That one morning was a fair sample of all the other days. Each suspected
the other, neither would make allowances or concessions. As a
consequence, day by day the breach widened. Even Eddie, who was more
unobserving than most men, felt vaguely uncomfortable in the surcharged
atmosphere. From the first Nora realized that it was an unequal contest;
Gertie was too strongly intrenched in her position. But it was not in
her nature to refrain from administering those little thrusts, which
women know so well how to deal one another, from any motive of policy.
The question of what she should do once her brother's house became
intolerable she never permitted herself to ask.
In the needle-pricking mode of warfare she was, of course, far more
expert than her rival. But if Gertie's hand was clumsy it was also
heavy. And always in the back of her mind was the consciousness that
she, so to speak, had at least one piece of heavy artillery which she
could bring up once the enemy's fire became unendurable.
During the day, the men being out of the house except at meal time,
there was to a certain degree, a cessation of hostilities. Nora
gradually acquired some knowledge of housework. She learned to cook
fairly well and always helped with the washing, rarely complaining of
her aching arms and back. The only indication she had that she was
making progress was that Gertie complained less. Praise, of course, was
not to be expected.
At dinner the men were usually too anxious to get back to work--always
with the exception of Hornby, who according to his own highly colored
account, had been assigned the herculean task of splitting all the wood
required by the Province of Manitoba for the ensuing winter--to linger
longer than the time required for smoking a hurried pipe, so that it was
only during the long evenings that hostilities were resumed. And then,
more or less under cover.
There was one person upon whom Nora could openly vent her nervous
irritation after a long day in Gertie's society, and that was Frank
Taylor. They quarreled constantly, to the great amusement of the others.
But with him, too, she felt hopelessly at a disadvantage. He was
maddeningly sure of himself, and while he sometimes gave back thrust for
thrust, he never lost his temper. Seemingly, nothing could penetrate
his armor of good nature, nor make him comprehend that she really meant
her bitter words. Slow of movement and speech, his mind was alert
enough, and Nora had to admit to herself, although she always openly
denied it, that he had humor. To lose one's own temper in a wordy
passage at arms and find one's opponent still smiling and serene is not
a soothing experience.
Often, in the darkness of the night after she had gone to bed, she could
feel her cheek burn at the recollection that this 'ignorant clod,' as
she contemptuously called him to herself, had the power to make her feel
a weak, undisciplined child by merely never losing his self-control.
There would have been consolation in the thought that in his stupidity
he did not understand how she despised him, how infinitely beneath her
she considered him, had it not been darkened by the suspicion that he
understood perfectly well _and didn't care_.
How dared he, how dared he!
She had complained of his familiar manner to her brother a day or two
after her arrival. But he had given her neither support nor consolation.
"My dear Nora," he said, "we are not back in England. The sooner you
forget all the old notions of class and class distinctions, the happier
you'll be. They won't go here. As long as a man's straight, honest and a
worker--and Frank's all three--it doesn't make any odds whether he's
working for himself or for someone else. We're all on the same footing.
It is only due to the fact that I've had two good years in succession
that I'm not somebody's 'hired man' myself."
"Don't, Eddie, don't; you don't realize how you hurt me."
"My dear girl, I'm sorry; but I'm in dead earnest."
"You, a hired man? Oh, I can't believe it."
"It's true, nevertheless. Plenty of better fellows than I have had to do
it. When you're starting in, unless you have a good deal bigger capital
than I had, you only need to be hailed out, frosted out, or weeded out a
couple of years in succession to use up your little stake, and then
where are you?"
"What do you mean by 'weeded out'?"
He was just about to explain when a halloo from the stables cut him
short. "There's Frank now. I ought to be out helping him this minute;
we've got a good stiff drive ahead of us. You ask Gertie about it,
she'll explain it to you."
But Gertie had been deeply preoccupied with some domestic problem and
Nora had forborne to question her. She had intended returning to the
subject that evening, but Eddie and Gertie were deep in one of their
conferences until nearly bedtime. It would never have suggested itself
to her to seek any information from the objectionable Frank, so under
cover of a heated discussion between him and Trotter, she appealed to
Reggie.
"What does it mean to be weeded out?"
"Oh, Lord, I don't know! Kicked out, I suppose. Isn't there something in
the Bible about tares and wheat?"
"Nonsense; it doesn't mean that. I'd forgotten, by the way, how strong
you were on Biblical references. Do you remember your discussion about
Sarah and Benjamin with Agnes Pringle?"
"Of course I do. And I completely stumped her; don't you recollect?"
"Goose! She only wanted to make you look it up for yourself. But being
'weeded out' is something disastrous that happens to the farmers here,
like having the crops frozen."
"Well, it hasn't happened since I've been here, anyway. But I'll bet you
a bob it means kicked out. I tell you, I'll ask Gertie if she doesn't
think that I ought to be weeded out."
"You'd better not," laughed Nora.
The first open quarrel had taken place one day at dinner.
The night before Nora had proposed making her first attempt at baking
bread. Gertie had given a grudging consent. Everything had gone well
until the bread, once in the oven, Nora had gone to her room to add some
pages to a long letter which she had begun, some evenings before to
Agnes Pringle.
Gertie had been out in one of the barns most of the morning engaged in
some mysterious task which she had been reserving until the weather
became milder--there had been a decided thaw, setting in the day
before--and Nora intended to be gone only a short time.
Filled with a warm feeling of gratitude to Miss Pringle for her generous
loan of the ten-pound note, she was writing her a long letter in the
form of a diary describing her voyage across the Atlantic and the trip
across the Continent, both of which she was sure would greatly interest
her friend and furnish her with topics for her tête-à-tête dinners with
the excellent Mrs. Hubbard for some days to come.
Of the difficulties and disappointments in her new life she was resolved
to say nothing. Nora hated to confess that she had failed in anything.
And, so far, she could hardly say that she had made a success. Later
on, she might have to acknowledge that her move had been a mistake. But
for the moment she would confine herself to describing all that struck
her as novel and strange while the impression was still fresh, while she
still had the 'seeing eye.'
"When I came to the end of my last page (and I remember that I was
getting extremely sleepy at that point)," she wrote, "I had just
finished describing the exterior of my brother's house to you. I am sure
I can never do justice to the interior! You can never have seen, much
less imagined, anything in the least like it. I have decided, upon
reflection, that it is the most un-English thing I have seen yet: and I
have not forgotten those strange railway carriages either.
"Try to imagine a large room, longer than it is deep, at once
living-room, dining-room and kitchen; with nothing but rough brown
boards for walls, on which--some framed, some unframed--are the colored
supplements of the Christmas illustrated papers, both English and
American. Over one of the doors is a magnificent trophy--at least that
is what we would call it at home--I think it is a moose. I am not at all
sure, although I have been told more than once. Over another door is a
large clock, such a one as one finds in a broker's office with us. The
floor is covered with what is called oilcloth--I wonder why: it
certainly is not the least like cloth--very new and excessively shiny.
It has a conventional pattern in black and white, and when the sun
shines on it, it quite dazzles one's eyes.
"There are two windows, one to the south, the other looking west. The
western view is magnificent. I feel as if I could see straight away to
the setting sun! In the summer, when the prairie is one great waving
green sea, it must be superb. Two days ago it was covered with snow. As
I write, I can see great patches of brown every here and there, for we
have had a sudden thaw. The window sills are filled with geraniums
planted, my dear, in tins which once contained syrup, of which everyone
here, including my brother, seems extravagantly fond. The syrup jug
appears regularly at every meal and is almost the first thing put on the
table. I have yet to acquire a taste for it--which they all think
extremely queer.
"The furniture consists of two American rockers and a number of kitchen
chairs; an unvarnished deal dresser covered with earthenware;--I don't
think there are any two pieces that match!--two tables, one a dining
table; a bookcase containing a few paper-backed novels and some
magazines, none so recent, however, as those I saw before I left
England; and last and most important, an enormous American cooking
stove.
"Our principal meal, called dinner, is----"
Great heavens, her bread!
Nora dashed from her room. Gertie was standing at one of the windows in
the unwonted indulgence of a moment's leisure. Nora threw open the oven
door. It was empty.
"Oh, did you look after my loaf, Gertie? I'm so sorry; I quite forgot
it."
"Yes, I took it out a few moments ago."
She still had her face turned toward the window, so Nora did not see the
smile that curled her lip. She turned after a moment, and the two women
began to set the table for dinner.
Presently the men were heard laughing outside as they cleaned their
muddy boots on the scraper. Reggie had apparently achieved something
new. His ignorance of everything pertaining to farming furnished the
material for most of the amusement that was going. Fortunately, he was
always good-natured. Gertie, with unusual good spirits, entered into the
joke of the thing at once and even bantered Reggie playfully upon his
latest discovery.
Nora did not even hear what it was all about. She was searching for the
bread plate which always stood on the dresser.
"Why, Gertie, I----"
"It's all right," said Gertie, without looking up from pouring the tea.
"I took it. I'll get it in a minute. Come, sit down."
Nora obeyed.
Hornby was just about to begin his explanation for whatever it was he
had done, when Eddie interrupted him:
"Hold on a minute, Reg. I want some bread. I declare you two girls are
getting to be as bad as Reggie, here. Setting a table without bread!"
"I was keeping it for a surprise," said Gertie, getting up slowly. "I
want you to appreciate the fact that Nora helped me by doing the baking
this morning." Nora's face flushed with pleasure as her brother patted
her on the shoulder with evident approval. She looked at Gertie with
eyes shining with gratitude. At that moment she came nearer liking her
sister-in-law than she ever was to again.
Gertie went slowly across the room--she usually moved with nervous
quickness--and picking up the missing bread plate from where it was
leaning against the wall behind the stove went into the little pantry
that gave off the kitchen. Slowly she returned and stood beside her
husband's chair. On the plate, burned almost to a cinder, was the loaf
of bread that Nora had forgotten.
"Here it is," said Gertie. Her smile was cruel.
"Oh, I say, Gertie, that's too bad of you." It was Frank who spoke.
"Too bad!" Nora sprung to her feet with flashing eyes. "Too bad. It's
mean and despicable. There are no words to do it justice. But what could
I expect from----"
"Nora!" said her brother sharply.
Nora rushed from the table to her room. And although Eddie knocked
repeatedly at her door and begged her to let him speak with her if only
for a moment that evening at supper-time, she made no sign nor did
anyone see her again that night.
She made a point of not coming down to breakfast the next morning until
after the time when the men would be gone. She thought it best to meet
Gertie alone. It was time that they came to some sort of understanding.
To her surprise and annoyance Taylor was still at the table. Gertie was
nowhere to be seen.
"Come down to keep me company? That's real nice of you, I'm sure."
"I supposed, naturally, that you had gone. You usually have at this
hour."
"You don't know how it flatters a fellow to have women folks study his
habits like that," he said with a grin.
"I knew that my brother had left the house, since I saw him go. I took
it for granted that all his employees left when he did. Let me assure
you, once and for all, that your habits are of no possible interest to
me."
Taylor put on his hat and went to the door. Just as he was about to open
it, he changed his mind and came back to the table where Nora had seated
herself and stood leaning on the back of his chair looking down at her.
"It's all right for us to row," he said, "but if I were you I'd go a
little easy with Gertie. She's all right and a good sort at bottom, you
can take it from me. Yesterday, I admit she was downright nasty. I guess
you rile her up more than she's used to. But I want to see you two get
on."
"It's my turn to feel flattered," said Nora sarcastically.
"Well, so long," he said with undiminished good humor as he went out.
Gertie appeared almost at once from the pantry.
"I heard what he said. I couldn't help it. He was right--about us both.
We don't hit it off. But I'm willing to give it another try."
"I have little choice but to agree with you," said Nora bitterly.
"Well, that's hardly the way to begin," retorted Gertie angrily.
There was a certain air of restraint about them ail when they came in to
dinner. Eddie looked both worried and anxious. But as he saw that the
two women were going about their duties much the same as usual, he
argued that the storm had blown over and brightened visibly.
The men had pushed back their chairs and were preparing to light their
after-dinner pipes.
"We'll be able to start on the ironing this afternoon," said Gertie,
addressing Nora for the first time since breakfast.
"Very well."
"I say," said Trotter, who rarely ventured on a remark while at the
table, "it was a rare big wash you done this morning by the look of it
on the line."
"When she's been out in this country a bit longer, Nora'll learn not to
wear more things than she can help," said Gertie.
As a matter of fact, she had no intention of criticising Nora at the
moment. She meant, merely, that she would be more economical with
experience. But Nora was in the mood to take fire at once.
"Was there more than my fair share?" she asked sharply.
"You use double the number of stockings than what I do. And everything
else is the same."
"I see. Clean but incompetent."
"There's many a true word spoken in jest," said Gertie with angry
emphasis.
"Say, Reg," Taylor broke in hastily, "is it true that when you first
came out you asked Ed where the bath-room was?"
"That's right," laughed Trotter. "Ed told 'im there was a river a mile
and a 'alf from 'ere, an' that was the only bath-room 'e knowed."
"One gets used to that sort of thing, eh, Reg?" said Marsh
good-naturedly.
"Ra-ther. If I saw a proper bath-room _now_, it would only make me feel
nervous."
"I knew a couple of Englishmen out in British Columbia," broke in
Taylor, "who were bathing, and the only other people around were
Indians. The first two years they were there, they wouldn't have
anything to do with the Indians because they were so dirty. After that
the Indians wouldn't have anything to do with them."
He pointed this delectable anecdote by holding his nose.
"What a disgusting story!" said Nora.
"D'you think so? I rather like it."
"_You_ would."
"Now don't start quarreling, you two. And on Frank's last day."
Nora gave her brother a quick glance. It was on the tip of her tongue to
ask what he meant by Frank's last day, but seeing that Taylor was
watching her with an amused smile, she held her tongue. Getting up, she
began clearing away the table.
Hornby, ramming the tobacco into his pipe, went over to the corner by
the stove, where Gertie was scalding out her large dishpan, and tried to
interest her in the number of logs he had split since breakfast, without
conspicuous success.
Trotter stood looking out of the window, while Marsh stretched himself
lazily in one of the rocking chairs with a sigh of content. Things were
beginning to shake down a little better. There had been a time yesterday
when he feared that everything was off. He knew Nora's temper of old and
he knew his wife's jealous fear of her criticism. It would take some
rubbing to wear off the sharp corners. But things were coming out all
right, after all. They'd soon be working together like a well-broken
team. Gertie had been nasty about the bread. But apparently everything
was patched up. And with Frank once gone, and the new chap--a man of the
Trotter type, who would never obtrude himself--he foresaw that
everything would run on wheels, an idea dear to his peace-loving soul.
Not that he was not sorry to lose Frank. In the first place, he liked
him, and then he was a good, steady, hard-working fellow, one of the
kind you didn't have to stand over. But, naturally, he wanted to get
back to his own place, now that he had saved up a bit. Every man liked
being his own master.
Taylor alone had remained at his place at the table. Nora had cleared
away everything except the dishes at his place. She never went near him
if she could avoid it.
"I guess I'm in your way," he said, rising.
"Not more than usual, thank you."
Taylor gave a little laugh.
"I guess you'll not be sorry to see the last of me."
Nora paused in her work, and leaning on the table with both hands,
looked him steadily in the face.
"I can't honestly say that it makes the least difference to me whether
you go or stay," she said coldly.
"When does your train go, Frank?" asked Hornby from his corner.
"Half-past three; I'll be starting from here in about an hour."
"Reg can go over with you and drive the rig back again," said Marsh.
"All right. I'll go and dress myself in a bit."
"I guess you'll be glad to get back to your own place," said Gertie
warmly.
She had always liked Frank Taylor--a man who worked hard and earned his
money. She did not begrudge him a cent of it, nor the pleasure he had in
the thought of getting back to his own place. He was the kind of man who
should set up for himself.
"Well, I guess I'll not be sorry." He sat looking out of the window with
a sort of dreamy air, as if seeing far to the westward his own land.
So that was the reason for his going. He had a place of his own. He was
only a hired man for the moment. Eddie had told her that a man
frequently had to hire out after a succession of bad seasons. What of
it? His keeping it to himself was the crowning impertinence!