THE LETTING OF NUMBER SIX
I
"An' what am I to do if there's an air-raid?" demanded Mrs. Bindle.
Bindle deliberately emptied his coffee-cup, replaced it in its saucer,
sat back further in his chair as a sign of repletion, then turned to
Mrs. Bindle, who had been watching him with angry eyes.
"Well, there's always Gawd an' Mr. Gupperduck, Mrs. B.," he remarked,
with the air of a man suggesting an unfailing source of inspiration.
"You always was a scoffer, you with your black 'eart." Mrs. Bindle's
ire was rising, and her diction in consequence losing something of its
customary precision. "You know I ain't strong and--and 'ow them guns
an' bombs frighten me." There was in Mrs. Bindle's voice a note of
entreaty.
"A daughter o' the Lord didn't ought to be afraid of an 'Un; besides,
you can go round an' 'old 'Earty's 'and. 'E's a rare ole 'ero when
there's guns goin' off."
"I knew I shouldn't get any sympathy from you," complained Mrs.
Bindle, rising and proceeding to bang away the breakfast things. When
Mrs. Bindle was suffering from any great stress of emotion, she
expressed her feelings by the noise she made. Ironing gave her the
greatest opportunities. She could bang the iron on the ironing-board,
back again to the stand, and finally on to the stove.
"I got to earn a livin'," remarked Bindle philosophically as he
proceeded to light his pipe. "It's war-time too, an' nobody can't
afford to move, so pore ole Joe 'as to take any ole job 'e can get
'old of."
"You lorst your last job a-purpose," snapped Mrs. Bindle.
Bindle looked at her sharply. Sometimes Mrs. Bindle's accuracy in
things where she could not possibly possess knowledge was startling.
Bindle had temporarily relinquished his situation in the Removal
Department of Harridge's Stores in order to become caretaker at Fulham
Square Mansions whilst his intimate, Charlie Hart, had a fortnight's
holiday.
Mrs. Hart had been ill, and the doctor said that change of air and
scene were essential to her recovery. She could not go alone, and if
Mr. Hart went with her and a substitute were obtained, he would in all
probability, as Charlie put it, "pinch my bloomin' job." Bindle he
knew he could trust, and so it came about that for a fortnight Bindle
was to "sleep out."
"Well, you see," Bindle explained, "I couldn't disappoint ole
Charlie----"
"And what about me?" demanded Mrs. Bindle, looking round from a fierce
attack upon the kitchen stove with the poker.
"Well," said Bindle slowly, "you're a disappointed woman as it is,
Mrs. B., so you ain't 'urt."
Mrs. Bindle resumed her attack upon the fire with increased vigour.
"You always was a selfish beast, Bindle," she retorted. "You'll be
sorry when I'm dead."
Any reference by Mrs. Bindle to the remorse that he would suffer after
her death, Bindle always regarded as a sort of "take cover" signal.
Mrs. Bindle was hysterical, and Bindle liked to be well out of the way
before the storm broke. He had heard, but had never had an opportunity
of testing the statement, that without an audience dogs will not fight
and women will never have hysterics.
When, therefore, Mrs. Bindle referred to what Bindle widower would
suffer on account of what Bindle benedict had neglected to do, he
rose, picking up the faded blue-and-white cricket-cap he invariably
wore, and walked towards the door.
"There'll be a lot o' tips, ole Charlie says," he remarked, "an' I'll
buy you somethink. I'll run in every day to see you ain't gone off
with 'Guppy.'"
"You're a dirty-minded beast, Bindle," raged Mrs. Bindle; but her
words beat up against the back door, through which Bindle had
vanished. He had become a master of strategical retreat.
Whistling shrilly, he proceeded along the Fulham Road in the direction
of Fulham Square Mansions. Bindle was in a happy frame of mind. It
would be strange if a fortnight as porter at Fulham Square Mansions
did not produce something in the way of a diversion.
"Cheer-o, uncle!" The remark came from a brazen-faced girl waiting for
a bus.
Bindle frowned as he looked her up and down, from the low-cut
transparent blouse to the short skirt, reaching little below her
knees.
"If I _was_ your uncle, young woman," he remarked, "I'd slap you into
becomin' decent."
The girl jumped on to a bus that had just drawn up, and with a swirl
of skirt and wealth of limb, waved her hand as she climbed the stairs.
"So long, old dear!" she cried.
"Got enough powder on 'er face to whitewash 'er feet," remarked a
workman to Bindle as he resumed his walk.
"Women is funny things," responded Bindle. "They never seems to be
wearin' so little, but wot they can't leave orf a bit more."
"You're right, mate," replied the man when he had digested the remark.
"If I was the police I'd run 'em in."
"Well," said Bindle philosophically, "there is some wot likes to see
all the goods in the window. S'long!" and he turned off the Fulham
Road, leaving the workman to pursue his journey puzzling over Bindle's
enigmatical utterance.
"'Ullo, Charlie!" greeted Bindle, as he entered the porter's lodge of
Fulham Square Mansions. "'Ere I am, come to take care of all the
little birds in the nest wot you're a-leavin' behind."
Charlie Hart was a big man with a heavy moustache, a brow whereon the
creases of worry had a perpetual abiding-place, and an indeterminate
chin. "Charlie ought to wear a beard," was Bindle's verdict.
"Glad you come, Joe. I'll 'ave time to go over things again. Train
don't go till four."
During the next few hours Bindle was once more taken over the salient
features of the life of a porter at a block of residential flats.
Charlie Hart had no system or order in conveying his instructions, and
Bindle saw that he would have to depend upon his own wits to meet such
crises as arose.
Mrs. Sedge, Mrs. Hart's mother, would look after those tenants who did
not possess servants.
"She's all right when she ain't after 'Royal Richard,'" explained
Charlie Hart.
"An' who's Royal Richard?" enquired Bindle with interest.
"Gin!" was Charlie Hart's laconic response.
Charlie enumerated the numbers of the flats, the occupants of which
were to be "done for." One thing he particularly emphasised, Number
Six was temporarily vacant. The owner was away; but it was let
furnished from the following Monday to a Miss Cissie Boye, who was one
of those to be "done for." Bindle was particularly cautioned to see
that there were no "carryings on," whereat he winked reassuringly.
Mrs. Sedge was a stolid matron, whose outlook on life had reached the
dregs of pessimism.
"Oh! don't ask me," was the phrase with which she warded off any
attempt at conversation. Hers was a soul dedicated to Royal Richard
and silence.
"Cheery little thing," was Bindle's summing up of the gloomy Mrs.
Sedge.
Bindle had not been in charge an hour before Number Seven began to get
troublesome. He was a choleric ex-Indian civil servant.
"Where's that damned fellow Hart?" he roared, thrusting his head into
the porter's lodge.
"'E's gone to the damned seaside," replied Bindle imperturbably, as he
proceeded to light his pipe with elaborate calm. "Taken 'is damned
wife with 'im," he added.
Number Seven gasped.
"And who the devil are you?" he demanded.
"Well," replied Bindle with a grin, "on the 'Alls I'm Little Tich; but
'ere I calls myself Joe Bindle, known as ''Oly Joe.'"
For a moment Number Seven, his customary redness of face transformed
to purple, stood regarding Bindle fiercely.
"Then be damned to you!" he burst out, and turning on his heel, dashed
upstairs.
"I ain't lived with Mrs. B. nineteen years without learnin' 'ow to
'andle explosives," remarked Bindle as he settled down to read an
evening newspaper he had discovered in the letter box.
Bindle soon discovered that the life of a porter at residential flats
is strangely lacking in repose. Everybody seemed either to want
something sent up, or came to complain that their instructions had not
been carried out.
The day passed with amazing rapidity. At eight o'clock Bindle stepped
round to The Ancient Earl for a glass of beer. When he returned at
nine-thirty he found his room in a state of siege.
"Oh, here he is!" said someone. Bindle smiled happily.
"Where the devil have you been?" demanded Number Seven angrily.
Bindle looked at him steadily. Having apparently established Number
Seven's identity to his entire satisfaction, he spoke.
"Now look 'ere, sir, this is the second time to-day I've 'ad to speak
to you about your language. This ain't a peace-meetin'. You speakin'
like that before ladies too. I'm surprised at you, I am really. Now
'op it an' learn some nice words, an' then come back an' beg prettily,
an' p'raps I'll give you a bit o' cake."
"You damned insolent fellow!" thundered Number Seven, "I'll report
you, I'll----"
"Look 'ere," remarked Bindle tranquilly, "if you ain't gone by the
time I've finished lightin' this pipe,"--he struck a match
deliberately,--"I'll 'oof it myself, an' then who'll fetch up all the
coals in the mornin'?"
This master-stroke of strategy turned public opinion dead against
Number Seven, who retired amidst a murmur of disapproving voices.
"It's 'ard if I can't go out to see a dyin' wife an' child, without
'im a-comin' usin' 'ot words like that," grumbled Bindle, as he
proceeded to investigate the cases of the other tenants and their
minions.
Number One was expecting a parcel. Had it arrived?
No, it had not, but Bindle would not rest until it did.
Number Twelve, a tall, melancholy-visaged man, had lost Fluffles.
Where did Bindle think she was?
"P'raps she's taken up with another cove, sir," suggested Bindle
sympathetically. "You never knows where you are with women."
The maid from Number Fifteen giggled.
Number Twelve explained in a weary tone that Fluffles was a Pekinese
spaniel.
"A dog, you say, sir," cried Bindle, "why didn't you say so before? I
might 'ave advertised for--well, well, I'll keep a look out."
"Wot's that?" he enquired of the maid from Number Eight. "No coal?
Can't fetch coal up after six o'clock. That's the rules," he added
with decision.
"But we must have some, we can't go to bed without coal," snapped the
girl, an undersized, shrewish little creature.
"Well, Queenie," responded Bindle imperturbably, "you'll 'ave to take
some firewood to bed with you, if you wants company; coal you don't
get to-night. Wot about a log?"
"My name's not 'Queenie,'" snapped the girl.
"Ain't it now," remarked Bindle; "shows your father and mother 'adn't
an eye for the right thing, don't it?"
"I tell you we must have coal," persisted the girl.
"Now look 'ere, Queenie, my dear, a gal as wants to take coal to bed
with 'er ain't--well, she ain't respectable. Now orf you goes like a
good gal."
"It's in case of raids, you saucy 'ound!" screeched "Queenie." "I'll
get even with you yet, you red-nosed little bounder! I'll pay you!"
"Funny where they learns it all," remarked Bindle to Number Eleven, a
quiet little old lady who wanted a postage stamp.
The little lady smiled.
"She won't be wantin' coal in the next world if she goes on like that,
will she, mum?" said Bindle as he handed her the stamp.
"Her mistress has a weak heart," ventured Number Eleven, "and during
the raids she shivers so----"
"Now ain't that jest like a woman, beggin' your pardon, mum. Why
didn't Queenie say that instead of showin' 'ow bad she's been brought
up? Right-o! I'll take her up some coal."
Ten minutes later Bindle surprised "Queenie" by appearing at the door
of Number Eight with a pailful of coal. She stared at him in surprise.
Bindle grinned.
"'Ere you are, Queenie," he said cheerfully. "Now you'll be able to go
to sleep with a bit in each 'and, an' maybe there'll be a bit over to
put in your mouth."
"Look 'ere, don't you go callin' me 'Queenie'; that ain't my name, so
there," and the girl banged the door in his face.
"She'll grow up jest like Mrs. B.," murmured Bindle, as he slowly
descended the stairs, "an' p'raps she can't even cook. I wonder if
she's religious. Sort o' zoo this 'ere little 'ole. Shouldn't be
surprised if things was to 'appen before Ole Charlie gets 'ome again!"
and Bindle returned to his lodge, where, removing his boots and
throwing off his coat, he lay down on the couch that served as a bed
for the porter at Fulham Square Mansions.
During the next two days Bindle discovered that his duties were
endless. Everybody seemed to want something, or have some complaint to
make. He was expected to be always at his post, night and day, and if
he were not, he was threatened with a possible complaint to the
Secretary of the Company to which the flats belonged.
Bindle's fertile brain, however, was not long in devising a means of
relieving the monotony without compromising "pore Ole Charlie." He
sent home for his special constable's uniform, although he had
obtained a fortnight's leave on account of his work. Henceforth,
whenever he required relaxation, he donned his official garb, which he
found a sure defence against all complaints.
"Well, Queenie," he remarked one evening to the maid at Number Eight,
"I'm orf to catch the robbers wot might carry you away."
"I can see you catchin' a man," snorted the girl scornfully.
"Sorry I can't return the compliment, little love-bird," retorted
Bindle. "S'long!"
"Queenie" had found her match.
II
"You--er--have a furnished--er--flat to let."
Bindle looked up from the paper he was reading.
A timid, mouse-like little man with side-whiskers and a deprecating
manner stood on the threshold.
"Come in, sir," said Bindle heartily; "but I'm afraid it's let."
"But the board's up," replied the applicant.
Bindle rose, walked to the outer door, and there saw the notice-board
announcing that a furnished-flat was to let.
"Funny me not noticin' that," he murmured to himself, as he returned
to the porter's lodge.
"Was you wantin' it for long, sir?" he enquired.
"A month, I think," was the reply; "but three weeks----"
"I'm sorry, sir," began Bindle, then he smacked his leg with such
suddenness that the stranger started back in alarm, his soft felt hat
falling from his head and hanging behind him attached to a hat-guard.
"Now isn't that jest like me!" cried Bindle, his face wreathed in
smiles.
The stranger eyed Bindle nervously, as he fumbled to retrieve his lost
head-gear, looking like a dog endeavouring to ascertain if he still
possessed a tail.
"I was thinkin' of the other one," said Bindle. "Yes; there's Number
Six to let from next Monday."
"What is the rent?" enquired the caller.
Bindle, who had no idea of the rent of furnished flats, decided to
temporise. "I'll go and ask, sir," he said. "Wot was you exactly
wantin', an' about wot figure?"
"Well, a bedroom, bath-room, sitting-room, kitchen and attendance,
would do," was the reply. "I do not want to pay more than three and a
half guineas a week."
"Now ain't that funny!" cried Bindle, and without waiting to explain
what was funny, he picked up the key of Number Six from his desk. "Now
you jest come with me, sir, an' I'll show you the very place you're
wantin'."
Number Six consisted of two bedrooms, a sitting-room, bath-room and
kitchen. Charlie Hart had taken Bindle over it, explaining that Miss
Cissie Boye, who was entering into occupation on the following Monday,
would use only the smaller bedroom with the single bed, therefore the
double-bedded room was to remain locked.
The applicant, who introduced himself as Mr. Jabez Stiffson, expressed
himself as quite satisfied with all he saw, and agreed to enter into
possession on the following Monday afternoon, at a rental of three and
a half guineas a week. He appeared mildly surprised at Bindle waiving
the question of references and a deposit; but agreed that the smaller
bedroom should be kept locked, as containing the owner's personal
possessions. Mrs. Stiffson, he explained, was staying with friends in
the country, their own house being let; but she would join him on the
Tuesday morning.
In the privacy of his own apartment, Bindle rubbed his hands with
glee. "If this ain't goin' to be a little story for the Night Club,"
he murmured, "well, put me down as a Cuthbert."
He persuaded Mrs. Sedge to get both rooms ready, "in case of
accidents," as he expressed it. Bindle foresaw that there might be
some difficulty in the matter of catering for Mr. Jabez Stiffson; but
he left that to the inspiration of the moment.
He looked forward to Monday as a schoolboy looks forward to the summer
holidays. He forgot to rebuke "Queenie" when she became impertinent,
he allowed Number Seven to swear with impunity, and he even forgot to
don his special's uniform and go "on duty"; in short, he forgot
everything save the all-absorbing topic of Miss Cissie Boye and Mr.
Jabez Stiffson.
On Monday, Mrs. Sedge was persuaded to take a half day off. She
announced her intention of putting some flowers on her husband's grave
in Kilburn Cemetery.
"Well," remarked Bindle, who knew that Mrs. Sedge's "Kilburn Cemetery"
was the public-bar of The Ancient Earl, "you won't want no bus fares."
"You go hon, with a nose like that," retorted Mrs. Sedge, in no way
displeased.
"Well, don't be late in the morning," grinned Bindle.
At six-thirty, Mr. Jabez Stiffson arrived with a bewildering
collection of impedimenta, ranging from a canary in a cage to a
thermos flask.
Bindle put all he could in the double-bedded room, the rest he managed
to store in the kitchen. A slight difficulty arose over the canary,
Mr. Stiffson suggested the dining-room.
"Wouldn't 'e sort o' feel lonely without seein' you when 'e opened 'is
little eyes?" questioned Bindle solicitously. "A cove I knew once 'ad
a canary which 'ad a fit through bein' lonely, and they 'ad to throw
water over 'im to bring 'im to, an' then wot d'you think, sir?"
Mr. Stiffson shook his head in mournful foreboding.
"'E come to a sparrow, 'e did really, sir."
That settled the canary, who slept with Mr. Stiffson.
It was nearly eight before Mr. Stiffson was settled, and he announced
his intention of going out to dine. At ten he was ready for bed,
having implored Bindle to see that he was up by eight as Mrs. Stiffson
would inevitably arrive at ten.
"I'm a very heavy sleeper," he announced, to Bindle's great relief.
"And my watch has stopped," he added; "some dirt must have got into
the works. If Mrs. Stiffson were to arrive before I was up----" He did
not venture to state what would be the probable consequence; but his
manner implied that Mrs. Stiffson was a being of whom he stood in
great awe.
Just as Bindle was leaving him for the night, Mr. Stiffson called him
back.
"Porter, I'm worried about Oscar." Bindle noticed that Mr. Stiffson's
hands were moving nervously.
"Are you really, sir?" enquired Bindle, wondering who Oscar might be.
"The bird, you know," continued Mr. Stiffson, answering Bindle's
unuttered question. "You--you don't think it will be unhygienic for
him to sleep with me?"
"Sure of it, sir," replied Bindle, entirely at a loss as to Mr.
Stiffson's meaning.
Mr. Stiffson sighed his relief and bade Bindle good night, with a
final exhortation as to waking him at eight. "You know," he added, "I
always sleep through air-raids."
Mr. Stiffson's bugbear in life was lest he should over-sleep. He
seldom failed to wake of his own accord; but, constitutionally lacking
in self-reliance, he felt that at any moment he might commit the
unpardonable sin of over-sleeping.
Bindle returned to his room to await the arrival of Miss Cissie Boye.
It was nearly midnight when his alert ear caught the sound of a taxi
drawing up outside. As he opened the outer door, Miss Cissie Boye
appeared at the top of the stone-steps.
Bindle caught a glimpse of a dainty little creature in a long
travelling coat with fur at the collar, cuffs and round the bottom, a
small travelling hat and a thick veil.
"Oh, can you help with my luggage?" she cried.
"Right-o, miss! You go in there and sit by the fire. We'll 'ave things
right in a jiffy;" and Bindle proceeded to tackle Miss Boye's luggage,
which consisted of a large dress-basket, a suit-case and a bundle of
rugs and umbrellas. When these had been placed in the hall, and the
taxi-man paid, Bindle went into his lodge.
Miss Boye was sitting before the fire, her coat thrown open and her
veil thrown back. Between her dainty fingers she held a cigarette.
"So that's that!" she cried. "I'm so tired, Mr. Porter."
Bindle regarded her with admiration. Honey-coloured, fluffy hair, blue
eyes, dark eyebrows and lashes, pretty, petite features, and a manner
that suggested half baby, half woman-of-the-world,--Bindle found her
wholly alluring.
"I'm afraid we can't get that little picnic 'amper of yours upstairs
to-night, miss," he remarked.
Miss Boye laughed. "Isn't it huge?" she cried. "It needn't go up till
the morning. I've all I want in the suit-case."
"You must 'ave a rare lot o' duds, miss," remarked Bindle.
"Duds?" interrogated Miss Boye.
"Clothes, miss," explained Bindle.
Miss Boye laughed lightly. Miss Boye laughed at everything.
"Now I must go to bed. I've got a 'call' to-morrow at eleven."
As they went upstairs, Bindle learnt quite a lot about Miss Boye,
among other things that she was appearing in the revue at the Regent
Theatre known as "Kiss Me Quick," that she never ate suppers, that she
took a warm bath every morning, and liked coffee, bacon and eggs and
strawberry jam for breakfast.
"You'll be very quiet, miss, in the flat, won't you?" he whispered.
"Sure," replied Miss Boye.
"They're such a funny lot 'ere," he explained. "If a fly wakes up too
early, or a bird 'as a nightmare, they comes down an' complains next
mornin'."
Miss Boye laughed.
"'Ush! miss, please," whispered Bindle as he switched on the electric
light in the hall of Number Six.
Bindle showed the new tenant the sitting-room, bathroom, kitchen, and
finally her own bedroom.
"You will be quiet, miss, won't you?" Bindle interrogated anxiously,
"or you may wake Oscar?"
"Who's Oscar?" queried Miss Boye.
"You'll see 'im in the mornin', miss," replied Bindle with a grin.
"Good night, miss."
"Good night, Mr. Porter," smiled Miss Boye, and she closed the door.
"Now I wonder if anythink will 'appen before Ole Whiskers gets up in
the mornin'," mused Bindle as he descended the stairs to his room.