THE WEDDING NIGHT
It was over. Maud sat before the open fireplace in Jake's oak-panelled
parlour, gazing into the red heart of the fire with a stunned sense of
finality, a feeling that she had been overtaken and made prisoner by
Fate. She was terribly tired. Every limb seemed weighted as if with
iron fetters. She longed with a sick longing for sleep and oblivion.
She ached for solitude and repose.
Overhead she could hear Jake moving. He was helping Bunny to prepare
for the night, by Bunny's own decree. Very soon he would come down
again, and she would have to rouse herself and make conversation. She
wondered wearily how she would do it.
The best room in the house had been given to Bunny. Out of it led a
smaller room in which she could sleep and be within call when he needed
her. Jake had made every provision he could think of for their comfort.
She felt that she ought to be very grateful to him; but somehow she was
too tired for gratitude. And she could not concentrate her thoughts;
they wandered so.
Now it was the glint of the firelight on her wedding-ring that drew
them. It shone with a burning, intolerable sparkle that somehow
reminded her of Jake--and the look in his eyes when he had said-- But
she pulled her mind up short at this point, with a sharp, involuntary
shiver. She would not dwell on that thought. She would bury it deep;
deep, far below all others. For she knew she would never cast it out.
She clenched her hand and covered the ring from sight.
The thought of Uncle Edward presented itself, and she seized upon it
with relief. He had been with them during the greater part of the day,
and had left but an hour before to catch the night train to town. He
had been very kind to her, and had taken a shrewd interest in Bunny.
Just at parting he had drawn her aside for a moment, looking at her with
his sharp eyes under their shaggy brows with just the look of a terrier
on the hunt.
"And if at any time you should be in need of a change of air, my dear,"
he had said, "don't forget that you've got an old uncle at Liverpool who
wouldn't be sorry to see you--and the boy too--however busy he happened
to be."
He had meant that as an offer of help, should she ever stand in need of
it. She had recognized that, though neither he nor she had emphasized
the fact. He foresaw a possibility of difficulties ahead with which she
might be unable to cope single-handed. He wanted her to know that she
would never call upon him a second time in vain. She had thanked him
with simplicity, and now she registered the offer in her mind. Almost
unconsciously, she had begun already to seek for a way of escape, should
her captivity become at any time unendurable.
For a captive she undoubtedly was. She had given herself, voluntarily
but completely, into the keeping of a man whom she felt she hardly
knew,--a man who had shown her every consideration in his power, but
upon whom even yet she was half-afraid to lean. Full of kindness as she
had found him to be she knew instinctively that he possessed other
qualities, was capable of other impulses. Something of the caged beast,
something of the pirate on shore, there was about him. He was quiet, he
was considerate, he was kind. But on his own ground, in his own
element, would he be always thus? Would he be always the generous
captor; the steadfast friend? Her heart misgave her a little. Words
that Giles Sheppard had uttered only that morning arose suddenly in her
memory, gibing words that sent the hot blood again to her cheeks.
"Ah, he's a deep one, is Jake. What he gives with one hand he takes
with the other and more to it. He's not the man to make a one-sided
bargain. But he knows how to bide his time. He hasn't saddled himself
with a penniless wife and a hunchback brother-in-law just for the fun of
the thing. He'll be getting his own back presently, and I think I can
guess who'll pay the piper."
Bitter words! Cruel words! Flung in her face for the malignant
pleasure of seeing her wince!
She had not winced. She was glad to remember that. She had turned her
back on the man's hateful, sneering face. He had humbled her to the
earth once, but he would never have another opportunity. Henceforth
Jake stood between her and all the world. She had bought his protection
at a price, and she knew it for a weapon that would never fail her. As
to the price, she would pay him in service and obedience. It might be
he would never ask more of her than these. Life was short, and she was
very tired. Why should she fret herself over that which might never
come to pass? She closed her eyes from the red glow of the fire, and
lay still.
Yet she could not have travelled far along the dim path to oblivion for
the quiet opening of the door a few minutes later brought her back in a
second. She started up in her chair, alert, nervous, to see Jake enter
in his square fashion and shut the door behind him.
"Don't disturb yourself!" he said.
He came and stood before the fire, and Maud, sinking back into her
chair, strove to calm the unreasonable inner tumult that his entrance
had excited.
"Are you going to sit down and have a smoke?" she suggested.
He gave her a side-glance that had in it a hint of humour. "You don't
object to being smoke-dried?" he asked, in his slow, gentle voice.
"Of course I don't," she said.
He took his clay pipe from his pocket and considered it. It was very
old, blackened, and discoloured with much use. He looked at her again,
doubtfully.
An odd impulse moved her unexpectedly. She sat up again and held out
her hand. "Give it to me! I'll fill it for you."
His hand closed upon it. She saw surprise in his eyes.
"You!" he said.
She found herself smiling. He actually looked embarrassed, a fact which
set her wholly at her ease. "But why not?" she said. "Is it too great
a treasure to be entrusted to me?"
But he still held it back. "What do you want to do it for?"
She kept her hand outstretched. "As a small--very small--return for
your goodness to Bunny," she said.
His face changed a little. He put the pipe into her hand. "I don't
want any return," he said. "Don't do it for that!"
She coloured, but she still smiled. "Very well. It is a favour
bestowed gratis. Where's your tobacco?"
He fetched a pouch--nearly as ancient as the pipe--out of his pocket,
and laid it in her lap.
"You're not to watch me," she said, speaking with a new-found confidence
that surprised herself. "Sit down and read the paper! I'll tell you
when it's done."
He sat down opposite to her, and took up the paper. "You'll make a
beastly mess of your hands," he said uneasily.
"Be quiet!" she said.
He opened out the paper, and there fell a silence.
Maud pursued her self-appointed task with mixed feelings. The tobacco
was rank and coarse, and it smelt like mildewed hay. It was, moreover,
nearly black, and she found herself fingering it with increasing
disgust. She was determined however not to be beaten, and with
compressed lips she pinched and poked the revolting substance, ramming
it deep into the blackened bowl with a heroic determination to
accomplish the business to the best of her ability, her feelings
notwithstanding.
"You're packing it too tight," observed Jake gravely.
She looked up half-laughing, half-vexed. "I told you not to watch."
He dropped his paper, and leaned towards her. "I reckon I can't help
watching you, my girl," he said. "I've never seen anyone like you
before."
He spoke with absolute simplicity, but his directness struck her like a
blow in the face. She lowered her eyes swiftly.
"I'm sorry I haven't done it to your satisfaction," she said, in a
small, cold voice, from which all hint of intimacy had fled. "You had
better do it over again."
She held out the pipe to him, and again the firelight gleamed golden-red
on that new bright ring that he had placed on her finger that day.
He leaned further forward, stretched out a quiet hand that grasped and
held her own.
He took the pipe from her with the utmost gentleness and laid it aside;
but he kept her hand, and after a moment he left his chair and knelt
beside her.
She did not draw back from him, but she stiffened on the instant. Her
breathing quickened.
There followed a silence, which she found peculiarly hard to bear, and
which she eventually broke.
"Perhaps I ought to go to Bunny for a little. He will feel neglected."
"He's not expecting you," said Jake. "Say,--Maud!"
"What is it?" she said.
She strove for composure and attained an aloofness that startled
herself. He released her hand and began to gather up the litter of
tobacco in her lap.
"I was going to speak to you about Bunny," he said. "I've settled to
sleep with him to-night."
"You?" She looked at him in quick surprise.
He was not looking at her, being too intent upon his task. The firelight
shone red on his bent head. "Yes, I," he said. "You can sleep in my
room. I've had it got ready for you."
The calm decision with which he spoke nearly took her breath away. "Oh,
but--but--" she began.
He looked up, and she saw his frank, reassuring smile. It sent a curious
thrill of relief through her. It was such a smile as would have gained
the confidence of a child.
"That's all right," he said. "Don't you start making difficulties,
because there aren't any at present. I've fixed it all. You're going
to bed to-night without any cares, and you're going to sleep the clock
round. See?"
"I couldn't sleep--away from Bunny," she said, somewhat breathless
still, notwithstanding the comforting kindliness of his eyes.
"I reckon you'll have to try," he said. "And if it's any comfort to you
to know it, Bunny is charmed with the idea."
His words sent an odd dismay to her heart. With this lightening of her
burden, she seemed to see Bunny slipping away from her,--Bunny, who
filled her world.
Jake was on the point of rising from his knees when she laid a detaining
hand upon his arm. "Jake," she said, with slight hesitation, "it--it is
more than kind of you to think of this. But do you know I would
rather--really rather--go on in the old way and look after Bunny myself
at night? You can help me in the daytime if you will. But--but--at
night,--Jake, please, let me take care of him at night!"
There was entreaty in her voice. Jake remained beside her, his hand
grasping the arm of her chair. Once more she was conscious of the
warmth of the man as of a force that emanated from him. Her fingers
closed almost beseechingly upon his sleeve.
"Say," he said slowly at last, "is it for your own sake--or for
Bunny's?"
She quivered at the question. He was looking past her into the fire.
She had a feeling that he was deliberately compelling himself to do so.
"I have always mothered Bunny," she said rather piteously.
"I--shouldn't feel easy about him if--if I were not within reach."
"Is that quite true?" said Jake.
"True!" she echoed.
He nodded two or three times. "Is it quite true that you wouldn't feel
easy--absolutely easy--about leaving the boy in my charge?"
She hesitated.
"Now, don't mind me!" he said. "Be honest! I'm honest myself."
She hesitated still.
He turned his head slowly and looked at her, "It's not--quite--true, is
it?" he said.
Her eyes fell before his. "Very well," she said, her voice very low.
"We will say it is entirely for my own sake. I want to be with him at
night."
Jake was silent a moment. Then: "That's a pity," he said, "because I'm
afraid the matter is practically settled. Of course I'd call you if he
needed you," he added.
She drew her hand from beneath his. "You have settled it between you, I
see," she said, with a small, pinched smile.
He got up and solidly returned to his chair. "Yes, that's so. I don't
say we are going to make a rule of it. But for to-night anyway----"
She interrupted him suddenly, with the vehemence of an abrupt
resolution. "No, Jake. It must be one thing or the other. I can't
have this discussion over again. So please understand that after
to-night we shall return to the usual arrangement, which is far the best
for us all."
She spoke with nervous force. She was for the moment painfully afraid
of being mastered by this man whose strength was still such an unknown
quantity that she braced herself to test it as though she were
challenging a giant.
Jake was digging in the bowl of his pipe with a penknife, and was for
the moment too engrossed with the matter to look up. At length,
however, he stuck the pipe into his mouth and began to search his
pockets for matches. He found one loose, and bent to strike it on the
heel of his boot. She watched him with a growing uneasiness. Would he
never speak?
The rasp of the match set her nerves on edge. She rose and stood before
the fire, very slim and straight.
Jake puffed at his pipe with immense deliberation, and in a moment the
burning match sped past her into the flames. He lay back in his chair
with his legs stretched out, his hands in his pockets, and regarded her.
She turned to him at length, meeting the untamed glitter of his eyes
with stern composure. "Jake!"
"My girl!" said Jake.
She shivered suddenly and uncontrollably. He spoke as if--as if he had
a proprietary right over her. She read ownership--and the pride of
ownership--in his look. Abruptly she turned her back upon him. Just so
might he look upon one of his favourite horses. It was the look of the
master, admiring, arbitrary, possessive; and with all her soul she
resented it.
She stood a moment gripping the mantelpiece, gathering her strength.
Then without another word she drew herself up and walked out of the
room.
She knew even as she closed the door that by strength she would never
prevail against him. She might beat her will to atoms against his, but
not by a hair's breadth would she thus turn him from the course upon
which he was set.