Billie is slowly recovering. He is sitting up in his cot, languidly
permitting himself to be adored, waited upon by obsequious attendants,
and fed upon the fat of the land. This is the period when outsiders cry
gushingly to an invalid's relations, "How happy you must be!" But as a
cold matter of fact they usually feel very depressed and snappy and
bored. This sounds thankless, but it is nothing of the sort; the
thankfulness is all there, stored up for later realisation, but for the
moment tired nerves are in the ascendant, and pay one out for the
long-drawn strain.
Relieved from acute anxiety, Mr Thorold began to think of the cost,
count up doctors' visits, and sigh like a furnace; Miss Brown gave
notice. "She wasn't blind and she wasn't deaf. She was aware that she
was not giving satisfaction, and it would be better for both parties--"
The general servant, who had been quite heroic during the time when work
went on the twenty-four hours round, now took to banging dishes and
muttering as she left the room. Old Miss Harding, having lost much
sleep, and spent her few leisure hours in reading aloud to her small
guests, exhibited a tendency to tears and self-pity. Mr Hallett,
disappointed of a hoped-for holiday with his friend as companion,
shrugged his shoulders, and inquired dismally: "What can you expect?
Things always go wrong in this miserable world!"
Each man in turns paid visits to my flat, and discussed his troubles at
length. Mr Thorold's were mostly financial. What could he do to cut
down expenses? Would I recommend sending the children to live in the
country? Ridiculously cheap houses could be had, if one did not mind
living miles from a station. He himself must, of course, remain in
town; but in a cheap boarding-house he could manage to live on very
little--say a hundred a year--and when he took a holiday he could "run
down to the country". It would be good for the children.
"While it lasted," I said drily. "Their father might live--with luck--
for a year or eighteen months. It seems hardly worth while having the
expense of a removal for such a short time."
He sighed, looked for a moment as if he were going to declare that he
would be glad to be out of it, then pulled himself together and said:--
"Well, but I must pull in somehow to pay for all these extra expenses!
Have you anything to suggest?"
"You might let this flat furnished for a few months in spring. The
porters tell me there are tenants to be found at that time. Odd, isn't
it, that the season should affect `Weltham Mansions'? It's the lap of
the waves, I suppose, but it seems a long way to flow. I could help you
to find cheap country quarters, and you could fit in your own holiday at
the same time, and so save travelling expenses. Lazing about in a
garden may not be exciting, but it's the rest you need. I knew a very
tired man who went off for a golfing week with a friend. His wife told
me he took a fortnight to recover. She said so to the doctor, and he
said, `Of course! What did you expect? It would have been better if he
had gone to bed.'"
He shrugged impatiently.
"Maybe it is quite true. I suppose it is. But when a man has only one
fortnight in the year, he might be allowed to enjoy it in his own way!
It's an idea, though--letting the flat. Thanks for the suggestion.
I'll speak to an agent."
Mr Hallett rested his big shoulders against my cushions, and said in
his low, grave tones:--
"You are a woman--you understand these things. Is there any way in
which I can help? It's pretty tough to see an old friend worried to
death, and just sit and look on--but Thorold's proud, and it's difficult
to interfere. It seems a cruel thing that illness should fall so
heavily upon the middle classes. The rich are independent, the poor
have hospitals; but a man in Thorold's position is no sooner through
with the mental torture than he is up against an army of bills. It
seems that Billie is bound to keep his nurses for several weeks longer.
That's a big item in itself."
It was! Often during these last weeks I had thought to myself what a
grand occupation it would be for an independent woman to train as a
nurse, and then give one or two doctors leave to call her in to serve--
without payment--in cases like the present, where need was great and
means were small. I went off into a day-dream in which I saw myself, in
cap and apron, acting as ministering angel to the suffering middle
class, to be roused by Mr Hallett's voice saying tentatively:--
"I'm a poor man, but I am alone in the world, so there's no object in
saving. Why shouldn't I settle a few of the bills for Billie's illness
and say nothing about it?"