Ada Barnett

“ Masefield’s beautiful lines passed through Ruth’s mind:
“If there be any life beyond the grave,
It must be near the men and things we love,
Some power of quick suggestion how to save,
Touching the living soul as from above.” 205She sat very still; the lamp, symbol of the Life Eternal, gleamed more brightly as the shadows deepened. The glow in the west died away, and the great stars shone with kindly eyes, just as it must have shone on Dick Carey, sitting there dreaming too, loving the beauty of it all. ”

“ And there, pacing up and down, she told him, as well as she could, the happenings of the night before.
North ground his teeth. “She would be better dead,” he said. “And yet——” He looked at her, a new horror growing in his haggard eyes, a question——?
“She will not die,” said Ruth. “But don’t you understand, don’t you believe, whether she lives or dies the evil is conquered, is transmuted, is taken in to the Eternal Good?”
“No, I cannot believe,” said North harshly. “I think you are playing with words. It seems to me that only Evil is powerful. If anything survives, it is that.” ”

“ But suddenly the body claimed her again, and Ruth Seer did what was a very unusual thing with her—she put her face between her hands and cried and cried till they were wet with tears, her whole being shaken as by the passing of a great wind.
When, some time later, she opened the packet she found the few pages of diary much what she had somehow expected. Just the short notes of a man pressed for every minute of his time, because every minute not given to definite duty was spent with, or for, his men. ”

“ And then, through it all, Ruth felt—held it as it were between the hands of her heart—something so wonderful it took her breath away, and she knew it for what it was, through all the tumult, the horror, and the evil, the strong determined purpose of a man for a certain end. It grew and grew, in wonder and in glory, until her heart could no longer hold it, could no longer bear it, for it became the strong determined purpose of many men for a certain end. ”

“ But the world of the farm was alive with sound. The pigeons’ coo, the call of the cowman to his herd, the chuckles of the baby, accompanied by the full evening chorus of birds.
“There isn’t any bad in there,” said Ruth.
“Your farm is bewitched,” said North. “I might be no older than Bertram Aurelius talking nonsense like this. Come down to earth, you foolish woman. There’s a telegraph boy coming up the drive.” ”

“ Ruth ceased to worry about Selina. She 10drifted along the path down the stream, and love of the whole world folded her in a great content. A sense of oneness with all that moved and breathed, with the little brethren in hole and hedge, with the flowers’ lavish gift of scent and colour, with the warmth of the sun, a oneness that fused her being with theirs as into one perfect flame. ”

“ The dogs fell upon Bertram Aurelius, who took them literally to his bosom, fighting them just as a little puppy fights, and his mother smiled up at them with her big blue eyes and foolish loose-lipped red mouth.
“Have you ever heard anything of the father?” said North, when they were out of earshot.
“Killed at Bullecourt,” Ruth answered. “I could not help feeling it was perhaps best. He will be a hero to her now always.”
The lower field was steeped in the afternoon sunshine, and the children were chirping like so many birds. ”

“ And then suddenly the scream of a motor siren cleft the silence like a sword. Ruth started and turned round. When she looked again all were gone. Man, dog and birds. Wiped out as it were in a moment. The birds’ swift flight, even the dog’s, was natural enough, but how had the slower-moving human being so swiftly vanished? Ruth looked and, puzzled, looked again, but the man had disappeared as completely as the kingfishers. ”

“ Repelled him only less, and in a different way, than the search for knowledge among the tortured entrails of friendly dogs. With the great forces of nature he could fight cleanly, and courageously, to harness them to the service of man. They were enormously interesting, amazingly beautiful. Powerful enough to protect themselves if necessary. One wrested their secrets from them at one’s own peril. And the scientist who strives with the great forces of nature has the mark of his craft branded into his very soul. ”

“ In their wood the Michaelmas daisies, mauve and white and purple, were making a brave show, and scarlet poppies, bad farmers but good beauties, bordered the pale gold stubble fields. Everywhere was the fragrant pungent scent of autumn and the glory of fruitful old Mother Earth yielding of her wondrous store to those who love her and work for it.
Mr. Pithey was fond of coming, and, still undaunted, made Ruth fresh offers to buy Thorpe. ”

“ After that moment of supreme terror, of incredible struggle, with the acute return of her awareness of Dick Carey, with some crash of warring elements and forces, mingling as part of and yet distinct from the raging of the outside storm, she regained Herself. Was out as it were, in illimitable space, fighting shoulder to shoulder, hand to hand, one with Dick Carey. One, too, with some mighty force, fighting gloriously, triumphantly, surely; fighting through all the Ages, through all the Past, on through all the Future, beyond Space and beyond Time. ”

“ Some one had made up the fire again. Piled high with logs it burnt fiercely. The room was in disorder. In the far corner by the south window the little dogs lay cringing with terror, trembling, while before them Larry crouched, his white fangs bare, his lips lifted till the gums showed, his blazing eyes fixed on the figure in the centre of the room—the figure of Violet Riversley.
Before her, piled on the floor, were various articles, books and papers, gathered together and heaped in the shape of a bonfire. At her feet lay the bronze lamp. In her right hand she held the wick, still alight. ”

“ She dreamt, as she sat in the warmth and the sweetness, with Bertram Aurelius cooing softly in her lap, visualizing pictures such as were growing in the minds of many in the great year of Peace, seeing beautiful homes where the strong man and the mother, with sturdy round-limbed children, should live, where the big sons and comely daughters should come in and out, in the peace of plenty and to the sound of laughter. ”

“ Lady Condor, if you will drink another cup of tea I should love to fetch it for you, but it is plainly not my fault if you will encourage my wife to entertain these people.”
“You would never entertain anybody if you had your own way,” said his wife.
“I would always entertain Lady Condor. Or rather, I am always sure Lady Condor will entertain me.”
“Well, I am delighted with Mr. Pithey,” announced Lady Condor, reoccupying her chair, and enjoying the sensation she created. “Yes. In Mr. Pithey I see our—now what is the word I want?—oh yes—our avenger! The people have dethroned Us. ”

“ Fothersley was reconciled to their existence.
Ruth had been to no more parties; the days at home were too wonderful. She garnered each into her store as a precious gift. But the neighbours liked to drop in and potter round or sit on the terrace. The place was undoubtedly amazingly beautiful and perfect in its way. The friendliness and trust of all that lived and moved at Thorpe appealed even to the unreceptive. Here there were white pigeons that fluttered round your head and about your feet. ”

“ Then and there on arriving at Fairbridge did Miss Luce carry her off to see them both.
Bertram Aurelius had eyes the colour of a delphinium, a head of red down, and a skin like strawberries and cream. He had little hands that held you tight and pink toes which he curled and uncurled. He crowed at Ruth and promptly put her finger in his mouth.
“Ain’t he beautiful?” said his small mother.
“She is really an excellent worker,” said little Miss Luce, when Gladys and Bertram Aurelius had been dismissed. “And she will do anything for anyone who is good to the baby. ”

“ Lady Condor felt they were in bad taste, and North got up, frowning irritably, and moved away to the window. Violet, however, was paying no attention to either of them. She was looking at Ruth, with her golden eyes full of something approaching malice.
“You go on playing with your little bits of kindness and your toys, and think everything in the garden is lovely!” She laughed again, that little hateful laugh. “And what do you suppose is really going on all the time! You human beings are the biggest fraud on the face of the earth!” ”

“ But presently Ruth spoke again, and, looking up, he met the old comforting friendliness of her smile. Her serenity had returned. Her face looked white and very worn, but it was no longer marred with fear.
“I am sorry,” she said, “and I am ashamed to have been so foolish, to have let myself think for a moment that we should fail. Hate is very strong and very terrible; but love is stronger and very beautiful. Let us only make ourselves into fit instruments for its power. We must. If Karl von Schäde lasts beyond, so too, more surely still, does Dick Carey. Why should we be afraid? ”

“ Pithey majestically. And he said to Mrs. Pithey all the things he would have said to Miss Seer if she had given him a chance.
Undisturbed by the omission, Ruth went home across the flowered fields, but Mr. Pithey himself oppressed her. It seemed grossly unfit, somehow, that the life sacrifice of those dead boys should result in benefit, material benefit at any rate, to the Pitheys of the world; it shocked even one’s sense of decency.
But Bertram Aurelius’s head was very soft against her throat as he dropped into sleep. The sun was very warm, the almond and honey scent of gorse was very sweet. ”

“ What had been let loose when Karl von Schäde had died in that British clearing station, cursing “England and the English, me and mine and Thorpe. Even Vi.” The great emotional forces, so much greater than the physical body which imprisons them, what power was there when freed; this hatred in a man of great and cultivated intellect, whose aim had been no mean or contemptible thing, whose aim had been power, what was that force on the other side of death? How much could it accomplish if, with added knowledge, it so willed?
Ruth shivered in the warm June night. ”

“ And, dreaming in the warmth of the afternoon, with the 172fragrance and beauty of the wonderful universe filtering into his consciousness, the idea penetrated with ever-growing insistence: Had the gods, by some wonderful chance, by some amazing good fortune, placed in his hands, his, Roger North’s, an instrument, finer, subtler, more delicate, than any of which he had ever dreamed, the consciousness that was materializing as Ruth Seer? ”

“ She read a great many both of the wisest and of the most beautiful books in the world, she listened to music played by the master hand, and her skilled cooking interested her. As the years went on, old Goltz left the business more and more to her, spending his time in his little back parlour surrounded by his beloved first editions, which he knew better by now than to offer for sale, drawing the music of the spheres from his wonderful Bluthner piano, and steadily smoking. He gave Ruth a sitting-room of her own upstairs, and allowed her to take in the two little dogs Sarah and Selina. ”

“ Was there indeed a finer, subtler, more wonderful matter, waiting to be explored by different, finer, subtler methods? What was it Dick Carey and Ruth Seer cognized, contracted with outside his ken? Could he be certain it did not exist? “God! it would give you an horizon beyond eternity,” he had said to Ruth Seer; that was true enough—if the vision was true. Always till now he had thought of any vision beyond as a fable, invented by wise men to help lesser men through what was after all but a sorry business. ”

“ A dog well content, who waved a lazy tail as she came. His nose between his paws, he watched no longer a lonely road. He watched a man. A man in a brown suit who lay full length on the grass. Ruth could not see his face, only the back of a curly head propped by a lean brown hand; and he too was watching something. His absolute stillness made Ruth draw her breath and remain motionless where she stood. ”

“ And on the whole Ruth was not unhappy. Sometimes she looked her loneliness in the face, and the long years struck at her like stones. Sometimes her dying, slowly dying, youth called to her in the night watches, and she counted the hours of the grey past years, hours and hours with nothing of youth’s meed of joy and love in them. But for the most part she strangled these thoughts with firm hands. There was nothing to be gained by them, for there was 33nothing to be done. An untrained woman, without money or people, must take what she can get and be thankful. ”

“ Pithey showed himself to Ruth at his best, and though perhaps it was not a very handsome best, the direct result was a row of cottages as a thank-offering.
“Once upon a time,” began Ruth, “there was a little Earth Elemental who had made the most beautiful flower in all the world, or at least it thought it was the most beautiful, so of course, for it, it was.”
“What is an Earth Elemental?” asked Elaine Pithey.
“The Earth Elementals are the fairies who help make the plants and flowers.”
“We don’t believe in fairies,” said Elaine primly. ”