It is just six years ago that I first travelled the coast from
Gorrans Haven to Zoze Point.
Since then I have visited it in fair weather and foul; and in time,
perhaps, shall rival the coastguardsmen, who can walk it blindfold.
But to this day it remains in my recollection the coast I trod,
without companion, during four dark days in December. It was a rude
introduction. The wind blew in my face, with scuds of cold rain; a
leaden mist hung low on the left, and rolled slowly up Channel.
Now and then it thinned enough to reveal a white zigzag of breakers
in front, and a blur of land; or, far below, a cluster of dripping
rocks, with the sea crawling between and lifting their weed. But for
the most part I saw only the furze-bushes beside the path, each
powdered with fine raindrops, that in the aggregate resembled a coat
of grey frieze, and the puffs of spray that shot up over the cliff's
lip and drenched me.
Just beyond the Nare Head, where the path dipped steeply, a bright
square disengaged itself from the mist as I passed, and, around it,
the looming outline of a cottage, between the footpath and the sea.
A habitation more desolate than this odd angle of the coast could
hardly have been chosen; on the other hand, the glow of firelight
within the kitchen window was almost an invitation. It seemed worth
my while to ask for a drink of milk there, and find out what manner
of folk were the inmates.
An old woman answered my knock. She was tall, with a slight stoop,
and a tinge of yellow pervading her face, as if some of the
complexion had run into her teeth and the whites of her eyes.
A clean white cap, tied under the chin with tape, concealed all but
the edge of her grey locks. She wore a violet turnover, a large
wrapper, a brown stuff gown that hardly reached her ankles, and thick
worsted stockings, but no shoes.
"A drink o' milk? Why not a dish o' tea?"
"That will be troubling you," said I, a bit ashamed for feeling so
little in want of sustenance.
"Few they be that troubles us, my dear. Too few by land, an' too
many by sea, rest their dear souls! Step inside by the fire.
There's only my old man here, an' you needn't stand 'pon ceremony wi'
_he_: for he's stone-deaf an' totelin'. Isaac, you poor deaf
haddock, here's a strange body for 'ee to look at; tho' you'm past
all pomp but buryin', I reckon." She sighed as I stepped past into
the warmth.
The man she called Isaac was huddled and nodding in a chair, before
the bluish blaze of a wreck-wood fire. He met me with an incurious
stare, and began to doze again. He was clearly in the last decline
of manhood, the stage of utter childishness and mere oblivion; and
sat there with his faculties collapsed, waiting for release.
My mired boots played havoc with the neatly sanded floor; but the old
woman dusted a chair for me as carefully as if I had worn robes of
state, and set it on the other side of the hearth. Then she put the
kettle to boil, and unhitching a cup from the dresser, took a key
from it, and opened a small cupboard between the fireplace and the
wall. That which she sought stood on the top shelf and she had to
climb on a chair to reach it. I offered my help: but no--she would
get it herself. It proved to be a small green canister.
The tea that came from this canister I wish I could describe.
No sooner did the boiling water touch it than the room was filled
with fragrance. The dotard in the chair drew a long breath through
his nostrils, as though the aroma touched some quick centre in his
moribund brain. The woman poured out a cup, and I sipped it.
"Smuggled," I thought to myself; for indeed you cannot get such tea
in London if you pay fifty shillings a pound.
"You like it?" she asked. Before I could answer, a small table stood
at my elbow, and she was loading it with delicacies from the
cupboard. The contents of that cupboard! Caviare came from it, and
a small ambrosial cheese; dried figs and guava jelly; olives,
cherries in brandy, wonderful filberts glazed with sugar; biscuits
and all manner of queer Russian sweets. I leant back with wide eyes.
"Feodor sends us these," said the old woman, bringing a dish of
Cornish cream and a home-made loaf to give the feast a basis.
"Who's Feodor?"
"Feodor Himkoff." She paused a moment, and added, "He's mate on a
Russian vessel."
"A friend?"
The question went unnoticed. "Is there any you fancy?" she asked.
"Some o't may be outlandish eatin'."
"Do _you_ like these things?" I looked from her to the caviare.
"I don't know. I never tried. We keeps 'em, my man an' I, for all
poor come-by-chance folks that knocks."
"But these are dainties for rich men's tables."
"May be. I've never tasted--they'd stick in our ozels if we tried."
I wanted to ask a dozen questions, but thought it politer to accept
this strange hospitality in silence. Glancing up presently, however,
I saw her eyes still fixed on me, and laid down my knife.
"I can't help it," I said, "I want to know about Feodor Himkoff."
"There's no secret," she answered. "Leastways, there _was_ one, but
either God has condemned or forgiven afore now. Look at my man
there; he's done all the repentin' he's likely to do."