Joan Haste
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JOAN HASTE
«I should like nothing better», answered Joan.
«Very well, then. Will you come upstairs and see your rooms and wash your hands for supper? I will call the girl, Maria, to help you carry up the box».
Presently Maria arrived. She was a strong, awkward-looking damsel of fifteen, «a workinghouse girl», Mrs. Bird explained, but, like everything else in that house, scrupulously clean in appearance. With her assistance the box was dragged upon the narrow stairs, and Joan found herself in the apartments of the late accountant. They were neat little rooms, separated from each other by double doors, and furnished with a horsehair sofa, a round deal table with a stained top, and some old chairs with curly backs and rep-covered seats.
«They look a little untidy», said Mrs. Bird, eyeing these chairs; «but the fact is that the late accountant was a careless man, and often upset his coffee over them. However, I will run you up some chintz covers in no time, and for the sofa too if you like. And now do you think that the rooms will do? You see here is a good cupboard and a chest of drawers».
«Very nicely, thank you», answered Joan. «I never expected a sitting-room all to myself».
«I am glad that you are pleased. And now I will leave you. Supper will be ready in half an hour – fried eggs and bacon and bread and butter. But if you like anything else I dare say that I can get it for you».
Joan hastened to assure her that eggs and bacon were her favourite food; and, having satisfied herself that there was water in the jug and a clean towel, Mrs. Bird departed, leaving her to unpack. Half an hour later Joan went down and par-
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took of the eggs and bacon. It was an odd meal, with a deaf- and-dumb child pouring out the tea, a deaf-and-dumb giant smiling at her perpetually across the table, and her little hostess attending to them all, and keeping up a double fire of conversation, one with her lips for Joan’s benefit, and one with her head and hands for that of her two «babies».
After supper the things were cleared away; and having first inquired whether Joan objected to the smell of smoke, Mrs. Bird filled a large china pipe for her husband, and brought him some queer-shaped tools, with which he began to carve the head of a walking-stick.
«I told you that he was very clever», she said; «do you know, he sometimes makes as much as four shillings a week. He gives me the money, and thinks that I spend it, but I don’t; not a farthing. I put it all into the Savings Bank for him and Sally. There is nearly forty pounds there on that account alone. There, do you know what he is saying?»
Joan shook her head.
«He says that he is going to carve a likeness of you. He thinks that you have a beautiful head for a walking-stick. Oh! don’t be afraid; he will do it capitally. Look, here is the late accountant. I keep it in memory of him», and Mrs. Bird produced a holly stick, on the knob of which appeared a dismal, but most lifelike, countenance.
«He wasn’t very handsome», said Joan.
«No, he wasn’t handsome – only right-thinking; and that is why Jim would like to carve you, because you see you are handsome, though whether or no you are right-thinking remains to be proved».
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Joan smiled; there was something very quaint about the little lady.
«I hope that Mr. Bird does not want me to sit to him tonight», she said, «for, do you know, I am dreadfully tired, and I think that I will go to bed».
«No, no; he will only make a beginning to-night, perhaps of two or three sticks, and afterwards he will study you. You will be much better for some sleep after your journey – though you have not yet told me where you came from», and she shook her straw-coloured head doubtfully.
Joan made no answer, not feeling inclined to submit herself to cross-examination at the moment; but, going round the table, she shook hands with Mr. Bird and with Sally, who had been watching her all the evening and now put up her face to be kissed in a way that quite won Joan’s heart.
«That shows that Sally likes you», said Mrs. Bird, in a gratified voice; «and if Sally likes you I shall too, for she is never wrong about people. And now good night, my dear. We breakfast at half-past seven; but first I read some prayers if you would like to attend them: I read, and my two ‘babies’ follow in a book. Be sure you put your light out».
Joan stumbled upstairs, and, too tired even for thought, was soon in bed. Beneath her she could hear a clapping and cracking of fingers, which told her that she was being vigorously discussed by the Bird family after their own strange fashion; and to this queer lullaby she went to sleep.
CHAPTER XXIV
MESSRS. BLACK AND PARKER
Joan slept well that night, and woke to find the sunlight streaming in at her window. Coming down to the sitting-room at a quarter past seven, she saw that, early as it was, it had been swept and garnished and the breakfast laid.
«Good morning, my dear!» said Mrs. Bird: «I am glad to see that you are an early riser. I suppose it is a habit which you bring with you from the country. It was not so with the late accountant, who would never breakfast till nine if he could help it, and on Sundays not till ten; but I think that an affection of the liver from which he suffered made him sleepy. And now I am going to have prayers. Maria, come to prayers».
Maria shuffled in, obedient, and diving into the back room reappeared wheeling her master before her, who, as he came, smiled sweetly and waved his hand in greeting to Joan. Mrs. Bird handed two Bibles to her husband and her daughter, pointing out the passage which was to be read with her finger, then she gave them each a manual of prayer. These preparations finished, she began to read the chapter of the Bible aloud; and it was curious and touching to see the attention with which her deaf-and-dumb audience followed the words
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they could not hear, glancing from time to time at the motions of her lips to make sure that they were keeping pace with her. When the reading was finished, she shut the Bible and knelt down – an example that Mr. Bird could not follow, for his limbs were paralysed. Sally, however, placed herself near Joan, making it clear to her by signs that she was to indicate by pointing each sentence as it passed her mother’s lips.
Prayers being over – and surely family worship was never carried on under greater difficulties – breakfast followed, and then the business of the day began. Mr. Bird carved while Mrs. Bird and her daughter sewed at gowns that they were making. For a time Joan looked on helplessly; then, wearying of idleness, asked if she could not do something.
«Can you sew, my dear?» said Mrs. Bird. «Pretty well», she answered; «but not like you».
«That is scarcely wonderful, considering that I have done nothing else for more than twenty years; but here are some seams to be run up, if you have nothing better to do».
Joan took the seams and began to run them; indeed, she «ran» until her back ached with stooping.
«You are getting tired, my dear», said Mrs. Bird, «as I expected you would, not being accustomed to the work», and she peered at her kindly through her spectacles. «Now you had better rest awhile and talk. What part of England do you come from?»
«From the Eastern counties», answered Joan.
«Dear me! that is strange – quite a coincidence, I declare. I come from the East coast myself. I was born at Yarmouth, though it is many and many a year since I have seen a her-
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ring boat. You see, my story is a very simple one. I was an orphan girl, for my dear father was drowned in an October gale when fishing at sea, and I came to London with a family as nursemaid. They did not treat me kindly – even now I cannot say that they did, although I wish to be charitable – for they discharged me because I was not strong enough to do the work, and if I had not been taken in out of pity by a widow woman, a dressmaker and my predecessor in this very house, I do not know what would have become of me. My husband was her only child, and it was part of my duty, and indeed of my pleasure, to look after him in his affliction so far as I was able. Then when his mother died I married him, for I could not make up my mind to leave him alone, and this of course I must have done unless I became his wife. So you see, my dear, I took him on and the business with him, and we have been very happy ever since – so happy that sometimes I wonder why God is so good to me, who am full of faults. One sorrow we have had, it is true, though now even that seems to have become a joy: it was after Sally was born. She was a beautiful baby, and when for the first time I grew sure that she would be deaf and dumb also, I cried till I thought my heart would break, and wished that she might die. Now I see how wicked this was, and every night I thank Heaven that I was not taken at my word, for then my heart would have broken indeed». And the dear little woman’s eyes filled with tears as, putting her arm round the child’s waist, she kissed her tenderly.
There was something so beautiful in the scene that Joan almost cried in sympathy, and even Jim, who seemed to understand everything, for one moment ceased to smile, and having
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wiped away a tear from his round blue eye, stretched out his great arms and swept both the mother and the daughter into a confused embrace.
«You say that you are full of faults», said Joan, turning her head until the three of them had recovered their composure, «but I think you are an angel».
«If to tend and care for those whom one loves is to be an angel, I think that we shall most of us get to heaven», she answered, shaking her head; then added, «Oh! you wretched Jim, you have broken my spectacles – the new ones».
Jim, watching his wife’s lip and the damaged glasses, looked so comically distressed that Joan burst out laughing, while Sally, seeing what was the matter, ran to the back room to fetch another pair.
«And now, my dear», Mrs. Bird said presently, «you say that you have come to London to get work, though why you should want work if you have plenty of money I do not quite understand. What kind of employment do you wish to take? For my part I cannot think, for, to be frank with you, my dear, you seem too much of a lady for most things».
«I thought», said Joan diffidently, «that I might perhaps get a situation as one of those girls in shops whom they use to hang cloaks on for the approval of customers. You see, I am – tall, and I am not clever enough to teach, so I know nothing else for which I should be fit».
Mrs. Bird shook her head. «I dare say that you might come by such employment, my dear, but I tell you at once that I do not approve of it. I know something of the wickedness of London, and I think that this sort of occupation puts too many
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temptations in the way of a young lady like you, who are so beautiful, and do not seem to have any home ties to keep your thoughts from them. We are most of us weak, remember; and flattery, and promises, and grand presents, all of which would be offered to you, are very nice things».
«I am not afraid of such temptations, Mrs. Bird», Joan answered, with a sad confidence that at once attracted the quick little woman’s attention.
«Now, when a person tells me that she is not afraid of a thing», she said, glancing at her, «I conclude that she is either totally without experience and foolhardy, or that, having won the experience and passed through the fire, she no longer fears a danger which she has overcome, or» and she stopped.
This vein of speculative reflection did not seem to recommend itself to Joan; at any rate she changed the subject.
«You have twice called me a lady, Mrs. Bird», she said, «but I must tell you that I am nothing of the sort. Who my father was I don’t even know, though I believe him to have been a gentleman, and my mother was the daughter of a yeoman farmer».
«Married?» asked Mrs. Bird interrogatively. Joan shook her head.
«Ah! I understand», said Mrs. Bird.
«That is partly why I left home», explained Joan. «Meaning Bradmouth? Don’t look surprised, my dear.
I saw the name on the clergyman’s testimonial, and also on your box».
«Yes, Bradmouth. I lived there with an aunt, and everybody looked down upon me because of my position».
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«That was very wicked of them. But did they begin to look down upon you all at once, or had you, perhaps, some other reason for coming away? I suppose your aunt knew that you were coming?»
«No, she did not know. We do not get on together, and I thought it best not to tell her. Also, she wanted me to marry somebody whom I dislike».
«Because there is somebody else whom you do like, I suppose, my dear. Well, it is no affair of mine. But if you will not think me impertinent, where then do you get your money from?»
«A gentleman»
«A gentleman!» exclaimed Mrs. Bird, dropping her work in horror.
«Oh! no, not that», said Joan, blushing; «he is a kind of guardian, a friend of my father’s, I believe. At any rate he has paid for me all these years, and says that he will allow me five pounds a month; though I would rather earn my own living if possible».
«A friend of your father’s? What a strange story! I suppose that he is not your father, my dear?»
«My father!» said Joan, opening her eyes wide in amazement – «Mr. Levinger my father! Of course not. Why, if he were, would he have treated me like a stranger all my life?»
«It is possible», said Mrs. Bird drily; «I have heard of such things».
«Oh no, he is not bad enough for that; in fact, he is very good and kind. He knew that I was coming away, and gave me five-and-twenty pounds to start on, and he told me him-
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self that he was left my trustee by my father, who is dead, but whose name he was bound not to reveal».
«Indeed», answered Mrs. Bird, pursing up her lips. «And now I must go and see about the dinner. As it happens, I do work for some of the big shops; and I will inquire if there is any situation vacant that might suit you. Look: Jim wants you to turn your head a little, so that he can see your nose. Is he not making a beautiful likeness?» And, nodding affectionately to her husband, she left the room.
Once outside the door, Mrs. Bird stood still and reflected. «There is a mystery about that girl», she thought, «and she has not told me all her story: she has left out the love affair – I could see it in her face. Now, if I were wise, I should send her about her business without more words; but, somehow, I cannot find the heart to do it. I suppose it is because she is so beautiful, and seems so sad and friendless; and after all it is one’s duty to help those who are placed thus – yes, even if they have not been quite respectable, though of course I have no right to suppose that she has not. No, I cannot turn her away. To do so might be to bring her to ruin, and that would be a dreadful thing to have upon one’s mind. But I do not think much of that guardian of hers, Mr. Levinger she called him, who can send such a lovely girl to take her chance in London without providing her with a proper home. It looks almost as if he wished to be rid of her: altogether it is a very strange story. I must say that it interests me; but then curiosity always was one of my sins, and I have not conquered it yet». And again shaking her head, this time at the thought of her own depravity, Mrs. Bird made her way to the kitchen.
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