AGAIN-IVER.
A few days after this first visit, Iver was again at the Kinks'
farm.
The weather was fine, and he protested that he must take advantage
of it to proceed with his picture.
Mehetabel was reluctant to stand. She made excuses that were at
once put aside.
"If you manage to sell pictures of our place," said Bideabout, "our
Punch-Bowl may get a name, and folk come here picnicking from
Godalming and Guildford and Portsmouth; and I'll put up a board with
Refreshments--Moderate, over the door, and Matabel shall make tea
or sell cake, and pick up a trifle towards; housekeeping."
A month was elapsed since Mehetabel's marriage, the month of honey
to most--one of empty comb without sweetness to her. She had drawn
no nearer to her husband than before. They had no interests, no
tastes in common. They saw all objects through a different medium.
It was not a matter of concern to Mehetabel that she was left
much alone by Jonas, and that her sister-in-law and the rest of
the squatters treated her as an interloper.
As a child, at the Ship, without associates of her own age, after
Iver's departure, she had lived much to herself, and now her soul
craved for solitude. And yet, when she was alone the thoughts of
her heart troubled her.
Jonas was attached, in his fashion, to his beautiful wife; he
joked, and was effusive in his expressions of affection. But she
did not respond to his jokes, and his demonstrations of affection
repelled her. Jonas was too dull, or vain, to perceive this, and
he attributed her coldness to modesty, real or affected, probably
the latter.
Mehetabel shrank from looking full in the face, the thought that
she must spend the rest of her life with this man. She was well
aware that she could not love him, could hardly bring herself to
like him, the utmost she could hope was that she might arrive at
enduring him.
Whilst in this condition of unrest and discouragement, Iver
appeared, and his presence lit up the desolation in which she was.
The sight of him, the sound of his voice, aroused old recollections,
helped to drive away the shadows that environed her, and that
clouded her mind. There was no harm in this, and yet she was
uneasy. Cheerful as she was when he was present, there was
something feverish in this cheerfulness, and it left her more
unhappy than before when he was gone, and more conscious of the
impossibility of accommodating herself to her lot.
The visit on one fine day was followed by another when the rain
fell heavily.
Iver entered the house, shook his wet hat and cloak, and with a
laugh, exclaimed--
"Here I am--to continue the picture."
"In such weather?"
"Little woman! When I started the wind was in the right quarter.
All at once it veered round and gave me a drenching. What odds?
You can stand at the window, and I can proceed with the figure.
It was tedious at the Ship. Between you and me and the post, I
cannot get along with the fellows who come there to drink. You
are the only person in Thursley with whom I can talk and be happy."
"Bideabout is not at home."
"I didn't come through the rain to see Bideabout, but you."
"Will you have anything to eat or drink?"
"Anything that you can give me. But I did not come for that. To
tell the truth, I don't think I'll venture on the picture. The
light is so bad. It is of no consequence. We can converse. I am
sick of public-house talk. I ran away to be with you. We are old
chums, are we not, dear Matabel?"
A fire of peat was on the hearth. She threw on skin-turf that flamed
up.
Iver was damp. His hands were clammy. His hair ends dripped. His
face was running with water. He spread his palms over the flame,
and smiled.
"And so you were tired of being at home?" she said, as she put the
turves together.
"Home is no home to me, now you are gone," was his answer.
Then, after a pause, during which he chafed his hands over the
dancing flame, he added: "I wish you were back in the old Ship. The
old Ship! It is no longer the dear old Ship of my recollections,
now that you have deserted. Why did you leave? It is strange to me
that my mother did not write and tell me that you were going to be
married. If she had done that--"
He continued drying his hands, looking dreamily into the flame,
and left the sentence incomplete.
"It is queer altogether," he pursued. "When I told her I was at
Guildford, and proposed returning, she put me off, till my father
was better prepared. She would break the news to him, see how--he
took it, and so on. I waited, heard no more, so came unsummoned,
for I was impatient at the delay. She knew I wished to hear about
you, Mattee, dear old friend and playmate. I asked in my letters
about you. You know you ceased to write, and mother labored at the
pen herself, finally. She answered that you were well--nothing
further. Why did she not tell me of your engagement? Have you any
idea, Matabel?"
She bowed over the turf, to hide her fate, but the leaping flame
revealed the color that mantled cheek, and throat, and brow. Her
heart was beating furiously.
"That marriage seems to me to have been cobbled up precious
quickly. Were you so mighty impatient to have the Broom-Squire
that you could not wait till you were twenty? A girl of eighteen
does not know her own mind. A pretty kettle of fish there will be
if you discover, when too late, that you have made a mistake, and
married the wrong man, who can never make you happy."
Mehetabel started upright, and went with heaving bosom to the
window, then drew back in surprise, for she saw the face of Mrs.
Rocliffe at the pane, her nose applied to and flattened against
the glass, and looking like a dab of putty.
She was offended at the woman's inquisitiveness, and went to the
door to inquire if she needed anything.
"Nuthin' at all," answered Sarah, with a laugh, "except to see
whether my brother was home. It's early days beginning this, I call
it."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, nuthin'."
"Iver is here," said Mehetabel, controlling herself. "Will you
please to come in?"
"But Jonas is not, is he?"
"No; he has gone to Squire Mellers about a load of stable-brooms."
"I wouldn't come in on no account," said Mrs. Rocliffe. "Two's
company, three's none," and she turned and departed.
After she had shut the door Mehetabel went hastily through the
kitchen into the scullery at the back. Her face was crimson, and
she trembled in all her joints.
Iver called to her; she answered hastily that she was engaged, and
presently, after she had put bread and cake and butter on the
table, she fled to her own room upstairs, seated herself on a
chair, and hid her burning face in her apron.
The voice of her husband below afforded sensible relief to her in
her mortification. He was speaking with Iver; cursing the weather
and his bad luck. His long tramp in the rain had been to no
purpose. The Squire, to whose house he had been, was out. She
washed her face, combed and smoothed her hair, and slowly descended
the stairs.
On seeing her Jonas launched forth in complaints, and showed
himself to be in an evil temper. He must have ale, not wish-wash
tea, fit only for old women. He would not stuff himself with cake
like a school child. He must have ham fried for him at once.
He was in an irritable mood, and found fault with his wife about
trifles, or threw out sarcastic remarks that wounded, and made
Iver boil with indignation. Jonas did not seem to bear the young
artist a grudge; he was, in fact, pleased to see him, and proposed
to him to stay the evening and have a game of cards.
It was distressing to Mehetabel to be rebuked in public, but she
made no rejoinder. Jonas had seized on the opportunity to let his
visitor see that he was not tied to his wife's apron string, but
was absolute master in his own house. The blood mounted to Iver's
brow, and he clenched his hands under the table.
To relieve the irksomeness of the situation Iver proceeded to undo
a case of his colored sketches that he had brought with him.
These water-colors were charming in their style, a style much
affected at that period; the tints were stippled in, and every
detail given with minute fidelity. The revolution in favor of
blottesque had not yet set in, and the period was happily far
removed from that of the impressionist, who veils his incapacity
under a term--an impression, and calls a daub a picture. Nature
never daubs, never strains after effects. She is painstaking,
delicate in her work, and reticent.
Whilst Mehetabel was engaged frying ham, Iver showed his drawings
to the Broom-Squire, who treated them without perception of their
beauty, and valued them solely as merchandise. But when supper was
ready, and whilst Jonas was eating, he had a more interested and
appreciative observer in Mehetabel, to whom the drawings afforded
unfeigned pleasure. In her delight she sat close to Iver; her warm
breath played over his cheek, as he held up the sketches to the
light, and pointed out the details of interest.
Once when these were minute, and she had to look closely to observe
them, in the poor light afforded by the candle, without thinking
what he was about, Iver put his hand on her neck. She started, and
he withdrew it. The action was unobserved by Bideabout, who was
engrossed in his rasher.
When Jonas had finished his meal, he thrust his plate away,
produced a pack of cards, and said--
"Here, Mr. Iver, are pictures worth all of yours. Will you come
and try your luck or skill against me? We'll have a sup of brandy
together. Matabel, bring glasses and hot-water."
Iver went to the door and looked out. The rain descended in
streams; so he returned to the table, drew up his chair and took
a hand.
When Mehetabel had washed the plates and dishes used at the meal,
she seated herself where she could see by the candle-light, took
up her needlework, and was prepared to snuff the wick as was
required.
Iver found that he could not fix his attention on the game.
Whenever Mehetabel raised her hand for the snuffers, he made a
movement to forestall her, then sometimes their eyes met, and she
lowered hers in confusion.
The artistic nature of Iver took pleasure in the beautiful; and
the features, coloring, grace of the young Broom-Squiress, were
such as pleased him and engaged his attention. He made no attempt
to analyze his feelings towards her. He was not one to probe his
own heart, nor had he the resolution to break away from temptation,
even when recognized as such. Easy-going, good-natured, impulsive,
with a spice of his mother's selfishness in his nature, he allowed
himself to follow his inclinations without consideration whither
they might lead him, and how they might affect others.
Iver's eyes, thoughts, were distracted from the game. He lost
money--five shillings, and Jonas urged him to play for higher
stakes.
Then Mehetabel laid her needlework in her lap, and said--
"No, Iver, do not. You have played sufficiently, and have lost
enough. Go home."
Jonas swore at her.
"What is that to you? We may amuse ourselves without your meddling.
What odds to you if he loses, so long as I win. I am your husband
and not he."
But Iver rose, and laughingly said:--
"Better go home with a wet jacket than with all the money run out
of my pocket. Good-night, Bideabout."
"Have another shot?"
"Not another."
"She put you up to this," with a spiteful glance at Mehetabel.
"Not a bit, Jonas. Don't you think a chap feels he's losing blood,
without being told he is getting white about the gills."
The Broom-Squire sulkily began to gather up the cards.
"What sort of a night is it, Mehetabel? Go to the door and see,"
said he.
The girl rose and opened the door.
Without, the night was black as pitch, and in the light that
issued the raindrops glittered as they fell. In the trees, in
the bushes, on the grass, was the rustle of descending rain.
"By Jove, it's worse than ever," said Iver: "lend me a lantern, or
I shall never reach home."
"I haven't one to spare," replied Bideabout; "the hogs and calves
must be tended, and the horse, Old Clutch, littered down. Best way
that you have another game with me, and you shall stay the night.
We have a spare room and bed."
"I accept with readiness," said Iver.
"Go--get all ready, Matabel. Now, then! you cut, I deal."