"The kidneys aren't done."
"Why not, Alice?"
"There 'asn't been time!"
"Nonsense, make haste. The colonel will be down in a minute."
Alice banged the door, and Mrs. Ogden's eyes filled. Her courage had all
run away with the bath water. She had been through hell, she told
herself melodramatically; she had at last seen things as they were.
Thump--thump and then thump--thump--that was James putting on
his boots! Oh, where was the breakfast! Where were James's special
dishes, the kidneys and the curried eggs; what _was_ Alice doing?
Thump--thump--there it was again! She clasped her hands in an agony.
"Joan, Joan, do go and see about breakfast."
"It's all right, Mother, here it is."
"Put it on the hot plate quickly--now the toast. Children,
make your father's toast--don't burn it whatever you do!"
Thump--thump--thump--that was three thumps and there ought to be four;
would James never make the fourth thump? She thought she would go mad if
he left off at three. Ah! There it was, that was the fourth thump; now
surely he must be coming. The toast was made; it would get cold and
flabby. James hated it flabby. If they put it in the grate it would get
hard; James hated it hard. Where was James?
"Children, put the toast in the grate; no, don't--wait a minute."
Now there was another sound; that was James blowing his nose. He must be
coming down, then, for he always blew his nose on his soiled pocket
handkerchief with just that sound, before he took his clean one. What
was that--something broken!
"Joan, go and see what Alice has smashed. Oh! I hope it's not the new
breakfast dish, the fire-proof one!"
Thump, thump, on the stairs this time; James was coming down at last.
"Joan, never mind about going to the kitchen; stay here and see to your
father's breakfast."
The door opened and Colonel Ogden came in. He was very quiet, a bad
sign; there was blood from a scratch on his chin, to which a pellet of
cotton wool adhered.
"Coffee, dear?"
"Naturally. By the way, Mary, you'll oblige me by leaving a teacupful of
hot water for me to shave with another time." He felt his scratch
carefully.
"Joan, get your father the kidneys. Will you begin with kidneys or
curried eggs?"
"Kidneys. By the way, Mary, I don't pay a servant to smear my brown
boots with pea soup; I pay her to clean them--to clean them, do you
hear? To clean them properly." The calm with which he had entered the
room was fast disappearing; his voice rose.
"James, dear, don't excite yourself."
The colonel cut a kidney viciously; as he did so, tell-tale stains
appeared on the plate.
"Damn it all, Mary! Do you think I'm a cannibal?"
"Oh, James!"
"Oh James, oh James! It's sickening, Mary. No hot water, not even to
shave with, and now raw kidneys; disgusting! You know how I hate my food
underdone. Damn it all, Mary, I don't run a household for this sort of
thing! Give me the eggs!"
"Joan, fetch your father the eggs!"
"What's the matter with the toast, Mary? It's stone cold!"
"You came down so late, dear."
"I didn't get into the bath-room until twenty minutes past eight. I
can't eat this toast."
"Joan, make your father some fresh toast; be quick, dear, and Milly,
take the kidneys to Ellen and ask her to grill them a little more. Now,
James, here's some nice hot coffee."
"Sit down!" thundered the colonel.
Joan and Milly sat down hastily. "Keep quiet; you get on my nerves,
darting about all round the table. Upon my word, Mary, the children
haven't touched their breakfast!"
"But, James----"
"That's enough I say; eat your bacon, Milly. Joan, stop shuffling your
feet."
Milly, her face blotched with nervousness, attempted to spear the cold
and stiffening bacon; it jumped off her fork on to the cloth as though
possessed of a malicious life energy. Colonel Ogden's eyes bulged with
irritation, and he thumped the table.
"Upon my word, Mary, the children have the table manners of Hottentots."
Now by all the laws of the Medes and Persians, Mrs. Ogden, on this Day
of Days, should have remained calm and disdainful. But to-day had begun
badly. There had been that little cloud which had grown and grown until
it became the household books; it was over her now, enveloping her. She
could not see through it, she could not collect her forces. "We
Routledges!" It didn't ring true, it was like a blast blown on a cracked
trumpet. She prayed fervently for self-control, but she knew that she
prayed in vain. Her throat ached, she was going fast, slipping through
her own fingers with surprising rapidity.