to the
+sitting-room and listen to such explanations as Miss Garland deemed
+advisable.  Great goodness of heart in the face of persistent and
+unwelcome attentions appeared to be responsible for the late engagement.
+
+"Well, it's over now," said her uncle, kindly, "and no doubt he'll soon
+find somebody else.  There are plenty of girls would jump at him, I
+expect."
+
+Miss Garland shook her head.
+
+"He said he couldn't live without me," she remarked, soberly.
+
+Mr. Mott laughed.
+
+"In less than three months I expect he'll be congratulating himself," he
+said, cheerfully.  "Why, I was nearly cau--married, four times.  It's a
+silly age."
+
+His niece said "Indeed!" and, informing him in somewhat hostile tones
+that she was suffering from a severe headache, retired to her room.
+
+Mr. Mott spent the evening by himself, and retiring to bed at ten-thirty
+was awakened by a persistent knocking at the front door at half-past one.
+Half awakened, he lit a candle, and, stumbling downstairs, drew back the
+bolt of the door, and stood gaping angrily at the pathetic features of
+Mr. Hurst.
+
+"Sorry to disturb you," said the young man, "but would you mind giving
+this letter to Miss Garland?"
+
+"Sorry to disturb me!" stuttered Mr. Mott.  "What do you mean by it?  Eh?
+What do you mean by it?"
+
+"It is important," said Mr. Hurst.  "I can't rest.  I've eaten nothing
+all day."
+
+"Glad to hear it," snapped the irritated Mr. Mott.
+
+"If you will give her that letter, I shall feel easier," said Mr. Hurst.
+
+"I'll give it to her in the morning," said the other, snatching it from
+him.  "Now get off."
+
+Mr. Hurst still murmuring apologies, went, and Mr. Mott, also murmuring,
+returned to bed.  The night was chilly, and it was some time before he
+could get to sleep again.  He succeeded at last, only to be awakened an
+hour later by a knocking more violent than before.  In a state of mind
+bordering upon frenzy, he dived into his trousers again and went
+blundering downstairs in the dark.
+
+"Sorry to--" began Mr. Hurst.
+
+Mr. Mott made uncouth noises at him.
+
+"I have altered my mind," said the young man.  "Would you mind letting me
+have that letter back again?  It was too final."
+
+"You--get--off !"  said the other, trembling with cold and passion.
+
+"I must have that letter," said Mr. Hurst, doggedly.  "All my future
+happiness may depend upon it."
+
+Mr. Mott, afraid to trust himself with speech, dashed upstairs, and after
+a search for the matches found the letter, and, returning to the front
+door, shut it on the visitor's thanks.  His niece's door opened as he
+passed it, and a gentle voice asked for enlightenment.
+
+"How silly of him!"  she said, softly.  "I hope he won't catch cold.
+What did you say?"
+
+"I was coughing," said Mr. Mott, hastily.
+
+"You'll get cold if you're not careful," said his thoughtful niece.
+"That's the worst of men, they never seem to have any thought.  Did he
+seem angry, or mournful, or what?  I suppose you couldn't see his face?"
+
+"I didn't try," said Mr. Mott, crisply.  "Good night."
+
+By the morning his ill-humour had vanished, and he even became slightly
+facetious over the events of the night.  The mood passed at the same
+moment that Mr. Hurst passed the window.
+
+"Better have him in and get it over," he said, irritably.
+
+Miss Garland shuddered.
+
+"Never!" she said, firmly.  "He'd be down on his knees.  It would be too
+painful.  You don't know him."
+
+"Don't want to," said Mr. Mott.
+
+He finished his breakfast in silence, and, after a digestive pipe,
+proposed a walk.  The profile of Mr. Hurst, as it went forlornly past the
+window again, served to illustrate Miss Garland's refusal.
+
+"I'll go out and see him," said Mr. Mott, starting up.  "Are you going to
+be a prisoner here until this young idiot chooses to go home?  It's
+preposterous!"
+
+He crammed his hat on firmly and set out in pursuit of Mr. Hurst, who was
+walking slowly up the street, glancing over his shoulder.  "Morning!"
+said Mr. Mott, fiercely.  "Good morning," said the other.
+
+"Now, look here," said Mr. Mott.  "This has gone far enough, and I won't
+have any more of it.  Why, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, chivvying
+a young lady that doesn't want you.  Haven't you got any pride?"
+
+"No," said the young man, "not where she is concerned."
+
+"I don't believe you have," said the other, regarding him, "and I expect
+that's where the trouble is.  Did she ever have reason to think you were
+looking after any other girls?"
+
+"Never, I swear it," said Mr. Hurst, eagerly.
+
+"Just so," said Mr. Mott, with a satisfied nod.  "That's where you made a
+mistake.  She was too sure of you; it was too easy.  No excitement.
+Girls like a man that other girls want; they don't want a turtle-dove in
+fancy trousers."
+
+Mr. Hurst coughed.
+
+"And they like a determined man," continued Miss Garland's uncle.  "Why,
+in my young days, if I had been jilted, and come down to see about it,
+d'you think I'd have gone out of the house without seeing her?  I might
+have been put out--by half-a-dozen--but I'd have taken the mantelpiece
+and a few other things with me.  And you are bigger than I am."
+
+"We aren't all made the same," said Mr. Hurst, feebly.
+
+"No, we're not," said Mr. Mott.  "I'm not blaming you; in a way, I'm
+sorry for you.  If you're not born with a high spirit, nothing'll give it
+to you."
+
+"It might be learnt," said Mr. Hurst.  Mr. Mott laughed.
+
+"High spirits are born, not made," he said.  "The best thing you can do
+is to go and find another girl, and marry her before she finds you out."
+
+Mr. Hurst shook his head.
+
+"There's no other girl for me," he said, miserably.  "And everything
+seemed to be going so well.  We've been buying things for the house for
+the last six months, and I've just got a good rise in my screw."
+
+"It'll do for another girl," said Mr. Mott, briskly.  "Now, you get off
+back to town.  You are worrying Florrie by staying here, and you are
+doing no good to anybody.  Good-bye."
+
+"I'll walk back as far as the door with you," said Mr. Hurst.  "You've
+done me good.  It's a pity I didn't meet you before."
+
+"Remember what I've told you, and you'll do well yet," he said, patting
+the young man on the arm.
+
+"I will," said Mr. Hurst, and walked on by his side, deep in thought.
+
+"I can't ask you in," said Mr. Mott, jocularly, as he reached his door,
+and turned the key in the lock.  "Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," said Mr. Hurst.
+
+He grasped the other's outstretched hand, and with a violent jerk pulled
+him into the street.  Then he pushed open the door, and, slipping into
+the passage, passed hastily into the front room, closely followed by the
+infuriated Mr. Mott.
+
+"What--what--what!" stammered that gentleman.
+
+"I'm taking your tip," said Mr. Hurst, pale but determined.  "I'm going
+to stay here until I have seen Florrie."
+
+"You--you're a serpent," said Mr. Mott, struggling for breath.  "I--I'm
+surprised at you.  You go out before you get hurt."
+
+"Not without the mantelpiece," said Mr. Hurst, with a distorted grin.
+
+"A viper!" said Mr. Mott, with extreme bitterness.  "If you are not out
+in two minutes I'll send for the police."
+
+"Florrie wouldn't like that," said Mr. Hurst.  "She's awfully particular
+about what people think.  You just trot upstairs and tell her that a
+gentleman wants to see her."
+
+He threw himself into Mr. Mott's own particular easy chair, and, crossing
+his knees, turned a deaf ear to the threats of that incensed gentleman.
+Not until the latter had left the room did his features reveal the
+timorousness of the soul within.  Muffled voices sounded from upstairs,
+and it was evident that an argument of considerable length was in
+progress.  It was also evident from the return of Mr. Mott alone that his
+niece had had the best of it.
+
+"I've done all I could," he said, "but she declines to see you.  She says
+she won't see you if you stay here for a month, and you couldn't do that,
+you know."
+
+"Why not?" inquired Mr. Hurst.
+
+"Why not?" repeated Mr. Mott, repressing his feelings with some
+difficulty. "Food!"
+
+Mr. Hurst started.
+
+"And drink," said Mr. Mott, following up his advantage.  "There's no good
+in starving yourself for nothing, so you may as well go."
+
+"When I've seen Florrie," said the young man, firmly.
+
+Mr. Mott slammed the door, and for the rest of the day Mr. Hurst saw him
+no more.  At one o'clock a savoury smell passed the door on its way
+upstairs, and at five o'clock a middle-aged woman with an inane smile
+looked into the room on her way aloft with a loaded tea-tray.  By supper-
+time he was suffering considerably from hunger and thirst.
+
+At ten o'clock he heard the footsteps of Mr. Mott descending the stairs.
+The door opened an inch, and a gruff voice demanded to know whether he
+was going to stay there all night.  Receiving a cheerful reply in the
+affirmative, Mr. Mott secured the front door with considerable violence,
+and went off to bed without another word.
+
+He was awakened an hour or two later by the sound of something falling,
+and, sitting up in bed to listen, became aware of a warm and agreeable
+odour.  It was somewhere about the hour of midnight, but a breakfast
+smell of eggs and bacon would not be denied.
+
+He put on some clothes and went downstairs.  A crack of light showed
+under the kitchen door, and, pushing it open with some force, he gazed
+spellbound at the spectacle before him.
+
+"Come in," said Mr. Hurst, heartily.  "I've just finished."
+
+He rocked an empty beer-bottle and patted another that was half full.
+Satiety was written on his face as he pushed an empty plate from him,
+and, leaning back in his chair, smiled lazily at Mr. Mott.
+
+"Go on," said that gentleman, hoarsely.  Mr. Hurst shook his head.
+
+"Enough is as good as a feast," he said, reasonably.  "I'll have some
+more to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, will you?"  said the other.  "Will you?"
+
+Mr. Hurst nodded, and, opening his coat, disclosed a bottle of beer in
+each breast-pocket.  The other pockets, it appeared, contained food.
+
+"And here's the money for it," he said, putting down some silver on the
+table.  "I am determined, but honest."
+
+With a sweep of his hand, Mr. Mott sent the money flying.
+
+"To-morrow morning I send for the police.  Mind that!"  he roared.
+
+"I'd better have my breakfast early, then," said Mr. Hurst, tapping his
+pockets.  "Good night.  And thank you for your advice."
+
+He sat for some time after the disappearance of his host, and then,
+returning to the front room, placed a chair at the end of the sofa and,
+with the tablecloth for a quilt, managed to secure a few hours' troubled
+sleep.  At eight o'clock he washed at the scullery sink, and at ten
+o'clock Mr. Mott, with an air of great determination, came in to deliver
+his ultimatum.
+
+"If you're not outside the front door in five minutes, I'm going to fetch
+the police," he said, fiercely.
+
+"I want to see Florrie," said the other.
+
+"Well, you won't see her," shouted Mr. Mott.
+
+Mr. Hurst stood feeling his chin.
+
+"Well, would you mind taking a message for me?" he asked.  "I just want
+you to ask her whether I am really free.  Ask her whether I am free to
+marry again."
+
+Mr. Mott eyed him in amazement.
+
+"You see, I only heard from her mother," pursued Mr. Hurst, "and a friend
+of mine who is in a solicitor's office says that isn't good enough.  I
+only came down here to make sure, and I think the least she can do is to
+tell me herself.  If she won't see me, perhaps she'd put it in writing.
+You see, there's another lady."
+
+"But" said the mystified Mr. Mott.
+
+"You told me----"
+
+"You tell her that," said the other.
+
+Mr. Mott stood for a few seconds staring at him, and then without a word
+turned on his heel and went upstairs.  Left to himself, Mr. Hurst walked
+nervously up and down the room, and, catching sight of his face in the
+old-fashioned glass on the mantel-piece, heightened its colour by a few
+pinches.  The minutes seemed inter-minable, but at last he heard the
+steps of Mr. Mott on the stairs again.
+
+"She's coming down to see you herself," said the latter, solemnly.
+
+Mr. Hurst nodded, and, turning to the window, tried in vain to take an
+interest in passing events.  A light step sounded on the stairs, the door
+creaked, and he turned to find himself con-fronted by Miss Garland.
+
+"Uncle told me" she began, coldly.  Mr. Hurst bowed.
+
+"I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble," he said, trying to
+control his voice, "but you see my position, don't you?"
+
+"No," said the girl.
+
+"Well, I wanted to make sure," said Mr. Hurst.  "It's best for all of us,
+isn't it?  Best for you, best for me, and, of course, for my young lady."
+
+"You never said anything about her before," said Miss Garland, her eyes
+darkening.
+
+"Of course not," said Mr. Hurst.  "How could I?  I was engaged to you,
+and then she wasn't my young lady; but, of course, as soon as you broke
+it off--"
+
+"Who is she?" inquired Miss Garland, in a casual voice.
+
+"You don't know her," said Mr. Hurst.
+
+"What is she like?"
+
+"I can't describe her very well," said Mr. Hurst.  "I can only say she's
+the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.  I think that's what made me
+take to her.  And she's easily pleased.  She liked the things I have been
+buying for the house tremendously."
+
+"Did she?" said Miss Garland, with a gasp.
+
+"All except that pair of vases you chose," continued the veracious Mr.
+Hurst.  "She says they are in bad taste, but she can give them to the
+charwoman."
+
+"Oh!" said the girl.  "Oh, indeed!  Very kind of her.  Isn't there
+anything else she doesn't like?"
+
+Mr. Hurst stood considering.
+
+"She doesn't like the upholstering of the best chairs," he said at last.
+"She thinks they are too showy, so she's going to put covers over them."
+
+There was a long pause, during which Mr. Mott, taking his niece gently by
+the arm, assisted her to a chair.
+
+"Otherwise she is quite satisfied," concluded Mr. Hurst.
+
+Miss Garland took a deep breath, but made no reply.
+
+"I have got to satisfy her that I am free," said the young man, after
+another pause.  "I suppose that I can do so?"
+
+"I--I'll think it over," said Miss Garland, in a low voice.  "I am not
+sure what is the right thing to do.  I don't want to see you made
+miserable for life.  It's nothing to me, of course, but still--"
+
+She got up and, shaking off the proffered assistance of her uncle, went
+slowly and languidly up to her room.  Mr. Mott followed her as far as the
+door, and then turned indignantly upon Mr. Hurst.
+
+"You--you've broke her heart," he said, solemnly.
+
+"That's all right," said Mr. Hurst, with a delighted wink.  "I'll mend it
+again."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Made to Measure, by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11473 ***