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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d10e6ce --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53864 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53864) diff --git a/old/53864-8.txt b/old/53864-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a7afc25..0000000 --- a/old/53864-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3814 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of a Baby, by Ethel Turner - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Story of a Baby - -Author: Ethel Turner - -Release Date: January 2, 2017 [EBook #53864] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A BABY *** - - - - -Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -The Story of a Baby - - -[Decoration: NAVTILVS SERIES] - - - - -[Illustration: "'He is exactly twenty-one pounds,' she said."] - - - - -THE STORY OF A BABY - -BY ETHEL TURNER - - -[Decoration: The Navtilvs Series] - -WARD LOCK & BOWDEN: LIMITED -LONDON · NEW YORK & MELBOURNE -1896 - - - - -TO THE BEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD - -E. T., _Sydney_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - I. THE BURDEN OF IT 1 - - II. THE RED ROAD COUNTRY 11 - - III. DOT AND LARRIE FALL OUT 21 - - IV. THE 'LITTLE MOTHER' 33 - - V. MORE RIFTS IN THE LUTE 45 - - VI. LARRIE THE LOAFER 58 - - VII. A POCKET MADAME MELBA 73 - - VIII. PICTURES IN THE FIRE 83 - - IX. A CONFLICT OF WILLS 97 - - X. A DARN ON A DRESS 111 - - XI. A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 124 - - XII. A LITTLE DIPLOMAT 131 - - XIII. DOT GOES BABY LIFTING 140 - - XIV. THE WHEEL IN THE BRAIN 147 - - XV. SULLIVAN WOOSTER, GENTLEMAN 154 - - - - -THE STORY OF A BABY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE BURDEN OF IT - - -Larrie had been carrying it for a long way and said it was quite time -Dot took her turn. - -Dot was arguing the point. - -She reminded him of all athletic sports he had taken part in, and of -all the prizes he had won; she asked him what was the use of being -six-foot-two and an impossible number of inches round the chest if he -could not carry a baby. - -Larrie gave her an unexpected glance and moved the baby to his other -arm; he was heated and unhappy, there seemed absolutely no end to the -red, red road they were traversing, and Dot, as well as refusing to -help to carry the burden, laughed aggravatingly at him when he said it -was heavy. - -'He is exactly twenty-one pounds,' she said, 'I weighed him on the -kitchen scales yesterday, I should think a man of your size ought to -be able to carry twenty-one pounds without grumbling so.' - -'But he's on springs, Dot,' he said, 'just look at him, he's never -still for a minute, you carry him to the beginning of Lee's orchard, -and then I'll take him again.' - -Dot shook her head. - -'I'm very sorry, Larrie,' she said, 'but I really can't. You know I -didn't want to bring the child, and when you insisted, I said to myself, -you should carry him every inch of the way, just for your obstinacy.' - -'But you're his mother,' objected Larrie. - -He was getting seriously angry, his arms ached unutterably, his clothes -were sticking to his back, and twice the baby had poked a little fat -thumb in his eye and made it water. - -'But you're its father,' Dot said sweetly. - -'It's easier for a woman to carry a child than a man'--poor Larrie was -mopping his hot brow with his disengaged hand--'everyone says so; don't -be a little sneak, Dot, my arm's getting awfully cramped; here, for -pity's sake take him.' - -Dot shook her head again. - -'Would you have me break my vow, St Lawrence?' she said. - -She looked provokingly cool and unruffled as she walked along by his -side; her gown was white, with transparent puffy sleeves, her hat was -white and very large, she had little white canvas shoes, long white -Suéde gloves, and she carried a white parasol. - -'I'm hanged,' said Larrie, and he stopped short in the middle of the -road, 'look here, my good woman, are you going to take your baby, or -are you not?' - -Dot revolved her sunshade round her little sweet face. - -'No, my good man,' she said, 'I don't propose to carry your baby one -step.' - -'Then I shall drop it,' said Larrie. He held it up in a threatening -position by the back of its crumpled coat, but Dot had gone sailing on. - -'Find a soft place,' she called, looking back over her shoulder once -and seeing him still standing in the road. - -'Little minx,' he said under his breath. - -Then his mouth squared itself; ordinarily it was a pleasant mouth, much -given to laughter and merry words; but when it took that obstinate look, -one could see capabilities for all manner of things. - -He looked carefully around. By the roadside there was a patch of soft, -green grass, and a wattle bush, yellow-crowned, beautiful. He laid the -child down in the shade of it, he looked to see there were no ants or -other insects near; he put on the bootee that was hanging by a string -from the little rosy foot and he stuck the india-rubber comforter in -its mouth. Then he walked quietly away and caught up to Dot. - -'Well?' she said, but she looked a little startled at his empty arms; -she drooped the sunshade over the shoulder nearest to him, and gave a -hasty, surreptitious glance backward. Larrie strode along. - -'You look fearfully ugly when you screw up your mouth like that,' she -said, looking up at his set side face. - -'You're an unnatural mother, Dot, that's what you are,' he returned -hotly. 'By Jove, if I was a woman, I'd be ashamed to act as you do. You -get worse every day you live. I've kept excusing you to myself, and -saying you would get wiser as you grew older, and instead, you seem -more childish every day.' - -She looked childish. She was very, very small in stature, very slightly -and delicately built. Her hair was in soft gold-brown curls, as short -as a boy's; her eyes were soft, and wide, and tender, and beautiful as -a child's. When she was happy they were the colour of that blue, deep -violet we call the Czar, and when she grew thoughtful, or sorrowful, -they were like the heart of a great, dark purple pansy. She was not -particularly beautiful, only very fresh, and sweet, and lovable. Larrie -once said she always looked like a baby that has been freshly bathed -and dressed, and puffed with sweet violet powder, and sent out into the -world to refresh tired eyes. - -That was one of his courtship sayings, more than a year ago when she was -barely seventeen. She was eighteen now, and he was telling her she was -an unnatural mother. - -'Why, the child wouldn't have had its bib on, only I saw to it,' he -said, in a voice that increased in excitement as he dwelt on the -enormity. - -'Dear me,' said Dot, 'that was very careless of Peggie, I must really -speak to her about it.' - -'I shall shake you some day, Dot,' Larrie said, 'shake you till your -teeth rattle. Sometimes I can hardly keep my hands off you.' - -His brow was gloomy, his boyish face troubled, vexed. - -And Dot laughed. Leaned against the fence skirting the road that seemed -to run to eternity, and laughed outrageously. - -Larrie stopped too. His face was very white and square-looking, his dark -eyes held fire. He put his hands on the white, exaggerated shoulders of -her muslin dress and turned her round. - -'Go back to the bottom of the hill this instant, and pick up the child -and carry it up here,' he said. - -'Go and insert your foolish old head in a receptacle for -_pommes-de-terre_,' was Dot's flippant retort. - -Larrie's hands pressed harder, his chin grew squarer. - -'I'm in earnest, Dot, deadly earnest. I order you to fetch the child, -and I intend you to obey me,' he gave her a little shake to enforce the -command. 'I am your master, and I intend you to know it from this day.' - -Dot experienced a vague feeling of surprise at the fire in the eyes that -were nearly always clear, and smiling, and loving, then she twisted -herself away. - -'Pooh,' she said, 'you're only a stupid overgrown, passionate boy, -Larrie. You my master! You're nothing in the world but my husband.' - -'Are you going?' he said in a tone he had never used before to her. 'Say -Yes or No, Dot, instantly.' - -'No,' said Dot, stormily. - -Then they both gave a sob of terror, their faces blanched, and they -began to run madly down the hill. - -Oh the long, long way they had come, the endless stretch of red, red -road that wound back to the gold-tipped wattles, the velvet grass, and -their baby! - -Larrie was a fleet, wonderful runner. In the little cottage where they -lived, manifold silver cups and mugs bore witness to it, and he was -running for life now, but Dot nearly outstripped him. - -She flew over the ground, hardly touching it, her arms were -outstretched, her lips moving. They fell down together on their knees by -their baby, just as three furious, hard-driven bullocks thundered by, -filling the air with dust and bellowing. - -The baby was blinking happily up at a great fat golden beetle that was -making a lazy way up the wattle. It had lost its 'comforter' and was -sucking its thumb thoughtfully. It had kicked off its white knitted -boots, and was curling its pink toes up in the sunshine with great -enjoyment. - -'Baby!' Larrie said. The big fellow was trembling in every limb. - -'_Baby!_' said Dot. She gathered it up in her little shaking arms, she -put her poor white face down upon it, and broke into such pitiful tears -and sobs that it wept too. Larrie took them both into his arms, and sat -down on a fallen tree. He soothed them, he called them a thousand -tender, beautiful names; he took off Dot's hat and stroked her little -curls, he kissed his baby again and again; he kissed his wife. When they -were all quite calm and the bullocks ten miles away, they started again. - -'I'll carry him,' said Larrie. - -'Ah no, let me,' Dot said. - -'Darling, you're too tired--see, you can hold his hand across my -shoulder.' - -'No, no, give him to me--my arms ache without him.' - -'But the hill--my big baby!' - -'Oh, I _must_ have him--Larrie, _let_ me--see, he is so light--why, he -is nothing to carry.' - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE RED ROAD COUNTRY - - -In cool weather the Red Road was very pleasant walking. It wound up hill -and down dale for many a mile till it reached Hornsby, and branched away -into different country. - -All the way there were gum trees--gum trees and fences; here and there -were closer palings and garden shrubs indicating human residence, but -they were far apart and the road was very lonely. Parallel to it and -showing in places between the trees was the single line of the railway. -It did not spoil the scenery at all, it rather gave a friendly look to -it and reminded the pedestrian that in spite of the bush silences, the -towering trees, the vista of blue hills and the mountain-like freshness -of the air, he could be in all the bustle and happy fellowship of town -in half-an-hour. - -Away to the left the ground dipped, then rose again, in a blue soft -hill, dipped again, and the new rise was purple and beautiful. The third -dip, just a line, white sometimes and again blue was the harbour. On -clear days one could see the smoke of vessels. Beyond the hills and the -water-line stretched Sydney city, white and shining in the distant -sunlight. Further away, over near the sky, the grey blue hills and the -light that meant sand-stretches was Botany. - -Higher up, and between the first and second hill-rise, ran the river -they call Lane Cove. A great white building, St Ignatius, made one -land-mark and the Mortlake gas-works another; from those places the -residents knew their geography. That was Eastwood away over there, -nestling among hills; those blurred cottages indicated Ryde; just where -the tree tops showed in a hollow, was the head of the river, and right -away on the west horizon a certain patch was the highest place in the -blue mountains. In a few years the beautiful country-side will be -commonplace suburbs; there will be stucco villas and terrace houses, -shops and paved roads; the railway has broken its fastness and the -change is inevitable. - -The smooth grass slopes, the wooded stretches will live only in memory. -The great red-and-black and silver-limbed gums will be hewn down to make -way for spreading civilisation. The blue gracious hills will be thick -with chimneys and advertisement boards. There will be a double line of -railway, no longer picturesque, and big spreading stations instead of -primitive sidings where one held up a 'flag by day and a light at night' -to be picked up of the passing train. - -Past St Leonard's the railway is very new, a matter of months indeed. - -Before it was opened there were obstacles in the way of reaching Sydney -that made would-be residents shake their heads, and go to live at -Paddington, and Forest Lodge, and such crowded places that could be -reached by tram with a certain degree of comfort. - -But before the year of grace 1893, the train from the hills that only -just escaped being mountains, used to empty out its passengers on the -little St Leonard's Station. There were two ways only after that of -getting to Sydney. - -Either one merrily trudged a pathway mile, and then caught a North Shore -cable tram to the point where the Ferry boat leaves for the Circular -Quay, or one entrusted one's life and well-being to a vehicle that might -have been a Noah's Ark, or a bathing machine, or a convict van. - -In ancient days it used to run between Shoalhaven and Moss-Vale, as its -red painted sides still bore witness, but travellers in those parts did -better for themselves, so they brought it here, and charged sixpence -each way for the twenty-five minutes' journey. Now there is a -combination of the railway; pressure was brought to bear, and the New -South Wales Government finished in a hurry a work that had dragged on -till people despaired of its completion. The line winds down towards the -chimneys and smoke of 'The Shore'; one has glimpses from the train of -blue bright bays and white sails moored boats, and a broken wharf or two -waiting to catch the artist's eye. Then it skirts along the harbour, -close to the water, in a semi-circular sweep, and makes an eye-sore. Two -years ago, Lavender Bay was beautiful. - -But about the Red Road. Just at the top of one of the elevations, there -was a big stone house standing in the middle of an orange and lemon -orchard. Dot's mother lived here by herself. - -A mile and a half away down the road there was a weather-board cottage -in a garden running over with flowers. Larrie and Dot lived here, and -the baby of course. They had been going up to 'mother's' the afternoon -they quarrelled about carrying the child; they always went on Sundays. - -Very often Dot went on Mondays too, that was the day Peggie, her -_aide-de-camp_, made the cottage unsavoury with soap-suds. Tuesday -nights they always had dinner up at the house, Peggie never had time to -cook on Tuesdays, there were so many of Dot's dresses and Larrie's -shirts, and baby's multitudinous garments to be finely ironed. - -On Thursdays and Saturdays the mother used to come down to the cottage -and put it straight, and help poor Peggie, and bring a new knitted -jacket or bootees or a hood or pinafore for baby. - -The house was a big lonely place for such a little woman. She was even -smaller than Dot. She had a tiny fragile figure, and a tiny face, brown -and shrivelled with Australian suns. Her eyes were very big and -pathetic, something like Dot's in wistful moments, and her mouth with -its infinitude of lines, was very sweet. - -After her eyes, her brooch was the first thing that invited notice. It -was one of those large, very old-fashioned ones with a miniature set on -the front of it. Dot had begged her to cease wearing it; 'It isn't good -taste,' she had said once vexedly, 'keep it in a drawer;' but the mother -would not lay it aside even though it was the only thing in which she -had ever thwarted Dot in her life. - -When she went to bed she pinned it on her night-gown, when she dressed -in the morning she fastened her collar with it. A hundred times a day -her fingers strayed to it. In her sleep her hand stole up and closed -upon it. - -The miniature was of a very young man in the old fashioned naval uniform -that used to be worn forty years ago. He had the correct miniature -smile, but the eyes were well done and you could see his brow had been -splendid. He was Dot's father, dead sixteen years ago; it was the only -likeness he had ever had taken. - -Inside the brooch was a cluster of little heads, gaudily painted, six in -all; Dot, the seventh, had been born after it was done. - -Four of the heads pressed clay pillows in a churchyard not very far -away, seas washed over the fifth, and the sixth lay in a lonely grave in -the wilds of Western Australia. - -Dot was the only one alive, and now she had flown from the home-nest to -one of her own, leaving unutterable desolation behind her in the -mother's heart. - -It was because death had so broken and bruised this little frail mother -that she had never crossed Dot's will in anything since she was born. -The days of insistence and control, and obedience-seeking were buried -with the buried six. Dot ruled, and the mother poured out her heart at -her feet and worshipped with a love almost desperate. - -So when Dot said she was going to be married at once, albeit only -seventeen years had passed over her little sunny head, the mother had -not been able to refuse. She had only reminded Larrie, whom she loved -dearly and had known for years, how young her darling was, and on her -knees she had prayed him to be good to her always. Larrie was -twenty-two. For sixteen years he had come up to the house in the -holidays at the first sign of a ripening orange; he had eaten bananas -with Dot, one of them at each end of the fruit, when she was two. - -He had played cricket with her at six, climbed trees with her at ten, -pulled her hair and pinched her for being a girl at twelve, forgotten -her for a time at fifteen, and come back and married her at seventeen. - -He had £250 a year, and no guardians or parents to give him unasked -advice. So he resolved to take a year's holiday according to his -doctor's orders, before he started his profession, and teach and train -Dot till she was an ideal wife. He had all kinds of ideas on the -subject, though he was so very boyish to look at, and he intended to -inculcate Dot with them all. But for the first year he was so -exuberantly happy he forgot all about them. - -It was only when the baby was growing into months, and Dot was -continually forgetting some article of its clothing, or the kicking -exercise that was to make it an athlete, or when her piano made her -forget its existence for a little while, that he began to think he was -not doing his duty by her, and must turn over a new leaf. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -DOT AND LARRIE FALL OUT - -'And though she is but little, she is fierce.' - - -The cottage was a delightful place. It was built of weatherboard, not -the kind that overlaps, but that with a groove between each board. The -verandah was very wide and ran round the four sides; that was Larrie's -great extravagance when he improved the place. - -'Where's a fellow to smoke when it's hot or wet if there isn't a decent -verandah?' he said. - -He and Dot had walked miles upon it in the early months of the year, he -with his pipe in his lips and a look of great content in his eyes, she -with her hands linked at the back of her neck or slipped around his -arm. - -There was a profusion of hammocks and lounges and chairs that made you -lazy to look at them. That was Dot's extravagance. On one side the outer -wall was of yellow and white roses that flowered eternally, on another, -wistaria with delicate down-dropping blooms. The third--the kitchen -side--was passion-vines, and the fourth was clear, and showed a grand -sweep of country, and all the Sydney vista. - -There was a narrow hall and a painted front door, on either side of it -long French windows opening, one into the dining-room, the other into -Dot's beautiful little drawing-room. - -She had spent a week thinking out the furnishing of that room, and -nearly all her mother's wedding-present cheque upon it. - -'No, I won't have a carpet,' she said when her mother was dwelling upon -the advantages of Brussels over Wilton pile, 'and no, I won't have felt, -it's too stuffy looking; and if you buy me a proper tapestry suite I -shall set fire to it. In India people furnish sensibly, but in -Australia, which must be nearly as hot, they do everything in English -style.' - -The little mother ceased her suggestions, and Dot worked her own will -with really charming effect. - -The room was rather low, and the walls and ceiling tinted a delicate -green. There was a large centre square of white matting, fringed at the -edge and a border of pale green around it. The three French windows had -long soft curtains of white with pale green frills. No two chairs were -alike. They were of rattan and pith, and bamboo in quaint shapes. One -had a flat sea-green cushion of plush, one a triangular one of silk with -frills of coral pink; there was a lovely pith sofa lounge, wide, -inviting, with a pile of pillows in cool Liberty silk. In a corner the -piano stood, a beautiful instrument though very plain. It was not draped -in art muslin, and it had no photos or _bric-à-brac_ on it to jingle and -spoil the wonderful music Dot brought forth from it. A great lamp stood -beside it with a green crinkled paper canopy, restful to the eye. - -In another corner there was a low bookcase running along the wall; -volumes of Browning caught the eye, Tennyson, William Morris, Shelley, -Keats, all the gods. - -There was a sandal wood writing-table, with silver handles and silver -equipments, a silver lamp with a rose-leaf shade, and a photo of baby in -a silver chased frame. - -There was not a tambourine on the walls, not a single fan pocket, not a -plaque. Half-a-dozen pictures perhaps, bits of exquisite colouring -chiefly in long narrow gold frames; a sunset at Manly Lagoon, a bit of -the Kanimbla valley, with summer upon it, a water colour of the road -above Mossman's Bay, a woman's face, pale and unspeakably beautiful, -painted against a background of purple velvet, some chrysanthemums, -tawny yellow and brown. - -One or two engravings as well. 'Wedded' in an oak frame hung over the -piano. Dot said the man was Larrie's very counterpart; when she sang she -used to look up at it and feel glad he was her husband. On a tall easel -on a table there was the 'Peacemaker.' Larrie said the little girl was -Dot. There were bits of quaint china on the little tables, and a few -photographs, not many. Flowers there were in all possible places. -Daffodils and spiky leaves in the windows, roses and 'shivery' grass on -the tables, low vases of violets and primroses, tall ones of jonquils. -Dot dusted this room herself every morning, then before she could put -the duster away, the piano would tempt her, and the rest of the house be -forgotten. But for Peggie what a place it would have been! - -Peggie was a real Cornstalk. She was fully five-feet-eleven, and had -impossibly long arms and an impossible number of freckles. But she had -also all a Cornstalk's warm, honest heart; she was devoted to Dot and -Larrie, and absolutely worshipped the baby. She made no better a servant -as far as work went, than the average untrained Australian girl; but she -was wonderfully learned in the ways and wants of babyhood, and so was -invaluable to Dot who was absurdly ignorant. When Larrie had engaged -her twelve months ago at a Sydney registry office, he had asked her -name. - -'Marjorie Dorothy Pegerton,' she said. - -'Ah!' said Larrie, 'that's a high day and holiday name, shall we say -Mary on week days?' - -'Marjie, some folks call me,' she answered. 'Or there's Dolly--I'm not -particular--you can even call me Peg if you like, Mr--what was it the -gentleman said your name was?' - -'Armitage,' said Larrie, 'and let us decide on Peggie; it is unique, and -altogether charming in these days.' - -They were both very fond of Peggie, she was the stay of the cottage in -all domestic affairs--it would have fallen to pieces but for her, and -the baby--well there is really no knowing what would have happened to -that same baby had it not been for Peggie. - -Larrie generally minded the baby on Thursday mornings. It was Thursday -morning now. Peggie was doing her routine work for that time, scrubbing -the bare pine floors of the bedrooms. Larrie and Dot both hated carpets. - -Larrie was smoking his third postprandial pipe, and was pacing up and -down one side of the verandah; he would have liked to have gone the -whole distance, but then there was the baby. - -It was lying in a hammock in a nest of pillows, and looking with calm, -large gaze out into all the world that appeared through a gap in the -rose creeper. There was the pink flush of recent sleep on its little -soft cheeks, and its hair, the softest, warmest gold in the world, was -all tumbled and curly with washing. It had a wonderful amount of hair -for so young a child, and Dot's pride in it was forgivable, for nearly -all the babies of her acquaintance were bald. - -Have you ever kissed a baby's neck? Was ever anything so warm and white -and velvety? The neck of Dot's baby was absolutely beyond description. -Its mouth was red, bowshaped. Sometimes it gave wide wet touches on -Dot's cheeks, and she would whisper excitedly to Larrie that it was -kissing her. - -Such wonderful, wondering eyes it had, intensely blue, intensely -earnest. There had been moments when Larrie felt he would give his soul -to know just what his baby was thinking of. - -Did you show it a beautiful flower or a low hanging silver moon, a -picture, something bright with colour? it seemed to be looking away far -beyond them and smiling in a faint sweet way, because it saw fairer -things than ever you dreamed of. - -Its hands--well, perhaps they were like most babies' hands, but neither -Dot, nor Larrie, nor Peggie, nor the little mother would have allowed it -for a moment. They were like the inside of a flushed, curled, rose-leaf, -and when they closed round your finger, you felt how strangely sweet, -and soft and warm they were. From the long open window came the sound of -Dot's voice, singing. The baby was listening as it lay in the hammock. -Larrie was listening as he smoked, though in a half reluctant way. - -When little souls are born, just before they come to us from the -wonderful place of souls, they have to do with a lottery. To a thousand -little blind struggling souls, there are half-a-dozen great good gifts. -Nine hundred and ninety-four draw blanks, but the band of six come down -to us blessed, rejoicing. Dot had been of the six. She had drawn a -voice. Generally Larrie rejoiced because of it. - -Not this morning, however. He had been brooding lately over Dot's -deficiencies, and he almost wished she had been of the nine hundred and -ninety-four. For one thing, he could have walked all the four sides of -the verandah if she had been. The thought rankled. - -'Dot,' he called in 'a voice.' - -Only little bursts of melody answered him. She was singing a rippling -song of Schubert's; it was in keeping with the warm, soft air outside, -the twittering of birds, the faint motion of the gum leaves. - -'Dot!' he shouted. - -She put a curly little head between the window curtains. - -'Well, Larrakin?' she said. - -'Come and mind the baby,' he said shortly, 'I want to smoke.' - -'But baby doesn't mind smoke at all--do you, small sweet?' she said, -going over to the hammock. 'Oh Larrie, look how uncomfortable he is, -you're a nice one to look after him; and where's his comforter? he'll -have no thumb left presently.' - -'I threw it away,' Larrie answered, 'all that indiarubber can't be good -for him, I don't intend him to have another.' - -'Stupid!' said Dot. She kissed the baby, tickled it, tossed it, then -laid it down again. - -'What did you call me for,' she said. 'I was just enjoying myself.' Her -eyes still had the look of being away in the spheres. 'He's all right -there and it's your turn to mind him, Larrie. I walked him about for an -hour in the night.' - -She moved to go in again. - -'Stop here when I tell you, and mind him,' he said in an unpardonable -voice. - -Dot gave him a surprised look. - -'You forget yourself, Larrie,' she said quietly. - -She went in and her fingers wandered into the quiet, calm music of one -of Mendelssohn's gondola songs. But she took it in rather hurried time. -Larrie disturbed her when he had this mood on. He came behind her and -lifted her hands off the keyboard. - -'Go and mind the child this minute.' The flame in his eyes showed itself -instantly in hers. - -'How dare you speak to me like that!' she said. - -'Go and mind the child,' said Larrie. - -Dot crashed a passionate chord on the piano, she lifted her right hand -for a brilliant run. But Larrie picked her up in his arms and put her -outside on the verandah near the hammock. Then he went in and closed the -drawing-room door behind him. - -By the time she had flown round through the dining-room he was locking -the piano. - -'How _dare_ you!' Dot said in trembling fury. 'My piano! give me that -key instantly.' - -'Go and mind your child,' he said. He was stooping a little, for the key -stuck, since it was never used; his head was almost on a level with the -lid. - -The next minute he was standing straight in confused astoundment. Dot -had dealt him a passionate box on the ear, and fled from the room. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE 'LITTLE MOTHER' - -'Kiss and be friends, like children being chid.' - - -It was unwritten law that thunder storms at the cottage should never -travel to the house. But when Dot hurried up the drive and burst into -the dining-room with a scarlet face and glowing eyes, the mother was -afraid something was wrong. - -'Why, it's Thursday, Dot!' she said, 'I was just coming down.' - -Dot took off her wide brimmed hat and fanned herself for a moment. - -'There was curry cooking in the kitchen,' she said; 'onions, pah!' - -'How's the baby, why didn't you bring him?' asked the little mother. - -'Oh, bother the baby,' said Dot. - -'Is Larrie's neuralgia better?' the mother ventured after a little -pause. And 'bother Larrie,' was Dot's wifely response. - -The mother got out the twenty-seventh pair of boots she was knitting for -baby, and worked two rows in silence. She wondered if it was Larrie's -fault or Dot's. Larrie's she was sure. She wished Dot was her one little -girl again, so she could take all the troubles for her. - -'How did Peggie like the new soap I left her?' she said, anxiously -flying from topics that made Dot's brows frown. - -'Bother Peggie,' said Dot. 'She washed baby's nightgowns with it, and -the whole world's placarded with advertisements that say don't. Idiot!' - -'The oranges are ripening beautifully,' said the poor little mother. - -Dot went over to her and kissed her passionately. - -'You're the best woman in the world,' she said. - -Tears of quick pleasure sprang into the mother's eyes. - -'_My_ little girl,' she said softly. - -She held Dot from her a minute, and scanned the flushed face with eyes -that saw everything. - -'I wish I was,' Dot said, in a stifled tone, 'just yours.' - -Anger crept into the mother's big eyes. 'Has Larrie?'--she said, -'Larrie, has he--does he?'--indignation overcame her. - -'Oh no,' said Dot, ashamed of so nearly infringing the law. 'Larrie's -all right--what are you running your head against, small woman?' - -'He is good to you?' suspiciously. - -'_Very_ good.' - -She got up and went to the piano. 'I came to have a good practice,' she -said. 'One can't with baby about.' - -She screwed up the stool, opened the lid, and got out a pile of music. -Wagner was at the bottom of the canterbury, and she sought for him, and -then attacked him with level brows. - -By the time she had made ten mistakes, and the little mother's head was -aching, there was the click of an opening gate. - -'I--' said Dot, 'I--think I shall go home.' She jumped up and peeped -through the Venetian. 'Baby may want me, and--and--if Larrie should -happen to come in, you needn't say I've been; he thinks I walk too -much.' - -She gave her mother a hurried kiss on the top of her cap, and slipped -out of the back door and across the paddocks to the train. - -Larrie came down the hall with slow step. He sat down in Dot's old -rocking-chair. 'Morning, mum,' he said, 'the oranges are looking -lovely.' He was eating one he had plucked near the gate, but did not -seem to be paying any attention to the taste of it. - -The little mother regarded him with eyes full of severity, though she -tried to hide it. - -'Dot is not looking well,' she said, 'haven't you noticed? We mustn't -let her do too much, we must be very careful of her, Larrie boy.' - -Larrie looked a trifle disturbed for a minute, then righteous wrath -prevailed over incipient anxiety. 'Why she doesn't do anything,' he -said, '_anything_.' - -'She's very young,' was the mother's reply. - -'Oh, that's nothing,' said Larrie 'lots of girls of eighteen are married -and do everything.' - -'Not little tiny girls like Dot,' urged mother, 'you mustn't be hard on -her, Larrie, she'll be all she should be in time.' - -'But not if I don't teach her,' he insisted; 'why, how can she?' - -'It comes of itself,' the mother answered. - -But a dark look of recollective annoyance spread over Larrie's brow. - -'She forgot baby's teething necklace three days last week, she's always -forgetting things,' he said. - -Then he too remembered the law, and ate the rest of his orange in -silence. - -'I wish you would not come down to the cottage quite so often,' was the -remark with which he broke a meditation that had involved criss-crossed -brows and five slow minutes. A little odd sound broke from the mother's -lips. Larrie looked up and saw she was white under her brown and her -eyes were piteous. - -He crossed over to her with two swift steps. He knelt down beside her -chair, and put both his arms round her thin waist. - -'How dare you, mum, how _dare_ you have such thoughts!' he said. He -kissed her several times in an eager, boyish way. 'You _know_ you could -never come too often for me, you _know_ you are more to me than my own -mother ever was. It's only Dot, don't you see? She's getting too -dependent, mum. We'll have to let her stand alone a little more. Peggie -spoils her, you spoil her--I even spoil her myself--mightn't it be a -good thing to let her do things by herself for a change, just for a -trial, mum? And she shall come here of course. Only, don't you come to -the cottage for a bit, and do all the things she leaves undone in that -quiet little way you have.' - -'Not even Saturdays, Larrie? That's the hardest day.' - -'No,' Larrie said. 'Be a good little mum and leave her to me.' - -He stood up, all his six feet and odd inches, his young face grave, -resolute, his eyes full of seriousness. - -'He looks like a man fit to be trusted with his own wife,' the little -mother told herself as she looked up at him. - -Aloud, she said in a tone of wistful resignation. 'Very well, Larrie, -you will be gentle with her, I know--she's such a little thing.' - -Larrie walked home. He was thinking all the way of the new leaf he was -about to turn. Dot had behaved in an altogether unforgivable manner. He -must be firm with her, very firm, he told himself. He was inclined to -spoil her, as he had said, and overlook her faults--but from now, he -must show her, too, his displeasure at the disrespectful way she had -treated him in the morning. Boxing a husband's ears! - -The red burnt on his brow as he opened the gate, thinking of it and -heard Dot trilling Amiens' song as she watered some sickly pelargoniums -she was trying to grow. - -'I must be firm, very firm,' Dot had told herself. 'No husband should -order his wife about in the way Larrie ordered me. He is a little, just -a little inclined to tyrannise, and I shall be laying up unhappiness for -myself if I do not nip it in the earliest bud.' - -When she saw his figure coming down the hill, she laid the baby down in -the cot inside and bade Peggie give an eye to him. Then she popped on a -clean muslin dress with forget-me-nots sprinkled all over it, tied the -blue ribbons of her picturesque garden hat in a coquettish bow at the -side of her chin, and when Larrie opened the gate she was flitting about -the flower beds with an absurdly small red watering can in her hand and -the gay little song on her lips. It certainly was provoking. - -[Illustration: "When Larrie opened the gate she was flitting about the -flower beds."] - -He had pictured her coming to his side with eyes all wet and sorry, and -asking forgiveness for being so naughty and childish. He had decided -to forgive her after a time, but to show her first, quietly and gravely, -how much in error she had been. And now-- - - 'Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly! - Then heigh-ho, the holly! - This life is most jolly.' - -and a whole gamut of lilts and trills of her own introduction. - -Larrie closed his lips very tightly and strode past her into the house. - -'I might have known she would turn into that kind of woman,' he -muttered, casting off his straw hat in the dining-room. 'A man never -knows a girl till he's married to her, she never shows herself in a true -light before.' - -He went into an adjoining bedroom for a linen coat to get cool in. - -Baby was disporting himself in the high-sided cot; his little legs were -bare and kicking against the pillows, his arms were bare, and his soft, -sweet neck. Such a gurgle and chirrup of welcome he gave his father! He -banged his heels on the iron, he gave a rapturous little leap, and said -'Googul, googul, googul.' - -Larrie glanced half-shamefacedly through the window to make sure Dot -could not see, and then he went over to the cot and said glad responsive -'googuls,' and submitted his crisp curls to the wee fingers, and tossed -him about in his arms. - -But when the dinner-bell rang he laid him down in a hurry, and moved out -of the room. Only he could not quite call up the stern 'firm' manner -again. - -Dot sprang up the verandah steps, and went into the bedroom to take off -her hat, and wash invisible gardening marks from her fingers. - -'I won't quarrel,' she whispered to herself, 'but I must really show him -I am not to be bullied. I will be _very_ firm.' - -'Googul' said baby. - -Such a mournful little googul! there were actually two tiny tears -welling up in the blue wide eyes, for tossing and petting were joyful to -him. - -Dot shut the door. Then she said '_Baby_' in a tempestuous little way, -and two quick answering tears sprang up in her own eyes as she lifted -him up to her. It was such a lonely, reproachful little 'googul.' She -sat down on the bed with him, and made his small heart gladsome again -with kisses and baby-talk. - -The door opened one inch--then wide. - -'The curry coolin' as 'ard as it can, and master lookin' black, and 'ere -you are,' said Peggie resentfully. 'Give 'im to me, the darling angel.' - -Dot handed him over, and hurried into the dining-room. - -'You're putting milk in, what are you thinking of?' Larrie said in an -injured tone after two minutes' silence. Dot was actually thus spoiling -the cup of tea he always drank brown and sugarful. Peggie had forgotten -the slop basin. Dot got up to go to the cupboard which was near Larrie's -end of the table. - -'If you'll never be naughty again I'll forgive you,' she said in a -whisper at his elbow. Her eyes were wet, sorry, pleading. - -'You _dear_ little girl,' Larrie said. He laid down his knife and fork -and put his arms round her waist, 'I was a perfect brute to you, it was -all my fault.' - -'No, mine,' said Dot. - -'_Mine_,' insisted Larrie. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MORE RIFTS IN THE LUTE - - 'This grew: I gave commands, - Then all smiles stopped together.' - - -But naturally this kind of thing could not go on for ever. - -Quarrels, with little tender makings up like that had a certain charm -while their freshness lasted. But when the fallings out became events of -almost weekly occurrence, the fallings in were no longer things to be -put away in 'the hushed herbarium where we keep our hearts' -forget-me-nots.' - -Larrie _was_ exacting and inclined to be tyrannical. And Dot _was_ -careless and childish, and unreasonable. The first week that the mother -did not come down to look after Peggie, and do her fifty odd acts of -straightening, the cottage was in a glorious state of muddle. - -Larrie by nature was an order-loving and somewhat methodical man, and -had an inborn objection to see Dot's pretty slippers lying about the -house, or stray articles of baby's clothing on the verandah chairs. He -thought breakfast things too ought not to be left on the table till all -hours in the morning, and when Dot asked him how he could expect Peggie -to dress baby and make the beds _and_ wash up by ten, he retorted -brutally that she was a lazy little slattern, and should do it herself. - -'A slattern is a person untidy in herself,' Dot replied, 'you can't say -you've ever seen me like that, Laurence Armitage!' - -And he certainly could not. Whatever her faults were, Dot was a little -lady to the backbone, and would have been always sweet and fresh, and -guiltless of pins and rents if she had never been able to afford more -than fourpence half-penny prints to clothe herself with. Shabby finery -she had a wholesome detestation for; however plain her dress might be, -it was always dainty, her shoes fitted trimly, her collar was above -reproach and fastened with precision, her gloves were unsoiled, and her -hats always fresh if only trimmed with Indian muslin. - -But she was certainly a shocking young person where household matters -were concerned. There was plenty of work to do even in so small a place; -Peggie, however, had cheerfully taken it on her own shoulders at the -beginning, and the things she ought to have done and left undone, the -little mother did. - -It was not until there was a third member in the family that the -housework was appreciably neglected. When the fascination of 'dressing -baby' was no longer new to Dot, and Peggie, its devoted worshipper, -begged to add that duty to her others, Dot consented with alacrity. And -Larrie looked on and told himself daily these things ought not to be. - -One day there was a very great passage-at-arms. Peggie had gone to -Sydney for the day to spend her month's wages in a fearful and wonderful -hat she had long had her eye upon, and Dot was left with the whole -burden of the household upon her shoulders. - -Generally on the rare occasions of Peggie's absence, the mother came -down and presided over the kitchen and the baby, and Dot had little else -to do than lay the table and help to dish up. But to-day Larrie's wicked -conspiracy stood in the way. - -The mother sent down a little note; it was very hot, would Dot mind if -she did not come, her head was inclined to ache badly? And Larrie had -'business in town' and would be back by the train just in time for -dinner. - -Dot felt overwhelmed with the responsibilities of her position. - -'I think you had better take baby up to mother's first, Larrie,' she -said, 'I don't see how I am to mind him and cook the dinner and do -everything.' - -'How does Peggie manage when you're away? My dear Dot, I hope you are -not going to give me the idea that you are one of those women utterly -without resource,' said my lord Larrie. 'My sister Charlotte--' - -'Grace!' cried Dot, 'spare me the recapitulation of the puddings she -could make and the wonders she could do at sixteen.' - -'Well, I only wanted to show you,' said Larrie. - -He brushed the dust off his shoulders, set his straw hat perfectly -straight on his head--he always wore it tilted forward or stuck jauntily -back in these wilds--and with a paternal kind of kiss to Dot and a -grandfatherly one to the baby, he departed. - -'I'll just show him what I can do,' said Dot going kitchenwards. 'Horrid -boy!' - -It was six or thereabouts when the 'horrid boy' returned. He was -hungry--amazingly hungry--and apart from his experiment he really hoped -that there was a very nice dinner ready. The white tablecloth was on the -dining-room table and the flowers were exquisitely arranged, drooping -blossoms of wistaria and delicate leaves on a ground of pale yellow -silk. There were also some knives and forks in a heap, two salt-cellars -and the silver gong. From the bedroom came doleful baby wails that -filled all the cottage. From the kitchen a strong smell of burning. - -'Gracious Lor,' said Peggie. - -But 'Hang it all!' was her master's remark. - -Peggie set her bandbox down and followed at his heels into the kitchen. - -Dot was standing over the fire. Nearly every piece of crockery in the -house stood dirty upon the table. Egg shells lay about, the sugar jar, -the currant, the peel, the pepper, the flour, and all the store cupboard -were in evidence. She turned a peony face towards them. 'Dinner's not -ready yet, and it's no use being cross, Larrie, if only you knew what a -bother I've had with the fire.' She lifted a saucepan with a groan and -set it aside. - -'Is there _anything_ to eat?' Larrie asked in a tone not altogether -mild. 'The place smells like a crematorium.' - -Dot sniffed. 'Does it?' she said. 'The meat's burnt, I couldn't help it, -it burnt while I ran in to dress baby, and then a visitor came after I -put some cakes and a batter pudding in the oven, and they burnt, there's -a boiled pudding though, it'll be cooked in half-an-hour, and we can -have eggs for once.' - -Peggie hastened to her bedroom to change her very best dress for an old -one in which she might take command of her region. - -'You really mean to say, Dot, that in all these hours you haven't been -able to cook a little dinner,' Larrie began. His chin squared itself, -his lips closed. - -'It's no good making faces, my good man,' Dot said. 'I've cut my thumb, -and I've burnt my wrist, and had sparks in my eyes, and now this is all -the thanks I get.' - -'Eggs when a man comes in hungry for his dinner!--and a pudding not -cooked! The table--' - -'_Will_ you go out of the kitchen, Laurence Armitage,' Dot said facing -round. 'Do you think I've not had enough without _you_ beginning?' - -'--The table not set and a crying baby,' Larrie went on. - -'Larrie, _do_ you want to provoke me into throwing a saucepan at your -head like an Irish washerwoman?' Dot said. - -She took the lid off the potatoes and disclosed a pulpy mass boiled out -of all recognition. - -'I don't profess to be perfect; accidents will happen even to the sister -Charlottes.' - -'It's this kind of thing that drives a man from his home to seek comfort -and pleasure elsewhere,' Larrie said darkly. He really felt exceedingly -ill-used, and Dot's heated face and worried expression did not appeal to -him at all. - -He even steeled his heart to the little tired tremble in her voice that -showed the tears were near, and all the time came the distracting sound -of baby's mournful screams that no one had time or inclination to -soothe. - -'You're a bad wife, Dot,' Larrie said, fully persuaded she was. - -Dot gave a hysterical laugh. - -'All this because your food's not ready to put in your mouth; men are as -bad as animals in the Zoo when meal time is delayed!' - -'You fail in your duty in every respect, look at this kitchen, Dot, -think of the dinner, listen to your child.' - -But Dot, utterly tired and overwrought, burst into a passion of tears -and brushed past him. - -'I h-h-hate you,' she said, 'I _wish_ I wasn't married to you, oh I _do_ -wish I wasn't.' - -'And so do I,' returned Larrie grimly. Even dinner did not restore his -equanimity, albeit he made a tolerably hearty one with four boiled eggs, -quantities of bread and butter, and half a tin of sardines as dessert. - -Dot stayed out in the garden and refused food entirely. - -She wept oceans of tired, hot tears and told herself she was the most -miserable woman on earth. Later, when only her eyelashes were wet and -the quiet evening wind had cooled her cheeks and heart, she still -wondered why girls all the world over were in such a hurry to marry. - -She thought wistfully of her careless, unfettered girlhood that she had -cut so short through her own wilfulness. - -'I might have had eight more years,' she whispered to herself, -'twenty-five is the proper age to marry, he would have been older and -more patient too, and I should never have felt like this.' - -She put down her head on the old seat back and sobbed again -heartbrokenly for 'like this' meant that love was dying. - -Then the wind dried her tears once more, and she sat staring at a patch -of light that fell from the dining-room lamp out upon the little lawn: -she was wondering drearily how she should be able to live out all the -other days of her life. - -Larrie stepped out on the verandah, she could see the red of his cigar -and the dusky outlines of his figure. - -'Dot,' he called. - -The wind carried his voice over the sleeping flowers, and the wet grass -down to the broken seat and flung it at her. She slipped out of her -place and stole off towards the piece of ground that was still -unreclaimed bush; she could not bear his presence yet. But he saw her -white flitting dress and followed. - -'The dew's as heavy as it can be, you'll get another cold,' he said, -'come in.' - -She shook her head without looking at him. - -'Come in, and don't be a silly child,' he said. - -Again she shook her head and walked on. - -But he caught her arm and turned her gently but firmly round. - -'I don't want to have to carry you,' he said. Then he threw his cigar -away and spoke gravely. - -'Look here, Dot, I'm not going to say anything more about this -afternoon, we'll let that go, all I want you to understand is you must -give up being childish, and act in a way that befits a married woman. -I'm tired of this.' - -Dot did not speak, she hardly heard the words in fact, only the cold -tone they were spoken in. She wondered vaguely if her love had been -dying for a long time or if to-night was only the beginning. She hoped -she should not live long, she felt quite glad to think the doctor had -said she had no constitution; how _could_ she go on living if calm -careless affection was going to take the place of the wonderful love -that had once made a glory of their every hour. They had both been -incredulous of the existence of such a place as the dead level of -matrimony--was this it indeed they had already come upon? - -'Well?' said Larrie, 'I'm waiting, Dot, are you going to give it up?' - -She gave a little start. 'What do you mean?' - -'Give up being so childish, will you try?' - -'Oh yes,' she said dully. That was very easy to promise, she felt so -old, so very much a woman to-night. - -Larrie was only half satisfied with that quiet 'Yes.' Where was his -little loving eager girl gone who would have done anything in the world -once had he asked it, done it gladly and rejoiced at its difficulty, -flung her arms round his neck and asked to be tried still more? - -Only that spiritless 'Yes,' was her answer to-night. He stifled a sigh -of bitter disappointment. This was _marriage_, he supposed. - -'It's beginning to rain,' he said heavily, 'go in.' - -She turned to go,--they had been standing for the last few minutes near -the old broken seat. - -Never yet had they parted after the making up of a quarrel without a -kiss, and he would not omit it now. - -But he stooped his head in almost an awkward way down to her bent one, -and it was not the kiss of a lover. - -She merely submitted a drooped cheek to his lips, and went slowly up to -the house alone. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -LARRIE THE LOAFER - - 'She had - A heart--how shall I say? too soon made glad, - Too easily impressed: she liked what e'er - She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.' - - -Larrie and Dot had come upon the great rock that lies near the beginning -of the matrimonial path of all those who marry for love. - -Oh the wonderful capacity they had in those days for torturing -themselves! Larrie used to brood continually in secret over the change -that had come into their lives; his manner grew cold and indifferent and -he consumed as much tobacco as a man long years in the bush, and Dot -used to shed hot, angry, grieving tears in private and devote herself -to the management of the house or the baby in the time that once she -had always devoted to her husband. - -Once in one of the passionate little outbursts she was subject to, she -scoffed at him for his idleness. - -'No wonder you are so fault-finding, Larrie,' she said, 'staying at home -day after day like an old maid. Other husbands don't tie themselves to -their wives' apron-strings as you do.' - -It was a little unjust of her, this pettish speech, though she had -received provocation. - -Larrie had had a bad illness, a kind of brain fever soon after his last -law examination, and really had been ordered to take a long holiday. - -'You are a man of means,' the doctor had said. 'Travel about, loaf -generally for a year or two, do anything you like, but avoid regular -brain work.' - -As a first step to a thorough holiday he had married Dot, and as his -means, divided, would not permit of travel, he settled down with an -easy mind to 'loaf.' - -He used to ride, and fish, and shoot, walk, read, and work in the garden -generally, but there were times when he had fits of superlative laziness -and did absolutely nothing but lie in the hammocks and smoke, or wander -about after Dot. - -At first this state of things had been very delightful and idyllic, but -after eighteen months Dot found it very trying, and used to wish -sincerely that Larrie went off to business in the morning like other men -and stayed away till evening. She felt certain he would appreciate both -herself and his home more if he did so, and, seeing he was apparently -quite well and strong, there seemed no reason for him not to go. - -It was this feeling that had prompted the cutting speech about being -tied to her apron, a garment by the way which she never wore on any -occasion. - -Larrie was bitterly offended. - -'You are tired of me, it has come to that already,' he said, and there -was such a note of pain in his voice that she had slipped her arm round -his neck in her old impetuous way. - -'It was horrid of me,' she said, 'of course you have a right to stay at -home always if you like. Forgive me, Larrie.' - -And he had forgiven her after a time, even kissed her kindly and told -her not to mind. - -But the very next day he had taken an office in town and sent a man to -paint 'Laurence Armitage, Solicitor,' in white letters on the door. - -All her entreaties now would not keep him at home a day, he caught the -business train at eight o'clock in the morning and the evening one home -at five. - -He was like everyone else's husband at last, and the garden of Eden had -become merely a cottage with a piece of ground attached. - -But oh, such long, long days they were to both of them at first. - -Larrie, of course, had really nothing to do for weeks and weeks. He -used to sit on his uncomfortable cane chair, put his long legs on the -window-sill and smoke and think half the day. Or he would pin a 'Back in -ten minutes' notice on his door and stroll aimlessly about town or drop -into the offices of other men he knew, and envy them their busy air of -occupation. - -Dot had never thought so many hours went to the day before. - -Baby slept a great deal, and just beginning to teethe, was cross and -less companionable than usual. The household tasks that she took upon -herself now did not last long, and the little mother did so much sewing -for everyone in the cottage that there was really nothing left for Dot -to do, but put on occasional buttons and tapes. She resolved to let her -voice fill up the blank in her life, it was her one great gift, and she -determined she would cultivate it assiduously and then--but she had not -yet quite decided what difference the 'then' would make. - -The Red Road Country had a little plain church at the top of one of its -hills, and Dot led the singing as a matter of course. - -Sometimes she took long solo parts in the anthems, and then the ugly -barn-like place of worship seemed full of glory. Several times people -had come all the way from the shore just to hear the clear, sweet, -joyous voice of that one little person in the front row. She had been -asked more than once to join the choir of different big churches in -Sydney, but there was no train service at all on Sunday for the line, -and Larrie naturally refused to have an empty house the greater part of -the day just because his wife had a voice. Choir practices were on -Wednesday afternoons, and Dot attended regularly now; for one thing they -helped to pass the time, for another she had a genuine desire to have -the singing each Sunday as good as possible, and knew her presence -stimulated the other members. - -The Red Road Country is growing famous for its healthiness. People with -land to sell in the district and the few boarding-house keepers, -advertise it as 'The Sanatorium of New South Wales.' Doctors are -beginning to send their patients there occasionally, instead of to the -Blue Mountains, and the pure, gum-tree filtered air certainly works -wonders. - -Mr Sullivan Wooster had been sent up for a month. He occupied a high -position in the musical world of Sydney. He taught, conducted concerts, -gave recitals of his own on organ and piano, and composed pieces that -met with high praise in the old world. An attack of pleurisy had -prostrated him recently, and he had come up to the Red Road Country -for his convalescence, refusing to be sent to a more distant place. -A Wednesday afternoon came a week after he had arrived. He was almost -dying with the _ennui_ of the place; the abounding gum trees were -beginning to prey upon his very soul. He had taken rooms at a cottage -where the recommendations had been 'No children, beautiful views, and -a piano.' - -But the daughter of the house had artistic yearnings that she longed to -impart, a passion for waltzes, and a tousled fringe that Wooster was -always dreading to find detachments of in his custards. The healthful -Eucalypt on hill and dale comprised the view. - -Naturally he spent most of his time on the Red Road. When he heard -voices in the little church that afternoon, he strolled to the door just -for the urgent want of something to do. When he heard Dot's voice, he -went in and sat down in the extreme back seat, much to the discomfiture -of a nervous member of the choir. - -After the practice was over he shook hands with the clergyman's wife who -had officiated at the little organ. He knew her very well; she had found -these lodgings for him, and had sent him tomatoes on one occasion and -some of her own orange wine, marvellously nasty stuff, on another. - -He asked after her husband, praised the views, thought the weather would -change, said nothing bitter about the landlady's daughter, and offered -to preside at the organ the next Sunday. Then he asked to be introduced -to the girl with the beautiful voice. - -A quarter of an hour later he was walking home with Dot. - -Her books--she had three of them--were his excuse, and the fact that he -had been walking that way before he turned in at the church. All the way -they talked music. - -Dot's eyes were bright, her speech eager. What a pleasant, unlooked for -change this was for her! - -She knew him well by repute, as indeed did everyone in Sydney--she had -been to his concerts, she played his compositions,--some of her friends -had been his pupils,--he seemed more like an old than a new friend by -the time they reached the top of the second hill. Half way down they -noticed the gathering clouds; by the time they reached the gate it had -begun to rain heavily. - -Dot did not hesitate a moment. He had been ill she knew: a wetting might -prove serious. - -'You must come in,' she said, pushing open her little gate, 'come and -wait till it clears.' She preceded him up the path and sprang up the -verandah steps into shelter, shaking the raindrops off her little short -curls and laughing breathlessly after the few minutes' hurry. - -'What a _dear_ little girl!' he said to himself, following with the -utmost gladness. - -He had never spent in all his life a pleasanter hour than the next one. - -His artistic eye was charmed with the arrangements of the simple -drawing-room, it was a real pleasure to run his fingers upon a good -piano once more--here was all the music that made the earth a happy -abiding place, and above all there was the presence of the sweet little -girl with short soft curls, wide, eager eyes, and a voice truly -wonderful. Oh the beautiful hour it was! - -They had both gone straight to the piano as naturally as ducks go to -water; they tried whole pages of different operas together, and went -twice through some of the songs, just for the sheer pleasure of singing. - -Then he played some Beethoven she had never found beautiful before, and -after that she played at his request piece after piece, and he was -surprised at her culture. - -He almost feared once or twice that the whole occurrence was an -enchanted dream which would fade presently. - -On his knees at the Canterbury drawer he found the score of _Faust_ bent -open at the 'Jewel Song.' He held it up eagerly. - -'Let me hear you in this,' he said. 'You sing it?' - -Dot nodded joyously and opened it on the music holder as he took his -seat. - -She gave a little cough to clear her throat. He stood up, real concern -on his face, and closed the book instantly. - -'There is _nothing_ so culpable as over-tiring the voice; it was -criminal of me to let you sing so much,' he said. - -There was a warm flush on her cheeks and her eyes were brilliant. - -'Let us have some tea then,' she said, with an excited little laugh. - -She crossed the room and rang the bell at the fireplace. Quite a -professional look was on his face. - -'I do trust you take proper care of your voice, Miss Armitage,' was his -really anxious remark. - -Dot's eyes flew open, then she laughed aloud just as Peggie appeared in -the doorway. - -'Tea, please, Peggie, and baby--baby first,' was her order. - -Peggie departed, surprised displeasure on her face: she wondered who was -the strange gentleman her mistress was on such good terms with, and she -thought it most inconsiderate that she should want afternoon tea when -there was so much ironing on hand. But she slipped a fresh muslin -pinafore on the baby and put on his best little red shoes, before she -carried him in to them all warm and flushed with his afternoon sleep. - -'I believe you thought I was only a girl, Mr Wooster,' Dot said with a -merry laugh as she stood up with her beautiful darling in her arms for -inspection. - -Mr Sullivan Wooster was certainly looking as thunderstruck as if the -pretty bundle of muslin, and lace and sweetness she held had been a -phoenix instead of the dearest little baby in the world. - -'I never dreamt,' he began. 'I quite thought--I certainly imagined Mrs -Ingram said _Miss_ Armitage; as well--,' his eyes sought her little bare -left hand. - -Dot laughed that happy little laugh of hers again. She went over to the -Canterbury and emptied a small Dresden cup upon her palm. - -'I always take my rings off before I play,' she said, 'it's a pernicious -habit, I know; my husband is always trying to break me of it, but I -really do it unconsciously. I never can play properly with them on.' - -After that, of course, he paid dutiful, expected court to the baby, and -made the correct remarks about its eyes and long eyelashes and the -quantity of its hair. But he no longer thought the occurrence an -enchanted dream that might fade any minute. The baby gnawing -thoughtfully at its dear little shoe as it sat on the hearthrug, while -Dot poured out tea, gave a surprising air of reality to everything. - -The rain had not ceased for a moment, so there was good enough excuse -for Mr Wooster's prolonged stay, but Dot was greatly astonished to see -Larrie come up the path presently, and know it was half-past five. She -excused herself and slipped out to meet him. He came in cold, wet, and -cross. It struck him how bright Dot's face was and how exceedingly -beautiful she was looking as she opened the door for him. - -'I have a visitor here, Larrie,' she said in a whisper, 'be quick and -get your mackintosh off. It is Mr Sullivan Wooster and he is so nice; -don't stay to change your coat.' - -But 'Confound him!' said Larrie. - -He wanted Dot and Dot only just now. All the day he had had an -unutterable longing to take her in his arms and beg her to let them -start afresh, and make life a beautiful thing again. And now there was -a visitor here. - -'You must ask him to stay for dinner, of course,' Dot said. 'He's had -pleurisy and can't go home in the rain. It's lucky there's roast fowl -to-day, and I'll open a bottle of those apricots.' - -Larrie was sulkily taking off his mackintosh as she talked. - -'What the deuce brought him here?' he said. Dot said 'H'sh,' and gave -him a little poke to remind him of the proximity of the drawing-room. - -'I'll tell you after,' she said. 'I must go back now, I've left him -alone with baby, and perhaps he's not educated up to them.' - -He went kitchenward to ask for dry boots, and Peggie was dishing up. -The appetising smell reminded him he was too hungry to tell her to keep -things in the oven on the chance of the visitor going. And as he went -back again up the hall he saw the weather was too abominable to turn a -dog out. But he said 'Confound it' under his breath outside the door, as -necessary preparation to pressing Mr Sullivan Wooster to stay to -dinner. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -A POCKET MADAME MELBA - - 'Out of the day and night - A joy has taken flight.' - - -Larrie had not yet taken Dot in his arms as he had intended that -afternoon, and he had not asked her to begin afresh, so the result was -still 'dead level.' - -But Dot was no longer unhappy. Every minute of her time was filled, and -with a real object now in life, she felt she had been childish to waste -so many hours in weeping and dwelling on imaginary differences in -Larrie's manner. - -She began to teach herself Italian with the aid of several grammars, -text books, dictionaries, and Mr Wooster. - -She practised the most uninteresting vocal exercises with unwearied -patience, and her perpetual singing of scales made Peggie take to a -permanently closed kitchen door and remark in confidence to baby that -his crying was music to it. - -All this because Mr Wooster, musical critic and composer, had told her -that if her voice was carefully cultivated and lost none of its -wonderful purity and freshness in the process, he did not know any -singer in Australia she would not surpass, that her fame would be equal -in time to Melba's or any of the first singers of the day. - -She did not tell Larrie this new wonderful secret that made her heart -sing even when her lips were silent. She wanted to keep it as a grand -surprise to him, and in bursting out on an astonished world to amaze him -also, and fill him with pride and gladness at her power. He was so used -to her voice, had heard her chirping, and chirruping, and trilling ever -since she was five, and though of course he loved it as he loved her, it -had not occurred to him that she was extraordinarily gifted. - -Naturally he had heard praise and admiration and considered them only -her due, but she had lived so quietly in this lonely Red Road country, -both before and after her marriage, that she had never had the -opportunity of hearing really competent criticism before. Even she -herself had not dreamed her gift was so rich. - -Fond of singing she had always been, it came as naturally to her as -speech; she knew she had the best voice in the district, but that was -not saying much; and sometimes when she had been to concerts in Sydney -it had struck her that she could render certain songs of the performers -quite as well as they did, if not better. - -Mr Wooster's words had been as a flash of lightning illuminating all her -future life. What dreams she had over the piano as she climbed to clear -B's and wonderful birdlike upper C's! How proud Larrie would be of her, -what fame should be hers, how they would travel with the wealth to -come, and oh, what a brilliant, beautiful future baby's should be! - -She told Wooster that she wanted to keep the secret from her husband at -present, and he smilingly acquiesced, so great was her happiness in it. -In asking Larrie's permission to give a few lessons to his wife he only -said, as twenty others had done before, that her voice was very good -indeed and would be much improved by training. - -Larrie gave his consent half unwillingly; Dot's singing he considered -was quite good enough for anything, _he_ was quite satisfied; but he -saw it would seem churlish to refuse, and Dot would take it as a fresh -instance of his 'tyranny,' so he allowed the lessons to begin. - -He was not half so happy as Dot in those days. Poor Larrie! - -It was very slow, unexciting work sitting in a twelve-foot-square office -all day, waiting for clients who never came. - -He had the feelings of an exile, too, whenever he thought of the dear -little cottage where the days had all been short and bright. It seemed -as if Dot had banished him from the little kingdom because she was tired -of him, and it was real torture to him to notice how light-hearted and -happy she seemed without him, while he was more miserable than he had -ever been in his life. - -Dot could persuade herself both into and out of anything she wished with -happy feminine ease. But with Larrie it was different. He was -long-headed and his reasoning was nearly always excellent, but when he -had once planted an idea in that head of his, it almost required an -earthquake to uproot it. That was what Dot stigmatised his 'aggravating -obstinacy.' - -He had upbraided her more than once for having what he called 'moods,' -not being always the same to him, having the odd little fits of coldness -or petulance that most women have occasionally, and can never explain -logically and satisfactorily. But Dot used to retort that if she was -subject to moods, he had 'tenses' which were infinitely more -objectionable. - -A matter that she would shed a few tears over and then dismiss, he would -brood over until he worked himself up into a state of positive -wretchedness. - -He really could not help himself, it was a certain kink in his nature -that made him so, and the 'tenses' were times of misery both to himself -and Dot. - -Once in the early days of the baby, he had taken up the notion that Dot -cared for it far more than she did for him, she was so wrapped up in it, -and would spare him so little time from it. - -He had grown absolutely jealous of the poor innocent little morsel, and -so miserably unhappy, that it had needed a domestic cyclone and manifest -neglect of the child before Dot could bring him to a healthy state of -mind again. - -He loved his little sweet wife with a passionate fervour and -devotedness, that only one man in a thousand is capable of. - -She was as necessary to him as the breath to his lungs, the blood to his -heart. Had it been needful, he would have fought the whole world -single-handed for her sake and never felt one of the scars. - -But the very strength of his love made it a little cruel sometimes, he -demanded almost too much of her and she could not always understand or -be patient with it. - -And now there was a cloud gathering on the domestic sky, and Dot with -astonishing blindness thought it was a new, wonderful sun that was going -to cast a warm, beautiful light over everything again. - -'Oh, what _will_ Larrie say?' she exclaimed in a fit of eager, childlike -pleasure one afternoon when she had sung the 'Jewel Song,' in a way that -even Wooster, carping critic as he was, could pronounce none other than -perfect. - -He looked at her tenderly, he nearly always said '_dear_ little girl' to -himself when she was like that. - -'I think he will say he could not be prouder of his wife than he is,' -he answered. 'When shall you tell him?' - -'Oh, not yet,' Dot said. 'Not yet on any account, electric shocks are -the salt of life. Imagine his face when I lay the programme before him, -"The Jewel Song--Mrs--Lawrence--Armitage."' Her eyes sparkled, she gave -one of her happy little laughs. '_How_ I wish the battery was ready!' - -Wooster was standing in the window looking absently out. - -He had a clear cut face, ascetic would describe it, only women novelists -are credited with adoring that word. It was not the face of a musician -at all, at least it had not the liquid dreaming eyes, and wide, massive, -brow framed in wavy hair that we conjure up generally when we speak of a -musician's face. It was monkish rather, the lips were clean shaved and -somewhat severe, the hair very short and dark, and the eyes just now -merely thoughtful. They were brown in colour, almost black on occasion, -and had perhaps even more variety of expression than most people's -eyes. In figure he was rather below the average height but he bore -himself easily. 'I would rather you spoke to your husband, Mrs Armitage, -before the programmes are printed,' he said, unconsciously making chords -with his fingers on the window ledge. It had occurred to him that -perhaps it was rather a bold step for his pupil to be contemplating a -public appearance without her husband's knowledge. - -'Not for _any_ consideration,' Dot said with great decision. 'All I am -living for is the programme surprise. He shall know two days before the -concert, not a second sooner.' - -Wooster played a chromatic scale with his thumb and second finger till -he found the dust on the ledge made them unclean. He pocketed them and -turned round. - -'He may consider I am abusing my privileges in preparing to bring you -out like this,' he said. - -But Dot cried, 'Nonsense,' with haste and impatience. 'It is the last -thing he would think of,' she said; 'why, he will be delighted, of -course. He does not dream he has a wife talented enough to sing in the -Centennial Hall before a mighty audience of all musical Sydney.' - -'Then you really will not tell him?' - -'Is there a stronger word than "No?" One absolute and irrevocable? If -there is, consider it said.' - -He laughed. - -'Suppose my nervous prudence makes me present him with the bagged cat.' - -'In that case,' said Dot, 'I should take my revenge in flat A's. Have -you no regard for me?' - -He forgot the dust and played another slow scale. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -PICTURES IN THE FIRE - - 'A rain and a ruin of roses - Over the red rose land.' - - -May had come in wet and blustering. The gum trees waved wild mournful -arms up to dull skies, the cottage garden was flowerless, green, and -dripping. Even the creeping roses that bloomed eternally, hung crushed -and wet or dropped their poor spoiled petals on the spongy paths. - -Three months ago the back paddock had been a place of delight for the -eye, all tall waving lines of Indian corn grown for the fowls, there had -been poppies amongst it, real scarlet English poppies that some one had -sown, as well as the white and pink garden varieties. Dot had hidden -there for fun one light evening with baby in her arms, and Larrie had -sought her vainly for half an hour, it was so tall and thick. And when -he had found her she had a wreath of poppies around her head, and baby -was stuck all over with pink ones; the two had looked such darlings he -had picked them both up in his arms and carried them all the way to the -verandah hammock, and when he dropped them in, had said with breathless -conviction, - - 'There are none like them, none.' - -To-day in the paddock there were only dead brown stalks and leaves, -broken or bending before the rain. The poppy days were dead and the long -light beautiful evenings, things of the vanished summer. - -Even the hammocks that had swung invitingly in the sunshine, lay in -tangled heaps on the laundry shelf; the verandah was in a flood, and -gusts of wind and rain blew into the house at every fresh opening of a -door or window. - -There was an iron roof to the cottage, and had not Dot's enthusiasm been -so great just now, the ceaseless, melancholy drip and beat of the rain -upon it would have proved too monotonous an accompaniment to her songs. -But in truth she hardly heard it. To-morrow she was going to tell -Larrie. - -The morning post would bring her the programme, and two days later the -great concert was to take place. She danced baby round the house in her -excitement, such hard work it had been to keep her secret when there had -been no other thought in her head for weeks. - -She painted a delightful little picture that to-morrow was going to -frame. - -The background was the dining-room with the red curtains drawn, and a -glowing log in the open fireplace; she put baby on the rug in his new -pale blue frock with the short sleeves, and Larrie in the big easy chair -with his feet on the fender and a pipe in his lips. And since in mental -pictures the brush may depict thoughts, she drew him, thinking -anxiously of his income which the sudden depreciation in the value of -property all over the colony was just now affecting greatly. - -And then she was going to ask him to take her to the big concert at the -Centennial Hall to show him the names on the programme in a careless -way. - -And his face was to grow first amazed, and then bright with pride and -gladness, and the rest of the evening they were to spend in making plans -for the brilliant future. - -How delicious it was going to be! Her heart was throbbing with -anticipation, her very blood seemed leaping in her veins. - -But baby objected to be jumped up and down in the ecstatic little way -she was treating him to; he gave vigorous signs of annoyance, so she -sank into her low chair, and rocked soothingly. But she could not keep -silent when he said with such wise, round eyes that he knew everything -about everything, and was as pleased as herself. - -'Bab-bab,' he began encouragingly, and hit at her with his dear little -fists. - -And 'He should be a little prince, he should,' was her deliciously -inconsequent answer, punctuated with kisses on his wee nose. - -'Bab-bab-bab'--he tried to walk excitedly up the front of her dress in -a horizontal position, and then make gleeful clutches at her hair. - -But the short little curls slipped through his fingers, and he kept -tumbling back in her lap, a little heap of cuddlesome sweetness. - -'Little son, small little sweet, mamma's boy bonnie,' she whispered -again and again and again, her face in his neck or on his soft thick -hair. That was her way of telling him that all the rest of their lives -was going to be a bright golden dream, a triumphal march through the -world, over a carpet of rose leaves and under a canopy of the bluest sky -ever stretched out. - -The very way he rounded his eyes and stuck his fingers in her mouth to -be bitten, and crowed 'bab-bab,' showed how perfectly he understood and -approved. - -But presently he began to nod like a little heavy-headed rose, and she -nestled him up close to her breast and sang softly, happily below her -breath. - -Drip, drip on the roof fell the rain; splash, splash in the path-puddles -where the blown roses were drowning; tap tap, at the misty window panes. - -There was a kink somewhere in the rocking-chair, it made a not unmusical -little sound at each backward swing, marking time to Dot's low singing. -Baby could not have slept properly without that gentle jerk between the -rise and fall. - -The logs fell asunder. - -All Dot's enchanted castles were building in the red glow, now they rose -up gloriously with the blaze, and the gladness in her eyes deepened. - -'Bab-a-bab,' murmured baby sleepily, a gleam of blue just peeping -through the long lashes to discover the noise. But the soft singing bore -him off again, and the rock, rock, rock of the chair. - - 'Sweet one hush, little baby sleep, - Rock-a-by soft on my breast, - Creep in my hand, little fingers, creep, - Little dear baby, rest.' - -The lashes lay quiet again on the little cheeks, one small hand uncurled -from Dot's finger, and lay open on her knee. Again the logs fell apart, -again the castles grew glorious. Baby's hand curled up again, but the -sweet lashes were too heavy to lift. - - 'This is the place for a baby's head, - And this is the place for its feet, - Rock-a-by off to the land of bed, - Lull-a-by, hush small sweet.' - -A wild gust of wind flung itself at the cottage, every door and window -rattled, the garden gate clicked and then banged. - - 'Lull-a-by, sweet, - Rock-a-by, sleep, - Heed not the rain and the wind, dear, - Watch o'er her sweet - Mother will keep, - And up in the sky there is God, dear.' - -Some one opened the front door, and the sound of the rain grew louder, -then the dining-room handle was turned. Dot gave a little whispered cry -of surprise. 'Larrie!' she said, but so softly that baby's hand never -stirred. - -It was hours before his usual time, and never before had he shortened -his voluntarily imposed exile. - -She noticed how exceedingly wet he was, there was not a dry thread upon -him, the water was even now pouring off him and making a pool on the -floor. Then she saw the white passion on his face, the terrible look of -his lips, his eyes. She laid the child down on the sofa cushions and -went towards him slowly, and with fading colour. What dreadful thing was -coming? - -'Larrie!' she said, a frightened tremble in her voice, as she put out -her hands to touch him. But the anger in his eyes deepened. He went -closer to her, he actually grasped her roughly by the shoulders and -shook her. - -'How _dared_ you?' he said. 'How dared you?' - -She looked at him with parted lips and widening eyes. She could find -nothing to say so intense was her amaze. - -'How dared you?' he repeated. He shook her again to hasten her answer. - -But she only said 'I think you're mad,' and caught her breath. - -He saw he was wetting the shoulders of her pretty pink tea-gown with his -coat and took his hands away. - -The genuine surprise on her face disarmed him a little, it even occurred -to him for the first time that he might have the inexpressible relief of -finding he was mistaken. - -His eyes grew a shade quieter and he did not speak for a minute. - -In the brief interval wifely concern appeared on Dot's face. She put her -hand on his wet sleeve and tried to move him towards the hall. - -'Come and get dry things,' she said, '_how_ wet you are!' - -But he would not stir. - -'I want to speak to you,' he said. - -'When you are dry,' urged Dot, 'it can wait three minutes.' - -He sat down on a chair. - -'Now,' he said. - -She sat down, too, just on the edge of the sofa by the sleeping child. -She was concerned because a fly would hover round its face and distract -her attention. - -'I went to Bayley's this morning to get some notepaper printed,' Larrie -said, and paused. But Dot seemed to find nothing very remarkable in -that, and looked merely attentive. - -'There was a proof of _that_ on the counter,' he continued, and threw a -sheet of old English printing on pale green paper towards her. - -She started up, vexation on her face. - -'Oh _what_ a shame!' she cried. She read it through standing up, and the -knowledge that all the colours were straightway rubbed out of her -beautiful picture, made two curves of disappointment show at her mouth -corners. - -'Then it _is_ your name?' said Larrie, and his voice sounded positively -faint. - -Dot brightened a little. 'Of course it is,' she said, 'I wish you hadn't -seen it though; I was dying to surprise you, Larrie.' Then she went up -closer to him. 'Aren't you going to kiss your own pocket Madame Melba?' - -She felt how flat the scene had fallen even as she spoke, and was fit to -cry at the disappointment. Then she remembered Larrie's anger a few -minutes back, 'But what made you so cross?' she said. - -'How dare you do such a thing?' he said, his eyes beginning to blaze -again, 'how dare you; this comes of letting that infernal fellow come to -the house so much.' - -'You mean Mr Wooster?' Dot was beginning to fear for her husband's -sanity. - -'It's his concert, you are singing at his instigation, you have kept it -hidden from me.' His voice rose. - -'Of course I have,' Dot said. Then she spoke very slowly, 'Do you really -mean to say, Larrie, that all this is because I am going to sing on -Friday?' - -'Friday!' shouted Larrie, he had actually not seen the date, so absorbed -had he been in the sight of his own name on that green paper, with Mrs -prefixed. - -'Because I'm going to sing on Friday?' repeated Dot. - -With a superhuman effort he controlled himself; he knew the impotence of -anger. - -'Tell me _everything_,' he said shortly, 'and stand there.' - -Dot was moving towards the sofa again. She came back to him to save time -though the tone was provocative; she knew that he would have held her by -sheer physical force if she refused while he was like this. Then she -told him the very high opinion Mr Wooster had of her voice; how he felt -confident she had but to be heard by competent critics to be assured of -success, how he had arranged this concert to give her the opportunity -and how she had been keeping the secret just to surprise him. He heard -her to the end and acquitted her of concealing it for any unworthy -motive. - -'But I should not dream of allowing you to appear in public,' he said, -'so you can tell Wooster as soon as you like that he must fill your -place.' He stood up as if the matter was settled, he even took off his -hat and remarked that it was wet. - -But Dot had gone very white. - -'You mean to say, Larrie, that you would try to stop me now?' she said. - -'I mean to say I _shall_ stop you, there will be no trying about it,' he -answered. - -His temper had not perfectly balanced itself again, and that together -with the unpleasant dampness he was just beginning to feel, made his -speech somewhat despotic. - -'Your reasons?' Dot's voice was quiet, dangerously so. - -'I do not care for my wife to sing in a public place like that, I don't -approve of the way the thing has been managed, I don't like you having -so much to do with that fellow, that is quite enough,' he moved to the -door. 'Where's that old brown coat of mine, I hope you haven't given it -away.' - -But Dot was sitting on the sofa again, fighting with herself far too -fiercely to think of old brown coats, indeed, the question conveyed no -intelligence to her at all. Out of twenty conflicting emotions, -rebellion was by far the strongest. She said, 'I shall go, I shall go,' -again and again and again in such stormy whispers, that baby stirred and -tossed the linen antimacassar off his hands. Larrie had gone to get dry. - -'I shall go,' she repeated with strong emphasis on the last word. - -'Bab, bab, bab,' said baby softly. He yawned deliciously and flung up -his arms. - -Dot gave him a hurried pat or two. - -'Go to sleep,' she said. - -'Googul,' he answered insinuatingly. He struggled into a sitting -position and leaned towards her. But she lifted him on to her knee quite -unresponsively. There was nothing in her mind but Larrie's command that -meant death to her rose-coloured dreams. She hardly recognised baby's -presence at all. - -'He is not my master,' she said aloud, her eyes full of rebellion. - -But 'Yes he is,' answered Larrie quietly, as he came in again through -the second door. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -A CONFLICT OF WILLS - - 'What things wilt thou leave me, - Now this thing is done?' - - -Wednesday loosened itself from the other pearls and dropped off the -string of days into the strange awful place where have fallen all the -days that have ever been. Thursday slid along the thread, trembled and -fell. Friday moved on to fill its place. Such a little time, and it too, -and the things of it would be gone beyond recall for ever. - -Larrie had grown visibly thinner in the short space. He was staking all -the happiness of his life on the issue of this. To him the thing was -almost terrible in its plain simplicity. He had looked at it from every -point of view, had reasoned it out and thought of nothing else, all -through the two waking nights and the long day between. And he could -only see two paths for Dot to walk in, one that was right and would lead -to happiness once more, and one that was so utterly wrong that she would -step into it not carelessly and unknowingly, but wilfully and with wide -open eyes. - -It could only be love that would make her do another man's bidding -rather than his. - -From that second path he told himself there could be no return. - -Dot went about with a feverish look in her eyes, and lips almost as set -as Larrie's own. She was going to make this strike for her rights, and -in future have the independence due to the nineteenth century married -woman. - -Larrie spoke of the irrevocableness of the step. To him it was as grave -as life and death. But deep in Dot's heart was the knowledge of her -power over him. She called to mind all the quarrels of their wedded -life--had he not always forgiven her? Even the times when he had not -been the first to make up, her tears and grief had made his arms open -for her immediately. She only whispered this to herself, it made her a -little ashamed to think of trading on it. - -Then out loud she told her conscience several things. - -First, that this was only one of Larrie's aggravating fits of -opposition, and when he got over it and knew what a name she had made -for herself, he would be glad she had not taken him at his word. - -Second, that since her gift was so great, it would be wrong not to give -the world the benefit of it, she remembered the scriptural -napkin-wrapped talent. - -Third, that it would be sheer ingratitude after all Mr Wooster's -trouble, to spoil his concert at the last minute. - -And fourth, that no one literally interpreted that word 'obey' in the -marriage service, now that the equality of the sexes was recognised. - -It was merely a relic of darker ages when woman had been little more -than a chattel; the progress of the century had made it elastic, before -long it would be removed altogether. - -On Friday they had eggs for tea. At least, Peggie had put a stand on the -table, with bread and butter, and other eatables, but they were both too -agitated to do more than crack the tops, and take salt and pepper on the -edge of their plates. This was to be the last chance. Peggie removed -baby, and looked anxiously at the quiet young couple as she did so. She -was afraid there was something really serious this time, so pale was her -master's face, so brilliant Dot's eyes. - -'Well?' Larrie said heavily. - -'I'm going,' answered Dot. 'I've got my dress ready, and made all -arrangements, it's too late to stop now.' - -Larrie swallowed some tea and went even whiter. This was the final -wrecking of their lives. 'Dot, I _beg_ of you to think of it again,' he -said. - -She slipped from her chair and went to his end of the table. 'Darling, -let me go!' she said, 'see, I beg of you--you could give in and let me, -and then it wouldn't be disobedience.' She put her arms round his neck, -her flushed cheek against his, 'Dear old Larrie, do! I have set my heart -on it so! do let me go happy, dearest, dearest!' - -If only at that minute she had said she would give it up, he could -almost have let her go, greatly as he disliked the publicity for her, -and the connection with Wooster. But he could not help mentally -finishing her last sentence--'Or I shall have to go unhappy.' - -'I can't,--you must see I can't,--how can I, Dot? it is impossible,' he -said. But she clung tighter. - -'Once you loved me too well to refuse me such a thing, my husband, don't -let me think I am so little to you now.' He tried to put her away, but -her arms held him. - -'Darling, let me,' she begged, 'let me, let me,'--the tears were running -down her cheeks. 'I will be so good afterwards, oh this is everything to -me, Larrie,--Larrie, don't be cruel to me, I must, must go--oh, -darling, let me, let me.' - -He was making a promise to himself to be kept faithfully, since he saw -how very much this was to her. If she would give in now, say she would -give in as a true wife should to her husband, he would let her go, he -would even take her himself, for it would prove she did not put that man -before him. - -'Dot,' he said, and lifted her on to his knee and held her hands -tenderly in his own, 'you must obey me in this, can't you see you must, -my darling? Perhaps I have been harsh or unkind about it. Yesterday I -_told_ you to obey me, now I _ask_ you, my darling, my little girl, Dot, -little, little wife. Say you will.' - -But she only stirred restlessly. - -He put his face down to hers. - -'Darling, think of our happiness, how can we go on living if you persist -in breaking up everything like this. There _must_ be a head, Dot, in -everything, there must be obedience. What would a ship be without a -captain, or soldiers without their chief, an office with no one in -authority? And the husband _must_ be the head of the wife. Darling, say -you will obey me in this.' - -But Dot could not. All her pleading had gone for nothing, why should she -listen to Larrie's? She moved his arms away and stood up, her eyes dry -and bright again. - -'You have refused me the only thing I have ever asked specially since we -were married, Larrie,' she said. - -'You will stay?' he said. - -'You profess to love me, and then you act like a tyrant to me. Why -should you always have _your_ way in things?' - -There was a red spot on her cheek. - -'You will obey me, Dot?' - -She walked restlessly up and down the room. She moved some ornaments on -the mantelpiece and put the curtains straight with trembling fingers. -She remembered she ought to be dressing even now. In two hours the -concert would begin, and if she gave in her opportunity would be gone -for ever, and just because Larrie was obstinate and stupid! - -Baby's ivory rattle, still wet from his mouth, lay on the sofa. She -picked it up and put it in her work-basket. Then she altered the -position of two photographs on the mantelpiece. She moved one of -Larrie's silver cups--in it there was a green programme crumpled up into -a ball. - -'Dot, you will obey me?' - -'No, I will _not_,' she said passionately. 'I am tired of being told to -do things. I want a little liberty as well as you. I will _not_ spoil my -future just because you want to be a petty czar.' - -She crossed to the door. A flame sprang up in Larrie's eyes. - -'You will be sorry to the end of your life if you go,' he said. - -'No, I shall be glad,' said Dot. - -Peggie came in to know if they wanted hot water, or if the master would -have another egg. She was really too anxious to keep away. - -'I've got a nice brown one, laid to-day, sir,' she said persuasively. - -He shook his head impatiently. The woman looked over to Dot, standing -with the door handle in her hand, 'Shall I fetch the baby for you?' she -asked. - -'No,' said Dot sharply. - -So she went out to the kitchen again, and looked grave as she lifted -baby from his high chair, where he was perfectly happy with a saucepan -lid and a tin spoon. - -'_That_ obstreperous,' she said, and sighed. Then she added, 'poor man,' -under her breath. - -Someway she generally sided with Larrie at such times, though she was -devotedly fond of Dot. - -'I'm going to dress,' Dot said from the door. - -'How do you propose getting there?' He did not look at her as he spoke. - -She twisted the handle. 'Of course I had expected you would come. As it -is I have sent word to mother, she is coming down in the buggy for me at -seven. Mr Wooster is going there for dinner, he will drive. No, mother -doesn't know; I only said you couldn't come.' - -Larrie got up and walked to the window; he could not answer her. - -She looked at his big square back for a minute and the short-clipped -curls on his head. Then she turned and went away to dress. Only a thin -partition separated her bedroom. He heard every sound as he stood in the -window, the opening and shutting of drawers, the plashing of water, her -hurrying steps across the floor, the creak of the wardrobe door. Every -minute he thought she would repent and come in to him, his own sweet, -small wife again; then the thought became a hope, and when the wardrobe -creaked the hope died, and there was almost a prayer instead. But the -door opened and she came in fully dressed. - -It was her wedding dress she wore, the white, trailing, exquisite silk -she had knelt beside him in at the altar eighteen months ago. It was cut -a little low now, and showed her white, soft neck and chest; her arms -were bare between the shoulder puff and glove top. - -'Larrie,' she said with a little cry, 'oh, let me, Larrie!' - -But he stood still. - -'_That_ dress!' he said hoarsely. - -In very truth she had not thought of the associations of it as she had -slipped it on to-night in excitement and anger. - -'You--you know I had it made into an evening dress,' she faltered. - -'But for this!' - -'I had nothing else to wear.' - -He turned from her one minute, then back again, and looked at her with -wrathful eyes. He had a wild impulse to force her to stay, to compel her -to obey him by the superiority of his physical strength. Was she not his -wife, his property, did she not belong to him till death? He almost -thought he would get a whip and beat her, beat her savagely. She would -love him better he felt certain; he told himself there was more truth -than half the world dreamt in the saying that wife-beaters, always -provided they are neither drunk nor brutal, are best beloved by their -wives. - -But he knew in a calmer mood he would despise himself for doing it, and -he felt, too, how imperfect would be the victory. - -'You are going?' was all he said, and 'Yes,' she answered. - -Wheels sounded a little distance off, they both knew what it was. - -'As surely as you go, Dot, you will repent it.' Larrie spoke slowly, -quietly, his face was deathly pale. - -She was trembling from excitement, there was a vague fear in her eyes. - -'What would you do?' she said with a little nervous half laugh. - -'I would never forgive you, never have you for my wife again,' he -answered, and his face looked as if he meant it. - -She shivered a little, but held her head proudly. 'Perhaps you would be -glad of the excuse,' she said, with a pitiful attempt at scorn. - -He did not speak. The buggy rattled up to the door, they heard -Wooster's voice checking the horses, the mother's saying she would not -get out as it was so late. - -'Why don't you go?' he said coldly, seeing she stood perfectly still. - -'I--' she said. It was the sound of a sob strangling in her throat. - -He would not help her though her eyes were speaking imploringly. If he -had put his arms round her that minute and begged her as at tea to stay, -even now she would have given it up. But he stood like a rock, his face -hard, his chin square, his lips bitter. - -The bell rang, and Peggie's heel-down slippers went up the hall. - -Dot moved a step nearer to him. - -'_Ask_ me to stay, Larrie,' she whispered, and this time the sob would -not be strangled. - -But he turned right away from her. - -'I would rather die than ask you again,' he said with passion in his -voice. - -'Mr Wooster,' said Peggie cheerfully. - -She had quite beamed at the man when she opened the door, the quarrel -would have to be smoothed over now a guest was here. - -But five minutes later Dot came out into the hall, her train a yard -behind her, a great white fur-trimmed cloak around her. - -There was a beautiful angry colour in her cheeks, a defiant light in her -eyes; but her lips were saying smiling things. Mr Wooster was behind -with a roll of music and an opossum rug. - -Peggie watched them through the front door and down the steps, she saw -Dot lifted in beside her mother and well tucked up; she watched the -buggy lamps flash passing out of the gates and disappear round a curve -in the road. Then with quite a weight at her kindly heart, she went in -to see if the 'poor master' wanted anything. But he was standing in the -middle of the room with folded arms, and such a look on his face, that -she shut the door softly behind her, and went away. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -A DARN ON A DRESS - - 'Come in at last, - Inside the melancholy little house - We built to be so gay with.' - - -It was raining again, and there was that sound of wind in the trees that -only the Australian bush knows. Eastward, stars were out in the sky, -but, from the south, blue-grey masses were drifting up to the low rain -cloud that had put out all the lights of the southern cross, and only -left the two pale pointers. An hour ago the sky had been blue, for there -was a great moon, but now the rain had washed all the colour out of it, -and it was dull grey with midnight cloud banks. On the cottage roof and -in the garden there were patches of pale light from the drenched moon, -but all the bush beyond was black as death. - -'Don't come in,' Dot said. - -She leaped down from her seat before Wooster could put down the reins to -open the gate and drive in. - -'She'll get wet,' the mother cried. - -But the white figure went hurrying up the drive, all its long silken -train down on the wet gravel. - -There was a lamp alight in the drawing room, and a circle of white from -it lay on a pool at the end of the verandah. But the long French windows -were closed. Dot beat on the window panes with wet fingers. - -'We may as well get home,' said the mother, seeing her safe. But Wooster -only picked up the reins. - -'Larrie!' the sharp whisper came through the rain to the gate; the -little metallic sound was made by her rings on the glass. - -Then the door opened and Larrie drew her into the room, the blind fell -down from its pin at the movement, and now there was only a bar of -light on the verandah. - -'It's very cold,' said the little mother with a shiver. And Wooster -turned his eyes away and drove her home. - -Dot went forward almost blindly towards Larrie, but he moved backwards, -and she took two more steps but he fell back again. The room was small -and he was against the wall now, but he put his arms behind him and -stood sideways; he knew she wanted to put her head on his breast and -cry. The attitudes would have looked almost comic, only something -prevented it. - -'I wasn't a success,' she said with a great sob. - -He did not speak or move a muscle. - -'Oh, I _am_ so miserable,' she said. Her arms went out towards the stiff -figure, but he moved again. - -'Larrie!' she cried, exceeding longing and misery in her voice. - -But he let the cry die away into the midnight silence and he let her -drop down on her knees by the sofa and sob her young heart out on the -piled cushions. He had frozen altogether during the hours of waiting. - -Once she looked up during her bitter weeping. - -'You are hard,' she said, 'cruel--like a rock, what can I do? I was -wrong, I am sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn't even succeed. I was too -miserable, oh, how cruel you are! what _can_ I do? I will do anything, -_anything_, oh, Larrie, Larrie, Larrie, don't be hard, when I'm down, -Larrie, and broken, and sorry, and miserable--oh, it is cruel, cruel.' -Her sobs choked her, there were wet warm patches on the green cushion, -her eyes were drenched, she was shivering with excitement and misery. -There was another great silence broken only by her passionate weeping. - -Then she lifted her head again. - -'I _can't_ bear it,' she said wildly, 'for God's sake, say something, -I shall go mad if you stand there like that any longer. How unmanly you -are!--oh, how cruel!--Larrie, kiss me. Oh, darling, darling, forgive -me--my husband, my darling, kiss me, kiss me, _kiss_ me!' - -The last words died away with almost a wail, for though he looked at her -all the time he did not move nearer to her and his eye took no softer -light. - -Then she dropped her head on the cushions again, with her arms flung -round them and he stood watching her, and away down in the East the -stars went out, and the sickly creeping light was the new dawn. - -When Dot stood up she was stiff, and chilled to the bone. She was no -longer sorry, all the aching for a loving word and kiss had gone, she -was only very very tired and very cold. She looked at Larrie with eyes -heavy and indifferent, if he had come and kissed her then she could not -have responded or warmed in the slightest degree. She drew her wrap -closer about her bare neck and arms and shivered again. - -'Well?' she said dully. - -But he went and brought a rug from the hall stand and put it around her -before he answered. - -'I think you had better go to bed now,' he said, 'we can talk -to-morrow.' - -'No, now,' she said. - -'It is very late,' he put back the blind and disclosed the grey -struggling dawn. 'It is four o'clock, to-morrow will do.' - -But she sat down on the sofa where the green cushion was quite dry -again. - -'If you have anything to say, say it now,' she said, 'it is too late for -bed now, what is it you are going to do?' - -There was a curious look of suffering on his face and in his eyes. - -'I think I had better go away,' he said. - -Dot only stared at him. - -'There seems no other way, I have thought of everything; there is -nothing else left.' - -'You mean separate?' she asked. - -He nodded. She bit her lip, but was surprised to find how easily she -kept calm. She waited for him to continue. - -'You could stay here--it needn't be talked of, your mother would look -after you. I'll go to Melbourne or Coolgardie or somewhere.' - -'For always, you mean?' - -'We could see, perhaps it would look differently afterwards--for the -present I mean--we can't go on living together, and I can't see anything -better to do.' - -Dot's eyes grew hard. 'If you go,' she said, 'I will never live with you -again. But I don't ask you not to go.' - -'Yes, it is the best thing,' he said, which answered his own thoughts -rather than fitted in with her words. - -She looked at him strangely. 'When were you thinking of going?' - -'To-morrow,' he said, 'to-day, rather. There is no use in delaying--I -arranged everything to-night--last night.' - -'Very well,' Dot said, 'that is settled then.' She pulled the cloak up -tightly and rose, then she loosened it again and sat down. Her eyes were -cold, her lips very firm. - -'Remember,' she said 'this is final. I committed a fault--perhaps. I -cannot do more than ask your forgiveness. Do not think I shall be put -away and taken back at pleasure. Go--I would not put out my finger to -keep you, but never again so long as both of us live will I be your wife -in anything except name.' - -He sat down on the chair near the little writing table, the light was -full on his white face and lips. - -'I can only see a little way,' he said. 'Later--say in some months--we -will decide further: feelings change wonderfully, perhaps I shall look -at your act--differently; if we live together I can't; it would always -look the same. It is best, I can see. We _couldn't_ just go on living as -before. I couldn't, at least, so I will go, for a time at any rate, and -you--you will be glad to be alone I know.' - -'Yes, I shall be glad,' Dot said with great steadiness. - -Baby's portrait smiled at him from the stand on the table. - -'There is the child, of course,' he said heavily. - -Dot sprang up. Husband had been so far before child that she had -forgotten there was any one else in the world. But she remembered now. - -'He is mine,' she said, 'mine, of course, there is no question about -that. What are you thinking of? you can go if you like, but he is mine.' -Her eyes glittered. - -He had known this would be the worst difficulty; him she gave up -easily--gladly even, but the child she would fight for to the last. - -His anger came to white heat again. - -'_I_ shall keep the child,' he said slowly, 'he is mine equally, he will -be better with me.' - -Dot laughed hysterically. 'The mother always keeps it in these cases. I -believe you are going mad, Larrie.' - -'I believe I am,' he said very quietly. - -He pulled up the blind for want of anything else to do, and the dawn -struggled in and took away the brightness of the lamp. - -It was only this minute he had really meant to keep the child, his first -idea had been merely to go away and leave them, not altogether, perhaps -as he said, but until he could find life bearable again. - -But when he saw how quickly she consented and how her only care was to -keep the child, he told himself he would move heaven and hell before she -had it. - -'I shall keep it,' he repeated, 'it is not a question of a mother's -care, any nurse I get will know more about it than you do--I shall keep -it. You have chosen your life, you can go on the stage altogether if you -like, but I shall not let you have the child.' - -In all he said he would not degrade either of them by the mention of -Wooster's name, but there was nothing else in his thoughts, and only -everything else in the world in hers. - -A great weariness came to Dot, a weariness of all her present life. She -dropped her chin on her hands, and stared out at the pale, creeping -light. Her heart was quite cold, she did not seem to care about anything -in the world. She looked at Larrie and away again. A tiny darn on her -skirt caught her eye and she stared at it fixedly. - -It lifted all her tired thoughts back to the day it was made and pushed -the present out of sight. It was her wedding morning, and she had put on -the dress, she remembered she had said it was a 'holy' dress, it was so -purely white and billowy and beautiful. - -And she had dressed very early, for Larrie had been unorthodox enough to -want to see her before she came up the aisle to him. And when she saw -him coming up the path, looking oddly uncomfortable in his tall new hat -and frock coat, she had flown down the hall and into his arms. And at -the same minute the gate had clicked to admit a string of relations -eager to fall on the bride, and he had picked her up in his arms, -sweeping train and veil and all, and whisked her upstairs on to the -landing to have her to himself for the last few minutes before he had -her for ever. The darn had been necessary, because in the quick passage -up a fold had caught in a splinter in the bannisters, made by her -travelling trunk. - -To-night she saw Larrie looking at the mud on the hem. She imagined -herself without the darn, without the dress, without the wedding. - -It was eighteen months out of her life, that was all; all the wish she -had on earth just now was to wipe out that time and be a girl again. - -She had tried marriage, and it had been a failure for them both; Larrie -was right, the plan he offered was the best to be found; the vulgarity -and misery of publicity she could not have borne, but there was no -reason why they should not quietly set each other free, and go on their -separate ways again. - -There was the child of course. She knew nothing about law and supposed -Larrie had first right, since as she had often said to him the law -always gave the man the best of everything. And cold, utterly tired and -miserable as she was, she told herself she did not mind very much. She -could not put away those eighteen months as if they had never been, if -the child was always before her eyes to remind her of them. She -promised herself she would go to Italy or Germany with her mother and -give up her life to music, she had only failed through nervousness and -misery last night, the future was full of glorious possibilities. - -Larrie was speaking again, there was a look of judicial fairness in his -eyes. - -'Since we have both an equal right to him,' he said, 'we will draw lots -if you like.' - -'Very well,' she said coldly. - -'Will you let me make you some coffee first, you will be taking cold,' -he looked at her quite without anxiety. 'I can make up a fire in the -kitchen in five minutes.' - -'No,' she said, 'get some paper. There are some backs of letters in the -blotter.' - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP - - 'And laid her face between her hands - And wept (I heard her tears).' - - -'See, they are ready,' Larrie said. He had folded the slips of paper up -into two little square pieces. 'Will you draw or shall I?' - -'What have you put on them?' Dot asked. - -'L and D,' he said. - -'You could have put baby on one and left the other blank,' she said, -'and then I could have drawn one and left the other.' She gained half -a minute by the statement. - -'It comes to the same,' he said, and held them out to her on the -Japanese pen tray. - -But she looked at the little pieces as if they had been dynamite; a -faint colour stole up into her cheeks, her eyes dilated. - -'Draw,' he said. - -She put out her hand and drew it back again trembling like a leaf and -empty. - -'Wait a minute,' she said with a little gasp. She covered her eyes for -a second, then, suspiciously, 'how do I know you have not marked one so -you may know it?' - -'If you draw it will make no difference,' he answered patiently. - -She put out her hand again and touched them, first one and then the -other. - -'I _know_ I shall draw the wrong one,' she said in a choking voice, she -turned them over and examined them with pitiful criticism. - -'What did you make this one narrower than the other for?' - -'Is it?' he said and looked. - -His hand was not trembling at all, but in his heart there was a great -aching for his little son. - -'I think I had better draw and have done with it.' - -The quick movement of her hand again showed her trust in him was not all -it might have been--her fingers closed and unclosed round the wider -piece. Her cheeks were burning, her breath coming in little quick pants. - -'Get it over, Dot,' he said very gently. - -She shut her eyes, her hand groped forward, her face grew very white. -Then she unclosed her fingers and showed both little slips lying in her -palm. - -'I _won't_ do it that way,' she said with sudden passion, 'as if he were -a cushion in a bazaar, or a lottery ticket. You ought to be ashamed of -yourself, Larrie.' She tore the paper into a hundred fragments and -looked at him with wide, angry eyes. - -'But how shall we decide?' he said heavily. He put the little tray back -on the table and mechanically replaced the pens and paper knife, the -darning needle and broken bit of coral he had emptied from it a few -minutes ago. - -'He shall decide himself,' she said. She got up and went towards the -door. 'Write two more pieces of paper, and he shall draw.' - -Larrie wrote L and D again with a heavy J nib, and again folded them up; -then he followed his wife. - -She was standing by the cot in an inner room looking down at the little -sleep-flushed face. One little curled up hand was flung out on the -counterpane, the other, with a thumb still wet, was drooped just below -his chin. Damp little rings of hair lay on his forehead, his lips were -apart, his long eyelashes motionless. Larrie came in on tip-toe. - -'You can't wake him,' he said in a low voice. - -She shook her head, there was almost a fierce look in her eyes. - -'What will you do then?' he asked. And 'Wait,' she returned. - -He brought a wicker chair to the bedside for her, a stiff-backed one for -himself. - -They sat and watched in utter silence till the sun kissed the grey dawn -white. Then the child stirred, flung off the blanket, sighed--and slept -again. Dot had gone pale as death, and even Larrie's heart had beaten -faster. But they composed themselves again, and watched without -speaking. And blue was born in the sky, and the white tossed itself into -cloud shapes that a wind drove over the sky to the west. Away at the -back a gate banged, there was a sound of the contact of a tin and milk -jug on the verandah. Then the gate fell to again. - -Baby uncurled his hands, sighed and changed his cuddled-up side position -for one flat on his back. Then he opened his eyes. - -'Are you ready?' Larrie said in rather a thick voice. - -But Dot looked at him indignantly. 'Wait till he is awake and knows what -he is doing,' she said. - -He was laughing up at them, holding up his arms. There was some soft fur -at his mother's neck that he was convinced would be good to eat, he had -a desire also to pull the crisp curls on his father's head. - -'Goo--goo--goo,' he said, with an impatient kick and an adorable smile. - -How white Dot was! How Larrie's hand trembled as he picked up the tray! - -'He is awake now,' he said in a low voice. - -'Let them be quite even,' Dot returned, with an agitated look, 'of -course he will take the nearest one.' - -Larrie arranged them with mathematical precision, then put the tray near -the little baby hands. For one wild second, Dot looked away, she could -not have watched, then a low, mirthless laugh from Larrie recalled her -eyes. - -The child had taken the two without a moment's hesitation, and stuffed -them instantly into his little open hungry mouth. - -The diversion occupied some little time for both knew that paper was bad -for infantile digestion, but the touch of humour about it did not strike -either, or divert them from the tragedy they were bent upon. - -'How _are_ we to settle it?' Larrie said wearily. - -Dot lifted the child suddenly up on the pillow,--there was a look of -resolution in her eyes. - -'We will both hold out our arms,' she said, 'whomever he goes to shall -have him; it is the fairest way.' - -They bent down to the little fellow, father and mother, with faces that -would whiten, and arms that trembled despite themselves. - -'Come,' they both said. - -One little roseleaf hand buried itself in Larrie's curls, one clutched -the fur at Dot's neck. - -'Come,' they said again, and this time there was a desperate look in -Dot's eyes. - -He looked gravely from one to the other and loosened his hold of their -separate persons. There was a thoughtful expression in his eyes though -his lips smiled. He half turned to Dot, and the intense look of her -mouth relaxed faintly. But then suddenly he stretched out his arms and -with a rapturous little leap flung himself at Larrie. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -A LITTLE DIPLOMAT - - 'Alas to be as we have been, - And to be as we are to-day.' - - -For a few days life was a confused tangle; then to prevent themselves -going mad, each assiduously tried to pick out the beginning of a new -thread to follow. - -Dot was up at the house, she had the little sitting-room and bedroom of -her girlhood again, and she had sent to Sydney for a parcel of new -music. - -Strange wisdom came to the little anxious mother. That it was really a -serious quarrel this time she could not help acknowledging, and at first -could hardly restrain herself from flying down to the cottage and -upbraiding Larrie vigorously. But then again she knew her child had -been to blame as well, and felt that interference just at the present -stage of things would work harm. A little time apart she told herself, -would do them both good, so she remained strictly neutral, and though -her heart ached sometimes at the sight of Dot's unhappy eyes and -carefully smiling lips, she made no obvious attempt to bring about a -reconciliation. She did not even throw cold water upon Dot's wild plans -that embraced an instantaneous sale of the house and a voyage to Italy. - -Dot had all the trunks and portmanteaus in the house carried into her -bedroom, and began to pack her own and her mother's favourite -possessions into them. - -'This might be useful on board,' she would say, putting in a huge -workbasket or writing desk, or 'You would miss this, even in Italy,' -taking down an old print of the Madonna and Child that had hung in her -mother's bedroom as long as she could remember. - -The family solicitor was visited. Dot was to come in to about £3000 by -the terms of her father's will when she was twenty-one. She arranged for -a sufficient advance of it to take her mother and herself to Italy. - -'You will like to go, of course,' she said to her mother, 'you are -losing your spirits staying in this wretched place year after year. -Travel is just what you need, isn't it now, small woman?' - -The mother acquiesced; she would like the voyage very much, but she -could not be ready quite as soon as Dot wished. She must have six weeks -at least to settle about the house and different business matters. - -Dot chafed at the delay, she had wanted to take passages in a boat that -went the very next week, and to leave any arrangements to the solicitor, -but the mother for once held her own. - -The cottage was to be let, but until a tenant was found, Larrie was -compelled to stay there with the baby and Peggie who had thrown in her -fortunes with the child, and regarded her master and mistress as being -for the time of unsound mind. She treated Larrie with cold severity, -and no words could express the scorn she felt for the absent Dot. But on -the baby, she lavished all the tenderness of her nature, and told it -half-a-dozen times a day that it was a poor deserted lamb, and if she -was the law she would handcuff 'them two' so fast together they could -not move apart the rest of their lives. - -The third day of Dot's residence at the house, Mr Wooster came. He had -called at the cottage, but Peggie had informed him her mistress was up -at the house. So he turned his steps uphill. Dot talked a great deal and -seemed in an excited mood, but he had no suspicion of the real state of -affairs, and merely thought she was spending the afternoon at her -mother's. - -But he was staying in the district again for his health, and when he -came the next evening with a promised book for the little mother, she -was there again. - -She was sitting at a table with a quantity of paper books and maps -spread out before her. - -'I am deciding which way to go home,' she said, in answer to his -questioning glance, 'you have often said I ought to study in Italy.' - -He thought she was doing it for a pleasant mental recreation and only -smiled. - -'We go in about a month. Did not mother tell you?' she said, and -followed up a dotted line through the Red Sea with a careful pen. - -He looked the surprise he felt. So friendly had he become with Dot and -the little mother, that he felt quite hurt to be so tardily informed. - -'Mr Armitage is fortunate to be able to get away,' was all he said and -there was a little stiffness in his voice. - -Dot went slowly overland from Brindisi to Calais, then she looked up. - -'No, he is not fortunate,' she said, 'for he cannot get away at all. I -am going alone--at least, mother and I are going.' - -'And your little boy of course?' - -Dot yawned with discernible difficulty. - -'Oh,' she said lightly, 'children block the road to success, besides I -must leave him as compensation to my husband while I hunt for fame.' - -He was too amazed to speak. Larrie had struck him as certainly the one -other man in the world capable of fully appreciating the worshipfulness -of this dear little girl. And to hear he was content to part with her -like this after only eighteen months! - -He felt a sudden contempt for Larrie and an overwhelming sorrow for -himself; what a very sweet little child she was with those soft flushed -cheeks and wide darkening eyes! And to think there was a lifetime of -hunger for one man because he could never touch one of those soft, -boyish curls, and the other who had all of her, held her so lightly. - -'I suppose you think it is a mad quest after my failure,' she said, -finding him silent. - -But he disclaimed that. He was as assured of her ultimate success as -ever, and knew that it was only through nervousness that she had failed -to win immediate recognition. As it was, several of the best critics -had spoken of her hopefully. - -'No, you will succeed of course,' he said, quietly. He did not look at -her, he was thinking, wondering whether he should be able to do without -travelling too when Australia no longer held her. - -Then he wished hair shirts were sold by modern mercers, and thanked God -she was going. He talked cheerfully of the route, advised the best -places for study, the best masters, offered letters of introduction, and -all manner of things. - -The talk stimulated Dot, her eyes and cheeks grew bright; two hours ago -the ache at her heart had been intolerable, but the thought of Italy and -music was easing it greatly. - -From her corner, her needle in a wee muslin pinafore, the little mother -looked at them with troubled brows. This kind of thing was inimical to -the baby, to Larrie, to all of them, she almost wished her little girl -had been born without music in her soul. Then something made her catch -her breath and pale suddenly under the brown of her skin. She had seen -and interpreted the look of strange wistfulness in Sullivan Wooster's -eyes, and it made her heart grow cold. Dot looking up from her plans met -his earnest gaze, and for some inexplicable reason blushed; the little -mother in the corner said 'God' below her breath--she was not a woman of -strong expressions, but her thoughts had leapt to terrible -possibilities. - -When Wooster rose to go, she went downstairs with him; they had been all -the evening in Dot's little sitting room. - -'You want me?' he said half way down the hall, for her large eyes were -speaking. They went into the drawing-room and he waited for her to -speak, hat in hand. - -'I do not think this place is good for you,' she said gently. - -He looked down at the little fragile woman, her worn, lined face and -great sad eyes were infinitely beautiful to him. - -'No place ever agreed with me better,' he said, puzzled. - -Her lips grew severe. - -'It does not agree with you,' she said very quietly. - -Then he understood what the anxious eyes were saying, and was -inexpressibly shocked that she should have guessed what he hardly -allowed himself to know. For a moment he could find no words, he stood -before her with bent head and paling face, then he looked up and saw -grief and tenderness were in her face as well as anxiety. Terrible -though the thing was, the little brown faced woman whom the waves of -life had so buffeted, was sorry for him, her eyes grew humid, she put -out her thin, tiny hand. - -'It is not good for you,' she repeated very softly. - -He lifted the hand to his lips and kissed it reverently. - -'No,' he said, 'it is not good for me. I will go.' - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -DOT GOES BABY-LIFTING - - 'Me do you leave aghast - With the memories we amassed?' - - -Dot had picked up a book in morocco covers. It was lying on the sitting -room table with a dozen others and she took it at random. The little -mother was persisting in bringing the conversation round to the baby -this evening, for the new fear in her heart would not allow her to let -things take their own course any longer. She dwelt on his hair, the -funny little habit he had of drawing in his lips, the dimple that dented -one little cheek just below the left eye. - -So Dot took up a book to show she was too much occupied for -conversation, but her lips were trembling. They had hitherto eschewed -this subject entirely. - -The book might easily have been any of the twelve others, but it -happened to be Browning. She turned over the leaves, then, as that -mechanical action did not quieten the little mother, she was forced to -read. - -And the very words Larrie had marked for her once quite years ago when -they had only been engaged and used to play at quarreling! It was a -finger nail mark and ran along one whole verse. - - 'Love, if you knew the light - That your soul casts in my sight, - How I look to you - For the good and true. - And the beauteous and the right, - Bear with a moment's spite - When a mere mote threats the white.' - -A great tear splashed down upon it. Dot wiped it off with a hasty hand, -she was angry because the coldness and bitterness around her heart were -melting. But two more fell, and two again, a host of little sweet -recollections of their married and unmarried life came thronging -unbidden. How could she bear life if on every hand episodes of the dead -days were going to rise up in this way? - -Dear tender eyes watched her from the corner. - -'He looked ill, my darling,--as if he had not slept or eaten for a -week,--I saw him at the station--' the soft voice paused for a minute. - -'It is nothing to me,' was the cold, piteous answer. - -'He hadn't his obstinate look at all,--when he saw me he looked suddenly -as if he was going to cry, then he turned round and walked up the road -again quickly.' - -Dot saw his face, the quick softening of his mouth and eyes. She could -hear his very footsteps going away. - -'I shall never forgive him while I live,' she said, but she had crept -round to the chair in the dim corner and was feeling for her mother's -arms. - -They drew her down, down,--two women were rocking and crying just out of -the reach of the lamplight. - -Half an hour later they were hurrying down the hill to the cottage. -Dot's eyes were tender, the great peace of forgiving was in her heart; -she was going to her husband, the one man in the world who was all her -own and God-given,--between them what question could there be of pride? - -Two hundred yards from the gate she stopped, there was a fallen tree -worn smooth with years of sitting upon. - -'Wait here, little mother,' she said; 'let me go alone. Then we will -come back and fetch you.' - -She pressed on by herself, a tender smile parted her lips. Larrie thin -and sleepless! Larrie aching for the touch of her hand--Larrie whose -love was so desperate he could not help being cruel! - -She crushed herself through the broken palings at the bottom of the bush -paddock, then she crept along in the shadow of the trees, up through -the garden till voices floated down to her and stopped her. Laughter -came from the verandah and smoke, and there were two decanters on a -little table, with a flickering lamp. - -Larrie was entertaining two bachelor friends and was holding a pipe with -one side of his mouth, and with the other telling a late witticism of a -Supreme Court judge. The men had come up about taking the cottage, and -almost suspected a domestic crisis; Larrie's forced spirits deceived no -one but Dot in the shadow of the pepper trees. - -She felt frozen with shame and horror. This was the man she would have -humbled herself for! She turned to go back in silence the way she had -come. But on the verandah there was a sudden movement; someone had -discovered it was half-past eight, and being a Thursday evening the last -train went down in eight minutes. They had their hats and sticks in ten -seconds, and were halfway down the path. Larrie went with them. - -'I'll see you safe in,' he said, 'we'll have to run for it.' His shadow -fell at Dot's feet, then raced him down the road leading to the station. - -Dot breathed freely once more, then with steady steps she went up the -path and round the verandah to Peggie's window. - -The woman was on her knees by the bedside, reading the _Bulletin_ by -candlelight. She always abstracted it from the dining-room on Thursdays, -the moment Larrie laid it down, for she had a strange passion for -political caricatures, though to her knowledge she had never seen a -Member of Parliament in her life. To-night she was convulsed over a -minister of the crown portrayed in an eye-glass and ballet skirts. - -Dot crept in through the back door and went on tiptoe down the hall to -the second room there. She made a warm bundle of the baby with the cot -blankets and a New Zealand rug, then she went out into the hall again, -holding it close to her happy breast. Larrie had left the front door -just ajar, so she stole out noiselessly and walked down the path to the -gate. - -The next minute she was fleeing up the road again to her mother, the -burden in her arms the lightest thing in the world. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE WHEEL IN THE BRAIN - - 'Mine, mine--not yours, - It is not yours but mine,--give me the child' - - -It was half-an-hour before Larrie came back and found the tossed, empty -cot. He strode out of the house again, and up the hill in a fury of -passion. - -Out of the train into which he had seen his friends, Wooster had stepped -and gone at quick speed, straight up the road leading to the house. -Larrie was not to know it was intended for the last visit of a lifetime. -He resisted the inclination to follow and slay him outright, and went -home instead--to find Dot had been there and taken away the child. - -A second jealousy sprang up in his heart, jealousy of his own little -baby son. He could imagine the pass to which Dot had come, imagine the -heart hungerness that had prompted this. But it was all for the -child--none of the aching and longing had been for himself. The front -door of the house was open, he went straight through the hall and -upstairs two steps at a time to the sitting-room. - -Dot was sitting rocking alone in the firelight; the little mother had -gone to a sudden case of illness in a cottage near, and Wooster had -taken her. - -The child's little soft head lay against her breast, she held both its -bare little feet in her hand. There were tear-wet places on her cheeks, -and the eyes that looked down on the child were full of tenderness, but -her lips were rather tightly closed. She could not forget the verandah, -and Larrie's burst of laughter. - -He strode across the room. - -'Give me the child,' he said. - -Her arms closed tightly round it. - -'He is mine, mine,' she said. - -'Give him to me,' he cried again. - -She sprang to the door her eyes gleaming, her hands holding the little -soft body with desperate firmness. But he was before her, he looked down -at her with white face, and eyes blazing with scorn. - -'You are not fit to hold him,' he said. - -She was moving across to the second door clasping her burden -convulsively. - -'I will die before you shall have him,' she said passionately. - -'No you will not,' he said. - -His words came slowly, there was a horrible note in his voice, 'There -is--your lover, you know.' - -She turned and looked at him, incredulous horror in her wide eyes, her -arms loosened their hold a little, she went a step towards him. But the -light of madness in his eyes increased, he tore the child from her arms, -and carried it away with him out into the night. - - * * * * * - -He went slowly down the hill he had come up in such wild haste. He had -not felt the night wind before, but now it blew chillily on his burning -forehead and quietened the fever in his blood. He took off his coat and -wrapped it round the child, which lay warm and sleepy and quiet against -his shoulder all the way. - -There had seemed to be a strange wheel working in his brain lately, it -had gone at a maddening rate during his short interview with Dot. But -something in the great hush of the grey-blue night stopped it for a time -and a sudden calmness and power of reasoning came to him once more. - -When he reached the cottage he put the child down again in the cot and -covered it up warmly. Then he walked about staring at his misery. He -knew it had grown utterly past bearing. Everything in the place spoke of -Dot, spoke loudly and insistently, the silent piano, the dead flowers in -the vases, the foolish little red watering pot on the verandah nail, the -small garden boots in the hall corner with the red clay of the roads -dried on the heels. When he poured out his coffee at breakfast time he -shuddered because he saw beside him the little dear bright face that was -not there--when he helped himself to an egg he could not eat it, because -the stand held only two, instead of the by custom sacred three. - -That was the warm old jacket on the second hall peg that she always -slipped on, to sit outside with him for his smoke, the big poppy trimmed -hat beside it, still kept the shape of her head in its crown. He could -not get away from it all. His eyes too refused to give up the picture of -her they had seen to-night, the tender innocent face, the pure eyes, the -trembling lips. Half-past ten brought the very end of his endurance, his -bitterness and his unbelief. - -It had taken all these six days for his brain to grow clear and healthy -again; with the lifting of the strange cloud came the sudden horror of -the thing he had done, a shame at the shame he had heaped on her. He -found responsibilities that were his, he remembered the tenderness and -watchfulness and love which her eighteen years demanded, he saw with -lightning clearness that it had been sheer insanity that had distorted a -simple friendship and shamed them both. - -He took up his hat to go out again. He would go and beseech her -forgiveness though he told himself of course, she could not possibly -give it. Still he would entreat her. - -Then the strange wheel began again in his head, and as he walked a new -hot swinging sensation there, made him almost unconscious of what was -going on for minutes together. He took off his hat and went on blindly, -there were two shrinking figures in the shadow by the fence but he did -not heed them. - -He knew quite well now what was going to happen to him, he was getting -that same brain fever again, he had had two years ago; it accounted for -everything. - -He found a strange comfort in the knowledge. He was going to Dot--by the -time he got to the lights and voices of the house he knew his senses -would have gone and his illness come upon him, his danger would touch -her little tender heart and she would forgive. He even saw a vision of -his convalescence and white beautiful days beyond. - -Then he came to the lights and people of the house, and before the -little mother could speak a word, the danger came upon him and the need -of forgiveness. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -SULLIVAN WOOSTER, GENTLEMAN - - 'Feel where my life broke off from thine - How fresh the splinters keep, and fine, - Only a touch and we combine.' - - -Dot felt the emptiness of her arms. Then she remembered the bitterness -and horror of her humiliation. - -To nearly all human beings there come during the course of life some -moments of complete madness and irresponsibility--Dot's came upon her -now. - -She was on her knees by the window; sometimes she beat her head against -the wood-work--wild tears were coursing down her cheeks, sobs of -impotent anger choked her. - -Wooster came up the staircase alone, the little mother had sent him to -say good-bye, and to tell Dot she could not leave the sick woman for an -hour. The sitting room door was open. - -'Great heavens!' he said, and sprang to her side in alarm, 'you are -ill--God!--what is the matter with you?' - -Her sobs ceased, she turned her head and regarded him strangely, her -eyes wet and brilliant seemed to pierce him. Then she laughed the most -terrible little laugh in the world. 'Why, you do love me after all!' she -said. - -He fell back against the wall, utterly undone, his eyes seemed the only -living part of him. - -'I didn't believe him,' she continued in the same tone. - -'Who?' his lips said, after a long pause. - -'Larrie.' - -'My God!' he cried. - -He could hardly breathe, the figure kneeling by the window was only a -confused blur to him. - -The choking sobs began again. - -He walked up and down, wildly. - -'Where is your child?' he said, stopping at the end of the room. - -She sobbed, and laughed and choked. - -'He took it, he has taken everything, and isn't it queer, I don't care -in the very least?' - -He stayed at the end of the room, the table and several chairs between -them. - -'He thinks I love you?' he said. - -'Oh yes.' - -She began to beat her head again. - -'Stop--how can you--for God's sake, stop!' he was at her side, trying to -draw her from the cruel wood. - -'I believe you love me as much as he did at first,' she said--he was -offering her a handkerchief for the little bleeding wound on her head, -and had to look at her--'Don't you?' - -'My God, _no_,' he burst out, 'what are you dreaming of?' - -'Oh, but you do,' she cried, and laughed again. - -He had moved her from the wall and she could not beat her head. She got -up from her knees, and went nearer to him. - -'I wish you would take me away,' she said. - -'Remember you have a husband,' he answered, very coldly. - -There was a scarlet colour on her cheeks, a very fire in her eyes. - -'No, I have not, he has cast me off, I have no one, no one, oh, you -_might_ take me away,' her voice broke into a cry. - -'Where?' he said, and trembled violently. - -'Anywhere, _anywhere_, just so I can never, never see him again as long -as I live.' - -He moved towards her, all his strength had gone, he was shaking like a -leaf. A minute ago he had been one of the best men on God's earth. Now, -the suddenness and awfulness of the temptation swept everything away for -the time but overmastering love for this woman. He put out his hand. - -'Come,' he whispered. - -Two minutes later they were fleeing together down the long Red Road that -Larrie was coming up. - -They passed him half way, he was carrying his hat, and going straight -forward, not looking to right or left. - -The meeting only added fuel to Dot's fire. - -'Hurry,' she cried, pressing on breathlessly, 'hurry.' - -When they neared the cottage she was limping wretchedly. He stopped -suddenly and looked down at her little house shoes. - -'The heel has come off,' she said dismayedly. - -It was really a catastrophe, for they were to have gone two miles -further, and then tried to get a conveyance of some sort. - -'Perhaps I could walk without them,' she said, and slipped one off, 'Oh, -do come on.' - -There was a light burning in the dining-room window of the cottage. - -'Couldn't you go in and get a pair?' he asked, but she shuddered and -shook her head. - -'I am afraid,' she said--'of Peggie.' - -'Sit down here then,' he said, and found her a seat on some piled wood -by the roadside. 'I will try to take the other heel off.' - -Dot smothered an exclamation. - -Peggie herself was leaning over the little side gate fifty yards away, -and the figure of the district butcher was discernible on the footpath. - -'You could go in yourself,' he whispered, 'and get wraps as well.' - -'I am afraid,' she said again, and looked at the lamplight with strange -eyes. 'There's a pair in the hall stand box.' - -He opened the gate very quietly and went over the grass; she saw him -push open the half closed front door, and go into the hall. - -Peggie's voice came over the garden beds. - -'Get out with you,' she was saying to her lover. Dot watched her with -frightened eyes, for no quick shadow fell on the lighted patch near the -door. - -How long he was! Perhaps he could not find the shoes, perhaps Larrie had -flung them out. It might be he was looking for another wrap for her. - -'Ga'rn,' said Peggie, 'I'm goin' in.' - -But Dot trembled needlessly, she did not move. The frilled curtain blew -through the drawing-room window in its old accustomed way; the broken -wistaria lattice swayed and creaked as it had done for months. Something -rose in Dot's throat, the wildness died out of her eyes. - -Then the long shadow fell on the lighted patch, and he came across the -grass again, straight over the mignonette bed and Larrie's primroses. - -She shivered violently, a sick feeling of fear came over her. He was -speaking to her, bending down to her, she could not see his face in the -darkness, but she knew he was holding something in his arms. He put it -gently down on her knees. How warm it was, how soft, how very small! -Such a little pitiful cry of broken sleep it gave! - -'Oh, God bless you!' she said, 'God bless you!' There came a rush of -warm, relieving, grateful tears. - -'Oh, God bless you!' she said again. But he had gone. - - -THE END - - - - -Transcriber's notes: - - -Inconsistent hyphenation (indiarubber/india-rubber, roseleaf/rose-leaf, -tiptoe/tip-toe, weatherboard/weather-board, workbasket/work-basket) -retained. - -Inconsistent spelling of Laurence/Lawrence has been retained. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of a Baby, by Ethel Turner - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A BABY *** - -***** This file should be named 53864-8.txt or 53864-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/6/53864/ - -Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Story of a Baby - -Author: Ethel Turner - -Release Date: January 2, 2017 [EBook #53864] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A BABY *** - - - - -Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - - - - -<hr class="ww" /> - - - -<div class="halftitle"><a name="png.001" id="png.001" href="#png.001"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>i<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a><img id="halftitle" src="images/halftitle.jpg" - alt="[Half title: - The Story of a Baby - NAVTILVS SERIES]" - title="half title page" /> -</div> - - - -<div class="plate"> -<a name="png.004" id="png.004" href="#png.004"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>iv<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a><img class="bordered" id="frontis" src="images/frontis.jpg" - alt="[Frontispiece: Dot and Larrie, holding the baby, walk down a road arguing. - Dot is dressed in white and carrying a white parasol, while Larrie is dressed in a dark suit and boater. - The baby's bonnet has fallen on the road. - - Illustration is signed St Clair Simmons.]" title="" /><br - />“‘He is exactly twenty-one pounds,’ she said.†- <p><small><i>The Story of a Baby.</i>]</small><span class="epub">            </span> - <small class="fltrt"> [<!-- TN: opening bracket invisible in original --><i><a href="#png.012">Page 2</a>.</i></small></p> -</div> - - -<div class="titlepage"> -<a name="png.005" id="png.005" href="#png.005"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>v<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a><img id="titlepage" src="images/titlepage.jpg" - alt="The Story of a Baby - by - Ethel Turner - The Navtilvs Series - Ward Lock & Bowden Limited - London · New York & Melbourne - 1896" title="title page" /> -</div> - - - -<div class="dedication"> -<p id="dedic"><small><a name="png.007" id="png.007" href="#png.007"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>vii<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>TO THE BEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD</small></p> - -<p id="sig"><small>E. T., <i>Sydney</i>.</small></p> -</div> - - - - -<div class="toc"> -<h2 title="Contents" ><a name="png.009" id="png.009" href="#png.009"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>ix<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CONTENTS</h2> - - -<table id="toc" summary="Contents"> - <tr> - <th>CHAP.</th> - <th> </th> - <th>PAGE</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">I.</td> - <td><a href="#png.011">THE BURDEN OF IT</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.011">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">II.</td> - <td><a href="#png.021">THE RED ROAD COUNTRY</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.021">11</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">III.</td> - <td><a href="#png.031">DOT AND LARRIE FALL OUT</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.031">21</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">IV.</td> - <td><a href="#png.043">THE ‘LITTLE MOTHER’</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.043">33</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">V.</td> - <td><a href="#png.057">MORE RIFTS IN THE LUTE</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.057">45</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">VI.</td> - <td><a href="#png.070">LARRIE THE LOAFER</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.070">58</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">VII.</td> - <td><a href="#png.085">A POCKET MADAME MELBA</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.085">73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> - <td><a href="#png.095">PICTURES IN THE FIRE</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.095">83</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">IX.</td> - <td><a href="#png.109">A CONFLICT OF WILLS</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.109">97</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">X.</td> - <td><a href="#png.123">A DARN ON A DRESS</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.123">111</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XI.</td> - <td><a href="#png.136">A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.136">124</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XII.</td> - <td><a href="#png.143">A LITTLE DIPLOMAT</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.143">131</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> - <td><a href="#png.152">DOT GOES BABY LIFTING</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.152">140</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> - <td><a href="#png.159">THE WHEEL IN THE BRAIN</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.159">147</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XV.</td> - <td><a href="#png.166">SULLIVAN WOOSTER, GENTLEMAN</a></td> - <td class="chappg"><a href="#png.166">154</a></td><!-- TN: Original lacks entry for chapter XV --> - </tr> -</table> -</div> - -<div class="chap"> -<h1 title="The Story of a Baby"><a name="png.011" id="png.011" href="#png.011"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>1<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>THE STORY OF A BABY</h1> - - - - -<h2 id="firstchap" title="I. The Burden of It" >CHAPTER I<br - /><small>THE BURDEN OF IT</small></h2> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Larrie</span> had been carrying it for a long way -and said it was quite time Dot took her turn.</p> - -<p>Dot was arguing the point.</p> - -<p>She reminded him of all athletic sports he -had taken part in, and of all the prizes he had -won; she asked him what was the use of -being six-foot-two and an impossible number -of inches round the chest if he could not carry -a baby.</p> - -<p>Larrie gave her an unexpected glance and -moved the baby to his other arm; he was -heated and unhappy, there seemed absolutely -<a name="png.012" id="png.012" href="#png.012"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>2<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>no end to the red, red road they were traversing, -and Dot, as well as refusing to help to -carry the burden, laughed aggravatingly at -him when he said it was heavy.</p> - -<p>‘He is exactly twenty-one pounds,’ she -said, ‘I weighed him on the kitchen scales -yesterday, I should think a man of your size -ought to be able to carry twenty-one pounds -without grumbling so.’</p> - -<p>‘But he’s on springs, Dot,’ he said, ‘just -look at him, he’s never still for a minute, you -carry him to the beginning of Lee’s orchard, -and then I’ll take him again.’</p> - -<p>Dot shook her head.</p> - -<p>‘I’m very sorry, Larrie,’ she said, ‘but I -really can’t. You know I didn’t want to -bring the child, and when you insisted, I said -to myself, you should carry him every inch -of the way, just for your obstinacy.’</p> - -<p>‘But you’re his mother,’ objected Larrie.</p> - -<p>He was getting seriously angry, his arms -ached unutterably, his clothes were sticking -to his back, and twice the baby had poked a -little fat thumb in his eye and made it water.</p> - -<p><a name="png.013" id="png.013" href="#png.013"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>3<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘But you’re its father,’ Dot said sweetly.</p> - -<p>‘It’s easier for a woman to carry a child -than a man’—poor Larrie was mopping his -hot brow with his disengaged hand—‘everyone -says so; don’t be a little sneak, Dot, -my arm’s getting awfully cramped; here, for -pity’s sake take him.’</p> - -<p>Dot shook her head again.</p> - -<p>‘Would you have me break my vow, St -Lawrence?’ she said.</p> - -<p>She looked provokingly cool and unruffled -as she walked along by his side; her gown -was white, with transparent puffy sleeves, her -hat was white and very large, she had little -white canvas shoes, long white Suéde gloves, -and she carried a white parasol.</p> - -<p>‘I’m hanged,’ said Larrie, and he stopped -short in the middle of the road, ‘look here, -my good woman, are you going to take your -baby, or are you not?’</p> - -<p>Dot revolved her sunshade round her little -sweet face.</p> - -<p>‘No, my good man,’ she said, ‘I don’t -propose to carry your baby one step.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.014" id="png.014" href="#png.014"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>4<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘Then I shall drop it,’ said Larrie. He -held it up in a threatening position by the -back of its crumpled coat, but Dot had gone -sailing on.</p> - -<p>‘Find a soft place,’ she called, looking back -over her shoulder once and seeing him still -standing in the road.</p> - -<p>‘Little minx,’ he said under his breath.</p> - -<p>Then his mouth squared itself; ordinarily -it was a pleasant mouth, much given to -laughter and merry words; but when it took -that obstinate look, one could see capabilities -for all manner of things.</p> - -<p>He looked carefully around. By the roadside -there was a patch of soft, green grass, and -a wattle bush, yellow-crowned, beautiful. He -laid the child down in the shade of it, he -looked to see there were no ants or other -insects near; he put on the bootee that was -hanging by a string from the little rosy foot -and he stuck the india-rubber comforter in its -mouth. Then he walked quietly away and -caught up to Dot.</p> - -<p>‘Well?’ she said, but she looked a little -<a name="png.015" id="png.015" href="#png.015"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>5<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>startled at his empty arms; she drooped the -sunshade over the shoulder nearest to him, -and gave a hasty, surreptitious glance backward. -Larrie strode along.</p> - -<p>‘You look fearfully ugly when you screw -up your mouth like that,’ she said, looking -up at his set side face.</p> - -<p>‘You’re an unnatural mother, Dot, that’s -what you are,’ he returned hotly. ‘By Jove, -if I was a woman, I’d be ashamed to act as -you do. You get worse every day you live. -I’ve kept excusing you to myself, and saying -you would get wiser as you grew older, and -instead, you seem more childish every day.’</p> - -<p>She looked childish. She was very, very -small in stature, very slightly and delicately -built. Her hair was in soft gold-brown curls, -as short as a boy’s; her eyes were soft, and -wide, and tender, and beautiful as a child’s. -When she was happy they were the colour -of that blue, deep violet we call the Czar, and -when she grew thoughtful, or sorrowful, they -were like the heart of a great, dark purple -pansy. She was not particularly beautiful, -<a name="png.016" id="png.016" href="#png.016"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>6<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>only very fresh, and sweet, and lovable. -Larrie once said she always looked like a -baby that has been freshly bathed and -dressed, and puffed with sweet violet powder, -and sent out into the world to refresh tired -eyes.</p> - -<p>That was one of his courtship sayings, more -than a year ago when she was barely seventeen. -She was eighteen now, and he was -telling her she was an unnatural mother.</p> - -<p>‘Why, the child wouldn’t have had its bib -on, only I saw to it,’ he said, in a voice that -increased in excitement as he dwelt on the -enormity.</p> - -<p>‘Dear me,’ said Dot, ‘that was very careless -of Peggie, I must really speak to her about it.’</p> - -<p>‘I shall shake you some day, Dot,’ Larrie -said, ‘shake you till your teeth rattle. Sometimes -I can hardly keep my hands off you.’</p> - -<p>His brow was gloomy, his boyish face -troubled, vexed.</p> - -<p>And Dot laughed. Leaned against the -fence skirting the road that seemed to run to -eternity, and laughed outrageously.</p> - -<p><a name="png.017" id="png.017" href="#png.017"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>7<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Larrie stopped too. His face was very -white and square-looking, his dark eyes held -fire. He put his hands on the white, exaggerated -shoulders of her muslin dress and -turned her round.</p> - -<p>‘Go back to the bottom of the hill this -instant, and pick up the child and carry it up -here,’ he said.</p> - -<p>‘Go and insert your foolish old head in a -receptacle for <i>pommes-de-terre</i>,’ was Dot’s -flippant retort.</p> - -<p>Larrie’s hands pressed harder, his chin grew -squarer.</p> - -<p>‘I’m in earnest, Dot, deadly earnest. I order -you to fetch the child, and I intend you to -obey me,’ he gave her a little shake to enforce -the command. ‘I am your master, and I -intend you to know it from this day.’</p> - -<p>Dot experienced a vague feeling of surprise -at the fire in the eyes that were nearly always -clear, and smiling, and loving, then she twisted -herself away.</p> - -<p>‘Pooh,’ she said, ‘you’re only a stupid overgrown, -passionate boy, Larrie. You my -<a name="png.018" id="png.018" href="#png.018"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>8<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>master! You’re nothing in the world but -my husband.’</p> - -<p>‘Are you going?’ he said in a tone he had -never used before to her. ‘Say Yes or No, -Dot, instantly.’</p> - -<p>‘No,’ said Dot, stormily.</p> - -<p>Then they both gave a sob of terror, their -faces blanched, and they began to run madly -down the hill.</p> - -<p>Oh the long, long way they had come, the -endless stretch of red, red road that wound -back to the gold-tipped wattles, the velvet -grass, and their baby!</p> - -<p>Larrie was a fleet, wonderful runner. In -the little cottage where they lived, manifold -silver cups and mugs bore witness to it, and -he was running for life now, but Dot nearly -outstripped him.</p> - -<p>She flew over the ground, hardly touching -it, her arms were outstretched, her lips -moving. They fell down together on their -knees by their baby, just as three furious, -hard-driven bullocks thundered by, filling the -air with dust and bellowing.</p> - -<p><a name="png.019" id="png.019" href="#png.019"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>9<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>The baby was blinking happily up at a -great fat golden beetle that was making a -lazy way up the wattle. It had lost its ‘comforter’ -and was sucking its thumb thoughtfully. -It had kicked off its white knitted -boots, and was curling its pink toes up in the -sunshine with great enjoyment.</p> - -<p>‘Baby!’ Larrie said. The big fellow was -trembling in every limb.</p> - -<p>‘<em>Baby!</em>’ said Dot. She gathered it up in -her little shaking arms, she put her poor -white face down upon it, and broke into such -pitiful tears and sobs that it wept too. Larrie -took them both into his arms, and sat down -on a fallen tree. He soothed them, he called -them a thousand tender, beautiful names; he -took off Dot’s hat and stroked her little curls, he -kissed his baby again and again; he kissed his -wife. When they were all quite calm and the -bullocks ten miles away, they started again.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll carry him,’ said Larrie.</p> - -<p>‘Ah no, let me,’ Dot said.</p> - -<p>‘Darling, you’re too tired—see, you can -hold his hand across my shoulder.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.020" id="png.020" href="#png.020"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>10<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘No, no, give him to me—my arms ache -without him.’</p> - -<p>‘But the hill—my big baby!’</p> - -<p>‘Oh, I <em>must</em> have him—Larrie, <em>let</em> me—see, -he is so light—why, he is nothing to carry.’</p> - -</div> - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="II. The Red Road Country"><a name="png.021" id="png.021" href="#png.021"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>11<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER II<br - /><small>THE RED ROAD COUNTRY</small></h2> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">In</span> cool weather the Red Road was very -pleasant walking. It wound up hill and down -dale for many a mile till it reached Hornsby, -and branched away into different country.</p> - -<p>All the way there were gum trees—gum -trees and fences; here and there were closer -palings and garden shrubs indicating human -residence, but they were far apart and the -road was very lonely. Parallel to it and showing -in places between the trees was the single -line of the railway. It did not spoil the -scenery at all, it rather gave a friendly look -to it and reminded the pedestrian that in -spite of the bush silences, the towering trees, -the vista of blue hills and the mountain-like -<a name="png.022" id="png.022" href="#png.022"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>12<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>freshness of the air, he could be in all the -bustle and happy fellowship of town in half-an-hour.</p> - -<p>Away to the left the ground dipped, then -rose again, in a blue soft hill, dipped again, -and the new rise was purple and beautiful. -The third dip, just a line, white sometimes -and again blue was the harbour. On clear -days one could see the smoke of vessels. -Beyond the hills and the water-line stretched -Sydney city, white and shining in the distant -sunlight. Further away, over near the sky, -the grey blue hills and the light that meant -sand-stretches was Botany.</p> - -<p>Higher up, and between the first and second -hill-rise, ran the river they call Lane Cove. -A great white building, St Ignatius, made -one land-mark and the Mortlake gas-works -another; from those places the residents -knew their geography. That was Eastwood -away over there, nestling among hills; those -blurred cottages indicated Ryde; just where -the tree tops showed in a hollow, was the -head of the river, and right away on the west -<a name="png.023" id="png.023" href="#png.023"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>13<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>horizon a certain patch was the highest place -in the blue mountains. In a few years the -beautiful country-side will be commonplace -suburbs; there will be stucco villas and -terrace houses, shops and paved roads; the -railway has broken its fastness and the change -is inevitable.</p> - -<p>The smooth grass slopes, the wooded -stretches will live only in memory. The -great red-and-black and silver-limbed gums -will be hewn down to make way for spreading -civilisation. The blue gracious hills will be -thick with chimneys and advertisement boards. -There will be a double line of railway, no -longer picturesque, and big spreading stations -instead of primitive sidings where one held up -a ‘flag by day and a light at night’ to be -picked up of the passing train.</p> - -<p>Past St Leonard’s the railway is very new, -a matter of months indeed.</p> - -<p>Before it was opened there were obstacles in -the way of reaching Sydney that made would-be -residents shake their heads, and go to live -at Paddington, and Forest Lodge, and such -<a name="png.024" id="png.024" href="#png.024"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>14<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>crowded places that could be reached by tram -with a certain degree of comfort.</p> - -<p>But before the year of grace 1893, the -train from the hills that only just escaped -being mountains, used to empty out its -passengers on the little St Leonard’s Station. -There were two ways only after that of -getting to Sydney.</p> - -<p>Either one merrily trudged a pathway -mile, and then caught a North Shore cable -tram to the point where the Ferry boat -leaves for the Circular Quay, or one entrusted -one’s life and well-being to a vehicle that -might have been a Noah’s Ark, or a bathing -machine, or a convict van.</p> - -<p>In ancient days it used to run between -Shoalhaven and Moss-Vale, as its red painted -sides still bore witness, but travellers in those -parts did better for themselves, so they -brought it here, and charged sixpence each -way for the twenty-five minutes’ journey. -Now there is a combination of the railway; -pressure was brought to bear, and the New -South Wales Government finished in a hurry -<a name="png.025" id="png.025" href="#png.025"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>15<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>a work that had dragged on till people -despaired of its completion. The line winds -down towards the chimneys and smoke of -‘The Shore’; one has glimpses from the -train of blue bright bays and white sails -moored boats, and a broken wharf or two -waiting to catch the artist’s eye. Then it -skirts along the harbour, close to the water, -in a semi-circular sweep, and makes an eye-sore. -Two years ago, Lavender Bay was -beautiful.</p> - -<p>But about the Red Road. Just at the top -of one of the elevations, there was a big stone -house standing in the middle of an orange -and lemon orchard. Dot’s mother lived here -by herself.</p> - -<p>A mile and a half away down the road -there was a weather-board cottage in a garden -running over with flowers. Larrie and Dot -lived here, and the baby of course. They had -been going up to ‘mother’s’ the afternoon -they quarrelled about carrying the child; -they always went on Sundays.</p> - -<p>Very often Dot went on Mondays too, -<a name="png.026" id="png.026" href="#png.026"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>16<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>that was the day Peggie, her <i>aide-de-camp</i>, -made the cottage unsavoury with soap-suds. -Tuesday nights they always had dinner up at -the house, Peggie never had time to cook on -Tuesdays, there were so many of Dot’s -dresses and Larrie’s shirts, and baby’s multitudinous -garments to be finely ironed.</p> - -<p>On Thursdays and Saturdays the mother -used to come down to the cottage and put it -straight, and help poor Peggie, and bring a -new knitted jacket or bootees or a hood or -pinafore for baby.</p> - -<p>The house was a big lonely place for such a -little woman. She was even smaller than Dot. -She had a tiny fragile figure, and a tiny face, -brown and shrivelled with Australian suns. -Her eyes were very big and pathetic, something -like Dot’s in wistful moments, and her -mouth with its infinitude of lines, was very -sweet.</p> - -<p>After her eyes, her brooch was the first -thing that invited notice. It was one of -those large, very old-fashioned ones with a -miniature set on the front of it. Dot had -<a name="png.027" id="png.027" href="#png.027"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>17<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>begged her to cease wearing it; ‘It isn’t good -taste,’ she had said once vexedly, ‘keep it in -a drawer;’ but the mother would not lay it -aside even though it was the only thing in -which she had ever thwarted Dot in her -life.</p> - -<p>When she went to bed she pinned it on -her night-gown, when she dressed in the -morning she fastened her collar with it. A -hundred times a day her fingers strayed to it. -In her sleep her hand stole up and closed -upon it.</p> - -<p>The miniature was of a very young man in -the old fashioned naval uniform that used to -be worn forty years ago. He had the correct -miniature smile, but the eyes were well done -and you could see his brow had been splendid. -He was Dot’s father, dead sixteen years ago; -it was the only likeness he had ever had -taken.</p> - -<p>Inside the brooch was a cluster of little -heads, gaudily painted, six in all; Dot, the -seventh, had been born after it was -done.</p> - -<p><a name="png.028" id="png.028" href="#png.028"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>18<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Four of the heads pressed clay pillows in a -churchyard not very far away, seas washed -over the fifth, and the sixth lay in a lonely -grave in the wilds of Western Australia.</p> - -<p>Dot was the only one alive, and now she -had flown from the home-nest to one of her -own, leaving unutterable desolation behind -her in the mother’s heart.</p> - -<p>It was because death had so broken and -bruised this little frail mother that she had -never crossed Dot’s will in anything since she -was born. The days of insistence and control, -and obedience-seeking were buried with the -buried six. Dot ruled, and the mother poured -out her heart at her feet and worshipped -with a love almost desperate.</p> - -<p>So when Dot said she was going to be -married at once, albeit only seventeen years -had passed over her little sunny head, the -mother had not been able to refuse. She -had only reminded Larrie, whom she loved -dearly and had known for years, how young -her darling was, and on her knees she had -prayed him to be good to her always. Larrie -<a name="png.029" id="png.029" href="#png.029"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>19<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>was twenty-two. For sixteen years he had -come up to the house in the holidays at the -first sign of a ripening orange; he had eaten -bananas with Dot, one of them at each end of -the fruit, when she was two.</p> - -<p>He had played cricket with her at six, -climbed trees with her at ten, pulled her hair -and pinched her for being a girl at twelve, -forgotten her for a time at fifteen, and come -back and married her at seventeen.</p> - -<p>He had £250 a year, and no guardians -or parents to give him unasked advice. So -he resolved to take a year’s holiday according -to his doctor’s orders, before he started his -profession, and teach and train Dot till she -was an ideal wife. He had all kinds of ideas -on the subject, though he was so very boyish -to look at, and he intended to inculcate Dot -with them all. But for the first year he was -so exuberantly happy he forgot all about -them.</p> - -<p>It was only when the baby was growing -into months, and Dot was continually forgetting -some article of its clothing, or the kicking -<a name="png.030" id="png.030" href="#png.030"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>20<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>exercise that was to make it an athlete, or -when her piano made her forget its existence -for a little while, that he began to think he -was not doing his duty by her, and must turn -over a new leaf.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="III. Dot and Larrie Fall Out" ><a name="png.031" id="png.031" href="#png.031"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>21<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER III<br -/><small>DOT AND LARRIE FALL OUT</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div>‘And though she is but little, she is fierce.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> cottage was a delightful place. It was -built of weatherboard, not the kind that overlaps, -but that with a groove between each -board. The verandah was very wide and ran -round the four sides; that was Larrie’s great -extravagance when he improved the place.</p> - -<p>‘Where’s a fellow to smoke when it’s hot -or wet if there isn’t a decent verandah?’ he -said.</p> - -<p>He and Dot had walked miles upon it in -the early months of the year, he with his pipe -in his lips and a look of great content in his -eyes, she with her hands linked at the back -of her neck or slipped around his arm.</p> - -<p><a name="png.032" id="png.032" href="#png.032"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>22<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>There was a profusion of hammocks and -lounges and chairs that made you lazy to look -at them. That was Dot’s extravagance. On -one side the outer wall was of yellow and -white roses that flowered eternally, on another, -wistaria with delicate down-dropping blooms. -The third—the kitchen side—was passion-vines, -and the fourth was clear, and showed a -grand sweep of country, and all the Sydney -vista.</p> - -<p>There was a narrow hall and a painted -front door, on either side of it long French -windows opening, one into the dining-room, -the other into Dot’s beautiful little drawing-room.</p> - -<p>She had spent a week thinking out the -furnishing of that room, and nearly all her -mother’s wedding-present cheque upon it.</p> - -<p>‘No, I won’t have a carpet,’ she said when -her mother was dwelling upon the advantages -of Brussels over Wilton pile, ‘and no, I won’t -have felt, it’s too stuffy looking; and if you -buy me a proper tapestry suite I shall set -fire to it. In India people furnish sensibly, -<a name="png.033" id="png.033" href="#png.033"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>23<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>but in Australia, which must be nearly as hot, -they do everything in English style.’</p> - -<p>The little mother ceased her suggestions, -and Dot worked her own will with really -charming effect.</p> - -<p>The room was rather low, and the walls and -ceiling tinted a delicate green. There was a -large centre square of white matting, fringed -at the edge and a border of pale green around -it. The three French windows had long soft -curtains of white with pale green frills. No -two chairs were alike. They were of rattan -and pith, and bamboo in quaint shapes. One -had a flat sea-green cushion of plush, one a -triangular one of silk with frills of coral pink; -there was a lovely pith sofa lounge, wide, -inviting, with a pile of pillows in cool Liberty -silk. In a corner the piano stood, a beautiful -instrument though very plain. It was not -draped in art muslin, and it had no photos or -<i>bric-à -brac</i> on it to jingle and spoil the wonderful -music Dot brought forth from it. A great -lamp stood beside it with a green crinkled -paper canopy, restful to the eye.</p> - -<p><a name="png.034" id="png.034" href="#png.034"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>24<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>In another corner there was a low bookcase -running along the wall; volumes of Browning -caught the eye, Tennyson, William Morris, -Shelley, Keats, all the gods.</p> - -<p>There was a sandal wood writing-table, -with silver handles and silver equipments, a -silver lamp with a rose-leaf shade, and a -photo of baby in a silver chased frame.</p> - -<p>There was not a tambourine on the walls, -not a single fan pocket, not a plaque. Half-a-dozen -pictures perhaps, bits of exquisite -colouring chiefly in long narrow gold frames; -a sunset at Manly Lagoon, a bit of the -Kanimbla valley, with summer upon it, a -water colour of the road above Mossman’s -Bay, a woman’s face, pale and unspeakably -beautiful, painted against a background of -purple velvet, some chrysanthemums, tawny -yellow and brown.</p> - -<p>One or two engravings as well. ‘Wedded’ -in an oak frame hung over the piano. Dot -said the man was Larrie’s very counterpart; -when she sang she used to look up at it and -feel glad he was her husband. On a tall -<a name="png.035" id="png.035" href="#png.035"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>25<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>easel on a table there was the ‘Peacemaker.’ -Larrie said the little girl was Dot. There -were bits of quaint china on the little tables, -and a few photographs, not many. Flowers -there were in all possible places. Daffodils -and spiky leaves in the windows, roses and -‘shivery’ grass on the tables, low vases of -violets and primroses, tall ones of jonquils. -Dot dusted this room herself every morning, -then before she could put the duster away, -the piano would tempt her, and the rest of -the house be forgotten. But for Peggie what -a place it would have been!</p> - -<p>Peggie was a real Cornstalk. She was fully -five-feet-eleven, and had impossibly long arms -and an impossible number of freckles. But -she had also all a Cornstalk’s warm, honest -heart; she was devoted to Dot and Larrie, and -absolutely worshipped the baby. She made -no better a servant as far as work went, than -the average untrained Australian girl; but -she was wonderfully learned in the ways and -wants of babyhood, and so was invaluable to -Dot who was absurdly ignorant. When -<a name="png.036" id="png.036" href="#png.036"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>26<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>Larrie had engaged her twelve months ago -at a Sydney registry office, he had asked her -name.</p> - -<p>‘Marjorie<!-- TN: original reads "Majorie" --> Dorothy Pegerton,’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘Ah!’ said Larrie, ‘that’s a high day and -holiday name, shall we say Mary on week -days?’</p> - -<p>‘Marjie, some folks call me,’ she answered. -‘Or there’s Dolly—I’m not particular—you -can even call me Peg if you like, Mr—what was it the gentleman said your name -was?’</p> - -<p>‘Armitage,’ said Larrie, ‘and let us decide -on Peggie; it is unique, and altogether -charming in these days.’</p> - -<p>They were both very fond of Peggie, she -was the stay of the cottage in all domestic -affairs—it would have fallen to pieces but -for her, and the baby—well there is -really no knowing what would have happened -to that same baby had it not been -for Peggie.</p> - -<p>Larrie generally minded the baby on -Thursday mornings. It was Thursday morning -<a name="png.037" id="png.037" href="#png.037"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>27<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>now. Peggie was doing her routine work -for that time, scrubbing the bare pine floors -of the bedrooms. Larrie and Dot both hated -carpets.</p> - -<p>Larrie was smoking his third postprandial -pipe, and was pacing up and down one side of -the verandah; he would have liked to have -gone the whole distance, but then there was -the baby.</p> - -<p>It was lying in a hammock in a nest of -pillows, and looking with calm, large gaze out -into all the world that appeared through a -gap in the rose creeper. There was the -pink flush of recent sleep on its little soft -cheeks, and its hair, the softest, warmest gold -in the world, was all tumbled and curly with -washing. It had a wonderful amount of hair -for so young a child, and Dot’s pride in it -was forgivable, for nearly all the babies of -her acquaintance were bald.</p> - -<p>Have you ever kissed a baby’s neck? -Was ever anything so warm and white and -velvety? The neck of Dot’s baby was absolutely -beyond description. Its mouth was -<a name="png.038" id="png.038" href="#png.038"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>28<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>red, bowshaped. Sometimes it gave wide -wet touches on Dot’s cheeks, and she would -whisper excitedly to Larrie that it was kissing -her.</p> - -<p>Such wonderful, wondering eyes it had, -intensely blue, intensely earnest. There had -been moments when Larrie felt he would -give his soul to know just what his baby was -thinking of.</p> - -<p>Did you show it a beautiful flower or a low -hanging silver moon, a picture, something -bright with colour? it seemed to be looking -away far beyond them and smiling in a faint -sweet way, because it saw fairer things than -ever you dreamed of.</p> - -<p>Its hands—well, perhaps they were like -most babies’ hands, but neither Dot, nor -Larrie, nor Peggie, nor the little mother would -have allowed it for a moment. They were -like the inside of a flushed, curled, rose-leaf, -and when they closed round your finger, you -felt how strangely sweet, and soft and warm -they were. From the long open window -came the sound of Dot’s voice, singing. The -<a name="png.039" id="png.039" href="#png.039"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>29<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>baby was listening as it lay in the hammock. -Larrie was listening as he smoked, though in -a half reluctant way.</p> - -<p>When little souls are born, just before they -come to us from the wonderful place of souls, -they have to do with a lottery. To a -thousand little blind struggling souls, there -are half-a-dozen great good gifts. Nine -hundred and ninety-four draw blanks, but -the band of six come down to us blessed, -rejoicing. Dot had been of the six. She -had drawn a voice. Generally Larrie rejoiced -because of it.</p> - -<p>Not this morning, however. He had been -brooding lately over Dot’s deficiencies<!-- TN: original reads "deficencies" -->, and he -almost wished she had been of the nine -hundred and ninety-four. For one thing, -he could have walked all the four sides of -the verandah if she had been. The thought -rankled.</p> - -<p>‘Dot,’ he called in ‘a voice.’</p> - -<p>Only little bursts of melody answered him. -She was singing a rippling song of Schubert’s; -it was in keeping with the warm, soft air -<a name="png.040" id="png.040" href="#png.040"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>30<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>outside, the twittering of birds, the faint -motion of the gum leaves.</p> - -<p>‘Dot!’ he shouted.</p> - -<p>She put a curly little head between the -window curtains.</p> - -<p>‘Well, Larrakin?’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘Come and mind the baby,’ he said shortly, -‘I want to smoke.’</p> - -<p>‘But baby doesn’t mind smoke at all—do -you, small sweet?’ she said, going over to -the hammock. ‘Oh Larrie, look how uncomfortable -he is, you’re a nice one to look -after him; and where’s his comforter? he’ll -have no thumb left presently.’</p> - -<p>‘I threw it away,’ Larrie answered, ‘all that -indiarubber can’t be good for him, I don’t -intend him to have another.’</p> - -<p>‘Stupid!’ said Dot. She kissed the baby, -tickled it, tossed it, then laid it down -again.</p> - -<p>‘What did you call me for,’ she said. ‘I -was just enjoying myself.’ Her eyes still had -the look of being away in the spheres. ‘He’s -all right there and it’s your turn to mind him, -<a name="png.041" id="png.041" href="#png.041"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>31<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>Larrie. I walked him about for an hour in -the night.’</p> - -<p>She moved to go in again.</p> - -<p>‘Stop here when I tell you, and mind him,’ -he said in an unpardonable voice.</p> - -<p>Dot gave him a surprised look.</p> - -<p>‘You forget yourself, Larrie,’ she said quietly.</p> - -<p>She went in and her fingers wandered into -the quiet, calm music of one of Mendelssohn’s -gondola songs. But she took it in rather -hurried time. Larrie disturbed her when he -had this mood on. He came behind her and -lifted her hands off the keyboard.</p> - -<p>‘Go and mind the child this minute.’ The -flame in his eyes showed itself instantly in hers.</p> - -<p>‘How dare you speak to me like that!’ she -said.</p> - -<p>‘Go and mind the child,’ said Larrie.</p> - -<p>Dot crashed a passionate chord on the -piano, she lifted her right hand for a brilliant -run. But Larrie picked her up in his arms -and put her outside on the verandah near the -hammock. Then he went in and closed the -drawing-room door behind him.</p> - -<p><a name="png.042" id="png.042" href="#png.042"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>32<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>By the time she had flown round through -the dining-room he was locking the piano.</p> - -<p>‘How <em>dare</em> you!’ Dot said in trembling -fury. ‘My piano! give me that key -instantly.’</p> - -<p>‘Go and mind your child,’ he said. He was -stooping a little, for the key stuck, since it -was never used; his head was almost on a -level with the lid.</p> - -<p>The next minute he was standing straight -in confused astoundment. Dot had dealt him -a passionate box on the ear, and fled from the -room.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="IV. The ‘Little Mother’" ><a name="png.043" id="png.043" href="#png.043"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>33<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER IV<br - /><small>THE ‘LITTLE MOTHER’</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div>‘Kiss and be friends, like children being chid.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">It</span> was unwritten law that thunder storms at -the cottage should never travel to the house. -But when Dot hurried up the drive and -burst into the dining-room with a scarlet face -and glowing eyes, the mother was afraid -something was wrong.</p> - -<p>‘Why, it’s Thursday, Dot!’ she said, ‘I -was just coming down.’</p> - -<p>Dot took off her wide brimmed hat and -fanned herself for a moment.</p> - -<p>‘There was curry cooking in the kitchen,’ -she said; ‘onions, pah!’</p> - -<p>‘How’s the baby, why didn’t you bring -him?’ asked the little mother.</p> - -<p><a name="png.044" id="png.044" href="#png.044"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>34<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘Oh, bother the baby,’ said Dot.</p> - -<p>‘Is Larrie’s neuralgia better?’ the mother -ventured after a little pause. And ‘bother -Larrie,’ was Dot’s wifely response.</p> - -<p>The mother got out the twenty-seventh -pair of boots she was knitting for baby, and -worked two rows in silence. She wondered -if it was Larrie’s fault or Dot’s. Larrie’s she -was sure. She wished Dot was her one little -girl again, so she could take all the troubles -for her.</p> - -<p>‘How did Peggie like the new soap I left -her?’ she said, anxiously flying from topics -that made Dot’s brows frown.</p> - -<p>‘Bother Peggie,’ said Dot. ‘She washed -baby’s nightgowns with it, and the whole -world’s placarded with advertisements that -say don’t. Idiot!’</p> - -<p>‘The oranges are ripening beautifully,’ said -the poor little mother.</p> - -<p>Dot went over to her and kissed her -passionately.</p> - -<p>‘You’re the best woman in the world,’ she -said.</p> - -<p><a name="png.045" id="png.045" href="#png.045"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>35<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Tears of quick pleasure sprang into the -mother’s eyes.</p> - -<p>‘<em>My</em> little girl,’ she said softly.</p> - -<p>She held Dot from her a minute, and -scanned the flushed face with eyes that saw -everything.</p> - -<p>‘I wish I was,’ Dot said, in a stifled tone, -‘<!-- TN: opening quote invisible in original -->just yours.’</p> - -<p>Anger crept into the mother’s big eyes. -‘Has Larrie?’—she said, ‘Larrie, has he—does -he?’—indignation overcame her.</p> - -<p>‘Oh no,’ said Dot, ashamed of so nearly infringing -the law. ‘Larrie’s all right—what are -you running your head against, small woman?’</p> - -<p>‘He is good to you?’ suspiciously.</p> - -<p>‘<em>Very</em> good.’</p> - -<p>She got up and went to the piano. ‘I -came to have a good practice,’ she said. ‘One -can’t with baby about.’</p> - -<p>She screwed up the stool, opened the lid, -and got out a pile of music. Wagner was -at the bottom of the canterbury, and she -sought for him, and then attacked him with -level brows.</p> - -<p><a name="png.046" id="png.046" href="#png.046"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>36<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>By the time she had made ten mistakes, -and the little mother’s head was aching, there -was the click of an opening gate.</p> - -<p>‘I—’ said Dot, -‘<!-- TN: opening quote placed before second "I" in original -->I—think I shall go home.’ -She jumped up and peeped through the -Venetian. ‘Baby may want me, and—and—if -Larrie should happen to come in, you -needn’t say I’ve been; he thinks I walk too -much.’</p> - -<p>She gave her mother a hurried kiss on the -top of her cap, and slipped out of the back -door and across the paddocks to the train.</p> - -<p>Larrie came down the hall with slow step. -He sat down in Dot’s old rocking-chair. -‘Morning, mum,’ he said, ‘the oranges are -looking lovely.’ He was eating one he had -plucked near the gate, but did not seem to -be paying any attention to the taste of it.<!-- TN: period invisible in original --></p> - -<p>The little mother regarded him with eyes -full of severity, though she tried to hide it.</p> - -<p>‘Dot is not looking well,’ she said, ‘haven’t -you noticed? We mustn’t let her do too -much, we must be very careful of her, Larrie -boy.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.047" id="png.047" href="#png.047"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>37<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Larrie looked a trifle disturbed for a minute, -then righteous wrath prevailed over incipient -anxiety. ‘Why she doesn’t do anything,’<!-- TN: closing quote invisible in original --> -he said, ‘<em>anything</em>.’</p> - -<p>‘She’s very young,’ was the mother’s reply.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, that’s nothing,’ said Larrie ‘lots -of girls of eighteen are married and do -everything.’</p> - -<p>‘Not little tiny girls like Dot,’ urged -mother, ‘you mustn’t be hard on her, Larrie, -she’ll be all she should be in time.’</p> - -<p>‘But not if I don’t teach her,’ he insisted; -‘why, how can she?’</p> - -<p>‘It comes of itself,’ the mother answered.</p> - -<p>But a dark look of recollective annoyance -spread over Larrie’s brow.</p> - -<p>‘She forgot baby’s teething necklace three -days last week, she’s always forgetting things,’ -he said.</p> - -<p>Then he too remembered the law, and ate -the rest of his orange in silence.</p> - -<p>‘I wish you would not come down to the -cottage quite so often,’ was the remark with -which he broke a meditation that had -<a name="png.048" id="png.048" href="#png.048"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>38<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>involved criss-crossed brows and five slow -minutes. A little odd sound broke from -the mother’s lips. Larrie looked up and saw -she was white under her brown and her eyes -were piteous.</p> - -<p>He crossed over to her with two swift steps. -He knelt down beside her chair, and put both -his arms round her thin waist.</p> - -<p>‘How dare you, mum, how <em>dare</em> you have -such thoughts!’ he said. He kissed her -several times in an eager, boyish way. ‘You -<em>know</em> you could never come too often for me, -you <em>know</em> you are more to me than my own -mother ever was. It’s only Dot, don’t you -see? She’s getting too dependent, mum. -We’ll have to let her stand alone a little -more. Peggie spoils her, you spoil her—I -even spoil her myself—mightn’t it be a good -thing to let her do things by herself for a -change, just for a trial, mum? And she -shall come here of course. Only, don’t you -come to the cottage for a bit, and do all the -things she leaves undone in that quiet little -way you have.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.049" id="png.049" href="#png.049"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>39<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘Not even Saturdays, Larrie? That’s the -hardest day.’</p> - -<p>‘No,’ Larrie said. ‘Be a good little mum -and leave her to me.’</p> - -<p>He stood up, all his six feet and odd inches, -his young face grave, resolute, his eyes full of -seriousness.</p> - -<p>‘He looks like a man fit to be trusted with -his own wife,’ the little mother told herself as -she looked up at him.</p> - -<p>Aloud, she said in a tone of wistful resignation. -‘Very well, Larrie, you will be gentle -with her, I know—she’s such a little thing.’</p> - -<p>Larrie walked home. He was thinking -all the way of the new leaf he was about -to turn. Dot had behaved in an altogether -unforgivable manner. He must be -firm with her, very firm, he told himself. -He was inclined to spoil her, as he had said, -and overlook her faults—but from now, he -must show her, too, his displeasure at the -disrespectful way she had treated him in the -morning. Boxing a husband’s ears!</p> - -<p>The red burnt on his brow as he opened -<a name="png.050" id="png.050" href="#png.050"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>40<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>the gate, thinking of it and heard Dot -trilling Amiens’ song as she watered some -sickly pelargoniums she was trying to grow.</p> - -<p>‘I must be firm, very firm,’ Dot had told -herself. ‘No husband should order his wife -about in the way Larrie ordered me. He is a -little, just a little inclined to tyrannise, and I -shall be laying up unhappiness for myself if I -do not nip it in the earliest bud.’</p> - -<p class="pgbrk">When she saw his figure coming down the -hill, she laid the baby down in the cot inside -and bade Peggie give an eye to him. Then -she popped on a clean muslin dress with -forget-me-nots sprinkled all over it, tied the -blue ribbons of her picturesque garden hat in -a coquettish bow at the side of her chin, and -when Larrie opened the gate she was flitting -about the flower beds with an absurdly small -red watering can in her hand and the gay -little song on her lips. It certainly was provoking.</p> - -<div class="plate"> -<a name="png.051" id="png.051" href="#png.051"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[</span>Plate<span class="ns"> opp. p40]<br - /></span></span></a><img class="bordered" id="illo-0055" src="images/illo-0055.jpg" - alt="[Illustration: Dot, holding a small watering can, is in the foreground. - Larrie is in the background, coming through the garden gate. - - Illustration is signed St Clair Simmons.]" title="" /><br - />“When Larrie opened the gate she was flitting -about the flower beds.†-<p><small><i>The Story of a Baby.</i>]</small><span class="epub">            </span> - <small class="fltrt">[<i><a href="#png.050">Page 40</a>.</i></small></p> -</div> - -<p>He had pictured her coming to his side -with eyes all wet and sorry, and asking forgiveness -for being so naughty and childish. -<a name="png.053" id="png.053" href="#png.053"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>41<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>He had decided to forgive her after a time, -but to show her first, quietly and gravely, how -much in error she had been. And <span class="nw">now—</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div>‘Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly!</div> -<div class="i5"><span class="ns">                    </span>Then heigh-ho, the holly!</div> -<div class="i5"><span class="ns">                    </span>This life is most jolly.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">and a whole gamut of lilts and trills of her -own introduction.</p> - -<p>Larrie closed his lips very tightly and strode -past her into the house.</p> - -<p>‘I might have known she would turn into -that kind of woman,’ he muttered, casting off -his straw hat in the dining-room. ‘A man -never knows a girl till he’s married to her, -she never shows herself in a true light before.’</p> - -<p>He went into an adjoining bedroom for a -linen coat to get cool in.</p> - -<p>Baby was disporting himself in the high-sided -cot; his little legs were bare and kicking -against the pillows, his arms were bare, -and his soft, sweet neck. Such a gurgle and -chirrup of welcome he gave his father! He -banged his heels on the iron, he gave a -<a name="png.054" id="png.054" href="#png.054"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>42<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>rapturous little leap, and said ‘Googul, -googul, googul.’</p> - -<p>Larrie glanced half-shamefacedly through -the window to make sure Dot could not see, -and then he went over to the cot and said -glad responsive ‘googuls,’ and submitted his -crisp curls to the wee fingers, and tossed him -about in his arms.</p> - -<p>But when the dinner-bell rang he laid him -down in a hurry, and moved out of the room. -Only he could not quite call up the stern -‘firm’ manner again.</p> - -<p>Dot sprang up the verandah steps, and went -into the bedroom to take off her hat, and -wash invisible gardening marks from her -fingers.</p> - -<p>‘I won’t quarrel,’ she whispered to herself, -‘but I must really show him I am not to be -bullied. I will be <em>very</em> firm.’</p> - -<p>‘Googul’ said baby.</p> - -<p>Such a mournful little googul! there were -actually two tiny tears welling up in the blue -wide eyes, for tossing and petting were joyful -to him.</p> - -<p><a name="png.055" id="png.055" href="#png.055"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>43<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Dot shut the door. Then she said ‘<em>Baby</em>’ -in a tempestuous little way, and two quick -answering tears sprang up in her own eyes as -she lifted him up to her. It was such a lonely, -reproachful little ‘googul.’ She sat down on -the bed with him, and made his small -heart gladsome again with kisses and baby-talk.</p> - -<p>The door opened one inch—then wide.</p> - -<p>‘The curry coolin’ as ’ard as it can, and -master lookin’ black, and ’ere you are,’ said -Peggie resentfully. ‘Give ’im to me, the -darling angel.’</p> - -<p>Dot handed him over, and hurried into the -dining-room.</p> - -<p>‘You’re putting milk in, what are you -thinking of?’ Larrie said in an injured tone -after two minutes’ silence. Dot was actually -thus spoiling the cup of tea he always drank -brown and sugarful. Peggie had forgotten -the slop basin. Dot got up to go to the -cupboard which was near Larrie’s end of the -table.</p> - -<p>‘If you’ll never be naughty again I’ll -<a name="png.056" id="png.056" href="#png.056"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>44<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>forgive you,’ she said in a whisper at his elbow. -Her eyes were wet, sorry, pleading.</p> - -<p>‘You <em>dear</em> little girl,’ Larrie said. He laid -down his knife and fork and put his arms -round her waist, ‘I was a perfect brute to -you, it was all my fault.’</p> - -<p>‘No, mine,’ said Dot.<!-- TN: original shows superfluous closing quote --></p> - -<p>‘<em>Mine</em>,’ insisted Larrie.<!-- TN: original shows superfluous closing quote --></p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="V. More Rifts in the Lute" ><a name="png.057" id="png.057" href="#png.057"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>45<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER V<br - /><small>MORE RIFTS IN THE LUTE</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘This grew: I gave commands,</div> -<div>Then all smiles stopped together.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">But</span> naturally this kind of thing could not go -on for ever.</p> - -<p>Quarrels, with little tender makings up like -that had a certain charm while their freshness -lasted. But when the fallings out became -events of almost weekly occurrence, the fallings -in were no longer things to be put away -in ‘the hushed herbarium where we keep our -hearts’ forget-me-nots.’</p> - -<p>Larrie <em>was</em> exacting and inclined to be -tyrannical. And Dot <em>was</em> careless and childish, -and unreasonable. The first week that the -mother did not come down to look after -<a name="png.058" id="png.058" href="#png.058"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>46<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>Peggie, and do her fifty odd acts of straightening, -the cottage was in a glorious state of -muddle.</p> - -<p>Larrie by nature was an order-loving and -somewhat methodical man, and had an inborn -objection to see Dot’s pretty slippers lying -about the house, or stray articles of baby’s -clothing on the verandah chairs. He thought -breakfast things too ought not to be left on -the table till all hours in the morning, and -when Dot asked him how he could expect -Peggie to dress baby and make the beds <em>and</em> -wash up by ten, he retorted brutally that she -was a lazy little slattern, and should do it -herself.</p> - -<p>‘A slattern is a person untidy in herself,’ -Dot replied, ‘you can’t say you’ve ever seen -me like that, Laurence Armitage!’</p> - -<p>And he certainly could not. Whatever -her faults were, Dot was a little lady to the -backbone, and would have been always sweet -and fresh, and guiltless of pins and rents if she -had never been able to afford more than -fourpence half-penny prints to clothe herself -<a name="png.059" id="png.059" href="#png.059"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>47<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>with. Shabby finery she had a wholesome -detestation for; however plain her dress might -be, it was always dainty, her shoes fitted trimly, -her collar was above reproach and fastened -with precision, her gloves were unsoiled, and -her hats always fresh if only trimmed with -Indian muslin.</p> - -<p>But she was certainly a shocking young -person where household matters were concerned. -There was plenty of work to do -even in so small a place; Peggie, however, -had cheerfully taken it on her own shoulders -at the beginning, and the things she ought to -have done and left undone, the little mother -did.</p> - -<p>It was not until there was a third member -in the family that the housework was appreciably -neglected. When the fascination of -‘dressing baby’ was no longer new to Dot, -and Peggie, its devoted worshipper, begged to -add that duty to her others, Dot consented -with alacrity. And Larrie looked on and -told himself daily these things ought not to -be.</p> - -<p><a name="png.060" id="png.060" href="#png.060"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>48<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>One day there was a very great passage-at-arms. -Peggie had gone to Sydney for the -day to spend her month’s wages in a fearful -and wonderful hat she had long had her eye -upon, and Dot was left with the whole -burden of the household upon her shoulders.</p> - -<p>Generally on the rare occasions of Peggie’s -absence, the mother came down and presided -over the kitchen and the baby, and Dot had -little else to do than lay the table and help -to dish up. But to-day Larrie’s wicked conspiracy -stood in the way.</p> - -<p>The mother sent down a little note; it was -very hot, would Dot mind if she did not come, -her head was inclined to ache badly? And -Larrie had ‘business in town’ and would be -back by the train just in time for dinner.</p> - -<p>Dot felt overwhelmed with the responsibilities -of her position.</p> - -<p>‘I think you had better take baby up to -mother’s first, Larrie,’ she said, ‘I don’t see -how I am to mind him and cook the dinner -and do everything.’</p> - -<p>‘How does Peggie manage when you’re -<a name="png.061" id="png.061" href="#png.061"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>49<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>away? My dear Dot, I hope you are not -going to give me the idea that you are one -of those women utterly without resource,’ -said my lord Larrie. ‘My sister <span class="nw">Charlotte—</span>’</p> - -<p>‘Grace!’ cried Dot, ‘spare me the recapitulation -of the puddings she could make -and the wonders she could do at sixteen.’</p> - -<p>‘Well, I only wanted to show you,’ said -Larrie.</p> - -<p>He brushed the dust off his shoulders, set -his straw hat perfectly straight on his head—he -always wore it tilted forward or stuck -jauntily back in these wilds—and with a -paternal kind of kiss to Dot and a grandfatherly -one to the baby, he departed.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll just show him what I can do,’ said -Dot going kitchenwards. ‘Horrid boy!’</p> - -<p>It was six or thereabouts when the ‘horrid -boy’ returned. He was hungry—amazingly -hungry—and apart from his experiment he -really hoped that there was a very nice -dinner ready. The white tablecloth was on -the dining-room table and the flowers were -exquisitely arranged, drooping blossoms of -<a name="png.062" id="png.062" href="#png.062"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>50<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>wistaria and delicate leaves on a ground of -pale yellow silk. There were also some -knives and forks in a heap, two salt-cellars -and the silver gong. From the bedroom -came doleful baby wails that filled all the -cottage. From the kitchen a strong smell -of burning.</p> - -<p>‘Gracious Lor,’ said Peggie.</p> - -<p>But ‘Hang it all!’ was her master’s -remark.</p> - -<p>Peggie set her bandbox down and followed -at his heels into the kitchen.</p> - -<p>Dot was standing over the fire. Nearly -every piece of crockery in the house stood -dirty upon the table. Egg shells lay about, -the sugar jar, the currant, the peel, the -pepper, the flour, and all the store cupboard -were in evidence. She turned a peony face -towards them. ‘Dinner’s not ready yet, and -it’s no use being cross, Larrie, if only you -knew what a bother I’ve had with the fire.’ -She lifted a saucepan with a groan and set it -aside.</p> - -<p>‘Is there <em>anything</em> to eat?’ Larrie asked in -<a name="png.063" id="png.063" href="#png.063"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>51<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>a tone not altogether mild. ‘The place -smells like a crematorium.’</p> - -<p>Dot sniffed. ‘Does it?’ she said. ‘The -meat’s burnt, I couldn’t help it, it burnt -while I ran in to dress baby, and then a -visitor came after I put some cakes and a -batter pudding in the oven, and they burnt, -there’s a boiled pudding though, it’ll be -cooked in half-an-hour, and we can have eggs -for once.’<!-- TN: original lacks closing quote --></p> - -<p>Peggie hastened to her bedroom to change -her very best dress for an old one in which -she might take command of her region.</p> - -<p>‘You really mean to say, Dot, that in all -these hours you haven’t been able to cook a -little dinner,’ Larrie began. His chin squared -itself, his lips closed.</p> - -<p>‘It’s no good making faces, my good man,’ -Dot said. ‘I’ve cut my thumb, and I’ve -burnt my wrist, and had sparks in my eyes, -and now this is all the thanks I get.’<!-- TN: original lacks closing quote --></p> - -<p>‘Eggs when a man comes in hungry for -his dinner!—and a pudding not cooked! -The <span class="nw">table—</span>’</p> - -<p><a name="png.064" id="png.064" href="#png.064"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>52<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘<em>Will</em> you go out of the kitchen, Laurence -Armitage,’ Dot said facing round. ‘Do you -think I’ve not had enough without <em>you</em> -beginning?’</p> - -<p>‘—The table not set and a crying baby,’ -Larrie went on.</p> - -<p>‘Larrie, <em>do</em> you want to provoke me into -throwing a saucepan at your head like an -Irish washerwoman?’ Dot said.</p> - -<p>She took the lid off the potatoes and disclosed -a pulpy mass boiled out of all recognition.</p> - -<p>‘I don’t profess to be perfect; accidents -will happen even to the sister Charlottes.’</p> - -<p>‘It’s this kind of thing that drives a man -from his home to seek comfort and pleasure -elsewhere,’ Larrie said darkly. He really -felt exceedingly ill-used, and Dot’s heated -face and worried expression did not appeal to -him at all.</p> - -<p>He even steeled his heart to the little tired -tremble in her voice that showed the tears -were near, and all the time came the distracting -sound of baby’s mournful screams that no -one had time or inclination to soothe.</p> - -<p><a name="png.065" id="png.065" href="#png.065"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>53<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘You’re a bad wife, Dot,’ Larrie said, fully -persuaded she was.</p> - -<p>Dot gave a hysterical laugh.</p> - -<p>‘All this because your food’s not ready to -put in your mouth; men are as bad as animals -in the Zoo when meal time is delayed!’</p> - -<p>‘You fail in your duty in every respect, -look at this kitchen, Dot, think of the dinner, -listen to your child.’</p> - -<p>But Dot, utterly tired and overwrought, -burst into a passion of tears and brushed past -him.</p> - -<p>‘I h-h-hate you,’ she said, ‘I <em>wish</em> I wasn’t -married to you, oh I <em>do</em> wish I wasn’t.’</p> - -<p>‘And so do I,’ returned Larrie grimly. -Even dinner did not restore his equanimity, -albeit he made a tolerably hearty one with four -boiled eggs, quantities of bread and butter, -and half a tin of sardines as dessert.</p> - -<p>Dot stayed out in the garden and refused -food entirely.</p> - -<p>She wept oceans of tired, hot tears and -told herself she was the most miserable -woman on earth. Later, when only her -<a name="png.066" id="png.066" href="#png.066"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>54<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>eyelashes were wet and the quiet evening wind -had cooled her cheeks and heart, she still -wondered why girls all the world over were -in such a hurry to marry.</p> - -<p>She thought wistfully of her careless, unfettered -girlhood that she had cut so short -through her own wilfulness.</p> - -<p>‘I might have had eight more years,’ she -whispered to herself, ‘twenty-five is the -proper age to marry, he would have been -older and more patient too, and I should -never have felt like this.’</p> - -<p>She put down her head on the old seat -back and sobbed again heartbrokenly for ‘like -this’ meant that love was dying.</p> - -<p>Then the wind dried her tears once more, -and she sat staring at a patch of light that fell -from the dining-room lamp out upon the -little lawn: she was wondering drearily how -she should be able to live out all the other -days of her life.</p> - -<p>Larrie stepped out on the verandah, she -could see the red of his cigar and the dusky -outlines of his figure.</p> - -<p><a name="png.067" id="png.067" href="#png.067"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>55<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘Dot,’ he called.</p> - -<p>The wind carried his voice over the sleeping -flowers, and the wet grass down to the broken -seat and flung it at her. She slipped out of -her place and stole off towards the piece of -ground that was still unreclaimed bush; she -could not bear his presence yet. But he saw -her white flitting dress and followed.</p> - -<p>‘The dew’s as heavy as it can be, you’ll get -another cold,’ he said, ‘come in.’</p> - -<p>She shook her head without looking at -him.</p> - -<p>‘Come in, and don’t be a silly child,’ he -said.</p> - -<p>Again she shook her head and walked on.</p> - -<p>But he caught her arm and turned her -gently but firmly round.</p> - -<p>‘I don’t want to have to carry you,’ he -said. Then he threw his cigar away and -spoke gravely.</p> - -<p>‘Look here, Dot, I’m not going to say anything -more about this afternoon, we’ll let -that go, all I want you to understand is you -must give up being childish, and act in a way -<a name="png.068" id="png.068" href="#png.068"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>56<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>that befits a married woman. I’m tired of -this.’</p> - -<p>Dot did not speak, she hardly heard the -words in fact, only the cold tone they were -spoken in. She wondered vaguely if her love -had been dying for a long time or if to-night -was only the beginning. She hoped she -should not live long, she felt quite glad to -think the doctor had said she had no constitution; -how <em>could</em> she go on living if calm careless -affection was going to take the place of -the wonderful love that had once made a -glory of their every hour. They had both -been incredulous of the existence of such a -place as the dead level of matrimony—was -this it indeed they had already come upon?</p> - -<p>‘Well?’ said Larrie, ‘I’m waiting, Dot, -are you going to give it up?’</p> - -<p>She gave a little start. ‘What do you -mean?’</p> - -<p>‘Give up being so childish, will you try?’</p> - -<p>‘Oh yes,’ she said dully. That was very -easy to promise, she felt so old, so very much -a woman to-night.</p> - -<p><a name="png.069" id="png.069" href="#png.069"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>57<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Larrie was only half satisfied with that quiet -‘Yes.’ Where was his little loving eager girl -gone who would have done anything in the -world once had he asked it, done it gladly -and rejoiced at its difficulty, flung her arms -round his neck and asked to be tried still -more?</p> - -<p>Only that spiritless ‘Yes,’ was her answer -to-night. He stifled a sigh of bitter disappointment. -This was <em>marriage</em>, he supposed.</p> - -<p>‘It’s beginning to rain,’ he said heavily, -‘go in.’</p> - -<p>She turned to go,—they had been standing -for the last few minutes near the old broken -seat.</p> - -<p>Never yet had they parted after the making -up of a quarrel without a kiss, and he would -not omit it now.</p> - -<p>But he stooped his head in almost an -awkward way down to her bent one, and it -was not the kiss of a lover.</p> - -<p>She merely submitted a drooped cheek to -his lips, and went slowly up to the house alone.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="VI. Larrie the Loafer" ><a name="png.070" id="png.070" href="#png.070"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>58<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER VI<br - /><small>LARRIE THE LOAFER</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="i16"><span - class="ns">                                                                </span>‘She had</div> -<div>A heart—how shall I say? too soon made glad,</div> -<div>Too easily impressed: she liked what e’er</div> -<div>She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Larrie</span> and Dot had come upon the great -rock that lies near the beginning of the -matrimonial path of all those who marry for -love.</p> - -<p>Oh the wonderful capacity they had in -those days for torturing themselves! Larrie -used to brood continually in secret over the -change that had come into their lives; his -manner grew cold and indifferent and he consumed -as much tobacco as a man long years -in the bush, and Dot used to shed hot, angry, -grieving tears in private and devote herself to -<a name="png.071" id="png.071" href="#png.071"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>59<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>the management of the house or the baby in -the time that once she had always devoted to -her husband.</p> - -<p>Once in one of the passionate little outbursts -she was subject to, she scoffed at him -for his idleness.</p> - -<p>‘No wonder you are so fault-finding, -Larrie,’ she said, ‘staying at home day after -day like an old maid. Other husbands don’t -tie themselves to their wives’ apron-strings as -you do.’</p> - -<p>It was a little unjust of her, this pettish -speech, though she had received provocation.</p> - -<p>Larrie had had a bad illness, a kind of brain -fever soon after his last law examination, and -really had been ordered to take a long -holiday.</p> - -<p>‘You are a man of means,’ the doctor had -said. ‘Travel about, loaf generally for a year -or two, do anything you like, but avoid -regular brain work.’</p> - -<p>As a first step to a thorough holiday he had -married Dot, and as his means, divided, would -<a name="png.072" id="png.072" href="#png.072"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>60<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>not permit of travel, he settled down with an -easy mind to ‘loaf.’</p> - -<p>He used to ride, and fish, and shoot, walk, -read, and work in the garden generally, but -there were times when he had fits of superlative -laziness and did absolutely nothing but lie -in the hammocks and smoke, or wander about -after Dot.</p> - -<p>At first this state of things had been very -delightful and idyllic, but after eighteen -months Dot found it very trying, and used to -wish sincerely that Larrie went off to business -in the morning like other men and stayed -away till evening. She felt certain he would -appreciate both herself and his home more if -he did so, and, seeing he was apparently quite -well and strong, there seemed no reason for -him not to go.</p> - -<p>It was this feeling that had prompted the -cutting speech about being tied to her apron, -a garment by the way which she never wore -on any occasion.</p> - -<p>Larrie was bitterly offended.</p> - -<p>‘You are tired of me, it has come to that -<a name="png.073" id="png.073" href="#png.073"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>61<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>already,’ he said, and there was such a note of -pain in his voice that she had slipped her arm -round his neck in her old impetuous way.</p> - -<p>‘It was horrid of me,’ she said, ‘of course -you have a right to stay at home always if -you like. Forgive me, Larrie.’</p> - -<p>And he had forgiven her after a time, even -kissed her kindly and told her not to mind.</p> - -<p>But the very next day he had taken an -office in town and sent a man to paint -‘Laurence Armitage, Solicitor,’ in white -letters on the door.</p> - -<p>All her entreaties now would not keep him -at home a day, he caught the business train -at eight o’clock in the morning and the -evening one home at five.</p> - -<p>He was like everyone else’s husband at last, -and the garden of Eden had become merely -a cottage with a piece of ground attached.</p> - -<p>But oh, such long, long days they were to -both of them at first.</p> - -<p>Larrie, of course, had really nothing to do -for weeks and weeks. He used to sit on his -uncomfortable cane chair, put his long legs on -<a name="png.074" id="png.074" href="#png.074"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>62<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>the window-sill and smoke and think half the -day. Or he would pin a ‘Back in ten -minutes’ notice on his door and stroll aimlessly -about town or drop into the offices of -other men he knew, and envy them their -busy air of occupation.</p> - -<p>Dot had never thought so many hours -went to the day before.</p> - -<p>Baby slept a great deal, and just beginning -to teethe, was cross and less companionable -than usual. The household tasks that she -took upon herself now did not last long, and -the little mother did so much sewing for -everyone in the cottage that there was really -nothing left for Dot to do, but put on occasional -buttons and tapes. She resolved to -let her voice fill up the blank in her life, it -was her one great gift, and she determined she -would cultivate it assiduously and then—but -she had not yet quite decided what difference -the ‘then’ would make.</p> - -<p>The Red Road Country had a little plain -church at the top of one of its hills, and Dot -led the singing as a matter of course.</p> - -<p><a name="png.075" id="png.075" href="#png.075"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>63<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Sometimes she took long solo parts in the -anthems, and then the ugly barn-like place of -worship seemed full of glory. Several times -people had come all the way from the shore -just to hear the clear, sweet, joyous voice of -that one little person in the front row. She -had been asked more than once to join the -choir of different big churches in Sydney, but -there was no train service at all on Sunday for -the line, and Larrie naturally refused to have -an empty house the greater part of the day -just because his wife had a voice. Choir -practices were on Wednesday afternoons, and -Dot attended regularly now; for one thing -they helped to pass the time, for another she -had a genuine desire to have the singing each -Sunday as good as possible, and knew her -presence stimulated the other members.</p> - -<p>The Red Road Country is growing famous -for its healthiness. People with land to sell -in the district and the few boarding-house -keepers, advertise it as ‘The Sanatorium of -New South Wales.’ Doctors are beginning to -send their patients there occasionally, instead -<a name="png.076" id="png.076" href="#png.076"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>64<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>of to the Blue Mountains, and the -pure, gum-tree<!-- TN: original reads "pure gum-tree," --> filtered air certainly works -wonders.</p> - -<p>Mr Sullivan Wooster had been sent up for -a month. He occupied a high position in the -musical world of Sydney. He taught, conducted -concerts, gave recitals of his own on -organ and piano, and composed pieces that -met with high praise in the old world. An -attack of pleurisy had prostrated him recently, -and he had come up to the Red Road -Country for his convalescence, refusing to be -sent to a more distant place. A Wednesday -afternoon came a week after he had arrived. -He was almost dying with the <i>ennui</i> of the -place; the abounding gum trees were beginning -to prey upon his very soul. He had -taken rooms at a cottage where the recommendations -had been ‘No children, beautiful -views, and a piano.’</p> - -<p>But the daughter of the house had artistic -yearnings that she longed to impart, a passion -for waltzes, and a tousled fringe that Wooster -was always dreading to find detachments of -<a name="png.077" id="png.077" href="#png.077"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>65<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>in his custards. The healthful Eucalypt on -hill and dale comprised the view.</p> - -<p>Naturally he spent most of his time on the -Red Road. When he heard voices in the -little church that afternoon, he strolled to the -door just for the urgent want of something to -do. When he heard Dot’s voice, he went in -and sat down in the extreme back seat, much -to the discomfiture of a nervous member of -the choir.</p> - -<p>After the practice was over he shook hands -with the clergyman’s wife who had officiated -at the little organ. He knew her very well; -she had found these lodgings for him, and had -sent him tomatoes on one occasion and some -of her own orange wine, marvellously nasty -stuff, on another.</p> - -<p>He asked after her husband, praised the -views, thought the weather would change, -said nothing bitter about the landlady’s -daughter, and offered to preside at the organ -the next Sunday. Then he asked to be -introduced to the girl with the beautiful -voice.</p> - -<p><a name="png.078" id="png.078" href="#png.078"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>66<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>A quarter of an hour later he was walking -home with Dot.</p> - -<p>Her books—she had three of them—were -his excuse, and the fact that he had been -walking that way before he turned in at the -church. All the way they talked music.</p> - -<p>Dot’s eyes were bright, her speech eager. -What a pleasant, unlooked for change this -was for her!</p> - -<p>She knew him well by repute, as indeed -did everyone in Sydney—she had been to his -concerts, she played his compositions,—some -of her friends had been his pupils,—he seemed -more like an old than a new friend by the -time they reached the top of the second hill. -Half way down they noticed the gathering -clouds; by the time they reached the gate it -had begun to rain heavily.</p> - -<p>Dot did not hesitate a moment. He had -been ill she knew: a wetting might prove -serious.</p> - -<p>‘You must come in,’ she said, pushing open -her little gate, ‘come and wait till it clears.’ -She preceded him up the path and sprang up -<a name="png.079" id="png.079" href="#png.079"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>67<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>the verandah steps into shelter, shaking the -raindrops off her little short curls and -laughing breathlessly after the few minutes’ -hurry.</p> - -<p>‘What a <em>dear</em> little girl!’ he said to himself, -following with the utmost gladness.</p> - -<p>He had never spent in all his life a -pleasanter hour than the next one.</p> - -<p>His artistic eye was charmed with the -arrangements of the simple drawing-room, it -was a real pleasure to run his fingers upon a -good piano once more—here was all the -music that made the earth a happy abiding -place, and above all there was the presence -of the sweet little girl with short soft curls, -wide, eager eyes, and a voice truly wonderful. -Oh the beautiful hour it was!</p> - -<p>They had both gone straight to the piano -as naturally as ducks go to water; they tried -whole pages of different operas together, and -went twice through some of the songs, just for -the sheer pleasure of singing.</p> - -<p>Then he played some Beethoven she had -never found beautiful before, and after that -<a name="png.080" id="png.080" href="#png.080"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>68<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>she played at his request piece after piece, and -he was surprised at her culture.</p> - -<p>He almost feared once or twice that the -whole occurrence was an enchanted dream -which would fade presently.</p> - -<p>On his knees at the Canterbury drawer he -found the score of <cite>Faust</cite> bent open at the -‘Jewel Song.’ He held it up eagerly.</p> - -<p>‘Let me hear you in this,’ he said. ‘You -sing it?’</p> - -<p>Dot nodded joyously and opened it on the -music holder as he took his seat.</p> - -<p>She gave a little cough to clear her throat. -He stood up, real concern on his face, and -closed the book instantly.</p> - -<p>‘There is <em>nothing</em> so culpable as over-tiring -the voice; it was criminal of me to let you sing -so much,’ he said.</p> - -<p>There was a warm flush on her cheeks and -her eyes were brilliant.</p> - -<p>‘Let us have some tea then,’ she said, with -an excited little laugh.</p> - -<p>She crossed the room and rang the bell -<a name="png.081" id="png.081" href="#png.081"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>69<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>at the fireplace. Quite a professional look -was on his face.</p> - -<p>‘I do trust you take proper care of your -voice, Miss Armitage,’ was his really anxious -remark.</p> - -<p>Dot’s eyes flew open, then she laughed -aloud just as Peggie appeared in the doorway.</p> - -<p>‘Tea, please, Peggie, and baby—baby first,’ -was her order.</p> - -<p>Peggie departed, surprised displeasure on -her face: she wondered who was the strange -gentleman her mistress was on such good -terms with, and she thought it most inconsiderate -that she should want afternoon tea -when there was so much ironing on hand. -But she slipped a fresh muslin pinafore on -the baby and put on his best little red shoes, -before she carried him in to them all warm -and flushed with his afternoon sleep.</p> - -<p>‘I believe you thought I was only a girl, -Mr Wooster,’ Dot said with a merry laugh as -she stood up with her beautiful darling in her -arms for inspection.</p> - -<p><a name="png.082" id="png.082" href="#png.082"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>70<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Mr Sullivan Wooster was certainly looking -as thunderstruck as if the pretty bundle of -muslin, and lace and sweetness she held had -been a phoenix instead of the dearest little -baby in the world.</p> - -<p>‘I never dreamt,’ he began. ‘I quite -thought—I certainly imagined Mrs Ingram -said <em>Miss</em> Armitage; as <span class="nw">well—,</span>’ his eyes -sought her little bare left hand.</p> - -<p>Dot laughed that happy little laugh of hers -again. She went over to the Canterbury -and emptied a small Dresden cup upon her -palm.</p> - -<p>‘I always take my rings off before I play,’ -she said, ‘it’s a pernicious habit, I know; my -husband is always trying to break me of it, -but I really do it unconsciously. I never can -play properly with them on.’</p> - -<p>After that, of course, he paid dutiful, expected -court to the baby, and made the -correct remarks about its eyes and long -eyelashes and the quantity of its hair. But -he no longer thought the occurrence an -enchanted dream that might fade any minute. -<a name="png.083" id="png.083" href="#png.083"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>71<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>The baby gnawing thoughtfully at its dear -little shoe as it sat on the hearthrug, while -Dot poured out tea, gave a surprising air of -reality to everything.</p> - -<p>The rain had not ceased for a moment, so -there was good enough excuse for Mr -Wooster’s prolonged stay, but Dot was -greatly astonished to see Larrie come up -the path presently, and know it was half-past -five. She excused herself and slipped out to -meet him. He came in cold, wet, and cross. -It struck him how bright Dot’s face was and -how exceedingly beautiful she was looking as -she opened the door for him.</p> - -<p>‘I have a visitor here, Larrie,’ she said in a -whisper, ‘be quick and get your mackintosh -off. It is Mr Sullivan Wooster and he is so -nice; don’t stay to change your coat.’</p> - -<p>But ‘Confound him!’ said Larrie.</p> - -<p>He wanted Dot and Dot only just now. -All the day he had had an unutterable longing -to take her in his arms and beg her to let them -start afresh, and make life a beautiful thing -again. And now there was a visitor here.</p> - -<p><a name="png.084" id="png.084" href="#png.084"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>72<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘You must ask him to stay for dinner, of -course,’ Dot said. ‘He’s had pleurisy and -can’t go home in the rain. It’s lucky there’s -roast fowl to-day, and I’ll open a bottle of -those apricots.’</p> - -<p>Larrie was sulkily taking off his mackintosh -as she talked.</p> - -<p>‘What the deuce brought him here?’ he -said. Dot said ‘H’sh,’ and gave him a little -poke to remind him of the proximity of the -drawing-room.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll tell you after,’ she said. ‘I must go -back now, I’ve left him alone with baby, and -perhaps he’s not educated up to them.’</p> - -<p>He went kitchenward to ask for dry boots, -and Peggie was dishing up. The appetising -smell reminded him he was too hungry to tell -her to keep things in the oven on the chance -of the visitor going. And as he went back -again up the hall he saw the weather was too -abominable to turn a dog out. But he said -‘Confound it’ under his breath outside the -door, as necessary preparation to pressing Mr -Sullivan Wooster to stay to dinner.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="VII. A Pocket Madame Melba" ><a name="png.085" id="png.085" href="#png.085"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>73<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER VII<br - /><small>A POCKET MADAME MELBA</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Out of the day and night</div> -<div>A joy has taken flight.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Larrie</span> had not yet taken Dot in his arms -as he had intended that afternoon, and he -had not asked her to begin afresh, so the -result was still ‘dead level.’</p> - -<p>But Dot was no longer unhappy. Every -minute of her time was filled, and with a -real object now in life, she felt she had been -childish to waste so many hours in weeping -and dwelling on imaginary differences in -Larrie’s manner.</p> - -<p>She began to teach herself Italian with -the aid of several grammars, text books, -dictionaries, and Mr Wooster.</p> - -<p><a name="png.086" id="png.086" href="#png.086"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>74<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>She practised the most uninteresting vocal -exercises with unwearied patience, and her -perpetual singing of scales made Peggie take -to a permanently closed kitchen door and remark -in confidence to baby that his crying -was music to it.</p> - -<p>All this because Mr Wooster, musical critic -and composer, had told her that if her voice -was carefully cultivated and lost none of its -wonderful purity and freshness in the process, -he did not know any singer in Australia she -would not surpass, that her fame would be -equal in time to Melba’s or any of the first -singers of the day.</p> - -<p>She did not tell Larrie this new wonderful -secret that made her heart sing even when -her lips were silent. She wanted to keep it -as a grand surprise to him, and in bursting -out on an astonished world to amaze him also, -and fill him with pride and gladness at her -power. He was so used to her voice, had -heard her chirping, and chirruping, and -trilling ever since she was five, and though -of course he loved it as he loved her, it had -<a name="png.087" id="png.087" href="#png.087"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>75<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>not occurred to him that she was extraordinarily -gifted.</p> - -<p>Naturally he had heard praise and admiration -and considered them only her due, but -she had lived so quietly in this lonely Red -Road country, both before and after her -marriage, that she had never had the opportunity -of hearing really competent criticism -before. Even she herself had not dreamed -her gift was so rich.</p> - -<p>Fond of singing she had always been, it -came as naturally to her as speech; she knew -she had the best voice in the district, but that -was not saying much; and sometimes when -she had been to concerts in Sydney it had -struck her that she could render certain songs -of the performers quite as well as they did, -if not better.</p> - -<p>Mr Wooster’s words had been as a flash of -lightning illuminating all her future life. -What dreams she had over the piano as she -climbed to clear B’s and wonderful birdlike -upper C’s! How proud Larrie would be of -her, what fame should be hers, how they -<a name="png.088" id="png.088" href="#png.088"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>76<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>would travel with the wealth to come, and oh, -what a brilliant, beautiful future baby’s should -be!</p> - -<p>She told Wooster that she wanted to keep -the secret from her husband at present, -and he smilingly acquiesced, so great was -her happiness in it. In asking Larrie’s permission -to give a few lessons to his wife he -only said, as twenty others had done before, -that her voice was very good indeed and -would be much improved by training.</p> - -<p>Larrie gave his consent half unwillingly; -Dot’s singing he considered was quite good -enough for anything, <em>he</em> was quite satisfied; -but he saw it would seem churlish to refuse, -and Dot would take it as a fresh instance of -his ‘tyranny,’ so he allowed the lessons to -begin.</p> - -<p>He was not half so happy as Dot in those -days. Poor Larrie!</p> - -<p>It was very slow, unexciting work sitting -in a twelve-foot-square office all day, waiting -for clients who never came.</p> - -<p>He had the feelings of an exile, too, whenever -<a name="png.089" id="png.089" href="#png.089"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>77<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>he thought of the dear little cottage -where the days had all been short and bright. -It seemed as if Dot had banished him from -the little kingdom because she was tired of -him, and it was real torture to him to notice -how light-hearted and happy she seemed -without him, while he was more miserable -than he had ever been in his life.</p> - -<p>Dot could persuade herself both into and -out of anything she wished with happy -feminine ease. But with Larrie it was -different. He was long-headed and his -reasoning was nearly always excellent, but -when he had once planted an idea in that -head of his, it almost required an earthquake -to uproot it. That was what Dot stigmatised -his ‘aggravating obstinacy.’</p> - -<p>He had upbraided her more than once for -having what he called ‘moods,’ not being -always the same to him, having the odd little -fits of coldness or petulance that most women -have occasionally, and can never explain -logically and satisfactorily. But Dot used to -retort that if she was subject to moods, he -<a name="png.090" id="png.090" href="#png.090"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>78<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>had ‘tenses’ which were infinitely more -objectionable.<!-- TN: period invisible in original --></p> - -<p>A matter that she would shed a few tears -over and then dismiss, he would brood over -until he worked himself up into a state of -positive wretchedness.</p> - -<p>He really could not help himself, it was a -certain kink in his nature that made him so, -and the ‘tenses’ were times of misery both -to himself and Dot.</p> - -<p>Once in the early days of the baby, he had -taken up the notion that Dot cared for it far -more than she did for him, she was so wrapped -up in it, and would spare him so little time -from it.</p> - -<p>He had grown absolutely jealous of the -poor innocent little morsel, and so miserably -unhappy, that it had needed a domestic -cyclone and manifest neglect of the child -before Dot could bring him to a healthy state -of mind again.</p> - -<p>He loved his little sweet wife with a -passionate fervour and devotedness, that only -one man in a thousand is capable of.</p> - -<p><a name="png.091" id="png.091" href="#png.091"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>79<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>She was as necessary to him as the breath -to his lungs, the blood to his heart. Had it -been needful, he would have fought the whole -world single-handed for her sake and never -felt one of the scars.</p> - -<p>But the very strength of his love made it a -little cruel sometimes, he demanded almost -too much of her and she could not always -understand or be patient with it.</p> - -<p>And now there was a cloud gathering on -the domestic sky, and Dot with astonishing -blindness thought it was a new, wonderful sun -that was going to cast a warm, beautiful light -over everything again.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, what <em>will</em> Larrie say?’ she exclaimed -in a fit of eager, childlike pleasure one afternoon -when she had sung the ‘Jewel Song,’ in -a way that even Wooster, carping critic as -he was, could pronounce none other than -perfect.</p> - -<p>He looked at her tenderly, he nearly always -said ‘<em>dear</em> little girl’ to himself when she was -like that.</p> - -<p>‘I think he will say he could not be prouder -<a name="png.092" id="png.092" href="#png.092"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>80<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>of his wife than he is,’ he answered. ‘When -shall you tell him?’</p> - -<p>‘Oh, not yet,’ Dot said. ‘Not yet on any -account, electric shocks are the salt of life. -Imagine his face when I lay the programme -before him, “The Jewel Song—Mrs—Lawrence—Armitage.â€â€™ -Her eyes sparkled, -she gave one of her happy little laughs. -‘<em>How</em> I wish the battery was ready!’</p> - -<p>Wooster was standing in the window -looking absently out.</p> - -<p>He had a clear cut face, ascetic would describe -it, only women novelists are credited -with adoring that word. It was not the face -of a musician at all, at least it had not the -liquid dreaming eyes, and wide, massive, -brow framed in wavy hair that we conjure up -generally when we speak of a musician’s face. -It was monkish rather, the lips were clean -shaved and somewhat severe, the hair very -short and dark, and the eyes just now merely -thoughtful. They were brown in colour, -almost black on occasion, and had perhaps -even more variety of expression than most -<a name="png.093" id="png.093" href="#png.093"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>81<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>people’s eyes. In figure he was rather below -the average height but he bore himself easily. -‘I would rather you spoke to your husband, -Mrs Armitage, before the programmes are -printed,’ he said, unconsciously making -chords with his fingers on the window -ledge. It had occurred to him that perhaps -it was rather a bold step for his pupil to -be contemplating a public appearance without -her husband’s knowledge.</p> - -<p>‘Not for <em>any</em> consideration,’ Dot said with -great decision. ‘All I am living for is the -programme surprise. He shall know two -days before the concert, not a second sooner.’</p> - -<p>Wooster played a chromatic scale with -his thumb and second finger till he found the -dust on the ledge made them unclean. He -pocketed them and turned round.</p> - -<p>‘He may consider I am abusing my privileges -in preparing to bring you out like this,’ -he said.</p> - -<p>But Dot cried,<!-- TN: original has spurious paragraph break here --> -‘Nonsense,’ with haste and impatience. -‘It is the last thing he would think of,’ -<a name="png.094" id="png.094" href="#png.094"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>82<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>she said; ‘why, he will be delighted, of -course. He does not dream he has a wife -talented enough to sing in the Centennial -Hall before a mighty audience of all musical -Sydney.’</p> - -<p>‘Then you really will not tell him?’</p> - -<p>‘Is there a stronger word than “No?†-One absolute and irrevocable? If there is, -consider it said.’</p> - -<p>He laughed.</p> - -<p>‘Suppose my nervous prudence makes me -present him with the bagged cat.’</p> - -<p>‘In that case,’ said Dot, ‘I should take my -revenge in flat A’s. Have you no regard for -me?’</p> - -<p>He forgot the dust and played another slow -scale.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="VIII. Pictures in the Fire" ><a name="png.095" id="png.095" href="#png.095"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>83<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER VIII<br - /><small>PICTURES IN THE FIRE</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘A rain and a ruin of roses</div> -<div>Over the red rose land.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">May</span> had come in wet and blustering. The -gum trees waved wild mournful arms up to -dull skies, the cottage garden was flowerless, -green, and dripping. Even the creeping roses -that bloomed eternally, hung crushed and wet -or dropped their poor spoiled petals on the -spongy paths.</p> - -<p>Three months ago the back paddock had -been a place of delight for the eye, all tall -waving lines of Indian corn grown for the -fowls, there had been poppies amongst it, real -scarlet English poppies that some one had -sown, as well as the white and pink garden -<a name="png.096" id="png.096" href="#png.096"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>84<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>varieties. Dot had hidden there for fun one -light evening with baby in her arms, and Larrie -had sought her vainly for half an hour, it was -so tall and thick. And when he had found -her she had a wreath of poppies around her -head, and baby was stuck all over with pink -ones; the two had looked such darlings he had -picked them both up in his arms and carried -them all the way to the verandah hammock, -and when he dropped them in, had said with -breathless conviction,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div>‘There are none like them, none.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>To-day in the paddock there were only -dead brown stalks and leaves, broken or bending -before the rain. The poppy days were -dead and the long light beautiful evenings, -things of the vanished summer.</p> - -<p>Even the hammocks that had swung -invitingly in the sunshine, lay in tangled -heaps on the laundry shelf; the verandah -was in a flood, and gusts of wind and rain -blew into the house at every fresh opening of -a door or window.</p> - -<p><a name="png.097" id="png.097" href="#png.097"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>85<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>There was an iron roof to the cottage, and -had not Dot’s enthusiasm been so great just -now, the ceaseless, melancholy drip and beat -of the rain upon it would have proved too -monotonous an accompaniment to her songs. -But in truth she hardly heard it. To-morrow -she was going to tell Larrie.</p> - -<p>The morning post would bring her the -programme, and two days later the great -concert was to take place. She danced baby -round the house in her excitement, such hard -work it had been to keep her secret when -there had been no other thought in her head -for weeks.</p> - -<p>She painted a delightful little picture that -to-morrow was going to frame.</p> - -<p>The background was the dining-room with -the red curtains drawn, and a glowing log in -the open fireplace; she put baby on the rug -in his new pale blue frock with the short -sleeves, and Larrie in the big easy chair with -his feet on the fender and a pipe in his lips. -And since in mental pictures the brush may -depict thoughts, she drew him, thinking -<a name="png.098" id="png.098" href="#png.098"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>86<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>anxiously of his income which the sudden -depreciation in the value of property all over -the colony was just now affecting greatly.</p> - -<p>And then she was going to ask him to -take her to the big concert at the Centennial -Hall to show him the names on the programme -in a careless way.</p> - -<p>And his face was to grow first amazed, and -then bright with pride and gladness, and -the rest of the evening they were to spend -in making plans for the brilliant future.</p> - -<p>How delicious it was going to be! Her -heart was throbbing with anticipation, her -very blood seemed leaping in her veins.</p> - -<p>But baby objected to be jumped up and -down in the ecstatic little way she was -treating him to; he gave vigorous signs of -annoyance, so she sank into her low chair, -and rocked soothingly. But she could not -keep silent when he said with such wise, -round eyes that he knew everything about -everything, and was as pleased as herself.</p> - -<p>‘Bab-bab,’ he began encouragingly, and -hit at her with his dear little fists.</p> - -<p><a name="png.099" id="png.099" href="#png.099"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>87<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>And ‘He should be a little prince, he -should,’ was her deliciously inconsequent -answer, punctuated with kisses on his wee -nose.</p> - -<p>‘Bab-bab-bab’—he tried to walk excitedly -up the front of her dress in a horizontal -position, and then make gleeful clutches at -her hair.</p> - -<p>But the short little curls slipped through -his fingers, and he kept tumbling back in her -lap, a little heap of cuddlesome sweetness.</p> - -<p>‘Little son, small little sweet, mamma’s -boy bonnie,’ she whispered again and again -and again, her face in his neck or on his soft -thick hair. That was her way of telling him -that all the rest of their lives was going to be -a bright golden dream, a triumphal march -through the world, over a carpet of rose -leaves and under a canopy of the bluest sky -ever stretched out.</p> - -<p>The very way he rounded his eyes and -stuck his fingers in her mouth to be bitten, -and crowed ‘bab-bab,’ showed how perfectly -he understood and approved.</p> - -<p><a name="png.100" id="png.100" href="#png.100"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>88<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>But presently he began to nod like a little -heavy-headed rose, and she nestled him up -close to her breast and sang softly, happily -below her breath.</p> - -<p>Drip, drip on the roof fell the rain; splash, -splash in the path-puddles where the blown -roses were drowning; tap tap, at the misty -window panes.</p> - -<p>There was a kink somewhere in the rocking-chair, -it made a not unmusical little -sound at each backward swing, marking time -to Dot’s low singing. Baby could not have -slept properly without that gentle jerk -between the rise and fall.</p> - -<p>The logs fell asunder.</p> - -<p>All Dot’s enchanted castles were building -in the red glow, now they rose up gloriously -with the blaze, and the gladness in her eyes -deepened.</p> - -<p>‘Bab-a-bab,’ murmured baby sleepily, a -gleam of blue just peeping through the long -lashes to discover the noise. But the soft -singing bore him off again, and the rock, -rock, rock of the chair.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<a name="png.101" id="png.101" href="#png.101"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>89<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Sweet one hush, little baby sleep,</div> -<div>Rock-a-by soft on my breast,</div> -<div>Creep in my hand, little fingers, creep,</div> -<div>Little dear baby, rest.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The lashes lay quiet again on the little -cheeks, one small hand uncurled from Dot’s -finger, and lay open on her knee. Again the -logs fell apart, again the castles grew glorious. -Baby’s hand curled up again, but the sweet -lashes were too heavy to lift.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘This is the place for a baby’s head,</div> -<div>And this is the place for its feet,</div> -<div>Rock-a-by off to the land of bed,</div> -<div>Lull-a-by, hush small sweet.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>A wild gust of wind flung itself at the -cottage, every door and window rattled, the -garden gate clicked and then banged.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="i2hang"><span class="ns">        </span>‘Lull-a-by, sweet,</div> -<div class="i2"><span class="ns">        </span>Rock-a-by, sleep,</div> -<div>Heed not the rain and the wind, dear,</div> -<div class="i2"><span class="ns">        </span>Watch o’er her sweet</div> -<div class="i2"><span class="ns">        </span>Mother will keep,</div> -<div>And up in the sky there is God, dear.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Some one opened the front door, and the -sound of the rain grew louder, then the -<a name="png.102" id="png.102" href="#png.102"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>90<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>dining-room handle was turned. Dot gave -a little whispered cry of surprise. ‘Larrie!’ -she said, but so softly that baby’s hand never -stirred.</p> - -<p>It was hours before his usual time, and -never before had he shortened his voluntarily -imposed exile.</p> - -<p>She noticed how exceedingly wet he was, -there was not a dry thread upon him, the -water was even now pouring off him and -making a pool on the floor. Then she saw -the white passion on his face, the terrible look -of his lips, his eyes. She laid the child down -on the sofa cushions and went towards him -slowly, and with fading colour. What dreadful -thing was coming?</p> - -<p>‘Larrie!’ she said, a frightened tremble in -her voice, as she put out her hands to touch -him. But the anger in his eyes deepened. -He went closer to her, he actually grasped her -roughly by the shoulders and shook her.</p> - -<p>‘How <em>dared</em> you?’ he said. ‘How dared -you?’</p> - -<p>She looked at him with parted lips and -<a name="png.103" id="png.103" href="#png.103"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>91<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>widening eyes. She could find nothing to say -so intense was her amaze.</p> - -<p>‘How dared you?’ he repeated. He shook -her again to hasten her answer.</p> - -<p>But she only said ‘I think you’re mad,’ and -caught her breath.</p> - -<p>He saw he was wetting the shoulders of her -pretty pink tea-gown with his coat and took -his hands away.</p> - -<p>The genuine surprise on her face disarmed -him a little, it even occurred to him for the -first time that he might have the inexpressible -relief of finding he was mistaken.</p> - -<p>His eyes grew a shade quieter and he did -not speak for a minute.</p> - -<p>In the brief interval wifely concern appeared -on Dot’s face. She put her hand on his wet -sleeve and tried to move him towards the hall.</p> - -<p>‘Come and get dry things,’ she said, ‘<em>how</em> -wet you are!’</p> - -<p>But he would not stir.</p> - -<p>‘I want to speak to you,’ he said.</p> - -<p>‘When you are dry,’ urged Dot, ‘it can -wait three minutes.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.104" id="png.104" href="#png.104"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>92<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>He sat down on a chair.</p> - -<p>‘Now,’ he said.</p> - -<p>She sat down, too, just on the edge of the -sofa by the sleeping child. She was concerned -because a fly would hover round its face and -distract her attention.</p> - -<p>‘I went to Bayley’s this morning to get -some notepaper printed,’ Larrie said, and -paused. But Dot seemed to find nothing -very remarkable in that, and looked merely -attentive.</p> - -<p>‘There was a proof of <em>that</em> on the counter,’ -he continued, and threw a sheet of old English -printing on pale green paper towards her.</p> - -<p>She started up, vexation on her face.</p> - -<p>‘Oh <em>what</em> a shame!’ she cried. She read -it through standing up, and the knowledge -that all the colours were straightway rubbed -out of her beautiful picture, made two curves -of disappointment show at her mouth corners.</p> - -<p>‘Then it <em>is</em> your name?’ said Larrie, and -his voice sounded positively faint.</p> - -<p>Dot brightened a little. ‘Of course it is,’ -she said, ‘I wish you hadn’t seen it though; -<a name="png.105" id="png.105" href="#png.105"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>93<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>I was dying to surprise you, Larrie.’ Then -she went up closer to him. ‘Aren’t you -going to kiss your own pocket Madame -Melba?’</p> - -<p>She felt how flat the scene had fallen even -as she spoke, and was fit to cry at the disappointment. -Then she remembered Larrie’s -anger a few minutes back, ‘But what made -you so cross?’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘How dare you do such a thing?’ he said, -his eyes beginning to blaze again, ‘how dare -you; this comes of letting that infernal -fellow come to the house so much.’</p> - -<p>‘You mean Mr Wooster?’ Dot was beginning -to fear for her husband’s sanity.</p> - -<p>‘It’s his concert, you are singing at his -instigation, you have kept it hidden from -me.’ His voice rose.</p> - -<p>‘Of course I have,’ Dot said. Then she -spoke very slowly, ‘Do you really mean to -say, Larrie, that all this is because I am going -to sing on Friday?’</p> - -<p>‘Friday!’ shouted Larrie, he had actually -not seen the date, so absorbed had he been -<a name="png.106" id="png.106" href="#png.106"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>94<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>in the sight of his own name on that green -paper, with Mrs prefixed.</p> - -<p>‘Because I’m going to sing on Friday?’ -repeated Dot.</p> - -<p>With a superhuman effort he controlled -himself; he knew the impotence of anger.</p> - -<p>‘Tell me <em>everything</em>,’ he said shortly, ‘and -stand there.’</p> - -<p>Dot was moving towards the sofa again. -She came back to him to save time though -the tone was provocative; she knew that he -would have held her by sheer physical force if -she refused while he was like this. Then she -told him the very high opinion Mr Wooster -had of her voice; how he felt confident -she had but to be heard by competent critics -to be assured of success, how he had arranged -this concert to give her the opportunity and -how she had been keeping the secret just to -surprise him. He heard her to the end and -acquitted her of concealing it for any unworthy -motive.</p> - -<p>‘But I should not dream of allowing you to -appear in public,’ he said, ‘so you can tell -<a name="png.107" id="png.107" href="#png.107"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>95<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>Wooster as soon as you like that he must -fill your place.’ He stood up as if the matter -was settled, he even took off his hat and -remarked that it was wet.</p> - -<p>But Dot had gone very white.</p> - -<p>‘You mean to say, Larrie, that you would -try to stop me now?’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘I mean to say I <em>shall</em> stop you, there will -be no trying about it,’ he answered.</p> - -<p>His temper had not perfectly balanced -itself again, and that together with the unpleasant -dampness he was just beginning to -feel, made his speech somewhat despotic.</p> - -<p>‘Your reasons?’ Dot’s voice was quiet, -dangerously so.</p> - -<p>‘I do not care for my wife to sing in a -public place like that, I don’t approve of the -way the thing has been managed, I don’t -like you having so much to do with that -fellow, that is quite enough,’ he moved to -the door. ‘Where’s that old brown coat of -mine, I hope you haven’t given it away.’</p> - -<p>But Dot was sitting on the sofa again, -fighting with herself far too fiercely to think -<a name="png.108" id="png.108" href="#png.108"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>96<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>of old brown coats, indeed, the question conveyed -no intelligence to her at all. Out of -twenty conflicting emotions, rebellion was by -far the strongest. She said, ‘I shall go, I shall -go,’ again and again and again in such stormy -whispers, that baby stirred and tossed the -linen antimacassar off his hands. Larrie had -gone to get dry.</p> - -<p>‘I shall go,’ she repeated with strong -emphasis on the last word.</p> - -<p>‘Bab, bab, bab,’ said baby softly. He -yawned deliciously and flung up his arms.</p> - -<p>Dot gave him a hurried pat or two.</p> - -<p>‘Go to sleep,’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘Googul,’ he answered insinuatingly. He -struggled into a sitting position and leaned -towards her. But she lifted him on to her -knee quite unresponsively. There was -nothing in her mind but Larrie’s command -that meant death to her rose-coloured dreams. -She hardly recognised baby’s presence at all.</p> - -<p>‘He is not my master,’ she said aloud, her -eyes full of rebellion.</p> - -<p>But ‘Yes he is,’ answered Larrie quietly, as -he came in again through the second door.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="IX. A Conflict of Wills" ><a name="png.109" id="png.109" href="#png.109"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>97<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER IX<br - /><small>A CONFLICT OF WILLS</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div>‘What things wilt thou leave me,</div> -<div class="i2"><span class="ns">    </span>Now this thing is done?’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Wednesday</span> loosened itself from the other -pearls and dropped off the string of days into -the strange awful place where have fallen all -the days that have ever been. Thursday slid -along the thread, trembled and fell. Friday -moved on to fill its place. Such a little time, -and it too, and the things of it would be gone -beyond recall for ever.</p> - -<p>Larrie had grown visibly thinner in the -short space. He was staking all the happiness -of his life on the issue of this. To him -the thing was almost terrible in its plain -simplicity. He had looked at it from every -<a name="png.110" id="png.110" href="#png.110"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>98<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>point of view, had reasoned it out and thought -of nothing else, all through the two waking -nights and the long day between. And he -could only see two paths for Dot to walk in, -one that was right and would lead to happiness -once more, and one that was so utterly -wrong that she would step into it not carelessly -and unknowingly, but wilfully and with -wide open eyes.</p> - -<p>It could only be love that would make her -do another man’s bidding rather than his.</p> - -<p>From that second path he told himself -there could be no return.</p> - -<p>Dot went about with a feverish look in her -eyes, and lips almost as set as Larrie’s own. -She was going to make this strike for her -rights, and in future have the independence -due to the nineteenth century married -woman.</p> - -<p>Larrie spoke of the irrevocableness of the -step. To him it was as grave as life and -death. But deep in Dot’s heart was the -knowledge of her power over him. She -called to mind all the quarrels of their wedded -<a name="png.111" id="png.111" href="#png.111"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>99<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>life—had he not always forgiven her? Even -the times when he had not been the first to -make up, her tears and grief had made his -arms open for her immediately. She only -whispered this to herself, it made her a little -ashamed to think of trading on it.</p> - -<p>Then out loud she told her conscience -several things.</p> - -<p>First, that this was only one of Larrie’s -aggravating fits of opposition, and when he -got over it and knew what a name she had -made for herself, he would be glad she had -not taken him at his word.</p> - -<p>Second, that since her gift was so great, it -would be wrong not to give the world the -benefit of it, she remembered the scriptural -napkin-wrapped talent.</p> - -<p>Third, that it would be sheer ingratitude -after all Mr Wooster’s trouble, to spoil his -concert at the last minute.</p> - -<p>And fourth, that no one literally interpreted -that word ‘obey’ in the marriage service, now -that the equality of the sexes was recognised.</p> - -<p>It was merely a relic of darker ages when -<a name="png.112" id="png.112" href="#png.112"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>100<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>woman had been little more than a chattel; -the progress of the century had made it -elastic, before long it would be removed -altogether.</p> - -<p>On Friday they had eggs for tea. At least, -Peggie had put a stand on the table, with -bread and butter, and other eatables, but -they were both too agitated to do more than -crack the tops, and take salt and pepper on the -edge of their plates. This was to be the last -chance. Peggie removed baby, and looked -anxiously at the quiet young couple as she did -so. She was afraid there was something really -serious this time, so pale was her master’s face, -so brilliant Dot’s eyes.</p> - -<p>‘Well?’ Larrie said heavily.</p> - -<p>‘I’m going,’ answered Dot. ‘I’ve got my -dress ready, and made all arrangements, it’s -too late to stop now.’</p> - -<p>Larrie swallowed some tea and went even -whiter. This was the final wrecking of their -lives. ‘Dot, I <em>beg</em> of you to think of it again,’ -he said.</p> - -<p>She slipped from her chair and went to his -<a name="png.113" id="png.113" href="#png.113"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>101<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>end of the table. ‘Darling, let me go!’ she -said, ‘see, I beg of you—you could give in -and let me, and then it wouldn’t be disobedience.’ -She put her arms round his -neck, her flushed cheek against his, ‘Dear -old Larrie, do! I have set my heart on it so! -do let me go happy, dearest, dearest!’</p> - -<p>If only at that minute she had said she -would give it up, he could almost have let -her go, greatly as he disliked the publicity -for her, and the connection with Wooster. -But he could not help mentally finishing her -last sentence—‘Or I shall have to go unhappy.’</p> - -<p>‘I can’t,—you must see I can’t,—how can -I, Dot? it is impossible,’ he said. But she -clung tighter.</p> - -<p>‘Once you loved me too well to refuse -me such a thing, my husband, don’t let -me think I am so little to you now.’ He -tried to put her away, but her arms held him.</p> - -<p>‘Darling, let me,’ she begged, ‘let me, let -me,’—the tears were running down her cheeks. -‘I will be so good afterwards, oh this is everything -to me, Larrie,—Larrie, don’t be cruel to -<a name="png.114" id="png.114" href="#png.114"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>102<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>me, I must, must go—oh, darling, let me, let -me.’</p> - -<p>He was making a promise to himself to be -kept faithfully, since he saw how very much -this was to her. If she would give in now, -say she would give in as a true wife should -to her husband, he would let her go, he would -even take her himself, for it would prove she -did not put that man before him.</p> - -<p>‘Dot,’ he said, and lifted her on to his -knee and held her hands tenderly in his own, -‘you must obey me in this, can’t you see you -must, my darling? Perhaps I have been -harsh or unkind about it. Yesterday I <em>told</em> -you to obey me, now I <em>ask</em> you, my darling, -my little girl, Dot, little, little wife. Say you -will.’</p> - -<p>But she only stirred restlessly.</p> - -<p>He put his face down to hers.</p> - -<p>‘Darling, think of our happiness, how can -we go on living if you persist in breaking up -everything like this. There <em>must</em> be a head, -Dot, in everything, there must be obedience. -What would a ship be without a captain, or -<a name="png.115" id="png.115" href="#png.115"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>103<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>soldiers without their chief, an office with no -one in authority? And the husband <em>must</em> be -the head of the wife. Darling, say you will -obey me in this.’</p> - -<p>But Dot could not. All her pleading had -gone for nothing, why should she listen to -Larrie’s? She moved his arms away and -stood up, her eyes dry and bright again.</p> - -<p>‘You have refused me the only thing I have -ever asked specially since we were married, -Larrie,’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘You will stay?’ he said.</p> - -<p>‘You profess to love me, and then you act -like a tyrant to me. Why should you always -have <em>your</em> way in things?’</p> - -<p>There was a red spot on her cheek.</p> - -<p>‘You will obey me, Dot?’</p> - -<p>She walked restlessly up and down the -room. She moved some ornaments on the -mantelpiece and put the curtains straight -with trembling fingers. She remembered -she ought to be dressing even now. In two -hours the concert would begin, and if she -gave in her opportunity would be gone for -<a name="png.116" id="png.116" href="#png.116"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>104<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>ever, and just because Larrie was obstinate -and stupid!</p> - -<p>Baby’s ivory rattle, still wet from his -mouth, lay on the sofa. She picked it up -and put it in her work-basket. Then she -altered the position of two photographs on -the mantelpiece. She moved one of Larrie’s -silver cups—in it there was a green programme -crumpled up into a ball.</p> - -<p>‘Dot, you will obey me?’</p> - -<p>‘No, I will <em>not</em>,’ she said passionately. ‘I -am tired of being told to do things. I want a -little liberty as well as you. I will <em>not</em> spoil -my future just because you want to be a petty -czar.’</p> - -<p>She crossed to the door. A flame sprang -up in Larrie’s eyes.</p> - -<p>‘You will be sorry to the end of your life -if you go,’ he said.</p> - -<p>‘No, I shall be glad,’ said Dot.</p> - -<p>Peggie came in to know if they wanted hot -water, or if the master would have another -egg. She was really too anxious to keep -away.</p> - -<p><a name="png.117" id="png.117" href="#png.117"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>105<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘I’ve got a nice brown one, laid to-day, sir,’ -she said persuasively.</p> - -<p>He shook his head impatiently. The -woman looked over to Dot, standing with -the door handle in her hand, ‘Shall I fetch -the baby for you?’ she asked.</p> - -<p>‘No,’ said Dot sharply.</p> - -<p>So she went out to the kitchen again, and -looked grave as she lifted baby from his high -chair, where he was perfectly happy with a -saucepan lid and a tin spoon.</p> - -<p>‘<em>That</em> obstreperous,’ she said, and sighed. -Then she added, ‘poor man,’ under her breath.</p> - -<p>Someway she generally sided with Larrie -at such times, though she was devotedly fond -of Dot.</p> - -<p>‘I’m going to dress,’ Dot said from the -door.</p> - -<p>‘How do you propose getting there?’ He -did not look at her as he spoke.</p> - -<p>She twisted the handle. ‘Of course I had -expected you would come. As it is I have -sent word to mother, she is coming down -in the buggy for me at seven. Mr Wooster -<a name="png.118" id="png.118" href="#png.118"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>106<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>is going there for dinner, he will drive. No, -mother doesn’t know; I only said you couldn’t -come.’</p> - -<p>Larrie got up and walked to the window; -he could not answer her.</p> - -<p>She looked at his big square back for a -minute and the short-clipped curls on his -head. Then she turned and went away to -dress. Only a thin partition separated her -bedroom. He heard every sound as he stood -in the window, the opening and shutting of -drawers, the plashing of water, her hurrying -steps across the floor, the creak of the wardrobe -door. Every minute he thought she -would repent and come in to him, his own -sweet, small wife again; then the thought -became a hope, and when the wardrobe -creaked the hope died, and there was almost -a prayer instead. But the door opened and -she came in fully dressed.</p> - -<p>It was her wedding dress she wore, the -white, trailing, exquisite silk she had knelt -beside him in at the altar eighteen months -ago. It was cut a little low now, and showed -<a name="png.119" id="png.119" href="#png.119"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>107<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>her white, soft neck and chest; her arms were -bare between the shoulder puff and glove top.</p> - -<p>‘Larrie,’ she said with a little cry, ‘oh, let -me, Larrie!’</p> - -<p>But he stood still.</p> - -<p>‘<em>That</em> dress!’ he said hoarsely.</p> - -<p>In very truth she had not thought of the -associations of it as she had slipped it on to-night -in excitement and anger.</p> - -<p>‘You—you know I had it made into an -evening dress,’ she faltered.</p> - -<p>‘But for this!’</p> - -<p>‘I had nothing else to wear.’</p> - -<p>He turned from her one minute, then back -again, and looked at her with wrathful eyes. -He had a wild impulse to force her to stay, to -compel her to obey him by the superiority of -his physical strength. Was she not his wife, -his property, did she not belong to him till -death? He almost thought he would get a -whip and beat her, beat her savagely. She -would love him better he felt certain; he told -himself there was more truth than half the -world dreamt in the saying that wife-beaters, -<a name="png.120" id="png.120" href="#png.120"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>108<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>always provided they are neither drunk nor -brutal, are best beloved by their wives.</p> - -<p>But he knew in a calmer mood he would -despise himself for doing it, and he felt, too, -how imperfect would be the victory.</p> - -<p>‘You are going?’ was all he said, and ‘Yes,’ -she answered.</p> - -<p>Wheels sounded a little distance off, they -both knew what it was.</p> - -<p>‘As surely as you go, Dot, you will repent -it.’ Larrie spoke slowly, quietly, his face was -deathly pale.</p> - -<p>She was trembling from excitement, there -was a vague fear in her eyes.</p> - -<p>‘What would you do?’ she said with a -little nervous half laugh.</p> - -<p>‘I would never forgive you, never have -you for my wife again,’ he answered, and -his face looked as if he meant it.</p> - -<p>She shivered a little, but held her head -proudly. ‘Perhaps you would be glad of -the excuse,’ she said, with a pitiful attempt -at scorn.</p> - -<p>He did not speak. The buggy rattled up -<a name="png.121" id="png.121" href="#png.121"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>109<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>to the door, they heard Wooster’s voice -checking the horses, the mother’s saying -she would not get out as it was so late.</p> - -<p>‘Why don’t you go?’ he said coldly, seeing -she stood perfectly still.</p> - -<p>‘I—’ she said. It was the sound of a sob -strangling in her throat.</p> - -<p>He would not help her though her eyes -were speaking imploringly. If he had put -his arms round her that minute and begged -her as at tea to stay, even now she would -have given it up. But he stood like a rock, -his face hard, his chin square, his lips bitter.</p> - -<p>The bell rang, and Peggie’s heel-down -slippers went up the hall.</p> - -<p>Dot moved a step nearer to him.</p> - -<p>‘<em>Ask</em> me to stay, Larrie,’ she whispered, -and this time the sob would not be strangled.</p> - -<p>But he turned right away from her.</p> - -<p>‘I would rather die than ask you again,’ -he said with passion in his voice.</p> - -<p>‘Mr Wooster,’ said Peggie cheerfully.</p> - -<p>She had quite beamed at the man when -she opened the door, the quarrel would have -<a name="png.122" id="png.122" href="#png.122"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>110<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>to be smoothed over now a guest was -here.</p> - -<p>But five minutes later Dot came out into -the hall, her train a yard behind her, a great -white fur-trimmed cloak around her.</p> - -<p>There was a beautiful angry colour in her -cheeks, a defiant light in her eyes; but her -lips were saying smiling things. Mr Wooster -was behind with a roll of music and an -opossum rug.</p> - -<p>Peggie watched them through the front -door and down the steps, she saw Dot lifted -in beside her mother and well tucked up; -she watched the buggy lamps flash passing -out of the gates and disappear round a curve -in the road. Then with quite a weight at -her kindly heart, she went in to see if the -‘poor master’ wanted anything. But he -was standing in the middle of the room with -folded arms, and such a look on his face, -that she shut the door softly behind her, and -went away.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="X. A Darn on a Dress" ><a name="png.123" id="png.123" href="#png.123"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>111<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER X<br - /><small>A DARN ON A DRESS</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Come in at last,</div> -<div>Inside the melancholy little house</div> -<div>We built to be so gay with.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">It</span> was raining again, and there was that -sound of wind in the trees that only the -Australian bush knows. Eastward, stars were -out in the sky, but, from the south, blue-grey -masses were drifting up to the low rain cloud -that had put out all the lights of the southern -cross, and only left the two pale pointers. -An hour ago the sky had been blue, for there -was a great moon, but now the rain had -washed all the colour out of it, and it -was dull grey with midnight cloud banks. -On the cottage roof and in the garden there -<a name="png.124" id="png.124" href="#png.124"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>112<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>were patches of pale light from the drenched -moon, but all the bush beyond was black as -death.</p> - -<p>‘Don’t come in,’ Dot said.</p> - -<p>She leaped down from her seat before -Wooster could put down the reins to open -the gate and drive in.</p> - -<p>‘She’ll get wet,’ the mother cried.</p> - -<p>But the white figure went hurrying up the -drive, all its long silken train down on the -wet gravel.</p> - -<p>There was a lamp alight in the drawing -room, and a circle of white from it lay on a -pool at the end of the verandah. But the -long French windows were closed. Dot beat -on the window panes with wet fingers.</p> - -<p>‘We may as well get home,’ said the -mother, seeing her safe. But Wooster only -picked up the reins.</p> - -<p>‘Larrie!’ the sharp whisper came through -the rain to the gate; the little metallic sound -was made by her rings on the glass.</p> - -<p>Then the door opened and Larrie drew her -into the room, the blind fell down from its -<a name="png.125" id="png.125" href="#png.125"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>113<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>pin at the movement, and now there was only -a bar of light on the verandah.</p> - -<p>‘It’s very cold,’ said the little mother with -a shiver. And Wooster turned his eyes away -and drove her home.</p> - -<p>Dot went forward almost blindly towards -Larrie, but he moved backwards, and she took -two more steps but he fell back again. The -room was small and he was against the wall -now, but he put his arms behind him and -stood sideways; he knew she wanted to put -her head on his breast and cry. The attitudes -would have looked almost comic, only something -prevented it.</p> - -<p>‘I wasn’t a success,’ she said with a great -sob.</p> - -<p>He did not speak or move a muscle.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, I <em>am</em> so miserable,’ she said. Her -arms went out towards the stiff figure, but he -moved again.</p> - -<p>‘Larrie!’ she cried, exceeding longing and -misery in her voice.</p> - -<p>But he let the cry die away into the midnight -silence and he let her drop down on her -<a name="png.126" id="png.126" href="#png.126"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>114<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>knees by the sofa and sob her young heart -out on the piled cushions. He had frozen -altogether during the hours of waiting.</p> - -<p>Once she looked up during her bitter -weeping.</p> - -<p>‘You are hard,’ she said, ‘cruel—like -a rock, what can I do? I was wrong, I am -sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn’t even succeed. I -was too miserable, oh, how cruel you are! -what <em>can</em> I do? I will do anything, <em>anything</em>, -oh, Larrie, Larrie, Larrie, don’t be hard, when -I’m down, Larrie, and broken, and sorry, and -miserable—oh, it is cruel, cruel.’ Her sobs -choked her, there were wet warm patches on -the green cushion, her eyes were drenched, -she was shivering with excitement and -misery. There was another great silence -broken only by her passionate weeping.</p> - -<p>Then she lifted her head again.</p> - -<p>‘I <em>can’t</em> bear it,’ she said wildly, ‘for God’s -sake, say something, I shall go mad if you -stand there like that any longer. How unmanly -you are!—oh, how cruel!—Larrie, -kiss me. Oh, darling, darling, forgive -<a name="png.127" id="png.127" href="#png.127"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>115<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>me—my husband, my darling, kiss me, kiss me, -<em>kiss</em> me!’</p> - -<p>The last words died away with almost a -wail, for though he looked at her all the time -he did not move nearer to her and his eye -took no softer light.</p> - -<p>Then she dropped her head on the -cushions again, with her arms flung round -them and he stood watching her, and away -down in the East the stars went out, and -the sickly creeping light was the new -dawn.</p> - -<p>When Dot stood up she was stiff, and -chilled to the bone. She was no longer -sorry, all the aching for a loving word and -kiss had gone, she was only very very tired -and very cold. She looked at Larrie with -eyes heavy and indifferent, if he had come -and kissed her then she could not have -responded or warmed in the slightest degree. -She drew her wrap closer about her bare -neck and arms and shivered again.</p> - -<p>‘Well?’ she said dully.</p> - -<p>But he went and brought a rug from the -<a name="png.128" id="png.128" href="#png.128"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>116<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>hall stand and put it around her before he -answered.</p> - -<p>‘I think you had better go to bed now,’ he -said, ‘we can talk to-morrow.’</p> - -<p>‘No, now,’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘It is very late,’ he put back the blind and -disclosed the grey struggling dawn. ‘It is -four o’clock, to-morrow will do.’</p> - -<p>But she sat down on the sofa where the -green cushion was quite dry again.</p> - -<p>‘If you have anything to say, say it now,’ -she said, ‘it is too late for bed now, what is it -you are going to do?’</p> - -<p>There was a curious look of suffering on his -face and in his eyes.</p> - -<p>‘I think I had better go away,’ he said.</p> - -<p>Dot only stared at him.</p> - -<p>‘There seems no other way, I have thought -of everything; there is nothing else left.’</p> - -<p>‘You mean separate?’ she asked.</p> - -<p>He nodded. She bit her lip, but was -surprised to find how easily she kept calm. -She waited for him to continue.</p> - -<p>‘You could stay here—it needn’t be talked -<a name="png.129" id="png.129" href="#png.129"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>117<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>of, your mother would look after you. I’ll go -to Melbourne or Coolgardie or somewhere.’</p> - -<p>‘For always, you mean?’</p> - -<p>‘We could see, perhaps it would look -differently afterwards—for the present I -mean—we can’t go on living together, and -I can’t see anything better to do.’</p> - -<p>Dot’s eyes grew hard. ‘If you go,’ she -said, ‘I will never live with you again. But -I don’t ask you not to go.’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, it is the best thing,’ he said, which -answered his own thoughts rather than fitted -in with her words.</p> - -<p>She looked at him strangely. ‘When were -you thinking of going?’</p> - -<p>‘To-morrow,’ he said, ‘to-day, rather. There -is no use in delaying—I arranged everything -to-night—last night.’</p> - -<p>‘Very well,’ Dot said, ‘that is settled then.’ -She pulled the cloak up tightly and rose, -then she loosened it again and sat down. -Her eyes were cold, her lips very firm.</p> - -<p>‘Remember,’ she said ‘this is final. I -committed a fault—perhaps. I cannot do -<a name="png.130" id="png.130" href="#png.130"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>118<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>more than ask your forgiveness. Do not -think I shall be put away and taken back at -pleasure. Go—I would not put out my -finger to keep you, but never again so long -as both of us live will I be your wife in anything -except name.’</p> - -<p>He sat down on the chair near the little -writing table, the light was full on his white -face and lips.</p> - -<p>‘I can only see a little way,’ he said. -‘Later—say in some months—we will decide -further: feelings change wonderfully, perhaps -I shall look at your act—differently; if we -live together I can’t; it would always look the -same. It is best, I can see. We <em>couldn’t</em> -just go on living as before. I couldn’t, at -least, so I will go, for a time at any rate, -and you—you will be glad to be alone I know.’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, I shall be glad,’ Dot said with great -steadiness.</p> - -<p>Baby’s portrait smiled at him from the -stand on the table.</p> - -<p>‘There is the child, of course,’ he said -heavily.</p> - -<p><a name="png.131" id="png.131" href="#png.131"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>119<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Dot sprang up. Husband had been so far -before child that she had forgotten there was -any one else in the world. But she remembered -now.</p> - -<p>‘He is mine,’ she said, ‘mine, of course, -there is no question about that. What are -you thinking of? you can go if you like, but -he is mine.’ Her eyes glittered.</p> - -<p>He had known this would be the worst -difficulty; him she gave up easily—gladly even, -but the child she would fight for to the last.</p> - -<p>His anger came to white heat again.</p> - -<p>‘<em>I</em> shall keep the child,’ he said slowly, ‘he -is mine equally, he will be better with me.’</p> - -<p>Dot laughed hysterically. ‘The mother -always keeps it in these cases. I believe you -are going mad, Larrie.’</p> - -<p>‘I believe I am,’ he said very quietly.</p> - -<p>He pulled up the blind for want of anything -else to do, and the dawn struggled in and -took away the brightness of the lamp.</p> - -<p>It was only this minute he had really meant -to keep the child, his first idea had been -merely to go away and leave them, not -<a name="png.132" id="png.132" href="#png.132"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>120<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>altogether, perhaps as he said, but until he -could find life bearable again.</p> - -<p>But when he saw how quickly she consented -and how her only care was to keep -the child, he told himself he would move -heaven and hell before she had it.</p> - -<p>‘I shall keep it,’ he repeated, ‘it is not a -question of a mother’s care, any nurse I get -will know more about it than you do—I -shall keep it. You have chosen your life, -you can go on the stage altogether if you like, -but I shall not let you have the child.’</p> - -<p>In all he said he would not degrade either -of them by the mention of Wooster’s name, -but there was nothing else in his thoughts, -and only everything else in the world in hers.</p> - -<p>A great weariness came to Dot, a weariness -of all her present life. She dropped her chin -on her hands, and stared out at the pale, -creeping light. Her heart was quite cold, -she did not seem to care about anything in -the world. She looked at Larrie and away -again. A tiny darn on her skirt caught her -eye and she stared at it fixedly.</p> - -<p><a name="png.133" id="png.133" href="#png.133"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>121<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>It lifted all her tired thoughts back to the -day it was made and pushed the present out -of sight. It was her wedding morning, and -she had put on the dress, she remembered -she had said it was a ‘holy’ dress, it was so -purely white and billowy and beautiful.</p> - -<p>And she had dressed very early, for Larrie -had been unorthodox enough to want to see -her before she came up the aisle to him. -And when she saw him coming up the path, -looking oddly uncomfortable in his tall new -hat and frock coat, she had flown down the -hall and into his arms. And at the same -minute the gate had clicked to admit a string -of relations eager to fall on the bride, and he -had picked her up in his arms, sweeping -train and veil and all, and whisked her upstairs -on to the landing to have her to himself -for the last few minutes before he had her -for ever. The darn had been necessary, -because in the quick passage up a fold had -caught in a splinter in the bannisters, made -by her travelling trunk.</p> - -<p>To-night she saw Larrie looking at the -<a name="png.134" id="png.134" href="#png.134"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>122<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>mud on the hem. She imagined herself -without the darn, without the dress, without -the wedding.</p> - -<p>It was eighteen months out of her life, -that was all; all the wish she had on earth -just now was to wipe out that time and be -a girl again.</p> - -<p>She had tried marriage, and it had been -a failure for them both; Larrie was right, -the plan he offered was the best to be found; -the vulgarity and misery of publicity she -could not have borne, but there was no -reason why they should not quietly set each -other free, and go on their separate ways -again.</p> - -<p>There was the child of course. She knew -nothing about law and supposed Larrie had first -right, since as she had often said to him the law -always gave the man the best of everything. -And cold, utterly tired and miserable as she -was, she told herself she did not mind very -much. She could not put away those -eighteen months as if they had never been, if -the child was always before her eyes to remind -<a name="png.135" id="png.135" href="#png.135"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>123<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>her of them. She promised herself she would -go to Italy or Germany with her mother and -give up her life to music, she had only failed -through nervousness and misery last night, -the future was full of glorious possibilities.</p> - -<p>Larrie was speaking again, there was a look -of judicial fairness in his eyes.</p> - -<p>‘Since we have both an equal right to him,’ -he said, ‘we will draw lots if you like.’</p> - -<p>‘Very well,’ she said coldly.</p> - -<p>‘Will you let me make you some coffee -first, you will be taking cold,’ he looked at her -quite without anxiety. ‘I can make up a fire -in the kitchen in five minutes.’</p> - -<p>‘No,’ she said, ‘get some paper. There are -some backs of letters in the blotter.’</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="XI. A Question of Ownership" ><a name="png.136" id="png.136" href="#png.136"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>124<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER XI<br - /><small>A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘And laid her face between her hands</div> -<div>And wept (I heard her tears).’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">See</span>, they are ready,’ Larrie said. He had -folded the slips of paper up into two little -square pieces. ‘Will you draw or shall I?’</p> - -<p>‘What have you put on them?’ Dot asked.</p> - -<p>‘L and D,’ he said.</p> - -<p>‘You could have put baby on one and left -the other blank,’ she said, ‘and then I could -have drawn one and left the other.’ She -gained half a minute by the statement.</p> - -<p>‘It comes to the same,’ he said, and held -them out to her on the Japanese pen -tray.</p> - -<p>But she looked at the little pieces as if they -<a name="png.137" id="png.137" href="#png.137"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>125<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>had been dynamite; a faint colour stole up -into her cheeks, her eyes dilated.</p> - -<p>‘Draw,’ he said.</p> - -<p>She put out her hand and drew it back -again trembling like a leaf and empty.</p> - -<p>‘Wait a minute,’ she said with a little gasp. -She covered her eyes for a second, then, suspiciously, -‘how do I know you have not -marked one so you may know it?’</p> - -<p>‘If you draw it will make no difference,’ he -answered patiently.</p> - -<p>She put out her hand again and touched -them, first one and then the other.</p> - -<p>‘I <em>know</em> I shall draw the wrong one,’ she -said in a choking voice, she turned them over -and examined them with pitiful criticism.</p> - -<p>‘What did you make this one narrower -than the other for?’</p> - -<p>‘Is it?’ he said and looked.</p> - -<p>His hand was not trembling at all, but in -his heart there was a great aching for his -little son.</p> - -<p>‘I think I had better draw and have done -with it.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.138" id="png.138" href="#png.138"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>126<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>The quick movement of her hand again -showed her trust in him was not all it might -have been—her fingers closed and unclosed -round the wider piece. Her cheeks were -burning, her breath coming in little quick -pants.</p> - -<p>‘Get it over, Dot,’ he said very gently.</p> - -<p>She shut her eyes, her hand groped -forward, her face grew very white. Then -she unclosed her fingers and showed both -little slips lying in her palm.</p> - -<p>‘I <em>won’t</em> do it that way,’ she said with -sudden passion, ‘as if he were a cushion in a -bazaar, or a lottery ticket. You ought to be -ashamed of yourself, Larrie.’ She tore the -paper into a hundred fragments and looked at -him with wide, angry eyes.</p> - -<p>‘But how shall we decide?’ he said heavily. -He put the little tray back on the table and -mechanically replaced the pens and paper -knife, the darning needle and broken bit of -coral he had emptied from it a few minutes -ago.</p> - -<p>‘He shall decide himself,’ she said. She -<a name="png.139" id="png.139" href="#png.139"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>127<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>got up and went towards the door. ‘Write -two more pieces of paper, and he shall draw.’<!-- TN: closing quote invisible in original --></p> - -<p>Larrie wrote L and D again with a heavy -J nib, and again folded them up; then he -followed his wife.</p> - -<p>She was standing by the cot in an inner -room looking down at the little sleep-flushed -face. One little curled up hand was flung out -on the counterpane, the other, with a thumb -still wet, was drooped just below his chin. -Damp little rings of hair lay on his forehead, -his lips were apart, his long eyelashes motionless. -Larrie came in on tip-toe.</p> - -<p>‘You can’t wake him,’ he said in a low -voice.</p> - -<p>She shook her head, there was almost a -fierce look in her eyes.</p> - -<p>‘What will you do then?’ he asked. -And ‘Wait,’ she returned.</p> - -<p>He brought a wicker chair to the bedside -for her, a stiff-backed one for himself.</p> - -<p>They sat and watched in utter silence till -the sun kissed the grey dawn white. Then -the child stirred, flung off the blanket, sighed—and -<a name="png.140" id="png.140" href="#png.140"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>128<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>slept again. Dot had gone pale as -death, and even Larrie’s heart had beaten -faster. But they composed themselves again, -and watched without speaking. And blue -was born in the sky, and the white tossed -itself into cloud shapes that a wind drove -over the sky to the west. Away at the back -a gate banged, there was a sound of the contact -of a tin and milk jug on the verandah. -Then the gate fell to again.</p> - -<p>Baby uncurled his hands, sighed and -changed his cuddled-up side position for one -flat on his back. Then he opened his -eyes.</p> - -<p>‘Are you ready?’ Larrie said in rather a -thick voice.</p> - -<p>But Dot looked at him indignantly. ‘Wait -till he is awake and knows what he is doing,’ -she said.</p> - -<p>He was laughing up at them, holding up -his arms. There was some soft fur at his -mother’s neck that he was convinced would -be good to eat, he had a desire also to pull -the crisp curls on his father’s head.</p> - -<p><a name="png.141" id="png.141" href="#png.141"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>129<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘Goo—goo—goo,’ he said, with an impatient -kick and an adorable smile.</p> - -<p>How white Dot was! How Larrie’s hand -trembled as he picked up the tray!</p> - -<p>‘He is awake now,’ he said in a low voice.</p> - -<p>‘Let them be quite even,’ Dot returned, -with an agitated look, ‘of course he will take -the nearest one.’</p> - -<p>Larrie arranged them with mathematical -precision, then put the tray near the little -baby hands. For one wild second, Dot looked -away, she could not have watched, then a -low, mirthless laugh from Larrie recalled her -eyes.</p> - -<p>The child had taken the two without -a moment’s hesitation, and stuffed them -instantly into his little open hungry mouth.</p> - -<p>The diversion occupied some little time for -both knew that paper was bad for infantile -digestion, but the touch of humour about it -did not strike either, or divert them from the -tragedy they were bent upon.</p> - -<p>‘How <em>are</em> we to settle it?’ Larrie said -wearily.</p> - -<p><a name="png.142" id="png.142" href="#png.142"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>130<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Dot lifted the child suddenly up on the -pillow,—there was a look of resolution in her -eyes.</p> - -<p>‘We will both hold out our arms,’ she said, -‘whomever he goes to shall have him; it is -the fairest way.’</p> - -<p>They bent down to the little fellow, father -and mother, with faces that would whiten, -and arms that trembled despite themselves.</p> - -<p>‘Come,’ they both said.</p> - -<p>One little roseleaf hand buried itself in -Larrie’s curls, one clutched the fur at Dot’s -neck.</p> - -<p>‘Come,’ they said again, and this time there -was a desperate look in Dot’s eyes.</p> - -<p>He looked gravely from one to the other -and loosened his hold of their separate persons. -There was a thoughtful expression in his eyes -though his lips smiled. He half turned to -Dot, and the intense look of her mouth relaxed -faintly. But then suddenly he stretched -out his arms and with a rapturous little leap -flung himself at Larrie.<!-- TN: period invisible in original --></p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="XII. A Little Diplomat" ><a name="png.143" id="png.143" href="#png.143"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>131<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER XII<br - /><small>A LITTLE DIPLOMAT</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Alas to be as we have been,</div> -<div>And to be as we are to-day.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">For</span> a few days life was a confused tangle; -then to prevent themselves going mad, each -assiduously tried to pick out the beginning of -a new thread to follow.</p> - -<p>Dot was up at the house, she had the little -sitting-room and bedroom of her girlhood -again, and she had sent to Sydney for a parcel -of new music.</p> - -<p>Strange wisdom came to the little anxious -mother. That it was really a serious quarrel -this time she could not help acknowledging, -and at first could hardly restrain herself from -flying down to the cottage and upbraiding -<a name="png.144" id="png.144" href="#png.144"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>132<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>Larrie vigorously. But then again she knew -her child had been to blame as well, and felt -that interference just at the present stage of -things would work harm. A little time apart -she told herself, would do them both good, so -she remained strictly neutral, and though her -heart ached sometimes at the sight of Dot’s -unhappy eyes and carefully smiling lips, she -made no obvious attempt to bring about a -reconciliation. She did not even throw cold -water upon Dot’s wild plans that embraced an -instantaneous sale of the house and a voyage -to Italy.</p> - -<p>Dot had all the trunks and portmanteaus -in the house carried into her bedroom, and -began to pack her own and her mother’s -favourite possessions into them.</p> - -<p>‘This might be useful on board,’ she would -say, putting in a huge workbasket or writing -desk, or ‘You would miss this, even in Italy,’ -taking down an old print of the Madonna -and Child that had hung in her mother’s -bedroom as long as she could remember.</p> - -<p>The family solicitor was visited. Dot was to -<a name="png.145" id="png.145" href="#png.145"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>133<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>come in to about £3000 by the terms of her -father’s will when she was twenty-one. She -arranged for a sufficient advance of it to take -her mother and herself to Italy.</p> - -<p>‘You will like to go, of course,’ she said to -her mother, ‘you are losing your spirits -staying in this wretched place year after year. -Travel is just what you need, isn’t it now, -small woman?’</p> - -<p>The mother acquiesced; she would like the -voyage very much, but she could not be -ready quite as soon as Dot wished. She must -have six weeks at least to settle about the -house and different business matters.</p> - -<p>Dot chafed at the delay, she had wanted to -take passages in a boat that went the very -next week, and to leave any arrangements to -the solicitor, but the mother for once held -her own.</p> - -<p>The cottage was to be let, but until a tenant -was found, Larrie was compelled to stay there -with the baby and Peggie who had thrown -in her fortunes with the child, and regarded -her master and mistress as being for the time -<a name="png.146" id="png.146" href="#png.146"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>134<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>of unsound mind. She treated Larrie with -cold severity, and no words could express the -scorn she felt for the absent Dot. But on -the baby, she lavished all the tenderness of -her nature, and told it half-a-dozen times a day -that it was a poor deserted lamb, and if she -was the law she would handcuff ‘them two’ -so fast together they could not move apart -the rest of their lives.</p> - -<p>The third day of Dot’s residence at the -house, Mr Wooster came. He had called at -the cottage, but Peggie had informed him -her mistress was up at the house. So he -turned his steps uphill. Dot talked a great -deal and seemed in an excited mood, but he -had no suspicion of the real state of affairs, -and merely thought she was spending the -afternoon at her mother’s.</p> - -<p>But he was staying in the district again for -his health, and when he came the next -evening with a promised book for the little -mother, she was there again.</p> - -<p>She was sitting at a table with a quantity of -paper books and maps spread out before her.</p> - -<p><a name="png.147" id="png.147" href="#png.147"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>135<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘I am deciding which way to go home,’ -she said, in answer to his questioning glance, -‘you have often said I ought to study in -Italy.’</p> - -<p>He thought she was doing it for a pleasant -mental recreation and only smiled.</p> - -<p>‘We go in about a month. Did not mother -tell you?’ she said, and followed up a dotted -line through the Red Sea with a careful pen.</p> - -<p>He looked the surprise he felt. So friendly -had he become with Dot and the little -mother, that he felt quite hurt to be so tardily -informed.</p> - -<p>‘Mr Armitage is fortunate to be able to get -away,’ was all he said and there was a little -stiffness in his voice.</p> - -<p>Dot went slowly overland from Brindisi to -Calais, then she looked up.</p> - -<p>‘No, he is not fortunate,’ she said, ‘for he -cannot get away at all. I am going alone—at -least, mother and I are going.’</p> - -<p>‘And your little boy of course?’</p> - -<p>Dot yawned with discernible difficulty.</p> - -<p>‘Oh,’ she said lightly, ‘children block the -<a name="png.148" id="png.148" href="#png.148"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>136<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>road to success, besides I must leave him as -compensation to my husband while I hunt for -fame.’</p> - -<p>He was too amazed to speak. Larrie had -struck him as certainly the one other man -in the world capable of fully appreciating the -worshipfulness of this dear little girl. And -to hear he was content to part with her like -this after only eighteen months!</p> - -<p>He felt a sudden contempt for Larrie and -an overwhelming sorrow for himself; what a -very sweet little child she was with those soft -flushed cheeks and wide darkening eyes! -And to think there was a lifetime of hunger -for one man because he could never touch -one of those soft, boyish curls, and the other -who had all of her, held her so lightly.</p> - -<p>‘I suppose you think it is a mad quest -after my failure,’ she said, finding him -silent.</p> - -<p>But he disclaimed that. He was as assured -of her ultimate success as ever, and knew -that it was only through nervousness that she -had failed to win immediate recognition. As -<a name="png.149" id="png.149" href="#png.149"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>137<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>it was, several of the best critics had spoken -of her hopefully.</p> - -<p>‘No, you will succeed of course,’ he said, -quietly. He did not look at her, he was -thinking, wondering whether he should be -able to do without travelling too when -Australia no longer held her.</p> - -<p>Then he wished hair shirts were sold by -modern mercers, and thanked God she was -going. He talked cheerfully of the route, -advised the best places for study, the best -masters, offered letters of introduction, and -all manner of things.</p> - -<p>The talk stimulated Dot, her eyes and -cheeks grew bright; two hours ago the ache -at her heart had been intolerable, but the -thought of Italy and music was easing it -greatly.</p> - -<p>From her corner, her needle in a wee -muslin pinafore, the little mother looked at -them with troubled brows. This kind of -thing was inimical to the baby, to Larrie, to -all of them, she almost wished her little girl -had been born without music in her soul. -<a name="png.150" id="png.150" href="#png.150"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>138<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>Then something made her catch her breath -and pale suddenly under the brown of her -skin. She had seen and interpreted the look -of strange wistfulness in Sullivan Wooster’s -eyes, and it made her heart grow cold. Dot -looking up from her plans met his earnest gaze, -and for some inexplicable reason blushed; the -little mother in the corner said ‘God’ below -her breath—she was not a woman of strong -expressions, but her thoughts had leapt to -terrible possibilities.</p> - -<p>When Wooster rose to go, she went downstairs -with him; they had been all the evening -in Dot’s little sitting room.</p> - -<p>‘You want me?’ he said half way down the -hall, for her large eyes were speaking. They -went into the drawing-room and he waited -for her to speak, hat in hand.</p> - -<p>‘I do not think this place is good for you,’ -she said gently.</p> - -<p>He looked down at the little fragile woman, -her worn, lined face and great sad eyes were -infinitely beautiful to him.</p> - -<p><a name="png.151" id="png.151" href="#png.151"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>139<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘No place ever agreed with me better,’ he -said, puzzled.</p> - -<p>Her lips grew severe.</p> - -<p>‘It does not agree with you,’ she said very -quietly.</p> - -<p>Then he understood what the anxious eyes -were saying, and was inexpressibly shocked -that she should have guessed what he hardly -allowed himself to know. For a moment he -could find no words, he stood before her with -bent head and paling face, then he looked up -and saw grief and tenderness were in her face -as well as anxiety. Terrible though the thing -was, the little brown faced woman whom the -waves of life had so buffeted, was sorry for -him, her eyes grew humid, she put out her -thin, tiny hand.</p> - -<p>‘It is not good for you,’ she repeated very -softly.</p> - -<p>He lifted the hand to his lips and kissed it -reverently.</p> - -<p>‘No,’ he said, ‘it is not good for me. I -will go.’</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="XIII. Dot Goes Baby-Lifting" ><a name="png.152" id="png.152" href="#png.152"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>140<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER XIII<br - /><small>DOT GOES BABY-LIFTING</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Me do you leave aghast</div> -<div>With the memories we amassed?’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Dot</span> had picked up a book in morocco covers. -It was lying on the sitting room table with a -dozen others and she took it at random. The -little mother was persisting in bringing the -conversation round to the baby this evening, -for the new fear in her heart would not allow -her to let things take their own course any -longer. She dwelt on his hair, the funny -little habit he had of drawing in his lips, the -dimple that dented one little cheek just below -the left eye.</p> - -<p>So Dot took up a book to show she was too -much occupied for conversation, but her lips -<a name="png.153" id="png.153" href="#png.153"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>141<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>were trembling. They had hitherto eschewed -this subject entirely.</p> - -<p>The book might easily have been any of -the twelve others, but it happened to be -Browning. She turned over the leaves, then, -as that mechanical action did not quieten the -little mother, she was forced to read.</p> - -<p>And the very words Larrie had marked for -her once quite years ago when they had only -been engaged and used to play at quarreling! -It was a finger nail mark and ran along one -whole verse.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Love, if you knew the light</div> -<div>That your soul casts in my sight,</div> -<div class="i2"><span class="ns">    </span>How I look to you</div> -<div class="i2"><span class="ns">    </span>For the good and true.</div> -<div>And the beauteous and the right,</div><!-- TN: original has apparent pen mark here, but could be emdash --> -<div>Bear with a moment’s spite</div> -<div>When a mere mote threats the white.’</div><!-- TN: closing quote invisible in original --> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">A great tear splashed down upon it. Dot -wiped it off with a hasty hand, she was angry -because the coldness and bitterness around -her heart were melting. But two more fell, -and two again, a host of little sweet recollections -<a name="png.154" id="png.154" href="#png.154"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>142<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>of their married and unmarried life -came thronging unbidden. How could she -bear life if on every hand episodes of the -dead days were going to rise up in this -way?</p> - -<p>Dear tender eyes watched her from the -corner.</p> - -<p>‘He looked ill, my darling,—as if he had -not slept or eaten for a week,—I saw him at -the <span class="nw">station—</span>’ the soft voice paused for a -minute.</p> - -<p>‘It is nothing to me,’ was the cold, piteous -answer.</p> - -<p>‘He hadn’t his obstinate look at all,—when -he saw me he looked suddenly as if he was -going to cry, then he turned round and -walked up the road again quickly.’</p> - -<p>Dot saw his face, the quick softening of -his mouth and eyes. She could hear his very -footsteps going away.</p> - -<p>‘I shall never forgive him while I live,’ she -said, but she had crept round to the chair in -the dim corner and was feeling for her -mother’s arms.</p> - -<p><a name="png.155" id="png.155" href="#png.155"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>143<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>They drew her down, down,—two women -were rocking and crying just out of the reach -of the lamplight.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later they were hurrying -down the hill to the cottage. Dot’s eyes -were tender, the great peace of forgiving was -in her heart; she was going to her husband, -the one man in the world who was all her -own and God-given,—between them what -question could there be of pride?</p> - -<p>Two hundred yards from the gate she -stopped, there was a fallen tree worn smooth -with years of sitting upon.</p> - -<p>‘Wait here, little mother,’ she said; ‘let -me go alone. Then we will come back and -fetch you.’</p> - -<p>She pressed on by herself, a tender smile -parted her lips. Larrie thin and sleepless! -Larrie aching for the touch of her hand—Larrie -whose love was so desperate he could -not help being cruel!</p> - -<p>She crushed herself through the broken -palings at the bottom of the bush paddock, -then she crept along in the shadow of the -<a name="png.156" id="png.156" href="#png.156"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>144<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>trees, up through the garden till voices floated -down to her and stopped her. Laughter came -from the verandah and smoke, and there were -two decanters on a little table, with a flickering -lamp.</p> - -<p>Larrie was entertaining two bachelor friends -and was holding a pipe with one side of his -mouth, and with the other telling a late -witticism of a Supreme Court judge. The -men had come up about taking the cottage, -and almost suspected a domestic crisis; Larrie’s -forced spirits deceived no one but Dot in -the shadow of the pepper trees.</p> - -<p>She felt frozen with shame and horror. -This was the man she would have humbled -herself for! She turned to go back in silence -the way she had come. But on the verandah -there was a sudden movement; someone had -discovered it was half-past eight, and being a -Thursday evening the last train went down -in eight minutes. They had their hats -and sticks in ten seconds, and were halfway -down the path. Larrie went with -them.</p> - -<p><a name="png.157" id="png.157" href="#png.157"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>145<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘I’ll see you safe in,’ he said, ‘we’ll have -to run for it.’ His shadow fell at Dot’s feet, -then raced him down the road leading to the -station.</p> - -<p>Dot breathed freely once more, then with -steady steps she went up the path and round -the verandah to Peggie’s window.</p> - -<p>The woman was on her knees by the bedside, -reading the <cite>Bulletin</cite> by candlelight. -She always abstracted it from the dining-room -on Thursdays, the moment Larrie laid -it down, for she had a strange passion for -political caricatures, though to her knowledge -she had never seen a Member of Parliament -in her life. To-night she was convulsed over -a minister of the crown portrayed in an eye-glass -and ballet skirts.</p> - -<p>Dot crept in through the back door and -went on tiptoe down the hall to the second -room there. She made a warm bundle of -the baby with the cot blankets and a New -Zealand rug, then she went out into the hall -again, holding it close to her happy breast. -Larrie had left the front door just ajar, so she -<a name="png.158" id="png.158" href="#png.158"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>146<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>stole out noiselessly and walked down the -path to the gate.</p> - -<p>The next minute she was fleeing up the -road again to her mother, the burden in her -arms the lightest thing in the world.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="XIV. The Wheel in the Brain" ><a name="png.159" id="png.159" href="#png.159"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>147<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER XIV<br - /><small>THE WHEEL IN THE BRAIN</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="i4"><span class="ns">        </span>‘Mine, mine—not yours,</div> -<div>It is not yours but mine,—give me the child’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">It</span> was half-an-hour before Larrie came back -and found the tossed, empty cot. He strode -out of the house again, and up the hill in a -fury of passion.</p> - -<p>Out of the train into which he had seen -his friends, Wooster had stepped and gone -at quick speed, straight up the road leading to -the house. Larrie was not to know it was -intended for the last visit of a lifetime. He -resisted the inclination to follow and slay -him outright, and went home instead—to -find Dot had been there and taken away the -child.</p> - -<p><a name="png.160" id="png.160" href="#png.160"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>148<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>A second jealousy sprang up in his heart, -jealousy of his own little baby son. He could -imagine the pass to which Dot had come, -imagine the heart hungerness that had -prompted this. But it was all for the child—none -of the aching and longing had been for -himself. The front door of the house was -open, he went straight through the hall and -upstairs two steps at a time to the sitting-room.</p> - -<p>Dot was sitting rocking alone in the firelight; -the little mother had gone to a sudden -case of illness in a cottage near, and Wooster -had taken her.</p> - -<p>The child’s little soft head lay against her -breast, she held both its bare little feet in her -hand. There were tear-wet places on her -cheeks, and the eyes that looked down on -the child were full of tenderness, but her -lips were rather tightly closed. She could -not forget the verandah, and Larrie’s burst of -laughter.</p> - -<p>He strode across the room.</p> - -<p>‘Give me the child,’ he said.</p> - -<p>Her arms closed tightly round it.</p> - -<p><a name="png.161" id="png.161" href="#png.161"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>149<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>‘He is mine, mine,’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘Give him to me,’ he cried again.</p> - -<p>She sprang to the door her eyes gleaming, -her hands holding the little soft body with -desperate firmness. But he was before her, -he looked down at her with white face, and -eyes blazing with scorn.</p> - -<p>‘You are not fit to hold him,’ he said.</p> - -<p>She was moving across to the second door -clasping her burden convulsively.</p> - -<p>‘I will die before you shall have him,’ she -said passionately.</p> - -<p>‘No you will not,’ he said.</p> - -<p>His words came slowly, there was a horrible -note in his voice, ‘There is—your lover, you -know.’</p> - -<p>She turned and looked at him, incredulous -horror in her wide eyes, her arms loosened -their hold a little, she went a step towards -him. But the light of madness in his eyes -increased, he tore the child from her arms, -and carried it away with him out into the -night.</p> - -<p class="fivestar">· · · · ·</p> - -<p><a name="png.162" id="png.162" href="#png.162"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>150<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>He went slowly down the hill he had come -up in such wild haste. He had not felt the -night wind before, but now it blew chillily on -his burning forehead and quietened the fever -in his blood. He took off his coat and -wrapped it round the child, which lay warm -and sleepy and quiet against his shoulder all -the way.</p> - -<p>There had seemed to be a strange wheel -working in his brain lately, it had gone at a -maddening rate during his short interview -with Dot. But something in the great hush -of the grey-blue night stopped it for a time -and a sudden calmness and power of reasoning -came to him once more.</p> - -<p>When he reached the cottage he put the -child down again in the cot and covered it up -warmly. Then he walked about staring at -his misery. He knew it had grown utterly -past bearing. Everything in the place spoke -of Dot, spoke loudly and insistently, the -silent piano, the dead flowers in the vases, -the foolish little red watering pot on the -verandah nail, the small garden boots in the -<a name="png.163" id="png.163" href="#png.163"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>151<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>hall corner with the red clay of the roads -dried on the heels. When he poured out his -coffee at breakfast time he shuddered because -he saw beside him the little dear bright face -that was not there—when he helped himself -to an egg he could not eat it, because the -stand held only two, instead of the by custom -sacred three.</p> - -<p>That was the warm old jacket on the -second hall peg that she always slipped on, to -sit outside with him for his smoke, the big -poppy trimmed hat beside it, still kept the -shape of her head in its crown. He could -not get away from it all. His eyes too refused -to give up the picture of her they had seen -to-night, the tender innocent face, the pure -eyes, the trembling lips. Half-past ten -brought the very end of his endurance, his -bitterness and his unbelief.</p> - -<p>It had taken all these six days for his brain -to grow clear and healthy again; with the -lifting of the strange cloud came the sudden -horror of the thing he had done, a shame at the -shame he had heaped on her. He found -<a name="png.164" id="png.164" href="#png.164"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>152<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>responsibilities that were his, he remembered the -tenderness and watchfulness and love which -her eighteen years demanded, he saw with -lightning clearness that it had been sheer -insanity that had distorted a simple friendship -and shamed them both.</p> - -<p>He took up his hat to go out again. He -would go and beseech her forgiveness though -he told himself of course, she could not -possibly give it. Still he would entreat her.</p> - -<p>Then the strange wheel began again in his -head, and as he walked a new hot swinging -sensation there, made him almost unconscious -of what was going on for minutes together. -He took off his hat and went on blindly, there -were two shrinking figures in the shadow by -the fence but he did not heed them.</p> - -<p>He knew quite well now what was going -to happen to him, he was getting that same -brain fever again, he had had two years ago; -it accounted for everything.</p> - -<p>He found a strange comfort in the knowledge. -He was going to Dot—by the time he -got to the lights and voices of the house he -<a name="png.165" id="png.165" href="#png.165"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>153<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>knew his senses would have gone and his illness -come upon him, his danger would touch -her little tender heart and she would forgive. -He even saw a vision of his convalescence and -white beautiful days beyond.</p> - -<p>Then he came to the lights and people of -the house, and before the little mother could -speak a word, the danger came upon him and -the need of forgiveness.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chap"> -<h2 title="XV. Sullivan Wooster, Gentleman" ><a name="png.166" id="png.166" href="#png.166"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>154<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>CHAPTER XV<br - /><small>SULLIVAN WOOSTER, GENTLEMAN</small></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="hangpunct">‘Feel where my life broke off from thine</div> -<div>How fresh the splinters keep, and fine,</div> -<div>Only a touch and we combine.’</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Dot</span> felt the emptiness of her arms. Then -she remembered the bitterness and horror of -her humiliation.</p> - -<p>To nearly all human beings there come -during the course of life some moments of -complete madness and irresponsibility—Dot’s -came upon her now.</p> - -<p>She was on her knees by the window; -sometimes she beat her head against the -wood-work—wild tears were coursing down -her cheeks, sobs of impotent anger choked -her.</p> - -<p><a name="png.167" id="png.167" href="#png.167"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>155<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Wooster came up the staircase alone, the -little mother had sent him to say good-bye, -and to tell Dot she could not leave the sick -woman for an hour. The sitting room door -was open.</p> - -<p>‘Great heavens!’ he said, and sprang to -her side in alarm, ‘you are ill—God!—what -is the matter with you?’</p> - -<p>Her sobs ceased, she turned her head and -regarded him strangely, her eyes wet and -brilliant seemed to pierce him. Then she -laughed the most terrible little laugh in the -world. ‘Why, you do love me after all!’ -she said.</p> - -<p>He fell back against the wall, utterly undone, -his eyes seemed the only living part of him.</p> - -<p>‘I didn’t believe him,’ she continued in the -same tone.</p> - -<p>‘Who?’ his lips said, after a long pause.</p> - -<p>‘Larrie.’</p> - -<p>‘My God!’ he cried.</p> - -<p>He could hardly breathe, the figure kneeling -by the window was only a confused blur to -him.</p> - -<p><a name="png.168" id="png.168" href="#png.168"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>156<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>The choking sobs began again.</p> - -<p>He walked up and down, wildly.</p> - -<p>‘Where is your child?’ he said, stopping -at the end of the room.</p> - -<p>She sobbed, and laughed and choked.</p> - -<p>‘He took it, he has taken everything, and -isn’t it queer, I don’t care in the very least?’</p> - -<p>He stayed at the end of the room, the table -and several chairs between them.</p> - -<p>‘He thinks I love you?’ he said.</p> - -<p>‘Oh yes.’</p> - -<p>She began to beat her head again.</p> - -<p>‘Stop—how can you—for God’s sake, stop!’ -he was at her side, trying to draw her from -the cruel wood.</p> - -<p>‘I believe you love me as much as he did at -first,’ she said—he was offering her a handkerchief -for the little bleeding wound on her -head, and had to look at her—‘Don’t you?’</p> - -<p>‘My God, <em>no</em>,’ he burst out, ‘what are you -dreaming of?’</p> - -<p>‘Oh, but you do,’ she cried, and laughed -again.</p> - -<p>He had moved her from the wall and she -<a name="png.169" id="png.169" href="#png.169"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>157<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>could not beat her head. She got up from -her knees, and went nearer to him.</p> - -<p>‘I wish you would take me away,’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘Remember you have a husband,’ he -answered, very coldly.</p> - -<p>There was a scarlet colour on her cheeks, a -very fire in her eyes.</p> - -<p>‘No, I have not, he has cast me off, I have -no one, no one, oh, you <em>might</em> take me away,’ -her voice broke into a cry.</p> - -<p>‘Where?’ he said, and trembled violently.</p> - -<p>‘Anywhere, <em>anywhere</em>, just so I can never, -never see him again as long as I live.’</p> - -<p>He moved towards her, all his strength had -gone, he was shaking like a leaf. A minute -ago he had been one of the best men on God’s -earth. Now, the suddenness and awfulness of -the temptation swept everything away for the -time but overmastering love for this woman. -He put out his hand.</p> - -<p>‘Come,’ he whispered.</p> - -<p>Two minutes later they were fleeing together -down the long Red Road that Larrie -was coming up.</p> - -<p><a name="png.170" id="png.170" href="#png.170"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>158<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>They passed him half way, he was carrying -his hat, and going straight forward, not looking -to right or left.</p> - -<p>The meeting only added fuel to Dot’s fire.</p> - -<p>‘Hurry,’ she cried, pressing on breathlessly, -‘hurry.’</p> - -<p>When they neared the cottage she was -limping wretchedly. He stopped suddenly -and looked down at her little house shoes.</p> - -<p>‘The heel has come off,’ she said dismayedly.</p> - -<p>It was really a catastrophe, for they were to -have gone two miles further, and then tried to -get a conveyance of some sort.</p> - -<p>‘Perhaps I could walk without them,’ she -said, and slipped one off, ‘Oh, do come on.’</p> - -<p>There was a light burning in the dining-room -window of the cottage.</p> - -<p>‘Couldn’t you go in and get a pair?’ he -asked, but she shuddered and shook her -head.</p> - -<p>‘I am afraid,’ she said—‘of Peggie.’</p> - -<p>‘Sit down here then,’ he said, and found -her a seat on some piled wood by the roadside. -‘I will try to take the other heel off.’</p> - -<p><a name="png.171" id="png.171" href="#png.171"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>159<span class="ns">]<br - /></span></span></a>Dot smothered an exclamation.</p> - -<p>Peggie herself was leaning over the little -side gate fifty yards away, and the figure of -the district butcher was discernible on the -footpath.</p> - -<p>‘You could go in yourself,’ he whispered, -‘and get wraps as well.’</p> - -<p>‘I am afraid,’ she said again, and looked -at the lamplight with strange eyes. ‘There’s -a pair in the hall stand box.’</p> - -<p>He opened the gate very quietly and went -over the grass; she saw him push open the -half closed front door, and go into the hall.</p> - -<p>Peggie’s voice came over the garden beds.</p> - -<p>‘Get out with you,’ she was saying to her -lover. Dot watched her with frightened -eyes, for no quick shadow fell on the lighted -patch near the door.</p> - -<p>How long he was! Perhaps he could not -find the shoes, perhaps Larrie had flung them -out. It might be he was looking for another -wrap for her.</p> - -<p>‘Ga’rn,’ said Peggie, ‘I’m goin’ in.’</p> - -<p>But Dot trembled needlessly, she did not -<a name="png.172" id="png.172" href="#png.172"><span class="pagenum"><span - class="ns">[p </span>160<span class="ns">] - </span></span></a>move. The frilled curtain blew through the -drawing-room window in its old accustomed -way; the broken wistaria lattice swayed and -creaked as it had done for months. Something -rose in Dot’s throat, the wildness died -out of her eyes.</p> - -<p>Then the long shadow fell on the lighted -patch, and he came across the grass again, -straight over the mignonette bed and Larrie’s -primroses.</p> - -<p>She shivered violently, a sick feeling of -fear came over her. He was speaking to her, -bending down to her, she could not see his -face in the darkness, but she knew he was holding -something in his arms. He put it gently -down on her knees. How warm it was, how -soft, how very small! Such a little pitiful -cry of broken sleep it gave!</p> - -<p>‘Oh, God bless you!’ she said, ‘God bless -you!’ There came a rush of warm, relieving, -grateful tears.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, God bless you!’ she said again. But -he had gone.</p> - - -<p id="fin"><small>THE END</small></p> - -</div> - - -<div class="tnote"> -<h2 title="">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Inconsistent hyphenation (indiarubber/india-rubber, roseleaf/rose-leaf, -tiptoe/tip-toe, weatherboard/weather-board, workbasket/work-basket) retained.</p> - -<p>Inconsistent spelling of Laurence/Lawrence has been retained.</p> - -</div> - - - -<hr class="ww" /> - - - - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of a Baby, by Ethel Turner - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A BABY *** - -***** This file should be named 53864-h.htm or 53864-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/6/53864/ - -Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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