Mazo de la Roche

“ She was conscious of every part of herself, as one might think a star would be conscious of its every glittering point. She was conscious of her curls dancing on her head, of her long lashes, as they swept towards her cheek, of her firm breasts that seemed to hold the rhythm of the dance, of her strong thighs that never tired, of her gay, tripping feet. She was conscious, too, of Jimmy's body beside her, guiding her caressingly. But she was only dimly conscious of that.
"Who is she? Who is she?" gasped Ada in Albert's ear. Everyone was asking the same question. ”

“ But beneath her passing moods lay her real self that she revealed to no one except Bastien whom she loved, and to him only in flashes—fierce caresses, violent fits of weeping that made him uneasy. She looked sometimes as though she were capable of running a knife into a man.
Mrs. Jessop had independent means. She occupied the position of housekeeper because her abundant vitality would not be dammed into the sluggish pool of a lonely life. She needed other women to domineer over, to be dependent on her for favours; men, with whom to be alternately jovial and sullen. ”

“ It was Perkin. He came towards her slowly, his feet sinking in the moist velvet of the stream's brink, his large grey eyes fixed on her with an odd look.
"Why, Perkin, is that you?" And she explained: "I'm gathering watercress for my tea."
He came out on the board and knelt down beside her.
"Getting watercress, eh? You've struck a quiet place all right. It's as quiet as the bottom of the sea, ain't it?"
"There's a fresh growth come up. It's as tender as can be. Don't you like watercress?" ”

“ But more effective than the brandy, had been the coming of Jimmy at the moment when her heart cried out for him. Now, simple and trusting, she put the terrible events of the evening behind her, behind her with all frightening remembrances—Perkin—the Heaslips—other things that she did not distinctly recall. With all dark shadows of the past she cast Mrs. Jessop and her followers, and threw herself upon Jimmy's love. Her stalwart young body rebounded quickly as a boy's from the effects of the buffeting and ducking. ”

“ When he and Lovering went to bed they lay awake talking of his plans, of milch cows, of marketing butter and cream, and lastly of his taking the mayor's daughter for a drive. Lovering became sleepy but Kirke would not let him be. He even flung his arm about his neck and, hugging him, exclaimed:
"Who knows! I may be Mayor of Brancepeth yet, mysel'." His accent broadened with his emotion.
"Get off me, Duncan," growled Lovering, trying to free his burly neck. "Tha'rt choking me. What's all this fuss about? As for Miss Earle, she has no more life in her than a sheep, and no more beauty. ”

“ Kirke gave forth a great yell:
"Mrs. Jessop! Woman alive! Are ye gone mad? Ye've killed the lass. Are ye all out of your senses?"
A scream of defiance rose from the women. One shouted: "Never fear. She ain't dead—yet!"
The other men now thronged to Kirke's side. As the women had screamed defiance at them, they shouted impotent rage at the women. They shook their fists to heaven. Macy, the constable took out his handcuffs, and waved them in the air, threatening to clap them all in gaol. . . . But Kirke, more practical, was pulling off his coat. ”

“ She never had a chance to speak with Joel, though she would have liked to, till Perkin told her that Joel and his wife hated the very sight of her, and after that she turned her head the other way.
Perkin was almost always kind to her though occasionally sombre fits would overtake him when he would not speak to her for hours, or, if he did speak, it was to find fault with the way she filled her baskets or missed branches that bore fruit. Sometimes he would jostle her out of his way, shoving his thin body against hers, with a strange, sullen gleam in his eyes. She was almost afraid of him. ”

“ A bright spot burned on either cheek bone.
"What art goin' to do?" sputtered Lovering, always suspicious yet envious of Kirke.
"Wait here and see. There'll be some fun."
He slunk down the stairs like a shadow. Outside Bastien's door he listened for a second, hearing low voices, and a sob with a little laugh behind it. The young trollop, he thought, going from one man's room to another's with her laughing and her crying. She didn't know how to take care of herself. He'd teach her. Give her a lesson she wouldn't forget. Give that cursed Bastien a lesson. Bastien most of all. ”

“ The lagoon lay, red as the petal of a rose, before them; the red sun glared like a staring wild bird at them; little rills of water sought their way, whispering, among the reeds and sedges.
"Will you let me buy you a little ring?" he whispered. "Just a pretty little ring to hold you fast by like a pigeon? Eh, Delight, will you?" His lips were against her cheek.
"Oo, Jimmy, I don't want to be tied up! I want to be my very own, I do."
"Why, look here," he blazed, "you'll be your very own, and you'll have me, too. That'll be the only difference. You'll have two 'stead of one. That's all. ”

“ The brazen vibrations rocked their bodies, the music drugged their senses. Faster and faster they sped. They had taken off their hats and the night wind blew between their parted lips, whistled in their teeth, filled their lungs. All outside their whirling circle became a shining blur of lights and faces. To be flying like this with her beside him on a unicorn fired Kirke's spirit into a wild joy. They two! They two! They were worth more than all this throng of clods that peopled the Fair grounds together. Delight and Duncan. Duncan and Delight. ”

“ A rich smell of ale and spirits filled the air. A sustained flow of men's voices came from all sides, sometimes ebbing to a low drone, sometimes swelling to a vigorous burst of laughter. Night had fallen. The March air was cold, and the heavy, green door was closed after each fresh arrival. Four men from the dye works came in together, their hands, in spite of scrubbing, stained by the dyes they worked in. Then, half a dozen tannery hands, bringing with them their own peculiar nauseating scent. Kirke knew them and nodded curtly. ”

“ Delight was drowsy, and as she described soapy arcs with the scrubbing brush, her mind revolved, without arriving at any answer about one question. Should she or should she not meet Bastien that night? If Mrs. Jessop were discharged, how homely it would be to go back to The Duke with Mrs. Bye, and Queenie, and Charley, and Annie, and old Davy, like dear friends around her! She knew they were friendly towards her, for Pearl had told her so. Here none of the women were friendly. There was only Kirke, who would be in a fine rage if she left Beemer's. She didn't care. Let him rage. ”

“ He tied the thread and went and sat down on the window-sill.
"What ails you?" she asked.
"I'm not feeling well."
"You don't mean to say that wee drop of blood upset you?"
"It was your blood, Delight."
A smile trembled on her lips, her eyes filled with tears. "Jimmy!" she said gently. "I do like you, I do." But she took the needle and placed it in his hand. "Now, do the other," she commanded.
He sprang to his feet, his face set and white. "If I do the other, I'll be sick, do you hear? You'll have to get someone else to do the other." ”

“ The two girls in the boat gazed up, with envious interest at the men struggling on the shore. Each wished that she were waiting across the lagoon while angry men fought to reach her.
Now the schoolmaster was talking and flourishing his hand but no one would listen to him. Now a shadow fell like the wing of a crow. The afterglow changed from petunia to orange. The hunter's moon sailed upward in the melting twilight of the sky.
Another figure had entered the far end of the park. A man, alone, running like the wind, all the muscles in his strong, compact body moving in sweet accord. ”

“ But nature had withheld from her the proper palate with which Charley was endowed, so that Queenie's marching song, while spirited, for she never sang and marched so well as in the high tide of excitement in the kitchen, came haltingly as to words. ”

“ Delight, looking down on her, was afraid of her ferocity, and, deep within her, was a feeling that, after all, May was her dear friend, her only friend in the world, that, somehow, little May was fighting her because there was no one else on whom she could vent the fury of her jealousy of Ada. If you couldn't do things to one person, well, the next best thing was to do them to another. ”

“ She made the boat fast to the twisted root of a tree, where it would be hidden among the bushes. Her feet sank into the moist earth from which water oozing into her footprints formed tiny glistening pools. She hid the basket among the elder bushes on the shore, and there, shading her eyes with her hand, scanned the fields for the figure of her unknown lover. Evening mists were gathering in the hollows; the hillsides were velvet brown. ”

“ But his erratic legs played him false, he tripped over his own toes, fell to the road and lay there groaning while Kirke leaped over him, Bastien gave him a kick, and, at last, fat Beemer trotted round him. When he gathered himself up, the others had turned in at the park gates. He sighed, brushed the dust from his legs and, remembering that the bar was deserted, ambled back there and had a glass of gin and water in peace.
Meanwhile men from doorways of cottages joined the others. Men, chopping wood for their wives, dropped their axes and made the streaming tail of the rescue party longer. ”

“ Jessop struck the panel a blow with her clenched hand.
"Just you dare to try seeing anyone! If you do, I'll blazon you over the whole house. I'll get the gong and sound it in the hall, and tell everyone in the town how you've gone from one man's room to another. You've shamed the house, and you're lucky to get off as easy as you're doing, d'yer hear?"
The storm which had rolled down the lake now swept back as though for nothing else than to beat down Mrs. Jessop's voice. ”

“ Every shopkeeper in Brancepeth seemed to have his nose against his window as Kirke and Miss Earle drove past. Slow was the pace as they drove out, that every eye might see, but they came back like a whirlwind, the gelding stamping his hoofs in graceful fury, Miss Earle's long green scarf streaming far behind. ”

“ But, if Bastien were comparable to the ring-master of a circus, Kirke was as a high priest at the altar of a goddess, a priest rather contemptuous towards the poor young goddess herself, but demanding the worship of others with fierce austerity.
When Delight beat the Chinese gong before the door of the dining-room with calculated fervour, ascending from a low, muffled tapping to a thunder that filled the house, his angular body would invariably be draped against the newel post while his hungry light eyes devoured her unconscious beauty. ”

“ Delight had not intended to go to the Fair. She had kept her vow to remain indoors while she worked at Beemer's. Now she felt that she would suffocate for lack of air and outdoor movement. She was tired to death with serving the crowds that thronged the dining-room, so, when she met Kirke in the hallway and he urged her to go with him on the last night of the Fair, suddenly she could not resist. . . . To be out of doors, under the big bright moon, in a crowd of people, with soft grass beneath her feet instead of boards, the temptation was too great. ”

“ She couldn't help it if men liked her, wanted to stare at her and get close to her. She couldn't help it any more than her mother could. Her mother could not have been very much ashamed of having her or she would not have called her Delight. It sounded as though she'd been glad to have her. Well, anyway, God had made her the same as other folk. She began to laugh softly, opening her mouth wide in the darkness, making little clucking noises. What fun God must have had making her! Her hair for one thing. Well, even God would laugh to think of all those tight yellow curls. ”

“ Delight, in her close, black dress that strained darkly to cover her exuberant charms, swayed above the boarders. She was happy. These hungry men, with the odours of their occupations hanging about them, seemed like her little children whom she was about to feed. She had been told by Mrs. Bye, the cook, to ask them whether they would have oatmeal porridge or Force. Force was a breakfast food of the day. ”

“ Folk were often stand-offish with a newcomer. She liked the little round heads and freckled faces of the sisters and their brisk movements. They worked together like two good stocky ponies. As for Mrs. Beemer . . . after Mrs. Bye's long-legged leaps across the kitchen, she seemed like an elephant ponderously going through the motions to which it had been trained. But presently she saw that Mrs. Beemer accomplished more than Mrs. Bye, for all her frenzy, and that, with the utmost economy of movement, she kept the machine of the kitchen running in deadly earnest. ”

“ Could these devils of girls on the shore see that a man was drowning? Or did they think it fun for men to be stoned in the water like stray cats? A piece of brick struck him on the head, inflicting a sharp pain.
"Hello, Kirke! Hello, Scotchie! What are you turning back for?" came with jeers and laughter, and a fresh volley of broken bricks.
Bastien and Fergussen had got the tailor between them.
"Come back, men!" shouted Lovering. "They vixens'll stone your heads in. Mrs. Jessop's trying to say something. Let's hear what she has to say." ”

“ Delight was glad in her heart that they had had the fight, for since then they had been more happily intimate than ever before. Why, when they were in their room, changing to their outdoor things, May had simply grabbed her in her arms and kissed her for nothing at all. Delight thought that if Granny could look down and see her little girl out walking so happy with a friend like May, instead of a man, she would have been very pleased with her. Granny seemed very near tonight. Delight could almost feel her hand pressing her arm as she walked rather heavily beside her. ”

“ May, now in her nightdress, her head covered with curling-pins, said solemnly: "You better be careful of men out 'ere. You're in a strange country, and you 'aven't no one to look arter you but me."
"You hop into bed, old Lady Croak. You hate men yourself, don't you?"
May turned out the light and got into the narrow, lumpy bed beside her. She had not opened the window, and the air was filled with the smell of the charred wick. A steady hum of voices rose from the bar. She turned towards the young girl and laid her arms across her supple hips. ”

“ In the kitchen cook was aghast, outraged. "Whatever has come over the men?" she exclaimed. "Here's my whole pot of porridge going to waste, and package after package of that breakfast food opened. Mrs. Jessop'll be in a fine taking."
"It's that new girl," replied her husband. "You may depend upon it. Women are kittle-cattle, every one on 'em, but she's the worst I seen yet. I knowed we'd have trouble with her the minute I set eyes on her."
"But why?" cried Mrs. Bye. "Why don't she want them to eat their porridge same as usual?"
Charley wagged his head. ”

“ He had been in the park before it all began, so absorbed in his own dreams that he had heard nothing of what went on beyond the lagoon till the other men came running in.
"Fish, hell! Tobacco juice, hell! I'm a man, you silly blighter, and it's a man she needs, not a chalky-faced—what the hell's your business, anyhow?"
"Teaching school."
"Teaching school, eh? Is that a man's job? You'd be no more to her than a toe-rag. Ho, you fellers here's a white-livered schoolmaster wants to marry my gal!"
"Your geerl," snarled Kirke, digging his bony elbow into the fisherman's stomach. ”

“ The gypsy laughed and shrugged her shawled shoulders.
"Ah, you get de money. Dat easy. All de men love you in dese, and de women, dey jealous. See—green, de colour of jealous." She touched the winking green stars. The tip of her tongue showed between her teeth.
Delight's heart danced out to the earrings. They made her feel as her Granny's apple-green tea-set made her feel—good, pure, almost religious. ”

“ The men nearest the window of that bar saw him pass, his thin hair flying, his spiderish legs almost doubling under him. And in his train stout Lovering, rushing like a curly polled bull; Kirke, in angular leaps, like a deer; fat Beemer, waddling at the tail of a score of others.
Forgetting his feud with Beemer, Bastien strode to the door.
"Hi, Beemer!" he called. "What's the matter?"
"Batter enough," choked Beemer. "The women folks is gone clean crazy and they're killin' my girl—you know, the Prize girl—I mean the Mainprize girl—Delight. ”

“ Jessop's voice was compelling. "You men love this girl. Have any of you got the spunk to marry her and take the responsibility of her? Have you? Because if you have—and she'll agree—I'll pronounce her innocent this minute, and she can set on the bank while you fools make it up between you which it's to be. Will anybody marry this Delight Mainprize?" Her big voice shook with sardonic laughter. "A handsome filly—sound in wind and limb—will not shy at anything—guaranteed to be fond of gentlemen." ”

“ The news that Delight Mainprize was at Beemer's spread like wildfire through the town. Women who had never seen her, who never expected to see her, felt disturbed at the thought that the strangely beautiful girl was again in their midst. Kirke had refused to disclose the place where she had been hiding for the past months. He told mysteriously how he had discovered her on a lonely farm, kept a prisoner by the farmer who had found her wandering about the country with her basket of dishes after she had been turned out by Mrs. Jessop, and who had become crazed by desire for her. ”

“ Delight now lowered the gong and, as its vibrations ceased, the surge of men's voices once more possessed the hall. As Kirke came abreast of her, he peered closely at the ear nearest him.
"How's the ear?" he asked, and gave the lobe a little pinch.
Delight drew back her head. "Don't be so free with your hands." Her eyes flashed. ”

“ Basket factories were working on long hours in all the fruit district. Groups of dusky Indian pickers appeared on the streets of Brancepeth. They carried bundles and babies, lived their own mysterious lives, and, when the season was over, disappeared with the fruit.
It was a time of steady immigration from Britain and there was hope in every heart and work for all.
Business was good at The Duke of York. There was no doubt that Kirke's scheme of placing Delight more prominently in the dining-room had been a good one. She was a never-failing attraction. ”

“ At the foot of the stairs Jimmy Sykes was standing, anxious and boyish.
"Here's your partner!" said Kirke, abruptly handing her over to him. "You'll find she's a grand appetite for supper. You can wait on her for a change. If he gets a timid spell, Delight, and is afraid to sairve you, just let me know and I'll come to your rescue." With his hard, staccato laugh he moved away. He was eager to mingle with the other men and hear what they had to say about the dance. Besides, he did not want to take her in to supper. ”

“ The gypsy might even die in the night. She had heard of people going off like that in a hurry from some secret sickness.
When she was dressing to wait at the supper table she went to her Granny's apple-green tea-pot where she had hidden the earrings and took them out. She held one beneath each ear and went to the looking-glass to enjoy the effect. For a second her eyes danced with delight; then a terrible discovery made her suddenly feel quite faint. Her ears had never been pierced! ”

“ May sobbed. "He's my cousin."
"Well, then, be glad you're shut of him," said Mrs. Bye. "I don't approve of cousins marryin'. Nature never intended that we should overdo relations that way, and if we do, likely as not, the children'll come underdone."
"You'd think marriage was a pie to hear you talk," said Delight.
"It's a pie you'd better keep your finger out of, till you're a bit more sensible."
"Me?" cried Delight. "I'm as sensible as can be. It'd take more than a jilting to upset me."
Charley thumped on the wall. "Missus! Missus!" he called. "Be you going to gadabout all night?" ”

“ Are you gone on him, Delight? I tell you, he'll never marry you, if that's what you're looking for. All he cares for you is to use you as a tool to spite me. I care more for your little finger than he does for your whole body. Look here, I could have shot old Jessop when she fired you. I'll get even with her for it, too."
"Here comes Mr. Kirke with the lemonade," breathed Delight. She feared trouble between the two men. The air seemed charged with danger, full of a sinister tension.
Bastien pressed her arm. "All right. I'll get out. ”

“ When she had got it, her voice came with a cooing note across the lagoon.
"She says she'll marry anyone."
"Take her out of the water," shouted the men.
Mrs. Jessop helped Delight to the bank. She herself was soaked to the thighs, but she felt neither chilled nor stiff. Delight was drenched, through and through. Her heavy hair, in long wet strands, half hid her marble face as she sank to the ground, her head resting on her hand—her strong right hand that now felt so weak. . . .
The tailor, now resuscitated, had heard Mrs. Jessop's question and Kirke's answer. ”

“ They felt considerably above the other third-floor boarders by virtue of Lovering's position as under-foreman in the dye works, and Kirke's as a shipper in the tannery. But they preferred the cheap accommodation to a more ambitious status.
The dining-room was now empty save for Delight and the young man. He laid down his bread and got nervously to his feet. Delight came and stood beside him, a roguish smile curving towards a dimple in her cheek.
"You heard what I said, eh?" she asked in a low tone.
"Y-yes," he stammered. "You've made me awful proud. When can we get together?" ”