Tales of Two Countries
bedstraw; it belonged to a pale, hollow eyed man with a large woollen
comforter wrapped round his jaws.
Mrs. Warden was frightened. “Your husband?” she asked.
The poor woman answered yes, it was her husband. He had not gone to work
to-day because he had such bad toothache.
Mrs. Warden had had toothache herself, and knew how painful it is. She
uttered some words of sincere sympathy.
The man muttered something, and lay back again; and at the same moment
Mrs. Warden discovered an inmate of the room whom she had not hitherto
observed.
It was a quite young girl, who was seated in the corner at the other
side of the stove. She stared for a moment at the fine lady, but quickly
drew back her head and bent forward, so that the visitor could see
little but her back.
Mrs. Warden thought the girl had some sewing in her lap which she wanted
to hide; perhaps it was some old garment she was mending.
“Why does the big boy lie upon the floor?” asked Mrs. Warden.
“He’s lame,” answered the mother. And now followed a detailed account of
the poor boy’s case, with many lamentations. He had been attacked with
hip-disease after the scarlet-fever.
“You must buy him--” began Mrs. Warden, intending to say, “a
wheel-chair.” But it occurred to her that she had better buy it herself.
It is not wise to let poor people get too much money into their hands.
But she would give the woman something at once. Here was real need, a
genuine case for help; and she felt in her pocket for her purse.
It was not there. How annoying--she must have left it in the carriage.
Just as she was turning to the woman to express her regret, and promise
to send some money presently, the door opened, and a well-dressed
gentleman entered. His face was very full, and of a sort of dry, mealy
pallor.
“Mrs. Warden, I presume?” said the stranger. “I saw your carriage out in
the street, and I have brought you this--your purse, is it not?”
Mrs. Warden looked at it--yes, certainly, it was hers, with E. W. inlaid
in black on the polished ivory.
“I happened to see it, as I turned the corner, in the hands of a
girl--one of the most disreputable in the quarter,” the stranger
explained; adding, “I am the poor-law inspector of the district.”
Mrs. Warden thanked him, although she did not at all like his
appearance. But when she again looked round the room she was quite
alarmed by the change which had taken place in its occupants.
The husband sat upright in the bed and glared at the fat gentleman,
the wife’s face wore an ugly smile, and even the poor wee cripple had
scrambled towards the door, and resting on his lean arms, stared upward
like a little animal.
And in all these eyes there was the same hate, the same aggressive
defiance. Mrs. Warden felt as though she were now separated by an
immense interval from the poor woman with whom she had just been talking
so openly and confidentially.
“So that’s the state you’re in to-day, Martin,” said the gentleman,
in quite a different voice. “I thought you’d been in that affair last
night. Never mind, they’re coming for you this afternoon. It’ll be a two
months’ business.”
All of a sudden the torrent was let loose. The man and woman shouted
each other down, the girl behind the stove came forward and joined in,
the cripple shrieked and rolled about. It was impossible to distinguish
the words; but what between voices, eyes, and hands, it seemed as
though the stuffy little room must fly asunder with all the wild passion
exploding in it.
Mrs. Warden turned pale and rose, the gentleman opened the door, and
both hastened out. As she passed down the passage she heard a horrible
burst of feminine laughter behind her. It must be the woman--the same
woman who had spoken so softly and despondently about the poor children.
She felt half angry with the man who had brought about this startling
change, and as they now walked side by side up the street she listened
to him with a cold and distant expression.
But gradually her bearing changed; there was really so much in what he
said.
The poor-law inspector told her what a pleasure it was to him to find a
lady like Mrs. Warden so compassionate towards the poor. Though it was
much to be deplored that even the most well-meant help so often
came into unfortunate hands, yet there was always something fine and
ennobling in seeing a lady like Mrs. Warden--
“But,” she interrupted, “aren’t these people in the utmost need of help?
I received the impression that the woman in particular had seen better
days, and that a little timely aid might perhaps enable her to recover
herself.”
“I am sorry to have to tell you, madam,” said the poor-law inspector, in
a tone of mild regret, “that she was formerly a very notorious woman of
the town.”
Mrs. Warden shuddered.
She had spoken to such a woman, and spoken about children. She had
even mentioned her own child, lying at home in its innocent cradle. She
almost felt as though she must hasten home to make sure it was still as
clean and wholesome as before.
“And the young girl?” she asked, timidly.
“No doubt you noticed her--her condition.”
“No. You mean--”
The fat gentleman whispered some words.
Mrs. Warden started: “By the man!--the man of the house?”
“Yes, madam, I am sorry to have to tell you so; but you can understand
that these people--” and he whispered again.
This was too much for Mrs. Warden. She turned almost dizzy, and accepted
the gentleman’s arm. They now walked rapidly towards the carriage, which
was standing a little farther off than the spot at which she had left
it.
For the immovable one had achieved a feat which even the humorist had
acknowledged with an elaborate oath.
After sitting for some time, stiff as a poker, he had backed his sleek
horses, step by step, until they reached a spot where the street widened
a little, though the difference was imperceptible to any other eyes than
those of an accomplished coachman.
A whole pack of ragged children swarmed about the carriage, and did all
they could to upset the composure of the sleek steeds. But the spirit of
the immovable one was in them.
After having measured with a glance of perfect composure the distance
between two flights of steps, one on each side of the street, he made
the sleek pair turn, slowly and step by step, so short and sharp that it
seemed as though the elegant carriage must be crushed to fragments,
but so accurately that there was not an inch too much or too little on
either side.
Now he once more sat stiff as a poker, still measuring with his eyes the
distance between the steps. He even made a mental note of the number
of a constable who had watched the feat, in order to have a witness to
appeal to if his account of it should be received with scepticism at the
stables.
Mrs. Warden allowed the poor-law inspector to hand her into the
carriage. She asked him to call upon her the following day, and gave him
her address.
“To Advocate Abel’s!” she cried to the coachman. The fat gentleman
lifted his hat with a mealy smile, and the carriage rolled away.
As they gradually left the poor quarter of the town behind, the motion
of the carriage became smoother, and the pace increased. And when they
emerged upon the broad avenue leading through the villa quarter, the
sleek pair snorted with enjoyment of the pure, delicate air from the
gardens, and the immovable one indulged, without any sort of necessity,
in three masterly cracks of his whip.
Mrs. Warden, too, was conscious of the delight of finding herself once
more in the fresh air. The experiences she had gone through, and, still
more, what she had heard from the inspector, had had an almost numbing
effect upon her. She began to realize the immeasurable distance between
herself and such people as these.
She had often thought there was something quite too sad, nay, almost
cruel, in the text: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Now she understood that it _could_ not be otherwise.
How could people so utterly depraved ever attain an elevation at all
adequate to the demands of a strict morality? What must be the state of
these wretched creatures’ consciences? And how should they be able to
withstand the manifold temptations of life?
She knew only too well what temptation meant! Was she not incessantly
battling against a temptation--perhaps the most perilous of all--the
temptation of riches, about which the Scriptures said so many hard
things?
She shuddered to think of what would happen if that brutish man and
these miserable women suddenly had riches placed in their hands.
Yes, wealth was indeed no slight peril to the soul. It was only
yesterday that her husband had tempted her with such a delightful
little man-servant--a perfect English groom. But she had resisted the
temptation; and answered: “No, Warden, it would not be right; I will
not have a footman on the box. I dare say we can afford it; but let us
beware of overweening luxury. I assure you I don’t require help to get
into the carriage and out of it; I won’t even let the coachman get down
on my account.”
It did her good to think of this now, and her eyes rested complacently
on the empty seat on the box, beside the immovable one.
Mrs. Abel, who was busy clearing away _Bazars_ and scraps of stuff from
the big table, was astonished to see her friend return so soon.
“Why, Emily! Back again already? I’ve just been telling the dress-maker
that she can go. What you were saying to me has quite put me out of
conceit of my new frock; I can quite well get on without one--” said
good-natured Mrs. Abel; but her lips trembled a little as she spoke.
“Every one must act according to his own conscience,” answered Mrs.
Warden, quietly, “but I think it’s possible to be too scrupulous.”
Mrs. Abel looked up; she had not expected this.
“Just let me tell you what I’ve gone through,” said Mrs. Warden, and
began her story.
She sketched her first impression of the stuffy room and the wretched
people; then she spoke of the theft of her purse.
“My husband always declares that people of that kind can’t refrain from
stealing,” said Mrs. Abel.
“I’m afraid your husband is nearer the truth than we thought,” replied
Mrs. Warden.
Then she told about the inspector, and the ingratitude these people had
displayed towards the man who cared for them day by day.
But when she came to what she had heard of the poor woman’s past life,
and still more when she told about the young girl, Mrs. Abel was so
overcome that she had to ask the servant to bring some port-wine.
When the girl brought in the tray with the decanter, Mrs. Abel whispered
to her: “Tell the dressmaker to wait.”
“And then, can you conceive it,” Mrs. Warden continued--“I scarcely know
how to tell you”--and she whispered.
“What do you say! In one bed! All! Why, it’s revolting!” cried Mrs.
Abel, clasping her hands.
“Yes, an hour ago I; too, could not have believed it possible,” answered
Mrs. Warden, “But when you’ve been on the spot yourself, and seen with
your own eyes--”
“Good heavens, Emily, how could you venture into such a place!”
“I am glad I did, and still more glad of the happy chance that brought
the inspector on the scene just at the right time. For if it is
ennobling to bring succor to the virtuous poor who live clean and frugal
lives in their humble sphere, it would be unpardonable to help such
people as these to gratify their vile proclivities.”
“Yes, you’re quite right, Emily! What I can’t understand is how
people in a Christian community--people who have been baptized and
confirmed--can sink into such a state! Have they not every day--or, at
any rate, every Sunday--the opportunity of listening to powerful
and impressive sermons? And Bibles, I am told, are to be had for an
incredibly trifling sum.”