ISOBEL was born in a flat, and that was no fault of her own; but she was
born in a flat, and reared in a flat, and married from a flat, and, for
two years after we were married, we lived in a flat; but I am not a born
flat-dweller myself, and as soon as possible I proposed that we move to
the country. Isobel hesitated, but she hesitated so weakly that on the
first of May we had bought the place at Westcote and moved into it.
The very day I moved into my house Millington came over and said he was
glad some one had moved in, because the last man that had lived in the
house was afraid of automobiles, and would never take a spin with
him. He said he hoped I was not afraid; and when I said I was not, he
immediately proposed that we take a little spin out to Port Lafayette
as soon as I had my furniture straightened around. I thought it was very
nice and neighbourly and unusual for a man with an automobile to begin
an acquaintance that way; but I did not know Millington's automobile so
well then as I grew to know it afterward.
I liked Millington. He was a short, Napoleon-looking man, with bulldog
jaws and not very much hair, and I was glad to have him for a
neighbour, particularly as my neighbour on the other side was a tall,
haughty-looking man. He leaned on the division fence and stared all the
while our furniture was being moved in. I spoke to Millington about him,
and all Millington said was: “Rolfs? Oh, he's no good! He won't ride in
an automobile.”
At first, while we were really getting settled in our house, Isobel was
bright and cheerful and seemed to have forgotten flats entirely but on
the tenth of May I saw a change coming over her, and when I spoke of it
she opened her heart to me.
“John,” she said, “I am afraid I cannot stand it. I shall try to, for
your sake, but I do not think I can. I am so lonely! I feel like an atom
floating in space.”
“Isobel!” I said kindly but reprovingly. “With the Millingtons on one
side and the Rolfs on the other?”
“I know,” she admitted contritely enough; “but you can't understand.
Always and always, since I was born, some one has lived overhead,
and some one has lived underneath. Sometimes only the janitor lived
underneath--”
“Isobel,” I said, “if you will try to explain what you mean--”
“I mean flats,” she said dolefully. “I always lived in a flat, John, and
there was always a family above and a family below, and it frightens me
to think I am in a house where there is no family above me, and not even
a janitor's family below me. It makes me feel naked, or suspended in
air, or as if there was no ground under my feet. It makes me gasp!”
“That is nonsense!” I said. “That is the beauty of having a house. We
have it all to ourselves. Now, in a flat--”
“We had our flat all to ourselves, John,” she reminded me; “but a flat
isn't so unbounded as a house. Just think; there is nothing between us
and the top of the sky! Not a single family! It makes me nervous. And
there is nothing beneath us!”
“Now, my dear,” I said soothingly, “China is beneath us, and no doubt a
very respectable family is keeping house directly below.”
Isobel sighed contentedly.
“I am so glad you thought of that!” she cried. “Now, when I feel lonely,
I can imagine I feel the house jar as the Chinese family move their
piano, or I can imagine that I hear their phonograph.”
“Very good,” I said; “and if you can imagine all that, why cannot you
imagine a family overhead, too? The whole attic is there. Very well; I
give up the entire attic to your imagination.”
Then I kissed her and went into the back garden. My opinion is that the
man that laid out that back garden was over-sanguine. I am passionately
fond of gardening, and believe in back gardens; but at the present
price of seed and the present hardness of hoe handles, I think that back
garden is too large. This is not a mere flash opinion, either; it is
a matter of study. The first day I stuck spade into that garden I had
given little thought to its size, but by the time I had spaded all day
I began to have a pretty well-defined opinion of gardens and how large
they should be, and by the end of the third day of spading I believe
I may say I was well equipped to testify as an expert on garden sizes.
That was the day the blisters on my hands became raw.
[Illustration: 25]
The day after my little conversation with Isobel I returned home from
business to find her awaiting me at the gate. She wore a bright smile,
and she put her hand through my arm and hopped into step with me.
“John,” she said cheerfully, “the Prawleys moved in to-day.”
“The Prawleys? Who are the Prawleys, and what did they move into?” I
asked.
“Why, how do I know who they are, John?” she said. “I suppose we will
know all about them soon enough, but you can't expect me to learn all
about a family the day they move in. And as for what they moved into, of
course there was only one vacant flat.”
“Flat? One vacant flat? What flat?” I asked. I was afraid Isobel was not
entirely herself.
“The one above us,” she said, and then as she saw the blank look on my
face she said: “The--the--oh, John, _don't_ you understand? The attic!”
“Hum!” I said suspiciously, looking at Isobel; but her face was so
bright, and she looked so thoroughly contented that I did not tell her
what I thought of this sort of pretending. Too much of it is not good
for a person. “Very well,” I said; “I only hope they will not be too
noisy.”
“I don't think they will,” said Isobel, smiling. “At least not while you
are home.” She helped me off with my light coat, and when we were seated
at the table she said: “By the way, Mr. Millington leaned over the fence
this afternoon, and said he hoped you would take a little ride to Port
Lafayette with him soon. He says his automobile is in almost perfect
shape now.”