THE MISGIVINGS OF ALIDA
At the house in the garden the new servants stood ready, neat and
smiling. My father had written to a Protestant pastor at Grenoble to
send him two maids of his religion. Accordingly two sisters had arrived,
Claire and Hermance Tessier, reliable pleasant-faced girls with no
family ties in Aramon and with the difference of religion to keep them
apart from indiscriminate gossipry. The wing of the house where they
were to sleep had formed a part of the wall, possibly even it may have
been an ancient gateway in the time of the Montmorencies. My father had
joined it to the main building by a flying bridge of iron roofed with
zinc--which was Dennis Deventer's own private contribution to Garden
Cottage. I had warned him of the nocturnal habits of Linn and her
husband, and he agreed with me that while for Alida's sake they must be
served according to the French fashion, they need not be deprived of the
nightly freedom of their own house which was their greatest luxury.
So at the Cottage door we judged it best to leave them. Rhoda Polly and
her mother drove home. My father and I withdrew, I to my den, he to his
study. If the new tenants of the Garden Cottage had any changes to make
or any fault to find with what had been prepared for them, the
alterations could be done quietly and by degrees. Besides, the pale face
of Alida haunted me and I thought that a night's rest would be for her
the surest medicine.
But the general joyousness of the journey up the hill was our best hope
that all would be well. The Bey was gay. Even Linn relaxed when she saw
the noble prospect of the blue Rhone and the little white and green
house among the laurels, walled in like a fortress. Hand in hand but
silent Rhoda Polly sat beside Alida as the coachman drove over the
bridge and up the winding road, St. Andre looming up a crenellated wall
of red and gold above them.
This was the beginning of a wonderful week which, lived in the unseen
and unsuspected shadow of disaster, now shines the brighter for the
contrast with what was to come after. The last week of the theatres and
baths of Pompeii was not more memorable, and we who sunned ourselves
upon the limestone slopes of Mont St. Andre thought as little of the
future as the many tinted crowd of merry-makers who thronged the beaches
between the city gate and the white sands of Torre del Greco.
They came on the 11th of March, and one week after fell the 18th, a date
ever memorable in the history of the cities of France.
Yet how much happiness did we manage to put in between the one day and
the other.
Next morning, that is on the 12th, I was up early, so early that no one
was visible about the Garden Cottage except the two Grenoble maids, who
had settled down to their duties as if they had been on the spot for
months. They were indeed lucky, for few new _bonnes_ come to so clean a
house--"shining like a soldier's button," averred Claire.
Linn and her husband had doubtless spent the night in making an
exhaustive survey of the dwelling, and Linn especially would be full of
discoveries. At present they were retired in their own chamber, dozing
doubtless, after their long nocturnal expeditions, and also probably
because after the awakening of the maids they felt the house no more
their own.
It was a morning when the chill gusting of the mistral wind hurtled and
raved about St. Andre. I had already made friends with the sisters
Tessier, of whom Claire was housemaid and Hermance cook. Rhoda Polly had
introduced us and that curious and almost affectionate regard which
springs up between good servants and friends of the house soon made my
visits very agreeable to them.
They asked counsels of me--as for example, how Monsieur liked his
coffee, if Madame was more set upon the kitchen or the "lingerie," and
how best to serve Mademoiselle, who, as they had been given to
understand (probably by Linn), was of chief standing in the house.
I told them that they needed no more than to be good brave girls and all
would go well. But I warned them that both Madame and her husband had
been accustomed to many things in the wild countries where they had
dwelt, which would be looked upon as strange by a burgher who had never
set a head outside his own wall.
I prepared them for the Bey's occasional absences, and for Linn's
restless wanderings and perpetual rangings of cupboards. They were quite
contented, thanked me blithely, and Claire took up the morning breakfast
of rolls and _cafe au lait_ with shining success. All that she had to
tell when she came down was that Mademoiselle had asked her to rub her
feet in order to awaken her.
Whereupon I pointed the not unuseful moral that what I had said applied
to Mademoiselle also. She had spent her childhood in Africa and though
the best and sweetest lady in the world, might do or ask for things that
need not be repeated outside the house. The Tessiers quite saw the
necessity.
"They are all tattlers in the south," said Claire, "I have heard it from
my friend who had service here. It is different at Nimes or Grenoble,
where the families are mostly Protestant."
They knew somehow that my father had once been a _pasteur_ and they had
all the Scottish weakness for a "son of the manse."
When at last Linn began to make her presence heard in the upper story, I
retreated without being discovered, extremely satisfied with my
diplomacy. After all, this transplantation was a hazardous experiment,
and all who had taken part in the business must see to it that the
little foxes did not spoil the vineyard by any side entrance.
I had scarcely begun my task of writing for the day, when I was called
from my desk by a message from Alida. It was a cunningly folded note,
sealed with the great seal which had been her father's. The bright
splash of red wax occupied quite a third of the back. So, not to tear
the paper, I laid it a moment on the hob, and then with the thinnest
blade of my knife, I lifted it cleanly away in one piece. After which I
unfolded the rustling sheet.
"Come and see me before anyone else."
That was all and indeed quite enough, for with quick beating pulses I
hastened to obey. Linn was waiting for me at the first turn of the
wooded path, and as we paced along together towards Garden Cottage I
could feel the "gleg" inquisitorial eyes of Saunders McKie boring into
my back. I wished Linn had sent over one of the Tessiers on this first
occasion, but I do not suppose it ever occurred to her to let another do
for Alida what she could do herself.
The Bey was within the walled garden, pacing up and down, revolving in
his mind something which pleased him but little.
"What is it, Keller Bey?" I asked sharply. "Do you not find yourself
comfortable among us?"
"Too comfortable by half," he grunted, "here are many things which must
have cost much money, and yet I am told by Alida that they are presents
of welcome for which I must not pay--whereupon, of course, Linn agrees
with her, and I who was the right hand of Abd-el-Kader and thought
myself indebted to no man, am made in my own eyes a veritable pauper!"
"Keller Bey," I said, "you speak in ignorance of our English customs. At
a house-warming or the taking possession of a new residence, all your
friends are under obligation to bring their contribution to the home. It
is our way of wishing you good luck and a happy tenancy. Nothing could
be more unfortunate than any offer of payment for such a service."
"Yes--yes--I understand," he broke in testily, "I suppose I have been
too long among the black tents. I learn your ways with difficulty. I am
sure every one means well, but how am I to do all that thanking? Can I
bow backs at my age and say grace for what I would rather have done
without?"
"You cannot," I said, laughing at his perturbed face, "for we do not
tell the name of the givers lest it should bring ill-luck. But where is
Alida?"
Alida, it seemed, was in the pleasant gable parlour which, with so much
anxious forethought, we had fitted up for her. She had been arranging
her books on the shelves, and was now going from picture to picture and
from window to window.
She gave me both hands when she saw me and said immediately, "Angoos,
who would have thought that we had among us at Autun such an observant
boy! You have reproduced my room there with hardly a change, save the
pictures and the pottery. Has your father let them to us along with the
house?"
"No," I said, "they are loving gifts from Madame Deventer, and as for
the arrangement, Rhoda Polly did that, questioning me as she went, and
forcing me to recall exactly whether I would or not."
"I sent for you," said Alida, "to tell me all about this family who have
been so kind, so that I may make no mistake. And first, why did only the
women come?--where was Monsieur Hugh, who dwelt with us at Autun?"
I explained to her the mystery of a great factory, where were thousands
of men all doing different things, and how Hugh, though but a small
wheel in such a mechanism, could not leave his post at will without
interfering with the work of many others.
I sketched rough, strong, imperious Dennis to her. Rhoda Polly purposely
somewhat vague, because I knew that she would soon enough find out about
Rhoda Polly for herself. But I made word cameos of Hannah and Liz and
concluded with a full-length portrait of Mrs. Deventer, in whom I hoped
(though I took care not to say so) Alida would find the mother her youth
had lacked.
She listened with lowered eyes and a silent attention as if she were
weighing every word.
"Yes," she said, "I shall like them all. I feel sure--or almost."
Then she asked suddenly, "Does Rhoda Polly sing? Can she play?"
"In a way," I answered lamely enough; "she has had the usual lessons
before she went to college, but her voice has never been trained."
"Is she very clever?"
"Yes, at driving nails, hanging pictures, laying down carpets, and
getting a house ready--I never saw anyone to match her."
"But I mean--she is very learned--will she look down upon me who have to
step carefully among abysses of ignorance?"
"Alida," I said earnestly, "she is likely to spoil you far more than is
good for you. The others will do so also, but you will find that Rhoda
Polly will win your heart more than all of us put together."
"I do not think so," said Alida composedly.
And then, struck by the astonishment in my face, she continued, "I shall
not like her if you praise her so much!"
"Do not be foolish, Alida," I said, "you should have heard me praising
you to Rhoda Polly when I got back from Autun. It took me nearly one
whole day, and ever since she has been painting, varnishing, and
scrubbing, that the nest should be worthy of such a bird of Paradise as
I described."
"Oh, I know," pouted Alida, "she is infinitely better than I, more
unselfish, and--and--you love her!"
"She is certainly more unselfish," I said, firing up; "you have yet to
learn what the word means. Perhaps that partly explains your charm, but
all the same you must love Rhoda Polly."
"Because _you_ do?"
I was tempted to deny my gods and declare that I did not love Rhoda
Polly, when the remembrance of a particular smear on her nose one day of
mutual paintwork on opposite sides of a fireplace, and a way she had of
throwing her head back to toss the blonde curls out of her eyes, stopped
me.
"Of course I love Rhoda Polly, and so will you (and more than I love
her) when your eyes are opened!"
And with that I left Alida to digest the fact of her own selfishness. At
the time I considered myself a kind of hero for having so spoken. Now I
am not so sure. She was what Keller and Linn had made her, and I ought
to have remembered the snubs and rebuffs which she must have suffered
from Sous-Prefecture dames and other exacting though respectable ladies
of Autun.
* * * * *
This week held many other matters and the seeds of more. Rhoda Polly
came to take Alida out in her mother's Victoria, and spent a long day in
the garden instead, sending back the coachman to be ready to take Mrs.
Deventer to the works to drive her husband home to lunch, as was her
daily custom.
I do not know what the girls said to one another. I kept out of the way,
but when I came into the dining-room with my father a little before
noon, I was certain that Alida had been crying and that Rhoda Polly had
been dabbing her eyes with hasty inexperienced fingers.
I thought this no ill sign of coming friendship, and indeed it was not
an hour before I received a first confidence on the subject from Alida.
"She is all you say and more. She makes me so ashamed of myself!"
"So she does me!" I answered, thinking of my dealings with Jeanne and
our walk home from the restaurant of Mere Felix.
Alida held out her hand quickly.
"Does she make you feel that too?--I am glad," she said, and smiled
gratefully like a child consoled.
Then came Rhoda Polly's mother, and my father, who had been talking to
Rhoda Polly by the sundial, rose and with a word and smile excused
himself and went indoors. The interview that followed I should have
loved well to watch and hear. But after all I doubt if any great part of
the gentle influences which rained from Mrs. Deventer could have been
written down. No stenographer could take note of those captivating
intonations, the soft subtle pauses of speech, the lingering tender
understanding in her motherly eyes, the way she had of laying her hand
upon Alida's.
She had been a counsellor to many, and had never forgotten a sore heart
even when healed, nor told a tale out of that gracious confessional.
Certain it is that the conquest of Alida was soon made, in so far as
Mrs. Deventer could make it. They saw each other every day, and the
sight of Rhoda Polly and Alida striking across the big bridge with the
wind right in their faces--or of Alida, with Linn, like a gaunt
watch-dog, thrusting a combative shoulder into the mistral to fend a way
for her charge--became familiar on the windy sidewalks of the great
suspension bridge.
All went as we could have wished it, till one day I took the Bey across
to go over the works. Dennis Deventer was to afford enough time to
conduct us in person. It was no small honour, for visitors were
generally either refused altogether, or handed over to Jack Jaikes with
instructions that they should see as little as possible.
I was wholly at ease about the meeting of the Bey and Dennis Deventer.
Two such fighters, I thought, could not but be delighted with one
another.
I was only partly right. They met with mutual respect. Dennis had been
in Algeria at a more recent date than the Bey, and could give news of
deaths of chiefs, of successions disputed and consequently bloody, and
of all the tangled politics of the South Oran.
But once in the hum and turmoil of the works, the power-straps running
overhead like lightning flashes, the spinning lathes, the small busy
mechanisms installed on tables and set going by tiny levers, the Bey's
attention wandered. Instead of attending to the wonderful fittings and
the constant jingle of the finished parts, he seemed to search out each
man's face, in a manner to compel their attention. Usually when a
visitor goes round with the "chief," the men make it a point of honour
to turn away their eyes almost disdainfully. But it was different with
the personally conducted trip of Keller Bey. At him the men gazed with
sudden evident respect, and we were not half-way through the first room
before the whisper of our coming ran far ahead of us through the
workshops.
I could see nothing about Keller Bey to explain this sudden interest. He
did not make masonic signs with his hands. He hardly spoke a word. He
never looked at the men who were devouring him with their eyes. All I
could see was that he wore the red tie habitual to him, clasped by a
little pin made of two crossed standards drooped upon their _hampes_,
one red with rubies and the other formed of black diamonds. It was the
only jewellery Keller Bey ever wore and naturally, since I had never
seen him without it, it seemed a part of him like his collar-stud or his
sleeve-links.
Dennis Deventer, who never missed anything in the works, noted the men's
behaviour, but continued his exposition of the secret of preventing the
jamming of the mitrailleuses.
"I am a little late with my invention," he said, "I shall have to wait
for the next war to make my demonstration complete."
"You may not have to wait so long as you think!" said the Bey quietly.
"Had you not a little private war of your own a month ago?"
The time was so ill chosen as to make Keller's reference almost a
disaster. There were men within earshot who had driven the troops of the
Republic out of Aramon, perhaps even some who had assaulted the house of
the Chief Director.
"We had some little trouble like other folks," said Dennis Deventer
lightly, "but we have forgotten all about that!"
"Ah!" said the Bey reflectively, as they passed on. In the big gun
foundry a huge Hercules of a fellow, naked to the waist, thrust his way
through the little crowd about us, seized Keller Bey by the hand,
murmured something to us unintelligible. The Bey took no notice beyond
nodding briefly to the man. Then turning to Deventer he continued
unconcernedly, "About that feeding gear, you were saying----?"
But Dennis Deventer looked at Keller Bey curiously.
"Did you know that man?" he asked earnestly.
"No, I never set eyes on him before," said the Bey carelessly as before;
"is there anything against him?"
"Not exactly," replied Deventer, "but he is one of the most dangerous
men in the works--almost as strong in body as I am myself, and much
listened to by the men. I wish I could say he leads them wisely."
Keller Bey shook his head gravely, but except repeating that he knew
nothing whatever about the foundryman, he uttered no word of excuse or
commendation. However, Dennis Deventer was in no mind to let him off so
easily.
"You are having such a success among the men as I never saw the like of,
and would not have believed if I had not seen with my own eyes. Have you
been to St. Etienne or Creusot? Many of our fellows come from there. It
is possible that they may recognise you."
"I have never been in either place in my life," said Keller Bey simply,
and so cut off discussion.
But I could see that a doubt remained and brooded upon the spirit of
Dennis Deventer. He brought the visit abruptly and rather
disappointingly to a close, by saying that there was a man waiting for
him in his office. But as men were always waiting to see Dennis Deventer
at any hour of the day, his taking himself off must have been an excuse.
I felt vaguely to blame. Indeed, I was wholly at sea, the more so when
just outside the great gates of the Small Arms Company's yards Keller
was met by half a dozen workmen of a superior sort, who saluted him
respectfully and asked for a private interview.
I said I should go and wait for him at the bridge-end, and he kept me
waiting for an hour and a half, which I would much rather have spent
with Rhoda Polly. Keller Bey was altogether too much of a responsibility
in Aramon-les-Ateliers. If he had further visits to pay on this side, he
could find his way himself, so far as I was concerned. I would not waste
a whole morning only to get myself suspected by Rhoda Polly's father.
I sat down on the parapet and watched the drowsy _douaniers_ at the
receipt of custom, or the still drowsier fishermen dropping baited lines
into a seven-knot current, which banked itself up and then swirled high
between the piers.
And lazying thus in the sunshine, I cast my mind over many things, but
particularly I thought of Hugh. Had I indeed lost Hugh Deventer? Why was
he no longer my faithful confidant and comrade as of old? Had we gone
together to the wars, slept under one blanket, only to bring about this
separation? Even to-day I had not seen him. Had he of set purpose hid
himself away?
Certainly he was no more the dreamily affectionate companion, a little
slow in comprehension but rapid and accurate in execution, upon whose
thews and muscles I had been wont to depend. Hugh Deventer was lost to
me. More than that, he could hardly any more be said to belong to the
family circle at Chateau Schneider. He had furnished a room for himself
down at the works, where he read and slept. His meals were cooked by the
wife of the chief night-watchman and at home no one was surprised. For
the Deventers were, even before coming of age, in fact as soon as they
had left school, a law to themselves. And I think that Dennis was
secretly pleased at his boy's setting up for himself.
But I knew that Hugh was not driven by any noble desire for
independence. Sitting there in the warm sun which beat upon the bridge
parapet, I set aside one possible cause for our estrangement after
another.
It was not on account of Jeanne or Rhoda Polly. No jealousy possessed
Hugh Deventer because I sat at his father's table far oftener than he
did. One reason only could explain all the circumstances. He had been at
Autun and had supposed that Alida's idea of coming to the Garden Cottage
had originated with me. Evidently he had resented this, and since our
return he had kept himself, in all save the most formal fashion, apart
from all the rejoicing over the new tenants.
Obviously he must consider himself in love with Alida, which was, of
course, wholly natural and within his right. But why vent his humour
upon me? I could not make Alida return his love, and certainly sulking
in the holes and corners of a factory would do nothing to soften the
heart of that imperious little lady. He had indeed become little more
than a memory to Alida.
"I don't think Hugh likes me," she said, more than once. "He never comes
to see me--not even to tell me how selfish I am!"