Mrs PARTRIDGE LENDS A HAND
Since ten o'clock in the morning the large house, standing in its own
grounds, had been invaded by a swarm of dealers, hook-nosed and
ferret-eyed, prying into every corner, searching each lot for hidden
faults, judging at a glance the actual value of every piece of
furniture, their blood stirred with the hereditary joy in chaffering,
for an auction is as full of surprises as a battle, the prices rising
and falling according to the temper of the crowd. And they watched one
another with crafty eyes that had long lost the power to see anything
but the faults and defects in the property of others. Those who had
commissions from buyers marked the chosen lots in their catalogue with
a stumpy pencil.
Mother Jenkins was one of these. She was the auctioneer's scavenger,
snapping up the dishonoured, broken remnants disdained by the others,
buying for a song the job lots on the way to the rubbish-heap. All was
fish that came to her net, for her second-hand shop in Bathurst Street
had taught her to despise nothing that had an ounce of wear left in it.
Her bids never ran beyond a few shillings, but to-day she had an
important commission, twenty pounds to lay out on the furnishing of
three rooms for a married couple. These were her windfalls. Sometimes
she got a wedding order, and furnished the house out of her amazing
collection, supplemented by her bargains at the next auction sale.
This had brought her to the sale early, for the young couple, deciding
to furnish in style, had exhausted her resources by demanding
wardrobes, dressing-tables, and washstands with marble tops.
The young woman with the mop of red hair followed on her heels, amazed
by the luxury of the interior harmonized in a scheme of colour. Her
day-dreams, coloured by the descriptions of ducal mansions in penny
novelettes, came suddenly true. And she lingered before carved
cabinets, strange vases like frozen rainbows, and Oriental tapestry
with the instinctive delight in luxury planted in women.
But Mother Jenkins had no time to spare. She had found the very thing
for Pinkey, and led the way to the servants' quarters, hidden at the
back of the house. Pinkey's visions of grandeur fled at the sight.
The rooms were small, and a sour smell hung on the air, the peculiar
odour of servants' rooms where ventilation is unknown. Pinkey
recognized the curtains and drapes at a glance, the pick of a suburban
rag-shop. One room was as bare as a prison cell, merely a place to
sleep in, but the next was royally furnished with a wardrobe,
toilet-table, and washstand, solid and old-fashioned like the
generation it had outlived. By its look it had descended in regular
stages from the bedrooms of the family to the casual guests' room and
then to the servants. But Pinkey had seen nothing so beautiful at
home, and her heart swelled at the thought of possessing such genteel
furniture. Mother Jenkins explained that with a lick of furniture
polish they would look as good as new, but Pinkey's only fear was that
they would be too expensive. Then the dealer reckoned that she could
get the lot for seven pounds. The only rivals she feared were women
who, if they set their heart on anything, sometimes forced the price up
till you could buy it for less in the shop.
Meanwhile the sale had begun, and in the distance Pinkey could hear the
monotonous voice of the auctioneer forcing the bids up till he reached
the limit. From time to time there was a roar of laughter as he
cracked a joke over the heads of his customers. The buyers stood
wedged like sardines in the room, craning their necks to see each lot
as it was put up. As the crowd moved from room to room, Pinkey's
excitement increased. Mother Jenkins had gone to the kitchen, where she
always found a few pickings. She came back and found Pinkey's husband,
the young man with the ugly face and dancing eyes, who was waiting
outside with the cart, watching while Pinkey polished a corner of the
wardrobe to show him its quality. She hurried them down to the kitchen
to examine the linoleum on the floor, as it would fit their
dining-room, if the worn parts were cut out.
The crowd moved like a mob of sheep into the servants rooms, standing
in each other's way, tired of the strain on their attention. Mother
Jenkins whispered that things would go cheap because the auctioneer was
in a hurry to get to his lunch. Pinkey stood behind her, ready to poke
her in the ribs if she wished her to keep on bidding.
"Now, gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "lot one hundred and
seventy-five. Duchesse wardrobe, dressing-table with bevelled mirrors,
and marble-top washstand, specially imported from England by Mrs
Harper. What am I offered?"
"Specially imported from England?" cried a dealer. "Yes, came out in
the first fleet."
"What's that?" cried the auctioneer. "Thank you for telling me, Mr
Isaacs." And he began again: "What offer for this solid ash bedroom
suite, imported in the first fleet, guaranteed by Mr Isaacs, who was in
leg-irons and saw it."
There was a roar of laughter at the dealer's discomfiture.
"Now, Mr Isaacs, how much are you going to bid, for old times' sake?"
cried the auctioneer, pushing his advantage. But Isaacs had turned
sulky.
"A pound," said Mother Jenkins.
"No, mother, you don't mean it," cried the auctioneer, grinning.
"That'll leave you nothing to pay your tram fare home." But he went on:
"I'm offered a pound for this solid ash bedroom suite that cost thirty
guineas in London."
The bids crawled slowly up to six pounds.
"It's against you, mother," cried the auctioneer; "don't let a few
shillings stand in the way of your getting married. I knew the men
couldn't leave you alone with that face. Thank you, six-five."
The old hag showed her toothless gums in a hideous smile, the woman
that was left in the dried shell still tickled at the reference to
marriage. But her look changed to one of intense pain as Pinkey,
trembling with excitement, nudged her violently in the ribs as a signal
to keep on bidding. However, there was no real opposition, and the
bidding stopped suddenly at seven pounds, forced up to that price by a
friend of Mother Jenkins's to increase her commission.
In the kitchen the auctioneer lost his temper, and knocked down to
Mother Jenkins enough pots and pans to last Pinkey a lifetime for ten
shillings before the others could get in a bid. Chook, who had
borrowed Jack Ryan's cart for the day, drove off with his load in
triumph, while Pinkey went with Mother Jenkins to her shop in Bathurst
Street to sort out her curtains, bed-linen, and crockery from that
extraordinary collection. Twenty pounds would pay for the lot, and
leave a few shillings over.
One Saturday morning, two years ago, Pinkey had set out for the factory
as usual, and had come home to dinner with her wages in her
handkerchief and a wedding ring on her finger. Mrs Partridge gave up
novelettes for a week when she learned that her stepdaughter had
married Chook that morning at the registry office. Partridge had taken
the news with a look that had frightened the women; the only sign of
emotion that he had given was to turn his back without a word on his
favourite daughter. Since then they had lived with Chook's mother, as
he had no money to furnish; but last month Chook had joined a syndicate
of three to buy a five-shilling sweep ticket, which, to their
amazement, drew a hundred-pound prize. With Chook's share they had
decided to take Jack Ryan's shop in Pitt Street just round the corner
from Cardigan Street. It was a cottage that had been turned into a
shop by adding a false front to it. The rent, fifteen shillings a
week, frightened Chook, but he reserved ten pounds to stock it with
vegetables, and buy the fittings from Jack Ryan, who had tried to
conduct his business from the bar of the nearest hotel, and failed. If
the money had run to Jack's horse and cart, their fortunes would have
been made.
Mrs Partridge's wanderings had ended with the marriage of Pinkey. Only
once had she contrived to move, and the result had frightened her, for
William had mumbled about his lost time in his sleep. And she had
lived in Botany Street for two years, a stone's throw from the new shop
in Pitt Street. She remembered that Chook had helped to move her
furniture in at their first meeting, and, not liking to be out-done in
generosity, resolved to slip round after tea and lend a hand. She
knew, if any woman did, the trouble of moving furniture and setting it
straight. She prepared for her labours by putting on her black silk
blouse and her best skirt, and as William was anchored by the fireside
with the newspaper, she decided to wear her new hat with the ostrich
feathers, twenty years too young for her face, which she had worn for
three months on the quiet out of regard for William's feelings, for it
had cost the best part of his week's wages, squeezed out in shillings
and sixpences, the price of imaginary pounds of tea, butter, and
groceries.
She found Chook with his mouth full of nails, hanging pictures at five
shillings the pair; Pinkey, dishevelled, sweating in beads, covered
with dust, her sleeves tucked up to the elbows, ordering Chook to raise
or lower the picture half an inch to increase the effect. It was some
time before Mrs Partridge could find a comfortable chair where she ran
no risk of soiling her best clothes, but when she did she smiled
graciously on them, noting with intense satisfaction Pinkey's stare of
amazement at the black hat, twenty years too young for her face.
"I thought I'd come round and give you a hand," she explained.
"Thanks, Missis," said Chook, thankful for even a little assistance.
Pinkey stared again at the hat, and Mrs Partridge felt a momentary
dissatisfaction with life in possessing such a hat without the right to
wear it in public. In half an hour Chook and Pinkey had altered the
position of everything in the room under the direction of Mrs
Partridge, who sat in her chair like a spectator at the play. At last
they sat down exhausted and Mrs Partridge, who felt as fresh as paint,
gave them her opinion on matrimony and the cares of housekeeping. But
Pinkey, unable to sit in idleness among this beautiful furniture, got
to work with her duster.
"Ah," said Mrs Partridge, "it's natural to take a pride in the bit of
furniture you start with, but when you've been through the mill like I
'ave, you'll think more of your own comfort. There was yer Aunt Maria
wore 'er fingers to the bone polishing 'er furniture on the
time-payment plan, an' then lost it all through the death of 'er
'usband, an' the furniture man thanked 'er kindly fer keepin' it in
such beautiful order when 'e took it away. An' Mrs Ross starved
'erself to buy chairs an' sofas, which she needed, in my opinion, being
too weak to walk about; an' then 'er 'usband dropped a match, an' they
'ad the best fire ever seen in the street, an' 'ave lived in lodgings
ever since."
"That's all right," said Chook uneasily, "but this ain't time-payment
furniture, an' I ain't goin' ter sling matches about like some people
sling advice."
"That's very true," said Mrs Partridge, warming up to her subject, "but
there's no knowin' 'ow careless yer may git when yer stomach's
undermined with bad cookin'."
"Wot rot ye're talkin'!" cried Chook. "Mother taught her to cook a
fair treat these two years. She niver got anythin' to practise on in
your 'ouse."
"That's true," said Mrs Partridge, placidly. "I was never one to
poison meself with me own cooking. When I was a girl I used ter buy a
penn'orth of everythin', peas-pudden, saveloys, pies, brawn, trotters,
Fritz, an' German sausage. Give me the 'am shop, an' then I know who
ter blame, if anythin' goes wrong with me stomach."
Chook gave his opinion of cookshops.
"Ah well," said Mrs Partridge, "what the eye doesn't see the 'eart
doesn't grieve over, as the sayin' is! An' that reminds me. Elizabeth
suffers from 'er 'eart, an' that means a doctor's bill which I could
never understand the prices they charge, knowin' plenty as got better
before the doctor could cure 'em an' so takin' the bread out of 'is
mouth, as the sayin' is. Though I make it my business to be very
smooth with them as might put somethin' nasty in the medsin an' so
carry you off, an' none the wiser, as the sayin' is."
"'Ere, this ain't a funeral," cried Chook, in disgust.
"An' thankful you ought ter be that it ain't," cried Mrs Partridge,
"after what I read in the paper only last week about people bein'
buried alive oftener than dead, an' fair gave me the creeps thinkin' I
could see the people scratchin' their way out of the coffin, an'
sittin' on a tombstone with nuthin' but a sheet round 'em. It would
cure anybody of wantin' ter die. I've told William to stick pins in me
when my time comes."
"Anybody could tell w'en you're dead," said Chook.
"Why, 'ow?" cried Mrs Partridge, eagerly.
"Yer'll stop gassin' about yerself," cried Chook, roughly.
Mrs Partridge started to smile, and then stopped. It dawned slowly on
her mind that she was insulted, and she rose to her feet.
"Thank's fer yer nasty remark," she cried. "That's all the thanks I
get fer comin' to give a 'elpin' 'and. But I know when I'm not wanted."
"Yer don't," said Pinkey, "or yer'd 'ave gone 'ours ago."
Mrs Partridge turned to go, the picture of offended dignity, when her
eyes fell on an apparition in the doorway, and she quailed. It was
William, left safely by the fireside for the night, and now glowering,
not at her as she swiftly divined, but at the hat with the drooping
feathers, twenty years too young for her face. For the first time in
her life she lost her nerve, but with wonderful presence of mind, she
smiled in her agony.
"Why, there you are, William," she cried. "Yer gave me quite a start.
I was just tryin' on Elizabeth's new 'at, to see if it suited me."
As she spoke, she tore out the hatpins with feverish dexterity, and
thrust the hat into Pinkey's astonished hand.
"Take it, yer little fool," she whispered, savagely.
Her face looked suddenly old and withered under the scanty grey hair.
"Good evenin', Mr Partridge--glad ter see yer," cried Chook, advancing
with outstretched hand; but the old man ignored him. His eyes
travelled slowly round the room, taking in every detail of the humble
furniture. The others stood silent with a little fear in their hearts
at the sight of this old man with the face of a sleep-walker; but
suddenly Pinkey walked up to him, and, reaching on tiptoe, kissed him,
her face pink with emotion. It was the first time since her unforgiven
marriage. And she hung on him like a child, her wonderful hair, the
colour of a new penny, heightening the bloodless pallor of the old
man's face. The stolid grey eyes turned misty, and, in silence, he
slowly patted his daughter's cheek.
Chook kept his distance, feeling that he was not wanted. Mrs
Partridge, who had recovered her nerve, came as near cursing as her
placid, selfish nature would permit. She could have bitten her tongue
for spite. She thought of a thousand ways of explaining away the hat.
She should have said that a friend had lent it to her; that she had
bought it for half price at a sale. She had meant to show it to
William some night after his beer with a plausible story, but his
sudden appearance had upset her apple-cart, and the lie had slipped out
unawares. She wasn't afraid of William, she scorned him in her heart.
And now that little devil must keep it, for if she went back on her
word it would put William on the track of other little luxuries that
she squeezed out of his wages unknown to him--luxuries whose chief
charm lay in their secrecy. She felt ready to weep with vexation.
Instead she cried gaily:
"I've been tellin' them what a nice little 'ome they've got together.
I've seen plenty would be glad to start on less."
Partridge seemed not to hear his wife's remark. His mind dulled by
shock and misfortune, was slowly revolving forgotten scenes. He saw
with incredible sharpness of view his first home, with its few sticks
of second-hand furniture like Pinkey's, and Pinkey's mother, the dead
image of her daughter. That was where he belonged--to the old time,
when he was young and proud of himself, able to drink his glass and
sing a song with the best of them. Someone pulled him gently. He
looked round, wondering what he was doing there. But Pinkey pulled him
across the room to Chook, who was standing like a fool. He looked
Chook up and down as if he were a piece of furniture, and then, without
a word, held out his hand. The reconciliation was complete.
"Well, we must be goin', William," said Mrs Partridge, wondering how
she was to get home without a hat; but Partridge followed Chook into
the kitchen, where a candle was burning. Chook held the candle in his
hand to show the little dresser with the cups and saucers and plates
arranged in mathematical precision. The pots and pans were already
hung on hooks. They had all seen service, and in Chook's eyes seemed
more at home than the brand-new things that hung in the shops. As
Chook looked round with pride, he became aware that Partridge was
pushing something into his hand. It seemed like a wad of dirty paper,
and Chook held it to the candle in surprise. He unrolled it with his
fingers, and recognized banknotes.
"'Ere, I don't want yer money," cried Chook, offering the wad of paper
to the old man; but he pushed it back into Chook's hand with an
imploring look.
"D'ye mean it fer Liz?" asked Chook.
Partridge nodded; his eyes were full of tears.
"Yous are a white man, an' I always knew it. Yer niver 'ad no cause
ter go crook on me, but I ain't complainin'," cried Chook hoarsely.
The tears were running a zigzag course over the grey stubble of
Partridge's cheeks.
"Yer'll be satisfied if I think as much of 'er as yous did of her
mother?" asked Chook, feeling a lump in his throat.
Partridge nodded, swallowing as if he were choking.
"She's my wife, an' the best pal I ever 'ad, an' a man can't say more
than that," cried Chook proudly, but his eyes were full of tears.
Without a word the grey-haired old man shook his head and hurried to
the front door, where Mrs Partridge was waiting impatiently. She had
forced the hat on Pinkey in a speech full of bitterness, and had
refused the loan of a hat to see her home. To explain her bare head,
she had prepared a little speech about running down without a hat
because of the fine night, but Partridge was too agitated to notice
what she wore.
When they stepped inside, the first thing that met Chook's eyes was the
hat with the wonderful feathers lying on a chair where Pinkey had
disdainfully thrown it. He stood and laughed till his ribs ached as he
thought of the figure cut by Mrs Partridge. He looked round for Pinkey
to join in, and was amazed to find her in tears.
"W'y, wot's the matter, Liz?" he cried, serious in a moment.
"Nuthin'," said Pinkey, drying her eyes "I was cryin' because I'm glad
father made it up with you. 'E's bin a good father to me. W'en Lil
an' me was kids, 'e used ter take us out every Saturday afternoon, and
buy us lollies," and the tears flowed again.
Chook wisely decided to say nothing about the banknotes till her nerves
were steadier.
"'Ere, cum an' try on yer new 'at," he cried, to divert her thoughts.
"Me?" cried Pinkey, blazing. "Do yer think I'd put anythin' on my 'ead
belongin' to 'er?"
"All right," said Chook, with regret, "I'll give it to mother fer one
of the kids."
"Yer can burn it, if yer like," cried Pinkey.
Chook held up the hat, and examined it with interest. It was quite
unlike any he had seen before.
"See 'ow it look on yer," he coaxed.
"Not me," said Pinkey, glaring at the hat as if it were Mrs Partridge.
But Chook had made up his mind, and after a short scuffle, he dragged
Pinkey before the glass with the hat on her head.
"That's back ter front, yer silly," she said, suddenly quiet.
A minute later she was staring into the glass, silent and absorbed,
forgetful of Mrs Partridge, Chook, and her father. The hat was a
dream. The black trimmings and drooping feathers set off the ivory
pallor of her face and made the wonderful hair gleam like threads of
precious metal. She turned her head to judge it at very angle,
surprised at her own beauty. Presently she lifted it off her head as
tenderly as if it were a crown, with the reverence of women for the
things that increase their beauty. She put it down as if it were made
of glass.
"I'll git Miss Jones to alter the bow, an' put the feathers farther
back," she said, like one in a dream.
"I thought yer wouldn't wear it at any price," said Chook, delighted,
but puzzled.
"Sometimes you talk like a man that's bin drinkin'," said Pinkey, with
the faintest possible smile.