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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23410-0.txt b/23410-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..952129b --- /dev/null +++ b/23410-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,971 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +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 Spinster + 1905 + +Author: Robert Hichens + +Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23410] +Last Updated: September 24, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE SPINSTER + +By Robert Hichens + +Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers + +Copyright, 1905 + + +I had arrived at Inley Abbey that afternoon, and was sitting at dinner +with Inley and his pretty wife, whom I had not seen for five years, +since the day I was his best man, when we all heard faintly the tolling +of a church bell. Lady Inley shook her shoulders in a rather exaggerated +shudder. + +“Someone dead!” said her husband. + +“It’s a mistake to build a church in the grounds of a house,” Lady Inley +said in her clear, drawling soprano voice. “That noise gives me the +blues.” + +“Whom can it be for?” asked Inley. + +“Miss Bassett, probably,” Lady Inley replied carelessly, helping herself +to a bonbon from a little silver dish. + +Inley started. + +“Miss Sarah Bassett! What makes you think so?” + +“Oh, while you were away in town she got ill. Didn’t you know?” + +“No,” said Inley. + +I could see that he was moved. His dark, short face had changed +suddenly, and he stopped eating his fruit. Lady Inley went on crunching +the bonbon between her little white teeth with all the enjoyment of a +pretty marmoset. + +“Influenza,” she said airily. “And then pneumonia. Of course, at her +age, you know---- By the way, what is her age, Nino?” + +“No idea,” said Inley shortly. + +He was listening to the dim and monotonous sound of the church bell. + +Lady Inley turned to me with the childish, confidential movement which +men considered one of her many charms. + +“Miss Bassett is, or was, one of those funny old spinsters who always +look the same and always ridiculous. Dry twigs, you know. One size all +the way down. Very little hair, and no emotions. If it weren’t for the +sake of cats, one would wonder why such people are born. But they’re +always cat-lovers. I suppose that’s why they’re so often called old +cats.” + +She uttered a little high-pitched laugh, and got up. + +“Don’t be too long,” she said to me carelessly as I opened the +dining-room door for her. “I want to sing ‘Ohé Charmette’ to you. + +“I won’t be long,” I answered, thinking what exquisite eyes she had. + +She turned, and went out in her delicious, thin way. No wonder she had +made skeletons the rage in London. When I came back to the dinner-table +Inley was sitting with both his brown hands clenched on the cloth. His +black eyes--inherited from his dead mother, who had been one of the +Neapolitan aristocracy--were glittering. + +“What is it, Nino?” I asked as I sat down. + +We had been such intimate friends that even my five years’ absence +abroad had not built up a barrier between us. + +“I wonder if it is Miss Bassett?” he said, looking at me earnestly. + +“But was she a great friend of yours?” I said. “If Lady Inley’s +description of her is accurate, I can hardly imagine so.” + +“Vere doesn’t know what she’s saying.” + +“Then Miss Bassett----” + +“Oh, she does look like that; dried up, unemotional, tame, English, even +comic.” + +“The regular spinster, eh?” + +“She looks it. But, damn it all, Vere has no business to say she has no +emotions, to wonder why such people are born. But she doesn’t know--Vere +doesn’t know.” + +His agitation grew, and was inexplicable to me. But I knew Inley, knew +that he was bound to tell me what was on his mind. He could be reserved, +but not with me. So I took a cigar, cut the end off it deliberately, +struck a match, lighted it, and began to smoke in silence. He followed +my example quickly, and then said: + +“Vere talks like that, and, but for Miss Bassett, Vere would have been +murdered two years ago.” + +I started, and dropped my cigar on the table. + +“Murdered!” + +“Yes; and I----” + +He fixed his eyes on me, and put his hand up to his throat. Nino was +half Neapolitan, and I saw a man being hanged. I picked up my cigar with +a hand that slightly shook. + +“But,” I said, “I always thought Lady Inley and you were very happy +together.” + +It sounded banal, even ridiculous, but I hardly knew what to say. I was +startled. The tolling of the bell, too, was getting on my nerves. + +“One doesn’t write such things,” he said. “You’ve been abroad for +years.” + +“It’s all right now?” + +He nodded. + +“I suppose so. Vere has never had the least suspicion.” + +He drew his chair closer to mine, and was about to go on speaking when +the servants came in with the coffee. + +“Who’s the bell tolling for, Hurst?” he said to the butler. + +“I couldn’t say, my lord.” + +When the servants had gone Inley continued, at first in a calmer voice: + +“Miss Bassett lived in the red cottage just beyond the gate of the South +Lodge from time immemorial. You generally came to us in Scotland, I +know, but I should think you must have seen her.” + +Suddenly a recollection flashed upon me--a recollection of a long, flat +figure, a drab face, thin hair coming away from a wrinkled forehead +under a mushroom hat, flapping, old-fashioned golden earrings. + +“Not the person I used to call ‘the Plank’?” I said. + +“Did you?” + +He thought for a moment. + +“Yes; I believe you did-. I’d forgotten.” + +“She was always in church twenty minutes before the service began, and +always dropped her hymn-book coming out if there were visitors in the +Abbey pew!” + +“Yes, yes; that’s it. Miss Bassett is very nervous in little ways.” + +“I remember her now perfectly. And you say she----” + +I looked at him, and hesitated. + +“She saved Vere’s life and, indirectly, mine. I’ll tell you now we’re +together again at last. I shall never tell Vere.” + +He looked towards the windows, across which dark blue silk curtains were +drawn, as if he could see the passing-bell swinging in the old square +tower. Then he turned to me. + +“You know how mad I was about Vere. It’s always like that with me. +Unless I’m stone I’m fire. After we were married I got even madder. +Having her all to myself was like enchantment, and in Italy, too, my +other native land.” + +I thought of Lady Inley’s eyes. + +“I can understand,” I said. + +“Of course, when we got back it had to be different. Friends came +in, and she was run after and admired and written about. You know the +publicity of life in modern London.” + +“City of public-houses and society spies.” + +“I bore it, because it’s supposed to be the thing. And Vere rather likes +it, somehow. So I let her have her fun, as long as it was fun. I didn’t +intend it should ever be anything else.” + +He frowned. When he did that, and his thick eyebrows nearly met, he +looked all Italian. + +“We did the usual things--Paris, Ascot, Scotland, and so on--till Vere +had to lie up.” + +“Your boy?” + +“Yes; Hugo came along. I was glad when that was over. I thought she was +going to die. You knew Seymour Glynd?” + +“Life Guards? Killed hunting a year ago?” + +Inley nodded. + +“He was a great deal with us soon after Hugo’s birth. I thought nothing +of it. I’d known the fellow all my life. But then one nearly always +has.” + +He laughed bitterly. + +“To cut that part short, two years ago in autumn we had Glynd staying +with us down here for shooting. There were some others, of course--Mrs. +Jack, Bobbie Elphinton, and Lady Bobbie--but you know the lot.” + +“I did.” + +“Ah,” he said, “you’ve been well out of it these years. Well, the shoot +was to break up on a Friday, and I’d arranged to go to town that day +with the rest. Vere didn’t intend to come. She said she was feeling +tired, and was going to have a Friday to Monday rest cure. That’s the +thing, you know, nowadays. You get a Swedish _masseuse_ down to stay, +and go to bed and drink milk. Vere had engaged a _masseuse_ to come on +the Friday night. On the Thursday, the day before we were all going to +town, Glynd hurt his foot getting over a fence into a turnip field--at +least I thought so.” + +He stopped. + +“Everyone thought so, I believe--except, of course, Vere. I wonder if +they did, though?” he added moodily. “Or whether I was the only--But +what does it matter now? Glynd said he only wanted a couple of days’ +rest to be all right again, and asked me if he might stay on at the +Abbey till the Monday. Of course I said ‘Yes; if he wouldn’t want a +hostess.’ Because Vere said to me, when she heard of it, that she must +have her rest cure all the same. Glynd swore he’d be quite happy alone. +So he stayed, and the rest of us came up to town on the Friday. Well, +on the Saturday morning I was walking across the park when I met the +Swedish _massense_ who was to have gone down to Vere on the Friday +night. I knew her, because Vere had often had her before in London. +‘Hullo!’ I said. ‘You ought to be down at Inley Abbey with my wife.’ +‘No, my lord,’ she said. ‘Why not?’ ‘I’ve had a wire from Lady Inley not +to go.’ ‘A wire!’ I said. ‘When did you get it?’ ‘On Thursday night, my +lord.’ You mean last night?’ I said, thinking Vere must have changed her +mind after we had left. ‘No,’ said the woman; ‘on Thursday night, late.’ +Then I remembered that, after Glynd had hurt his foot and asked to stay, +Vere had gone out alone for a drive in her cart, to get a last breath of +air before the rest cure. She must have sent the telegram herself then. +All of a sudden I seemed to understand a lot of things.’” + +He had let his cigar out, and now he noticed that he had. He tossed it +into the fire. + +“I said, ‘Good-morning’ to the woman quite quietly, went back to the +house, and told my man I shouldn’t be at home that night.” + +He put his hand on my arm. + +“I felt perfectly calm. Wasn’t that strange?” + +I nodded. + +“There was a train from town reaching Ashdridge Station at nine o’clock +at night. I took it. I didn’t care to go to Inley Station, where +everybody would know me, and wonder what I was up to. I didn’t take any +luggage. My man asked if he should pack, and I said ‘No.’ I didn’t dine. +I was at Pad-dington three-quarters of an hour before the train was +due to start. At last it came in to the platform. Going down I read the +evening papers just like any man going home from business. Soon after we +got away from London I saw there was rain on the carriage windows. That +seemed to me right. We were a little late at Ashdridge. It was still +wet, and I had my coat collar turned up. I don’t believe they recognised +me there. I set out to walk to Inley.” + +“What did you mean to do?” + +“I told you before.” + +I looked into his face, and believed him. Then I thought of Lady Inley’s +childish, delicate beauty, of her slightly affected manner, the manner +of a woman who has always been spoilt, whose paths have been made very +smooth. And here she was living, apparently happily, with a man who had +deliberately travelled down in the night to kill her. How ignorant we +are! + +“You are condemning me,” Inley said, with a touch of hot anger. + +“I was only thinking----” + +“Yes?” + +“That we don’t know each other much in the greatest intimacy.” + +“That’s what I thought then.” + +He said that in a way which suddenly put me on his side. He must +have seen the change in my feelings, for he went on, with his former +unreserve: + +“I walked fast in the dark. I didn’t think very much, but I remember +that all the trees--there’s a lot of woodland, you know, between +Ashdridge and Inley--seemed alive. Everything seemed to me to be alive +that night. I’ve never had that sensation before or since.” + +I realised what the condition of the man had been when he said that, as +if I were a doctor and a patient had told me the symptom which put me in +possession of his malady. + +“When I reached Inley it was late, and the long village street was +deserted. There were lights in the inn and in the schoolmaster’s house, +but there were no people about. I got through without meeting a soul, +and came on towards the gates of the Abbey.” + +“You meant to go into the house?” + +“Yes. I was sure--somehow I was sure; but I intended to see before I +acted, merely for my own justification. But I was quite sure, as if +Vere herself had told me everything. Soon after I had got clear of the +village I heard a sound of wheels behind me. I stood up against the +hedge, and in a minute or two a fly passed me going slowly. I saw the +driver’s face. It wasn’t a man from Inley. Evidently the fly had come +from a distance. It was splashed with mud, and the horse looked tired. +I followed it till it came to the turning just below Miss Bassett’s +cottage, where there’s a narrow lane going to Charfield through the +woods. It went a little way down this lane, and stopped. I waited at the +turning. I could see the light from the lamps shining on the wet road, +and in the circle of light the driver’s breath. He bent down, and I saw +him looking at a big silver watch. Then he put it back. But he didn’t +drive on. I knew what he was waiting for. Vere was going with--with +Glynd. That was more than I had ever thought of, that she would go. I +put my hand into my pocket, took out my revolver, and went on till I was +close to the red cottage. By this time the rain had stopped. I came up +to within a few yards of the Abbey gates, stood for a moment, and then +returned till I was at the wicket of Miss Bassett’s garden. It’s bounded +by a yew hedge, beyond which there is a path shaded by mulberry-trees. +The hedge is low. The path is dark. It was a blackguardly thing to do, +but I thought of nothing except myself, my wrong, and how I was to wipe +it out. I opened the wicket, came into the path, and stood there under +the mulberry-trees behind the hedge. Here I was in cover, and could see +the road. I held my revolver in my hand, and waited. It never struck me +that Miss Bassett might be up. I saw no light in the cottage, and I had +a sort of idea that people like her went to bed at about eight. While +I was standing there listening I felt something rub against my legs. It +made me start. Then I heard a little low noise. I looked down, and +there was a great cat holding up its tail and purring. Its pleasure was +horrible to me. I pushed it away with my foot, but it came back, bending +down its head, arching its back, and pressing against me. I was thinking +what to do to get rid of it when I heard a shrill, husky voice call out: + +“‘Johnny--John-nee!’ + +“It was Miss Bassett. I held my breath, and pushed away the cat. + +“‘Johnny, Johnny--John-nee!’ went the voice again. + +“The cat wouldn’t leave me. God knows why it wished to stay. I was +determined to get rid of it, so I put the revolver down on the path, +picked the cat up in my arms, and dropped it over the hedge into the +road. Just as I had caught up the revolver again I was confronted by +Miss Bassett. She had come in slippers up the path in the dark to look +for her cat.” + +I uttered a slight exclamation. + +Inley went on: “She had a handkerchief tied over her cap and under her +chin, and a small lantern in her hands, on which she wore black mittens. +I can see her now. We stood there on the path for a minute staring at +each other without a word. The light from the lantern flickered over the +revolver, and I saw Miss Bassett look down at it.” + +He stopped, poured out a glass of water, and drank it off like a man who +has been running. + +“Didn’t she show surprise--fear?” I asked. + +“Not a bit. Women are so extraordinary, even old women who’ve never been +in touch with life, that I’m certain now she understood directly her +eyes fell on the revolver.” + +“What did she do?” + +“After a minute she said: ‘Lord Inley, I’m looking for my cat. Have you +seen him?’ + +“‘Yes,’ I said; ‘he’s run into the house.’ + +“It was a lie, but I wanted her to go in. I had slipped the revolver +back into my pocket, and tried to assume a perfectly simple, natural +air. I fancied it would be very easy to impose on Miss Bassett when I +heard her question. It sounded so innocent, as if the old lady was full +of her pet. I even thought, perhaps, she had not known what the revolver +was when she looked at it. + +“‘Did he run into the house?’ she said, still looking at me from under +her wrinkled eyelids. + +“‘Yes; when you came out. He was here on the path with me. You called +“Johnny!” and he ran off there between the mulberry-trees.’ + +“All the time I was speaking to her I had an eye to the road, and my +ears were listening like an Indian’s when he puts his head to the ground +to hear the pad of his enemy. + +“Miss Bassett stood there quietly for a moment as if she were +considering something. She looked prim. I remember that even now--prim +as a caricature. It was only a moment, but it seemed to me an hour. ‘If +they should come,’ I thought, ‘while she is out here!’ The sweat came +out all over my face with impatience--an agony of impatience. I longed +to take the old lady by the shoulders, push her into the cottage, lock +her in, and be alone, able to watch the bit of road from the Abbey gates +to the wicket. But I could do nothing. I was obliged to repress every +sign of agitation. It was devilish.” + +He got up with a sudden jerk from his chair, and stood by the fire. Even +the telling of that moment had set beads of moisture on his square, low +forehead. + +“At last she spoke again. + +“‘I wonder if you’d mind coming in for a minute to help me see if Johnny +really is in the house?’ she said. + +“I don’t know what I should have done--refused, I believe, refused her +with an oath, for I began to feel mad; but just at that instant up came +the cat once more, purring like fury, and lifting up his tail. He made +straight for me, and began to rub himself against my legs again. + +“‘Oh!’ said Miss Bassett, ‘there he is! Naughty Johnny, naughty boy! +Lord Inley, perhaps you’d be so good as just to lif t him up and put him +inside the door for me. I always have such a job to get him to come +in of a night. He likes hunting in the woods. Doesn’t he, the naughty +Johnny?’ + +“‘Now’s my chance to get rid of her!’ I thought. + +“I bent down, picked the cat up, and went along the path towards the +cottage, Miss Bassett following close behind me. The cat was an immense +beast, awfully heavy, and just as I turned out of the yew path to go up +to the cottage door he began struggling to get away, and scratching. +I held on to him, but it wasn’t easy, and I got my hand torn before +I dropped him down inside the little hall. Away he ran, towards the +kitchen, I suppose. Miss Bassett was very grateful, but I cut her +gratitude short. + +“‘Very glad to have been able to help you,’ I said. ‘Good-night.’ + +“‘Good-night, Lord Inley,’ she said. + +“I thought her voice sounded a little bit odd when she said that, and +I just glanced at her funny old face, lit up by the lantern she was +holding in one mittened hand. She didn’t look at me this time as she had +in the garden. Then I went out, and she immediately shut the door. + +“‘Thank God!’ I thought, and I hurried to the wicket. I didn’t dare stay +in the garden now. Seeing her had made me realise my blackguardism in +coming in at all, considering my reason. I resolved to hide in the field +at the corner where the road turns off to Charfield. As I opened the +wicket, instinctively I put my hand into my pocket for my revolver.” + +He bent down, looking full into my eyes. + +“It wasn’t there.” + +“Miss Bassett!” I exclaimed. + +“In a moment I realised that Miss Bassett must have grasped the +situation; that her asking me to carry in her cat was a ruse, and that +while the beast was struggling between my hands she must have stolen +the revolver from behind. I say I knew that, and yet even then, when I +thought of her look, her manner, the sort of nervous old thing she was, +I couldn’t believe what I knew. Then I remembered her voice when she +said ‘Good-night’ to me in the passage, her eyes looking down instead of +at me, and that she was only holding the lantern in one hand, whereas +in the garden she was using two. She must have had the revolver in +her other hand concealed in the folds of her dress. I ran back to the +cottage door, and knocked--hard. Not that I thought she’d open. I knew +she wouldn’t, but she did directly. I could hardly speak. I was afraid +of myself just then. At last I said: + +“‘Miss Bassett, you know what I want.’ + +“‘You can’t have it,’ she said, looking straight at me. + +“I kept quiet for a second, then I said: + +“‘Miss Bassett, I don’t think you know that you’re running into danger.’ +For I felt that there was danger for her then if she went against me. +She knew it, too, perhaps better than I did. I saw her poor old hands, +all blue veins, beginning to tremble. + +“‘You can’t have it, Lord Inley,’ she repeated. + +“There wasn’t the ghost of a quiver in her voice. + +“‘I must, I will!’ I said, and I made a movement towards her--a violent +movement I know it was. + +“But the old thing stood her ground. Oh, she was a gallant old woman. + +“‘Do what you like to me,’ she said. ‘I’m old. What does it matter? +She’s young.’ + +“Then I knew she understood. + +“‘You’ve seen them together!’ I said. ‘Since I went!’ + +“She wouldn’t say. Not a word. I was mad. I forgot decency, everything. +I took her. I searched her for the revolver. I searched her roughly--God +forgive me. She trembled horribly, but never said a word. It wasn’t on +her. She must have hidden it somewhere in that moment when she was alone +in the cottage. That was another ruse to keep me searching in there +while-- But I saw it almost directly. I broke away, and rushed out and +down the road. Something seemed to tell me they had passed. I got into +the lane that leads to Charfield. The fly was gone. Then, all of a +sudden, I felt perfectly calm. I turned, and went up to the Abbey gates. +I knocked them up at the lodge. The keeper came out. When he saw me he +said: + +“‘You, my lord! However did you know?’ + +“‘Go on!’ I said. ‘Know what?’ + +“‘About Master Hugo?’ + +“I didn’t say one way or the other. + +“‘The doctor says it’s a bitter bad quinsy, but there’s just a chance. +Her ladyship’s nearly mad. It only came on a few hours ago quite +sudden.’ + +“I went up to the Abbey, and found Vere by the child’s bed. She looked +flushed, and was breathing hard, as if she had just been running.” + +He stopped, and took out his cigar-case. + +“Running!” I said. + +“She had parted finally from Glynd in front of Miss Bassett’s cottage,” + he said. “He told me that afterwards.” + +There was a moment’s silence. Then he spoke more calmly. + +“I went up to town when the child was safe, and had it out with Glynd. +They had meant to go that night. It was the boy who stopped them and +they took it as a judgment. You know how women are. Glynd swore she was +stopped in time. You understand?” + +“Yes.” + +“He didn’t lie to me.” + +“And your wife?” + +“I never spoke of it to her. I saw her with the boy, and--well, I saw +her with the boy, and what she was to him when he was close to death.” + +His voice went for a moment. Then he added: + +“I told her I’d had a presentiment Hugo was ill. She believed me, I +think. If not, she’s kept her secret.” + +Just then the dining-room door opened, and Lady Inley put in her pretty +head. + +“Are you never coming?” she said with her little childish drawl. + +I got up, and went towards her. + +“By the way, Nino,” she added, “the bell was for poor, funny old Miss +Bassett. What will her cat do, I wonder?” + +As I followed her towards the drawing-room I heard Inley’s voice mutter +behind me: + +“_Requiescat in Pace_.” + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 23410-0.txt or 23410-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/4/1/23410/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23410-0.zip b/23410-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c0599a --- /dev/null +++ b/23410-0.zip diff --git a/23410-8.txt b/23410-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7eb33d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/23410-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,970 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +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 Spinster + 1905 + +Author: Robert Hichens + +Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23410] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE SPINSTER + +By Robert Hichens + +Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers + +Copyright, 1905 + + +I had arrived at Inley Abbey that afternoon, and was sitting at dinner +with Inley and his pretty wife, whom I had not seen for five years, +since the day I was his best man, when we all heard faintly the tolling +of a church bell. Lady Inley shook her shoulders in a rather exaggerated +shudder. + +"Someone dead!" said her husband. + +"It's a mistake to build a church in the grounds of a house," Lady Inley +said in her clear, drawling soprano voice. "That noise gives me the +blues." + +"Whom can it be for?" asked Inley. + +"Miss Bassett, probably," Lady Inley replied carelessly, helping herself +to a bonbon from a little silver dish. + +Inley started. + +"Miss Sarah Bassett! What makes you think so?" + +"Oh, while you were away in town she got ill. Didn't you know?" + +"No," said Inley. + +I could see that he was moved. His dark, short face had changed +suddenly, and he stopped eating his fruit. Lady Inley went on crunching +the bonbon between her little white teeth with all the enjoyment of a +pretty marmoset. + +"Influenza," she said airily. "And then pneumonia. Of course, at her +age, you know---- By the way, what is her age, Nino?" + +"No idea," said Inley shortly. + +He was listening to the dim and monotonous sound of the church bell. + +Lady Inley turned to me with the childish, confidential movement which +men considered one of her many charms. + +"Miss Bassett is, or was, one of those funny old spinsters who always +look the same and always ridiculous. Dry twigs, you know. One size all +the way down. Very little hair, and no emotions. If it weren't for the +sake of cats, one would wonder why such people are born. But they're +always cat-lovers. I suppose that's why they're so often called old +cats." + +She uttered a little high-pitched laugh, and got up. + +"Don't be too long," she said to me carelessly as I opened the +dining-room door for her. "I want to sing 'Oh Charmette' to you. + +"I won't be long," I answered, thinking what exquisite eyes she had. + +She turned, and went out in her delicious, thin way. No wonder she had +made skeletons the rage in London. When I came back to the dinner-table +Inley was sitting with both his brown hands clenched on the cloth. His +black eyes--inherited from his dead mother, who had been one of the +Neapolitan aristocracy--were glittering. + +"What is it, Nino?" I asked as I sat down. + +We had been such intimate friends that even my five years' absence +abroad had not built up a barrier between us. + +"I wonder if it is Miss Bassett?" he said, looking at me earnestly. + +"But was she a great friend of yours?" I said. "If Lady Inley's +description of her is accurate, I can hardly imagine so." + +"Vere doesn't know what she's saying." + +"Then Miss Bassett----" + +"Oh, she does look like that; dried up, unemotional, tame, English, even +comic." + +"The regular spinster, eh?" + +"She looks it. But, damn it all, Vere has no business to say she has no +emotions, to wonder why such people are born. But she doesn't know--Vere +doesn't know." + +His agitation grew, and was inexplicable to me. But I knew Inley, knew +that he was bound to tell me what was on his mind. He could be reserved, +but not with me. So I took a cigar, cut the end off it deliberately, +struck a match, lighted it, and began to smoke in silence. He followed +my example quickly, and then said: + +"Vere talks like that, and, but for Miss Bassett, Vere would have been +murdered two years ago." + +I started, and dropped my cigar on the table. + +"Murdered!" + +"Yes; and I----" + +He fixed his eyes on me, and put his hand up to his throat. Nino was +half Neapolitan, and I saw a man being hanged. I picked up my cigar with +a hand that slightly shook. + +"But," I said, "I always thought Lady Inley and you were very happy +together." + +It sounded banal, even ridiculous, but I hardly knew what to say. I was +startled. The tolling of the bell, too, was getting on my nerves. + +"One doesn't write such things," he said. "You've been abroad for +years." + +"It's all right now?" + +He nodded. + +"I suppose so. Vere has never had the least suspicion." + +He drew his chair closer to mine, and was about to go on speaking when +the servants came in with the coffee. + +"Who's the bell tolling for, Hurst?" he said to the butler. + +"I couldn't say, my lord." + +When the servants had gone Inley continued, at first in a calmer voice: + +"Miss Bassett lived in the red cottage just beyond the gate of the South +Lodge from time immemorial. You generally came to us in Scotland, I +know, but I should think you must have seen her." + +Suddenly a recollection flashed upon me--a recollection of a long, flat +figure, a drab face, thin hair coming away from a wrinkled forehead +under a mushroom hat, flapping, old-fashioned golden earrings. + +"Not the person I used to call 'the Plank'?" I said. + +"Did you?" + +He thought for a moment. + +"Yes; I believe you did-. I'd forgotten." + +"She was always in church twenty minutes before the service began, and +always dropped her hymn-book coming out if there were visitors in the +Abbey pew!" + +"Yes, yes; that's it. Miss Bassett is very nervous in little ways." + +"I remember her now perfectly. And you say she----" + +I looked at him, and hesitated. + +"She saved Vere's life and, indirectly, mine. I'll tell you now we're +together again at last. I shall never tell Vere." + +He looked towards the windows, across which dark blue silk curtains were +drawn, as if he could see the passing-bell swinging in the old square +tower. Then he turned to me. + +"You know how mad I was about Vere. It's always like that with me. +Unless I'm stone I'm fire. After we were married I got even madder. +Having her all to myself was like enchantment, and in Italy, too, my +other native land." + +I thought of Lady Inley's eyes. + +"I can understand," I said. + +"Of course, when we got back it had to be different. Friends came +in, and she was run after and admired and written about. You know the +publicity of life in modern London." + +"City of public-houses and society spies." + +"I bore it, because it's supposed to be the thing. And Vere rather likes +it, somehow. So I let her have her fun, as long as it was fun. I didn't +intend it should ever be anything else." + +He frowned. When he did that, and his thick eyebrows nearly met, he +looked all Italian. + +"We did the usual things--Paris, Ascot, Scotland, and so on--till Vere +had to lie up." + +"Your boy?" + +"Yes; Hugo came along. I was glad when that was over. I thought she was +going to die. You knew Seymour Glynd?" + +"Life Guards? Killed hunting a year ago?" + +Inley nodded. + +"He was a great deal with us soon after Hugo's birth. I thought nothing +of it. I'd known the fellow all my life. But then one nearly always +has." + +He laughed bitterly. + +"To cut that part short, two years ago in autumn we had Glynd staying +with us down here for shooting. There were some others, of course--Mrs. +Jack, Bobbie Elphinton, and Lady Bobbie--but you know the lot." + +"I did." + +"Ah," he said, "you've been well out of it these years. Well, the shoot +was to break up on a Friday, and I'd arranged to go to town that day +with the rest. Vere didn't intend to come. She said she was feeling +tired, and was going to have a Friday to Monday rest cure. That's the +thing, you know, nowadays. You get a Swedish _masseuse_ down to stay, +and go to bed and drink milk. Vere had engaged a _masseuse_ to come on +the Friday night. On the Thursday, the day before we were all going to +town, Glynd hurt his foot getting over a fence into a turnip field--at +least I thought so." + +He stopped. + +"Everyone thought so, I believe--except, of course, Vere. I wonder if +they did, though?" he added moodily. "Or whether I was the only--But +what does it matter now? Glynd said he only wanted a couple of days' +rest to be all right again, and asked me if he might stay on at the +Abbey till the Monday. Of course I said 'Yes; if he wouldn't want a +hostess.' Because Vere said to me, when she heard of it, that she must +have her rest cure all the same. Glynd swore he'd be quite happy alone. +So he stayed, and the rest of us came up to town on the Friday. Well, +on the Saturday morning I was walking across the park when I met the +Swedish _massense_ who was to have gone down to Vere on the Friday +night. I knew her, because Vere had often had her before in London. +'Hullo!' I said. 'You ought to be down at Inley Abbey with my wife.' +'No, my lord,' she said. 'Why not?' 'I've had a wire from Lady Inley not +to go.' 'A wire!' I said. 'When did you get it?' 'On Thursday night, my +lord.' You mean last night?' I said, thinking Vere must have changed her +mind after we had left. 'No,' said the woman; 'on Thursday night, late.' +Then I remembered that, after Glynd had hurt his foot and asked to stay, +Vere had gone out alone for a drive in her cart, to get a last breath of +air before the rest cure. She must have sent the telegram herself then. +All of a sudden I seemed to understand a lot of things.'" + +He had let his cigar out, and now he noticed that he had. He tossed it +into the fire. + +"I said, 'Good-morning' to the woman quite quietly, went back to the +house, and told my man I shouldn't be at home that night." + +He put his hand on my arm. + +"I felt perfectly calm. Wasn't that strange?" + +I nodded. + +"There was a train from town reaching Ashdridge Station at nine o'clock +at night. I took it. I didn't care to go to Inley Station, where +everybody would know me, and wonder what I was up to. I didn't take any +luggage. My man asked if he should pack, and I said 'No.' I didn't dine. +I was at Pad-dington three-quarters of an hour before the train was +due to start. At last it came in to the platform. Going down I read the +evening papers just like any man going home from business. Soon after we +got away from London I saw there was rain on the carriage windows. That +seemed to me right. We were a little late at Ashdridge. It was still +wet, and I had my coat collar turned up. I don't believe they recognised +me there. I set out to walk to Inley." + +"What did you mean to do?" + +"I told you before." + +I looked into his face, and believed him. Then I thought of Lady Inley's +childish, delicate beauty, of her slightly affected manner, the manner +of a woman who has always been spoilt, whose paths have been made very +smooth. And here she was living, apparently happily, with a man who had +deliberately travelled down in the night to kill her. How ignorant we +are! + +"You are condemning me," Inley said, with a touch of hot anger. + +"I was only thinking----" + +"Yes?" + +"That we don't know each other much in the greatest intimacy." + +"That's what I thought then." + +He said that in a way which suddenly put me on his side. He must +have seen the change in my feelings, for he went on, with his former +unreserve: + +"I walked fast in the dark. I didn't think very much, but I remember +that all the trees--there's a lot of woodland, you know, between +Ashdridge and Inley--seemed alive. Everything seemed to me to be alive +that night. I've never had that sensation before or since." + +I realised what the condition of the man had been when he said that, as +if I were a doctor and a patient had told me the symptom which put me in +possession of his malady. + +"When I reached Inley it was late, and the long village street was +deserted. There were lights in the inn and in the schoolmaster's house, +but there were no people about. I got through without meeting a soul, +and came on towards the gates of the Abbey." + +"You meant to go into the house?" + +"Yes. I was sure--somehow I was sure; but I intended to see before I +acted, merely for my own justification. But I was quite sure, as if +Vere herself had told me everything. Soon after I had got clear of the +village I heard a sound of wheels behind me. I stood up against the +hedge, and in a minute or two a fly passed me going slowly. I saw the +driver's face. It wasn't a man from Inley. Evidently the fly had come +from a distance. It was splashed with mud, and the horse looked tired. +I followed it till it came to the turning just below Miss Bassett's +cottage, where there's a narrow lane going to Charfield through the +woods. It went a little way down this lane, and stopped. I waited at the +turning. I could see the light from the lamps shining on the wet road, +and in the circle of light the driver's breath. He bent down, and I saw +him looking at a big silver watch. Then he put it back. But he didn't +drive on. I knew what he was waiting for. Vere was going with--with +Glynd. That was more than I had ever thought of, that she would go. I +put my hand into my pocket, took out my revolver, and went on till I was +close to the red cottage. By this time the rain had stopped. I came up +to within a few yards of the Abbey gates, stood for a moment, and then +returned till I was at the wicket of Miss Bassett's garden. It's bounded +by a yew hedge, beyond which there is a path shaded by mulberry-trees. +The hedge is low. The path is dark. It was a blackguardly thing to do, +but I thought of nothing except myself, my wrong, and how I was to wipe +it out. I opened the wicket, came into the path, and stood there under +the mulberry-trees behind the hedge. Here I was in cover, and could see +the road. I held my revolver in my hand, and waited. It never struck me +that Miss Bassett might be up. I saw no light in the cottage, and I had +a sort of idea that people like her went to bed at about eight. While +I was standing there listening I felt something rub against my legs. It +made me start. Then I heard a little low noise. I looked down, and +there was a great cat holding up its tail and purring. Its pleasure was +horrible to me. I pushed it away with my foot, but it came back, bending +down its head, arching its back, and pressing against me. I was thinking +what to do to get rid of it when I heard a shrill, husky voice call out: + +"'Johnny--John-nee!' + +"It was Miss Bassett. I held my breath, and pushed away the cat. + +"'Johnny, Johnny--John-nee!' went the voice again. + +"The cat wouldn't leave me. God knows why it wished to stay. I was +determined to get rid of it, so I put the revolver down on the path, +picked the cat up in my arms, and dropped it over the hedge into the +road. Just as I had caught up the revolver again I was confronted by +Miss Bassett. She had come in slippers up the path in the dark to look +for her cat." + +I uttered a slight exclamation. + +Inley went on: "She had a handkerchief tied over her cap and under her +chin, and a small lantern in her hands, on which she wore black mittens. +I can see her now. We stood there on the path for a minute staring at +each other without a word. The light from the lantern flickered over the +revolver, and I saw Miss Bassett look down at it." + +He stopped, poured out a glass of water, and drank it off like a man who +has been running. + +"Didn't she show surprise--fear?" I asked. + +"Not a bit. Women are so extraordinary, even old women who've never been +in touch with life, that I'm certain now she understood directly her +eyes fell on the revolver." + +"What did she do?" + +"After a minute she said: 'Lord Inley, I'm looking for my cat. Have you +seen him?' + +"'Yes,' I said; 'he's run into the house.' + +"It was a lie, but I wanted her to go in. I had slipped the revolver +back into my pocket, and tried to assume a perfectly simple, natural +air. I fancied it would be very easy to impose on Miss Bassett when I +heard her question. It sounded so innocent, as if the old lady was full +of her pet. I even thought, perhaps, she had not known what the revolver +was when she looked at it. + +"'Did he run into the house?' she said, still looking at me from under +her wrinkled eyelids. + +"'Yes; when you came out. He was here on the path with me. You called +"Johnny!" and he ran off there between the mulberry-trees.' + +"All the time I was speaking to her I had an eye to the road, and my +ears were listening like an Indian's when he puts his head to the ground +to hear the pad of his enemy. + +"Miss Bassett stood there quietly for a moment as if she were +considering something. She looked prim. I remember that even now--prim +as a caricature. It was only a moment, but it seemed to me an hour. 'If +they should come,' I thought, 'while she is out here!' The sweat came +out all over my face with impatience--an agony of impatience. I longed +to take the old lady by the shoulders, push her into the cottage, lock +her in, and be alone, able to watch the bit of road from the Abbey gates +to the wicket. But I could do nothing. I was obliged to repress every +sign of agitation. It was devilish." + +He got up with a sudden jerk from his chair, and stood by the fire. Even +the telling of that moment had set beads of moisture on his square, low +forehead. + +"At last she spoke again. + +"'I wonder if you'd mind coming in for a minute to help me see if Johnny +really is in the house?' she said. + +"I don't know what I should have done--refused, I believe, refused her +with an oath, for I began to feel mad; but just at that instant up came +the cat once more, purring like fury, and lifting up his tail. He made +straight for me, and began to rub himself against my legs again. + +"'Oh!' said Miss Bassett, 'there he is! Naughty Johnny, naughty boy! +Lord Inley, perhaps you'd be so good as just to lif t him up and put him +inside the door for me. I always have such a job to get him to come +in of a night. He likes hunting in the woods. Doesn't he, the naughty +Johnny?' + +"'Now's my chance to get rid of her!' I thought. + +"I bent down, picked the cat up, and went along the path towards the +cottage, Miss Bassett following close behind me. The cat was an immense +beast, awfully heavy, and just as I turned out of the yew path to go up +to the cottage door he began struggling to get away, and scratching. +I held on to him, but it wasn't easy, and I got my hand torn before +I dropped him down inside the little hall. Away he ran, towards the +kitchen, I suppose. Miss Bassett was very grateful, but I cut her +gratitude short. + +"'Very glad to have been able to help you,' I said. 'Good-night.' + +"'Good-night, Lord Inley,' she said. + +"I thought her voice sounded a little bit odd when she said that, and +I just glanced at her funny old face, lit up by the lantern she was +holding in one mittened hand. She didn't look at me this time as she had +in the garden. Then I went out, and she immediately shut the door. + +"'Thank God!' I thought, and I hurried to the wicket. I didn't dare stay +in the garden now. Seeing her had made me realise my blackguardism in +coming in at all, considering my reason. I resolved to hide in the field +at the corner where the road turns off to Charfield. As I opened the +wicket, instinctively I put my hand into my pocket for my revolver." + +He bent down, looking full into my eyes. + +"It wasn't there." + +"Miss Bassett!" I exclaimed. + +"In a moment I realised that Miss Bassett must have grasped the +situation; that her asking me to carry in her cat was a ruse, and that +while the beast was struggling between my hands she must have stolen +the revolver from behind. I say I knew that, and yet even then, when I +thought of her look, her manner, the sort of nervous old thing she was, +I couldn't believe what I knew. Then I remembered her voice when she +said 'Good-night' to me in the passage, her eyes looking down instead of +at me, and that she was only holding the lantern in one hand, whereas +in the garden she was using two. She must have had the revolver in +her other hand concealed in the folds of her dress. I ran back to the +cottage door, and knocked--hard. Not that I thought she'd open. I knew +she wouldn't, but she did directly. I could hardly speak. I was afraid +of myself just then. At last I said: + +"'Miss Bassett, you know what I want.' + +"'You can't have it,' she said, looking straight at me. + +"I kept quiet for a second, then I said: + +"'Miss Bassett, I don't think you know that you're running into danger.' +For I felt that there was danger for her then if she went against me. +She knew it, too, perhaps better than I did. I saw her poor old hands, +all blue veins, beginning to tremble. + +"'You can't have it, Lord Inley,' she repeated. + +"There wasn't the ghost of a quiver in her voice. + +"'I must, I will!' I said, and I made a movement towards her--a violent +movement I know it was. + +"But the old thing stood her ground. Oh, she was a gallant old woman. + +"'Do what you like to me,' she said. 'I'm old. What does it matter? +She's young.' + +"Then I knew she understood. + +"'You've seen them together!' I said. 'Since I went!' + +"She wouldn't say. Not a word. I was mad. I forgot decency, everything. +I took her. I searched her for the revolver. I searched her roughly--God +forgive me. She trembled horribly, but never said a word. It wasn't on +her. She must have hidden it somewhere in that moment when she was alone +in the cottage. That was another ruse to keep me searching in there +while-- But I saw it almost directly. I broke away, and rushed out and +down the road. Something seemed to tell me they had passed. I got into +the lane that leads to Charfield. The fly was gone. Then, all of a +sudden, I felt perfectly calm. I turned, and went up to the Abbey gates. +I knocked them up at the lodge. The keeper came out. When he saw me he +said: + +"'You, my lord! However did you know?' + +"'Go on!' I said. 'Know what?' + +"'About Master Hugo?' + +"I didn't say one way or the other. + +"'The doctor says it's a bitter bad quinsy, but there's just a chance. +Her ladyship's nearly mad. It only came on a few hours ago quite +sudden.' + +"I went up to the Abbey, and found Vere by the child's bed. She looked +flushed, and was breathing hard, as if she had just been running." + +He stopped, and took out his cigar-case. + +"Running!" I said. + +"She had parted finally from Glynd in front of Miss Bassett's cottage," +he said. "He told me that afterwards." + +There was a moment's silence. Then he spoke more calmly. + +"I went up to town when the child was safe, and had it out with Glynd. +They had meant to go that night. It was the boy who stopped them and +they took it as a judgment. You know how women are. Glynd swore she was +stopped in time. You understand?" + +"Yes." + +"He didn't lie to me." + +"And your wife?" + +"I never spoke of it to her. I saw her with the boy, and--well, I saw +her with the boy, and what she was to him when he was close to death." + +His voice went for a moment. Then he added: + +"I told her I'd had a presentiment Hugo was ill. She believed me, I +think. If not, she's kept her secret." + +Just then the dining-room door opened, and Lady Inley put in her pretty +head. + +"Are you never coming?" she said with her little childish drawl. + +I got up, and went towards her. + +"By the way, Nino," she added, "the bell was for poor, funny old Miss +Bassett. What will her cat do, I wonder?" + +As I followed her towards the drawing-room I heard Inley's voice mutter +behind me: + +"_Requiescat in Pace_." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 23410-8.txt or 23410-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/4/1/23410/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Spinster + 1905 + +Author: Robert Hichens + +Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23410] +Last Updated: September 24, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE SPINSTER + </h1> + <h2> + By Robert Hichens + </h2> + <h3> + Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers + </h3> + <h4> + Copyright, 1905 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + I had arrived at Inley Abbey that afternoon, and was sitting at dinner + with Inley and his pretty wife, whom I had not seen for five years, since + the day I was his best man, when we all heard faintly the tolling of a + church bell. Lady Inley shook her shoulders in a rather exaggerated + shudder. + </p> + <p> + “Someone dead!” said her husband. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a mistake to build a church in the grounds of a house,” Lady Inley + said in her clear, drawling soprano voice. “That noise gives me the + blues.” + </p> + <p> + “Whom can it be for?” asked Inley. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett, probably,” Lady Inley replied carelessly, helping herself + to a bonbon from a little silver dish. + </p> + <p> + Inley started. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Sarah Bassett! What makes you think so?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, while you were away in town she got ill. Didn’t you know?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Inley. + </p> + <p> + I could see that he was moved. His dark, short face had changed suddenly, + and he stopped eating his fruit. Lady Inley went on crunching the bonbon + between her little white teeth with all the enjoyment of a pretty + marmoset. + </p> + <p> + “Influenza,” she said airily. “And then pneumonia. Of course, at her age, + you know—— By the way, what is her age, Nino?” + </p> + <p> + “No idea,” said Inley shortly. + </p> + <p> + He was listening to the dim and monotonous sound of the church bell. + </p> + <p> + Lady Inley turned to me with the childish, confidential movement which men + considered one of her many charms. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett is, or was, one of those funny old spinsters who always look + the same and always ridiculous. Dry twigs, you know. One size all the way + down. Very little hair, and no emotions. If it weren’t for the sake of + cats, one would wonder why such people are born. But they’re always + cat-lovers. I suppose that’s why they’re so often called old cats.” + </p> + <p> + She uttered a little high-pitched laugh, and got up. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be too long,” she said to me carelessly as I opened the dining-room + door for her. “I want to sing ‘Ohé Charmette’ to you. + </p> + <p> + “I won’t be long,” I answered, thinking what exquisite eyes she had. + </p> + <p> + She turned, and went out in her delicious, thin way. No wonder she had + made skeletons the rage in London. When I came back to the dinner-table + Inley was sitting with both his brown hands clenched on the cloth. His + black eyes—inherited from his dead mother, who had been one of the + Neapolitan aristocracy—were glittering. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, Nino?” I asked as I sat down. + </p> + <p> + We had been such intimate friends that even my five years’ absence abroad + had not built up a barrier between us. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder if it is Miss Bassett?” he said, looking at me earnestly. + </p> + <p> + “But was she a great friend of yours?” I said. “If Lady Inley’s + description of her is accurate, I can hardly imagine so.” + </p> + <p> + “Vere doesn’t know what she’s saying.” + </p> + <p> + “Then Miss Bassett——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, she does look like that; dried up, unemotional, tame, English, even + comic.” + </p> + <p> + “The regular spinster, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “She looks it. But, damn it all, Vere has no business to say she has no + emotions, to wonder why such people are born. But she doesn’t know—Vere + doesn’t know.” + </p> + <p> + His agitation grew, and was inexplicable to me. But I knew Inley, knew + that he was bound to tell me what was on his mind. He could be reserved, + but not with me. So I took a cigar, cut the end off it deliberately, + struck a match, lighted it, and began to smoke in silence. He followed my + example quickly, and then said: + </p> + <p> + “Vere talks like that, and, but for Miss Bassett, Vere would have been + murdered two years ago.” + </p> + <p> + I started, and dropped my cigar on the table. + </p> + <p> + “Murdered!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and I——” + </p> + <p> + He fixed his eyes on me, and put his hand up to his throat. Nino was half + Neapolitan, and I saw a man being hanged. I picked up my cigar with a hand + that slightly shook. + </p> + <p> + “But,” I said, “I always thought Lady Inley and you were very happy + together.” + </p> + <p> + It sounded banal, even ridiculous, but I hardly knew what to say. I was + startled. The tolling of the bell, too, was getting on my nerves. + </p> + <p> + “One doesn’t write such things,” he said. “You’ve been abroad for years.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s all right now?” + </p> + <p> + He nodded. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so. Vere has never had the least suspicion.” + </p> + <p> + He drew his chair closer to mine, and was about to go on speaking when the + servants came in with the coffee. + </p> + <p> + “Who’s the bell tolling for, Hurst?” he said to the butler. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn’t say, my lord.” + </p> + <p> + When the servants had gone Inley continued, at first in a calmer voice: + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett lived in the red cottage just beyond the gate of the South + Lodge from time immemorial. You generally came to us in Scotland, I know, + but I should think you must have seen her.” + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a recollection flashed upon me—a recollection of a long, + flat figure, a drab face, thin hair coming away from a wrinkled forehead + under a mushroom hat, flapping, old-fashioned golden earrings. + </p> + <p> + “Not the person I used to call ‘the Plank’?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Did you?” + </p> + <p> + He thought for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I believe you did-. I’d forgotten.” + </p> + <p> + “She was always in church twenty minutes before the service began, and + always dropped her hymn-book coming out if there were visitors in the + Abbey pew!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes; that’s it. Miss Bassett is very nervous in little ways.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember her now perfectly. And you say she——” + </p> + <p> + I looked at him, and hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “She saved Vere’s life and, indirectly, mine. I’ll tell you now we’re + together again at last. I shall never tell Vere.” + </p> + <p> + He looked towards the windows, across which dark blue silk curtains were + drawn, as if he could see the passing-bell swinging in the old square + tower. Then he turned to me. + </p> + <p> + “You know how mad I was about Vere. It’s always like that with me. Unless + I’m stone I’m fire. After we were married I got even madder. Having her + all to myself was like enchantment, and in Italy, too, my other native + land.” + </p> + <p> + I thought of Lady Inley’s eyes. + </p> + <p> + “I can understand,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, when we got back it had to be different. Friends came in, and + she was run after and admired and written about. You know the publicity of + life in modern London.” + </p> + <p> + “City of public-houses and society spies.” + </p> + <p> + “I bore it, because it’s supposed to be the thing. And Vere rather likes + it, somehow. So I let her have her fun, as long as it was fun. I didn’t + intend it should ever be anything else.” + </p> + <p> + He frowned. When he did that, and his thick eyebrows nearly met, he looked + all Italian. + </p> + <p> + “We did the usual things—Paris, Ascot, Scotland, and so on—till + Vere had to lie up.” + </p> + <p> + “Your boy?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; Hugo came along. I was glad when that was over. I thought she was + going to die. You knew Seymour Glynd?” + </p> + <p> + “Life Guards? Killed hunting a year ago?” + </p> + <p> + Inley nodded. + </p> + <p> + “He was a great deal with us soon after Hugo’s birth. I thought nothing of + it. I’d known the fellow all my life. But then one nearly always has.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “To cut that part short, two years ago in autumn we had Glynd staying with + us down here for shooting. There were some others, of course—Mrs. + Jack, Bobbie Elphinton, and Lady Bobbie—but you know the lot.” + </p> + <p> + “I did.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” he said, “you’ve been well out of it these years. Well, the shoot + was to break up on a Friday, and I’d arranged to go to town that day with + the rest. Vere didn’t intend to come. She said she was feeling tired, and + was going to have a Friday to Monday rest cure. That’s the thing, you + know, nowadays. You get a Swedish <i>masseuse</i> down to stay, and go to + bed and drink milk. Vere had engaged a <i>masseuse</i> to come on the + Friday night. On the Thursday, the day before we were all going to town, + Glynd hurt his foot getting over a fence into a turnip field—at + least I thought so.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped. + </p> + <p> + “Everyone thought so, I believe—except, of course, Vere. I wonder if + they did, though?” he added moodily. “Or whether I was the only—But + what does it matter now? Glynd said he only wanted a couple of days’ rest + to be all right again, and asked me if he might stay on at the Abbey till + the Monday. Of course I said ‘Yes; if he wouldn’t want a hostess.’ Because + Vere said to me, when she heard of it, that she must have her rest cure + all the same. Glynd swore he’d be quite happy alone. So he stayed, and the + rest of us came up to town on the Friday. Well, on the Saturday morning I + was walking across the park when I met the Swedish <i>massense</i> who was + to have gone down to Vere on the Friday night. I knew her, because Vere + had often had her before in London. ‘Hullo!’ I said. ‘You ought to be down + at Inley Abbey with my wife.’ ‘No, my lord,’ she said. ‘Why not?’ ‘I’ve + had a wire from Lady Inley not to go.’ ‘A wire!’ I said. ‘When did you get + it?’ ‘On Thursday night, my lord.’ You mean last night?’ I said, thinking + Vere must have changed her mind after we had left. ‘No,’ said the woman; + ‘on Thursday night, late.’ Then I remembered that, after Glynd had hurt + his foot and asked to stay, Vere had gone out alone for a drive in her + cart, to get a last breath of air before the rest cure. She must have sent + the telegram herself then. All of a sudden I seemed to understand a lot of + things.’” + </p> + <p> + He had let his cigar out, and now he noticed that he had. He tossed it + into the fire. + </p> + <p> + “I said, ‘Good-morning’ to the woman quite quietly, went back to the + house, and told my man I shouldn’t be at home that night.” + </p> + <p> + He put his hand on my arm. + </p> + <p> + “I felt perfectly calm. Wasn’t that strange?” + </p> + <p> + I nodded. + </p> + <p> + “There was a train from town reaching Ashdridge Station at nine o’clock at + night. I took it. I didn’t care to go to Inley Station, where everybody + would know me, and wonder what I was up to. I didn’t take any luggage. My + man asked if he should pack, and I said ‘No.’ I didn’t dine. I was at + Pad-dington three-quarters of an hour before the train was due to start. + At last it came in to the platform. Going down I read the evening papers + just like any man going home from business. Soon after we got away from + London I saw there was rain on the carriage windows. That seemed to me + right. We were a little late at Ashdridge. It was still wet, and I had my + coat collar turned up. I don’t believe they recognised me there. I set out + to walk to Inley.” + </p> + <p> + “What did you mean to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I told you before.” + </p> + <p> + I looked into his face, and believed him. Then I thought of Lady Inley’s + childish, delicate beauty, of her slightly affected manner, the manner of + a woman who has always been spoilt, whose paths have been made very + smooth. And here she was living, apparently happily, with a man who had + deliberately travelled down in the night to kill her. How ignorant we are! + </p> + <p> + “You are condemning me,” Inley said, with a touch of hot anger. + </p> + <p> + “I was only thinking——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes?” + </p> + <p> + “That we don’t know each other much in the greatest intimacy.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s what I thought then.” + </p> + <p> + He said that in a way which suddenly put me on his side. He must have seen + the change in my feelings, for he went on, with his former unreserve: + </p> + <p> + “I walked fast in the dark. I didn’t think very much, but I remember that + all the trees—there’s a lot of woodland, you know, between Ashdridge + and Inley—seemed alive. Everything seemed to me to be alive that + night. I’ve never had that sensation before or since.” + </p> + <p> + I realised what the condition of the man had been when he said that, as if + I were a doctor and a patient had told me the symptom which put me in + possession of his malady. + </p> + <p> + “When I reached Inley it was late, and the long village street was + deserted. There were lights in the inn and in the schoolmaster’s house, + but there were no people about. I got through without meeting a soul, and + came on towards the gates of the Abbey.” + </p> + <p> + “You meant to go into the house?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I was sure—somehow I was sure; but I intended to see before I + acted, merely for my own justification. But I was quite sure, as if Vere + herself had told me everything. Soon after I had got clear of the village + I heard a sound of wheels behind me. I stood up against the hedge, and in + a minute or two a fly passed me going slowly. I saw the driver’s face. It + wasn’t a man from Inley. Evidently the fly had come from a distance. It + was splashed with mud, and the horse looked tired. I followed it till it + came to the turning just below Miss Bassett’s cottage, where there’s a + narrow lane going to Charfield through the woods. It went a little way + down this lane, and stopped. I waited at the turning. I could see the + light from the lamps shining on the wet road, and in the circle of light + the driver’s breath. He bent down, and I saw him looking at a big silver + watch. Then he put it back. But he didn’t drive on. I knew what he was + waiting for. Vere was going with—with Glynd. That was more than I + had ever thought of, that she would go. I put my hand into my pocket, took + out my revolver, and went on till I was close to the red cottage. By this + time the rain had stopped. I came up to within a few yards of the Abbey + gates, stood for a moment, and then returned till I was at the wicket of + Miss Bassett’s garden. It’s bounded by a yew hedge, beyond which there is + a path shaded by mulberry-trees. The hedge is low. The path is dark. It + was a blackguardly thing to do, but I thought of nothing except myself, my + wrong, and how I was to wipe it out. I opened the wicket, came into the + path, and stood there under the mulberry-trees behind the hedge. Here I + was in cover, and could see the road. I held my revolver in my hand, and + waited. It never struck me that Miss Bassett might be up. I saw no light + in the cottage, and I had a sort of idea that people like her went to bed + at about eight. While I was standing there listening I felt something rub + against my legs. It made me start. Then I heard a little low noise. I + looked down, and there was a great cat holding up its tail and purring. + Its pleasure was horrible to me. I pushed it away with my foot, but it + came back, bending down its head, arching its back, and pressing against + me. I was thinking what to do to get rid of it when I heard a shrill, + husky voice call out: + </p> + <p> + “‘Johnny—John-nee!’ + </p> + <p> + “It was Miss Bassett. I held my breath, and pushed away the cat. + </p> + <p> + “‘Johnny, Johnny—John-nee!’ went the voice again. + </p> + <p> + “The cat wouldn’t leave me. God knows why it wished to stay. I was + determined to get rid of it, so I put the revolver down on the path, + picked the cat up in my arms, and dropped it over the hedge into the road. + Just as I had caught up the revolver again I was confronted by Miss + Bassett. She had come in slippers up the path in the dark to look for her + cat.” + </p> + <p> + I uttered a slight exclamation. + </p> + <p> + Inley went on: “She had a handkerchief tied over her cap and under her + chin, and a small lantern in her hands, on which she wore black mittens. I + can see her now. We stood there on the path for a minute staring at each + other without a word. The light from the lantern flickered over the + revolver, and I saw Miss Bassett look down at it.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, poured out a glass of water, and drank it off like a man who + has been running. + </p> + <p> + “Didn’t she show surprise—fear?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit. Women are so extraordinary, even old women who’ve never been + in touch with life, that I’m certain now she understood directly her eyes + fell on the revolver.” + </p> + <p> + “What did she do?” + </p> + <p> + “After a minute she said: ‘Lord Inley, I’m looking for my cat. Have you + seen him?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ I said; ‘he’s run into the house.’ + </p> + <p> + “It was a lie, but I wanted her to go in. I had slipped the revolver back + into my pocket, and tried to assume a perfectly simple, natural air. I + fancied it would be very easy to impose on Miss Bassett when I heard her + question. It sounded so innocent, as if the old lady was full of her pet. + I even thought, perhaps, she had not known what the revolver was when she + looked at it. + </p> + <p> + “‘Did he run into the house?’ she said, still looking at me from under her + wrinkled eyelids. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes; when you came out. He was here on the path with me. You called + “Johnny!” and he ran off there between the mulberry-trees.’ + </p> + <p> + “All the time I was speaking to her I had an eye to the road, and my ears + were listening like an Indian’s when he puts his head to the ground to + hear the pad of his enemy. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett stood there quietly for a moment as if she were considering + something. She looked prim. I remember that even now—prim as a + caricature. It was only a moment, but it seemed to me an hour. ‘If they + should come,’ I thought, ‘while she is out here!’ The sweat came out all + over my face with impatience—an agony of impatience. I longed to + take the old lady by the shoulders, push her into the cottage, lock her + in, and be alone, able to watch the bit of road from the Abbey gates to + the wicket. But I could do nothing. I was obliged to repress every sign of + agitation. It was devilish.” + </p> + <p> + He got up with a sudden jerk from his chair, and stood by the fire. Even + the telling of that moment had set beads of moisture on his square, low + forehead. + </p> + <p> + “At last she spoke again. + </p> + <p> + “‘I wonder if you’d mind coming in for a minute to help me see if Johnny + really is in the house?’ she said. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know what I should have done—refused, I believe, refused + her with an oath, for I began to feel mad; but just at that instant up + came the cat once more, purring like fury, and lifting up his tail. He + made straight for me, and began to rub himself against my legs again. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh!’ said Miss Bassett, ‘there he is! Naughty Johnny, naughty boy! Lord + Inley, perhaps you’d be so good as just to lif t him up and put him inside + the door for me. I always have such a job to get him to come in of a + night. He likes hunting in the woods. Doesn’t he, the naughty Johnny?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Now’s my chance to get rid of her!’ I thought. + </p> + <p> + “I bent down, picked the cat up, and went along the path towards the + cottage, Miss Bassett following close behind me. The cat was an immense + beast, awfully heavy, and just as I turned out of the yew path to go up to + the cottage door he began struggling to get away, and scratching. I held + on to him, but it wasn’t easy, and I got my hand torn before I dropped him + down inside the little hall. Away he ran, towards the kitchen, I suppose. + Miss Bassett was very grateful, but I cut her gratitude short. + </p> + <p> + “‘Very glad to have been able to help you,’ I said. ‘Good-night.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Good-night, Lord Inley,’ she said. + </p> + <p> + “I thought her voice sounded a little bit odd when she said that, and I + just glanced at her funny old face, lit up by the lantern she was holding + in one mittened hand. She didn’t look at me this time as she had in the + garden. Then I went out, and she immediately shut the door. + </p> + <p> + “‘Thank God!’ I thought, and I hurried to the wicket. I didn’t dare stay + in the garden now. Seeing her had made me realise my blackguardism in + coming in at all, considering my reason. I resolved to hide in the field + at the corner where the road turns off to Charfield. As I opened the + wicket, instinctively I put my hand into my pocket for my revolver.” + </p> + <p> + He bent down, looking full into my eyes. + </p> + <p> + “It wasn’t there.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett!” I exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “In a moment I realised that Miss Bassett must have grasped the situation; + that her asking me to carry in her cat was a ruse, and that while the + beast was struggling between my hands she must have stolen the revolver + from behind. I say I knew that, and yet even then, when I thought of her + look, her manner, the sort of nervous old thing she was, I couldn’t + believe what I knew. Then I remembered her voice when she said + ‘Good-night’ to me in the passage, her eyes looking down instead of at me, + and that she was only holding the lantern in one hand, whereas in the + garden she was using two. She must have had the revolver in her other hand + concealed in the folds of her dress. I ran back to the cottage door, and + knocked—hard. Not that I thought she’d open. I knew she wouldn’t, + but she did directly. I could hardly speak. I was afraid of myself just + then. At last I said: + </p> + <p> + “‘Miss Bassett, you know what I want.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You can’t have it,’ she said, looking straight at me. + </p> + <p> + “I kept quiet for a second, then I said: + </p> + <p> + “‘Miss Bassett, I don’t think you know that you’re running into danger.’ + For I felt that there was danger for her then if she went against me. She + knew it, too, perhaps better than I did. I saw her poor old hands, all + blue veins, beginning to tremble. + </p> + <p> + “‘You can’t have it, Lord Inley,’ she repeated. + </p> + <p> + “There wasn’t the ghost of a quiver in her voice. + </p> + <p> + “‘I must, I will!’ I said, and I made a movement towards her—a + violent movement I know it was. + </p> + <p> + “But the old thing stood her ground. Oh, she was a gallant old woman. + </p> + <p> + “‘Do what you like to me,’ she said. ‘I’m old. What does it matter? She’s + young.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then I knew she understood. + </p> + <p> + “‘You’ve seen them together!’ I said. ‘Since I went!’ + </p> + <p> + “She wouldn’t say. Not a word. I was mad. I forgot decency, everything. I + took her. I searched her for the revolver. I searched her roughly—God + forgive me. She trembled horribly, but never said a word. It wasn’t on + her. She must have hidden it somewhere in that moment when she was alone + in the cottage. That was another ruse to keep me searching in there while— + But I saw it almost directly. I broke away, and rushed out and down the + road. Something seemed to tell me they had passed. I got into the lane + that leads to Charfield. The fly was gone. Then, all of a sudden, I felt + perfectly calm. I turned, and went up to the Abbey gates. I knocked them + up at the lodge. The keeper came out. When he saw me he said: + </p> + <p> + “‘You, my lord! However did you know?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Go on!’ I said. ‘Know what?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘About Master Hugo?’ + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t say one way or the other. + </p> + <p> + “‘The doctor says it’s a bitter bad quinsy, but there’s just a chance. Her + ladyship’s nearly mad. It only came on a few hours ago quite sudden.’ + </p> + <p> + “I went up to the Abbey, and found Vere by the child’s bed. She looked + flushed, and was breathing hard, as if she had just been running.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, and took out his cigar-case. + </p> + <p> + “Running!” I said. + </p> + <p> + “She had parted finally from Glynd in front of Miss Bassett’s cottage,” he + said. “He told me that afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + There was a moment’s silence. Then he spoke more calmly. + </p> + <p> + “I went up to town when the child was safe, and had it out with Glynd. + They had meant to go that night. It was the boy who stopped them and they + took it as a judgment. You know how women are. Glynd swore she was stopped + in time. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “He didn’t lie to me.” + </p> + <p> + “And your wife?” + </p> + <p> + “I never spoke of it to her. I saw her with the boy, and—well, I saw + her with the boy, and what she was to him when he was close to death.” + </p> + <p> + His voice went for a moment. Then he added: + </p> + <p> + “I told her I’d had a presentiment Hugo was ill. She believed me, I think. + If not, she’s kept her secret.” + </p> + <p> + Just then the dining-room door opened, and Lady Inley put in her pretty + head. + </p> + <p> + “Are you never coming?” she said with her little childish drawl. + </p> + <p> + I got up, and went towards her. + </p> + <p> + “By the way, Nino,” she added, “the bell was for poor, funny old Miss + Bassett. What will her cat do, I wonder?” + </p> + <p> + As I followed her towards the drawing-room I heard Inley’s voice mutter + behind me: + </p> + <p> + “<i>Requiescat in Pace</i>.” + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 23410-h.htm or 23410-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/4/1/23410/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Spinster + 1905 + +Author: Robert Hichens + +Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23410] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE SPINSTER + +By Robert Hichens + +Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers + +Copyright, 1905 + + +I had arrived at Inley Abbey that afternoon, and was sitting at dinner +with Inley and his pretty wife, whom I had not seen for five years, +since the day I was his best man, when we all heard faintly the tolling +of a church bell. Lady Inley shook her shoulders in a rather exaggerated +shudder. + +"Someone dead!" said her husband. + +"It's a mistake to build a church in the grounds of a house," Lady Inley +said in her clear, drawling soprano voice. "That noise gives me the +blues." + +"Whom can it be for?" asked Inley. + +"Miss Bassett, probably," Lady Inley replied carelessly, helping herself +to a bonbon from a little silver dish. + +Inley started. + +"Miss Sarah Bassett! What makes you think so?" + +"Oh, while you were away in town she got ill. Didn't you know?" + +"No," said Inley. + +I could see that he was moved. His dark, short face had changed +suddenly, and he stopped eating his fruit. Lady Inley went on crunching +the bonbon between her little white teeth with all the enjoyment of a +pretty marmoset. + +"Influenza," she said airily. "And then pneumonia. Of course, at her +age, you know---- By the way, what is her age, Nino?" + +"No idea," said Inley shortly. + +He was listening to the dim and monotonous sound of the church bell. + +Lady Inley turned to me with the childish, confidential movement which +men considered one of her many charms. + +"Miss Bassett is, or was, one of those funny old spinsters who always +look the same and always ridiculous. Dry twigs, you know. One size all +the way down. Very little hair, and no emotions. If it weren't for the +sake of cats, one would wonder why such people are born. But they're +always cat-lovers. I suppose that's why they're so often called old +cats." + +She uttered a little high-pitched laugh, and got up. + +"Don't be too long," she said to me carelessly as I opened the +dining-room door for her. "I want to sing 'Ohe Charmette' to you. + +"I won't be long," I answered, thinking what exquisite eyes she had. + +She turned, and went out in her delicious, thin way. No wonder she had +made skeletons the rage in London. When I came back to the dinner-table +Inley was sitting with both his brown hands clenched on the cloth. His +black eyes--inherited from his dead mother, who had been one of the +Neapolitan aristocracy--were glittering. + +"What is it, Nino?" I asked as I sat down. + +We had been such intimate friends that even my five years' absence +abroad had not built up a barrier between us. + +"I wonder if it is Miss Bassett?" he said, looking at me earnestly. + +"But was she a great friend of yours?" I said. "If Lady Inley's +description of her is accurate, I can hardly imagine so." + +"Vere doesn't know what she's saying." + +"Then Miss Bassett----" + +"Oh, she does look like that; dried up, unemotional, tame, English, even +comic." + +"The regular spinster, eh?" + +"She looks it. But, damn it all, Vere has no business to say she has no +emotions, to wonder why such people are born. But she doesn't know--Vere +doesn't know." + +His agitation grew, and was inexplicable to me. But I knew Inley, knew +that he was bound to tell me what was on his mind. He could be reserved, +but not with me. So I took a cigar, cut the end off it deliberately, +struck a match, lighted it, and began to smoke in silence. He followed +my example quickly, and then said: + +"Vere talks like that, and, but for Miss Bassett, Vere would have been +murdered two years ago." + +I started, and dropped my cigar on the table. + +"Murdered!" + +"Yes; and I----" + +He fixed his eyes on me, and put his hand up to his throat. Nino was +half Neapolitan, and I saw a man being hanged. I picked up my cigar with +a hand that slightly shook. + +"But," I said, "I always thought Lady Inley and you were very happy +together." + +It sounded banal, even ridiculous, but I hardly knew what to say. I was +startled. The tolling of the bell, too, was getting on my nerves. + +"One doesn't write such things," he said. "You've been abroad for +years." + +"It's all right now?" + +He nodded. + +"I suppose so. Vere has never had the least suspicion." + +He drew his chair closer to mine, and was about to go on speaking when +the servants came in with the coffee. + +"Who's the bell tolling for, Hurst?" he said to the butler. + +"I couldn't say, my lord." + +When the servants had gone Inley continued, at first in a calmer voice: + +"Miss Bassett lived in the red cottage just beyond the gate of the South +Lodge from time immemorial. You generally came to us in Scotland, I +know, but I should think you must have seen her." + +Suddenly a recollection flashed upon me--a recollection of a long, flat +figure, a drab face, thin hair coming away from a wrinkled forehead +under a mushroom hat, flapping, old-fashioned golden earrings. + +"Not the person I used to call 'the Plank'?" I said. + +"Did you?" + +He thought for a moment. + +"Yes; I believe you did-. I'd forgotten." + +"She was always in church twenty minutes before the service began, and +always dropped her hymn-book coming out if there were visitors in the +Abbey pew!" + +"Yes, yes; that's it. Miss Bassett is very nervous in little ways." + +"I remember her now perfectly. And you say she----" + +I looked at him, and hesitated. + +"She saved Vere's life and, indirectly, mine. I'll tell you now we're +together again at last. I shall never tell Vere." + +He looked towards the windows, across which dark blue silk curtains were +drawn, as if he could see the passing-bell swinging in the old square +tower. Then he turned to me. + +"You know how mad I was about Vere. It's always like that with me. +Unless I'm stone I'm fire. After we were married I got even madder. +Having her all to myself was like enchantment, and in Italy, too, my +other native land." + +I thought of Lady Inley's eyes. + +"I can understand," I said. + +"Of course, when we got back it had to be different. Friends came +in, and she was run after and admired and written about. You know the +publicity of life in modern London." + +"City of public-houses and society spies." + +"I bore it, because it's supposed to be the thing. And Vere rather likes +it, somehow. So I let her have her fun, as long as it was fun. I didn't +intend it should ever be anything else." + +He frowned. When he did that, and his thick eyebrows nearly met, he +looked all Italian. + +"We did the usual things--Paris, Ascot, Scotland, and so on--till Vere +had to lie up." + +"Your boy?" + +"Yes; Hugo came along. I was glad when that was over. I thought she was +going to die. You knew Seymour Glynd?" + +"Life Guards? Killed hunting a year ago?" + +Inley nodded. + +"He was a great deal with us soon after Hugo's birth. I thought nothing +of it. I'd known the fellow all my life. But then one nearly always +has." + +He laughed bitterly. + +"To cut that part short, two years ago in autumn we had Glynd staying +with us down here for shooting. There were some others, of course--Mrs. +Jack, Bobbie Elphinton, and Lady Bobbie--but you know the lot." + +"I did." + +"Ah," he said, "you've been well out of it these years. Well, the shoot +was to break up on a Friday, and I'd arranged to go to town that day +with the rest. Vere didn't intend to come. She said she was feeling +tired, and was going to have a Friday to Monday rest cure. That's the +thing, you know, nowadays. You get a Swedish _masseuse_ down to stay, +and go to bed and drink milk. Vere had engaged a _masseuse_ to come on +the Friday night. On the Thursday, the day before we were all going to +town, Glynd hurt his foot getting over a fence into a turnip field--at +least I thought so." + +He stopped. + +"Everyone thought so, I believe--except, of course, Vere. I wonder if +they did, though?" he added moodily. "Or whether I was the only--But +what does it matter now? Glynd said he only wanted a couple of days' +rest to be all right again, and asked me if he might stay on at the +Abbey till the Monday. Of course I said 'Yes; if he wouldn't want a +hostess.' Because Vere said to me, when she heard of it, that she must +have her rest cure all the same. Glynd swore he'd be quite happy alone. +So he stayed, and the rest of us came up to town on the Friday. Well, +on the Saturday morning I was walking across the park when I met the +Swedish _massense_ who was to have gone down to Vere on the Friday +night. I knew her, because Vere had often had her before in London. +'Hullo!' I said. 'You ought to be down at Inley Abbey with my wife.' +'No, my lord,' she said. 'Why not?' 'I've had a wire from Lady Inley not +to go.' 'A wire!' I said. 'When did you get it?' 'On Thursday night, my +lord.' You mean last night?' I said, thinking Vere must have changed her +mind after we had left. 'No,' said the woman; 'on Thursday night, late.' +Then I remembered that, after Glynd had hurt his foot and asked to stay, +Vere had gone out alone for a drive in her cart, to get a last breath of +air before the rest cure. She must have sent the telegram herself then. +All of a sudden I seemed to understand a lot of things.'" + +He had let his cigar out, and now he noticed that he had. He tossed it +into the fire. + +"I said, 'Good-morning' to the woman quite quietly, went back to the +house, and told my man I shouldn't be at home that night." + +He put his hand on my arm. + +"I felt perfectly calm. Wasn't that strange?" + +I nodded. + +"There was a train from town reaching Ashdridge Station at nine o'clock +at night. I took it. I didn't care to go to Inley Station, where +everybody would know me, and wonder what I was up to. I didn't take any +luggage. My man asked if he should pack, and I said 'No.' I didn't dine. +I was at Pad-dington three-quarters of an hour before the train was +due to start. At last it came in to the platform. Going down I read the +evening papers just like any man going home from business. Soon after we +got away from London I saw there was rain on the carriage windows. That +seemed to me right. We were a little late at Ashdridge. It was still +wet, and I had my coat collar turned up. I don't believe they recognised +me there. I set out to walk to Inley." + +"What did you mean to do?" + +"I told you before." + +I looked into his face, and believed him. Then I thought of Lady Inley's +childish, delicate beauty, of her slightly affected manner, the manner +of a woman who has always been spoilt, whose paths have been made very +smooth. And here she was living, apparently happily, with a man who had +deliberately travelled down in the night to kill her. How ignorant we +are! + +"You are condemning me," Inley said, with a touch of hot anger. + +"I was only thinking----" + +"Yes?" + +"That we don't know each other much in the greatest intimacy." + +"That's what I thought then." + +He said that in a way which suddenly put me on his side. He must +have seen the change in my feelings, for he went on, with his former +unreserve: + +"I walked fast in the dark. I didn't think very much, but I remember +that all the trees--there's a lot of woodland, you know, between +Ashdridge and Inley--seemed alive. Everything seemed to me to be alive +that night. I've never had that sensation before or since." + +I realised what the condition of the man had been when he said that, as +if I were a doctor and a patient had told me the symptom which put me in +possession of his malady. + +"When I reached Inley it was late, and the long village street was +deserted. There were lights in the inn and in the schoolmaster's house, +but there were no people about. I got through without meeting a soul, +and came on towards the gates of the Abbey." + +"You meant to go into the house?" + +"Yes. I was sure--somehow I was sure; but I intended to see before I +acted, merely for my own justification. But I was quite sure, as if +Vere herself had told me everything. Soon after I had got clear of the +village I heard a sound of wheels behind me. I stood up against the +hedge, and in a minute or two a fly passed me going slowly. I saw the +driver's face. It wasn't a man from Inley. Evidently the fly had come +from a distance. It was splashed with mud, and the horse looked tired. +I followed it till it came to the turning just below Miss Bassett's +cottage, where there's a narrow lane going to Charfield through the +woods. It went a little way down this lane, and stopped. I waited at the +turning. I could see the light from the lamps shining on the wet road, +and in the circle of light the driver's breath. He bent down, and I saw +him looking at a big silver watch. Then he put it back. But he didn't +drive on. I knew what he was waiting for. Vere was going with--with +Glynd. That was more than I had ever thought of, that she would go. I +put my hand into my pocket, took out my revolver, and went on till I was +close to the red cottage. By this time the rain had stopped. I came up +to within a few yards of the Abbey gates, stood for a moment, and then +returned till I was at the wicket of Miss Bassett's garden. It's bounded +by a yew hedge, beyond which there is a path shaded by mulberry-trees. +The hedge is low. The path is dark. It was a blackguardly thing to do, +but I thought of nothing except myself, my wrong, and how I was to wipe +it out. I opened the wicket, came into the path, and stood there under +the mulberry-trees behind the hedge. Here I was in cover, and could see +the road. I held my revolver in my hand, and waited. It never struck me +that Miss Bassett might be up. I saw no light in the cottage, and I had +a sort of idea that people like her went to bed at about eight. While +I was standing there listening I felt something rub against my legs. It +made me start. Then I heard a little low noise. I looked down, and +there was a great cat holding up its tail and purring. Its pleasure was +horrible to me. I pushed it away with my foot, but it came back, bending +down its head, arching its back, and pressing against me. I was thinking +what to do to get rid of it when I heard a shrill, husky voice call out: + +"'Johnny--John-nee!' + +"It was Miss Bassett. I held my breath, and pushed away the cat. + +"'Johnny, Johnny--John-nee!' went the voice again. + +"The cat wouldn't leave me. God knows why it wished to stay. I was +determined to get rid of it, so I put the revolver down on the path, +picked the cat up in my arms, and dropped it over the hedge into the +road. Just as I had caught up the revolver again I was confronted by +Miss Bassett. She had come in slippers up the path in the dark to look +for her cat." + +I uttered a slight exclamation. + +Inley went on: "She had a handkerchief tied over her cap and under her +chin, and a small lantern in her hands, on which she wore black mittens. +I can see her now. We stood there on the path for a minute staring at +each other without a word. The light from the lantern flickered over the +revolver, and I saw Miss Bassett look down at it." + +He stopped, poured out a glass of water, and drank it off like a man who +has been running. + +"Didn't she show surprise--fear?" I asked. + +"Not a bit. Women are so extraordinary, even old women who've never been +in touch with life, that I'm certain now she understood directly her +eyes fell on the revolver." + +"What did she do?" + +"After a minute she said: 'Lord Inley, I'm looking for my cat. Have you +seen him?' + +"'Yes,' I said; 'he's run into the house.' + +"It was a lie, but I wanted her to go in. I had slipped the revolver +back into my pocket, and tried to assume a perfectly simple, natural +air. I fancied it would be very easy to impose on Miss Bassett when I +heard her question. It sounded so innocent, as if the old lady was full +of her pet. I even thought, perhaps, she had not known what the revolver +was when she looked at it. + +"'Did he run into the house?' she said, still looking at me from under +her wrinkled eyelids. + +"'Yes; when you came out. He was here on the path with me. You called +"Johnny!" and he ran off there between the mulberry-trees.' + +"All the time I was speaking to her I had an eye to the road, and my +ears were listening like an Indian's when he puts his head to the ground +to hear the pad of his enemy. + +"Miss Bassett stood there quietly for a moment as if she were +considering something. She looked prim. I remember that even now--prim +as a caricature. It was only a moment, but it seemed to me an hour. 'If +they should come,' I thought, 'while she is out here!' The sweat came +out all over my face with impatience--an agony of impatience. I longed +to take the old lady by the shoulders, push her into the cottage, lock +her in, and be alone, able to watch the bit of road from the Abbey gates +to the wicket. But I could do nothing. I was obliged to repress every +sign of agitation. It was devilish." + +He got up with a sudden jerk from his chair, and stood by the fire. Even +the telling of that moment had set beads of moisture on his square, low +forehead. + +"At last she spoke again. + +"'I wonder if you'd mind coming in for a minute to help me see if Johnny +really is in the house?' she said. + +"I don't know what I should have done--refused, I believe, refused her +with an oath, for I began to feel mad; but just at that instant up came +the cat once more, purring like fury, and lifting up his tail. He made +straight for me, and began to rub himself against my legs again. + +"'Oh!' said Miss Bassett, 'there he is! Naughty Johnny, naughty boy! +Lord Inley, perhaps you'd be so good as just to lif t him up and put him +inside the door for me. I always have such a job to get him to come +in of a night. He likes hunting in the woods. Doesn't he, the naughty +Johnny?' + +"'Now's my chance to get rid of her!' I thought. + +"I bent down, picked the cat up, and went along the path towards the +cottage, Miss Bassett following close behind me. The cat was an immense +beast, awfully heavy, and just as I turned out of the yew path to go up +to the cottage door he began struggling to get away, and scratching. +I held on to him, but it wasn't easy, and I got my hand torn before +I dropped him down inside the little hall. Away he ran, towards the +kitchen, I suppose. Miss Bassett was very grateful, but I cut her +gratitude short. + +"'Very glad to have been able to help you,' I said. 'Good-night.' + +"'Good-night, Lord Inley,' she said. + +"I thought her voice sounded a little bit odd when she said that, and +I just glanced at her funny old face, lit up by the lantern she was +holding in one mittened hand. She didn't look at me this time as she had +in the garden. Then I went out, and she immediately shut the door. + +"'Thank God!' I thought, and I hurried to the wicket. I didn't dare stay +in the garden now. Seeing her had made me realise my blackguardism in +coming in at all, considering my reason. I resolved to hide in the field +at the corner where the road turns off to Charfield. As I opened the +wicket, instinctively I put my hand into my pocket for my revolver." + +He bent down, looking full into my eyes. + +"It wasn't there." + +"Miss Bassett!" I exclaimed. + +"In a moment I realised that Miss Bassett must have grasped the +situation; that her asking me to carry in her cat was a ruse, and that +while the beast was struggling between my hands she must have stolen +the revolver from behind. I say I knew that, and yet even then, when I +thought of her look, her manner, the sort of nervous old thing she was, +I couldn't believe what I knew. Then I remembered her voice when she +said 'Good-night' to me in the passage, her eyes looking down instead of +at me, and that she was only holding the lantern in one hand, whereas +in the garden she was using two. She must have had the revolver in +her other hand concealed in the folds of her dress. I ran back to the +cottage door, and knocked--hard. Not that I thought she'd open. I knew +she wouldn't, but she did directly. I could hardly speak. I was afraid +of myself just then. At last I said: + +"'Miss Bassett, you know what I want.' + +"'You can't have it,' she said, looking straight at me. + +"I kept quiet for a second, then I said: + +"'Miss Bassett, I don't think you know that you're running into danger.' +For I felt that there was danger for her then if she went against me. +She knew it, too, perhaps better than I did. I saw her poor old hands, +all blue veins, beginning to tremble. + +"'You can't have it, Lord Inley,' she repeated. + +"There wasn't the ghost of a quiver in her voice. + +"'I must, I will!' I said, and I made a movement towards her--a violent +movement I know it was. + +"But the old thing stood her ground. Oh, she was a gallant old woman. + +"'Do what you like to me,' she said. 'I'm old. What does it matter? +She's young.' + +"Then I knew she understood. + +"'You've seen them together!' I said. 'Since I went!' + +"She wouldn't say. Not a word. I was mad. I forgot decency, everything. +I took her. I searched her for the revolver. I searched her roughly--God +forgive me. She trembled horribly, but never said a word. It wasn't on +her. She must have hidden it somewhere in that moment when she was alone +in the cottage. That was another ruse to keep me searching in there +while-- But I saw it almost directly. I broke away, and rushed out and +down the road. Something seemed to tell me they had passed. I got into +the lane that leads to Charfield. The fly was gone. Then, all of a +sudden, I felt perfectly calm. I turned, and went up to the Abbey gates. +I knocked them up at the lodge. The keeper came out. When he saw me he +said: + +"'You, my lord! However did you know?' + +"'Go on!' I said. 'Know what?' + +"'About Master Hugo?' + +"I didn't say one way or the other. + +"'The doctor says it's a bitter bad quinsy, but there's just a chance. +Her ladyship's nearly mad. It only came on a few hours ago quite +sudden.' + +"I went up to the Abbey, and found Vere by the child's bed. She looked +flushed, and was breathing hard, as if she had just been running." + +He stopped, and took out his cigar-case. + +"Running!" I said. + +"She had parted finally from Glynd in front of Miss Bassett's cottage," +he said. "He told me that afterwards." + +There was a moment's silence. Then he spoke more calmly. + +"I went up to town when the child was safe, and had it out with Glynd. +They had meant to go that night. It was the boy who stopped them and +they took it as a judgment. You know how women are. Glynd swore she was +stopped in time. You understand?" + +"Yes." + +"He didn't lie to me." + +"And your wife?" + +"I never spoke of it to her. I saw her with the boy, and--well, I saw +her with the boy, and what she was to him when he was close to death." + +His voice went for a moment. Then he added: + +"I told her I'd had a presentiment Hugo was ill. She believed me, I +think. If not, she's kept her secret." + +Just then the dining-room door opened, and Lady Inley put in her pretty +head. + +"Are you never coming?" she said with her little childish drawl. + +I got up, and went towards her. + +"By the way, Nino," she added, "the bell was for poor, funny old Miss +Bassett. What will her cat do, I wonder?" + +As I followed her towards the drawing-room I heard Inley's voice mutter +behind me: + +"_Requiescat in Pace_." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 23410.txt or 23410.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/4/1/23410/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Spinster + 1905 + +Author: Robert Hichens + +Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23410] +Last Updated: September 24, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE SPINSTER + </h1> + <h2> + By Robert Hichens + </h2> + <h3> + Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers + </h3> + <h4> + Copyright, 1905 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + I had arrived at Inley Abbey that afternoon, and was sitting at dinner + with Inley and his pretty wife, whom I had not seen for five years, since + the day I was his best man, when we all heard faintly the tolling of a + church bell. Lady Inley shook her shoulders in a rather exaggerated + shudder. + </p> + <p> + “Someone dead!” said her husband. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a mistake to build a church in the grounds of a house,” Lady Inley + said in her clear, drawling soprano voice. “That noise gives me the + blues.” + </p> + <p> + “Whom can it be for?” asked Inley. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett, probably,” Lady Inley replied carelessly, helping herself + to a bonbon from a little silver dish. + </p> + <p> + Inley started. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Sarah Bassett! What makes you think so?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, while you were away in town she got ill. Didn’t you know?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Inley. + </p> + <p> + I could see that he was moved. His dark, short face had changed suddenly, + and he stopped eating his fruit. Lady Inley went on crunching the bonbon + between her little white teeth with all the enjoyment of a pretty + marmoset. + </p> + <p> + “Influenza,” she said airily. “And then pneumonia. Of course, at her age, + you know—— By the way, what is her age, Nino?” + </p> + <p> + “No idea,” said Inley shortly. + </p> + <p> + He was listening to the dim and monotonous sound of the church bell. + </p> + <p> + Lady Inley turned to me with the childish, confidential movement which men + considered one of her many charms. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett is, or was, one of those funny old spinsters who always look + the same and always ridiculous. Dry twigs, you know. One size all the way + down. Very little hair, and no emotions. If it weren’t for the sake of + cats, one would wonder why such people are born. But they’re always + cat-lovers. I suppose that’s why they’re so often called old cats.” + </p> + <p> + She uttered a little high-pitched laugh, and got up. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be too long,” she said to me carelessly as I opened the dining-room + door for her. “I want to sing ‘Ohé Charmette’ to you. + </p> + <p> + “I won’t be long,” I answered, thinking what exquisite eyes she had. + </p> + <p> + She turned, and went out in her delicious, thin way. No wonder she had + made skeletons the rage in London. When I came back to the dinner-table + Inley was sitting with both his brown hands clenched on the cloth. His + black eyes—inherited from his dead mother, who had been one of the + Neapolitan aristocracy—were glittering. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, Nino?” I asked as I sat down. + </p> + <p> + We had been such intimate friends that even my five years’ absence abroad + had not built up a barrier between us. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder if it is Miss Bassett?” he said, looking at me earnestly. + </p> + <p> + “But was she a great friend of yours?” I said. “If Lady Inley’s + description of her is accurate, I can hardly imagine so.” + </p> + <p> + “Vere doesn’t know what she’s saying.” + </p> + <p> + “Then Miss Bassett——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, she does look like that; dried up, unemotional, tame, English, even + comic.” + </p> + <p> + “The regular spinster, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “She looks it. But, damn it all, Vere has no business to say she has no + emotions, to wonder why such people are born. But she doesn’t know—Vere + doesn’t know.” + </p> + <p> + His agitation grew, and was inexplicable to me. But I knew Inley, knew + that he was bound to tell me what was on his mind. He could be reserved, + but not with me. So I took a cigar, cut the end off it deliberately, + struck a match, lighted it, and began to smoke in silence. He followed my + example quickly, and then said: + </p> + <p> + “Vere talks like that, and, but for Miss Bassett, Vere would have been + murdered two years ago.” + </p> + <p> + I started, and dropped my cigar on the table. + </p> + <p> + “Murdered!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and I——” + </p> + <p> + He fixed his eyes on me, and put his hand up to his throat. Nino was half + Neapolitan, and I saw a man being hanged. I picked up my cigar with a hand + that slightly shook. + </p> + <p> + “But,” I said, “I always thought Lady Inley and you were very happy + together.” + </p> + <p> + It sounded banal, even ridiculous, but I hardly knew what to say. I was + startled. The tolling of the bell, too, was getting on my nerves. + </p> + <p> + “One doesn’t write such things,” he said. “You’ve been abroad for years.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s all right now?” + </p> + <p> + He nodded. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so. Vere has never had the least suspicion.” + </p> + <p> + He drew his chair closer to mine, and was about to go on speaking when the + servants came in with the coffee. + </p> + <p> + “Who’s the bell tolling for, Hurst?” he said to the butler. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn’t say, my lord.” + </p> + <p> + When the servants had gone Inley continued, at first in a calmer voice: + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett lived in the red cottage just beyond the gate of the South + Lodge from time immemorial. You generally came to us in Scotland, I know, + but I should think you must have seen her.” + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a recollection flashed upon me—a recollection of a long, + flat figure, a drab face, thin hair coming away from a wrinkled forehead + under a mushroom hat, flapping, old-fashioned golden earrings. + </p> + <p> + “Not the person I used to call ‘the Plank’?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Did you?” + </p> + <p> + He thought for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I believe you did-. I’d forgotten.” + </p> + <p> + “She was always in church twenty minutes before the service began, and + always dropped her hymn-book coming out if there were visitors in the + Abbey pew!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes; that’s it. Miss Bassett is very nervous in little ways.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember her now perfectly. And you say she——” + </p> + <p> + I looked at him, and hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “She saved Vere’s life and, indirectly, mine. I’ll tell you now we’re + together again at last. I shall never tell Vere.” + </p> + <p> + He looked towards the windows, across which dark blue silk curtains were + drawn, as if he could see the passing-bell swinging in the old square + tower. Then he turned to me. + </p> + <p> + “You know how mad I was about Vere. It’s always like that with me. Unless + I’m stone I’m fire. After we were married I got even madder. Having her + all to myself was like enchantment, and in Italy, too, my other native + land.” + </p> + <p> + I thought of Lady Inley’s eyes. + </p> + <p> + “I can understand,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, when we got back it had to be different. Friends came in, and + she was run after and admired and written about. You know the publicity of + life in modern London.” + </p> + <p> + “City of public-houses and society spies.” + </p> + <p> + “I bore it, because it’s supposed to be the thing. And Vere rather likes + it, somehow. So I let her have her fun, as long as it was fun. I didn’t + intend it should ever be anything else.” + </p> + <p> + He frowned. When he did that, and his thick eyebrows nearly met, he looked + all Italian. + </p> + <p> + “We did the usual things—Paris, Ascot, Scotland, and so on—till + Vere had to lie up.” + </p> + <p> + “Your boy?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; Hugo came along. I was glad when that was over. I thought she was + going to die. You knew Seymour Glynd?” + </p> + <p> + “Life Guards? Killed hunting a year ago?” + </p> + <p> + Inley nodded. + </p> + <p> + “He was a great deal with us soon after Hugo’s birth. I thought nothing of + it. I’d known the fellow all my life. But then one nearly always has.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “To cut that part short, two years ago in autumn we had Glynd staying with + us down here for shooting. There were some others, of course—Mrs. + Jack, Bobbie Elphinton, and Lady Bobbie—but you know the lot.” + </p> + <p> + “I did.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” he said, “you’ve been well out of it these years. Well, the shoot + was to break up on a Friday, and I’d arranged to go to town that day with + the rest. Vere didn’t intend to come. She said she was feeling tired, and + was going to have a Friday to Monday rest cure. That’s the thing, you + know, nowadays. You get a Swedish <i>masseuse</i> down to stay, and go to + bed and drink milk. Vere had engaged a <i>masseuse</i> to come on the + Friday night. On the Thursday, the day before we were all going to town, + Glynd hurt his foot getting over a fence into a turnip field—at + least I thought so.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped. + </p> + <p> + “Everyone thought so, I believe—except, of course, Vere. I wonder if + they did, though?” he added moodily. “Or whether I was the only—But + what does it matter now? Glynd said he only wanted a couple of days’ rest + to be all right again, and asked me if he might stay on at the Abbey till + the Monday. Of course I said ‘Yes; if he wouldn’t want a hostess.’ Because + Vere said to me, when she heard of it, that she must have her rest cure + all the same. Glynd swore he’d be quite happy alone. So he stayed, and the + rest of us came up to town on the Friday. Well, on the Saturday morning I + was walking across the park when I met the Swedish <i>massense</i> who was + to have gone down to Vere on the Friday night. I knew her, because Vere + had often had her before in London. ‘Hullo!’ I said. ‘You ought to be down + at Inley Abbey with my wife.’ ‘No, my lord,’ she said. ‘Why not?’ ‘I’ve + had a wire from Lady Inley not to go.’ ‘A wire!’ I said. ‘When did you get + it?’ ‘On Thursday night, my lord.’ You mean last night?’ I said, thinking + Vere must have changed her mind after we had left. ‘No,’ said the woman; + ‘on Thursday night, late.’ Then I remembered that, after Glynd had hurt + his foot and asked to stay, Vere had gone out alone for a drive in her + cart, to get a last breath of air before the rest cure. She must have sent + the telegram herself then. All of a sudden I seemed to understand a lot of + things.’” + </p> + <p> + He had let his cigar out, and now he noticed that he had. He tossed it + into the fire. + </p> + <p> + “I said, ‘Good-morning’ to the woman quite quietly, went back to the + house, and told my man I shouldn’t be at home that night.” + </p> + <p> + He put his hand on my arm. + </p> + <p> + “I felt perfectly calm. Wasn’t that strange?” + </p> + <p> + I nodded. + </p> + <p> + “There was a train from town reaching Ashdridge Station at nine o’clock at + night. I took it. I didn’t care to go to Inley Station, where everybody + would know me, and wonder what I was up to. I didn’t take any luggage. My + man asked if he should pack, and I said ‘No.’ I didn’t dine. I was at + Pad-dington three-quarters of an hour before the train was due to start. + At last it came in to the platform. Going down I read the evening papers + just like any man going home from business. Soon after we got away from + London I saw there was rain on the carriage windows. That seemed to me + right. We were a little late at Ashdridge. It was still wet, and I had my + coat collar turned up. I don’t believe they recognised me there. I set out + to walk to Inley.” + </p> + <p> + “What did you mean to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I told you before.” + </p> + <p> + I looked into his face, and believed him. Then I thought of Lady Inley’s + childish, delicate beauty, of her slightly affected manner, the manner of + a woman who has always been spoilt, whose paths have been made very + smooth. And here she was living, apparently happily, with a man who had + deliberately travelled down in the night to kill her. How ignorant we are! + </p> + <p> + “You are condemning me,” Inley said, with a touch of hot anger. + </p> + <p> + “I was only thinking——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes?” + </p> + <p> + “That we don’t know each other much in the greatest intimacy.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s what I thought then.” + </p> + <p> + He said that in a way which suddenly put me on his side. He must have seen + the change in my feelings, for he went on, with his former unreserve: + </p> + <p> + “I walked fast in the dark. I didn’t think very much, but I remember that + all the trees—there’s a lot of woodland, you know, between Ashdridge + and Inley—seemed alive. Everything seemed to me to be alive that + night. I’ve never had that sensation before or since.” + </p> + <p> + I realised what the condition of the man had been when he said that, as if + I were a doctor and a patient had told me the symptom which put me in + possession of his malady. + </p> + <p> + “When I reached Inley it was late, and the long village street was + deserted. There were lights in the inn and in the schoolmaster’s house, + but there were no people about. I got through without meeting a soul, and + came on towards the gates of the Abbey.” + </p> + <p> + “You meant to go into the house?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I was sure—somehow I was sure; but I intended to see before I + acted, merely for my own justification. But I was quite sure, as if Vere + herself had told me everything. Soon after I had got clear of the village + I heard a sound of wheels behind me. I stood up against the hedge, and in + a minute or two a fly passed me going slowly. I saw the driver’s face. It + wasn’t a man from Inley. Evidently the fly had come from a distance. It + was splashed with mud, and the horse looked tired. I followed it till it + came to the turning just below Miss Bassett’s cottage, where there’s a + narrow lane going to Charfield through the woods. It went a little way + down this lane, and stopped. I waited at the turning. I could see the + light from the lamps shining on the wet road, and in the circle of light + the driver’s breath. He bent down, and I saw him looking at a big silver + watch. Then he put it back. But he didn’t drive on. I knew what he was + waiting for. Vere was going with—with Glynd. That was more than I + had ever thought of, that she would go. I put my hand into my pocket, took + out my revolver, and went on till I was close to the red cottage. By this + time the rain had stopped. I came up to within a few yards of the Abbey + gates, stood for a moment, and then returned till I was at the wicket of + Miss Bassett’s garden. It’s bounded by a yew hedge, beyond which there is + a path shaded by mulberry-trees. The hedge is low. The path is dark. It + was a blackguardly thing to do, but I thought of nothing except myself, my + wrong, and how I was to wipe it out. I opened the wicket, came into the + path, and stood there under the mulberry-trees behind the hedge. Here I + was in cover, and could see the road. I held my revolver in my hand, and + waited. It never struck me that Miss Bassett might be up. I saw no light + in the cottage, and I had a sort of idea that people like her went to bed + at about eight. While I was standing there listening I felt something rub + against my legs. It made me start. Then I heard a little low noise. I + looked down, and there was a great cat holding up its tail and purring. + Its pleasure was horrible to me. I pushed it away with my foot, but it + came back, bending down its head, arching its back, and pressing against + me. I was thinking what to do to get rid of it when I heard a shrill, + husky voice call out: + </p> + <p> + “‘Johnny—John-nee!’ + </p> + <p> + “It was Miss Bassett. I held my breath, and pushed away the cat. + </p> + <p> + “‘Johnny, Johnny—John-nee!’ went the voice again. + </p> + <p> + “The cat wouldn’t leave me. God knows why it wished to stay. I was + determined to get rid of it, so I put the revolver down on the path, + picked the cat up in my arms, and dropped it over the hedge into the road. + Just as I had caught up the revolver again I was confronted by Miss + Bassett. She had come in slippers up the path in the dark to look for her + cat.” + </p> + <p> + I uttered a slight exclamation. + </p> + <p> + Inley went on: “She had a handkerchief tied over her cap and under her + chin, and a small lantern in her hands, on which she wore black mittens. I + can see her now. We stood there on the path for a minute staring at each + other without a word. The light from the lantern flickered over the + revolver, and I saw Miss Bassett look down at it.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, poured out a glass of water, and drank it off like a man who + has been running. + </p> + <p> + “Didn’t she show surprise—fear?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit. Women are so extraordinary, even old women who’ve never been + in touch with life, that I’m certain now she understood directly her eyes + fell on the revolver.” + </p> + <p> + “What did she do?” + </p> + <p> + “After a minute she said: ‘Lord Inley, I’m looking for my cat. Have you + seen him?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ I said; ‘he’s run into the house.’ + </p> + <p> + “It was a lie, but I wanted her to go in. I had slipped the revolver back + into my pocket, and tried to assume a perfectly simple, natural air. I + fancied it would be very easy to impose on Miss Bassett when I heard her + question. It sounded so innocent, as if the old lady was full of her pet. + I even thought, perhaps, she had not known what the revolver was when she + looked at it. + </p> + <p> + “‘Did he run into the house?’ she said, still looking at me from under her + wrinkled eyelids. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes; when you came out. He was here on the path with me. You called + “Johnny!” and he ran off there between the mulberry-trees.’ + </p> + <p> + “All the time I was speaking to her I had an eye to the road, and my ears + were listening like an Indian’s when he puts his head to the ground to + hear the pad of his enemy. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett stood there quietly for a moment as if she were considering + something. She looked prim. I remember that even now—prim as a + caricature. It was only a moment, but it seemed to me an hour. ‘If they + should come,’ I thought, ‘while she is out here!’ The sweat came out all + over my face with impatience—an agony of impatience. I longed to + take the old lady by the shoulders, push her into the cottage, lock her + in, and be alone, able to watch the bit of road from the Abbey gates to + the wicket. But I could do nothing. I was obliged to repress every sign of + agitation. It was devilish.” + </p> + <p> + He got up with a sudden jerk from his chair, and stood by the fire. Even + the telling of that moment had set beads of moisture on his square, low + forehead. + </p> + <p> + “At last she spoke again. + </p> + <p> + “‘I wonder if you’d mind coming in for a minute to help me see if Johnny + really is in the house?’ she said. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know what I should have done—refused, I believe, refused + her with an oath, for I began to feel mad; but just at that instant up + came the cat once more, purring like fury, and lifting up his tail. He + made straight for me, and began to rub himself against my legs again. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh!’ said Miss Bassett, ‘there he is! Naughty Johnny, naughty boy! Lord + Inley, perhaps you’d be so good as just to lif t him up and put him inside + the door for me. I always have such a job to get him to come in of a + night. He likes hunting in the woods. Doesn’t he, the naughty Johnny?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Now’s my chance to get rid of her!’ I thought. + </p> + <p> + “I bent down, picked the cat up, and went along the path towards the + cottage, Miss Bassett following close behind me. The cat was an immense + beast, awfully heavy, and just as I turned out of the yew path to go up to + the cottage door he began struggling to get away, and scratching. I held + on to him, but it wasn’t easy, and I got my hand torn before I dropped him + down inside the little hall. Away he ran, towards the kitchen, I suppose. + Miss Bassett was very grateful, but I cut her gratitude short. + </p> + <p> + “‘Very glad to have been able to help you,’ I said. ‘Good-night.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Good-night, Lord Inley,’ she said. + </p> + <p> + “I thought her voice sounded a little bit odd when she said that, and I + just glanced at her funny old face, lit up by the lantern she was holding + in one mittened hand. She didn’t look at me this time as she had in the + garden. Then I went out, and she immediately shut the door. + </p> + <p> + “‘Thank God!’ I thought, and I hurried to the wicket. I didn’t dare stay + in the garden now. Seeing her had made me realise my blackguardism in + coming in at all, considering my reason. I resolved to hide in the field + at the corner where the road turns off to Charfield. As I opened the + wicket, instinctively I put my hand into my pocket for my revolver.” + </p> + <p> + He bent down, looking full into my eyes. + </p> + <p> + “It wasn’t there.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Bassett!” I exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “In a moment I realised that Miss Bassett must have grasped the situation; + that her asking me to carry in her cat was a ruse, and that while the + beast was struggling between my hands she must have stolen the revolver + from behind. I say I knew that, and yet even then, when I thought of her + look, her manner, the sort of nervous old thing she was, I couldn’t + believe what I knew. Then I remembered her voice when she said + ‘Good-night’ to me in the passage, her eyes looking down instead of at me, + and that she was only holding the lantern in one hand, whereas in the + garden she was using two. She must have had the revolver in her other hand + concealed in the folds of her dress. I ran back to the cottage door, and + knocked—hard. Not that I thought she’d open. I knew she wouldn’t, + but she did directly. I could hardly speak. I was afraid of myself just + then. At last I said: + </p> + <p> + “‘Miss Bassett, you know what I want.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You can’t have it,’ she said, looking straight at me. + </p> + <p> + “I kept quiet for a second, then I said: + </p> + <p> + “‘Miss Bassett, I don’t think you know that you’re running into danger.’ + For I felt that there was danger for her then if she went against me. She + knew it, too, perhaps better than I did. I saw her poor old hands, all + blue veins, beginning to tremble. + </p> + <p> + “‘You can’t have it, Lord Inley,’ she repeated. + </p> + <p> + “There wasn’t the ghost of a quiver in her voice. + </p> + <p> + “‘I must, I will!’ I said, and I made a movement towards her—a + violent movement I know it was. + </p> + <p> + “But the old thing stood her ground. Oh, she was a gallant old woman. + </p> + <p> + “‘Do what you like to me,’ she said. ‘I’m old. What does it matter? She’s + young.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then I knew she understood. + </p> + <p> + “‘You’ve seen them together!’ I said. ‘Since I went!’ + </p> + <p> + “She wouldn’t say. Not a word. I was mad. I forgot decency, everything. I + took her. I searched her for the revolver. I searched her roughly—God + forgive me. She trembled horribly, but never said a word. It wasn’t on + her. She must have hidden it somewhere in that moment when she was alone + in the cottage. That was another ruse to keep me searching in there while— + But I saw it almost directly. I broke away, and rushed out and down the + road. Something seemed to tell me they had passed. I got into the lane + that leads to Charfield. The fly was gone. Then, all of a sudden, I felt + perfectly calm. I turned, and went up to the Abbey gates. I knocked them + up at the lodge. The keeper came out. When he saw me he said: + </p> + <p> + “‘You, my lord! However did you know?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Go on!’ I said. ‘Know what?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘About Master Hugo?’ + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t say one way or the other. + </p> + <p> + “‘The doctor says it’s a bitter bad quinsy, but there’s just a chance. Her + ladyship’s nearly mad. It only came on a few hours ago quite sudden.’ + </p> + <p> + “I went up to the Abbey, and found Vere by the child’s bed. She looked + flushed, and was breathing hard, as if she had just been running.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, and took out his cigar-case. + </p> + <p> + “Running!” I said. + </p> + <p> + “She had parted finally from Glynd in front of Miss Bassett’s cottage,” he + said. “He told me that afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + There was a moment’s silence. Then he spoke more calmly. + </p> + <p> + “I went up to town when the child was safe, and had it out with Glynd. + They had meant to go that night. It was the boy who stopped them and they + took it as a judgment. You know how women are. Glynd swore she was stopped + in time. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “He didn’t lie to me.” + </p> + <p> + “And your wife?” + </p> + <p> + “I never spoke of it to her. I saw her with the boy, and—well, I saw + her with the boy, and what she was to him when he was close to death.” + </p> + <p> + His voice went for a moment. Then he added: + </p> + <p> + “I told her I’d had a presentiment Hugo was ill. She believed me, I think. + If not, she’s kept her secret.” + </p> + <p> + Just then the dining-room door opened, and Lady Inley put in her pretty + head. + </p> + <p> + “Are you never coming?” she said with her little childish drawl. + </p> + <p> + I got up, and went towards her. + </p> + <p> + “By the way, Nino,” she added, “the bell was for poor, funny old Miss + Bassett. What will her cat do, I wonder?” + </p> + <p> + As I followed her towards the drawing-room I heard Inley’s voice mutter + behind me: + </p> + <p> + “<i>Requiescat in Pace</i>.” + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spinster, by Robert Hichens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPINSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 23410-h.htm or 23410-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/4/1/23410/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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