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diff --git a/12124.txt b/12124.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1530537 --- /dev/null +++ b/12124.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1019 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Well, by W.W. Jacobs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Well + The Lady of the Barge and Others, Part 4. + +Author: W.W. Jacobs + +Release Date: April 22, 2004 [EBook #12124] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELL *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +THE LADY OF THE BARGE + +AND OTHER STORIES + +By W. W. Jacobs + + + + +THE WELL + + +Two men stood in the billiard-room of an old country house, talking. +Play, which had been of a half-hearted nature, was over, and they sat at +the open window, looking out over the park stretching away beneath them, +conversing idly. + +"Your time's nearly up, Jem," said one at length, "this time six weeks +you'll be yawning out the honeymoon and cursing the man--woman I mean-- +who invented them." + +Jem Benson stretched his long limbs in the chair and grunted in dissent. + +"I've never understood it," continued Wilfred Carr, yawning. "It's not +in my line at all; I never had enough money for my own wants, let alone +for two. Perhaps if I were as rich as you or Croesus I might regard it +differently." + +There was just sufficient meaning in the latter part of the remark for +his cousin to forbear to reply to it. He continued to gaze out of the +window and to smoke slowly. + +"Not being as rich as Croesus--or you," resumed Carr, regarding him from +beneath lowered lids, "I paddle my own canoe down the stream of Time, +and, tying it to my friends' door-posts, go in to eat their dinners." + +"Quite Venetian," said Jem Benson, still looking out of the window. +"It's not a bad thing for you, Wilfred, that you have the doorposts and +dinners--and friends." + +Carr grunted in his turn. "Seriously though, Jem," he said, slowly, +"you're a lucky fellow, a very lucky fellow. If there is a better girl +above ground than Olive, I should like to see her." + +"Yes," said the other, quietly. + +"She's such an exceptional girl," continued Carr, staring out of the +window. "She's so good and gentle. She thinks you are a bundle of all +the virtues." + +He laughed frankly and joyously, but the other man did not join him. +"Strong sense--of right and wrong, though," continued Carr, musingly. +"Do you know, I believe that if she found out that you were not----" + +"Not what?" demanded Benson, turning upon him fiercely, "Not what?" + +"Everything that you are," returned his cousin, with a grin that belied +his words, "I believe she'd drop you." + +"Talk about something else," said Benson, slowly; "your pleasantries are +not always in the best taste." + +Wilfred Carr rose and taking a cue from the rack, bent over the board and +practiced one or two favourite shots. "The only other subject I can talk +about just at present is my own financial affairs," he said slowly, as he +walked round the table. + +"Talk about something else," said Benson again, bluntly. + +"And the two things are connected," said Carr, and dropping his cue he +half sat on the table and eyed his cousin. + +There was a long silence. Benson pitched the end of his cigar out of the +window, and leaning back closed his eyes. + +"Do you follow me?" inquired Carr at length. + +Benson opened his eyes and nodded at the window. + +"Do you want to follow my cigar?" he demanded. + +"I should prefer to depart by the usual way for your sake," returned the +other, unabashed. "If I left by the window all sorts of questions would +be asked, and you know what a talkative chap I am." + +"So long as you don't talk about my affairs," returned the other, +restraining himself by an obvious effort, "you can talk yourself hoarse." + +"I'm in a mess," said Carr, slowly, "a devil of a mess. If I don't raise +fifteen hundred by this day fortnight, I may be getting my board and +lodging free." + +"Would that be any change?" questioned Benson. + +"The quality would," retorted the other. "The address also would not be +good. Seriously, Jem, will you let me have the fifteen hundred?" + +"No," said the other, simply. + +Carr went white. "It's to save me from ruin," he said, thickly. + +"I've helped you till I'm tired," said Benson, turning and regarding him, +"and it is all to no good. If you've got into a mess, get out of it. +You should not be so fond of giving autographs away." + +"It's foolish, I admit," said Carr, deliberately. "I won't do so any +more. By the way, I've got some to sell. You needn't sneer. They're +not my own." + +"Whose are they?" inquired the other. + +"Yours." + +Benson got up from his chair and crossed over to him. "What is this?" +he asked, quietly. "Blackmail?" + +"Call it what you like," said Carr. "I've got some letters for sale, +price fifteen hundred. And I know a man who would buy them at that price +for the mere chance of getting Olive from you. I'll give you first +offer." + +"If you have got any letters bearing my signature, you will be good +enough to give them to me," said Benson, very slowly. + +"They're mine," said Carr, lightly; "given to me by the lady you wrote +them to. I must say that they are not all in the best possible taste." + +His cousin reached forward suddenly, and catching him by the collar of +his coat pinned him down on the table. + +"Give me those letters," he breathed, sticking his face close to Carr's. + +"They're not here," said Carr, struggling. "I'm not a fool. Let me go, +or I'll raise the price." + +The other man raised him from the table in his powerful hands, apparently +with the intention of dashing his head against it. Then suddenly his +hold relaxed as an astonished-looking maid-servant entered the room with +letters. Carr sat up hastily. + +"That's how it was done," said Benson, for the girl's benefit as he took +the letters. + +"I don't wonder at the other man making him pay for it, then," said Carr, +blandly. + +"You will give me those letters?" said Benson, suggestively, as the girl +left the room. + +"At the price I mentioned, yes," said Carr; "but so sure as I am a living +man, if you lay your clumsy hands on me again, I'll double it. Now, I'll +leave you for a time while you think it over." + +He took a cigar from the box and lighting it carefully quitted the room. +His cousin waited until the door had closed behind him, and then turning +to the window sat there in a fit of fury as silent as it was terrible. + +The air was fresh and sweet from the park, heavy with the scent of +new-mown grass. The fragrance of a cigar was now added to it, and +glancing out he saw his cousin pacing slowly by. He rose and went to the +door, and then, apparently altering his mind, he returned to the window +and watched the figure of his cousin as it moved slowly away into the +moonlight. Then he rose again, and, for a long time, the room was empty. + + * * * * * + +It was empty when Mrs. Benson came in some time later to say good-night +to her son on her way to bed. She walked slowly round the table, and +pausing at the window gazed from it in idle thought, until she saw the +figure of her son advancing with rapid strides toward the house. He +looked up at the window. + +"Good-night," said she. + +"Good-night," said Benson, in a deep voice. + +"Where is Wilfred?" + +"Oh, he has gone," said Benson. + +"Gone?" + +"We had a few words; he was wanting money again, and I gave him a piece +of my mind. I don't think we shall see him again." + +"Poor Wilfred!" sighed Mrs. Benson. "He is always in trouble of some +sort. I hope that you were not too hard upon him." + +"No more than he deserved," said her son, sternly. "Good night." + + +II. + +The well, which had long ago fallen into disuse, was almost hidden by the +thick tangle of undergrowth which ran riot at that corner of the old +park. It was partly covered by the shrunken half of a lid, above which a +rusty windlass creaked in company with the music of the pines when the +wind blew strongly. The full light of the sun never reached it, and the +ground surrounding it was moist and green when other parts of the park +were gaping with the heat. + +Two people walking slowly round the park in the fragrant stillness of a +summer evening strayed in the direction of the well. + +"No use going through this wilderness, Olive," said Benson, pausing on +the outskirts of the pines and eyeing with some disfavour the gloom +beyond. + +"Best part of the park," said the girl briskly; "you know it's my +favourite spot." + +"I know you're very fond of sitting on the coping," said the man slowly, +"and I wish you wouldn't. One day you will lean back too far and fall +in." + +"And make the acquaintance of Truth," said Olive lightly. "Come along." + +She ran from him and was lost in the shadow of the pines, the bracken +crackling beneath her feet as she ran. Her companion followed slowly, +and emerging from the gloom saw her poised daintily on the edge of the +well with her feet hidden in the rank grass and nettles which surrounded +it. She motioned her companion to take a seat by her side, and smiled +softly as she felt a strong arm passed about her waist. + +"I like this place," said she, breaking a long silence, "it is so dismal +--so uncanny. Do you know I wouldn't dare to sit here alone, Jem. I +should imagine that all sorts of dreadful things were hidden behind the +bushes and trees, waiting to spring out on me. Ugh!" + +"You'd better let me take you in," said her companion tenderly; "the well +isn't always wholesome, especially in the hot weather. + +"Let's make a move." + +The girl gave an obstinate little shake, and settled herself more +securely on her seat. + +"Smoke your cigar in peace," she said quietly. "I am settled here for a +quiet talk. Has anything been heard of Wilfred yet?" + +"Nothing." + +"Quite a dramatic disappearance, isn't it?" she continued. "Another +scrape, I suppose, and another letter for you in the same old strain; +'Dear Jem, help me out.'" + +Jem Benson blew a cloud of fragrant smoke into the air, and holding his +cigar between his teeth brushed away the ash from his coat sleeves. + +"I wonder what he would have done without you," said the girl, pressing +his arm affectionately. "Gone under long ago, I suppose. When we are +married, Jem, I shall presume upon the relationship to lecture him. He +is very wild, but he has his good points, poor fellow." + +"I never saw them," said Benson, with startling bitterness. "God knows I +never saw them." + +"He is nobody's enemy but his own," said the girl, startled by this +outburst. + +"You don't know much about him," said the other, sharply. "He was not +above blackmail; not above ruining the life of a friend to do himself a +benefit. A loafer, a cur, and a liar!" + +The girl looked up at him soberly but timidly and took his arm without a +word, and they both sat silent while evening deepened into night and the +beams of the moon, filtering through the branches, surrounded them with a +silver network. Her head sank upon his shoulder, till suddenly with a +sharp cry she sprang to her feet. + +"What was that?" she cried breathlessly. + +"What was what?" demanded Benson, springing up and clutching her fast by +the arm. + +She caught her breath and tried to laugh. + +"You're hurting me, Jem." + +His hold relaxed. + +"What is the matter?" he asked gently. + +"What was it startled you?" + +"I was startled," she said, slowly, putting her hands on his shoulder. +"I suppose the words I used just now are ringing in my ears, but I +fancied that somebody behind us whispered 'Jem, help me out.'" + +"Fancy," repeated Benson, and his voice shook; "but these fancies are not +good for you. You--are frightened--at the dark and the gloom of these +trees. Let me take you back to the house." + +"No, I'm not frightened," said the girl, reseating herself. "I should +never be really frightened of anything when you were with me, Jem. I'm +surprised at myself for being so silly." + +The man made no reply but stood, a strong, dark figure, a yard or two +from the well, as though waiting for her to join him. + +"Come and sit down, sir," cried Olive, patting the brickwork with her +small, white hand, "one would think that you did not like your company." + +He obeyed slowly and took a seat by her side, drawing so hard at his +cigar that the light of it shone upon his fare at every breath. He +passed his arm, firm and rigid as steel, behind her, with his hand +resting on the brickwork beyond. + +"Are you warm enough?" he asked tenderly, as she made a little movement. +"Pretty fair," she shivered; "one oughtn't to be cold at this time of the +year, but there's a cold, damp air comes up from the well." + +As she spoke a faint splash sounded from the depths below, and for the +second time that evening, she sprang from the well with a little cry of +dismay. + +"What is it now?" he asked in a fearful voice. He stood by her side and +gazed at the well, as though half expecting to see the cause of her alarm +emerge from it. + +"Oh, my bracelet," she cried in distress, "my poor mother's bracelet. +I've dropped it down the well." + +"Your bracelet!" repeated Benson, dully. "Your bracelet? The diamond +one?" + +"The one that was my mother's," said Olive. "Oh, we can get it back +surely. We must have the water drained off." + +"Your bracelet!" repeated Benson, stupidly. + +"Jem," said the girl in terrified tones, "dear Jem, what is the matter?" + +For the man she loved was standing regarding her with horror. The moon +which touched it was not responsible for all the whiteness of the +distorted face, and she shrank back in fear to the edge of the well. He +saw her fear and by a mighty effort regained his composure and took her +hand. + +"Poor little girl," he murmured, "you frightened me. I was not looking +when you cried, and I thought that you were slipping from my arms, +down--down--" + +His voice broke, and the girl throwing herself into his arms clung to him +convulsively. + +"There, there," said Benson, fondly, "don't cry, don't cry." + +"To-morrow," said Olive, half-laughing, half-crying, "we will all come +round the well with hook and line and fish for it. It will be quite a +new sport." + +"No, we must try some other way," said Benson. "You shall have it back." + +"How?" asked the girl. + +"You shall see," said Benson. "To-morrow morning at latest you shall +have it back. Till then promise me that you will not mention your loss +to anyone. Promise." + +"I promise," said Olive, wonderingly. "But why not?" + +"It is of great value, for one thing, and--But there--there are many +reasons. For one thing it is my duty to get it for you." + +"Wouldn't you like to jump down for it?" she asked mischievously. +"Listen." + +She stooped for a stone and dropped it down. + +"Fancy being where that is now," she said, peering into the blackness; +"fancy going round and round like a mouse in a pail, clutching at the +slimy sides, with the water filling your mouth, and looking up to the +little patch of sky above." + +"You had better come in," said Benson, very quietly. "You are developing +a taste for the morbid and horrible." + +The girl turned, and taking his arm walked slowly in the direction of the +house; Mrs. Benson, who was sitting in the porch, rose to receive them. + +"You shouldn't have kept her out so long," she said chidingly. "Where +have you been?" + +"Sitting on the well," said Olive, smiling, "discussing our future." + +"I don't believe that place is healthy," said Mrs. Benson, emphatically. +"I really think it might be filled in, Jem." + +"All right," said her son, slowly. "Pity it wasn't filled in long ago." + +He took the chair vacated by his mother as she entered the house with +Olive, and with his hands hanging limply over the sides sat in deep +thought. After a time he rose, and going upstairs to a room which was +set apart for sporting requisites selected a sea fishing line and some +hooks and stole softly downstairs again. He walked swiftly across the +park in the direction of the well, turning before he entered the shadow +of the trees to look back at the lighted windows of the house. Then +having arranged his line he sat on the edge of the well and cautiously +lowered it. + +He sat with his lips compressed, occasionally looking about him in a +startled fashion, as though he half expected to see something peering at +him from the belt of trees. Time after time he lowered his line until at +length in pulling it up he heard a little metallic tinkle against the +side of the well. + +He held his breath then, and forgetting his fears drew the line in inch +by inch, so as not to lose its precious burden. His pulse beat rapidly, +and his eyes were bright. As the line came slowly in he saw the catch +hanging to the hook, and with a steady hand drew the last few feet in. +Then he saw that instead of the bracelet he had hooked a bunch of keys. + +With a faint cry he shook them from the hook into the water below, and +stood breathing heavily. Not a sound broke the stillness of the night. +He walked up and down a bit and stretched his great muscles; then he came +back to the well and resumed his task. + +For an hour or more the line was lowered without result. In his +eagerness he forgot his fears, and with eyes bent down the well fished +slowly and carefully. Twice the hook became entangled in something, and +was with difficulty released. It caught a third time, and all his +efforts failed' to free it. Then he dropped the line down the well, +and with head bent walked toward the house. + +He went first to the stables at the rear, and then retiring to his room +for some time paced restlessly up and down. Then without removing his +clothes he flung himself upon the bed and fell into a troubled sleep. + + +III. + +Long before anybody else was astir he arose and stole softly downstairs. +The sunlight was stealing in at every crevice, and flashing in long +streaks across the darkened rooms. The dining-room into which he looked +struck chill and cheerless in the dark yellow light which came through +the lowered blinds. He remembered that it had the same appearance when +his father lay dead in the house; now, as then, everything seemed ghastly +and unreal; the very chairs standing as their occupants had left them the +night before seemed to be indulging in some dark communication of ideas. + +Slowly and noiselessly he opened the hall door and passed into the +fragrant air beyond. The sun was shining on the drenched grass and +trees, and a slowly vanishing white mist rolled like smoke about the +grounds. For a moment he stood, breathing deeply the sweet air of the +morning, and then walked slowly in the direction of the stables. + +The rusty creaking of a pump-handle and a spatter of water upon the +red-tiled courtyard showed that somebody else was astir, and a few steps +farther he beheld a brawny, sandy-haired man gasping wildly under severe +self-infliction at the pump. + +"Everything ready, George?" he asked quietly. + +"Yes, sir," said the man, straightening up suddenly and touching his +forehead. "Bob's just finishing the arrangements inside. It's a lovely +morning for a dip. The water in that well must be just icy." + +"Be as quick as you can," said Benson, impatiently. + +"Very good, sir," said George, burnishing his face harshly with a very +small towel which had been hanging over the top of the pump. "Hurry up, +Bob." + +In answer to his summons a man appeared at the door of the stable with a +coil of stout rope over his arm and a large metal candlestick in his +hand. + +"Just to try the air, sir," said George, following his master's glance, +"a well gets rather foul sometimes, but if a candle can live down it, a +man can." + +His master nodded, and the man, hastily pulling up the neck of his shirt +and thrusting his arms into his coat, followed him as he led the way +slowly to the well. + +"Beg pardon, sir," said George, drawing up to his side, "but you are not +looking over and above well this morning. If you'll let me go down I'd +enjoy the bath." + +"No, no," said Benson, peremptorily. + +"You ain't fit to go down, sir," persisted his follower. "I've never +seen you look so before. Now if--" + +"Mind your business," said his master curtly. + +George became silent and the three walked with swinging strides through +the long wet grass to the well. Bob flung the rope on the ground and at +a sign from his master handed him the candlestick. + +"Here's the line for it, sir," said Bob, fumbling in his pockets. + +Benson took it from him and slowly tied it to the candlestick. Then he +placed it on the edge of the well, and striking a match, lit the candle +and began slowly to lower it. + +"Hold hard, sir," said George, quickly, laying his hand on his arm, "you +must tilt it or the string'll burn through." + +Even as he spoke the string parted and the candlestick fell into the +water below. + +Benson swore quietly. + +"I'll soon get another," said George, starting up. + +"Never mind, the well's all right," said Benson. + +"It won't take a moment, sir," said the other over his shoulder. + +"Are you master here, or am I?" said Benson hoarsely. + +George came back slowly, a glance at his master's face stopping the +protest upon his tongue, and he stood by watching him sulkily as he sat +on the well and removed his outer garments. Both men watched him +curiously, as having completed his preparations he stood grim and silent +with his hands by his sides. + +"I wish you'd let me go, sir," said George, plucking up courage to +address him. "You ain't fit to go, you've got a chill or something. I +shouldn't wonder it's the typhoid. They've got it in the village bad." + +For a moment Benson looked at him angrily, then his gaze softened. "Not +this time, George," he said, quietly. He took the looped end of the rope +and placed it under his arms, and sitting down threw one leg over the +side of the well. + +"How are you going about it, sir?" queried George, laying hold of the +rope and signing to Bob to do the same. + +"I'll call out when I reach the water," said Benson; "then pay out three +yards more quickly so that I can get to the bottom." + +"Very good, sir," answered both. + +Their master threw the other leg over the coping and sat motionless. His +back was turned toward the men as he sat with head bent, looking down the +shaft. He sat for so long that George became uneasy. + +"All right, sir?" he inquired. + +"Yes," said Benson, slowly. "If I tug at the rope, George, pull up at +once. Lower away." + +The rope passed steadily through their hands until a hollow cry from the +darkness below and a faint splashing warned them that he had reached the +water. They gave him three yards more and stood with relaxed grasp and +strained ears, waiting. + +"He's gone under," said Bob in a low voice. + +The other nodded, and moistening his huge palms took a firmer grip of the +rope. + +Fully a minute passed, and the men began to exchange uneasy glances. +Then a sudden tremendous jerk followed by a series of feebler ones nearly +tore the rope from their grasp. + +"Pull!" shouted George, placing one foot on the side and hauling +desperately. "Pull! pull! He's stuck fast; he's not coming; PULL!" + +In response to their terrific exertions the rope came slowly in, inch by +inch, until at length a violent splashing was heard, and at the same +moment a scream of unutterable horror came echoing up the shaft. + +"What a weight he is !" panted Bob. "He's stuck fast or something. +Keep still, sir; for heaven's sake, keep still." + +For the taut rope was being jerked violently by the struggles of the +weight at the end of it. Both men with grunts and sighs hauled it in +foot by foot. + +"All right, sir," cried George, cheerfully. + +He had one foot against the well, and was pulling manfully; the burden +was nearing the top. A long pull and a strong pull, and the face of a +dead man with mud in the eyes and nostrils came peering over the edge. +Behind it was the ghastly face of his master; but this he saw too late, +for with a great cry he let go his hold of the rope and stepped back. +The suddenness overthrew his assistant, and the rope tore through his +hands. There was a frightful splash. + +"You fool!" stammered Bob, and ran to the well helplessly. + +"Run!" cried George. "Run for another line." + +He bent over the coping and called eagerly down as his assistant sped +back to the stables shouting wildly. His voice re-echoed down the shaft, +but all else was silence. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Well, by W.W. 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