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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 53611 ***
+
+                                GOSLINGS
+
+                                   By
+
+                            J. D. BERESFORD
+
+               Author of "The Hampdenshire Wonder," etc.
+
+
+                                 London
+                           William Heinemann
+                                  1913
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+THE NEW PLAGUE
+
+
+I--THE GOSLING FAMILY
+
+
+1
+
+"Where's the gels gone to?" asked Mr Gosling.
+
+"Up the 'Igh Road to look at the shops. I'm expectin' 'em in every
+minute."
+
+"Ho!" said Gosling. He leaned against the dresser; the kitchen was
+hot with steam, and he fumbled for a handkerchief in the pocket of
+his black tail coat. He produced first a large red bandanna with which
+he blew his nose vigorously. "Snuff 'andkerchief; brought it 'ome to
+be washed," he remarked, and then brought out a white handkerchief
+which he used to wipe his forehead.
+
+"It's a dirty 'abit snuff-taking," commented Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Well, you can't smoke in the orfice," replied Gosling.
+
+"Must be doin' somethin', I suppose?" said his wife.
+
+When the recital of this formula had been accomplished--it was hallowed
+by a precise repetition every week, and had been established now for
+a quarter of a century--Gosling returned to the subject in hand.
+
+"They does a lot of lookin' at shops," he said, "and then nothin' 'll
+satisfy 'em but buyin' somethin'. Why don't they keep away from 'em?"
+
+"Oh, well; sales begin nex' week," replied Mrs Gosling. "An' that's a
+thing we 'ave to consider in our circumstances." She left the vicinity
+of the gas-stove, and bustled over to the dresser. "'Ere, get out of
+my way, do," she went on, "an' go up and change your coat. Dinner'll
+be ready in two ticks. I shan't wait for the gells if they ain't in."
+
+"Them sales is a fraud," remarked Gosling, but he did not stop to
+argue the point.
+
+He went upstairs and changed his respectable "morning" coat for a
+short alpaca jacket, slipped his cuffs over his hands, put one inside
+the other and placed them in their customary position on the chest of
+drawers, changed his boots for carpet slippers, wetted his hair brush
+and carefully plastered down a long wisp of grey hair over the top
+of his bald head, and then went into the bathroom to wash his hands.
+
+There had been a time in George Gosling's history when he had not been
+so regardful of the decencies of life. But he was a man of position
+now, and his two daughters insisted on these ceremonial observances.
+
+Gosling was one of the world's successes. He had started life as
+a National School boy, and had worked his way up through all the
+grades--messenger, office-boy, junior clerk, clerk, senior clerk,
+head clerk, accountant--to his present responsible position as head of
+the counting-house, with a salary of £26 a month. He rented a house
+in Wisteria Grove, Brondesbury, at £45 a year; he was a sidesman
+of the church of St John the Evangelist, Kilburn; a member of Local
+Committees; and in moments of expansion he talked of seeking election
+to the District Council. A solid, sober, thoroughly respectable man,
+Gosling, about whom there had never been a hint of scandal; grown
+stout now, and bald--save for a little hair over the ears, and that
+one persistent grey tress which he used as a sort of insufficient
+wrapping for his naked skull.
+
+Such was the George Gosling seen by his wife, daughters, neighbours,
+and heads of the firm of wholesale provision merchants for whom he had
+worked for forty-one years in Barbican, E.C. Yet there was another man,
+hardly realized by George Gosling himself, and apparently so little
+representative that even his particular cronies in the office would
+never have entered any description of him, if they had been obliged
+to give a detailed account of their colleague's character.
+
+Nevertheless, if you heard Gosling laughing uproariously at some story
+produced by one of those cronies, you might be quite certain that it
+was a story he would not repeat before his daughters, though he might
+tell his wife--if it were not too broad. If you watched Gosling in the
+street, you would see that he took a strange, unaccountable interest in
+the feet and ankles of young women. And if many of Gosling's thoughts
+and desires had been translated into action, the Vicar of St John the
+Evangelist would have dismissed his sidesman with disgust, the Local
+Committees would have had no more of him, and his wife and daughters
+would have regarded him as the most depraved of criminals.
+
+Fortunately, Gosling had never been tempted beyond the powers of
+his resistance. At fifty-five, he may be regarded as safe from
+temptation. He seldom put any restraint upon his thoughts, outside
+business hours; but he had an ideal which ruled his life--the ideal
+of respectability. George Gosling counted himself--and others counted
+him also--as respectable a man as could be found in the Metropolitan
+Police area. There were, perhaps, a quarter of a million other men
+in the same area, equally respectable.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+As he was drying his hands, Gosling heard the front door slam and
+his daughters' voices in the passage below, followed by a shrill
+exhortation from the kitchen: "Now, gels, 'urry up, dinner's all
+ready and your father's waitin'!"
+
+Gosling trotted downstairs and received the usual salute from his two
+girls. He noted that they were a shade more effusive than usual. "Want
+more money for fal-lals," was his inward comment. They were always
+wanting money for "fal-lals."
+
+He adopted his usual line of defence through dinner and constantly
+brought the subject of conversation back to the need for a reduction
+of expenses. He did not see Blanche wink at Millie across the table,
+during these strategic exercises; nor catch the glance of understanding
+which passed between the girls and their mother. So, as his dinner
+comforted and cheered him, Gosling began to relax into his usual
+facetiousness; incredibly believing, despite the invariable precedents
+of his family history, that his daughters had been convinced of the
+hopelessness of approaching him for money that evening.
+
+The credulous creature even allowed them to make their opening,
+and then assisted them to a statement of their petition.
+
+They were talking of a friend's engagement to be married, and Gosling
+with an obtuseness he never displayed in business remarked, "Wish my
+gels 'ud get married."
+
+"Talking about us, father?" asked Blanche.
+
+"Well, you're the only gels I've got--as I know of," said Gosling.
+
+"Well, how can you expect us to get married when we haven't got a
+decent thing to put on?" returned Blanche.
+
+Gosling realized his danger too late. "Pooh! That don't make any
+difference," he said hastily, adopting a thoroughly unsound line of
+defence; "I never noticed what your mother was wearing when I courted
+'er."
+
+"Dessay you didn't," replied Millie, "I dessay most fellows couldn't
+tell you what a girl was wearing, but it makes just all the difference
+for all that."
+
+"Of course it does," said Blanche. "A girl's got no chance these days
+unless she can look smart. No fellow's going to marry a dowdy."
+
+"It does make a big difference, there's no denyin'," put in Mrs
+Gosling, as though she was being convinced against her will.
+
+"And now the sales are just beginning----"
+
+Poor Gosling knew the game was up. They had made no direct attack
+upon his pocket, yet; but they would not relax their grip of this
+fascinating subject till they had achieved their object. Blanche was
+saying that she was ashamed to be seen anywhere; and procrastination
+would be met at once by the argument--how well he knew it--based on
+the premise that if you didn't buy at sale-time, you had to pay twice
+as much later.
+
+It was quite useless for Gosling to fidget, throw himself back in
+his chair, frown, shake his head, and look horribly determined;
+the course of progress was unalterable from the direct attack: "Do
+you like to see us going about in rags, father?" through the stage
+of "Well, well, 'ow much do you want? I simply can't afford----"
+and the ensuing haggles down to the despairing sigh as the original
+minimum demanded--in this case no less than five pounds--was forlornly
+conceded, and clinched by Blanche's, "We must have it before the end
+of the week, dad, the sales begin on Monday."
+
+At the end of it all, he received what compensation they had to offer
+him; hugs and kisses, offers to do all sorts of impossible things,
+assistance in getting his armchair into precisely the right position,
+and him into the chair, and the table cleared and the lamp in just
+the right place for him to read his half-penny evening paper which
+was fetched for him from the pocket of his overcoat. And, finally,
+the crux of Gosling's whole position, a general air of complacency,
+good-temper and comfort.
+
+Gosling was an easy-going man, he hated rows.
+
+"Mind you, you two," he remarked with a return to facetiousness as he
+settled himself with his carpet slippers spread out to the fire--"mind
+you, I look on this money as an investment. You two gels got to get
+married; and quick or I shall be in the bankrup'cy Court. Don't you
+forget as these 'fal-lals' is bought for a purpose."
+
+"Oh, don't be so horrid, father," said Blanche, with a change of front;
+"it sounds as if we were setting traps for men."
+
+"Well, ain't you?" asked Gosling. "You said just now----"
+
+"Not like that," interrupted Blanche. "It's very different just wanting
+to look nice. Personally, I'm in no 'urry to get married, thank you."
+
+"You wait till Mr Right comes along," put in Mrs Gosling, and then
+turned the conversation by saying: "Well, father, what's the news
+this evening?"
+
+"Nothin' excitin'," replied Gosling. "Seems this new plague's spreadin'
+in China."
+
+"They're always inventin' new diseases, nowadays, or callin' old ones
+by new names," said Mrs Gosling. The two girls were busy with a sheet
+of note-paper and a stump of pencil that seemed to require frequent
+lubrication; they were making calculations.
+
+"This one's quite new, seemingly," returned Gosling. "It's only the
+men as get it."
+
+"No need for us to worry, then," put in Millie, more as a duty,
+some slight return for benefits promised, than because she took any
+interest in the subject. Blanche was absorbed; her unseeing gaze was
+fixed on the mantelpiece and ever and again she removed the point of
+the pencil from her mouth and wrote feverishly.
+
+"Oh, ain't there?" replied Gosling. He turned his head in order to
+argue from so strong a position. "And where'd you be, and all the
+rest of the women, if you 'adn't got no men to look after you?"
+
+"I expect we could get along pretty well, if we had to," said Millie.
+
+Gosling winked at his wife, and indicated by an upward movement of
+his chin that he was astounded at such innocence. "Who'd buy your
+'fal-lals' for you, I should like to know?" he asked.
+
+"We'd have to earn money for ourselves," said Millie.
+
+"Ah! I'd like to see you or Blanche takin' over my job," replied her
+father. "Why, I'll lay there's 'alf a dozen mistakes in the figurin'
+she's doing at the present moment. Let me see!"
+
+Blanche descended suddenly from visions of Paradise, and put her hand
+over the sheet of note-paper. "You can't, father," she said.
+
+Gosling looked sly. "Indeed?" he said, with simulated surprise. "And
+why not? Ain't I to be allowed to judge of the nature of the investment
+I'm goin' in for? I might give you an 'int or two from the gentleman's
+point of view."
+
+Blanche shook her head. "I haven't added it up yet," she said.
+
+Gosling did not press the point; he returned to his original
+position. "I dunno where you ladies 'ud be if you 'adn't no gentlemen
+to look after you."
+
+Mrs Gosling smirked. "We'll 'ope it won't come to that," she
+said. "China's a long way off."
+
+"Appears as there's been one case in Russia, though," remarked
+Gosling. He saw that he had rather a good thing in this threat of male
+extermination, a pleasant, harmless threat to hold over his feminine
+dependents; a means to emphasize the facts of masculine superiority
+and of the absolute necessity for masculine intelligence; facts that
+were not sufficiently well realized in Wisteria Grove, at times.
+
+Mrs Gosling yawned surreptitiously. She was doing her best to be
+pleasant, but the subject bored her. She was a practical woman
+who worked hard all day to keep her house clean, and received very
+feeble assistance from the daughters for whom her one ambition was
+an establishment conducted on lines precisely similar to her own.
+
+Millie and Blanche had returned to their calculations and were
+completely absorbed.
+
+"In Russia? Just fancy," commented Mrs Gosling.
+
+"In Moscow," said Gosling, studying his Evening News. "'E was an
+official on the trans-Siberian Railway. 'As soon as the disease
+was identified as a case of the new plague,'" read Gosling, "'the
+patient was at once removed to the infectious hospital and strictly
+isolated. He died within two hours of his admission. Stringent measures
+are being taken to prevent the infection from spreading.'"
+
+"Was 'e a married man?" asked Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Doesn't say," replied her husband. "But the point is that if it once
+gets to Europe, who knows where it'll stop?"
+
+"They'll see to that, you may be sure," said Mrs Gosling, with a
+beautiful faith in the scientific resources of civilization. "It said
+somethin' about that in the bit you've just read."
+
+Gosling was not to be done out of his argument. "Very like," he
+said. "But now, just supposin' as this 'ere plague did spread to
+London, and 'alf the men couldn't go to work; where d'you fancy
+you'd be?"
+
+Mrs Gosling was unable to grasp the intricacies of this
+abstraction. "Well, of course, every one knows as we couldn't get on
+without the men," she said.
+
+"Ah! well there you are, got it in once," said Gosling. "And don't
+you gels forget it," he added turning to his daughters.
+
+Millie only giggled, but Blanche said, "All right, dad, we won't."
+
+The girls returned to their calculations; they had arrived at the
+stage of cutting out all those items which were not "absolutely
+necessary." Five pounds had proved a miserably inadequate sum on paper.
+
+Gosling returned to his Evening News, which presently slipped gently
+from his hand to the floor. Mrs Gosling looked up from her sewing
+and put a finger on her lips. The voices of Blanche and Millie were
+subdued to sibilant whisperings.
+
+Gosling had forgotten his economic problems, and his daring
+abstractions concerning a world despoiled of male activity, especially
+of that essential activity, as he figured it, the making of money--the
+wage-earner was enjoying his after-dinner nap, hedged about, protected
+and cared for by his womankind.
+
+There may have been a quarter of a million wage-earners in Greater
+London at that moment, who, however much they differed from Gosling
+on such minor questions as Tariff Reform or the capabilities of the
+then Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have agreed with him as a
+matter of course, on the essentials he had discussed that evening.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+At half-past nine the click of the letter-box, followed by a resounding
+double-knock, announced the arrival of the last post. Millie jumped
+up at once and went out eagerly.
+
+Mr Gosling opened his eyes and stared with drunken fixity at the
+mantelpiece; then, without moving the rest of his body, he began to
+grope automatically with his left hand for the fallen newspaper. He
+found it at last, picked it up and pretended to read with sleep-sodden
+eyes.
+
+"It's the post, dear," remarked Mrs Gosling.
+
+Gosling yawned enormously. "Who's it for?" he asked.
+
+"Millie! Millie!" called Mrs Gosling. "Why don't you bring the
+letters in?"
+
+Millie did not reply, but she came slowly into the room, in her hands
+a letter which she was examining minutely.
+
+"Who's it for, Mill?" asked Blanche, impatiently.
+
+"Father," replied Millie, still intent on her study. "It's a foreign
+letter. I seem to remember the writing, too, only I can't fix it
+exactly."
+
+"'Ere, 'and it over, my gel," said Gosling, and Millie reluctantly
+parted with her fascinating enigma.
+
+"I know that 'and, too," remarked Gosling, and he, also, would have
+spent some time in the attempt to guess the puzzle without looking
+up the answer within the envelope, but the three spectators, who were
+not sharing his interest, manifested impatience.
+
+"Well, ain't you going to open it, father?" asked Millie, and Mrs
+Gosling looked at her husband over her spectacles and remarked,
+"It must be a business letter, if it comes from foreign parts."
+
+"Don't get business letters to this address," returned the head
+of the house, "besides which it's from Warsaw; we don't do nothin'
+with Warsaw."
+
+At last he opened the letter.
+
+The three women fixed their gaze on Gosling's face.
+
+"Well?" ejaculated Millie, after a silence of several seconds. "Aren't
+you going to tell us?"
+
+"You'd never guess," said Gosling triumphantly.
+
+"Anyone we know?" asked Blanche.
+
+"Yes, a gentleman."
+
+"Oh! tell us, father," urged the impatient Millie.
+
+"It's from the Mr Thrale, as lodged with us once," announced Gosling.
+
+"Oh! dear, our Mr Fastidious," commented Blanche, "I thought he was
+dead long ago."
+
+"It must be over four years since 'e left," put in Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Getting on for five," corrected Blanche. "I remember I put my hair
+up while he was here."
+
+"What's he say?" asked Millie.
+
+"'E says, 'Dear Mr Gosling, I expect you will be surprised to 'ear
+from me after my five years' silence----'"
+
+"I said it was five years," put in Blanche. "Go on, dad!"
+
+Dad resumed "... 'but I 'ave been in various parts of the world and it
+'as been quite impossible to keep up a correspondence. I am writing
+now to tell you that I shall be back in London in a few days, and to
+ask you whether you can find a room for me in Wisteria Grove?'"
+
+"Well! I should 'ave thought he'd 'ave written to me to ask that!" said
+Mrs Gosling.
+
+"So 'e should 'ave, by rights," agreed Gosling. "But 'e's a queer
+card is Mr Thrale."
+
+"Bit dotty, if you ask me," said Blanche.
+
+"'S that all?" asked Mrs Gosling.
+
+"No, 'e says: 'I can't give you an address as I go on to Berlin
+immediately, but I will look you up the evening after I arrive. Eastern
+Europe is not safe at the present time. There 'ave been several
+cases of the new plague in Moscow, but the authorities are doing
+everything they can--which is much in Russia--to keep the news out
+of the press, yours sincerely, Jasper Thrale,' and that's the lot,"
+concluded Gosling.
+
+"I do think he's a cool hand," commented Blanche. "Of course you
+won't have him as a paying guest now?"
+
+Gosling and his wife looked at each other, thoughtfully.
+
+"Well----" hesitated Gosling.
+
+"'E might bring the infection," suggested Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Oh! no fear of that," returned her husband, "but I dunno as we want
+a boarder now. Five years ago I 'adn't got my big rise----"
+
+"Oh, no, father; what would the neighbours think of us if we started
+to take boarders again?" protested Blanche.
+
+"It wouldn't look well," agreed Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Jus' what I was thinking," said the head of the house. "'Owever,
+there's no 'arm in payin' us a friendly visit."
+
+"O' course not," said Mrs Gosling, "though I do think it odd 'e
+shouldn't 'ave written to me in the first place.
+
+"He's dotty!" said Blanche.
+
+Gosling shook his head. "Not by a very long chalk 'e ain't," was his
+firm pronouncement....
+
+"Well, girls, what about bed?" asked Mrs Gosling, putting away the
+"bit of mending" she had been engaged upon.
+
+Gosling yawned again, stretched himself, and rose grunting to his
+feet. "I'm about ready for my bed," he remarked, and after another
+yawn he started his nightly round of inspection.
+
+When he returned to the sitting-room the others were all ready to
+retire. Gosling kissed his daughters, and the two girls and their
+mother went upstairs. Gosling carefully took off the larger pieces
+of coal from the fire and put them under the grate, rolled up the
+hearthrug, saw that the window was securely fastened, extinguished
+the lamp and followed his "womenfolk."
+
+As he was undressing his thoughts turned once more to the threat of
+the new disease which was devastating China.
+
+"Rum thing about that new plague," he remarked to his wife. "Seems
+as it's only men as get it."
+
+"They'd never let it spread to England," replied Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Oh! there's no fear of that, none whatever," said Gosling, "but it's
+rum that about women never catching it."
+
+The attitude of the Goslings faithfully reflected that of the immense
+majority of English people. The faith in the hygienic and scientific
+resources which were at the disposal of the authorities, and the
+implicit trust in the vigilance and energy of those authorities, were
+sufficient to allay any fears that were not too imminent. It was some
+one's duty to look after these things, and if they were not looked
+after there would be letters in the papers about it. At last, without
+question, the authorities would be roused to a sense of duty and the
+trouble, whatever it was, would be stopped. Precisely what authority
+managed these affairs none of the huge Gosling family knew. Vaguely
+they pictured Medical Boards, or Health Committees; dimly they
+connected these things with local government; at the top, doubtless,
+was some managing authority--in Whitehall probably--something to
+do with the supreme head of affairs, the much abused but eminently
+paternal Government.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+II--THE OPINIONS OF JASPER THRALE
+
+
+1
+
+"Lord, how I do envy you," said Morgan Gurney.
+
+Jasper Thrale sat forward in his chair. "There's no reason why you
+shouldn't do what I've done--and more," he said.
+
+"Theoretically, I suppose not," replied Gurney. "It's just making
+the big effort to start with. You see I've got a very decent berth
+and good prospects, and it's comfortable and all that. Only when
+some fellow like you comes along and tells one yarns of the world
+outside, I get sort of hankerings after the sea and adventure, and
+seeing the big things. It's only now and then--ordinary times I'm
+contented enough." He stuck his pipe in the corner of his mouth and
+stared into the fire.
+
+"The only things that really count are feeling clean and strong and
+able," said Thrale. "You never really have that feeling if you live
+in the big cities."
+
+"I've felt like that sometimes after a long bicycle ride," interpolated
+Gurney.
+
+"But then the feeling is wasted, you see," said Thrale. "When you
+feel like that and there is something tremendous to spend it upon,
+you get the great emotion as well."
+
+"Like the glimmer of St Agnes' light, after you'd been eight weeks
+out of sight of land?" reflected Gurney, going back to one of Thrale's
+reminiscences.
+
+"To feel that you are a part of life, not this dead, stale life of
+the city, but the life of the whole universe," said Thrale.
+
+"I know," replied Gurney. "To-night I've half a mind to chuck my job
+and go out looking for mystery."
+
+"But you won't do it," said Thrale.
+
+Gurney sighed and began to analyse the instinct within himself,
+to find precisely why he wanted to do it.
+
+"Well, I must go," said Thrale, getting to his feet, "I've got to
+find some sort of lodging."
+
+"I thought you were going to stay with those Gosling people of yours,"
+said Gurney.
+
+"No! That's off. I went to see them last night and they won't have
+me. The old man's making his £300 a year now, and the family's too
+respectable to take boarders." Thrale picked up his hat and held out
+his hand.
+
+"But, look here, old chap, why the devil can't you stay here?" asked
+Gurney.
+
+"I didn't know that you'd anywhere to put me," said Thrale.
+
+"Oh, yes. There's always a room to be had downstairs," said Gurney.
+
+After a brief discussion the arrangement was made.
+
+"It's understood I'm to pay my whack," said Thrale.
+
+"Of course, if you insist----"
+
+When Thrale had gone to fetch his luggage from the hotel, Gurney
+sat pondering over the fire. He was debating whether he had been
+altogether wise in pressing his invitation. He was wondering whether
+the curiously rousing personality of Thrale, and the stories of those
+still existent corners of the world outside the rules of civilization
+were good for a civil servant with an income of £600 a year. Gurney,
+faced with the plain alternatives, could only decide that he would be a
+fool to throw up a congenial and lucrative occupation such as his own,
+in order to face present physical discomfort and future penury. He
+knew that the discomforts would be very real to him at first. His
+friends would think him mad. And all for the sake of experiencing
+some high emotion now and again, in order to feel clean and fresh
+and be able to discover something of the unknown mystery of life.
+
+"I suppose there is something of the poet in me," reflected
+Gurney. "And I expect I should hate the discomforts. One's imagination
+gets led away...."
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+During the next few evenings the conversations between these two
+friends were many and protracted.
+
+Thrale was the teacher, and Gurney was content to sit at his feet
+and learn. He had a receptive mind, he was interested in all life,
+but Uppingham, Trinity Hall, and the Home Civil had constricted his
+mental processes. At twenty-nine he was losing flexibility. Thrale
+gave him back his power to think, set him outside the formulas of
+his school, taught him that however sound his deductions, there was
+not one of his premises which could not be disputed.
+
+Thrale was Gurney's senior by three years, and when Thrale left
+Uppingham at eighteen, he had gone out into the world. He had a
+patrimony of some £200 a year; but he had taken only a lump sum of
+£100 and had started out to appease his furious curiosity concerning
+life. He had laboured as a miner in the Klondike; had sailed, working
+his passage as an ordinary seaman, from San Francisco to Southampton;
+he had been a stockman in Australia, assistant to a planter in Ceylon,
+a furnace minder in Kimberley and a tally clerk in Hong Kong. For
+nearly nine years, indeed, he had earned a living in every country
+of the world except Europe, and then he had come back to London and
+invested the accumulation of income that his trustee had amassed for
+him. The mere spending of money had no fascination for him. During
+the six months he had remained in London he had lived very simply,
+lodging with the Goslings in Kilburn, and, because he could not live
+idly, exploring every corner of the great city and writing articles
+for the journals. He might have earned a large income by this latter
+means, for he had an originality of outlook and a freshness of style
+that made his contributions eagerly sought after once he had obtained
+a hearing--no difficult matter in London for anyone who has something
+new to say. But experience, not income, was his desire, and at the
+end of six months he had accepted an offer from the Daily Post as a
+European correspondent--on space. He was offered £600 a year, but
+he preferred to be free, and he had no wish to be confined to one
+capital or country.
+
+In those five years he had traversed Europe, sending in his articles
+irregularly, as he required money. And during that time his chief
+trustee--a lawyer of the soundest reputation--had absconded, and
+Thrale found his private income reduced to about £40 a year, the
+interest on one of the investments he had made, in his own name only,
+with his former accumulation--two other investments made at the same
+time had proved unsound.
+
+This loss had not troubled him in any way. When he had read in a
+London journal of his trustee's abscondence--he was later sentenced
+to fourteen years' penal servitude--Thrale had smiled and dismissed
+the matter from his mind. He could always earn all the money he
+required, and had never, not even subconsciously, relied upon his
+private fortune.
+
+He had now come back to London with a definite purpose, he had come
+to warn England of a great danger....
+
+One other distinguishing mark of Jasper Thrale's life must be
+understood, a mark which differentiated him from the overwhelming
+majority of his fellow men--women had no fascination for him. Once in
+his life, and once only, had he approached and tasted experience--with
+a pretty little Melbourne cocotte. That experience he had undertaken
+deliberately, because he felt that until it had been undergone one
+great factor of life would be unknown to him. He had come away from
+it filled with a disgust of himself that had endured for months....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Fragments of the long conversations between Thrale and Gurney,
+the exchange of a few germane ideas among the irrelevant mass,
+had a bearing upon their immediate future. There was, for instance,
+a criticism of the Goslings, introduced on one occasion, which had
+a certain significance in relation to subsequent developments.
+
+Some question of Gurney's prompted Thrale to the opinion that the
+Goslings were in the main precisely like half a million other families
+of the same class.
+
+"But that's just what makes them so interesting," said Gurney,
+not because he believed it, but because at the moment he wanted to
+lead the conversation into safe ground, away from the too appealing
+attractions of the big world outside the little village of London.
+
+Thrale laughed. "That's truer than you guess," he said. "Every
+large generalization, however trite, is a valuable contribution to
+knowledge--if it's more or less accurate."
+
+"Generalize, then, mon vieux," suggested Gurney, "from the characters
+and doings of your little geese."
+
+"I've seen glimmerings of the immortal god in the old man," said
+Thrale, "like the hint of sunlight seen through a filthy pane
+of obscured glass. He's a prurient-minded old beast leading what's
+called a respectable life, but if he could indulge his ruling desire
+with absolute secrecy, no woman would be safe with him. In his world
+he can't do that, or thinks he can't, which comes to precisely the
+same thing. He is too much afraid of being caught, he sees danger
+where none exists, he looks to all sorts of possibilities, and won't
+take a million-to-one chance because he is risking his all--which is
+included in the one word, respectability."
+
+"Jolly good thing. What?" remarked Gurney.
+
+"Good for society as a whole, apparently," replied Thrale, "but surely
+not good for the man. I've told you that I have seen glimmerings of
+the god in him, but outside the routine of his work the man's mind
+is clogged. He's not much over fifty, and he has no outlet, now,
+for his desires. He's like a man with choked pores, and his body is
+poisoned. And in this particular Gosling is certainly no exception
+either to his class or to the great mass of civilized man. Well, what
+I wonder is whether in a society which is built up of interdependent
+units the whole can be sound when the greater number of the constituent
+units are rotten."
+
+"But look here, old chap," protested Gurney, "if things are as you say,
+and men rule the country, why shouldn't they alter public opinion,
+and so open the way to do as they jolly well please?"
+
+"Because the majority are too much ashamed of their desires to dare
+the attempt in the first place, and in the second because they don't
+wish to open the way for other men. They aren't united in this; they
+are as jealous as women. If they once opened the way to free love,
+their own belongings wouldn't be safe."
+
+"What's your remedy, then?"
+
+"Oh! a few thousand more years of moral development," said Thrale,
+carelessly, "an evolution towards self-consciousness, a fuller
+understanding of the meaning of life, and a finer altruism."
+
+"You don't look far ahead," remarked Gurney.
+
+"Do you think anyone can look even a year ahead?" asked Thrale.
+
+"There have been some pretty good attempts in some ways--Swedenborg,
+for instance, and Samuel Butler...."
+
+"Yes, yes, that's all right, in some ways--the development of
+certain sorts of knowledge, for example. But there is always the
+chance of the unpredictable element coming in and upsetting the whole
+calculation. Some invention may do it, an unforeseen clash of opinions
+or an epidemic...."
+
+For a time they drifted further away from their original topic till
+some remark reminded Gurney that he had meant to ask a question and
+had forgotten it.
+
+"By the way," he said, "I wanted to ask you what you meant when you
+said you had seen a god in old Gosling?"
+
+"Just a touch of imagination and wonder, now and again," replied
+Thrale. "Something he was quite unconscious of himself. I remember
+standing with him on Blackfriars Bridge, and he looked down at the
+river and said: 'I s'pose it was clean once, banks and sand and so
+on, before all this muck came.' Then he looked at me quickly to see
+if I was laughing at him. That was the god in him trying to create
+purity out of filth, even though it was only a casual thought. It was
+smothered again at once. His training reasserted itself. 'Lot better
+for trade the way it is, though,' was his next remark."
+
+"But how can you alter it?" asked Gurney.
+
+"My dear chap, you can't alter these things by any cut-and-dried plan,
+any more than you can dam the Gulf Stream. We can only lay a brick
+or two in the right place. We aren't the architects; the best of us
+are only bricklayers, and the best of the best can only lay two or
+three bricks in a lifetime. Our job is to do that if we can. We can
+only guess very feebly at the design of the building; and often it is
+our duty partly to pull down the work that our forefathers built...."
+
+Presently Gurney asked if his companion had ever seen a god in Mrs
+Gosling.
+
+Thrale shook his head. "It didn't come within my experience," he
+said. "Don't condemn her on that account, but she, like all the women
+I have ever met, has been too intent upon the facts of life ever to see
+its mystery. Mrs Gosling hadn't the power to conceive an abstract idea;
+she had to make some application of it to her own particular experience
+before she could understand the simplest concept. Morality to her
+signified people who behaved as she and her family did; wickedness
+meant vaguely, criminals, Sarah Jones who was an unmarried mother, and
+anyone who didn't believe in the God of the Established Church. Always
+people, you see, in this connexion; in others it might be things;
+but ideas apart from people or things she couldn't grasp. Her two
+daughters thought in precisely the same way...."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+One Saturday afternoon Thrale came into Gurney's chambers and burst
+out: "Just Heaven! why you fools stand it I can't imagine!"
+
+"What's up now?" asked Gurney.
+
+Thrale sat down and drew his chair up to the table. The pupils of
+his dark eyes were contracted and seemed to glow as if they were
+illuminated from within.
+
+"I was in Oxford Street this morning, watching the women at the
+sales," he said. "All the biggest shops in London are devoted to
+women's clothes. Do you realize that? And it's not only that they're
+the biggest--there are more of them than any other six trades put
+together can show, bar the drink trade, of course. The north side
+of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court Road to the Marble Arch is one
+long succession of huge drapers and milliners. And what in God's name
+is the sense or reason of it? What do these huge shops sell?"
+
+"Dresses, I suppose," ventured Gurney, "and stockings, underlinen,
+corsets, hats, and so on."
+
+"And frippery," said Thrale, fixing his brilliant dark eyes on Gurney,
+"And frippery. Machine lace, ribbons, yokes, cheap blouses, feathers,
+insertions, belts, fifty thousand different kinds of bits and rags
+to be tacked on here and there, worn for a few weeks and then thrown
+away. Millions of little frivolous, stupid odds and ends that are
+bought by women and girls of all classes below the motor-class, to
+make a pretence--gauds and tawdry rubbish not one whit better from the
+artistic point of view than the shells and feathers of any half-naked
+Melanesian savage. In fact, meaningless as the Melanesians' decorations
+are, they do achieve more effect. And what's it all for, I ask you?"
+
+Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.
+
+"The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn't it?" he said. "The
+desire--often subconscious, no doubt--to attract."
+
+"Well, if that is so," said Thrale, "what terribly unintelligent
+fools women must be! If women really set out to attract men, they must
+realize that they are pandering to a sex instinct. Do you think any man
+is attracted by a litter of odds and ends? Doesn't every woman sneer
+when they see some Frenchwoman, perhaps, who dresses to display her
+figure instead of hiding it? Don't they bitterly resent the fact that
+their own men-folk are resistlessly drawn to stare at, and inwardly
+desire, such a woman? Don't they know perfectly well that such a woman
+is attractive to men in a way their own disguised bodies can never be?"
+
+"Yes, old chap; but your average middle-class English girl hasn't
+got the physical attractions to start with," put in Gurney.
+
+"Look at it in another way, then," replied Thrale. "Doesn't every
+woman know perfectly well--haven't you heard them say--that a
+nurse's dress is very becoming--a plain, more or less tightly-fitting
+print dress, with linen collars and cuffs? Don't you know yourself
+that that attire is more attractive to you than any befrilled and
+bedecorated arrangement of lace, ribbons and gauds? Why are so many
+men irresistibly attracted by parlourmaids and housemaids?"
+
+"Yes," meditated Gurney, "that's all true enough. Well, are women
+all fools, or what is it?"
+
+"The majority of women are sheep," said Thrale. "They follow as
+they are led, and don't or won't see that they are being led. And
+the leaders are chiefly men--men who have trumpery to sell. Why do
+the fashions change every year--sometimes more often than that in
+matters of detail? Because the trade would smash if they didn't. New
+fashions must be forced on the buyers, or the returns would drop;
+women would be able to make their last year's clothes do for another
+summer. That must be stopped at any cost. Those vast establishments
+must maintain an enormous turnover if they are to pay their fabulous
+rents and armies of assistants. There are two means of keeping up
+the sales, and both are utilized to the full. The first is to supply
+cheap, miraculously cheap, rubbish which cannot be made to last for
+more than a season. The second is to alter the fashions which affect
+the more durable stuffs, so that last year's dresses cannot be used
+again. This fashion-working scheme reacts upon the poorer buyers,
+because it compels them to do something to imitate the prevailing
+mode, if they can't afford to have entirely new frocks. That is where
+all these bits of frilling and what-not come in; make-believe stuff
+to imitate the real buyers--the large majority of whom don't buy in
+Oxford Street, by the way.
+
+"Mind you, there is a limit to the sheep-like docility of women in this
+connexion. They refused, for instance, to return to the crinoline, and
+they refused the harem skirt--one of the very few sensible devices
+of the fashion-imposers. And this in the face of the prolonged,
+strenuous and expensive methods of the fashion ring. With regard to
+the crinoline, I think that failure was due to over-conceit on the
+part of the fashion-imposers. They had come to believe that they
+could make the poor fools of women accept anything, and on the two
+marked occasions on which they attempted to introduce the crinoline,
+the contrast to the existing mode was too glaring. If the fraud had
+been worked more gradually by way of full skirts and flounces, some
+modification of the crinoline to the necessities of 'buses and tubes
+might have been foisted upon the buyers."
+
+"Oh, my Lord!" ejaculated Gurney; "do you mean to say that women just
+accept these fashions without any sense or reason at all?"
+
+"You're rather a blithering ass, at times, Gurney," remarked Thrale.
+
+Gurney smiled. "You don't give me time to think," he said, "I feel
+like an accumulator being charged. I haven't had time yet to begin
+working on my own account. You're so mighty--so mighty dynamic--and
+positive, old chap."
+
+"Well, it's so absurdly obvious that there must be a reason for women
+accepting the fashions, you idiot!" returned Thrale. "And the first
+and biggest reason is class distinction. The women with money want
+to brag of it by differentiating themselves from the ruck of their
+sisters, and the poor women try to imitate them to the best of their
+ability. Women dress for other women. There is sex rivalry as well as
+class rivalry at the bottom of it, but they dare not put sex rivalry
+first and dress to please men alone, because they are afraid of the
+opinions of other women."
+
+"Sounds all right," said Gurney, and sighed.
+
+"And we, damned fools of men, stand all this foolishness and pay for
+it. Pay, by Jove! I should think so! I should like to see the trade
+returns of all the stuff of this kind that is sold in England alone
+in one year. They would make the naval estimates look small, I'll
+warrant. We even imitate the women's foolishness in some degree. There
+are men's fashions too, but the madness is not so marked; fortunately
+the body of middle-class men can't afford to make fools of themselves
+as well as of their women--though they are asses enough to wear linen
+shirts and collars which are uncomfortable unsightly and expensive
+to wash."
+
+Gurney regarded his lecturer's canvas shirt and collar, and then
+stood up and observed his own immaculate linen in the glass over the
+fireplace. "I must say I like stiff collars and shirts," he remarked;
+"gives one a kind of spruceness."
+
+Thrale laughed. "It's only another sex instinct," he said. "Women
+like men to look 'smart.' When you are playing games with other men,
+or camping out, you don't care a hang for your 'spruceness.' Oh! and
+I'll admit the class distinction rot comes in too. You're afraid
+of public opinion, afraid of being thought common. If the jeunesse
+dorée started the soft shirt in real earnest, you would soon be able
+to persuade your women that that looked smart or spruce, or whatever
+you liked to call it."
+
+"Look here, you know," said Gurney, "you're an anarchist, that's what
+you are."
+
+"You're half a woman, Gurney," said Thrale. "You think in names. All
+people are 'anarchists' who think in ideas instead of following
+conventions."
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+Not until he had been staying with Gurney for more than a week did
+Thrale speak explicitly of his purpose in London. But one cold evening
+at the end of January, as the two men were sitting by a roaring fire
+that Gurney had built up, the younger man unknowingly opened the
+subject by saying,
+
+"Things are pretty slack at the present moment. The Evening Chronicle
+has even fallen back on the 'New Plague' for the sake of news."
+
+"What do they say?" asked Thrale. He was lying back in his chair,
+nursing one knee, and staring up at the ceiling.
+
+"Oh, the usual rot!" said Gurney "That the thing isn't understood,
+has never been 'described' by any medical or scientific authority; that
+it is apparently confined to one little corner of Asia at the present
+time, but that if it got hold in Europe it might be serious. And then
+a lot of yap about the unknown forces of Nature; special article by
+a chap who's been reading too much Wells, I should imagine."
+
+"It seems so incredible to us in twentieth-century England that
+anything really serious could happen," remarked Thrale. "We are
+so well looked after and cared for. We sit down and wait for some
+authority to move, with a perfect confidence that when it does move,
+everything is bound to be all right."
+
+"With such an organism as society has become," said Gurney, "things
+must be worked like that. A certain group to perform one function,
+other groups for other functions, and so on."
+
+"Cell-specialization?" commented Thrale. "Some day to be perfected
+in socialism."
+
+"I believe socialism must come in some form," said Gurney.
+
+"Yes, it's an interesting speculation, in some ways," said Thrale,
+"but the higher forces are about to put a new spoke in the human wheel,
+and the machinery has to be stopped for a time."
+
+"What have you got hold of now?" asked Gurney.
+
+"The thoughtful man," went on Thrale, still staring up at the ceiling,
+"would have asked me to define my expression 'the higher forces.'"
+
+"Well, old man, I knew that was beyond even your capacity," returned
+Gurney, "so I thought we might 'cut the cackle and come to the
+'osses.'"
+
+Thrale suddenly released his knee and sat upright; then he moved his
+chair so that he directly confronted his companion.
+
+"Look here, Gurney," he said, and the pupils of his eyes contracted
+till they looked like black crystal glowing with dark red light. "Do
+you realize how some outside control has always diverted man's
+progress; how when nations have tended to crystallize into specialized
+government, some irruption from outside has always broken it up? You
+can trace the principle through all known history, but the most
+marked cases are those of the Egyptians and the Incas--two nations
+which had developed specialized government to a science. There is
+some power--whether we can credit it with an intelligence in any way
+comprehensible to us from the feeble basis of our own knowledge,
+I doubt--but there is some outside power which will not permit
+mankind to crystallize into an organism. From our, human, point of
+view, from the point of view of individual comfort and happiness,
+it would be of enormous benefit to us if we could develop a system
+of specialization and swamp the individual in the community. And in
+times of peace and prosperity that is always the direction in which
+civilization tends to evolve. But beyond a certain point--as the
+individualists have not failed to point out--that state of perfect
+government will lead to stagnation, degeneration, death. Now, in the
+little span of time that we know as the history of mankind, there
+has been no world-civilization. As soon as a nation tended to become
+over-civilized and degenerate, some other, younger, more barbarous
+people flowed over them and wiped them out. In the case of Peru the
+process had gone very far, owing to the advantages of the Incas'
+peculiar segregation. But then, you see, the development in the East,
+the new world (I ought to explain that I find the oldest civilization
+of the present epoch in America) reached a point in Spain and England
+which sent them out across a hemisphere to wreck and destroy the Incas.
+
+"Well, we have now reached a condition when the nations are in touch
+with one another and progress becomes more general. We are in sight
+of a system of European, Colonial and Trans-Atlantic Socialism,
+more or less reciprocal and carrying the promise of universal
+peace. Whence, you ask, is any irruption to come that will break up
+this strong crystallizing system which is admittedly to work for the
+happiness and comfort of the individual? There has been much talk
+of an Asiatic invasion, a rebellious India or an invading China,
+but those civilizations are older than ours; if we can trust the
+precedents of history in this connexion, the conquerors have always
+been the younger race." He broke off abruptly.
+
+Gurney had been sitting fascinated and hypnotized by the compulsion
+of Thrale's personality; he had been held by the keen, intent stare
+of those wonderful dark eyes. When Thrale stopped, however, the
+tension snapped.
+
+"Well," remarked Gurney, "I think that's a jolly good argument to
+prove that we have, at last, reached a stage of universal progress
+towards the ideal."
+
+"You can't conceive," asked Thrale, "of any cataclysm that would
+involve a return to the old segregation of nations, and bring about
+a new epoch beginning with separated peoples evolving on more or less
+racial lines?"
+
+Gurney pondered for a moment or two and then shook his head.
+
+"Little wonder," said Thrale, "I had often considered this problem,
+and I could think of no upheaval which would bring about the familiar
+effect of submersion. Years ago there was always the possibility of a
+European war, but even that would have only a temporary effect despite
+the forecast of Mr Wells in The War in the Air. No, I considered and
+wondered if my theory was faulty. I was willing to reject it if I
+could find a flaw...."
+
+"And then?" questioned Gurney.
+
+Thrale leaned forward again and once more compelled the other's
+fascinated attention.
+
+"And then, when I was in Northern China, seven weeks ago, I saw a
+solution, so appalling, so inconceivably ghastly, that I rejected
+it with horror. For days I went about fighting my own conviction. I
+couldn't believe it! By God, I would not believe it!
+
+"There, within a hundred and fifty miles of the border of Tibet, the
+outside forces have planted a seed which has been maturing in secret
+for more than a year. There that seed has taken root, and from that
+centre is spreading more and more rapidly, and it may spread over
+the whole world. It is like some filthily poisonous and incredibly
+prolific weed, and its seeds, now that it has once established itself,
+are borne by every wind, dropping here and there in an ever-widening
+circle, every seed becoming a fresh centre of distribution outwards."
+
+"But what, in Heaven's name, is the weed?" whispered Gurney.
+
+"A new disease--a new plague--unknown by man, against which, so
+far as we know, he has no weapon. In those scattered villages among
+the mountains there are no men left to work. Everything is done by
+women. They are prohibited more fiercely than any leper settlement. No
+one dares to approach within five miles of them. But every week or
+two another village is smitten, and the inhabitants fly in terror
+and carry the infection with them.
+
+"Gurney, it's come to Europe! There are new centres of distribution
+in Russia at the present time. If it isn't stopped it will come to
+England. And it doesn't decimate the population. It wipes the men
+clean out of existence; not one man in ten thousand, the Chinese
+say, escapes.
+
+"Is it possible that this can be the means of the 'higher forces'
+I spoke of, the means to segregate the nations once more?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III--LONDON'S INCREDULITY
+
+
+1
+
+Jasper Thrale's mission was no easy one. England, it appeared,
+was slightly preoccupied at the moment, and had no ear for
+warnings. Generally, he was either treated as a fanatic and laughed
+at, or he was told that he greatly exaggerated the danger and that
+these matters could safely be entrusted to the Local Government Board,
+which had brilliantly handled the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth
+disease. But there were some exceptions to this rule.
+
+His first definite statement had been made to his own editor, Watson
+Maxwell of the Daily Post.
+
+"Yes," said Maxwell, when he had given Thrale a patient hearing,
+"it is certainly a matter that needs attention. Would you care to go
+out as our special commissioner and report at length?..."
+
+"There isn't time," replied Thrale. "The thing is urgent."
+
+Maxwell brought his eyebrows together and looked keenly at his
+correspondent. "Do you really think it's so serious, Thrale?" he
+asked. "After all, what evidence have you, beyond the Chinese reports?"
+
+"I know there are several cases in Russia," said Thrale.
+
+"Yes, yes; I don't doubt that," returned Maxwell, with a touch of
+impatience. "But unless you can bring evidence to show that this new
+disease is as deadly as you say, it is not a matter that I could give
+space to at the present time. For one thing, the Evening Chronicle has
+been making rather a feature of it for the last three or four days,
+and I don't see that I could do much unless we had some special inside
+information. Then, the House will be sitting again next week, and
+it seems to me not altogether improbable that we shall have a stormy
+session, which will mean that a good deal of ordinary matter will have
+to give way...." He broke off, and then added, with a friendly smile:
+"But if you would go out as our commissioner, we should be glad to
+make you a proposal."
+
+"There will be no need for a commissioner in a week's time," replied
+Thrale. "You don't seem to understand that I'm not looking out for a
+job. I don't want to write articles; I don't want to be paid for the
+information I can supply. I foresee a grave danger, which is growing
+more grave hourly by reason of the Russian Government's censorship of
+all reports referring to the plague. It is a danger which should be
+understood at once. If you send any commissioner, send the cleverest
+physician you can find, and a bacteriologist."
+
+There could be no doubt of Thrale's earnestness, and Maxwell, who was
+not only a very capable editor, but also an able and intellectual man,
+was impressed. Unfortunately, the interests of his proprietors at
+that moment necessitated a great effort to prop up the very unstable
+Liberal Government, which had been in power for four years and was
+now on its last legs. It was so essential from the proprietors' point
+of view--three of them were on the Government front bench--that the
+dissolution should be postponed until such time as the Ministry could
+go to the country with a reasonable prospect of success. A tentative
+English Church Disestablishment Bill was to be introduced in the coming
+session, and it was hoped that if the Government had to go to the
+country they could make a platform on that one clear issue. It was a
+good Bill, designed to win the Nonconformist vote, without completely
+alienating the High Church party. In other words, the Government was
+eager at that moment to please the majority of the electors, which is,
+presumably, the highest object of a representative government.
+
+"If it had been at any other time," said Maxwell, and pushed his
+chair back.
+
+Thrale understood that the interview was at an end. He rose from his
+chair and picked up his hat.
+
+"We shall be glad to print any articles you care to send us," said
+Maxwell, with his kind smile, "but I can't undertake a campaign,
+you understand, at the present moment."
+
+It was nearly four o'clock, but Thrale just managed to catch Groves
+of the Evening Chronicle.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Groves had his hat on, and was just off to tea at his club when
+Thrale's name was sent in to him. He told the messenger that he would
+see Mr Thrale in the waiting-room downstairs.
+
+Thrale had had some experience of newspaper methods, and he inferred
+that the reception was equivalent to a refusal to see him. He knew
+what those interviews in downstairs waiting-rooms implied. It was
+not the first time that he had been treated like an insurance agent
+or a tradesman and told, in effect, "Not to-day, thank you."
+
+In this case he was mistaken in his inference. Groves had had an
+eye on Thrale's articles for some time past, and though he thought
+it a diplomatic essential to keep his man waiting for ten minutes,
+he had no intention of offending him.
+
+Groves came into the waiting-room with a slightly abstracted
+air. "Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Thrale," he said. "The fact is,
+that I wanted to finish before I left. Did you want to see me about
+anything particular?"
+
+"Yes," returned Thrale; "I have some facts about the new plague which
+ought to be given publicity at once."
+
+Groves pursed his thick lips and shook his head. "Well, well," he said,
+"will you come and have tea with me at the club?"
+
+He took Thrale's assent for granted, and went out abruptly, leaving
+his guest to follow.
+
+In the taxicab Groves talked of nothing but the lack of originality
+in invention in reference to aeroplanes. He seemed to take it as a
+personal affront that no workable adaptation of the aeroplane had
+been made to short-distance passenger traffic.
+
+Indeed, it was not till after "tea"--in Groves' case an euphemism for
+whisky and soda--that he would approach the subject of Thrale's visit.
+
+"The fact is, my dear fellow," he said, "that our campaign hasn't
+caught on. I'm going to let it down gently and drop it after to-day's
+edition. You see, we've got to get the Government out this session,
+and I'm going to start a new campaign. Can't give you any particulars
+yet, but you'll see the beginning of it next Monday." Like Maxwell,
+Groves differentiated between the uses of the singular and plural
+pronouns in speaking of his work. There was a distinction to be
+inferred between the initiation and responsibilities of the editor
+and those of his proprietors.
+
+Groves was not at all impressed by any earnestness or forebodings. He
+seemed to think that a touch of the plague in London might be rather
+a good thing in some ways. People wanted waking up--especially to
+the importance of getting rid of the present Government.
+
+It appeared that Thrale's articles on other subjects would be
+acceptable to the readers of the Evening Chronicle, but there was no
+suggestion that he should go out to Russia as a special commissioner.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Grant Lacey, of The Times, listened seriously to Thrale's exposition,
+and then, in a finely delivered speech which lasted twenty minutes,
+proved to his own complete satisfaction that Thrale's premises,
+deductions, and whole argument were thoroughly unsound. Lacey,
+however, was greatly interested in the condition of Russia, and
+promised Thrale magnificent terms if he would tour St Petersburg,
+Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw--and then return and contribute a special series
+of articles. References to the new plague would not be prohibited in
+the series if Thrale still found any cause for alarm.
+
+In all, Thrale had interviews with the editors of nine important
+journals; the other six developed on the general lines already
+indicated--either he was not taken seriously or was told that the
+danger was greatly exaggerated. The real causes of his failure were
+two:--first, the critical position of the Government; second, the
+precocious campaign of the Evening Chronicle--the latter had taken
+the wind out of the sails of less enterprising journals.
+
+Thrale's next step was to obtain introductions to Ministers and
+prominent members of the Opposition; but from them he received even
+less attention--he did not obtain interviews on many occasions--and, if
+possible, less encouragement. The President of the Local Government
+Board informed him that the matter was already engaging that
+department's energies; the others were all manifestly preoccupied
+with more immediate interests.
+
+But little less than a fortnight after the initiation of his campaign
+Thrale received a special message from the editor of the Daily Post. It
+was nearly midnight, and the messenger was waiting with a taxicab.
+
+The message ran: "Received through news agency report of three cases
+of plague in Berlin. Can you come down at once?--Maxwell."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IV--MR BARKER'S FLAIR
+
+
+1
+
+Jasper Thrale, in the partial exposition of his philosophy (if
+that description is not too large for such vague imaginings), had
+included very definite reference to certain "higher forces" to which
+he had attributed peculiar powers of interference in humanity's
+management of its own concerns. Doubtless these powers had control
+of various instruments, and were able to exercise their influence
+in any direction and by any means. In the present case it would
+seem that they were working in devious and subtle ways--and in this
+at least they differed not at all from the methods attributable to
+that we have called Providence, or the Laws of Nature; any assumed
+guide or irrefragible, incomprehensible ordination. It is a common
+characteristic of these forces that they seem able to control the
+inconceivably great and the inconceivably small with equal certitude.
+
+Not that George Gosling touched any limits. He was moderately large
+in body and small in intellect, but neither the physical excess nor
+the mental deficiency marked him out from his fellow men. In the
+office, indeed, he was regarded by the firm and his colleagues as a
+capable man of business whose embonpoint was quite consistent with
+his employment by a firm of wholesale provision merchants.
+
+On the Thursday morning that saw the announcement in the morning papers
+that a case of the new plague was reported in Berlin, Gosling was
+called into the partners' private office on some matter of accountancy.
+
+The senior partner of Barker and Prince was eager, grasping and
+imaginative; his name had originally been German, and ended, in
+"stein," but he had changed it for the convenience of his English
+connexion. Prince was a large rubicund man, friendly and noisy in
+his manners, but accounted a shrewd buyer.
+
+It was not until Gosling was about to depart that the higher forces
+turned their attention to Barbican and then they suddenly urged
+Gosling to say, without premeditation on his part,
+
+"I see there's a case of this 'ere new plague in Berlin."
+
+Mr Prince laughed and winked at his subordinate. "Some of us'll have
+to start a hareem, soon; who knows?" he said, and laughed again,
+more loudly than ever.
+
+"I suppose you haf not heard any other reports, eh?" asked Mr Barker.
+
+"Well, curiously enough, I 'ave," said Gosling. "A young feller who
+used to lodge with us five years back, come 'ome from Russia about
+a fortnight since, and 'e tells me as the plague's spreadin' like
+wildfire in Russia."
+
+Mr Prince laughed again, and Mr Barker seemed about to turn his
+attention to other matters, when the higher forces sent Gosling the
+one great inspiration of his life. It came to him with startling
+suddenness, but he gave utterance to it as simply and with as little
+verve as he spoke his "good morning" to the office-boy.
+
+"I been thinkin', sir," he said (he had never once thought of it until
+this moment), "as it might be well to keep a neye on this plague,
+so to speak."
+
+"Ah! Zo?" said Mr Barker; a phrase which Gosling correctly interpreted
+as the expression of a desire for the elucidation of his last remark.
+
+"Well, I been thinkin', if you'll excuse me, sir," he went on, "as
+though the plague's only in the bud, so to speak, at the present time,
+it seems very likely to spread so far as we can judge; and that what
+with quarantine, p'raps, and p'raps shortage of labour and so on,
+it might mean 'igher prices for our stuff."
+
+"Zo!" said Mr Barker, but this time the monosyllable was
+reflective. The great inspiration had found fruitful soil.
+
+"Brince," continued Barker after a minute's thought, "I haf a
+flair. We will buy heavily at once. But not through our London
+house, no; or others will follow us too quickly. You must not go,
+we will zend Ztewart from Dundee, it will zeem that we prepare for
+the zhipping strike in the north. We buy heavily; yes? I haf a flair."
+
+"But, I say," said Mr Prince, who had the greatest confidence in his
+partner's insight, "I say, Barker, d'you think this plague's serious?"
+
+"I am putting money on it, ain't I?" asked Barker.
+
+Prince and Gosling exchanged a scared glance. Until that moment it
+had not come home to either of them that it was possible for English
+affairs to be affected by this strange and deadly disease.
+
+The remainder of the conversation was complicated and exceedingly
+technical.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+When he came back into the counting-house, Gosling looked unnaturally
+thoughtful.
+
+"Anything gorne wrong?" asked his crony, Flack.
+
+"There's nothing wrong with the 'ouse, if that's what you mean,"
+replied Gosling mysteriously.
+
+"What then?" asked Flack.
+
+"It's this 'ere new plague," returned Gosling.
+
+"Tchah! That's all my eye," said Flack. He was a narrow-chested,
+high-shouldered man of sixty, with a thin grey beard, and he had a
+consistently incredulous mind.
+
+Out here in the counting-house, Gosling's thrill of fear was rapidly
+subsiding, and he had no intention of passing over his own important
+part in the house's decision to buy for a rise; so he bulged out his
+cheeks, shook his head and said:
+
+"Not by a long chalk it ain't, Flack; not by a long chalk. There
+was that young feller, Thrale, as I was tellin' you about; 'e gave
+me a hidea or two, and now s'mornin' we 'ave this very serious news
+from Berlin."
+
+"Papers 'ave to make the worst of everything," said Flack. "It's
+their livin'."
+
+"Anyways," continued Gosling, "I put it quite straight to the 'ouse
+this mornin', as we might do worse under the circumstances than buy
+'eavily...."
+
+"You did?" asked Flack, and he cocked up his spectacles and looked
+at Gosling underneath them.
+
+"I did," replied Gosling.
+
+"What did Mr Barker say to that?" asked Flack.
+
+"He took my advice."
+
+"Lord's sakes, you don't tell me so?" said Flack, his spectacles on
+his forehead.
+
+"I'm now about to dictate various letters to our 'ouse in Dundee,"
+replied Gosling, dropping his voice to a whisper, and assuming an
+air of mysterious importance, "advising them to send our Mr Stewart
+to Vienna immediate, from where 'e is to proceed to Berlin. 'E is,
+also, to 'ave private instructions from the 'ouse as to the extent
+of 'is buyin'--which I may tell you in confidence, Flack, will be
+enormous--e-normous." Gosling raised his head slowly on the first
+syllable, brought it down with a jerk on the second, and left the
+third largely to the imagination.
+
+"But d'yer mean to tell me," expostulated Flack, "as all this is on
+account of this plague? They been usin' that as a blind, my boy."
+
+Gosling laid a bunch of swollen fingers on his colleague's arm. "I
+tell you, Flack, old boy," he said, "that this is serious. When Mr
+Barker took up my advice, as 'e did very quick, Mr Prince said, 'You
+don't tell me as you really take this plague serious, Barker?' 'e
+said. And Mr Barker looked up and says, 'I'm goin' to put all my
+money on it.'" Gosling paused and then repeated, "Mr Barker says as
+'e's goin' to put all our money on it, Flack."
+
+"Lord's sakes!" said Flack. Here, indeed, was an argument strong enough
+to break down even his consistent incredulity. "But d'yer mean to tell
+me," he persisted, "that Mr Barker thinks as it'll come to England?"
+
+"We-el, you know," returned Gosling, "we need not, p'raps go quite
+so far as that. But it may go far enough to interfere with European
+markets, there may be trouble with quarantine, and such-like...."
+
+"Ah, well, that," said Flack with an air of relief. "Jus' so, jus'
+so. Mr Barker can see as far through a brick wall as most people,
+and so I've always said." He dropped his spectacles on to his nose
+again, and returned to his interrupted accountancy.
+
+Gosling went fussily into his own room and rang for his typist--a
+competent and presentable young woman, among whose duties that of
+turning her superior's letters into equivalent English was not the
+lightest.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Gosling was very full of importance that day, and during lunch he
+wore the air of a man who had secret and valuable information. He
+was too well versed in City methods and too loyal to his own house
+to give any hint of Barker and Prince's speculations in Austria and
+Germany; but when the subject of the new plague inevitably came into
+the conversation, he spoke with an authority that was heightened by
+the hint of reserve implicit in his every dictum.
+
+When the latest joke on the subject, fresh from the Stock Exchange,
+had been retailed by one of the usual group of lunchers, and had
+been received with the guffaws it merited, Gosling suddenly screwed
+his face to an unaccustomed seriousness and said, "But it's serious,
+you know, extremely serious."
+
+And by degrees, from this and many other better informed sources,
+the rumour ran through the City that the new plague was serious,
+extremely serious. That afternoon there was a slight drop of prices in
+certain industrial shares, and a slight rise in wheat and some other
+imported food stuffs; fluctuations which could not be attributed to
+ordinary causes. Mr Barker's foresight was justified once again in
+the eyes of Gosling and Flack. Before five o'clock another letter
+was posted to Dundee, enforcing haste.
+
+In the bosom of his family that evening, Gosling was a little pompous,
+and talked of economy. But his wife and daughters, although they
+assumed an air of interest, were quite convinced that the head of
+the house in Wisteria Grove was making the most of a rumour for his
+own purposes.
+
+As Blanche said to Millie, later, father was always finding some
+excuse for keeping them short of dress money. That five pounds had
+proved inadequate to supply even their immediate necessities, and
+they were already meditating another attack.
+
+"We simply must get another three pounds somehow," said Millie. And
+Blanche quite agreed with her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+V--THE CLOSED DOOR
+
+
+1
+
+There was a lull for forty-eight hours after that announcement of
+the case of the new plague in Berlin, and Maxwell was beginning to
+regret his headlines when the news began to come in, this time in
+volume. The Russian censorship had broken down, and the news agencies
+were suddenly flooded with reports. There were several thousand cases
+of the plague in Eastern Russia; the north and south were affected,
+many men were dying in such towns as Kharkov and Rostov; there were
+a dozen cases in St Petersburg; there was a such a rush of reports
+that it was quite impossible to distinguish between those that were
+probably true and those that were certainly false.
+
+The morning papers gave as much space as they could spare, and had
+even broken up some of the matter dealing with the arrangements for
+the opening of Parliament on that day. But the evening papers had
+news that put all previous reports in the shade. Eleven more cases
+were reported in Berlin, three in Hamburg, five in Prague and one in
+Vienna. But more important, more thrilling still, was the news that
+H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo, the Tsar's younger brother, had died of
+the plague in Moscow, and Professor Schlesinger in Berlin. Until that
+startling announcement came, the English public had incomprehensibly
+imagined that only peasants, Chinamen and people of the lower social
+grades were attacked by this strange new infection.
+
+In the later editions it was reported on good authority that Professor
+Schlesinger had been observing a sample of the blood of the first
+case of plague that had been recognized in Berlin.
+
+Nevertheless the majority of readers, after glancing through the
+obituary notices of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo and of the world-famed
+bacteriologist, turned to the account--only slightly abbreviated--of
+the opening of Parliament. And in many households the subject of
+the new plague gave place to the fiercely controversial topic of the
+English Church Disestablishment Bill, which had been indicated in the
+King's Speech as a measure that was to be introduced in the forthcoming
+session. Many opponents of the Bill coupled the two chief items of
+news and said that the plague was a warning against infidelity. It
+may be assumed that they found sufficient warrant for the killing
+of a few thousand Russians, including a prince of the blood and a
+great German scientist, in the acknowledged importance of England
+among the nations. The death of half a million or so Chinamen in the
+first instance had been a delicate hint; now came the more urgent
+warning. Who knew but that if this sacrilegious Bill were passed,
+England herself might not be smitten. When warnings are disregarded,
+judgments follow. The Evangelicals found a weapon ready to their
+hands....
+
+But what precisely was the nature of the new plague, none of the
+journals was as yet able to say. The symptoms had not as yet been
+"described" by any medical authority, for it appeared that, contrary
+to modern precedent, the doctor himself, despite all precautions,
+was peculiarly subject to infection. Out of the eleven new cases in
+Berlin, no less than four were medical men.
+
+From the layman's point of view the symptoms were briefly as follows:
+Firstly, violent pains at the base of the skull, followed by a period
+of comparative relief which lasted from two to five hours. Then,
+a numbness in the extremities, followed by rapid paralysis. Death
+ensued in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the pains were
+first experienced. No case, as yet, was known to have recovered. A
+well-known physician in London gave it as his opinion that the disease
+was a hitherto unknown form of cerebro-spinal meningitis of unexampled
+virulence. He protested that the word "plague" was a false description,
+but that word had already been impressed on the public mind, and the
+disease was spoken of as the "new plague" until the end.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The next morning all London was reading a heavily-leaded article
+by Jasper Thrale. It appeared first in the Daily Post, with the
+announcement that it was not copyright, and all the evening papers
+took it up, and some of them reprinted it in its entirety.
+
+The article began by pointing out that in the recent history
+of civilization Europe had been subject to a long succession of
+pestilences. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries,
+wrote Thrale, the Black Death, now commonly supposed to be a form
+of the bubonic plague, was practically endemic in England. In more
+recent times small-pox had been responsible for enormous mortality
+among all classes, and, in our own day, tuberculosis. In the two
+former examples, Thrale pointed out, and in many other diseases,
+infectious or contagious, or both, these pestilences had gradually
+lost virulence. By the elimination of those most susceptible to
+infection and incapable to resist the onslaught of the disease, and
+by the survival of those whose vitality was strong enough either to
+resist attack or to achieve recovery, mankind at last were gradually
+becoming immune against certain infections which had prevailed in the
+past. And in a greater or less degree this immunity was without doubt
+being obtained against a whole host of lesser ills. This comparative
+immunity, in fact, was one of the means of man's evolution towards
+a more perfect physical body.
+
+"But let us consider for a moment," wrote Thrale, "the appalling
+danger which threatens us when we are attacked by a pestilence which
+is entirely new to humanity; new, so far as we know, to the world. In
+the middle of the fourteenth century the Black Death is recorded in
+some places to have killed two-thirds of the whole population, and,
+notwithstanding the modern improvement in sanitation and general
+hygiene, there is no inherent reason why another pestilence may not
+appear, which may be even more deadly. And we are faced at the present
+moment with the awful threat that such a pestilence has appeared, the
+pestilence commonly known as the 'new plague.' There is no reason why
+we should consider the appearance as without precedent in history;
+there is no reason why we should regard its coming as outside the
+laws of common probability; finally, and most decisively, there is
+no reason why England should not be smitten.
+
+"According to report among the Chinese, this 'new plague' has been
+spasmodically epidemic in Tibet for more than a century. We have, as
+yet, no certain facts upon which to base any hypothesis, but is it not
+credible that during that time some bacterium or bacillus--hitherto
+harmlessly parasitic, perhaps, in the blood of lower animals--has
+changed its life habit? In the isolated and sparsely inhabited
+regions of Tibet, it is possible that for many thousand years the
+assumed bacterium was never bred in the blood of man; it is possible
+that when it first found a new host it was comparatively harmless
+to him, but within a hundred years it may have become so altered by
+new conditions that it has developed into what is practically a new
+species. If these theories are relatively true, it is not unlikely
+that this new bacterium is working out its own destruction by the
+destruction of its hosts. It may be that it is one of those blind
+alleys of evolution which reach a certain stage of development and
+then disappear. But meanwhile what of mankind? We know so little of
+the history of microscopic life. There is a whole world of evolution
+in process of which we have no conception, and at this stage, whether
+my hypothesis be a possible one or not, we are at least sure that an
+unknown organism--animal or vegetable--has become visible to us in
+its effects and may alter the whole history of mankind.
+
+"I lay stress on these aspects, because we are so hide-bound, so
+restricted, so conventional in our ideas that we assume, without
+thought, that the process of life as we know of it from a few thousand
+years of history can never be interrupted. In our few years of
+individual existence we become accustomed to certain apparent laws of
+cause and effect, and will not believe that there can be any exception
+to those assumed laws. But, now, in the face of recent evidence, it is
+absolutely essential that we should realize instantly and practically
+that we are threatened with a new factor in life, which imperils the
+whole human race. It is no longer safe to comfort ourselves with the
+belief--begotten of our vanity--that the world was necessarily made for
+man. It behoves us to take measures for our protection without delay,
+to undertake our own cause and trust no longer in any beneficent
+Providence that works always for our ultimate benefit.
+
+"These measures of protection are clearly indicated. We must close our
+doors against the invasion of the plague. Quarantine will not protect
+us; we must have no traffic with Europe until the danger is past. By
+the happy accident of our position we can become isolated from the
+rest of the world. We must close our doors before it is too late."
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+If the people had not been seriously scared by the sudden irruption of
+news on the day preceding that on which this article was published,
+they would have ignored Thrale's hyperboles--or laughed. But, caught
+in a moment of agitation and fear, a certain section of the crowd took
+up Thrale's suggestion, talked about the "closed door," held meetings,
+and started propaganda. The Press, with its genius for appreciating
+and following public opinion, also took up the suggestion, and was
+automatically divided into two sections, recognizable as Liberal
+and Conservative.
+
+The Times took command of the situation with a leader, in which
+Thrale's argument was pounded, rather than picked, to pieces;
+but the Daily Mail produced more effect with two special articles
+contributed, one by a bacteriologist, the other by a professor of
+economics. The first had little weight--all argument under that head
+was as yet founded on the most uncertain hypotheses. The second was
+so convincing that the less ardent supporters of the "closed door"
+policy were shaken in their convictions.
+
+The writer of the economic article pointed out that an England with
+closed doors could not feed herself for a month. He was scrupulously
+fair in his argument, and was at great pains to show that even if
+preparation was instantly made to lay in large stores of grain from
+Canada, tinned meats from America, and food-stuffs generally from
+the many places which were as yet free from any taint of plague, it
+would still be impossible to provide for more than a three months'
+isolation. Then, leaving this aspect of the question, he went on to
+show in detail that even if the food could be supplied, the practical
+cessation of our enormous foreign trade would mean the destruction of
+England's commerce, and he wound up with an earnest exhortation to
+the country at large, warning the people to beware of scaremongers,
+pessimists, and opportunists who had their own ends to serve, and
+cared nothing for the general welfare. It was an excellent article
+in every way; quite one of the best that the Daily Mail had ever
+published. And as this, too, was declared free of any copyright
+restrictions, it was largely circulated.
+
+The Daily Post replied next morning by pointing out that the
+celebrated professor of economics was nullifying all his own previous
+utterances on the case for Tariff Reform, but that retort carried
+little weight. No one cared if the professor contradicted himself;
+anyone, except the faddists, could see that the argument of the
+article was sound, in fact incontrovertible. What had to be done was
+to put pressure on the Local Government Board. It was true that the
+Daily Post, the semi-official organ of the Government, affirmed that
+the Board in question was alert and active, but that announcement
+was regarded as a cliché; what was wanted were particulars of the
+preventive measures that were being taken.
+
+The members of the great Gosling family, in offices, warehouses
+and shops followed the line of least resistance, while making some
+assertion of their rights as citizens.
+
+George Gosling's arguments with his crony Flack were excellently
+representative.
+
+"What yer think of this 'closed door' business?" asked Flack.
+
+"Goin' a bit too far, in my opinion," returned Gosling judicially.
+
+Flack's natural incredulity had inclined him in the same direction,
+but his colleague's certainty swung him round at once.
+
+"I ain't so sure o' that," he said. "Looks to me as things is going
+pretty bad."
+
+"Bad enough, I grant you," returned Gosling. "But there isn't no
+need for us to lose our 'eads over it. Take it all round, you know,
+it's pretty certain as things isn't as bad as is made out, whereas,
+on the other 'and, the 'closed door' policy'd mean ruin and starvation
+for 'undreds of thousands--there's no gettin' round that."
+
+"Better a few 'undred thousands than the 'ole male population,"
+said Flack.
+
+"If it come to that, but it won't; no fear, not by a long chalk,
+it won't," replied Gosling. "What's got to be done is to get the
+Local Government Board to work. We've got to 'ave a regular system o'
+quarantine established, that's what we've got to 'ave."
+
+It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of prevention at
+the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could have been
+adopted. The supporters of the "closed door" policy soon began to
+lose adherents. The scheme was obviously alarmist, far-fetched and
+utterly impracticable....
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Through February and the early part of March the plague spread through
+Central Europe, but not with an alarming rapidity.
+
+In the second week of March, Berlin was reporting a weekly roll of
+over five hundred deaths attributable to this cause, and Vienna was
+second with between four and five hundred. In St Petersburg and Moscow
+the figures were no higher, and there were as yet comparatively few
+cases in France, and none in Spain or Portugal.
+
+Many authorities were of opinion that the mortality had reached the
+maximum, and that the plague would work itself out in the course
+of a few more weeks. Moreover it appeared that the early reports
+of the highly infectious character of the plague must have been
+grossly exaggerated, for as yet there had been not a single case
+in the British Isles despite the enormous traffic between England
+and the Continent. It is true that the strictest quarantine had been
+established--it had been ascertained that the period of gestation of
+the germ was about fifty hours--but not one single case had so far
+been detained in quarantine ships or hospitals. It was argued from
+this that the plague was not infectious at all in the ordinary sense,
+and only mildly contagious; that it flourished in certain centres
+and was not easily transferable from one centre to another.
+
+The only aspect of the thing that was seriously alarming was
+the horrible mortality among doctors and the specialists who were
+endeavouring to recognize and isolate the characteristic germ of the
+disease. Nine English experts who had dared martyrdom in the cause
+of science had gone to Berlin to make investigations, and not one of
+them had returned. As a consequence of this strange susceptibility
+of the investigator, whether medical man or bacteriologist, there was
+still an extraordinary ignorance of the general nature and action of
+the disease.
+
+Nevertheless, despite this one intimidating aspect of the plague,
+the general attitude in the middle of March was that the quarantine
+arrangements were enormously impeding trade and should be relaxed. The
+foreign governments were alive to the seriousness of the scourge,
+and were doing all in their power to prevent infection. There had
+been a scare, but people were calm again, now, and able to realize
+the extent of the earlier exaggerations.
+
+The Government passed the second reading of the English Church
+Disestablishment Bill by a majority of nineteen, before the Easter
+recess, and the Goslings, who had grown used to the plague, whose
+chief attitude towards it was that it was an infernal nuisance which
+interfered with trade, turned their attention gladly to the new topic;
+they all thought that a general election at that moment would result
+in an overwhelming Conservative majority. And as the Liberals had
+been in power for more than ten years, that eventuality was regarded
+with complacency.
+
+But at this critical moment--to the joy of the Evangelicals--the new
+plague set to work in earnest.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VI--DISASTER
+
+
+1
+
+Russia was smitten. Once more communication was cut off from Moscow,
+this time by a different agent. The work of the city was paralysed. Men
+were falling dead in the street, and there were only women to bury
+them. A wholesale emigration had begun. The roads were choked with
+people on foot and in carriages, for the trains had ceased to run.
+
+The news filtered in by degrees: it was confirmed, contradicted and
+definitely confirmed again every few hours.
+
+Then came final confirmation, with the news that something approaching
+war had broken out--a war of defence. Germany had sent troops to the
+frontier to stem the tide of emigrants from smitten Russia and Poland;
+and Austria-Hungary was following her example.
+
+Parliament re-assembled before the Easter recess had expired. The
+time for more drastic measures had come, and the Premier explained
+to the House that it was proposed to bring in a Bill immediately to
+cut off communication with Europe.
+
+There can be no doubt that England was now badly scared, but centuries
+of protection had established a belief in security which was not
+easily shaken.
+
+The enthusiasts for the "closed door" policy found plenty of
+recruits, but on the other side there was a solid body of opinion
+which maintained that the danger was grossly exaggerated. And when the
+Evening Chronicle came out with a long leader and a backing of expert
+opinion, to prove that the "Closed Door" Bill--as it was commonly
+called--was a dodge of the Government's in order to retain office,
+a well-marked reaction followed against the last and terrible step
+of cutting off all communication with Europe; and the Conservative
+party was joined by some avowed Liberals who had personal interests
+to consider in this connexion.
+
+In committee-rooms, members of the Opposition were inclined to be
+jubilant: "If we can throw out the Government on this Bill we shall
+simply sweep the country ... all the manufacturers in the North will
+be with us ... even Scotland, most likely ... we should come back
+with a record majority...."
+
+The prospects were so magnificent that there could be no hesitation
+in making a party question of the Bill.
+
+No time was to be lost, for the Bill was to be rushed, it was an
+emergency measure, and it was proposed that it should become law
+within four days. Preparations were already in hand to carry out the
+provisions enacted.
+
+An urgent rally of the Opposition was made, and when the Bill came up
+for the second reading the Premier addressed a well-filled House. The
+House was not crowded because a large number of people, including many
+members of Parliament, were on their way to America. All the big liners
+were packed on their outward voyage and were returning, contrary to
+all precedent, in ballast--this ballast was exclusively food-stuffs.
+
+The Premier introduced the Bill in a speech which was remarkable
+for its sincerity and earnestness. He outlined the arrangements that
+were being made to feed the community, and showed clearly that while
+communication remained open with America, there was no fear of any
+serious shortage. Pausing for a moment on this question of intercourse
+with America, he made a point of the fact that American ports were
+already closed to emigrants from all European countries with the one
+exception of Great Britain, and that if a single case of plague were
+reported in these islands the difficulties of obtaining food-stuffs
+from America and the Colonies would be enormously increased. He wound
+up by almost imploring the House not to make a party question of so
+urgent and necessary a measure at a time when the safety of England
+was so terribly threatened. He pleaded that at this critical moment,
+unparalleled in the history of humanity, it was the duty of every man
+to sink his own personal interests, to be ready to make any sacrifice,
+for the sake of the community.
+
+Mr Brampton, the leader of the Opposition, then completely destroyed
+the undoubted effect which had been made upon the House. He did
+not openly speak in a party spirit, but he hinted very plainly that
+the Bill under consideration was a mere subterfuge to win votes. He
+poured contempt upon the fear of the plague, which he characterized
+throughout as the "Russian epidemic," and ended with the advice to
+keep a cool head, to preserve the British spirit of sturdy resistance
+instead of shutting our doors and bringing the country to commercial
+ruin. "Are we all cravens," he concluded, "scurrying like rabbits to
+our burrows at the first hint of alarm?"
+
+The further debate, although lengthy, had comparatively little
+influence; the House divided, and the Government was defeated by a
+majority of nine.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The news was all over the country by ten o'clock that night, and it
+was noticeable that a large percentage of the younger generation
+still regarded the danger as "rather a lark." This threat of the
+plague held a promise of high adventure; youth can only realize the
+possibility of death in its relation to others.
+
+"I say, if this bally old plague did come" ... remarked a young man
+of twenty-two, who was sitting with a friend in the little private
+bar of the "Dun Taw" Hotel.
+
+His friend drew his feet up on to the rungs of his tall stool and
+winked at the barmaid.
+
+"Well, go on. What if it did?" remarked that young woman.
+
+The young man considered for a moment and then said: "Those that got
+left would have a rare old time."
+
+"It's the women as'd get left, seems to me," replied the barmaid,
+and scored a point.
+
+"I say, surely you don't come from this part of the world?" was the
+compliment evoked by her wit.
+
+"Not me!" was the answer, "I'm a Londoner, I am. Only started
+yesterday, and sha'n't stay long if to-day's a fair sample. There
+'asn't been a dozen customers in all day, and they were in such a
+'urry to get their tonic and go that I'm sure they couldn't 'ave told
+you whether me 'air was black or ches'nut."
+
+Both men immediately looked at the crown of pretty fair hair which
+had been so churlishly slighted.
+
+"First thing I noticed about you," said one.
+
+The other, who had hardly spoken before, took the cigarette out of
+his mouth and remarked: "You can never get that colour with peroxide."
+
+The barmaid looked a little suspicious.
+
+"Oh, he means it all right, kid," put in the younger man
+quickly. "Dicky's one of the serious sort. Besides, he's in that line;
+travels for a firm of wholesale chemists."
+
+Dicky nodded gravely. "I could see at once it was natural," he remarked
+with the air of an expert.
+
+"Ah! you're one of them that keeps their eyes open," returned the
+barmaid approvingly, and Dicky modestly acknowledged the compliment
+by saying that his business necessitated close observation.
+
+"Most men are as blind as bats," continued the barmaid, and the
+examples she gave from her own experience led to an absorbing
+conversation, which was presently interrupted by the shriek of the
+swing door.
+
+The new-comer was a small, fair man with a neatly waxed moustache. He
+came up to the counter with the air of an habitué, and remarked,
+"Hallo! where's Cis? You're new here, aren't you?"
+
+The barmaid, recognizing the marks of a regular customer, quietly
+admitted that this was only her second day at the "Dun Taw."
+
+"I've been away for two months," explained the fair man, and ordered
+"Scotch." He was evidently in the mood for company, for he brought
+up a stool and, sitting a little way back from the bar, he began to
+address his three hearers at large.
+
+"Only came back from Europe this evening," he said, "and glad to be
+home, I assure you." He raised his left hand with a gesture intended
+to convey horror, and drank half his whisky at a gulp.
+
+Dicky turned to give his serious attention to the narrative which
+was plainly to follow, and somewhat ostentatiously observed the
+details of the new-comer's dress. Dicky had a new-found reputation
+to maintain. His friend looked bored and a little sulky, and tried
+to continue his conversation with the barmaid, but that young woman,
+appreciating the difference in value between a casual and a regular
+customer, passed a broad hint by with a smile and said: "Europe? Just
+fancy!"
+
+"It's a place to get out of, I assure you," said the fair man. "I've
+been over there for two months--Germany and Austria chiefly--but for
+the last fortnight I've been wasting my time. There's nothing doing."
+
+"Isn't there?" commented Dicky with great seriousness.
+
+"Oh, we're sick to death of this bally plague," put in the other
+young man quickly. "There's been simply nothing else in the papers
+for the last I don't know how long. I want to forget it."
+
+The fair man reached forward and put down his empty glass on the bar
+counter. "Same again, Miss," he said, and then: "We'll all be more
+sick of the plague before we've finished with it. It's a terror. If I
+was to tell you a few of the things I've seen in the past fortnight,
+I don't suppose you'd believe me."
+
+"That's all right; I'd believe you quick enough," returned the young
+man. "Point is, what's the good of getting yourself in a funk about
+it? Personally I don't believe it's coming to England. If it was it
+would have been here before this. What I say is ..."
+
+His pronouncement of opinion ceased abruptly. The fair man's behaviour
+riveted attention. He was gazing past the barmaid at the orderly rows
+of shining glasses and various shaped bottles behind her. His mouth
+was open. He gazed intensely, horribly.
+
+The barmaid backed nervously and looked over her shoulder. The
+two young men hastily rose and pushed back their stools. The same
+thought was in all their minds. This neat, fair man was on the verge
+of delirium tremens.
+
+In a moment the air of intercourse and joviality that had pervaded the
+little room was dissipated; in place of it had come shocked surprise
+and fear.
+
+There was an interval of slow desolating silence, and then the
+convulsive grip of the fair man shattered the glass he held, and the
+fragments fell tinkling to the floor.
+
+"I say, what's up?" stammered the barmaid's admirer, while the barmaid
+herself shrank back against the shelves and watched nervously. She
+had had experience.
+
+The fair man's head was being pulled slowly backwards by some invisible
+force. His eyes, staring straight before him, appeared to watch with
+fierce intensity some point that moved steadily up the wall of shelves
+behind the counter; up till it reached the ceiling and began to move
+over the ceiling toward him.
+
+Then, quite suddenly, the horrible tension was relaxed; his head fell
+loosely forward and he clapped both hands to the nape of his neck. He
+was breathing loudly in short quick gasps.
+
+"I say, do you think he's ill?" asked the young man. At the suggestion
+Dicky made a step towards the sufferer; his knowledge of chemistry
+gave him a professional air.
+
+"He's come from Europe.... Suppose it's the plague," whispered the
+barmaid.
+
+And at that the two young men started back. As the words were spoken
+realization swept upon them.
+
+Mumbling something about "get a doctor," they rushed for the door. One
+of them made a wide détour--he had to pass the man who sat doubled
+forward in his chair, frantically gripping the base of his skull.
+
+Hardly had the clatter of the swing door subsided before he fell
+forward on to the floor. He was groaning now, groaning detestably.
+
+The barmaid whimpered and stared. "Women don't get it." she said
+aloud. But she kept to her own side of the counter.
+
+Later the owner of the "Dun Taw" identified the fair man--from a
+distance--as Mr Stewart, of the firm of Barker and Prince.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Thrale's "higher forces" had shown their hand.
+
+The humble and rotund instrument of their choice had served his
+purpose, and he was probably the first man in London to receive the
+news--a delicate acknowledgment, perhaps, of his services.
+
+The telegram was addressed to the firm, but as neither of the heads
+of the house had arrived, Gosling opened it according to precedent.
+
+"Gosh!" was his sole exclamation, but the tone of it stirred the
+interest of Flack, who turned to see his colleague's rather protuberant
+blue eyes staring with a fishy glare at a flimsy sheet of paper which
+visibly trembled in the hold of two clusters of fat fingers.
+
+Flack lifted his spectacles and holding them on a level with his
+eyebrows, said, "Bad news?"
+
+Gosling sat down, and in the fever of the moment wiped his forehead
+with his snuff handkerchief, then discovered his mistake and laid
+the handkerchief carelessly on the desk. This infringement of his
+invariable practice produced even more effect upon Flack than the
+staring eyes and wavering fingers. Gosling might be guilty of mild
+histrionics, but not of such a touch as this. The utter neglect of
+decency exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna could only
+portend calamity.
+
+"Lord's sakes, man, what's the matter?" asked Flack, still taking an
+observation under his spectacles.
+
+"It's come, Flack," said Gosling feebly. "It's in Scotland. Our Mr
+Stewart died of it in Dundee this mornin'."
+
+Flack rose from his seat and grabbed the telegram, which was brief
+and pregnant. "Stewart died suddenly five a.m. Feared plague. Macfie."
+
+"Tchah!" said Flack, still staring at the telegram. "'Feared
+plague.' Lost their 'eads, that's what they've done. Pull yourself
+together, man. I don't believe a word of it."
+
+Gosling swallowed elaborately, discovered his bandanna on the desk and
+hastily pocketed it. "Might 'a been 'eart-disease, d'you think?" he
+said eagerly.
+
+"We-el," remarked Flack, "I never 'eard as 'is 'eart was affected,
+did you?"
+
+Gosling held out his hand for the telegram, and made a further
+elaborate study of it, without, however, discovering any hitherto
+unsuspected evidence relating to the unsoundness of Stewart's heart.
+
+"It says 'feared,' of course," he remarked at last. "Macfie wouldn't
+have said feared if 'e'd been sure."
+
+"They'd 'ardly have mentioned plague in a telegram if they 'adn't
+been pretty certain, though," argued Flack.
+
+Gosling was so upset that he had to go out and get a nip of brandy,
+a thing he had not done since the morning after Blanche was born.
+
+The partners looked grave when they heard the news from Dundee, and
+London generally looked very grave indeed, when they read the full
+details an hour later in the Evening Chronicle.
+
+Stewart, it appeared, had come straight through from Berlin to
+London via Flushing and Port Victoria, and on landing in England he
+had managed to escape quarantine. His was not an isolated case. For
+some weeks it had been possible for British subjects to get past
+the officials. There was nothing in the regulations to allow such an
+evasion of the order, but it could be managed occasionally. Stewart
+had been told to spare no expense.
+
+The Evening Chronicle, although it made the most of its opportunity in
+contents bill and headlines, said that there was no cause for alarm,
+that these things were managed better in Great Britain than on the
+Continent; that the case had been isolated from the first moment the
+plague was recognized (about five hours before death), that the body
+had been burned, and that the most extensive and elaborate process of
+disinfection was being carried out--even the sleeping coach in which
+Stewart had travelled from London to Dundee twelve hours before,
+had been identified and burned also.
+
+London still looked grave, but was nevertheless a little inclined to
+congratulate itself on the thoroughness of British methods. "We'll
+never get it in England, you see if we do," was the remark chiefly
+in vogue among the great Gosling family.
+
+But twelve hours or so too late, England was beginning to regret that
+the Government had been defeated. It was rumoured that the Premier
+had broken down, had immediately resigned his office, and would not
+seek re-election as a private member.
+
+This rumour was definitely confirmed in the later editions of the
+evening papers. Mr Brampton had been summoned to Buckingham Palace
+and was forming a temporary ministry which was to take office. In
+the circumstances it was deemed inadvisable to plunge the country
+into a general election at that moment.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Mr Stewart died in the small hours of Friday morning, and the next day,
+Saturday, the 14th of April, was the first day of panic.
+
+The day began with comparative quiet. No further case had been notified
+in Great Britain, but telegraphic communication was interrupted between
+London and Russia, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and other continental
+centres. In Germany matters were growing desperate. There had been
+riots and looting. Military law had been declared in several towns; in
+some cases the mob had been fired upon. Business was at a standstill,
+and the plague was spreading like a fire. Between two and three hundred
+cases were reported from Reims, and upwards of fifty from Paris....
+
+Business houses were being closed in the City of London, and the
+banks noted a marked tendency among their depositors to withdraw gold;
+so marked, indeed, that many banks of high standing were glad to be
+able to close their doors at one o'clock.
+
+It was on this Saturday morning, also, that the bottom suddenly
+fell out of the money market. For weeks past, prices had been falling
+steadily, but now they dropped to panic figures. Every one was selling,
+there were no buyers left. Consols were quoted at 53-1/2.
+
+The air of London was heavy with foreboding, and throughout the
+morning the gloom grew deeper. The depressed and worried faces to
+be met at every turn contrasted strangely with the brilliance of the
+weather. For April had come with clear skies and soft, warm winds.
+
+As the day advanced the atmosphere of depression became continually
+more marked, and how extraordinary was the effect upon all classes may
+be judged from the fact that less than 5,000 people paid to witness
+the third replay between Barnsley and Everton, in the semi-final of
+the English cup....
+
+In London, men and women hung aimlessly about the streets waiting
+for the news they dreaded to hear. The theatres were deserted. The
+feeling of gloom was so real that many women afterwards believed
+that the sky had been overcast, whereas Nature was in one of her most
+brilliant moods.
+
+It was a few minutes past three when the pressure was exploded by the
+report of the final catastrophe. "Two more cases of plague in Dundee
+and one in Edinburgh," was the first announcement. That would have been
+enough to show that all the vaunted precautions had been useless, and
+within an hour came the notification of two further cases. Before six
+o'clock, eight more were notified in Dundee, three more in Edinburgh,
+and one in Newcastle.
+
+The new plague had reached England. It was then that the panic began.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VII--PANIC
+
+
+1
+
+Gurney, when he left his office on that Saturday, was influenced by
+the general depression. He went to lunch at the "White Vine," in the
+Haymarket, quite determined to keep himself in hand, to argue himself
+out of his low spirits.
+
+He made a beginning at once.
+
+"Every one seems to have a fit of the blues. Ernst," he remarked to
+the waiter with a factitious cheerfulness.
+
+Ernst, less polite than usual, shrugged his shoulders. "There is
+enough cause already," he said.
+
+"Have you had bad news from Germany?" asked Gurney, feeling that he
+had probably been rather brutal.
+
+"Ach Gott! 's'ist bald Keiner mehr da," blubbered Ernst, and he wept
+without restraint as he arranged the table, occasionally wiping his
+eyes with his napkin.
+
+"I'm most awfully sorry," murmured the embarrassed Gurney, and
+retreated behind the horror of his evening paper. He found small
+cause for rejoicing there, however, and discarded it as soon as his
+lunch had been brought by the red-eyed Ernst.
+
+"I wonder what Mark Tapley would have done," Gurney reflected moodily
+as he attacked his chop.
+
+There were few other people in the restaurant, and they were all silent
+and engrossed. That dreadful cloud hung over England, the spirit of
+pestilence threatened to take substance, the air was full of horror
+that might at any moment become a visible shape of destruction.
+
+Gurney did not finish his lunch, he lighted a cigarette, left four
+shillings on the table, and hurried out into the air.
+
+He did not look up at the sky as he turned eastwards towards Fleet
+Street; no one looked up at the sky that afternoon. Heads and shoulders
+were burdened by an invisible weight which kept all eyes on the ground.
+
+Fleet Street was full of people who crowded round the windows of
+newspaper offices, not with the eagerness of a general election crowd,
+but with a subdued surliness which ever and again broke out in spurts
+of violent temper.
+
+Gurney, still struggling to maintain his composure, found himself
+unreasonably irritated when a motor-bus driver shouted at him to get
+out of the way. It seemed to Gurney that to be knocked down and run
+over was preferable to being shouted at. The noise of those infernal
+buses was unbearable, so, also, was that dreadful patter of feet upon
+the pavement and the dull murmur of mournful voices. Why, in the name
+of God, could not people keep quiet?
+
+He bumped into some one on the pavement as he scrambled out of the
+way of the bus, and the man swore at him viciously. Gurney responded,
+and then discovered that the man was known to him.
+
+"Hallo!" he said. "You?"
+
+"Hallo," responded the other.
+
+For a moment they stood awkwardly, staring; then Gurney said, "Any
+more news?"
+
+The man, who was a sub-editor of the Westminster Gazette, shook his
+head. "I'm just going back now," he said. "There was nothing ten
+minutes ago."
+
+"Pretty awful, isn't it?" remarked Gurney.
+
+The sub-editor shrugged his shoulders and hurried away.
+
+Presently Gurney found himself wedged among the crowd, watching the
+Daily Chronicle window.
+
+A few minutes after three, a young man with a very white face,
+fastened a type-written message to the glass.
+
+There was a rapid constriction of the crowd. Those behind, Gurney
+among them, could not read the message, and pressed forward. There
+were cries of "What is it?... I can't see.... Read it out...." Then
+those in front gave way slightly, a wave of eagerness agitated the
+mass of watchers, and the news ran back from the front. "Two more
+cases of plague in Dundee; one in Edinburgh."
+
+And with that the pressure of dread was suddenly dissipated, giving
+place to something kinetic, dynamic. Now it was fear that took the
+people by the throat: active, compelling fear. Men looked at each
+other with terror and something of hate in their eyes, the crowd
+broke and melted. Every man was going to his own home, possessed by
+an instinct to fly before it was too late.
+
+Gurney shouldered his way out, and stopped a taxi that was crawling
+past.
+
+"Jermyn Street," he said.
+
+The driver leaned over and pointed to the Daily Chronicle
+window. "What's the news?" he asked.
+
+"The plague's in Dundee and Edinburgh," said Gurney, and climbed into
+the cab and slammed the door.
+
+"Gawd!" muttered the driver, as he drove recklessly westwards.
+
+Sitting in the cab, finding some comfort in the feeling of headlong
+speed, Gurney was debating whether he would not charter the man to
+take him right out of London. But he must go home first for money.
+
+At the door of the house in Jermyn Street he met Jasper Thrale.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+"Have you heard?" asked Gurney excitedly.
+
+"No. What?" said Thrale, without interest.
+
+"There are two more cases in Dundee and one in Edinburgh," said
+Gurney. The driver of the cab got down from his seat, and looked from
+Gurney to Thrale with doubt and question.
+
+Thrale nodded his head. "I knew it was sure to come," he remarked.
+
+"Better get out of this," put in the driver.
+
+"Yes, rather," agreed Gurney.
+
+"Where to?" asked Thrale.
+
+"Well, America."
+
+Thrale laughed. "They'll have it in America before you get there,"
+he said. "It'll go there via Japan and 'Frisco."
+
+"You seem to know a lot about it," said the driver of the cab.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me there's nowhere we can go to?" persisted
+Gurney.
+
+Thrale smiled. "Nowhere in this world," he said. "This plague has
+come to destroy mankind." He spoke with a quiet assurance that
+carried conviction.
+
+The driver of the cab scowled. "May as well 'ave a run for my money
+first, then," he said, and thus gave utterance to the thought that
+was fermenting in many other minds.
+
+There was no hope of escape for the mass, only the rich could seek
+railway termini and take train for Liverpool, Southampton or any port
+where there was the least hope of finding some ship to take them out
+of Europe.
+
+That night there was panic and riot. The wealthy classes were trying
+to escape, the mob was trying to "get a run for its money." Yet very
+little real mischief was done. Two or three companies of infantry
+were sufficient to clear the streets, and not more than forty people
+in all were seriously injured....
+
+In Downing Street the new Premier sat alone with his head in his
+hands, and wondered what could be done to stop the approach of the
+pestilence. One of the evening papers had suggested that a great line
+of fire should be built across the north of England. The Premier
+wondered whether that scheme were feasible. He had never held high
+office before; he did not know how to deal with these great issues. All
+his political life he had learned only the art of party tactics. He
+had learned that art very well, he was a master of debate, and he
+had shown a wonderful ability to judge the bent of the public mind
+and to make use of his judgments for party ends. But now that any
+action of his was divorced from its accustomed object, he was as
+a man suddenly forced into some new occupation. Whenever he tried
+to think of some means to stay the progress of the plague his mind
+automatically began to consider what influence the adoption of such
+means would have upon the general election which must soon come....
+
+"A line of fire across the north," he was thinking, "would shut
+off the whole of Scotland. They would never forgive us for that. We
+should lose the entire Scottish vote--it's bad enough as it is." He
+sat up late into the night considering what policy he should put
+before the Cabinet. He tried honestly to consider the position apart
+from politics, but his mind refused to work in that way....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+In Jermyn Street Thrale was arguing with Gurney, trying to persuade
+him into a philosophic attitude.
+
+"Yes, I suppose there's absolutely nothing to be done but sit down
+and wait," said Gurney.
+
+"Personally," returned Thrale, "I have no intention of spending my
+time flying from country to country like a marked criminal. That way
+leads to insanity. I've seen men become animals before now under the
+influence of fear."
+
+"Yes, of course, you're quite right," agreed Gurney. "One must exercise
+self-control. After all, it's only death, and not such a terrible
+death at that." He got up and began to pace the room restlessly,
+then went to the window and looked out. Jermyn Street was almost
+deserted, but distant sounds of shouting came from the direction of
+Piccadilly. He left the window open and turned back into the room.
+
+"It's so infernally hard just to sit still and wait," he said. "If
+only one could do something."
+
+"I doubt, now," said Thrale, quietly, "whether one could ever have
+done anything. The public and the Government took my warnings in
+the characteristic way, the only possible way in which you could
+expect twentieth-century humanity to take a warning--a thrill of
+fear, perhaps, in some cases; frank incredulity in others; but no
+result either way that endured for an hour.... Belief in national
+and personal security, inertia outside the routine of necessary,
+stereotyped employment; these things are essential to the running of
+the machine."
+
+"I suppose they are," agreed Gurney absently He had sat down again
+and was sucking automatically at an extinguished pipe.
+
+"In a complex civilization," went on Thrale "any initiative on the part
+of the individual outside his own tiny sphere of energy is just so much
+grit in the machine. There are recognized methods, they may not be the
+best, the most efficient, but they are accepted and understood. Every
+clerk who has to calculate twelve pence to the shilling knows how
+his work would be lightened if he had only to calculate ten, but he
+accepts that difficulty, because he can do nothing as an individual to
+introduce the decimal system. And that spirit of acceptance grows upon
+him until the individual has the characteristics of the class. Only
+when a man is stirred by too great discomfort does he open his eyes to
+the possibility of initiative; then come labour strikes. If labour had
+a sufficiency of ease and comfort, if its lot were not so violently
+contrasted with that of even the middle-classes, labour would settle
+down to complacency. But the contrast is too great, and to attain
+that complacency of uninitiative we must level down. That was coming;
+that would have come if this plague...."
+
+"What was that?" asked Gurney excitedly, jumping to his feet. "Did
+you hear firing?" He went to the window again, and leaned out. From
+Piccadilly came the sound of an army of trampling feet, of confused
+cries and shouting. "By God, there's a riot," exclaimed Gurney. He
+spoke over his shoulder.
+
+Thrale joined him at the window. "Panic," he said. "Senseless,
+hysterical panic. It won't last."
+
+"I think I shall go out of London," said Gurney. "I'd sooner ... I'd
+sooner die in the country, I think." He withdrew from the window and
+began to pace up and down the room again.
+
+"Going to stampede with the rest of 'em?" asked
+Thrale. "Extraordinarily infectious thing, panic."
+
+"I don't think it's that exactly ..." hesitated Gurney.
+
+"Animal fear," said Thrale. "The terror of the wild thing threatened
+with the unknown. The runaway horse terrified and rushing to its own
+destruction. Fly, fly, fly from the threat of peril as you did once
+on the prairies, when to fly meant safety."
+
+"It's so infernally depressing in London," said Gurney.
+
+"All right, go and brood on death in the country," replied
+Thrale. "That may cheer you up a bit. But, take my advice,
+don't run. Walk at a snail's pace and check the least tendency to
+hurry. Once you begin to quicken your pace, you will find yourself
+hurrying desperately--and then stampede the hell of terror at your
+heels. After all, you know, you may survive. It isn't likely that
+every man will die."
+
+Gurney caught eagerly at that. "No, no, of course it isn't," he
+said. "But wouldn't one be much more likely to survive if one were
+living in the country, or by the sea--in some fairly isolated place,
+for example. I meant to go down to Cornwall for my holiday this year,
+to a little cottage on the coast about four miles from Padstow;
+don't you think in pure air and healthy surroundings like that,
+one would stand a better chance?"
+
+"Very likely," said Thrale carelessly. "But don't run. In any case
+you'd better wait till the middle of the week. The first rush will
+be over then."
+
+"Yes. Perhaps. I'll go on Wednesday, or Tuesday...."
+
+Thrale smiled grimly. "Well, good night," he said. "I'm going to bed."
+
+When he had gone, Gurney went to the window again. The sounds of riot
+from Piccadilly had died down to a low, confused murmur. A motor-car
+whizzed by along Jermyn Street, and two people passed on foot, a man
+and a woman; the woman was leaning heavily on the man's arm.
+
+Gurney turned once more to his pacing of the room. He was trying to
+realize the unrealizable fact that the world offered no refuge. For a
+full hour he struggled with himself, with that new, strange instinct
+which rose up and urged him to fly for his life. At last weary and
+overborne he threw himself into a chair by the dying fire and began
+to cry like a lost child; even as Ernst, the waiter, had cried....
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+The panic emigration lasted until Monday evening, and then came
+news which checked and stayed the rush for the ports of Liverpool,
+Southampton and Queenstown. The plague was already in America. It
+had come, as Thrale had prophesied from the West. At the docks many
+of those favoured emigrants who had secured berths, hesitated; if
+it was to be a choice between death in America and death in England,
+they preferred to die at home.
+
+Yet, even on Tuesday morning, when doubt as to the coming of the
+plague was no longer possible, when Dundee could only give approximate
+figures of the seizures in that town, reporting them as not less than a
+thousand, when it was evident that the whole of Scotland was becoming
+infected with incredible rapidity, and two cases were notified as far
+south as Durham, there remained still an enormous body of people who
+stoutly maintained that, bad as things were, the danger was grossly
+exaggerated, who believed that the danger would soon pass, and who,
+steadfast to the habits of a lifetime, continued their routine wherever
+it was possible so to do, determined to resist to the last.
+
+To this body, possibly some two-fifths of the whole urban population,
+was due the comparative maintenance of law and order. In face of
+the growing destitution due to the wholesale closing of factories,
+warehouses and offices, necessitated by the now complete cessation
+of foreign trade and to the hoarding of food stores and gold which
+was already so marked as to have seriously affected the commerce
+not dependent on foreign sellers and buyers, a semblance of ordinary
+life was still maintained. Newspapers were issued, trains and 'buses
+were running, theatres and music-halls were open, and many normal
+occupations were carried on.
+
+Yet everything was infected. It was as if the cloak of civilization
+was worn more loosely. Crime was increasing and justice was
+relaxed. Robberies of food were so common that there was no place for
+the confinement of those who were convicted. Shopkeepers were becoming
+at once more reliant upon their own defences, and less scrupulous in
+their dealings with bona-fide customers. No longer could the protection
+of the State be exclusively relied upon, the citizen was becoming lost
+in the individual. Public opinion was being resolved into individual
+opinion; and with the failing of the great restraint every man was
+developing an unsuspected side of his character. Thrown upon his
+own resources, he became continually less civilized, more conscious
+of possibilities to fulfill long-thwarted tendencies and desires;
+he began to understand that when it is a case of sauve qui peut,
+the weakest are trampled under foot.
+
+So the cloak of civilization gaped and showed the form of the naked
+man, with all its blemishes and deformities. And women blenched
+and shuddered. For woman, as yet, was little, if at all, altered
+in character by the fear that was brutalizing man. Her faith in
+the intrinsic rectitude of the beloved conventions was more deeply
+rooted. Moreover woman fears the strictures of woman, more than man
+fears the judgments of man.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VIII--GURNEY IN CORNWALL
+
+
+1
+
+Gurney's alternative to flying from the plague was to run away from
+himself. He shirked the issue in his conversations with Thrale,
+shuffled, sophisticated, and in a futile endeavour to convince his
+companion, convinced himself that his reasoning was sound and his
+motive unprejudiced.
+
+It was not until the following Thursday, however, that he took train
+to Cornwall. He had succeeded in realizing between two and three
+hundred pounds in gold, and this he took with him. He intended to
+lay in stores of flour, sugar and other primary necessities; to buy
+and keep two or three cows, to rear chickens, to grow as much garden
+produce as possible, especially potatoes; and generally to provide
+against the coming scarcity of food and the cessation of transport.
+
+The bungalow on the shores of Constantine Bay, to which he departed,
+was a place well suited to the carrying out of these prudent
+arrangements. It belonged to a friend of his, who was rich enough
+to indulge his whims, and who had spent a considerable sum of money
+in building the place and enclosing ground, but who rarely occupied
+the bungalow himself, and was too careless to bother about letting
+it. Gurney had the keys in his possession. When he had asked his
+friend for permission to spend his summer holiday there, he had been
+told to use the place as if it were his own. "Jolly good thing for me,
+you know," his friend had said. "Keep it dry and all that."
+
+Gurney was not an idle man. Arrived at his bungalow, he lost no time
+in carrying out the arrangements he had schemed, and for nearly three
+weeks he was so absorbed in this work, in learning new occupations
+and perfecting his plan, that he did, indeed, achieve his purpose of
+running away from himself.
+
+He became imbued with a new feeling of security; he received neither
+letters nor papers from the outside, and the old labourer who assisted
+him in setting potatoes, who taught him to milk a cow and instructed
+him generally in the primitive arts of self-supporting toil, seemed
+to regard all rumours of the new plague which filtered through to the
+village of St Merryn as some foreign nonsense which had little bearing
+on life in the county of Cornwall, as represented by the twenty-five
+or thirty square miles which were to him all the essential world.
+
+Gurney began to believe that the plague would never cross the Tamar,
+and one day in early May, when his provisions against a siege were
+practically completed, he was stirred to attempt a journey across the
+peninsula in order to visit an acquaintance in East Looe. Gurney had
+become conscious of a longing for some companionship. Old Hawken was
+very good at cows and potatoes, but he was rather deaf and his range
+of ideas was severely restricted.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+From Padstow to Looe is not an ideal journey by rail at the best of
+times, involving as it does, a change of train at Wadebridge, Bodmin
+Road and Liskeard; but Gurney was in no hurry, and the conversations
+he overheard in his compartment were not destructive of his new-found
+complacency. There was, indeed, some mention of the plague, but only in
+relation to the scarcity of food supply and its effect on trade. One
+passenger, very obviously a farmer, was congratulating himself that
+he was getting higher prices for stock than he had ever known, and
+that as luck would have it he had sown an unusual number of acres
+with wheat that year. "I'll be gettun sixty or seventy a quarter,
+sure 'nough," he boasted.
+
+Dickenson--Gurney's friend in Looe--regarded the matter more seriously,
+but he, too, seemed untouched by any fear of personal infection. He was
+an ardent Liberal, and his chief cause for concern seemed to be that
+the plague should have come at a time when so much progress was being
+made with legislation. He was, also, very distressed at the reports
+of poverty and starvation which abounded, and at the terrible blow to
+trade generally. But he seemed hopeful that the trouble would pass
+and be followed by a new era of enlightened government, founded on
+sound Liberal principles.
+
+Gurney stayed the night and the greater part of the next day at Looe.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+On his return journey he had to wait at Liskeard to pick up the main
+line train for London, which would take him to Bodmin Road.
+
+It was a glorious May evening. The day had been hot, but now there
+was a cool breeze from the sea, and the long shadow from the high
+bank of the cutting enwrapped the whole station in a pleasant twilight.
+
+Gurney, deliberately pacing the length of the platform, was conscious
+of physical vigour and a great enjoyment of life. He had an imaginative
+temperament, and in his moments of exaltation he found the world
+both interesting and beautiful, an entirely desirable setting for
+the essential Gurney.
+
+So he strolled up and down the platform, regarded any female figure
+with interest, and was in no way concerned that the train was already
+an hour late. He had expected it to be late. His own train from Looe,
+for no particular reason, had been half an hour late. If he missed
+his connexion at Wadebridge he would only have some seven or eight
+miles to walk.
+
+Fifteen or twenty other people were waiting on the down platform,
+and presently Gurney became conscious that his fellow-passengers were
+no longer detached into parties of two and three, but were collected
+in groups, discussing, apparently, some matter of peculiar interest.
+
+Gurney had been lost in his dreams and had hardly noticed the passage
+of time. He looked at his watch and found that the train was now two
+hours overdue. The sun had set, but there was still light in the sky. A
+man detached himself from one of the groups and Gurney approached him.
+
+"Two hours late," he remarked by way of introducing himself, and
+looked at his watch again.
+
+The man nodded emphatically. "Funny thing is," he said, "that they've
+had no information at the office. The stationmaster generally gets
+advice when the train leaves Plymouth."
+
+"Good lord," said Gurney. "Do you mean to say that the train hasn't
+got to Plymouth yet?"
+
+"Looks like it," said the stranger. "They say it's the plague. It's
+dreadfully bad in London, they tell me."
+
+"D'you mean it's possible the train won't come in at all?" asked
+Gurney.
+
+"Oh! I should hardly think that," replied the other. "Oh, no, I should
+hardly think that, but goodness knows when it will come. Very awkward
+for me. I want to get to St Ives. It's a long way from here. Have
+you far to go?"
+
+"Well, Padstow," said Gurney.
+
+"Padstow!" echoed the stranger. "That's a good step."
+
+"Further than I want to walk."
+
+"I should say. Thirty miles or so, anyway?"
+
+"About that," agreed Gurney. "I wonder where one could get any
+information.
+
+"It's very awkward," was all the help the stranger had to offer.
+
+Gurney crossed the line and invaded the stationmaster's office. "Sorry
+to trouble you," he said, "but do you think this train's been taken
+off, for any reason?"
+
+"Oh, it 'asn't been taken off," said the stationmaster with a wounded
+air. "It may be a bit late."
+
+Gurney smiled. "It's something over two hours behind now, isn't
+it?" he said.
+
+"Well, I can't 'elp it, can I?" asked the stationmaster. "You'll
+'ave to 'ave patience."
+
+"You've had no advice yet from Plymouth?" persisted Gurney, facing
+the other's ill-temper.
+
+"No, I 'aven't; something's gone wrong with the wire. We can't get
+no answer," returned the stationmaster. "Now, if you please, I 'ave
+my work to do."
+
+Gurney returned to the down platform and joined a group of men,
+among whom he recognized the man he had spoken to a few minutes before.
+
+The afterglow was dying out of the sky, in the south-west a faint
+young moon was setting behind the high bank of the cutting. A porter
+had lighted the station lamps, but they were not turned full on.
+
+"The stationmaster tells me that something has gone wrong with the
+telegraphic communication," said Gurney, addressing the little knot
+of passengers collectively. "He can't get any answer it seems."
+
+"Been an accident likely," suggested some one.
+
+"Or the engine-driver's got the plague," said another.
+
+"They'd have put another man on."
+
+"If they could find one."
+
+"If we ain't careful we shall be gettin' the plague down 'ere."
+
+After all why not? The horrible suggestion sprang up in Gurney's
+mind with new force. That remote city seemed suddenly near. He saw in
+imagination the train leaving Paddington, and only a journey of six or
+seven hours divided that departure from its arrival at Liskeard. It
+might come in at any moment, bearing the awful infection. Why should
+he wait? There was an inn near the station. He might find a conveyance
+there.
+
+"Constantine Bay?" questioned the landlord.
+
+"It's near St Merryn," said Gurney, but still the landlord shook
+his head.
+
+"Not far from Padstow," explained Gurney.
+
+"Pard-stow!" exclaimed the landlord on a rising note. "Drive over to
+Pard-stow at this time o' night?" He appeared to think that Gurney
+was joking.
+
+"Well, Bodmin, then," suggested Gurney.
+
+"Aw, why not take the train?" asked the landlord.
+
+Gurney shrugged his shoulders. "The train doesn't seem to be coming,"
+he said.
+
+"Bad job, that," answered the landlord. "Been an accident, sure
+'nough; this new plague or something." He was evidently prepared to
+accept the matter philosophically.
+
+"You can't drive me then?" asked Gurney.
+
+The landlord shook his head with a grin. He was inclined to look upon
+this foreigner as rather more foolish than the majority of his kind.
+
+Gurney came out of the little inn, and looked down into the
+station. The number of waiting passengers seemed to be decreasing,
+but the light was so dim that he could not see into the shadows.
+
+"I must keep hold of myself," he was saying. "I mustn't run."
+
+A man was coming up the steep incline towards him, and Gurney moved
+slowly to meet him. He found that it was the stranger he had spoken
+to on the platform.
+
+"Any news?" asked Gurney.
+
+"Yes, they've got a message through from Saltash," replied the
+stranger. "It's the plague right enough. They say they don't know
+when there'll be another train...."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Days grew into weeks, and still there were no trains. Trade was at a
+standstill, and the prices of home produce mounted steadily. Fish there
+was, but not in great abundance, and the towns inland, such as Truro
+and Bodmin, organized a motor service with coast fishing villages,
+a service which only lasted for a week, by reason of the failure of
+the petrol supply. After that there was a less effective horse service.
+
+Within three weeks after that last train arrived from outside, a new
+system of exchange was coming into vogue. In this little congeries of
+communities in Cornwall, men were beginning to learn the uselessness
+of gold, silver and bronze coins as tokens. Credit had collapsed,
+and a system of barter was being introduced, mainly between farmer and
+fisherman. In time it was possible that Cornwall might have become a
+self-supporting community, for its proportionately few inhabitants
+were rapidly being depleted by want and starvation; but, although
+it was the last place in the British Isles to become infected, the
+plague came there, too, in the end.
+
+A steamer sent out from Cardiff on a plundering expedition carried
+the plague to the Scillies, and a fishing vessel from St Ives carried
+it on to Newlyn....
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IX--THE DEVOLUTION OF GEORGE GOSLING
+
+
+1
+
+The progress of the plague through London and the world in general was
+marked, in the earlier stages, by much the same developments as are
+reported of the plague of 1665. The closed houses, the burial pits,
+the deserted streets, the outbreaks of every kind of excess, the
+various symptoms of fear, cowardice, fortitude and courage, evidenced
+little change in the average of humanity between the seventeenth and
+the twentieth centuries. The most notable difference during these
+earlier stages was in the enormously increased rapidity with which
+the population of London was reduced to starvation point. Even before
+the plague had reached England, want had become general, so general,
+indeed, as to have demonstrated very clearly the truth of the great
+economist's contention that England could not exist for three months
+with closed doors.
+
+The coming of the plague threw London on to its own very limited
+resources. That vast city, which produced nothing but the tokens of
+wealth, and added nothing to the essentials that support life, was
+instantly reduced to the state of Paris in the winter of 1870-71; with
+the difference, however, that London's population could be decreased
+rapidly by emigration, and was, also, even more rapidly decreased
+by pestilence. Yet there was a large section of the population which
+clung with blind obstinacy to the only life it knew how to live.
+
+There was, for instance, George Gosling, more fortunate in many
+respects than the average citizen, who clung desperately to his house
+in Wisteria Grove until forced out of it by the lack of water.
+
+On the ninth day after the first coming of the plague to London--it
+appeared simultaneously in a dozen places and spread with fearful
+rapidity--Gosling broke one of the great laws he had hitherto observed
+with such admirable prudence. The offices and warehouse in Barbican
+had been shut up (temporarily, it was supposed), and the partners had
+disappeared from London. But Gosling had a duplicate set of keys, and,
+inspired by the urgency of his family's need, he determined to dare
+a journey into the City in order to borrow (he laid great stress on
+the word) a few necessaries of life from the well-stored warehouse
+of his firm.
+
+In this scheme, planned with some shrewdness, he co-operated with a
+friend, a fellow-sidesman at the Church of St John the Evangelist. This
+friend was a coal merchant, and thus fortunately circumstanced in
+the possession of wagons and horses.
+
+These two arranged the details of their borrowing expedition between
+them. Economically, it was a deal on the lines of the revived
+methods of exchange and barter. Gosling was willing to exchange
+certain advantages of knowledge and possession for the hire of wagons
+and horses. It was decided, for obvious reasons, to admit no other
+conspirator into the plot, and Boost, the coal merchant, drove one
+cart and Gosling drove the other. Perhaps it should rather be said
+that he led the other, for, after a preliminary trial, he decided
+that he was safer at the horses' heads than behind their tails.
+
+The raid was conducted with perfect success. Boost had a head
+for essentials. The invaluable loads of tinned meats, fruits and
+vegetables were screened by tarpaulins from the possibly too envious
+eyes of hungry passers-by--quite a number of vagrants were to be
+seen in the streets on that day--and Boost and Gosling, disguised in
+coal-begrimed garments, made the return journey lugubriously calling,
+"Plague, plague," the cry of the drivers of the funeral carts which
+had even then become necessary. Their only checks were the various
+applications they received for the cartage of corpses; applications
+easily put on one side by pointing to the piled-up carts--they had
+spent six laborious hours in packing them. "No room; no room," they
+cried, and on that day the applicants who accosted Boost and Gosling
+were not the only ones who had to wait for the disposal of their dead.
+
+Gosling arrived at Wisteria Grove, hot and outwardly jubilant,
+albeit with a horrible fear lurking in his mind that he had been
+in dangerous proximity to those tendered additions to his load. His
+booty was stored in one of the downstairs rooms--with the assistance
+of Mrs Gosling and the two girls they managed the unpacking without
+interruption in two hours and a half--and then, with boarded windows
+and locked doors, the Goslings sat down to await the passing of horror.
+
+Boost died of the plague forty-eight hours after the great adventure,
+but as he had a wife and four daughters his plunder was not wasted.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+For nearly a fortnight after the raid the Goslings lay snug in their
+little house in Wisteria Grove, for they, in company with the majority
+of English people at this time, had not yet fully appreciated the
+fact that women were almost immune from infection. In all, not more
+than eight per cent of the whole female population was attacked, and
+of this proportion the mortality was almost exclusively among women
+over fifty years of age. When the first faint rumours of the plague
+had come to Europe, this curious, almost unprecedented, immunity of
+women had been given considerable prominence. It had made good copy,
+theories on the subject had appeared, and the point had aroused more
+interest than that of the mortality among males--infectious diseases
+were commonplace enough; this new phase had a certain novelty and
+piquancy. But the threat of European infection had overwhelmed the
+interest in the odd predilection of the unknown bacterium, and the more
+vital question had thrown this peculiarity into the background. Thus
+the Goslings and most other women feared attack no less than their
+husbands, brothers and sons, and found justification for their fears
+in the undoubted fact that women had died of the plague.
+
+The Goslings had always jogged along amiably enough; their home life
+would have passed muster as a tolerably happy one. The head of the
+family was out of the house from 8.15 a.m. to 7.15 p.m. five days of
+the week, and it was only occasionally in the evening of some long
+wet Sunday that there was any open bickering.
+
+Now, confinement in that little house, aggravated by fear and by the
+absence of any interest or diversion coming from outside, showed the
+family to one another in new aspects. Before two days had passed the
+air was tense with the suppressed irritation of these four people,
+held together by scarcely any tie other than that of a conventional
+affection.
+
+By the third day the air was so heavily charged that some explosion
+was inevitable. It came early in the morning.
+
+Gosling had run out of tobacco, and he thought in the circumstances
+that it would be wiser to send Blanche or Millie than to go
+himself. So, with an air of exaggerated carelessness, he said:
+
+"Look here, Millie, my gel, I wish you'd just run out and see if you
+can get me any terbaccer."
+
+"Not me," replied Millie, with decision.
+
+"And why not?" asked Gosling.
+
+Millie shrugged her shoulders, and called her sister, who was in the
+passage. "I say, B., father wants us to go out shopping for him. Are
+you on?"
+
+Blanche, duster in hand, appeared at the doorway.
+
+"Why doesn't he go himself?" she asked.
+
+"Because," replied her father, getting very red, and speaking with
+elaborate care, "men's subject to the infection and women is not."
+
+"That's all my eye," returned Millie. "Lots of women have got it."
+
+"It's well known," said Gosling, still keeping himself in hand,
+"a matter of common knowledge, that women is comparatively immune."
+
+"Oh, that's a man's yarn, that is," said Blanche, "just to save
+themselves. We all know what men are--selfish brutes!"
+
+"Are you going to fetch me that terbaccer or are you not?" shouted
+Mr Gosling suddenly.
+
+"No, we aren't," said Millie, defiantly. "It isn't safe for girls to
+go about the streets, let alone the risk of infection." She had heard
+her father shout before, and she was not, as yet, at all intimidated.
+
+"Well, then, I say you are!" shouted her father. "Lazy,
+good-for-nothing creatures, the pair of you! 'Oose paid for everything
+you've eat or drunk or wore ever since you was born? An' now you
+won't even go an errand." Then, seeing the ready retort rising to his
+daughters' lips, he grew desperate, and, advancing a step towards them,
+he said savagely: "If you don't go, I'll find a way to make yer!"
+
+This was a new aspect, and the two girls were a little
+frightened. Natural instinct prompted them to scream for their mother.
+
+She had been listening at the top of the stairs, and she answered
+the call for help with great promptitude.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gosling," she said, on a high
+note. "The streets isn't safe for gels, as you know well enough;
+and why should my gels risk their lives for the sake of your nasty,
+dirty, wasteful 'abit of smoking, I should like to know?"
+
+Gosling's new-found courage was evaporating at the attack of this
+third enemy. He had been incensed against his daughters, but he had
+not yet overcome the habit of giving in to his wife, for the sake of
+peace. She had managed him very capably for a quarter of a century,
+but on the occasions when she had found it necessary to use what
+she called the "rough side of her tongue" she had demonstrated very
+clearly which of the two was master.
+
+"I should have thought I might 'a been allowed a little terbaccer,"
+he said, resentfully. "'Oo risked his life to lay in provisions, I
+should like to know? An' it's a matter o' common knowledge as women
+is immune from this plague."
+
+"And Mrs Carter, three doors off, carried out dead of it the day
+before yesterday!" remarked Mrs Gosling, triumphantly.
+
+"Oh, 'ere and there, a case or two," replied her husband. "But not
+one woman to a thousand men gets it, as every one knows."
+
+"And how do you know I mightn't be the one?" asked Millie, bold now
+under her mother's protection.
+
+For that morning, the matter remained in abeyance; but Gosling,
+muttering and grumbling, nursed his injury and meditated on the
+fact that his daughters had been afraid of him. Things were altered
+now. There was no convention to tie his hands. He would work himself
+into a protective passion and defy the three of them. Also, there
+was an unopened bottle of whisky in the sideboard.
+
+Nevertheless, he would have put off the trial of his strength if he
+had had to seek an opportunity. He was, as yet, too civilized to take
+the initiative in cold blood.
+
+The opportunity, however, soon presented itself in that house. The air
+had been little cleared by the morning's outbreak, and before evening
+the real explosion came. A mere trifle originated it--a warning from
+Gosling that their store of provisions would not last for ever, and a
+sharp retort from Millie to the effect that her father did not stint
+himself, followed by a reminder from Mrs Gosling that the raid might
+be repeated.
+
+"Oh! yes, you'd be willing enough for me to die of the plague, I've no
+doubt!" broke out Gosling. "I can walk six mile to get you pervisions,
+but you can't go to the corner of the street for my terbaccer."
+
+"Pervisions is necessary, terbaccer ain't," said Mrs Gosling. She was
+not a clever woman. She judged this to be the right opportunity to
+keep her husband in his place, and relied implicitly on the quelling
+power of her tongue. Her intuitions were those of the woman who had
+lived all her life in a London suburb; they did not warn her that
+she was now dealing with a specimen of half-decivilized humanity.
+
+"Oh! ain't it?" shouted Gosling, getting to his feet. His face was
+purple, and his pale blue eyes were starting from his head. "I'll soon
+show you what's necessary and what ain't, and 'oose master in this
+'ouse. And I say terbaccer is necessary, an' what's more, one o'
+you three's goin' to fetch it quick! D'ye 'ear--one--o'--you--three!"
+
+This inclusion of Mrs Gosling was, indeed, to declare war.
+
+Millie and Blanche screamed and backed, but their mother rose to
+the occasion. She did not reserve herself; she began on her top
+note; but Gosling did not allow her to finish. He strode over to
+her and shook her by the shoulders, shouting to drown her strident
+recriminations. "'Old your tongue! 'old your tongue!" he bawled, and
+shook her with increasing violence. He was feeling his power, and when
+his wife crumpled up and fell to the floor in shrieking hysterics,
+he still strode on to victory. Taking the cowed and terrified Millie
+by the arm, he dragged her along the passage, unlocked and opened
+the front door and pushed her out into the street. "And don't you
+come back without my terbaccer!" he shouted.
+
+"How much?" quavered the shrinking Millie.
+
+"'Alf-a-crown's worth," replied Gosling fiercely, and tossed the coin
+down on the little tiled walk that led up to the front door.
+
+After Millie had gone he stood at the door for a moment, thankful for
+the coolness of the air on his heated face. "I got to keep this up,"
+he murmured to himself, with his first thought of wavering. Behind
+him he heard the sound of uncontrolled weeping and little cries of the
+"first time in twenty-four years" and "what the neighbours'll think,
+I don't know."
+
+"Neighbours," muttered Gosling, contemptuously, "there aren't any
+neighbours--not to count."
+
+A distant sound of slow wheels caught his ear. He listened attentively,
+and there came to him the remote monotonous chant of a dull voice
+crying: "Plague! Plague!"
+
+He stepped in quickly and closed the door.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Millie found the Kilburn High Road deserted. No traffic of any kind
+was to be seen in the street, and the rare foot-passengers, chiefly
+women, had all a furtive air. Starvation had driven them out to
+raid. No easy matter, as Millie soon found, for all shutters were
+down, and in many cases shop-fronts were additionally protected by
+great sheets of strong hoarding.
+
+Millie, recovering from her fright, was growing resentful. Her little
+conventional mind was greatly occupied by the fact that she was out in
+the High Road wearing house-shoes without heels, in an old print dress,
+and with no hat to hide the carelessness of her hair-dressing. At
+the corner of Wisteria Grove she stopped and tried to remedy this
+last defect; she had red hair, abundant and difficult to control.
+
+The sight of the deserted High Road did not inspire her with
+self-confidence; she still feared the possibility of meeting some
+one who might recognize her. How could one account for one's presence
+in a London thoroughfare at seven o'clock on a bright May evening in
+such attire? Certainly not by telling the truth.
+
+The air was wonderfully clear. Coal was becoming very scarce, and
+few fires had been lighted that day to belch forth their burden of
+greasy filth into the atmosphere. The sun was sinking, and Millie
+instinctively clung to the shadow of the pavement on the west side of
+the road. She, too, slunk along with the evasive air that was common to
+the few other pedestrians, the majority of them on this same shadowed
+pavement. That warm, radiant light on the houses opposite seemed to
+hold some horror for them.
+
+So preoccupied was Millie with her resentment that she wandered for
+two or three hundred yards up the road without any distinct idea of
+what she was seeking. When realization of the futility of her search
+came to her, she stopped in the shadow of a doorway. "What is the
+good of going on?" she argued. "All the shops are shut up." But the
+thought of her father in his new aspect of muscular tyrant intimidated
+her. She dared not return without accomplishing her errand. "I'll
+have another look, anyway," she said; and then: "Who'd have thought
+he was such a brute?" She rubbed the bruise on her arm; her mouth was
+twisted into an ugly expression of spiteful resentment. Her thoughts
+were busy with plans of revenge even as she turned to prosecute her
+search for the tyrant's tobacco.
+
+Here and there shops had been forcibly, burglariously entered,
+plate-glass windows smashed, and interiors cleared of everything
+eatable; the debris showed plainly enough that these rifled shops
+had all belonged to grocers or provision merchants. Into each of
+these ruins Millie stared curiously, hoping foolishly that she might
+find what she sought. She ventured into one and carried away a box of
+soap--they were running short of soap at home. A sense of moving among
+accessible riches stirred within her, a desire for further pillage.
+
+She came at last to a shop where the shutters were still intact, but
+the door hung drunkenly on one hinge. A little fearfully she peered in
+and discovered that fortune had been kind to her. The shop had belonged
+to a tobacconist, and the contents were almost untouched--there had
+been more crying needs to satisfy in the households of raiders than
+the desire for tobacco.
+
+It was very dark inside, and for some seconds Millie stared into what
+seemed absolute blackness, but as her eyes became accustomed to the
+gloom, she saw the interior begin to take outline, and when she moved
+a couple of steps into the place and allowed more light to come in
+through the doorway, various tins, boxes and packets in the shelves
+behind the counter were faintly distinguishable.
+
+Once inside, the spirit of plunder took hold of her, and she began
+to take down boxes of cigars and cigarettes and packets of tobacco,
+piling them up in a heap on the counter. But she had no basket in which
+to carry the accumulation she was making, and she was feeling under
+the counter for some box into which to put her haul, when the shadows
+round her deepened again into almost absolute darkness. Cautiously
+she peered up over the counter and saw the silhouette of a woman
+standing in the doorway.
+
+For ten breathless seconds Millie hung motionless, her eyes fixed on
+the apparition. She was very civilized still, and she was suddenly
+conscious of committing a crime. She feared horribly lest the figure
+in the doorway might discover Millicent Gosling stealing tobacco. But
+the intruder, after recognizing the nature of the shop's contents,
+moved away with a sigh. Millie heard her dragging footsteps shuffle
+past the window.
+
+That scare decided her movements. She hastily looped up the front of
+her skirt, bundled into it as much plunder as she could conveniently
+carry, and made her way out into the street again.
+
+She was nearly at the corner of Wisteria Grove before she was molested,
+and then an elderly woman came suddenly out of a doorway and laid a
+hand on Millie's arm.
+
+"Whacher got?" asked the woman savagely.
+
+Millie, shrinking and terrified, displayed her plunder.
+
+"Cigars," muttered the woman. "Whacher want with cigars?" She opened
+the boxes and stirred up the contents of Millie's improvised bundle
+in an eager search for something to eat. "Gawd's truth! yer must be
+crazy, yer thievin' little slut!" she grumbled, and pushed the girl
+fiercely from her.
+
+Millie made good her escape, dropping a box of cigars in her
+flight. Her one thought now was the fear of meeting a policeman. In
+three minutes she was beating fiercely on the door of the little
+house in Wisteria Grove, and, disregarding her father's exclamations
+of pleased surprise when he let her in, she tumbled in a heap on to
+the mat in the passage.
+
+Gosling's first declaration of male superiority had been splendidly
+successful.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+A few minutes after Millie's return, Mrs Gosling, red-eyed and
+timidly vicious, interrupted her husband's perfect enjoyment of the
+long-desired cigar by the announcement: "The gas is off!"
+
+Gosling got up, struck a match, and held it to the sitting-room
+burner. The match burned steadily. There was no pressure even of air
+in the pipes.
+
+"Turned off at the meter!" snapped Gosling. "'Ere, lemme go an'
+see!" He spoke with the air of the superior male, strong in his
+comprehension of the mechanical artifices which so perplex the feminine
+mind. Mrs Gosling sniffed, and stood aside to let him pass. She had
+already examined the meter.
+
+"Well, we got lamps!" snarled Gosling when he returned. He had always
+preferred a lamp to read by in the evening.
+
+"No oil," returned Mrs Gosling, gloomily. She'd teach him to shake her!
+
+Gosling meditated. His parochial mind was full of indignation. Vague
+thoughts of "getting some one into trouble for this"--even of
+that last, desperate act of coercion, writing to the papers about
+it--flitted through his mind. Plainly something must be done. "'Aven't
+you got any candles?" he asked.
+
+"One or two. They won't last long," replied his studiously patient
+partner.
+
+"Well, we'll 'ave to use them to-night and go to bed early," was
+Gosling's final judgment. His wife left the room with a shrug of
+forbearing contempt.
+
+When she had gone, the head of the house went upstairs and peered
+out into the street. The sun had set, and an unprecedented mystery
+of darkness was falling over London. The globes of the tall electric
+standards, catching a last reflection from the fading sky, glimmered
+faintly, but were not illuminated from within by any fierce glare of
+violet light. Darkness and silence enfolded the great dim organism that
+sprawled its vast being over the earth. The spirit of mystery caught
+Gosling in its spell. "All dark," he murmured, "and quiet! Lord! how
+still it is!" Even in his own house there was silence. Downstairs,
+three injured, resentful women were talking in whispers.
+
+Gosling, still sucking his cigar, stood entranced, peering into the
+darkness; he had ventured so far as to throw up the sash. "It's the
+stillness of death!" he muttered. Then he cocked his head on one side,
+for he caught the sound of distant shouting. Somewhere in the Kilburn
+Road another raid was in progress.
+
+"No light," murmured Gosling, "and no fire!" An immediate association
+suggested itself. "By gosh! and no water!" he added. For some seconds
+he contemplated with fearful awe the failure of the great essential
+of life.
+
+In the cistern room he was reassured by the sound of a delicious
+trickle from the ball-cock. "Still going," he said to himself;
+"but we'll 'ave to be careful. Surely they'll keep the water goin',
+though; whatever 'appens, they'd surely keep the water on?"
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+Nothing but the failure of the water could have driven them from
+Wisteria Grove. Half-a-dozen times every day Gosling would climb up
+to the top of the house to reassure himself. And at last came the day
+when a dreadful silence reigned under the slates, when no delicious
+tinkle of water gave promise of maintained security from water famine.
+
+"It'll come on again at night," said Gosling to himself. "We'll
+'ave to be careful, that's all."
+
+He went downstairs and issued orders that no more water was to be
+drawn that day.
+
+"Well, we must wash up the breakfast things," was his wife's reply.
+
+"You mustn't wash up nothing," said Gosling, "not one blessed
+thing. It's better to go dirty than die o' thirst. Hevery drop o'
+the water in that cistern must be saved for drinkin'."
+
+Mrs Gosling noisily put down the kettle she was holding. "Oh! very
+well, my lord!" she remarked, sarcastically. She looked at her two
+daughters with a twist of her mouth. There were only two sides in
+that house; the women were as yet united against the common foe.
+
+When Gosling, fatuously convinced of his authority, had gone, his
+wife quietly filled the kettle and proceeded with her washing up.
+
+"Your father thinks 'e knows everything these days," remarked the
+mother to her allies.
+
+There was much whispering for some time.
+
+Gosling spent most of the day in the roof, but not until the afternoon
+did he realize that the cistern was slowly being emptied. His first
+thought was that one of the pipes leaked, his second that it was
+time to make a demonstration of force. He found a walking-stick in
+the hall....
+
+But even when that precious half-cistern of water was only called
+upon to supply the needs of thirst, and the Goslings, sinking further
+into the degradation of savagedom, slunk furtive and filthy about
+the gloomy house, it became evident that a move must be made sooner
+or later. Two alternatives were presented: they might go north and
+east to the Lea, or south to the Thames.
+
+Gosling chose the South. He knew Putney; he had been born there. He
+knew nothing of Clapton and its neighbourhood.
+
+So one bright, clear day at the end of May, the Goslings set out on
+their great trek. The head of the house, driven desperate by fear of
+thirst, raided his late partner's coal sheds and found one living
+horse and several dead ones. The living horse was partly revived
+by water from an adjacent butt, and the next day it was harnessed
+to a coal cart and commandeered to convey the Goslings' provisions
+to Putney. It died half-a-mile short of their destination, but they
+were able, by the exercise of their united strength, to get the cart
+and its burden down to the river.
+
+They found an empty house without difficulty, but they had an
+unpleasant half-hour in removing what remained of one of the previous
+occupants. Gosling hoped it was not a case of plague. As the body was
+that of a woman, and terribly emaciated, there were some grounds for
+his optimism.
+
+Gosling was in a state of some bewilderment. When water had been
+fetched in buckets from the river, and the three women had explored,
+criticized and sniffed over their new home somewhat in the manner
+of strange cats, the head of the house settled down to a cigar and
+a careful consideration of his perplexities.
+
+In the first place, he wondered why those horses of Boost's had not
+been used for food; in the second, he wondered why he had not seen
+a single man during the whole of the long trek from Brondesbury to
+Putney. By degrees an unbelievable explanation presented itself:
+no men were left. He remembered that the few needy-looking women
+he had seen had looked at him curiously; in retrospect he fancied
+their regard had had some quality of amazement. Gosling scratched
+the bristles of his ten-days'-old beard and smoked thoughtfully. He
+almost regretted that he had stared so fiercely and threateningly at
+every chance woman they had seen; he might have got some news. But the
+whole journey had been conducted in a spirit of fear; they had been
+defending their food, their lives; they had been primitive creatures
+ready to fight desperately at the smallest provocation.
+
+"No man left," said Gosling to himself, and was not convinced. If
+that indeed were the solution of his perplexity, he was faced with
+an awful corollary; his own time would come. He thought of Barbican,
+E.C., of Flack, of Messrs Barker and Prince, of the office staff,
+and the office itself. He had not been able to rid his mind of the
+idea that in a few weeks he would be back in the City again. He had
+several times rehearsed his surprise when he should be told of the
+depredations in the warehouse; he had wondered only yesterday if he
+dared go to the office in his beard.
+
+But to-night the change of circumstance, the breaking up of old
+associations, was opening his eyes to new horizons. There might
+never be an office again for him to go to. If he survived--and he
+was distinctly hopeful on that score--he might be almost the only
+man left in London; there might not be more than a few thousand in
+the whole of England, in Europe....
+
+For a time he dwelt on this fantastic vision. Who would do the
+work? What work would there be to do?
+
+"Got to get food," murmured Gosling, and wondered vaguely how food was
+"got" when there were no shops, no warehouses, no foreign agents. His
+mind turned chiefly to meat, since that had been his trade. "'Ave to
+rear sheep and cattle, I suppose," said Gosling. As an afterthought
+he added: "An' grow wheat."
+
+He sighed heavily. He realized that he had no knowledge on the subject
+of rearing cattle and growing wheat; he also realized that he was
+craving for ordinary food again--milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables. He
+had a nasty-looking place on his leg which he rightly attributed to
+unwholesome diet.
+
+
+
+
+6
+
+After forty-eight hours' residence in the new house, Gosling began
+to pluck up his courage and to dare the perils of the streets. He
+was beginning to have faith in his luck, to believe that the plague
+had passed away and left him untouched.
+
+And as day succeeded day he ventured further afield; he went in search
+of milk, eggs and vegetables, but he only found young nettles, which
+he brought home and helped to eat when they had been boiled over a
+wood fire. They were all glad to eat nettles, and were the better for
+them. Occasionally he met women on these excursions, and stayed to
+talk to them. Always they had the same tale to tell--their men were
+dead, and themselves dying of starvation.
+
+One day at the beginning of June he went as far as Petersham, and
+there at the door of a farmhouse he saw a fine, tall young woman. She
+was such a contrast to the women he usually met on his expeditions
+that he paused and regarded her with curiosity.
+
+"What do you want?" asked the young woman, suspiciously.
+
+"I suppose you 'aven't any milk or butter or eggs to sell?" asked
+Gosling.
+
+"Sell?" echoed the girl, contemptuously. "What 'ave you got to give
+us as is worth food?"
+
+"Well, money," replied Gosling.
+
+"Money!" came the echo again. "What's the good of money when there's
+nothing to buy with it? I wouldn't sell you eggs at a pound apiece."
+
+Gosling scratched his beard--it looked quite like a beard by this
+time. "Rum go, ain't it?" he asked, and smiled.
+
+His new acquaintance looked him up and down, and then smiled in return,
+"You're right," she said. "You're the first man I've seen since father
+died, a month back."
+
+"'Oo's livin' with you?" asked Gosling, pointing to the house.
+
+"Mother and sister, that's all."
+
+"'Ard work for you to get a livin', I suppose?"
+
+"So, so. We're used to farm-work. The trouble's to keep the other
+women off."
+
+"Ah!" replied Gosling reflectively, and the two looked at one another
+again.
+
+"You 'ungry?" asked the girl.
+
+"Not to speak of," replied Gosling. "But I'm fair pinin' for a change
+o' diet. Been livin' on tinned things for five weeks or more."
+
+"Come in and have an egg," said the girl.
+
+"Thank you," said Gosling, "I will, with pleasure."
+
+They grew friendly over that meal--two eggs and a glass of milk. He
+ate the eggs with butter, but there was no bread. It seemed that the
+young woman's mother and sister were at work on the farm, but that
+one of them had always to stay at home and keep guard.
+
+They discussed the great change that had come over England, and
+wondered what would be the end of it; and after a little time, Gosling
+began to look at the girl with a new expression in his pale blue eyes.
+
+"Ah! Hevrything's changed," he said. "Nothin' won't be the same any
+more, as far as we can see. There's no neighbours now, f'rinstance,
+and no talk of what's going on--or anythin'."
+
+The girl looked at him thoughtfully. "What we miss is some man to
+look after the place," she said. "We're robbed terrible."
+
+Gosling had not meant to go as far as that. He was not unprepared for
+a pleasant flirtation, now that there were no neighbours to report him
+at home, but the idea that he could ever separate himself permanently
+from his family had not occurred to him.
+
+"Yes," he said, "you want a man about these days."
+
+"Ever done any farm work?" asked the girl.
+
+Gosling shook his head.
+
+"Well, you'd soon learn," she went on.
+
+"I must think it over," said Gosling suddenly. "Shall you be 'ere
+to-morrow?"
+
+"One of us will," said the girl.
+
+"Ah! but shall you?"
+
+"Why me?"
+
+"Well, I've took a fancy to you."
+
+"Very kind of you, I'm sure," said the girl, and laughed.
+
+Gosling kissed her before he left.
+
+
+
+
+7
+
+He returned the next afternoon and helped to cut and stack sainfoin,
+and afterwards he watched the young woman milk the cows. It was so
+late by the time everything was finished that he was persuaded to
+stay the night.
+
+In the new Putney house three women wondered what had happened to
+"father." They grew increasingly anxious for some days, and even
+tried in a feeble way to search for him. By the end of the week they
+accepted the theory that he too had died of the plague.
+
+They never saw him again.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+X--EXODUS
+
+
+1
+
+In West Hampstead a Jewess, who had once been fat, looked out of the
+windows of her gaudy house. She was partly dressed in a garish silk
+negligé. Her face was exceedingly dirty, but the limp, pallid flesh
+was revealed in those places where she had wiped away her abundant
+tears. Her body was bruised and stiff, for in a recent raid on a house
+suspected of containing provisions she had been hardly used by her
+sister women. She had made the mistake of going out too well dressed;
+she had imagined that expensive clothes would command respect....
+
+As she looked out she wept again, bewailing her misery. From her
+earliest youth she had been pampered and spoilt. She had learnt that
+marriage was her sole object in life, and she had sold herself at
+a very respectable price. She had received the applause and favour
+of her family for marrying the man she had chosen as most likely to
+provide her with the luxury which she regarded as her birth-right.
+
+Two days ago she had cooked and eaten the absurdly expensive but
+diminutive dog upon which she had lavished the only love of which
+she had been capable. She had wept continuously as she ate her idol,
+but for the first time she had regretted his littleness.
+
+Hunger and thirst were driving her out of the house of which she had
+been so vain; the primitive pains were awakening in her primitive
+instincts that had never stirred before. From her window she could
+see naught but endless streets of brick, stone and asphalt, but
+beyond that dry, hot, wilderness she knew there were fields--she
+had seen them out of the corner of her eye when she had motored to
+Brighton. Fields had never been associated in her mind with food until
+the strange new stirring of that unsuspected instinct. Food for her
+meant shops. One went to shops and bought food and bought the best
+at the lowest price possible. With all her pride of position, she
+had never hesitated to haggle with shopkeepers. And when the first
+pinch had come, when her husband had selfishly died of the plague,
+and her household had deserted her, it was to the shops she had gone,
+autocratically demanding her rights. She had learned by experience
+now that she had no longer any rights.
+
+She dressed herself in her least-conspicuous clothes, dabbed her
+face with powder to cover some of the dirt--there was no water,
+and in any case she did not feel inclined to wash--carefully stowed
+away all her money and the best of her jewels in a small leather bag,
+and set out to find the country where food grew out of the ground.
+
+Instinct set her face to the north. She took the road towards
+Hendon....
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+In every quarter of London, in every great town and city throughout
+Europe, women were setting their faces towards the country.
+
+By the autumn London was empty. The fallen leaves in park squares
+and suburban streets were swept into corners by the wind, and when
+the rain came the leaves clung together and rotted, and so continued
+the long routine of decay and birth.
+
+When spring came again, Nature returned with delicate, strong hands
+to claim her own. For hundreds of years she had been defied in the
+heart of this great, hard, stone place. Her little tentative efforts
+had been rudely repulsed, no tender thread of grass had been allowed
+to flourish for an hour under the feet of the crushing multitude. Yet
+she had fought with a steady persistence that never relaxed a moment's
+effort. Whenever men had given her a moment's opportunity, even in
+the very heart of that city of burning struggle, she had covered
+the loathed sterility with grass and flowers, dandelions, charlock,
+grounsel and other life that men call weeds.
+
+Now, when her full opportunity came, she set to work in her slow,
+patient way to wreck and cover the defilement of earth. Her winds
+swept dust into every corner, and her rain turned it into a shallow
+bed of soil, ready to receive and nurture the tiny seeds that sailed
+on little feathered wings, or were carried by bird and insect to
+some quiet refuge in which they might renew life, and, dying, add
+fertility to the mother who had brought them forth.
+
+Nature came, also, with her hurricanes, her lightnings and her frosts,
+to rend and destroy. She stripped slates from roofs, thrust out gables
+and overturned solid walls. She came with fungi to undermine and with
+the seeds of trees to split asunder.
+
+She asked for but a few hundred years of patient, continuous work in
+order to make of London once more a garden; where the nightingale
+might sing in Oxford Street and the children of a new race pluck
+sweet wild flowers over the site of the Bank of England....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+The spirit of London had gone out of her, and her body was crumbling
+and rotting. There was no life in all that vast sprawl of bricks and
+mortar; the very dogs and cats, deserted by humanity, left her to
+seek their only food, to seek those other living things which were
+their natural quarry.
+
+In her prime, London had been the chief city of the world. Men and
+women spoke of her as an entity, wrote of her as of a personality,
+loved her as a friend. This aggregate of streets and parks, this
+strange confusion of wealth and squalor, had stood to men and women for
+something definitely lovable. It was not her population they loved, not
+the polyglot crowd that swarmed in her streets, but she herself and all
+the beauty and intoxication of life she had gathered into her embrace.
+
+Now she was dead. Whatever fine qualities she had possessed, whatever
+vices, had gone from her. She sprawled in all her naked ugliness,
+a huge corpse rotting among the hills, awaiting the slow burial which
+Nature was tediously preparing.
+
+All those wonderful buildings, the great emporiums in the West End,
+the magnificent banks and insurance offices, museums and picture
+galleries, regarded as the storehouses of incalculable wealth, vast
+hotels, palatial private residences, the thundering railway termini,
+Government offices, Houses of Parliament, theatres, churches and
+cathedrals, all had become meaningless symbols. All had represented
+some activity, some ambition of man, and man had fled to the country
+for food, leaving behind the worthless tokens of wealth that had
+intrigued him for so many centuries.
+
+Gold and silver grew tarnished in huge safes that none wished to rifle,
+banknotes became mildewed, damp and fungus crept into the museums and
+picture galleries, and in the whole of Great Britain there was none
+to grieve. Every living man and woman was back at the work of their
+ancestors, praying once more to Ceres or Demeter, working with bent
+back to produce the first essentials of life.
+
+Each individual must produce until such time as there was once more
+a superfluity, until barns were filled and wealth re-created, until
+the strong had seized from the weak and demanded labour in return for
+the use of the stolen instrument, until civilization had sprung anew
+from the soil.
+
+Meanwhile London was not a city of the dead, but a dead city.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+THE MARCH OF THE GOSLINGS
+
+
+XI--THE SILENT CITY
+
+
+1
+
+July came in with temperate heat and occasional showers, ideal weather
+for the crops; for all the precious growths which must ripen before
+the famine could be stayed. The sudden stoppage of all imports,
+and the flight of the great urban population into the country, had
+demonstrated beyond all question the poverty of England's resources
+of food supply, and the demonstration was to prove of value although
+there was no economist left to theorize. England was once again an
+independent unit, and no longer a member of a great world-body. Indeed
+England was being subdivided. The unit of organization was shrinking
+with amazing rapidity. The necessity for concentration grew with
+every week that passed, the fluidity of the superfluous labour was
+being resolved by death from starvation. The women who wandered from
+one farm to the next died by the way.
+
+In the Putney house, Mrs Gosling and her daughters were faced
+by the failure of their food supply. The older woman had little
+initiative. She was a true Londoner. Her training and all the
+circumstances of her life had narrowed her imaginative grasp till
+she was only able to comprehend one issue. And as yet her daughters,
+and more particularly Millie, were so influenced by their mother's
+thought that they, also, had shown little evidence of adaptability
+to the changed conditions.
+
+"We shall 'ave to be careful," was Mrs Gosling's first expression of
+the necessity for looking to the future. She had arranged the bulk
+of her stores neatly in one room on the second floor, and although
+a goodly array of tins still faced her she experienced a miserly
+shrinking from any diminishment of their numbers. Moreover, she had
+long been without such necessities as flour. Barker and Prince had
+not dealt in flour.
+
+Returning from her daily inspection one morning in the second week of
+July, Mrs Gosling decided that something must be done at once. Fear
+of the plague was almost dead, but fear of invasion by starving women
+had kept them all close prisoners. That house was a fortress.
+
+"Look 'ere, gels," said Mrs Gosling when she came
+downstairs. "Somethin' 'll 'ave to be done."
+
+Blanche looked thoughtful. Her own mind had already begun to work
+on that great problem of their future. Millie, lazy and indifferent,
+shrugged her shoulders and replied: "All very well, mother, but what
+can we do?"
+
+"Well, I been thinking as it's very likely as things ain't so bad in
+some places as they are just about 'ere," said Mrs Gosling. "We got
+plenty o' money left, and it seems to me as two of us 'ad better go
+out and 'ave a look about, London way. One of us could look after
+the 'ouse easy enough, now. We 'aven't 'ardly seen a soul about the
+past fortnight."
+
+The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She visualized
+the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of the town,
+business had begun again, that shops were open and people at work. It
+might be that she could find work there. She was longing for the
+sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of isolation.
+
+"I'm on," she said briskly. "Me and Millie had better go, mother,
+we can walk farther. You can lock up after us and you needn't open
+the door to anyone. Are you on, Mill?"
+
+"We must make ourselves look a bit more decent first," said Millie,
+glancing at the mirror over the mantelpiece.
+
+"Well, of course," returned Blanche, "we brought one box of clothes
+with us."
+
+They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of their wardrobe.
+
+"Come to the worst we could fetch some more things from Wisteria. I
+don't suppose anyone has touched 'em," suggested Blanche.
+
+At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs Gosling sighed
+noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place at Putney,
+and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be accessible
+gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been.
+
+"Well, you might go up there one day and 'ave a look at the place," she
+put in. "It's quite likely they've got things goin' again up there."
+
+In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made themselves
+presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The atmosphere
+of horror which the plague had brought was being lifted. It was as if
+the dead germs had filled the air with an invisible, impalpable dust,
+that had exercised a strange power of depression. The spirit of death
+had hung over the whole world and paralyzed all activity. Now the
+dust was dispersing. The spirit was withdrawing to the unknown deeps
+from which it had come.
+
+"It is nice to feel decent again," said Blanche. She lifted her head
+and threw back her shoulders.
+
+Millie was preening herself before the glass.
+
+"Well, I'm sure you 'ave made yourselves look smart," said their
+mother with a touch of pride. "They were good girls," she reflected,
+"if there had been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then,
+who could have helped themselves? It had been a terrible time."
+
+The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young women,
+presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St John
+the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to buy
+food in the dead city.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way towards Hammersmith.
+
+The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the streets was so sharp
+and bright that it was as if they saw with wonderfully renewed and
+sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense of exhilaration. They
+were conscious of quickened emotion, of a sensation of physical
+well-being.
+
+"Isn't it clean?" said Blanche.
+
+"H'm! Funny!" returned Millie. "Like those photographs of foreign
+places."
+
+Under their feet was an accumulation of sharp, dry dust, detritus of
+stone, asphalt and steel. In corners where the fugitive rubbish had
+found refuge from the driving wind, the dust had accumulated in flat
+mounds, broken by scraps of paper or the torn flag of some rain-soaked
+poster that gave an untidy air of human refuse. Across the open way
+of certain roads the dust lay in a waved pattern of nearly parallel
+lines, like the ridged sand of the foreshore.
+
+For some time they kept to the pavements from force of habit.
+
+"I say, Mill, don't you feel adventurous?" asked Blanche.
+
+Millie looked dissatisfied. "It's so lonely, B.," was her expression
+of feeling.
+
+"Never had London all to myself before," said Blanche.
+
+Near Hammersmith Broadway they saw a tram standing on the rails. Its
+thin tentacle still clung to the overhead wire that had once given
+it life, as if it waited there patiently hoping for a renewal of the
+exhilarating current.
+
+Almost unconsciously Blanche and Millie quickened their pace. Perhaps
+this was the outermost dying ripple of life, the furthest outpost of
+the new activity that was springing up in central London.
+
+But the tram was guarded by something that in the hot, still air
+seemed to surround it with an almost visible mist.
+
+"Eugh!" ejaculated Millie and shrank back. "Don't go, Blanche. It's
+awful!"
+
+Blanche's hand also had leapt to her face, but she took a few steps
+forward and peered into the sunlit case of steel and glass. She saw a
+heap of clothes about the framework of a grotesquely jointed scarecrow,
+and the gleam of something round, smooth and white.
+
+She screamed faintly, and a filthy dog crept, with a thin yelp,
+from under the seat and came to the door of the tram. For a moment
+it stood there with an air that was half placatory, wrinkling its
+nose and feebly raising a stump of propitiatory tail, then, with
+another protesting yelp, it crept back, furtive and ashamed, to its
+unlawful meat.
+
+The two girls, handkerchief to nose, hurried by breathless, with
+bent heads. A little past Hammersmith Broadway they had their first
+sight of human life. Two gaunt faces looked out at them from an
+upper window. Blanche waved her hand, but the women in the house,
+half-wondering, half-fearful, at the strange sight of these two
+fancifully dressed girls, shook their heads and drew back. Doubtless
+there was some secret hoard of food in that house and the inmates
+feared the demands of charity.
+
+"Well, we aren't quite the last, anyway," commented Blanche.
+
+"What were they afraid of?" asked Millie.
+
+"Thought we wanted to cadge, I expect," suggested Blanche.
+
+"Mean things," was her sister's comment.
+
+"Well! we weren't so over-anxious to have visitors," Blanche reminded
+her.
+
+"We didn't want their beastly food," complained the affronted Millie.
+
+The shops in Hammersmith did not offer much inducement to
+exploration. Some were still closely shuttered, others presented
+goods that offered no temptation, such as hardware; but the majority
+had already been pillaged and devastated. Most of that work had been
+done in the early days of the plague when panic had reigned, and many
+men were left to lead the raids on the preserves of food.
+
+Only one great line of shuttered fronts induced the two girls to pause.
+
+"No need to go to Wisteria for clothes," suggested Blanche.
+
+"How could we get in?" asked Millie.
+
+"Oh! get in some way easy enough."
+
+"It's stealing," said Millie, and thought of her raid on the Kilburn
+tobacconist's.
+
+"You can't steal from dead people," explained Blanche; "besides,
+who'll have the things if we don't?"
+
+"I suppose it'd be all right," hesitated Millie, obviously tempted.
+
+"Well, of course," returned Blanche and paused. "I say, Mill," she
+burst out suddenly. "There's all the West-end to choose from. Come on!"
+
+For a time they walked more quickly.
+
+In Kensington High Street they had an adventure. They saw a woman
+decked in gorgeous silks, strung and studded with jewels from head
+to foot. She walked with a slow and flaunting step, gesticulating,
+and talking. Every now and again she would pause and draw herself up
+with an affectation of immense dignity, finger the ropes of jewels
+at her breast, and make a slow gesture with her hands.
+
+"She's mad," whispered Blanche, and the two girls, terrified and
+trembling, hastily took refuge in a great square cave full of litter
+and refuse that had once been a grocer's shop.
+
+The woman passed their hiding-place in her stately progress
+westward without giving any sign that she was conscious of their
+presence. When she was nearly opposite to them she made one of
+her stately pauses. "Queen of all the Earth," they heard her say,
+"Queen and Empress. Queen of the Earth." Her hand went up to her head
+and touched a strange collection of jewels pinned in her hair, of
+tiaras and brooches that flashed brighter than the high lights of the
+brilliant sun. One carelessly fastened brooch fell and she pushed it
+aside with her foot. "You understand," she said in her high, wavering
+voice, "you understand, Queen and Empress, Queen of the Earth."
+
+They heard the refrain of her gratified ambition repeated as she
+moved slowly away.
+
+A long submerged memory rose to the threshold of Millie's
+mind. "Thieving slut," she murmured.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+As they came nearer to representative London the signs of deserted
+traffic were more numerous. By the Albert Memorial they saw an
+overturned motor-bus which had smashed into the park railings, and a
+little further on were two more buses, one standing decently at the
+curb, the other sprawling across the middle of the road. The wheels
+of both were axle deep in the dust which had blown against them, and
+out of the dust a few weak threads of grass were sprouting. There
+were other vehicles, too, cabs, lorries and carts: not a great
+number altogether, but even the fifty or so which the girls saw
+between Kensington and Knightsbridge offered sufficient testimony
+to the awful rapidity with which the plague had spread. For it seems
+probable that in the majority of cases the drivers of these deserted
+vehicles must have been attacked by the first agonizing pains at
+the base of the skull while they were actually employed in driving
+their machines. There were few skeletons to be seen. The lull which
+intervened between the first unmistakable symptoms of the plague
+and the oncoming of the paralysis had given men time to obey their
+instinct to die in seclusion, the old instinct so little altered by
+civilization. Those vestiges of humanity which remained had, for the
+most part, been cleansed by the processes of Nature, but twice the
+girls disturbed a horrible cloud of blue flies which rose with an angry
+buzzing so loud that the girls screamed and ran, leaving the scavengers
+to swoop eagerly back upon their carrion. Doubtless the thing in the
+Hammersmith tram had been the body of a woman, recently-dead from
+starvation. Even from the houses there was now little exhalation.
+
+In Knightsbridge, a little past the top of Sloane Street, Blanche
+and Millie came to a shop which diverted them from their exploration
+for a time. Most of the huge rolling shutters had been pulled down
+and secured, but one had stopped half way, and, beyond, the great
+plate-glass windows were uncovered. One of ten million tragedies had
+descended swiftly to interrupt the closing of that immense place,
+and some combination of circumstances had followed to prevent the
+completion of the work. The imaginative might stop to speculate on
+the mystery of that half-closed shutter; the two Goslings stopped to
+admire the wonders behind the glass.
+
+For a time the desolation and silence of London were forgotten. In
+imagination Blanche and Millie were once again units in the vast crowd
+of antagonists striving valiantly to win some prize in the great
+competition between the boast of wealth and the pathetic endeavour
+of make-believe.
+
+They stayed to gaze at the "creations" behind the windows, at dummies
+draped in costly fabrics such as they had only dreamed of wearing. The
+silks, satins and velvets were whitened now with the thin snow of dust
+that had fallen upon them, but to Blanche and Millie they appeared
+still as wonders of beauty.
+
+For a minute or two they criticized the models. They spoke at
+first in low voices, for the deep stillness of London held them in
+unconscious awe, but as they became lost in the fascination of their
+subject they forgot their fear. And then they looked at one another
+a little guiltily.
+
+"No harm in seeing if the door's locked, anyway," said Blanche.
+
+Millie looked over her shoulder and saw no movement in the frozen
+streets, save the sweep of one exploring swallow. Even the sparrows
+had deserted the streets. She did not reply in words, but signified
+her agreement of thought by a movement towards the entrance.
+
+The swing doors were not fastened, and they entered stealthily.
+
+They began with the touch of appraising fingers, wandering from room to
+room. But most of the rooms on the ground floor were darkened by the
+drawn shutters, and no glow of light came in response to the clicking
+of the electric switches that they experimented with with persistent
+futility. So they adventured into the clearly lit rooms upstairs and
+experienced a fallacious sense of security in the knowledge that they
+were on the floor above the street.
+
+Fingering gave place to still closer inspection. They lifted the
+models from the stands and shook them out. They held up gorgeous
+robes in front of their own suburban dresses and admired each other
+and themselves in the numerous cheval glasses.
+
+"Oh! bother!" exclaimed Blanche at last, "I'm going to try on."
+
+"Oh! B." expostulated the more timid Millie.
+
+"Well! why to goodness not?" asked her elder sister. "Who's to be
+any the wiser?"
+
+"Seems wrong, somehow," replied Millie, unable to shake off the
+conventions which had so long served her as conscience.
+
+"Well, I am," said Blanche, and retired into a little side room to
+divest herself of her own dress. She had always shared a bedroom
+with her sister, and they observed few modesties before each other,
+but Blanche was mentally incapable of changing her dress in the broad
+avenues of that extensive show-room. It is true that the tall casement
+windows were wide open and the place was completely overlooked by the
+massive buildings opposite, but even if the windows had been screened
+she would not have changed her skirt in the publicity of that open
+place, though every human being in the world were dead.
+
+When she emerged from her dressing-room she was transformed indeed. She
+went over to her still hesitating sister.
+
+"Do me up, Mill," she said.
+
+Blanche had chosen well; the fine cloth walking dress admirably
+fitted her well-developed young figure. When she had discarded her
+hat and touched up her hair before the glass, only her boots and her
+hands remained to spoil the disguise. Well gloved and well shod,
+she might have passed down the Bond Street of the old London, and
+few women and no man would have known that she had not sprung from
+the ruling classes.
+
+She posed. She stepped back from the mirror and half-unconsciously
+fell to imitating the manners of the revered aristocracy she had
+respectfully studied from a distance.
+
+In a few minutes she was joined by Millie, also arrayed in peacock's
+feathers and anxious to be "fastened."
+
+Their excitement increased. Walking dresses gave place to evening
+gowns. They lost their sense of fear and ran into other departments
+searching for long white gloves to hide the disfigurements of household
+work. They paraded and bowed to each other. The climax came when they
+discovered a Court dress, immensely trained, and embroidered with gold
+thread, laid by with evidences of tenderest care in endless wrappings
+of tissue paper. Surely the dress of some elegant young duchess!
+
+For a moment they wrangled, but Blanche triumphed. "You shall have
+it afterwards," she said, as she ran to her dressing-room.
+
+Millie followed in an elaborate gown of Indian silk; a somewhat
+sulky Millie, inclined to resent her duty of lady's maid. She dragged
+disrespectfully at the innumerable fastenings.
+
+"My!" ejaculated Blanche when she could indulge herself in the glory
+of full examination before a cheval glass in the open show-room. She
+struggled with her train and when she had arranged it to her
+satisfaction, threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin haughtily.
+
+"I ought to have some diamonds," she reflected.
+
+"It drags round the hips," was Millie's criticism.
+
+"You should say 'Your Majesty,'" corrected Blanche.
+
+"Oh! a Queen, are you?" asked Millie.
+
+"Rather----"
+
+"Queen of all the Earth," sneered Millie.
+
+Blanche's face suddenly fell. "I wonder if she began like this,"
+she said, and a note of fear had come into her voice.
+
+Millie's eyes reflected her sister's alarm.
+
+"Oh! let's get out of this, B.," she said, and began to tear at the
+neck of her Indian silk gown.
+
+"I wanted diamonds, too," persisted Blanche.
+
+"Oh! B., it isn't right," said Millie. "I said it wasn't right and
+you would come."
+
+Silence descended upon them for a moment, and then both sisters
+suddenly screamed and ducked, putting up their hands to their heads.
+
+"Goodness! What was that?" cried Blanche.
+
+A swallow had swept in through the open window, had curved round in
+one swift movement, and shot out again into the sunlight.
+
+"Only a bird of some sort," said Millie, but she was trembling and
+on the verge of hysterics. "Do let's get out, B."
+
+After they had put on their own clothes once more they became aware
+that they were hungry.
+
+"We have wasted a lot of time here," said Blanche as they made their
+way out.
+
+She did not pause to wonder how many women had spent the best part
+of their lives in a precisely similar manner.
+
+"And we ought to have been looking for food," she added.
+
+"Come on," replied Millie. "That place has given me the creeps."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Growing rather tired and footsore they made their way to Piccadilly
+Circus, and so on to the Strand. Everywhere they found the same
+conditions: a few skeletons, a few deserted vehicles, young vegetation
+taking hold wherever a pinch of soil had found an abiding place,
+and over all a great silence. But food there was none that they were
+able to find, though it is probable that a careful investigation of
+cellars and underground places might have furnished some results. The
+more salient resources of London had been effectively pillaged so
+far as the West-end was concerned. They were too late.
+
+In Trafalgar Square, Millie sat down and cried. Blanche made no attempt
+to comfort her, but sat wide eyed and wondering. Her mind was opening
+to new ideas. She was beginning to understand that London was incapable
+of supporting even the lives of three women; she was wrestling with
+the problem of existence. Every one had gone. Many had died; but many
+more, surely, must have fled into the country. She began to understand
+that she and her family must also fly into the country.
+
+Millie still sobbed convulsively now and again.
+
+"Oh! Chuck it, Mill," said Blanche at last. "We'd better be getting
+home."
+
+Millie dabbed her eyes. "I'm starving," she blubbered.
+
+"Well, so am I," returned Blanche. "That's why I said we'd better
+get home. There's nothing to eat here."
+
+"Is--is every one dead?"
+
+"No, they've gone off into the country, and that's what we've got
+to do."
+
+The younger girl sat up, put her hat straight, and blew her
+nose. "Isn't it awful, B.?" she said.
+
+Blanche pinched her lips together. "What are you putting your hat
+straight for?" she asked. "There's no one to see you."
+
+"Well, you needn't make it any worse," retorted Millie on the verge
+of a fresh outburst of tears.
+
+"Oh! come on!" said Blanche, getting to her feet.
+
+"I don't believe I can walk home," complained Millie; "my feet
+ache so."
+
+"You'll have to wait a long time if you're going to find a bus,"
+returned Blanche.
+
+Three empty taxicabs stood in the rank a few feet away from them,
+but it never occurred to either of the two young women to attempt any
+experiment with these mechanisms. If the thought had crossed their
+minds they would have deemed it absurd.
+
+"Let's go down by Victoria," suggested Blanche. "I believe it's
+nearer."
+
+In Parliament Square they disturbed a flock of rooks, birds which
+had partly changed their natural habits during the past few months
+and, owing to the superabundance of one kind of food, were preying
+on carrion.
+
+"Crows," commented Blanche. "Beastly things."
+
+"I wonder if we could get some water to drink," was Millie's reply.
+
+"Well, there's the river," suggested Blanche, and they turned up
+towards Westminster Bridge.
+
+In one of the tall buildings facing the river Blanche's attention
+was caught by an open door.
+
+"Look here, Mill," she said, "we've only been looking for shops. Let's
+try one of these houses. We might find something to eat in there."
+
+"I'm afraid," said Millie.
+
+"What of?" sneered Blanche. "At the worst it's skeletons, and we can
+come out again."
+
+Millie shuddered. "You go," she suggested.
+
+"Not by myself, I won't," returned Blanche.
+
+"There you are, you see," said Millie.
+
+"Well, it's different by yourself."
+
+"I hate it," returned Millie with emphasis.
+
+"So do I, in a way, only I'm fair starving," said Blanche. "Come on."
+
+The building was solidly furnished, and the ground floor, although
+somewhat disordered, still suggested a complacent luxury. On the floor
+lay a copy of the Evening Chronicle, dated May 10; possibly one of the
+last issues of a London journal. Two of the pages were quite blank,
+and almost the only advertisement was one hastily-set announcement of a
+patent medicine guaranteed as a sure protection against the plague. The
+remainder of the paper was filled with reports of the devastation that
+was being wrought, reports which were nevertheless marked by a faint
+spirit of simulated confidence. Between the lines could be read the
+story of desperate men clinging to hope with splendid courage. There
+were no signs of panic here. Groves had come out well at the last.
+
+The two girls hovered over this piece of ancient history for a few
+minutes.
+
+"You see," said Blanche triumphantly, "even then, more'n two months
+ago, every one was making for the country. We shall have to go,
+too. I told you we should."
+
+"I never said we shouldn't," returned Millie. "Anyhow there's nothing
+to eat here."
+
+"Not in this room, there isn't," said Blanche, "but there might be
+in the kitchens. Do you know what this place has been?"
+
+Millie shook her head.
+
+"It's been a man's club," announced Blanche. "First time you've been
+in one, old dear."
+
+"Come on, let's have a look downstairs, then," returned Millie,
+careless of her achievement.
+
+In the first kitchen they found havoc: broken china and glass, empty
+bottles, empty tins, cooking utensils on the floor, one table upset,
+everywhere devastation and the marks of struggle; but in none of the
+empty tins was there the least particle of food. Everything had been
+completely cleaned out. The rats had been there, and had gone.
+
+Exploring deeper, however, they were at last rewarded. On a table
+stood a whole array of unopened tins and in one of them was plunged
+a tin-opener, a single stab had been given, and then, possibly,
+another of these common tragedies had begun. Had he been alone,
+that plunderer, or had his companions fled from him in terror?
+
+Here the two girls made a sufficient meal, and discovered, moreover,
+a large store of unopened beer-bottles. They shared the contents
+of one between them, and then, feeling greatly reinvigorated, they
+sought for and found two baskets, which they filled with tinned
+foods. They only took away one bottle of beer--a special treat for
+their mother--on account of the weight. They remembered that they
+had a long walk before them; and they were not over-elated by their
+discovery; they were sick to death of tinned meats.
+
+In looking for the baskets they came across a single potato that the
+rats had left. From it had sprung a long, thin, etiolated shoot which
+had crept under the door of the cupboard and was making its way across
+the floor to the light of the window. Already that shoot was several
+feet in length.
+
+"Funny how they grow," commented Millie.
+
+"Making for the country, I expect," replied Blanche, "same as we
+shall have to do."
+
+It was a relief to them to find their way into the sunlight once
+more. Those cold, forsaken houses held some suggestion of horror,
+of old activities so abruptly ended by tragedy. From these interiors
+Nature was still shut off. That ghostly tendril aching towards the
+light had no chance for life and reproduction....
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+The two Gosling girls had yet one more adventure before they toiled
+home with their load.
+
+They were growing bolder, despite the gloom and oppression of those
+human habitations, and some freakish spirit prompted Blanche to suggest
+that they should visit the Houses of Parliament. After a brief demur,
+Millie acceded.
+
+That great stronghold was open to them now. They might walk the floor
+of the House, sit in the Speaker's chair, penetrate into the sacred
+places of the Upper Chamber.
+
+Gone were all the rules and formulas, the intricacies and precedents
+of an unwritten constitution, the whole cumbrous machinery for the
+making of new laws. The air was no longer disturbed by the wranglings,
+evasions and cunning shifts of those who had found here a stage for
+their personal ambitions. The high talk of progress had died into
+silence along with the struggle of parties which had played the supreme
+game, side against side, for the prize of power. Progress had been
+defined in this place, in terms of human activity, human comfort. The
+end in sight had been some vague conception of general welfare through
+accumulated riches. And from the sky had fallen a pestilence to change
+the meaning of human terms. In three months the old conception of
+wealth was gone. Money, precious stones, a thousand accepted forms
+of value had become suddenly worthless, of no more account than the
+symbol of power which lay coated with dust on the table of the House
+of law-makers. Even law itself, that slow growth of the centuries,
+had become meaningless. Who cared if some mad woman plundered every
+jeweller's shop in the whole City? Who was to forbid theft or avenge
+murder? The place of traffic was empty. Only one law was left and
+only one value; the law of self-preservation, the value of food.
+
+The sunlight fell in broad coloured shafts upon two half-educated
+girls come on a plundering expedition, and they might sit in the high
+places if they would, and make new laws for themselves.
+
+Blanche sat for a few moments in the Speaker's chair.
+
+"It's a fine big place," she remarked.
+
+"Oh! come on, B., do," replied Millie. "I want to get home."
+
+As they crossed the Square, Millie looked up at Big Ben. "Quarter-past
+nine," she said. "It must have stopped."
+
+"Well, of course, silly," replied Blanche. "All the clocks have
+stopped. Who's to wind 'em?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XII--EMIGRANT
+
+
+1
+
+For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to grasp the significance
+of her daughters' report on the condition of London. During the past
+two months she had persuaded herself that the traffic of the town was
+being resumed and that only Putney was still desolate. She had always
+disapproved of Putney; it was damp and she had never known anyone who
+had lived there. It is true that the late lamented George Gosling had
+been born in Putney, but that was more than half a century ago, the
+place was no doubt quite different then; and he had left Putney and
+gone to live in the healthy North before he was sixteen. Mrs Gosling
+was half inclined to blame Putney for all their misfortunes--it was
+sure to breed infection, being so near the river and all--and she had
+become hopeful during the past month that all would be well with them
+if they could once get back to Kilburn.
+
+"D'you mean to say you didn't see no one at all?" she repeated in
+great perplexity.
+
+"Those three we've told you about, that's all," said Blanche.
+
+"Well, o' course, they're all shut up in the 'ouses, still; afraid
+o' the plague and 'anging on to what provisions they've got put by,
+same as us," was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward.
+
+"They ain't," said Millie, and Blanche agreed.
+
+"Well, but 'ow d'you know?" persisted the mother. "Did you go in to
+the 'ouses?"
+
+"One or two," returned Blanche evasively, "but there wasn't no need
+to go in. You could see."
+
+"Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not in the Strand?" Mrs
+Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence. She could not doubt the
+good faith of the Strand. If that failed her, all was lost.
+
+"Oh! can't you understand, mother," broke out Blanche petulantly,
+"that the whole of London is absolutely deserted? There isn't a soul
+in the streets. There's no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and
+grass growing in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been
+broken into, all those that had food in 'em, and----" words failed
+her. "Isn't it, Millie?" she concluded lamely.
+
+"Awful," agreed Millie.
+
+"Well, I can't understand it," said Mrs Gosling, not yet fully
+convinced. She considered earnestly for a few moments and then asked:
+"Did you go into Charing Cross Post Office? They'd sure to be open."
+
+"Yes!" lied Blanche, "and we could have taken all the money in the
+place if we'd wanted, and no one any the wiser."
+
+Mrs Gosling looked shocked. "I 'ope my gels'll never come to that,"
+she said. Her girls, with a wonderful understanding of their mother's
+opinions, had omitted to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge
+emporium.
+
+"No one'd ever know," said Millie.
+
+"There's One who would," replied Mrs Gosling gravely, and strangely
+enough, perhaps, the two girls looked uneasy, but they were thinking
+less of the commandments miraculously given to Moses than of the
+probable displeasure of the Vicar of St John the Evangelist's Church
+in Kilburn.
+
+"Well, we've got to do something, anyhow," said Blanche, after a
+pause. "I mean we'll have to get out of this and go into the country."
+
+"We might go to your uncle's in Liverpool," suggested Mrs Gosling,
+tentatively.
+
+"It's a long walk," remarked Blanche.
+
+Mrs Gosling did not grasp the meaning of this objection. "Well,
+I think we could afford third-class," she said. "Besides, though we
+'aven't corresponded much of late years, I've always been under the
+impression that your uncle is doin' well in Liverpool; and at such a
+time as this I'm sure 'e'll do the right thing, though whether it would
+be better to let 'im know we're comin' or not I'm not quite sure."
+
+"Oh! dear!" sighed Blanche, "I do wish you'd try to understand,
+mother. There aren't any trains. There aren't any posts or
+telegraphs. Wherever we go we've just got to walk. Haven't we, Millie?"
+
+Millie began to snivel. "It's 'orrible," she said.
+
+"Well I can't understand it," repeated Mrs Gosling.
+
+By degrees, however, the controversy took a new shape. Granting for
+the moment the main contention that London was uninhabitated, Mrs
+Gosling urged that it would be a dangerous, even a foolhardy, thing
+to venture into the country. If there was no Government there would
+be no law and order, was the substance of her argument; government in
+her mind being represented by its concrete presentation in the form of
+the utterly reliable policeman. Furthermore, she pointed out, that they
+did not know anyone in the country, with the exception of a too-distant
+uncle in Liverpool, and that there would be nowhere for them to go.
+
+"We shall have to work," said Blanche, who was surely inspired by
+her glimpse of the silent city.
+
+"Well, we've got nearly a 'undred pounds left of what your poor father
+drew out o' the bank before we shut ourselves up," said her mother.
+
+"I suppose we could buy things in the country," speculated Blanche.
+
+"You seem set on the country for some reason," said Mrs Gosling with
+a touch of temper.
+
+"Well, we've got to get food," returned Blanche, raising her voice. "We
+can't live on air."
+
+"And if food's to be got cheaper in the country than in London,"
+snapped Mrs Gosling, "my experience goes for nothing, but, of course,
+you know best, if I am your mother."
+
+"There isn't any food in London, cheap or dear, I keep telling you,"
+said Blanche, and left the room angrily, slamming the door behind her.
+
+Millie sat moodily biting her nails.
+
+"Blanche lets 'er temper get the better of 'er," remarked Mrs Gosling
+addressing the spaces of the kitchen in which they were sitting.
+
+"It's right, worse luck," said Millie. "We shall have to go. I 'ate
+it nearly as much as you do."
+
+The argument thus begun was continued with few intermissions for a
+whole week. A thunderstorm, followed by two days of overcast weather,
+came to the support of the older woman. One thing was certain among
+all these terrible perplexities, namely, that you couldn't start off
+for a trip to the country on a wet day.
+
+Meanwhile their stores continued to diminish, and one afternoon Mrs
+Gosling consented to take a walk with Blanche as far as Hammersmith
+Broadway.
+
+The sight of that blank desert impressed her. Blanche pointed out
+the house in which she had seen the two women five days before, but
+no one was looking out of the window on that afternoon. Perhaps they
+had fled to the country, or were occupied elsewhere in the house,
+or perhaps they had left London by the easier way which had become
+so general in the past few months.
+
+When she returned to the Putney house, Mrs Gosling wept and wished she,
+too, was dead, but she consented at last to Blanche's continually urged
+proposition, in so far as she expressed herself willing to make a move
+of some sort. She thought they might, at least, go back and have a
+look at Wisteria Grove. And if Kilburn had, indeed, fallen as low as
+Hammersmith, then there was apparently no help for it and they must
+try their luck in the waste and desolation of the country. Perhaps
+some farmer's wife might take them in for a time, until they had a
+chance to look about them. They had nearly a hundred pounds in gold.
+
+The girls found a builder's trolley in a yard near by, a truck of
+sturdy build on two wheels with a long handle. It bore marks of
+having held cement, and there were weeds growing in one end of it,
+but after it had been brought home and thoroughly scrubbed, it looked
+quite a presentable means for the transport of the "necessaries"
+they proposed to take with them.
+
+They made too generous an estimate of essentials at first, piling
+their truck too high for safety and overtaxing their strength; but
+that problem, like many others, was finally solved for them by the
+clear-sighted guidance of necessity.
+
+They started one morning--a Monday if their calculations were not
+at fault--about two hours after breakfast. Mrs Gosling and Millie
+pushed behind, and Blanche, the inspired one, went before, pulled by
+the handle of the pole and gave the others their direction.
+
+It is possible that they were the last women to leave London.
+
+By chance they discovered the Queen of all the Earth on a doorstep
+near Addison Road. She was quite dead, but they did not despoil her
+of the jewels with which she was still covered.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Mrs Gosling was a source of trouble from the outset. She had lived
+her life indoors. In the Wisteria Grove days, she never spent two
+hours of the twenty-four out of the house. Some times for a whole
+week she had not gone out at all. It was a mark of their rise in the
+world that all the tradesmen called for orders. She had found little
+necessity to buy in shops during recent years. And so, very surely,
+she had grown more and more limited in her outlook. Her attention
+had become concentrated on the duties of the housewife. She had not
+kept any servant, a charwoman who came for a few hours three times
+a week had done all that the mistress of the house had not dared, in
+face of neighbourly criticism--in her position she could not be seen
+washing down the little tiled path to the gate nor whitening the steps.
+
+The effect of this cramped existence on Mrs Gosling would not
+have been noticeable under the old conditions. She had become a
+specialized creature, admirably adapted to her place in the old
+scheme of civilization. No demand was ever made upon her resources
+other than those familiar demands which she was so perfectly educated
+to supply. Even when the plague had come, she had not been compelled
+to alter her mode of life. She had made trouble enough about the lack
+of many things she had once believed to be necessary--familiar foods,
+soap and the thousand little conveniences that the twentieth century
+inventor had patented to assist the domestic economy of the small
+householder; but the trouble was not too great to be overcome. The
+adaptability required from her was within the scope of her specialized
+vision. She could learn to do without flour, butter, lard, milk,
+sugar and the other things, but she could not learn to think on
+unfamiliar lines.
+
+That was the essence of her trouble. She was divorced from a permanent
+home. She was asked to walk long miles in the open air. Worst of all,
+she was called upon for initiative, ingenuity; she was required to
+exercise her imagination in order to solve a problem with which she
+was quite unfamiliar. She was expected to develop the potentialities
+of the wild thing, and to extort food from Nature. The whole problem
+was beyond her comprehension.
+
+The sight of Kilburn was a great blow to her. She had hoped against
+hope that here, at least, she would find some semblance of the life
+she had known. It had seemed so impossible to her that Aiken, the
+butcher's, or Hobb's, the grocer's, would not be open as usual, and
+the vision of those two desolated and ransacked shops--the latter with
+but a few murderous spears of plate-glass left in its once magnificent
+windows--depressed her to tears.
+
+So shaken was she by the sight of these horrors that Blanche and
+Millie raised no objection to sleeping that night in the house in
+Wisteria Grove. Indeed, the two girls were almost tired out, although
+it was yet early in the afternoon. The truck had become very heavy
+in the course of the last two miles; and they had had considerable
+difficulty in negotiating the hill by Westbourne Park Station.
+
+Mrs Gosling was still weeping as she let herself in to her old home,
+and she wept as she prowled about the familiar rooms and noted the
+dust which had fallen like snow on every surface which would support
+it. And for the first time the loss of her husband came home to
+her. She had been almost glad when he had vanished from the Putney
+house--in that place she had only seen him in his new character of
+tyrant. Here, among familiar associations, she recalled the fact that
+he had been a respectable, complacent, hard-working, successful man
+who had never given her cause for trouble, a man who did not drink
+nor run after other women, who held a position in the Church and was
+looked up to by the neighbourhood. According to her definition he had
+certainly been an ideal husband. It is true that they had dropped any
+pretence of being in love with one another after Blanche was born,
+but that was only natural.
+
+Mrs Gosling sat on the bed she had shared with him so long and hoped
+he was happy. He was; but if she could have seen the nature of his
+happiness the sight would have given her no comfort. Vaguely she
+pictured him in some strange Paradise, built upon those conceptions
+of the mediæval artists, mainly Italians, which have supplied the
+ideals of the orthodox. She saw an imperfectly transfigured and still
+fleshly George Gosling, who did unaccustomed things with a harp,
+was dressed in exotic garments and was on terms with certain hybrids,
+largely woman but partly bird, who were clearly recognizable as the
+angelic host. If she had been a Mohammedan, her vision would have
+accorded far more nearly with the fact.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+The successful animal is that which is adapted to its
+circumstances. Herbert Spencer would appear foolish and incapable in
+the society of the young wits who frequent the private bar; he might
+be described by them as an old Johnny who knew nothing about life. Mrs
+Gosling in her own home had been a ruler; she had had authority over
+her daughters, and, despite the usual evidences of girlish precocity,
+she had always been mistress of the situation. In the affairs of
+household management she was facile princeps, and she commanded
+the respect accorded to the eminent in any form of specialized
+activity. But even on this second morning of their emigration it became
+clear to Blanche that her mother had ceased to rule, and must become a
+subordinate. A certain respect was due to her in her parental relation,
+but if she could not be coaxed she must be coerced.
+
+"She'll be better when we get her right away from here," was Blanche's
+diagnosis, and Millie, who had also achieved some partial realization
+of the necessities imposed by the new conditions, nodded in agreement.
+
+"She wants to stop here altogether, and, of course, we can't,"
+she said.
+
+"We shall starve if we do," said Blanche.
+
+From that time Mrs Gosling dropped into the humiliating position of
+a kind of mental incapable who must be humoured into obedience.
+
+The first, and in many ways the most difficult, task was to persuade
+her away from Kilburn. She clung desperately to that stronghold of
+her old life.
+
+"I'm too old to change at my age," she protested, and when the
+alternative was clearly put before her, she accepted it with a
+flaccidity that was as aggravating as it was unfightable.
+
+"I'd sooner die 'ere," said Mrs Gosling, "than go trapesing about the
+fields lookin' for somethin' to eat. I simply couldn't do it. It's
+different for you two gels, no doubt. You go and leave me 'ere."
+
+Millie might have been tempted to take her mother at her word,
+but Blanche never for a moment entertained the idea of leaving her
+mother behind.
+
+"Very well, mother," she said, desperately, "if you won't come we
+must all stop here and starve, I suppose. We've got enough food to
+last a fortnight or so."
+
+As she spoke she looked out of the window of that little suburban
+house, and for the first time in her life a thought came to her of
+the strangeness of preferring such an inconvenient little box to the
+adventure of the wider spaces of open country. Outside, the sun was
+shining brilliantly, but the windows were dim with dust and cobwebs.
+
+Yet her mother was comparatively happy in this hovel; she would
+find delight in cleaning it, although there was no one to appraise
+the result of her effort. She was a specialized animal with
+habits precisely analogous to the instincts of other animals and
+insects. There were insects who could only live in filth and would die
+miserably if removed from their natural surroundings. Mrs Gosling was
+a suburban-house insect who would perish in the open air. After all,
+the chief difference between insects and men is that the insect is
+born perfectly adapted to its specialized existence, man finds, or
+is forced into, a place in the scheme after he has come to maturity....
+
+"I can't see why you shouldn't leave me behind," pleaded Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Well, we won't," replied Blanche, still looking out of the window.
+
+"It's wicked of you to make us stop here and starve," put in
+Millie. "And even you must see that we shall starve."
+
+Mrs Gosling wept feebly. She had wept much during the past twenty-four
+hours. "Where can we go?" she wailed.
+
+"There's country on the other side of Harrow," said Blanche.
+
+The thought of Harrow or Timbuctoo was equally repugnant to Mrs
+Gosling.
+
+Then Millie had an idea. "Well, we only brought four bottles of water
+with us," she said, "where are we going to get any more in Kilburn?"
+
+Mrs Gosling racked her brain in the effort to remember some convenient
+stream in the neighbourhood. "It may rain," she said feebly at last.
+
+Blanche turned from the window and pointed to the blurred prospect
+of sunlit street. "We might be dead before the rain came," she said.
+
+They wore her out in the end.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+With Harrow as an immediate objective, they toiled up Willesden Lane
+with their hand-cart early the next morning. Blanche took that route
+because it was familiar to her, and after passing Willesden Green,
+she followed the tram lines.
+
+As they got away from London they came upon evidences of the exodus
+which had preceded them. Bodies of women, for the most part no longer
+malodorous, were not infrequent, and pieces of household furniture,
+parcels of clothing, boxes, trunks and smaller impedimenta lay by the
+roadside, the superfluities of earlier loads that had been lightened,
+however reluctantly.
+
+Mrs Gosling blenched at the sight of every body--only a few of them
+could be described as skeletons--and protested that they were all
+going to their death, but Blanche kept on resolutely with a white,
+set face, and as Millie followed her example, if with rather less show
+of temerity, there was no choice but to follow. When the gradients
+were favourable the girls helped their mother on to the truck and
+gave her a lift. She was a feeble walker.
+
+Not till they reached Sudbury did they see another living being of
+their own species, or any sign of human habitation in the long rows
+of dirty houses.
+
+The great surge of migration had spread out from the centre and become
+absorbed in circles of ever-widening amplitude. The great entity of
+London had eaten its way so far outwards in to arable and pasturage
+that within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross not a thousand women
+could be found who had been able to obtain any promise of security
+from the products of the soil. And although there were great open
+spaces of land, such as Wembley Park, which had to be crossed in the
+journey outwards, the exiles had been unable to wait until such time
+as seed could be transformed into food by the alchemy of Nature. So
+the pressure had been continually outwards, forcing the emigrants
+toward the more distant farms where some fraction of them, at least,
+might find work and food until the coming of the harvest. In Kent,
+vegetables were comparatively plentiful. In Northern Middlesex and
+Buckinghamshire the majority had to depend upon animal food. But in
+all the Home Counties and in the neighbourhood of every large town,
+famine was following hard upon the heels of the plague, and 70 per
+cent of the town-dwelling women and children who had escaped the latter
+visitation died of starvation and exposure before the middle of August.
+
+In the first inner ring, still sparsely populated, were to be found
+those who had had vegetable gardens and had been vigorous enough to
+protect themselves against the flood of migration which had swept up
+against them.
+
+It was the first signs of this inner ring that the Goslings discovered
+at Sudbury.
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+They came upon a little row of cottages, standing back a few yards from
+the road. All three women had been engaged in pushing their trolly
+up an ascent, and with heads down, and all their physical energies
+concentrated upon their task, they did not notice the startling
+difference between these cottages and other houses they had passed,
+until they stopped to take breath at the summit of the hill.
+
+Mrs Gosling had immediately seated herself upon the sloping pole
+of the trolly handle. She was breathing heavily and had her hands
+pressed to her sides. Millie leaned against the side of the trolly,
+her eyes still on the ground. But Blanche had thrown back her shoulders
+and opened her lungs, and she saw the banner of smoke that flew from
+the middle of the three chimney-stacks--smoke, in this wilderness,
+smoke the sign of human life! To Blanche it seemed the fulfilment of
+a great hope. She had begun to wonder if all the world were dead.
+
+"Oh!" she gasped. "Look!"
+
+They looked without eagerness, anticipating some familiar horror.
+
+"Ooh!" echoed Millie, when she, too, had recognized the harbinger. But
+Mrs Gosling did not raise her eyes high enough.
+
+"What?" she asked stupidly.
+
+"There's some one living in that cottage," said Blanche, and pointed
+upwards to the soaring pennant.
+
+Mrs Gosling's face brightened. "Well, to be sure," she said, "I wonder
+if they'd let me sit down and rest for a few minutes? And perhaps
+they might be willing to sell me a glass of milk. I'm sure I'd pay
+a good price for it."
+
+"We can see, anyway," replied Millie, and they roused themselves and
+pushed on eagerly. The cottage was not more than thirty yards away.
+
+Before they reached it, a woman came to the doorway, stared at them
+for a moment and then came down to the little wooden gate.
+
+She was a thick-set woman of fifty or so, with iron grey hair cut
+close to her head. She wore a tweed skirt which did not reach the
+tops of her heavily soled, high boots. She looked capable, energetic
+and muscular. And in her hand she carried about three feet of stout
+broomstick.
+
+She did not speak until the little procession halted before her gate,
+and then she pointed meaningly up the road with her broomstick and
+said: "Go on. You can't stop here." She spoke with the voice and
+inflection of an educated woman.
+
+Blanche paused in the act of setting down the trolly handle. Mrs
+Gosling and Millie stared in amazement; they had been prepared to
+weep on the neck of this human friend, found at last in the awful
+desert of Middlesex.
+
+"We only wanted to buy a little milk," stammered Blanche, no less
+astonished than her mother and sister.
+
+The big woman looked them over with something of pity and contempt. "I
+can see you're not dangerous," she sneered and crossed her great bare
+fore-arms over the top of the gate. "Only three poor feckless idiots
+going begging."
+
+"We're not begging," retorted Blanche. "We've got money and we're
+willing to pay."
+
+"Money!" repeated the woman. She looked up at the sky and nodded
+her head, as though beseeching pity for these feeble creatures. "My
+dear girl," she went on, "what do you suppose is the good of money
+in this world? You can't eat money, nor wear it, nor use it to light
+a fire. Now, if you'd offered me a box of matches, you should have
+had all the milk I can spare."
+
+"Well, I never," put in Mrs Gosling, who had feebly come to rest
+again on the handle of the trolly.
+
+"No, my good woman, you never did," said the stranger. "You never
+could and I should say the chances are that you never will."
+
+Millie was intimidated and shrinking, even Blanche looked a
+little nervous, but Mrs Gosling was incapable of feeling fear of
+a fellow-woman. "You can't mean as you won't sell us a glass of
+milk?" she said.
+
+"Have you got a box of matches you'll exchange for it?" asked the
+stranger. "I've got a burning glass I stole in Harrow, but you can't
+depend on the sun."
+
+"No, nor 'aven't 'ad, the last three weeks," said Mrs Gosling. "But
+if you've more money a'ready than you know what to do with, I should
+'ave thought as you'd 'a been willing to spare a glass o' milk for
+charity's sake."
+
+The stranger regarded her petitioner with a hard smile. "Charity's
+sake?" she said. "Do you realize that I've had to defend this place
+like a fort against thousands of your sort? I've killed three madwomen
+who fought me for possession and buried 'em in the orchard like
+cats. I held out through the first rush and I can hold out now easily
+enough. You three are the first I've seen for a month, and before
+that they'd begun to get weak and poor. These are your daughters,
+I suppose, and the three of you had always depended upon some fool
+of a man to keep you. Yes? Well, you deserve all you've got. Now you
+can start and do a little healthy, useful work for yourselves. I've
+no pity for you. I've got a damned fool of a sister and an old fool
+of a mother to keep in there," she pointed to the cottage with her
+broomstick. "Parasitic like you, both of 'em, and pretty well all
+the use they are is to keep the fire alight. No, my good woman,
+you get no charity from me."
+
+When she had finished her speech, which she delivered with a fluency
+and point that suggested familiarity with the platform, the stranger
+crossed her arms again over the gate and stared Mrs Gosling out
+of countenance.
+
+"Come along, my dears," said that outraged lady, getting wearily to
+her feet. "I wouldn't wish your ears soiled by such language from a
+woman as 'as forgotten the manners of a lady. But, there, poor thing,
+I've no doubt 'er 'ead's been turned with all this trouble."
+
+The stranger smiled grimly and made no reply, but as the Goslings
+were moving away, she called out to them suddenly: "Hi! You! There's
+a witless creature along the road who'll probably help you. The house
+is up a side road. Bear round to the right."
+
+"What a beast," muttered Blanche when they had gone on a few yards.
+
+"One o' them 'new' women, my dear," panted Mrs Gosling, who
+remembered the beginning of the movement and still clung to the old
+terminology. "'Orrible unsexed creatures! I remember how your poor
+father used to 'ate 'em!"
+
+"I'd like to get even with her," said Millie.
+
+They bore to the right, and so avoided two turnings which led up
+repulsive-looking hills, but they missed the side road.
+
+"I'm sure we must have passed it," complained Mrs Gosling at
+last. Her sighs had been increasing in volume and poignancy for the
+past half-mile, and the prospect of uninhabited country which lay
+immediately around her she found infinitely dispiriting.
+
+"There isn't an 'ouse in sight," she added, "and I really don't
+believe I can walk much farther."
+
+Blanche stopped and looked over the fields on her right towards
+London. In the distance, blurred by an oily wriggle of heat haze, she
+could see the last wave of suburban villas which had broken upon this
+shore of open country. They had left the town behind them at last,
+but they had not found what they sought. This little arm of land
+which cut off Harrow and Wealdstone from the mother lake of London
+had not offered sufficient temptation to delay their forerunners in
+the search for food. Most of them, with a true instinct for what they
+sought, had followed the main road into the Chiltern Hills, and those
+who for some cause or another had wandered into this side track had
+pushed on, even as Blanche and Millie would have done had they not
+been dragged back by their mother's complaints. The sun was falling
+a little towards the west, and bird and animal life, which had seemed
+to rest during the intenser heat of mid-day, was stirring and calling
+all about them. A rabbit lolloped into the road, a few yards away,
+pricked up its ears, stared for an instant, and then scuttled to
+cover. A blackbird flew out of the hedge and fled chattering up the
+ditch. The air was murmurous with the hum of innumerable insects,
+and above Mrs Gosling's head hovered a group of flies which ever
+and again bobbed down as if following some concerted plan of action,
+and tried to settle on the poor woman's heated face.
+
+"Oh! get away, do!" she panted, and flapped a futile handkerchief.
+
+"How quiet it is!" said Blanche; and although the air was full of
+sound it did indeed appear that a great hush had fallen over the
+earth. No motor-horn threateningly bellowed its automatic demand for
+right of way; there was no echo of hoofs nor grind of wheels; no call
+of children's voices, nor even the bark of a dog. The wild things had
+the place to themselves again, and the sound of their movements called
+for no response from civilized minds. The ears of the Goslings heard,
+but did not note these, to them, useless evidences of life. They were
+straining and alert for the voice of humanity.
+
+"I don't know when I've felt the 'eat so much," said Mrs Gosling
+suddenly, and Blanche and Millie both started.
+
+"Hush!" said Blanche, and held up a warning finger.
+
+In the distance they heard a sound like the closing of a gate, and
+then, very clear and small, a feminine voice. "Chuck! chuck! chuck!" it
+said. "Chuck! chuck! chuck!!!"
+
+"I told you we'd passed it," said Mrs Gosling triumphantly. They turned
+the trolly and began to retrace their footsteps. Their eager eyes
+tried to peer through the spinney of trees which shut them off from
+the south. Once or twice they stopped to listen. The voice was fainter
+now, but they could hear the squawk of greedily competitive fowls.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIII--DIFFERENCES
+
+
+1
+
+The only side road they could find proved to be no more than a track
+through the little wood. They almost passed it a second time, and
+hesitated at the gate--a sturdy five-barred gate bearing "Private"
+on a conspicuous label--debating whether this "could be right." They
+still suffered a spasm of fear at the thought of trespass, and to open
+this gate and march up an unknown private road pushing a hand-cart
+seemed to them an act of terrible aggression.
+
+"We might leave the cart just inside," suggested Blanche.
+
+"And get our food stole," said Mrs Gosling.
+
+"There's no one about," urged Blanche.
+
+"There's that broomstick woman," said Millie. "She may have followed
+us."
+
+"I'm sure I dunno if it's safe to go foragin' in among them trees,
+neither," continued Mrs Gosling. "Are you sure this is right, Blanche?"
+
+"Well, of course, I'm not sure," replied Blanche, with a touch
+of temper.
+
+They peered through the trees and listened, but no sign of a house
+was to be seen, and all was now silent save for the long drone of
+innumerable bees about their afternoon business.
+
+"Oh! come on!" said Blanche at last. She was rapidly learning to
+solve all their problems by this simple formula....
+
+In the wood they found refuge from those attendant flies which had
+hung over them so persistently.
+
+Mrs Gosling gave a final flick with her handkerchief and declared
+her relief. "It's quite pleasant in 'ere," she said, "after the 'eat."
+
+The two girls also seemed to find new vigour in the shade of the trees.
+
+"We have got a cheek!" said Millie, with a giggle.
+
+"Well! needs must when the devil drives," returned Mrs Gosling,
+"and our circumstances is quite out of the ordinary. Besides which,
+there can't be any 'arm in offerin' to buy a glass of milk."
+
+Blanche tugged at the trolley handle with a flicker of impatience. Why
+would her mother be so foolish? Surely she must see that everything
+was different now? Blanche was beginning to wonder at and admire
+the marvel of her own intelligence. How much cleverer she was than
+the others! How much more ready to appreciate and adapt herself to
+change! They could not understand this new state of things, but she
+could, and she prided herself on her powers of discrimination.
+
+"Everything's different now," she said to herself. "We can go anywhere
+and do anything, almost. It's like as if we were all starting off
+level again, in a way." She felt uplifted: she took extraordinary
+pleasure in her own realization of facts. A strange, new power had
+come to her, a power to enjoy life, through mastery. "Everything's
+different now," she repeated. She was conscious of a sense of pity
+for her mother and sister.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The road through the wood curved sharply round to the right, and they
+came suddenly upon a clearing, and saw the house in front of them. It
+was a long, low house, smothered in roses and creepers, and it stood
+in a wild garden surrounded by a breast-high wall of red brick. At the
+edge of the clearing several cows were lying under the shade of the
+trees, reflectively chewing the cud with slow, deliberate enjoyment,
+while one, solitary, stood with its head over the garden gate,
+motionless, save for an occasional petulant whisp of its ropey tail.
+
+"Now, then, what are we going to do?" asked Mrs Gosling.
+
+The procession halted, and the three women regarded the guardian cow
+with every sign of dismay.
+
+"Shoo!" said Millie feebly, flapping her hands; and Blanche repeated
+the intimidation with greater force; but the cow merely acknowledged
+the salutation by an irritable sweep of its tail.
+
+"'Orrid brute!" muttered Mrs Gosling, and flicked her handkerchief
+in the direction of the brute's quarters.
+
+"I know," said Blanche, conceiving a subtle strategy. "We'll drive
+it away with the cart." She turned the trolly round, and the three of
+them grasping the pole, they advanced slowly and warily to the charge,
+pushing their siege ram before them. They made a slight detour to
+achieve a flank attack and allow the enemy a clear way of retreat.
+
+"Oh, dear! what are you doing?" said a voice suddenly, and the three
+startled Goslings nearly dropped the pole in their alarm--they had
+been so utterly absorbed in their campaign.
+
+A young woman of sixteen or seventeen, very brown, hot and dishevelled,
+was regarding them from the other side of the garden wall with a stare
+of amazement that even as they turned was flickering into laughter.
+
+"It's that great brute by the gate, my dear," said Mrs Gosling,
+"and we've just----"
+
+"You don't mean Alice?" interrupted the young woman. "Oh! you couldn't
+go charging poor dear Alice with a great cart like that! Three of
+you, too!"
+
+"Is its name Alice?" asked Blanche stupidly. She did not feel equal
+to this curious occasion.
+
+"Its name!" replied the young woman, with scorn. "Her name's Alice,
+if that's what you mean." She shook back the hair from her eyes
+and moved down to the gate. The cow acknowledged her presence by an
+indolent toss of the head.
+
+"Oh! but my sweet Alice!" protested the young woman; "you must move
+and let these funny people come in. It really isn't good for you,
+dear, to stand about in the sun like this, and you'd much better go
+and lie down in the shade for a bit!" She gently pulled the gate from
+under the cow's chin, and then, laying her hands flat on its side,
+made as if to push it out of the way.
+
+"Well, I never!" declared Mrs Gosling, regarding the performance with
+much the same awe as she might have vouchsafed to a lion-tamer in a
+circus. "'Oo'd 'ave thought it'd 'a been that tame?"
+
+The cow, after a moment's resistance, moved off with a leisurely walk
+in the direction of the wood.
+
+"Now, you funny people, what do you want?" asked the young woman.
+
+Mrs Gosling began to explain, but Blanche quickly interposed. "Oh! do
+be quiet, mother; you don't understand," she said, and continued,
+before her mother could remonstrate, "We've come from London."
+
+"Goodness!" commented the young woman.
+
+"And we want----" Blanche hesitated. She was surprised to find that
+in the light of her wonderful discovery it was not so easy to define
+precisely what they ought to want. As the broomstick woman had said,
+they were "beggars." Fairly confronted with the problem, Blanche saw
+no alternative but a candid acknowledgment of the fact.
+
+"You want feeding, of course," put in the young woman. "They all
+do. You needn't think you're the first. We've had dozens!"
+
+A solution presented itself to Blanche. "We don't really want food,"
+she said. "We've got a lot of tinned things left still, only we're ill
+with eating tinned things. I thought, perhaps, you might be willing
+to let us have some milk and eggs and vegetables in exchange?"
+
+"That's sensible enough," commented the young woman. "If you only
+knew the things we have been offered! Money chiefly, of course"--Mrs
+Gosling opened her mouth, but Blanche frowned and shook her head--"and
+it does seem as if money's about as useless as buttons. In fact, I'd
+sooner have buttons--you can use them. But the other funny things--bits
+of old furniture, warming-pans, jewellery! You should have heard Mrs
+Isaacson! She was a Jewess who came from Hampstead a couple of months
+ago, and she had a lot of jewels she kept in a bag tied round her
+waist under her skirt; and when Aunt May and I simply had to tell her
+to go she tried to bribe us with an old brooch and rubbish. She was a
+terror. But, I say"--she looked at the sun--"I've got lots of things to
+do before sunset." She paused, and looked at the three Goslings. "Look
+here," she went on, "are you all right? You seem all right."
+
+Again Mrs Gosling began to reply, but Blanche was too quick for
+her. "Tell me what you mean by 'all right'?" she asked, raising her
+voice to drown her mother's "Well, I never did 'ear such----"
+
+"Well, of course, mother'll give you any mortal thing you want,"
+replied the young woman at the gate. "Dear old mater! She simply
+won't think of what we're going to do in the winter; and I mean, if
+you come in for to-night, say, and we let you have a few odd things,
+you won't go and plant yourselves on us like that Mrs Isaacson and
+one or two others, because if you do, Aunt May and I will have to
+turn you out, you know."
+
+"What we 'ave we'll pay for," said Mrs Gosling with dignity.
+
+The young woman smiled. "Oh, I dare say!" she said; "pay us with
+those pretty little yellow counters that aren't the least good to
+anyone. You wait here half a jiff. I'll find Aunt May."
+
+She ran up the path and entered the house. A moment later they heard
+her calling "Aunt May! Auntie--Aun-tee!" somewhere out at the back.
+
+"Let's 'ope 'er Aunt May'll 'ave more common sense," remarked Mrs
+Gosling.
+
+Blanche turned on her almost fiercely. "For goodness sake, mother,"
+she said, "do try and get it out of your head, if you can, that we can
+buy things with money. Can't you see that everything's different? Can't
+you see that money's no good, that you can't eat it, or wear it, or
+light a fire with it, like that other woman said? Can't you understand,
+or won't you?"
+
+Mrs Gosling gaped in amazement. It was incredible that the mind of
+Blanche should also have been distorted by this terrible heresy. She
+turned in sympathy to Millie, who had taken her mother's seat on the
+pole of the trolly, but Millie frowned and said:
+
+"B.'s right. You can't buy things with money; not here, anyway. What'd
+they do with money if they got it?"
+
+Mrs Gosling looked at the trees, at the cows lying at the edge of
+the wood, at the sunlit fields beyond the house, but she saw nothing
+which suggested an immediate use for gold coin.
+
+"Lemme sit down, my dear," she said. "What with the 'eat and all this
+walkin'----Oh! what wouldn't I give for a cup o' tea!"
+
+Millie got up sulkily and leaned against the wall. "I suppose they'll
+let us stop here to-night, B.?" she asked.
+
+"If we don't make fools of ourselves," replied Blanche, spitefully.
+
+Mrs Gosling drooped. No inspiration had come to her as it had come to
+her daughter. The older woman had become too specialized. She swayed
+her head, searching--like some great larva dug up from its refuse
+heap--confused and feeble in this new strange place of light and air.
+
+And as Blanche had repeated to herself "Everything's different," so
+Mrs Gosling seized a phrase and clung to it as to some explanation
+of this horrible perplexity. "I can't understand it," she said;
+"I can't understand it!"
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Aunt May appeared after a long interval--a thin, brown-faced woman of
+forty or so. She wore a very short skirt, a man's jacket and an old
+deerstalker hat, and she carried a pitchfork. She must have brought
+the pitchfork as an emblem of authority, but she did not handle it as
+the other woman had handled her broomstick. The murderous pitchfork
+appeared little more deadly in her keeping than does the mace in
+the House of Commons, but as an emblem the pitchfork was infinitely
+more effective.
+
+Aunt May's questions were pertinent and searching, and after a few
+brief explanations had been offered to her she drove off the young
+woman, her niece, whom she addressed as "Allie," to perform the many
+duties which were her share of the day's work.
+
+Allie went, laughing.
+
+"You can sleep here to-night," announced Aunt May. "We shall have
+a meal all together soon after sunset. Till then you can talk to my
+sister, who's an invalid. She's always eager for news."
+
+She took charge of them as if she were the matron of a workhouse
+receiving new inmates.
+
+"You'd better bring your truck into the garden," she said, "or Alice
+will be turning everything over. Inquisitive brute!" she added,
+snapping her fingers at the cow, who had returned, and stood within
+a few feet of them, eyeing the Goslings with a slow, dull wonder--a
+mournfully sleepy beast whose furiously wakeful tail seemed anxious
+to rouse its owner out of her torpor.
+
+The invalid sister sat by the window of a small room that faced
+west and overlooked the luxuriance of what was still recognizably
+a flower-garden.
+
+"My sister, Mrs Pollard," said Aunt May sharply, and then addressing
+the woman who sat huddled in shawls by the window, she added: "Three
+more strays, Fanny--from London, Allie tells me." She went out quickly,
+closing the door with a vigour which indicated little tolerance for
+invalid nerves.
+
+Mrs Pollard stretched out a delicate white hand. "Please come and sit
+near me," she said, "and tell me about London. It is so long since
+I have had any news from there. Perhaps you might be able----" she
+broke off, and looked at the three strangers with a certain pathetic
+eagerness.
+
+"I'll take me bonnet off, ma'am, if you'll excuse me," remarked Mrs
+Gosling. She felt at home once more within the delightful shelter of
+a house, although slightly overawed by the aspect of the room and
+its occupant. About both there was an air of that class dignity to
+which Mrs Gosling knew she could never attain. "I don't know when
+I've felt the 'eat as I 'ave to-day," she remarked politely.
+
+"Has it been hot?" asked Mrs Pollard. "To me the days all seem so much
+alike. I want you to tell me, were there any young men in London when
+you left? You haven't seen any young man who at all resembles this
+photograph, have you?"
+
+Mrs Gosling stared at the silver-framed photograph which Mrs Pollard
+took from the table at her side, stared and shook her head.
+
+"We haven't seen a single man of any kind for two months," said
+Blanche, "not a single one. Have we, Millie?"
+
+Millie, sitting rather stiffly on her chair, shook her head. "It's
+terrible," she said. "I'm sure I don't know where they can have all
+gone to."
+
+Mrs Pollard did not reply for a moment. She looked steadfastly out
+of the window, and tears, which she made no attempt to restrain,
+chased each other in little jerks down her smooth pale cheeks.
+
+Mrs Gosling pinched her mouth into an expression of suffering sympathy,
+and shook her head at her daughters to enforce silence. Was she not,
+also, a widow?
+
+After a short pause, Mrs Pollard fumbled in her lap and discovered
+a black-bordered pocket-handkerchief--a reminiscence, doubtless, of
+some earlier bereavement. Her expression had been in no way distorted
+as she wept, and after the tears had been wiped away no trace of them
+disfigured her delicate face. Her voice was still calm and sweet as
+she said:
+
+"I am very foolish to go on hoping. I loved too much, and this trial
+has been sent to teach me that all love but One is vain, that I must
+not set my heart upon things of the earth. And yet I go on hoping
+that my poor boy was not cut off in Sin."
+
+"Dear, dear!" murmured Mrs Gosling. "You musn't take it to 'eart too
+much, ma'am. Boys will be a little wild and no doubt our 'eavenly
+Father will make excuses."
+
+Mrs Pollard shook her head. "If it had only been a little wildness,"
+she said, "I should have hope. He is, indeed, just and merciful, slow
+to anger and of great kindness, but my poor Alfred became tainted
+with the terrible doctrines of Rome. It has been the greatest grief
+of my life, and I have known much pain...." And again the tears slowly
+welled up and fell silently down that smooth, unchanging face.
+
+Mrs Gosling sniffed sympathetically. The two girls glanced at one
+another with slightly raised eyebrows and Blanche almost invisibly
+shrugged her shoulders.
+
+The warm evening light threw the waxen-faced, white-shawled figure
+of the woman in the window into high relief. Her look of ecstatic
+resignation was that of some wonderful mediæval saint returned from
+the age of vision and miracle to a recently purified earth in which
+the old ideas of saintship had again become possible. Her influence
+was upon the room in which she sat. The sounds of the world outside,
+the evening chorus of wild life, the familiar noise of the farm,
+seemed to blend into a remote music of prayer--"Kyrie Eleison! Christe
+Eleison!" Within was a great stillness, as of a thin and bloodless
+purity; the long continuance of a single thought found some echo in
+every material object. While the silence lasted everything in that
+room was responsive to this single keynote of anæmic virtue.
+
+Mrs Gosling tried desperately to weep without noise, and even the
+two girls, falling under the spell, ceased to glance covertly at one
+another with that hint of criticism, but sat subdued and weakened as
+if some element of life had been taken from them.
+
+The lips of the woman in the window moved noiselessly; her hands were
+clasped in her lap. She was praying.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Firm and somewhat clumsy steps were heard in the passage, the door
+was pushed roughly open, banging back against the black oak chair
+which was set behind it, and Aunt May entered carrying a large tray.
+
+"Here's your dinner, Fanny," she said. "We've done earlier to-night,
+in spite of interruptions." She bustled over to the little table in the
+window, pushed back the Bible and photograph with the edge of the tray
+until she could release one hand, and then, having driven the tray into
+a position of safety, moved Bible and photograph to the centre table.
+
+There was something protestingly vigorous about her movements, as
+though she endeavoured to combat by noise and energy the impoverished
+vitality of that emasculate room.
+
+"Now, you three!" she went on. "You had better come out into the
+kitchen and take your things off and wash."
+
+As the Goslings rose, Mrs Pollard turned to them and stretched
+out to each in turn her delicate white hand. "There is only one
+Comforter." she said. "Put your trust in Him."
+
+Mrs Gosling gulped, and Blanche and Millie looked as they used to
+look when they attended the Bible-classes held by the vicar's wife.
+
+Blanche gave a shiver of relief as they came out into the passage. Her
+mind was suddenly filled by the astounding thought that everything
+was not different....
+
+Supper was laid on the kitchen table--cold chicken, potatoes and
+cabbage, stewed plums and cream, and warm, new milk in a jug; no bread,
+no salt, and no pepper.
+
+As the three Goslings washed at the scullery sink they chattered
+freely. They felt pleasure at release from some cold, draining
+influence; they felt as if they had come out of church after some long,
+dull service, into the air and sunlight.
+
+"I'm sure she's a very 'oly lady," was Mrs Gosling's final summary.
+
+Blanche shivered again. "Oh! freezing!" was her enigmatic reply.
+
+Millie said it gave her "the creeps."
+
+They were a party of seven at supper--the meal was referred to as
+"supper," although to Mrs Pollard it had been dignified by the name of
+"dinner"--including two young women whom the Goslings had not hitherto
+seen; strong, brown-faced girls, who spoke with a country accent. They
+had something still of the manner of servants, but they were treated
+as equals both by Allie and Aunt May.
+
+There was little conversation during the meal, however, for all of
+them were too intent on the business in hand. To the Goslings that
+meal was, indeed, a banquet.
+
+When they had all finished, Aunt May rose at once. "Thank Heaven
+for daylight," she remarked; "but we must set our brains to work to
+invent some light for the winter. We haven't a candle or a drop of
+oil left," she went on, addressing the Goslings, "and for the past
+five weeks we have had to bustle to get everything done before sunset,
+I can tell you. Last night we couldn't wash up after supper."
+
+"We know," replied Blanche.
+
+Aunt May nodded. "We all know," she said. "Now, you three girls,
+get busy!" And Allie and the two brown-faced young women rose a
+little wearily.
+
+"I'm getting an old woman," remarked Aunt May, "and I'm allowed certain
+privileges, chief of them that I don't work after supper. She paused
+and looked keenly at the three Goslings. "Which of you three is in
+command?" she asked.
+
+"Well, it seems as if my eldest, Blanche, that is, 'as sort o' taken
+the lead the past few days," began Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Ah! I thought so," said Aunt May. "Well, now, Blanche, you'd better
+come out into the garden and have a talk with me, and we'll decide
+what you had better do. If your mother and sister would like to go
+to bed, Allie will show them where they can sleep."
+
+She moved away in the direction of the garden and Blanche followed her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+XIV--AUNT MAY
+
+
+The sun had set, but as yet the daylight was scarcely faded. Under
+the trees the fowls muttered in subdued cluckings, and occasionally
+one of them would flutter up into the lower branches with a squawk of
+effort and then settle herself with a great fluttering and swelling
+of feathers, and all the suggestion of a fussy matron preparing for
+the night--preparing only, for these early roosters sat open-eyed
+and watchful, as if they knew that there was no chance of sleep for
+them until every member of that careless crowd below had found its
+appointed place in the dormitory.
+
+"We put 'em inside in the winter," remarked Aunt May, as she and
+Blanche paused, "but they prefer the trees. We haven't any foxes here,
+but I've noticed that the wild things seem to be coming back."
+
+Blanche nodded. She was thinking how much there was to learn concerning
+those matters which appertained to the production of food.
+
+"They're rather a poor lot," Aunt May continued, "but they have to
+forage for themselves, except for the few bits of vegetable and such
+things we can spare them. We've no corn or flour or meal of any kind
+for ourselves yet. But a farmer's wife about a mile from here has got
+a few acres of wheat and barley coming on, and we shall help her to
+harvest and take our share later. We shall be rich then," she added,
+with a smile.
+
+"I'm town-bred, you know," said Blanche. "We've got an awful lot to
+learn, Millie and me."
+
+"You'll learn quickly enough," was the answer. "You'll have to."
+
+"I suppose," returned Blanche.
+
+At the end of the orchard through which they had been passing they came
+to a knoll, crowned by a great elm. Round the trunk of the elm a rough
+seat had been fixed, and here Aunt May sat down with a sigh of relief.
+
+"It's a blessed thing to earn your own bread day by day," she
+said. "It's a beautiful thing to live near the earth and feel
+physically tired at night. It's delightful to be primitive and
+agricultural, and I love it. But I have a civilized vice, Blanche. I
+have a store of cigarettes I stole from a shop in Harrow, and every
+night when it's fine I come out here after supper and smoke three;
+and when it's wet I smoke 'em in my own bedroom, and--I dream. But
+to-night I'm going to talk to you, because you want help."
+
+She produced a cigarette case and matches from a side pocket of
+her jacket, lit a cigarette, inhaled the smoke with a long gasp of
+intensest enjoyment, and then said: "Men weren't fools, my dear;
+they had pockets in their coats."
+
+"Yes?" said Blanche. She felt puzzled and a little awkward. She knew
+that this woman was a friend, but the girl's town-bred, objective
+mind was critical and embarrassed.
+
+"Do you smoke?" asked Aunt May. "I can spare you a cigarette, though
+I know the time must come when there won't be any more. Still, it's
+a long way off yet. Bless the clever man who invented air-tight tins!"
+
+"No, I don't smoke, thanks," replied Blanche, conventionally; and,
+try as she would, she could not keep some hint of stiffness out of
+her voice. Modern manners take a long time to influence suburban
+homes of the Wisteria Grove type.
+
+"Ah! well, you miss a lot!" said Aunt May; "but you're better without
+it, especially now, when tobacco isn't easy to get, and will soon
+be impossible."
+
+"But do you think," asked Blanche, drawing her eyebrows together,
+"that this sort of thing is going on always?"
+
+"I dare say. Don't ask me, my dear; the problem's beyond me. What
+we poor women have got to do is to keep ourselves alive in the
+meantime. And that's what we've come out here to talk about. What
+about your mother and you two girls? Where are you going? And what
+are you proposing to do?"
+
+"I don't know," said Blanche. "I--I've been trying to think."
+
+"Good!" remarked Aunt May. "I believe you'll do. I'm doubtful about
+your sister."
+
+"We'll have to work on a farm, I suppose."
+
+"It's the only way to live."
+
+"Only where?"
+
+"That's what I've been trying to worry out," said Aunt May. "We do
+get news here, of a sort. Our girls work in Mrs Jordan's fields, and
+meet girls and women who come from Pinner, and the Pinner people hear
+news from Northwood, and the Northwood people from somewhere else;
+and so we get into touch with half a county. But, coming to your
+affairs; you see, we here are just the innermost circle. Most of
+the women who came from London missed this place and passed us by,
+thanks be!... Now, that poor unfortunate Miss Grant, down the road,
+had to defend herself with weapons. Fortunately she's strong."
+
+"Is Miss Grant the awful woman with the broomstick?" asked Blanche.
+
+"She's not really awful, my dear," said Aunt May, smiling; "she's
+a very good sort. A little rough in her manners, perhaps, and quite
+mad about the uselessness of the creatures we used to know as men,
+but a fine, generous, unselfish woman, if she does boast of her three
+murders. Did she tell you that, by the way?"
+
+Blanche nodded.
+
+"She would, of course; and I believe it's true; but her theory was
+to defend her own people. She said they'd all have died if she
+hadn't. I'm not sure about the ethic, but I know dear old Sally
+Grant meant well. However, I'm wandering--I often do when I talk
+like this. The point was that just this little circle here, close
+to London, is very thickly populated, and there's precious little
+food ready to be got any way; but you'll have to pass through the
+country beyond Pinner before you'll find a place where they'll give
+you work and keep you. There's a surplus in the next ring, I gather,
+too much labour and too little to grow. You'll have to push out into
+the Chilterns, out to Amersham at the nearest. It's all on the main
+road, of course, which is bad in a general way, because that's the
+road they all took. But I think if you'll cut across towards Wycombe
+you might, perhaps, find a place of some sort, though whether they'll
+feed your mother free gratis I can't say. Women are of all sorts, but
+this plague hasn't made 'em more friendly to one another, or perhaps
+it is we notice it more, and the worst of the lot are the farmers'
+wives and daughters who've got the land. They get turned out, though,
+sometimes. We hear about it. The London women have made raids; only,
+you see, the poor dears don't know what to do with the land when they
+get it, so they have to keep the few who do know to teach 'em--when
+they're sensible enough--the raiders, I mean. They aren't always."
+
+"It'll be an adventure," remarked Blanche.
+
+Aunt May threw away the very short end of her second cigarette and
+lighted her third. "Adventure will do you good," she said.
+
+It was nearly dark under the elm. The things of the night were coming
+out. Occasionally a cockchafer would go humming past them, the bats
+were flitting swiftly and silently about the orchard, and presently
+an owl swept by in one great stride of soundless flight.
+
+"How they are all coming back!" murmured Aunt May. "All the wild
+things. I never saw an owl here before this year."
+
+"I should be frightened if you weren't here," said Blanche.
+
+"Nothing to be frightened of, yet."
+
+"Yet?"
+
+"In a few years' time, perhaps. I don't know. We killed a wild cat
+who came after the chickens a few days ago. The cats have gone back
+already, and the dogs aren't so respectful as they used to be. The
+dogs'll interbreed, I suppose, and evolve a common form--strike some
+kind of average in a beast which will be somewhere near the ancestral
+type, smaller, probably, I don't know. It's a wonderful world, and
+very interesting. I could almost wish man wouldn't return for twenty
+years or so--just to see how much of his handiwork Nature could undo
+in the interval. I often think about it out here in the evenings."
+
+"I wish I knew more about it," said Blanche timidly. "Are there any
+books, do you know, that----"
+
+"You won't want books, my dear. Keep your eyes open and think."
+
+They lapsed into silence again. The third cigarette was finished,
+but Aunt May gave no indication of a desire to get back to the house,
+and Blanche's mind was so excited with all the new ideas which were
+pouring in upon her that she had forgotten her tiredness.
+
+"It's awfully interesting," she said at last. "It's all so
+different. Mother and Millie hate it, and they'd like all the old
+things back; but I don't think I would."
+
+"You're all right. You'll do," replied her companion. "You're one of
+the new sort, though you might never have found it out if it hadn't
+been for the plague. Now, your sister will do one of two things,
+in my opinion; either she'll stop in some place where there's a
+man--there's one at Wycombe, by the way--and have children, or she'll
+turn religious."
+
+Blanche was about to ask a question, but Aunt May stopped her. "Never
+mind about the man, my dear," she said. "You'll learn quickly
+enough. It's like Heaven now, you see--no marrying or giving in
+marriage. With one man to every thousand women or so, what can you
+expect? It's no good kicking against it. It's got to be. That's
+where Fanny----" She broke off suddenly, with a little snort of
+impatience. "I think to-night's an exception," she went on. "I like
+talking to you, and one simply can't talk to Allie yet, so just
+to-night I'll have one more." She took out her cigarette case with
+a touch of impatience.
+
+It was dark under the elm now, and she had to hold up her cigarette
+case close to her face in order to see the contents. "Two more,"
+she announced. "It's a festival, and for once I can speak my mind
+to some one. An imprudence, perhaps, like this habit of smoking,
+but I shall probably never see you again, and I'm sure you won't tell."
+
+"Oh, no!" interposed Blanche eagerly.
+
+"You're not tired? You don't want to go to bed?"
+
+"Not a bit. I love being out here."
+
+"I can't see you, but I know you're speaking the truth," said Aunt May,
+after a pause. "In the darkness and silence of the night I will make a
+confession. I look weather-worn and fifty, I know, but I feel absurdly
+romantic, only there's no man in this case. I used to write novels,
+my dear--an absurd thing for any spinster to do, but they paid, and
+I've got the itch for self-expression. That's the one outlet I miss
+in this new world of ours. Sally Grant and I can't agree, and, in any
+case, she wants to do all the talking. And sometimes I'm idiot enough
+to go on writing little bits even now when I have become a capable,
+practical woman with at least four lives dependent upon me. Well,
+it shows, anyhow, that we writing women weren't all fools...." She
+hung on that for a moment or two, and then continued.
+
+"Are you religious?"
+
+"I don't know--I suppose so. We always went to Church at home," said
+Blanche. "I thought every one was, almost. Not quite like Mrs Pollard,
+of course."
+
+"Oh, well!" said Aunt May. "There's no harm and a lot of good in
+being religious, if you go about it in the right way. I don't want to
+change your opinions, my dear. It's just a question to me of the right
+way. And I can't see that Fanny's way is right. Here we are, and we've
+got to make the best of it; and to my mind that means facing life,
+and not shutting yourself into one room with a Bible and spending half
+your time on your knees. Fanny never was good for much. She brought
+up Alfred--my nephew, you know--with only one idea, and she stuffed
+him so full of holiness that the English Church couldn't hold him,
+and he had to work some of it off by going over to Rome. He thought
+he'd have better chances of saintship there. He was a poor, pale thing,
+anyway. Of course, that was anathema to Fanny. She might have forgiven
+him for committing a murder, but to become a Roman Catholic----! Oh,
+Lord! She's been praying for him ever since. And, my dear, what
+difference can it make? Alfred's apostasy, I mean. Do you think it
+matters what particular form of worship or pettifogging details of
+belief you adopt? Why can't the Churches take each other for granted,
+and be generous enough to suppose that all roads lead to Heaven, which
+is, according to all accounts, a much better place than Rome? But,
+oh! above all, if you have a religion, do be practical! Come out and
+do your work, instead of sighing and psalm-singing, and wearying dumb
+Heaven with fulsome praise and lamentations of your unworthiness,
+as if you were trying to propitiate a rich customer!
+
+"There, my dear, I won't say any more. My last cigarette's done,
+and wasted, because I was too excited to enjoy it. I know I've been
+disloyal; but it's my temperament. I could slap Fanny sometimes. And
+she shan't have Allie.... It's the night that has affected
+me. To-morrow I shall be just as practical as ever, and you'll forget
+that you've seen this side of me. Come along. We must go to bed."
+
+"This is the greatest night of my life," thought Blanche as they
+walked back in silence to the house.
+
+Even when she was in bed, she did not go to sleep at once. She lay
+and listened to the heavy breathing of her mother and Millie, and
+she wondered. Everything, indeed, was different, but everybody was
+just the same, only, in some curious way, individualities seemed
+more pronounced.
+
+Could it be that everybody was more natural, that there was less
+restraint?
+
+Blanche was not introspective. She did not test the theory on
+herself. She thought of the women she had met that day, and of her
+mother and Millie.
+
+She fell asleep, determined to be more like Aunt May.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XV--FROM SUDBURY TO WYCOMBE
+
+
+1
+
+Allie knocked on the Goslings' door at sunrise the next morning, and
+Blanche, who had come to bed two hours after her mother and sister,
+was the only one to respond. She woke with the feeling that she
+had something important to do, and that the affair was in some way
+pleasant and inspiring.
+
+Millie was not easily roused. She had slept heavily, and did not
+approve the suggestion that she should get up and dress herself.
+
+"All right, B., all right!" she mumbled, and cuddled down under the
+bedclothes like a dormouse into its straw.
+
+"Oh! do get up!" urged Blanche, impatiently, and at last resorted to
+physical force.
+
+"What is the matter?" snapped Millie, struggling to maintain her hold
+of the blankets. "Why can't you leave me alone?"
+
+"Because it's time to get up, lazy!" said Blanche, continuing the
+struggle.
+
+"Well, I said I'd get up in a minute."
+
+"Well, get up then."
+
+"In a minute."
+
+"No--now!"
+
+"Oh, bother!" said Millie.
+
+Blanche succeeded at last in obtaining possession of the blankets.
+
+"You'll wake mother!" was Millie's last, desperate shaft.
+
+"I'm going to try," replied Blanche.
+
+Millie sat up in the bed and wondered vaguely where she was. These
+scenes had often been enacted at Wisteria Grove, and her mind had
+gone back to those delightful days of peace and security. When full
+consciousness returned to her, she was half inclined to cry, and more
+than half inclined to go to sleep again.
+
+Mrs Gosling was quite as difficult.
+
+"What's the time?" was her first question.
+
+"I don't know," said Blanche.
+
+"I'm sure it's not seven," murmured Mrs Gosling.
+
+Millie, still sitting on the bed, wondered whether Blanche would
+let her get to the blankets which were tumbled on the floor a few
+feet away.
+
+"No, you don't!" exclaimed Blanche, anticipating the attempt.
+
+Finally she lost her temper and shook her mother vigorously.
+
+At that, Mrs Gosling sat up suddenly and stared at her. "What in
+'eaven's name's wrong, gel?" she asked. Her instinct told her with
+absolute certainty that it was still the middle of the night by
+Wisteria Grove standards.
+
+"Oh! my goodness! I'm going to have my hands full with you two!" broke
+out Blanche impatiently. Her imagination pictured for her in that
+instant how great the trouble would be. She would never be able to
+wake them up....
+
+They took the road before eight o'clock. Aunt May was generous in
+the matter of eggs and fruit, and she left her many urgent duties to
+point the way for the inexperienced explorers.
+
+"Get right out as far as you can," was her parting word of advice.
+
+They did not see Mrs Pollard again. She was still in bed when they
+set out.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Despite the promise of another cloudless day, none of the three
+travellers set out in high spirits. To all of them, even to Blanche,
+it seemed a return to weariness and pain to start out once more
+pushing that abominable truck. That truck represented all their
+troubles. It had become associated with all the discomforts they
+had endured since they left the Putney house. It indicated the
+paucity of their possessions, and yet it was intolerably heavy to
+push. After their brief return to the comfort and stability of a home
+and natural food, this adventuring out into the inhospitable country
+appeared more hopeless than ever. If they could have gone without the
+truck, they might, at least, have avoided that feeling of horrible
+certainty. They might have cheated themselves into the belief that
+they would return. The truck was the brand of their vagabondage.
+
+Mrs Gosling did not spare her lamentations concerning the hopelessness
+of their endeavour, and gave it as her opinion that they had been
+most heartlessly treated by Aunt May.
+
+"Turning out a woman of my age into the roads," she grumbled. "She
+might 'ave kept us a day or two, I should 'ave thought. It ain't as
+if we were beggars. We could 'ave paid for what we 'ad."
+
+She had, indeed, made the suggestion and been repulsed. Aunt May had
+firmly put the offer on one side without explanation. She understood
+that explanations would be wasted on Mrs Gosling.
+
+Millie was inclined to agree with her mother.
+
+Blanche, at the handle, did not interrupt the statement of their
+grievances. She was occupied with the problem of the future, trying
+to think out some plan in her own confused inconsecutive way.
+
+Their progress was tediously slow. Against the combined brake of
+the truck and Mrs Gosling, they did not average two miles an hour;
+and even before they came to Pinner it was becoming obvious to the
+two girls that they might as well let their mother ride on the trolly
+as allow her to lean her weight upon it as she walked.
+
+They took the road through Wealdstone to avoid the hill and found that
+they were still in the track of one wing of the foraging army which
+had preceded them. That first rush of emigrants had ravaged the stores
+and houses as locusts will ravage a stretch of country. The suburb
+of regular villas and prim shops had been completely looted. Doors
+stood open and windows were smashed; the spread of ugly houses lay
+among the fields like an unwholesome eruption, awaiting the healing
+process of Nature. Wealdstone also was deserted by humanity. The
+flood had swept on towards the open country.
+
+But as they approached Pinner the signs of devastation and desertion
+began to give way. Here and there women could be seen working in
+the fields; one or two children scuttled away before the approach
+of the Goslings and hid in the hedges, children who had evidently
+grown furtive and suspicious, intimidated by the experiences of the
+past two months; and when the outlying houses were reached--detached
+suburban villas, once occupied by relatively wealthy middle-class
+employers--it was evident that efforts were being made to restore
+the wreckage of kitchen gardens.
+
+The Goslings had reached the point at which the wave had broken
+after its great initial energy was spent. Somewhere about this
+fifteen-mile limit, varying somewhat according to local conditions,
+the real disintegration of the crowd had begun. As the numerous tokens
+of the road had shown, a great number of women and children--possibly
+one-fifth of the whole crowd--had died of starvation and disease before
+any harbour was reached. From this fifteen-mile circle outwards, an
+increasing number had been stayed in their flight by the opportunities
+of obtaining food. Work was urgently demanded for the future, but the
+determining factor was the present supply of food, and the constriction
+of immediate supply had decided the question of how great a proportion
+of the women and children should remain. Here, about Pinner, was more
+land than the limited number of workers could till, but little of it
+was arable, and this year there would be almost no harvest of grain.
+
+Vaguely, Blanche realized this. She remembered Aunt May's advice to
+keep her eyes open, and looking about her as she walked she found
+little promise of security in the grass fields and the rare signs of
+human activity.
+
+Mrs Gosling, eager to find some home at any price, expressed her usual
+optimistic opinion with regard to the value of money. She saw signs of
+life again, at last, conditions familiar to her. She thought that they
+were returning once more to some kind of recognizable civilization,
+and began, with some renewal of her old vigour, to advise that they
+should find an hotel or inn and take "a good look round" before going
+any further.
+
+Millie, heartened by her mother's belief, was of much the same opinion,
+and Blanche was summoned from the pole to listen to the proposition.
+
+She shook her head stubbornly.
+
+"I'm not going to argue it out all over again," she said. "You can
+just look round and see for yourselves that there's no food to be
+got here. We must get further out."
+
+Mrs Gosling refused to be convinced, and advanced her superior
+knowledge of the world to support her judgment of the case.
+
+"Oh! very well," said Blanche, at last. "Come on to the inn and see
+for yourselves."
+
+The inn, however, was deserted. All its available supply of food,
+solid and liquid, had long been exhausted, and the gardenless house had
+offered no particular attractions as a residence. Houses were cheap
+in that place, the whole population of Pinner, including children,
+did not exceed three hundred persons.
+
+They found a woman working in a garden near by, and she, with perhaps
+unnecessary harshness, warned them that they could not stay in the
+village. "There's not enough food for us as it is," she said, and
+made some reference to "silly Londoners."
+
+That was an expression with which the Goslings were to become very
+familiar in the near future.
+
+The appeal for pity fell on deaf ears. Mrs Gosling learned that she
+was only one of many thousands who had made the same appeal.
+
+The sun was high in the sky as they trudged out of Pinner on the
+road towards Northwood. It was then Blanche suggested that her mother
+should always ride on the trolly, except when they were facing a hill;
+and after a few weak protestations the suggestion was accepted. The
+trolly was lightened of various useless articles of furniture--a
+grudging sacrifice on the part of Mrs Gosling--and the party pushed
+on at a slightly improved pace.
+
+After her disappointment in Pinner, Mrs Gosling's interest in life
+began rapidly to decline. Seated in her truck, she fell into long
+fits of brooding on the past. She was too old and too stereotyped
+to change, the future held no hope for her, and as the meaning and
+purpose of her existence faded, the life forces within her surely and
+ever more rapidly ebbed. Reality to her became the discomfort of the
+sun's heat, the dust of the road, the creak and scream of the trolly
+wheels. She was incapable of relating herself to the great scheme of
+life, her consciousness was limited, as it had always been limited,
+to her immediate surroundings. She saw herself as a woman outrageously
+used by fate, but to fate she gave no name; the very idea, indeed,
+was too abstract to be appreciated by her. Blanche, Millie and that
+horrible truck were all that was left of her world, and in spirit
+she still moved in the beloved, familiar places of her suburban home.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+As the Goslings trudged out into the Chilterns they came into new
+conditions. Soon they found over-crowding in place of desolation. The
+harvest was ripening and in a month's time the demand for labour
+would almost equal the supply, for the labour offered was quite
+absurdly unskilled and ten women would be required to perform the
+work of one man equipped with machines. But at the end of July the
+surplus of women, almost exclusively Londoners, had no employment
+and little food, and many were living on grass, nettles, leaves,
+any green stuff they could boil and eat, together with such scraps
+of meat and vegetables as they could steal or beg. Their experiments
+with wild green stuffs often resulted in some form of poisoning,
+and dysentery and starvation were rapidly increasing the mortality
+among them. Nevertheless, in Rickmansworth houses were still at a
+premium, and many of those who camped perforce in fields or by the
+roadside were too enfeebled by town-life to stand the exposure of the
+occasional cold, wet nights. The majority of the women in this ring
+were those who had been too weak to struggle on. They represented the
+class least fitted to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The
+stronger and more capable had persisted, and left these congested
+areas behind them; and it was evident that in a very few months a
+balance between labour and supply would be struck by the relentless
+extermination of the weakest by starvation and disease.
+
+Blanche, if she was unable to grasp the problem which was being so
+inevitably solved by the forces of natural law, was at least able
+to recognize clearly enough that she and her two dependents must not
+linger in the district to which they had now come. Aunt May had warned
+her that she must push out as far as Amersham at the nearest, but
+Millie was too tired and footsore to go much further than Rickmansworth
+that night, and after a fruitless search for shelter they camped out
+half a mile from the town in the direction of Chorley Wood.
+
+They made some kind of a shield from the weather by emptying and
+tilting the trolly, and they hid their supply of food behind them
+at the lowest point of this species of lean-to roof. The two girls
+had realized that that supply would soon be raided if the fact of
+its existence were to become known. They had been the object of
+much scrutiny as they passed, and their appearance of well-being
+had prompted endless demands for food, from that pitiful crowd of
+emaciated women and children. It had been a demand quickly put on
+one side by lying. Their applicants found it only too easy to believe
+that the Goslings had no food hidden in the truck.
+
+"I hated to refuse some of 'em," Blanche said as they carefully
+hid what food was left to them, before turning in for the night,
+"but what good would our little bit have done among all that lot? It
+would have been gone in half a jiff."
+
+"Well, of course," agreed Millie.
+
+Mrs Gosling had taken little notice of the starving crowd. "We've got
+nothin' to give you," was her one form of reply. She might have been
+dealing with hawkers in Wisteria Grove.
+
+She was curiously apathetic all that afternoon and evening, and
+raised only the feeblest protestation against the necessity for
+sleeping in the open air. But she was very restless during the night,
+her limbs twitched and she moved continually, muttering and sometimes
+crying out. And as the three women were all huddled together, partly
+to make the most of their somewhat insufficient lean-to, and partly
+because they were afraid of the terrors of the open air, both Blanche
+and Millie were constantly aroused by their mother's movements. Once
+they heard her calling urgently for "George."
+
+"Mother's odd, isn't she?" whispered Blanche after one such
+disturbance. "Do you think she's going to be ill?"
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," muttered Millie. "Who wouldn't be?"
+
+In the morning Blanche was very careful with their food. For breakfast
+they ate only part of a tin of condensed beef between them--Mrs Gosling
+indeed ate hardly anything. The eggs which they had brought from
+Sudbury they reserved, chiefly because they had neither water nor fire.
+
+They drank from a stream, later, and at midday Blanche and Millie
+each ate one of the eggs raw. Mrs Gosling refused all food on this
+occasion. She had been very quiet all the morning, and had made little
+complaint when she had been forced to walk the many hills which they
+were now encountering.
+
+Blanche was uneasy and tried to induce her mother to talk. "Do you
+feel bad, mother?" she asked continually.
+
+"I wish I could get 'ome," was all the reply she received.
+
+"She'll be all right when we can get settled somewhere," grumbled
+Millie. "If such a time ever comes."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+They came to Amersham in the afternoon. The signs of misery and
+starvation were here less marked. They were approaching the outer
+edge of this ring of compression, having passed through the node at
+Rickmansworth. The faint relief of pressure was evidenced to some
+extent in the attitude of the people they addressed. It is true that
+no immediate hope of food and employment were held out to them, but
+on the one hand Blanche's inquiries were answered with less acerbity
+and on the other they were less besieged by importunate demands for
+charity. Blanche gave an egg to one precocious girl of thirteen or
+so, who insisted on helping them to push the truck uphill, and she
+and Millie watched the deft way in which the child broke the shell
+at one end and sucked out the contents. Their own methods had been
+both unclean and wasteful.
+
+They turned off the Aylesbury Road, towards High Wycombe late in the
+afternoon and about a mile from Amersham came to a farm where they
+made their last inquiry that day.
+
+Blanche saw signs of life in the outbuildings and went to investigate,
+leaving Millie and her mother to guard the truck. She found three
+women and a girl of fourteen or so milking. For some minutes she stood
+watching them, the women, after one glance at her, proceeding with
+their work without paying her any further attention. But, at last,
+the eldest of the three rose from her stool with a sigh of relief,
+picked up her wooden bucket of milk, gave the cow a resounding slap
+on the side, and then, turning to Blanche, said, "Well, my gal,
+what's for you?"
+
+"Will you change two pints of milk for a small tin of tongue?" asked
+Blanche. It was the first time she had offered any of their precious
+tinned meats in exchange for other food, but she wanted milk for her
+mother, who had hardly eaten anything that day.
+
+The two other women and the girl looked round and regarded Blanche
+with the first signs of interest they had shown.
+
+"Tongue, eh?" said the older woman. "Where from did you get tongue,
+my gal?"
+
+"London," replied Blanche tersely.
+
+"When did you leave there?" asked the woman, and then Blanche was
+engaged in a series of searching questions respecting the country
+she had passed through.
+
+"You can have the milk if you've anything to put it in," said the
+woman at last, and Blanche went to fetch the tongue and the two
+bottles that they had had from Aunt May.
+
+The bottles had to be scalded, a precaution that had not occurred
+to Blanche, and one of the other women was sent to carry out the
+operation.
+
+"Well, your tale don't tell us much," said the woman of the farm,
+"but we always pass the news here, now. Where are you going to sleep
+to-night?"
+
+Blanche shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You can sleep here in the outhouses, if you've a mind to," said the
+woman, "but I warn you we get a crowd. Silly Londoners like yourself
+for the most part, but we find a use for 'em somehow, though I'd give
+the lot for three labourers."
+
+She paused and twisted her mouth on one side reflectively. "Ah! well,"
+she went on with a sigh, "no use grieving over them that's gone;
+all I was goin' to say was, if you sleep here you'd better keep an
+eye on what food you've got with you. My lot'll have it before you
+can say knife, if they get half a chance."
+
+"It isn't us girls, me and my sister," explained Blanche. "It's
+my mother. She's bad, I'm afraid. If she could sleep in your
+kitchen...? She wouldn't steal anything."
+
+After a short hesitation the woman consented.
+
+Yet neither the glory of being once more within the four walls of a
+house, nor the refreshment of the milk which she drank readily enough,
+seemed appreciably to rouse Mrs Gosling's spirits.
+
+The woman of the farm, a kindly enough creature, plied the old lady
+with questions, but received few and confused answers in reply. Mrs
+Gosling seemed dazed and stupid. "A touch of the sun," the farmer's
+widow thought.
+
+"The sun's been cruel strong the past week," she said, "but she'll
+be all right in a day or two, get her to shelter."
+
+"Ah! that's the trouble," said Blanche.
+
+That night the farmer's widow said no more on that subject. She
+allowed the three Goslings to sleep in an upstair room, in which
+there was one small bed for the mother, and the two girls slept on
+the floor. Exchanging confidence for confidence, they brought their
+truck into the kitchen; and then the farmer's widow proceeded to lock
+up for the night, an elaborate business, which included the fastening
+of all ground-floor windows and shutters.
+
+"It's a thievin' crowd we've got about here," she explained, "and
+you can't blame them or anyone when there ain't enough food to go
+round. But we have to be careful for 'em. Let 'em go their own way
+and they'd eat up everything in a week and then starve. It looks
+like you're being hard on 'em, but it's for their own good. There's
+some, of course," she went on, "as you have got to get shut of. Only
+yesterday I had to send one of 'em packing. A Jew woman she was,
+called 'erself Mrs Isaacson or something. She was a caution."
+
+Blanche wondered idly if this were the same Mrs Isaacson who had
+stayed too long with Aunt May.
+
+The woman of the farm roused the Goslings at sunrise, and she, like
+Aunt May, had a brisk, practical, morning manner.
+
+She gave the travellers no more food, but when they were nearly ready
+to take the road again she gave them one valuable piece of information.
+
+"If I was you," she said, "I'd make through Wycombe straight along the
+road here, and go up over the hill to Marlow. Mind you, they won't
+let every one stop there. But you look two healthy gals enough and
+it's getting on towards harvest when there'll be work as you can do."
+
+"Marlow?" repeated Blanche, fixing the name in her memory.
+
+The farmer's widow nodded. "There's a man there," she said. "A queer
+sort, by all accounts. Not like Sam Evans, the butcher at Wycombe,
+he ain't. Seems as this Marlow chap don't have no truck with gals,
+except setting 'em to work. However, time'll show. He may change his
+mind yet."
+
+They had some difficulty with Mrs Gosling. She refused feebly to
+leave the house. "I ain't fit to go out," she complained, and when
+they insisted she asked if they were going home.
+
+"Best say 'yes,'" whispered the woman of the farm. "The sun's got to
+her head a bit. She'll be all right when you get her to Marlow."
+
+Blanche accepted the suggestion, and by this subterfuge Mrs Gosling
+was persuaded into the truck. The girl found the ruins of an umbrella,
+which they rigged up to protect her from the sun.
+
+Blanche and Millie were quite convinced now that their mother was
+suffering from a slight attack of sunstroke.
+
+Both the girls were still footsore, and one of Millie's boots had worn
+into a hole, but they had a definite objective at last, and only some
+ten or twelve miles to travel before reaching it.
+
+"We shall be there by midday," said Blanche, hopefully.
+
+Unconsciously, every one was using a new measure of time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XVI--THE YOUNG BUTCHER OF HIGH WYCOMBE
+
+
+1
+
+Near Wycombe a woman rose from under the hedge as the Goslings
+approached, and came out into the middle of the road. She was a
+stout, florid woman, whose age might have been anything between forty
+and fifty. Her gait and the droop of her shoulders, rather than the
+flaccidity of her rather loose skin, gave her the appearance of being
+past middle age.
+
+"Goot morning," she said as the Goslings came up. "If it iss no
+inconvenience I would like to come with you." She spoke with a foreign
+accent, thickening her final consonants and giving a different value
+to some of her vowels.
+
+"Where to?" asked Blanche curtly.
+
+"Ah! that! what does it matter?" returned the woman. "I have been
+living with a farmer's wife further back along the road there. But
+she was not company for me. She was common. Now I see that you and
+your mother are not common. And I do not care to live with farmers'
+wives. But where we go? Does it matter? We all go to find work in the
+fields--aristocrat as much as peasant. But iss it not better that we
+who are not peasants should go together?"
+
+Millie giggled surreptitiously, and Mrs Gosling appeared conscious
+of the fact that some one was addressing them.
+
+"We're goin' 'ome," she remarked, and Millie gently prodded her in
+the back.
+
+"Goin' 'ome," repeated Mrs Gosling firmly.
+
+"Ach! You are lucky. There are few that have homes now," replied the
+strange woman. "I had a home, once, how long ago. Now, during two
+months, I have no home." She was evidently on the verge of tears.
+
+"Mother's got a touch of the sun," Blanche said in a low voice, "and
+we have to pretend we're going home. You needn't tell her we're not."
+
+"Have no fear," replied the stranger. "I am all that is most discreet,
+yes."
+
+Blanche hardened her heart. This woman took too much for granted. "I
+don't see it's any use your coming with us," she said.
+
+"Ach! we others, we should cling together," said the stranger, with
+a large gesture.
+
+"We're nobody," replied Blanche, curtly.
+
+"It iss well to say that. I know. There iss good reason. I, too,
+must tell the common people that I am a nobody, I call myself, even,
+Mrs Isaacson. But between us there iss no need to say what iss not
+true. I can see what you are. Although I am not English, I have lived
+many years already in England, and I can see. It iss well that we
+cling together? Yes?"
+
+"Oh!" burst out Blanche. "You're Mrs Isaacson, are you? I've heard
+of you."
+
+For one moment Mrs Isaacson's fine eyes seemed to look inwards in
+an instantaneous review of her past. "Ach! so! Then we are friends
+already," she said cautiously.
+
+"I heard of you from Aunt May," said Blanche, and the faint air of
+respect with which she pronounced the name did not escape the notice
+of the alert Jewess.
+
+"Ach! the so dear and so clever Auntie May," she said. "But she iss
+too kind, and work so hard while her sister do always nothing. See,
+I will help you to draw your poor mother who has a touch of the
+sun. You and I at the handle and your beautiful sister to push,
+while we talk a little of the clever Auntie May. Yes?"
+
+Blanche had been forewarned. She could only put one construction on
+the little she had heard of Mrs Isaacson. But the Jewess's manner no
+less than her conversation was subtly flattering. Moreover, she had
+made no appeal for help; finally there was a certain urgency about
+her, a force of will which Blanche found it difficult to resist. And
+as the girl still hesitated Mrs Isaacson bravely seized her side of
+the trolly handle and the procession moved on.
+
+The Goslings found a use for her when they came to the drop of Amersham
+Hill, going down into High Wycombe. Blanche proposed that Mrs Gosling
+should walk down, but the old lady did not seem to understand her. She
+looked perplexed and kept saying, "I don't remember this road. Are
+you sure we're goin' right, Blanche?"
+
+"Ah! she must not walk in this heat," put in Mrs Isaacson. "We three
+can manage very well." And, indeed, although she manifestly suffered
+greatly from the exertion, the Jewess was of very great assistance
+in retarding the speed of the trolly as they made the perilous descent.
+
+After that there could be no question of calmly telling her to go
+her own way.
+
+By the time they had crossed the almost deserted town--at that hour
+nearly all the women were either in their houses or working in gardens
+and fields--and had found their way to the Marlow road, Mrs Isaacson
+had quite become one of the party, and by no means the least energetic.
+
+"We'll have something to eat and some milk, when we get through the
+town," said Blanche as they faced the long hill up to Handy Cross.
+
+"Presently, presently," replied the heaving Mrs Isaacson, as though
+food were of little importance to her, but accepting the admission
+that she had earned the right to share equally with the others.
+
+Their first burst of energy after they had faced the ascent brought
+them to the gates of Wycombe Abbey, and there they decided to rest
+and lunch, blissfully ignorant of the long climb which lay before them.
+
+"It will be nice and quiet here in the shade," suggested Mrs Isaacson.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The old conventions would not have suffered them to sit and eat thus
+under the walls, at the very gates of Wycombe Abbey. Their clothes and
+their boots were wearing badly, and Mrs Isaacson, at least, was not
+too clean. It was noticeable, however, that, despite the dryness of
+the weather, little dust clung to them. The surface of the roads had
+not been pounded and crushed into powder during the past six weeks
+by the constant passage of wheeled traffic, and even in the tracks
+frequented by farm carts the roads were stained with green. Indeed,
+everything was greener than in the old days, everything was more
+vigorous. Whether because the year had been favourable, or because
+it was relieved from the burden of choking dust which it had had to
+endure in other years from May onwards, the vegetation in hedges and
+by the wayside appeared to grow more strongly and with a greater
+self-assertion. And by contrast with this vigour and cleanness of
+plant life, the four women in their tumbled clothes and untidy hats,
+feeble and unsightly remnants of forgotten fashion, were as much out
+of place as if they had been set down in ancient Greece. The dowdy
+foolishness of their apparel marked them out from every other living
+thing about them, they were intruders, despoilers of beauty.
+
+Some dim consciousness of this came to Blanche.
+
+They had spoken little as they ate--Mrs Gosling would touch nothing
+but milk, and Mrs Isaacson strove desperately and with some success
+to control the greed that showed in the concentrated eagerness of her
+eyes and the grasping crook of her fingers--and when they had finished,
+lingering in the relief of the shade, they were still silent. It seemed
+as if the first word spoken must necessarily hasten the continuation
+of their journey.
+
+"Oh! bother this old hat," said Blanche at last. "I'm going to take
+mine off," and she drew out the solitary pin which remained to her
+and cast the hat into the ditch.
+
+"That won't do it any good," remarked Millie but she, too, took off
+her hat with a sigh of relief.
+
+"I'm going to chuck hats," said Blanche. "What's the good of 'em?"
+
+Mrs Isaacson looked doubtful. "They are a protection from the sun,"
+she said.
+
+"Allie never wore a hat, and she didn't come to any harm," returned
+Blanche.
+
+"No?" said Mrs Isaacson, and looked thoughtful.
+
+Millie was running her fingers through the masses of her red-brown
+hair, loosening it and lifting it from her head.
+
+"It is a relief," she remarked. "My head gets so hot."
+
+"Ah!" said Mrs Isaacson, "and what beautiful hair! It does not seem
+right to hide it. I haf a comb in my bag. It is almost all I haf
+left. Let me now comb your beautiful hair for you."
+
+"Oh! don't you bother," said Millie sheepishly, but she allowed
+herself to be persuaded. "Don't lose the hair-pins," she warned her
+newly-found lady's maid.
+
+"It seems so funny out here in the open road," giggled Millie.
+
+Mrs Isaacson's praise was fulsome.
+
+Blanche watched without comment. Mrs Gosling was plunged in
+meditation. She was involved in an immense problem relating to the
+housekeeping at Wisteria Grove. She was debating whether the lace
+curtains at the front windows could be washed at home when they
+went back.
+
+Suddenly the attention of the three younger women was caught by
+unnatural sounds that came from the further side of the wall against
+which they were leaning--sounds of voices, laughing and singing,
+the crunch of wheels and the stamping of horses.
+
+The two girls jumped to their feet. Mrs Isaacson rose more
+deliberately, with a grunt of expostulation. Mrs Gosling was in a
+world far removed and continued to debate her problem.
+
+Millie's hands were fumbling at her hair, and Blanche was first at
+the gate.
+
+"Oh! my!" she exclaimed. "Why, whatever...."
+
+"Goody!" squealed Millie, still struggling with her loose mane.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+The centre and object of the curious crowd which moved slowly down
+the drive was a landau and pair. The horses were decorated as if
+for a May-day fête, grotesquely, foolishly decorated with roses,
+syringa and buttercups made into shapeless bunches and tied to the
+harness. Three or four women walked at the horses' heads, leading
+them with absurdly beflowered ropes.
+
+Round the landau a dozen girls and young women were dancing,
+chattering, singing, laughing; constantly turning to the occupant
+of the carriage, for whose benefit the whole performance was being
+conducted. Some of them had their necks and breasts bare, and all
+appeared to be frankly shameless. They twisted and danced with
+clumsy eagerness, threw themselves about, screamed and shrieked,
+unaware of any observer but the one whose notice they were seeking
+to attract. They were graceless, civilized savages; Bacchantes who
+had never known the beauty of unconscious abandonment. There was the
+ugliness of conscious purpose in their every attitude, and no trace
+of the freedom that comes from careless rapture.
+
+In the carriage a man and a woman were sitting side by side. The
+man was young, with strong claims to physical beauty--tall,
+broad-shouldered, swarthy, with boldly modelled features and heavily
+lidded eyes. But his skin was coarse; the bulk of his body was too
+gross for clean, muscular strength; his curly, well-oiled hair was
+thinning at the temples; his loose mouth leered and gaped. He was
+dressed in a suit of broadly-patterned tweed, his great red fingers
+were covered with rings, he wore a heavy gold bangle on each thick,
+round wrist, and a sweet, frail rose was thrust into his black and
+greasy hair.
+
+The woman beside him was the typical courtesan of the ages, low-browed
+and full-lipped. Her eyes were eloquent with the subtleties of love,
+with invitation, retreat, fear and desire. Had she been dressed
+becomingly she would have been beautiful; but she was English and
+modern, and her great meaningless hat and senseless garments were
+of the fashion that had been in vogue just before the plague. This
+reigning sultana and her lover were more incongruous in that setting
+than the two dishevelled, travel-worn girls, who retreated timidly
+to let the landau pass out between the great iron gates.
+
+The Bacchantes eyed the Goslings with obvious disfavour, but the
+beauty in the landau seemed unaware of their presence until her lord's
+attention was attracted by the sight of Millie's hair--it was all
+down again, rippling and spreading to her waist.
+
+The young butcher had been lolling back in a corner of his carriage,
+magnificently indolent, sure of worship; but his satiety was pierced by
+the sight of that flaming mane. He sat up and looked at Millie with
+the experienced eyes which had served him so well in his judgment
+of cattle.
+
+"'Ere, 'alf a jiff," he commanded the nymphs at his horses' bridles,
+and the carriage was stopped.
+
+Millie, covered with shame, shrank back, and cowered behind Blanche,
+who threw up her chin and met the butcher's eyes with all the contempt
+of which she was capable--little enough, perhaps, for she, too, was
+weak with unreasoning terror. Behind their backs the Jewess grimaced
+her scorn of them.
+
+"You needn't be afraid of me--I ain't goin' to 'urt yer----" began
+the butcher, but his lady interrupted him.
+
+Her fine eyes grew bright with anger. "If you stop here, I shall get
+out," she said, and her inflexion was not that of the people.
+
+The butcher visibly hesitated. It may be that this chain had held
+him too long and was beginning to gall him, but he looked at her
+and wavered.
+
+"No 'arm in stoppin'," he muttered. "Pass the news an' that."
+
+"Are you going on?" demanded the beauty fiercely.
+
+"All right, all right," he returned sullenly. "You needen' get so
+blasted 'uffy about it, old gal. Oh, gow on, you!" he added to the
+nymphs. "Wot the 'ell are yer starin' at?"
+
+As the landau moved on, he looked back once at Millie.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+"What a brute," said Blanche when the procession had passed on down
+the hill towards Wycombe.
+
+"How he stared at my hair," said Millie, with a giggle. "I did try
+to get it up, but it's that stubborn with the heat or something."
+
+"Lucky for us he had that creature with him," commented Blanche.
+
+Millie assented without fervour. She was bold enough now the danger
+had passed.
+
+Mrs Isaacson looked from one to the other and attempted no criticism
+of the adventure.
+
+"You must let me do up your beautiful hair," she said to the simpering
+Millie.
+
+Millie was grateful. "It is kind of you, Mrs Isaacson, I'm sure,"
+she said. "My hair is a trouble. I sometimes think I'll cut it all
+off and be done with it...."
+
+She appeared excited and chatted incessantly while the hair-dressing
+continued, and Blanche restored the remains of their meal to the
+trolly.
+
+With some difficulty they succeeded in getting Mrs Gosling back
+into her carriage. She had taken no notice of the procession, but
+as they were starting again she awoke from her abstraction to ask:
+"When d'you expect we'll be 'ome, Blanche? I've been thinkin' about
+them curtains in the drawin'-room...."
+
+"We'll be home in an hour or two, now," Blanche said, reassuringly. She
+did not know what a struggle awaited them before they should top the
+hill at Handy Cross.
+
+Mrs Isaacson had forsaken her place at the pole. "I shall be able to
+push more strongly behind," she had said, but despite the theoretical
+gain in mechanical advantage obtained by the new arrangement, the hill
+seemed never-ending. They had to rest continually, and always they
+looked with increasing irritation at the quiet figure in the trolly,
+chief cause of their distress.
+
+"I believe she could walk all right," Millie broke out at last.
+
+"If it was for a little way, it would help," commented Mrs Isaacson.
+
+But when Blanche put the proposition to her mother, Mrs Gosling
+seemed unable to comprehend it, and pity influenced them to renew
+the struggle.
+
+So they toiled on with growing impatience until they reached level
+ground again; and presently, looking down over the long slope of the
+valley, saw, two miles and a half away, the spire of Marlow Church.
+
+They rested under a hedge for a time, and when they started again
+Millie followed her sister's example and discarded her hat. Blanche,
+with a certain courage of opinion, had left hers under the walls of
+Wycombe Abbey, but Millie's hat found a place in the trolly.
+
+The ease of the long descent permitted a renewal of conversation,
+and Mrs Isaacson and Millie talked in undertones as they made their
+way down towards Marlow. Blanche took little notice of them; she
+was struggling perplexedly with the problems of life. Mrs Gosling's
+presence was negligible.
+
+"That was a very handsome fellow in the carriage," remarked Mrs
+Isaacson suddenly, "I think you do well not to go near that place
+again." Her fine eyes fixedly regarded the broad, rusty back of Mrs
+Gosling and the broken ribs of her umbrella.
+
+Millie simpered. "Oh! I should be safe enough. His wife'd see to that."
+
+"She was not his wife," returned Mrs Isaacson. "Men would not marry
+now that they are so few."
+
+"Well! there's a thing to say!" exclaimed Millie on a note of
+expostulation, interested nevertheless.
+
+"It iss true," continued Mrs Isaacson. "I haf heard of this handsome
+young fellow. He iss a butcher, and he goes every day to kill the
+sheep and cows, because the women do not like that work. And he iss
+very strong, and clever also. He teach a few of the women how to cut
+up the sheep and the cows. And he iss much admired, it iss of course,
+by all the young women; but he does not marry because he is one man
+among so many women, and it would not be right that he should love
+only one, for so there would be so few children and the world would
+die. Yes! But he has for a time one who iss favourite, for another time
+another favourite. And that iss why I warn you not to return. Because
+I see that he admire your so beautiful hair. And I see that if you
+had not been so modest and so good, and hide behind your sister, he
+would have come down from his carriage and put you up there beside
+him. And he would have said to that bold ugly woman. 'Go, I tire of
+you, I will haf beside me this one who iss young and beautiful and
+has hair of gold.' It iss not safe for you, there."
+
+"Oh! I say," commented Millie.
+
+"It iss true," nodded Mrs Isaacson, with intensest conviction.
+
+"Oh! well, thank goodness, I'm not one of that sort," said Millie,
+warm in the knowledge of her virtue.
+
+"Truly not," assented Mrs Isaacson. "You must not be displeased that
+I warn you. It iss not your goodness that I doubt. It iss that this
+man iss so powerful. He iss able to do what he wishes. He iss a king."
+
+"Goody!" was the mark of surprise with which Millie punctuated this
+remarkable piece of information, and for several yards they trudged
+on in silence.
+
+But Millie soon revived this fascinating subject by saying
+thoughtfully, "Well, you don't catch me over there again."
+
+"Truly not. It iss not wise," agreed Mrs Isaacson, and proceeded to
+enlarge upon Millie's dangerous beauty.
+
+It was a topic entirely new to Millie. She simpered and giggled,
+disclaimed her attractions, protested that Mrs Isaacson was "getting
+at" her, and became so absorbed in the fascination of her disavowal
+that she forgot her weariness, her tender feet--naked to the road
+in two places--and all her discouragements. She walked with a more
+conscious air, straightening her back and lifting her head. The blood
+moved more freely in her veins, and she presently became so vivacious
+in her replies that Blanche was aroused to a sense of something
+unfamiliar. She checked the trolly and looked back at her sister,
+past the quiet brooding figure of Mrs Gosling.
+
+"What is it, Mill?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! nothing!" replied Millie. "We were just talking."
+
+"Seem to be enjoying yourselves," said Blanche.
+
+"We were saying that we shall soon now arrive at some place where we
+can rest. Yes?" put in Mrs Isaacson, and thus established a ground
+of confidence between herself and Millie.
+
+"P'raps. I dunno!" returned Blanche. She sighed and looked round her.
+
+In the fields between them and Marlow they could see here and there
+little figures stooping and straightening.
+
+"Ooh!" exclaimed Millie, suddenly.
+
+"What?" asked Blanche.
+
+"There's another man," said Millie, pointing. "We'd better scoot!"
+
+But they made no attempt to put such an impossible plan into
+action. The man had evidently seen them. He was coming towards
+them across one of the fields, shouting to attract their
+attention. "Hi! wait a minute!" they thought he was saying.
+
+"Mill!" exclaimed Blanche, with extraordinary emphasis.
+
+"What?" asked Millie, nervously. She was flushed and trembling.
+
+"Do you see who it is?"
+
+"It isn't the one out of the carriage...." hesitated Millie.
+
+"No! Silly. It's that young fellow who used to live with us, our Mr
+Fastidious. What was his name? Thrale! You remember."
+
+"Goody!" said Millie. She was conscious of a quite inexplicable
+feeling of disappointment.
+
+"He iss a friend? Yes?" asked Mrs Isaacson.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+WOMANKIND IN THE MAKING
+
+
+XVII--LONDON TO MARLOW
+
+
+1
+
+The history of mankind is the history of human law. The larger
+ordinances of the universe are commonly referred to some superior
+lawgiver, under such names as God and physico-chemical action; names
+which appear mutually subversive only to the bigot, whether theologian
+or biologist. These larger ordinances sometimes appear inflexible,
+as in the domain of physics and chemistry, sometimes empirical as in
+the development of species, but we may believe that if they change at
+all, the period of change is so great as to be outside any possibility
+of observation by a few thousand generations of mankind.
+
+Human law, on the other hand, is tentative, without sound precedent
+and in its very nature mutable. In our miserably limited record of
+history, that paltry ten thousand years which is but a single tick of
+the cosmic watch, we have been unable to formulate any overruling law
+to which other laws are subject. Climate, race and condition impose
+certain limitations, and within that enceinte civilizations have
+developed a system of rules, increasing always in complexity, and have
+then failed to maintain their place in the competitive struggle. It
+has been rashly suggested that the overriding law of laws is that
+rigidity is fatal to the nation. An analogy has been found in the
+growth of the child. Here and there some bold spirit has ventured
+the daring hypothesis that if a young child be confined within a
+perfectly fitting iron shell he will not grow. Such speculations,
+however, do not appeal to mankind as a whole. Perhaps the truth of
+the matter is that nothing appals us so much as the idea that man
+is capable of growth. Is it not inconceivable that any race of men
+could be wiser, more perfect than ourselves?
+
+Nevertheless, out of all vague speculation one deliciously certain
+axiom presents itself, namely that mankind cannot live without law
+of some kind. The most primitive savage has his ordinances. The
+least primary concussion of individuals develops a rule of practice,
+whether it takes such diverse forms as "hit first," or "present the
+other cheek"; although the latter rule has not yet been developed
+beyond the stage of theory.
+
+In the unprecedented year of the new plague, the old rules were thrown
+into the melting pot, but within three months humanity was evolving
+precedents for a new statute book. The concussions of these three
+months were fierce and destructive. Women, in the face of death, killed
+and stole in the old primitive ways, unhampered now by the necessity
+to kill and steal according to the tedious rules of twentieth-century
+civilization, rules that women had never been foolish enough to
+reverence in the letter. All those complex and incomprehensible laws
+had been made by men for men, and after the plague there was none
+to administer them, for no women and few men had ever had the least
+idea what the law was. Even the lawgivers themselves had had to wait
+for the pronouncement of some prejudiced or unprejudiced judge. Women
+had long known what our Bumbles can only learn by bitter experience,
+inspired to vision in some moment of fury or desolation.
+
+But within three months of the first great exodus of women from the
+town, one dominant law was being brought to birth. It was not written
+on tables of stone, nor incorporated in any swollen, dyspeptic book of
+statutes; it was not formulated by logic, nor was it the outcome of
+serious thought by any individual or by a solemn committee. The law
+rose into recognition because it was a necessity for the life of the
+majority, and although that majority was not compact, had no common
+deliberate purpose, and had never formulated their demand in precise
+language, the new law came into being before harvest and was accepted
+by all but a small resentful minority of aristocrats and landowners,
+as a supreme ordinance, indisputably just.
+
+This law was that every woman had a right to her share in the bounty
+of Nature, and the corollary was that she earned her right by labour.
+
+In those days the justice of the principle was perfectly obvious;
+so obvious, indeed, that the law came to birth without the obstetric
+skill of any parliament whatever.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+It is now impossible to say why such different types of male humanity
+as Jasper Thrale, George Gosling or the Bacchus of Wycombe Abbey
+escaped the plague. The bacillus (surely a strangely individual
+type, it must have been) was never isolated, nor the pathology of
+the disease investigated. The germ was some new unprecedented growth
+which ran through a fierce cycle of development within a few months,
+changed its nature as it swarmed into every corner of the earth,
+and finally expired more quickly than it had come into being.
+
+If the male survivors in Europe and the East had been of one type,
+some theory might be formulated to account for their immunity; but
+so far as science can pronounce an opinion, the living male residue
+can only be explained by the doctrine of chances. A few escaped,
+by accident. In the British Isles there may have been 1,500 men who
+thus survived. In the whole of Europe, besides, there were less than
+a thousand. It seems probable that even before Scotland was attacked
+the climax had been reached; by the time the plague reached England
+the first faint evidences of a decline in virulence may be marked....
+
+From the first, Jasper Thrale ventured his life without an
+afterthought. He was fearless by nature. He did not lack those powers
+of imagination which are commonly supposed to add so greatly to the
+terror of death, he simply lacked the feeling of fear. In all his life
+he had never experienced that sickness of apprehension which dissolves
+our fibre into a quivering jelly--as though the spirit had already
+withdrawn from the trembling inertia of the flesh. Perhaps Thrale's
+spirit was too dominant for such retreat, was more completely master
+of its material than is the spirit of the common man. For the spirit
+cannot know bodily fear, it is the apprehensive flesh that wilts and
+curdles at the approach of danger. And it is worthy of notice that
+in the old days, up to the early twentieth century, these rare cases
+of fearlessness in individuals were more often found among women than
+among men.
+
+Thrale, with his perfectly careless courage, found plenty of work for
+himself in London during May and early June. He acted as a scavenger,
+and still went far afield with his burial cart long after every trace
+of living male humanity had disappeared from the streets of London.
+
+Then one day, at the end of June, he realized that his task was
+futile, and it came to him that there was work awaiting him of more
+importance than this purification of streets which might never again
+echo to the traffic of humanity.
+
+So he chose the best bicycle he could find in Holborn Viaduct,
+stripped a relay of four tyres from other machines, and with these
+and a reserve of food made into a somewhat cumbrous parcel, he set
+out to explore the new world.
+
+He took the Bath Road, intending to make exploration of the fertile
+West Country. He had Cornish blood in his veins, and his ultimate
+goal was the county which had almost escaped urbanization. As he then
+visualized the problem, it appeared that life would offer greater
+possibilities in such places.
+
+But before he reached Colnbrook, he had recognized that work was
+required of him nearer home. The exodus was then in progress. He came
+through armies of helpless women and children flying from starvation;
+women who had no object in view save that of escape to the country;
+"Silly Londoners" with no knowledge of how food was to be obtained
+when their goal was reached.
+
+He did not stay there, however. He was beginning to see the outline of
+his plan, and at the same time the limitation of his own powers. He
+saw that enough food could not be raised near London to support the
+multitude, that the death of the many was demanded by the needs of
+the few if any were to survive, and that communities must be formed
+with the common purpose of tilling the land and excluding those who
+could not earn their right to support. In such a catastrophe as this,
+charity became a crime.
+
+He intended even then to push on beyond Reading, but in Maidenhead
+he met a woman who influenced him to a nearer goal.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+She stepped into the road and held up her hand.
+
+Thrale stopped; he thought she was about to make the familiar demand
+either for food or a direction.
+
+"Well?" he said curtly.
+
+"Where are you going?" she asked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. "To find room," he said.
+
+"There is room for you near here," said the woman, "if you'll work."
+
+"At what?" he asked.
+
+"Machinery, harvesting machinery, agricultural machinery of all sorts."
+
+"Where?" asked Thrale.
+
+She dropped her voice and looked about her. "Marlow," she
+said. "It--it's an eddy. Off the main roads and by the river. There
+are less than a thousand women there at present, and we are keeping
+the others out; at least until after harvest. There is plenty of land
+about, and we're keeping ourselves at present. Only we do want a man
+for the machines. Will you come and help us?"
+
+"I'll come and see what I can do," said Thrale "I won't promise
+to stay."
+
+"Aren't there any other men, there?" he added after a moment's
+hesitation.
+
+"One at Wycombe," said the women. "He's a butcher, but----"
+
+"I understand," said Thrale.
+
+"And meanwhile you might help me," said the woman. "I come over here
+with a horse and cart to raid the seedsmen's shops. If we leave them
+the women would eat all the beans and peas and things, you know;
+enough to feed us for the winter gone in a week, and no one any the
+better. Isn't it awful how careless we are?"
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+She was a fair, clear-eyed girl, with the figure and complexion of
+one who had devoted considerable attention to outdoor sports. She
+was wearing a man's Norfolk jacket (men's clothing was so plentiful),
+and a skirt that barely reached her knees, and did not entirely hide
+cloth knickerbockers which might also have been adapted from a man's
+garment. Below the knickerbockers she displayed thick stockings and
+sandals. Her splendid fair hair furnished sufficient protection for
+her head, and she had dressed a pillow of it into the nape of her
+neck as a shield for the sun.
+
+Thrale looked at her with a frank curiosity as they made their way up
+the town to a seedsman's shop. She had left the horse and cart there,
+she explained, while she explored other streets of the town.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked.
+
+"Eileen, of Marlow," she said. "There doesn't seem to be another
+Eileen there, so one name's enough."
+
+"Is that how your community feel about it?" he asked.
+
+She smiled. "We're beginning," she said.
+
+He pondered that for a time, and then asked, "Who were you?"
+
+"Does it matter?" was the answer.
+
+"Not in the least," said Thrale. "Never did much so far as I was
+concerned, but I have a memory of having seen your photographs in
+the illustrated papers. I was wondering whether you had been actress,
+peeress, scandal; or perhaps all three."
+
+She laughed. "I'm the eldest daughter of the late Duke of Hertford,"
+she said, "the ci-devant Lady Eileen Ferrar, citizen."
+
+"Oh, was that it?" replied Thrale carelessly. "Where's this shop
+of yours?"
+
+The loot was heavier than Eileen had anticipated. The shop had been
+ransacked, but they found an untouched store, containing such valuables
+as beans, potatoes and a few small sacks of turnip seed at the bottom
+of a yard. When these had been placed in the cart, they decided that
+the load was sufficient for one horse.
+
+They took the longer road to Marlow, through Bourne End, to avoid
+the hill. Eileen walked at the horse's head, with Thrale beside her
+wheeling his bicycle, and during those two hours he learnt much of
+the little community which he proposed to serve for a time.
+
+It seemed that in Marlow--and the same thing must have happened in
+a hundred other small towns throughout the country--a few women had
+taken control of the community. These women were of all classes and
+the committee included an Earl's widow, a national schoolmistress,
+a small green-grocer, and an unmarried woman of property living
+half a mile out of the town. These women had worked together in an
+eminently practical way; at first to relieve distress, and then to
+plan the future. They had wasted little time in discussions among
+themselves--none of them had the parliamentary sense of the uses
+of debate. When they had disagreed, they had had plenty of scope to
+carry out varying methods within their own spheres of influence.
+
+Their first and most difficult task had been to teach the members
+of their community to work for the common good, and that task was
+by no means perfected as yet. Co-operation was agreeable enough to
+those who had nothing to lose, but the women in temporary possession
+of the sources of food supply were not so easily convinced. In many
+instances the committee's arguments had been suddenly clenched by an
+exposition of force majeure, and property owners had discovered to
+their amazement that they had no remedy.
+
+But the head and leader of Marlow was a farmer's daughter of
+nineteen, a certain Carrie Oliver. Her father had had a small farm
+in the Chilterns not far from Fingest. He had been a lazy, drunken
+creature, and from the time Carrie had left the national school she
+had practically carried on the work of the farm single handed. She
+liked the work; the interest of it absorbed her.
+
+The Marlow schoolmistress had remembered her when the committee had
+first faced the daunting task of providing for the future. They had
+been more or less capable of organizing a majority of the women,
+but no member of the committee knew the secrets of agriculture and
+stock-breeding, and in all Marlow and the neighbourhood no woman
+had been found who was capable of instructing them in all that was
+necessary.
+
+A deputation of three had been sent to Fingest, and had discovered
+Miss Oliver in the midst of plenty, cultivating her farm in comfort
+now that she had been relieved of her father's unwelcome presence.
+
+She had been covered with confusion when requested to leave her retreat
+and take command of a town and the surrounding twenty thousand acres
+or so within reach of the new community.
+
+"Oh! I can't," she had said, blushing and ducking her head. "It's
+easy enough; I'll tell you if there's anything you want to know."
+
+The deputation had then put the case very clearly before her, pointing
+out that in Miss Oliver's hands lay the future of a thousand lives.
+
+"Oh, dear. I dunno. What can I do?" Carrie had said, and when the
+deputation had urged that she should return with them and take charge
+forthwith, she had replied that that was quite impossible, that there
+were the cows to milk, the calves, pigs and chickens to feed, and
+goodness knew how many other necessary things to be done before sunset.
+
+The deputation had said that cows, calves, horses, sheep, pigs and
+chickens might and should be transferred forthwith to the neighbourhood
+of Marlow.
+
+It had taken three days to convince her, Eileen said, and added,
+"But she's splendid, now. It's wonderful what a lot she knows; and
+she rides about on a horse everywhere and sees to everything. The
+difficulty is to stop her getting down and doing the work herself."
+
+Thrale understood that, exceptional male as he was, his position in
+Marlow would be subordinate to that of Miss Oliver.
+
+"Does she understand agricultural machinery?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," returned Eileen. "But she hasn't time, you see, to attend
+to all that, and it's so jolly difficult to learn. I've been doing a
+bit. I'm better at it than most of 'em. But when I saw you it struck
+me how ripping it would be if you'd come and take over that side. Men
+are so jolly good at machinery. We shouldn't miss them much if it
+weren't for that."
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+After a marked preliminary hesitation the committee appointed
+Jasper Thrale chief mechanic of Marlow. The hesitation was
+understandable. Their only experience of the ways of men in this
+altered civilization had been drawn from observations of Mr Evans
+at Wycombe. His manner of life appeared representative of what they
+might expect. Nevertheless they did not openly condemn him, although
+he proved an immediate source of trouble, even to these organizers
+in Marlow. The youth of the place was apt to wander over the hill
+in the evenings; "just for fun," they said. They went in twos and
+threes, and occasionally one of them stayed behind. These evening
+walks interfered with work. "Later on I shouldn't mind so much,"
+Lady Durham had said, commenting on the loss of a young and active
+worker, "but there is so much to do just now." Her comment showed
+that even then the situation was being accepted, and that many women
+were prepared to adapt their old opinions to new conditions. It also
+showed why the committee hesitated to accept Thrale's services.
+
+Thrale understood their difficulty, and went straight to the point.
+
+"You are afraid that the young women will be wasting time, running
+after me," he said. "Set your minds at rest. That won't last. And if
+you give me pupils for my machinery I should prefer women over forty
+in any case. I believe I shall find them more capable."
+
+He was right in one way. When the excitement of his coming had
+subsided, he was not the cause of much wasted time. He adopted a
+manner with the younger women which did not encourage advances. He
+was, in fact, quite brutally frank. When the young women devised all
+kinds of impossible excuses to linger in his vicinity he sent them
+away with hot indignant faces. Among those who sought their sterile
+amusements in Wycombe it became the fashion openly to express hatred
+and contempt for "that engine fellow." It was agreed that he "wasn't a
+proper man." Another section, however, talked scandal, and hinted that
+assistant-engineer Eileen was the cause of Thrale's pretended misogyny.
+
+The committee found their work more complicated in some respects
+after Thrale's coming.
+
+Thrale, himself, was supremely indifferent to any scandal or expression
+of hatred. He had his hands full, his hours of work were only limited
+by daylight, and six hours sleep was all he asked for or desired. After
+a very brief introduction to the intricacies of reaper and rake at
+the hands of Miss Oliver--her father had never been able to afford
+a binder, but the days of corn-harvest were still far ahead--he set
+himself to learn the mysteries of all the agricultural machinery in the
+neighbourhood; traction engines, steam ploughs and thrashing machines,
+and to pass on the knowledge he gained to his pupils. He found them
+stupid at first, but they were patient and willing for the most part.
+
+Then, handicapped by the lack of coal, he rode over to Bourne End and
+discovered two locomotives. One of them was standing on the line a
+mile out of the station with a full complement of coaches attached,
+the other was an unencumbered goods engine in a siding. He chose the
+latter for his first experiment, and succeeded in driving it back
+to Marlow. It groaned and screamed in a way that indicated serious
+organic trouble, but after he had overhauled it, it proved capable
+of taking him to Maidenhead, where he found a sound engine in a shed.
+
+After that he devoted three days to getting a clear line to Paddington,
+a tedious process which involved endless descents from the cab,
+and mountings into signal boxes, experiments with levers and the
+occasional necessity for pushing whole trains out of his path into
+some siding. But at last he returned with magnificent loot of coal
+from the almost untouched London yards beyond Ealing.
+
+London was still the storehouse of certain valuable commodities.
+
+His passage through the surrounding country was hailed with cries of
+amazement and jubilant acclamation. The first railway surely excited
+less astonishment than did Thrale on his solitary engine. Doubtless
+the unfortunate women who saw him pass believed that the gods of
+machinery had returned once more to bring relief from all the burden
+of misery and unfamiliar work.
+
+And once the points were set and the way open to London by rail he
+could go and return with tools and many other necessaries that had
+offered no temptation to the starving multitude who had fled from
+the town.
+
+Marlow was greatly blessed among the communities in those days.
+
+
+
+
+6
+
+The harvest was early that year, and Miss Oliver decided to cut
+certain fields of barley at the end of July.
+
+Thrale's energies were then diverted to the superintendence of the
+reapers and binders, and he rode from field to field, overlooking
+the work of his pupils or spending furious hours in struggle with
+some refractory mechanism.
+
+One Saturday, an hour or two after midday, he was returning from some
+such struggle, when he saw a strange procession coming down that long
+hill from Handy Cross, which some pious women regarded as the road
+to hell.
+
+Casual immigration had almost ceased by that time, but the sight
+indicated the necessity for immediate action. The immigration laws
+of Marlow, though not coded as yet, were strict; and only bona fide
+workers were admitted, and even those were critically examined.
+
+Thrale shouted to attract attention and the procession stopped.
+
+When he came through the gate on to the road, he was accosted by name.
+
+"Oh, Mr Thrale, fancy finding you," said the young woman at the pole
+of the truck.
+
+The meeting of Livingstone and Stanley was far less amazing.
+
+An old woman perched on the truck and partly sheltered by the remains
+of an umbrella, regarded his appearance with some show of displeasure.
+
+"By rights 'e should 'ave written to me in the first place," she
+muttered.
+
+"Mother's got a touch of the sun," explained Blanche hurriedly.
+
+Thrale had not yet spoken. He was considering the problem of whether
+he owed any duty to these wanderers, which could override his duty
+to Marlow.
+
+"Where have you come from?" he asked.
+
+Blanche and Millie explained volubly, by turns and together.
+
+"You see, we don't let anyone stay here," said Thrale.
+
+Blanche's eyebrows went up and she waved her too exuberant sister
+aside. "We're willing to work," she said.
+
+"And your mother?" queried Thrale. "And this other woman?"
+
+"Ach! I work too," put in Mrs Isaacson. "I have learnt all that is
+necessary for the farm. I milk and feed chickens and everything."
+
+"You'll have to come before the committee," said Thrale.
+
+"Anywhere out of the sun," replied Blanche, "and somewhere where we
+can put mother. She's very bad, I'm afraid."
+
+"You can stay to-night, anyway," returned Thrale.
+
+Millie made a face at him behind his back, and whispered to Mrs
+Isaacson, who pursed her mouth.
+
+"Well, you do seem more civilized here," remarked Blanche as the
+procession restarted towards Marlow. Thrale, with something of the
+air of a policeman, was walking by the side of the pole.
+
+"You've come at a good time," was his only comment.
+
+Millie had another shock before they reached the town. She saw what
+she thought was a second man, on horseback this time, coming towards
+them. Marlow, she thought, was evidently a place to live in. But
+the figure was only that of Miss Oliver in corduroy trousers,
+riding astride.
+
+
+
+
+7
+
+Fate had dropped the Goslings into Buckinghamshire to fulfil their
+destiny. They had been led to Marlow by a casual direction, here
+and there, after the first propulsion of Blanche's instinct had sent
+them into the country beyond Harrow. And fate, doubtless with some
+incomprehensible purpose of its own in view, had quietly decided
+that in Marlow they were to stay. They had been dropped at a season
+when, for the first time in the long three months' history of the
+community, there was a shortage of labour; and Blanche and Millie,
+browned by exposure and generally improved by their first six days of
+healthy life, were quite acceptable additions to the population at that
+moment. As for Mrs Isaacson, a lady of sufficient initiative and force
+of character to require no kindly interposition of Providence on her
+behalf, she arranged her own future as an expert of farm management,
+and incidentally as the Goslings' housemate. Mrs Isaacson was a burr
+that would stick anywhere for a time. She displayed an unexpected
+and highly specialized knowledge of the management of farms, when
+confronted with the expert Miss Oliver who was far too embarrassed
+to press her questions home. The casual remarks of Aunt May and her
+helpers had been retained in Mrs Isaacson's brilliant memory and she
+displayed her knowledge to the best possible advantage, filling the
+gaps with irrelevant volubility, gesture and histrionic struggles
+with the English language, which proved suddenly inadequate to the
+expression of these recondities that the German would have so aptly
+expressed. It was inferred that in her native Bavaria, Mrs Isaacson
+had farmed in the grand style.
+
+Only Mrs Gosling, useless and ineligible, remained for consideration,
+and she for once took a firm line of her own, and defied the committee,
+Marlow generally, and the negligible remainder of the cosmos, to
+alter her determination.
+
+The home at which they had finally arrived did not suit her. The
+tiny cottage of three rooms in the little street that runs down to
+the town landing stage had no lace curtains in the front window,
+no suites of furniture, no hall to save the discreet caller from
+stepping through the front door straight into the single living-room,
+no accumulation of dustable ornaments, not even a strip of carpet
+or linoleum to cover the nakedness of a bricked floor. It was not
+civilized; it was not decent according to the refined standards of
+Wisteria Grove; it was an impossible place for any respectable woman
+to live in, and Mrs Gosling, with unexpected force of character,
+chose the obvious alternative. She did not, however, make any
+announcement of her determination; she was wrapped in a speculative
+depression that found no relief in words. She had been so ordered,
+hoisted, dragged and bumped through the detested country during the
+past six days that all show of authority had been taken from her. It
+may be that deep in her own mind she cherished a sullen and enduring
+resentment against her daughters, and had vowed to take the last and
+unanswerable revenge of which humanity is capable. But outwardly she
+preserved that air of incomprehension which had marked her during the
+last stages of their journey, and committed herself to no statement
+of the enormous plan which must have been forming in her mind.
+
+When they took her into the small, brick-paved room and deposited
+her temporarily on a wooden-seated chair, while they unpacked what
+remained to them in the accursed trolly, Mrs Gosling took one brief
+but comprehensive survey of her naked surroundings.
+
+"She's a bit touched, isn't she?" whispered Millie to her sister. "Do
+you think she understands where we are or what we're doing?"
+
+Blanche shook her head. "I expect she'll be all right in a day or two,"
+she ventured, "It's the sun."
+
+The two girls, stirred to a new outlook on life by the extraordinary
+experiences of the past months, were on the threshold of diverse
+adventures. After the toil and anxiety of their tramp through
+inhospitable country, and the hazard of the open air, this reception
+into a community and settlement into a permanent shelter afforded a
+relief which was too unexpected to be qualified as yet by criticism,
+or any comparison with past glories. They were young and plastic,
+and to each of them the future seemed to hold some promise; to them
+the silence and immobility of their mother could only be evidence of
+impaired faculties.
+
+"We must get her to bed," said Blanche.
+
+Even when Mrs Gosling asked with perfect relevance, "Are we going to
+stop 'ere, Blanche?" they humoured her with evasive replies. "Well,
+for a day or two, perhaps," and "Look here, don't you worry about
+that. We're going to put you to bed."
+
+Her head dropped again and she fell back into her moody
+silence. Doubtless she meditated on the many wrongs her daughters
+had done her, and wondered why she should have been brought out to
+die in this wilderness?
+
+During the nine days that elapsed before her plan matured, she made
+no further comment on her surroundings. She lay in the upstairs room,
+sleeping little, with no desire ever again to face the terror of a
+world which demanded a new mode of thought. Unconsciously she had
+adopted Blanche's phrase, "Everything's different," but to her the
+message was one of doom, she could not live in a different world.
+
+And Blanche on her side was puzzled at her mother's apathy and said,
+"I can't understand it." Yet both the changed conditions and Mrs
+Gosling's unchangeable habit were fundamental things.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XVIII--MODES OF EXPRESSION
+
+
+1
+
+In Marlow that year harvesting and thrashing were carried on
+simultaneously. August was very dry, and the greater part of the corn
+was never stacked at all. Thrale took his engines into the fields,
+and the shocks were loaded on to carts and fed directly into the
+thrasher. This method entailed some disadvantages, chief among them
+the retarding of the actual harvest-work, but on the whole it probably
+economized labour. The scheme would doubtless have been impracticable
+in the days of small private ownership, but it worked well in this
+instance, favoured as it was by the drought.
+
+The saving of labour during those six weeks of furious toil was a
+matter of the first importance. The work, indeed, was too heavy for
+many of the women who were unable to stand the physical strain of
+hoisting sheaves from the waggons into the thrasher; and the sacks
+of grain proved so unmanageable that Thrale had to devise a makeshift
+hoist for loading them into the carts. In Marlow, at least, machinery
+was still triumphant, and the committee sighed their relief in the
+sentence: "I don't know what we should have done without Jasper
+Thrale." Nevertheless it is quite certain that they would have
+done without him if it had not been for that fortuitous meeting
+in Maidenhead.
+
+For Thrale there was no rest possible, even when the last field had
+been cleared and the last clumsily-built stack of straw or unthrashed
+corn erected. Besides the necessity for some form of thatching--or,
+failing efficiency in that direction, for completing the thrashing
+operations--he had to turn his attention to the immensely difficult
+problem of turning the grain into flour. He knew vaguely that the
+grain ought to be cleaned and conditioned before grinding, and that
+the actual separation of the constituents of the berry was a matter
+of importance; but he had no practical knowledge of the various
+operations, and in this matter Miss Oliver was quite unable to
+help him.
+
+The mill beside the lock presented itself as an intricate and
+enormously detailed problem which must be solved by a concentrated
+effort of induction. The only person who appeared to be of real
+assistance to him was Eileen, and she was apt to tire and fall into
+despair when the detail of involved and often concealed machinery
+baffled them for hour after hour. Nevertheless Thrale solved this
+problem also. His first concern was for a head of water. The weirs
+had not been touched since the beginning of May, and the river was
+very low, but by mid-September there was enough water to work for
+a few hours every day, and, despite endless mistakes and setbacks,
+the mill was turning out a sufficient supply of fairly respectable
+looking flour.
+
+Thrale had that wonderful masculine faculty for thus applying himself
+to a mechanical problem, and, like his predecessors in mechanical
+invention, it was the problem and not any promise of future reward
+which interested him. He became absorbed for the time in that problem
+of grinding corn, grudging the hours he was obliged to devote to
+other activities; and when he felt the throb of life running through
+the mill, saw the women he had taught attending each to their own
+appointed task in the economy, and felt the touch of the fine, smooth
+flour between his fingers, he needed no thanks from the committee
+nor promise of independence to reward him for his labour. The sight
+of this thing he had created was sufficient recompense. He loved this
+beautiful efficient toy that changed wheat into flour, and oats into
+meal, it was his to father and to fight for; the perfect child of
+his ingenuity and toil.
+
+But if Thrale's time was tremendously occupied the women found that
+they had more opportunities for leisure after harvest. They were still
+employed in field and garden, and there was still much to be done,
+but their hours were shorter and the work seemed light in contrast
+with the heroic labour that had been necessary at the harvest.
+
+And with this first coming of comparative ease, this first
+opportunity for reflection since the terrible plague had thrust upon
+them the necessity for fierce and unremitting effort to produce the
+essentials of life, women began to express themselves in their various
+ways. Aspirations and emotions that had been crushed by the fatigues
+of physical labour began to revive; personal inclinations, jealousies
+and resentments became manifest in the detail of intercourse; old
+prejudices, religious and social, once more assumed an aspect of
+importance in the interactions of individuals. There was a faint stir
+in the community, the first sign of a trouble which was steadily to
+increase as winter laid its bond upon the storehouses of earth.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The two Goslings, working only six or seven hours a day in the
+mill during the latter part of September, found plenty of time for
+chatter and speculation. They, and more especially Blanche, had shown
+themselves capable workers in the harvest field, but when hands had
+been required in his mill Thrale had chosen the Goslings and those whom
+he considered less adapted to field work; and among them Mrs Isaacson
+and a member of the committee, Miss Jenkyn, the schoolmistress. (The
+education problem was in abeyance for the time being. The children had
+run wild for three months, and been subject only to the discipline
+of their mothers, but it was understood that the children were to
+receive attention when the winter brought opportunity.)
+
+Blanche soon distinguished herself as a picked worker in this
+sphere. Her intelligence was of a somewhat more masculine quality
+in some respects than that of the average woman; she was slower,
+more detailed, more logical in her methods. And now that those male
+characteristics--so often deplored by women in the days before the
+plague--had been withdrawn from the flux of life, it had become
+evident that they had been an essential part of the whole, if only
+a part. Masculine characteristics were at a premium in Marlow that
+autumn, and as a natural consequence were being rated at an ever higher
+value. There was a tendency among some women to become more male....
+
+Millie, however, was not among the progressives. She was not gifted
+intellectually; she had no swift intuitions--such as Eileen had--which
+enabled her to comprehend her work; she was naturally indolent,
+and all her emotions came to her through sensation.
+
+When she was put to work in the mill she was secretly elated. She
+did not believe the stories told of Jasper Thrale's insensibility to
+feminine attractions, and if she believed those other stories which
+coupled his name with that of Lady Eileen, Millie was of opinion that
+such an entanglement was not necessarily final.
+
+The first week of her association with Thrale in the work of the mill
+brought disillusionment.
+
+When she looked up from her work and caught his eye as he passed her,
+he either stared coldly or stopped and asked in a businesslike, austere
+voice whether she wanted assistance. Such intimations should have been
+sufficient, but in this thing, at least, Millie was persistent. She
+thought that he did not understand--men were proverbially stupid in
+these matters. So she waited for an opportunity and within ten days
+one was presented.
+
+A hesitation in some of the machinery she overlooked provided
+sufficient excuse for calling the head engineer. She looked down
+the step-ladder which communicated with the floor below and called
+hesitatingly, "Oh! Please. Mr Thrale."
+
+He heard her and looked up, "What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Something gone wrong," she said blushing, "I've stopped the rollers,
+but I don't know----"
+
+"All right, I'm coming," he returned, and presently joined her.
+
+"By the way," he remarked as he began to examine the machine,
+"we don't say 'Mister,' now. I thought you'd learnt that."
+
+Millie simpered. "It sounds so familiar not to," she said.
+
+"Rubbish," grunted Thrale. "You can call me 'engineer,' I suppose?"
+
+"Now, look here," he continued, "do you see this hopper in here?"
+
+She came close to him and peered into the machine.
+
+"It gets clogged, do you see?" said Thrale, "and when the meal stutters
+you've just got to put your hand in and clear it. Understand?"
+
+"I think so," hesitated Millie. She was leaning against him and her
+body was trembling with delicious excitement. Almost unconsciously
+she pressed a little closer.
+
+Thrale suddenly drew back. "Do you understand?" he said harshly.
+
+"Ye-yes, I think so," returned Millie; and she straightened herself,
+looked up at him for a moment and then dropped her eyes, blushing.
+
+"Very well," said Thrale, "and here's another piece of advice for
+you. If you want to stay in the mill keep your attention on your
+work. You're a man now, for all intents and purposes; you've got a
+man's work to do, and you must keep your mind on it. If there's any
+foolishness you go out into the turnip fields. You won't have another
+warning," he concluded as he turned and left her.
+
+"Beast," muttered Millie when she was alone. She was shaken with
+furious anger. "I hate you, you silly stuck up thing," she whispered
+fiercely shaking with passion. "Oh, I wish you only knew how I hate
+you. I won't touch your beastly machines again. I'd sooner a million
+times be out in the turnip field than in the same mill with you,
+you stuck up beast. I won't work, I won't do a thing, I'll--I'll----"
+
+For a time she was hysterical.
+
+Blanche coming down from the floor above found her sister tearing at
+her hair.
+
+"Good heavens, Mill, what's up?" she asked.
+
+Millie had passed through the worst stages of her seizure by then,
+and she dropped her hands. "I dunno," she said. "It's this beastly
+mill, I suppose."
+
+"I like it," returned Blanche.
+
+"Oh, you," said Millie, full of scorn for Blanche's frigidity. "You
+ought to have been a man, you ought."
+
+"I dunno what's come to you," was Blanche's comment.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+It was maturity that had come to Millie. Her new life of air and
+physical exercise had set the blood running in her veins. In the
+Wisteria Grove days she had had an anæmic tendency; the limited
+routine of her existence and all the suppressions of her narrow life
+had retarded her development. Now she was suddenly ripe. Two months
+of sun and air had brought superabundant vitality, and the surplus
+had become the most important factor in her existence. She found no
+outlet for her new vigour in the work of the mill. Something within
+her was crying out for joy. She wanted to find expression.
+
+There were many other young women in Marlow that autumn in similar
+case, and a rumour was current among them that this was a favourable
+time for crossing the hill. It was said that the lord of Wycombe was
+seeking new favourites.
+
+Millie heard the rumour and tossed her head superciliously.
+
+"Let him come here. I'd give him a piece of my mind," she said.
+
+"He doesn't come 'ere," returned the gossip. "'E's afeard of our
+Mr Thrale."
+
+"Oh! Jasper Thrale!" said Millie. "That fellow from Wycombe could
+knock his head off in no time."
+
+The gossip was doubtful.
+
+Millie was incapable of formulating a plan in this connexion, but she
+was seized with a desire for spending the still September evenings in
+the open air, and always something drew her towards the hill at Handy
+Cross. That way lay interest and excitement. There was a wonderful
+fascination in going as far as the top of the descent into Wycombe.
+
+Usually she joined one or two other young women in these excursions. It
+was understood between them that they went "for fun," and they
+would laugh and scream when they reached the dip past the farm,
+pretend to push each other down the slope, and cry out suddenly:
+"He's coming! Run!"
+
+But one afternoon, some ten days after Jasper Thrale had threatened
+her with the turnip field, Millie went alone.
+
+She had left work early. The rain had not come yet, and Thrale was
+becoming anxious with regard to the shortage of water. He had the
+sluices of Marlow and Hedsor weirs closed, and had opened the sluices
+of the weirs above as far as Hambledon, but so little water was coming
+down that he decided to work shorter hours for the present.
+
+Blanche had stayed on at the mill to help with repairs. She was
+rapidly developing into a capable engineer. So Millie, whose only
+service was that of machine minder, found herself alone and unoccupied.
+
+Every one else seemed to be working. Her friends of the evening
+excursions were mostly in the fields on the Henley side of the town.
+
+Millie decided she would lie down on the bed and go to sleep for a bit;
+but even before she came to the cottage she changed her mind. It was
+a deliciously warm, still afternoon.
+
+Almost automatically she took the road towards Little Marlow; a desire
+for adventure had overtaken her. Why, she argued, shouldn't she go
+into Wycombe? There were plenty of other women there. She would be
+quite safe. She only wanted to see what the place was like.
+
+Her consciousness of perfect rectitude lasted until she reached
+the dip beyond Handy Cross. Farther than this she had not ventured
+before. Some mystery lay beyond the turn of the road.
+
+She sat down in the grass by the wayside and called herself a fool,
+but she was afraid to go further. She and those friends of hers had
+made this place the entrance to a terrible and fascinating beyond. She
+remembered how they had feared to stay there in the failing light,
+daring each other to remain there alone after sunset. There was
+nothing to be afraid of, she said to herself; and yet she was afraid.
+
+She was hot with her long climb, and the place was quite deserted. She
+decided to take down her hair to cool herself.
+
+Curiously, she looked upon this simple act as deliciously daring and
+in some way wicked. She cast half-fearful glances at the green girt
+shadows of the descending road, as she shook out the masses of her
+hair. "If anyone should come!" she thought. "If he should come...!"
+
+She giggled nervously, and shivered.
+
+But as time passed, and no one came, she began to lose her fear,
+and presently she lay full length on the grass, and stared up into
+the pale blue dome of the sky until her eyes ached and she had to
+close them. The deep hush of the still afternoon enveloped her in a
+great calm.
+
+For a time she slept peacefully, and then she dreamed that she was
+rushing through the air, and that some one chased her. She wanted
+desperately to be captured, but it was ordained that she must fly, and
+she flew incredibly fast. She flew through the sunlight into darkness,
+and awoke to find that some one was standing between her and the sun.
+
+She lay still, paralysed with terror. She bitterly regretted her
+coming. She would have given ten years of life to be safe home
+in Marlow.
+
+"Now, where've I seen you before?" asked Sam Evans....
+
+It was nearly dark when Blanche accosted a knot of women in the
+High Street with a question as to whether they had seen anything of
+her sister.
+
+One of the women laughed sneeringly. "Ah! She went over the hill
+this afternoon," she said. "We were in the fields that side, and saw
+her go."
+
+Blanche's face burned. "She hasn't! I know she hasn't!" she blurted
+out. "She isn't one of that sort."
+
+The woman laughed again.
+
+"She's one of the lucky ones," another woman remarked. "You can expect
+her back in a week or two's time."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+On the same evening that Millie crossed the hill, Lady Eileen Ferrar
+encountered the spirit of passion in another shape.
+
+The thought of a lonely bathe tempted her, and she crossed the river,
+made her way through deserted Bisham, and back to the stream along
+a narrow, overhung lane beyond Bisham Abbey.
+
+The sun had set, but when she came out from the trees there was
+light in the sky and on the water. Overhead a few wisps of cirrus,
+sailing in the far heights of air, still caught the direct rays of the
+sun. Eileen paused on the bank, rejoicing in the glow of colour about
+her; but as she gazed, the little fleet of salmon-tinted clouds were
+engulfed in the great earth-shadow, and the delicate crisp rose-leaves
+were transfigured into flat stipples of steel grey.
+
+A slight chill had come into the air, but the water was deliciously
+soft and warm. Eileen swam a couple of hundred yards up-stream,
+towards the gloom of shadows that obscured the course of the river. The
+after-glow was fading now, and though the surface of the water seemed
+to catch some reflection of light from an unknown source, the near
+distance loomed dark and mysterious. She trod water for a few moments,
+but could not decide whether the river turned to right or left. To
+all appearances, it terminated abruptly fifty yards ahead....
+
+A new sound was forcing itself upon her attention--a low, steady
+booming. She stopped swimming, and, keeping herself afloat by
+slow, silent movements of hands and feet under water, she listened
+attentively. The dull boom seemed changed into a low, ceaseless moan.
+
+She remembered then the recently opened sluices of Temple Weir, but
+quite suddenly she was aware of fear. She thought she saw a movement
+among the reeds by the bank. She thought she heard laughter and the
+thin pipe of a flute.
+
+Were the old gods coming back to witness the death of man, as they
+had witnessed his birth? Now that machinery and civilization were
+being re-absorbed into the nature-spirit from which they had been
+wrung by the force of man's devilish and alien intelligence, were the
+old things returning for one mad revel before the creatures of their
+sport disappeared for ever, these representatives of a species which
+had failed to hold its own in the struggle for existence?
+
+Night was coming up like a shadow, and in the east a red, enormous
+moon was rising, coming not to dissipate, but to enhance the mysteries
+of the dark, coming to countenance the wild and blind the eyes of man.
+
+Eileen, almost motionless, was floating down with the drift of the
+sluggish stream. She was afraid to intrude upon the natural sounds of
+the night, the stealthy trickle of the river, and the furtive rustle
+of secret movement whose origin she could not guess. And again she
+thought that she heard the trembling reed of a distant flute.
+
+She touched bottom near her landing-place, and waded out of the river,
+crouching, afraid even in the black shadow of the trees to exhibit
+the white column of her slim body. She dried and dressed hastily,
+and when she felt again the touch of her familiar clothes about her,
+she knew that she was safe from the wiles of nymph or satyr. She had
+come out of the half-world that interposes between man and Nature;
+her clothes made her invisible to the earth-gods, and hid them from
+her knowledge.
+
+But she was still trembling and afraid. The flesh had terrors great
+as those of the spirit.
+
+A little uncertain wind was coming out of the south-west, and the
+trees were stirred now and again into hushed whisperings. A dead leaf
+brushed her face in falling, and she started back, thrusting at an
+imaginary enemy with nervously agitated hands.
+
+The thought of her remoteness from life terrified her. She was alone,
+face to face with implacable, brutal Nature. Man, the boastful, full
+of foolish pride, was vanishing from the earth. He had been an alien,
+ever out of place, defiling and corrupting the order of growth. Now he
+was beaten and a fugitive. All around her, the representative of this
+vile destructive species, was the slow, persistent hatred of the earth,
+which longed to be at peace again. There was no god favourable to man,
+now that he was dying; the gods of man's creation would perish with
+him. Only a few women were left to realize that they were strangers
+in the world of Nature which hated them. The world was not theirs,
+had never been theirs; they were only some horrible, unnatural fungus
+that had disfigured the Earth for a time....
+
+She moved cautiously and slowly under the darkness of the trees,
+and even when she came back to the road she could not shake off
+her fear. On her right she could see the black cliff of the woods
+transfigured by the light of the moon. In the day she knew them for
+woods; now they were strange and threatening; they menaced her with
+invasion. She knew that they would march down from the hills and swarm
+across the valley. In a hundred, two hundred years, Marlow would be
+a few heaps of brick and stone lost in the heart of the forest.
+
+Ashamed of her race, she hurried on stealthily towards the bridge.
+
+But before she reached it, she heard the sound of a firm, defiant
+step coming towards her. She paused and listened, and her fear fell
+from her. In the old days she would have feared man more than Nature,
+feared robbery or assault, but now, man was united in a common cause;
+the sound of humanity was the sound of a friend.
+
+"Hullo!" she called, and the voice of Jasper Thrale
+answered. "Hullo! Who's that?" he said.
+
+"Me--Eileen," she replied. "I've been for a bathe."
+
+He paused opposite her, and they looked at one another.
+
+"Jolly night," he remarked.
+
+"I've seen the great god Pan," said Eileen. "Those sailors in the
+Ionian Sea were misinformed. He's not dead."
+
+"Why should Pan die and Dionysus live?" returned Thrale. "I hear that
+Dionysus has claimed one of our hands, by the way."
+
+"Millie?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are you angry?"
+
+"Yes. Not with Millie. If you saw Pan, why shouldn't she see
+Dionysus? No, I'm angry with the Jenkyn woman. She's saying that we
+ought not to have Millie back if she wants to come."
+
+"How silly!" commented Eileen.
+
+"Oh! if that were all!" replied Thrale. "The real trouble is that the
+Jenkyn woman is proselytizing. She wants to revive Church services and
+Sunday observances. We're going to have a split before the winter's
+over, and all the old misunderstandings and antagonisms back again."
+
+"Why, of course we are," returned Eileen, after a pause. "We are
+going to divide into those that are afraid and those that aren't. It's
+fear that's got hold of us, now we've time to think. It's all about
+us to-night; I've seen it, and Millie has seen it; and Clara Jenkyn
+and all those who are going with her have seen it; and we've all got
+to find our own way out." She hesitated for a moment, and then said:
+"And what about you? Have you seen it?"
+
+"Yes, for the first time. Within the last ten minutes," said Thrale.
+
+The moon was above the trees now, and she could see his face
+clearly. "Have you?" she asked. "I can't picture it. It can't be Pan
+or Dionysus, or fear of the Earth or of humanity. No; and it can't be
+the most terrible of all, the fear of an idea. What are you afraid of?"
+
+"I'm afraid of you," said Thrale, and he turned away quickly and
+hurried on in the direction of the river.
+
+"I did see Pan," affirmed Eileen, as she returned, happy and unafraid,
+towards Marlow.
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+That mood of the night had suggested to Eileen the idea of a single
+cause which seemed sufficient to account for the revivalist tendencies
+of Miss Jenkyn and certain other women in Marlow. Fear was presented as
+a simple explanation, and Eileen, like many other philosophers who had
+preceded her, was too eager for the simple and inclusive explanation.
+
+At first the revivalist tendency was feeble and circumscribed. Twenty
+or thirty women met in the schoolroom and talked and prayed by
+the light of a single, tenderly nursed oil-lamp. The absence of any
+minister kept them back at first; the less earnest needed some concrete
+embodiment of religion in the form of a black coat and white tie.
+
+But when the rain came in early October, came and persisted; when the
+beeches, instead of flaring into scarlet, grew sodden and dead; when
+the threat of flood grew even more imminent, and the distraction of
+physical toil almost ceased, this little nucleus of women was joined
+by many new recruits, and their comparatively harmless prostrations,
+lamentations and worshippings of the abstract, developed into an
+attempt to enforce a moral law upon the community.
+
+Millie Gosling, returning to Marlow in mid-October, gave the
+religionists splendid opportunity for a first demonstration.
+
+Millie returned with a bold face and a shrinking heart. She had fled
+from Wycombe because she could not meet the taunts of the women who
+had so lately envied her as she rode, prime favourite for a time,
+in the Dionysian landau. A great loneliness had come over her after
+she was dethroned; she needed sympathy, and she hoped that Blanche
+might be made to understand. Millie came back from over the hill
+prepared with a long tale of excuses.
+
+She found her sister perfectly complacent.
+
+Blanche was a fervent disciple of Jasper Thrale and machinery, and
+Thrale had anticipated Millie's return and in some ways prepared
+for it. At odd moments he had preached the new gospel, the tenets of
+which Blanche had begun to formulate for herself.
+
+"It's no good going back to the old morality for a precedent," had
+been the essential argument used by Thrale; "we have to face new
+conditions. If a man is only to have one wife now, the race will
+decline, probably perish. It is a woman's duty to bear children."
+
+Eileen, Blanche and a few other young women had wondered that he made
+no application of the argument to his own case, but his opinion carried
+more weight by reason of his continence. Even Miss Jenkyn could not
+urge that his opinion was framed to defend his own mode of life,
+and, failing that casuistical support, she had to fall back on the
+second alternative of her kind, namely, to assert that this preacher
+of antagonistic opinions was either the devil in person or possessed
+by him--a line of defence which took longer to establish than the
+simple accusation of expediency.
+
+So Millie, returning one wet October afternoon, found that no excuses
+were required of her. Blanche welcomed her and asked no questions,
+and Jasper Thrale and Eileen came to the little cottage in St
+Peter's Street at sunset and treated the prodigal Millie with a new
+and altogether delightful friendliness. It was understood that she
+would return at once to her work in the Mill. But in the school-house
+opposite another reception was being prepared for her.
+
+The more advanced of the Jenkynites were for taking immediate
+action. Prayer, worship, and the acknowledgment of personal sin fell
+into the background that evening, Millie appeared not as a brand
+to be saved from the burning, but as an abandoned and evil creature
+who must be thrust out of the community if any member of it was to
+save her soul alive. Every one of these furious religionists could
+stand up and declare that she was innocent of the commission of this
+particular sin of Millie's, and every one was willing and anxious to
+cast the first stone.
+
+The meeting simmered, and at last boiled over into St Peter's Street. A
+band of more than a dozen rigidly virtuous and ecstatically Christian
+women beat at the door of the Goslings' cottage. They had come to
+denounce sin and thrust the sinner out of the community with physical
+violence. Each of them in her own heart thought of herself as the
+bride of Christ.
+
+The door was opened to them by Jasper Thrale.
+
+"We have come to cast out the evil one!" cried Miss Jenkyn in a high
+emotional voice.
+
+"What are you talking about?" asked Thrale.
+
+"She shall be cast forth from our midst!" shrilled Miss Jenkyn;
+and her supporters raised a horrible screaming cry of agreement.
+
+"Cast her forth!" they cried, finding full justification for their
+high pitch of emotion in the use of Biblical phrase.
+
+"Cast forth your grandmother!" replied Thrale calmly. "Get back to
+your homes, and don't be foolish."
+
+"He is possessed of the devil!" chanted Miss Jenkyn. "The Lord has
+called upon us to vindicate his honour and glory. This man, too,
+must not be suffered to dwell in the congregation."
+
+"Down with him! down with him!" assented the little crowd, now so
+exalted with the glory of their common purpose that they were ready
+for martyrdom.
+
+Miss Jenkyn was an undersized, withered little spinster of forty-five,
+and physically impotent; but, drunk with the fervour of her emotion,
+and encouraged by the sympathy of her followers and the fury of her
+own voice, she flung herself fiercely upon the calm figure of Jasper
+Thrale. Her thwarted self-expression had found an outlet. She desired
+the blood of Millie Gosling and Jasper Thrale with the same intensity
+that women had once desired a useless vote.
+
+Jasper Thrale put out a careless hand and pushed her back into the arms
+of the women behind her; but she was up again instantly, and, backed
+by the crowd, who, encouraging themselves by shrill screams of "Cast
+them forth!" were now thrusting forward into the narrow doorway, she
+renewed the assault with all the fierce energy of a struggling kitten.
+
+"I shall lose my temper in a minute," said Thrale, as he took a step
+forward and, bracing himself against the door frame, drove the women
+back with vigorous thrusts of his powerful arms.
+
+To lose his temper, indeed, seemed the only way of escape; to give way
+to berserk rage, and so to injure these muscularly feeble creatures
+that they would be unable to continue the struggle. But the babble of
+screaming voices was bringing other helpers to his aid, chief among
+them Lady Durham, and her cold, clear voice fell on the hysterical
+Jenkynites like a douche of cold water.
+
+"Clara Jenkyn, what are you doing?" asked Elsie Durham.
+
+"Millie Gosling must be cast forth," wavered the little dishevelled
+woman; but this time there was no reponse from her disciples.
+
+"That is a question for the committee," replied Elsie Durham. "Now,
+please go to your homes, all of you."
+
+Miss Jenkyn tried to explain.
+
+Elsie Durham walked into the cottage and shut the door.
+
+Inside, Eileen and Blanche were trying to reassure the trembling
+Millie. Outside, the Jenkynites were suffering a more brutal martyrdom
+than that they had sought. The tongues of the new arrivals, the
+fuller-blooded, more physically vigorous members of the community,
+were making sport of these brides of Christ.
+
+
+
+
+6
+
+But the women of Marlow were to learn afresh the old lesson
+that religious enthusiasm is not to be killed by ridicule or
+oppression. Jasper Thrale understood and appreciated that fact,
+but the policy he suggested could not be approved by the committee.
+
+"This emotion is a fundamental thing," he said to Lady Durham,
+"and history will show you that persecution will intensify it to
+the point of martyrdom. There is only one way to combat it. Give it
+room. Let them do as they will. The heat of the fire is too fierce
+for you to damp it down; you only supply more fuel. Fan it, throw it
+open to the air, and it will burn itself harmlessly out."
+
+Elsie Durham shrugged her shoulders. "That's all very well," she
+said. "I believe it's perfectly true. But they make you the bone of
+contention. If it were only Millie Gosling--well--she might go. We
+could find a place for her--at Fingest, perhaps. But we can't spare
+you."
+
+"I don't know why not," returned Thrale. "I never intended to stay
+indefinitely. You can carry on now without me, and I can fulfil my
+original intention and push on into the West."
+
+"My dear man! we can't, and we won't!" said Elsie Durham. "You are
+indispensable."
+
+"No one is indispensable," replied Thrale.
+
+"Bother your metaphysics, Jasper!" was the answer. "We are not
+going to let you go. 'We' is the majority of Marlow, not only the
+committee. We'll fight the fanatics somehow."
+
+The majority referred to by Elsie Durham was fairly compact in
+relation to this issue of retaining Jasper Thrale, and included the two
+greater of the three recognizable parties in the community. Of these
+three, the greatest was the moderate party, made up of Episcopalians,
+Nonconformists and a few Roman Catholics, who found relief for their
+emotion one day in seven either in the Town Hall or Marlow Church,
+in which places services and meetings were held--the former by
+certain approved individuals, notably Elsie Durham and the widow
+of the late Rector of Marlow. The second party in order of size
+included all those who either denied the Divine revelation or were
+careless of all religious matters. The third party--the Jenkynites,
+as they were dubbed by their opponents--had drawn their numbers from
+every old denomination. The Jenkynites were differentiated from the
+other two parties by certain physical differences. For instance, the
+Jenkynites numbered few members under the age of thirty-five; very
+few of them were fat, and very few of them were capable field workers;
+they were hungry-eyed, and had a certain air of disappointed eagerness
+about them; they looked as though they had for ever sought something,
+and, finding it, had remained unsatisfied. In all, there were some
+seventeen women who might have been regarded as quite true to type,
+and about this vivid nucleus were clustered nearly a hundred other
+women, many of whom exhibited some characteristic mark of the same
+type, while the remainder, perhaps 40 per cent of the whole body,
+had joined the party out of bravado, to seek excitement, or for some
+purpose of expediency.
+
+Among the last was Mrs Isaacson, who was the ultimate cause of the
+Jenkynite defeat.
+
+Ever since she had passed her examination in farm supervision,
+Mrs Isaacson had exhibited an increasing tendency to rest on her
+laurels. She had grown very stout again during her stay in Marlow,
+and complained of severe heart trouble. The least exertion brought on
+violent palpitation accompanied by the most alarming symptoms. The
+poor lady would gasp for breath, press her hands convulsively to
+a spot just below her left breast, and roll up her eyes till they
+presented only a terrifying repulsive rim of blood-streaked white, if
+the least exertion were demanded from her, and yet she would persist
+in the effort until absolutely on the verge of collapse. "No, no! I
+must work!" she would insist. "It iss not fair to the others that I
+do no work. I will try once more. It iss only fair."
+
+At times they had to insist that she should return home and rest.
+
+And as the winter closed in, Mrs Isaacson's rests became more and
+more protracted. Jasper Thrale grinned and said: "I suppose we've
+got to keep her"; but there was a feeling among the other members of
+the committee that they were creating an undesirable precedent. Mrs
+Isaacson's example was being followed by other women who preferred
+rest to work.
+
+Heart weakness was becoming endemic in Marlow.
+
+Then came the news that Mrs Isaacson had joined the Jenkynites. The
+seventeen received her somewhat doubtfully at first, but the body of
+the sect were in favour of her reception. Possibly they were rather
+proud of counting one more fat woman among them; the average member
+was so noticeably thin.
+
+Even the seventeen were satisfied within a fortnight of Mrs Isaacson's
+conversion. She had a wonderful fluency, and she said the right and
+proper things in her own peculiar English--a form of speech which
+had a certain piquancy and interest and afforded relief and variety
+after the somewhat stereotyped formulas of the seventeen.
+
+But early in December, before the floods came, Mrs Isaacson was
+convicted of a serious offence against the community. One of
+the committee's first works had been to store certain priceless
+valuables. Tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, salt, baking powder,
+wine and other irreplaceable commodities had been locked up in one
+of the bank premises. In all, they had a fairly large store, upon
+which they had hardly drawn as yet. It was not intended to hoard these
+luxuries indefinitely. After harvest a dole had been made to all the
+workers as acknowledgment of their services, and it had been decided
+to hold another festival on Christmas Day.
+
+Mrs Isaacson, with unsuspected energy, had burglariously entered this
+storehouse of wealth. She had found an accessible window at the rear,
+which she had succeeded in forcing, and, despite her bulk and the
+delicate state of her heart, she had effected an entrance and stolen
+tea, sugar, candles and whisky.
+
+She was, indeed, finally caught in the act; but her thefts would
+probably have escaped notice--she worked after dark, and with a cunning
+and caution that would have placed her high in the profession before
+the plague--had it not been for Blanche.
+
+
+
+
+7
+
+It seems that Mrs Isaacson had formed the habit of staying up in the
+evening. She pleaded that she could not sleep during the early hours
+of the night, which was not surprising in view of the fact that she
+slept much during the day; and as she was diligent in picking up or
+begging sufficient wood to maintain the fire, there was no reason why
+Blanche and Millie should offer any objection. Thrale had rigged up
+a dynamo at the mill now to provide artificial light, and the girls'
+hours of work were so prolonged that they were glad to get to bed
+at half-past seven. By eight o'clock Mrs Isaacson evidently counted
+herself safe from all interruption.
+
+She might have continued her enjoyment of luxury undiscovered
+throughout the winter if Blanche had not suffered from toothache.
+
+She had been in bed and asleep nearly two hours when her dreams of
+discomfort merged into a consciousness of actual pain. She sighed
+and pressed her cheek into the pillows, made agonizing exploration
+with her tongue, and tried to go to sleep again. Possibly she might
+have succeeded had not that unaccountable smell of whisky obtruded
+itself upon her senses.
+
+At first she thought the house was on fire. That had always been her
+one fear in leaving Mrs Isaacson alone; and she sat up in bed and
+sniffed vigorously. "Funny," she murmured; "it smells like--like plum
+pudding." The analogy was probably suggested to her by the odour of
+burning brandy.
+
+She got up and opened the door of the bedroom.
+
+Mrs Isaacson slept on a sort of glorified landing, and when Blanche
+stepped outside her own door she could see at once by the light of
+a watery full moon that her lodger had not yet come to bed.
+
+The smell of the spirit was stronger on the landing, and Blanche,
+forgetting her toothache in the excitement of the moment, stole
+quietly down the short flight of crooked stairs. The door giving
+on to the living-room was latched, but there were two convenient
+knot-holes, and through one of them she saw Mrs Isaacson seated by
+the fire drinking hot tea. On the table stood an open whisky bottle
+and two lighted wax candles.
+
+Blanche was thunderstruck. Tea, whisky and candles were inexplicable
+things. The thought of witchcraft obtruded itself, and so fascinated
+her that she stood on the stairs gazing through the knothole until
+a sudden rigour reminded her that she was deadly cold.
+
+She did not interrupt the orgy. She crept back to bed, and after much
+difficulty awakened Millie.
+
+The sound of their voices must have alarmed Mrs Isaacson, for the
+girls presently heard her stumbling upstairs. They stopped their
+discussion then, and Blanche's toothache being mysteriously cured by
+her excitement, they were soon asleep again.
+
+Neither of the girls spoke of their discovery to anyone the next
+day, but Blanche returned to the cottage at half-past four, when Mrs
+Isaacson was at a meeting over the way, and explored her bedroom. She
+found a small store of tea, sugar and candles under the mattress--the
+whisky bottle had disappeared--and so came to an understanding of
+Mrs Isaacson's self-sacrificing insistence that she should perform
+all work connected with her own sleeping-place--it could hardly be
+called a room.
+
+After consultation with Millie, Blanche decided that she must inform
+Jasper Thrale of the contraband.
+
+"She's been stealing, of course," he said. "I suppose we shall have
+to bring it home to her." But he laughed at Blanche's indignation.
+
+"She's stealing from us!" said Blanche, who had developed a fine
+sense of her duty towards and interest in the community.
+
+"Oh, yes! you're quite right," said Thrale. "I'll inform the
+committee--at least, the non-Jenkynites."
+
+The five non-Jenkynites were furious.
+
+"We must make an example," Elsie Durham said. "It isn't that we
+shall miss what the Isaacson woman has taken--or will take. It's the
+question of precedent. This is where we are facing the beginning of
+law--isn't it? Somebody has to protect the members of the community
+against themselves. If one steals and goes unpunished, another will
+steal. We shall have the women divided into stealers and workers."
+
+"What are you going to do with her?" asked Thrale.
+
+"Turn her out," replied Elsie Durham.
+
+"The Jenkynites won't let her go," said Thrale raising the larger
+question.
+
+"We shall see," said Elsie Durham, "But that reminds me that we must
+catch the woman flagrante delicto; we must have no quibbles about
+the facts."
+
+Thrale agreed with the wisdom of this policy, but refused to
+take any part in either the detection or the prosecution of Mrs
+Isaacson. "They'll say its a put-up job if I have anything to do with
+it," he argued.
+
+
+
+
+8
+
+The Jenkynites blazed when Rebecca Isaacson was finally caught and
+denounced. The culprit, when caught in the act of entering the bank
+premises had made a slight error of judgment, and pleaded the excuse
+that she was a sleepwalker and quite unconscious of what she was
+doing; but she afterwards adopted a sounder line of defence. She made
+full confession to the seventeen, pleaded extravagant penitence with
+all the necessary references to the blood of the Lamb, and displayed
+all the well-known signs that she would become fervent in well-doing
+after the ensanguined ablutions had been metaphorically performed.
+
+The Jenkynites were enraptured with so real a case of sin. They had
+been compelled to content themselves with so many minor failures from
+grace that the performances were becoming slightly monotonous.
+
+The "Sister Rebecca" case was refreshingly real and genuine, and they
+meant to make the most of it. Also, this case gave them occasion to
+assert themselves once more against the opinions of the community.
+
+It must not be supposed that the seventeen deliberately adopted a
+practical and apparently promising policy. They were not consciously
+seeking to obtain civil power as were the priests of the old days
+before the plague. The seventeen had no sense of the State as
+represented by the community; they were without question perfectly
+sincere in their beliefs and actions. Their fault, if it can be
+so described, was their inability to adapt themselves to their
+conditions. They were as unchangeable as the old lady who had died
+sooner than be permanently separated from the glories of a house in
+Wisteria Grove. She and the seventeen and many other women in Marlow
+were demonstrating that rigidity of opinion is detrimental to the
+interests of the growing State. The same proposition had been clearly
+demonstrated by a few exceptional individuals in the old days, but
+progress was so slow, the property owners so content, and the average
+of mankind so intensely conservative, that their arguments received
+no attention. For every man who believed in the broad principle of
+maintaining an open mind, there were ten thousand who were quite
+incapable of putting the principle into practice. With these women
+in Marlow the conditions were completely changed. Moreover, women
+are by nature more broad-minded than men in practical affairs. Where
+intuition rather than the hard-and-fast methods of an intellectual
+logic is being brought into play, new and wonderful possibilities of
+adaptation may enter the domain of politics.
+
+The Jenkynites and such individuals as the late Mrs Gosling became
+suddenly conspicuous in the new conditions. The type that they
+represent cannot persist. They are the bonds on a vigorous and
+increasing growth; the tree will grow and burst away all inflexible
+restraints.
+
+In Marlow the new and vigorous growth was the sense of the
+community. The majority of the women were realizing, consciously
+or unconsciously, that they must work with and for each other. The
+Jenkynite affair served the committee as a valuable object-lesson.
+
+Mrs Isaacson was free to do as she would while the discussion
+raged. Imprisonment would have been utterly futile. The committee
+did not wish to punish her for her offence against common property,
+they merely wished to rid themselves of an undesirable member and to
+make public announcement that they would in like manner exclude any
+other member who proved herself a burden to the community.
+
+The Jenkynites were characteristically unable to comprehend this
+argument. They had their own definitions of heinous and venial sins,
+definitions based on ancient precedent, and they counted the fault
+of Millie Gosling in the former and that of Rebecca Isaacson in the
+latter category. They were not susceptible to argument. As they saw
+the problem, no argument was admissible. They had the old law and the
+old prophets on their side, and maintained that what was true once
+was true for all time. In their opinion, changed conditions did not
+affect morality.
+
+If the need for labour had been great, the affair might have been
+shelved for a time as of less importance than the dominant economic
+demand which takes precedence of all other problems. But although
+the floods had not yet come, there was not enough work for all the
+members of the community, and this comparative idleness reacted upon
+the importance of the Isaacson case in another and probably more
+influential direction than the abstract consideration of justice
+and humanity.
+
+The women had time to talk, and a new and fascinating subject was
+given them to discuss. And they talked; and their talk ripened into
+action. The affair Isaacson, which included also the affair Jenkyns,
+was brought to a climax at a mass meeting in the Town Hall.
+
+It was decided, noisily, but with considerable emphasis, that for
+the good of the community the Jenkynites must go. The seventeen were
+specifically indicated, but it was understood that certain of their
+more advanced adherents would go with them.
+
+The Jenkynites accepted the decision in the spirit of their
+belief. They were martyrs in a great cause. They would leave this
+accursed city (their terminology was always Biblical) and cast off
+its dust from their feet--although the roads were deep in mud at the
+time. They would go forth to regenerate the world, upheld by their
+love of truth and their zeal for the Word.
+
+Only Mrs Isaacson dissented, but she was compelled to go with them.
+
+They went forth in the rain, thirty-nine of them in all, exalted
+with conscious righteousness and faint with enthusiasm. The women
+of Marlow were kind to them. They turned out and jeered the little
+procession as it marched out of the town by the Henley Road.
+
+"'Oo stole the tea?" was the most popular taunt, and no doubt the
+exiles would have preferred that the taunts should have been cast
+at their faith rather than at the social misdemeanour of an obscure
+convert. But any form of martyrdom was better than none, and they held
+their heads high and sang "Glory! glory!" with magnificent fervour.
+
+"I'm sure we've done right," commented Elsie Durham. "But we should
+never have had all the women with us if there had been no offence
+against property. That touched them--communal property. I'm not sure
+that it isn't become almost dearer than personal property."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIX--ON THE FLOOD
+
+
+1
+
+From the middle of November onwards, the river had been running
+nearly bank-high, and so much power was available that Thrale had been
+considering the possibility of lighting some of the nearer houses by
+electricity. He had made three journeys to London, and with half a
+dozen assistants he had rifled two dynamos from the power station just
+outside Paddington, and had brought back twenty truck-loads of coal.
+
+The dynamos, however, were still in the truck, covered by
+tarpaulin. Thrale had decided that the luxury of artificial lighting
+could not be provided until all the grain had been thrashed and
+milled. The end of that work was now in sight, and the accumulated
+wealth of flour in Marlow was calculated to be sufficient to last the
+community for at least twelve months. But before the lighting scheme
+could be put in hand, a new trouble had threatened.
+
+During the first week of December there was almost continuous rain,
+and the river began to top its banks, spreading itself over the
+meadowland below the lock and creeping up the end of St Peter's
+Street. No serious matter as yet, and a short spell of frost and
+clear skies followed; but before Christmas heavy rains came again,
+and Thrale began to grow anxious.
+
+"The weirs down-stream ought to be opened," he explained to
+Eileen. "They are probably all up; we need never be afraid of shortage
+here; if we close our own weir we can always hold up all the water
+we want."
+
+"Is it serious?" she asked.
+
+"Not yet, but it may be," he said, looking up at the sky. "All Marlow
+might be flooded."
+
+And still the rain fell, and soon the girls had to wade through a
+foot of water to reach the mill.
+
+"I must go down-stream and open all the weirs," Thrale announced
+on Christmas Eve. "I've been looking at a steam launch over at the
+boat-house; it's in quite good condition. I shall bring it up to the
+town landing-stage to-morrow and get enough coal and food aboard to
+last a week."
+
+"You're not going alone?" said Eileen.
+
+"No! I must take some one to work the engine and the locks," returned
+Thrale.
+
+"I'll come!" announced Eileen, with glee.
+
+Thrale shook his head. "You'll have to run this place," he said.
+
+Since that night in September no reference had been made by either of
+them to his strange revelation of fear. They had worked together as
+two men might have worked. Neither of them had exhibited the least
+consciousness of sex. Thrale believed that he had put the fear away
+from him, and Eileen was content to wait. She was barely twenty.
+
+"Blanche could run the mill," she suggested. "There isn't much to
+do now."
+
+Thrale turned away from her with a touch of impatience. "Blanche had
+better come with me," he said.
+
+"I want to come," pleaded Eileen.
+
+"Why?" he asked.
+
+"It'll be sport."
+
+"I don't care to trust Blanche with the mill," he persisted.
+
+"She's every bit as good as I am," was her reply.
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Oh, look here," said Eileen, "you might let me come, or are you--are
+you afraid of--of what the women will say?" She was standing by one
+of the flour-encrusted mill windows and she began to scratch a clean
+place on it with her nail.
+
+Thrale did not answer for a moment and then he came and stood near
+her. "What is it?" he asked. "Are you sick of your work here?"
+
+"I shouldn't mind a change," she said, intent on enlarging her
+peep-hole.
+
+"One forgets that you are women," said Thrale. "I suppose women are
+never content with work for work's sake."
+
+"If you like," returned Eileen inconsequently. "I can see out now. Why
+don't we have these windows cleaned sometimes?"
+
+"You can have them done while I'm away," he suggested.
+
+"I'm coming with you," said Eileen.
+
+"Oh! you can come if you like," he said. He thought he was perfectly
+safe, despite this unusual display of femininity.
+
+"You'll have to run the engine," he concluded.
+
+"Oh! I'll run the engine," she agreed and looked down at her capable,
+frankly dirty little hands.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The weirs at Marlow and Hedsor had been roaring open-mouthed for ten
+days before Thrale and Eileen began their journey; but the water
+had been piling up from below and the floods were working back up
+river. The fact that none of the weirs above Henley was closed had
+served to protect Marlow in some degree. There were great floods
+above Sonning, and from Goring to Culham the country was a vast sheet
+of water. This water, however, only came down comparatively slowly
+owing to the dammed condition of the main channel, and a greater
+proportion of it was absorbed. If the upper weirs had been open,
+Marlow would have been under water by the middle of December.
+
+Not until the launch had been manoeuvred with some difficulty through
+Boulter's Lock did Thrale begin to realize the full significance of
+the situation.
+
+He had had very great difficulty first in reaching and second in
+raising the paddles of the Taplow weir. In one place the force of
+the flood had broken away the structure, but even with the relief
+this passage had afforded the pressure of water on the paddles was
+so great that he had been working for more than two hours before the
+last valve was opened.
+
+Eileen had been waiting for him with the launch warped up just below
+the lock where the force of the stream was not so great.
+
+"I don't know whether we shall be able to carry out this job,"
+remarked Thrale when he rejoined her.
+
+"Oh, but we must," she expostulated.
+
+"Do you see what has happened?" he explained. "All the water is piled
+up below us. We shall probably find the next locks flood-high, which
+means that we sha'n't be able to open them."
+
+"We must navigate," said Eileen. "Steam round them; shoot the weirs."
+
+"Oh, well," said Thrale, "I'm wondering how far our responsibility
+goes. If we don't open the river right down to Richmond, we shall only
+be increasing the flood in the lower reaches, and there may be women
+living there. After all, Marlow isn't the only place on the river. And
+there is another thing; we may never get back. It's a risky thing we
+are proposing to do. No one could swim against this current. If we
+were upset and carried into a weir, we should be smashed to pieces
+in no time. Do you think the community can spare us?"
+
+"Bother the community!" replied Eileen.
+
+The community and its activities were already in the background of
+her mind. Marlow had receded into a little distant place with which
+she was no longer connected. The world of adventure and romance lay
+open before her. She wanted only to explore this turbulent river,
+widened now into a miniature Amazon, from which arose the islands of
+half-submerged houses and trees that composed the strange archipelago
+of Maidenhead.
+
+"Oh, well," said Thrale again. "We'll try. It's no use waiting for
+the stream to go down. We'd better go on now."
+
+"Shall I cast off?" asked Eileen.
+
+"Steady, steady," Thrale warned her. "The next quarter of a mile
+is simply a rapid. You must be ready to get the engines going full
+ahead the moment we start, or I sha'n't be able to steer her. And,
+now, we must both cast off together or we shall be across the stream
+in two ticks. Just loosen the rope round the cleats and let go, and
+then start the engine. Let the loose end of the rope drag till we've
+time to pick it up. Are you ready? All right--cast off!"
+
+The little launch swept out into the current with a bound the instant
+she was released from her moorings, and almost before the engines
+began to revolve she was caught in the rapids that surged down from
+the newly-opened weir. She was only a light draught pleasure-boat,
+designed to navigate the placid surface of the summer Thames, and
+when she entered the curling broken water below the island she threw
+up her nose and plunged like a nervous mare.
+
+"Full steam ahead," shouted Thrale at the toy wheel. Eileen nodded,
+crouching over her little engine; the roar of the stream had drowned
+Thrale's voice, but she guessed his order.
+
+Her eyes were bright with excitement. She had no sense of fear. She
+was exhilarated by the sense of rapid movement. The launch, indeed,
+was travelling at a remarkable pace. In the narrow channel between the
+islands and the town, the river must have been running at nearly ten
+miles an hour, and the engines were probably adding another eight. In
+the wide spaces of the ocean eighteen miles an hour may appear a safe
+and controllable speed, but this little launch was running down hill,
+she could not be stopped at command, and the restricted course was
+beset with many and dangerous obstacles.
+
+Thrale, handling the little brass wheel forward, was conscious of
+uneasiness. The launch steered after a fashion, but he had little
+control of her. The trees on the banks appeared to be flying upstream
+at the pace of an express train, and ahead of him was the town bridge.
+
+He decided instantly that they could not pass under it, and put the
+wheel over, intending to shoot out of the stream into the calm of the
+flood water over the new open bank. But as the launch turned and came
+across, the current took her stern and turned her half round. For a
+moment her lee rail was under water, and she trembled and rocked on
+the verge of capsize. Then her engines drove her out of the stream and
+she righted herself again and began to cut through the almost still,
+shallow flood water.
+
+"Stop her!" roared Thrale.
+
+"I say, what's up?" replied Eileen, coolly, as she obeyed the order.
+
+"No room to pass under the bridge," said Thrale. "I suppose we'll
+have to navigate, as you call it. Go dead slow, and be prepared to
+stop her at a moment's notice."
+
+They spent over an hour in finding a passage round the approach to
+the bridge. They had laboriously to pole the launch through the tops
+of hedges, and in one place they were aground for ten minutes. But
+after they had returned to the stream once more they had a rapid and
+easy passage down to Bray. They shot the great arch of the Maidenhead
+railway bridge triumphantly. Eileen said it was "glorious."
+
+The weir at Bray proved even more difficult to negotiate than the
+one above, and by the time it was fully opened the dull December
+afternoon was closing in.
+
+They spent that night moored to two of the elms that ring the isolated
+little church in the meadows by Boveney.
+
+"At this rate," remarked Thrale as they settled themselves for the
+night, "it'll take us a week to get to Richmond. We've done two weirs
+out of thirteen, so far."
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Thrale's estimate proved excessive. They reached Richmond on the
+fourth day out from Marlow, having opened another nine weirs--the
+one at Old Windsor had been swept away, and the one below Richmond
+Bridge Thrale opened that afternoon.
+
+During those four days they had seen few signs of life. They had moved,
+keeping to the main stream for the most part, in the midst of a wide
+expanse of water; exploring a desolate and wasted country.
+
+Once they had been hailed by three women, who looked out at them from
+a house in Windsor, and shouted something they did not catch; and a
+woman had been standing on Staines Bridge as they careered intrepidly
+through the centre arch--they had no time even to distinguish her
+dress. But with these exceptions they might have come through the land
+of an extinct civilization, devoid of life; a land in which deserted
+houses and church towers stood up from the silver sheet of a vast lake,
+that was threaded by this one impetuous torrent of swelling river.
+
+Richmond, also, was deserted. The emigrants had passed on over the
+river or southwards to Petersham and so into Surrey.
+
+"Well!" said Eileen, wiping her oil-blackened hands on a bunch of
+cotton waste, "that job's done. We've fairly drawn the plug of the
+cistern now. And how are we going to get back?"
+
+"We'll find a couple of bicycles somewhere here," said Thrale.
+
+It had been a clear day, and there was a suggestion of frost in the
+air. The sun was setting very red and full behind the bare trees
+across the river. Save for the gurgle and hiss of the eddying flood,
+everything was very still. The little launch which had served them
+so well, and bore the marks of its great adventure in broken rails
+and bruised sides, was run aground by the side of the bridge. Thrale
+was standing in the road, but Eileen still sat by her engine.
+
+"I hate to leave the launch," she said, after a long pause.
+
+"We can come back and fetch her up when the flood goes down,"
+returned Thrale.
+
+"We've done pretty well, the three of us."
+
+"Yes, the three of us," he echoed.
+
+"It has been great fun," sighed Eileen.
+
+Thrale did not reply. He was thinking himself back into the past. He
+saw a street in Melbourne on a burning December evening, and the
+figure of a gaily-clad little brunette who spoke purest cockney
+and asked him why he looked so glum. "We ain't goin' to a funeral,"
+she had said. Yet afterwards he had believed that something had been
+buried that night. He had faced his own passion and the sight of it had
+disgusted him. He had seen the shadow of a demon who might master him,
+and he had grappled with it; he believed that he had slain and buried
+lust in Melbourne ten years ago. It had not risen up to confront him
+when the plague had put a world of women at his command. He had not
+been forced to fight, he was not tempted--surely the thing was dead
+and buried. Only once, on that warm September night, had he felt a
+sudden furious desire to take this girl into his arms and fly with
+her into the woods. The desire had come and gone, he was master of
+it, and in any case it bore no resemblance to the brutal thing he
+had faced in Melbourne.
+
+Nor, as he stood now by Richmond Bridge watching the vault of the
+sky deepen to an intenser blue, did the feeling that possessed him
+in any way resemble that old cruel passion which had flared up and
+died--surely it had died. He could not analyse his feeling for this
+brave, clear-eyed companion, who had faced with him all the dangers of
+the past four days without a sign of fear. She had made no advances
+to him, they were friends, she might have been some delightfully
+clean, wholesome boy. And then his thought was pierced and broken by
+a horrible suggestion.
+
+A picture of the hill to Handy Cross flashed before him, and he saw
+a little lonely figure creeping furtively away from Marlow. He drove
+his nails into his palms and suddenly cried out.
+
+"What's up?" said Eileen, turning round and looking up at him. "Have
+you forgotten anything?"
+
+He stepped into the boat and sat down beside her. "I want to know--I
+must know," he said.
+
+She looked at him and smiled. "All right, old man," she said. "Fire
+away."
+
+"I told you once that I was frightened of you," said Thrale. "I want
+to know if you have ever been frightened of yourself--or of me?"
+
+"I could never be frightened of you," she replied, and looked away
+towards the rising darkness of the shadows across the hurrying river,
+"and I haven't been afraid of myself--yet. I don't think----"
+
+"Wouldn't you be frightened of me if I picked you up and ran shouting
+into the woods?" he asked, fiercely.
+
+Her eyes met his without reserve. "Dear old man," she said. "I
+should love it. I'm so glad you understand. That was the one thing
+that prevented our being real friends. I've wanted so much to be
+frank and open with you. It's all these silly reserves that make love
+abominable. Now we can be two jolly, clean human beings who understand
+each other, can't we? And we shall be such ripping good friends always;
+quite open and honest with each other."
+
+He drew a deep, sighing breath and put his arms round her, drew
+her close to him and laid his face against hers. "I've been such an
+awful ass," he said. "I've always thought that love was unclean. I've
+been like that Jenkyn woman. I've been prurient and suspicious and
+evil-minded. I've been like the people who cover up statues. But
+there was an excuse for me--and for them, too. I didn't know, because
+there was no woman like you to teach me. All the women I've known have
+been secretive and sly. They've fouled love for me by making it seem
+a hidden, disreputable thing. Oh! we shall be ripping good friends,
+little Eileen--magnificent friends."
+
+"This is a jolly old boat, isn't it?" replied Eileen,
+inconsequently. "Don't smother me, old man. And, I say, do you
+think we'll be able to raid some soap from somewhere? Do look at
+my hands! You couldn't be friends with a chap who had hands like
+that!" ...
+
+"There's one thing I'd like to remark," said Eileen the next
+morning. There had been a frost in the night, and there was every
+promise of an easy ride back to Marlow.
+
+"Yes?" said Thrale, examining the deflated tyres of two bicycles they
+had chosen from a shop in the High Street.
+
+"We'd never have understood each other so well if we hadn't worked
+together on the same job," said Eileen.
+
+"Well, of course not," returned Thrale. His tone seemed to imply
+that she had stated a truth that must always have been obvious to
+sensible people.
+
+"That and there being no footle about marriage," concluded Eileen.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+A third factor that had contributed to the perfection of that complete
+understanding was not realized by either until they were descending
+the hill into Bisham.
+
+"I rather wish we weren't going back," said Eileen. "Let's stop a
+moment. I want to talk. We've never thought of what we're going to do."
+
+"Do?" said Jasper, as he dismounted. "Well, we've just got to make an
+announcement and that's the end of it. The Jenkyns lot have all gone."
+
+"It isn't the end, it's the beginning," replied Eileen. "Don't you
+see that we can't even explain?"
+
+"We sha'n't try."
+
+"We shall. We shall have to--in a way. It'll take years and years to
+do it. But the point is that they won't understand, now, none of them,
+not even Elsie Durham. We aren't free any longer."
+
+"We aren't alone," she added, bringing the hitherto unacknowledged
+factor into prominence.
+
+Thrale frowned and looked up into the thin brightness of the frosty
+sky. "Yes, I understand," he said. "It's public opinion that compels
+one to regard love as shameful and secret. Alone together, free from
+every suspicion, we hadn't a doubt. But now, we have to explain and we
+can't explain, and we are forced against our wills to wonder whether
+we can be right and all the rest of the world wrong."
+
+"We are right," put in Eileen.
+
+"Only we can't prove it to anyone but ourselves."
+
+"And we shouldn't want to, if we hadn't got to live with them."
+
+For a moment they looked at one another thoughtfully.
+
+"No, we mustn't run away," Jasper said, with determination, after
+a pause. "Look, the flood has begun to go down already. That's our
+work. There's other work for us to do yet."
+
+For a time they were silent, looking down on to Marlow and out over
+the valley.
+
+"We didn't go over that hill," said Eileen, at last, pointing to the
+distant rise of Handy Cross.
+
+"No," replied Jasper, and then, "we won't hide behind hills. Damn
+public opinion."
+
+"Oh, yes, damn public opinion," agreed Eileen. "But we won't stay in
+Marlow always."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XX--THE TERRORS OF SPRING
+
+
+1
+
+The frost gave way on the third night, and for ten days there
+was a spell of mild weather with some rain. Carrie Oliver began to
+contemplate the possibility of getting forward with such ploughing as
+still remained to be done. She proposed to have an increased acreage
+of arable that year, and less pasture, less hay and less turnips; the
+arable was to include potatoes, beans and peas. For the community was
+rapidly tending towards vegetarianism. They had no butcher in Marlow,
+and the women revolted against the slaughter of cattle and sheep. They
+were hesitating and clumsy in the attack, and so inflicted wounds which
+were not fatal, they turned sick at the sight of the brute's agonies
+and at the appalling spurts of blood, and finally when the animal was
+at last mercifully dead, they bungled the dissection of the carcase.
+
+"I'd sooner starve than do it again," was the invariable decision
+pronounced by any new volunteer who had heroically offered to provide
+Marlow with meat, and even Carrie Oliver admitted that it was a
+"beastly dirty job."
+
+"Only," she added "we'll 'ave to go on breeding calves or we won't
+get no milk, an' what are we goin' to do with the bullocks?"
+
+The committee wondered if some form of barter might not be
+introduced. Wycombe and Henley might have something to offer
+in exchange, or, failing that, might be urged to accept these
+superfluous beasts as a present, returning the skins and horns,
+for which there might be a use in the near future. Sheep must be
+reared for their wool--the clothes of the community would not last
+for ever. The subjects of tanning and weaving were being studied
+by certain members of the now enlarged committee. Neither operation
+presented insuperable difficulties.
+
+Now that a certain supply of food was provided for, the community
+was already turning its energy towards the industries. Many schemes
+were being planned and debated. Marlow was well situated, with
+such abundance of water and wood at its gates; and the question of
+attracting desirable immigrants had been raised.
+
+Time was afforded for the consideration of all these schemes by the
+great frost which began on New Year's Day and lasted until the end
+of February.
+
+The frost came first from the south-west, and for three days the
+country was changed into a fairy world built of sharp white crystals,
+a world that was seen dimly through a magic veil of mist. Then followed
+a black and bitter wind from the north-east, that bought a thin and
+driving snow, and when the wind fell the country was locked in an
+iron shell that was not relaxed for six weeks.
+
+The flood had nearly subsided before the first frost came, but the
+river was still high, and presently the water came down laden with
+ice-floes, that jammed against the weir and the mill, and formed a
+sheet of ice that gradually crept back towards the bridge.
+
+All field and mill work was stopped, and Thrale and Eileen spent two
+or three days a week making excursions to London, bringing back coal
+and other forms of riches.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Their fear of being misunderstood had proved to have been an
+exaggeration. In that exalted mood of theirs, which had risen to such
+heights, after four days of adventurous solitude, they had come a
+little too near the stars. In finding themselves they had lost touch
+with the world.
+
+Elsie Durham had smiled at their defensive announcement.
+
+"My dear children," she had said, "don't be touchy about it. I am so
+glad; and, of course, I've known for months that you would come to an
+understanding. And there's no need to tell me that your--agreement,
+did you say?--was entirely different to any other. I know. But be
+human about it. Don't apologize for it by being superior to all of us."
+
+"Oh, you're a dear," Eileen had said enthusiastically.
+
+Nevertheless there were many women still left in Marlow who were less
+spiritually-minded than Elsie Durham. Comparative idleness induced
+gossip, and there was more than one party in the community which
+regarded Thrale and Eileen with disfavour.
+
+The old ruts had been worn too deep to be smoothed out in a few
+months, however heavy had been the great roller of necessity. And,
+strangely enough, the life of Sam Evans at High Wycombe was regarded
+by many of the more bigoted with less displeasure than this perfectly
+wholesome and desirable union of Thrale and Eileen. The prostitution
+of Sam Evans was a new thing outside the experience of these women,
+and it was accepted as an outcome of the new conditions. The other
+affair was familiar in its associations, and was condemned on both
+the old and the new precedents.
+
+The mass of the women were quite unable to think out a new morality
+for themselves....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Relief from all these foolish criticisms, gossipings and false emotions
+came when the frost broke. A warm rain in the first week of March
+released the soil from its bonds, and as the retarded spring began
+to move impatiently into life there was a great call for labour.
+
+But as the year ripened the temperament of the community exhibited
+a new and alarming symptom.
+
+There was a terrible spirit of depression abroad.
+
+All Nature was warm with the movement of reproduction. Nature was
+growing and propagating, thrusting out and taking a larger hold upon
+life. Nature was coming to the fight with new reserves and allies,
+a fruitful and increasing army, eager for the struggle against this
+little decreasing band of sterile humanity. Nature was prolific and
+these women were barren.
+
+And in some inexplicable way the consciousness of futility had spread
+through the Marlow community. Some posthumous children had been
+born since the plague, a few young girls--Millie among them--were
+pregnant, but death had been busier than life during the winter,
+and from outside came stray reports that in other communities death
+had been busier still.
+
+What hope was there for that generation? They were too few to cope with
+their task. Grass was growing in their streets, their houses were in
+need of repair, and after their day's labour in the fields to provide
+themselves with food, they had neither strength nor inclination to
+take up the battle anew.
+
+Moreover, the spice was gone from life. Some inherent need for
+emulation was gone. They were ceasing to take any pride in their
+persons, and in their clothes. They wore knickerbockers or trousers for
+convenience in working, and suffered a strange loss of self-esteem in
+consequence. Many of the younger women still returned in the evenings
+to what skirts and ribbons they still possessed, but the habit was
+declining. The uselessness of it was growing even more apparent. There
+were no sex distinctions or class distinctions among them. Of what
+account was it that one girl was prettier or better dressed than
+her neighbour? What mattered was whether she was a stronger or more
+intelligent worker.
+
+Above all, the woman's need for love and admiration could find no
+outlet. They realized that they were becoming hardened and unsexed,
+and revolted against the coming change. Something within them rose
+up and cried for expression, and when it was thwarted it turned to
+a thing of evil....
+
+The mind of the community was becoming distorted. Hysteria, sexual
+perversions, and various forms of religious mania were rife. Young
+women broke into futile and unsatisfying orgies of foolish dancing,
+and middle-aged women became absorbed in the contemplation of a male
+and human god.
+
+Even the committee did not escape the influence of the growing
+despair. They looked forward to a future when such machines and
+tools as they possessed would be worn out, and they had no means of
+replacing them.
+
+Thrale had reported that the line to London was becoming unsafe for
+the passage of his trucks. Rust was at work upon the rails; rain and
+floods had weakened embankments; young growths were springing up
+on the permanent way, and it was hopeless to contemplate any work
+of repair. In the old days an army of men had been needed for that
+work alone. The country roads needed re-metalling, and the houses
+restoration; they had not the means or the labour to undertake half
+the necessary work. There were breaches in the river bank and a large
+and apparently permanent lake was forming in the low meadows towards
+Bourne End. All about them Nature was so intensely busy in her own
+regardless way, and they were helpless, now, to oppose her.
+
+The age of iron and machinery was falling into a swift decline. All
+that the community could look for in the future was a return to
+primitive conditions and the fight for bare life. Every year their
+tools and machines would grow less efficient, every year Nature would
+return more powerful to the attack. In ten years they would be fighting
+her with rude and tedious weapons of wood, grinding their scanty corn
+between two stones, and living from hand to mouth. In the bountiful
+South such a life might have its rewards, but how could they endure
+it in this uncertain and cruel North?
+
+So while the sun rose higher in the sky and the earth was wonderfully
+reclothed, the women of Marlow fell deeper and deeper into the horrors
+of mental depression. What had they to work for, and to hope for,
+save this miserable possession of unsatisfied life?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XXI--SMOKE
+
+
+1
+
+One bright morning, at the end of April, Jasper and Eileen sat on
+the cliffs at the Land's End and talked of the future.
+
+Ten days before, they had left Marlow on bicycles to make
+exploration. They intended to return; they had explained they would be
+away for a month at the outside, but in view of the growing depression
+and the loss of spirit shown by the community, they considered it
+necessary to go out and discover what conditions obtained in other
+parts of England. It might be, they urged, that the plague had been
+less deadly in other districts.
+
+"We should not know, here," Jasper had argued. "There may be many men
+left elsewhere; but they might not have been able to communicate with
+us yet. Their attention, like ours, would have been concentrated upon
+local conditions for a time. Eileen and I will find out. Perhaps we
+may be able to open up communication again. In any case we'll come
+back within a month and report."
+
+His natural instinct had taken him into the West Country.
+
+They had left Elsie Durham slightly more cheerful. They had given
+her a gleam of hope, given her something, at last, to which she might
+look forward.
+
+Their own hopes had quickly faded and died as they rode on into the
+West. By the time they reached Plymouth they were thinking of Marlow
+as a place peculiarly favoured by Providence.
+
+At first they had passed through communities conducted on lines
+resembling their own, greater or smaller groups of women working
+more or less in co-operation. In many of these communities a single
+man was living--in some cases two men--who viewed their duty towards
+society in the same light as the Adonis of Wycombe.
+
+But the unit grew steadily smaller as they progressed. It was no
+longer the town or village community but the farm which was the
+centre of activity, and the occupied farms grew more scattered. For
+it appeared that here in the West the plague had attacked women as
+well as men. Another curious fact they learned was that the men had
+taken longer to die. One woman spoke of having nursed her husband
+for two months before the paralysis proved fatal....
+
+And if the depression in Marlow had been great, the travellers
+soon learned that elsewhere it was greater still. The women worked
+mechanically, drudgingly. They spoke in low, melancholy voices when
+they were questioned, and save for a faint accession of interest in
+Thrale's presence there, and the signs of some feeble flicker of hope
+as they asked of conditions further north and east, they appeared to
+have no thought beyond the instant necessity of sustaining the life to
+which they clung so feebly. Thrale and Eileen rode on into Cornwall,
+not because they still hoped, but because they both felt a vivid
+desire to reach the Land's End and gaze out over the Atlantic. They
+wanted to leave this desolate land behind them for a few hours,
+and rest their minds in the presence of the unchangeable sea.
+
+"Let us go on and forget for a few days," Eileen had said, and so
+they had at last reached the furthest limit of land.
+
+Cornwall had proved to be a land of the dead. Save for a few women
+in the neighbourhood of St Austell, they had not seen a living human
+being in the whole county.
+
+And so, on this clear April morning, they sat upon this ultimate
+cliff and talked of the future.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The water below them was delicately flecked with white. No long
+rollers were riding in from the Atlantic, but the fresh April breeze
+was flicking the crests of little waves into foam; and, above, an
+ever-renewed drift of scattered white clouds threw coursing shadows
+upon the blues and purples of the curdling sea.
+
+Eileen and Thrale had walked southwards as far as Carn Voel to avoid
+the obstruction to vision of the Longships, and on three sides they
+looked out to an unbroken horizon of water, which on that bright
+morning was clearly differentiated from the impending sky.
+
+"One might forget--here," remarked Eileen, after a long silence.
+
+"If it were better to forget," said Jasper.
+
+Eileen drew up her knees until she could rest her chin upon them,
+embracing them with her arms. "What can one do?" she asked. "What
+good is it all, if there is no future?"
+
+"Just to live out one's own life in the best way," was the answer.
+
+She frowned over that for a time. "Do you really believe, dear,"
+she said, when she had considered Jasper's suggestion, "do you really
+believe that this is the end of humanity?"
+
+"I don't know," he said. "I have changed my mind half a dozen times
+in the last few days. There may be a race untouched somewhere--in
+the archipelagos of the South Seas, perhaps--which will gradually
+develop and repeople the world again."
+
+"Or in Australia, or New Zealand," she prompted.
+
+"We should have heard from them before this," he said. "We must have
+heard before this."
+
+"And is there no hope for us, here in England, in Marlow? There are a
+few boys--infants born since the plague, you know--and there will be
+more children in the future--Evans's children and those others. There
+were two men in some places, you remember."
+
+"Can they ever grow up? It seems to me that the women are
+dying. They've nothing to live for. It's only a year since the
+plague first came, and look at them now. What will they be like in
+five years' time? They'll die of hopelessness, or commit suicide,
+or simply starve from the lack of any purpose in living, because work
+isn't worth while. And the others, the mothers, that have some object
+in living, will fall back into savagery. They'll be so occupied in the
+necessity for work, for forcing a living out of the ground somehow,
+that they'll have neither time nor wish to teach their children. I
+don't know, but it seems to me that we are faced with decrease,
+gradually leading on to extinction.
+
+"And I doubt," he continued, after a little hesitation, "I doubt
+whether these sons of the new conditions will have much vitality. They
+are the children of lust on the father's side, worse still, of tired
+lust. It does make a difference. Perhaps if we were a young and
+vigorous people like the old Jews the seed would be strong enough
+to override any inherent weakness. But we are not, we are an old
+civilization. Before the plague, we had come to a consideration of
+eugenics. It had been forced upon us. A vital and growing people
+does not spend its time on such a question as that. Eugenics was a
+proposition that grew out of the necessity of the time. It was easy
+enough to deny decadence, and to prove our fitness by apparently sound
+argument, but, to me, it always seemed that this growing demand for
+some form of artificial selection of parents, by restriction of the
+palpably unfit, afforded the surest evidence. Things like that are
+only produced if there is a need for them. Eugenics was a symptom."
+
+Eileen sighed. "And what about us?" she asked.
+
+"We're happy," replied Jasper. "Probably the happiest people in
+the world at the present time. And we must try to give some of our
+happiness to others. We must go back to Marlow and work for the
+community. And I think we'll try in our limited way to do something
+for the younger generation. Perhaps, it might be possible for us
+to go north and try our hands at making steel, there are probably
+women there who would help us. But I don't think it's worth while,
+unless to preserve our knowledge and hand it on. We can only lessen
+the difficulty in one little district for a time. As the pressure
+of necessity grows, as it must grow, we shall be forced to abandon
+manufacture. The need for food will outrun us. We are too few, and it
+will be simpler and perhaps quicker to plough with a wooden plough
+than to wait for our faulty and slowly-produced steel. The adult
+population, small as it is, must decrease, and I'm afraid it will
+decrease more rapidly than we anticipate, owing to these causes of
+depression and lack of stimulus...."
+
+"Oh, well," said Eileen at last, getting to her feet, "we're happy,
+as you say, and our job seems pretty plain before us. To-morrow, I
+suppose, we ought to be getting back, though I hate taking the news
+to Elsie."
+
+Jasper came and stood beside her, and put his arm across her
+shoulders. "We, at any rate, must keep our spirits up," he said. "That,
+before everything."
+
+"I'm all right," said Eileen, brightly. "I've got you and, for the
+moment, the sea. We'll come back here sometimes, if the roads don't
+get too bad."
+
+"Yes, if the roads don't get too bad."
+
+"And, already, the briars are creeping across the road from hedge to
+hedge. The forest is coming back."
+
+"The forest and the wild."
+
+He drew her a little closer and they stood looking out towards the
+horizon.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+In the south-west the clear line had been wiped out and what looked
+like mist was sweeping towards them.
+
+"There's a shower coming," said Thrale.
+
+They stood quietly and let the sharp spatter of rain beat in their
+faces, and then the shadow of the storm moved on and the horizon line
+was clear again.
+
+"That's a queer cloud out there," said Eileen. "Is it another shower?"
+
+She pointed to a tiny blur on the far rim of the sea.
+
+"It is queer," said Thrale. "It's so precisely like the smoke of
+a steamer."
+
+For a few seconds they gazed in intent silence.
+
+"It's getting bigger," broke out Eileen, suddenly excited. "What is
+it, Jasper?"
+
+"I don't know. I can't make it out," he said. He moved away from her
+and shaded his eyes from the glare of the momentarily cloudless sky.
+
+"I can't make it out," he repeated mechanically.
+
+The blur was widening into a grey-black smudge, into a vaguely diffused
+smear with a darker centre.
+
+"With the wind blowing towards us----" said Jasper, and broke off.
+
+"Yes, yes--what?" asked Eileen, and then as he did not answer, she
+gripped his arm and repeated importunately. "What? Jasper, what? With
+the wind blowing towards us?"
+
+"By God it is," he said in a low voice, disregarding her question. "By
+God it is," he repeated, and then a third time, "It is."
+
+"Oh! what, what? Do answer me! I can't see!" pleaded Eileen.
+
+But still he did not answer. He stood like a rock and stared without
+wavering at the growing cloud on the horizon.
+
+And then the cloud began to grow more diffused, to die away, and
+Eileen could see tiny indentations on the sky line, indentations
+which pushed up and presently revealed themselves as attached to a
+little black speck in the remotest distance.
+
+"Oh, Jasper!" she cried, and her eyes filled with inexplicable tears,
+so that she could see only a misty field of troubled blue.
+
+"It's a liner," said Jasper at last, turning to her. He looked puzzled
+and his eyes stared through her. "And its coming from America. Do
+you suppose the American women----"
+
+The boat was revealed now. They could see the shape of her, the high
+deck, the two tall funnels and the three masts. She was passing across,
+fifteen miles or so to the south of them, making up Channel.
+
+For a moment they felt like shipwrecked sailors on a lonely island,
+who see a vessel pass beyond hail.
+
+"Oh, Jasper, what can it be?" Eileen besought him.
+
+"It's a White Star boat," he said, and he still spoke as if his mind
+was far away. "Is it possible, is it anyway possible that America
+has survived? Is it possible that there is traffic between America
+and Europe, and that they pass us by for fear of infection? How do
+we know that vessels haven't been passing up the Channel for months
+past? Why should we think that this is the first?"
+
+"It is the first," proclaimed Eileen. "I feel it. Oh, let us hurry. Let
+us ride and ride as fast as we can to Plymouth or Southampton. I
+know they'll be coming to Plymouth or Southampton. Men, Jasper,
+men! No women would dare to run a boat at that pace. See how fast
+she is going. Oh hurry, hurry!"
+
+He caught fire then. They ran back to find their bicycles. They ran,
+and presently they rode in silence, with fierce intensity. They rode
+at first as if they had but ten miles to go, and the lives of all
+the women in England depended upon their speed.
+
+And though they slackened after the first few miles they still rode
+on with such eager determination that they reached Plymouth at sunset.
+
+But they could see no sign of the liner in the waters about
+Plymouth. They saw only the deserted hulks of a hundred vessels that
+had ridden there untouched for twelve months, futile battleships and
+destroyers among them; great, venomous, useless things that had become
+void of all meaning in the struggle of humanity.
+
+"It's not here. Let's go on!" said Eileen.
+
+Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "It's well over a hundred miles to
+Southampton," he said. "Nearer a hundred and fifty, I should say."
+
+"But we must go on, we must," urged Eileen.
+
+It was evident that Jasper, too, felt a compelling desire to go on. He
+stood still with a look of intense concentration on his face. Eileen
+had seen him look thus, when he had been momentarily frustrated by
+some problem of mill machinery. She waited expectant for the solution
+she was sure would presently emerge.
+
+"A motor," he said, speaking in short disconnected sentences. "If
+we can find paraffin and petrol and candles--light of some sort. The
+engines wouldn't rust, but they'd clog. It must be paraffin. We daren't
+clean with petrol by artificial light. It's possible. Let's try...."
+
+That night Jasper did not sleep, but Eileen, as she sat beside him in
+the softly moving motor, soon lost consciousness of the dim streak
+of road and black river of hedge. The moon, in her third quarter,
+had risen before midnight, and when they started was riding deep in
+the sky, half veiled by a vast wing of dappled cirrus. And that, too,
+merged into her dream. She thought she was driving out into the open
+sea in a ship which became miraculously winged and soared up towards
+an ever-approaching but unincreasing moon. She woke with a start to
+find that it was broad daylight and that a thin misty rain was coming
+up from the sea.
+
+"The Solent," said Jasper, pointing to a distant gleam below them.
+
+On the common they stopped and stood up in the car, watching a distant
+smear of smoke that stained the thin mist.
+
+"She'll be coming up Southampton Water with the lead going," said
+Jasper, trying desperately to be calm.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+
+THE GREAT PLAN
+
+On the evening of that day Jasper and Eileen dined on board the
+"Bombastic," that latest development of the old trans-Atlantic
+competition in shipbuilding, the boat that had made her first journey
+to New York carrying fugitives from England in the days when the
+threat of the plague grew hourly more imminent. The "Bombastic"
+had not justified her name, she had fled from Southampton without
+ceremony, and she had not returned for over a year. The "Apologetic"
+would have been more apt.
+
+And on this evening of her return, the demeanour of that crowd of
+quiet serious men in the huge over-decorated saloon, gave no hint of
+bombast. As they listened intently to the rapid story of their two
+travel-stained and somewhat ragged guests, there was no hint of brag
+or boast among them all. They came not as conquerors but as friends.
+
+"But oh, it's your story we want to hear," broke in Eileen at last.
+
+She had been strangely quiet so far, she had become suddenly conscious
+of the defects of her dress. The old associations were swarming about
+her. Eighteen months ago she had sat in just such another saloon
+as this, courted and flattered, the daughter of a great aristocrat,
+a creature on a remote and gorgeous pedestal. Now it seemed that she
+was neither greater nor less than any man present. She was one of
+them, not set apart. She looked down at her hands, still oil-stained
+by her struggles with the motor on the previous night.
+
+Jasper had been more patient. He was not less eager than Eileen to
+hear the explanation of this wonderful visit, of the resurrection
+of these twelve hundred men from a dead and silent world. But he had
+restrained his impatience and told his story first. He knew that so
+he would be more quickly satisfied. He would be able to listen to
+men who were not tense with an anxiety to ask questions.
+
+They were sitting now at one end of a long table in the saloon, after
+eating a meal that had provided once more the longed-for satisfaction
+of salt.
+
+"Well," said an American at the head of the table, turning to Eileen
+in answer to her protest, "we've maybe been selfish in putting all
+these questions but we're looking ahead. We aren't forgetting that
+we've a big work to do."
+
+"But how did you get here?" asked Eileen impetuously. "How is it that
+you're all alive?"
+
+"Well, as to that, you'd better ask the doctor, there," replied the
+American. "He's a countryman of yours, and he's been in the thick of
+it and knows the life story of that plague microbe like the history
+of England."
+
+The doctor, a bearded, grave-eyed man, looked up and smiled.
+
+"Hardly that," he said. "We shall never know now, I hope, the history
+of the plague organism. It was never studied under the microscope--we
+were too busy--and now we trust that the bacillus--if it were a
+bacillus--has encompassed its own destruction. What interests you,
+however, is that this sudden, miraculously sudden, development of its
+deadly power as regards humanity ran through a determinable cycle
+of evolution. From what you've told us, already, it seems clear, I
+think, that even in England the bacillus was losing what I may call
+its effectiveness. The men in the West Country you've described,
+probably died from starvation and neglect."
+
+He paused for a moment and then continued: "Now in America both men
+and women were attacked. There was certainly a greater percentage of
+male cases, but I suppose something like half the female population
+was infected as well. As far as one can judge the bacillus was simply
+losing power. But for all we know it may have developed, it may be
+entering on a new stage of evolution, and in some apparently haphazard
+way now be beneficial to man instead of deadly. Such things may be
+happening every day below the reach of our knowledge. The little
+world is hidden from us, even as the great world is hidden....
+
+"However," he went on more briskly, "the thing we do know is that the
+symptoms of the new plague in America differed materially from our
+expectation of them, gathered from the accounts that had reached us
+from the Old World. In England the paralysis lasted, I believe, some
+forty-eight hours and ended in death. In America the paralysis rarely
+ended fatally, but it lasted in some cases for six months. 'Paresis,'
+we called it. The patient was perfectly conscious but practically
+unable to move hand or foot."
+
+"That paresis gave us time to do some very clear and consecutive
+thinking, I may remark," put in an American. "I had four months to
+study my ideas of life."
+
+The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "America is no less changed than
+England," he said, "but it is another change. Well, you understand
+that we did not all get the plague over there; the thing was less
+deadly in attack and about ten per cent of us were left to look after
+the patients."
+
+"And find food," interpolated one of the listeners.
+
+"That was a time we won't ever forget," agreed another.
+
+"Sure thing," said some one, and a general murmur of assent ran round
+the table.
+
+"And all the machines were idle, of course," continued the doctor,
+"and even when the tide of recovery began to flow we had to turn our
+attention first to the getting of food."
+
+"If it hadn't been for that we'd have been here before this," said a
+young man. "I feel we owe England and Europe some kind of an apology,
+but we just had to get busy on food growing right away. We couldn't
+spare a ship's crew till three weeks ago."
+
+"And the others are hard at it over there still," put in another. "This
+is just a pioneer party."
+
+"It's all so comprehensible now," said Thrale after a silence, "but
+we had no idea, we never thought there could be any one living in
+America. We thought that somehow we must have heard. One forgets...."
+
+"We tried to get on to you," said one of the party, "by cable and
+wireless. We kept on tapping away for months, but we got no reply. We
+thought you must be all dead too."
+
+"Well, we guessed you were having a real bad time anyway," amended
+another. "You see we knew the way that plague had taken Europe but
+we kept hoping and trying to get on to you all the same."
+
+
+
+"We've got a message for Elsie, after all," Eileen said to Jasper
+the next day. "There's hope for us yet."
+
+"Yes, there's hope," said Jasper.
+
+They had been up at the town railway station assisting a party of
+Americans to investigate the condition of the rolling stock and the
+permanent way. Neither could be pronounced satisfactory. A few women
+had come in from the neighbouring country that morning attracted by
+the sight of an inexplicable pillar of smoke, and their report of
+local conditions had been equally uninspiring. They had spoken of
+famine and failure, but their faces had been lit by a new brightness
+at the sight of this miraculous little army of men. There had been
+hope in the faces and bearing of these toil-worn women, faith in the
+promise of support and succour.
+
+Now Jasper and Eileen stood looking down towards the harbour. The tide
+was creeping in to efface the repulsive ugliness of the mud flats,
+and the sluggish water rippled faintly against the foul sloping sides
+of small boats that had lain anchored there for more than twelve
+months. Behind them, across the line, was a row of unsightly houses,
+hung with weather-slating.
+
+"Oh, there's hope," repeated Jasper.
+
+He was thinking of all the work that lay before them, and yet he
+had faith that a new and better civilization would arise. "We must
+get things going again," had been the Americans' phrase, and they
+apparently faced the future without a qualm.
+
+But Jasper's mind was perplexed with the detail of the mechanical
+work that must be faced, detail so intricate and confused that he
+was bewildered by its complexity. It appeared to him that the crux
+of the whole problem lay in the North, in the counties of coal and
+iron. Coal and steel were the first essentials, he thought. They must
+begin there in however small a way, and America must send out more
+men, continually more men. To-morrow he was going back in the motor,
+with two experts, to the cable hut in Sennen Cove. They were going to
+test the cable and hoped to re-establish communication with America,
+and then more ships would come and more men, ever more men.
+
+And, even so, they could do little at first, and beyond lay the whole
+of Europe and still further the whole of Asia. Were women there, also,
+maintaining the terrible fight against Nature in the awful struggle to
+find food? Steel and coal we must have, was the burden of his thought,
+and in his imagination he pictured the waking of factories and mines,
+he had a vision of little engines running....
+
+Eileen's thought had flown ahead. With one magnificent leap she had
+passed from the contemplation of present necessity to a realization
+of the dim future. And her thought found words.
+
+"Hope, lots of hope," she said. "Hope of a new clean world. We've
+got such a chance to begin all over again, and do it better. No
+more sweated labour, Jasper, and no more living on the work of
+others. We've just got to pull together and work for each other. If
+we can get enough food, and we can now with all these dear men come
+to help us, we can do such wonderful things afterwards. There'll be
+lots of children growing up in a few years' time, and we shall teach
+them the things we've had to learn by the force of necessity. They'll
+begin so differently because, although we have had the experience
+of all history, we sha'n't be bound by all the foolish conventions
+that grew out of it. Such a silly incongruous growth, wasn't it? But
+I suppose it couldn't be helped in one way. We were so penned in. We
+all had our rotten little places to keep and that took all our time. We
+never had a chance to consider the broad issues, the real fundamental
+things. But you've got to consider the fundamental things when you
+start clean away from a new beginning.
+
+"And, oh! Jasper, surely we have all learnt certain things to avoid,
+haven't we? I mean class distinctions and sex distinctions, and things
+like that. Women won't trouble any more about titles and all that rot
+now, and anyway there aren't any left to trouble about. And social
+conditions will be so different now that there won't be any more
+marriage. Marriage was a man's prerogative; he wanted to keep his
+woman to himself, and keep his property for his children. It never
+really protected women, and anyway they were capable of protecting
+themselves if they'd been given a chance. I know the children were a
+difficulty in the old days, but they won't be now. It'll be everybody's
+business to see that the children get looked after, and a woman won't
+starve just because she hasn't got a husband to keep her. She'll get
+better wages than that. The women who have children will be the most
+precious things we shall have. They'll live healthier lives, too, and
+they won't be incapacitated as they used to be. They'll work and be
+strong instead of spending all their time either in doing nothing or
+pottering about the house in an eternal round of cleaning the stupid,
+ugly things we used. We shall have to have all new houses, Jasper,
+when we get things going again.
+
+"Oh, it will be splendid," she broke out in a great burst of
+enthusiasm, "and we begin to-day. We have begun."
+
+Jasper nodded. "It's a wonderful opportunity," he said.
+
+"Wonderful, wonderful," repeated Eileen. "We all, men and women, start
+level again. Equality, Jasper, It's a beautiful word--Equality. Of
+course I know how unequal we all are from one point of view, and
+there must come a sort of aristocracy of intellect and efficiency. But
+underneath there will be a true equality for all that, and we shall
+see to it that no man or woman can abuse their powers by making
+slaves again. What a world of slaves it used to be, and we weren't
+even slaves to intellect and efficiency, only to wealth and to money,
+and to some foolish idea of position and power."
+
+"Well, we've got our work to do, here and now," said Jasper after a
+long pause.
+
+"Work? Of course, and I love it," returned Eileen, "and while we work
+we've got to think and teach."
+
+The tide was coming in steadily, and near them an old boat that had
+been lying on the mud was now afloat once more and had taken on some
+of its old dignity.
+
+Eileen pointed to it. "We're afloat again," she remarked.
+
+"Embarked on the greatest plan the world has ever known," added Jasper.
+
+"Oh, it's all part of the great plan," concluded Eileen.
+
+
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Goslings, by J. D. Beresford
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 53611 ***
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-

-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Goslings, by J. D. Beresford

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: Goslings

-

-Author: J. D. Beresford

-

-Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53611]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ASCII

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSLINGS ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed

-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project

-Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously

-made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-</pre>

-

-<div class="front">

-<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first"></p>

-<div class="figure xd23e100width"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=

-"Original Front Cover." width="462" height="720"></div>

-<p class="par"></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first"></p>

-<div class="figure xd23e106width"><img src="images/titlepage.png" alt=

-"Original Title Page." width="410" height="720"></div>

-<p class="par"></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div1 frenchtitle"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first xd23e112">Goslings</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ads" class="div1 ads"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main xd23e116">New 6s. Novels</h2>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first"><b>THE AMBASSADRESS. By William

-Wriothesley.</b></p>

-<p class="par"><b>THE WEAKER VESSEL. By E. F. Benson</b>, author of

-&ldquo;Account Rendered,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>&ldquo;WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO...?&rdquo; By Elizabeth

-Robins</b>, author of &ldquo;The Magnetic North,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>A RUNAWAY RING. By Mrs Henry Dudeney</b>, author of

-&ldquo;The Orchard Thief,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>LU OF THE RANGES. By Eleanor Mordaunt</b>, author of

-&ldquo;The Cost of It,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>THE STORY OF STEPHEN COMPTON. By J. E. Patterson</b>,

-author of &ldquo;Tillers of the Soil,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>THE FRONTIERS OF THE HEART. By Victor

-Margueritte.</b></p>

-<p class="par"><b>JOHN CHRISTOPHER (IV). Journey&rsquo;s End. By Romain

-Rolland</b>, translated by Gilbert Cannan.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>THE HIPPODROME. By Rachel Hayward.</b></p>

-<p class="par"><b>GUTTER BABIES. By Dorothea Slade</b>, illustrated by

-Lady Stanley.</p>

-<p class="par"><b>MINNA. By Karl Gjellerup</b>, author of &ldquo;The

-Pilgrim Kamanita.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par"><b>GROWING PAINS. By Ivy Low.</b></p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="titlePage">

-<div class="docTitle">

-<div class="mainTitle">Goslings</div>

-</div>

-<div class="byline">By<br>

-<span class="docAuthor">J. D. Beresford</span><br>

-Author of &ldquo;The Hampdenshire Wonder,&rdquo; etc.</div>

-<div class="docImprint">London<br>

-William Heinemann<br>

-<span class="docDate">1913</span></div>

-</div>

-<div class="div1 copyright"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first xd23e193"><i>Copyright</i>, 1913] <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb1" href="#pb1" name="pb1">1</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="body">

-<div id="bk1" class="div0 book">

-<h2 class="label">BOOK I</h2>

-<h2 class="main">THE NEW PLAGUE</h2>

-<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb3" href="#pb3" name=

-"pb3">3</a>]</span></p>

-<div id="ch1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">I&mdash;</span>THE GOSLING

-FAMILY</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the gels gone to?&rdquo;

-asked Mr Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Up the &rsquo;Igh Road to look at the shops.

-I&rsquo;m expectin&rsquo; &rsquo;em in every minute.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ho!&rdquo; said Gosling. He leaned against the

-dresser; the kitchen was hot with steam, and he fumbled for a

-handkerchief in the pocket of his black tail coat. He produced first a

-large red bandanna with which he blew his nose vigorously. &ldquo;Snuff

-&rsquo;andkerchief; brought it &rsquo;ome to be washed,&rdquo; he

-remarked, and then brought out a white handkerchief which he used to

-wipe his forehead.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dirty &rsquo;abit

-snuff-taking,&rdquo; commented Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you can&rsquo;t smoke in the orfice,&rdquo;

-replied Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Must be doin&rsquo; somethin&rsquo;, I

-suppose?&rdquo; said his wife.</p>

-<p class="par">When the recital of this formula had been

-accomplished&mdash;it was hallowed by a precise repetition every week,

-and had been established now for a quarter of a century&mdash;Gosling

-returned to the subject in hand. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb4"

-href="#pb4" name="pb4">4</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They does a lot of lookin&rsquo; at shops,&rdquo;

-he said, &ldquo;and then nothin&rsquo; &rsquo;ll satisfy &rsquo;em but

-buyin&rsquo; somethin&rsquo;. Why don&rsquo;t they keep away from

-&rsquo;em?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well; sales begin nex&rsquo; week,&rdquo;

-replied Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;An&rsquo; that&rsquo;s a thing we

-&rsquo;ave to consider in our circumstances.&rdquo; She left the

-vicinity of the gas-stove, and bustled over to the dresser.

-&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, get out of my way, do,&rdquo; she went on,

-&ldquo;an&rsquo; go up and change your coat. Dinner&rsquo;ll be ready

-in two ticks. I shan&rsquo;t wait for the gells if they ain&rsquo;t

-in.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Them sales is a fraud,&rdquo; remarked Gosling,

-but he did not stop to argue the point.</p>

-<p class="par">He went upstairs and changed his respectable

-&ldquo;morning&rdquo; coat for a short alpaca jacket, slipped his cuffs

-over his hands, put one inside the other and placed them in their

-customary position on the chest of drawers, changed his boots for

-carpet slippers, wetted his hair brush and carefully plastered down a

-long wisp of grey hair over the top of his bald head, and then went

-into the bathroom to wash his hands.</p>

-<p class="par">There had been a time in George Gosling&rsquo;s history

-when he had not been so regardful of the decencies of life. But he was

-a man of position now, and his two daughters insisted on these

-ceremonial observances.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling was one of the world&rsquo;s successes. He had

-started life as a National School boy, and had worked his way up

-through all the grades&mdash;messenger, office-boy, junior clerk,

-clerk, senior clerk, head clerk, accountant&mdash;to his present

-responsible position as head of the counting-house, with a salary of

-&pound;26 a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb5" href="#pb5" name=

-"pb5">5</a>]</span>month. He rented a house in Wisteria Grove,

-Brondesbury, at &pound;45 a year; he was a sidesman of the church of St

-John the Evangelist, Kilburn; a member of Local Committees; and in

-moments of expansion he talked of seeking election to the District

-Council. A solid, sober, thoroughly respectable man, Gosling, about

-whom there had never been a hint of scandal; grown stout now, and

-bald&mdash;save for a little hair over the ears, and that one

-persistent grey tress which he used as a sort of insufficient wrapping

-for his naked skull.</p>

-<p class="par">Such was the George Gosling seen by his wife, daughters,

-neighbours, and heads of the firm of wholesale provision merchants for

-whom he had worked for forty-one years in Barbican, E.C. Yet there was

-another man, hardly realized by George Gosling himself, and apparently

-so little representative that even his particular cronies in the office

-would never have entered any description of him, if they had been

-obliged to give a detailed account of their colleague&rsquo;s

-character.</p>

-<p class="par">Nevertheless, if you heard Gosling laughing uproariously

-at some story produced by one of those cronies, you might be quite

-certain that it was a story he would not repeat before his daughters,

-though he might tell his wife&mdash;if it were not too broad. If you

-watched Gosling in the street, you would see that he took a strange,

-unaccountable interest in the feet and ankles of young women. And if

-many of Gosling&rsquo;s thoughts and desires had been translated into

-action, the Vicar of St John the Evangelist would have dismissed his

-sidesman with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb6" href="#pb6" name=

-"pb6">6</a>]</span>disgust, the Local Committees would have had no more

-of him, and his wife and daughters would have regarded him as the most

-depraved of criminals.</p>

-<p class="par">Fortunately, Gosling had never been tempted beyond the

-powers of his resistance. At fifty-five, he may be regarded as safe

-from temptation. He seldom put any restraint upon his thoughts, outside

-business hours; but he had an ideal which ruled his life&mdash;the

-ideal of respectability. George Gosling counted himself&mdash;and

-others counted him also&mdash;as respectable a man as could be found in

-the Metropolitan Police area. There were, perhaps, a quarter of a

-million other men in the same area, equally respectable.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">As he was drying his hands, Gosling heard the

-front door slam and his daughters&rsquo; voices in the passage below,

-followed by a shrill exhortation from the kitchen: &ldquo;Now, gels,

-&rsquo;urry up, dinner&rsquo;s all ready and your father&rsquo;s

-waitin&rsquo;!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling trotted downstairs and received the usual salute

-from his two girls. He noted that they were a shade more effusive than

-usual. &ldquo;Want more money for fal-lals,&rdquo; was his inward

-comment. They were always wanting money for &ldquo;fal-lals.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He adopted his usual line of defence through dinner and

-constantly brought the subject of conversation back to the need for a

-reduction of expenses. He did not see Blanche wink at Millie across the

-table, during these strategic exercises; nor catch the glance of

-understanding which passed between <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb7"

-href="#pb7" name="pb7">7</a>]</span>the girls and their mother. So, as

-his dinner comforted and cheered him, Gosling began to relax into his

-usual facetiousness; incredibly believing, despite the invariable

-precedents of his family history, that his daughters had been convinced

-of the hopelessness of approaching him for money that evening.</p>

-<p class="par">The credulous creature even allowed them to make their

-opening, and then assisted them to a statement of their petition.</p>

-<p class="par">They were talking of a friend&rsquo;s engagement to be

-married, and Gosling with an obtuseness he never displayed in business

-remarked, &ldquo;Wish my gels &rsquo;ud get married.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Talking about us, father?&rdquo; asked

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you&rsquo;re the only gels I&rsquo;ve

-got&mdash;as I know of,&rdquo; said Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, how can you expect us to get married when

-we haven&rsquo;t got a decent thing to put on?&rdquo; returned

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling realized his danger too late. &ldquo;Pooh! That

-don&rsquo;t make any difference,&rdquo; he said hastily, adopting a

-thoroughly unsound line of defence; &ldquo;I never noticed what your

-mother was wearing when I courted &rsquo;er.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Dessay you didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Millie,

-&ldquo;I dessay most fellows couldn&rsquo;t tell you what a girl was

-wearing, but it makes just all the difference for all that.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Of course it does,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;A

-girl&rsquo;s got no chance these days unless she can look smart. No

-fellow&rsquo;s going to marry a dowdy.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It does make a big difference, there&rsquo;s no

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb8" href="#pb8" name=

-"pb8">8</a>]</span>denyin&rsquo;,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling, as though

-she was being convinced against her will.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And now the sales are just

-beginning&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Poor Gosling knew the game was up. They had made no

-direct attack upon his pocket, yet; but they would not relax their grip

-of this fascinating subject till they had achieved their object.

-Blanche was saying that she was ashamed to be seen anywhere; and

-procrastination would be met at once by the argument&mdash;how well he

-knew it&mdash;based on the premise that if you didn&rsquo;t buy at

-sale-time, you had to pay twice as much later.</p>

-<p class="par">It was quite useless for Gosling to fidget, throw

-himself back in his chair, frown, shake his head, and look horribly

-determined; the course of progress was unalterable from the direct

-attack: &ldquo;Do you <i>like</i> to see us going about in rags,

-father?&rdquo; through the stage of &ldquo;Well, well, &rsquo;ow much

-do you want? I simply <i>can&rsquo;t</i> afford&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;

-and the ensuing haggles down to the despairing sigh as the original

-minimum demanded&mdash;in this case no less than five pounds&mdash;was

-forlornly conceded, and clinched by Blanche&rsquo;s, &ldquo;We must

-have it before the end of the week, dad, the sales begin on

-Monday.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">At the end of it all, he received what compensation they

-had to offer him; hugs and kisses, offers to do all sorts of impossible

-things, assistance in getting his armchair into precisely the right

-position, and him into the chair, and the table cleared and the lamp in

-just the right place for him to read his half-penny evening paper which

-was fetched for him from the pocket of his overcoat. And, finally, the

-crux of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb9" href="#pb9" name=

-"pb9">9</a>]</span>Gosling&rsquo;s whole position, a general air of

-complacency, good-temper and comfort.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling was an easy-going man, he hated rows.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mind you, you two,&rdquo; he remarked with a

-return to facetiousness as he settled himself with his carpet slippers

-spread out to the fire&mdash;&ldquo;mind you, I look on this money as

-an investment. You two gels got to get married; and quick or I shall be

-in the bankrup&rsquo;cy Court. Don&rsquo;t you forget as these

-&lsquo;fal-lals&rsquo; is bought for a purpose.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t be so horrid, father,&rdquo; said

-Blanche, with a change of front; &ldquo;it sounds as if we were setting

-traps for men.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, ain&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; asked Gosling.

-&ldquo;You said just now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not like that,&rdquo; interrupted Blanche.

-&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very different just wanting to look nice. Personally,

-I&rsquo;m in no &rsquo;urry to get married, thank you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You wait till Mr Right comes along,&rdquo; put in

-Mrs Gosling, and then turned the conversation by saying: &ldquo;Well,

-father, what&rsquo;s the news this evening?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Nothin&rsquo; excitin&rsquo;,&rdquo; replied

-Gosling. &ldquo;Seems this new plague&rsquo;s spreadin&rsquo; in

-China.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re always inventin&rsquo; new

-diseases, nowadays, or callin&rsquo; old ones by new names,&rdquo; said

-Mrs Gosling. The two girls were busy with a sheet of note-paper and a

-stump of pencil that seemed to require frequent lubrication; they were

-making calculations.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;This one&rsquo;s quite new, seemingly,&rdquo;

-returned Gosling. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only the men as get it.&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb10" href="#pb10" name=

-"pb10">10</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No need for us to worry, then,&rdquo; put in

-Millie, more as a duty, some slight return for benefits promised, than

-because she took any interest in the subject. Blanche was absorbed; her

-unseeing gaze was fixed on the mantelpiece and ever and again she

-removed the point of the pencil from her mouth and wrote

-feverishly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, ain&rsquo;t there?&rdquo; replied Gosling. He

-turned his head in order to argue from so strong a position. &ldquo;And

-where&rsquo;d you be, and all the rest of the women, if you

-&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t got no men to look after you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I expect we could get along pretty well, if we

-had to,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling winked at his wife, and indicated by an upward

-movement of his chin that he was astounded at such innocence.

-&ldquo;Who&rsquo;d buy your &lsquo;fal-lals&rsquo; for you, I should

-like to know?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;d have to earn money for

-ourselves,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! I&rsquo;d like to see you or Blanche

-takin&rsquo; over my job,&rdquo; replied her father. &ldquo;Why,

-I&rsquo;ll lay there&rsquo;s &rsquo;alf a dozen mistakes in the

-figurin&rsquo; she&rsquo;s doing at the present moment. Let me

-see!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche descended suddenly from visions of Paradise, and

-put her hand over the sheet of note-paper. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t,

-father,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling looked sly. &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; he said, with

-simulated surprise. &ldquo;And why not?<a id="xd23e336" name=

-"xd23e336"></a> Ain&rsquo;t I to be allowed to judge of the nature of

-the investment I&rsquo;m goin&rsquo; in for? I might give you an

-&rsquo;int or two from the gentleman&rsquo;s point of view.&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb11" href="#pb11" name=

-"pb11">11</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Blanche shook her head. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t added it

-up yet,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling did not press the point; he returned to his

-original position. &ldquo;I dunno where you ladies &rsquo;ud be if you

-&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t no gentlemen to look after you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling smirked. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ope it

-won&rsquo;t come to that,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;China&rsquo;s a long

-way off.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Appears as there&rsquo;s been one case in Russia,

-though,&rdquo; remarked Gosling. He saw that he had rather a good thing

-in this threat of male extermination, a pleasant, harmless threat to

-hold over his feminine dependents; a means to emphasize the facts of

-masculine superiority and of the absolute necessity for masculine

-intelligence; facts that were not sufficiently well realized in

-Wisteria Grove, at times.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling yawned surreptitiously. She was doing her

-best to be pleasant, but the subject bored her. She was a practical

-woman who worked hard all day to keep her house clean, and received

-very feeble assistance from the daughters for whom her one ambition was

-an establishment conducted on lines precisely similar to her own.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie and Blanche had returned to their calculations

-and were completely absorbed.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;In Russia? Just fancy,&rdquo; commented Mrs

-Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;In Moscow,&rdquo; said Gosling, studying his

-<i>Evening News</i>. &ldquo;&rsquo;E was an official on the

-trans-Siberian Railway. &lsquo;As soon as the disease was identified as

-a case of the new plague,&rsquo;&rdquo; read Gosling, &ldquo;&lsquo;the

-patient was at once removed to the infectious hospital and strictly

-isolated. He died within two <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb12" href=

-"#pb12" name="pb12">12</a>]</span>hours of his admission. Stringent

-measures are being taken to prevent the infection from

-spreading.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Was &rsquo;e a married man?&rdquo; asked Mrs

-Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; replied her husband.

-&ldquo;But the point is that if it once gets to Europe, who knows where

-it&rsquo;ll stop?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll see to that, you may be

-sure,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling, with a beautiful faith in the scientific

-resources of civilization. &ldquo;It said somethin&rsquo; about that in

-the bit you&rsquo;ve just read.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling was not to be done out of his argument.

-&ldquo;Very like,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But now, just supposin&rsquo;

-as this &rsquo;ere plague did spread to London, and &rsquo;alf the men

-couldn&rsquo;t go to work; where d&rsquo;you fancy you&rsquo;d

-be?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was unable to grasp the intricacies of this

-abstraction. &ldquo;Well, of course, every one knows as we

-couldn&rsquo;t get on without the men,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! well there you are, got it in once,&rdquo;

-said Gosling. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you gels forget it,&rdquo; he

-added turning to his daughters.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie only giggled, but Blanche said, &ldquo;All right,

-dad, we won&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The girls returned to their calculations; they had

-arrived at the stage of cutting out all those items which were not

-&ldquo;absolutely necessary.&rdquo; Five pounds had proved a miserably

-inadequate sum on paper.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling returned to his <i>Evening News</i>, which

-presently slipped gently from his hand to the floor. Mrs Gosling looked

-up from her sewing and put a finger on her lips. The voices of Blanche

-and Millie were subdued to sibilant whisperings. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb13" href="#pb13" name="pb13">13</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Gosling had forgotten his economic problems, and his

-daring abstractions concerning a world despoiled of male activity,

-especially of that essential activity, as he figured it, the making of

-money&mdash;the wage-earner was enjoying his after-dinner nap, hedged

-about, protected and cared for by his womankind.</p>

-<p class="par">There may have been a quarter of a million wage-earners

-in Greater London at that moment, who, however much they differed from

-Gosling on such minor questions as Tariff Reform or the capabilities of

-the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have agreed with him as a

-matter of course, on the essentials he had discussed that evening.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">At half-past nine the click of the letter-box,

-followed by a resounding double-knock, announced the arrival of the

-last post. Millie jumped up at once and went out eagerly.</p>

-<p class="par">Mr Gosling opened his eyes and stared with drunken

-fixity at the mantelpiece; then, without moving the rest of his body,

-he began to grope automatically with his left hand for the fallen

-newspaper. He found it at last, picked it up and pretended to read with

-sleep-sodden eyes.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the post, dear,&rdquo; remarked Mrs

-Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling yawned enormously. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s it

-for?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie! Millie!&rdquo; called Mrs Gosling.

-&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you bring the letters in?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie did not reply, but she came slowly into the

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb14" href="#pb14" name=

-"pb14">14</a>]</span>room, in her hands a letter which she was

-examining minutely.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s it for, Mill?&rdquo; asked Blanche,

-impatiently.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Father,&rdquo; replied Millie, still intent on

-her study. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a foreign letter. I seem to remember the

-writing, too, only I can&rsquo;t fix it exactly.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, &rsquo;and it over, my gel,&rdquo;

-said Gosling, and Millie reluctantly parted with her fascinating

-enigma.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I know that &rsquo;and, too,&rdquo; remarked

-Gosling, and he, also, would have spent some time in the attempt to

-guess the puzzle without looking up the answer within the envelope, but

-the three spectators, who were not sharing his interest, manifested

-impatience.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, ain&rsquo;t you going to open it,

-father?&rdquo; asked Millie, and Mrs Gosling looked at her husband over

-her spectacles and remarked, &ldquo;It must be a business letter, if it

-comes from foreign parts.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get business letters to this

-address,&rdquo; returned the head of the house, &ldquo;besides which

-it&rsquo;s from Warsaw; we don&rsquo;t do nothin&rsquo; with

-Warsaw.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">At last he opened the letter.</p>

-<p class="par">The three women fixed their gaze on Gosling&rsquo;s

-face.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; ejaculated Millie, after a silence

-of several seconds. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to tell

-us?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;d never guess,&rdquo; said Gosling

-triumphantly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Anyone we know?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, a gentleman.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! tell us, father,&rdquo; urged the impatient

-Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s from the Mr Thrale, as lodged with us

-once,&rdquo; announced Gosling. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb15"

-href="#pb15" name="pb15">15</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! dear, our Mr Fastidious,&rdquo; commented

-Blanche, &ldquo;I thought he was dead long ago.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It must be over four years since &rsquo;e

-left,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Getting on for five,&rdquo; corrected Blanche.

-&ldquo;I remember I put my hair up while he was here.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s he say?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;E says, &lsquo;Dear Mr Gosling, I expect

-you will be surprised to &rsquo;ear from me after my five years&rsquo;

-silence&mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I said it was five years,&rdquo; put in Blanche.

-&ldquo;Go on, dad!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Dad resumed &ldquo;... &lsquo;but I &rsquo;ave been in

-various parts of the world and it &rsquo;as been quite impossible to

-keep up a correspondence. I am writing now to tell you that I shall be

-back in London in a few days, and to ask you whether you can find a

-room for me in Wisteria Grove?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! I should &rsquo;ave thought he&rsquo;d

-&rsquo;ave written to me to ask that!&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;So &rsquo;e should &rsquo;ave, by rights,&rdquo;

-agreed Gosling. &ldquo;But &rsquo;e&rsquo;s a queer card is Mr

-Thrale.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Bit dotty, if you ask me,&rdquo; said

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;S that all?&rdquo; asked Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, &rsquo;e says: &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t give you

-an address as I go on to Berlin immediately, but I will look you up the

-evening after I arrive. Eastern Europe is not safe at the present time.

-There &rsquo;ave been several cases of the new plague in Moscow, but

-the authorities are doing everything they can&mdash;which is much in

-Russia&mdash;to keep the news out of the press, yours sincerely,

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb16" href="#pb16" name=

-"pb16">16</a>]</span>Jasper Thrale,<span class="corr" id="xd23e461"

-title="Source: &rdquo;">&rsquo;</span> and that&rsquo;s the lot,&rdquo;

-concluded Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I do think he&rsquo;s a cool hand,&rdquo;

-commented Blanche. &ldquo;Of course you won&rsquo;t have him as a

-paying guest now?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling and his wife looked at each other,

-thoughtfully.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; hesitated Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;E might bring the infection,&rdquo;

-suggested Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! no fear of that,&rdquo; returned her husband,

-&ldquo;but I dunno as we want a boarder now. Five years ago I

-&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t got my big rise&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, no, father; what would the neighbours think

-of us if we started to take boarders again?&rdquo; protested

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t look well,&rdquo; agreed Mrs

-Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Jus&rsquo; what I was thinking,&rdquo; said the

-head of the house. &ldquo;&rsquo;Owever, there&rsquo;s no &rsquo;arm in

-payin&rsquo; us a friendly visit.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;O&rsquo; course not,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling,

-&ldquo;though I do think it odd &rsquo;e shouldn&rsquo;t &rsquo;ave

-written to me in the first place.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s dotty!&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling shook his head. &ldquo;Not by a very long chalk

-&rsquo;e ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; was his firm pronouncement....</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, girls, what about bed?&rdquo; asked Mrs

-Gosling, putting away the &ldquo;bit of mending&rdquo; she had been

-engaged upon.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling yawned again, stretched himself, and rose

-grunting to his feet. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m about ready for <i>my</i>

-bed,&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb17" href="#pb17" name=

-"pb17">17</a>]</span>he remarked, and after another yawn he started his

-nightly round of inspection.</p>

-<p class="par">When he returned to the sitting-room the others were all

-ready to retire. Gosling kissed his daughters, and the two girls and

-their mother went upstairs. Gosling carefully took off the larger

-pieces of coal from the fire and put them under the grate, rolled up

-the hearthrug, saw that the window was securely fastened, extinguished

-the lamp and followed his &ldquo;womenfolk.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">As he was undressing his thoughts turned once more to

-the threat of the new disease which was devastating China.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Rum thing about that new plague,&rdquo; he

-remarked to his wife. &ldquo;Seems as it&rsquo;s only men as get

-it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d never let it spread to

-England,&rdquo; replied Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! there&rsquo;s no fear of that, none

-whatever,&rdquo; said Gosling, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s rum that about

-women never catching it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The attitude of the Goslings faithfully reflected that

-of the immense majority of English people. The faith in the hygienic

-and scientific resources which were at the disposal of the authorities,

-and the implicit trust in the vigilance and energy of those

-authorities, were sufficient to allay any fears that were not too

-imminent. It was some one&rsquo;s duty to look after these things, and

-if they were not looked after there would be letters in the papers

-about it. At last, without question, the authorities would be roused to

-a sense of duty and the trouble, whatever it was, would be stopped.

-Precisely what authority <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb18" href=

-"#pb18" name="pb18">18</a>]</span>managed these affairs none of the

-huge Gosling family knew. Vaguely they pictured Medical Boards, or

-Health Committees; dimly they connected these things with local

-government; at the top, doubtless, was some managing authority&mdash;in

-Whitehall probably&mdash;something to do with the supreme head of

-affairs, the much abused but eminently paternal Government.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb19" href="#pb19" name=

-"pb19">19</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch2" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">II&mdash;</span>THE OPINIONS OF

-JASPER THRALE</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">&ldquo;Lord, how I do envy you,&rdquo; said Morgan

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">Jasper Thrale sat forward in his chair.

-&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason why you shouldn&rsquo;t do what

-I&rsquo;ve done&mdash;and more,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Theoretically, I suppose not,&rdquo; replied

-Gurney. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just making the big effort to start with. You

-see I&rsquo;ve got a very decent berth and good prospects, and

-it&rsquo;s comfortable and all that. Only when some fellow like you

-comes along and tells one yarns of the world outside, I get sort of

-hankerings after the sea and adventure, and seeing the big things.

-It&rsquo;s only now and then&mdash;ordinary times I&rsquo;m contented

-enough.&rdquo; He stuck his pipe in the corner of his mouth and stared

-into the fire.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The only things that really count are feeling

-clean and strong and able,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;You never really

-have that feeling if you live in the big cities.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve felt like that sometimes after a long

-bicycle ride,&rdquo; interpolated Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But then the feeling is wasted, you see,&rdquo;

-said Thrale. &ldquo;When you feel like that and there is something

-tremendous to spend it upon, you get the great emotion as

-well.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Like the glimmer of St Agnes&rsquo; light, after

-you&rsquo;d <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb20" href="#pb20" name=

-"pb20">20</a>]</span>been eight weeks out of sight of land?&rdquo;

-reflected Gurney, going back to one of Thrale&rsquo;s

-reminiscences.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;To feel that you are a part of life, not this

-dead, stale life of the city, but the life of the whole

-universe,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; replied Gurney. &ldquo;To-night

-I&rsquo;ve half a mind to chuck my job and go out looking for

-mystery.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; said

-Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney sighed and began to analyse the instinct within

-himself, to find precisely why he wanted to do it.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I must go,&rdquo; said Thrale, getting to

-his feet, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to find some sort of

-lodging.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I thought you were going to stay with those

-Gosling people of yours,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No! That&rsquo;s off. I went to see them last

-night and they won&rsquo;t have me. The old man&rsquo;s making his

-&pound;300 a year now, and the family&rsquo;s too respectable to take

-boarders.&rdquo; Thrale picked up his hat and held out his hand.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But, look here, old chap, why the devil

-can&rsquo;t you stay here?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that you&rsquo;d anywhere to

-put me,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes. There&rsquo;s always a room to be had

-downstairs,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">After a brief discussion the arrangement was made.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s understood I&rsquo;m to pay my

-whack,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Of course, if you insist&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb21" href="#pb21" name=

-"pb21">21</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">When Thrale had gone to fetch his luggage from the

-hotel, Gurney sat pondering over the fire. He was debating whether he

-had been altogether wise in pressing his invitation. He was wondering

-whether the curiously rousing personality of Thrale, and the stories of

-those still existent corners of the world outside the rules of

-civilization were good for a civil servant with an income of &pound;600

-a year. Gurney, faced with the plain alternatives, could only decide

-that he would be a fool to throw up a congenial and lucrative

-occupation such as his own, in order to face present physical

-discomfort and future penury. He knew that the discomforts would be

-very real to him at first. His friends would think him mad. And all for

-the sake of experiencing some high emotion now and again, in order to

-feel clean and fresh and be able to discover something of the unknown

-mystery of life.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose there is something of the poet in

-me,&rdquo; reflected Gurney. &ldquo;And I expect I should hate the

-discomforts. One&rsquo;s imagination gets led away....&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">During the next few evenings the conversations

-between these two friends were many and protracted.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale was the teacher, and Gurney was content to sit at

-his feet and learn. He had a receptive mind, he was interested in all

-life, but Uppingham, Trinity Hall, and the Home Civil had constricted

-his mental processes. At twenty-nine he was losing flexibility. Thrale

-gave him back his power to think, set him <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb22" href="#pb22" name="pb22">22</a>]</span>outside the formulas of

-his school, taught him that however sound his deductions, there was not

-one of his premises which could not be disputed.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale was Gurney&rsquo;s senior by three years, and

-when Thrale left Uppingham at eighteen, he had gone out into the world.

-He had a patrimony of some &pound;200 a year; but he had taken only a

-lump sum of &pound;100 and had started out to appease his furious

-curiosity concerning life. He had laboured as a miner in the Klondike;

-had sailed, working his passage as an ordinary seaman, from San

-Francisco to Southampton; he had been a stockman in Australia,

-assistant to a planter in Ceylon, a furnace minder in Kimberley and a

-tally clerk in Hong Kong. For nearly nine years, indeed, he had earned

-a living in every country of the world except Europe, and then he had

-come back to London and invested the accumulation of income that his

-trustee had amassed for him. The mere spending of money had no

-fascination for him. During the six months he had remained in London he

-had lived very simply, lodging with the Goslings in Kilburn, and,

-because he could not live idly, exploring every corner of the great

-city and writing articles for the journals. He might have earned a

-large income by this latter means, for he had an originality of outlook

-and a freshness of style that made his contributions eagerly sought

-after once he had obtained a hearing&mdash;no difficult matter in

-London for anyone who has something new to say. But experience, not

-income, was his desire, and at the end of six months he had accepted an

-offer from the <i>Daily Post</i> as a European <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb23" href="#pb23" name=

-"pb23">23</a>]</span>correspondent&mdash;on space. He was offered

-&pound;600 a year, but he preferred to be free, and he had no wish to

-be confined to one capital or country.</p>

-<p class="par">In those five years he had traversed Europe, sending in

-his articles irregularly, as he required money. And during that time

-his chief trustee&mdash;a lawyer of the soundest reputation&mdash;had

-absconded, and Thrale found his private income reduced to about

-&pound;40 a year, the interest on one of the investments he had made,

-in his own name only, with his former accumulation&mdash;two other

-investments made at the same time had proved unsound.</p>

-<p class="par">This loss had not troubled him in any way. When he had

-read in a London journal of his trustee&rsquo;s abscondence&mdash;he

-was later sentenced to fourteen years&rsquo; penal

-servitude&mdash;Thrale had smiled and dismissed the matter from his

-mind. He could always earn all the money he required, and had never,

-not even subconsciously, relied upon his private fortune.</p>

-<p class="par">He had now come back to London with a definite purpose,

-he had come to warn England of a great danger....</p>

-<p class="par">One other distinguishing mark of Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s

-life must be understood, a mark which differentiated him from the

-overwhelming majority of his fellow men&mdash;women had no fascination

-for him. Once in his life, and once only, had he approached and tasted

-experience&mdash;with a pretty little Melbourne <i>cocotte</i>. That

-experience he had undertaken deliberately, because he felt that until

-it had been undergone one great factor of life would be unknown to him.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb24" href="#pb24" name=

-"pb24">24</a>]</span>He had come away from it filled with a disgust of

-himself that had endured for months....</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Fragments of the long conversations between Thrale

-and Gurney, the exchange of a few germane ideas among the irrelevant

-mass, had a bearing upon their immediate future. There was, for

-instance, a criticism of the Goslings, introduced on one occasion,

-which had a certain significance in relation to subsequent

-developments.</p>

-<p class="par">Some question of Gurney&rsquo;s prompted Thrale to the

-opinion that the Goslings were in the main precisely like half a

-million other families of the same class.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s just what makes them so

-interesting,&rdquo; said Gurney, not because he believed it, but

-because at the moment he wanted to lead the conversation into safe

-ground, away from the too appealing attractions of the big world

-outside the little village of London.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s truer than you

-guess,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Every large generalization, however

-trite, is a valuable contribution to knowledge&mdash;if it&rsquo;s more

-or less accurate.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Generalize, then, mon vieux,&rdquo; suggested

-Gurney, &ldquo;from the characters and doings of your little

-geese.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen glimmerings of the immortal god

-in the old man,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;like the hint of sunlight

-seen through a filthy pane of obscured glass. He&rsquo;s a

-prurient-minded old beast leading what&rsquo;s called a <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb25" href="#pb25" name=

-"pb25">25</a>]</span>respectable life, but if he could indulge his

-ruling desire with absolute secrecy, no woman would be safe with him.

-In his world he can&rsquo;t do that, or thinks he can&rsquo;t, which

-comes to precisely the same thing. He is too much afraid of being

-caught, he sees danger where none exists, he looks to all sorts of

-possibilities, and won&rsquo;t take a million-to-one chance because he

-is risking his all&mdash;which is included in the one word,

-respectability.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Jolly good thing. What?&rdquo; remarked

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Good for society as a whole, apparently,&rdquo;

-replied Thrale, &ldquo;but surely not good for the man. I&rsquo;ve told

-you that I have seen glimmerings of the god in him, but outside the

-routine of his work the man&rsquo;s mind is clogged. He&rsquo;s not

-much over fifty, and he has no outlet, now, for his desires. He&rsquo;s

-like a man with choked pores, and his body is poisoned. And in this

-particular Gosling is certainly no exception either to his class or to

-the great mass of civilized man. Well, what I wonder is whether in a

-society which is built up of interdependent units the whole can be

-sound when the greater number of the constituent units are

-rotten.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But look here, old chap,&rdquo; protested Gurney,

-&ldquo;if things are as you say, and men rule the country, why

-shouldn&rsquo;t they alter public opinion, and so open the way to do as

-they jolly well please?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Because the majority are too much ashamed of

-their desires to dare the attempt in the first place, and in the second

-because they don&rsquo;t wish to open the way for other men. They

-aren&rsquo;t united in this; they are as jealous as women. If they once

-opened <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb26" href="#pb26" name=

-"pb26">26</a>]</span>the way to free love, their own belongings

-wouldn&rsquo;t be safe.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your remedy, then?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! a few thousand more years of moral

-development,&rdquo; said Thrale, carelessly, &ldquo;an evolution

-towards self-consciousness, a fuller understanding of the meaning of

-life, and a finer altruism.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look far ahead,&rdquo; remarked

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you think anyone can look even a year

-ahead?&rdquo; asked Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There have been some pretty good attempts in some

-ways&mdash;Swedenborg, for instance, and Samuel Butler....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes, that&rsquo;s all right, in some

-ways&mdash;the development of certain sorts of knowledge, for example.

-But there is always the chance of the unpredictable element coming in

-and upsetting the whole calculation. Some invention may do it, an

-unforeseen clash of opinions or an epidemic....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">For a time they drifted further away from their original

-topic till some remark reminded Gurney that he had meant to ask a

-question and had forgotten it.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;By the way,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wanted to

-ask you what you meant when you said you had seen a god in old

-Gosling?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Just a touch of imagination and wonder, now and

-again,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;Something he was quite unconscious

-of himself. I remember standing with him on Blackfriars Bridge, and he

-looked down at the river and said: &lsquo;I s&rsquo;pose it was clean

-once, banks and sand and so on, before all this muck <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb27" href="#pb27" name=

-"pb27">27</a>]</span>came.&rsquo; Then he looked at me quickly to see

-if I was laughing at him. That was the god in him trying to create

-purity out of filth, even though it was only a casual thought. It was

-smothered again at once. His training reasserted itself. &lsquo;Lot

-better for trade the way it is, though,&rsquo; was his next

-remark.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But how can you alter it?&rdquo; asked

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear chap, you can&rsquo;t alter these things

-by any cut-and-dried plan, any more than you can dam the Gulf Stream.

-We can only lay a brick or two in the right place. We aren&rsquo;t the

-architects; the best of us are only bricklayers, and the best of the

-best can only lay two or three bricks in a lifetime. Our job is to do

-that if we can. We can only guess very feebly at the design of the

-building; and often it is our duty partly to pull down the work that

-our forefathers built....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Presently Gurney asked if his companion had ever seen a

-god in Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale shook his head. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t come

-within my experience,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t condemn her on

-that account, but she, like all the women I have ever met, has been too

-intent upon the facts of life ever to see its mystery. Mrs Gosling

-hadn&rsquo;t the power to conceive an abstract idea; she had to make

-some application of it to her own particular experience before she

-could understand the simplest concept. Morality to her signified people

-who behaved as she and her family did; wickedness meant vaguely,

-criminals, Sarah Jones who was an unmarried mother, and anyone who

-didn&rsquo;t believe in the God of the Established Church. Always

-people, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb28" href="#pb28" name=

-"pb28">28</a>]</span>you see, in this connexion; in others it might be

-things; but ideas apart from people or things she couldn&rsquo;t grasp.

-Her two daughters thought in precisely the same way....&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">One Saturday afternoon Thrale came into

-Gurney&rsquo;s chambers and burst out: &ldquo;Just Heaven! why you

-fools stand it I can&rsquo;t imagine!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up now?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale sat down and drew his chair up to the table. The

-pupils of his dark eyes were contracted and seemed to glow as if they

-were illuminated from within.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I was in Oxford Street this morning, watching the

-women at the sales,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All the biggest shops in

-London are devoted to women&rsquo;s clothes. Do you realize that? And

-it&rsquo;s not only that they&rsquo;re the biggest&mdash;there are more

-of them than any other six trades put together can show, bar the drink

-trade, of course. The north side of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court

-Road to the Marble Arch is one long succession of huge drapers and

-milliners. And what in God&rsquo;s name is the sense or reason of it?

-What do these huge shops sell?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Dresses, I suppose,&rdquo; ventured Gurney,

-&ldquo;and stockings, underlinen, corsets, hats, and so on.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>And</i> frippery,&rdquo; said Thrale, fixing

-his brilliant dark eyes on Gurney, &ldquo;And <i>frippery</i>. Machine

-lace, ribbons, yokes, cheap blouses, feathers, insertions, belts, fifty

-thousand different kinds of bits and rags to be tacked on here and

-there, worn for a few <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb29" href="#pb29"

-name="pb29">29</a>]</span>weeks and then thrown away. Millions of

-little frivolous, stupid odds and ends that are bought by women and

-girls of all classes below the motor-class, to make a

-pretence&mdash;gauds and tawdry rubbish not one whit better from the

-artistic point of view than the shells and feathers of any half-naked

-Melanesian savage. In fact, meaningless as the Melanesians&rsquo;

-decorations are, they do achieve more effect. And what&rsquo;s it all

-for, I ask you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn&rsquo;t

-it?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The desire&mdash;often subconscious, no

-doubt&mdash;to attract.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, if that is so,&rdquo; said Thrale,

-&ldquo;what terribly unintelligent fools women must be! If women really

-set out to attract men, they must realize that they are pandering to a

-sex instinct. Do you think any man is attracted by a litter of odds and

-ends? Doesn&rsquo;t every woman sneer when they see some Frenchwoman,

-perhaps, who dresses to display her figure instead of hiding it?

-Don&rsquo;t they bitterly resent the fact that their own men-folk are

-resistlessly drawn to stare at, and inwardly desire, such a woman?

-Don&rsquo;t they know perfectly well that such a woman is attractive to

-men in a way their own disguised bodies can never be?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, old chap; but your average middle-class

-English girl hasn&rsquo;t got the physical attractions to start

-with,&rdquo; put in Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Look at it in another way, then,&rdquo; replied

-Thrale. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t every woman know perfectly

-well&mdash;haven&rsquo;t you heard them say&mdash;that a nurse&rsquo;s

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb30" href="#pb30" name=

-"pb30">30</a>]</span>dress is very becoming&mdash;a plain, more or less

-tightly-fitting print dress, with linen collars and cuffs? Don&rsquo;t

-you know yourself that that attire is more attractive to you than any

-befrilled and bedecorated arrangement of lace, ribbons and gauds? Why

-are so many men irresistibly attracted by parlourmaids and

-housemaids?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; meditated Gurney, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s

-all true enough. Well, are women all fools, or what is it?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The majority of women are <i>sheep</i>,&rdquo;

-said Thrale. &ldquo;They follow as they are led, and don&rsquo;t or

-won&rsquo;t see that they are being led. And the leaders are chiefly

-men&mdash;men who have trumpery to sell. Why do the fashions change

-every year&mdash;sometimes more often than that in matters of detail?

-Because the trade would smash if they didn&rsquo;t. New fashions must

-be forced on the buyers, or the returns would drop; women would be able

-to make their last year&rsquo;s clothes do for another summer. That

-must be stopped at any cost. Those vast establishments must maintain an

-enormous turnover if they are to pay their fabulous rents and armies of

-assistants. There are two means of keeping up the sales, and both are

-utilized to the full. The first is to supply cheap, miraculously cheap,

-rubbish which cannot be made to last for more than a season. The second

-is to alter the fashions which affect the more durable stuffs, so that

-last year&rsquo;s dresses cannot be used again. This fashion-working

-scheme reacts upon the poorer buyers, because it compels them to do

-something to imitate the prevailing mode, if they can&rsquo;t afford to

-have entirely new frocks. That is where all these <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb31" href="#pb31" name="pb31">31</a>]</span>bits of

-frilling and what-not come in; make-believe stuff to imitate the real

-buyers&mdash;the large majority of whom don&rsquo;t buy in Oxford

-Street, by the way.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mind you, there is a limit to the sheep-like

-docility of women in this connexion. They refused, for instance, to

-return to the crinoline, and they refused the harem skirt&mdash;one of

-the very few sensible devices of the fashion-imposers. And this in the

-face of the prolonged, strenuous and expensive methods of the fashion

-ring. With regard to the crinoline, I think that failure was due to

-over-conceit on the part of the fashion-imposers. They had come to

-believe that they could make the poor fools of women accept anything,

-and on the two marked occasions on which they attempted to introduce

-the crinoline, the contrast to the existing mode was too glaring. If

-the fraud had been worked more gradually by way of full skirts and

-flounces, some modification of the crinoline to the necessities of

-&rsquo;buses and tubes might have been foisted upon the

-buyers.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, my Lord!&rdquo; ejaculated Gurney; &ldquo;do

-you mean to say that women just accept these fashions without any sense

-or reason at all?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re rather a blithering ass, at times,

-Gurney,&rdquo; remarked Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney smiled. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t give me time to

-think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I feel like an accumulator being charged.

-I haven&rsquo;t had time yet to begin working on my own account.

-You&rsquo;re so mighty&mdash;so mighty dynamic&mdash;and positive, old

-chap.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s so absurdly obvious that there

-must be a reason for women accepting the fashions, you <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb32" href="#pb32" name=

-"pb32">32</a>]</span>idiot!&rdquo; returned Thrale. &ldquo;And the

-first and biggest reason is class distinction. The women with money

-want to brag of it by differentiating themselves from the ruck of their

-sisters, and the poor women try to imitate them to the best of their

-ability. Women dress for other women. There is sex rivalry as well as

-class rivalry at the bottom of it, but they dare not put sex rivalry

-first and dress to please men alone, because they are afraid of the

-opinions of other women.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Sounds all right,&rdquo; said Gurney, and

-sighed.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And we, damned fools of men, stand all this

-foolishness and <i>pay</i> for it. Pay, by Jove! I should think so! I

-should like to see the trade returns of all the stuff of this kind that

-is sold in England alone in one year. They would make the naval

-estimates look small, I&rsquo;ll warrant. We even imitate the

-women&rsquo;s foolishness in some degree. There are men&rsquo;s

-fashions too, but the madness is not so marked; fortunately the body of

-middle-class men can&rsquo;t afford to make fools of themselves as well

-as of their women&mdash;though they are asses enough to wear linen

-shirts and collars which are uncomfortable unsightly and expensive to

-wash.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney regarded his lecturer&rsquo;s canvas shirt and

-collar, and then stood up and observed his own immaculate linen in the

-glass over the fireplace. &ldquo;I must say I like stiff collars and

-shirts,&rdquo; he remarked; &ldquo;gives one a kind of

-spruceness.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only another sex

-instinct,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Women like men to look

-&lsquo;smart.&rsquo; When you are playing games with other men, or

-camping <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb33" href="#pb33" name=

-"pb33">33</a>]</span>out, you don&rsquo;t care a hang for your

-&lsquo;spruceness.&rsquo; Oh! and I&rsquo;ll admit the class

-distinction rot comes in too. You&rsquo;re afraid of public opinion,

-afraid of being thought common. If the jeunesse dor&eacute;e started

-the soft shirt in real earnest, you would soon be able to persuade your

-women that that looked smart or spruce, or whatever you liked to call

-it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, you know,&rdquo; said Gurney,

-&ldquo;you&rsquo;re an anarchist, that&rsquo;s what you are.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re half a woman, Gurney,&rdquo; said

-Thrale. &ldquo;You think in names. All people are

-&lsquo;anarchists&rsquo; who think in ideas instead of following

-conventions.&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">5</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Not until he had been staying with Gurney for more

-than a week did Thrale speak explicitly of his purpose in London. But

-one cold evening at the end of January, as the two men were sitting by

-a roaring fire that Gurney had built up, the younger man unknowingly

-opened the subject by saying,</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Things are pretty slack at the present moment.

-The <i>Evening Chronicle</i> has even fallen back on the &lsquo;New

-Plague&rsquo; for the sake of news.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What do they say?&rdquo; asked Thrale. He was

-lying back in his chair, nursing one knee, and staring up at the

-ceiling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, the usual rot!&rdquo; said Gurney &ldquo;That

-the thing isn&rsquo;t understood, has never been

-&lsquo;described&rsquo; by any medical or scientific authority; that it

-is apparently confined to one little corner of Asia at the present

-time, but that if it got hold in Europe <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb34" href="#pb34" name="pb34">34</a>]</span>it might be serious. And

-then a lot of yap about the unknown forces of Nature; special article

-by a chap who&rsquo;s been reading too much Wells, I should

-imagine.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It seems so incredible to us in twentieth-century

-England that anything really serious could happen,&rdquo; remarked

-Thrale. &ldquo;We are so well looked after and cared for. We sit down

-and wait for some authority to move, with a perfect confidence that

-when it does move, everything is bound to be all right.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;With such an organism as society has

-become,&rdquo; said Gurney, &ldquo;things must be worked like that. A

-certain group to perform one function, other groups for other

-functions, and so on.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Cell-specialization?&rdquo; commented Thrale.

-&ldquo;Some day to be perfected in socialism.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I believe socialism must come in some

-form,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s an interesting speculation, in

-some ways,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;but the higher forces are about

-to put a new spoke in the human wheel, and the machinery has to be

-stopped for a time.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What have you got hold of now?&rdquo; asked

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The thoughtful man,&rdquo; went on Thrale, still

-staring up at the ceiling, &ldquo;would have asked me to define my

-expression &lsquo;the higher forces.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, old man, I knew that was beyond even your

-capacity,&rdquo; returned Gurney, &ldquo;so I thought we might

-&lsquo;cut the cackle and come to the &rsquo;osses.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale suddenly released his knee and sat upright;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb35" href="#pb35" name=

-"pb35">35</a>]</span>then he moved his chair so that he directly

-confronted his companion.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Gurney,&rdquo; he said, and the pupils

-of his eyes contracted till they looked like black crystal glowing with

-dark red light. &ldquo;Do you realize how some outside control has

-always diverted man&rsquo;s progress; how when nations have tended to

-crystallize into specialized government, some irruption from outside

-has always broken it up? You can trace the principle through all known

-history, but the most marked cases are those of the Egyptians and the

-Incas&mdash;two nations which had developed specialized government to a

-science. There is some power&mdash;whether we can credit it with an

-intelligence in any way comprehensible to us from the feeble basis of

-our own knowledge, I doubt&mdash;but there is some outside power which

-will not permit mankind to crystallize into an organism. From our,

-human, point of view, from the point of view of individual comfort and

-happiness, it would be of enormous benefit to us if we could develop a

-system of specialization and swamp the individual in the community. And

-in times of peace and prosperity that is always the direction in which

-civilization tends to evolve. But beyond a certain point&mdash;as the

-individualists have not failed to point out&mdash;that state of perfect

-government will lead to stagnation, degeneration, death. Now, in the

-little span of time that we know as the history of mankind, there has

-been no world-civilization. As soon as a nation tended to become

-over-civilized and degenerate, some other, younger, more barbarous

-people flowed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb36" href="#pb36" name=

-"pb36">36</a>]</span>over them and wiped them out. In the case of Peru

-the process had gone very far, owing to the advantages of the

-Incas&rsquo; peculiar segregation. But then, you see, the development

-in the East, the new world (I ought to explain that I find the oldest

-civilization of the present epoch in America) reached a point in Spain

-and England which sent them out across a hemisphere to wreck and

-destroy the Incas.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we have now reached a condition when the

-nations are in touch with one another and progress becomes more

-general. We are in sight of a system of European, Colonial and

-Trans-Atlantic Socialism, more or less reciprocal and carrying the

-promise of universal peace. Whence, you ask, is any irruption to come

-that will break up this strong crystallizing system which is admittedly

-to work for the happiness and comfort of the individual? There has been

-much talk of an Asiatic invasion, a rebellious India or an invading

-China, but those civilizations are older than ours; if we can trust the

-precedents of history in this connexion, the conquerors have always

-been the younger race.&rdquo; He broke off abruptly.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney had been sitting fascinated and hypnotized by the

-compulsion of Thrale&rsquo;s personality; he had been held by the keen,

-intent stare of those wonderful dark eyes. When Thrale stopped,

-however, the tension snapped.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; remarked Gurney, &ldquo;I think

-that&rsquo;s a jolly good argument to prove that we have, at last,

-reached a stage of universal progress towards the ideal.&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb37" href="#pb37" name=

-"pb37">37</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t conceive,&rdquo; asked Thrale,

-&ldquo;of any cataclysm that would involve a return to the old

-segregation of nations, and bring about a new epoch beginning with

-separated peoples evolving on more or less racial lines?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney pondered for a moment or two and then shook his

-head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Little wonder,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;I had

-often considered this problem, and I could think of no upheaval which

-would bring about the familiar effect of submersion. Years ago there

-was always the possibility of a European war, but even that would have

-only a temporary effect despite the forecast of Mr Wells in <i>The War

-in the Air</i>. No, I considered and wondered if my theory was faulty.

-I was willing to reject it if I could find a flaw....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And then?&rdquo; questioned Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale leaned forward again and once more compelled the

-other&rsquo;s fascinated attention.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And then, when I was in Northern China, seven

-weeks ago, I saw a solution, so appalling, so inconceivably ghastly,

-that I rejected it with horror. For days I went about fighting my own

-conviction. I couldn&rsquo;t believe it! By God, I <i>would</i> not

-believe it!</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There, within a hundred and fifty miles of the

-border of Tibet, the outside forces have planted a seed which has been

-maturing in secret for more than a year. There that seed has taken

-root, and from that centre is spreading more and more rapidly, and it

-may spread over the whole world. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb38"

-href="#pb38" name="pb38">38</a>]</span>It is like some filthily

-poisonous and incredibly prolific weed, and its seeds, now that it has

-once established itself, are borne by every wind, dropping here and

-there in an ever-widening circle, every seed becoming a fresh centre of

-distribution outwards.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But what, in Heaven&rsquo;s name, is the

-weed?&rdquo; whispered Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;A new disease&mdash;a new plague&mdash;unknown by

-man, against which, so far as we know, he has no weapon. In those

-scattered villages among the mountains there are no men left to work.

-Everything is done by women. They are prohibited more fiercely than any

-leper settlement. No one dares to approach within five miles of them.

-But every week or two another village is smitten, and the inhabitants

-fly in terror and carry the infection with them.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Gurney, it&rsquo;s come to Europe! There are new

-centres of distribution in Russia at the present time. If it

-isn&rsquo;t stopped it will come to England. And it doesn&rsquo;t

-decimate the population. It wipes the men clean out of existence; not

-one man in ten thousand, the Chinese say, escapes.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Is it possible that this can be the means of the

-&lsquo;higher forces&rsquo; I spoke of, the means to segregate the

-nations once more?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb39" href=

-"#pb39" name="pb39">39</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch3" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">III&mdash;</span>LONDON&rsquo;S

-INCREDULITY</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s mission was no easy one.

-England, it appeared, was slightly preoccupied at the moment, and had

-no ear for warnings. Generally, he was either treated as a fanatic and

-laughed at, or he was told that he greatly exaggerated the danger and

-that these matters could safely be entrusted to the Local Government

-Board, which had brilliantly handled the recent outbreak of

-foot-and-mouth disease. But there were some exceptions to this

-rule.</p>

-<p class="par">His first definite statement had been made to his own

-editor, Watson Maxwell of the <i>Daily Post</i>.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Maxwell, when he had given

-Thrale a patient hearing, &ldquo;it is certainly a matter that needs

-attention. Would you care to go out as our special commissioner and

-report at length?...&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t time,&rdquo; replied Thrale.

-&ldquo;The thing is urgent.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Maxwell brought his eyebrows together and looked keenly

-at his correspondent. &ldquo;Do you really think it&rsquo;s so serious,

-Thrale?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;After all, what evidence have you,

-beyond the Chinese reports?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I know there are several cases in Russia,&rdquo;

-said Thrale. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb40" href="#pb40" name=

-"pb40">40</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes; I don&rsquo;t doubt that,&rdquo;

-returned Maxwell, with a touch of impatience. &ldquo;But unless you can

-bring evidence to show that this new disease is as deadly as you say,

-it is not a matter that I could give space to at the present time. For

-one thing, the <i>Evening Chronicle</i> has been making rather a

-feature of it for the last three or four days, and I don&rsquo;t see

-that I could do much unless we had some special inside information.

-Then, the House will be sitting again next week, and it seems to me not

-altogether improbable that we shall have a stormy session, which will

-mean that a good deal of ordinary matter will have to give

-way....&rdquo; He broke off, and then added, with a friendly smile:

-&ldquo;But if you would go out as our commissioner, we should be glad

-to make you a proposal.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There will be no need for a commissioner in a

-week&rsquo;s time,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t seem

-to understand that I&rsquo;m not looking out for a job. I don&rsquo;t

-want to write articles; I don&rsquo;t want to be paid for the

-information I can supply. I foresee a grave danger, which is growing

-more grave hourly by reason of the Russian Government&rsquo;s

-censorship of all reports referring to the plague. It is a danger which

-should be understood at once. If you send any commissioner, send the

-cleverest physician you can find, and a bacteriologist.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">There could be no doubt of Thrale&rsquo;s earnestness,

-and Maxwell, who was not only a very capable editor, but also an able

-and intellectual man, was impressed. Unfortunately, the interests of

-his proprietors at that moment necessitated a great effort <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb41" href="#pb41" name="pb41">41</a>]</span>to prop

-up the very unstable Liberal Government, which had been in power for

-four years and was now on its last legs. It was so essential from the

-proprietors&rsquo; point of view&mdash;three of them were on the

-Government front bench&mdash;that the dissolution should be postponed

-until such time as the Ministry could go to the country with a

-reasonable prospect of success. A tentative English Church

-Disestablishment Bill was to be introduced in the coming session, and

-it was hoped that if the Government had to go to the country they could

-make a platform on that one clear issue. It was a good Bill, designed

-to win the Nonconformist vote, without completely alienating the High

-Church party. In other words, the Government was eager at that moment

-to please the majority of the electors, which is, presumably, the

-highest object of a representative government.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If it had been at any other time,&rdquo; said

-Maxwell, and pushed his chair back.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale understood that the interview was at an end. He

-rose from his chair and picked up his hat.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall be glad to print any articles you care

-to send us,&rdquo; said Maxwell, with his kind smile, &ldquo;but I

-can&rsquo;t undertake a campaign, you understand, at the present

-moment.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">It was nearly four o&rsquo;clock, but Thrale just

-managed to catch Groves of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Groves had his hat on, and was just off to tea at

-his club when Thrale&rsquo;s name was sent in to him. He <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb42" href="#pb42" name="pb42">42</a>]</span>told the

-messenger that he would see Mr Thrale in the waiting-room

-downstairs.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale had had some experience of newspaper methods, and

-he inferred that the reception was equivalent to a refusal to see him.

-He knew what those interviews in downstairs waiting-rooms implied. It

-was not the first time that he had been treated like an insurance agent

-or a tradesman and told, in effect, &ldquo;Not to-day, thank

-you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">In this case he was mistaken in his inference. Groves

-had had an eye on Thrale&rsquo;s articles for some time past, and

-though he thought it a diplomatic essential to keep his man waiting for

-ten minutes, he had no intention of offending him.</p>

-<p class="par">Groves came into the waiting-room with a slightly

-abstracted air. &ldquo;Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Thrale,&rdquo; he

-said. &ldquo;The fact is, that I wanted to finish before I left. Did

-you want to see me about anything particular?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; returned Thrale; &ldquo;I have some

-facts about the new plague which ought to be given publicity at

-once.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Groves pursed his thick lips and shook his head.

-&ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;will you come and have tea

-with me at the club?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He took Thrale&rsquo;s assent for granted, and went out

-abruptly, leaving his guest to follow.</p>

-<p class="par">In the taxicab Groves talked of nothing but the lack of

-originality in invention in reference to aeroplanes. He seemed to take

-it as a personal affront that no workable adaptation of the aeroplane

-had been made to short-distance passenger traffic. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb43" href="#pb43" name="pb43">43</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Indeed, it was not till after &ldquo;tea&rdquo;&mdash;in

-Groves&rsquo; case an euphemism for whisky and soda&mdash;that he would

-approach the subject of Thrale&rsquo;s visit.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The fact is, my dear fellow,&rdquo; he said,

-&ldquo;that our campaign hasn&rsquo;t caught on. I&rsquo;m going to let

-it down gently and drop it after to-day&rsquo;s edition. You see,

-we&rsquo;ve got to get the Government out this session, and I&rsquo;m

-going to start a new campaign. Can&rsquo;t give you any particulars

-yet, but you&rsquo;ll see the beginning of it next Monday.&rdquo; Like

-Maxwell, Groves differentiated between the uses of the singular and

-plural pronouns in speaking of his work. There was a distinction to be

-inferred between the initiation and responsibilities of the editor and

-those of his proprietors.</p>

-<p class="par">Groves was not at all impressed by any earnestness or

-forebodings. He seemed to think that a touch of the plague in London

-might be rather a good thing in some ways. People wanted waking

-up&mdash;especially to the importance of getting rid of the present

-Government.</p>

-<p class="par">It appeared that Thrale&rsquo;s articles on other

-subjects would be acceptable to the readers of the <i>Evening

-Chronicle</i>, but there was no suggestion that he should go out to

-Russia as a special commissioner.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Grant Lacey, of <i>The Times</i>, listened

-seriously to Thrale&rsquo;s exposition, and then, in a finely delivered

-speech which lasted twenty minutes, proved to his own complete

-satisfaction that Thrale&rsquo;s <span class="corr" id="xd23e901"

-title="Source: premisses">premises</span>, deductions, and whole

-argument were thoroughly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb44" href=

-"#pb44" name="pb44">44</a>]</span>unsound. Lacey, however, was greatly

-interested in the condition of Russia, and promised Thrale magnificent

-terms if he would tour St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw&mdash;and

-then return and contribute a special series of articles. References to

-the new plague would not be prohibited in the series if Thrale still

-found any cause for alarm.</p>

-<p class="par">In all, Thrale had interviews with the editors of nine

-important journals; the other six developed on the general lines

-already indicated&mdash;either he was not taken seriously or was told

-that the danger was greatly exaggerated. The real causes of his failure

-were two:&mdash;first, the critical position of the Government; second,

-the precocious campaign of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>&mdash;the

-latter had taken the wind out of the sails of less enterprising

-journals.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale&rsquo;s next step was to obtain introductions to

-Ministers and prominent members of the Opposition; but from them he

-received even less attention&mdash;he did not obtain interviews on many

-occasions&mdash;and, if possible, less encouragement. The President of

-the Local Government Board informed him that the matter was already

-engaging that department&rsquo;s energies; the others were all

-manifestly preoccupied with more immediate interests.</p>

-<p class="par">But little less than a fortnight after the initiation of

-his campaign Thrale received a special message from the editor of the

-<i>Daily Post</i>. It was nearly midnight, and the messenger was

-waiting with a taxicab.</p>

-<p class="par">The message ran: &ldquo;Received through news agency

-report of three cases of plague in Berlin. Can you come down at

-once?&mdash;Maxwell.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb45" href=

-"#pb45" name="pb45">45</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch4" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">IV&mdash;</span>MR BARKER&rsquo;S

-FLAIR</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Jasper Thrale, in the partial exposition of his

-philosophy (if that description is not too large for such vague

-imaginings), had included very definite reference to certain

-&ldquo;higher forces&rdquo; to which he had attributed peculiar powers

-of interference in humanity&rsquo;s management of its own concerns.

-Doubtless these powers had control of various instruments, and were

-able to exercise their influence in any direction and by any means. In

-the present case it would seem that they were working in devious and

-subtle ways&mdash;and in this at least they differed not at all from

-the methods attributable to that we have called Providence, or the Laws

-of Nature; any assumed guide or irrefragible, incomprehensible

-ordination. It is a common characteristic of these forces that they

-seem able to control the inconceivably great and the inconceivably

-small with equal certitude.</p>

-<p class="par">Not that George Gosling touched any limits. He was

-moderately large in body and small in intellect, but neither the

-physical excess nor the mental deficiency marked him out from his

-fellow men. In the office, indeed, he was regarded by the firm and his

-colleagues as a capable man of business whose <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb46" href="#pb46" name=

-"pb46">46</a>]</span>embonpoint was quite consistent with his

-employment by a firm of wholesale provision merchants.</p>

-<p class="par">On the Thursday morning that saw the announcement in the

-morning papers that a case of the new plague was reported in Berlin,

-Gosling was called into the partners&rsquo; private office on some

-matter of accountancy.</p>

-<p class="par">The senior partner of Barker and Prince was eager,

-grasping and imaginative; his name had originally been German, and

-ended, in &ldquo;stein,&rdquo; but he had changed it for the

-convenience of his English connexion. Prince was a large rubicund man,

-friendly and noisy in his manners, but accounted a shrewd buyer.</p>

-<p class="par">It was not until Gosling was about to depart that the

-higher forces turned their attention to Barbican and then they suddenly

-urged Gosling to say, without premeditation on his part,</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I see there&rsquo;s a case of this &rsquo;ere new

-plague in Berlin.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mr Prince laughed and winked at his subordinate.

-&ldquo;Some of us&rsquo;ll have to start a hareem, soon; who

-knows?&rdquo; he said, and laughed again, more loudly than ever.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose you haf not heard any other reports,

-eh?&rdquo; asked Mr Barker.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, curiously enough, I &rsquo;ave,&rdquo; said

-Gosling. &ldquo;A young feller who used to lodge with us five years

-back, come &rsquo;ome from Russia about a fortnight since, and &rsquo;e

-tells me as the plague&rsquo;s spreadin&rsquo; like wildfire in

-Russia.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mr Prince laughed again, and Mr Barker seemed

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb47" href="#pb47" name=

-"pb47">47</a>]</span>about to turn his attention to other matters, when

-the higher forces sent Gosling the one great inspiration of his life.

-It came to him with startling suddenness, but he gave utterance to it

-as simply and with as little verve as he spoke his &ldquo;good

-morning&rdquo; to the office-boy.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I been thinkin&rsquo;, sir,&rdquo; he said (he

-had never once thought of it until this moment), &ldquo;as it might be

-well to keep a neye on this plague, so to speak.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! Zo?&rdquo; said Mr Barker; a phrase which

-Gosling correctly interpreted as the expression of a desire for the

-elucidation of his last remark.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I been thinkin&rsquo;, if you&rsquo;ll

-excuse me, sir,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;as though the plague&rsquo;s

-only in the bud, so to speak, at the present time, it seems very likely

-to spread so far as we can judge; and that what with quarantine,

-p&rsquo;raps, and p&rsquo;raps shortage of labour and so on, it might

-mean &rsquo;igher prices for our stuff.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Zo!&rdquo; said Mr Barker, but this time the

-monosyllable was reflective. The great inspiration had found fruitful

-soil.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Brince,&rdquo; continued Barker after a

-minute&rsquo;s thought, &ldquo;I haf a flair. We will buy heavily at

-once. But not through our London house, no; or others will follow us

-too quickly. <i>You</i> must not go, we will zend Ztewart from Dundee,

-it will zeem that we prepare for the zhipping strike in the north. We

-buy heavily; yes? I haf a flair.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But, I say,&rdquo; said Mr Prince, who had the

-greatest confidence in his partner&rsquo;s insight, &ldquo;I say,

-Barker, d&rsquo;you think this plague&rsquo;s serious?&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb48" href="#pb48" name=

-"pb48">48</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I am putting money on it, ain&rsquo;t I?&rdquo;

-asked Barker.</p>

-<p class="par">Prince and Gosling exchanged a scared glance. Until that

-moment it had not come home to either of them that it was possible for

-English affairs to be affected by this strange and deadly disease.</p>

-<p class="par">The remainder of the conversation was complicated and

-exceedingly technical.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">When he came back into the counting-house, Gosling

-looked unnaturally thoughtful.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Anything gorne wrong?&rdquo; asked his crony,

-Flack.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with the &rsquo;ouse,

-if that&rsquo;s what you mean,&rdquo; replied Gosling mysteriously.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What then?&rdquo; asked Flack.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s this &rsquo;ere new plague,&rdquo;

-returned Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Tchah! That&rsquo;s all my eye,&rdquo; said

-Flack. He was a narrow-chested, high-shouldered man of sixty, with a

-thin grey beard, and he had a consistently incredulous mind.</p>

-<p class="par">Out here in the counting-house, Gosling&rsquo;s thrill

-of fear was rapidly subsiding, and he had no intention of passing over

-his own important part in the house&rsquo;s decision to buy for a rise;

-so he bulged out his cheeks, shook his head and said:</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not by a long chalk it ain&rsquo;t, Flack; not by

-a long chalk. There was that young feller, Thrale, as I was

-tellin&rsquo; you about; &rsquo;e gave me a hidea or two, and now

-s&rsquo;mornin&rsquo; we &rsquo;ave this very serious news from

-Berlin.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb49" href="#pb49" name=

-"pb49">49</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Papers &rsquo;ave to make the worst of

-everything,&rdquo; said Flack. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s their

-livin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Anyways,&rdquo; continued Gosling, &ldquo;I put

-it quite straight to the &rsquo;ouse this mornin&rsquo;, as we might do

-worse under the circumstances than buy &rsquo;eavily....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You <i>did</i>?&rdquo; asked Flack, and he cocked

-up his spectacles and looked at Gosling underneath them.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; replied Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What did Mr Barker say to that?&rdquo; asked

-Flack.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;He took my advice.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes, you don&rsquo;t tell me

-so?&rdquo; said Flack, his spectacles on his forehead.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m now about to dictate various letters to

-our &rsquo;ouse in Dundee,&rdquo; replied Gosling, dropping his voice

-to a whisper, and assuming an air of mysterious importance,

-&ldquo;advising them to send our Mr Stewart to Vienna immediate, from

-where &rsquo;e is to proceed to Berlin. &rsquo;E is, also, to

-&rsquo;ave private instructions from the &rsquo;ouse as to the extent

-of &lsquo;is buyin&rsquo;&mdash;which I may tell you in confidence,

-Flack, will be enormous&mdash;e-<i>nor</i>mous.&rdquo; Gosling raised

-his head slowly on the first syllable, brought it down with a jerk on

-the second, and left the third largely to the imagination.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But d&rsquo;yer mean to tell me,&rdquo;

-expostulated Flack, &ldquo;as all this is on account of this plague?

-They been usin&rsquo; that as a blind, my boy.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling laid a bunch of swollen fingers on his

-colleague&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;I tell you, Flack, old boy,&rdquo; he

-said, &ldquo;that this is serious. When Mr Barker took up my advice, as

-&rsquo;e did very quick, Mr Prince said, &lsquo;You don&rsquo;t tell me

-as you really take this plague serious, Barker?&rsquo; &rsquo;e said.

-And Mr Barker looked up <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb50" href=

-"#pb50" name="pb50">50</a>]</span>and says, <span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e1025" title="Source: &ldquo;">&lsquo;</span>I&rsquo;m goin&rsquo;

-to put all my money on it.&rsquo;&rdquo; Gosling paused and then

-repeated, &ldquo;Mr Barker says as &rsquo;e&rsquo;s goin&rsquo; to put

-all our money on it, Flack.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes!&rdquo; said Flack. Here,

-indeed, was an argument strong enough to break down even his consistent

-incredulity. &ldquo;But d&rsquo;yer mean to tell me,&rdquo; he

-persisted, &ldquo;that Mr Barker thinks as it&rsquo;ll come to

-England?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We-el, you know,&rdquo; returned Gosling,

-&ldquo;we need not, p&rsquo;raps go quite so far as that. But it may go

-far enough to interfere with European markets, there may be trouble

-with quarantine, and such-like....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah, well, that,&rdquo; said Flack with an air of

-relief. &ldquo;Jus&rsquo; <i>so</i>, jus&rsquo; <i>so</i>. Mr Barker

-can see as far through a brick wall as most people, and so I&rsquo;ve

-always said.&rdquo; He dropped his spectacles on to his nose again, and

-returned to his interrupted accountancy.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling went fussily into his own room and rang for his

-typist&mdash;a competent and presentable young woman, among whose

-duties that of turning her superior&rsquo;s letters into equivalent

-English was not the lightest.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Gosling was very full of importance that day, and

-during lunch he wore the air of a man who had secret and valuable

-information. He was too well versed in City methods and too loyal to

-his own house to give any hint of Barker and Prince&rsquo;s

-speculations in Austria and Germany; but when the subject of the new

-plague inevitably came into the conversation, <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb51" href="#pb51" name="pb51">51</a>]</span>he spoke

-with an authority that was heightened by the hint of reserve implicit

-in his every dictum.</p>

-<p class="par">When the latest joke on the subject, fresh from the

-Stock Exchange, had been retailed by one of the usual group of

-lunchers, and had been received with the guffaws it merited, Gosling

-suddenly screwed his face to an unaccustomed seriousness and said,

-&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s serious, you know, extremely serious.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">And by degrees, from this and many other better informed

-sources, the rumour ran through the City that the new plague was

-serious, extremely serious. That afternoon there was a slight drop of

-prices in certain industrial shares, and a slight rise in wheat and

-some other imported food stuffs; fluctuations which could not be

-attributed to ordinary causes. Mr Barker&rsquo;s foresight was

-justified once again in the eyes of Gosling and Flack. Before five

-o&rsquo;clock another letter was posted to Dundee, enforcing haste.</p>

-<p class="par">In the bosom of his family that evening, Gosling was a

-little pompous, and talked of economy. But his wife and daughters,

-although they assumed an air of interest, were quite convinced that the

-head of the house in Wisteria Grove was making the most of a rumour for

-his own purposes.</p>

-<p class="par">As Blanche said to Millie, later, father was always

-finding some excuse for keeping them short of dress money. That five

-pounds had proved inadequate to supply even their immediate

-necessities, and they were already meditating another attack.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We simply must get another three pounds

-somehow,&rdquo; said Millie. And Blanche quite agreed with her.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb52" href="#pb52" name=

-"pb52">52</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">V&mdash;</span>THE CLOSED

-DOOR</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">There was a lull for forty-eight hours after that

-announcement of the case of the new plague in Berlin, and Maxwell was

-beginning to regret his headlines when the news began to come in, this

-time in volume. The Russian censorship had broken down, and the news

-agencies were suddenly flooded with reports. There were several

-thousand cases of the plague in Eastern Russia; the north and south

-were affected, many men were dying in such towns as Kharkov and Rostov;

-there were a dozen cases in St Petersburg; there was a such a rush of

-reports that it was quite impossible to distinguish between those that

-were probably true and those that were certainly false.</p>

-<p class="par">The morning papers gave as much space as they could

-spare, and had even broken up some of the matter dealing with the

-arrangements for the opening of Parliament on that day. But the evening

-papers had news that put all previous reports in the shade. Eleven more

-cases were reported in Berlin<span class="corr" id="xd23e1073" title=

-"Not in source">,</span> three in Hamburg, five in Prague and one in

-Vienna<span class="corr" id="xd23e1076" title="Not in source">.</span>

-But more important, more thrilling still, was the news that H.I.H. the

-Grand Duke Kirylo, the Tsar&rsquo;s younger brother, had died of the

-plague in Moscow, and Professor Schlesinger in Berlin. Until that

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb53" href="#pb53" name=

-"pb53">53</a>]</span>startling announcement came, the English public

-had incomprehensibly imagined that only peasants, Chinamen and people

-of the lower social grades were attacked by this strange new

-infection.</p>

-<p class="par">In the later editions it was reported on good authority

-that Professor Schlesinger had been observing a sample of the blood of

-the first case of plague that had been recognized in Berlin.</p>

-<p class="par">Nevertheless the majority of readers, after glancing

-through the obituary notices of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo and of the

-world-famed bacteriologist, turned to the account&mdash;only slightly

-abbreviated&mdash;of the opening of Parliament. And in many households

-the subject of the new plague gave place to the fiercely controversial

-topic of the English Church Disestablishment Bill, which had been

-indicated in the King&rsquo;s Speech as a measure that was to be

-introduced in the forthcoming session. Many opponents of the Bill

-coupled the two chief items of news and said that the plague was a

-warning against infidelity. It may be assumed that they found

-sufficient warrant for the killing of a few thousand Russians,

-including a prince of the blood and a great German scientist, in the

-acknowledged importance of England among the nations. The death of half

-a million or so Chinamen in the first instance had been a delicate

-hint; now came the more urgent warning. Who knew but that if this

-sacrilegious Bill were passed, England herself might not be smitten.

-When warnings are disregarded, judgments follow. The Evangelicals found

-a weapon ready to their hands.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb54"

-href="#pb54" name="pb54">54</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">But what precisely was the nature of the new plague,

-none of the journals was as yet able to say. The symptoms had not as

-yet been &ldquo;described&rdquo; by any medical authority, for it

-appeared that, contrary to modern precedent, the doctor himself,

-despite all precautions, was peculiarly subject to infection. Out of

-the eleven new cases in Berlin, no less than four were medical men.</p>

-<p class="par">From the layman&rsquo;s point of view the symptoms were

-briefly as follows: Firstly, violent pains at the base of the skull,

-followed by a period of comparative relief which lasted from two to

-five hours. Then, a numbness in the extremities, followed by rapid

-paralysis. Death ensued in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after

-the pains were first experienced. No case, as yet, was known to have

-recovered. A well-known physician in London gave it as his opinion that

-the disease was a hitherto unknown form of cerebro-spinal meningitis of

-unexampled virulence. He protested that the word &ldquo;plague&rdquo;

-was a false description, but that word had already been impressed on

-the public mind, and the disease was spoken of as the &ldquo;new

-plague&rdquo; until the end.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The next morning all London was reading a

-heavily-leaded article by Jasper Thrale. It appeared first in the

-<i>Daily Post</i>, with the announcement that it was not copyright, and

-all the evening papers took it up, and some of them reprinted it in its

-entirety.</p>

-<p class="par">The article began by pointing out that in the recent

-history of civilization Europe had been subject <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb55" href="#pb55" name="pb55">55</a>]</span>to a

-long succession of pestilences. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth

-centuries, wrote Thrale, the Black Death, now commonly supposed to be a

-form of the bubonic plague, was practically endemic in England. In more

-recent times small-pox had been responsible for enormous mortality

-among all classes, and, in our own day, tuberculosis. In the two former

-examples, Thrale pointed out, and in many other diseases, infectious or

-contagious, or both, these pestilences had gradually lost virulence. By

-the elimination of those most susceptible to infection and incapable to

-resist the onslaught of the disease, and by the survival of those whose

-vitality was strong enough either to resist attack or to achieve

-recovery, mankind at last were gradually becoming immune against

-certain infections which had prevailed in the past. And in a greater or

-less degree this immunity was without doubt being obtained against a

-whole host of lesser ills. This comparative immunity, in fact, was one

-of the means of man&rsquo;s evolution towards a more perfect physical

-body.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But let us consider for a moment,&rdquo; wrote

-Thrale, &ldquo;the appalling danger which threatens us when we are

-attacked by a pestilence which is entirely new to humanity; new, so far

-as we know, to the world. In the middle of the fourteenth century the

-Black Death is recorded in some places to have killed two-thirds of the

-whole population, and, notwithstanding the modern improvement in

-sanitation and general hygiene, there is no inherent reason why another

-pestilence may not appear, which may be even more deadly. And we are

-faced at the present <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb56" href="#pb56"

-name="pb56">56</a>]</span>moment with the awful threat that such a

-pestilence has appeared, the pestilence commonly known as the

-&lsquo;new plague.&rsquo; There is no reason why we should consider the

-appearance as without precedent in history; there is no reason why we

-should regard its coming as outside the laws of common probability;

-finally, and most decisively, there is no reason why England should not

-be smitten.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;According to report among the Chinese, this

-&lsquo;new plague&rsquo; has been spasmodically epidemic in Tibet for

-more than a century. We have, as yet, no certain facts upon which to

-base any hypothesis, but is it not credible that during that time some

-bacterium or bacillus&mdash;hitherto harmlessly parasitic, perhaps, in

-the blood of lower animals&mdash;has changed its life habit? In the

-isolated and sparsely inhabited regions of Tibet, it is possible that

-for many thousand years the assumed bacterium was never bred in the

-blood of man; it is possible that when it first found a new host it was

-comparatively harmless to him, but within a hundred years it may have

-become so altered by new conditions that it has developed into what is

-practically a new species. If these theories are relatively true, it is

-not unlikely that this new bacterium is working out its own destruction

-by the destruction of its hosts. It may be that it is one of those

-blind alleys of evolution which reach a certain stage of development

-and then disappear. But meanwhile what of mankind? We know so little of

-the history of microscopic life. There is a whole world of evolution in

-process of which we have no conception, and at this stage, whether my

-hypothesis be a possible <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb57" href=

-"#pb57" name="pb57">57</a>]</span>one or not, we are at least sure that

-an unknown organism&mdash;animal or vegetable&mdash;has become visible

-to us in its effects and may alter the whole history of mankind.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I lay stress on these aspects, because we are so

-hide-bound, so restricted, so conventional in our ideas that we assume,

-without thought, that the process of life as we know of it from a few

-thousand years of history can never be interrupted. In our few years of

-individual existence we become accustomed to certain apparent laws of

-cause and effect, and will not believe that there can be any exception

-to those assumed laws. But, now, in the face of recent evidence, it is

-absolutely essential that we should realize instantly and practically

-that we are threatened with a new factor in life, which imperils the

-whole human race. It is no longer safe to comfort ourselves with the

-belief&mdash;begotten of our vanity&mdash;that the world was

-necessarily made for man. It behoves us to take measures for our

-protection without delay, to undertake our own cause and trust no

-longer in any beneficent Providence that works always for our ultimate

-benefit.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;These measures of protection are clearly

-indicated. We must close our doors against the invasion of the plague.

-Quarantine will not protect us; we must have no traffic with Europe

-until the danger is past. By the happy accident of our position we can

-become isolated from the rest of the world. We must close our doors

-before it is too late.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb58" href=

-"#pb58" name="pb58">58</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">If the people had not been seriously scared by the

-sudden irruption of news on the day preceding that on which this

-article was published, they would have ignored Thrale&rsquo;s

-hyperboles&mdash;or laughed. But, caught in a moment of agitation and

-fear, a certain section of the crowd took up Thrale&rsquo;s suggestion,

-talked about the &ldquo;closed door,&rdquo; held meetings, and started

-propaganda. The Press, with its genius for appreciating and following

-public opinion, also took up the suggestion, and was automatically

-divided into two sections, recognizable as Liberal and

-Conservative.</p>

-<p class="par"><i>The Times</i> took command of the situation with a

-leader, in which Thrale&rsquo;s argument was pounded, rather than

-picked, to pieces; but the <i>Daily Mail</i> produced more effect with

-two special articles contributed, one by a bacteriologist, the other by

-a professor of economics. The first had little weight&mdash;all

-argument under that head was as yet founded on the most uncertain

-hypotheses. The second was so convincing that the less ardent

-supporters of the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo; policy were shaken in their

-convictions.</p>

-<p class="par">The writer of the economic article pointed out that an

-England with closed doors could not feed herself for a month. He was

-scrupulously fair in his argument, and was at great pains to show that

-even if preparation was instantly made to lay in large stores of grain

-from Canada, tinned meats from America, and food-stuffs generally from

-the many <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb59" href="#pb59" name=

-"pb59">59</a>]</span>places which were as yet free from any taint of

-plague, it would still be impossible to provide for more than a three

-months&rsquo; isolation. Then, leaving this aspect of the question, he

-went on to show in detail that even if the food could be supplied, the

-practical cessation of our enormous foreign trade would mean the

-destruction of England&rsquo;s commerce, and he wound up with an

-earnest exhortation to the country at large, warning the people to

-beware of scaremongers, pessimists, and opportunists who had their own

-ends to serve, and cared nothing for the general welfare. It was an

-excellent article in every way; quite one of the best that the <i>Daily

-Mail</i> had ever published. And as this, too, was declared free of any

-copyright restrictions, it was largely circulated.</p>

-<p class="par">The <i>Daily Post</i> replied next morning by pointing

-out that the celebrated professor of economics was nullifying all his

-own previous utterances on the case for Tariff Reform, but that retort

-carried little weight. No one cared if the professor contradicted

-himself; anyone, except the faddists, could see that the argument of

-the article was sound, in fact incontrovertible. What had to be done

-was to put pressure on the Local Government Board. It was true that the

-<i>Daily Post</i>, the semi-official organ of the Government, affirmed

-that the Board in question was alert and active, but that announcement

-was regarded as a clich&eacute;; what was wanted were particulars of

-the preventive measures that were being taken.</p>

-<p class="par">The members of the great Gosling family, in offices,

-warehouses and shops followed the line of <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb60" href="#pb60" name="pb60">60</a>]</span>least resistance, while

-making some assertion of their rights as citizens.</p>

-<p class="par">George Gosling&rsquo;s arguments with his crony Flack

-were excellently representative.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What yer think of this &lsquo;closed door&rsquo;

-business?&rdquo; asked Flack.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goin&rsquo; a bit <i>too</i> far, in my

-opinion,&rdquo; returned Gosling judicially.</p>

-<p class="par">Flack&rsquo;s natural incredulity had inclined him in

-the same direction, but his colleague&rsquo;s certainty swung him round

-at once.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t so sure o&rsquo; that,&rdquo; he

-said. &ldquo;Looks to me as things is going pretty bad.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Bad enough, I grant you,&rdquo; returned Gosling.

-&ldquo;But there isn&rsquo;t no need for us to lose our &rsquo;eads

-over it. Take it all round, you know, it&rsquo;s pretty certain as

-things isn&rsquo;t as bad as is made out, whereas, on the other

-&rsquo;and, the &lsquo;closed door&rsquo; policy&rsquo;d mean ruin and

-starvation for &rsquo;undreds of thousands&mdash;there&rsquo;s no

-gettin&rsquo; round that.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Better a few &rsquo;undred thousands than the

-&rsquo;ole male population,&rdquo; said Flack.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If it come to that, but it won&rsquo;t; no fear,

-not by a long chalk, it won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Gosling.

-&ldquo;What&rsquo;s got to be done is to get the Local Government Board

-to work. We&rsquo;ve got to &rsquo;ave a regular system o&rsquo;

-quarantine established, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to

-&rsquo;ave.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of

-prevention at the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could

-have been adopted. The supporters of the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo;

-policy soon began to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb61" href="#pb61"

-name="pb61">61</a>]</span>lose adherents. The scheme was obviously

-alarmist, far-fetched and utterly impracticable....</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Through February and the early part of March the

-plague spread through Central Europe, but not with an alarming

-rapidity.</p>

-<p class="par">In the second week of March, Berlin was reporting a

-weekly roll of over five hundred deaths attributable to this cause, and

-Vienna was second with between four and five hundred. In St Petersburg

-and Moscow the figures were no higher, and there were as yet

-comparatively few cases in France, and none in Spain or Portugal.</p>

-<p class="par">Many authorities were of opinion that the mortality had

-reached the maximum, and that the plague would work itself out in the

-course of a few more weeks. Moreover it appeared that the early reports

-of the highly infectious character of the plague must have been grossly

-exaggerated, for as yet there had been not a single case in the British

-Isles despite the enormous traffic between England and the Continent.

-It is true that the strictest quarantine had been established&mdash;it

-had been ascertained that the period of gestation of the germ was about

-fifty hours&mdash;but not one single case had so far been detained in

-quarantine ships or hospitals. It was argued from this that the plague

-was not infectious at all in the ordinary sense, and only mildly

-contagious; that it flourished in certain centres and was not easily

-transferable from one centre to another.</p>

-<p class="par">The only aspect of the thing that was seriously

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb62" href="#pb62" name=

-"pb62">62</a>]</span>alarming was the horrible mortality among doctors

-and the specialists who were endeavouring to recognize and isolate the

-characteristic germ of the disease. Nine English experts who had dared

-martyrdom in the cause of science had gone to Berlin to make

-investigations, and not one of them had returned<span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e1183" title="Not in source">.</span> As a consequence of this

-strange susceptibility of the investigator, whether medical man or

-bacteriologist, there was still an extraordinary ignorance of the

-general nature and action of the disease.</p>

-<p class="par">Nevertheless, despite this one intimidating aspect of

-the plague, the general attitude in the middle of March was that the

-quarantine arrangements were enormously impeding trade and should be

-relaxed<span class="corr" id="xd23e1188" title="Not in source">.</span>

-The foreign governments were alive to the seriousness of the scourge,

-and were doing all in their power to prevent infection. There had been

-a scare, but people were calm again, now, and able to realize the

-extent of the earlier exaggerations.</p>

-<p class="par">The Government passed the second reading of the English

-Church Disestablishment Bill by a majority of nineteen, before the

-Easter recess, and the Goslings, who had grown used to the plague,

-whose chief attitude towards it was that it was an infernal nuisance

-which interfered with trade, turned their attention gladly to the new

-topic; they all thought that a general election at that moment would

-result in an overwhelming Conservative majority. And as the Liberals

-had been in power for more than ten years, that eventuality was

-regarded with complacency.</p>

-<p class="par">But at this critical moment&mdash;to the joy of the

-Evangelicals&mdash;the new plague set to work in earnest. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb63" href="#pb63" name="pb63">63</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch6" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VI&mdash;</span>DISASTER</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Russia was smitten. Once more communication was

-cut off from Moscow, this time by a different agent<span class="corr"

-id="xd23e1206" title="Not in source">.</span> The work of the city was

-paralysed. Men were falling dead in the street, and there were only

-women to bury them. A wholesale emigration had begun. The roads were

-choked with people on foot and in carriages, for the trains had ceased

-to run.</p>

-<p class="par">The news filtered in by degrees: it was confirmed,

-contradicted and definitely confirmed again every few hours.</p>

-<p class="par">Then came final confirmation, with the news that

-something approaching war had broken out&mdash;a war of defence.

-Germany had sent troops to the frontier to stem the tide of emigrants

-from smitten Russia and Poland; and Austria-Hungary was following her

-example.</p>

-<p class="par">Parliament re-assembled before the Easter recess had

-expired. The time for more drastic measures had come, and the Premier

-explained to the House that it was proposed to bring in a Bill

-immediately to cut off communication with Europe.</p>

-<p class="par">There can be no doubt that England was now badly scared,

-but centuries of protection had established a belief in security which

-was not easily shaken.</p>

-<p class="par">The enthusiasts for the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo; policy

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb64" href="#pb64" name=

-"pb64">64</a>]</span>found plenty of recruits, but on the other side

-there was a solid body of opinion which maintained that the danger was

-grossly exaggerated. And when the <i>Evening Chronicle</i> came out

-with a long leader and a backing of expert opinion, to prove that the

-&ldquo;Closed Door&rdquo; Bill&mdash;as it was commonly

-called&mdash;was a dodge of the Government&rsquo;s in order to retain

-office, a well-marked reaction followed against the last and terrible

-step of cutting off all communication with Europe; and the Conservative

-party was joined by some avowed Liberals who had personal interests to

-consider in this connexion.</p>

-<p class="par">In committee-rooms, members of the Opposition were

-inclined to be jubilant: &ldquo;If we can throw out the Government on

-this Bill we shall simply sweep the country ... all the manufacturers

-in the North will be with us ... even Scotland, most likely ... we

-should come back with a record majority....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The prospects were so magnificent that there could be no

-hesitation in making a party question of the Bill.</p>

-<p class="par">No time was to be lost, for the Bill was to be rushed,

-it was an emergency measure, and it was proposed that it should become

-law within four days. Preparations were already in hand to carry out

-the provisions enacted.</p>

-<p class="par">An urgent rally of the Opposition was made, and when the

-Bill came up for the second reading the Premier addressed a well-filled

-House. The House was not crowded because a large number of people,

-including many members of Parliament, were on their way to America. All

-the big liners were packed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb65" href=

-"#pb65" name="pb65">65</a>]</span>on their outward voyage and were

-returning, contrary to all precedent, in ballast&mdash;this ballast was

-exclusively food-stuffs.</p>

-<p class="par">The Premier introduced the Bill in a speech which was

-remarkable for its sincerity and earnestness. He outlined the

-arrangements that were being made to feed the community, and showed

-clearly that while communication remained open with America, there was

-no fear of any serious shortage. Pausing for a moment on this question

-of intercourse with America, he made a point of the fact that American

-ports were already closed to emigrants from all European countries with

-the one exception of Great Britain, and that if a single case of plague

-were reported in these islands the difficulties of obtaining

-food-stuffs from America and the Colonies would be enormously

-increased. He wound up by almost imploring the House not to make a

-party question of so urgent and necessary a measure at a time when the

-safety of England was so terribly threatened. He pleaded that at this

-critical moment, unparalleled in the history of humanity, it was the

-duty of every man to sink his own personal interests, to be ready to

-make any sacrifice, for the sake of the community.</p>

-<p class="par">Mr Brampton, the leader of the Opposition, then

-completely destroyed the undoubted effect which had been made upon the

-House. He did not openly speak in a party spirit, but he hinted very

-plainly that the Bill under consideration was a mere subterfuge to win

-votes. He poured contempt upon the fear of the plague, which he

-characterized throughout <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb66" href=

-"#pb66" name="pb66">66</a>]</span>as the &ldquo;Russian

-epidemic,&rdquo; and ended with the advice to keep a cool head, to

-preserve the British spirit of sturdy resistance instead of shutting

-our doors and bringing the country to commercial ruin. &ldquo;Are we

-all cravens,&rdquo; he concluded, &ldquo;scurrying like rabbits to our

-burrows at the first hint of alarm?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The further debate, although lengthy, had comparatively

-little influence; the House divided, and the Government was defeated by

-a majority of nine.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The news was all over the country by ten

-o&rsquo;clock that night, and it was noticeable that a large percentage

-of the younger generation still regarded the danger as &ldquo;rather a

-lark.&rdquo; This threat of the plague held a promise of high

-adventure; youth can only realize the possibility of death in its

-relation to others.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, if this bally old plague did come&rdquo;

-... remarked a young man of twenty-two, who was sitting with a friend

-in the little private bar of the &ldquo;Dun Taw&rdquo; Hotel.</p>

-<p class="par">His friend drew his feet up on to the rungs of his tall

-stool and winked at the barmaid.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, go on. What if it did?&rdquo; remarked that

-young woman.</p>

-<p class="par">The young man considered for a moment and then said:

-&ldquo;Those that got left would have a rare old time.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the women as&rsquo;d get left, seems

-to me,&rdquo; replied the barmaid, and scored a point. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb67" href="#pb67" name="pb67">67</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, surely you don&rsquo;t come from this part

-of the world?&rdquo; was the compliment evoked by her wit.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not me!&rdquo; was the answer, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a

-Londoner, I am. Only started yesterday, and sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t stay

-long if to-day&rsquo;s a fair sample. There &rsquo;asn&rsquo;t been a

-dozen customers in all day, and they were in such a &rsquo;urry to get

-their tonic and go that I&rsquo;m sure they couldn&rsquo;t &rsquo;ave

-told you whether me &rsquo;air was black or ches&rsquo;nut.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Both men immediately looked at the crown of pretty fair

-hair which had been so churlishly slighted.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;First thing I noticed about you,&rdquo; said

-one.</p>

-<p class="par">The other, who had hardly spoken before, took the

-cigarette out of his mouth and remarked: &ldquo;You can never get that

-colour with peroxide.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The barmaid looked a little suspicious.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, he means it all right, kid,&rdquo; put in the

-younger man quickly. &ldquo;Dicky&rsquo;s one of the serious sort.

-Besides, he&rsquo;s in that line; travels for a firm of wholesale

-chemists.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Dicky nodded gravely. &ldquo;I could see at once it was

-natural,&rdquo; he remarked with the air of an expert.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! you&rsquo;re one of them that keeps their

-eyes open,&rdquo; returned the barmaid approvingly, and Dicky modestly

-acknowledged the compliment by saying that his business necessitated

-close observation.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Most men are as blind as bats,&rdquo; continued

-the barmaid, and the examples she gave from her own experience led to

-an absorbing conversation, which was presently interrupted by the

-shriek of the swing door.</p>

-<p class="par">The new-comer was a small, fair man with a neatly waxed

-moustache. He came up to the counter with <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb68" href="#pb68" name="pb68">68</a>]</span>the air of an

-habitu&eacute;, and remarked, &ldquo;Hallo! where&rsquo;s Cis?

-You&rsquo;re new here, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The barmaid, recognizing the marks of a regular

-customer, quietly admitted that this was only her second day at the

-&ldquo;Dun Taw.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been away for two months,&rdquo;

-explained the fair man, and ordered &ldquo;Scotch.&rdquo; He was

-evidently in the mood for company, for he brought up a stool and,

-sitting a little way back from the bar, he began to address his three

-hearers at large.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Only came back from Europe this evening,&rdquo;

-he said, &ldquo;and glad to be home, I assure you.&rdquo; He raised his

-left hand with a gesture intended to convey horror, and drank half his

-whisky at a gulp.</p>

-<p class="par">Dicky turned to give his serious attention to the

-narrative which was plainly to follow, and somewhat ostentatiously

-observed the details of the new-comer&rsquo;s dress. Dicky had a

-new-found reputation to maintain. His friend looked bored and a little

-sulky, and tried to continue his conversation with the barmaid, but

-that young woman, appreciating the difference in value between a casual

-and a regular customer, passed a broad hint by with a smile and said:

-&ldquo;Europe? Just fancy!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a place to get out of, I assure

-you,&rdquo; said the fair man. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been over there for

-two months&mdash;Germany and Austria chiefly&mdash;but for the last

-fortnight I&rsquo;ve been wasting my time. There&rsquo;s nothing

-doing.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t there?&rdquo; commented Dicky with

-great seriousness. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb69" href="#pb69"

-name="pb69">69</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, we&rsquo;re sick to death of this bally

-plague,&rdquo; put in the other young man quickly. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s

-been simply nothing else in the papers for the last I don&rsquo;t know

-how long. I want to forget it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The fair man reached forward and put down his empty

-glass on the bar counter. &ldquo;Same again, Miss,&rdquo; he said, and

-then: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll all be more sick of the plague before

-we&rsquo;ve finished with it. It&rsquo;s a terror. If I was to tell you

-a few of the things I&rsquo;ve seen in the past fortnight, I

-don&rsquo;t suppose you&rsquo;d believe me.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all right; I&rsquo;d believe you

-quick enough,&rdquo; returned the young man. &ldquo;Point is,

-what&rsquo;s the good of getting yourself in a funk about it?

-Personally I don&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s coming to England. If it

-was it would have been here before this. What I say is ...&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">His pronouncement of opinion ceased abruptly. The fair

-man&rsquo;s behaviour riveted attention. He was gazing past the barmaid

-at the orderly rows of shining glasses and various shaped bottles

-behind her. His mouth was open. He gazed intensely, horribly.</p>

-<p class="par">The barmaid backed nervously and looked over her

-shoulder. The two young men hastily rose and pushed back their stools.

-The same thought was in all their minds. This neat, fair man was on the

-verge of delirium tremens.</p>

-<p class="par">In a moment the air of intercourse and joviality that

-had pervaded the little room was dissipated; in place of it had come

-shocked surprise and fear.</p>

-<p class="par">There was an interval of slow desolating silence, and

-then the convulsive grip of the fair man <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb70" href="#pb70" name="pb70">70</a>]</span>shattered the glass he

-held, and the fragments fell tinkling to the floor.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; stammered the

-barmaid&rsquo;s admirer, while the barmaid herself shrank back against

-the shelves and watched nervously. She had had experience.</p>

-<p class="par">The fair man&rsquo;s head was being pulled slowly

-backwards by some invisible force. His eyes, staring straight before

-him, appeared to watch with fierce intensity some point that moved

-steadily up the wall of shelves behind the counter; up till it reached

-the ceiling and began to move over the ceiling toward him.</p>

-<p class="par">Then, quite suddenly, the horrible tension was relaxed;

-his head fell loosely forward and he clapped both hands to the nape of

-his neck. He was breathing loudly in short quick gasps.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, do you think he&rsquo;s ill?&rdquo; asked

-the young man. At the suggestion Dicky made a step towards the

-sufferer; his knowledge of chemistry gave him a professional air.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s come from Europe.... Suppose

-it&rsquo;s the plague,&rdquo; whispered the barmaid.</p>

-<p class="par">And at that the two young men started back. As the words

-were spoken realization swept upon them.</p>

-<p class="par">Mumbling something about &ldquo;get a doctor,&rdquo;

-they rushed for the door. One of them made a wide

-d&eacute;tour&mdash;he had to pass the man who sat doubled forward in

-his chair, frantically gripping the base of his skull.</p>

-<p class="par">Hardly had the clatter of the swing door subsided before

-he fell forward on to the floor. He was groaning now, groaning

-detestably.</p>

-<p class="par">The barmaid whimpered and stared. &ldquo;Women

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb71" href="#pb71" name=

-"pb71">71</a>]</span>don&rsquo;t get it.&rdquo; she said aloud. But she

-kept to her own side of the counter.</p>

-<p class="par">Later the owner of the &ldquo;Dun Taw&rdquo; identified

-the fair man&mdash;from a distance&mdash;as Mr Stewart, of the firm of

-Barker and Prince.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Thrale&rsquo;s &ldquo;higher forces&rdquo; had

-shown their hand.</p>

-<p class="par">The humble and rotund instrument of their choice had

-served his purpose, and he was probably the first man in London to

-receive the news&mdash;a delicate acknowledgment, perhaps, of his

-services.</p>

-<p class="par">The telegram was addressed to the firm, but as neither

-of the heads of the house had arrived, Gosling opened it according to

-precedent.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Gosh!&rdquo; was his sole exclamation, but the

-tone of it stirred the interest of Flack, who turned to see his

-colleague&rsquo;s rather protuberant blue eyes staring with a fishy

-glare at a flimsy sheet of paper which visibly trembled in the hold of

-two clusters of fat fingers.</p>

-<p class="par">Flack lifted his spectacles and holding them on a level

-with his eyebrows, said, &ldquo;Bad news?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling sat down, and in the fever of the moment wiped

-his forehead with his snuff handkerchief, then discovered his mistake

-and laid the handkerchief carelessly on the desk. This infringement of

-his invariable practice produced even more effect upon Flack than the

-staring eyes and wavering fingers. Gosling might be guilty of mild

-histrionics, but not of such a touch as this. The utter neglect of

-decency <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb72" href="#pb72" name=

-"pb72">72</a>]</span>exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna

-could only portend calamity.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes, man, what&rsquo;s the

-matter?&rdquo; asked Flack, still taking an observation under his

-spectacles.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s come, Flack,&rdquo; said Gosling

-feebly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in Scotland. Our Mr Stewart died of it in

-Dundee this mornin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Flack rose from his seat and grabbed the telegram, which

-was brief and pregnant. &ldquo;Stewart died suddenly five a.m. Feared

-plague. Macfie.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Tchah!&rdquo; said Flack, still staring at the

-telegram. &ldquo;&lsquo;<i>Feared</i> plague.&rsquo; Lost their

-&rsquo;eads, that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;ve done. Pull yourself

-together, man. I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling swallowed elaborately, discovered his bandanna

-on the desk and hastily pocketed it. &ldquo;Might &rsquo;a been

-&rsquo;eart-disease, d&rsquo;you think?&rdquo; he said eagerly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We-el,&rdquo; remarked Flack, &ldquo;I never

-&rsquo;eard as &rsquo;is &rsquo;eart was affected, did you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling held out his hand for the telegram, and made a

-further elaborate study of it, without, however, discovering any

-hitherto unsuspected evidence relating to the unsoundness of

-Stewart&rsquo;s heart.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It says &lsquo;feared,&rsquo; of course,&rdquo;

-he remarked at last. &ldquo;Macfie wouldn&rsquo;t have said feared if

-&rsquo;e&rsquo;d been sure.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d &rsquo;ardly have mentioned plague

-in a telegram if they &rsquo;adn&rsquo;t been pretty certain,

-though,&rdquo; argued Flack.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling was so upset that he had to go out and get a nip

-of brandy, a thing he had not done since the morning after Blanche was

-born. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb73" href="#pb73" name=

-"pb73">73</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">The partners looked grave when they heard the news from

-Dundee, and London generally looked very grave indeed, when they read

-the full details an hour later in the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>.</p>

-<p class="par">Stewart, it appeared, had come straight through from

-Berlin to London via Flushing and Port Victoria, and on landing in

-England he had managed to escape quarantine. His was not an isolated

-case. For some weeks it had been possible for British subjects to get

-past the officials. There was nothing in the regulations to allow such

-an evasion of the order, but it could be managed occasionally. Stewart

-had been told to spare no expense.</p>

-<p class="par">The <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, although it made the most

-of its opportunity in contents bill and headlines, said that there was

-no cause for alarm, that these things were managed better in Great

-Britain than on the Continent; that the case had been isolated from the

-first moment the plague was recognized (about five hours before death),

-that the body had been burned, and that the most extensive and

-elaborate process of disinfection was being carried out&mdash;even the

-sleeping coach in which Stewart had travelled from London to Dundee

-twelve hours before, had been identified and burned also.</p>

-<p class="par">London still looked grave, but was nevertheless a little

-inclined to congratulate itself on the thoroughness of British methods.

-&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll never get it in England, you see if we do,&rdquo;

-was the remark chiefly in vogue among the great Gosling family.</p>

-<p class="par">But twelve hours or so too late, England was beginning

-to regret that the Government had been <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb74" href="#pb74" name="pb74">74</a>]</span>defeated. It was rumoured

-that the Premier had broken down, had immediately resigned his office,

-and would not seek re-election as a private member.</p>

-<p class="par">This rumour was definitely confirmed in the later

-editions of the evening papers. Mr Brampton had been summoned to

-Buckingham Palace and was forming a temporary ministry which was to

-take office. In the circumstances it was deemed inadvisable to plunge

-the country into a general election at that moment.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Mr Stewart died in the small hours of Friday

-morning, and the next day, Saturday, the 14th of April, was the first

-day of panic.</p>

-<p class="par">The day began with comparative quiet. No further case

-had been notified in Great Britain, but telegraphic communication was

-interrupted between London and Russia, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and

-other continental centres. In Germany matters were growing desperate.

-There had been riots and looting. Military law had been declared in

-several towns; in some cases the mob had been fired upon. Business was

-at a standstill, and the plague was spreading like a fire. Between two

-and three hundred cases were reported from Reims, and upwards of fifty

-from Paris....</p>

-<p class="par">Business houses were being closed in the City of London,

-and the banks noted a marked tendency among their depositors to

-withdraw gold; so marked, indeed, that many banks of high standing

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb75" href="#pb75" name=

-"pb75">75</a>]</span>were glad to be able to close their doors at one

-o&rsquo;clock.</p>

-<p class="par">It was on this Saturday morning, also, that the bottom

-suddenly fell out of the money market. For weeks past, prices had been

-falling steadily, but now they dropped to panic figures. Every one was

-selling, there were no buyers left. Consols were quoted at

-53&ndash;1/2.</p>

-<p class="par">The air of London was heavy with foreboding, and

-throughout the morning the gloom grew deeper. The depressed and worried

-faces to be met at every turn contrasted strangely with the brilliance

-of the weather. For April had come with clear skies and soft, warm

-winds.</p>

-<p class="par">As the day advanced the atmosphere of depression became

-continually more marked, and how extraordinary was the effect upon all

-classes may be judged from the fact that less than 5,000 people paid to

-witness the third replay between Barnsley and Everton, in the

-semi-final of the English cup....</p>

-<p class="par">In London, men and women hung aimlessly about the

-streets waiting for the news they dreaded to hear. The theatres were

-deserted. The feeling of gloom was so real that many women afterwards

-believed that the sky had been overcast, whereas Nature was in one of

-her most brilliant moods.</p>

-<p class="par">It was a few minutes past three when the pressure was

-exploded by the report of the final catastrophe. &ldquo;Two more cases

-of plague in Dundee and one in Edinburgh,&rdquo; was the first

-announcement. That would have been enough to show that all the vaunted

-precautions had been useless, and within <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb76" href="#pb76" name="pb76">76</a>]</span>an hour came the

-notification of two further cases. Before six o&rsquo;clock, eight more

-were notified in Dundee, three more in Edinburgh, and one in

-Newcastle.</p>

-<p class="par">The new plague had reached England. It was then that the

-panic began. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb77" href="#pb77" name=

-"pb77">77</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VII&mdash;</span>PANIC</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Gurney, when he left his office on that Saturday,

-was influenced by the general depression. He went to lunch at the

-&ldquo;White Vine,&rdquo; in the Haymarket, quite determined to keep

-himself in hand, to argue himself out of his low spirits.</p>

-<p class="par">He made a beginning at once.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Every one seems to have a fit of the blues.

-Ernst,&rdquo; he remarked to the waiter with a factitious

-cheerfulness.</p>

-<p class="par">Ernst, less polite than usual, shrugged his shoulders.

-&ldquo;There is enough cause already,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Have you had bad news from Germany?&rdquo; asked

-Gurney, feeling that he had probably been rather brutal.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<span lang="de">Ach Gott! &rsquo;s&rsquo;ist bald

-Keiner mehr da</span>,&rdquo; blubbered Ernst, and he wept without

-restraint as he arranged the table, occasionally wiping his eyes with

-his napkin.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m most awfully sorry,&rdquo; murmured the

-embarrassed Gurney, and retreated behind the horror of his evening

-paper. He found small cause for rejoicing there, however, and discarded

-it as soon as his lunch had been brought by the red-eyed Ernst.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb78" href="#pb78" name=

-"pb78">78</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I wonder what Mark Tapley would have done,&rdquo;

-Gurney reflected moodily as he attacked his chop.</p>

-<p class="par">There were few other people in the restaurant, and they

-were all silent and engrossed. That dreadful cloud hung over England,

-the spirit of pestilence threatened to take substance, the air was full

-of horror that might at any moment become a visible shape of

-destruction.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney did not finish his lunch, he lighted a cigarette,

-left four shillings on the table, and hurried out into the air.</p>

-<p class="par">He did not look up at the sky as he turned eastwards

-towards Fleet Street; no one looked up at the sky that afternoon. Heads

-and shoulders were burdened by an invisible weight which kept all eyes

-on the ground.</p>

-<p class="par">Fleet Street was full of people who crowded round the

-windows of newspaper offices, not with the eagerness of a general

-election crowd, but with a subdued surliness which ever and again broke

-out in spurts of violent temper.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney, still struggling to maintain his composure,

-found himself unreasonably irritated when a motor-bus driver shouted at

-him to get out of the way. It seemed to Gurney that to be knocked down

-and run over was preferable to being shouted at. The noise of those

-infernal buses was unbearable, so, also, was that dreadful patter of

-feet upon the pavement and the dull murmur of mournful voices. Why, in

-the name of God, could not people keep quiet?</p>

-<p class="par">He bumped into some one on the pavement as he

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb79" href="#pb79" name=

-"pb79">79</a>]</span>scrambled out of the way of the bus, and the man

-swore at him viciously. Gurney responded, and then discovered that the

-man was known to him.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Hallo,&rdquo; responded the other.</p>

-<p class="par">For a moment they stood awkwardly, staring; then Gurney

-said, &ldquo;Any more news?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The man, who was a sub-editor of the <i>Westminster

-Gazette</i>, shook his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going back

-now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was nothing ten minutes

-ago.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Pretty awful, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; remarked

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">The sub-editor shrugged his shoulders and hurried

-away.</p>

-<p class="par">Presently Gurney found himself wedged among the crowd,

-watching the <i>Daily Chronicle</i> window.</p>

-<p class="par">A few minutes after three, a young man with a very white

-face, fastened a type-written message to the glass.</p>

-<p class="par">There was a rapid constriction of the crowd. Those

-behind, Gurney among them, could not read the message, and pressed

-forward. There were cries of &ldquo;What is it?... I can&rsquo;t

-see.... Read it out....&rdquo; Then those in front gave way slightly, a

-wave of eagerness agitated the mass of watchers, and the news ran back

-from the front. &ldquo;Two more cases of plague in Dundee; one in

-Edinburgh.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">And with that the pressure of dread was suddenly

-dissipated, giving place to something kinetic, dynamic. Now it was fear

-that took the people by the throat: active, compelling fear. Men looked

-at each other with terror and something of hate in their <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb80" href="#pb80" name="pb80">80</a>]</span>eyes,

-the crowd broke and melted. Every man was going to his own home,

-possessed by an instinct to fly before it was too late.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney shouldered his way out, and stopped a taxi that

-was crawling past.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Jermyn Street,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">The driver leaned over and pointed to the <i>Daily

-Chronicle</i> window. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the news?&rdquo; he

-asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The plague&rsquo;s in Dundee and

-Edinburgh,&rdquo; said Gurney, and climbed into the cab and slammed the

-door.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Gawd!&rdquo; muttered the driver, as he drove

-recklessly westwards.</p>

-<p class="par">Sitting in the cab, finding some comfort in the feeling

-of headlong speed, Gurney was debating whether he would not charter the

-man to take him right out of London. But he must go home first for

-money.</p>

-<p class="par">At the door of the house in Jermyn Street he met Jasper

-Thrale.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">&ldquo;Have you heard?&rdquo; asked Gurney

-excitedly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No. What?&rdquo; said Thrale, without

-interest.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There are two more cases in Dundee and one in

-Edinburgh,&rdquo; said Gurney. The driver of the cab got down from his

-seat, and looked from Gurney to Thrale with doubt and question.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale nodded his head. &ldquo;I knew it was sure to

-come,&rdquo; he remarked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Better get out of this,&rdquo; put in the

-driver.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, rather,&rdquo; agreed Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Thrale. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb81" href="#pb81" name="pb81">81</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, America.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll have it in America

-before you get there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll go there via

-Japan and &rsquo;Frisco.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You seem to know a lot about it,&rdquo; said the

-driver of the cab.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you mean to tell me there&rsquo;s nowhere we

-can go to?&rdquo; persisted Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale smiled. &ldquo;Nowhere in this world,&rdquo; he

-said. &ldquo;This plague has come to destroy mankind.&rdquo; He spoke

-with a quiet assurance that carried conviction.</p>

-<p class="par">The driver of the cab scowled. &ldquo;May as well

-&rsquo;ave a run for my money first, then,&rdquo; he said, and thus

-gave utterance to the thought that was fermenting in many other

-minds.</p>

-<p class="par">There was no hope of escape for the mass, only the rich

-could seek railway termini and take train for Liverpool, Southampton or

-any port where there was the least hope of finding some ship to take

-them out of Europe.</p>

-<p class="par">That night there was panic and riot. The wealthy classes

-were trying to escape, the mob was trying to &ldquo;get a run for its

-money.&rdquo; Yet very little real mischief was done. Two or three

-companies of infantry were sufficient to clear the streets, and not

-more than forty people in all were seriously injured....</p>

-<p class="par">In Downing Street the new Premier sat alone with his

-head in his hands, and wondered what could be done to stop the approach

-of the pestilence. One of the evening papers had suggested that

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb82" href="#pb82" name=

-"pb82">82</a>]</span>a great line of fire should be built across the

-north of England. The Premier wondered whether that scheme were

-feasible. He had never held high office before; he did not know how to

-deal with these great issues. All his political life he had learned

-only the art of party tactics. He had learned that art very well, he

-was a master of debate, and he had shown a wonderful ability to judge

-the bent of the public mind and to make use of his judgments for party

-ends. But now that any action of his was divorced from its accustomed

-object, he was as a man suddenly forced into some new occupation.

-Whenever he tried to think of some means to stay the progress of the

-plague his mind automatically began to consider what influence the

-adoption of such means would have upon the general election which must

-soon come....</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;A line of fire across the north,&rdquo; he was

-thinking, &ldquo;would shut off the whole of Scotland. They would never

-forgive us for that. We should lose the entire Scottish

-vote&mdash;it&rsquo;s bad enough as it is.&rdquo; He sat up late into

-the night considering what policy he should put before the Cabinet. He

-tried honestly to consider the position apart from politics, but his

-mind refused to work in that way....</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">In Jermyn Street Thrale was arguing with Gurney,

-trying to persuade him into a philosophic attitude.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, I suppose there&rsquo;s absolutely nothing

-to be done but sit down and wait,&rdquo; said Gurney. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb83" href="#pb83" name="pb83">83</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Personally,&rdquo; returned Thrale, &ldquo;I have

-no intention of spending my time flying from country to country like a

-marked criminal. That way leads to insanity. I&rsquo;ve seen men become

-animals before now under the influence of fear.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, of course, you&rsquo;re quite right,&rdquo;

-agreed Gurney. &ldquo;One must exercise self-control. After all,

-it&rsquo;s only death, and not such a terrible death at that.&rdquo; He

-got up and began to pace the room restlessly, then went to the window

-and looked out. Jermyn Street was almost deserted, but distant sounds

-of shouting came from the direction of Piccadilly. He left the window

-open and turned back into the room.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so infernally hard just to sit still

-and wait,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If only one could do

-something.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I doubt, now,&rdquo; said Thrale, quietly,

-&ldquo;whether one could ever have done anything. The public and the

-Government took my warnings in the characteristic way, the only

-possible way in which you could expect twentieth-century humanity to

-take a warning&mdash;a thrill of fear, perhaps, in some cases; frank

-incredulity in others; but no result either way that endured for an

-hour.... Belief in national and personal security, inertia outside the

-routine of necessary, stereotyped employment; these things are

-essential to the running of the machine.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose they are,&rdquo; agreed Gurney absently

-He had sat down again and was sucking automatically at an extinguished

-pipe.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;In a complex civilization,&rdquo; went on Thrale

-&ldquo;any initiative on the part of the individual outside

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb84" href="#pb84" name=

-"pb84">84</a>]</span>his own tiny sphere of energy is just so much grit

-in the machine. There are recognized methods, they may not be the best,

-the most efficient, but they are accepted and understood. Every clerk

-who has to calculate twelve pence to the shilling knows how his work

-would be lightened if he had only to calculate ten, but he accepts that

-difficulty, because he can do nothing as an individual to introduce the

-decimal system. And that spirit of acceptance grows upon him until the

-individual has the characteristics of the class. Only when a man is

-stirred by too great discomfort does he open his eyes to the

-possibility of initiative; then come labour strikes. If labour had a

-sufficiency of ease and comfort, if its lot were not so violently

-contrasted with that of even the middle-classes, labour would settle

-down to complacency. But the contrast is too great, and to attain that

-complacency of uninitiative we must level down. That was coming; that

-would have come if this plague....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What was that?&rdquo; asked Gurney excitedly,

-jumping to his feet. &ldquo;Did you hear firing?&rdquo; He went to the

-window again, and leaned out. From Piccadilly came the sound of an army

-of trampling feet, of confused cries and shouting. &ldquo;By God,

-there&rsquo;s a riot,&rdquo; exclaimed Gurney. He spoke over his

-shoulder.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale joined him at the window. &ldquo;Panic,&rdquo; he

-said. &ldquo;Senseless, hysterical panic. It won&rsquo;t

-last.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I think I shall go out of London,&rdquo; said

-Gurney. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner ... I&rsquo;d sooner die in the

-country, I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb85" href="#pb85" name=

-"pb85">85</a>]</span>think.&rdquo; He withdrew from the window and

-began to pace up and down the room again.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Going to stampede with the rest of

-&rsquo;em?&rdquo; asked Thrale. &ldquo;Extraordinarily infectious

-thing, panic.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s that exactly

-...&rdquo; hesitated Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Animal fear,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;The

-terror of the wild thing threatened with the unknown. The runaway horse

-terrified and rushing to its own destruction. Fly, fly, fly from the

-threat of peril as you did once on the prairies, when to fly meant

-safety.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so infernally depressing in

-London,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, go and brood on death in the

-country,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;That may cheer you up a bit.

-But, take my advice, don&rsquo;t run. Walk at a snail&rsquo;s pace and

-check the least tendency to hurry. Once you begin to quicken your pace,

-you will find yourself hurrying desperately&mdash;and then stampede the

-hell of terror at your heels. After all, you know, you may survive. It

-isn&rsquo;t likely that every man will die.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney caught eagerly at that. &ldquo;No, no, of course

-it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But wouldn&rsquo;t one be much

-more likely to survive if one were living in the country, or by the

-sea&mdash;in some fairly isolated place, for example. I meant to go

-down to Cornwall for my holiday this year, to a little cottage on the

-coast about four miles from Padstow; don&rsquo;t you think in pure air

-and healthy surroundings like that, one would stand a better

-chance?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb86" href="#pb86" name=

-"pb86">86</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; said Thrale carelessly.

-&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t run. In any case you&rsquo;d better wait till

-the middle of the week. The first rush will be over then.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes. Perhaps. I&rsquo;ll go on Wednesday, or

-Tuesday....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale smiled grimly. &ldquo;Well, good night,&rdquo; he

-said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to bed.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">When he had gone, Gurney went to the window again. The

-sounds of riot from Piccadilly had died down to a low, confused murmur.

-A motor-car whizzed by along Jermyn Street, and two people passed on

-foot, a man and a woman; the woman was leaning heavily on the

-man&rsquo;s arm.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney turned once more to his pacing of the room. He

-was trying to realize the unrealizable fact that the world offered no

-refuge. For a full hour he struggled with himself, with that new,

-strange instinct which rose up and urged him to fly for his life. At

-last weary and overborne he threw himself into a chair by the dying

-fire and began to cry like a lost child; even as Ernst, the waiter, had

-cried....</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The panic emigration lasted until Monday evening,

-and then came news which checked and stayed the rush for the ports of

-Liverpool, Southampton and Queenstown. The plague was already in

-America. It had come, as Thrale had prophesied from the West. At the

-docks many of those favoured <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb87" href=

-"#pb87" name="pb87">87</a>]</span>emigrants who had secured berths,

-hesitated; if it was to be a choice between death in America and death

-in England, they preferred to die at home.</p>

-<p class="par">Yet, even on Tuesday morning, when doubt as to the

-coming of the plague was no longer possible, when Dundee could only

-give approximate figures of the seizures in that town, reporting them

-as not less than a thousand, when it was evident that the whole of

-Scotland was becoming infected with incredible rapidity, and two cases

-were notified as far south as Durham, there remained still an enormous

-body of people who stoutly maintained that, bad as things were, the

-danger was grossly exaggerated, who believed that the danger would soon

-pass, and who, steadfast to the habits of a lifetime, continued their

-routine wherever it was possible so to do, determined to resist to the

-last.</p>

-<p class="par">To this body, possibly some two-fifths of the whole

-urban population, was due the comparative maintenance of law and order.

-In face of the growing destitution due to the wholesale closing of

-factories, warehouses and offices, necessitated by the now complete

-cessation of foreign trade and to the hoarding of food stores and gold

-which was already so marked as to have seriously affected the commerce

-not dependent on foreign sellers and buyers, a semblance of ordinary

-life was still maintained. Newspapers were issued, trains and

-&rsquo;buses were running, theatres and music-halls were open, and many

-normal occupations were carried on.</p>

-<p class="par">Yet everything was infected. It was as if the cloak of

-civilization was worn more loosely. Crime was <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb88" href="#pb88" name=

-"pb88">88</a>]</span>increasing and justice was relaxed. Robberies of

-food were so common that there was no place for the confinement of

-those who were convicted. Shopkeepers were becoming at once more

-reliant upon their own defences, and less scrupulous in their dealings

-with bona-fide customers. No longer could the protection of the State

-be exclusively relied upon, the citizen was becoming lost in the

-individual. Public opinion was being resolved into individual opinion;

-and with the failing of the great restraint every man was developing an

-unsuspected side of his character. Thrown upon his own resources, he

-became continually less civilized, more conscious of possibilities to

-fulfill long-thwarted tendencies and desires; he began to understand

-that when it is a case of <i lang="fr">sauve qui peut</i>, the weakest

-are trampled under foot.</p>

-<p class="par">So the cloak of civilization gaped and showed the form

-of the naked man, with all its blemishes and deformities. And women

-blenched and shuddered. For woman, as yet, was little, if at all,

-altered in character by the fear that was brutalizing man. Her faith in

-the intrinsic rectitude of the beloved conventions was more deeply

-rooted. Moreover woman fears the strictures of woman, more than man

-fears the judgments of man. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb89" href=

-"#pb89" name="pb89">89</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch8" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VIII&mdash;</span>GURNEY IN

-CORNWALL</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Gurney&rsquo;s alternative to flying from the

-plague was to run away from himself. He shirked the issue in his

-conversations with Thrale, shuffled, sophisticated, and in a futile

-endeavour to convince his companion, convinced himself that his

-reasoning was sound and his motive unprejudiced.</p>

-<p class="par">It was not until the following Thursday, however, that

-he took train to Cornwall. He had succeeded in realizing between two

-and three hundred pounds in gold, and this he took with him. He

-intended to lay in stores of flour, sugar and other primary

-necessities; to buy and keep two or three cows, to rear chickens, to

-grow as much garden produce as possible, especially potatoes; and

-generally to provide against the coming scarcity of food and the

-cessation of transport.</p>

-<p class="par">The bungalow on the shores of Constantine Bay, to which

-he departed, was a place well suited to the carrying out of these

-prudent arrangements. It belonged to a friend of his, who was rich

-enough to indulge his whims, and who had spent a considerable sum of

-money in building the place and enclosing ground, but who rarely

-occupied the bungalow himself, and was too careless to bother about

-letting <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb90" href="#pb90" name=

-"pb90">90</a>]</span>it. Gurney had the keys in his possession. When he

-had asked his friend for permission to spend his summer holiday there,

-he had been told to use the place as if it were his own. &ldquo;Jolly

-good thing for me, you know,&rdquo; his friend had said. &ldquo;Keep it

-dry and all that.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney was not an idle man. Arrived at his bungalow, he

-lost no time in carrying out the arrangements he had schemed, and for

-nearly three weeks he was so absorbed in this work, in learning new

-occupations and perfecting his plan, that he did, indeed, achieve his

-purpose of running away from himself.</p>

-<p class="par">He became imbued with a new feeling of security; he

-received neither letters nor papers from the outside, and the old

-labourer who assisted him in setting potatoes, who taught him to milk a

-cow and instructed him generally in the primitive arts of

-self-supporting toil, seemed to regard all rumours of the new plague

-which filtered through to the village of St Merryn as some foreign

-nonsense which had little bearing on life in the county of Cornwall, as

-represented by the twenty-five or thirty square miles which were to him

-all the essential world.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney began to believe that the plague would never

-cross the Tamar, and one day in early May, when his provisions against

-a siege were practically completed, he was stirred to attempt a journey

-across the peninsula in order to visit an acquaintance in East Looe.

-Gurney had become conscious of a longing for some companionship. Old

-Hawken was very good at cows and potatoes, but he was rather deaf and

-his range of ideas was severely restricted. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb91" href="#pb91" name="pb91">91</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">From Padstow to Looe is not an ideal journey by

-rail at the best of times, involving as it does, a change of train at

-Wadebridge, Bodmin Road and Liskeard; but Gurney was in no hurry, and

-the conversations he overheard in his compartment were not destructive

-of his new-found complacency. There was, indeed, some mention of the

-plague, but only in relation to the scarcity of food supply and its

-effect on trade. One passenger, very obviously a farmer, was

-congratulating himself that he was getting higher prices for stock than

-he had ever known, and that as luck would have it he had sown an

-unusual number of acres with wheat that year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be

-gettun sixty or seventy a quarter, sure &rsquo;nough,&rdquo; he

-boasted.</p>

-<p class="par">Dickenson&mdash;Gurney&rsquo;s friend in

-Looe&mdash;regarded the matter more seriously, but he, too, seemed

-untouched by any fear of personal infection. He was an ardent Liberal,

-and his chief cause for concern seemed to be that the plague should

-have come at a time when so much progress was being made with

-legislation. He was, also, very distressed at the reports of poverty

-and starvation which abounded, and at the terrible blow to trade

-generally. But he seemed hopeful that the trouble would pass and be

-followed by a new era of enlightened government, founded on sound

-Liberal principles.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney stayed the night and the greater part of the next

-day at Looe. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb92" href="#pb92" name=

-"pb92">92</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">On his return journey he had to wait at Liskeard

-to pick up the main line train for London, which would take him to

-Bodmin Road.</p>

-<p class="par">It was a glorious May evening. The day had been hot, but

-now there was a cool breeze from the sea, and the long shadow from the

-high bank of the cutting enwrapped the whole station in a pleasant

-twilight.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney, deliberately pacing the length of the platform,

-was conscious of physical vigour and a great enjoyment of life. He had

-an imaginative temperament, and in his moments of exaltation he found

-the world both interesting and beautiful, an entirely desirable setting

-for the essential Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">So he strolled up and down the platform, regarded any

-female figure with interest, and was in no way concerned that the train

-was already an hour late. He had expected it to be late. His own train

-from Looe, for no particular reason, had been half an hour late. If he

-missed his connexion at Wadebridge he would only have some seven or

-eight miles to walk.</p>

-<p class="par">Fifteen or twenty other people were waiting on the down

-platform, and presently Gurney became conscious that his

-fellow-passengers were no longer detached into parties of two and

-three, but were collected in groups, discussing, apparently, some

-matter of peculiar interest.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney had been lost in his dreams and had hardly

-noticed the passage of time. He looked at his watch <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb93" href="#pb93" name="pb93">93</a>]</span>and

-found that the train was now two hours overdue. The sun had set, but

-there was still light in the sky. A man detached himself from one of

-the groups and Gurney approached him.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Two hours late,&rdquo; he remarked by way of

-introducing himself, and looked at his watch again.</p>

-<p class="par">The man nodded emphatically. &ldquo;Funny thing

-is,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that they&rsquo;ve had no information at the

-office. The stationmaster generally gets advice when the train leaves

-Plymouth.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Good lord,&rdquo; said Gurney. &ldquo;Do you mean

-to say that the train hasn&rsquo;t got to Plymouth yet?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Looks like it,&rdquo; said the stranger.

-&ldquo;They say it&rsquo;s the plague. It&rsquo;s dreadfully bad in

-London, they tell me.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;D&rsquo;you mean it&rsquo;s possible the train

-won&rsquo;t come in at all?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I should hardly think that,&rdquo; replied

-the other. &ldquo;Oh, no, I should hardly think that, but goodness

-knows when it will come. Very awkward for me. I want to get to St Ives.

-It&rsquo;s a long way from here. Have you far to go?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, Padstow,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Padstow!&rdquo; echoed the stranger.

-&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good step.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Further than I want to walk.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I should say. Thirty miles or so,

-anyway?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;About that,&rdquo; agreed Gurney. &ldquo;I wonder

-where one could get any information.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very awkward,&rdquo; was all the help

-the stranger had to offer. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb94" href=

-"#pb94" name="pb94">94</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Gurney crossed the line and invaded the

-stationmaster&rsquo;s office. &ldquo;Sorry to trouble you,&rdquo; he

-said, &ldquo;but do you think this train&rsquo;s been taken off, for

-any reason?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it &rsquo;asn&rsquo;t been taken off,&rdquo;

-said the stationmaster with a wounded air. &ldquo;It may be a bit

-late.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney smiled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something over two

-hours behind now, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t &rsquo;elp it, can I?&rdquo;

-asked the stationmaster. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to &rsquo;ave

-patience.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve had no advice yet from

-Plymouth?&rdquo; persisted Gurney, facing the other&rsquo;s

-ill-temper.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, I &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t; something&rsquo;s gone

-wrong with the wire. We can&rsquo;t get no answer,&rdquo; returned the

-stationmaster. &ldquo;Now, if you please, I &rsquo;ave my work to

-do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney returned to the down platform and joined a group

-of men, among whom he recognized the man he had spoken to a few minutes

-before.</p>

-<p class="par">The afterglow was dying out of the sky, in the

-south-west a faint young moon was setting behind the high bank of the

-cutting. A porter had lighted the station lamps, but they were not

-turned full on.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The stationmaster tells me that something has

-gone wrong with the telegraphic communication,&rdquo; said Gurney,

-addressing the little knot of passengers collectively. &ldquo;He

-can&rsquo;t get any answer it seems.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Been an accident likely,&rdquo; suggested some

-one.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Or the engine-driver&rsquo;s got the

-plague,&rdquo; said another.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d have put another man on.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If they could find one.&rdquo; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb95" href="#pb95" name="pb95">95</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If we ain&rsquo;t careful we shall be

-gettin&rsquo; the plague down &rsquo;ere.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">After all why not? The horrible suggestion sprang up in

-Gurney&rsquo;s mind with new force. That remote city seemed suddenly

-near. He saw in imagination the train leaving Paddington, and only a

-journey of six or seven hours divided that departure from its arrival

-at Liskeard. It might come in at any moment, bearing the awful

-infection. Why should he wait? There was an inn near the station. He

-might find a conveyance there.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Constantine Bay?&rdquo; questioned the

-landlord.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s near St Merryn,&rdquo; said Gurney,

-but still the landlord shook his head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not far from Padstow,&rdquo; explained

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Pard-stow!&rdquo; exclaimed the landlord on a

-rising note. &ldquo;Drive over to Pard-stow at this time o&rsquo;

-night?&rdquo; He appeared to think that Gurney was joking.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, Bodmin, then,&rdquo; suggested Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Aw, why not take the train?&rdquo; asked the

-landlord.</p>

-<p class="par">Gurney shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;The train

-doesn&rsquo;t seem to be coming,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Bad job, that,&rdquo; answered the landlord.

-&ldquo;Been an accident, sure &rsquo;nough; this new plague or

-something.&rdquo; He was evidently prepared to accept the matter

-philosophically.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t drive me then?&rdquo; asked

-Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">The landlord shook his head with a grin. He was inclined

-to look upon this foreigner as rather more foolish than the majority of

-his kind. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb96" href="#pb96" name=

-"pb96">96</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Gurney came out of the little inn, and looked down into

-the station. The number of waiting passengers seemed to be decreasing,

-but the light was so dim that he could not see into the shadows.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I must keep hold of myself,&rdquo; he was saying.

-&ldquo;I mustn&rsquo;t run.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">A man was coming up the steep incline towards him, and

-Gurney moved slowly to meet him. He found that it was the stranger he

-had spoken to on the platform.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Any news?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, they&rsquo;ve got a message through from

-Saltash,<span class="corr" id="xd23e1773" title=

-"Not in source">&rdquo;</span> replied the stranger. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s

-the plague right enough. They say they don&rsquo;t know when

-there&rsquo;ll be another train....&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Days grew into weeks, and still there were no

-trains. Trade was at a standstill, and the prices of home produce

-mounted steadily. Fish there was, but not in great abundance, and the

-towns inland, such as Truro and Bodmin, organized a motor service with

-coast fishing villages, a service which only lasted for a week, by

-reason of the failure of the petrol supply. After that there was a less

-effective horse service.</p>

-<p class="par">Within three weeks after that last train arrived from

-outside, a new system of exchange was coming into vogue. In this little

-congeries of communities in Cornwall, men were beginning to learn the

-uselessness of gold, silver and bronze coins as tokens. Credit had

-collapsed, and a system of barter was being introduced, mainly between

-farmer and fisherman. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb97" href="#pb97"

-name="pb97">97</a>]</span>In time it was possible that Cornwall might

-have become a self-supporting community, for its proportionately few

-inhabitants were rapidly being depleted by want and starvation; but,

-although it was the last place in the British Isles to become infected,

-the plague came there, too, in the end.</p>

-<p class="par">A steamer sent out from Cardiff on a plundering

-expedition carried the plague to the Scillies, and a fishing vessel

-from St Ives carried it on to Newlyn.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb98" href="#pb98" name="pb98">98</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch9" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">IX&mdash;</span>THE DEVOLUTION OF

-GEORGE GOSLING</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The progress of the plague through London and the

-world in general was marked, in the earlier stages, by much the same

-developments as are reported of the plague of 1665. The closed houses,

-the burial pits, the deserted streets, the outbreaks of every kind of

-excess, the various symptoms of fear, cowardice, fortitude and courage,

-evidenced little change in the average of humanity between the

-seventeenth and the twentieth centuries. The most notable difference

-during these earlier stages was in the enormously increased rapidity

-with which the population of London was reduced to starvation point.

-Even before the plague had reached England, want had become general, so

-general, indeed, as to have demonstrated very clearly the truth of the

-great economist&rsquo;s contention that England could not exist for

-three months with closed doors.</p>

-<p class="par">The coming of the plague threw London on to its own very

-limited resources. That vast city, which produced nothing but the

-tokens of wealth, and added nothing to the essentials that support

-life, was instantly reduced to the state of Paris in the winter of

-1870&ndash;71; with the difference, however, that London&rsquo;s

-population could be decreased rapidly <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb99" href="#pb99" name="pb99">99</a>]</span>by emigration, and was,

-also, even more rapidly decreased by pestilence. Yet there was a large

-section of the population which clung with blind obstinacy to the only

-life it knew how to live.</p>

-<p class="par">There was, for instance, George Gosling, more fortunate

-in many respects than the average citizen, who clung desperately to his

-house in Wisteria Grove until forced out of it by the lack of

-water.</p>

-<p class="par">On the ninth day after the first coming of the plague to

-London&mdash;it appeared simultaneously in a dozen places and spread

-with fearful rapidity&mdash;Gosling broke one of the great laws he had

-hitherto observed with such admirable prudence. The offices and

-warehouse in Barbican had been shut up (temporarily, it was supposed),

-and the partners had disappeared from London. But Gosling had a

-duplicate set of keys, and, inspired by the urgency of his

-family&rsquo;s need, he determined to dare a journey into the City in

-order to <i>borrow</i> (he laid great stress on the word) a few

-necessaries of life from the well-stored warehouse of his firm.</p>

-<p class="par">In this scheme, planned with some shrewdness, he

-co-operated with a friend, a fellow-sidesman at the Church of St John

-the Evangelist. This friend was a coal merchant, and thus fortunately

-circumstanced in the possession of wagons and horses.</p>

-<p class="par">These two arranged the details of their borrowing

-expedition between them. Economically, it was a deal on the lines of

-the revived methods of exchange and barter. Gosling was willing to

-exchange certain advantages of knowledge and possession for the hire of

-wagons and horses. It was decided, for obvious <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb100" href="#pb100" name=

-"pb100">100</a>]</span>reasons, to admit no other conspirator into the

-plot, and Boost, the coal merchant, drove one cart and Gosling drove

-the other. Perhaps it should rather be said that he led the other, for,

-after a preliminary trial, he decided that he was safer at the

-horses&rsquo; heads than behind their tails.</p>

-<p class="par">The raid was conducted with perfect success. Boost had a

-head for essentials. The invaluable loads of tinned meats, fruits and

-vegetables were screened by tarpaulins from the possibly too envious

-eyes of hungry passers-by&mdash;quite a number of vagrants were to be

-seen in the streets on that day&mdash;and Boost and Gosling, disguised

-in coal-begrimed garments, made the return journey lugubriously

-calling, &ldquo;Plague, plague,&rdquo; the cry of the drivers of the

-funeral carts which had even then become necessary. Their only checks

-were the various applications they received for the cartage of corpses;

-applications easily put on one side by pointing to the piled-up

-carts&mdash;they had spent six laborious hours in packing them.

-&ldquo;No room; no room,&rdquo; they cried, and on that day the

-applicants who accosted Boost and Gosling were not the only ones who

-had to wait for the disposal of their dead.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling arrived at Wisteria Grove, hot and outwardly

-jubilant, albeit with a horrible fear lurking in his mind that he had

-been in dangerous proximity to those tendered additions to his load.

-His booty was stored in one of the downstairs rooms&mdash;with the

-assistance of Mrs Gosling and the two girls they managed the unpacking

-without interruption in two hours and a half&mdash;and then, with

-boarded windows <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb101" href="#pb101"

-name="pb101">101</a>]</span>and locked doors, the Goslings sat down to

-await the passing of horror.</p>

-<p class="par">Boost died of the plague forty-eight hours after the

-great adventure, but as he had a wife and four daughters his plunder

-was not wasted.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">For nearly a fortnight after the raid the Goslings

-lay snug in their little house in Wisteria Grove, for they, in company

-with the majority of English people at this time, had not yet fully

-appreciated the fact that women were almost immune from infection. In

-all, not more than eight per cent of the whole female population was

-attacked, and of this proportion the mortality was almost exclusively

-among women over fifty years of age. When the first faint rumours of

-the plague had come to Europe, this curious, almost unprecedented,

-immunity of women had been given considerable prominence. It had made

-good copy, theories on the subject had appeared, and the point had

-aroused more interest than that of the mortality among

-males&mdash;infectious diseases were commonplace enough; this new phase

-had a certain novelty and piquancy. But the threat of European

-infection had overwhelmed the interest in the odd predilection of the

-unknown bacterium, and the more vital question had thrown this

-peculiarity into the background. Thus the Goslings and most other women

-feared attack no less than their husbands, brothers and sons, and found

-justification for their fears in the undoubted fact that women had died

-of the plague. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb102" href="#pb102" name=

-"pb102">102</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">The Goslings had always jogged along amiably enough;

-their home life would have passed muster as a tolerably happy one. The

-head of the family was out of the house from 8.15 a.m. to 7.15 p.m.

-five days of the week, and it was only occasionally in the evening of

-some long wet Sunday that there was any open bickering.</p>

-<p class="par">Now, confinement in that little house, aggravated by

-fear and by the absence of any interest or diversion coming from

-outside, showed the family to one another in new aspects. Before two

-days had passed the air was tense with the suppressed irritation of

-these four people, held together by scarcely any tie other than that of

-a conventional affection.</p>

-<p class="par">By the third day the air was so heavily charged that

-some explosion was inevitable. It came early in the morning.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling had run out of tobacco, and he thought in the

-circumstances that it would be wiser to send Blanche or Millie than to

-go himself. So, with an air of exaggerated carelessness, he said:</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Millie, my gel, I wish you&rsquo;d

-just run out and see if you can get me any terbaccer.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not me,&rdquo; replied Millie, with decision.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And why not?&rdquo; asked Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie shrugged her shoulders, and called her sister,

-who was in the passage. &ldquo;I say, B., father wants us to go out

-shopping for him. Are you on?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche, duster in hand, appeared at the doorway.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Why doesn&rsquo;t he go himself?&rdquo; she

-asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; replied her father, getting very

-red, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb103" href="#pb103" name=

-"pb103">103</a>]</span>and speaking with elaborate care,

-&ldquo;men&rsquo;s subject to the infection and women is

-not.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all my eye,&rdquo; returned Millie.

-&ldquo;Lots of women have got it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s well known,&rdquo; said Gosling, still

-keeping himself in hand, &ldquo;a matter of common knowledge, that

-women is comparatively immune.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s a man&rsquo;s yarn, that

-is,&rdquo; said Blanche, &ldquo;just to save themselves. We all know

-what men are&mdash;selfish brutes!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you going to fetch me that terbaccer or are

-you not?&rdquo; shouted Mr Gosling suddenly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, we aren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Millie,

-defiantly. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t safe for girls to go about the

-streets, let alone the risk of infection.&rdquo; She had heard her

-father shout before, and she was not, as yet, at all intimidated.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, then, I say you are!&rdquo; shouted her

-father. &ldquo;Lazy, good-for-nothing creatures, the pair of you!

-&rsquo;Oose paid for everything you&rsquo;ve eat or drunk or wore ever

-since you was born? An&rsquo; now you won&rsquo;t even go an

-errand.&rdquo; Then, seeing the ready retort rising to his

-daughters&rsquo; lips, he grew desperate, and, advancing a step towards

-them, he said savagely: &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t go, I&rsquo;ll find a

-way to make yer!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">This was a new aspect, and the two girls were a little

-frightened. Natural instinct prompted them to scream for their

-mother.</p>

-<p class="par">She had been listening at the top of the stairs, and she

-answered the call for help with great promptitude.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You ought to be ashamed of yourself,

-Gosling,&rdquo; she said, on a high note. &ldquo;The streets

-isn&rsquo;t safe for <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb104" href="#pb104"

-name="pb104">104</a>]</span>gels, as you know well enough; and why

-should my gels risk their lives for the sake of your nasty, dirty,

-wasteful &rsquo;abit of smoking, I should like to know?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling&rsquo;s new-found courage was evaporating at the

-attack of this third enemy. He had been incensed against his daughters,

-but he had not yet overcome the habit of giving in to his wife, for the

-sake of peace. She had managed him very capably for a quarter of a

-century, but on the occasions when she had found it necessary to use

-what she called the &ldquo;rough side of her tongue&rdquo; she had

-demonstrated very clearly which of the two was master.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I should have thought I might &rsquo;a been

-allowed a little terbaccer,&rdquo; he said, resentfully.

-&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo risked his life to lay in provisions, I should like to

-know? An&rsquo; it&rsquo;s a matter o&rsquo; common knowledge as women

-is immune from this plague.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And Mrs Carter, three doors off, carried out dead

-of it the day before yesterday!&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling,

-triumphantly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, &rsquo;ere and there, a case or two,&rdquo;

-replied her husband. &ldquo;But not one woman to a thousand men gets

-it, as every one knows.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And how do you know I mightn&rsquo;t be the

-one?&rdquo; asked Millie, bold now under her mother&rsquo;s

-protection.</p>

-<p class="par">For that morning, the matter remained in abeyance; but

-Gosling, muttering and grumbling, nursed his injury and meditated on

-the fact that his daughters had been afraid of him. Things were altered

-now. There was no convention to tie his <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb105" href="#pb105" name="pb105">105</a>]</span>hands. He would work

-himself into a protective passion and defy the three of them. Also,

-there was an unopened bottle of whisky in the sideboard.</p>

-<p class="par">Nevertheless, he would have put off the trial of his

-strength if he had had to seek an opportunity. He was, as yet, too

-civilized to take the initiative in cold blood.</p>

-<p class="par">The opportunity, however, soon presented itself in that

-house. The air had been little cleared by the morning&rsquo;s outbreak,

-and before evening the real explosion came. A mere trifle originated

-it&mdash;a warning from Gosling that their store of provisions would

-not last for ever, and a sharp retort from Millie to the effect that

-her father did not stint himself, followed by a reminder from Mrs

-Gosling that the raid might be repeated.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! yes, you&rsquo;d be willing enough for

-<i>me</i> to die of the plague, I&rsquo;ve no doubt!&rdquo; broke out

-Gosling. &ldquo;<i>I</i> can walk six mile to get you pervisions, but

-you can&rsquo;t go to the corner of the street for my

-terbaccer.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Pervisions is necessary, terbaccer

-ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. She was not a clever woman. She

-judged this to be the right opportunity to keep her husband in his

-place, and relied implicitly on the quelling power of her tongue. Her

-intuitions were those of the woman who had lived all her life in a

-London suburb; they did not warn her that she was now dealing with a

-specimen of half-decivilized humanity.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; shouted Gosling,

-getting to his feet. His face was purple, and his pale blue eyes were

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb106" href="#pb106" name=

-"pb106">106</a>]</span>starting from his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll soon

-show you what&rsquo;s necessary and what ain&rsquo;t, and &rsquo;oose

-master in this &rsquo;ouse. And <i>I</i> say terbaccer is necessary,

-an&rsquo; what&rsquo;s more, one o&rsquo; you three&rsquo;s goin&rsquo;

-to fetch it quick! D&rsquo;ye

-&rsquo;ear&mdash;one&mdash;o&rsquo;&mdash;you&mdash;three!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">This inclusion of Mrs Gosling was, indeed, to declare

-war.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie and Blanche screamed and backed, but their mother

-rose to the occasion. She did not reserve herself; she began on her top

-note; but Gosling did not allow her to finish. He strode over to her

-and shook her by the shoulders, shouting to drown her strident

-recriminations. &ldquo;&rsquo;Old your tongue! &rsquo;old your

-tongue!&rdquo; he bawled, and shook her with increasing violence. He

-was feeling his power, and when his wife crumpled up and fell to the

-floor in shrieking hysterics, he still strode on to victory. Taking the

-cowed and terrified Millie by the arm, he dragged her along the

-passage, unlocked and opened the front door and pushed her out into the

-street. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you come back without my

-terbaccer!&rdquo; he shouted.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;How much?&rdquo; quavered the shrinking

-Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Alf-a-crown&rsquo;s worth,&rdquo; replied

-Gosling fiercely, and tossed the coin down on the little tiled walk

-that led up to the front door.</p>

-<p class="par">After Millie had gone he stood at the door for a moment,

-thankful for the coolness of the air on his heated face. &ldquo;I got

-to keep this up,&rdquo; he murmured to himself, with his first thought

-of wavering. Behind him he heard the sound of uncontrolled weeping and

-little cries of the &ldquo;first time in twenty-four <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb107" href="#pb107" name=

-"pb107">107</a>]</span>years&rdquo; and &ldquo;what the

-neighbours&rsquo;ll think, I <i>don&rsquo;t</i> know.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Neighbours,&rdquo; muttered Gosling,

-contemptuously, &ldquo;there aren&rsquo;t any neighbours&mdash;not to

-count.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">A distant sound of slow wheels caught his ear. He

-listened attentively, and there came to him the remote monotonous chant

-of a dull voice crying: &ldquo;Plague! Plague!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He stepped in quickly and closed the door.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Millie found the Kilburn High Road deserted. No

-traffic of any kind was to be seen in the street, and the rare

-foot-passengers, chiefly women, had all a furtive air. Starvation had

-driven them out to raid. No easy matter, as Millie soon found, for all

-shutters were down, and in many cases shop-fronts were additionally

-protected by great sheets of strong hoarding.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, recovering from her fright, was growing

-resentful. Her little conventional mind was greatly occupied by the

-fact that she was out in the High Road wearing house-shoes without

-heels, in an old print dress, and with no hat to hide the carelessness

-of her hair-dressing. At the corner of Wisteria Grove she stopped and

-tried to remedy this last defect; she had red hair, abundant and

-difficult to control.</p>

-<p class="par">The sight of the deserted High Road did not inspire her

-with self-confidence; she still feared the possibility of meeting some

-one who might recognize <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb108" href=

-"#pb108" name="pb108">108</a>]</span>her. How could one account for

-one&rsquo;s presence in a London thoroughfare at seven o&rsquo;clock on

-a bright May evening in such attire? Certainly not by telling the

-truth.</p>

-<p class="par">The air was wonderfully clear. Coal was becoming very

-scarce, and few fires had been lighted that day to belch forth their

-burden of greasy filth into the atmosphere. The sun was sinking, and

-Millie instinctively clung to the shadow of the pavement on the west

-side of the road. She, too, slunk along with the evasive air that was

-common to the few other pedestrians, the majority of them on this same

-shadowed pavement. That warm, radiant light on the houses opposite

-seemed to hold some horror for them.</p>

-<p class="par">So preoccupied was Millie with her resentment that she

-wandered for two or three hundred yards up the road without any

-distinct idea of what she was seeking. When realization of the futility

-of her search came to her, she stopped in the shadow of a doorway.

-&ldquo;What <i>is</i> the good of going on?&rdquo; she argued.

-&ldquo;All the shops are shut up.&rdquo; But the thought of her father

-in his new aspect of muscular tyrant intimidated her. She dared not

-return without accomplishing her errand. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have another

-look, anyway,&rdquo; she said; and then: &ldquo;Who&rsquo;d have

-thought he was such a brute?&rdquo; She rubbed the bruise on her arm;

-her mouth was twisted into an ugly expression of spiteful resentment.

-Her thoughts were busy with plans of revenge even as she turned to

-prosecute her search for the tyrant&rsquo;s tobacco. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb109" href="#pb109" name="pb109">109</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Here and there shops had been forcibly, burglariously

-entered, plate-glass windows smashed, and interiors cleared of

-everything eatable; the debris showed plainly enough that these rifled

-shops had all belonged to grocers or provision merchants. Into each of

-these ruins Millie stared curiously, hoping foolishly that she might

-find what she sought. She ventured into one and carried away a box of

-soap&mdash;they were running short of soap at home. A sense of moving

-among accessible riches stirred within her, a desire for further

-pillage.</p>

-<p class="par">She came at last to a shop where the shutters were still

-intact, but the door hung drunkenly on one hinge. A little fearfully

-she peered in and discovered that fortune had been kind to her. The

-shop had belonged to a tobacconist, and the contents were almost

-untouched&mdash;there had been more crying needs to satisfy in the

-households of raiders than the desire for tobacco.</p>

-<p class="par">It was very dark inside, and for some seconds Millie

-stared into what seemed absolute blackness, but as her eyes became

-accustomed to the gloom, she saw the interior begin to take outline,

-and when she moved a couple of steps into the place and allowed more

-light to come in through the doorway, various tins, boxes and packets

-in the shelves behind the counter were faintly distinguishable.</p>

-<p class="par">Once inside, the spirit of plunder took hold of her, and

-she began to take down boxes of cigars and cigarettes and packets of

-tobacco, piling them up in a heap on the counter. But she had no basket

-in which to carry the accumulation she was making, <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb110" href="#pb110" name="pb110">110</a>]</span>and

-she was feeling under the counter for some box into which to put her

-haul, when the shadows round her deepened again into almost absolute

-darkness. Cautiously she peered up over the counter and saw the

-silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway.</p>

-<p class="par">For ten breathless seconds Millie hung motionless, her

-eyes fixed on the apparition. She was very civilized still, and she was

-suddenly conscious of committing a crime. She feared horribly lest the

-figure in the doorway might discover Millicent Gosling stealing

-tobacco. But the intruder, after recognizing the nature of the

-shop&rsquo;s contents, moved away with a sigh. Millie heard her

-dragging footsteps shuffle past the window.</p>

-<p class="par">That scare decided her movements. She hastily looped up

-the front of her skirt, bundled into it as much plunder as she could

-conveniently carry, and made her way out into the street again.</p>

-<p class="par">She was nearly at the corner of Wisteria Grove before

-she was molested, and then an elderly woman came suddenly out of a

-doorway and laid a hand on Millie&rsquo;s arm.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Whacher got?&rdquo; asked the woman savagely.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, shrinking and terrified, displayed her

-plunder.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Cigars,&rdquo; muttered the woman. &ldquo;Whacher

-want with cigars?&rdquo; She opened the boxes and stirred up the

-contents of Millie&rsquo;s improvised bundle in an eager search for

-something to eat. &ldquo;Gawd&rsquo;s truth! yer must be crazy, yer

-thievin&rsquo; little slut!&rdquo; she grumbled, and pushed the girl

-fiercely from her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb111" href="#pb111"

-name="pb111">111</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Millie made good her escape, dropping a box of cigars in

-her flight. Her one thought now was the fear of meeting a policeman. In

-three minutes she was beating fiercely on the door of the little house

-in Wisteria Grove, and, disregarding her father&rsquo;s exclamations of

-pleased surprise when he let her in, she tumbled in a heap on to the

-mat in the passage.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling&rsquo;s first declaration of male superiority

-had been splendidly successful.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">A few minutes after Millie&rsquo;s return, Mrs

-Gosling, red-eyed and timidly vicious, interrupted her husband&rsquo;s

-perfect enjoyment of the long-desired cigar by the announcement:

-&ldquo;The gas is off!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling got up, struck a match, and held it to the

-sitting-room burner. The match burned steadily. There was no pressure

-even of air in the pipes.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Turned off at the meter!&rdquo; snapped Gosling.

-&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, lemme go an&rsquo; see!&rdquo; He spoke with the air

-of the superior male, strong in his comprehension of the mechanical

-artifices which so perplex the feminine mind. Mrs Gosling sniffed, and

-stood aside to let him pass. She had already examined the meter.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we got lamps!&rdquo; snarled Gosling when

-he returned. He had always preferred a lamp to read by in the

-evening.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No oil,&rdquo; returned Mrs Gosling, gloomily.

-She&rsquo;d teach him to shake her!</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling meditated. His parochial mind was full

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb112" href="#pb112" name=

-"pb112">112</a>]</span>of indignation. Vague thoughts of &ldquo;getting

-some one into trouble for this&rdquo;&mdash;even of that last,

-desperate act of coercion, writing to the papers about it&mdash;flitted

-through his mind. Plainly something must be done.

-&ldquo;&rsquo;Aven&rsquo;t you got any candles?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One or two. They won&rsquo;t last long,&rdquo;

-replied his studiously patient partner.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to use them to-night

-and go to bed early,&rdquo; was Gosling&rsquo;s final judgment. His

-wife left the room with a shrug of forbearing contempt.</p>

-<p class="par">When she had gone, the head of the house went upstairs

-and peered out into the street. The sun had set, and an unprecedented

-mystery of darkness was falling over London. The globes of the tall

-electric standards, catching a last reflection from the fading sky,

-glimmered faintly, but were not illuminated from within by any fierce

-glare of violet light. Darkness and silence enfolded the great dim

-organism that sprawled its vast being over the earth. The spirit of

-mystery caught Gosling in its spell. &ldquo;All dark,&rdquo; he

-murmured, &ldquo;and quiet! Lord! how still it is!&rdquo; Even in his

-own house there was silence. Downstairs, three injured, resentful women

-were talking in whispers.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling, still sucking his cigar, stood entranced,

-peering into the darkness; he had ventured so far as to throw up the

-sash. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the stillness of death!&rdquo; he muttered.

-Then he cocked his head on one side, for he caught the sound of distant

-shouting. Somewhere in the Kilburn Road another raid was in

-progress.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No light,&rdquo; murmured Gosling, &ldquo;and no

-fire!&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb113" href="#pb113" name=

-"pb113">113</a>]</span>An immediate association suggested itself.

-&ldquo;By gosh! and no <i>water</i>!&rdquo; he added. For some seconds

-he contemplated with fearful awe the failure of the great essential of

-life.</p>

-<p class="par">In the cistern room he was reassured by the sound of a

-delicious trickle from the ball-cock. &ldquo;Still going,&rdquo; he

-said to himself; &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to be careful.

-Surely they&rsquo;ll keep the water goin&rsquo;, though; whatever

-&rsquo;appens, they&rsquo;d surely keep the water on?&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">5</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Nothing but the failure of the water could have

-driven them from Wisteria Grove. Half-a-dozen times every day Gosling

-would climb up to the top of the house to reassure himself. And at last

-came the day when a dreadful silence reigned under the slates, when no

-delicious tinkle of water gave promise of maintained security from

-water famine.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll come on again at night,&rdquo; said

-Gosling to himself. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to be careful,

-that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He went downstairs and issued orders that no more water

-was to be drawn that day.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we must wash up the breakfast

-things,&rdquo; was his wife&rsquo;s reply.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You mustn&rsquo;t wash up nothing,&rdquo; said

-Gosling, &ldquo;not one blessed thing. It&rsquo;s better to go dirty

-than die o&rsquo; thirst. Hevery drop o&rsquo; the water in that

-cistern must be saved for drinkin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling noisily put down the kettle she was holding.

-&ldquo;Oh! very well, my lord!&rdquo; she remarked, sarcastically. She

-looked at her two daughters with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb114"

-href="#pb114" name="pb114">114</a>]</span>a twist of her mouth. There

-were only two sides in that house; the women were as yet united against

-the common foe.</p>

-<p class="par">When Gosling, fatuously convinced of his authority, had

-gone, his wife quietly filled the kettle and proceeded with her washing

-up.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Your father thinks &rsquo;e knows everything

-these days,&rdquo; remarked the mother to her allies.</p>

-<p class="par">There was much whispering for some time.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling spent most of the day in the roof, but not until

-the afternoon did he realize that the cistern was slowly being emptied.

-His first thought was that one of the pipes leaked, his second that it

-was time to make a demonstration of force. He found a walking-stick in

-the hall....</p>

-<p class="par">But even when that precious half-cistern of water was

-only called upon to supply the needs of thirst, and the Goslings,

-sinking further into the degradation of savagedom, slunk furtive and

-filthy about the gloomy house, it became evident that a move must be

-made sooner or later. Two alternatives were presented: they might go

-north and east to the Lea, or south to the Thames.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling chose the South. He knew Putney; he had been

-born there. He knew nothing of Clapton and its neighbourhood.</p>

-<p class="par">So one bright, clear day at the end of May, the Goslings

-set out on their great trek. The head of the house, driven desperate by

-fear of thirst, raided his late partner&rsquo;s coal sheds and found

-one living horse and several dead ones. The living horse was partly

-revived by water from an adjacent butt, and the <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb115" href="#pb115" name="pb115">115</a>]</span>next

-day it was harnessed to a coal cart and commandeered to convey the

-Goslings&rsquo; provisions to Putney. It died half-a-mile short of

-their destination, but they were able, by the exercise of their united

-strength, to get the cart and its burden down to the river.</p>

-<p class="par">They found an empty house without difficulty, but they

-had an unpleasant half-hour in removing what remained of one of the

-previous occupants. Gosling hoped it was not a case of plague. As the

-body was that of a woman, and terribly emaciated, there were some

-grounds for his optimism.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling was in a state of some bewilderment. When water

-had been fetched in buckets from the river, and the three women had

-explored, criticized and sniffed over their new home somewhat in the

-manner of strange cats, the head of the house settled down to a cigar

-and a careful consideration of his perplexities.</p>

-<p class="par">In the first place, he wondered why those horses of

-Boost&rsquo;s had not been used for food; in the second, he wondered

-why he had not seen a single man during the whole of the long trek from

-Brondesbury to Putney. By degrees an unbelievable explanation presented

-itself: no men were left. He remembered that the few needy-looking

-women he had seen had looked at him curiously; in retrospect he fancied

-their regard had had some quality of amazement. Gosling scratched the

-bristles of his ten-days&rsquo;-old beard and smoked thoughtfully. He

-almost regretted that he had stared so fiercely and threateningly at

-every chance woman they had seen; he <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb116" href="#pb116" name="pb116">116</a>]</span>might have got some

-news. But the whole journey had been conducted in a spirit of fear;

-they had been defending their food, their lives; they had been

-primitive creatures ready to fight desperately at the smallest

-provocation.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No man left,&rdquo; said Gosling to himself, and

-was not convinced. If that indeed were the solution of his perplexity,

-he was faced with an awful corollary; his own time would come. He

-thought of Barbican, E.C., of Flack, of Messrs Barker and Prince, of

-the office staff, and the office itself. He had not been able to rid

-his mind of the idea that in a few weeks he would be back in the City

-again. He had several times rehearsed his surprise when he should be

-told of the depredations in the warehouse; he had wondered only

-yesterday if he dared go to the office in his beard.</p>

-<p class="par">But to-night the change of circumstance, the breaking up

-of old associations, was opening his eyes to new horizons. There might

-never be an office again for him to go to. If he survived&mdash;and he

-was distinctly hopeful on that score&mdash;he might be almost the only

-man left in London; there might not be more than a few thousand in the

-whole of England, in Europe....</p>

-<p class="par">For a time he dwelt on this fantastic vision. Who would

-do the work? What work would there be to do?</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Got to get food,&rdquo; murmured Gosling, and

-wondered vaguely how food was &ldquo;got&rdquo; when there were no

-shops, no warehouses, no foreign agents. His mind turned chiefly to

-meat, since that had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb117" href="#pb117"

-name="pb117">117</a>]</span>been his trade. &ldquo;&rsquo;Ave to rear

-sheep and cattle, I suppose,&rdquo; said Gosling. As an afterthought he

-added: &ldquo;An&rsquo; grow wheat.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He sighed heavily. He realized that he had no knowledge

-on the subject of rearing cattle and growing wheat; he also realized

-that he was craving for ordinary food again&mdash;milk, eggs, and fresh

-vegetables. He had a nasty-looking place on his leg which he rightly

-attributed to unwholesome diet.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">6</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">After forty-eight hours&rsquo; residence in the

-new house, Gosling began to pluck up his courage and to dare the perils

-of the streets. He was beginning to have faith in his luck, to believe

-that the plague had passed away and left him untouched.</p>

-<p class="par">And as day succeeded day he ventured further afield; he

-went in search of milk, eggs and vegetables, but he only found young

-nettles, which he brought home and helped to eat when they had been

-boiled over a wood fire. They were all glad to eat nettles, and were

-the better for them. Occasionally he met women on these excursions, and

-stayed to talk to them. Always they had the same tale to

-tell&mdash;their men were dead, and themselves dying of starvation.</p>

-<p class="par">One day at the beginning of June he went as far as

-Petersham, and there at the door of a farmhouse he saw a fine, tall

-young woman. She was such a contrast to the women he usually met on his

-expeditions that he paused and regarded her with curiosity.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb118" href="#pb118" name=

-"pb118">118</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What do <i>you</i> want?&rdquo; asked the young

-woman, suspiciously.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose you &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t any milk or

-butter or eggs to sell?&rdquo; asked Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Sell?&rdquo; echoed the girl, contemptuously.

-&ldquo;What &rsquo;ave you got to give us as is worth food?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, money,&rdquo; replied Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Money!&rdquo; came the echo again.

-&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the good of money when there&rsquo;s nothing to buy

-with it? I wouldn&rsquo;t sell you eggs at a pound apiece.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling scratched his beard&mdash;it looked quite like a

-beard by this time. &ldquo;Rum go, ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he asked, and

-smiled.</p>

-<p class="par">His new acquaintance looked him up and down, and then

-smiled in return, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re right,&rdquo; she said.

-&ldquo;You&rsquo;re the first man I&rsquo;ve seen since father died, a

-month back.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo&rsquo;s livin&rsquo; with you?&rdquo;

-asked Gosling, pointing to the house.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother and sister, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ard work for you to get a livin&rsquo;, I

-suppose?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;So, so. We&rsquo;re used to farm-work. The

-trouble&rsquo;s to keep the other women off.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; replied Gosling reflectively, and the

-two looked at one another again.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You &rsquo;ungry?&rdquo; asked the girl.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not to speak of,&rdquo; replied Gosling.

-&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m fair pinin&rsquo; for a change o&rsquo; diet. Been

-livin&rsquo; on tinned things for five weeks or more.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Come in and have an egg,&rdquo; said the

-girl.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Gosling, &ldquo;I will,

-with pleasure.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb119" href=

-"#pb119" name="pb119">119</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">They grew friendly over that meal&mdash;two eggs and a

-glass of milk. He ate the eggs with butter, but there was no bread. It

-seemed that the young woman&rsquo;s mother and sister were at work on

-the farm, but that one of them had always to stay at home and keep

-guard.</p>

-<p class="par">They discussed the great change that had come over

-England, and wondered what would be the end of it; and after a little

-time, Gosling began to look at the girl with a new expression in his

-pale blue eyes.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! Hevrything&rsquo;s changed,&rdquo; he said.

-&ldquo;Nothin&rsquo; won&rsquo;t be the same any more, as far as we can

-see. There&rsquo;s no neighbours now, f&rsquo;rinstance, and no talk of

-what&rsquo;s going on&mdash;or anythin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The girl looked at him thoughtfully. &ldquo;What we miss

-is some man to look after the place,&rdquo; she said.

-&ldquo;We&rsquo;re robbed terrible.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling had not meant to go as far as that. He was not

-unprepared for a pleasant flirtation, now that there were no neighbours

-to report him at home, but the idea that he could ever separate himself

-permanently from his family had not occurred to him.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you want a man about

-these days.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ever done any farm work?&rdquo; asked the

-girl.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling shook his head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you&rsquo;d soon learn,&rdquo; she went

-on.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I must think it over,&rdquo; said Gosling

-suddenly. &ldquo;Shall you be &rsquo;ere to-morrow?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One of us will,&rdquo; said the girl.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! but shall <i>you</i>?&rdquo; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb120" href="#pb120" name="pb120">120</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Why me?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ve took a fancy to you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Very kind of you, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; said the

-girl, and laughed.</p>

-<p class="par">Gosling kissed her before he left.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">7</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">He returned the next afternoon and helped to cut

-and stack sainfoin, and afterwards he watched the young woman milk the

-cows. It was so late by the time everything was finished that he was

-persuaded to stay the night.</p>

-<p class="par">In the new Putney house three women wondered what had

-happened to &ldquo;father.&rdquo; They grew increasingly anxious for

-some days, and even tried in a feeble way to search for him. By the end

-of the week they accepted the theory that he too had died of the

-plague.</p>

-<p class="par">They never saw him again. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb121" href="#pb121" name="pb121">121</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch10" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">X&mdash;</span>EXODUS</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">In West Hampstead a Jewess, who had once been fat,

-looked out of the windows of her gaudy house. She was partly dressed in

-a garish silk neglig&eacute;. Her face was exceedingly dirty, but the

-limp, pallid flesh was revealed in those places where she had wiped

-away her abundant tears. Her body was bruised and stiff, for in a

-recent raid on a house suspected of containing provisions she had been

-hardly used by her sister women. She had made the mistake of going out

-too well dressed; she had imagined that expensive clothes would command

-respect....</p>

-<p class="par">As she looked out she wept again, bewailing her misery.

-From her earliest youth she had been pampered and spoilt. She had

-learnt that marriage was her sole object in life, and she had sold

-herself at a very respectable price. She had received the applause and

-favour of her family for marrying the man she had chosen as most likely

-to provide her with the luxury which she regarded as her

-birth-right.</p>

-<p class="par">Two days ago she had cooked and eaten the absurdly

-expensive but diminutive dog upon which she had lavished the only love

-of which she had been capable. She had wept continuously as she ate her

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb122" href="#pb122" name=

-"pb122">122</a>]</span>idol, but for the first time she had regretted

-his littleness.</p>

-<p class="par">Hunger and thirst were driving her out of the house of

-which she had been so vain; the primitive pains were awakening in her

-primitive instincts that had never stirred before. From her window she

-could see naught but endless streets of brick, stone and asphalt, but

-beyond that dry, hot, wilderness she knew there were fields&mdash;she

-had seen them out of the corner of her eye when she had motored to

-Brighton. Fields had never been associated in her mind with food until

-the strange new stirring of that unsuspected instinct. Food for her

-meant shops. One went to shops and bought food and bought the best at

-the lowest price possible. With all her pride of position, she had

-never hesitated to haggle with shopkeepers. And when the first pinch

-had come, when her husband had selfishly died of the plague, and her

-household had deserted her, it was to the shops she had gone,

-autocratically demanding her rights. She had learned by experience now

-that she had no longer any rights.</p>

-<p class="par">She dressed herself in her least-conspicuous clothes,

-dabbed her face with powder to cover some of the dirt&mdash;there was

-no water, and in any case she did not feel inclined to

-wash&mdash;carefully stowed away all her money and the best of her

-jewels in a small leather bag, and set out to find the country where

-food grew out of the ground.</p>

-<p class="par">Instinct set her face to the north. She took the road

-towards Hendon.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb123" href="#pb123"

-name="pb123">123</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">In every quarter of London, in every great town

-and city throughout Europe, women were setting their faces towards the

-country.</p>

-<p class="par">By the autumn London was empty. The fallen leaves in

-park squares and suburban streets were swept into corners by the wind,

-and when the rain came the leaves clung together and rotted, and so

-continued the long routine of decay and birth.</p>

-<p class="par">When spring came again, Nature returned with delicate,

-strong hands to claim her own. For hundreds of years she had been

-defied in the heart of this great, hard, stone place. Her little

-tentative efforts had been rudely repulsed, no tender thread of grass

-had been allowed to flourish for an hour under the feet of the crushing

-multitude. Yet she had fought with a steady persistence that never

-relaxed a moment&rsquo;s effort. Whenever men had given her a

-moment&rsquo;s opportunity, even in the very heart of that city of

-burning struggle, she had covered the loathed sterility with grass and

-flowers, dandelions, charlock, grounsel and other life that men call

-weeds.</p>

-<p class="par">Now, when her full opportunity came, she set to work in

-her slow, patient way to wreck and cover the defilement of earth. Her

-winds swept dust into every corner, and her rain turned it into a

-shallow bed of soil, ready to receive and nurture the tiny seeds that

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb124" href="#pb124" name=

-"pb124">124</a>]</span>sailed on little feathered wings, or were

-carried by bird and insect to some quiet refuge in which they might

-renew life, and, dying, add fertility to the mother who had brought

-them forth.</p>

-<p class="par">Nature came, also, with her hurricanes, her lightnings

-and her frosts, to rend and destroy. She stripped slates from roofs,

-thrust out gables and overturned solid walls. She came with fungi to

-undermine and with the seeds of trees to split asunder.</p>

-<p class="par">She asked for but a few hundred years of patient,

-continuous work in order to make of London once more a garden; where

-the nightingale might sing in Oxford Street and the children of a new

-race pluck sweet wild flowers over the site of the Bank of

-England....</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The spirit of London had gone out of her, and her

-body was crumbling and rotting. There was no life in all that vast

-sprawl of bricks and mortar; the very dogs and cats, deserted by

-humanity, left her to seek their only food, to seek those other living

-things which were their natural quarry.</p>

-<p class="par">In her prime, London had been the chief city of the

-world. Men and women spoke of her as an entity, wrote of her as of a

-personality, loved her as a friend. This aggregate of streets and

-parks, this strange confusion of wealth and squalor, had stood to men

-and women for something definitely lovable. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb125" href="#pb125" name="pb125">125</a>]</span>It

-was not her population they loved, not the polyglot crowd that swarmed

-in her streets, but she herself and all the beauty and intoxication of

-life she had gathered into her embrace.</p>

-<p class="par">Now she was dead. Whatever fine qualities she had

-possessed, whatever vices, had gone from her. She sprawled in all her

-naked ugliness, a huge corpse rotting among the hills, awaiting the

-slow burial which Nature was tediously preparing.</p>

-<p class="par">All those wonderful buildings, the great emporiums in

-the West End, the magnificent banks and insurance offices, museums and

-picture galleries, regarded as the storehouses of incalculable wealth,

-vast hotels, palatial private residences, the thundering railway

-termini, Government offices, Houses of Parliament, theatres, churches

-and cathedrals, all had become meaningless symbols. All had represented

-some activity, some ambition of man, and man had fled to the country

-for food, leaving behind the worthless tokens of wealth that had

-intrigued him for so many centuries.</p>

-<p class="par">Gold and silver grew tarnished in huge safes that none

-wished to rifle, banknotes became mildewed, damp and fungus crept into

-the museums and picture galleries, and in the whole of Great Britain

-there was none to grieve. Every living man and woman was back at the

-work of their ancestors, praying once more to Ceres or Demeter, working

-with bent back to produce the first essentials of life.</p>

-<p class="par">Each individual must produce until such time as there

-was once more a superfluity, until barns were filled and wealth

-re-created, until the strong had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb126"

-href="#pb126" name="pb126">126</a>]</span>seized from the weak and

-demanded labour in return for the use of the stolen instrument, until

-civilization had sprung anew from the soil.</p>

-<p class="par">Meanwhile London was not a city of the dead, but a dead

-city. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb127" href="#pb127" name=

-"pb127">127</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="bk2" class="div0 book">

-<h2 class="label">BOOK II</h2>

-<h2 class="main">THE MARCH OF THE GOSLINGS</h2>

-<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb129" href="#pb129" name=

-"pb129">129</a>]</span></p>

-<div id="ch11" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XI&mdash;</span>THE SILENT

-CITY</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">July came in with temperate heat and occasional

-showers, ideal weather for the crops; for all the precious growths

-which must ripen before the famine could be stayed. The sudden stoppage

-of all imports, and the flight of the great urban population into the

-country, had demonstrated beyond all question the poverty of

-England&rsquo;s resources of food supply, and the demonstration was to

-prove of value although there was no economist left to theorize.

-England was once again an independent unit, and no longer a member of a

-great world-body. Indeed England was being subdivided. The unit of

-organization was shrinking with amazing rapidity. The necessity for

-concentration grew with every week that passed, the fluidity of the

-superfluous labour was being resolved by death from starvation. The

-women who wandered from one farm to the next died by the way.</p>

-<p class="par">In the Putney house, Mrs Gosling and her daughters were

-faced by the failure of their food supply. The older woman had little

-initiative. She was a true Londoner. Her training and all the

-circumstances of her life had narrowed her imaginative grasp till she

-was only able to comprehend one issue. And as yet her daughters, and

-more particularly Millie, were so <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb130"

-href="#pb130" name="pb130">130</a>]</span>influenced by their

-mother&rsquo;s thought that they, also, had shown little evidence of

-adaptability to the changed conditions.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall &rsquo;ave to be careful,&rdquo; was Mrs

-Gosling&rsquo;s first expression of the necessity for looking to the

-future. She had arranged the bulk of her stores neatly in one room on

-the second floor, and although a goodly array of tins still faced her

-she experienced a miserly shrinking from any diminishment of their

-numbers. Moreover, she had long been without such necessities as flour.

-Barker and Prince had not dealt in flour.</p>

-<p class="par">Returning from her daily inspection one morning in the

-second week of July, Mrs Gosling decided that something must be done at

-once. Fear of the plague was almost dead, but fear of invasion by

-starving women had kept them all close prisoners. That house was a

-fortress.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Look &rsquo;ere, gels,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling

-when she came downstairs. &ldquo;Somethin&rsquo; &rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave

-to be done.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche looked thoughtful. Her own mind had already

-begun to work on that great problem of their future. Millie, lazy and

-indifferent, shrugged her shoulders and replied: &ldquo;All very well,

-mother, but what <i>can</i> we do?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I been thinking as it&rsquo;s very likely

-as things ain&rsquo;t so bad in some places as they are just about

-&rsquo;ere,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;We got plenty o&rsquo;

-money left, and it seems to me as two of us &rsquo;ad better go out and

-&rsquo;ave a look about, London way. One of us could look after the

-&rsquo;ouse easy enough, now. We &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t &rsquo;ardly seen

-a soul about the past fortnight.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb131" href="#pb131" name="pb131">131</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She

-visualized the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of

-the town, business had begun again, that shops were open and people at

-work. It might be that she could find work there. She was longing for

-the sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of

-isolation.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m on,&rdquo; she said briskly. &ldquo;Me

-and Millie had better go, mother, we can walk farther. You can lock up

-after us and you needn&rsquo;t open the door to anyone. Are you on,

-Mill?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We must make ourselves look a bit more decent

-first,&rdquo; said Millie, glancing at the mirror over the

-mantelpiece.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; returned Blanche,

-&ldquo;we brought one box of clothes with us.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of

-their wardrobe.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Come to the worst we could fetch some more things

-from Wisteria. I don&rsquo;t suppose anyone has touched

-&rsquo;em,&rdquo; suggested Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs

-Gosling sighed noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place

-at Putney, and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be

-accessible gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you might go up there one day and

-&rsquo;ave a look at the place,&rdquo; she put in. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s

-quite likely they&rsquo;ve got things goin&rsquo; again up

-there.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made

-themselves presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The

-atmosphere of horror which the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb132"

-href="#pb132" name="pb132">132</a>]</span>plague had brought was being

-lifted. It was as if the dead germs had filled the air with an

-invisible, impalpable dust, that had exercised a strange power of

-depression. The spirit of death had hung over the whole world and

-paralyzed all activity. Now the dust was dispersing. The spirit was

-withdrawing to the unknown deeps from which it had come.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It is nice to feel decent again,&rdquo; said

-Blanche. She lifted her head and threw back her shoulders.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was preening herself before the glass.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m sure you <i>&rsquo;ave</i> made

-yourselves look smart,&rdquo; said their mother with a touch of pride.

-&ldquo;They were good girls,&rdquo; she reflected, &ldquo;if there had

-been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then, who could have

-helped themselves? It had been a terrible time.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young

-women, presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St

-John the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to

-buy food in the dead city.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way

-towards Hammersmith.</p>

-<p class="par">The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the

-streets was so sharp and bright that it was as if they saw with

-wonderfully renewed and sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense

-of exhilaration. They <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb133" href=

-"#pb133" name="pb133">133</a>]</span>were conscious of quickened

-emotion, of a sensation of physical well-being.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it <i>clean</i>?&rdquo; said

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;H&rsquo;m! Funny!&rdquo; returned Millie.

-&ldquo;Like those photographs of foreign places.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Under their feet was an accumulation of sharp, dry dust,

-detritus of stone, asphalt and steel. In corners where the fugitive

-rubbish had found refuge from the driving wind, the dust had

-accumulated in flat mounds, broken by scraps of paper or the torn flag

-of some rain-soaked poster that gave an untidy air of human refuse.

-Across the open way of certain roads the dust lay in a waved pattern of

-nearly parallel lines, like the ridged sand of the foreshore.</p>

-<p class="par">For some time they kept to the pavements from force of

-habit.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, Mill, don&rsquo;t you feel

-adventurous?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie looked dissatisfied. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so lonely,

-B.,&rdquo; was her expression of feeling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Never had London all to myself before,&rdquo;

-said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Near Hammersmith Broadway they saw a tram standing on

-the rails. Its thin tentacle still clung to the overhead wire that had

-once given it life, as if it waited there patiently hoping for a

-renewal of the exhilarating current.</p>

-<p class="par">Almost unconsciously Blanche and Millie quickened their

-pace. Perhaps this was the outermost dying ripple of life, the furthest

-outpost of the new activity that was springing up in central

-London.</p>

-<p class="par">But the tram was guarded by something that in

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb134" href="#pb134" name=

-"pb134">134</a>]</span>the hot, still air seemed to surround it with an

-almost visible mist.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Eugh!&rdquo; ejaculated Millie and shrank back.

-&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t go, Blanche. It&rsquo;s awful!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s hand also had leapt to her face, but she

-took a few steps forward and peered into the sunlit case of steel and

-glass. She saw a heap of clothes about the framework of a grotesquely

-jointed scarecrow, and the gleam of something round, smooth and

-white.</p>

-<p class="par">She screamed faintly, and a filthy dog crept, with a

-thin yelp, from under the seat and came to the door of the tram. For a

-moment it stood there with an air that was half placatory, wrinkling

-its nose and feebly raising a stump of propitiatory tail, then, with

-another protesting yelp, it crept back, furtive and ashamed, to its

-unlawful meat.</p>

-<p class="par">The two girls, handkerchief to nose, hurried by

-breathless, with bent heads. A little past Hammersmith Broadway they

-had their first sight of human life. Two gaunt faces looked out at them

-from an upper window. Blanche waved her hand, but the women in the

-house, half-wondering, half-fearful, at the strange sight of these two

-fancifully dressed girls, shook their heads and drew back. Doubtless

-there was some secret hoard of food in that house and the inmates

-feared the demands of charity.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we aren&rsquo;t quite the last,

-anyway,&rdquo; commented Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What were they afraid of?&rdquo; asked

-Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Thought we wanted to cadge, I expect,&rdquo;

-suggested Blanche. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb135" href="#pb135"

-name="pb135">135</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mean things,&rdquo; was her sister&rsquo;s

-comment.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! <i>we</i> weren&rsquo;t so over-anxious to

-have visitors,&rdquo; Blanche reminded her.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>We</i> didn&rsquo;t want their beastly

-food,&rdquo; complained the affronted Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">The shops in Hammersmith did not offer much inducement

-to exploration. Some were still closely shuttered, others presented

-goods that offered no temptation, such as hardware; but the majority

-had already been pillaged and devastated. Most of that work had been

-done in the early days of the plague when panic had reigned, and many

-men were left to lead the raids on the preserves of food.</p>

-<p class="par">Only one great line of shuttered fronts induced the two

-girls to pause.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No need to go to Wisteria for clothes,&rdquo;

-suggested Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;How could we get in?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! get in some way easy enough.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s stealing,&rdquo; said Millie, and

-thought of her raid on the Kilburn tobacconist&rsquo;s.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t steal from dead people,&rdquo;

-explained Blanche; &ldquo;besides, who&rsquo;ll have the things if we

-don&rsquo;t?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose it&rsquo;d be all right,&rdquo;

-hesitated Millie, obviously tempted.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; returned Blanche and

-paused. &ldquo;I say, Mill,&rdquo; she burst out suddenly.

-&ldquo;There&rsquo;s all the West-end to choose from. Come

-on!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">For a time they walked more quickly.</p>

-<p class="par">In Kensington High Street they had an adventure.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb136" href="#pb136" name=

-"pb136">136</a>]</span>They saw a woman decked in gorgeous silks,

-strung and studded with jewels from head to foot. She walked with a

-slow and flaunting step, gesticulating, and talking. Every now and

-again she would pause and draw herself up with an affectation of

-immense dignity, finger the ropes of jewels at her breast, and make a

-slow gesture with her hands.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s mad,&rdquo; whispered Blanche, and

-the two girls, terrified and trembling, hastily took refuge in a great

-square cave full of litter and refuse that had once been a

-grocer&rsquo;s shop.</p>

-<p class="par">The woman passed their hiding-place in her stately

-progress westward without giving any sign that she was conscious of

-their presence. When she was nearly opposite to them she made one of

-her stately pauses. &ldquo;Queen of all the Earth,&rdquo; they heard

-her say, &ldquo;Queen and Empress. Queen of the Earth.&rdquo; Her hand

-went up to her head and touched a strange collection of jewels pinned

-in her hair, of tiaras and brooches that flashed brighter than the high

-lights of the brilliant sun. One carelessly fastened brooch fell and

-she pushed it aside with her foot. &ldquo;You understand,&rdquo; she

-said in her high, wavering voice, &ldquo;you understand, Queen and

-Empress, Queen of the Earth.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They heard the refrain of her gratified ambition

-repeated as she moved slowly away.</p>

-<p class="par">A long submerged memory rose to the threshold of

-Millie&rsquo;s mind. &ldquo;Thieving slut,&rdquo; she murmured.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb137" href="#pb137" name=

-"pb137">137</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">As they came nearer to representative London the

-signs of deserted traffic were more numerous. By the Albert Memorial

-they saw an overturned motor-bus which had smashed into the park

-railings, and a little further on were two more buses, one standing

-decently at the curb, the other sprawling across the middle of the

-road. The wheels of both were axle deep in the dust which had blown

-against them, and out of the dust a few weak threads of grass were

-sprouting. There were other vehicles, too, cabs, lorries and carts: not

-a great number altogether, but even the fifty or so which the girls saw

-between Kensington and Knightsbridge offered sufficient testimony to

-the awful rapidity with which the plague had spread. For it seems

-probable that in the majority of cases the drivers of these deserted

-vehicles must have been attacked by the first agonizing pains at the

-base of the skull while they were actually employed in driving their

-machines. There were few skeletons to be seen. The lull which

-intervened between the first unmistakable symptoms of the plague and

-the oncoming of the paralysis had given men time to obey their instinct

-to die in seclusion, the old instinct so little altered by

-civilization. Those vestiges of humanity which remained had, for the

-most part, been cleansed by the processes of Nature, but twice the

-girls disturbed a horrible cloud of blue flies which rose with an angry

-buzzing so loud that the girls screamed and ran, leaving the scavengers

-to swoop eagerly back upon <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb138" href=

-"#pb138" name="pb138">138</a>]</span>their carrion. Doubtless the thing

-in the Hammersmith tram had been the body of a woman, recently-dead

-from starvation. Even from the houses there was now little

-exhalation.</p>

-<p class="par">In Knightsbridge, a little past the top of Sloane

-Street, Blanche and Millie came to a shop which diverted them from

-their exploration for a time. Most of the huge rolling shutters had

-been pulled down and secured, but one had stopped half way, and,

-beyond, the great plate-glass windows were uncovered. One of ten

-million tragedies had descended swiftly to interrupt the closing of

-that immense place, and some combination of circumstances had followed

-to prevent the completion of the work. The imaginative might stop to

-speculate on the mystery of that half-closed shutter; the two Goslings

-stopped to admire the wonders behind the glass.</p>

-<p class="par">For a time the desolation and silence of London were

-forgotten. In imagination Blanche and Millie were once again units in

-the vast crowd of antagonists striving valiantly to win some prize in

-the great competition between the boast of wealth and the pathetic

-endeavour of make-believe.</p>

-<p class="par">They stayed to gaze at the &ldquo;creations&rdquo;

-behind the windows, at dummies draped in costly fabrics such as they

-had only dreamed of wearing. The silks, satins and velvets were

-whitened now with the thin snow of dust that had fallen upon them, but

-to Blanche and Millie they appeared still as wonders of beauty.</p>

-<p class="par">For a minute or two they criticized the models.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb139" href="#pb139" name=

-"pb139">139</a>]</span>They spoke at first in low voices, for the deep

-stillness of London held them in unconscious awe, but as they became

-lost in the fascination of their subject they forgot their fear. And

-then they looked at one another a little guiltily.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No harm in seeing if the door&rsquo;s locked,

-anyway,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie looked over her shoulder and saw no movement in

-the frozen streets, save the sweep of one exploring swallow. Even the

-sparrows had deserted the streets. She did not reply in words, but

-signified her agreement of thought by a movement towards the

-entrance.</p>

-<p class="par">The swing doors were not fastened, and they entered

-stealthily.</p>

-<p class="par">They began with the touch of appraising fingers,

-wandering from room to room. But most of the rooms on the ground floor

-were darkened by the drawn shutters, and no glow of light came in

-response to the clicking of the electric switches that they

-experimented with with persistent futility. So they adventured into the

-clearly lit rooms upstairs and experienced a fallacious sense of

-security in the knowledge that they were on the floor above the

-street.</p>

-<p class="par">Fingering gave place to still closer inspection. They

-lifted the models from the stands and shook them out. They held up

-gorgeous robes in front of their own suburban dresses and admired each

-other and themselves in the numerous cheval glasses.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! bother!&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche at last,

-&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try on.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! B.&rdquo; expostulated the more timid Millie.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb140" href="#pb140" name=

-"pb140">140</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! why to goodness not?&rdquo; asked her elder

-sister. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s to be any the wiser?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Seems wrong, somehow,&rdquo; replied Millie,

-unable to shake off the conventions which had so long served her as

-conscience.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I am,&rdquo; said Blanche, and retired into

-a little side room to divest herself of her own dress. She had always

-shared a bedroom with her sister, and they observed few modesties

-before each other, but Blanche was mentally incapable of changing her

-dress in the broad avenues of that extensive show-room. It is true that

-the tall casement windows were wide open and the place was completely

-overlooked by the massive buildings opposite, but even if the windows

-had been screened she would not have changed her skirt in the publicity

-of that open place, though every human being in the world were

-dead.</p>

-<p class="par">When she emerged from her dressing-room she was

-transformed indeed. She went over to her still hesitating sister.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do me up, Mill,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche had chosen well; the fine cloth walking dress

-admirably fitted her well-developed young figure. When she had

-discarded her hat and touched up her hair before the glass, only her

-boots and her hands remained to spoil the disguise. Well gloved and

-well shod, she might have passed down the Bond Street of the old

-London, and few women and no man would have known that she had not

-sprung from the ruling classes.</p>

-<p class="par">She posed. She stepped back from the mirror and

-half-unconsciously fell to imitating the manners of <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb141" href="#pb141" name="pb141">141</a>]</span>the

-revered aristocracy she had respectfully studied from a distance.</p>

-<p class="par">In a few minutes she was joined by Millie, also arrayed

-in peacock&rsquo;s feathers and anxious to be

-&ldquo;fastened.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Their excitement increased. Walking dresses gave place

-to evening gowns. They lost their sense of fear and ran into other

-departments searching for long white gloves to hide the disfigurements

-of household work. They paraded and bowed to each other. The climax

-came when they discovered a Court dress, immensely trained, and

-embroidered with gold thread, laid by with evidences of tenderest care

-in endless wrappings of tissue paper. Surely the dress of some elegant

-young duchess!</p>

-<p class="par">For a moment they wrangled, but Blanche triumphed.

-&ldquo;You shall have it afterwards,&rdquo; she said, as she ran to her

-dressing-room.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie followed in an elaborate gown of Indian silk; a

-somewhat sulky Millie, inclined to resent her duty of lady&rsquo;s

-maid. She dragged disrespectfully at the innumerable fastenings.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;My!&rdquo; ejaculated Blanche when she could

-indulge herself in the glory of full examination before a cheval glass

-in the open show-room. She struggled with her train and when she had

-arranged it to her satisfaction, threw back her shoulders and lifted

-her chin haughtily.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I ought to have some diamonds,&rdquo; she

-reflected.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It drags round the hips,&rdquo; was

-Millie&rsquo;s criticism.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You should say &lsquo;Your Majesty,&rsquo;&rdquo;

-corrected Blanche. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb142" href="#pb142"

-name="pb142">142</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! a Queen, are you?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Rather&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Queen of all the Earth,&rdquo; sneered

-Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s face suddenly fell. &ldquo;I wonder if

-she began like this,&rdquo; she said, and a note of fear had come into

-her voice.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie&rsquo;s eyes reflected her sister&rsquo;s

-alarm.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! let&rsquo;s get out of this, B.,&rdquo; she

-said, and began to tear at the neck of her Indian silk gown.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I wanted diamonds, too,&rdquo; persisted

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! B., it <i>isn&rsquo;t</i> right,&rdquo; said

-Millie. &ldquo;I said it wasn&rsquo;t right and you <i>would</i>

-come.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Silence descended upon them for a moment, and then both

-sisters suddenly screamed and ducked, putting up their hands to their

-heads.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goodness! What was that?&rdquo; cried

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">A swallow had swept in through the open window, had

-curved round in one swift movement, and shot out again into the

-sunlight.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Only a bird of some sort,&rdquo; said Millie, but

-she was trembling and on the verge of hysterics. &ldquo;Do let&rsquo;s

-get out, B.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">After they had put on their own clothes once more they

-became aware that they were hungry.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>have</i> wasted a lot of time here,&rdquo;

-said Blanche as they made their way out.</p>

-<p class="par">She did not pause to wonder how many women had spent the

-best part of their lives in a precisely similar manner.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And we ought to have been looking for

-food,&rdquo; she added. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb143" href=

-"#pb143" name="pb143">143</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; replied Millie. &ldquo;That place

-has given me the creeps.&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Growing rather tired and footsore they made their

-way to Piccadilly Circus, and so on to the Strand. Everywhere they

-found the same conditions: a few skeletons, a few deserted vehicles,

-young vegetation taking hold wherever a pinch of soil had found an

-abiding place, and over all a great silence. But food there was none

-that they were able to find, though it is probable that a careful

-investigation of cellars and underground places might have furnished

-some results. The more salient resources of London had been effectively

-pillaged so far as the West-end was concerned. They were too late.</p>

-<p class="par">In Trafalgar Square, Millie sat down and cried. Blanche

-made no attempt to comfort her, but sat wide eyed and wondering. Her

-mind was opening to new ideas. She was beginning to understand that

-London was incapable of supporting even the lives of three women; she

-was wrestling with the problem of existence. Every one had gone. Many

-had died; but many more, surely, must have fled into the country. She

-began to understand that she and her family must also fly into the

-country.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie still sobbed convulsively now and again.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! Chuck it, Mill,&rdquo; said Blanche at last.

-&ldquo;We&rsquo;d better be getting home.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie dabbed her eyes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m

-starving,&rdquo; she blubbered. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb144"

-href="#pb144" name="pb144">144</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, so am I,&rdquo; returned Blanche.

-&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I said we&rsquo;d better get home.

-There&rsquo;s nothing to eat here.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Is&mdash;is every one dead?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, they&rsquo;ve gone off into the country, and

-that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The younger girl sat up, put her hat straight, and blew

-her nose. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it awful, B.?&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche pinched her lips together. &ldquo;What are you

-putting your hat straight for?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s

-no one to see you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you needn&rsquo;t make it any worse,&rdquo;

-retorted Millie on the verge of a fresh outburst of tears.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on!&rdquo; said Blanche, getting to her

-feet.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe I <i>can</i> walk

-home,&rdquo; complained Millie; &ldquo;my feet ache so.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to wait a long time if

-you&rsquo;re going to find a bus,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Three empty taxicabs stood in the rank a few feet away

-from them, but it never occurred to either of the two young women to

-attempt any experiment with these mechanisms. If the thought had

-crossed their minds they would have deemed it absurd.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go down by Victoria,&rdquo; suggested

-Blanche. &ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s nearer.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">In Parliament Square they disturbed a flock of rooks,

-birds which had partly changed their natural habits during the past few

-months and, owing to the superabundance of one kind of food, were

-preying on carrion. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb145" href="#pb145"

-name="pb145">145</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Crows,&rdquo; commented Blanche. &ldquo;Beastly

-things.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I wonder if we could get some water to

-drink,&rdquo; was Millie&rsquo;s reply.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, there&rsquo;s the river,&rdquo; suggested

-Blanche, and they turned up towards Westminster Bridge.</p>

-<p class="par">In one of the tall buildings facing the river

-Blanche&rsquo;s attention was caught by an open door.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Mill,&rdquo; she said,

-&ldquo;we&rsquo;ve only been looking for shops. Let&rsquo;s try one of

-these houses. We might find something to eat in there.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What of?&rdquo; sneered Blanche. &ldquo;At the

-worst it&rsquo;s skeletons, and we can come out again.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie shuddered. &ldquo;You go,&rdquo; she

-suggested.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not by myself, I won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; returned

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There you are, you see,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s different by

-yourself.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I hate it,&rdquo; returned Millie with

-emphasis.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;So do I, in a way, only I&rsquo;m fair

-starving,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;Come on.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The building was solidly furnished, and the ground

-floor, although somewhat disordered, still suggested a complacent

-luxury. On the floor lay a copy of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, dated

-May 10; possibly one of the last issues of a London journal. Two of the

-pages were quite blank, and almost the only advertisement was one

-hastily-set announcement of a patent medicine guaranteed as a sure

-protection against the plague. The remainder of the paper was filled

-with reports of the devastation that was being wrought, reports which

-were nevertheless marked by a faint spirit of simulated confidence.

-Between the lines could <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb146" href=

-"#pb146" name="pb146">146</a>]</span>be read the story of desperate men

-clinging to hope with splendid courage. There were no signs of panic

-here. Groves had come out well at the last.</p>

-<p class="par">The two girls hovered over this piece of ancient history

-for a few minutes.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said Blanche triumphantly,

-&ldquo;even then, more&rsquo;n two months ago, every one was making for

-the country. We shall have to go, too. I told you we should.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I never said we shouldn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; returned

-Millie. &ldquo;Anyhow there&rsquo;s nothing to eat here.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not in this room, there isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said

-Blanche, &ldquo;but there might be in the kitchens. Do you know what

-this place has been?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie shook her head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a man&rsquo;s club,&rdquo;

-announced Blanche. &ldquo;First time you&rsquo;ve been in one, old

-dear.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Come on, let&rsquo;s have a look downstairs,

-then,&rdquo; returned Millie, careless of her achievement.</p>

-<p class="par">In the first kitchen they found havoc: broken china and

-glass, empty bottles, empty tins, cooking utensils on the floor, one

-table upset, everywhere devastation and the marks of struggle; but in

-none of the empty tins was there the least particle of food. Everything

-had been completely cleaned out. The rats had been there, and had

-gone.</p>

-<p class="par">Exploring deeper, however, they were at last rewarded.

-On a table stood a whole array of unopened tins and in one of them was

-plunged a tin-opener, a single stab had been given, and then, possibly,

-another of these common tragedies had begun. Had <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb147" href="#pb147" name="pb147">147</a>]</span>he

-been alone, that plunderer, or had his companions fled from him in

-terror?</p>

-<p class="par">Here the two girls made a sufficient meal, and

-discovered, moreover, a large store of unopened beer-bottles. They

-shared the contents of one between them, and then, feeling greatly

-reinvigorated, they sought for and found two baskets, which they filled

-with tinned foods. They only took away one bottle of beer&mdash;a

-special treat for their mother&mdash;on account of the weight. They

-remembered that they had a long walk before them; and they were not

-over-elated by their discovery; they were sick to death of tinned

-meats.</p>

-<p class="par">In looking for the baskets they came across a single

-potato that the rats had left. From it had sprung a long, thin,

-etiolated shoot which had crept under the door of the cupboard and was

-making its way across the floor to the light of the window. Already

-that shoot was several feet in length.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Funny how they grow,&rdquo; commented Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Making for the country, I expect,&rdquo; replied

-Blanche, &ldquo;same as we shall have to do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">It was a relief to them to find their way into the

-sunlight once more. Those cold, forsaken houses held some suggestion of

-horror, of old activities so abruptly ended by tragedy. From these

-interiors Nature was still shut off. That ghostly tendril aching

-towards the light had no chance for life and reproduction....

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb148" href="#pb148" name=

-"pb148">148</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">5</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The two Gosling girls had yet one more adventure

-before they toiled home with their load.</p>

-<p class="par">They were growing bolder, despite the gloom and

-oppression of those human habitations, and some freakish spirit

-prompted Blanche to suggest that they should visit the Houses of

-Parliament. After a brief demur, Millie acceded.</p>

-<p class="par">That great stronghold was open to them now. They might

-walk the floor of the House, sit in the Speaker&rsquo;s chair,

-penetrate into the sacred places of the Upper Chamber.</p>

-<p class="par">Gone were all the rules and formulas, the intricacies

-and precedents of an unwritten constitution, the whole cumbrous

-machinery for the making of new laws. The air was no longer disturbed

-by the wranglings, evasions and cunning shifts of those who had found

-here a stage for their personal ambitions. The high talk of progress

-had died into silence along with the struggle of parties which had

-played the supreme game, side against side, for the prize of power.

-Progress had been defined in this place, in terms of human activity,

-human comfort. The end in sight had been some vague conception of

-general welfare through accumulated riches. And from the sky had fallen

-a pestilence to change the meaning of human terms. In three months the

-old conception of wealth was gone. Money, precious stones, a thousand

-accepted forms of value had become suddenly worthless, of no more

-account than the symbol of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb149" href=

-"#pb149" name="pb149">149</a>]</span>power which lay coated with dust

-on the table of the House of law-makers. Even law itself, that slow

-growth of the centuries, had become meaningless. Who cared if some mad

-woman plundered every jeweller&rsquo;s shop in the whole City? Who was

-to forbid theft or avenge murder? The place of traffic was empty. Only

-one law was left and only one value; the law of self-preservation, the

-value of food.</p>

-<p class="par">The sunlight fell in broad coloured shafts upon two

-half-educated girls come on a plundering expedition, and they might sit

-in the high places if they would, and make new laws for themselves.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche sat for a few moments in the Speaker&rsquo;s

-chair.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fine big place,&rdquo; she

-remarked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on, B., do,&rdquo; replied Millie.

-&ldquo;I want to get home.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">As they crossed the Square, Millie looked up at Big Ben.

-&ldquo;Quarter-past nine,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must have

-stopped.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, silly,&rdquo; replied Blanche.

-&ldquo;All the clocks have stopped. Who&rsquo;s to wind

-&rsquo;em?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb150" href="#pb150"

-name="pb150">150</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch12" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XII&mdash;</span>EMIGRANT</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to

-grasp the significance of her daughters&rsquo; report on the condition

-of London. During the past two months she had persuaded herself that

-the traffic of the town was being resumed and that only Putney was

-still desolate. She had always disapproved of Putney; it was damp and

-she had never known anyone who had lived there. It is true that the

-late lamented George Gosling had been born in Putney, but that was more

-than half a century ago, the place was no doubt quite different then;

-and he had left Putney and gone to live in the healthy North before he

-was sixteen. Mrs Gosling was half inclined to blame Putney for all

-their misfortunes&mdash;it was sure to breed infection, being so near

-the river and all&mdash;and she had become hopeful during the past

-month that all would be well with them if they could once get back to

-Kilburn.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;D&rsquo;you mean to say you didn&rsquo;t see no

-one at all?&rdquo; she repeated in great perplexity.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Those three we&rsquo;ve told you about,

-that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, o&rsquo; course, they&rsquo;re all shut up

-in the &rsquo;ouses, still; afraid o&rsquo; the plague and

-&rsquo;anging on to what provisions they&rsquo;ve got put by, same as

-us,&rdquo; was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb151" href="#pb151" name=

-"pb151">151</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Millie, and Blanche

-agreed.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, but &rsquo;ow d&rsquo;you know?&rdquo;

-persisted the mother. &ldquo;Did you go in to the

-&rsquo;ouses?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One or two,&rdquo; returned Blanche evasively,

-&ldquo;but there wasn&rsquo;t no need to go in. You could

-see.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not

-in the Strand?&rdquo; Mrs Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence.

-She could not doubt the good faith of the Strand. If that failed her,

-all was lost.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! can&rsquo;t you understand, mother,&rdquo;

-broke out Blanche petulantly, &ldquo;that the whole of London is

-absolutely deserted? There isn&rsquo;t a soul in the streets.

-There&rsquo;s no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and grass growing

-in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been broken into, all

-those that had food in &rsquo;em, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; words failed

-her. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it, Millie?&rdquo; she concluded lamely.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Awful,&rdquo; agreed Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; said

-Mrs Gosling, not yet fully convinced. She considered earnestly for a

-few moments and then asked: &ldquo;Did you go into Charing Cross Post

-Office? They&rsquo;d sure to be open.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; lied Blanche, &ldquo;and we could

-have taken all the money in the place if we&rsquo;d wanted, and no one

-any the wiser.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling looked shocked. &ldquo;I &rsquo;ope my

-gels&rsquo;ll never come to that,&rdquo; she said. Her girls, with a

-wonderful understanding of their mother&rsquo;s opinions, had omitted

-to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge emporium.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No one&rsquo;d ever know,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s One who would,&rdquo; replied Mrs

-Gosling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb152" href="#pb152" name=

-"pb152">152</a>]</span>gravely, and strangely enough, perhaps, the two

-girls looked uneasy, but they were thinking less of the commandments

-miraculously given to Moses than of the probable displeasure of the

-Vicar of St John the Evangelist&rsquo;s Church in Kilburn.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got to do something,

-anyhow,&rdquo; said Blanche, after a pause. &ldquo;I mean we&rsquo;ll

-have to get out of this and go into the country.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We might go to your uncle&rsquo;s in

-Liverpool,&rdquo; suggested Mrs Gosling, tentatively.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long walk,&rdquo; remarked

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling did not grasp the meaning of this objection.

-&ldquo;Well, I think we could afford third-class,<span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e2688" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span> she said.

-&ldquo;Besides, though we &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t corresponded much of late

-years, I&rsquo;ve always been under the impression that your uncle is

-doin&rsquo; well in Liverpool; and at such a time as this I&rsquo;m

-sure &rsquo;e&rsquo;ll do the right thing, though whether it would be

-better to let &rsquo;im know we&rsquo;re comin&rsquo; or not I&rsquo;m

-not quite sure.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! dear!&rdquo; sighed Blanche, &ldquo;I

-<i>do</i> wish you&rsquo;d try to understand, mother. There

-aren&rsquo;t any trains. There aren&rsquo;t any posts or telegraphs.

-Wherever we go we&rsquo;ve just got to walk. Haven&rsquo;t we,

-Millie?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie began to snivel. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s

-&rsquo;orrible,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> understand it,&rdquo;

-repeated Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">By degrees, however, the controversy took a new shape.

-Granting for the moment the main contention that London was

-uninhabitated, Mrs Gosling urged that it would be a dangerous, even a

-foolhardy, thing to venture into the country. If there was no

-Government there would be no law and order, was the <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb153" href="#pb153" name=

-"pb153">153</a>]</span>substance of her argument; government in her

-mind being represented by its concrete presentation in the form of the

-utterly reliable policeman. Furthermore, she pointed out, that they did

-not know anyone in the country, with the exception of a too-distant

-uncle in Liverpool, and that there would be nowhere for them to go.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall have to work,&rdquo; said Blanche, who

-was surely inspired by her glimpse of the silent city.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got nearly a &rsquo;undred

-pounds left of what your poor father drew out o&rsquo; the bank before

-we shut ourselves up,&rdquo; said her mother.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose we <i>could</i> buy things in the

-country,&rdquo; speculated Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You seem set on the country for some

-reason,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling with a touch of temper.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got to get food,&rdquo;

-returned Blanche, raising her voice. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t live on

-air.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And if food&rsquo;s to be got cheaper in the

-country than in London,&rdquo; snapped Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;my

-experience goes for nothing, but, of course, you know best, if I

-<i>am</i> your mother.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t any food in London, cheap or

-dear, I keep telling you,&rdquo; said Blanche, and left the room

-angrily, slamming the door behind her.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie sat moodily biting her nails.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Blanche lets &rsquo;er temper get the better of

-&rsquo;er,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling addressing the spaces of the

-kitchen in which they were sitting.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s right, worse luck,&rdquo; said Millie.

-&ldquo;We shall have to go. I &rsquo;ate it nearly as much as you

-do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The argument thus begun was continued with few

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb154" href="#pb154" name=

-"pb154">154</a>]</span>intermissions for a whole week. A thunderstorm,

-followed by two days of overcast weather, came to the support of the

-older woman. One thing was certain among all these terrible

-perplexities, namely, that you couldn&rsquo;t start off for a trip to

-the country on a wet day.</p>

-<p class="par">Meanwhile their stores continued to diminish, and one

-afternoon Mrs Gosling consented to take a walk with Blanche as far as

-Hammersmith Broadway.</p>

-<p class="par">The sight of that blank desert impressed her. Blanche

-pointed out the house in which she had seen the two women five days

-before, but no one was looking out of the window on that afternoon.

-Perhaps they had fled to the country, or were occupied elsewhere in the

-house, or perhaps they had left London by the easier way which had

-become so general in the past few months.</p>

-<p class="par">When she returned to the Putney house, Mrs Gosling wept

-and wished she, too, was dead, but she consented at last to

-Blanche&rsquo;s continually urged proposition, in so far as she

-expressed herself willing to make a move of some sort. She thought they

-might, at least, go back and have a look at Wisteria Grove. And if

-Kilburn had, indeed, fallen as low as Hammersmith, then there was

-apparently no help for it and they must try their luck in the waste and

-desolation of the country. Perhaps some farmer&rsquo;s wife might take

-them in for a time, until they had a chance to look about them. They

-had nearly a hundred pounds in gold.</p>

-<p class="par">The girls found a builder&rsquo;s trolley in a yard near

-by, a truck of sturdy build on two wheels with a long <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb155" href="#pb155" name=

-"pb155">155</a>]</span>handle. It bore marks of having held cement, and

-there were weeds growing in one end of it, but after it had been

-brought home and thoroughly scrubbed, it looked quite a presentable

-means for the transport of the &ldquo;necessaries&rdquo; they proposed

-to take with them.</p>

-<p class="par">They made too generous an estimate of essentials at

-first, piling their truck too high for safety and overtaxing their

-strength; but that problem, like many others, was finally solved for

-them by the clear-sighted guidance of necessity.</p>

-<p class="par">They started one morning&mdash;a Monday if their

-calculations were not at fault&mdash;about two hours after breakfast.

-Mrs Gosling and Millie pushed behind, and Blanche, the inspired one,

-went before, pulled by the handle of the pole and gave the others their

-direction.</p>

-<p class="par">It is possible that they were the last women to leave

-London.</p>

-<p class="par">By chance they discovered the Queen of all the Earth on

-a doorstep near Addison Road. She was quite dead, but they did not

-despoil her of the jewels with which she was still covered.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Mrs Gosling was a source of trouble from the

-outset. She had lived her life indoors. In the Wisteria Grove days, she

-never spent two hours of the twenty-four out of the house. Some times

-for a whole week she had not gone out at all. It was a mark of their

-rise in the world that all the tradesmen called for orders.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb156" href="#pb156" name=

-"pb156">156</a>]</span>She had found little necessity to buy in shops

-during recent years. And so, very surely, she had grown more and more

-limited in her outlook. Her attention had become concentrated on the

-duties of the housewife. She had not kept any servant, a charwoman who

-came for a few hours three times a week had done all that the mistress

-of the house had not dared, in face of neighbourly criticism&mdash;in

-her position she could not be seen washing down the little tiled path

-to the gate nor whitening the steps.</p>

-<p class="par">The effect of this cramped existence on Mrs Gosling

-would not have been noticeable under the old conditions. She had become

-a specialized creature, admirably adapted to her place in the old

-scheme of civilization. No demand was ever made upon her resources

-other than those familiar demands which she was so perfectly educated

-to supply. Even when the plague had come, she had not been compelled to

-alter her mode of life. She had made trouble enough about the lack of

-many things she had once believed to be necessary&mdash;familiar foods,

-soap and the thousand little conveniences that the twentieth century

-inventor had patented to assist the domestic economy of the small

-householder; but the trouble was not too great to be overcome. The

-adaptability required from her was within the scope of her specialized

-vision. She could learn to do without flour, butter, lard, milk, sugar

-and the other things, but she could not learn to think on unfamiliar

-lines.</p>

-<p class="par">That was the essence of her trouble. She was divorced

-from a permanent home. She was asked to walk long miles in the open

-air. Worst of all, she was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb157" href=

-"#pb157" name="pb157">157</a>]</span>called upon for initiative,

-ingenuity; she was required to exercise her imagination in order to

-solve a problem with which she was quite unfamiliar. She was expected

-to develop the potentialities of the wild thing, and to extort food

-from Nature. The whole problem was beyond her comprehension.</p>

-<p class="par">The sight of Kilburn was a great blow to her. She had

-hoped against hope that here, at least, she would find some semblance

-of the life she had known. It had seemed so impossible to her that

-Aiken, the butcher&rsquo;s, or Hobb&rsquo;s, the grocer&rsquo;s, would

-not be open as usual, and the vision of those two desolated and

-ransacked shops&mdash;the latter with but a few murderous spears of

-plate-glass left in its once magnificent windows&mdash;depressed her to

-tears.</p>

-<p class="par">So shaken was she by the sight of these horrors that

-Blanche and Millie raised no objection to sleeping that night in the

-house in Wisteria Grove. Indeed, the two girls were almost tired out,

-although it was yet early in the afternoon. The truck had become very

-heavy in the course of the last two miles; and they had had

-considerable difficulty in negotiating the hill by Westbourne Park

-Station.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was still weeping as she let herself in to

-her old home, and she wept as she prowled about the familiar rooms and

-noted the dust which had fallen like snow on every surface which would

-support it. And for the first time the loss of her husband came home to

-her. She had been almost glad when he had vanished from the Putney

-house&mdash;in that place she had only seen him in his new character of

-tyrant. Here, among familiar associations, she <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb158" href="#pb158" name=

-"pb158">158</a>]</span>recalled the fact that he had been a

-respectable, complacent, hard-working, successful man who had never

-given her cause for trouble, a man who did not drink nor run after

-other women, who held a position in the Church and was looked up to by

-the neighbourhood. According to her definition he had certainly been an

-ideal husband. It is true that they had dropped any pretence of being

-in love with one another after Blanche was born, but that was only

-natural.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling sat on the bed she had shared with him so

-long and hoped he was happy. He was; but if she could have seen the

-nature of his happiness the sight would have given her no comfort.

-Vaguely she pictured him in some strange Paradise, built upon those

-conceptions of the medi&aelig;val artists, mainly Italians, which have

-supplied the ideals of the orthodox. She saw an imperfectly

-transfigured and still fleshly George Gosling, who did unaccustomed

-things with a harp, was dressed in exotic garments and was on terms

-with certain hybrids, largely woman but partly bird, who were clearly

-recognizable as the angelic host. If she had been a Mohammedan, her

-vision would have accorded far more nearly with the fact.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The successful animal is that which is adapted to

-its circumstances. Herbert Spencer would appear foolish and incapable

-in the society of the young wits who frequent the private bar; he might

-be described by them as an old Johnny who knew nothing about

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb159" href="#pb159" name=

-"pb159">159</a>]</span>life. Mrs Gosling in her own home had been a

-ruler; she had had authority over her daughters, and, despite the usual

-evidences of girlish precocity, she had always been mistress of the

-situation. In the affairs of household management she was <i lang=

-"fr">facile princeps</i>, and she commanded the respect accorded to the

-eminent in any form of specialized activity. But even on this second

-morning of their emigration it became clear to Blanche that her mother

-had ceased to rule, and must become a subordinate. A certain respect

-was due to her in her parental relation, but if she could not be coaxed

-she must be coerced.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be better when we get her right away

-from here,&rdquo; was Blanche&rsquo;s diagnosis, and Millie, who had

-also achieved some partial realization of the necessities imposed by

-the new conditions, nodded in agreement.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She wants to stop here altogether, and, of

-course, we can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall starve if we do,&rdquo; said

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">From that time Mrs Gosling dropped into the humiliating

-position of a kind of mental incapable who must be humoured into

-obedience.</p>

-<p class="par">The first, and in many ways the most difficult, task was

-to persuade her away from Kilburn. She clung desperately to that

-stronghold of her old life.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m too old to change at my age,&rdquo; she

-protested, and when the alternative was clearly put before her, she

-accepted it with a flaccidity that was as aggravating as it was

-unfightable.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner die &rsquo;ere,&rdquo; said Mrs

-Gosling, &ldquo;than go trapesing about the fields lookin&rsquo; for

-somethin&rsquo; to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb160" href="#pb160"

-name="pb160">160</a>]</span>eat. I simply couldn&rsquo;t do it.

-It&rsquo;s different for you two gels, no doubt. You go and leave me

-&rsquo;ere.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie might have been tempted to take her mother at her

-word, but Blanche never for a moment entertained the idea of leaving

-her mother behind.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Very well, mother,&rdquo; she said, desperately,

-&ldquo;if you won&rsquo;t come we must all stop here and starve, I

-suppose. We&rsquo;ve got enough food to last a fortnight or

-so.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">As she spoke she looked out of the window of that little

-suburban house, and for the first time in her life a thought came to

-her of the strangeness of preferring such an inconvenient little box to

-the adventure of the wider spaces of open country. Outside, the sun was

-shining brilliantly, but the windows were dim with dust and

-cobwebs.</p>

-<p class="par">Yet her mother was comparatively happy in this hovel;

-she would find delight in cleaning it, although there was no one to

-appraise the result of her effort. She was a specialized animal with

-habits precisely analogous to the instincts of other animals and

-insects. There were insects who could only live in filth and would die

-miserably if removed from their natural surroundings. Mrs Gosling was a

-suburban-house insect who would perish in the open air. After all, the

-chief difference between insects and men is that the insect is born

-perfectly adapted to its specialized existence, man finds, or is forced

-into, a place in the scheme after he has come to maturity....</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see why you shouldn&rsquo;t leave

-me behind,&rdquo; pleaded Mrs Gosling. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb161" href="#pb161" name="pb161">161</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Blanche,

-still looking out of the window.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s wicked of you to make us stop here and

-starve,&rdquo; put in Millie. &ldquo;And even you must see that we

-<i>shall</i> starve.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling wept feebly. She had wept much during the

-past twenty-four hours. &ldquo;Where can we go?&rdquo; she wailed.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s country on the other side of

-Harrow,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">The thought of Harrow or Timbuctoo was equally repugnant

-to Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Then Millie had an idea. &ldquo;Well, we only brought

-four bottles of water with us,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;where are we

-going to get any more in Kilburn?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling racked her brain in the effort to remember

-some convenient stream in the neighbourhood. &ldquo;It may rain,&rdquo;

-she said feebly at last.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche turned from the window and pointed to the

-blurred prospect of sunlit street. &ldquo;We might be dead before the

-rain came,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">They wore her out in the end.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">With Harrow as an immediate objective, they toiled

-up Willesden Lane with their hand-cart early the next morning. Blanche

-took that route because it was familiar to her, and after passing

-Willesden Green, she followed the tram lines.</p>

-<p class="par">As they got away from London they came upon evidences of

-the exodus which had preceded them. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb162" href="#pb162" name="pb162">162</a>]</span>Bodies of women, for

-the most part no longer <span class="corr" id="xd23e2849" title=

-"Source: maladorous">malodorous</span>, were not infrequent, and pieces

-of household furniture, parcels of clothing, boxes, trunks and smaller

-impedimenta lay by the roadside, the superfluities of earlier loads

-that had been lightened, however reluctantly.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling blenched at the sight of every

-body&mdash;only a few of them could be described as skeletons&mdash;and

-protested that they were all going to their death, but Blanche kept on

-resolutely with a white, set face, and as Millie followed her example,

-if with rather less show of temerity, there was no choice but to

-follow. When the gradients were favourable the girls helped their

-mother on to the truck and gave her a lift. She was a feeble

-walker.</p>

-<p class="par">Not till they reached Sudbury did they see another

-living being of their own species, or any sign of human habitation in

-the long rows of dirty houses.</p>

-<p class="par">The great surge of migration had spread out from the

-centre and become absorbed in circles of ever-widening amplitude. The

-great entity of London had eaten its way so far outwards in to arable

-and pasturage that within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross not a

-thousand women could be found who had been able to obtain any promise

-of security from the products of the soil. And although there were

-great open spaces of land, such as Wembley Park, which had to be

-crossed in the journey outwards, the exiles had been unable to wait

-until such time as seed could be transformed into food by the alchemy

-of Nature. So the pressure had been continually outwards, forcing the

-emigrants toward the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb163" href="#pb163"

-name="pb163">163</a>]</span>more distant farms where some fraction of

-them, at least, might find work and food until the coming of the

-harvest. In Kent, vegetables were comparatively plentiful. In Northern

-Middlesex and Buckinghamshire the majority had to depend upon animal

-food. But in all the Home Counties and in the neighbourhood of every

-large town, famine was following hard upon the heels of the plague, and

-70 per cent of the town-dwelling women and children who had escaped the

-latter visitation died of starvation and exposure before the middle of

-August.</p>

-<p class="par">In the first inner ring, still sparsely populated, were

-to be found those who had had vegetable gardens and had been vigorous

-enough to protect themselves against the flood of migration which had

-swept up against them.</p>

-<p class="par">It was the first signs of this inner ring that the

-Goslings discovered at Sudbury.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">5</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">They came upon a little row of cottages, standing

-back a few yards from the road. All three women had been engaged in

-pushing their trolly up an ascent, and with heads down, and all their

-physical energies concentrated upon their task, they did not notice the

-startling difference between these cottages and other houses they had

-passed, until they stopped to take breath at the summit of the

-hill.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling had immediately seated herself upon the

-sloping pole of the trolly handle. She was breathing heavily and had

-her hands pressed to her sides. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb164"

-href="#pb164" name="pb164">164</a>]</span>Millie leaned against the

-side of the trolly, her eyes still on the ground. But Blanche had

-thrown back her shoulders and opened her lungs, and she saw the banner

-of smoke that flew from the middle of the three

-chimney-stacks&mdash;smoke, in this wilderness, smoke the sign of human

-life! To Blanche it seemed the fulfilment of a great hope. She had

-begun to wonder if all the world were dead.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;Look!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They looked without eagerness, anticipating some

-familiar horror.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ooh!&rdquo; echoed Millie, when she, too, had

-recognized the harbinger. But Mrs Gosling did not raise her eyes high

-enough.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; she asked stupidly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s some one living in that

-cottage,&rdquo; said Blanche, and pointed upwards to the soaring

-pennant.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s face brightened. &ldquo;Well, to be

-sure,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I wonder if they&rsquo;d let me sit down

-and rest for a few minutes? And perhaps they might be willing to sell

-me a glass of milk. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;d pay a good price for

-it.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We can see, anyway,&rdquo; replied Millie, and

-they roused themselves and pushed on eagerly. The cottage was not more

-than thirty yards away.</p>

-<p class="par">Before they reached it, a woman came to the doorway,

-stared at them for a moment and then came down to the little wooden

-gate.</p>

-<p class="par">She was a thick-set woman of fifty or so, with iron grey

-hair cut close to her head. She wore a tweed skirt which did not reach

-the tops of her heavily <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb165" href=

-"#pb165" name="pb165">165</a>]</span>soled, high boots. She looked

-capable, energetic and muscular. And in her hand she carried about

-three feet of stout broomstick.</p>

-<p class="par">She did not speak until the little procession halted

-before her gate, and then she pointed meaningly up the road with her

-broomstick and said: &ldquo;Go on. You can&rsquo;t stop here.&rdquo;

-She spoke with the voice and inflection of an educated woman.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche paused in the act of setting down the trolly

-handle. Mrs Gosling and Millie stared in amazement; they had been

-prepared to weep on the neck of this human friend, found at last in the

-awful desert of Middlesex.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We only wanted to buy a little milk,&rdquo;

-stammered Blanche, no less astonished than her mother and sister.</p>

-<p class="par">The big woman looked them over with something of pity

-and contempt. &ldquo;I can see you&rsquo;re not dangerous,&rdquo; she

-sneered and crossed her great bare fore-arms over the top of the gate.

-&ldquo;Only three poor feckless idiots going begging.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re <i>not</i> begging,&rdquo; retorted

-Blanche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got money and we&rsquo;re willing to

-pay.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Money!&rdquo; repeated the woman. She looked up

-at the sky and nodded her head, as though beseeching pity for these

-feeble creatures. &ldquo;My dear girl,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;what

-do you suppose is the good of money in this world? You can&rsquo;t eat

-money, nor wear it, nor use it to light a fire. Now, if you&rsquo;d

-offered me a box of matches, you should have had all the milk I can

-spare.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I never,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling, who had

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb166" href="#pb166" name=

-"pb166">166</a>]</span>feebly come to rest again on the handle of the

-trolly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, my good woman, you never did,&rdquo; said the

-stranger. &ldquo;You never could and I should say the chances are that

-you never will.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was intimidated and shrinking, even Blanche

-looked a little nervous, but Mrs Gosling was incapable of feeling fear

-of a fellow-woman. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t mean as you won&rsquo;t sell

-us a glass of milk?&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Have you got a box of matches you&rsquo;ll

-exchange for it?&rdquo; asked the stranger. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a

-burning glass I stole in Harrow, but you can&rsquo;t depend on the

-sun.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, nor &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t &rsquo;ad, the last

-three weeks,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;But if you&rsquo;ve more

-money a&rsquo;ready than you know what to do with, I should &rsquo;ave

-thought as you&rsquo;d &rsquo;a been willing to spare a glass o&rsquo;

-milk for charity&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The stranger regarded her petitioner with a hard smile.

-&ldquo;Charity&rsquo;s sake?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you realize

-that I&rsquo;ve had to defend this place like a fort against thousands

-of your sort? I&rsquo;ve killed three madwomen who fought me for

-possession and buried &rsquo;em in the orchard like cats. I held out

-through the first rush and I can hold out now easily enough. You three

-are the first I&rsquo;ve seen for a month, and before that they&rsquo;d

-begun to get weak and poor. These are your daughters, I suppose, and

-the three of you had always depended upon some fool of a man to keep

-you. Yes? Well, you deserve all you&rsquo;ve got. Now you can start and

-do a little healthy, useful work for <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb167" href="#pb167" name="pb167">167</a>]</span>yourselves.

-I&rsquo;ve no pity for you. I&rsquo;ve got a damned fool of a sister

-and an old fool of a mother to keep in there,&rdquo; she pointed to the

-cottage with her broomstick. &ldquo;Parasitic like you, both of

-&rsquo;em, and pretty well all the use they are is to keep the fire

-alight. No, my good woman, you get no charity from me.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">When she had finished her speech, which she delivered

-with a fluency and point that suggested familiarity with the platform,

-the stranger crossed her arms again over the gate and stared Mrs

-Gosling out of countenance.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Come along, my dears,&rdquo; said that outraged

-lady, getting wearily to her feet. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t wish your

-ears soiled by such language from a woman as &rsquo;as forgotten the

-manners of a lady. But, there, poor thing, I&rsquo;ve no doubt

-&rsquo;er &rsquo;ead&rsquo;s been turned with all this

-trouble.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The stranger smiled grimly and made no reply, but as the

-Goslings were moving away, she called out to them suddenly: &ldquo;Hi!

-You! There&rsquo;s a witless creature along the road who&rsquo;ll

-probably help you. The house is up a side road. Bear round to the

-right.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What a beast,&rdquo; muttered Blanche when they

-had gone on a few yards.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One o&rsquo; them &lsquo;new&rsquo; women, my

-dear,&rdquo; panted Mrs Gosling, who remembered the beginning of the

-movement and still clung to the old terminology. <span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e2936" title="Not in source">&ldquo;</span>&rsquo;Orrible unsexed

-creatures! I remember how your poor father used to &rsquo;ate

-&rsquo;em!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to get even with her,&rdquo; said

-Millie. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb168" href="#pb168" name=

-"pb168">168</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">They bore to the right, and so avoided two turnings

-which led up repulsive-looking hills, but they missed the side

-road.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we must have passed it,&rdquo;

-complained Mrs Gosling at last. Her sighs had been increasing in volume

-and poignancy for the past half-mile, and the prospect of uninhabited

-country which lay immediately around her she found infinitely

-dispiriting.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t an &rsquo;ouse in sight,&rdquo;

-she added, &ldquo;and I really don&rsquo;t believe I <i>can</i> walk

-much farther.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche stopped and looked over the fields on her right

-towards London. In the distance, blurred by an oily wriggle of heat

-haze, she could see the last wave of suburban villas which had broken

-upon this shore of open country. They had left the town behind them at

-last, but they had not found what they sought. This little arm of land

-which cut off Harrow and Wealdstone from the mother lake of London had

-not offered sufficient temptation to delay their forerunners in the

-search for food. Most of them, with a true instinct for what they

-sought, had followed the main road into the Chiltern Hills, and those

-who for some cause or another had wandered into this side track had

-pushed on, even as Blanche and Millie would have done had they not been

-dragged back by their mother&rsquo;s complaints. The sun was falling a

-little towards the west, and bird and animal life, which had seemed to

-rest during the intenser heat of mid-day, was stirring and calling all

-about them. A rabbit lolloped into the road, a few yards away, pricked

-up its ears, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb169" href="#pb169" name=

-"pb169">169</a>]</span>stared for an instant, and then scuttled to

-cover. A blackbird flew out of the hedge and fled chattering up the

-ditch. The air was murmurous with the hum of innumerable insects, and

-above Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s head hovered a group of flies which ever and

-again bobbed down as if following some concerted plan of action, and

-tried to settle on the poor woman&rsquo;s heated face.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! get away, do!&rdquo; she panted, and flapped

-a futile handkerchief.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;How quiet it is!&rdquo; said Blanche; and

-although the air was full of sound it did indeed appear that a great

-hush had fallen over the earth. No motor-horn threateningly bellowed

-its automatic demand for right of way; there was no echo of hoofs nor

-grind of wheels; no call of children&rsquo;s voices, nor even the bark

-of a dog. The wild things had the place to themselves again, and the

-sound of their movements called for no response from civilized minds.

-The ears of the Goslings heard, but did not note these, to them,

-useless evidences of life. They were straining and alert for the voice

-of humanity.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve felt the

-&rsquo;eat so much,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling suddenly, and Blanche and

-Millie both started.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said Blanche, and held up a warning

-finger.</p>

-<p class="par">In the distance they heard a sound like the closing of a

-gate, and then, very clear and small, a feminine voice.

-&ldquo;<i>Chuck!</i> chuck! chuck!&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;Chuck! chuck!

-<i>chuck!!!</i>&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I told you we&rsquo;d passed it,&rdquo; said Mrs

-Gosling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb170" href="#pb170" name=

-"pb170">170</a>]</span>triumphantly. They turned the trolly and began

-to retrace their footsteps. Their eager eyes tried to peer through the

-spinney of trees which shut them off from the south. Once or twice they

-stopped to listen. The voice was fainter now, but they could hear the

-squawk of greedily competitive fowls. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb171" href="#pb171" name="pb171">171</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch13" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class=

-"divNum">XIII&mdash;</span>DIFFERENCES</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The only side road they could find proved to be no

-more than a track through the little wood. They almost passed it a

-second time, and hesitated at the gate&mdash;a sturdy five-barred gate

-bearing &ldquo;Private&rdquo; on a conspicuous label&mdash;debating

-whether this &ldquo;could be right.&rdquo; They still suffered a spasm

-of fear at the thought of trespass, and to open this gate and march up

-an unknown private road pushing a hand-cart seemed to them an act of

-terrible aggression.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We might leave the cart just inside,&rdquo;

-suggested Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And get our food stole,&rdquo; said Mrs

-Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one about,&rdquo; urged

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s that broomstick woman,&rdquo; said

-Millie. &ldquo;She may have followed us.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I dunno if it&rsquo;s safe to go

-foragin&rsquo; in among them trees, neither,&rdquo; continued Mrs

-Gosling. &ldquo;Are you sure this is right, Blanche?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, I&rsquo;m not sure,&rdquo;

-replied Blanche, with a touch of temper.</p>

-<p class="par">They peered through the trees and listened, but no sign

-of a house was to be seen, and all was now silent save for the long

-drone of innumerable bees about their afternoon business. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb172" href="#pb172" name="pb172">172</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on!&rdquo; said Blanche at last. She was

-rapidly learning to solve all their problems by this simple

-formula....</p>

-<p class="par">In the wood they found refuge from those attendant flies

-which had hung over them so persistently.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gave a final flick with her handkerchief and

-declared her relief. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite pleasant in

-&rsquo;ere,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;after the &rsquo;eat.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The two girls also seemed to find new vigour in the

-shade of the trees.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>have</i> got a cheek!&rdquo; said Millie,

-with a giggle.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! needs must when the devil drives,&rdquo;

-returned Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;and our circumstances is quite out of the

-ordinary. Besides which, there can&rsquo;t be any &rsquo;arm in

-offerin&rsquo; to buy a glass of milk.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche tugged at the trolley handle with a flicker of

-impatience. Why would her mother be so foolish? Surely she must see

-that everything was different now? Blanche was beginning to wonder at

-and admire the marvel of her own intelligence. How much cleverer she

-was than the others! How much more ready to appreciate and adapt

-herself to change! They could not understand this new state of things,

-but she could, and she prided herself on her powers of

-discrimination.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different now,&rdquo; she said

-to herself. &ldquo;We can go anywhere and do anything, almost.

-It&rsquo;s like as if we were all starting off level again, in a

-way.&rdquo; She felt uplifted: she took extraordinary pleasure in her

-own realization of facts. A strange, <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb173" href="#pb173" name="pb173">173</a>]</span>new power had come to

-her, a power to enjoy life, through mastery. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s

-different now,&rdquo; she repeated. She was conscious of a sense of

-pity for her mother and sister.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The road through the wood curved sharply round to

-the right, and they came suddenly upon a clearing, and saw the house in

-front of them. It was a long, low house, smothered in roses and

-creepers, and it stood in a wild garden surrounded by a breast-high

-wall of red brick. At the edge of the clearing several cows were lying

-under the shade of the trees, reflectively chewing the cud with slow,

-deliberate enjoyment, while one, solitary, stood with its head over the

-garden gate, motionless, save for an occasional petulant whisp of its

-ropey tail.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, then, what are we going to do?&rdquo; asked

-Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">The procession halted, and the three women regarded the

-guardian cow with every sign of dismay.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Shoo!&rdquo; said Millie feebly, flapping her

-hands; and Blanche repeated the intimidation with greater force; but

-the cow merely acknowledged the salutation by an irritable sweep of its

-tail.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Orrid brute!&rdquo; muttered Mrs Gosling,

-and flicked her handkerchief in the direction of the brute&rsquo;s

-quarters.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said Blanche, conceiving a subtle

-strategy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll drive it away with the cart.&rdquo; She

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb174" href="#pb174" name=

-"pb174">174</a>]</span>turned the trolly round, and the three of them

-grasping the pole, they advanced slowly and warily to the charge,

-pushing their siege ram before them. They made a slight detour to

-achieve a flank attack and allow the enemy a clear way of retreat.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, dear! what <i>are</i> you doing?&rdquo; said

-a voice suddenly, and the three startled Goslings nearly dropped the

-pole in their alarm&mdash;they had been so utterly absorbed in their

-campaign.</p>

-<p class="par">A young woman of sixteen or seventeen, very brown, hot

-and dishevelled, was regarding them from the other side of the garden

-wall with a stare of amazement that even as they turned was flickering

-into laughter.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s that great brute by the gate, my

-dear,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve

-just&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean Alice?&rdquo; interrupted

-the young woman. &ldquo;Oh! you couldn&rsquo;t go charging poor dear

-Alice with a great cart like that! Three of you, too!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Is its name Alice?&rdquo; asked Blanche stupidly.

-She did not feel equal to this curious occasion.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>Its</i> name!&rdquo; replied the young woman,

-with scorn. &ldquo;<i>Her</i> name&rsquo;s Alice, if that&rsquo;s what

-you mean.&rdquo; She shook back the hair from her eyes and moved down

-to the gate. The cow acknowledged her presence by an indolent toss of

-the head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! but my sweet Alice!&rdquo; protested the

-young woman; &ldquo;you must move and let these funny people come in.

-It really isn&rsquo;t good for you, dear, to stand about in the sun

-like this, and you&rsquo;d much better go and lie down in the shade for

-a bit!&rdquo; She gently pulled the gate from under the cow&rsquo;s

-chin, and then, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb175" href="#pb175"

-name="pb175">175</a>]</span>laying her hands flat on its side, made as

-if to push it out of the way.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I never!&rdquo; declared Mrs Gosling,

-regarding the performance with much the same awe as she might have

-vouchsafed to a lion-tamer in a circus. &ldquo;&rsquo;Oo&rsquo;d

-&rsquo;ave thought it&rsquo;d &rsquo;a been that tame?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The cow, after a moment&rsquo;s resistance, moved off

-with a leisurely walk in the direction of the wood.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, you funny people, what <i>do</i> you

-want?&rdquo; asked the young woman.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling began to explain, but Blanche quickly

-interposed. &ldquo;Oh! do be quiet, mother; you don&rsquo;t

-understand,&rdquo; she said, and continued, before her mother could

-remonstrate, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come from London.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goodness!&rdquo; commented the young woman.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And we want&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Blanche

-hesitated. She was surprised to find that in the light of her wonderful

-discovery it was not so easy to define precisely what they ought to

-want. As the broomstick woman had said, they were

-&ldquo;beggars.&rdquo; Fairly confronted with the problem, Blanche saw

-no alternative but a candid acknowledgment of the fact.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You want feeding, of course,&rdquo; put in the

-young woman. &ldquo;They all do. You needn&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re

-the first. We&rsquo;ve had dozens!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">A solution presented itself to Blanche. &ldquo;We

-don&rsquo;t really want food,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a

-lot of tinned things left still, only we&rsquo;re ill with eating

-tinned things. I thought, perhaps, you might be willing to let us have

-some milk and eggs and vegetables in exchange?&rdquo; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb176" href="#pb176" name="pb176">176</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s sensible enough,&rdquo; commented

-the young woman. &ldquo;If you only knew the things we have been

-offered! Money chiefly, of course&rdquo;&mdash;Mrs Gosling opened her

-mouth, but Blanche frowned and shook her head&mdash;&ldquo;and it does

-seem as if money&rsquo;s about as useless as buttons. In fact,

-I&rsquo;d sooner have buttons&mdash;you <i>can</i> use them. But the

-other funny things&mdash;bits of old furniture, warming-pans,

-jewellery! You should have heard Mrs Isaacson! She was a Jewess who

-came from Hampstead a couple of months ago, and she had a lot of jewels

-she kept in a bag tied round her waist under her skirt; and when Aunt

-May and I simply had to tell her to go she tried to bribe us with an

-old brooch and rubbish. She was a terror. But, I say&rdquo;&mdash;she

-looked at the sun&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got lots of things to do

-before sunset.&rdquo; She paused, and looked at the three Goslings.

-&ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;are you all right? You

-seem all right.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Again Mrs Gosling began to reply, but Blanche was too

-quick for her. &ldquo;Tell me what you mean by &lsquo;all

-right&rsquo;?&rdquo; she asked, raising her voice to drown her

-mother&rsquo;s &ldquo;Well, I never did &rsquo;ear

-such&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, mother&rsquo;ll give you any

-mortal thing you want,&rdquo; replied the young woman at the gate.

-&ldquo;Dear old mater! She simply won&rsquo;t think of what we&rsquo;re

-going to do in the winter; and I mean, if you come in for to-night,

-say, and we let you have a few odd things, you won&rsquo;t go and plant

-yourselves on us like that Mrs Isaacson and one or two others, because

-if you do, Aunt May and I will have to turn you out, you know.&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb177" href="#pb177" name=

-"pb177">177</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What we &rsquo;ave we&rsquo;ll pay for,&rdquo;

-said Mrs Gosling with dignity.</p>

-<p class="par">The young woman smiled. &ldquo;Oh, I dare say!&rdquo;

-she said; &ldquo;pay us with those pretty little yellow counters that

-aren&rsquo;t the least good to anyone. You wait here half a jiff.

-I&rsquo;ll find Aunt May.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She ran up the path and entered the house. A moment

-later they heard her calling &ldquo;Aunt May!

-Auntie&mdash;Aun-<i>tee</i>!&rdquo; somewhere out at the back.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s &rsquo;ope &rsquo;er Aunt

-May&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave more common sense,&rdquo; remarked Mrs

-Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche turned on her almost fiercely. &ldquo;For

-goodness sake, mother,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;do try and get it out of

-your head, if you can, that we can buy things with money. Can&rsquo;t

-you see that everything&rsquo;s different? Can&rsquo;t you see that

-money&rsquo;s no good, that you can&rsquo;t eat it, or wear it, or

-light a fire with it, like that other woman said? <i>Can&rsquo;t</i>

-you understand, or <i>won&rsquo;t</i> you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gaped in amazement. It was incredible that

-the mind of Blanche should also have been distorted by this terrible

-heresy. She turned in sympathy to Millie, who had taken her

-mother&rsquo;s seat on the pole of the trolly, but Millie frowned and

-said:</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;B.&rsquo;s right. You can&rsquo;t buy things with

-money; not here, anyway. What&rsquo;d they do with money if they got

-it?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling looked at the trees, at the cows lying at

-the edge of the wood, at the sunlit fields beyond the house, but she

-saw nothing which suggested an immediate use for gold coin.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb178" href="#pb178" name=

-"pb178">178</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Lemme sit down, my dear,&rdquo; she said.

-&ldquo;What with the &rsquo;eat and all this

-walkin&rsquo;&mdash;&mdash;Oh! what wouldn&rsquo;t I give for a cup

-o&rsquo; tea!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie got up sulkily and leaned against the wall.

-&ldquo;I suppose they&rsquo;ll let us stop here to-night, B.?&rdquo;

-she asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t make fools of ourselves,&rdquo;

-replied Blanche, spitefully.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling drooped. No inspiration had come to her as

-it had come to her daughter. The older woman had become too

-specialized. She swayed her head, searching&mdash;like some great larva

-dug up from its refuse heap&mdash;confused and feeble in this new

-strange place of light and air.</p>

-<p class="par">And as Blanche had repeated to herself

-&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; so Mrs Gosling seized a

-phrase and clung to it as to some explanation of this horrible

-perplexity. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; she said;

-&ldquo;I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> understand it!&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Aunt May appeared after a long interval&mdash;a

-thin, brown-faced woman of forty or so. She wore a very short skirt, a

-man&rsquo;s jacket and an old deerstalker hat, and she carried a

-pitchfork. She must have brought the pitchfork as an emblem of

-authority, but she did not handle it as the other woman had handled her

-broomstick. The murderous pitchfork appeared little more deadly in her

-keeping than does the mace in the House of Commons, but as an emblem

-the pitchfork was infinitely more effective. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb179" href="#pb179" name="pb179">179</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Aunt May&rsquo;s questions were pertinent and searching,

-and after a few brief explanations had been offered to her she drove

-off the young woman, her niece, whom she addressed as

-&ldquo;Allie,&rdquo; to perform the many duties which were her share of

-the day&rsquo;s work.</p>

-<p class="par">Allie went, laughing.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can sleep here to-night,&rdquo; announced

-Aunt May. &ldquo;We shall have a meal all together soon after sunset.

-Till then you can talk to my sister, who&rsquo;s an invalid.

-She&rsquo;s always eager for news.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She took charge of them as if she were the matron of a

-workhouse receiving new inmates.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better bring your truck into the

-garden,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;or Alice will be turning everything

-over. Inquisitive brute!&rdquo; she added, snapping her fingers at the

-cow, who had returned, and stood within a few feet of them, eyeing the

-Goslings with a slow, dull wonder&mdash;a mournfully sleepy beast whose

-furiously wakeful tail seemed anxious to rouse its owner out of her

-torpor.</p>

-<p class="par">The invalid sister sat by the window of a small room

-that faced west and overlooked the luxuriance of what was still

-recognizably a flower-garden.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;My sister, Mrs Pollard,&rdquo; said Aunt May

-sharply, and then addressing the woman who sat huddled in shawls by the

-window, she added: &ldquo;Three more strays, Fanny&mdash;from London,

-Allie tells me.&rdquo; She went out quickly, closing the door with a

-vigour which indicated little tolerance for invalid nerves.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Pollard stretched out a delicate white hand.

-&ldquo;Please come and sit near me,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and tell

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb180" href="#pb180" name=

-"pb180">180</a>]</span>me about London. It is so long since I have had

-any news from there. Perhaps you might be able&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; she

-broke off, and looked at the three strangers with a certain pathetic

-eagerness.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take me bonnet off, ma&rsquo;am, if

-you&rsquo;ll excuse me,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling. She felt at home

-once more within the delightful shelter of a house, although slightly

-overawed by the aspect of the room and its occupant. About both there

-was an air of that class dignity to which Mrs Gosling knew she could

-never attain. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve felt the

-&rsquo;eat as I &rsquo;ave to-day,&rdquo; she remarked politely.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Has it been hot?&rdquo; asked Mrs Pollard.

-&ldquo;To me the days all seem so much alike. I want you to tell me,

-were there any young men in London when you left? You haven&rsquo;t

-seen any young man who at all resembles this photograph, have

-you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling stared at the silver-framed photograph which

-Mrs Pollard took from the table at her side, stared and shook her

-head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t seen a single man of any kind

-for two months,&rdquo; said Blanche, &ldquo;not a single one. Have we,

-Millie?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, sitting rather stiffly on her chair, shook her

-head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s terrible,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m

-sure I don&rsquo;t know where they can have all gone to.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Pollard did not reply for a moment. She looked

-steadfastly out of the window, and tears, which she made no attempt to

-restrain, chased each other in little jerks down her smooth pale

-cheeks. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb181" href="#pb181" name=

-"pb181">181</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling pinched her mouth into an expression of

-suffering sympathy, and shook her head at her daughters to enforce

-silence. Was she not, also, a widow?</p>

-<p class="par">After a short pause, Mrs Pollard fumbled in her lap and

-discovered a black-bordered pocket-handkerchief&mdash;a reminiscence,

-doubtless, of some earlier bereavement. Her expression had been in no

-way distorted as she wept, and after the tears had been wiped away no

-trace of them disfigured her delicate face. Her voice was still calm

-and sweet as she said:</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I am very foolish to go on hoping. I loved too

-much, and this trial has been sent to teach me that all love but One is

-vain, that I must not set my heart upon things of the earth. And yet I

-go on hoping that my poor boy was not cut off in Sin.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Dear, dear!&rdquo; murmured Mrs Gosling.

-&ldquo;You musn&rsquo;t take it to &rsquo;eart too much, ma&rsquo;am.

-Boys will be a little wild and no doubt our &rsquo;eavenly Father will

-make excuses.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Pollard shook her head. &ldquo;If it had only been a

-little wildness,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I should have hope. He is,

-indeed, just and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, but my

-poor Alfred became tainted with the terrible doctrines of Rome. It has

-been the greatest grief of my life, and I have known much

-pain....&rdquo; And again the tears slowly welled up and fell silently

-down that smooth, unchanging face.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling sniffed sympathetically. The two girls

-glanced at one another with slightly raised <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb182" href="#pb182" name=

-"pb182">182</a>]</span>eyebrows and Blanche almost invisibly shrugged

-her shoulders.</p>

-<p class="par">The warm evening light threw the waxen-faced,

-white-shawled figure of the woman in the window into high relief. Her

-look of ecstatic resignation was that of some wonderful medi&aelig;val

-saint returned from the age of vision and miracle to a recently

-purified earth in which the old ideas of saintship had again become

-possible. Her influence was upon the room in which she sat. The sounds

-of the world outside, the evening chorus of wild life, the familiar

-noise of the farm, seemed to blend into a remote music of

-prayer&mdash;&ldquo;Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison!&rdquo; Within was a

-great stillness, as of a thin and bloodless purity; the long

-continuance of a single thought found some echo in every material

-object. While the silence lasted everything in that room was responsive

-to this single keynote of an&aelig;mic virtue.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling tried desperately to weep without noise, and

-even the two girls, falling under the spell, ceased to glance covertly

-at one another with that hint of criticism, but sat subdued and

-weakened as if some element of life had been taken from them.</p>

-<p class="par">The lips of the woman in the window moved noiselessly;

-her hands were clasped in her lap. She was praying.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Firm and somewhat clumsy steps were heard in the

-passage, the door was pushed roughly open, banging back against the

-black oak chair which was set <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb183"

-href="#pb183" name="pb183">183</a>]</span>behind it, and Aunt May

-entered carrying a large tray.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s your dinner, Fanny,&rdquo; she said.

-&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done earlier to-night, in spite of

-interruptions.<span class="corr" id="xd23e3206" title=

-"Not in source">&rdquo;</span> She bustled over to the little table in

-the window, pushed back the Bible and photograph with the edge of the

-tray until she could release one hand, and then, having driven the tray

-into a position of safety, moved Bible and photograph to the centre

-table.</p>

-<p class="par">There was something protestingly vigorous about her

-movements, as though she endeavoured to combat by noise and energy the

-impoverished vitality of that emasculate room.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, you three!&rdquo; she went on. &ldquo;You

-had better come out into the kitchen and take your things off and

-wash.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">As the Goslings rose, Mrs Pollard turned to them and

-stretched out to each in turn her delicate white hand. &ldquo;There is

-only one Comforter.&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Put your trust in

-Him.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gulped, and Blanche and Millie looked as

-they used to look when they attended the Bible-classes held by the

-vicar&rsquo;s wife.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche gave a shiver of relief as they came out into

-the passage. Her mind was suddenly filled by the astounding thought

-that everything was not different....</p>

-<p class="par">Supper was laid on the kitchen table&mdash;cold chicken,

-potatoes and cabbage, stewed plums and cream, and warm, new milk in a

-jug; no bread, no salt, and no pepper.</p>

-<p class="par">As the three Goslings washed at the scullery sink

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb184" href="#pb184" name=

-"pb184">184</a>]</span>they chattered freely. They felt pleasure at

-release from some cold, draining influence; they felt as if they had

-come out of church after some long, dull service, into the air and

-sunlight.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure she&rsquo;s a very &rsquo;oly

-lady,&rdquo; was Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s final summary.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche shivered again. &ldquo;Oh! freezing!&rdquo; was

-her enigmatic reply.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie said it gave her &ldquo;the creeps.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They were a party of seven at supper&mdash;the meal was

-referred to as &ldquo;supper,&rdquo; although to Mrs Pollard it had

-been dignified by the name of &ldquo;dinner&rdquo;&mdash;including two

-young women whom the Goslings had not hitherto seen; strong,

-brown-faced girls, who spoke with a country accent. They had something

-still of the manner of servants, but they were treated as equals both

-by Allie and Aunt May.</p>

-<p class="par">There was little conversation during the meal, however,

-for all of them were too intent on the business in hand. To the

-Goslings that meal was, indeed, a banquet.</p>

-<p class="par">When they had all finished, Aunt May rose at once.

-&ldquo;Thank Heaven for daylight,&rdquo; she remarked; &ldquo;but we

-must set our brains to work to invent some light for the winter. We

-haven&rsquo;t a candle or a drop of oil left,&rdquo; she went on,

-addressing the Goslings, &ldquo;and for the past five weeks we have had

-to bustle to get everything done before sunset, I can tell you. Last

-night we couldn&rsquo;t wash up after supper.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We know,&rdquo; replied Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Aunt May nodded. &ldquo;We all know,&rdquo; she said.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb185" href="#pb185" name=

-"pb185">185</a>]</span>&ldquo;Now, you three girls, get busy!&rdquo;

-And Allie and the two brown-faced young women rose a little

-wearily.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting an old woman,&rdquo; remarked

-Aunt May, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m allowed certain privileges, chief of

-them that I don&rsquo;t work after supper. She paused and looked keenly

-at the three Goslings. &ldquo;Which of you three is in command?&rdquo;

-she asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it seems as if my eldest, Blanche, that is,

-&rsquo;as sort o&rsquo; taken the lead the past few days,&rdquo; began

-Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! I thought so,&rdquo; said Aunt May.

-&ldquo;Well, now, Blanche, you&rsquo;d better come out into the garden

-and have a talk with me, and we&rsquo;ll decide what you had better do.

-If your mother and sister would like to go to bed, Allie will show them

-where they can sleep.<span class="corr" id="xd23e3250" title=

-"Not in source">&rdquo;</span></p>

-<p class="par">She moved away in the direction of the garden and

-Blanche followed her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb186" href=

-"#pb186" name="pb186">186</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch14" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XIV&mdash;</span>AUNT MAY</h2>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The sun had set, but as yet the daylight was

-scarcely faded. Under the trees the fowls muttered in subdued

-cluckings, and occasionally one of them would flutter up into the lower

-branches with a squawk of effort and then settle herself with a great

-fluttering and swelling of feathers, and all the suggestion of a fussy

-matron preparing for the night&mdash;preparing only, for these early

-roosters sat open-eyed and watchful, as if they knew that there was no

-chance of sleep for them until every member of that careless crowd

-below had found its appointed place in the dormitory.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We put &rsquo;em inside in the winter,&rdquo;

-remarked Aunt May, as she and Blanche paused, &ldquo;but they prefer

-the trees. We haven&rsquo;t any foxes here, but I&rsquo;ve noticed that

-the wild things seem to be coming back.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche nodded. She was thinking how much there was to

-learn concerning those matters which appertained to the production of

-food.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re rather a poor lot,&rdquo; Aunt May

-continued, &ldquo;but they have to forage for themselves, except for

-the few bits of vegetable and such things we can spare them.

-We&rsquo;ve no corn or flour or meal of any kind for ourselves yet. But

-a farmer&rsquo;s wife <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb187" href=

-"#pb187" name="pb187">187</a>]</span>about a mile from here has got a

-few acres of wheat and barley coming on, and we shall help her to

-harvest and take our share later. We shall be rich then,&rdquo; she

-added, with a smile.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m town-bred, you know,&rdquo; said

-Blanche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got an awful lot to learn, Millie and

-me.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll learn quickly enough,&rdquo; was the

-answer. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">At the end of the orchard through which they had been

-passing they came to a knoll, crowned by a great elm. Round the trunk

-of the elm a rough seat had been fixed, and here Aunt May sat down with

-a sigh of relief.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blessed thing to earn your own bread

-day by day,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a beautiful thing to

-live near the earth and feel physically tired at night. It&rsquo;s

-delightful to be primitive and agricultural, and I love it. But I have

-a civilized vice, Blanche. I have a store of cigarettes I stole from a

-shop in Harrow, and every night when it&rsquo;s fine I come out here

-after supper and smoke three; and when it&rsquo;s wet I smoke &rsquo;em

-in my own bedroom, and&mdash;I dream. But to-night I&rsquo;m going to

-talk to you, because you want help.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She produced a cigarette case and matches from a side

-pocket of her jacket, lit a cigarette, inhaled the smoke with a long

-gasp of intensest enjoyment, and then said: &ldquo;Men weren&rsquo;t

-fools, my dear; they had pockets in their coats.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Blanche. She felt puzzled and a

-little awkward. She knew that this woman was a <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb188" href="#pb188" name=

-"pb188">188</a>]</span>friend, but the girl&rsquo;s town-bred,

-objective mind was critical and embarrassed.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you smoke?&rdquo; asked Aunt May. &ldquo;I can

-spare you a cigarette, though I know the time must come when there

-won&rsquo;t be any more. Still, it&rsquo;s a long way off yet. Bless

-the clever man who invented air-tight tins!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t smoke, thanks,&rdquo; replied

-Blanche, conventionally; and, try as she would, she could not keep some

-hint of stiffness out of her voice. Modern manners take a long time to

-influence suburban homes of the Wisteria Grove type.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! well, you miss a lot!&rdquo; said Aunt May;

-&ldquo;but you&rsquo;re better without it, especially now, when tobacco

-isn&rsquo;t easy to get, and will soon be impossible.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But do you think,&rdquo; asked Blanche, drawing

-her eyebrows together, &ldquo;that this sort of thing is going on

-always?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I dare say. Don&rsquo;t ask me, my dear; the

-problem&rsquo;s beyond me. What we poor women have got to do is to keep

-ourselves alive in the meantime. And that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve come

-out here to talk about. What about your mother and you two girls? Where

-are you going? And what are you proposing to do?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>I</i> don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Blanche.

-&ldquo;I&mdash;I&rsquo;ve been trying to think.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; remarked Aunt May. &ldquo;I believe

-you&rsquo;ll do. I&rsquo;m doubtful about your sister.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to work on a farm, I

-suppose.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the only way to live.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Only where?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb189" href="#pb189" name="pb189">189</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been trying to worry

-out,&rdquo; said Aunt May. &ldquo;We do get news here, of a sort. Our

-girls work in Mrs Jordan&rsquo;s fields, and meet girls and women who

-come from Pinner, and the Pinner people hear news from Northwood, and

-the Northwood people from somewhere else; and so we get into touch with

-half a county. But, coming to your affairs; you see, we here are just

-the innermost circle. Most of the women who came from London missed

-this place and passed us by, thanks be!... Now, that poor unfortunate

-Miss Grant, down the road, had to defend herself with weapons.

-Fortunately she&rsquo;s strong.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Is Miss Grant the awful woman with the

-broomstick?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not really awful, my dear,&rdquo;

-said Aunt May, smiling; &ldquo;she&rsquo;s a very good sort. A little

-rough in her manners, perhaps, and quite mad about the uselessness of

-the creatures we used to know as men, but a fine, generous, unselfish

-woman, if she does boast of her three murders. Did she tell you that,

-by the way?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche nodded.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She would, of course; and I believe it&rsquo;s

-true; but her theory was to defend her own people. She said

-they&rsquo;d <i>all</i> have died if she hadn&rsquo;t. I&rsquo;m not

-sure about the ethic, but I know dear old Sally Grant meant well.

-However, I&rsquo;m wandering&mdash;I often do when I talk like this.

-The point was that just this little circle here, close to London, is

-very thickly populated, and there&rsquo;s precious little food ready to

-be got any way; but you&rsquo;ll have to pass through the <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb190" href="#pb190" name=

-"pb190">190</a>]</span>country beyond Pinner before you&rsquo;ll find a

-place where they&rsquo;ll give you work and keep you. There&rsquo;s a

-surplus in the next ring, I gather, too much labour and too little to

-grow. You&rsquo;ll have to push out into the Chilterns, out to Amersham

-at the nearest. It&rsquo;s all on the main road, of course, which is

-bad in a general way, because that&rsquo;s the road they all took. But

-I think if you&rsquo;ll cut across towards Wycombe you might, perhaps,

-find a place of some sort, though whether they&rsquo;ll feed your

-mother free gratis I can&rsquo;t say. Women are of all sorts, but this

-plague hasn&rsquo;t made &rsquo;em more friendly to one another, or

-perhaps it is we notice it more, and the worst of the lot are the

-farmers&rsquo; wives and daughters who&rsquo;ve got the land. They get

-turned out, though, sometimes. We hear about it. The London women have

-made raids; only, you see, the poor dears don&rsquo;t know what to do

-with the land when they get it, so they have to keep the few who do

-know to teach &rsquo;em&mdash;when they&rsquo;re sensible

-enough&mdash;the raiders, I mean. They aren&rsquo;t always.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be an adventure,&rdquo; remarked

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Aunt May threw away the very short end of her second

-cigarette and lighted her third. &ldquo;Adventure will do you

-good,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">It was nearly dark under the elm. The things of the

-night were coming out. Occasionally a cockchafer would go humming past

-them, the bats were flitting swiftly and silently about the orchard,

-and presently an owl swept by in one great stride of soundless

-flight.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;How they are all coming back!&rdquo; murmured

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb191" href="#pb191" name=

-"pb191">191</a>]</span>Aunt May. &ldquo;All the wild things. I never

-saw an owl here before this year.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I should be frightened if you weren&rsquo;t

-here,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Nothing to be frightened of, yet.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yet?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;In a few years&rsquo; time, perhaps. I

-don&rsquo;t know. We killed a wild cat who came after the chickens a

-few days ago. The cats have gone back already, and the dogs

-aren&rsquo;t so respectful as they used to be. The dogs&rsquo;ll

-interbreed, I suppose, and evolve a common form&mdash;strike some kind

-of average in a beast which will be somewhere near the ancestral type,

-smaller, probably, I don&rsquo;t know. It&rsquo;s a wonderful world,

-and very interesting. I could almost wish man wouldn&rsquo;t return for

-twenty years or so&mdash;just to see how much of his handiwork Nature

-could undo in the interval. I often think about it out here in the

-evenings.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I wish I knew more about it,&rdquo; said Blanche

-timidly. &ldquo;Are there any books, do you know,

-that&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t want books, my dear. Keep your

-eyes open and think.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They lapsed into silence again. The third cigarette was

-finished, but Aunt May gave no indication of a desire to get back to

-the house, and Blanche&rsquo;s mind was so excited with all the new

-ideas which were pouring in upon her that she had forgotten her

-tiredness.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s awfully interesting,&rdquo; she said

-at last. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so different. Mother and Millie hate it,

-and they&rsquo;d <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb192" href="#pb192"

-name="pb192">192</a>]</span>like all the old things back; but I

-don&rsquo;t think I would.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re all right. You&rsquo;ll do,&rdquo;

-replied her companion. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re one of the new sort, though

-you might never have found it out if it hadn&rsquo;t been for the

-plague. Now, your sister will do one of two things, in my opinion;

-either she&rsquo;ll stop in some place where there&rsquo;s a

-man&mdash;there&rsquo;s one at Wycombe, by the way&mdash;and have

-children, or she&rsquo;ll turn religious.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche was about to ask a question, but Aunt May

-stopped her. &ldquo;Never mind about the man, my dear,&rdquo; she said.

-&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll learn quickly enough. It&rsquo;s like Heaven now,

-you see&mdash;no marrying or giving in marriage. With one man to every

-thousand women or so, what can you expect? It&rsquo;s no good kicking

-against it. It&rsquo;s got to be. That&rsquo;s where

-Fanny&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She broke off suddenly, with a little snort

-of impatience. &ldquo;I think to-night&rsquo;s an exception,&rdquo; she

-went on. &ldquo;I like talking to you, and one simply can&rsquo;t talk

-to Allie yet, so just to-night I&rsquo;ll have one more.&rdquo; She

-took out her cigarette case with a touch of impatience.</p>

-<p class="par">It was dark under the elm now, and she had to hold up

-her cigarette case close to her face in order to see the contents.

-&ldquo;Two more,&rdquo; she announced. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a festival,

-and for once I can speak my mind to some one. An imprudence, perhaps,

-like this habit of smoking, but I shall probably never see you again,

-and I&rsquo;m sure you won&rsquo;t tell.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, no!&rdquo; interposed Blanche eagerly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not tired? You don&rsquo;t want to

-go to bed?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb193" href="#pb193"

-name="pb193">193</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not a bit. I love being out here.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see you, but I know you&rsquo;re

-speaking the truth,&rdquo; said Aunt May, after a pause. &ldquo;In the

-darkness and silence of the night I will make a confession. I look

-weather-worn and fifty, I know, but I feel absurdly romantic, only

-there&rsquo;s no man in this case. I used to write novels, my

-dear&mdash;an absurd thing for any spinster to do, but they paid, and

-I&rsquo;ve got the itch for self-expression. That&rsquo;s the one

-outlet I miss in this new world of ours. Sally Grant and I can&rsquo;t

-agree, and, in any case, she wants to do all the talking. And sometimes

-I&rsquo;m idiot enough to go on writing little bits even now when I

-have become a capable, practical woman with at least four lives

-dependent upon me. Well, it shows, anyhow, that we writing women

-weren&rsquo;t all fools....&rdquo; She hung on that for a moment or

-two, and then continued.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you religious?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&mdash;I suppose so. We always

-went to Church at home,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;I thought every one

-was, almost. Not quite like Mrs Pollard, of course.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well!&rdquo; said Aunt May.

-&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no harm and a lot of good in being religious, if

-you go about it in the right way. I don&rsquo;t want to change your

-opinions, my dear. It&rsquo;s just a question to me of the right way.

-And I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> see that Fanny&rsquo;s way is right. Here we

-are, and we&rsquo;ve got to make the best of it; and to my mind that

-means facing life, and not shutting yourself into one room with a Bible

-and spending half your time on your knees. Fanny never <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb194" href="#pb194" name="pb194">194</a>]</span>was

-good for much. She brought up Alfred&mdash;my nephew, you

-know&mdash;with only one idea, and she stuffed him so full of holiness

-that the English Church couldn&rsquo;t hold him, and he had to work

-some of it off by going over to Rome. He thought he&rsquo;d have better

-chances of saintship there. He was a poor, pale thing, anyway. Of

-course, that was anathema to Fanny. She might have forgiven him for

-committing a murder, but to become a Roman Catholic&mdash;&mdash;! Oh,

-Lord! She&rsquo;s been praying for him ever since. And, my dear, what

-difference can it make? Alfred&rsquo;s apostasy, I mean. Do you think

-it matters what particular form of worship or pettifogging details of

-belief you adopt? Why can&rsquo;t the Churches take each other for

-granted, and be generous enough to suppose that all roads lead to

-Heaven, which is, according to all accounts, a much better place than

-Rome? But, oh! above all, if you have a religion, do be practical! Come

-out and do your work, instead of sighing and psalm-singing, and

-wearying dumb Heaven with fulsome praise and lamentations of your

-unworthiness, as if you were trying to propitiate a rich customer!</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There, my dear, I won&rsquo;t say any more. My

-last cigarette&rsquo;s done, and wasted, because I was too excited to

-enjoy it. I know I&rsquo;ve been disloyal; but it&rsquo;s my

-temperament. I could slap Fanny sometimes. And she shan&rsquo;t have

-Allie.... It&rsquo;s the night that has affected me. To-morrow I shall

-be just as practical as ever, and you&rsquo;ll forget that you&rsquo;ve

-seen this side of me. Come along. We must go to bed.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;This is the greatest night of my life,&rdquo;

-thought <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb195" href="#pb195" name=

-"pb195">195</a>]</span>Blanche as they walked back in silence to the

-house.</p>

-<p class="par">Even when she was in bed, she did not go to sleep at

-once. She lay and listened to the heavy breathing of her mother and

-Millie, and she wondered. Everything, indeed, was different, but

-everybody was just the same, only, in some curious way, individualities

-seemed more pronounced.</p>

-<p class="par">Could it be that everybody was more natural, that there

-was less restraint?</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche was not introspective. She did not test the

-theory on herself. She thought of the women she had met that day, and

-of her mother and Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">She fell asleep, determined to be more like Aunt May.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb196" href="#pb196" name=

-"pb196">196</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch15" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XV&mdash;</span>FROM SUDBURY TO

-WYCOMBE</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Allie knocked on the Goslings&rsquo; door at

-sunrise the next morning, and Blanche, who had come to bed two hours

-after her mother and sister, was the only one to respond. She woke with

-the feeling that she had something important to do, and that the affair

-was in some way pleasant and inspiring.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was not easily roused. She had slept heavily, and

-did not approve the suggestion that she should get up and dress

-herself.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, B., all right!&rdquo; she mumbled, and

-cuddled down under the bedclothes like a dormouse into its straw.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! do get up!&rdquo; urged Blanche, impatiently,

-and at last resorted to physical force.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What <i>is</i> the matter?&rdquo; snapped Millie,

-struggling to maintain her hold of the blankets. &ldquo;Why

-<i>can&rsquo;t</i> you leave me alone?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Because it&rsquo;s time to get up, lazy!&rdquo;

-said Blanche, continuing the struggle.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I said I&rsquo;d get up in a

-minute.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, get up then.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;In a minute.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No&mdash;now!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, bother!&rdquo; said Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche succeeded at last in obtaining possession of the

-blankets. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb197" href="#pb197" name=

-"pb197">197</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll wake mother!&rdquo; was

-Millie&rsquo;s last, desperate shaft.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try,&rdquo; replied

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie sat up in the bed and wondered vaguely where she

-was. These scenes had often been enacted at Wisteria Grove, and her

-mind had gone back to those delightful days of peace and security. When

-full consciousness returned to her, she was half inclined to cry, and

-more than half inclined to go to sleep again.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was quite as difficult.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the time?&rdquo; was her first

-question.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s not seven,&rdquo;

-murmured Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, still sitting on the bed, wondered whether

-Blanche would let her get to the blankets which were tumbled on the

-floor a few feet away.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, you don&rsquo;t!&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche,

-anticipating the attempt.</p>

-<p class="par">Finally she lost her temper and shook her mother

-vigorously.</p>

-<p class="par">At that, Mrs Gosling sat up suddenly and stared at her.

-&ldquo;What in &rsquo;eaven&rsquo;s name&rsquo;s wrong, gel?&rdquo; she

-asked. Her instinct told her with absolute certainty that it was still

-the middle of the night by Wisteria Grove standards.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! my goodness! I&rsquo;m going to have my hands

-full with you two!&rdquo; broke out Blanche impatiently. Her

-imagination pictured for her in that instant how great the trouble

-would be. She would never be able to wake them up.... <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb198" href="#pb198" name="pb198">198</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">They took the road before eight o&rsquo;clock. Aunt May

-was generous in the matter of eggs and fruit, and she left her many

-urgent duties to point the way for the inexperienced explorers.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Get right out as far as you can,&rdquo; was her

-parting word of advice.</p>

-<p class="par">They did not see Mrs Pollard again. She was still in bed

-when they set out.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Despite the promise of another cloudless day, none

-of the three travellers set out in high spirits. To all of them, even

-to Blanche, it seemed a return to weariness and pain to start out once

-more pushing that abominable truck. That truck represented all their

-troubles. It had become associated with all the discomforts they had

-endured since they left the Putney house. It indicated the paucity of

-their possessions, and yet it was intolerably heavy to push. After

-their brief return to the comfort and stability of a home and natural

-food, this adventuring out into the inhospitable country appeared more

-hopeless than ever. If they could have gone without the truck, they

-might, at least, have avoided that feeling of horrible certainty. They

-might have cheated themselves into the belief that they would return.

-The truck was the brand of their vagabondage.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling did not spare her lamentations concerning

-the hopelessness of their endeavour, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb199" href="#pb199" name="pb199">199</a>]</span>gave it as her

-opinion that they had been most heartlessly treated by Aunt May.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Turning out a woman of my age into the

-roads,&rdquo; she grumbled. &ldquo;She might &rsquo;ave kept us a day

-or two, I should &rsquo;ave thought. It ain&rsquo;t as if we were

-beggars. We could &rsquo;ave paid for what we &rsquo;ad.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She had, indeed, made the suggestion and been repulsed.

-Aunt May had firmly put the offer on one side without explanation. She

-understood that explanations would be wasted on Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was inclined to agree with her mother.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche, at the handle, did not interrupt the statement

-of their grievances. She was occupied with the problem of the future,

-trying to think out some plan in her own confused inconsecutive

-way.</p>

-<p class="par">Their progress was tediously slow. Against the combined

-brake of the truck and Mrs Gosling, they did not average two miles an

-hour; and even before they came to Pinner it was becoming obvious to

-the two girls that they might as well let their mother ride on the

-trolly as allow her to lean her weight upon it as she walked.</p>

-<p class="par">They took the road through Wealdstone to avoid the hill

-and found that they were still in the track of one wing of the foraging

-army which had preceded them. That first rush of emigrants had ravaged

-the stores and houses as locusts will ravage a stretch of country. The

-suburb of regular villas and prim shops had been completely looted.

-Doors stood open and windows were smashed; the spread of ugly houses

-lay among the fields like an unwholesome eruption, awaiting the healing

-process of Nature. Wealdstone <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb200"

-href="#pb200" name="pb200">200</a>]</span>also was deserted by

-humanity. The flood had swept on towards the open country.</p>

-<p class="par">But as they approached Pinner the signs of devastation

-and desertion began to give way. Here and there women could be seen

-working in the fields; one or two children scuttled away before the

-approach of the Goslings and hid in the hedges, children who had

-evidently grown furtive and suspicious, intimidated by the experiences

-of the past two months; and when the outlying houses were

-reached&mdash;detached suburban villas, once occupied by relatively

-wealthy middle-class employers&mdash;it was evident that efforts were

-being made to restore the wreckage of kitchen gardens.</p>

-<p class="par">The Goslings had reached the point at which the wave had

-broken after its great initial energy was spent. Somewhere about this

-fifteen-mile limit, varying somewhat according to local conditions, the

-real disintegration of the crowd had begun. As the numerous tokens of

-the road had shown, a great number of women and children&mdash;possibly

-one-fifth of the whole crowd&mdash;had died of starvation and disease

-before any harbour was reached. From this fifteen-mile circle outwards,

-an increasing number had been stayed in their flight by the

-opportunities of obtaining food. Work was urgently demanded for the

-future, but the determining factor was the present supply of food, and

-the constriction of immediate supply had decided the question of how

-great a proportion of the women and children should remain. Here, about

-Pinner, was more land than the limited number of workers could till,

-but little <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb201" href="#pb201" name=

-"pb201">201</a>]</span>of it was arable, and this year there would be

-almost no harvest of grain.</p>

-<p class="par">Vaguely, Blanche realized this. She remembered Aunt

-May&rsquo;s advice to keep her eyes open, and looking about her as she

-walked she found little promise of security in the grass fields and the

-rare signs of human activity.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling, eager to find some home at any price,

-expressed her usual optimistic opinion with regard to the value of

-money. She saw signs of life again, at last, conditions familiar to

-her. She thought that they were returning once more to some kind of

-recognizable civilization, and began, with some renewal of her old

-vigour, to advise that they should find an hotel or inn and take

-&ldquo;a good look round&rdquo; before going any further.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, heartened by her mother&rsquo;s belief, was of

-much the same opinion, and Blanche was summoned from the pole to listen

-to the proposition.</p>

-<p class="par">She shook her head stubbornly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to argue it out all over

-again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You can just look round and see for

-yourselves that there&rsquo;s no food to be got here. We must get

-further out.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling refused to be convinced, and advanced her

-superior knowledge of the world to support her judgment of the

-case.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! very well,&rdquo; said Blanche, at last.

-&ldquo;Come on to the inn and see for yourselves.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The inn, however, was deserted. All its available supply

-of food, solid and liquid, had long been exhausted, and the gardenless

-house had offered no <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb202" href="#pb202"

-name="pb202">202</a>]</span>particular attractions as a residence.

-Houses were cheap in that place, the whole population of Pinner,

-including children, did not exceed three hundred persons.</p>

-<p class="par">They found a woman working in a garden near by, and she,

-with perhaps unnecessary harshness, warned them that they could not

-stay in the village. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not enough food for us as it

-is,&rdquo; she said, and made some reference to &ldquo;silly

-Londoners.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">That was an expression with which the Goslings were to

-become very familiar in the near future.</p>

-<p class="par">The appeal for pity fell on deaf ears. Mrs Gosling

-learned that she was only one of many thousands who had made the same

-appeal.</p>

-<p class="par">The sun was high in the sky as they trudged out of

-Pinner on the road towards Northwood. It was then Blanche suggested

-that her mother should always ride on the trolly, except when they were

-facing a hill; and after a few weak protestations the suggestion was

-accepted. The trolly was lightened of various useless articles of

-furniture&mdash;a grudging sacrifice on the part of Mrs

-Gosling&mdash;and the party pushed on at a slightly improved pace.</p>

-<p class="par">After her disappointment in Pinner, Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s

-interest in life began rapidly to decline. Seated in her truck, she

-fell into long fits of brooding on the past. She was too old and too

-stereotyped to change, the future held no hope for her, and as the

-meaning and purpose of her existence faded, the life forces within her

-surely and ever more rapidly ebbed. Reality to her became the

-discomfort of the sun&rsquo;s heat, the dust of the road, the creak and

-scream <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb203" href="#pb203" name=

-"pb203">203</a>]</span>of the trolly wheels. She was incapable of

-relating herself to the great scheme of life, her consciousness was

-limited, as it had always been limited, to her immediate surroundings.

-She saw herself as a woman outrageously used by fate, but to fate she

-gave no name; the very idea, indeed, was too abstract to be appreciated

-by her. Blanche, Millie and that horrible truck were all that was left

-of her world, and in spirit she still moved in the beloved, familiar

-places of her suburban home.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">As the Goslings trudged out into the Chilterns

-they came into new conditions. Soon they found over-crowding in place

-of desolation. The harvest was ripening and in a month&rsquo;s time the

-demand for labour would almost equal the supply, for the labour offered

-was quite absurdly unskilled and ten women would be required to perform

-the work of one man equipped with machines. But at the end of July the

-surplus of women, almost exclusively Londoners, had no employment and

-little food, and many were living on grass, nettles, leaves, any green

-stuff they could boil and eat, together with such scraps of meat and

-vegetables as they could steal or beg. Their experiments with wild

-green stuffs often resulted in some form of poisoning, and dysentery

-and starvation were rapidly increasing the mortality among them.

-Nevertheless, in Rickmansworth houses were still at a premium, and many

-of those who camped perforce in fields or by the roadside <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb204" href="#pb204" name="pb204">204</a>]</span>were

-too enfeebled by town-life to stand the exposure of the occasional

-cold, wet nights. The majority of the women in this ring were those who

-had been too weak to struggle on. They represented the class least

-fitted to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The stronger and more

-capable had persisted, and left these congested areas behind them; and

-it was evident that in a very few months a balance between labour and

-supply would be struck by the relentless extermination of the weakest

-by starvation and disease.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche, if she was unable to grasp the problem which

-was being so inevitably solved by the forces of natural law, was at

-least able to recognize clearly enough that she and her two dependents

-must not linger in the district to which they had now come. Aunt May

-had warned her that she must push out as far as Amersham at the

-nearest, but Millie was too tired and footsore to go much further than

-Rickmansworth that night, and after a fruitless search for shelter they

-camped out half a mile from the town in the direction of Chorley

-Wood.</p>

-<p class="par">They made some kind of a shield from the weather by

-emptying and tilting the trolly, and they hid their supply of food

-behind them at the lowest point of this species of lean-to roof. The

-two girls had realized that that supply would soon be raided if the

-fact of its existence were to become known. They had been the object of

-much scrutiny as they passed, and their appearance of well-being had

-prompted endless demands for food, from that pitiful crowd of emaciated

-women and children. It had been a demand <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb205" href="#pb205" name="pb205">205</a>]</span>quickly put on one

-side by lying. Their applicants found it only too easy to believe that

-the Goslings had no food hidden in the truck.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I hated to refuse some of &rsquo;em,&rdquo;

-Blanche said as they carefully hid what food was left to them, before

-turning in for the night, &ldquo;but what good would our little bit

-have done among all that lot? It would have been gone in half a

-jiff.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; agreed Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Gosling had taken little notice of the starving

-crowd. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got nothin&rsquo; to give you,&rdquo; was her

-one form of reply. She might have been dealing with hawkers in Wisteria

-Grove.</p>

-<p class="par">She was curiously apathetic all that afternoon and

-evening, and raised only the feeblest protestation against the

-necessity for sleeping in the open air. But she was very restless

-during the night, her limbs twitched and she moved continually,

-muttering and sometimes crying out. And as the three women were all

-huddled together, partly to make the most of their somewhat

-insufficient lean-to, and partly because they were afraid of the

-terrors of the open air, both Blanche and Millie were constantly

-aroused by their mother&rsquo;s movements. Once they heard her calling

-urgently for &ldquo;George.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s odd, isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;

-whispered Blanche after one such disturbance. &ldquo;Do you think

-she&rsquo;s going to be ill?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Shouldn&rsquo;t wonder,&rdquo; muttered Millie.

-&ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t be?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">In the morning Blanche was very careful with their food.

-For breakfast they ate only part of a tin of <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb206" href="#pb206" name=

-"pb206">206</a>]</span>condensed beef between them&mdash;Mrs Gosling

-indeed ate hardly anything. The eggs which they had brought from

-Sudbury they reserved, chiefly because they had neither water nor

-fire.</p>

-<p class="par">They drank from a stream, later, and at midday Blanche

-and Millie each ate one of the eggs raw. Mrs Gosling refused all food

-on this occasion. She had been very quiet all the morning, and had made

-little complaint when she had been forced to walk the many hills which

-they were now encountering.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche was uneasy and tried to induce her mother to

-talk. &ldquo;Do you feel bad, mother?&rdquo; she asked continually.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I wish I could get &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; was all the

-reply she received.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be all right when we can get settled

-somewhere,&rdquo; grumbled Millie. &ldquo;If such a time ever

-comes.&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">They came to Amersham in the afternoon. The signs

-of misery and starvation were here less marked. They were approaching

-the outer edge of this ring of compression, having passed through the

-node at Rickmansworth. The faint relief of pressure was evidenced to

-some extent in the attitude of the people they addressed. It is true

-that no immediate hope of food and employment were held out to them,

-but on the one hand Blanche&rsquo;s inquiries were answered with less

-acerbity and on the other they were less besieged by importunate

-demands for charity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb207" href="#pb207"

-name="pb207">207</a>]</span>Blanche gave an egg to one precocious girl

-of thirteen or so, who insisted on helping them to push the truck

-uphill, and she and Millie watched the deft way in which the child

-broke the shell at one end and sucked out the contents. Their own

-methods had been both unclean and wasteful.</p>

-<p class="par">They turned off the Aylesbury Road, towards High Wycombe

-late in the afternoon and about a mile from Amersham came to a farm

-where they made their last inquiry that day.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche saw signs of life in the outbuildings and went

-to investigate, leaving Millie and her mother to guard the truck. She

-found three women and a girl of fourteen or so milking. For some

-minutes she stood watching them, the women, after one glance at her,

-proceeding with their work without paying her any further attention.

-But, at last, the eldest of the three rose from her stool with a sigh

-of relief, picked up her wooden bucket of milk, gave the cow a

-resounding slap on the side, and then, turning to Blanche, said,

-&ldquo;Well, my gal, what&rsquo;s for you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Will you change two pints of milk for a small tin

-of tongue?&rdquo; asked Blanche. It was the first time she had offered

-any of their precious tinned meats in exchange for other food, but she

-wanted milk for her mother, who had hardly eaten anything that day.</p>

-<p class="par">The two other women and the girl looked round and

-regarded Blanche with the first signs of interest they had shown.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Tongue, eh?&rdquo; said the older woman.

-&ldquo;Where from did you get tongue, my gal?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;London,&rdquo; replied Blanche tersely.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb208" href="#pb208" name=

-"pb208">208</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;When did you leave there?&rdquo; asked the woman,

-and then Blanche was engaged in a series of searching questions

-respecting the country she had passed through.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can have the milk if you&rsquo;ve anything to

-put it in,&rdquo; said the woman at last, and Blanche went to fetch the

-tongue and the two bottles that they had had from Aunt May.</p>

-<p class="par">The bottles had to be scalded, a precaution that had not

-occurred to Blanche, and one of the other women was sent to carry out

-the operation.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, your tale don&rsquo;t tell us much,&rdquo;

-said the woman of the farm, &ldquo;but we always pass the news here,

-now. Where are you going to sleep to-night?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche shrugged her shoulders.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can sleep here in the outhouses, if

-you&rsquo;ve a mind to,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;but I warn you we

-get a crowd. Silly Londoners like yourself for the most part, but we

-find a use for &rsquo;em somehow, though I&rsquo;d give the lot for

-three labourers.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She paused and twisted her mouth on one side

-reflectively. &ldquo;Ah! well,&rdquo; she went on with a sigh,

-&ldquo;no use grieving over them that&rsquo;s gone; all I was

-goin&rsquo; to say was, if you sleep here you&rsquo;d better keep an

-eye on what food you&rsquo;ve got with you. My lot&rsquo;ll have it

-before you can say knife, if they get half a chance.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t us girls, me and my sister,&rdquo;

-explained Blanche. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my mother. She&rsquo;s bad,

-I&rsquo;m afraid. If she could sleep in your kitchen...? <i>She</i>

-wouldn&rsquo;t steal anything.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">After a short hesitation the woman consented.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb209" href="#pb209" name=

-"pb209">209</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Yet neither the glory of being once more within the four

-walls of a house, nor the refreshment of the milk which she drank

-readily enough, seemed appreciably to rouse Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s

-spirits.</p>

-<p class="par">The woman of the farm, a kindly enough creature, plied

-the old lady with questions, but received few and confused answers in

-reply. Mrs Gosling seemed dazed and stupid. &ldquo;A touch of the

-sun,&rdquo; the farmer&rsquo;s widow thought.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s been cruel strong the past

-week,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but she&rsquo;ll be all right in a day or

-two, get her to shelter.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! that&rsquo;s the trouble,&rdquo; said

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">That night the farmer&rsquo;s widow said no more on that

-subject. She allowed the three Goslings to sleep in an upstair room, in

-which there was one small bed for the mother, and the two girls slept

-on the floor. Exchanging confidence for confidence, they brought their

-truck into the kitchen; and then the farmer&rsquo;s widow proceeded to

-lock up for the night, an elaborate business, which included the

-fastening of all ground-floor windows and shutters.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a thievin&rsquo; crowd we&rsquo;ve got

-about here,&rdquo; she explained, &ldquo;and you can&rsquo;t blame them

-or anyone when there ain&rsquo;t enough food to go round. But we have

-to be careful for &rsquo;em. Let &rsquo;em go their own way and

-they&rsquo;d eat up everything in a week and then starve. It looks like

-<span class="corr" id="xd23e3626" title=

-"Source: your">you&rsquo;re</span> being hard on &rsquo;em, but

-it&rsquo;s for their own good. There&rsquo;s some, of course,&rdquo;

-she went on, &ldquo;as you have got to get shut of. Only yesterday I

-had to send one of &rsquo;em packing. A Jew <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb210" href="#pb210" name=

-"pb210">210</a>]</span>woman she was, called &rsquo;erself Mrs Isaacson

-or something. She was a caution.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche wondered idly if this were the same Mrs Isaacson

-who had stayed too long with Aunt May.</p>

-<p class="par">The woman of the farm roused the Goslings at sunrise,

-and she, like Aunt May, had a brisk, practical, morning manner.</p>

-<p class="par">She gave the travellers no more food, but when they were

-nearly ready to take the road again she gave them one valuable piece of

-information.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If I was you,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d

-make through Wycombe straight along the road here, and go up over the

-hill to Marlow. Mind you, they won&rsquo;t let every one stop there.

-But you look two healthy gals enough and it&rsquo;s getting on towards

-harvest when there&rsquo;ll be work as you <i>can</i> do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Marlow?&rdquo; repeated Blanche, fixing the name

-in her memory.</p>

-<p class="par">The farmer&rsquo;s widow nodded. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a

-man there,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;A queer sort, by all accounts. Not

-like Sam Evans, the butcher at Wycombe, he ain&rsquo;t. Seems as this

-Marlow chap don&rsquo;t have no truck with gals, except setting

-&rsquo;em to work. However, time&rsquo;ll show. He may change his mind

-yet.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They had some difficulty with Mrs Gosling. She refused

-feebly to leave the house. &ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t fit to go out,&rdquo;

-she complained, and when they insisted she asked if they were going

-home.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Best say &lsquo;yes,&rsquo;&rdquo; whispered the

-woman of the farm. &ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s got to her head a bit.

-She&rsquo;ll be all right when you get her to Marlow.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche accepted the suggestion, and by this subterfuge

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb211" href="#pb211" name=

-"pb211">211</a>]</span>Mrs Gosling was persuaded into the truck. The

-girl found the ruins of an umbrella, which they rigged up to protect

-her from the sun.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche and Millie were quite convinced now that their

-mother was suffering from a slight attack of sunstroke.</p>

-<p class="par">Both the girls were still footsore, and one of

-Millie&rsquo;s boots had worn into a hole, but they had a definite

-objective at last, and only some ten or twelve miles to travel before

-reaching it.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall be there by midday,&rdquo; said Blanche,

-hopefully.</p>

-<p class="par">Unconsciously, every one was using a new measure of

-time. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb212" href="#pb212" name=

-"pb212">212</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch16" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVI&mdash;</span>THE YOUNG

-BUTCHER OF HIGH WYCOMBE</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Near Wycombe a woman rose from under the hedge as

-the Goslings approached, and came out into the middle of the road. She

-was a stout, florid woman, whose age might have been anything between

-forty and fifty. Her gait and the droop of her shoulders, rather than

-the flaccidity of her rather loose skin, gave her the appearance of

-being past middle age.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goot morning,&rdquo; she said as the Goslings

-came up. &ldquo;If it iss no inconvenience I would like to come with

-you.&rdquo; She spoke with a foreign accent, thickening her final

-consonants and giving a different value to some of her vowels.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Blanche curtly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! that! what does it matter?&rdquo; returned

-the woman. &ldquo;I have been living with a farmer&rsquo;s wife further

-back along the road there. But she was not company for me. She was

-common. Now I see that you and your mother are not common. And I do not

-care to live with farmers&rsquo; wives. But where we go? Does it

-matter? We all go to find work in the fields&mdash;aristocrat as much

-as peasant. But iss it not better that we who are not peasants should

-go together?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb213" href="#pb213"

-name="pb213">213</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Millie giggled surreptitiously, and Mrs Gosling appeared

-conscious of the fact that some one was addressing them.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re goin&rsquo; &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; she

-remarked, and Millie gently prodded her in the back.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goin&rsquo; &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; repeated Mrs

-Gosling firmly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! You are lucky. There are few that have homes

-now,&rdquo; replied the strange woman. &ldquo;I had a home, once, how

-long ago. Now, during two months, I have no home.&rdquo; She was

-evidently on the verge of tears.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s got a touch of the sun,&rdquo;

-Blanche said in a low voice, &ldquo;and we have to pretend we&rsquo;re

-going home. You needn&rsquo;t tell her we&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Have no fear,&rdquo; replied the stranger.

-&ldquo;I am all that is most discreet, yes.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche hardened her heart. This woman took too much for

-granted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see it&rsquo;s any use your coming with

-us,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! we others, we should cling together,&rdquo;

-said the stranger, with a large gesture.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re nobody,&rdquo; replied Blanche,

-curtly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss well to say that. I know. There iss good

-reason. I, too, must tell the common people that I am a nobody, I call

-myself, even, Mrs Isaacson. But between us there iss no need to say

-what iss not true. I can see what you are. Although I am not English, I

-have lived many years already in England, and I can see. It iss well

-that we cling together? Yes?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; burst out Blanche. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re

-Mrs Isaacson, are you? I&rsquo;ve heard of you.&rdquo; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb214" href="#pb214" name="pb214">214</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">For one moment Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s fine eyes seemed to

-look inwards in an instantaneous review of her past. &ldquo;Ach! so!

-Then we are friends already,&rdquo; she said cautiously.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I heard of you from Aunt May,&rdquo; said

-Blanche, and the faint air of respect with which she pronounced the

-name did not escape the notice of the alert Jewess.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! the so dear and so clever Auntie May,&rdquo;

-she said. &ldquo;But she iss too kind, and work so hard while her

-sister do always nothing. See, I will help you to draw your poor mother

-who has a touch of the sun. You and I at the handle and your beautiful

-sister to push, while we talk a little of the clever Auntie May.

-Yes?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche had been forewarned. She could only put one

-construction on the little she had heard of Mrs Isaacson. But the

-Jewess&rsquo;s manner no less than her conversation was subtly

-flattering. Moreover, she had made no appeal for help; finally there

-was a certain urgency about her, a force of will which Blanche found it

-difficult to resist. And as the girl still hesitated Mrs Isaacson

-bravely seized her side of the trolly handle and the procession moved

-on.</p>

-<p class="par">The Goslings found a use for her when they came to the

-drop of Amersham Hill, going down into High Wycombe. Blanche proposed

-that Mrs Gosling should walk down, but the old lady did not seem to

-understand her. She looked perplexed and kept saying, &ldquo;I

-don&rsquo;t remember this road. Are you sure we&rsquo;re goin&rsquo;

-right, Blanche?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! she must not walk in this heat,&rdquo; put in

-Mrs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb215" href="#pb215" name=

-"pb215">215</a>]</span>Isaacson. &ldquo;We three can manage very

-well.&rdquo; And, indeed, although she manifestly suffered greatly from

-the exertion, the Jewess was of very great assistance in retarding the

-speed of the trolly as they made the perilous descent.</p>

-<p class="par">After that there could be no question of calmly telling

-her to go her own way.</p>

-<p class="par">By the time they had crossed the almost deserted

-town&mdash;at that hour nearly all the women were either in their

-houses or working in gardens and fields&mdash;and had found their way

-to the Marlow road, Mrs Isaacson had quite become one of the party, and

-by no means the least energetic.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have something to eat and some milk,

-when we get through the town,&rdquo; said Blanche as they faced the

-long hill up to Handy Cross.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Presently, presently,&rdquo; replied the heaving

-Mrs Isaacson, as though food were of little importance to her, but

-accepting the admission that she had earned the right to share equally

-with the others.</p>

-<p class="par">Their first burst of energy after they had faced the

-ascent brought them to the gates of Wycombe Abbey, and there they

-decided to rest and lunch, blissfully ignorant of the long climb which

-lay before them.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It will be nice and quiet here in the

-shade,&rdquo; suggested Mrs Isaacson.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The old conventions would not have suffered them

-to sit and eat thus under the walls, at the <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb216" href="#pb216" name="pb216">216</a>]</span>very

-gates of Wycombe Abbey. Their clothes and their boots were wearing

-badly, and Mrs Isaacson, at least, was not too clean. It was

-noticeable, however, that, despite the dryness of the weather, little

-dust clung to them. The surface of the roads had not been pounded and

-crushed into powder during the past six weeks by the constant passage

-of wheeled traffic, and even in the tracks frequented by farm carts the

-roads were stained with green. Indeed, everything was greener than in

-the old days, everything was more vigorous. Whether because the year

-had been favourable, or because it was relieved from the burden of

-choking dust which it had had to endure in other years from May

-onwards, the vegetation in hedges and by the wayside appeared to grow

-more strongly and with a greater self-assertion. And by contrast with

-this vigour and cleanness of plant life, the four women in their

-tumbled clothes and untidy hats, feeble and unsightly remnants of

-forgotten fashion, were as much out of place as if they had been set

-down in ancient Greece. The dowdy foolishness of their apparel marked

-them out from every other living thing about them, they were intruders,

-despoilers of beauty.</p>

-<p class="par">Some dim consciousness of this came to Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">They had spoken little as they ate&mdash;Mrs Gosling

-would touch nothing but milk, and Mrs Isaacson strove desperately and

-with some success to control the greed that showed in the concentrated

-eagerness of her eyes and the grasping crook of her fingers&mdash;and

-when they had finished, lingering in the relief of the shade, they were

-still silent. It seemed as if the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb217"

-href="#pb217" name="pb217">217</a>]</span>first word spoken must

-necessarily hasten the continuation of their journey.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! bother this old hat,&rdquo; said Blanche at

-last. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to take mine off,&rdquo; and she drew out

-the solitary pin which remained to her and cast the hat into the

-ditch.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That won&rsquo;t do it any good,&rdquo; remarked

-Millie but she, too, took off her hat with a sigh of relief.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to chuck hats,&rdquo; said

-Blanche. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the good of &rsquo;em?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson looked doubtful. &ldquo;They are a

-protection from the sun,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Allie never wore a hat, and she didn&rsquo;t come

-to any harm,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No?&rdquo; said Mrs Isaacson, and looked

-thoughtful.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was running her fingers through the masses of her

-red-brown hair, loosening it and lifting it from her head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> a relief,&rdquo; she remarked.

-&ldquo;My head gets so hot.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Mrs Isaacson, &ldquo;and what

-beautiful hair! It does not seem right to hide it. I haf a comb in my

-bag. It is almost all I haf left. Let me now comb your beautiful hair

-for you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! don&rsquo;t you bother,&rdquo; said Millie

-sheepishly, but she allowed herself to be persuaded. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t

-lose the hair-pins,&rdquo; she warned her newly-found lady&rsquo;s

-maid.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It seems so funny out here in the open

-road,&rdquo; giggled Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s praise was fulsome.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche watched without comment. Mrs Gosling

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb218" href="#pb218" name=

-"pb218">218</a>]</span>was plunged in meditation. She was involved in

-an immense problem relating to the housekeeping at Wisteria Grove. She

-was debating whether the lace curtains at the front windows could be

-washed at home when they went back.</p>

-<p class="par">Suddenly the attention of the three younger women was

-caught by unnatural sounds that came from the further side of the wall

-against which they were leaning&mdash;sounds of voices, laughing and

-singing, the crunch of wheels and the stamping of horses.</p>

-<p class="par">The two girls jumped to their feet. Mrs Isaacson rose

-more deliberately, with a grunt of expostulation. Mrs Gosling was in a

-world far removed and continued to debate her problem.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie&rsquo;s hands were fumbling at her hair, and

-Blanche was first at the gate.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! my!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Why,

-whatever....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; squealed Millie, still struggling

-with her loose mane.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The centre and object of the curious crowd which

-moved slowly down the drive was a landau and pair. The horses were

-decorated as if for a May-day f&ecirc;te, grotesquely, foolishly

-decorated with roses, syringa and buttercups made into shapeless

-bunches and tied to the harness. Three or four women walked at the

-horses&rsquo; heads, leading them with absurdly beflowered ropes.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb219" href="#pb219" name=

-"pb219">219</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Round the landau a dozen girls and young women were

-dancing, chattering, singing, laughing; constantly turning to the

-occupant of the carriage, for whose benefit the whole performance was

-being conducted. Some of them had their necks and breasts bare, and all

-appeared to be frankly shameless. They twisted and danced with clumsy

-eagerness, threw themselves about, screamed and shrieked, unaware of

-any observer but the one whose notice they were seeking to attract.

-They were graceless, civilized savages; Bacchantes who had never known

-the beauty of unconscious abandonment. There was the ugliness of

-conscious purpose in their every attitude, and no trace of the freedom

-that comes from careless rapture.</p>

-<p class="par">In the carriage a man and a woman were sitting side by

-side. The man was young, with strong claims to physical

-beauty&mdash;tall, broad-shouldered, swarthy, with boldly modelled

-features and heavily lidded eyes. But his skin was coarse; the bulk of

-his body was too gross for clean, muscular strength; his curly,

-well-oiled hair was thinning at the temples; his loose mouth leered and

-gaped. He was dressed in a suit of broadly-patterned tweed, his great

-red fingers were covered with rings, he wore a heavy gold bangle on

-each thick, round wrist, and a sweet, frail rose was thrust into his

-black and greasy hair.</p>

-<p class="par">The woman beside him was the typical courtesan of the

-ages, low-browed and full-lipped. Her eyes were eloquent with the

-subtleties of love, with invitation, retreat, fear and desire. Had she

-been dressed becomingly she would have been beautiful; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb220" href="#pb220" name="pb220">220</a>]</span>but

-she was English and modern, and her great meaningless hat and senseless

-garments were of the fashion that had been in vogue just before the

-plague. This reigning sultana and her lover were more incongruous in

-that setting than the two dishevelled, travel-worn girls, who retreated

-timidly to let the landau pass out between the great iron gates.</p>

-<p class="par">The Bacchantes eyed the Goslings with obvious disfavour,

-but the beauty in the landau seemed unaware of their presence until her

-lord&rsquo;s attention was attracted by the sight of Millie&rsquo;s

-hair&mdash;it was all down again, rippling and spreading to her

-waist.</p>

-<p class="par">The young butcher had been lolling back in a corner of

-his carriage, magnificently indolent, sure of worship; but his satiety

-was pierced by the sight of that flaming mane. He sat up and looked at

-Millie with the experienced eyes which had served him so well in his

-judgment of cattle.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, &rsquo;alf a jiff,&rdquo; he

-commanded the nymphs at his horses&rsquo; bridles, and the carriage was

-stopped.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, covered with shame, shrank back, and cowered

-behind Blanche, who threw up her chin and met the butcher&rsquo;s eyes

-with all the contempt of which she was capable&mdash;little enough,

-perhaps, for she, too, was weak with unreasoning terror. Behind their

-backs the Jewess grimaced her scorn of them.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be afraid of me&mdash;I

-ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo; to &rsquo;urt yer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began

-the butcher, but his lady interrupted him. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb221" href="#pb221" name="pb221">221</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Her fine eyes grew bright with anger. &ldquo;If you stop

-here, I shall get out,&rdquo; she said, and her inflexion was not that

-of the people.</p>

-<p class="par">The butcher visibly hesitated. It may be that this chain

-had held him too long and was beginning to gall him, but he looked at

-her and wavered.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No &rsquo;arm in stoppin&rsquo;,&rdquo; he

-muttered. &ldquo;Pass the news an&rsquo; that.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you going on?&rdquo; demanded the beauty

-fiercely.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, all right,&rdquo; he returned

-sullenly. &ldquo;You needen&rsquo; get so blasted &rsquo;uffy about it,

-old gal. Oh, gow on, you!&rdquo; he added to the nymphs. &ldquo;Wot the

-&rsquo;ell are yer starin&rsquo; at?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">As the landau moved on, he looked back once at

-Millie.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">&ldquo;What a brute,&rdquo; said Blanche when the

-procession had passed on down the hill towards Wycombe.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;How he stared at my hair,&rdquo; said Millie,

-with a giggle. &ldquo;I did try to get it up, but it&rsquo;s that

-stubborn with the heat or something.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Lucky for us he had that creature with

-him,&rdquo; commented Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie assented without fervour. She was bold enough now

-the danger had passed.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson looked from one to the other and attempted

-no criticism of the adventure.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You must let me do up your beautiful hair,&rdquo;

-she said to the simpering Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was grateful. &ldquo;It <i>is</i> kind of you,

-Mrs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb222" href="#pb222" name=

-"pb222">222</a>]</span>Isaacson, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; she said.

-&ldquo;My hair is a trouble. I sometimes think I&rsquo;ll cut it all

-off and be done with it....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She appeared excited and chatted incessantly while the

-hair-dressing continued, and Blanche restored the remains of their meal

-to the trolly.</p>

-<p class="par">With some difficulty they succeeded in getting Mrs

-Gosling back into her carriage. She had taken no notice of the

-procession, but as they were starting again she awoke from her

-abstraction to ask: &ldquo;When d&rsquo;you expect we&rsquo;ll be

-&rsquo;ome, Blanche? I&rsquo;ve been thinkin&rsquo; about them curtains

-in the drawin&rsquo;-room....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be home in an hour or two,

-now,&rdquo; Blanche said, reassuringly. She did not know what a

-struggle awaited them before they should top the hill at Handy

-Cross.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson had forsaken her place at the pole.

-&ldquo;I shall be able to push more strongly behind,&rdquo; she had

-said, but despite the theoretical gain in mechanical advantage obtained

-by the new arrangement, the hill seemed never-ending. They had to rest

-continually, and always they looked with increasing irritation at the

-quiet figure in the trolly, chief cause of their distress.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I believe she could walk all right,&rdquo; Millie

-broke out at last.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If it was for a little way, it would help,&rdquo;

-commented Mrs Isaacson.</p>

-<p class="par">But when Blanche put the proposition to her mother, Mrs

-Gosling seemed unable to comprehend it, and pity influenced them to

-renew the struggle. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb223" href="#pb223"

-name="pb223">223</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">So they toiled on with growing impatience until they

-reached level ground again; and presently, looking down over the long

-slope of the valley, saw, two miles and a half away, the spire of

-Marlow Church.</p>

-<p class="par">They rested under a hedge for a time, and when they

-started again Millie followed her sister&rsquo;s example and discarded

-her hat. Blanche, with a certain courage of opinion, had left hers

-under the walls of Wycombe Abbey, but Millie&rsquo;s hat found a place

-in the trolly.</p>

-<p class="par">The ease of the long descent permitted a renewal of

-conversation, and Mrs Isaacson and Millie talked in undertones as they

-made their way down towards Marlow. Blanche took little notice of them;

-she was struggling perplexedly with the problems of life. Mrs

-Gosling&rsquo;s presence was negligible.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That was a very handsome fellow in the

-carriage,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Isaacson suddenly, &ldquo;I think you do

-well not to go near that place again.&rdquo; Her fine eyes fixedly

-regarded the broad, rusty back of Mrs Gosling and the broken ribs of

-her umbrella.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie simpered. &ldquo;Oh! I should be safe enough. His

-wife&rsquo;d see to that.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She was not his wife,&rdquo; returned Mrs

-Isaacson. &ldquo;Men would not marry now that they are so

-few.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! there&rsquo;s a thing to say!&rdquo;

-exclaimed Millie on a note of expostulation, interested

-nevertheless.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss true,&rdquo; continued Mrs Isaacson.

-&ldquo;I haf heard of this handsome young fellow. He iss a butcher, and

-he goes every day to kill the sheep and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb224" href="#pb224" name="pb224">224</a>]</span>cows, because the

-women do not like that work. And he iss very strong, and clever also.

-He teach a few of the women how to cut up the sheep and the cows. And

-he iss much admired, it iss of course, by all the young women; but he

-does not marry because he is one man among so many women, and it would

-not be right that he should love only one, for so there would be so few

-children and the world would die. Yes! But he has for a time one who

-iss favourite, for another time another favourite. And that iss why I

-warn you not to return. Because I see that he admire your so beautiful

-hair. And I see that if you had not been so modest and so good, and

-hide behind your sister, he would have come down from his carriage and

-put you up there beside him. And he would have said to that bold ugly

-woman. &lsquo;Go, I tire of you, I will haf beside me this one who iss

-young and beautiful and has hair of gold.&rsquo; It iss not safe for

-you, there.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I say,&rdquo; commented Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss true,&rdquo; nodded Mrs Isaacson, with

-intensest conviction.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! well, thank goodness, I&rsquo;m not one of

-that sort,&rdquo; said Millie, warm in the knowledge of her virtue.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Truly not,&rdquo; assented Mrs Isaacson.

-&ldquo;You must not be displeased that I warn you. It iss not your

-goodness that I doubt. It iss that this man iss so powerful. He iss

-able to do what he wishes. He iss a king.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; was the mark of surprise with which

-Millie punctuated this remarkable piece of information, <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb225" href="#pb225" name="pb225">225</a>]</span>and

-for several yards they trudged on in silence.</p>

-<p class="par">But Millie soon revived this fascinating subject by

-saying thoughtfully, &ldquo;Well, you don&rsquo;t catch me over there

-again.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Truly not. It iss not wise,&rdquo; agreed Mrs

-Isaacson, and proceeded to enlarge upon Millie&rsquo;s dangerous

-beauty.</p>

-<p class="par">It was a topic entirely new to Millie. She simpered and

-giggled, disclaimed her attractions, protested that Mrs Isaacson was

-&ldquo;getting at&rdquo; her, and became so absorbed in the fascination

-of her disavowal that she forgot her weariness, her tender

-feet&mdash;naked to the road in two places&mdash;and all her

-discouragements. She walked with a more conscious air, straightening

-her back and lifting her head. The blood moved more freely in her

-veins, and she presently became so vivacious in her replies that

-Blanche was aroused to a sense of something unfamiliar. She checked the

-trolly and looked back at her sister, past the quiet brooding figure of

-Mrs Gosling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What is it, Mill?&rdquo; she asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! nothing!&rdquo; replied Millie. &ldquo;We

-were just talking.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Seem to be enjoying yourselves,&rdquo; said

-Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We were saying that we shall soon now arrive at

-some place where we can rest. Yes?&rdquo; put in Mrs Isaacson, and thus

-established a ground of confidence between herself and Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;P&rsquo;raps. I dunno!&rdquo; returned Blanche.

-She sighed and looked round her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb226"

-href="#pb226" name="pb226">226</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">In the fields between them and Marlow they could see

-here and there little figures stooping and straightening.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ooh!&rdquo; exclaimed Millie, suddenly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another man,&rdquo; said Millie,

-pointing. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d better scoot!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">But they made no attempt to put such an impossible plan

-into action. The man had evidently seen them. He was coming towards

-them across one of the fields, shouting to attract their attention.

-&ldquo;Hi! wait a minute!&rdquo; they thought he was saying.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>Mill!</i>&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche, with

-extraordinary emphasis.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; asked Millie, nervously. She was

-flushed and trembling.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you see who it is?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the one out of the

-carriage....&rdquo; hesitated Millie.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>No!</i> Silly. It&rsquo;s that young fellow

-who used to live with us, our Mr Fastidious. What was his name? Thrale!

-You remember.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; said Millie. She was conscious of a

-quite inexplicable feeling of disappointment.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;He iss a friend? Yes?&rdquo; asked Mrs Isaacson.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb227" href="#pb227" name=

-"pb227">227</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="bk3" class="div0 book">

-<h2 class="label">BOOK III</h2>

-<h2 class="main">WOMANKIND IN THE MAKING</h2>

-<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb229" href="#pb229" name=

-"pb229">229</a>]</span></p>

-<div id="ch17" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVII&mdash;</span>LONDON TO

-MARLOW</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The history of mankind is the history of human

-law. The larger ordinances of the universe are commonly referred to

-some superior lawgiver, under such names as God and physico-chemical

-action; names which appear mutually subversive only to the bigot,

-whether theologian or biologist. These larger ordinances sometimes

-appear inflexible, as in the domain of physics and chemistry, sometimes

-empirical as in the development of species, but we may believe that if

-they change at all, the period of change is so great as to be outside

-any possibility of observation by a few thousand generations of

-mankind.</p>

-<p class="par">Human law, on the other hand, is tentative, without

-sound precedent and in its very nature mutable. In our miserably

-limited record of history, that paltry ten thousand years which is but

-a single tick of the cosmic watch, we have been unable to formulate any

-overruling law to which other laws are subject. Climate, race and

-condition impose certain limitations, and within that enceinte

-civilizations have developed a system of rules, increasing always in

-complexity, and have then failed to maintain their place in the

-competitive struggle. It has been rashly suggested that the overriding

-law of laws <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb230" href="#pb230" name=

-"pb230">230</a>]</span>is that rigidity is fatal to the nation. An

-analogy has been found in the growth of the child. Here and there some

-bold spirit has ventured the daring hypothesis that if a young child be

-confined within a perfectly fitting iron shell he will not grow. Such

-speculations, however, do not appeal to mankind as a whole. Perhaps the

-truth of the matter is that nothing appals us so much as the idea that

-man is capable of growth. Is it not inconceivable that any race of men

-could be wiser, more perfect than ourselves?</p>

-<p class="par">Nevertheless, out of all vague speculation one

-deliciously certain axiom presents itself, namely that mankind cannot

-live without law of some kind. The most primitive savage has his

-ordinances. The least primary concussion of individuals develops a rule

-of practice, whether it takes such diverse forms as &ldquo;hit

-first,&rdquo; or &ldquo;present the other cheek&rdquo;; although the

-latter rule has not yet been developed beyond the stage of theory.</p>

-<p class="par">In the unprecedented year of the new plague, the old

-rules were thrown into the melting pot, but within three months

-humanity was evolving precedents for a new statute book. The

-concussions of these three months were fierce and destructive. Women,

-in the face of death, killed and stole in the old primitive ways,

-unhampered now by the necessity to kill and steal according to the

-tedious rules of twentieth-century civilization, rules that women had

-never been foolish enough to reverence in the letter. All those complex

-and incomprehensible laws had been made by men for men, and

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb231" href="#pb231" name=

-"pb231">231</a>]</span>after the plague there was none to administer

-them, for no women and few men had ever had the least idea what the law

-was. Even the lawgivers themselves had had to wait for the

-pronouncement of some prejudiced or unprejudiced judge. Women had long

-known what our Bumbles can only learn by bitter experience, inspired to

-vision in some moment of fury or desolation.</p>

-<p class="par">But within three months of the first great exodus of

-women from the town, one dominant law was being brought to birth. It

-was not written on tables of stone, nor incorporated in any swollen,

-dyspeptic book of statutes; it was not formulated by logic, nor was it

-the outcome of serious thought by any individual or by a solemn

-committee. The law rose into recognition because it was a necessity for

-the life of the majority, and although that majority was not compact,

-had no common deliberate purpose, and had never formulated their demand

-in precise language, the new law came into being before harvest and was

-accepted by all but a small resentful minority of aristocrats and

-landowners, as a supreme ordinance, indisputably just.</p>

-<p class="par">This law was that every woman had a right to her share

-in the bounty of Nature, and the corollary was that she earned her

-right by labour.</p>

-<p class="par">In those days the justice of the principle was perfectly

-obvious; so obvious, indeed, that the law came to birth without the

-obstetric skill of any parliament whatever. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb232" href="#pb232" name="pb232">232</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">It is now impossible to say why such different

-types of male humanity as Jasper Thrale, George Gosling or the Bacchus

-of Wycombe Abbey escaped the plague. The bacillus (surely a strangely

-individual type, it must have been) was never isolated, nor the

-pathology of the disease investigated. The germ was some new

-unprecedented growth which ran through a fierce cycle of development

-within a few months, changed its nature as it swarmed into every corner

-of the earth, and finally expired more quickly than it had come into

-being.</p>

-<p class="par">If the male survivors in Europe and the East had been of

-one type, some theory might be formulated to account for their

-immunity; but so far as science can pronounce an opinion, the living

-male residue can only be explained by the doctrine of chances. A few

-escaped, by accident. In the British Isles there may have been 1,500

-men who thus survived. In the whole of Europe, besides, there were less

-than a thousand. It seems probable that even before Scotland was

-attacked the climax had been reached; by the time the plague reached

-England the first faint evidences of a decline in virulence may be

-marked....</p>

-<p class="par">From the first, Jasper Thrale ventured his life without

-an afterthought. He was fearless by nature. He did not lack those

-powers of imagination which are commonly supposed to add so greatly to

-the terror of death, he simply lacked the feeling of fear. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb233" href="#pb233" name="pb233">233</a>]</span>In

-all his life he had never experienced that sickness of apprehension

-which dissolves our fibre into a quivering jelly&mdash;as though the

-spirit had already withdrawn from the trembling inertia of the flesh.

-Perhaps Thrale&rsquo;s spirit was too dominant for such retreat, was

-more completely master of its material than is the spirit of the common

-man. For the spirit cannot know bodily fear, it is the apprehensive

-flesh that wilts and curdles at the approach of danger. And it is

-worthy of notice that in the old days, up to the early twentieth

-century, these rare cases of fearlessness in individuals were more

-often found among women than among men.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale, with his perfectly careless courage, found

-plenty of work for himself in London during May and early June. He

-acted as a scavenger, and still went far afield with his burial cart

-long after every trace of living male humanity had disappeared from the

-streets of London.</p>

-<p class="par">Then one day, at the end of June, he realized that his

-task was futile, and it came to him that there was work awaiting him of

-more importance than this purification of streets which might never

-again echo to the traffic of humanity.</p>

-<p class="par">So he chose the best bicycle he could find in Holborn

-Viaduct, stripped a relay of four tyres from other machines, and with

-these and a reserve of food made into a somewhat cumbrous parcel, he

-set out to explore the new world.</p>

-<p class="par">He took the Bath Road, intending to make exploration of

-the fertile West Country. He had Cornish blood in his veins, and his

-ultimate goal <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb234" href="#pb234" name=

-"pb234">234</a>]</span>was the county which had almost escaped

-urbanization. As he then visualized the problem, it appeared that life

-would offer greater possibilities in such places.</p>

-<p class="par">But before he reached Colnbrook, he had recognized that

-work was required of him nearer home. The exodus was then in progress.

-He came through armies of helpless women and children flying from

-starvation; women who had no object in view save that of escape to the

-country; &ldquo;Silly Londoners&rdquo; with no knowledge of how food

-was to be obtained when their goal was reached.</p>

-<p class="par">He did not stay there, however. He was beginning to see

-the outline of his plan, and at the same time the limitation of his own

-powers. He saw that enough food could not be raised near London to

-support the multitude, that the death of the many was demanded by the

-needs of the few if any were to survive, and that communities must be

-formed with the common purpose of tilling the land and excluding those

-who could not earn their right to support. In such a catastrophe as

-this, charity became a crime.</p>

-<p class="par">He intended even then to push on beyond Reading, but in

-Maidenhead he met a woman who influenced him to a nearer goal.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">She stepped into the road and held up her

-hand.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale stopped; he thought she was about to make the

-familiar demand either for food or a direction. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb235" href="#pb235" name="pb235">235</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he said curtly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; she asked.</p>

-<p class="par">He shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;To find room,&rdquo;

-he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There is room for you near here,&rdquo; said the

-woman, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;ll work.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;At what?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Machinery, harvesting machinery, agricultural

-machinery of all sorts.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Where?&rdquo; asked Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">She dropped her voice and looked about her.

-&ldquo;Marlow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&mdash;it&rsquo;s an eddy. Off

-the main roads and by the river. There are less than a thousand women

-there at present, and we are keeping the others out; at least until

-after harvest. There is plenty of land about, and we&rsquo;re keeping

-ourselves at present. Only we <i>do</i> want a man for the machines.

-Will you come and help us?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come and see what I can do,&rdquo;

-said Thrale &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t promise to stay.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t there any other men, there?&rdquo;

-he added after a moment&rsquo;s hesitation.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One at Wycombe,&rdquo; said the women.

-&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a butcher, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And meanwhile you might help me,&rdquo; said the

-woman. &ldquo;I come over here with a horse and cart to raid the

-seedsmen&rsquo;s shops. If we leave them the women would eat all the

-beans and peas and things, you know; enough to feed us for the winter

-gone in a week, and no one any the better. Isn&rsquo;t it awful how

-careless we are?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb236" href=

-"#pb236" name="pb236">236</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">She was a fair, clear-eyed girl, with the figure

-and complexion of one who had devoted considerable attention to outdoor

-sports. She was wearing a man&rsquo;s Norfolk jacket (men&rsquo;s

-clothing was so plentiful), and a skirt that barely reached her knees,

-and did not entirely hide cloth knickerbockers which might also have

-been adapted from a man&rsquo;s garment. Below the knickerbockers she

-displayed thick stockings and sandals. Her splendid fair hair furnished

-sufficient protection for her head, and she had dressed a pillow of it

-into the nape of her neck as a shield for the sun.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale looked at her with a frank curiosity as they made

-their way up the town to a seedsman&rsquo;s shop. She had left the

-horse and cart there, she explained, while she explored other streets

-of the town.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Eileen, of Marlow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There

-doesn&rsquo;t seem to be another Eileen there, so one name&rsquo;s

-enough.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Is that how your community feel about it?&rdquo;

-he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">She smiled. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re beginning,&rdquo; she

-said.</p>

-<p class="par">He pondered that for a time, and then asked, &ldquo;Who

-<i>were</i> you?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Does it matter?&rdquo; was the answer.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; said Thrale.

-&ldquo;Never did much so far as I was concerned, but I have a memory of

-having seen your photographs in the illustrated <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb237" href="#pb237" name=

-"pb237">237</a>]</span>papers. I was wondering whether you had been

-actress, peeress, scandal; or perhaps all three.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the eldest daughter of the

-late Duke of Hertford,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;the ci-devant Lady

-Eileen Ferrar, citizen.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, was that it?&rdquo; replied Thrale

-carelessly. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s this shop of yours?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The loot was heavier than Eileen had anticipated. The

-shop had been ransacked, but they found an untouched store, containing

-such valuables as beans, potatoes and a few small sacks of turnip seed

-at the bottom of a yard. When these had been placed in the cart, they

-decided that the load was sufficient for one horse.</p>

-<p class="par">They took the longer road to Marlow, through Bourne End,

-to avoid the hill. Eileen walked at the horse&rsquo;s head, with Thrale

-beside her wheeling his bicycle, and during those two hours he learnt

-much of the little community which he proposed to serve for a time.</p>

-<p class="par">It seemed that in Marlow&mdash;and the same thing must

-have happened in a hundred other small towns throughout the

-country&mdash;a few women had taken control of the community. These

-women were of all classes and the committee included an Earl&rsquo;s

-widow, a national schoolmistress, a small green-grocer, and an

-unmarried woman of property living half a mile out of the town. These

-women had worked together in an eminently practical way; at first to

-relieve distress, and then to plan the future. They had wasted little

-time in discussions among themselves&mdash;none of them had the

-parliamentary sense <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb238" href="#pb238"

-name="pb238">238</a>]</span>of the uses of debate. When they had

-disagreed, they had had plenty of scope to carry out varying methods

-within their own spheres of influence.</p>

-<p class="par">Their first and most difficult task had been to teach

-the members of their community to work for the common good, and that

-task was by no means perfected as yet. Co-operation was agreeable

-enough to those who had nothing to lose, but the women in temporary

-possession of the sources of food supply were not so easily convinced.

-In many instances the committee&rsquo;s arguments had been suddenly

-clenched by an exposition of <i lang="fr">force majeure</i>, and

-property owners had discovered to their amazement that they had no

-remedy.</p>

-<p class="par">But the head and leader of Marlow was a farmer&rsquo;s

-daughter of nineteen, a certain Carrie Oliver. Her father had had a

-small farm in the Chilterns not far from Fingest. He had been a lazy,

-drunken creature, and from the time Carrie had left the national school

-she had practically carried on the work of the farm single handed. She

-liked the work; the interest of it absorbed her.</p>

-<p class="par">The Marlow schoolmistress had remembered her when the

-committee had first faced the daunting task of providing for the

-future. They had been more or less capable of organizing a majority of

-the women, but no member of the committee knew the secrets of

-agriculture and stock-breeding, and in all Marlow and the neighbourhood

-no woman had been found who was capable of instructing them in all that

-was necessary.</p>

-<p class="par">A deputation of three had been sent to Fingest,

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb239" href="#pb239" name=

-"pb239">239</a>]</span>and had discovered Miss Oliver in the midst of

-plenty, cultivating her farm in comfort now that she had been relieved

-of her father&rsquo;s unwelcome presence.</p>

-<p class="par">She had been covered with confusion when requested to

-leave her retreat and take command of a town and the surrounding twenty

-thousand acres or so within reach of the new community.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she had said, blushing

-and ducking her head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy enough; I&rsquo;ll tell

-you if there&rsquo;s anything you want to know.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The deputation had then put the case very clearly before

-her, pointing out that in Miss Oliver&rsquo;s hands lay the future of a

-thousand lives.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, dear. I dunno. What can <i>I</i> do?&rdquo;

-Carrie had said, and when the deputation had urged that she should

-return with them and take charge forthwith, she had replied that that

-was quite impossible, that there were the cows to milk, the calves,

-pigs and chickens to feed, and goodness knew how many other necessary

-things to be done before sunset.</p>

-<p class="par">The deputation had said that cows, calves, horses,

-sheep, pigs and chickens might and should be transferred forthwith to

-the neighbourhood of Marlow.</p>

-<p class="par">It had taken three days to convince her, Eileen said,

-and added, &ldquo;But she&rsquo;s splendid, now. It&rsquo;s wonderful

-what a lot she knows; and she rides about on a horse everywhere and

-sees to everything. The difficulty is to stop her getting down and

-doing the work herself.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale understood that, exceptional male as he was, his

-position in Marlow would be subordinate to that of Miss Oliver.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb240" href="#pb240" name=

-"pb240">240</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Does she understand agricultural

-machinery?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; returned Eileen. &ldquo;But she

-hasn&rsquo;t time, you see, to attend to all that, and it&rsquo;s so

-jolly difficult to learn. I&rsquo;ve been doing a bit. I&rsquo;m better

-at it than most of &rsquo;em. But when I saw you it struck me how

-ripping it would be if you&rsquo;d come and take over that side. Men

-are so jolly good at machinery. We shouldn&rsquo;t miss them much if it

-weren&rsquo;t for that.&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">5</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">After a marked preliminary hesitation the

-committee appointed Jasper Thrale chief mechanic of Marlow. The

-hesitation was understandable. Their only experience of the ways of men

-in this altered civilization had been drawn from observations of Mr

-Evans at Wycombe. His manner of life appeared representative of what

-they might expect. Nevertheless they did not openly condemn him,

-although he proved an immediate source of trouble, even to these

-organizers in Marlow. The youth of the place was apt to wander over the

-hill in the evenings; &ldquo;just for fun,&rdquo; they said. They went

-in twos and threes, and occasionally one of them stayed behind. These

-evening walks interfered with work. &ldquo;Later on I shouldn&rsquo;t

-mind so much,&rdquo; Lady Durham had said, commenting on the loss of a

-young and active worker, &ldquo;but there is so much to do just

-now.&rdquo; Her comment showed that even then the situation was being

-accepted, and that many women were prepared to adapt their old opinions

-to new conditions. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb241" href="#pb241"

-name="pb241">241</a>]</span>It also showed why the committee hesitated

-to accept Thrale&rsquo;s services.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale understood their difficulty, and went straight to

-the point.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You are afraid that the young women will be

-wasting time, running after me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Set your minds

-at rest. That won&rsquo;t last. And if you give me pupils for my

-machinery I should prefer women over forty in any case. I believe I

-shall find them more capable.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He was right in one way. When the excitement of his

-coming had subsided, he was not the cause of much wasted time. He

-adopted a manner with the younger women which did not encourage

-advances. He was, in fact, quite brutally frank. When the young women

-devised all kinds of impossible excuses to linger in his vicinity he

-sent them away with hot indignant faces. Among those who sought their

-sterile amusements in Wycombe it became the fashion openly to express

-hatred and contempt for &ldquo;that engine fellow.&rdquo; It was agreed

-that he &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t a proper man.&rdquo; Another section,

-however, talked scandal, and hinted that assistant-engineer Eileen was

-the cause of Thrale&rsquo;s pretended misogyny.</p>

-<p class="par">The committee found their work more complicated in some

-respects after Thrale&rsquo;s coming.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale, himself, was supremely indifferent to any

-scandal or expression of hatred. He had his hands full, his hours of

-work were only limited by daylight, and six hours sleep was all he

-asked for or desired. After a very brief introduction to the

-intricacies of reaper and rake at the hands of Miss Oliver&mdash;her

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb242" href="#pb242" name=

-"pb242">242</a>]</span>father had never been able to afford a binder,

-but the days of corn-harvest were still far ahead&mdash;he set himself

-to learn the mysteries of all the agricultural machinery in the

-neighbourhood; traction engines, steam ploughs and thrashing machines,

-and to pass on the knowledge he gained to his pupils. He found them

-stupid at first, but they were patient and willing for the most

-part.</p>

-<p class="par">Then, handicapped by the lack of coal, he rode over to

-Bourne End and discovered two locomotives. One of them was standing on

-the line a mile out of the station with a full complement of coaches

-attached, the other was an unencumbered goods engine in a siding. He

-chose the latter for his first experiment, and succeeded in driving it

-back to Marlow. It groaned and screamed in a way that indicated serious

-organic trouble, but after he had overhauled it, it proved capable of

-taking him to Maidenhead, where he found a sound engine in a shed.</p>

-<p class="par">After that he devoted three days to getting a clear line

-to Paddington, a tedious process which involved endless descents from

-the cab, and mountings into signal boxes, experiments with levers and

-the occasional necessity for pushing whole trains out of his path into

-some siding. But at last he returned with magnificent loot of coal from

-the almost untouched London yards beyond Ealing.</p>

-<p class="par">London was still the storehouse of certain valuable

-commodities.</p>

-<p class="par">His passage through the surrounding country was hailed

-with cries of amazement and jubilant <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb243" href="#pb243" name="pb243">243</a>]</span>acclamation. The

-first railway surely excited less astonishment than did Thrale on his

-solitary engine. Doubtless the unfortunate women who saw him pass

-believed that the gods of machinery had returned once more to bring

-relief from all the burden of misery and unfamiliar work.</p>

-<p class="par">And once the points were set and the way open to London

-by rail he could go and return with tools and many other necessaries

-that had offered no temptation to the starving multitude who had fled

-from the town.</p>

-<p class="par">Marlow was greatly blessed among the communities in

-those days.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">6</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The harvest was early that year, and Miss Oliver

-decided to cut certain fields of barley at the end of July.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale&rsquo;s energies were then diverted to the

-superintendence of the reapers and binders, and he rode from field to

-field, overlooking the work of his pupils or spending furious hours in

-struggle with some refractory mechanism.</p>

-<p class="par">One Saturday, an hour or two after midday, he was

-returning from some such struggle, when he saw a strange procession

-coming down that long hill from Handy Cross, which some pious women

-regarded as the road to hell.</p>

-<p class="par">Casual immigration had almost ceased by that time, but

-the sight indicated the necessity for immediate action. The immigration

-laws of Marlow, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb244" href="#pb244"

-name="pb244">244</a>]</span>though not coded as yet, were strict; and

-only bona fide workers were admitted, and even those were critically

-examined.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale shouted to attract attention and the procession

-stopped.</p>

-<p class="par">When he came through the gate on to the road, he was

-accosted by name.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Mr Thrale, fancy finding you,&rdquo; said the

-young woman at the pole of the truck.</p>

-<p class="par">The meeting of Livingstone and Stanley was far less

-amazing.</p>

-<p class="par">An old woman perched on the truck and partly sheltered

-by the remains of an umbrella, regarded his appearance with some show

-of displeasure.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;By rights &rsquo;e should &rsquo;ave written to

-me in the first place,&rdquo; she muttered.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s got a touch of the sun,&rdquo;

-explained Blanche hurriedly.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale had not yet spoken. He was considering the

-problem of whether he owed any duty to these wanderers, which could

-override his duty to Marlow.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Where have you come from?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche and Millie explained volubly, by turns and

-together.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You see, we don&rsquo;t let anyone stay

-here,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s eyebrows went up and she waved her too

-exuberant sister aside. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re willing to work,&rdquo; she

-said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And your mother?&rdquo; queried Thrale.

-&ldquo;And this other woman?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb245" href="#pb245" name="pb245">245</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! I work too,&rdquo; put in Mrs Isaacson.

-&ldquo;I have learnt all that is necessary for the farm. I milk and

-feed chickens and everything.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to come before the

-committee,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Anywhere out of the sun,&rdquo; replied Blanche,

-&ldquo;and somewhere where we can put mother. She&rsquo;s very bad,

-I&rsquo;m afraid.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can stay to-night, anyway,&rdquo; returned

-Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie made a face at him behind his back, and whispered

-to Mrs Isaacson, who pursed her mouth.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you do seem more civilized here,&rdquo;

-remarked Blanche as the procession restarted towards Marlow. Thrale,

-with something of the air of a policeman, was walking by the side of

-the pole.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve come at a good time,&rdquo; was his

-only comment.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie had another shock before they reached the town.

-She saw what she thought was a second man, on horseback this time,

-coming towards them. Marlow, she thought, was evidently a place to live

-in. But the figure was only that of Miss Oliver in corduroy trousers,

-riding astride.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">7</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Fate had dropped the Goslings into Buckinghamshire

-to fulfil their destiny. They had been led to Marlow by a casual

-direction, here and there, after the first propulsion of

-Blanche&rsquo;s instinct had sent them into the country beyond Harrow.

-And fate, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb246" href="#pb246" name=

-"pb246">246</a>]</span>doubtless with some incomprehensible purpose of

-its own in view, had quietly decided that in Marlow they were to stay.

-They had been dropped at a season when, for the first time in the long

-three months&rsquo; history of the community, there was a shortage of

-labour; and Blanche and Millie, browned by exposure and generally

-improved by their first six days of healthy life, were quite acceptable

-additions to the population at that moment. As for Mrs Isaacson, a lady

-of sufficient initiative and force of character to require no kindly

-interposition of Providence on her behalf, she arranged her own future

-as an expert of farm management, and incidentally as the

-Goslings&rsquo; housemate. Mrs Isaacson was a burr that would stick

-anywhere for a time. She displayed an unexpected and highly specialized

-knowledge of the management of farms, when confronted with the expert

-Miss Oliver who was far too embarrassed to press her questions home.

-The casual remarks of Aunt May and her helpers had been retained in Mrs

-Isaacson&rsquo;s brilliant memory and she displayed her knowledge to

-the best possible advantage, filling the gaps with irrelevant

-volubility, gesture and histrionic struggles with the English language,

-which proved suddenly inadequate to the expression of these recondities

-that the German would have so aptly expressed. It was inferred that in

-her native Bavaria, Mrs Isaacson had farmed in the grand style.</p>

-<p class="par">Only Mrs Gosling, useless and ineligible, remained for

-consideration, and she for once took a firm line of her own, and defied

-the committee, Marlow <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb247" href=

-"#pb247" name="pb247">247</a>]</span>generally, and the negligible

-remainder of the cosmos, to alter her determination.</p>

-<p class="par">The home at which they had finally arrived did not suit

-her. The tiny cottage of three rooms in the little street that runs

-down to the town landing stage had no lace curtains in the front

-window, no suites of furniture, no hall to save the discreet caller

-from stepping through the front door straight into the single

-living-room, no accumulation of dustable ornaments, not even a strip of

-carpet or linoleum to cover the nakedness of a bricked floor. It was

-not civilized; it was not decent according to the refined standards of

-Wisteria Grove; it was an impossible place for any respectable woman to

-live in, and Mrs Gosling, with unexpected force of character, chose the

-obvious alternative. She did not, however, make any announcement of her

-determination; she was wrapped in a speculative depression that found

-no relief in words. She had been so ordered, hoisted, dragged and

-bumped through the detested country during the past six days that all

-show of authority had been taken from her. It may be that deep in her

-own mind she cherished a sullen and enduring resentment against her

-daughters, and had vowed to take the last and unanswerable revenge of

-which humanity is capable. But outwardly she preserved that air of

-incomprehension which had marked her during the last stages of their

-journey, and committed herself to no statement of the enormous plan

-which must have been forming in her mind.</p>

-<p class="par">When they took her into the small, brick-paved

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb248" href="#pb248" name=

-"pb248">248</a>]</span>room and deposited her temporarily on a

-wooden-seated chair, while they unpacked what <span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e4227" title="Source: remainded">remained</span> to them in the

-accursed trolly, Mrs Gosling took one brief but comprehensive survey of

-her naked surroundings.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a bit touched, isn&rsquo;t

-she?&rdquo; whispered Millie to her sister. &ldquo;Do you think she

-understands where we are or what we&rsquo;re doing?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche shook her head. &ldquo;I expect she&rsquo;ll be

-all right in a day or two,&rdquo; she ventured, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the

-sun.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The two girls, stirred to a new outlook on life by the

-extraordinary experiences of the past months, were on the threshold of

-diverse adventures. After the toil and anxiety of their tramp through

-inhospitable country, and the hazard of the open air, this reception

-into a community and settlement into a permanent shelter afforded a

-relief which was too unexpected to be qualified as yet by criticism, or

-any comparison with past glories. They were young and plastic, and to

-each of them the future seemed to hold some promise; to them the

-silence and immobility of their mother could only be evidence of

-impaired faculties.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We must get her to bed,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">Even when Mrs Gosling asked with perfect relevance,

-&ldquo;Are we going to stop &rsquo;ere, Blanche?&rdquo; they humoured

-her with evasive replies. &ldquo;Well, for a day or two,

-perhaps,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Look here, don&rsquo;t you worry about that.

-We&rsquo;re going to put you to bed.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Her head dropped again and she fell back into her moody

-silence. Doubtless she meditated on the many wrongs her daughters had

-done her, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb249" href="#pb249" name=

-"pb249">249</a>]</span>wondered why she should have been brought out to

-die in this wilderness?</p>

-<p class="par">During the nine days that elapsed before her plan

-matured, she made no further comment on her surroundings. She lay in

-the upstairs room, sleeping little, with no desire ever again to face

-the terror of a world which demanded a new mode of thought.

-Unconsciously she had adopted Blanche&rsquo;s phrase,

-&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; but to her the message was

-one of doom, she could not live in a different world.</p>

-<p class="par">And Blanche on her side was puzzled at her

-mother&rsquo;s apathy and said, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand

-it.&rdquo; Yet both the changed conditions and Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s

-unchangeable habit were fundamental things. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb250" href="#pb250" name="pb250">250</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch18" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVIII&mdash;</span>MODES OF

-EXPRESSION</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">In Marlow that year harvesting and thrashing were

-carried on simultaneously. August was very dry, and the greater part of

-the corn was never stacked at all. Thrale took his engines into the

-fields, and the shocks were loaded on to carts and fed directly into

-the thrasher. This method entailed some disadvantages, chief among them

-the retarding of the actual harvest-work, but on the whole it probably

-economized labour. The scheme would doubtless have been impracticable

-in the days of small private ownership, but it worked well in this

-instance, favoured as it was by the drought.</p>

-<p class="par">The saving of labour during those six weeks of furious

-toil was a matter of the first importance. The work, indeed, was too

-heavy for many of the women who were unable to stand the physical

-strain of hoisting sheaves from the waggons into the thrasher; and the

-sacks of grain proved so unmanageable that Thrale had to devise a

-makeshift hoist for loading them into the carts. In Marlow, at least,

-machinery was still triumphant, and the committee sighed their relief

-in the sentence: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what we should have done

-without Jasper Thrale.&rdquo; Nevertheless it is quite certain that

-they would have done without him if it had not been for that fortuitous

-meeting in Maidenhead. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb251" href=

-"#pb251" name="pb251">251</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">For Thrale there was no rest possible, even when the

-last field had been cleared and the last clumsily-built stack of straw

-or unthrashed corn erected. Besides the necessity for some form of

-thatching&mdash;or, failing efficiency in that direction, for

-completing the thrashing operations&mdash;he had to turn his attention

-to the immensely difficult problem of turning the grain into flour. He

-knew vaguely that the grain ought to be cleaned and conditioned before

-grinding, and that the actual separation of the constituents of the

-berry was a matter of importance; but he had no practical knowledge of

-the various operations, and in this matter Miss Oliver was quite unable

-to help him.</p>

-<p class="par">The mill beside the lock presented itself as an

-intricate and enormously detailed problem which must be solved by a

-concentrated effort of induction. The only person who appeared to be of

-real assistance to him was Eileen, and she was apt to tire and fall

-into despair when the detail of involved and often concealed machinery

-baffled them for hour after hour. Nevertheless Thrale solved this

-problem also. His first concern was for a head of water. The weirs had

-not been touched since the beginning of May, and the river was very

-low, but by mid-September there was enough water to work for a few

-hours every day, and, despite endless mistakes and setbacks, the mill

-was turning out a sufficient supply of fairly respectable looking

-flour.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale had that wonderful masculine faculty for thus

-applying himself to a mechanical problem, and, like his predecessors in

-mechanical invention, it was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb252" href=

-"#pb252" name="pb252">252</a>]</span>the problem and not any promise of

-future reward which interested him. He became absorbed for the time in

-that problem of grinding corn, grudging the hours he was obliged to

-devote to other activities; and when he felt the throb of life running

-through the mill, saw the women he had taught attending each to their

-own appointed task in the economy, and felt the touch of the fine,

-smooth flour between his fingers, he needed no thanks from the

-committee nor promise of independence to reward him for his labour. The

-sight of this thing he had created was sufficient recompense. He loved

-this beautiful efficient toy that changed wheat into flour, and oats

-into meal, it was his to father and to fight for; the perfect child of

-his ingenuity and toil.</p>

-<p class="par">But if Thrale&rsquo;s time was tremendously occupied the

-women found that they had more opportunities for leisure after harvest.

-They were still employed in field and garden, and there was still much

-to be done, but their hours were shorter and the work seemed light in

-contrast with the heroic labour that had been necessary at the

-harvest.</p>

-<p class="par">And with this first coming of comparative ease, this

-first opportunity for reflection since the terrible plague had thrust

-upon them the necessity for fierce and unremitting effort to produce

-the essentials of life, women began to express themselves in their

-various ways. Aspirations and emotions that had been crushed by the

-fatigues of physical labour began to revive; personal inclinations,

-jealousies and resentments became manifest in the detail of

-intercourse; old prejudices, religious and social, once <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb253" href="#pb253" name="pb253">253</a>]</span>more

-assumed an aspect of importance in the interactions of individuals.

-There was a faint stir in the community, the first sign of a trouble

-which was steadily to increase as winter laid its bond upon the

-storehouses of earth.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The two Goslings, working only six or seven hours

-a day in the mill during the latter part of September, found plenty of

-time for chatter and speculation. They, and more especially Blanche,

-had shown themselves capable workers in the harvest field, but when

-hands had been required in his mill Thrale had chosen the Goslings and

-those whom he considered less adapted to field work; and among them Mrs

-Isaacson and a member of the committee, Miss Jenkyn, the

-schoolmistress. (The education problem was in abeyance for the time

-being. The children had run wild for three months, and been subject

-only to the discipline of their mothers, but it was understood that the

-children were to receive attention when the winter brought

-opportunity.)</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche soon distinguished herself as a picked worker in

-this sphere. Her intelligence was of a somewhat more masculine quality

-in some respects than that of the average woman; she was slower, more

-detailed, more logical in her methods. And now that those male

-characteristics&mdash;so often deplored by women in the days before the

-plague&mdash;had been withdrawn from the flux of life, it had become

-evident that they had been an essential part <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb254" href="#pb254" name="pb254">254</a>]</span>of

-the whole, if only a part. Masculine characteristics were at a premium

-in Marlow that autumn, and as a natural consequence were being rated at

-an ever higher value. There was a tendency among some women to become

-more male....</p>

-<p class="par">Millie, however, was not among the progressives. She was

-not gifted intellectually; she had no swift intuitions&mdash;such as

-Eileen had&mdash;which enabled her to comprehend her work; she was

-naturally indolent, and all her emotions came to her through

-sensation.</p>

-<p class="par">When she was put to work in the mill she was secretly

-elated. She did not believe the stories told of Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s

-insensibility to feminine attractions, and if she believed those other

-stories which coupled his name with that of Lady Eileen, Millie was of

-opinion that such an entanglement was not necessarily final.</p>

-<p class="par">The first week of her association with Thrale in the

-work of the mill brought disillusionment.</p>

-<p class="par">When she looked up from her work and caught his eye as

-he passed her, he either stared coldly or stopped and asked in a

-businesslike, austere voice whether she wanted assistance. Such

-intimations should have been sufficient, but in this thing, at least,

-Millie was persistent. She thought that he did not understand&mdash;men

-were proverbially stupid in these matters. So she waited for an

-opportunity and within ten days one was presented.</p>

-<p class="par">A hesitation in some of the machinery she overlooked

-provided sufficient excuse for calling the head engineer. She looked

-down the step-ladder <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb255" href="#pb255"

-name="pb255">255</a>]</span>which communicated with the floor below and

-called hesitatingly, &ldquo;Oh! Please. Mr Thrale.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He heard her and looked up, &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he

-asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Something gone wrong,&rdquo; she said blushing,

-&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve stopped the rollers, but I don&rsquo;t

-know&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, I&rsquo;m coming,&rdquo; he returned,

-and presently joined her.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;By the way,&rdquo; he remarked as he began to

-examine the machine, &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t say &lsquo;Mister,&rsquo;

-now. I thought you&rsquo;d learnt that.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Millie simpered. &ldquo;It sounds so familiar not

-to,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Rubbish,&rdquo; grunted Thrale. &ldquo;You can

-call me &lsquo;engineer,&rsquo; I suppose?<span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e4311" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, look here,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;do

-you see this hopper in here?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She came close to him and peered into the machine.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It gets clogged, do you see?&rdquo; said Thrale,

-&ldquo;and when the meal stutters you&rsquo;ve just got to put your

-hand in and clear it. Understand?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I think so,&rdquo; hesitated Millie. She was

-leaning against him and her body was trembling with delicious

-excitement. Almost unconsciously she pressed a little closer.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale suddenly drew back. &ldquo;Do you

-understand?&rdquo; he said harshly.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Ye-yes, I think so,&rdquo; returned Millie; and

-she straightened herself, looked up at him for a moment and then

-dropped her eyes, blushing.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;and

-here&rsquo;s another <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb256" href="#pb256"

-name="pb256">256</a>]</span>piece of advice for you. If you want to

-stay in the mill keep your attention on your work. You&rsquo;re a man

-now, for all intents and purposes; you&rsquo;ve got a man&rsquo;s work

-to do, and you must keep your mind on it. If there&rsquo;s any

-foolishness you go out into the turnip fields. You won&rsquo;t have

-another warning,&rdquo; he concluded as he turned and left her.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Beast,&rdquo; muttered Millie when she was alone.

-She was shaken with furious anger. &ldquo;I hate you, you silly stuck

-up thing,&rdquo; she whispered fiercely shaking with passion.

-&ldquo;Oh, I wish you only knew how I hate you. I won&rsquo;t touch

-your beastly machines again. I&rsquo;d sooner a million times be out in

-the turnip field than in the same mill with <i>you</i>, you stuck up

-beast. I <i>won&rsquo;t</i> work, I won&rsquo;t do a thing,

-I&rsquo;ll&mdash;I&rsquo;ll&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">For a time she was hysterical.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche coming down from the floor above found her

-sister tearing at her hair.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Good heavens, Mill, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; she

-asked.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie had passed through the worst stages of her

-seizure by then, and she dropped her hands. &ldquo;I dunno,&rdquo; she

-said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s this beastly mill, I suppose.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I like it,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, <i>you</i>,&rdquo; said Millie, full of scorn

-for Blanche&rsquo;s frigidity. &ldquo;You ought to have been a man, you

-ought.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I dunno what&rsquo;s come to you,&rdquo; was

-Blanche&rsquo;s comment.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">It was maturity that had come to Millie. Her new

-life of air and physical exercise had set the blood <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb257" href="#pb257" name=

-"pb257">257</a>]</span>running in her veins. In the Wisteria Grove days

-she had had an an&aelig;mic tendency; the limited routine of her

-existence and all the suppressions of her narrow life had retarded her

-development. Now she was suddenly ripe. Two months of sun and air had

-brought superabundant vitality, and the surplus had become the most

-important factor in her existence<span class="corr" id="xd23e4363"

-title="Not in source">.</span> She found no outlet for her new vigour

-in the work of the mill. Something within her was crying out for joy.

-She wanted to find expression.</p>

-<p class="par">There were many other young women in Marlow that autumn

-in similar case, and a rumour was current among them that this was a

-favourable time for crossing the hill. It was said that the lord of

-Wycombe was seeking new favourites.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie heard the rumour and tossed her head

-superciliously.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Let him come here. I&rsquo;d give him a piece of

-my mind,&rdquo; she said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t come &rsquo;ere,&rdquo; returned

-the gossip. &ldquo;&rsquo;E&rsquo;s afeard of our Mr Thrale.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! Jasper Thrale!&rdquo; said Millie.

-&ldquo;That fellow from Wycombe could knock his head off in no

-time.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The gossip was doubtful.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie was incapable of formulating a plan in this

-connexion, but she was seized with a desire for spending the still

-September evenings in the open air, and always something drew her

-towards the hill at Handy Cross. That way lay interest and excitement.

-There was a wonderful fascination in going as far as the top of the

-descent into Wycombe. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb258" href=

-"#pb258" name="pb258">258</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Usually she joined one or two other young women in these

-excursions. It was understood between them that they went &ldquo;for

-fun,&rdquo; and they would laugh and scream when they reached the dip

-past the farm, pretend to push each other down the slope, and cry out

-suddenly: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming! Run!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">But one afternoon, some ten days after Jasper Thrale had

-threatened her with the turnip field, Millie went alone.</p>

-<p class="par">She had left work early. The rain had not come yet, and

-Thrale was becoming anxious with regard to the shortage of water. He

-had the sluices of Marlow and Hedsor weirs closed, and had opened the

-sluices of the weirs above as far as Hambledon, but so little water was

-coming down that he decided to work shorter hours for the present.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche had stayed on at the mill to help with repairs.

-She was rapidly developing into a capable engineer. So Millie, whose

-only service was that of machine minder, found herself alone and

-unoccupied.</p>

-<p class="par">Every one else seemed to be working. Her friends of the

-evening excursions were mostly in the fields on the Henley side of the

-town.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie decided she would lie down on the bed and go to

-sleep for a bit; but even before she came to the cottage she changed

-her mind. It was a deliciously warm, still afternoon.</p>

-<p class="par">Almost automatically she took the road towards Little

-Marlow; a desire for adventure had overtaken her. Why, she argued,

-shouldn&rsquo;t she go into Wycombe? There were plenty of other women

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb259" href="#pb259" name=

-"pb259">259</a>]</span>there. She would be quite safe. She only wanted

-to see what the place was like.</p>

-<p class="par">Her consciousness of perfect rectitude lasted until she

-reached the dip beyond Handy Cross. Farther than this she had not

-ventured before. Some mystery lay beyond the turn of the road.</p>

-<p class="par">She sat down in the grass by the wayside and called

-herself a fool, but she was afraid to go further. She and those friends

-of hers had made this place the entrance to a terrible and fascinating

-beyond. She remembered how they had feared to stay there in the failing

-light, daring each other to remain there alone after sunset. There was

-nothing to be afraid of, she said to herself; and yet she was

-afraid.</p>

-<p class="par">She was hot with her long climb, and the place was quite

-deserted. She decided to take down her hair to cool herself.</p>

-<p class="par">Curiously, she looked upon this simple act as

-deliciously daring and in some way wicked. She cast half-fearful

-glances at the green girt shadows of the descending road, as she shook

-out the masses of her hair. &ldquo;If anyone should come!&rdquo; she

-thought. &ldquo;If <i>he</i> should come...!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She giggled nervously, and shivered.</p>

-<p class="par">But as time passed, and no one came, she began to lose

-her fear, and presently she lay full length on the grass, and stared up

-into the pale blue dome of the sky until her eyes ached and she had to

-close them. The deep hush of the still afternoon enveloped her in a

-great calm.</p>

-<p class="par">For a time she slept peacefully, and then she dreamed

-that she was rushing through the air, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb260" href="#pb260" name="pb260">260</a>]</span>that some one chased

-her. She wanted desperately to be captured, but it was ordained that

-she must fly, and she flew incredibly fast. She flew through the

-sunlight into darkness, and awoke to find that some one was standing

-between her and the sun.</p>

-<p class="par">She lay still, paralysed with terror. She bitterly

-regretted her coming. She would have given ten years of life to be safe

-home in Marlow.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, where&rsquo;ve I seen you before?&rdquo;

-asked Sam Evans....</p>

-<p class="par">It was nearly dark when Blanche accosted a knot of women

-in the High Street with a question as to whether they had seen anything

-of her sister.</p>

-<p class="par">One of the women laughed sneeringly. &ldquo;Ah! She went

-over the hill this afternoon,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We were in the

-fields that side, and saw her go.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s face burned. &ldquo;She hasn&rsquo;t! I

-know she hasn&rsquo;t!&rdquo; she blurted out. &ldquo;She isn&rsquo;t

-one of that sort.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The woman laughed again.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s one of the lucky ones,&rdquo; another

-woman remarked. &ldquo;You can expect her back in a week or two&rsquo;s

-time.&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">On the same evening that Millie crossed the hill,

-Lady Eileen Ferrar encountered the spirit of passion in another

-shape.</p>

-<p class="par">The thought of a lonely bathe tempted her, and she

-crossed the river, made her way through deserted Bisham, and back to

-the stream along a narrow, overhung lane beyond Bisham Abbey.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb261" href="#pb261" name=

-"pb261">261</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">The sun had set, but when she came out from the trees

-there was light in the sky and on the water. Overhead a few wisps of

-cirrus, sailing in the far heights of air, still caught the direct rays

-of the sun. Eileen paused on the bank, rejoicing in the glow of colour

-about her; but as she gazed, the little fleet of salmon-tinted clouds

-were engulfed in the great earth-shadow, and the delicate crisp

-rose-leaves were transfigured into flat stipples of steel grey.</p>

-<p class="par">A slight chill had come into the air, but the water was

-deliciously soft and warm. Eileen swam a couple of hundred yards

-up-stream, towards the gloom of shadows that obscured the course of the

-river. The after-glow was fading now, and though the surface of the

-water seemed to catch some reflection of light from an unknown source,

-the near distance loomed dark and mysterious. She trod water for a few

-moments, but could not decide whether the river turned to right or

-left. To all appearances, it terminated abruptly fifty yards

-ahead....</p>

-<p class="par">A new sound was forcing itself upon her

-attention&mdash;a low, steady booming. She stopped swimming, and,

-keeping herself afloat by slow, silent movements of hands and feet

-under water, she listened attentively. The dull boom seemed changed

-into a low, ceaseless moan.</p>

-<p class="par">She remembered then the recently opened sluices of

-Temple Weir, but quite suddenly she was aware of fear. She thought she

-saw a movement among the reeds by the bank. She thought she heard

-laughter and the thin pipe of a flute.</p>

-<p class="par">Were the old gods coming back to witness the

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb262" href="#pb262" name=

-"pb262">262</a>]</span>death of man, as they had witnessed his birth?

-Now that machinery and civilization were being re-absorbed into the

-nature-spirit from which they had been wrung by the force of

-man&rsquo;s devilish and alien intelligence, were the old things

-returning for one mad revel before the creatures of their sport

-disappeared for ever, these representatives of a species which had

-failed to hold its own in the struggle for existence?</p>

-<p class="par">Night was coming up like a shadow, and in the east a

-red, enormous moon was rising, coming not to dissipate, but to enhance

-the mysteries of the dark, coming to countenance the wild and blind the

-eyes of man.</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen, almost motionless, was floating down with the

-drift of the sluggish stream. She was afraid to intrude upon the

-natural sounds of the night, the stealthy trickle of the river, and the

-furtive rustle of secret movement whose origin she could not guess. And

-again she thought that she heard the trembling reed of a distant

-flute.</p>

-<p class="par">She touched bottom near her landing-place, and waded out

-of the river, crouching, afraid even in the black shadow of the trees

-to exhibit the white column of her slim body. She dried and dressed

-hastily, and when she felt again the touch of her familiar clothes

-about her, she knew that she was safe from the wiles of nymph or satyr.

-She had come out of the half-world that interposes between man and

-Nature; her clothes made her invisible to the earth-gods, and hid them

-from her knowledge. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb263" href="#pb263"

-name="pb263">263</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">But she was still trembling and afraid. The flesh had

-terrors great as those of the spirit.</p>

-<p class="par">A little uncertain wind was coming out of the

-south-west, and the trees were stirred now and again into hushed

-whisperings. A dead leaf brushed her face in falling, and she started

-back, thrusting at an imaginary enemy with nervously agitated

-hands.</p>

-<p class="par">The thought of her remoteness from life terrified her.

-She was alone, face to face with implacable, brutal Nature. Man, the

-boastful, full of foolish pride, was vanishing from the earth. He had

-been an alien, ever out of place, defiling and corrupting the order of

-growth. Now he was beaten and a fugitive. All around her, the

-representative of this vile destructive species, was the slow,

-persistent hatred of the earth, which longed to be at peace again.

-There was no god favourable to man, now that he was dying; the gods of

-man&rsquo;s creation would perish with him. Only a few women were left

-to realize that they were strangers in the world of Nature which hated

-them. The world was not theirs, had never been theirs; they were only

-some horrible, unnatural fungus that had disfigured the Earth for a

-time....</p>

-<p class="par">She moved cautiously and slowly under the darkness of

-the trees, and even when she came back to the road she could not shake

-off her fear. On her right she could see the black cliff of the

-woods<a id="xd23e4468" name="xd23e4468"></a> transfigured by the light

-of the moon. In the day she knew them for woods; now they were strange

-and threatening; they menaced her with <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb264" href="#pb264" name="pb264">264</a>]</span>invasion. She knew

-that they would march down from the hills and swarm across the valley.

-In a hundred, two hundred years, Marlow would be a few heaps of brick

-and stone lost in the heart of the forest.</p>

-<p class="par">Ashamed of her race, she hurried on stealthily towards

-the bridge.</p>

-<p class="par">But before she reached it, she heard the sound of a

-firm, defiant step coming towards her. She paused and listened, and her

-fear fell from her. In the old days she would have feared man more than

-Nature, feared robbery or assault, but now, man was united in a common

-cause; the sound of humanity was the sound of a friend.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Hullo!&rdquo; she called, and the voice of Jasper

-Thrale answered. &ldquo;Hullo! Who&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Me&mdash;Eileen,&rdquo; she replied.

-&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been for a bathe.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He paused opposite her, and they looked at one

-another.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Jolly night,&rdquo; he remarked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the great god Pan,&rdquo; said

-Eileen. &ldquo;Those sailors in the Ionian Sea were misinformed.

-He&rsquo;s not dead.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Why should Pan die and Dionysus live?&rdquo;

-returned Thrale. &ldquo;I hear that Dionysus has claimed one of our

-hands, by the way.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you angry?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes. Not with Millie. If <i>you</i> saw Pan, why

-shouldn&rsquo;t <i>she</i> see Dionysus? No, I&rsquo;m angry with the

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb265" href="#pb265" name=

-"pb265">265</a>]</span>Jenkyn woman. She&rsquo;s saying that we ought

-not to have Millie back if she wants to come.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;How silly!&rdquo; commented Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! if that were all!&rdquo; replied Thrale.

-&ldquo;The real trouble is that the Jenkyn woman is proselytizing. She

-wants to revive Church services and Sunday observances. We&rsquo;re

-going to have a split before the winter&rsquo;s over, and all the old

-misunderstandings and antagonisms back again.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Why, of course we are,&rdquo; returned Eileen,

-after a pause. &ldquo;We are going to divide into those that are afraid

-and those that aren&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s fear that&rsquo;s got hold of

-us, now we&rsquo;ve time to think. It&rsquo;s all about us to-night;

-I&rsquo;ve seen it, and Millie has seen it; and Clara Jenkyn and all

-those who are going with her have seen it; and we&rsquo;ve all got to

-find our own way out.&rdquo; She hesitated for a moment, and then said:

-&ldquo;And what about you? Have you seen it?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, for the first time. Within the last ten

-minutes,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">The moon was above the trees now, and she could see his

-face clearly. &ldquo;Have you?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t

-picture it. It can&rsquo;t be Pan or Dionysus, or fear of the Earth or

-of humanity. No; and it can&rsquo;t be the most terrible of all, the

-fear of an idea. What are you afraid of?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid of you,&rdquo; said Thrale, and

-he turned away quickly and hurried on in the direction of the

-river.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I <i>did</i> see Pan,&rdquo; affirmed Eileen, as

-she returned, happy and unafraid, towards Marlow. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb266" href="#pb266" name="pb266">266</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">5</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">That mood of the night had suggested to Eileen the

-idea of a single cause which seemed sufficient to account for the

-revivalist tendencies of Miss Jenkyn and certain other women in Marlow.

-Fear was presented as a simple explanation, and Eileen, like many other

-philosophers who had preceded her, was too eager for the simple and

-inclusive explanation.</p>

-<p class="par">At first the revivalist tendency was feeble and

-circumscribed. Twenty or thirty women met in the schoolroom and talked

-and prayed by the light of a single, tenderly nursed oil-lamp. The

-absence of any minister kept them back at first; the less earnest

-needed some concrete embodiment of religion in the form of a black coat

-and white tie.</p>

-<p class="par">But when the rain came in early October, came and

-persisted; when the beeches, instead of flaring into scarlet, grew

-sodden and dead; when the threat of flood grew even more imminent, and

-the distraction of physical toil almost ceased, this little nucleus of

-women was joined by many new recruits, and their comparatively harmless

-prostrations, lamentations and worshippings of the abstract, developed

-into an attempt to enforce a moral law upon the community.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie Gosling, returning to Marlow in mid-October, gave

-the religionists splendid opportunity for a first demonstration.</p>

-<p class="par">Millie returned with a bold face and a shrinking heart.

-She had fled from Wycombe because she could not meet the taunts of the

-women who had so lately <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb267" href=

-"#pb267" name="pb267">267</a>]</span>envied her as she rode, prime

-favourite for a time, in the Dionysian landau. A great loneliness had

-come over her after she was dethroned; she needed sympathy, and she

-hoped that Blanche might be made to understand. Millie came back from

-over the hill prepared with a long tale of excuses.</p>

-<p class="par">She found her sister perfectly complacent.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche was a fervent disciple of Jasper Thrale and

-machinery, and Thrale had anticipated Millie&rsquo;s return and in some

-ways prepared for it. At odd moments he had preached the new gospel,

-the tenets of which Blanche had begun to formulate for herself.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no good going back to the old morality

-for a precedent,&rdquo; had been the essential argument used by Thrale;

-&ldquo;we have to face new conditions. If a man is only to have one

-wife now, the race will decline, probably perish. It is a woman&rsquo;s

-duty to bear children.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen, Blanche and a few other young women had wondered

-that he made no application of the argument to his own case, but his

-opinion carried more weight by reason of his continence. Even Miss

-Jenkyn could not urge that his opinion was framed to defend his own

-mode of life, and, failing that casuistical support, she had to fall

-back on the second alternative of her kind, namely, to assert that this

-preacher of antagonistic opinions was either the devil in person or

-possessed by him&mdash;a line of defence which took longer to establish

-than the simple accusation of expediency.</p>

-<p class="par">So Millie, returning one wet October afternoon, found

-that no excuses were required of her. Blanche <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb268" href="#pb268" name=

-"pb268">268</a>]</span>welcomed her and asked no questions, and Jasper

-Thrale and Eileen came to the little cottage in St Peter&rsquo;s Street

-at sunset and treated the prodigal Millie with a new and altogether

-delightful friendliness. It was understood that she would return at

-once to her work in the Mill. But in the school-house opposite another

-reception was being prepared for her.</p>

-<p class="par">The more advanced of the Jenkynites were for taking

-immediate action. Prayer, worship, and the acknowledgment of personal

-sin fell into the background that evening, Millie appeared not as a

-brand to be saved from the burning, but as an abandoned and evil

-creature who must be thrust out of the community if any member of it

-was to save her soul alive. Every one of these furious religionists

-could stand up and declare that she was innocent of the commission of

-this particular sin of Millie&rsquo;s, and every one was willing and

-anxious to cast the first stone.</p>

-<p class="par">The meeting simmered, and at last boiled over into St

-Peter&rsquo;s Street. A band of more than a dozen rigidly virtuous and

-ecstatically Christian women beat at the door of the Goslings&rsquo;

-cottage. They had come to denounce sin and thrust the sinner out of the

-community with physical violence. Each of them in her own heart thought

-of herself as the bride of Christ.</p>

-<p class="par">The door was opened to them by Jasper Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We have come to cast out the evil one!&rdquo;

-cried Miss Jenkyn in a high emotional voice.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What are you talking about?&rdquo; asked Thrale.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb269" href="#pb269" name=

-"pb269">269</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She shall be cast forth from our midst!&rdquo;

-shrilled Miss Jenkyn; and her supporters raised a horrible screaming

-cry of agreement.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Cast her forth!&rdquo; they cried, finding full

-justification for their high pitch of emotion in the use of Biblical

-phrase.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Cast forth your grandmother!&rdquo; replied

-Thrale calmly. &ldquo;Get back to your homes, and don&rsquo;t be

-foolish.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;He is possessed of the devil!&rdquo; chanted Miss

-Jenkyn. &ldquo;The Lord has called upon us to vindicate his honour and

-glory. This man, too, must not be suffered to dwell in the

-congregation.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Down with him! down with him!&rdquo; assented the

-little crowd, now so exalted with the glory of their common purpose

-that they were ready for martyrdom.</p>

-<p class="par">Miss Jenkyn was an undersized, withered little spinster

-of forty-five, and physically impotent; but, drunk with the fervour of

-her emotion, and encouraged by the sympathy of her followers and the

-fury of her own voice, she flung herself fiercely upon the calm figure

-of Jasper Thrale. Her thwarted self-expression had found an outlet. She

-desired the blood of Millie Gosling and Jasper Thrale with the same

-intensity that women had once desired a useless vote.</p>

-<p class="par">Jasper Thrale put out a careless hand and pushed her

-back into the arms of the women behind her; but she was up again

-instantly, and, backed by the crowd, who, encouraging themselves by

-shrill screams of &ldquo;Cast them forth!&rdquo; were now thrusting

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb270" href="#pb270" name=

-"pb270">270</a>]</span>forward into the narrow doorway, she renewed the

-assault with all the fierce energy of a struggling kitten.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I shall lose my temper in a minute,&rdquo; said

-Thrale, as he took a step forward and, bracing himself against the door

-frame, drove the women back with vigorous thrusts of his powerful

-arms.</p>

-<p class="par">To lose his temper, indeed, seemed the only way of

-escape; to give way to berserk rage, and so to injure these muscularly

-feeble creatures that they would be unable to continue the struggle.

-But the babble of screaming voices was bringing other helpers to his

-aid, chief among them Lady Durham, and her cold, clear voice fell on

-the hysterical Jenkynites like a douche of cold water.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Clara Jenkyn, what are you doing?&rdquo; asked

-Elsie Durham.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie Gosling must be cast forth,&rdquo; wavered

-the little dishevelled woman; but this time there was no reponse from

-her disciples.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That is a question for the committee,&rdquo;

-replied Elsie Durham. &ldquo;Now, please go to your homes, all of

-you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Miss Jenkyn tried to explain.</p>

-<p class="par">Elsie Durham walked into the cottage and shut the

-door.</p>

-<p class="par">Inside, Eileen and Blanche were trying to reassure the

-trembling Millie. Outside, the Jenkynites were suffering a more brutal

-martyrdom than that they had sought. The tongues of the new arrivals,

-the fuller-blooded, more physically vigorous members of the community,

-were making sport of these brides of Christ. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb271" href="#pb271" name="pb271">271</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">6</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">But the women of Marlow were to learn afresh the

-old lesson that religious enthusiasm is not to be killed by ridicule or

-oppression. Jasper Thrale understood and appreciated that fact, but the

-policy he suggested could not be approved by the committee.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;This emotion is a fundamental thing,&rdquo; he

-said to Lady Durham, &ldquo;and history will show you that persecution

-will intensify it to the point of martyrdom. There is only one way to

-combat it. Give it room. Let them do as they will. The heat of the fire

-is too fierce for you to damp it down; you only supply more fuel. Fan

-it, throw it open to the air, and it will burn itself harmlessly

-out.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Elsie Durham shrugged her shoulders. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s

-all very well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s perfectly

-true. But they make you the bone of contention. If it were only Millie

-Gosling&mdash;well&mdash;she might go. We could find a place for

-her&mdash;at Fingest, perhaps. But we can&rsquo;t spare you.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why not,&rdquo; returned

-Thrale. &ldquo;I never intended to stay indefinitely. You can carry on

-now without me, and I can fulfil my original intention and push on into

-the West.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear man! we can&rsquo;t, and we

-won&rsquo;t!&rdquo; said Elsie Durham. &ldquo;You are

-indispensable.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No one is indispensable,&rdquo; replied

-Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Bother your metaphysics, Jasper!&rdquo; was the

-answer. &ldquo;We are not going to let you go. &lsquo;We&rsquo; is

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb272" href="#pb272" name=

-"pb272">272</a>]</span>the majority of Marlow, not only the committee.

-We&rsquo;ll fight the fanatics somehow.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The majority referred to by Elsie Durham was fairly

-compact in relation to this issue of retaining Jasper Thrale, and

-included the two greater of the three recognizable parties in the

-community. Of these three, the greatest was the moderate party, made up

-of Episcopalians, Nonconformists and a few Roman Catholics, who found

-relief for their emotion one day in seven either in the Town Hall or

-Marlow Church, in which places services and meetings were

-held&mdash;the former by certain approved individuals, notably Elsie

-Durham and the widow of the late Rector of Marlow. The second party in

-order of size included all those who either denied the Divine

-revelation or were careless of all religious matters. The third

-party&mdash;the Jenkynites, as they were dubbed by their

-opponents&mdash;had drawn their numbers from every old denomination.

-The Jenkynites were differentiated from the other two parties by

-certain physical differences. For instance, the Jenkynites numbered few

-members under the age of thirty-five; very few of them were fat, and

-very few of them were capable field workers; they were hungry-eyed, and

-had a certain air of disappointed eagerness about them; they looked as

-though they had for ever sought something, and, finding it, had

-remained unsatisfied. In all, there were some seventeen women who might

-have been regarded as quite true to type, and about this vivid nucleus

-were clustered nearly a hundred other women, many of whom exhibited

-some characteristic <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb273" href="#pb273"

-name="pb273">273</a>]</span>mark of the same type, while the remainder,

-perhaps 40 per cent of the whole body, had joined the party out of

-bravado, to seek excitement, or for some purpose of expediency.</p>

-<p class="par">Among the last was Mrs Isaacson, who was the ultimate

-cause of the Jenkynite defeat.</p>

-<p class="par">Ever since she had passed her examination in farm

-supervision, Mrs Isaacson had exhibited an increasing tendency to rest

-on her laurels. She had grown very stout again during her stay in

-Marlow, and complained of severe heart trouble. The least exertion

-brought on violent palpitation accompanied by the most alarming

-symptoms. The poor lady would gasp for breath, press her hands

-convulsively to a spot just below her left breast, and roll up her eyes

-till they presented only a terrifying repulsive rim of blood-streaked

-white, if the least exertion were demanded from her, and yet she would

-persist in the effort until absolutely on the verge of collapse.

-&ldquo;No, no! I must work!&rdquo; she would insist. &ldquo;It iss not

-fair to the others that I do no work. I will try once more. It iss only

-fair.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">At times they had to insist that she should return home

-and rest.</p>

-<p class="par">And as the winter closed in, Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s rests

-became more and more protracted. Jasper Thrale grinned and said:

-&ldquo;I suppose we&rsquo;ve got to keep her&rdquo;; but there was a

-feeling among the other members of the committee that they were

-creating an undesirable precedent. Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s example was

-being followed by other women who preferred rest to work. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb274" href="#pb274" name="pb274">274</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Heart weakness was becoming endemic in Marlow.</p>

-<p class="par">Then came the news that Mrs Isaacson had joined the

-Jenkynites. The seventeen received her somewhat doubtfully at first,

-but the body of the sect were in favour of her reception. Possibly they

-were rather proud of counting one more fat woman among them; the

-average member was so noticeably thin.</p>

-<p class="par">Even the seventeen were satisfied within a fortnight of

-Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s conversion. She had a wonderful fluency, and she

-said the right and proper things in her own peculiar English&mdash;a

-form of speech which had a certain piquancy and interest and afforded

-relief and variety after the somewhat stereotyped formulas of the

-seventeen.</p>

-<p class="par">But early in December, before the floods came, Mrs

-Isaacson was convicted of a serious offence against the community. One

-of the committee&rsquo;s first works had been to store certain

-priceless valuables. Tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, salt, baking

-powder, wine and other irreplaceable commodities had been locked up in

-one of the bank premises. In all, they had a fairly large store, upon

-which they had hardly drawn as yet. It was not intended to hoard these

-luxuries indefinitely. After harvest a dole had been made to all the

-workers as acknowledgment of their services, and it had been decided to

-hold another festival on Christmas Day.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson, with unsuspected energy, had burglariously

-entered this storehouse of wealth. She had found an accessible window

-at the rear, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb275" href="#pb275" name=

-"pb275">275</a>]</span>which she had succeeded in forcing, and, despite

-her bulk and the delicate state of her heart, she had effected an

-entrance and stolen tea, sugar, candles and whisky.</p>

-<p class="par">She was, indeed, finally caught in the act; but her

-thefts would probably have escaped notice&mdash;she worked after dark,

-and with a cunning and caution that would have placed her high in the

-profession before the plague&mdash;had it not been for Blanche.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">7</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">It seems that Mrs Isaacson had formed the habit of

-staying up in the evening. She pleaded that she could not sleep during

-the early hours of the night, which was not surprising in view of the

-fact that she slept much during the day; and as she was diligent in

-picking up or begging sufficient wood to maintain the fire, there was

-no reason why Blanche and Millie should offer any objection. Thrale had

-rigged up a dynamo at the mill now to provide artificial light, and the

-girls&rsquo; hours of work were so prolonged that they were glad to get

-to bed at half-past seven. By eight o&rsquo;clock Mrs Isaacson

-evidently counted herself safe from all interruption.</p>

-<p class="par">She might have continued her enjoyment of luxury

-undiscovered throughout the winter if Blanche had not suffered from

-toothache.</p>

-<p class="par">She had been in bed and asleep nearly two hours when her

-dreams of discomfort merged into a consciousness of actual pain. She

-sighed and pressed her cheek into the pillows, made agonizing

-exploration <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb276" href="#pb276" name=

-"pb276">276</a>]</span>with her tongue, and tried to go to sleep again.

-Possibly she might have succeeded had not that unaccountable smell of

-whisky obtruded itself upon her senses.</p>

-<p class="par">At first she thought the house was on fire. That had

-always been her one fear in leaving Mrs Isaacson alone; and she sat up

-in bed and sniffed vigorously. &ldquo;Funny,&rdquo; she murmured;

-&ldquo;it smells like&mdash;like plum pudding.&rdquo; The analogy was

-probably suggested to her by the odour of burning brandy.</p>

-<p class="par">She got up and opened the door of the bedroom.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson slept on a sort of glorified landing, and

-when Blanche stepped outside her own door she could see at once by the

-light of a watery full moon that her lodger had not yet come to

-bed.</p>

-<p class="par">The smell of the spirit was stronger on the landing, and

-Blanche, forgetting her toothache in the excitement of the moment,

-stole quietly down the short flight of crooked stairs. The door giving

-on to the living-room was latched, but there were two convenient

-knot-holes, and through one of them she saw Mrs Isaacson seated by the

-fire drinking hot tea. On the table stood an open whisky bottle and two

-lighted wax candles.</p>

-<p class="par">Blanche was thunderstruck. Tea, whisky and candles were

-inexplicable things. The thought of witchcraft obtruded itself, and so

-fascinated her that she stood on the stairs gazing through the knothole

-until a sudden rigour reminded her that she was deadly cold.</p>

-<p class="par">She did not interrupt the orgy. She crept back to bed,

-and after much difficulty awakened Millie. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb277" href="#pb277" name="pb277">277</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">The sound of their voices must have alarmed Mrs

-Isaacson, for the girls presently heard her stumbling upstairs. They

-stopped their discussion then, and Blanche&rsquo;s toothache being

-mysteriously cured by her excitement, they were soon asleep again.</p>

-<p class="par">Neither of the girls spoke of their discovery to anyone

-the next day, but Blanche returned to the cottage at half-past four,

-when Mrs Isaacson was at a meeting over the way, and explored her

-bedroom<span class="corr" id="xd23e4673" title="Not in source">.</span>

-She found a small store of tea, sugar and candles under the

-mattress&mdash;the whisky bottle had disappeared&mdash;and so came to

-an understanding of Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s self-sacrificing insistence

-that she should perform all work connected with her own

-sleeping-place&mdash;it could hardly be called a room.</p>

-<p class="par">After consultation with Millie, Blanche decided that she

-must inform Jasper Thrale of the contraband.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s been stealing, of course,&rdquo; he

-said. &ldquo;I suppose we shall have to bring it home to her.&rdquo;

-But he laughed at Blanche&rsquo;s indignation.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s stealing from <i>us</i>!&rdquo; said

-Blanche, who had developed a fine sense of her duty towards and

-interest in the community.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes! you&rsquo;re quite right,&rdquo; said

-Thrale. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll inform the committee&mdash;at least, the

-non-Jenkynites.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The five non-Jenkynites were furious.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We must make an example,&rdquo; Elsie Durham

-said. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that we shall miss what the Isaacson woman

-has taken&mdash;or will take. It&rsquo;s the question of precedent.

-This is where we are facing the beginning <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb278" href="#pb278" name="pb278">278</a>]</span>of

-law&mdash;isn&rsquo;t it? Somebody has to protect the members of the

-community against themselves. If one steals and goes unpunished,

-another will steal<span class="corr" id="xd23e4693" title=

-"Not in source">.</span> We shall have the women divided into stealers

-and workers.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What are you going to do with her?&rdquo; asked

-Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Turn her out,&rdquo; replied Elsie Durham.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The Jenkynites won&rsquo;t let her go,&rdquo;

-said Thrale raising the larger question.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; said Elsie Durham,

-&ldquo;But that reminds me that we must catch the woman <i lang=

-"la">flagrante delicto</i>; we must have no quibbles about the

-facts.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale agreed with the wisdom of this policy, but

-refused to take any part in either the detection or the prosecution of

-Mrs Isaacson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll say its a put-up job if I have

-anything to do with it,&rdquo; he argued.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">8</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The Jenkynites blazed when Rebecca Isaacson was

-finally caught and denounced. The culprit, when caught in the act of

-entering the bank premises had made a slight error of judgment, and

-pleaded the excuse that she was a sleepwalker and quite unconscious of

-what she was doing; but she afterwards adopted a sounder line of

-defence. She made full confession to the seventeen, pleaded extravagant

-penitence with all the necessary references to the blood of the Lamb,

-and displayed all the well-known <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb279"

-href="#pb279" name="pb279">279</a>]</span>signs that she would become

-fervent in well-doing after the ensanguined ablutions had been

-metaphorically performed.</p>

-<p class="par">The Jenkynites were enraptured with so real a case of

-sin. They had been compelled to content themselves with so many minor

-failures from grace that the performances were becoming slightly

-monotonous.</p>

-<p class="par">The &ldquo;Sister Rebecca&rdquo; case was refreshingly

-real and genuine, and they meant to make the most of it. Also, this

-case gave them occasion to assert themselves once more against the

-opinions of the community.</p>

-<p class="par">It must not be supposed that the seventeen deliberately

-adopted a practical and apparently promising policy. They were not

-consciously seeking to obtain civil power as were the priests of the

-old days before the plague. The seventeen had no sense of the State as

-represented by the community; they were without question perfectly

-sincere in their beliefs and actions. Their fault, if it can be so

-described, was their inability to adapt themselves to their conditions.

-They were as unchangeable as the old lady who had died sooner than be

-permanently separated from the glories of a house in Wisteria Grove.

-She and the seventeen and many other women in Marlow were demonstrating

-that rigidity of opinion is detrimental to the interests of the growing

-State. The same proposition had been clearly demonstrated by a few

-exceptional individuals in the old days, but progress was so slow, the

-property owners so content, and the average of <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb280" href="#pb280" name=

-"pb280">280</a>]</span>mankind so intensely conservative, that their

-arguments received no attention. For every man who believed in the

-broad principle of maintaining an open mind, there were ten thousand

-who were quite incapable of putting the principle into practice. With

-these women in Marlow the conditions were completely changed. Moreover,

-women are by nature more broad-minded than men in practical affairs.

-Where intuition rather than the hard-and-fast methods of an

-intellectual logic is being brought into play, new and wonderful

-possibilities of adaptation may enter the domain of politics.</p>

-<p class="par">The Jenkynites and such individuals as the late Mrs

-Gosling became suddenly conspicuous in the new conditions. The type

-that they represent cannot persist. They are the bonds on a vigorous

-and increasing growth; the tree will grow and burst away all inflexible

-restraints.</p>

-<p class="par">In Marlow the new and vigorous growth was the sense of

-the community. The majority of the women were realizing, consciously or

-unconsciously, that they must work with and for each other. The

-Jenkynite affair served the committee as a valuable object-lesson.</p>

-<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson was free to do as she would while the

-discussion raged. Imprisonment would have been utterly futile. The

-committee did not wish to punish her for her offence against common

-property, they merely wished to rid themselves of an undesirable member

-and to make public announcement that they would in like manner exclude

-any other <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb281" href="#pb281" name=

-"pb281">281</a>]</span>member who proved herself a burden to the

-community.</p>

-<p class="par">The Jenkynites were characteristically unable to

-comprehend this argument. They had their own definitions of heinous and

-venial sins, definitions based on ancient precedent, and they counted

-the fault of Millie Gosling in the former and that of Rebecca Isaacson

-in the latter category. They were not susceptible to argument. As they

-saw the problem, no argument was admissible. They had the old law and

-the old prophets on their side, and maintained that what was true once

-was true for all time. In their opinion, changed conditions did not

-affect morality.</p>

-<p class="par">If the need for labour had been great, the affair might

-have been shelved for a time as of less importance than the dominant

-economic demand which takes precedence of all other problems. But

-although the floods had not yet come, there was not enough work for all

-the members of the community, and this comparative idleness reacted

-upon the importance of the Isaacson case in another and probably more

-influential direction than the abstract consideration of justice and

-humanity.</p>

-<p class="par">The women had time to talk, and a new and fascinating

-subject was given them to discuss. And they talked; and their talk

-ripened into action. The affair Isaacson, which included also the

-affair Jenkyns, was brought to a climax at a mass meeting in the Town

-Hall.</p>

-<p class="par">It was decided, noisily, but with considerable emphasis,

-that for the good of the community the <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb282" href="#pb282" name="pb282">282</a>]</span>Jenkynites must go.

-The seventeen were specifically indicated, but it was understood that

-certain of their more advanced adherents would go with them.</p>

-<p class="par">The Jenkynites accepted the decision in the spirit of

-their belief. They were martyrs in a great cause. They would leave this

-accursed city (their terminology was always Biblical) and cast off its

-dust from their feet&mdash;although the roads were deep in mud at the

-time. They would go forth to regenerate the world, upheld by their love

-of truth and their zeal for the Word.</p>

-<p class="par">Only Mrs Isaacson dissented, but she was compelled to go

-with them.</p>

-<p class="par">They went forth in the rain, thirty-nine of them in all,

-exalted with conscious righteousness and faint with enthusiasm. The

-women of Marlow were kind to them. They turned out and jeered the

-little procession as it marched out of the town by the Henley Road.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo stole the tea?&rdquo; was the most

-popular taunt, and no doubt the exiles would have preferred that the

-taunts should have been cast at their faith rather than at the social

-misdemeanour of an obscure convert. But any form of martyrdom was

-better than none, and they held their heads high and sang &ldquo;Glory!

-glory!&rdquo; with magnificent fervour.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ve done right,&rdquo;

-commented Elsie Durham. &ldquo;But we should never have had all the

-women with us if there had been no offence against property. That

-touched them&mdash;communal property. I&rsquo;m not sure that it

-isn&rsquo;t become almost dearer than personal property.&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb283" href="#pb283" name=

-"pb283">283</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch19" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XIX&mdash;</span>ON THE

-FLOOD</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">From the middle of November onwards, the river had

-been running nearly bank-high, and so much power was available that

-Thrale had been considering the possibility of lighting some of the

-nearer houses by electricity. He had made three journeys to London, and

-with half a dozen assistants he had rifled two dynamos from the power

-station just outside Paddington, and had brought back twenty

-truck-loads of coal.</p>

-<p class="par">The dynamos, however, were still in the truck, covered

-by tarpaulin. Thrale had decided that the luxury of artificial lighting

-could not be provided until all the grain had been thrashed and milled.

-The end of that work was now in sight, and the accumulated wealth of

-flour in Marlow was calculated to be sufficient to last the community

-for at least twelve months. But before the lighting scheme could be put

-in hand, a new trouble had threatened.</p>

-<p class="par">During the first week of December there was almost

-continuous rain, and the river began to top its banks, spreading itself

-over the meadowland below the lock and creeping up the end of St

-Peter&rsquo;s Street. No serious matter as yet, and a short spell of

-frost and clear skies followed; but before Christmas heavy rains came

-again, and Thrale began to grow anxious. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb284" href="#pb284" name="pb284">284</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The weirs down-stream ought to be opened,&rdquo;

-he explained to Eileen. &ldquo;They are probably all up; we need never

-be afraid of shortage here; if we close our own weir we can always hold

-up all the water we want.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Is it serious?&rdquo; she asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Not yet, but it may be,&rdquo; he said, looking

-up at the sky. &ldquo;All Marlow might be flooded.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">And still the rain fell, and soon the girls had to wade

-through a foot of water to reach the mill.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I must go down-stream and open all the

-weirs,&rdquo; Thrale announced on Christmas Eve. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been

-looking at a steam launch over at the boat-house; it&rsquo;s in quite

-good condition. I shall bring it up to the town landing-stage to-morrow

-and get enough coal and food aboard to last a week.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going alone?&rdquo; said

-Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No! I <i>must</i> take some one to work the

-engine and the locks,&rdquo; returned Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come!&rdquo; announced Eileen, with

-glee.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale shook his head. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to run

-this place,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">Since that night in September no reference had been made

-by either of them to his strange revelation of fear. They had worked

-together as two men might have worked. Neither of them had exhibited

-the least consciousness of sex. Thrale believed that he had put the

-fear away from him, and Eileen was content to wait. She was barely

-twenty.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Blanche could run the mill,&rdquo; she suggested.

-&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much to do now.&rdquo; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb285" href="#pb285" name="pb285">285</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Thrale turned away from her with a touch of impatience.

-&ldquo;Blanche had better come with me,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I <i>want</i> to come,&rdquo; pleaded Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; he asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be sport.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care to trust Blanche with the

-mill,&rdquo; he persisted.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s every bit as good as I am,&rdquo; was

-her reply.</p>

-<p class="par">He shook his head.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, look here,&rdquo; said Eileen, &ldquo;you

-might let me come, or are you&mdash;are you afraid of&mdash;of what the

-women will say?&rdquo; She was standing by one of the flour-encrusted

-mill windows and she began to scratch a clean place on it with her

-nail.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale did not answer for a moment and then he came and

-stood near her. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Are you sick

-of your work here?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t mind a change,&rdquo; she said,

-intent on enlarging her peep-hole.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One forgets that you are women,&rdquo; said

-Thrale. &ldquo;I suppose women are never content with work for

-work&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If you like,&rdquo; returned Eileen

-inconsequently. &ldquo;I can see out now. Why don&rsquo;t we have these

-windows cleaned sometimes?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You can have them done while I&rsquo;m

-away,&rdquo; he suggested.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming with you,&rdquo; said

-Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! you can come if you like,&rdquo; he said. He

-thought he was perfectly safe, despite this unusual display of

-femininity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb286" href="#pb286" name=

-"pb286">286</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to run the engine,&rdquo; he

-concluded.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I&rsquo;ll run the engine,&rdquo; she agreed

-and looked down at her capable, frankly dirty little hands.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The weirs at Marlow and Hedsor had been roaring

-open-mouthed for ten days before Thrale and Eileen began their journey;

-but the water had been piling up from below and the floods were working

-back up river. The fact that none of the weirs above Henley was closed

-had served to protect Marlow in some degree. There were great floods

-above Sonning, and from Goring to Culham the country was a vast sheet

-of water. This water, however, only came down comparatively slowly

-owing to the dammed condition of the main channel, and a greater

-proportion of it was absorbed. If the upper weirs had been open, Marlow

-would have been under water by the middle of December.</p>

-<p class="par">Not until the launch had been man&oelig;uvred with some

-difficulty through Boulter&rsquo;s Lock did Thrale begin to realize the

-full significance of the situation.</p>

-<p class="par">He had had very great difficulty first in reaching and

-second in raising the paddles of the Taplow weir. In one place the

-force of the flood had broken away the structure, but even with the

-relief this passage had afforded the pressure of water on the paddles

-was so great that he had been working for more than two hours before

-the last valve was opened. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb287" href=

-"#pb287" name="pb287">287</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">Eileen had been waiting for him with the launch warped

-up just below the lock where the force of the stream was not so

-great.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether we shall be able to

-carry out this job,&rdquo; remarked Thrale when he rejoined her.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, but we must,&rdquo; she expostulated.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you see what has happened?&rdquo; he

-explained. &ldquo;All the water is piled up below us. We shall probably

-find the next locks flood-high, which means that we sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t

-be able to open them.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We must navigate,&rdquo; said Eileen.

-&ldquo;Steam round them; shoot the weirs.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m

-wondering how far our responsibility goes. If we don&rsquo;t open the

-river right down to Richmond, we shall only be increasing the flood in

-the lower reaches, and there may be women living there. After all,

-Marlow isn&rsquo;t the only place on the river. And there is another

-thing; we may never get back. It&rsquo;s a risky thing we are proposing

-to do. No one could swim against this current. If we were upset and

-carried into a weir, we should be smashed to pieces in no time. Do you

-think the community can spare us?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Bother the community!&rdquo; replied Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">The community and its activities were already in the

-background of her mind. Marlow had receded into a little distant place

-with which she was no longer connected. The world of adventure and

-romance lay open before her. She wanted only to explore this turbulent

-river, widened now into a miniature Amazon, from which arose the

-islands of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb288" href="#pb288" name=

-"pb288">288</a>]</span>half-submerged houses and trees that composed

-the strange archipelago of Maidenhead.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Thrale again.

-&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try. It&rsquo;s no use waiting for the stream to go

-down. We&rsquo;d better go on now.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Shall I cast off?&rdquo; asked Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Steady, steady,&rdquo; Thrale warned her.

-&ldquo;The next quarter of a mile is simply a rapid. You must be ready

-to get the engines going full ahead the moment we start, or I

-sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t be able to steer her. And, now, we must both cast

-off together or we shall be across the stream in two ticks. Just loosen

-the rope round the cleats and let go, and then start the engine. Let

-the loose end of the rope drag till we&rsquo;ve time to pick it up. Are

-you ready? All right&mdash;cast off!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The little launch swept out into the current with a

-bound the instant she was released from her moorings, and almost before

-the engines began to revolve she was caught in the rapids that surged

-down from the newly-opened weir. She was only a light draught

-pleasure-boat, designed to navigate the placid surface of the summer

-Thames, and when she entered the curling broken water below the island

-she threw up her nose and plunged like a nervous mare.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Full steam ahead,&rdquo; shouted Thrale at the

-toy wheel. Eileen nodded, crouching over her little engine; the roar of

-the stream had drowned Thrale&rsquo;s voice, but she guessed his

-order.</p>

-<p class="par">Her eyes were bright with excitement. She had no sense

-of fear. She was exhilarated by the sense <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb289" href="#pb289" name="pb289">289</a>]</span>of rapid movement.

-The launch, indeed, was travelling at a remarkable pace. In the narrow

-channel between the islands and the town, the river must have been

-running at nearly ten miles an hour, and the engines were probably

-adding another eight. In the wide spaces of the ocean eighteen miles an

-hour may appear a safe and controllable speed, but this little launch

-was running down hill, she could not be stopped at command, and the

-restricted course was beset with many and dangerous obstacles.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale, handling the little brass wheel forward, was

-conscious of uneasiness. The launch steered after a fashion, but he had

-little control of her. The trees on the banks appeared to be flying

-upstream at the pace of an express train, and ahead of him was the town

-bridge.</p>

-<p class="par">He decided instantly that they could not pass under it,

-and put the wheel over, intending to shoot out of the stream into the

-calm of the flood water over the new open bank. But as the launch

-turned and came across, the current took her stern and turned her half

-round. For a moment her lee rail was under water, and she trembled and

-rocked on the verge of capsize. Then her engines drove her out of the

-stream and she righted herself again and began to cut through the

-almost still, shallow flood water.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Stop her!&rdquo; roared Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; replied Eileen,

-coolly, as she obeyed the order.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No room to pass under the bridge,&rdquo; said

-Thrale. &ldquo;I suppose we&rsquo;ll have to navigate, as you call it.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb290" href="#pb290" name=

-"pb290">290</a>]</span>Go dead slow, and be prepared to stop her at a

-moment&rsquo;s notice.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">They spent over an hour in finding a passage round the

-approach to the bridge. They had laboriously to pole the launch through

-the tops of hedges, and in one place they were aground for ten minutes.

-But after they had returned to the stream once more they had a rapid

-and easy passage down to Bray. They shot the great arch of the

-Maidenhead railway bridge triumphantly. Eileen said it was

-&ldquo;glorious.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The weir at Bray proved even more difficult to negotiate

-than the one above, and by the time it was fully opened the dull

-December afternoon was closing in.</p>

-<p class="par">They spent that night moored to two of the elms that

-ring the isolated little church in the meadows by Boveney.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;At this rate,&rdquo; remarked Thrale as they

-settled themselves for the night, &ldquo;it&rsquo;ll take us a week to

-get to Richmond. We&rsquo;ve done two weirs out of thirteen, so

-far.&rdquo;</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Thrale&rsquo;s estimate proved excessive. They

-reached Richmond on the fourth day out from Marlow, having opened

-another nine weirs&mdash;the one at Old Windsor had been swept away,

-and the one below Richmond Bridge Thrale opened that afternoon.</p>

-<p class="par">During those four days they had seen few signs of life.

-They had moved, keeping to the main stream <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb291" href="#pb291" name="pb291">291</a>]</span>for

-the most part, in the midst of a wide expanse of water; exploring a

-desolate and wasted country.</p>

-<p class="par">Once they had been hailed by three women, who looked out

-at them from a house in Windsor, and shouted something they did not

-catch; and a woman had been standing on Staines Bridge as they careered

-intrepidly through the centre arch&mdash;they had no time even to

-distinguish her dress. But with these exceptions they might have come

-through the land of an extinct civilization, devoid of life; a land in

-which deserted houses and church towers stood up from the silver sheet

-of a vast lake, that was threaded by this one impetuous torrent of

-swelling river.</p>

-<p class="par">Richmond, also, was deserted. The emigrants had passed

-on over the river or southwards to Petersham and so into Surrey.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well!&rdquo; said Eileen, wiping her

-oil-blackened hands on a bunch of cotton waste, &ldquo;that job&rsquo;s

-done. We&rsquo;ve fairly drawn the plug of the cistern now. And how are

-we going to get back?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll find a couple of bicycles somewhere

-here,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">It had been a clear day, and there was a suggestion of

-frost in the air. The sun was setting very red and full behind the bare

-trees across the river. Save for the gurgle and hiss of the eddying

-flood, everything was very still. The little launch which had served

-them so well, and bore the marks of its great adventure in broken rails

-and bruised sides, was run aground by the side of the bridge. Thrale

-was standing in the road, but Eileen still sat by her engine.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb292" href="#pb292" name=

-"pb292">292</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I hate to leave the launch,&rdquo; she said,

-after a long pause.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We can come back and fetch her up when the flood

-goes down,&rdquo; returned Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done pretty well, the three of

-us.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, the three of us,<span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e4929" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span> he echoed.<a id=

-"xd23e4932" name="xd23e4932"></a></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It has been great fun,&rdquo; sighed Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale did not reply. He was thinking himself back into

-the past. He saw a street in Melbourne on a burning December evening,

-and the figure of a gaily-clad little brunette who spoke purest cockney

-and asked him why he looked so glum. &ldquo;We ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo;

-to a funeral,&rdquo; she had said. Yet afterwards he had believed that

-something had been buried that night. He had faced his own passion and

-the sight of it had disgusted him. He had seen the shadow of a demon

-who might master him, and he had grappled with it; he believed that he

-had slain and buried lust in Melbourne ten years ago. It had not risen

-up to confront him when the plague had put a world of women at his

-command. He had not been forced to fight, he was not

-tempted&mdash;surely the thing was dead and buried. Only once, on that

-warm September night, had he felt a sudden furious desire to take this

-girl into his arms and fly with her into the woods. The desire had come

-and gone, he was master of it, and in any case it bore no resemblance

-to the brutal thing he had faced in Melbourne.</p>

-<p class="par">Nor, as he stood now by Richmond Bridge watching the

-vault of the sky deepen to an intenser blue, did the feeling that

-possessed him in any way resemble that old cruel passion which had

-flared up and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb293" href="#pb293" name=

-"pb293">293</a>]</span>died&mdash;surely it had died. He could not

-analyse his feeling for this brave, clear-eyed companion, who had faced

-with him all the dangers of the past four days without a sign of fear.

-She had made no advances to him, they were friends, she might have been

-some delightfully clean, wholesome boy. And then his thought was

-pierced and broken by a horrible suggestion.</p>

-<p class="par">A picture of the hill to Handy Cross flashed before him,

-and he saw a little lonely figure creeping furtively away from Marlow.

-He drove his nails into his palms and suddenly cried out.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; said Eileen, turning

-round and looking up at him. &ldquo;Have you forgotten

-anything?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He stepped into the boat and sat down beside her.

-&ldquo;I want to know&mdash;I must know,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">She looked at him and smiled. &ldquo;All right, old

-man,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Fire away.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I told you once that I was frightened of

-you,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;I want to know if you have ever been

-frightened of yourself&mdash;or of me?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I could never be frightened of you,&rdquo; she

-replied, and looked away towards the rising darkness of the shadows

-across the hurrying river, &ldquo;and I haven&rsquo;t been afraid of

-myself&mdash;yet. I don&rsquo;t think&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t you be frightened of me if I

-picked you up and ran shouting into the woods?&rdquo; he asked,

-fiercely.</p>

-<p class="par">Her eyes met his without reserve. &ldquo;Dear old

-man,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I should love it. I&rsquo;m so glad you

-understand. That was the one thing that prevented our being real

-friends. I&rsquo;ve wanted so much to be frank <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb294" href="#pb294" name="pb294">294</a>]</span>and

-open with you. It&rsquo;s all these silly reserves that make love

-abominable. Now we can be two jolly, clean human beings who understand

-each other, can&rsquo;t we? And we shall be such ripping good friends

-always; quite open and honest with each other.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He drew a deep, sighing breath and put his arms round

-her, drew her close to him and laid his face against hers.

-&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been such an awful ass,&rdquo; he said.

-&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always thought that love was unclean. I&rsquo;ve been

-like that Jenkyn woman. I&rsquo;ve been prurient and suspicious and

-evil-minded. I&rsquo;ve been like the people who cover up statues. But

-there was an excuse for me&mdash;and for them, too. I didn&rsquo;t

-know, because there was no woman like you to teach me. All the women

-I&rsquo;ve known have been secretive and sly. They&rsquo;ve fouled love

-for me by making it seem a hidden, disreputable thing. Oh! we shall be

-ripping good friends, little Eileen&mdash;magnificent

-friends.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;This is a jolly old boat, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;

-replied Eileen, inconsequently. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t smother me, old man.

-And, I say, do you think we&rsquo;ll be able to raid some soap from

-somewhere? Do look at my hands! You couldn&rsquo;t be friends with a

-chap who had hands like that!&rdquo; ...</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;d like to

-remark,&rdquo; said Eileen the next morning. There had been a frost in

-the night, and there was every promise of an easy ride back to

-Marlow.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Thrale, examining the deflated

-tyres of two bicycles they had chosen from a shop in the High

-Street.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;d never have understood each other so

-well <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb295" href="#pb295" name=

-"pb295">295</a>]</span>if we hadn&rsquo;t worked together on the same

-job,&rdquo; said Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course not,&rdquo; returned Thrale. His

-tone seemed to imply that she had stated a truth that must always have

-been obvious to sensible people.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That and there being no footle about

-marriage,&rdquo; concluded Eileen.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">4</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">A third factor that had contributed to the

-perfection of that complete understanding was not realized by either

-until they were descending the hill into Bisham.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I rather wish we weren&rsquo;t going back,&rdquo;

-said Eileen. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s stop a moment. I want to talk.

-We&rsquo;ve never thought of what we&rsquo;re going to do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Do?&rdquo; said Jasper, as he dismounted.

-&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve just got to make an announcement and

-that&rsquo;s the end of it. The Jenkyns lot have all gone.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the end, it&rsquo;s the

-beginning,&rdquo; replied Eileen. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you see that we

-can&rsquo;t even explain?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t try.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall. We shall have to&mdash;in a way.

-It&rsquo;ll take years and years to do it. But the point is that they

-won&rsquo;t understand, now, none of them, not even Elsie Durham. We

-aren&rsquo;t free any longer.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t alone,&rdquo; she added, bringing

-the hitherto unacknowledged factor into prominence.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale frowned and looked up into the thin brightness of

-the frosty sky. &ldquo;Yes, I understand,&rdquo; <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb296" href="#pb296" name="pb296">296</a>]</span>he

-said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s public opinion that compels one to regard love

-as shameful and secret. Alone together, free from every suspicion, we

-hadn&rsquo;t a doubt. But now, we have to explain and we can&rsquo;t

-explain, and we are forced against our wills to wonder whether we can

-be right and all the rest of the world wrong.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>are</i> right,&rdquo; put in Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Only we can&rsquo;t prove it to anyone but

-ourselves.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And we shouldn&rsquo;t want to, if we

-hadn&rsquo;t got to live with them.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">For a moment they looked at one another

-thoughtfully.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No, we mustn&rsquo;t run away,&rdquo; Jasper

-said, with determination, after a pause. &ldquo;Look, the flood has

-begun to go down already. That&rsquo;s our work. There&rsquo;s other

-work for us to do yet.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">For a time they were silent, looking down on to Marlow

-and out over the valley.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t go over <i>that</i> hill,&rdquo;

-said Eileen, at last, pointing to the distant rise of Handy Cross.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Jasper, and then, &ldquo;we

-won&rsquo;t hide behind hills. Damn public opinion.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes, damn public opinion,&rdquo; agreed

-Eileen. &ldquo;But we won&rsquo;t stay in Marlow always.&rdquo;

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb297" href="#pb297" name=

-"pb297">297</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch20" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XX&mdash;</span>THE TERRORS OF

-SPRING</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The frost gave way on the third night, and for ten

-days there was a spell of mild weather with some rain. Carrie Oliver

-began to contemplate the possibility of getting forward with such

-ploughing as still remained to be done. She proposed to have an

-increased acreage of arable that year, and less pasture, less hay and

-less turnips; the arable was to include potatoes, beans and peas. For

-the community was rapidly tending towards vegetarianism. They had no

-butcher in Marlow, and the women revolted against the slaughter of

-cattle and sheep. They were hesitating and clumsy in the attack, and so

-inflicted wounds which were not fatal, they turned sick at the sight of

-the brute&rsquo;s agonies and at the appalling spurts of blood, and

-finally when the animal was at last mercifully dead, they bungled the

-dissection of the carcase.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner starve than do it again,&rdquo;

-was the invariable decision pronounced by any new volunteer who had

-heroically offered to provide Marlow with meat, and even Carrie Oliver

-admitted that it was a &ldquo;beastly dirty job.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Only,&rdquo; she added &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll

-&rsquo;ave to go on breeding <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb298" href=

-"#pb298" name="pb298">298</a>]</span>calves or we won&rsquo;t get no

-milk, an&rsquo; what are we goin&rsquo; to do with the

-bullocks?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The committee wondered if some form of barter might not

-be introduced. Wycombe and Henley might have something to offer in

-exchange, or, failing that, might be urged to accept these superfluous

-beasts as a present, returning the skins and horns, for which there

-might be a use in the near future. Sheep must be reared for their

-wool&mdash;the clothes of the community would not last for ever. The

-subjects of tanning and weaving were being studied by certain members

-of the now enlarged committee. Neither operation presented insuperable

-difficulties.</p>

-<p class="par">Now that a certain supply of food was provided for, the

-community was already turning its energy towards the industries. Many

-schemes were being planned and debated. Marlow was well situated, with

-such abundance of water and wood at its gates; and the question of

-attracting desirable immigrants had been raised.</p>

-<p class="par">Time was afforded for the consideration of all these

-schemes by the great frost which began on New Year&rsquo;s Day and

-lasted until the end of February.</p>

-<p class="par">The frost came first from the south-west, and for three

-days the country was changed into a fairy world built of sharp white

-crystals, a world that was seen dimly through a magic veil of mist.

-Then followed a black and bitter wind from the north-east, that bought

-a thin and driving snow, and when the wind fell the country was locked

-in an iron shell that was not relaxed for six weeks. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb299" href="#pb299" name="pb299">299</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">The flood had nearly subsided before the first frost

-came, but the river was still high, and presently the water came down

-laden with ice-floes, that jammed against the weir and the mill, and

-formed a sheet of ice that gradually crept back towards the bridge.</p>

-<p class="par">All field and mill work was stopped, and Thrale and

-Eileen spent two or three days a week making excursions to London,

-bringing back coal and other forms of riches.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Their fear of being misunderstood had proved to

-have been an exaggeration. In that exalted mood of theirs, which had

-risen to such heights, after four days of adventurous solitude, they

-had come a little too near the stars. In finding themselves they had

-lost touch with the world.</p>

-<p class="par">Elsie Durham had smiled at their defensive

-announcement.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear children,&rdquo; she had said,

-&ldquo;don&rsquo;t be touchy about it. I am so glad; and, of course,

-I&rsquo;ve known for months that you would come to an understanding.

-And there&rsquo;s no need to tell me that your&mdash;agreement, did you

-say?&mdash;was entirely different to any other. I know. But be human

-about it. Don&rsquo;t apologize for it by being superior to all of

-us.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; Eileen had said

-enthusiastically.</p>

-<p class="par">Nevertheless there were many women still left in

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb300" href="#pb300" name=

-"pb300">300</a>]</span>Marlow who were less spiritually-minded than

-Elsie Durham. Comparative idleness induced gossip, and there was more

-than one party in the community which regarded Thrale and Eileen with

-disfavour.</p>

-<p class="par">The old ruts had been worn too deep to be smoothed out

-in a few months, however heavy had been the great roller of necessity.

-And, strangely enough, the life of Sam Evans at High Wycombe was

-regarded by many of the more bigoted with less displeasure than this

-perfectly wholesome and desirable union of Thrale and Eileen. The

-prostitution of Sam Evans was a new thing outside the experience of

-these women, and it was accepted as an outcome of the new conditions.

-The other affair was familiar in its associations, and was condemned on

-both the old and the new precedents.</p>

-<p class="par">The mass of the women were quite unable to think out a

-new morality for themselves....</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">Relief from all these foolish criticisms,

-gossipings and false emotions came when the frost broke. A warm rain in

-the first week of March released the soil from its bonds, and as the

-retarded spring began to move impatiently into life there was a great

-call for labour.</p>

-<p class="par">But as the year ripened the temperament of the community

-exhibited a new and alarming symptom.</p>

-<p class="par">There was a terrible spirit of depression abroad.</p>

-<p class="par">All Nature was warm with the movement of reproduction.

-Nature was growing and propagating, <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb301" href="#pb301" name="pb301">301</a>]</span>thrusting out and

-taking a larger hold upon life. Nature was coming to the fight with new

-reserves and allies, a fruitful and increasing army, eager for the

-struggle against this little decreasing band of sterile humanity.

-Nature was prolific and these women were barren.</p>

-<p class="par">And in some inexplicable way the consciousness of

-futility had spread through the Marlow community. Some posthumous

-children had been born since the plague, a few young girls&mdash;Millie

-among them&mdash;were pregnant, but death had been busier than life

-during the winter, and from outside came stray reports that in other

-communities death had been busier still.</p>

-<p class="par">What hope was there for that generation? They were too

-few to cope with their task. Grass was growing in their streets, their

-houses were in need of repair, and after their day&rsquo;s labour in

-the fields to provide themselves with food, they had neither strength

-nor inclination to take up the battle anew.</p>

-<p class="par">Moreover, the spice was gone from life. Some inherent

-need for emulation was gone. They were ceasing to take any pride in

-their persons, and in their clothes. They wore knickerbockers or

-trousers for convenience in working, and suffered a strange loss of

-self-esteem in consequence. Many of the younger women still returned in

-the evenings to what skirts and ribbons they still possessed, but the

-habit was declining. The uselessness of it was growing even more

-apparent. There were no sex distinctions or class distinctions among

-them. Of what account was it that one girl was prettier or better

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb302" href="#pb302" name=

-"pb302">302</a>]</span>dressed than her neighbour? What mattered was

-whether she was a stronger or more intelligent worker.</p>

-<p class="par">Above all, the woman&rsquo;s need for love and

-admiration could find no outlet. They realized that they were becoming

-hardened and unsexed, and revolted against the coming change. Something

-within them rose up and cried for expression, and when it was thwarted

-it turned to a thing of evil....</p>

-<p class="par">The mind of the community was becoming distorted.

-Hysteria, sexual perversions, and various forms of religious mania were

-rife. Young women broke into futile and unsatisfying orgies of foolish

-dancing, and middle-aged women became absorbed in the contemplation of

-a male and human god.</p>

-<p class="par">Even the committee did not escape the influence of the

-growing despair. They looked forward to a future when such machines and

-tools as they possessed would be worn out, and they had no means of

-replacing them.</p>

-<p class="par">Thrale had reported that the line to London was becoming

-unsafe for the passage of his trucks. Rust was at work upon the rails;

-rain and floods had weakened embankments; young growths were springing

-up on the permanent way, and it was hopeless to contemplate any work of

-repair. In the old days an army of men had been needed for that work

-alone. The country roads needed re-metalling, and the houses

-restoration; they had not the means or the labour to undertake half the

-necessary work. There were breaches in the river bank and a large and

-apparently permanent lake was forming in the low <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb303" href="#pb303" name=

-"pb303">303</a>]</span>meadows towards Bourne End. All about them

-Nature was so intensely busy in her own regardless way, and they were

-helpless, now, to oppose her.</p>

-<p class="par">The age of iron and machinery was falling into a swift

-decline. All that the community could look for in the future was a

-return to primitive conditions and the fight for bare life. Every year

-their tools and machines would grow less efficient, every year Nature

-would return more powerful to the attack. In ten years they would be

-fighting her with rude and tedious weapons of wood, grinding their

-scanty corn between two stones, and living from hand to mouth. In the

-bountiful South such a life might have its rewards, but how could they

-endure it in this uncertain and cruel North?</p>

-<p class="par">So while the sun rose higher in the sky and the earth

-was wonderfully reclothed, the women of Marlow fell deeper and deeper

-into the horrors of mental depression. What had they to work for, and

-to hope for, save this miserable possession of unsatisfied life?

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb304" href="#pb304" name=

-"pb304">304</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="ch21" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XXI&mdash;</span>SMOKE</h2>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">1</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">One bright morning, at the end of April, Jasper

-and Eileen sat on the cliffs at the Land&rsquo;s End and talked of the

-future.</p>

-<p class="par">Ten days before, they had left Marlow on bicycles to

-make exploration. They intended to return; they had explained they

-would be away for a month at the outside, but in view of the growing

-depression and the loss of spirit shown by the community, they

-considered it necessary to go out and discover what conditions obtained

-in other parts of England. It might be, they urged, that the plague had

-been less deadly in other districts.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We should not know, here,&rdquo; Jasper had

-argued. &ldquo;There may be many men left elsewhere; but they might not

-have been able to communicate with us yet. Their attention, like ours,

-would have been concentrated upon local conditions for a time. Eileen

-and I will find out. Perhaps we may be able to open up communication

-again. In any case we&rsquo;ll come back within a month and

-report.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">His natural instinct had taken him into the West

-Country.</p>

-<p class="par">They had left Elsie Durham slightly more cheerful.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb305" href="#pb305" name=

-"pb305">305</a>]</span>They had given her a gleam of hope, given her

-something, at last, to which she might look forward.</p>

-<p class="par">Their own hopes had quickly faded and died as they rode

-on into the West. By the time they reached Plymouth they were thinking

-of Marlow as a place peculiarly favoured by Providence.</p>

-<p class="par">At first they had passed through communities conducted

-on lines resembling their own, greater or smaller groups of women

-working more or less in co-operation. In many of these communities a

-single man was living&mdash;in some cases two men&mdash;who viewed

-their duty towards society in the same light as the Adonis of

-Wycombe.</p>

-<p class="par">But the unit grew steadily smaller as they progressed.

-It was no longer the town or village community but the farm which was

-the centre of activity, and the occupied farms grew more scattered. For

-it appeared that here in the West the plague had attacked women as well

-as men. Another curious fact they learned was that the men had taken

-longer to die. One woman spoke of having nursed her husband for two

-months before the paralysis proved fatal....</p>

-<p class="par">And if the depression in Marlow had been great, the

-travellers soon learned that elsewhere it was greater still. The women

-worked mechanically, drudgingly. They spoke in low, melancholy voices

-when they were questioned, and save for a faint accession of interest

-in Thrale&rsquo;s presence there, and the signs of some feeble flicker

-of hope as they asked of conditions further north and east, they

-appeared to have no thought beyond the instant necessity of sustaining

-the life to which they clung so feebly. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb306" href="#pb306" name="pb306">306</a>]</span>Thrale and Eileen

-rode on into Cornwall, not because they still hoped, but because they

-both felt a vivid desire to reach the Land&rsquo;s End and gaze out

-over the Atlantic. They wanted to leave this desolate land behind them

-for a few hours, and rest their minds in the presence of the

-unchangeable sea.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Let us go on and forget for a few days,&rdquo;

-Eileen had said, and so they had at last reached the furthest limit of

-land.</p>

-<p class="par">Cornwall had proved to be a land of the dead. Save for a

-few women in the neighbourhood of St Austell, they had not seen a

-living human being in the whole county.</p>

-<p class="par">And so, on this clear April morning, they sat upon this

-ultimate cliff and talked of the future.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">2</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">The water below them was delicately flecked with

-white. No long rollers were riding in from the Atlantic, but the fresh

-April breeze was flicking the crests of little waves into foam; and,

-above, an ever-renewed drift of scattered white clouds threw coursing

-shadows upon the blues and purples of the curdling sea.</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen and Thrale had walked southwards as far as Carn

-Voel to avoid the obstruction to vision of the Longships, and on three

-sides they looked out to an unbroken horizon of water, which on that

-bright morning was clearly differentiated from the impending sky.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb307" href="#pb307" name=

-"pb307">307</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;One might forget&mdash;here,&rdquo; remarked

-Eileen, after a long silence.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If it were better to forget,&rdquo; said

-Jasper.</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen drew up her knees until she could rest her chin

-upon them, embracing them with her arms. &ldquo;What can one do?&rdquo;

-she asked. &ldquo;What good is it all, if there is no

-future?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Just to live out one&rsquo;s own life in the best

-way,&rdquo; was the answer.</p>

-<p class="par">She frowned over that for a time. &ldquo;Do you really

-believe, dear,&rdquo; she said, when she had considered Jasper&rsquo;s

-suggestion, &ldquo;do you really believe that this is the end of

-humanity?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have

-changed my mind half a dozen times in the last few days. There may be a

-race untouched somewhere&mdash;in the archipelagos of the South Seas,

-perhaps&mdash;which will gradually develop and repeople the world

-again.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Or in Australia, or New Zealand,&rdquo; she

-prompted.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We should have heard from them before

-this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We must have heard before this.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And is there no hope for us, here in England, in

-Marlow? There are a few boys&mdash;infants born since the plague, you

-know&mdash;and there will be more children in the

-future&mdash;Evans&rsquo;s children and those others. There were two

-men in some places, you remember.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Can they ever grow up? It seems to me that the

-women are dying. They&rsquo;ve nothing to live for. It&rsquo;s only a

-year since the plague first came, and look at them now. What will they

-be like in five years&rsquo; time? They&rsquo;ll die of hopelessness,

-or commit suicide, or <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb308" href=

-"#pb308" name="pb308">308</a>]</span>simply starve from the lack of any

-purpose in living, because work isn&rsquo;t worth while. And the

-others, the mothers, that have some object in living, will fall back

-into savagery. They&rsquo;ll be so occupied in the necessity for work,

-for forcing a living out of the ground somehow, that they&rsquo;ll have

-neither time nor wish to teach their children. I don&rsquo;t know, but

-it seems to me that we are faced with decrease, gradually leading on to

-extinction.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And I doubt,&rdquo; he continued, after a little

-hesitation, &ldquo;I doubt whether these sons of the new conditions

-will have much vitality. They are the children of lust on the

-father&rsquo;s side, worse still, of tired lust. It does make a

-difference. Perhaps if we were a young and vigorous people like the old

-Jews the seed would be strong enough to override any inherent weakness.

-But we are not, we are an old civilization. Before the plague, we had

-come to a consideration of eugenics. It had been forced upon us. A

-vital and growing people does not spend its time on such a question as

-that. Eugenics was a proposition that grew out of the necessity of the

-time. It was easy enough to deny decadence, and to prove our fitness by

-apparently sound argument, but, to me, it always seemed that this

-growing demand for some form of artificial selection of parents, by

-restriction of the palpably unfit, afforded the surest evidence. Things

-like that are only produced if there is a need for them. Eugenics was a

-symptom.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen sighed. &ldquo;And what about us?&rdquo; she

-asked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy,&rdquo; replied Jasper.

-&ldquo;Probably the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb309" href="#pb309"

-name="pb309">309</a>]</span>happiest people in the world at the present

-time. And we must try to give some of our happiness to others. We must

-go back to Marlow and work for the community. And I think we&rsquo;ll

-try in our limited way to do something for the younger generation.

-Perhaps, it might be possible for us to go north and try our hands at

-making steel, there are probably women there who would help us. But I

-don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s worth while, unless to preserve our

-knowledge and hand it on. We can only lessen the difficulty in one

-little district for a time. As the pressure of necessity grows, as it

-must grow, we shall be forced to abandon manufacture. The need for food

-will outrun us. We are too few, and it will be simpler and perhaps

-quicker to plough with a wooden plough than to wait for our faulty and

-slowly-produced steel. The adult population, small as it is, must

-decrease, and I&rsquo;m afraid it will decrease more rapidly than we

-anticipate, owing to these causes of depression and lack of

-stimulus....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Eileen at last, getting to

-her feet, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re happy, as you say, and our job seems

-pretty plain before us. To-morrow, I suppose, we ought to be getting

-back, though I hate taking the news to Elsie.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Jasper came and stood beside her, and put his arm across

-her shoulders. &ldquo;We, at any rate, must keep our spirits up,&rdquo;

-he said. &ldquo;That, before everything.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m all right,&rdquo; said Eileen,

-brightly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got you and, for the moment, the sea.

-We&rsquo;ll come back here sometimes, if the roads don&rsquo;t get too

-bad.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb310" href="#pb310" name=

-"pb310">310</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, if the roads don&rsquo;t get too

-bad.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And, already, the briars are creeping across the

-road from hedge to hedge. The forest is coming back.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The forest and the wild.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He drew her a little closer and they stood looking out

-towards the horizon.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h3 class="main">3</h3>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">In the south-west the clear line had been wiped

-out and what looked like mist was sweeping towards them.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a shower coming,&rdquo; said

-Thrale.</p>

-<p class="par">They stood quietly and let the sharp spatter of rain

-beat in their faces, and then the shadow of the storm moved on and the

-horizon line was clear again.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a queer cloud out there,&rdquo; said

-Eileen. &ldquo;Is it another shower?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">She pointed to a tiny blur on the far rim of the

-sea.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> queer,&rdquo; said Thrale.

-&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so precisely like the smoke of a steamer.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">For a few seconds they gazed in intent silence.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting bigger,&rdquo; broke out

-Eileen, suddenly excited. &ldquo;What is it, Jasper?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I can&rsquo;t make it

-out,&rdquo; he said. He moved away from her and shaded his eyes from

-the glare of the momentarily cloudless sky.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t make it out,&rdquo; he repeated

-mechanically.</p>

-<p class="par">The blur was widening into a grey-black smudge, into a

-vaguely diffused smear with a darker centre. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb311" href="#pb311" name="pb311">311</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;With the wind blowing towards

-us&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; said Jasper, and broke off.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes&mdash;what?&rdquo; asked Eileen, and

-then as he did not answer, she gripped his arm and repeated

-importunately. &ldquo;What? Jasper, what? With the wind blowing towards

-us?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;By God it is,&rdquo; he said in a low voice,

-disregarding her question. &ldquo;By God it <i>is</i>,&rdquo; he

-repeated, and then a third time, &ldquo;It <i>is</i>.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! what, what? Do answer me! I can&rsquo;t

-see!&rdquo; pleaded Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">But still he did not answer. He stood like a rock and

-stared without wavering at the growing cloud on the horizon.</p>

-<p class="par">And then the cloud began to grow more diffused, to die

-away, and Eileen could see tiny indentations on the sky line,

-indentations which pushed up and presently revealed themselves as

-attached to a little black speck in the remotest distance.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Jasper!&rdquo; she cried, and her eyes filled

-with inexplicable tears, so that she could see only a misty field of

-troubled blue.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a liner,&rdquo; said Jasper at last,

-turning to her. He looked puzzled and his eyes stared through her.

-&ldquo;And its coming from America. Do you suppose the American

-women&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The boat was revealed now. They could see the shape of

-her, the high deck, the two tall funnels and the three masts. She was

-passing across, fifteen miles or so to the south of them, making up

-Channel.</p>

-<p class="par">For a moment they felt like shipwrecked sailors on a

-lonely island, who see a vessel pass beyond hail. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb312" href="#pb312" name="pb312">312</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Jasper, what can it be?&rdquo; Eileen

-besought him.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a White Star boat,&rdquo; he said, and

-he still spoke as if his mind was far away. &ldquo;Is it possible, is

-it anyway possible that America has survived? Is it possible that there

-is traffic between America and Europe, and that they pass us by for

-fear of infection? How do we know that vessels haven&rsquo;t been

-passing up the Channel for months past? Why should we think that this

-is the first?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> the first,&rdquo; proclaimed Eileen.

-&ldquo;I feel it. Oh, let us hurry. Let us ride and ride as fast as we

-can to Plymouth or Southampton. I know they&rsquo;ll be coming to

-Plymouth or Southampton. Men, Jasper, men! No women would dare to run a

-boat at that pace. See how fast she is going. Oh hurry,

-hurry!&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He caught fire then. They ran back to find their

-bicycles. They ran, and presently they rode in silence, with fierce

-intensity. They rode at first as if they had but ten miles to go, and

-the lives of all the women in England depended upon their speed.</p>

-<p class="par">And though they slackened after the first few miles they

-still rode on with such eager determination that they reached Plymouth

-at sunset.</p>

-<p class="par">But they could see no sign of the liner in the waters

-about Plymouth. They saw only the deserted hulks of a hundred vessels

-that had ridden there untouched for twelve months, futile battleships

-and destroyers among them; great, venomous, useless things that had

-become void of all meaning in the struggle of humanity. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb313" href="#pb313" name="pb313">313</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not here. Let&rsquo;s go on!&rdquo;

-said Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">Jasper shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s well

-over a hundred miles to Southampton,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nearer a

-hundred and fifty, I should say.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But we must go on, we must,&rdquo; urged

-Eileen.</p>

-<p class="par">It was evident that Jasper, too, felt a compelling

-desire to go on. He stood still with a look of intense concentration on

-his face. Eileen had seen him look thus, when he had been momentarily

-frustrated by some problem of mill machinery. She waited expectant for

-the solution she was sure would presently emerge.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;A motor,&rdquo; he said, speaking in short

-disconnected sentences. &ldquo;If we can find paraffin and petrol and

-candles&mdash;light of some sort. The engines wouldn&rsquo;t rust, but

-they&rsquo;d clog. It must be paraffin. We daren&rsquo;t clean with

-petrol by artificial light. It&rsquo;s possible. Let&rsquo;s

-try....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">That night Jasper did not sleep, but Eileen, as she sat

-beside him in the softly moving motor, soon lost consciousness of the

-dim streak of road and black river of hedge. The moon, in her third

-quarter, had risen before midnight, and when they started was riding

-deep in the sky, half veiled by a vast wing of dappled cirrus. And

-that, too, merged into her dream. She thought she was driving out into

-the open sea in a ship which became miraculously winged and soared up

-towards an ever-approaching but unincreasing moon. She woke with a

-start to find that it was broad daylight and that a thin misty rain was

-coming up from the sea. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb314" href=

-"#pb314" name="pb314">314</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;The Solent,&rdquo; said Jasper, pointing to a

-distant gleam below them.</p>

-<p class="par">On the common they stopped and stood up in the car,

-watching a distant smear of smoke that stained the thin mist.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be coming up Southampton Water with

-the lead going,&rdquo; said Jasper, trying desperately to be calm.

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb315" href="#pb315" name=

-"pb315">315</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div id="epi" class="div0 book">

-<h2 class="main">EPILOGUE</h2>

-<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb317" href="#pb317" name=

-"pb317">317</a>]</span></p>

-<div id="epi1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divHead">

-<h2 class="super">EPILOGUE</h2>

-<h2 class="main">THE GREAT PLAN</h2>

-</div>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first">On the evening of that day Jasper and Eileen dined

-on board the &ldquo;Bombastic,&rdquo; that latest development of the

-old trans-Atlantic competition in shipbuilding, the boat that had made

-her first journey to New York carrying fugitives from England in the

-days when the threat of the plague grew hourly more imminent. The

-&ldquo;Bombastic&rdquo; had not justified her name, she had fled from

-Southampton without ceremony, and she had not returned for over a year.

-The &ldquo;Apologetic&rdquo; would have been more apt.</p>

-<p class="par">And on this evening of her return, the demeanour of that

-crowd of quiet serious men in the huge over-decorated saloon, gave no

-hint of bombast. As they listened intently to the rapid story of their

-two travel-stained and somewhat ragged guests, there was no hint of

-brag or boast among them all. They came not as conquerors but as

-friends.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But oh, it&rsquo;s <i>your</i> story we want to

-hear,&rdquo; broke in Eileen at last.</p>

-<p class="par">She had been strangely quiet so far, she had become

-suddenly conscious of the defects of her dress. The old associations

-were swarming about her. Eighteen months ago she had sat in just such

-another saloon as this, courted and flattered, the daughter

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb318" href="#pb318" name=

-"pb318">318</a>]</span>of a great aristocrat, a creature on a remote

-and gorgeous pedestal. Now it seemed that she was neither greater nor

-less than any man present. She was one of them, not set apart. She

-looked down at her hands, still oil-stained by her struggles with the

-motor on the previous night.</p>

-<p class="par">Jasper had been more patient. He was not less eager than

-Eileen to hear the explanation of this wonderful visit, of the

-resurrection of these twelve hundred men from a dead and silent world.

-But he had restrained his impatience and told his story first. He knew

-that so he would be more quickly satisfied. He would be able to listen

-to men who were not tense with an anxiety to ask questions.</p>

-<p class="par">They were sitting now at one end of a long table in the

-saloon, after eating a meal that had provided once more the longed-for

-satisfaction of salt.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said an American at the head of the

-table, turning to Eileen in answer to her protest, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve

-maybe been selfish in putting all these questions but we&rsquo;re

-looking ahead. We aren&rsquo;t forgetting that we&rsquo;ve a big work

-to do.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;But how did you get here?&rdquo; asked Eileen

-impetuously. &ldquo;How is it that you&rsquo;re all alive?&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, as to that, you&rsquo;d better ask the

-doctor, there,&rdquo; replied the American. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a

-countryman of yours, and he&rsquo;s been in the thick of it and knows

-the life story of that plague microbe like the history of

-England.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The doctor, a bearded, grave-eyed man, looked up and

-smiled.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Hardly that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We shall

-never know <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb319" href="#pb319" name=

-"pb319">319</a>]</span>now, I hope, the history of the plague organism.

-It was never studied under the microscope&mdash;we were too

-busy&mdash;and now we trust that the bacillus&mdash;if it were a

-bacillus&mdash;has encompassed its own destruction. What interests you,

-however, is that this sudden, miraculously sudden, development of its

-deadly power as regards humanity ran through a determinable cycle of

-evolution. From what you&rsquo;ve told us, already, it seems clear, I

-think, that even in England the bacillus was losing what I may call its

-effectiveness. The men in the West Country you&rsquo;ve described,

-probably died from starvation and neglect.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">He paused for a moment and then continued: &ldquo;Now in

-America both men and women were attacked. There was certainly a greater

-percentage of male cases, but I suppose something like half the female

-population was infected as well. As far as one can judge the bacillus

-was simply losing power. But for all we know it may have developed, it

-may be entering on a new stage of evolution, and in some apparently

-haphazard way now be beneficial to man instead of deadly. Such things

-may be happening every day below the reach of our knowledge. The little

-world is hidden from us, even as the great world is hidden....</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;However,&rdquo; he went on more briskly,

-&ldquo;the thing we do know is that the symptoms of the new plague in

-America differed materially from our expectation of them, gathered from

-the accounts that had reached us from the Old World. In England the

-paralysis lasted, I believe, some forty-eight hours and ended in death.

-In America the paralysis <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb320" href=

-"#pb320" name="pb320">320</a>]</span>rarely ended fatally, but it

-lasted in some cases for six months. &lsquo;Paresis,&rsquo; we called

-it. The patient was perfectly conscious but practically unable to move

-hand or foot.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That paresis gave us time to do some very clear

-and consecutive thinking, I may remark,&rdquo; put in an American.

-&ldquo;I had four months to study my ideas of life.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The doctor nodded thoughtfully. &ldquo;America is no

-less changed than England,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it is another

-change. Well, you understand that we did not all get the plague over

-there; the thing was less deadly in attack and about ten per cent of us

-were left to look after the patients.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And find food,&rdquo; interpolated one of the

-listeners.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;That was a time we won&rsquo;t ever

-forget,&rdquo; agreed another.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Sure thing,&rdquo; said some one, and a general

-murmur of assent ran round the table.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And all the machines were idle, of course,&rdquo;

-continued the doctor, &ldquo;and even when the tide of recovery began

-to flow we had to turn our attention first to the getting of

-food.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for that we&rsquo;d have

-been here before this,&rdquo; said a young man. &ldquo;I feel we owe

-England and Europe some kind of an apology, but we just had to get busy

-on food growing right away. We couldn&rsquo;t spare a ship&rsquo;s crew

-till three weeks ago.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And the others are hard at it over there

-still,&rdquo; put in another. &ldquo;This is just a pioneer

-party.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so comprehensible now,&rdquo; said

-Thrale <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb321" href="#pb321" name=

-"pb321">321</a>]</span>after a silence, &ldquo;but we had no idea, we

-never thought there could be any one living in America. We thought that

-somehow we must have heard. One forgets....&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We tried to get on to you,&rdquo; said one of the

-party, &ldquo;by cable and wireless. We kept on tapping away for

-months, but we got no reply. We thought you must be all dead

-too.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we guessed you were having a real bad time

-anyway,&rdquo; amended another. &ldquo;You see we knew the way that

-plague had taken Europe but we kept hoping and trying to get on to you

-all the same.&rdquo;</p>

-<hr class="tb">

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a message for Elsie, after

-all,&rdquo; Eileen said to Jasper the next day. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s

-hope for us yet.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, there&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; said Jasper.</p>

-<p class="par">They had been up at the town railway station assisting a

-party of Americans to investigate the condition of the rolling stock

-and the permanent way. Neither could be pronounced satisfactory. A few

-women had come in from the neighbouring country that morning attracted

-by the sight of an inexplicable pillar of smoke, and their report of

-local conditions had been equally uninspiring. They had spoken of

-famine and failure, but their faces had been lit by a new brightness at

-the sight of this miraculous little army of men. There had been hope in

-the faces and bearing of these toil-worn women, faith in the promise of

-support and succour.</p>

-<p class="par">Now Jasper and Eileen stood looking down towards the

-harbour. The tide was creeping in to <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb322" href="#pb322" name="pb322">322</a>]</span>efface the repulsive

-ugliness of the mud flats, and the sluggish water rippled faintly

-against the foul sloping sides of small boats that had lain anchored

-there for more than twelve months. Behind them, across the line, was a

-row of unsightly houses, hung with weather-slating.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, there&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; repeated

-Jasper.</p>

-<p class="par">He was thinking of all the work that lay before them,

-and yet he had faith that a new and better civilization would arise.

-&ldquo;We must get things going again,&rdquo; had been the

-Americans&rsquo; phrase, and they apparently faced the future without a

-qualm.</p>

-<p class="par">But Jasper&rsquo;s mind was perplexed with the detail of

-the mechanical work that must be faced, detail so intricate and

-confused that he was bewildered by its complexity. It appeared to him

-that the crux of the whole problem lay in the North, in the counties of

-coal and iron. Coal and steel were the first essentials, he thought.

-They must begin there in however small a way, and America must send out

-more men, continually more men. To-morrow he was going back in the

-motor, with two experts, to the cable hut in Sennen Cove. They were

-going to test the cable and hoped to re-establish communication with

-America, and then more ships would come and more men, ever more

-men.</p>

-<p class="par">And, even so, they could do little at first, and beyond

-lay the whole of Europe and still further the whole of Asia. Were women

-there, also, maintaining the terrible fight against Nature in the awful

-struggle to find food? Steel and coal we must have, <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb323" href="#pb323" name="pb323">323</a>]</span>was

-the burden of his thought, and in his imagination he pictured the

-waking of factories and mines, he had a vision of little engines

-running....</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen&rsquo;s thought had flown ahead. With one

-magnificent leap she had passed from the contemplation of present

-necessity to a realization of the dim future. And <i>her</i> thought

-found words.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Hope, lots of hope,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Hope

-of a new clean world. We&rsquo;ve got such a chance to begin all over

-again, and do it better. No more sweated labour, Jasper, and no more

-living on the work of others. We&rsquo;ve just got to pull together and

-work for each other. If we can get enough food, and we can now with all

-these dear men come to help us, we can do such wonderful things

-afterwards. There&rsquo;ll be lots of children growing up in a few

-years&rsquo; time, and we shall teach them the things we&rsquo;ve had

-to learn by the force of necessity. They&rsquo;ll begin so differently

-because, although we have had the experience of all history, we

-sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t be bound by all the foolish conventions that grew

-out of it. Such a silly incongruous growth, wasn&rsquo;t it? But I

-suppose it couldn&rsquo;t be helped in one way. We were so penned in.

-We all had our rotten little places to keep and that took all our time.

-We never had a chance to consider the broad issues, the real

-fundamental things. But you&rsquo;ve got to consider the fundamental

-things when you start clean away from a new beginning.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;And, oh! Jasper, surely we have all learnt

-certain things to avoid, haven&rsquo;t we? I mean class distinctions

-and sex distinctions, and things like that. Women won&rsquo;t trouble

-any more about titles and all that rot <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb324" href="#pb324" name="pb324">324</a>]</span>now, and anyway there

-aren&rsquo;t any left to trouble about. And social conditions will be

-so different now that there won&rsquo;t be any more marriage. Marriage

-was a man&rsquo;s prerogative; he wanted to keep his woman to himself,

-and keep his property for his children. It never really protected

-women, and anyway they were capable of protecting themselves if

-they&rsquo;d been given a chance. I know the children were a difficulty

-in the old days, but they won&rsquo;t be now. It&rsquo;ll be

-everybody&rsquo;s business to see that the children get looked after,

-and a woman won&rsquo;t starve just because she hasn&rsquo;t got a

-husband to keep her. She&rsquo;ll get better wages than that. The women

-who have children will be the most precious things we shall have.

-They&rsquo;ll live healthier lives, too, and they won&rsquo;t be

-incapacitated as they used to be. They&rsquo;ll work and be strong

-instead of spending all their time either in doing nothing or pottering

-about the house in an eternal round of cleaning the stupid, ugly things

-we used. We shall have to have all new houses, Jasper, when we get

-things going again.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it <i>will</i> be splendid,&rdquo; she broke

-out in a great burst of enthusiasm, &ldquo;and we begin to-day. We have

-begun.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">Jasper nodded. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a wonderful

-opportunity,&rdquo; he said.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Wonderful, wonderful,&rdquo; repeated Eileen.

-&ldquo;We all, men and women, start level again. Equality, Jasper,

-It&rsquo;s a beautiful word&mdash;Equality. Of course I know how

-unequal we all are from one point of view, and there must come a sort

-of aristocracy of intellect and efficiency. But underneath there will

-<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb325" href="#pb325" name=

-"pb325">325</a>]</span>be a true equality for all that, and we shall

-see to it that no man or woman can abuse their powers by making slaves

-again. What a world of slaves it used to be, and we weren&rsquo;t even

-slaves to intellect and efficiency, only to wealth and to money, and to

-some foolish idea of position and power.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got <i>our</i> work to do, here

-and now,&rdquo; said Jasper after a long pause.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Work? Of course, and I love it,&rdquo; returned

-Eileen, &ldquo;and while we work we&rsquo;ve got to think and

-teach.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par">The tide was coming in steadily, and near them an old

-boat that had been lying on the mud was now afloat once more and had

-taken on some of its old dignity.</p>

-<p class="par">Eileen pointed to it. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re afloat

-again,&rdquo; she remarked.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Embarked on the greatest plan the world has ever

-known,&rdquo; added Jasper.</p>

-<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all part of the great plan,&rdquo;

-concluded Eileen.</p>

-<p class="trailer xd23e5427">THE END</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="back">

-<div class="div1 imprint"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first"></p>

-<div class="figure xd23e5433width"><img src="images/logo.png" alt=""

-width="117" height="125">

-<p class="par first">THE ARDEN PRESS<br>

-LETCHWORTH</p>

-</div>

-<p class="par"><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb329" href="#pb329" name=

-"pb329">1</a>]</span></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first"></p>

-<div class="figure xd23e5442width"><img src="images/adtitlepage.png"

-alt="Title page for advertisement section." width="493" height=

-"720"></div>

-<p class="par"></p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="titlePage">

-<div class="docTitle">

-<div class="mainTitle">A LIST OF<br>

-CURRENT FICTION</div>

-</div>

-<div class="byline">PUBLISHED BY <span class="docAuthor">WILLIAM

-HEINEMANN</span></div>

-<div class="docImprint">AT 21 BEDFORD ST., LONDON, W.C.</div>

-</div>

-<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb330" href="#pb330" name=

-"pb330">2</a>]</span></p>

-<div class="div1 ads"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=

-"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>

-<div class="divBody">

-<p class="par first adTopLine">MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN&rsquo;S

-<span class="corr" id="xd23e5462" title="Source: NE">NEW</span>

-FICTION</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">BETWEEN TWO THIEVES</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by RICHARD DEHAN (2nd Impression) <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Dop Doctor,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is really an amazing piece of

-work. Its abounding energy, its grip on our attention, its biting

-humour, its strong, if sometimes lurid word painting have an effect of

-richness and fullness of teeming life, that sweeps one with it. What an

-ample chance for praise and whole hearted enjoyment. The thing unrols

-with a vividness that never fails.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily News and

-Leader.</i></p>

-<p class="par">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27966">THE DOP DOCTOR</a></p>

-<p class="par xd23e5485">[<i>Now in its 13th Edition.</i></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Pulsatingly real&mdash;gloomy, tragic,

-humorous, dignified, real. The cruelty of battle, the depth of

-disgusting villainy, the struggles of great souls, the irony of

-coincidence are all in its pages.... Who touches this book touches a

-man. I am grateful for the wonderful thrills &lsquo;The Dop

-Doctor&rsquo; has given me. It is a novel among a

-thousand.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily Express.</i></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12154">THE WEAKER VESSEL</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by E. F. BENSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">A really good &ldquo;Benson novel&rdquo; than

-which no more can be said.</p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>

-<div class="table">

-<table class="xd23e5509">

-<tbody>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft cellTop"></td>

-<td class="cellRight cellTop">JUGGERNAUT</td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">THE LUCK OF THE VAILS</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">ACCOUNT RENDERED</td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40797">MAMMON &amp; CO.</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft"></td>

-<td class="cellRight">AN ACT IN A BACKWATER</td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">PAUL</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44210">THE ANGEL OF PAIN</a></td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft"></td>

-<td class="cellRight">THE PRINCESS SOPHIA</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">THE BOOK OF MONTHS</td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">A REAPING</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">THE CHALLONERS</td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft"></td>

-<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46057">THE RELENTLESS CITY</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">THE CLIMBER</td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40795">SCARLET AND HYSSOP</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft"></td>

-<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45800">THE HOUSE OF DEFENCE</a></td>

-<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>

-<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight cellBottom">SHEAVES</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">*</td>

-<td class="cellRight">THE IMAGE IN THE SAND</td>

-</tr>

-</tbody>

-</table>

-</div>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Each Crn. 8vo. Price 6/-.</p>

-<p class="par">Those volumes marked * can also be obtained in the Two

-Shilling net Edition (Heinemann&rsquo;s Two Shilling Novels), uniformly

-bound, with coloured picture wrapper and frontispiece, and also the

-following volumes</p>

-<table class="splitlisttable">

-<tr>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5606">

-<li>THE OSBORNES</li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5606">

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46782">THE VINTAGE</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5606">

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44486">DODO</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par">&#8258; &ldquo;The Book of Months&rdquo; and &ldquo;A

-Reaping&rdquo; form one volume in this Edition. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb331" href="#pb331" name="pb331">3</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2774">THE PATRICIAN</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by JOHN GALSWORTHY <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;I cannot find better praise in which to

-sum up Mr. Galsworthy&rsquo;s &lsquo;Patrician&rsquo; than the one that

-it is &lsquo;deeply interesting&rsquo;. Indeed, there is a vividness

-about the whole story which is absolutely fascinating. It lingers in

-the memory long, long after other novels of a less distinguished but

-more thrilling nature have been completely

-forgotten.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Tatler</i>.</p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>

-<table class="splitlisttable">

-<tr>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5635">

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2772">THE COUNTRY HOUSE</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2773">FRATERNITY</a></li>

-<li>A MOTLEY</li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5635">

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2771">THE ISLAND

-PHARISEES</a></li>

-<li>THE MAN OF PROPERTY</li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2903">THE INN OF <span class=

-"corr" id="xd23e5652" title=

-"Source: TRANQUILLITY">TRANQUILITY</span></a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">MINNA</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by KARL GJELLERUP <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">A charming idyllic love story set in the

-beautiful &ldquo;Saxon Switzerland.&rdquo; A simpler, sweeter theme

-than the author&rsquo;s last book, but written with the same

-distinction of style and thought.</p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">By THE SAME AUTHOR.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE PILGRIM KAMANITA</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Behind the imagination which floats

-&lsquo;The Pilgrim Kamanita&rsquo; above the common there is a solid

-background of historical study which enables Mr. Gjellerup to make his

-characters and his scenes real<span class="corr" id="xd23e5671" title=

-"Source: ,">.</span> He has managed to catch the atmosphere of ancient

-India, and so wrap it about every place and act and speech in the story

-that the illusion and spell are on us from beginning to end.... It is a

-real romance, full of life and colour&mdash;and such colour as only

-India, in the full sensuous splendour of Hindu rites, can offer.... It

-is a beautiful allegory of the higher life, full of suggestion and even

-inspiration for those who have ears to hear. Mr. Gjellerup is to be

-congratulated not only on a noble idea, most skilfully presented, but

-also upon a translator who hardly ever lets us feel that we are not

-reading the original.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb332" href="#pb332" name="pb332">4</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44773">A LIKELY STORY</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by WILLIAM DE MORGAN <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;How delightful it all is.... Mr. De

-Morgan is worth having for himself alone and for the point of view of

-the world that he shows us.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Standard</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is great fun.... Much

-amusement, much cause for sly chuckling throughout the book.... I have

-enjoyed every line of it.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>T.P.&rsquo;s Weekly</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;You cannot resist the charm of the

-narrator, who makes you feel as if you were listening to an

-improvisation.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Spectator</i>.</p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>

-<table class="splitlisttable">

-<tr>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5704">

-<li>JOSEPH VANCE</li>

-<li>ALICE FOR SHORT</li>

-<li>AN AFFAIR OF DISHONOUR</li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul class="xd23e5704">

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46228">IT NEVER CAN HAPPEN

-AGAIN</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28345">SOMEHOW GOOD</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">SIR GUY AND LADY RANNARD</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by H. N. DICKINSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Keddy,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;<span class="corr" id="xd23e5730" title=

-"Source: Extraodinarily">Extraordinarily</span> clever indeed in this

-study. Apart from the absorbing interest of the two central characters,

-the book is full of able and suggestive studies. The whole book is one

-of the most remarkable that a young man has produced for many a long

-year.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE MAGNATE</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by ROBERT ELSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is a story that every reader will

-recommend after reading it&mdash;and with excellent reason, for it is

-fresh, original, and powerfully written.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily

-Graphic</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Elson has what Dickens and Thackeray

-and other great writers of fiction have. He has a personality.

-&lsquo;The Magnate&rsquo; is quite the freshest story that we have read

-for a long time. We have no hesitation in recommending it to all

-persons who like a novel which is full of thought and detail and brims

-over with optimism.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb333" href="#pb333" name="pb333">5</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/113">THE SECRET GARDEN</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by Mrs. HODGSON BURNETT <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Shuttle,&rdquo; &ldquo;Little Lord

-Fauntleroy,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par">Large Cr. 8vo, with coloured Illustrations by CHARLES

-ROBINSON.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The treatment by the authoress is as

-skilled in technique and vivid in human interest as the reader would

-expect from her.... The illustrations by Mr. Charles Robinson are the

-work of an artist rarely gifted.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily

-Telegraph</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">HE WHO PASSED</p>

-<p class="par adByline">To M. L. G. (Anon.) <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;As a story, it is one of the most

-enthralling I have read for a long time.... Six&mdash;seven

-o&rsquo;clock struck&mdash;half-past-seven&mdash;and yet this

-extraordinary narrative of a woman&rsquo;s life held me absolutely

-enthralled.... I forgot the weather; I forgot my own grievances; I

-forgot everything, in fact, under the spell of this wonderful book....

-In fact the whole book bears the stamp of reality from cover to cover.

-There is hardly a false or strained note in it. It is the ruthless

-study of a woman&rsquo;s life.... If it is not the novel of the season,

-the season is not likely to give us anything much

-better.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Tatler</i>.</p>

-<p class="par">Ready shortly, by the same author: &ldquo;The Life

-Mask.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">LESS THAN THE DUST</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by MARY AGNES HAMILTON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;There is something delightfully fresh in

-the method of treatment, something that seems to mark the passing of

-another milestone in the work of the literary woman. Literary is the

-right word, for Miss Hamilton&rsquo;s style bears the stamp of a

-natural purity of diction, while her analysis of emotion and character

-is keen without being over-protracted.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily

-Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb334" href="#pb334" name=

-"pb334">6</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39794">KING ERRANT</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by FLORA ANNIE STEEL <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40140">On the Face of the

-Waters</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Steel has made for herself a high

-reputation by the excellence of her Indian novels; in the vividness of

-the Oriental picture which it presents her &lsquo;King Errant&rsquo;

-stands on quite as high a level as her other books.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Historically accurate and sufficiently

-absorbing, and the results of Mrs. Steel&rsquo;s careful study of his

-character is that Baber stands out from the mists of nearly four

-centuries as a very real and attractive

-person.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>

-<table class="splitlisttable">

-<tr>

-<td>

-<ul>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39810">A PRINCE OF

-DREAMERS</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39987">THE FLOWER OF

-FORGIVENESS</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39821">FROM THE FIVE

-RIVERS</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39991">THE HOSTS OF THE

-LORD</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39795">IN THE GUARDIANSHIP OF

-GOD</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39832">IN THE PERMANENT

-WAY</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40142">MISS STUART&rsquo;S

-LEGACY</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40140">ON THE FACE OF THE

-WATERS</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39985">THE POTTER&rsquo;S

-THUMB</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40141">RED ROWANS</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39813">A SOVEREIGN

-REMEDY</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40045">VOICES IN THE

-NIGHT</a></li>

-<li>and other stories.</li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">ESSENCE OF HONEYMOON</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by H. PERRY ROBINSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Perry Robinson has never written a

-more fascinating and delightful little story than &lsquo;Essence of

-Honeymoon&rsquo;.... Mr. Perry Robinson says exactly the right

-thing.... An inimitable piece of sporting fun, admirably carried out,

-and we can recommend no better literature for all young people about to

-be married, or even after they have taken that sobering step, than Mr.

-Perry Robinson&rsquo;s delightful pages.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The

-Field</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">A PRISON WITHOUT A WALL</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by RALPH STRAUS <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Scandalous Mr. Waldo.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;This beautiful, whimsical, tragic

-biography. We are lost in admiration of Mr. Straus&rsquo; skill to

-portray the quintessential don. His pictures of combination room

-etiquette are literally to the life. But be knows also a wider world,

-and his touch is sure in drawing the eccentric great lady, the

-old-school politician, the passionate mondaine, and the fashionable

-charlatan.... This perfectly told story.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily

-Mail</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb335" href="#pb335" name=

-"pb335">7</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">JOHN CHRISTOPHER:</p>

-<div class="table">

-<table class="xd23e5895">

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft cellTop">I.</td>

-<td class="cellRight cellTop"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7979">Dawn and Morning</a>.</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">II.</td>

-<td class="cellRight">Storm and Stress.</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft">III.</td>

-<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8149">John Christopher in

-Paris</a><span class="corr" id="xd23e5914" title=

-"Not in source">.</span></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">IV.</td>

-<td class="cellRight cellBottom"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7967">The Journey&rsquo;s

-End</a><span class="corr" id="xd23e5922" title=

-"Not in source">.</span></td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-</div>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by ROMAIN ROLLAND <span class="adPrice">each

-6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Translated by GILBERT CANNAN. Author of &ldquo;Little

-Brother,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;To most readers he will be a revelation,

-a new interest in their lives. Take the book up where you will, and you

-feel interested at once. You can read it and re-read it. It never

-wearies nor grows irritating.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily

-Telegraph</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;His English exercises so easy an effect

-that the reader has never for an instant the irritating sense of

-missing beauties through the inadequacies of a borrowed language; we

-have also compared it in many cases with the original and found it

-remarkably accurate. Readers may then be assured that they will lose

-but little of Mr. Rolland&rsquo;s beauty and wisdom, even though they

-are unable to read him in the original, and Mr. Cannan is to be warmly

-congratulated.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;A noble piece of work, which must,

-without any doubt whatever, ultimately receive the praise and attention

-which it so undoubtedly merits.... There is hardly a single book more

-illustrative, more informing and more inspiring ... than M. Romain

-Rolland&rsquo;s creative work, &lsquo;John

-Christopher&rsquo;.&rdquo;&mdash;Extract from descriptive review in

-<i>The Daily Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb336" href=

-"#pb336" name="pb336">8</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO...?</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by ELIZABETH ROBINS</p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Come and Find Me,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;She has, indeed, in this fine novel,

-splendidly fulfilled the high purpose that inspired her to draw

-attention to a social danger and existing evil, no less horrible than

-real.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Never, not even when Charles Reade,

-making robust romance from Blue books, was denouncing our prison and

-madhouse systems, has such determined and forceful use been made of

-fiction for the purpose of undoing a grevious social

-evil.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily Chronicle</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">MOLYNEUX OF MAYFAIR</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by DUNCAN SCHWANN</p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Book of a Bachelor,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;This the third of Mr. Schwann&rsquo;s

-novels, is by a very long way his best. Mr. Schwann has beyond question

-written a book that may be termed light and frivolous, if you wish, but

-that nevertheless, as a picture of a certain section of modern London

-Society, has its more important side to it. In deftness, interest, and

-human nature it shows a great advance on &lsquo;The Book of a

-Bachelor.&rsquo;&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Standard</i>.</p>

-<p class="par">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE MAGIC OF THE HILL</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is in fact, to be read for its

-light-hearted pictures of modern Paris, Paris seen with eyes of someone

-who knows it intimately and loves it. Mr. Schwann has more than a

-little of Thackeray&rsquo;s absorbing interest in minor characters,

-minor events, and minor problems. The book proves that Mr. Schwann, as

-a student of life, has the right touch and the right

-humour.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=

-"pb337" href="#pb337" name="pb337">9</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1845">ZULEIKA DOBSON</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by MAX BEERBOHM <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14667">A Christmas

-Garland</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;In a word, he has achieved a

-masterpiece. He has written a book in which wit and invention never

-flag: a book, the writing of which he has enjoyed so tremendously that

-the reader enjoys it with him, as it were, personally, a book that is

-all of a piece, never halts, never drops; a book that is a sheer

-delight from cover to cover.&rdquo;&mdash;Alfred Sutton in <i>The Daily

-Mail</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39145">THE DEVOURERS</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by ANNIE VIVANTI CHARTRES <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is delightfully written....

-Mrs. Chartres has humour, she has style, she has

-pathos.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is a great feat for any author to

-succeed in interesting her readers in three successive generations of

-heroines within the covers of a single novel without diminution of

-sympathy; yet that feat has been accomplished in &lsquo;The

-Devourers&rsquo; ... it is an irresistible story and full of

-sympathetic charm.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Evening Standard</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5964">LOVE&rsquo;S PILGRIMAGE</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by UPTON SINCLAIR <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140">The Jungle</a>,&rdquo;

-&ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4923">King Midas</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Upton Sinclair has written around

-such a great subject with such marvellous intuition and skill, and has

-presented so many problems which are engaging general attention, that

-all feminists and theorists upon social subjects will be eager to read

-his latest book.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph</i>. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb338" href="#pb338" name="pb338">10</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">PASSION FRUIT</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by E. C. VIVIAN <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The interest all through depends mainly

-upon the male characters, who are drawn with unusual vigour and

-certainty.... The book as a whole is marked by a breadth of handling

-which sets it apart from the average novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning

-Post</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;Passion Fruit&rsquo; is the work

-of a past-master in story telling.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Sheffield

-Independent</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">BORROWERS OF FORTUNE</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by JESSIE LECKIE HERBERTSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Young Life,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">A novel of happier vein than has sometimes been

-the case with Miss Herbertson. Her lighter heart is as infectious as

-her gravity was impressive.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE DECLENSION OF HENRY D&rsquo;ALBIAC</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by V. GOLDIE <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Nigel Thomson,&rdquo; and

-&ldquo;Majorie Stevens.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is by far the best and the liveliest

-of the suffragist stories we have come across, though by the way, the

-particular propaganda is by no means the chief object of the book.

-Indeed, propaganda of any kind is in its pages always subordinate to

-the author&rsquo;s abundant and vivacious sense of

-humour.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian</i>. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb339" href="#pb339" name="pb339">11</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF HALL CAINE</p>

-<p class="par">(of which over 3 million copies have been sold).</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;These volumes are in every way a

-pleasure to read. Of living authors, Mr. Hall Caine must certainly sway

-as multitudinous a following as any living man. A novel from his pen

-has become indeed for England and America something of an international

-event.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>

-<table class="splitlisttable">

-<tr>

-<td>

-<ul>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33999">THE BONDMAN</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25572">CAPT&rsquo;N <span class=

-"corr" id="xd23e6112" title="Source: DAVEYS">DAVY&rsquo;S</span>

-HONEYMOON</a></li>

-<li>MY STORY</li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52342">THE WHITE

-PROPHET</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19732">THE ETERNAL CITY</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25570">THE MANXMAN</a></li>

-<li>THE PRODIGAL SON</li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1303">THE SCAPEGOAT</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8407">THE CHRISTIAN</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">A PORTENTOUS HISTORY</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by ALFRED TENNYSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;With considerable skill we are shown how

-ignorant and conventional prejudice of all the normal inhabitants of

-the village are roused against the poor, good giant, only because he is

-greater than they are. Mr. Tennyson gives a vivid and unpleasant

-picture of prejudice and instinctive cruelty. In Mr. Tennyson we have a

-new novelist with something real and weighty to

-say.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN KETTLE</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Captain Kettle,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;When one has once opened &lsquo;The

-Marriage of Kettle&rsquo; it is impossible to put it down unfinished.

-Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne has such a vivid pen and seems so intimately

-acquainted with the sea and seafaring life, and introduces us to so

-many humorous and realistic characters, that we feel as if we had

-actually sailed with the great Kettle on his adventurous voyages, and

-had shared his hairbreadth escapes.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Evening Standard

-and St. James&rsquo;s Gazette</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb340"

-href="#pb340" name="pb340">12</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">TALES OF THE UNEASY</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by VIOLET HUNT <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Wife of Altamont.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Miss Violet Hunt is eminently skilful,

-albeit a relentless &lsquo;raconteuse&rsquo;, the light of her

-inspiration burns with a hard gemlike flame. Miss Hunt has gained

-greatly in craftsmanship during the last few years: her style is

-excellent, her grip of subjects sure, and her insight exceptionally

-clear and sane.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Athen&aelig;um</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">ESTHER</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by AGNES E. JACOMB <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is well written and the

-characters are well drawn.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Miss Jacomb has written in

-&lsquo;Esther&rsquo; a very interesting novel; its situations are

-original, and the characters are sufficiently individual to make a

-convincing whole....&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3728">THE GETTING OF WISDOM</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by HENRY HANDEL RICHARDSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3727">Maurice Guest</a>.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;An extraordinarily intimate and

-sympathetic study of a little girl and of the influence school-life has

-upon her gives unusual charm and interest to this

-story.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;Stalky for Girls&rsquo; might

-very well be the sub-title of Mr. Richardson&rsquo;s story. What

-&lsquo;Stalky &amp; Co.&rsquo; did for the boy, &lsquo;The Getting of

-Wisdom&rsquo; tries to do for the girl. It is a bright, vivid piece of

-character writing.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Saturday Review</i>. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb341" href="#pb341" name="pb341">13</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/746">BURNING DAYLIGHT</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by JACK LONDON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/215">The Call of the Wild</a>,&rdquo;

-&ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1056">Martin Eden</a>,&rdquo;

-etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;I have long regarded the stories of Mr.

-Jack London as a welcome relief from the dulness of most contemporary

-fiction, and his latest, &lsquo;Burning Daylight,&rsquo; did not

-disappoint me in this respect. No one who has read the author&rsquo;s

-previous works will need to be told with what wonderful skill the

-atmosphere of this grim and unfriendly land is conveyed. There is one

-chapter, especially, which tells how, for a bet, Daylight raced two

-thousand miles over an unbroken trail of ice in sixty days that seems

-to me absolutely the best piece of descriptive writing of its kind that

-ever I read.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Punch</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38561">THE WHITE PEACOCK</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by D. H. LAWRENCE <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;A book of real distinction, both of

-style and thought. Many of the descriptive passages have an almost

-lyrical charm, and the characterisation is, generally speaking, deft

-and life-like. &lsquo;The White Peacock&rsquo; is a book not only worth

-reading but worth reckoning with, for we are inclined to think that its

-author has come to stay.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">LOVE LIKE THE SEA</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by J. E. PATTERSON <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Tillers of the Soil,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;He tells his story to the sound of wind

-and waves, and if now and again his ardour for and knowledge of the sea

-leads him aside from the purpose of his scheme, the digressions are so

-admirably done that the book would lose from the point of view of

-literary interest were they omitted.... The three principal characters

-are well drawn (there are minor ones also excellently

-delineated).&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Globe</i>. <span class=

-"pagenum">[<a id="pb342" href="#pb342" name="pb342">14</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">ADNAM&rsquo;S ORCHARD</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by SARAH GRAND <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>

-<table class="splitlisttable">

-<tr>

-<td>

-<ul>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8676">THE HEAVENLY

-TWINS</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6855">IDEALA</a></li>

-<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"

-href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28088">THE BETH BOOK</a></li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-<td>

-<ul>

-<li>OUR MANIFOLD NATURE</li>

-<li>etc., etc.</li>

-</ul>

-</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-<p class="par"></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Admirers of Mrs. Grand will be glad to

-find in her new book &lsquo;Adnam&rsquo;s Orchard&rsquo; the same

-vivacity and the same provocative spirit that gave its wide currency to

-her &lsquo;Heavenly Twins,&rsquo; Both qualities sustain and inspire

-her to the last page of the six hundred and thirty which make up her

-latest novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE REWARD OF VIRTUE</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by AMBER REEVES <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;There is cleverness enough and to spare,

-but it is ... a spontaneous cleverness, innate, not laboriously

-acquired.... The dialogue ... is so natural, so unaffected, that it is

-quite possible to read it without noticing the high artistic quality of

-it.... For a first novel Miss Reeves&rsquo;s is a remarkable

-achievement; it would be a distinct achievement even were it not a

-first novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE COST OF IT</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by ELEANOR MORDAUNT <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Garden of Contentment.&rdquo;</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Packed full of character and real

-life.... The character of the heroine is admirably drawn upon quite

-unconventional lines ... the situation is worked out with remarkable

-vigour and intensity. This is a fine, powerful and impressive novel,

-triumphing over inadequacies of literary training by sheer force of

-sincerity and of glowing human sentiment.<span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e6324" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<i>Daily

-Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb343" href="#pb343" name=

-"pb343">15</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">A RUNAWAY RING</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by Mrs. HENRY E. DUDENEY <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Maids&rsquo; Money,&rdquo; &ldquo;The

-Orchard Thief,&rdquo; &ldquo;A Large Room,&rdquo; etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Her previous work has been good, but in

-&lsquo;A Runaway Ring&rsquo; she has surpassed her best previous

-efforts, and it is no easy matter to do her sufficient honour. To make

-a romance from life&rsquo;s &lsquo;fedious afternoon&rsquo; without

-being simply sentimental is a task which scarcely any accomplish, and

-so, when the thing is done, it can only be judged on its own merits and

-without comparison.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE ADJUSTMENT</p>

-<p class="par adByline">by MARGUERITE BRYANT <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker,&rdquo;

-etc.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;The Adjustment&rsquo; ... is a

-notable novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is an admirable book, of an original

-and impressive nature, the authoress well understands the portrayal of

-human passions, whether love or hate, and makes her characters

-singularly attractive.... Many excellent situations add to the general

-interest.... We advise all who enjoy a thoroughly good novel to add

-&lsquo;The Adjustment&rsquo; to their library list.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The

-Globe</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19943">THE HIPPODROME</a></p>

-<p class="par adByline">by RACHEL HAYWARD <span class=

-"adPrice">6/-</span></p>

-<p class="par">Illustrated by CLARA WATERS.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">A brightly coloured story, the scene of which

-is laid in Barcelona. A young Irish girl who is dependent on herself

-for a means of subsistence becomes a &ldquo;star&rdquo; turn at a

-circus. While in the back-waters of that existence she falls in with

-certain gentlemen of international importance. She becomes their dupe

-and slave and passes through many adventures. But there is a way of

-escape and she takes it. Decidedly a book of swift movement and keen

-excitement. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb344" href="#pb344" name=

-"pb344">16</a>]</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF LEO TOLSTOY</p>

-<p class="par adByline">Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT</p>

-<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1399">ANNA <span class="corr" id=

-"xd23e6387" title="Source: KARENIN">KARENINA</span></a> <span class=

-"adPrice">2/6 net</span></p>

-<p class="par adTitle">WAR AND PEACE <span class="adPrice">3/6

-net</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Garnett&rsquo;s translations from

-the Russian are always distinguished by most careful accuracy and a

-fine literary flavour. In this new rendering of Tolstoy she has

-surpassed herself.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Bookman</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Garnett&rsquo;s translation has all

-the ease and vigour which Matthew Arnold found in French versions of

-Russian novels and missed in English. She is indeed so successful that,

-but for the names, one might easily forget he was reading a foreign

-author.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Contemporary Review</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF DOSTOEVSKY</p>

-<p class="par adByline">Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT</p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;By the genius of Dostoevsky you are

-always in the presence of living, passionate characters. They are not

-puppets, they are not acting to keep the plot in motion. They are men

-and women&mdash;I should say you can hear them

-breathe&mdash;irresistibly moving to their appointed

-ends.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Evening News</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">I. <a class="pglink xd23e43" title=

-"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28054">THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV</a>

-<span class="adPrice">3/6 net</span></p>

-<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;No other writer perhaps has given to

-materials so ugly, not merely strength and life, but grave pathos and

-tragic beauty.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>

-<p class="par adTitle">II. THE IDIOT</p>

-<p class="par">Ready Shortly:</p>

-<p class="par">Now for the first time translated in full from the

-Russian by CONSTANCE GARNETT, translator of the Novels of TURGENEV and

-TOLSTOY.</p>

-<p class="par adBottomLine">21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C.</p>

-</div>

-</div>

-<div class="transcribernote">

-<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2>

-<h3 class="main">Availability</h3>

-<p class="par first">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no

-cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give

-it away or re-use it under the terms of the <a class="seclink xd23e43"

-title="External link" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/license" rel=

-"license">Project Gutenberg License</a> included with this eBook or

-online at <a class="seclink xd23e43" title="External link" href=

-"https://www.gutenberg.org/" rel="home">www.gutenberg.org</a>.</p>

-<p class="par">This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed

-Proofreading Team at <a class="exlink xd23e43" title="External link"

-href="http://www.pgdp.net/">www.pgdp.net</a>.</p>

-<h3 class="main">Encoding</h3>

-<p class="par first"></p>

-<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3>

-<ul>

-<li>2016-11-24 Started.</li>

-</ul>

-<h3 class="main">External References</h3>

-<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These

-links may not work for you.</p>

-<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3>

-<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p>

-<table class="correctiontable" summary=

-"Overview of corrections applied to the text.">

-<tr>

-<th>Page</th>

-<th>Source</th>

-<th>Correction</th>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e336">10</a>,

-<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4932">292</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e461">16</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&rsquo;</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e901">43</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">premisses</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">premises</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1025">50</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&ldquo;</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&lsquo;</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1073">52</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1076">52</a>,

-<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1183">62</a>, <a class="pageref" href=

-"#xd23e1188">62</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1206">63</a>,

-<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4363">257</a>, <a class="pageref" href=

-"#xd23e4673">277</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4693">278</a>,

-<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5914">7</a>, <a class="pageref" href=

-"#xd23e5922">7</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1773">96</a>,

-<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2688">152</a>, <a class="pageref" href=

-"#xd23e3206">183</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e3250">185</a>,

-<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4311">255</a>, <a class="pageref" href=

-"#xd23e4929">292</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6324">14</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2849">162</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">maladorous</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">malodorous</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2936">167</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">&ldquo;</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e3626">209</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">your</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">you&rsquo;re</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4227">248</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">remainded</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">remained</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4468">263</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5462">2</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">NE</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">NEW</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5652">3</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">TRANQUILLITY</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">TRANQUILITY</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5671">3</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5730">4</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">Extraodinarily</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">Extraordinarily</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6112">11</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">DAVEYS</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">DAVY&rsquo;S</td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6387">16</a></td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">KARENIN</td>

-<td class="width40 bottom">KARENINA</td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-</div>

-<div class="div1" id="toc">

-<h2 class="main">Table of Contents</h2>

-<table>

-<tr>

-<td class="tocDivNum">I.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk1">THE NEW

-PLAGUE</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk1">1</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">I.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch1">THE GOSLING

-FAMILY</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch1">3</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">II.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch2">THE OPINIONS OF

-JASPER THRALE</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch2">19</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">III.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch3">LONDON&rsquo;S

-INCREDULITY</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch3">39</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">IV.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch4">MR BARKER&rsquo;S

-FLAIR</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch4">45</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">V.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch5">THE CLOSED

-DOOR</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch5">52</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">VI.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch6">DISASTER</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch6">63</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">VII.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch7">PANIC</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch7">77</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">VIII.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch8">GURNEY IN

-CORNWALL</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch8">89</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">IX.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch9">THE DEVOLUTION OF

-GEORGE GOSLING</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch9">98</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">X.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch10">EXODUS</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch10">121</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="tocDivNum">II.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk2">THE MARCH OF THE

-GOSLINGS</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk2">127</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XI.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch11">THE SILENT

-CITY</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch11">129</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XII.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch12">EMIGRANT</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch12">150</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XIII.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href=

-"#ch13">DIFFERENCES</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch13">171</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XIV.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch14">AUNT MAY</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch14">186</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XV.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch15">FROM SUDBURY TO

-WYCOMBE</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch15">196</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XVI.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch16">THE YOUNG BUTCHER

-OF HIGH WYCOMBE</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch16">212</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="tocDivNum">III.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk3">WOMANKIND IN THE

-MAKING</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk3">227</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XVII.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch17">LONDON TO

-MARLOW</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch17">229</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XVIII.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch18">MODES OF

-EXPRESSION</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch18">250</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XIX.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch19">ON THE

-FLOOD</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch19">283</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XX.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch20">THE TERRORS OF

-SPRING</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch20">297</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum">XXI.</td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch21">SMOKE</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch21">304</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td class="tocDivNum"></td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#epi">EPILOGUE</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#epi">315</a></td>

-</tr>

-<tr>

-<td></td>

-<td class="tocDivNum"></td>

-<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#epi1">THE GREAT

-PLAN</a></td>

-<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#epi1">317</a></td>

-</tr>

-</table>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-<pre>

-

-

-

-

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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 53611 ***</div>
+
+<div class="front">
+<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e100width"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=
+"Original Front Cover." width="462" height="720"></div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e106width"><img src="images/titlepage.png" alt=
+"Original Title Page." width="410" height="720"></div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 frenchtitle"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first xd23e112">Goslings</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ads" class="div1 ads"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main xd23e116">New 6s. Novels</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"><b>THE AMBASSADRESS. By William
+Wriothesley.</b></p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE WEAKER VESSEL. By E. F. Benson</b>, author of
+&ldquo;Account Rendered,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>&ldquo;WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO...?&rdquo; By Elizabeth
+Robins</b>, author of &ldquo;The Magnetic North,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>A RUNAWAY RING. By Mrs Henry Dudeney</b>, author of
+&ldquo;The Orchard Thief,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>LU OF THE RANGES. By Eleanor Mordaunt</b>, author of
+&ldquo;The Cost of It,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE STORY OF STEPHEN COMPTON. By J. E. Patterson</b>,
+author of &ldquo;Tillers of the Soil,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE FRONTIERS OF THE HEART. By Victor
+Margueritte.</b></p>
+<p class="par"><b>JOHN CHRISTOPHER (IV). Journey&rsquo;s End. By Romain
+Rolland</b>, translated by Gilbert Cannan.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE HIPPODROME. By Rachel Hayward.</b></p>
+<p class="par"><b>GUTTER BABIES. By Dorothea Slade</b>, illustrated by
+Lady Stanley.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>MINNA. By Karl Gjellerup</b>, author of &ldquo;The
+Pilgrim Kamanita.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par"><b>GROWING PAINS. By Ivy Low.</b></p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="titlePage">
+<div class="docTitle">
+<div class="mainTitle">Goslings</div>
+</div>
+<div class="byline">By<br>
+<span class="docAuthor">J. D. Beresford</span><br>
+Author of &ldquo;The Hampdenshire Wonder,&rdquo; etc.</div>
+<div class="docImprint">London<br>
+William Heinemann<br>
+<span class="docDate">1913</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 copyright"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first xd23e193"><i>Copyright</i>, 1913] <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb1" href="#pb1" name="pb1">1</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="body">
+<div id="bk1" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="label">BOOK I</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE NEW PLAGUE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb3" href="#pb3" name=
+"pb3">3</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="ch1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">I&mdash;</span>THE GOSLING
+FAMILY</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the gels gone to?&rdquo;
+asked Mr Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Up the &rsquo;Igh Road to look at the shops.
+I&rsquo;m expectin&rsquo; &rsquo;em in every minute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ho!&rdquo; said Gosling. He leaned against the
+dresser; the kitchen was hot with steam, and he fumbled for a
+handkerchief in the pocket of his black tail coat. He produced first a
+large red bandanna with which he blew his nose vigorously. &ldquo;Snuff
+&rsquo;andkerchief; brought it &rsquo;ome to be washed,&rdquo; he
+remarked, and then brought out a white handkerchief which he used to
+wipe his forehead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dirty &rsquo;abit
+snuff-taking,&rdquo; commented Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you can&rsquo;t smoke in the orfice,&rdquo;
+replied Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Must be doin&rsquo; somethin&rsquo;, I
+suppose?&rdquo; said his wife.</p>
+<p class="par">When the recital of this formula had been
+accomplished&mdash;it was hallowed by a precise repetition every week,
+and had been established now for a quarter of a century&mdash;Gosling
+returned to the subject in hand. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb4"
+href="#pb4" name="pb4">4</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They does a lot of lookin&rsquo; at shops,&rdquo;
+he said, &ldquo;and then nothin&rsquo; &rsquo;ll satisfy &rsquo;em but
+buyin&rsquo; somethin&rsquo;. Why don&rsquo;t they keep away from
+&rsquo;em?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well; sales begin nex&rsquo; week,&rdquo;
+replied Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;An&rsquo; that&rsquo;s a thing we
+&rsquo;ave to consider in our circumstances.&rdquo; She left the
+vicinity of the gas-stove, and bustled over to the dresser.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, get out of my way, do,&rdquo; she went on,
+&ldquo;an&rsquo; go up and change your coat. Dinner&rsquo;ll be ready
+in two ticks. I shan&rsquo;t wait for the gells if they ain&rsquo;t
+in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Them sales is a fraud,&rdquo; remarked Gosling,
+but he did not stop to argue the point.</p>
+<p class="par">He went upstairs and changed his respectable
+&ldquo;morning&rdquo; coat for a short alpaca jacket, slipped his cuffs
+over his hands, put one inside the other and placed them in their
+customary position on the chest of drawers, changed his boots for
+carpet slippers, wetted his hair brush and carefully plastered down a
+long wisp of grey hair over the top of his bald head, and then went
+into the bathroom to wash his hands.</p>
+<p class="par">There had been a time in George Gosling&rsquo;s history
+when he had not been so regardful of the decencies of life. But he was
+a man of position now, and his two daughters insisted on these
+ceremonial observances.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was one of the world&rsquo;s successes. He had
+started life as a National School boy, and had worked his way up
+through all the grades&mdash;messenger, office-boy, junior clerk,
+clerk, senior clerk, head clerk, accountant&mdash;to his present
+responsible position as head of the counting-house, with a salary of
+&pound;26 a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb5" href="#pb5" name=
+"pb5">5</a>]</span>month. He rented a house in Wisteria Grove,
+Brondesbury, at &pound;45 a year; he was a sidesman of the church of St
+John the Evangelist, Kilburn; a member of Local Committees; and in
+moments of expansion he talked of seeking election to the District
+Council. A solid, sober, thoroughly respectable man, Gosling, about
+whom there had never been a hint of scandal; grown stout now, and
+bald&mdash;save for a little hair over the ears, and that one
+persistent grey tress which he used as a sort of insufficient wrapping
+for his naked skull.</p>
+<p class="par">Such was the George Gosling seen by his wife, daughters,
+neighbours, and heads of the firm of wholesale provision merchants for
+whom he had worked for forty-one years in Barbican, E.C. Yet there was
+another man, hardly realized by George Gosling himself, and apparently
+so little representative that even his particular cronies in the office
+would never have entered any description of him, if they had been
+obliged to give a detailed account of their colleague&rsquo;s
+character.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, if you heard Gosling laughing uproariously
+at some story produced by one of those cronies, you might be quite
+certain that it was a story he would not repeat before his daughters,
+though he might tell his wife&mdash;if it were not too broad. If you
+watched Gosling in the street, you would see that he took a strange,
+unaccountable interest in the feet and ankles of young women. And if
+many of Gosling&rsquo;s thoughts and desires had been translated into
+action, the Vicar of St John the Evangelist would have dismissed his
+sidesman with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb6" href="#pb6" name=
+"pb6">6</a>]</span>disgust, the Local Committees would have had no more
+of him, and his wife and daughters would have regarded him as the most
+depraved of criminals.</p>
+<p class="par">Fortunately, Gosling had never been tempted beyond the
+powers of his resistance. At fifty-five, he may be regarded as safe
+from temptation. He seldom put any restraint upon his thoughts, outside
+business hours; but he had an ideal which ruled his life&mdash;the
+ideal of respectability. George Gosling counted himself&mdash;and
+others counted him also&mdash;as respectable a man as could be found in
+the Metropolitan Police area. There were, perhaps, a quarter of a
+million other men in the same area, equally respectable.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">As he was drying his hands, Gosling heard the
+front door slam and his daughters&rsquo; voices in the passage below,
+followed by a shrill exhortation from the kitchen: &ldquo;Now, gels,
+&rsquo;urry up, dinner&rsquo;s all ready and your father&rsquo;s
+waitin&rsquo;!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling trotted downstairs and received the usual salute
+from his two girls. He noted that they were a shade more effusive than
+usual. &ldquo;Want more money for fal-lals,&rdquo; was his inward
+comment. They were always wanting money for &ldquo;fal-lals.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He adopted his usual line of defence through dinner and
+constantly brought the subject of conversation back to the need for a
+reduction of expenses. He did not see Blanche wink at Millie across the
+table, during these strategic exercises; nor catch the glance of
+understanding which passed between <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb7"
+href="#pb7" name="pb7">7</a>]</span>the girls and their mother. So, as
+his dinner comforted and cheered him, Gosling began to relax into his
+usual facetiousness; incredibly believing, despite the invariable
+precedents of his family history, that his daughters had been convinced
+of the hopelessness of approaching him for money that evening.</p>
+<p class="par">The credulous creature even allowed them to make their
+opening, and then assisted them to a statement of their petition.</p>
+<p class="par">They were talking of a friend&rsquo;s engagement to be
+married, and Gosling with an obtuseness he never displayed in business
+remarked, &ldquo;Wish my gels &rsquo;ud get married.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Talking about us, father?&rdquo; asked
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you&rsquo;re the only gels I&rsquo;ve
+got&mdash;as I know of,&rdquo; said Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, how can you expect us to get married when
+we haven&rsquo;t got a decent thing to put on?&rdquo; returned
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling realized his danger too late. &ldquo;Pooh! That
+don&rsquo;t make any difference,&rdquo; he said hastily, adopting a
+thoroughly unsound line of defence; &ldquo;I never noticed what your
+mother was wearing when I courted &rsquo;er.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Dessay you didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Millie,
+&ldquo;I dessay most fellows couldn&rsquo;t tell you what a girl was
+wearing, but it makes just all the difference for all that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Of course it does,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;A
+girl&rsquo;s got no chance these days unless she can look smart. No
+fellow&rsquo;s going to marry a dowdy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It does make a big difference, there&rsquo;s no
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb8" href="#pb8" name=
+"pb8">8</a>]</span>denyin&rsquo;,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling, as though
+she was being convinced against her will.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And now the sales are just
+beginning&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Poor Gosling knew the game was up. They had made no
+direct attack upon his pocket, yet; but they would not relax their grip
+of this fascinating subject till they had achieved their object.
+Blanche was saying that she was ashamed to be seen anywhere; and
+procrastination would be met at once by the argument&mdash;how well he
+knew it&mdash;based on the premise that if you didn&rsquo;t buy at
+sale-time, you had to pay twice as much later.</p>
+<p class="par">It was quite useless for Gosling to fidget, throw
+himself back in his chair, frown, shake his head, and look horribly
+determined; the course of progress was unalterable from the direct
+attack: &ldquo;Do you <i>like</i> to see us going about in rags,
+father?&rdquo; through the stage of &ldquo;Well, well, &rsquo;ow much
+do you want? I simply <i>can&rsquo;t</i> afford&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+and the ensuing haggles down to the despairing sigh as the original
+minimum demanded&mdash;in this case no less than five pounds&mdash;was
+forlornly conceded, and clinched by Blanche&rsquo;s, &ldquo;We must
+have it before the end of the week, dad, the sales begin on
+Monday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">At the end of it all, he received what compensation they
+had to offer him; hugs and kisses, offers to do all sorts of impossible
+things, assistance in getting his armchair into precisely the right
+position, and him into the chair, and the table cleared and the lamp in
+just the right place for him to read his half-penny evening paper which
+was fetched for him from the pocket of his overcoat. And, finally, the
+crux of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb9" href="#pb9" name=
+"pb9">9</a>]</span>Gosling&rsquo;s whole position, a general air of
+complacency, good-temper and comfort.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was an easy-going man, he hated rows.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mind you, you two,&rdquo; he remarked with a
+return to facetiousness as he settled himself with his carpet slippers
+spread out to the fire&mdash;&ldquo;mind you, I look on this money as
+an investment. You two gels got to get married; and quick or I shall be
+in the bankrup&rsquo;cy Court. Don&rsquo;t you forget as these
+&lsquo;fal-lals&rsquo; is bought for a purpose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t be so horrid, father,&rdquo; said
+Blanche, with a change of front; &ldquo;it sounds as if we were setting
+traps for men.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, ain&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; asked Gosling.
+&ldquo;You said just now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not like that,&rdquo; interrupted Blanche.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very different just wanting to look nice. Personally,
+I&rsquo;m in no &rsquo;urry to get married, thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You wait till Mr Right comes along,&rdquo; put in
+Mrs Gosling, and then turned the conversation by saying: &ldquo;Well,
+father, what&rsquo;s the news this evening?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Nothin&rsquo; excitin&rsquo;,&rdquo; replied
+Gosling. &ldquo;Seems this new plague&rsquo;s spreadin&rsquo; in
+China.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re always inventin&rsquo; new
+diseases, nowadays, or callin&rsquo; old ones by new names,&rdquo; said
+Mrs Gosling. The two girls were busy with a sheet of note-paper and a
+stump of pencil that seemed to require frequent lubrication; they were
+making calculations.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This one&rsquo;s quite new, seemingly,&rdquo;
+returned Gosling. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only the men as get it.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb10" href="#pb10" name=
+"pb10">10</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No need for us to worry, then,&rdquo; put in
+Millie, more as a duty, some slight return for benefits promised, than
+because she took any interest in the subject. Blanche was absorbed; her
+unseeing gaze was fixed on the mantelpiece and ever and again she
+removed the point of the pencil from her mouth and wrote
+feverishly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, ain&rsquo;t there?&rdquo; replied Gosling. He
+turned his head in order to argue from so strong a position. &ldquo;And
+where&rsquo;d you be, and all the rest of the women, if you
+&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t got no men to look after you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I expect we could get along pretty well, if we
+had to,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling winked at his wife, and indicated by an upward
+movement of his chin that he was astounded at such innocence.
+&ldquo;Who&rsquo;d buy your &lsquo;fal-lals&rsquo; for you, I should
+like to know?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;d have to earn money for
+ourselves,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! I&rsquo;d like to see you or Blanche
+takin&rsquo; over my job,&rdquo; replied her father. &ldquo;Why,
+I&rsquo;ll lay there&rsquo;s &rsquo;alf a dozen mistakes in the
+figurin&rsquo; she&rsquo;s doing at the present moment. Let me
+see!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche descended suddenly from visions of Paradise, and
+put her hand over the sheet of note-paper. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t,
+father,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling looked sly. &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; he said, with
+simulated surprise. &ldquo;And why not?<a id="xd23e336" name=
+"xd23e336"></a> Ain&rsquo;t I to be allowed to judge of the nature of
+the investment I&rsquo;m goin&rsquo; in for? I might give you an
+&rsquo;int or two from the gentleman&rsquo;s point of view.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb11" href="#pb11" name=
+"pb11">11</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shook her head. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t added it
+up yet,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling did not press the point; he returned to his
+original position. &ldquo;I dunno where you ladies &rsquo;ud be if you
+&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t no gentlemen to look after you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling smirked. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ope it
+won&rsquo;t come to that,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;China&rsquo;s a long
+way off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Appears as there&rsquo;s been one case in Russia,
+though,&rdquo; remarked Gosling. He saw that he had rather a good thing
+in this threat of male extermination, a pleasant, harmless threat to
+hold over his feminine dependents; a means to emphasize the facts of
+masculine superiority and of the absolute necessity for masculine
+intelligence; facts that were not sufficiently well realized in
+Wisteria Grove, at times.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling yawned surreptitiously. She was doing her
+best to be pleasant, but the subject bored her. She was a practical
+woman who worked hard all day to keep her house clean, and received
+very feeble assistance from the daughters for whom her one ambition was
+an establishment conducted on lines precisely similar to her own.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie and Blanche had returned to their calculations
+and were completely absorbed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In Russia? Just fancy,&rdquo; commented Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In Moscow,&rdquo; said Gosling, studying his
+<i>Evening News</i>. &ldquo;&rsquo;E was an official on the
+trans-Siberian Railway. &lsquo;As soon as the disease was identified as
+a case of the new plague,&rsquo;&rdquo; read Gosling, &ldquo;&lsquo;the
+patient was at once removed to the infectious hospital and strictly
+isolated. He died within two <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb12" href=
+"#pb12" name="pb12">12</a>]</span>hours of his admission. Stringent
+measures are being taken to prevent the infection from
+spreading.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Was &rsquo;e a married man?&rdquo; asked Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; replied her husband.
+&ldquo;But the point is that if it once gets to Europe, who knows where
+it&rsquo;ll stop?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll see to that, you may be
+sure,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling, with a beautiful faith in the scientific
+resources of civilization. &ldquo;It said somethin&rsquo; about that in
+the bit you&rsquo;ve just read.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was not to be done out of his argument.
+&ldquo;Very like,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But now, just supposin&rsquo;
+as this &rsquo;ere plague did spread to London, and &rsquo;alf the men
+couldn&rsquo;t go to work; where d&rsquo;you fancy you&rsquo;d
+be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was unable to grasp the intricacies of this
+abstraction. &ldquo;Well, of course, every one knows as we
+couldn&rsquo;t get on without the men,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! well there you are, got it in once,&rdquo;
+said Gosling. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you gels forget it,&rdquo; he
+added turning to his daughters.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie only giggled, but Blanche said, &ldquo;All right,
+dad, we won&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The girls returned to their calculations; they had
+arrived at the stage of cutting out all those items which were not
+&ldquo;absolutely necessary.&rdquo; Five pounds had proved a miserably
+inadequate sum on paper.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling returned to his <i>Evening News</i>, which
+presently slipped gently from his hand to the floor. Mrs Gosling looked
+up from her sewing and put a finger on her lips. The voices of Blanche
+and Millie were subdued to sibilant whisperings. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb13" href="#pb13" name="pb13">13</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Gosling had forgotten his economic problems, and his
+daring abstractions concerning a world despoiled of male activity,
+especially of that essential activity, as he figured it, the making of
+money&mdash;the wage-earner was enjoying his after-dinner nap, hedged
+about, protected and cared for by his womankind.</p>
+<p class="par">There may have been a quarter of a million wage-earners
+in Greater London at that moment, who, however much they differed from
+Gosling on such minor questions as Tariff Reform or the capabilities of
+the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have agreed with him as a
+matter of course, on the essentials he had discussed that evening.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">At half-past nine the click of the letter-box,
+followed by a resounding double-knock, announced the arrival of the
+last post. Millie jumped up at once and went out eagerly.</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Gosling opened his eyes and stared with drunken
+fixity at the mantelpiece; then, without moving the rest of his body,
+he began to grope automatically with his left hand for the fallen
+newspaper. He found it at last, picked it up and pretended to read with
+sleep-sodden eyes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the post, dear,&rdquo; remarked Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling yawned enormously. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s it
+for?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie! Millie!&rdquo; called Mrs Gosling.
+&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you bring the letters in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie did not reply, but she came slowly into the
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb14" href="#pb14" name=
+"pb14">14</a>]</span>room, in her hands a letter which she was
+examining minutely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s it for, Mill?&rdquo; asked Blanche,
+impatiently.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Father,&rdquo; replied Millie, still intent on
+her study. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a foreign letter. I seem to remember the
+writing, too, only I can&rsquo;t fix it exactly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, &rsquo;and it over, my gel,&rdquo;
+said Gosling, and Millie reluctantly parted with her fascinating
+enigma.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know that &rsquo;and, too,&rdquo; remarked
+Gosling, and he, also, would have spent some time in the attempt to
+guess the puzzle without looking up the answer within the envelope, but
+the three spectators, who were not sharing his interest, manifested
+impatience.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, ain&rsquo;t you going to open it,
+father?&rdquo; asked Millie, and Mrs Gosling looked at her husband over
+her spectacles and remarked, &ldquo;It must be a business letter, if it
+comes from foreign parts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get business letters to this
+address,&rdquo; returned the head of the house, &ldquo;besides which
+it&rsquo;s from Warsaw; we don&rsquo;t do nothin&rsquo; with
+Warsaw.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">At last he opened the letter.</p>
+<p class="par">The three women fixed their gaze on Gosling&rsquo;s
+face.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; ejaculated Millie, after a silence
+of several seconds. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to tell
+us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;d never guess,&rdquo; said Gosling
+triumphantly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anyone we know?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, a gentleman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! tell us, father,&rdquo; urged the impatient
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s from the Mr Thrale, as lodged with us
+once,&rdquo; announced Gosling. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb15"
+href="#pb15" name="pb15">15</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! dear, our Mr Fastidious,&rdquo; commented
+Blanche, &ldquo;I thought he was dead long ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It must be over four years since &rsquo;e
+left,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Getting on for five,&rdquo; corrected Blanche.
+&ldquo;I remember I put my hair up while he was here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s he say?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;E says, &lsquo;Dear Mr Gosling, I expect
+you will be surprised to &rsquo;ear from me after my five years&rsquo;
+silence&mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I said it was five years,&rdquo; put in Blanche.
+&ldquo;Go on, dad!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Dad resumed &ldquo;... &lsquo;but I &rsquo;ave been in
+various parts of the world and it &rsquo;as been quite impossible to
+keep up a correspondence. I am writing now to tell you that I shall be
+back in London in a few days, and to ask you whether you can find a
+room for me in Wisteria Grove?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! I should &rsquo;ave thought he&rsquo;d
+&rsquo;ave written to me to ask that!&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;So &rsquo;e should &rsquo;ave, by rights,&rdquo;
+agreed Gosling. &ldquo;But &rsquo;e&rsquo;s a queer card is Mr
+Thrale.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bit dotty, if you ask me,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;S that all?&rdquo; asked Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, &rsquo;e says: &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t give you
+an address as I go on to Berlin immediately, but I will look you up the
+evening after I arrive. Eastern Europe is not safe at the present time.
+There &rsquo;ave been several cases of the new plague in Moscow, but
+the authorities are doing everything they can&mdash;which is much in
+Russia&mdash;to keep the news out of the press, yours sincerely,
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb16" href="#pb16" name=
+"pb16">16</a>]</span>Jasper Thrale,<span class="corr" id="xd23e461"
+title="Source: &rdquo;">&rsquo;</span> and that&rsquo;s the lot,&rdquo;
+concluded Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I do think he&rsquo;s a cool hand,&rdquo;
+commented Blanche. &ldquo;Of course you won&rsquo;t have him as a
+paying guest now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling and his wife looked at each other,
+thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; hesitated Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;E might bring the infection,&rdquo;
+suggested Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! no fear of that,&rdquo; returned her husband,
+&ldquo;but I dunno as we want a boarder now. Five years ago I
+&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t got my big rise&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, no, father; what would the neighbours think
+of us if we started to take boarders again?&rdquo; protested
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t look well,&rdquo; agreed Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jus&rsquo; what I was thinking,&rdquo; said the
+head of the house. &ldquo;&rsquo;Owever, there&rsquo;s no &rsquo;arm in
+payin&rsquo; us a friendly visit.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;O&rsquo; course not,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling,
+&ldquo;though I do think it odd &rsquo;e shouldn&rsquo;t &rsquo;ave
+written to me in the first place.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s dotty!&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling shook his head. &ldquo;Not by a very long chalk
+&rsquo;e ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; was his firm pronouncement....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, girls, what about bed?&rdquo; asked Mrs
+Gosling, putting away the &ldquo;bit of mending&rdquo; she had been
+engaged upon.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling yawned again, stretched himself, and rose
+grunting to his feet. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m about ready for <i>my</i>
+bed,&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb17" href="#pb17" name=
+"pb17">17</a>]</span>he remarked, and after another yawn he started his
+nightly round of inspection.</p>
+<p class="par">When he returned to the sitting-room the others were all
+ready to retire. Gosling kissed his daughters, and the two girls and
+their mother went upstairs. Gosling carefully took off the larger
+pieces of coal from the fire and put them under the grate, rolled up
+the hearthrug, saw that the window was securely fastened, extinguished
+the lamp and followed his &ldquo;womenfolk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As he was undressing his thoughts turned once more to
+the threat of the new disease which was devastating China.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Rum thing about that new plague,&rdquo; he
+remarked to his wife. &ldquo;Seems as it&rsquo;s only men as get
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d never let it spread to
+England,&rdquo; replied Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! there&rsquo;s no fear of that, none
+whatever,&rdquo; said Gosling, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s rum that about
+women never catching it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The attitude of the Goslings faithfully reflected that
+of the immense majority of English people. The faith in the hygienic
+and scientific resources which were at the disposal of the authorities,
+and the implicit trust in the vigilance and energy of those
+authorities, were sufficient to allay any fears that were not too
+imminent. It was some one&rsquo;s duty to look after these things, and
+if they were not looked after there would be letters in the papers
+about it. At last, without question, the authorities would be roused to
+a sense of duty and the trouble, whatever it was, would be stopped.
+Precisely what authority <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb18" href=
+"#pb18" name="pb18">18</a>]</span>managed these affairs none of the
+huge Gosling family knew. Vaguely they pictured Medical Boards, or
+Health Committees; dimly they connected these things with local
+government; at the top, doubtless, was some managing authority&mdash;in
+Whitehall probably&mdash;something to do with the supreme head of
+affairs, the much abused but eminently paternal Government.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb19" href="#pb19" name=
+"pb19">19</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch2" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">II&mdash;</span>THE OPINIONS OF
+JASPER THRALE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;Lord, how I do envy you,&rdquo; said Morgan
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper Thrale sat forward in his chair.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason why you shouldn&rsquo;t do what
+I&rsquo;ve done&mdash;and more,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Theoretically, I suppose not,&rdquo; replied
+Gurney. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just making the big effort to start with. You
+see I&rsquo;ve got a very decent berth and good prospects, and
+it&rsquo;s comfortable and all that. Only when some fellow like you
+comes along and tells one yarns of the world outside, I get sort of
+hankerings after the sea and adventure, and seeing the big things.
+It&rsquo;s only now and then&mdash;ordinary times I&rsquo;m contented
+enough.&rdquo; He stuck his pipe in the corner of his mouth and stared
+into the fire.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The only things that really count are feeling
+clean and strong and able,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;You never really
+have that feeling if you live in the big cities.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve felt like that sometimes after a long
+bicycle ride,&rdquo; interpolated Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But then the feeling is wasted, you see,&rdquo;
+said Thrale. &ldquo;When you feel like that and there is something
+tremendous to spend it upon, you get the great emotion as
+well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Like the glimmer of St Agnes&rsquo; light, after
+you&rsquo;d <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb20" href="#pb20" name=
+"pb20">20</a>]</span>been eight weeks out of sight of land?&rdquo;
+reflected Gurney, going back to one of Thrale&rsquo;s
+reminiscences.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;To feel that you are a part of life, not this
+dead, stale life of the city, but the life of the whole
+universe,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; replied Gurney. &ldquo;To-night
+I&rsquo;ve half a mind to chuck my job and go out looking for
+mystery.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; said
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney sighed and began to analyse the instinct within
+himself, to find precisely why he wanted to do it.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I must go,&rdquo; said Thrale, getting to
+his feet, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to find some sort of
+lodging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I thought you were going to stay with those
+Gosling people of yours,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No! That&rsquo;s off. I went to see them last
+night and they won&rsquo;t have me. The old man&rsquo;s making his
+&pound;300 a year now, and the family&rsquo;s too respectable to take
+boarders.&rdquo; Thrale picked up his hat and held out his hand.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But, look here, old chap, why the devil
+can&rsquo;t you stay here?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that you&rsquo;d anywhere to
+put me,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes. There&rsquo;s always a room to be had
+downstairs,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">After a brief discussion the arrangement was made.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s understood I&rsquo;m to pay my
+whack,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Of course, if you insist&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb21" href="#pb21" name=
+"pb21">21</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">When Thrale had gone to fetch his luggage from the
+hotel, Gurney sat pondering over the fire. He was debating whether he
+had been altogether wise in pressing his invitation. He was wondering
+whether the curiously rousing personality of Thrale, and the stories of
+those still existent corners of the world outside the rules of
+civilization were good for a civil servant with an income of &pound;600
+a year. Gurney, faced with the plain alternatives, could only decide
+that he would be a fool to throw up a congenial and lucrative
+occupation such as his own, in order to face present physical
+discomfort and future penury. He knew that the discomforts would be
+very real to him at first. His friends would think him mad. And all for
+the sake of experiencing some high emotion now and again, in order to
+feel clean and fresh and be able to discover something of the unknown
+mystery of life.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose there is something of the poet in
+me,&rdquo; reflected Gurney. &ldquo;And I expect I should hate the
+discomforts. One&rsquo;s imagination gets led away....&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">During the next few evenings the conversations
+between these two friends were many and protracted.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale was the teacher, and Gurney was content to sit at
+his feet and learn. He had a receptive mind, he was interested in all
+life, but Uppingham, Trinity Hall, and the Home Civil had constricted
+his mental processes. At twenty-nine he was losing flexibility. Thrale
+gave him back his power to think, set him <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb22" href="#pb22" name="pb22">22</a>]</span>outside the formulas of
+his school, taught him that however sound his deductions, there was not
+one of his premises which could not be disputed.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale was Gurney&rsquo;s senior by three years, and
+when Thrale left Uppingham at eighteen, he had gone out into the world.
+He had a patrimony of some &pound;200 a year; but he had taken only a
+lump sum of &pound;100 and had started out to appease his furious
+curiosity concerning life. He had laboured as a miner in the Klondike;
+had sailed, working his passage as an ordinary seaman, from San
+Francisco to Southampton; he had been a stockman in Australia,
+assistant to a planter in Ceylon, a furnace minder in Kimberley and a
+tally clerk in Hong Kong. For nearly nine years, indeed, he had earned
+a living in every country of the world except Europe, and then he had
+come back to London and invested the accumulation of income that his
+trustee had amassed for him. The mere spending of money had no
+fascination for him. During the six months he had remained in London he
+had lived very simply, lodging with the Goslings in Kilburn, and,
+because he could not live idly, exploring every corner of the great
+city and writing articles for the journals. He might have earned a
+large income by this latter means, for he had an originality of outlook
+and a freshness of style that made his contributions eagerly sought
+after once he had obtained a hearing&mdash;no difficult matter in
+London for anyone who has something new to say. But experience, not
+income, was his desire, and at the end of six months he had accepted an
+offer from the <i>Daily Post</i> as a European <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb23" href="#pb23" name=
+"pb23">23</a>]</span>correspondent&mdash;on space. He was offered
+&pound;600 a year, but he preferred to be free, and he had no wish to
+be confined to one capital or country.</p>
+<p class="par">In those five years he had traversed Europe, sending in
+his articles irregularly, as he required money. And during that time
+his chief trustee&mdash;a lawyer of the soundest reputation&mdash;had
+absconded, and Thrale found his private income reduced to about
+&pound;40 a year, the interest on one of the investments he had made,
+in his own name only, with his former accumulation&mdash;two other
+investments made at the same time had proved unsound.</p>
+<p class="par">This loss had not troubled him in any way. When he had
+read in a London journal of his trustee&rsquo;s abscondence&mdash;he
+was later sentenced to fourteen years&rsquo; penal
+servitude&mdash;Thrale had smiled and dismissed the matter from his
+mind. He could always earn all the money he required, and had never,
+not even subconsciously, relied upon his private fortune.</p>
+<p class="par">He had now come back to London with a definite purpose,
+he had come to warn England of a great danger....</p>
+<p class="par">One other distinguishing mark of Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s
+life must be understood, a mark which differentiated him from the
+overwhelming majority of his fellow men&mdash;women had no fascination
+for him. Once in his life, and once only, had he approached and tasted
+experience&mdash;with a pretty little Melbourne <i>cocotte</i>. That
+experience he had undertaken deliberately, because he felt that until
+it had been undergone one great factor of life would be unknown to him.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb24" href="#pb24" name=
+"pb24">24</a>]</span>He had come away from it filled with a disgust of
+himself that had endured for months....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Fragments of the long conversations between Thrale
+and Gurney, the exchange of a few germane ideas among the irrelevant
+mass, had a bearing upon their immediate future. There was, for
+instance, a criticism of the Goslings, introduced on one occasion,
+which had a certain significance in relation to subsequent
+developments.</p>
+<p class="par">Some question of Gurney&rsquo;s prompted Thrale to the
+opinion that the Goslings were in the main precisely like half a
+million other families of the same class.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s just what makes them so
+interesting,&rdquo; said Gurney, not because he believed it, but
+because at the moment he wanted to lead the conversation into safe
+ground, away from the too appealing attractions of the big world
+outside the little village of London.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s truer than you
+guess,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Every large generalization, however
+trite, is a valuable contribution to knowledge&mdash;if it&rsquo;s more
+or less accurate.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Generalize, then, mon vieux,&rdquo; suggested
+Gurney, &ldquo;from the characters and doings of your little
+geese.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen glimmerings of the immortal god
+in the old man,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;like the hint of sunlight
+seen through a filthy pane of obscured glass. He&rsquo;s a
+prurient-minded old beast leading what&rsquo;s called a <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb25" href="#pb25" name=
+"pb25">25</a>]</span>respectable life, but if he could indulge his
+ruling desire with absolute secrecy, no woman would be safe with him.
+In his world he can&rsquo;t do that, or thinks he can&rsquo;t, which
+comes to precisely the same thing. He is too much afraid of being
+caught, he sees danger where none exists, he looks to all sorts of
+possibilities, and won&rsquo;t take a million-to-one chance because he
+is risking his all&mdash;which is included in the one word,
+respectability.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jolly good thing. What?&rdquo; remarked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good for society as a whole, apparently,&rdquo;
+replied Thrale, &ldquo;but surely not good for the man. I&rsquo;ve told
+you that I have seen glimmerings of the god in him, but outside the
+routine of his work the man&rsquo;s mind is clogged. He&rsquo;s not
+much over fifty, and he has no outlet, now, for his desires. He&rsquo;s
+like a man with choked pores, and his body is poisoned. And in this
+particular Gosling is certainly no exception either to his class or to
+the great mass of civilized man. Well, what I wonder is whether in a
+society which is built up of interdependent units the whole can be
+sound when the greater number of the constituent units are
+rotten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But look here, old chap,&rdquo; protested Gurney,
+&ldquo;if things are as you say, and men rule the country, why
+shouldn&rsquo;t they alter public opinion, and so open the way to do as
+they jolly well please?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Because the majority are too much ashamed of
+their desires to dare the attempt in the first place, and in the second
+because they don&rsquo;t wish to open the way for other men. They
+aren&rsquo;t united in this; they are as jealous as women. If they once
+opened <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb26" href="#pb26" name=
+"pb26">26</a>]</span>the way to free love, their own belongings
+wouldn&rsquo;t be safe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your remedy, then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! a few thousand more years of moral
+development,&rdquo; said Thrale, carelessly, &ldquo;an evolution
+towards self-consciousness, a fuller understanding of the meaning of
+life, and a finer altruism.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look far ahead,&rdquo; remarked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you think anyone can look even a year
+ahead?&rdquo; asked Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There have been some pretty good attempts in some
+ways&mdash;Swedenborg, for instance, and Samuel Butler....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes, that&rsquo;s all right, in some
+ways&mdash;the development of certain sorts of knowledge, for example.
+But there is always the chance of the unpredictable element coming in
+and upsetting the whole calculation. Some invention may do it, an
+unforeseen clash of opinions or an epidemic....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time they drifted further away from their original
+topic till some remark reminded Gurney that he had meant to ask a
+question and had forgotten it.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By the way,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wanted to
+ask you what you meant when you said you had seen a god in old
+Gosling?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Just a touch of imagination and wonder, now and
+again,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;Something he was quite unconscious
+of himself. I remember standing with him on Blackfriars Bridge, and he
+looked down at the river and said: &lsquo;I s&rsquo;pose it was clean
+once, banks and sand and so on, before all this muck <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb27" href="#pb27" name=
+"pb27">27</a>]</span>came.&rsquo; Then he looked at me quickly to see
+if I was laughing at him. That was the god in him trying to create
+purity out of filth, even though it was only a casual thought. It was
+smothered again at once. His training reasserted itself. &lsquo;Lot
+better for trade the way it is, though,&rsquo; was his next
+remark.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But how can you alter it?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear chap, you can&rsquo;t alter these things
+by any cut-and-dried plan, any more than you can dam the Gulf Stream.
+We can only lay a brick or two in the right place. We aren&rsquo;t the
+architects; the best of us are only bricklayers, and the best of the
+best can only lay two or three bricks in a lifetime. Our job is to do
+that if we can. We can only guess very feebly at the design of the
+building; and often it is our duty partly to pull down the work that
+our forefathers built....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Presently Gurney asked if his companion had ever seen a
+god in Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale shook his head. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t come
+within my experience,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t condemn her on
+that account, but she, like all the women I have ever met, has been too
+intent upon the facts of life ever to see its mystery. Mrs Gosling
+hadn&rsquo;t the power to conceive an abstract idea; she had to make
+some application of it to her own particular experience before she
+could understand the simplest concept. Morality to her signified people
+who behaved as she and her family did; wickedness meant vaguely,
+criminals, Sarah Jones who was an unmarried mother, and anyone who
+didn&rsquo;t believe in the God of the Established Church. Always
+people, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb28" href="#pb28" name=
+"pb28">28</a>]</span>you see, in this connexion; in others it might be
+things; but ideas apart from people or things she couldn&rsquo;t grasp.
+Her two daughters thought in precisely the same way....&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">One Saturday afternoon Thrale came into
+Gurney&rsquo;s chambers and burst out: &ldquo;Just Heaven! why you
+fools stand it I can&rsquo;t imagine!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up now?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale sat down and drew his chair up to the table. The
+pupils of his dark eyes were contracted and seemed to glow as if they
+were illuminated from within.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I was in Oxford Street this morning, watching the
+women at the sales,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All the biggest shops in
+London are devoted to women&rsquo;s clothes. Do you realize that? And
+it&rsquo;s not only that they&rsquo;re the biggest&mdash;there are more
+of them than any other six trades put together can show, bar the drink
+trade, of course. The north side of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court
+Road to the Marble Arch is one long succession of huge drapers and
+milliners. And what in God&rsquo;s name is the sense or reason of it?
+What do these huge shops sell?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Dresses, I suppose,&rdquo; ventured Gurney,
+&ldquo;and stockings, underlinen, corsets, hats, and so on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>And</i> frippery,&rdquo; said Thrale, fixing
+his brilliant dark eyes on Gurney, &ldquo;And <i>frippery</i>. Machine
+lace, ribbons, yokes, cheap blouses, feathers, insertions, belts, fifty
+thousand different kinds of bits and rags to be tacked on here and
+there, worn for a few <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb29" href="#pb29"
+name="pb29">29</a>]</span>weeks and then thrown away. Millions of
+little frivolous, stupid odds and ends that are bought by women and
+girls of all classes below the motor-class, to make a
+pretence&mdash;gauds and tawdry rubbish not one whit better from the
+artistic point of view than the shells and feathers of any half-naked
+Melanesian savage. In fact, meaningless as the Melanesians&rsquo;
+decorations are, they do achieve more effect. And what&rsquo;s it all
+for, I ask you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn&rsquo;t
+it?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The desire&mdash;often subconscious, no
+doubt&mdash;to attract.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, if that is so,&rdquo; said Thrale,
+&ldquo;what terribly unintelligent fools women must be! If women really
+set out to attract men, they must realize that they are pandering to a
+sex instinct. Do you think any man is attracted by a litter of odds and
+ends? Doesn&rsquo;t every woman sneer when they see some Frenchwoman,
+perhaps, who dresses to display her figure instead of hiding it?
+Don&rsquo;t they bitterly resent the fact that their own men-folk are
+resistlessly drawn to stare at, and inwardly desire, such a woman?
+Don&rsquo;t they know perfectly well that such a woman is attractive to
+men in a way their own disguised bodies can never be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, old chap; but your average middle-class
+English girl hasn&rsquo;t got the physical attractions to start
+with,&rdquo; put in Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look at it in another way, then,&rdquo; replied
+Thrale. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t every woman know perfectly
+well&mdash;haven&rsquo;t you heard them say&mdash;that a nurse&rsquo;s
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb30" href="#pb30" name=
+"pb30">30</a>]</span>dress is very becoming&mdash;a plain, more or less
+tightly-fitting print dress, with linen collars and cuffs? Don&rsquo;t
+you know yourself that that attire is more attractive to you than any
+befrilled and bedecorated arrangement of lace, ribbons and gauds? Why
+are so many men irresistibly attracted by parlourmaids and
+housemaids?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; meditated Gurney, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s
+all true enough. Well, are women all fools, or what is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The majority of women are <i>sheep</i>,&rdquo;
+said Thrale. &ldquo;They follow as they are led, and don&rsquo;t or
+won&rsquo;t see that they are being led. And the leaders are chiefly
+men&mdash;men who have trumpery to sell. Why do the fashions change
+every year&mdash;sometimes more often than that in matters of detail?
+Because the trade would smash if they didn&rsquo;t. New fashions must
+be forced on the buyers, or the returns would drop; women would be able
+to make their last year&rsquo;s clothes do for another summer. That
+must be stopped at any cost. Those vast establishments must maintain an
+enormous turnover if they are to pay their fabulous rents and armies of
+assistants. There are two means of keeping up the sales, and both are
+utilized to the full. The first is to supply cheap, miraculously cheap,
+rubbish which cannot be made to last for more than a season. The second
+is to alter the fashions which affect the more durable stuffs, so that
+last year&rsquo;s dresses cannot be used again. This fashion-working
+scheme reacts upon the poorer buyers, because it compels them to do
+something to imitate the prevailing mode, if they can&rsquo;t afford to
+have entirely new frocks. That is where all these <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb31" href="#pb31" name="pb31">31</a>]</span>bits of
+frilling and what-not come in; make-believe stuff to imitate the real
+buyers&mdash;the large majority of whom don&rsquo;t buy in Oxford
+Street, by the way.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mind you, there is a limit to the sheep-like
+docility of women in this connexion. They refused, for instance, to
+return to the crinoline, and they refused the harem skirt&mdash;one of
+the very few sensible devices of the fashion-imposers. And this in the
+face of the prolonged, strenuous and expensive methods of the fashion
+ring. With regard to the crinoline, I think that failure was due to
+over-conceit on the part of the fashion-imposers. They had come to
+believe that they could make the poor fools of women accept anything,
+and on the two marked occasions on which they attempted to introduce
+the crinoline, the contrast to the existing mode was too glaring. If
+the fraud had been worked more gradually by way of full skirts and
+flounces, some modification of the crinoline to the necessities of
+&rsquo;buses and tubes might have been foisted upon the
+buyers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, my Lord!&rdquo; ejaculated Gurney; &ldquo;do
+you mean to say that women just accept these fashions without any sense
+or reason at all?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re rather a blithering ass, at times,
+Gurney,&rdquo; remarked Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney smiled. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t give me time to
+think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I feel like an accumulator being charged.
+I haven&rsquo;t had time yet to begin working on my own account.
+You&rsquo;re so mighty&mdash;so mighty dynamic&mdash;and positive, old
+chap.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s so absurdly obvious that there
+must be a reason for women accepting the fashions, you <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb32" href="#pb32" name=
+"pb32">32</a>]</span>idiot!&rdquo; returned Thrale. &ldquo;And the
+first and biggest reason is class distinction. The women with money
+want to brag of it by differentiating themselves from the ruck of their
+sisters, and the poor women try to imitate them to the best of their
+ability. Women dress for other women. There is sex rivalry as well as
+class rivalry at the bottom of it, but they dare not put sex rivalry
+first and dress to please men alone, because they are afraid of the
+opinions of other women.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Sounds all right,&rdquo; said Gurney, and
+sighed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we, damned fools of men, stand all this
+foolishness and <i>pay</i> for it. Pay, by Jove! I should think so! I
+should like to see the trade returns of all the stuff of this kind that
+is sold in England alone in one year. They would make the naval
+estimates look small, I&rsquo;ll warrant. We even imitate the
+women&rsquo;s foolishness in some degree. There are men&rsquo;s
+fashions too, but the madness is not so marked; fortunately the body of
+middle-class men can&rsquo;t afford to make fools of themselves as well
+as of their women&mdash;though they are asses enough to wear linen
+shirts and collars which are uncomfortable unsightly and expensive to
+wash.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney regarded his lecturer&rsquo;s canvas shirt and
+collar, and then stood up and observed his own immaculate linen in the
+glass over the fireplace. &ldquo;I must say I like stiff collars and
+shirts,&rdquo; he remarked; &ldquo;gives one a kind of
+spruceness.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only another sex
+instinct,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Women like men to look
+&lsquo;smart.&rsquo; When you are playing games with other men, or
+camping <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb33" href="#pb33" name=
+"pb33">33</a>]</span>out, you don&rsquo;t care a hang for your
+&lsquo;spruceness.&rsquo; Oh! and I&rsquo;ll admit the class
+distinction rot comes in too. You&rsquo;re afraid of public opinion,
+afraid of being thought common. If the jeunesse dor&eacute;e started
+the soft shirt in real earnest, you would soon be able to persuade your
+women that that looked smart or spruce, or whatever you liked to call
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, you know,&rdquo; said Gurney,
+&ldquo;you&rsquo;re an anarchist, that&rsquo;s what you are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re half a woman, Gurney,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;You think in names. All people are
+&lsquo;anarchists&rsquo; who think in ideas instead of following
+conventions.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Not until he had been staying with Gurney for more
+than a week did Thrale speak explicitly of his purpose in London. But
+one cold evening at the end of January, as the two men were sitting by
+a roaring fire that Gurney had built up, the younger man unknowingly
+opened the subject by saying,</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Things are pretty slack at the present moment.
+The <i>Evening Chronicle</i> has even fallen back on the &lsquo;New
+Plague&rsquo; for the sake of news.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What do they say?&rdquo; asked Thrale. He was
+lying back in his chair, nursing one knee, and staring up at the
+ceiling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, the usual rot!&rdquo; said Gurney &ldquo;That
+the thing isn&rsquo;t understood, has never been
+&lsquo;described&rsquo; by any medical or scientific authority; that it
+is apparently confined to one little corner of Asia at the present
+time, but that if it got hold in Europe <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb34" href="#pb34" name="pb34">34</a>]</span>it might be serious. And
+then a lot of yap about the unknown forces of Nature; special article
+by a chap who&rsquo;s been reading too much Wells, I should
+imagine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It seems so incredible to us in twentieth-century
+England that anything really serious could happen,&rdquo; remarked
+Thrale. &ldquo;We are so well looked after and cared for. We sit down
+and wait for some authority to move, with a perfect confidence that
+when it does move, everything is bound to be all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;With such an organism as society has
+become,&rdquo; said Gurney, &ldquo;things must be worked like that. A
+certain group to perform one function, other groups for other
+functions, and so on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cell-specialization?&rdquo; commented Thrale.
+&ldquo;Some day to be perfected in socialism.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I believe socialism must come in some
+form,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s an interesting speculation, in
+some ways,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;but the higher forces are about
+to put a new spoke in the human wheel, and the machinery has to be
+stopped for a time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What have you got hold of now?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The thoughtful man,&rdquo; went on Thrale, still
+staring up at the ceiling, &ldquo;would have asked me to define my
+expression &lsquo;the higher forces.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, old man, I knew that was beyond even your
+capacity,&rdquo; returned Gurney, &ldquo;so I thought we might
+&lsquo;cut the cackle and come to the &rsquo;osses.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale suddenly released his knee and sat upright;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb35" href="#pb35" name=
+"pb35">35</a>]</span>then he moved his chair so that he directly
+confronted his companion.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Gurney,&rdquo; he said, and the pupils
+of his eyes contracted till they looked like black crystal glowing with
+dark red light. &ldquo;Do you realize how some outside control has
+always diverted man&rsquo;s progress; how when nations have tended to
+crystallize into specialized government, some irruption from outside
+has always broken it up? You can trace the principle through all known
+history, but the most marked cases are those of the Egyptians and the
+Incas&mdash;two nations which had developed specialized government to a
+science. There is some power&mdash;whether we can credit it with an
+intelligence in any way comprehensible to us from the feeble basis of
+our own knowledge, I doubt&mdash;but there is some outside power which
+will not permit mankind to crystallize into an organism. From our,
+human, point of view, from the point of view of individual comfort and
+happiness, it would be of enormous benefit to us if we could develop a
+system of specialization and swamp the individual in the community. And
+in times of peace and prosperity that is always the direction in which
+civilization tends to evolve. But beyond a certain point&mdash;as the
+individualists have not failed to point out&mdash;that state of perfect
+government will lead to stagnation, degeneration, death. Now, in the
+little span of time that we know as the history of mankind, there has
+been no world-civilization. As soon as a nation tended to become
+over-civilized and degenerate, some other, younger, more barbarous
+people flowed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb36" href="#pb36" name=
+"pb36">36</a>]</span>over them and wiped them out. In the case of Peru
+the process had gone very far, owing to the advantages of the
+Incas&rsquo; peculiar segregation. But then, you see, the development
+in the East, the new world (I ought to explain that I find the oldest
+civilization of the present epoch in America) reached a point in Spain
+and England which sent them out across a hemisphere to wreck and
+destroy the Incas.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we have now reached a condition when the
+nations are in touch with one another and progress becomes more
+general. We are in sight of a system of European, Colonial and
+Trans-Atlantic Socialism, more or less reciprocal and carrying the
+promise of universal peace. Whence, you ask, is any irruption to come
+that will break up this strong crystallizing system which is admittedly
+to work for the happiness and comfort of the individual? There has been
+much talk of an Asiatic invasion, a rebellious India or an invading
+China, but those civilizations are older than ours; if we can trust the
+precedents of history in this connexion, the conquerors have always
+been the younger race.&rdquo; He broke off abruptly.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney had been sitting fascinated and hypnotized by the
+compulsion of Thrale&rsquo;s personality; he had been held by the keen,
+intent stare of those wonderful dark eyes. When Thrale stopped,
+however, the tension snapped.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; remarked Gurney, &ldquo;I think
+that&rsquo;s a jolly good argument to prove that we have, at last,
+reached a stage of universal progress towards the ideal.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb37" href="#pb37" name=
+"pb37">37</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t conceive,&rdquo; asked Thrale,
+&ldquo;of any cataclysm that would involve a return to the old
+segregation of nations, and bring about a new epoch beginning with
+separated peoples evolving on more or less racial lines?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney pondered for a moment or two and then shook his
+head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Little wonder,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;I had
+often considered this problem, and I could think of no upheaval which
+would bring about the familiar effect of submersion. Years ago there
+was always the possibility of a European war, but even that would have
+only a temporary effect despite the forecast of Mr Wells in <i>The War
+in the Air</i>. No, I considered and wondered if my theory was faulty.
+I was willing to reject it if I could find a flaw....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And then?&rdquo; questioned Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale leaned forward again and once more compelled the
+other&rsquo;s fascinated attention.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And then, when I was in Northern China, seven
+weeks ago, I saw a solution, so appalling, so inconceivably ghastly,
+that I rejected it with horror. For days I went about fighting my own
+conviction. I couldn&rsquo;t believe it! By God, I <i>would</i> not
+believe it!</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There, within a hundred and fifty miles of the
+border of Tibet, the outside forces have planted a seed which has been
+maturing in secret for more than a year. There that seed has taken
+root, and from that centre is spreading more and more rapidly, and it
+may spread over the whole world. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb38"
+href="#pb38" name="pb38">38</a>]</span>It is like some filthily
+poisonous and incredibly prolific weed, and its seeds, now that it has
+once established itself, are borne by every wind, dropping here and
+there in an ever-widening circle, every seed becoming a fresh centre of
+distribution outwards.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But what, in Heaven&rsquo;s name, is the
+weed?&rdquo; whispered Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;A new disease&mdash;a new plague&mdash;unknown by
+man, against which, so far as we know, he has no weapon. In those
+scattered villages among the mountains there are no men left to work.
+Everything is done by women. They are prohibited more fiercely than any
+leper settlement. No one dares to approach within five miles of them.
+But every week or two another village is smitten, and the inhabitants
+fly in terror and carry the infection with them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Gurney, it&rsquo;s come to Europe! There are new
+centres of distribution in Russia at the present time. If it
+isn&rsquo;t stopped it will come to England. And it doesn&rsquo;t
+decimate the population. It wipes the men clean out of existence; not
+one man in ten thousand, the Chinese say, escapes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is it possible that this can be the means of the
+&lsquo;higher forces&rsquo; I spoke of, the means to segregate the
+nations once more?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb39" href=
+"#pb39" name="pb39">39</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch3" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">III&mdash;</span>LONDON&rsquo;S
+INCREDULITY</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s mission was no easy one.
+England, it appeared, was slightly preoccupied at the moment, and had
+no ear for warnings. Generally, he was either treated as a fanatic and
+laughed at, or he was told that he greatly exaggerated the danger and
+that these matters could safely be entrusted to the Local Government
+Board, which had brilliantly handled the recent outbreak of
+foot-and-mouth disease. But there were some exceptions to this
+rule.</p>
+<p class="par">His first definite statement had been made to his own
+editor, Watson Maxwell of the <i>Daily Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Maxwell, when he had given
+Thrale a patient hearing, &ldquo;it is certainly a matter that needs
+attention. Would you care to go out as our special commissioner and
+report at length?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t time,&rdquo; replied Thrale.
+&ldquo;The thing is urgent.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Maxwell brought his eyebrows together and looked keenly
+at his correspondent. &ldquo;Do you really think it&rsquo;s so serious,
+Thrale?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;After all, what evidence have you,
+beyond the Chinese reports?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know there are several cases in Russia,&rdquo;
+said Thrale. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb40" href="#pb40" name=
+"pb40">40</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes; I don&rsquo;t doubt that,&rdquo;
+returned Maxwell, with a touch of impatience. &ldquo;But unless you can
+bring evidence to show that this new disease is as deadly as you say,
+it is not a matter that I could give space to at the present time. For
+one thing, the <i>Evening Chronicle</i> has been making rather a
+feature of it for the last three or four days, and I don&rsquo;t see
+that I could do much unless we had some special inside information.
+Then, the House will be sitting again next week, and it seems to me not
+altogether improbable that we shall have a stormy session, which will
+mean that a good deal of ordinary matter will have to give
+way....&rdquo; He broke off, and then added, with a friendly smile:
+&ldquo;But if you would go out as our commissioner, we should be glad
+to make you a proposal.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There will be no need for a commissioner in a
+week&rsquo;s time,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t seem
+to understand that I&rsquo;m not looking out for a job. I don&rsquo;t
+want to write articles; I don&rsquo;t want to be paid for the
+information I can supply. I foresee a grave danger, which is growing
+more grave hourly by reason of the Russian Government&rsquo;s
+censorship of all reports referring to the plague. It is a danger which
+should be understood at once. If you send any commissioner, send the
+cleverest physician you can find, and a bacteriologist.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">There could be no doubt of Thrale&rsquo;s earnestness,
+and Maxwell, who was not only a very capable editor, but also an able
+and intellectual man, was impressed. Unfortunately, the interests of
+his proprietors at that moment necessitated a great effort <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb41" href="#pb41" name="pb41">41</a>]</span>to prop
+up the very unstable Liberal Government, which had been in power for
+four years and was now on its last legs. It was so essential from the
+proprietors&rsquo; point of view&mdash;three of them were on the
+Government front bench&mdash;that the dissolution should be postponed
+until such time as the Ministry could go to the country with a
+reasonable prospect of success. A tentative English Church
+Disestablishment Bill was to be introduced in the coming session, and
+it was hoped that if the Government had to go to the country they could
+make a platform on that one clear issue. It was a good Bill, designed
+to win the Nonconformist vote, without completely alienating the High
+Church party. In other words, the Government was eager at that moment
+to please the majority of the electors, which is, presumably, the
+highest object of a representative government.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it had been at any other time,&rdquo; said
+Maxwell, and pushed his chair back.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale understood that the interview was at an end. He
+rose from his chair and picked up his hat.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall be glad to print any articles you care
+to send us,&rdquo; said Maxwell, with his kind smile, &ldquo;but I
+can&rsquo;t undertake a campaign, you understand, at the present
+moment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">It was nearly four o&rsquo;clock, but Thrale just
+managed to catch Groves of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Groves had his hat on, and was just off to tea at
+his club when Thrale&rsquo;s name was sent in to him. He <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb42" href="#pb42" name="pb42">42</a>]</span>told the
+messenger that he would see Mr Thrale in the waiting-room
+downstairs.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had had some experience of newspaper methods, and
+he inferred that the reception was equivalent to a refusal to see him.
+He knew what those interviews in downstairs waiting-rooms implied. It
+was not the first time that he had been treated like an insurance agent
+or a tradesman and told, in effect, &ldquo;Not to-day, thank
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In this case he was mistaken in his inference. Groves
+had had an eye on Thrale&rsquo;s articles for some time past, and
+though he thought it a diplomatic essential to keep his man waiting for
+ten minutes, he had no intention of offending him.</p>
+<p class="par">Groves came into the waiting-room with a slightly
+abstracted air. &ldquo;Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Thrale,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;The fact is, that I wanted to finish before I left. Did
+you want to see me about anything particular?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; returned Thrale; &ldquo;I have some
+facts about the new plague which ought to be given publicity at
+once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Groves pursed his thick lips and shook his head.
+&ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;will you come and have tea
+with me at the club?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He took Thrale&rsquo;s assent for granted, and went out
+abruptly, leaving his guest to follow.</p>
+<p class="par">In the taxicab Groves talked of nothing but the lack of
+originality in invention in reference to aeroplanes. He seemed to take
+it as a personal affront that no workable adaptation of the aeroplane
+had been made to short-distance passenger traffic. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb43" href="#pb43" name="pb43">43</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Indeed, it was not till after &ldquo;tea&rdquo;&mdash;in
+Groves&rsquo; case an euphemism for whisky and soda&mdash;that he would
+approach the subject of Thrale&rsquo;s visit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The fact is, my dear fellow,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;that our campaign hasn&rsquo;t caught on. I&rsquo;m going to let
+it down gently and drop it after to-day&rsquo;s edition. You see,
+we&rsquo;ve got to get the Government out this session, and I&rsquo;m
+going to start a new campaign. Can&rsquo;t give you any particulars
+yet, but you&rsquo;ll see the beginning of it next Monday.&rdquo; Like
+Maxwell, Groves differentiated between the uses of the singular and
+plural pronouns in speaking of his work. There was a distinction to be
+inferred between the initiation and responsibilities of the editor and
+those of his proprietors.</p>
+<p class="par">Groves was not at all impressed by any earnestness or
+forebodings. He seemed to think that a touch of the plague in London
+might be rather a good thing in some ways. People wanted waking
+up&mdash;especially to the importance of getting rid of the present
+Government.</p>
+<p class="par">It appeared that Thrale&rsquo;s articles on other
+subjects would be acceptable to the readers of the <i>Evening
+Chronicle</i>, but there was no suggestion that he should go out to
+Russia as a special commissioner.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Grant Lacey, of <i>The Times</i>, listened
+seriously to Thrale&rsquo;s exposition, and then, in a finely delivered
+speech which lasted twenty minutes, proved to his own complete
+satisfaction that Thrale&rsquo;s <span class="corr" id="xd23e901"
+title="Source: premisses">premises</span>, deductions, and whole
+argument were thoroughly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb44" href=
+"#pb44" name="pb44">44</a>]</span>unsound. Lacey, however, was greatly
+interested in the condition of Russia, and promised Thrale magnificent
+terms if he would tour St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw&mdash;and
+then return and contribute a special series of articles. References to
+the new plague would not be prohibited in the series if Thrale still
+found any cause for alarm.</p>
+<p class="par">In all, Thrale had interviews with the editors of nine
+important journals; the other six developed on the general lines
+already indicated&mdash;either he was not taken seriously or was told
+that the danger was greatly exaggerated. The real causes of his failure
+were two:&mdash;first, the critical position of the Government; second,
+the precocious campaign of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>&mdash;the
+latter had taken the wind out of the sails of less enterprising
+journals.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale&rsquo;s next step was to obtain introductions to
+Ministers and prominent members of the Opposition; but from them he
+received even less attention&mdash;he did not obtain interviews on many
+occasions&mdash;and, if possible, less encouragement. The President of
+the Local Government Board informed him that the matter was already
+engaging that department&rsquo;s energies; the others were all
+manifestly preoccupied with more immediate interests.</p>
+<p class="par">But little less than a fortnight after the initiation of
+his campaign Thrale received a special message from the editor of the
+<i>Daily Post</i>. It was nearly midnight, and the messenger was
+waiting with a taxicab.</p>
+<p class="par">The message ran: &ldquo;Received through news agency
+report of three cases of plague in Berlin. Can you come down at
+once?&mdash;Maxwell.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb45" href=
+"#pb45" name="pb45">45</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch4" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">IV&mdash;</span>MR BARKER&rsquo;S
+FLAIR</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Jasper Thrale, in the partial exposition of his
+philosophy (if that description is not too large for such vague
+imaginings), had included very definite reference to certain
+&ldquo;higher forces&rdquo; to which he had attributed peculiar powers
+of interference in humanity&rsquo;s management of its own concerns.
+Doubtless these powers had control of various instruments, and were
+able to exercise their influence in any direction and by any means. In
+the present case it would seem that they were working in devious and
+subtle ways&mdash;and in this at least they differed not at all from
+the methods attributable to that we have called Providence, or the Laws
+of Nature; any assumed guide or irrefragible, incomprehensible
+ordination. It is a common characteristic of these forces that they
+seem able to control the inconceivably great and the inconceivably
+small with equal certitude.</p>
+<p class="par">Not that George Gosling touched any limits. He was
+moderately large in body and small in intellect, but neither the
+physical excess nor the mental deficiency marked him out from his
+fellow men. In the office, indeed, he was regarded by the firm and his
+colleagues as a capable man of business whose <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb46" href="#pb46" name=
+"pb46">46</a>]</span>embonpoint was quite consistent with his
+employment by a firm of wholesale provision merchants.</p>
+<p class="par">On the Thursday morning that saw the announcement in the
+morning papers that a case of the new plague was reported in Berlin,
+Gosling was called into the partners&rsquo; private office on some
+matter of accountancy.</p>
+<p class="par">The senior partner of Barker and Prince was eager,
+grasping and imaginative; his name had originally been German, and
+ended, in &ldquo;stein,&rdquo; but he had changed it for the
+convenience of his English connexion. Prince was a large rubicund man,
+friendly and noisy in his manners, but accounted a shrewd buyer.</p>
+<p class="par">It was not until Gosling was about to depart that the
+higher forces turned their attention to Barbican and then they suddenly
+urged Gosling to say, without premeditation on his part,</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I see there&rsquo;s a case of this &rsquo;ere new
+plague in Berlin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Prince laughed and winked at his subordinate.
+&ldquo;Some of us&rsquo;ll have to start a hareem, soon; who
+knows?&rdquo; he said, and laughed again, more loudly than ever.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose you haf not heard any other reports,
+eh?&rdquo; asked Mr Barker.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, curiously enough, I &rsquo;ave,&rdquo; said
+Gosling. &ldquo;A young feller who used to lodge with us five years
+back, come &rsquo;ome from Russia about a fortnight since, and &rsquo;e
+tells me as the plague&rsquo;s spreadin&rsquo; like wildfire in
+Russia.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Prince laughed again, and Mr Barker seemed
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb47" href="#pb47" name=
+"pb47">47</a>]</span>about to turn his attention to other matters, when
+the higher forces sent Gosling the one great inspiration of his life.
+It came to him with startling suddenness, but he gave utterance to it
+as simply and with as little verve as he spoke his &ldquo;good
+morning&rdquo; to the office-boy.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I been thinkin&rsquo;, sir,&rdquo; he said (he
+had never once thought of it until this moment), &ldquo;as it might be
+well to keep a neye on this plague, so to speak.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! Zo?&rdquo; said Mr Barker; a phrase which
+Gosling correctly interpreted as the expression of a desire for the
+elucidation of his last remark.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I been thinkin&rsquo;, if you&rsquo;ll
+excuse me, sir,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;as though the plague&rsquo;s
+only in the bud, so to speak, at the present time, it seems very likely
+to spread so far as we can judge; and that what with quarantine,
+p&rsquo;raps, and p&rsquo;raps shortage of labour and so on, it might
+mean &rsquo;igher prices for our stuff.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Zo!&rdquo; said Mr Barker, but this time the
+monosyllable was reflective. The great inspiration had found fruitful
+soil.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Brince,&rdquo; continued Barker after a
+minute&rsquo;s thought, &ldquo;I haf a flair. We will buy heavily at
+once. But not through our London house, no; or others will follow us
+too quickly. <i>You</i> must not go, we will zend Ztewart from Dundee,
+it will zeem that we prepare for the zhipping strike in the north. We
+buy heavily; yes? I haf a flair.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But, I say,&rdquo; said Mr Prince, who had the
+greatest confidence in his partner&rsquo;s insight, &ldquo;I say,
+Barker, d&rsquo;you think this plague&rsquo;s serious?&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb48" href="#pb48" name=
+"pb48">48</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I am putting money on it, ain&rsquo;t I?&rdquo;
+asked Barker.</p>
+<p class="par">Prince and Gosling exchanged a scared glance. Until that
+moment it had not come home to either of them that it was possible for
+English affairs to be affected by this strange and deadly disease.</p>
+<p class="par">The remainder of the conversation was complicated and
+exceedingly technical.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">When he came back into the counting-house, Gosling
+looked unnaturally thoughtful.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anything gorne wrong?&rdquo; asked his crony,
+Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with the &rsquo;ouse,
+if that&rsquo;s what you mean,&rdquo; replied Gosling mysteriously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What then?&rdquo; asked Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s this &rsquo;ere new plague,&rdquo;
+returned Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Tchah! That&rsquo;s all my eye,&rdquo; said
+Flack. He was a narrow-chested, high-shouldered man of sixty, with a
+thin grey beard, and he had a consistently incredulous mind.</p>
+<p class="par">Out here in the counting-house, Gosling&rsquo;s thrill
+of fear was rapidly subsiding, and he had no intention of passing over
+his own important part in the house&rsquo;s decision to buy for a rise;
+so he bulged out his cheeks, shook his head and said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not by a long chalk it ain&rsquo;t, Flack; not by
+a long chalk. There was that young feller, Thrale, as I was
+tellin&rsquo; you about; &rsquo;e gave me a hidea or two, and now
+s&rsquo;mornin&rsquo; we &rsquo;ave this very serious news from
+Berlin.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb49" href="#pb49" name=
+"pb49">49</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Papers &rsquo;ave to make the worst of
+everything,&rdquo; said Flack. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s their
+livin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anyways,&rdquo; continued Gosling, &ldquo;I put
+it quite straight to the &rsquo;ouse this mornin&rsquo;, as we might do
+worse under the circumstances than buy &rsquo;eavily....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You <i>did</i>?&rdquo; asked Flack, and he cocked
+up his spectacles and looked at Gosling underneath them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; replied Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What did Mr Barker say to that?&rdquo; asked
+Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He took my advice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes, you don&rsquo;t tell me
+so?&rdquo; said Flack, his spectacles on his forehead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m now about to dictate various letters to
+our &rsquo;ouse in Dundee,&rdquo; replied Gosling, dropping his voice
+to a whisper, and assuming an air of mysterious importance,
+&ldquo;advising them to send our Mr Stewart to Vienna immediate, from
+where &rsquo;e is to proceed to Berlin. &rsquo;E is, also, to
+&rsquo;ave private instructions from the &rsquo;ouse as to the extent
+of &lsquo;is buyin&rsquo;&mdash;which I may tell you in confidence,
+Flack, will be enormous&mdash;e-<i>nor</i>mous.&rdquo; Gosling raised
+his head slowly on the first syllable, brought it down with a jerk on
+the second, and left the third largely to the imagination.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But d&rsquo;yer mean to tell me,&rdquo;
+expostulated Flack, &ldquo;as all this is on account of this plague?
+They been usin&rsquo; that as a blind, my boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling laid a bunch of swollen fingers on his
+colleague&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;I tell you, Flack, old boy,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;that this is serious. When Mr Barker took up my advice, as
+&rsquo;e did very quick, Mr Prince said, &lsquo;You don&rsquo;t tell me
+as you really take this plague serious, Barker?&rsquo; &rsquo;e said.
+And Mr Barker looked up <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb50" href=
+"#pb50" name="pb50">50</a>]</span>and says, <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e1025" title="Source: &ldquo;">&lsquo;</span>I&rsquo;m goin&rsquo;
+to put all my money on it.&rsquo;&rdquo; Gosling paused and then
+repeated, &ldquo;Mr Barker says as &rsquo;e&rsquo;s goin&rsquo; to put
+all our money on it, Flack.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes!&rdquo; said Flack. Here,
+indeed, was an argument strong enough to break down even his consistent
+incredulity. &ldquo;But d&rsquo;yer mean to tell me,&rdquo; he
+persisted, &ldquo;that Mr Barker thinks as it&rsquo;ll come to
+England?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We-el, you know,&rdquo; returned Gosling,
+&ldquo;we need not, p&rsquo;raps go quite so far as that. But it may go
+far enough to interfere with European markets, there may be trouble
+with quarantine, and such-like....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah, well, that,&rdquo; said Flack with an air of
+relief. &ldquo;Jus&rsquo; <i>so</i>, jus&rsquo; <i>so</i>. Mr Barker
+can see as far through a brick wall as most people, and so I&rsquo;ve
+always said.&rdquo; He dropped his spectacles on to his nose again, and
+returned to his interrupted accountancy.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling went fussily into his own room and rang for his
+typist&mdash;a competent and presentable young woman, among whose
+duties that of turning her superior&rsquo;s letters into equivalent
+English was not the lightest.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Gosling was very full of importance that day, and
+during lunch he wore the air of a man who had secret and valuable
+information. He was too well versed in City methods and too loyal to
+his own house to give any hint of Barker and Prince&rsquo;s
+speculations in Austria and Germany; but when the subject of the new
+plague inevitably came into the conversation, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb51" href="#pb51" name="pb51">51</a>]</span>he spoke
+with an authority that was heightened by the hint of reserve implicit
+in his every dictum.</p>
+<p class="par">When the latest joke on the subject, fresh from the
+Stock Exchange, had been retailed by one of the usual group of
+lunchers, and had been received with the guffaws it merited, Gosling
+suddenly screwed his face to an unaccustomed seriousness and said,
+&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s serious, you know, extremely serious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">And by degrees, from this and many other better informed
+sources, the rumour ran through the City that the new plague was
+serious, extremely serious. That afternoon there was a slight drop of
+prices in certain industrial shares, and a slight rise in wheat and
+some other imported food stuffs; fluctuations which could not be
+attributed to ordinary causes. Mr Barker&rsquo;s foresight was
+justified once again in the eyes of Gosling and Flack. Before five
+o&rsquo;clock another letter was posted to Dundee, enforcing haste.</p>
+<p class="par">In the bosom of his family that evening, Gosling was a
+little pompous, and talked of economy. But his wife and daughters,
+although they assumed an air of interest, were quite convinced that the
+head of the house in Wisteria Grove was making the most of a rumour for
+his own purposes.</p>
+<p class="par">As Blanche said to Millie, later, father was always
+finding some excuse for keeping them short of dress money. That five
+pounds had proved inadequate to supply even their immediate
+necessities, and they were already meditating another attack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We simply must get another three pounds
+somehow,&rdquo; said Millie. And Blanche quite agreed with her.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb52" href="#pb52" name=
+"pb52">52</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">V&mdash;</span>THE CLOSED
+DOOR</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">There was a lull for forty-eight hours after that
+announcement of the case of the new plague in Berlin, and Maxwell was
+beginning to regret his headlines when the news began to come in, this
+time in volume. The Russian censorship had broken down, and the news
+agencies were suddenly flooded with reports. There were several
+thousand cases of the plague in Eastern Russia; the north and south
+were affected, many men were dying in such towns as Kharkov and Rostov;
+there were a dozen cases in St Petersburg; there was a such a rush of
+reports that it was quite impossible to distinguish between those that
+were probably true and those that were certainly false.</p>
+<p class="par">The morning papers gave as much space as they could
+spare, and had even broken up some of the matter dealing with the
+arrangements for the opening of Parliament on that day. But the evening
+papers had news that put all previous reports in the shade. Eleven more
+cases were reported in Berlin<span class="corr" id="xd23e1073" title=
+"Not in source">,</span> three in Hamburg, five in Prague and one in
+Vienna<span class="corr" id="xd23e1076" title="Not in source">.</span>
+But more important, more thrilling still, was the news that H.I.H. the
+Grand Duke Kirylo, the Tsar&rsquo;s younger brother, had died of the
+plague in Moscow, and Professor Schlesinger in Berlin. Until that
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb53" href="#pb53" name=
+"pb53">53</a>]</span>startling announcement came, the English public
+had incomprehensibly imagined that only peasants, Chinamen and people
+of the lower social grades were attacked by this strange new
+infection.</p>
+<p class="par">In the later editions it was reported on good authority
+that Professor Schlesinger had been observing a sample of the blood of
+the first case of plague that had been recognized in Berlin.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless the majority of readers, after glancing
+through the obituary notices of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo and of the
+world-famed bacteriologist, turned to the account&mdash;only slightly
+abbreviated&mdash;of the opening of Parliament. And in many households
+the subject of the new plague gave place to the fiercely controversial
+topic of the English Church Disestablishment Bill, which had been
+indicated in the King&rsquo;s Speech as a measure that was to be
+introduced in the forthcoming session. Many opponents of the Bill
+coupled the two chief items of news and said that the plague was a
+warning against infidelity. It may be assumed that they found
+sufficient warrant for the killing of a few thousand Russians,
+including a prince of the blood and a great German scientist, in the
+acknowledged importance of England among the nations. The death of half
+a million or so Chinamen in the first instance had been a delicate
+hint; now came the more urgent warning. Who knew but that if this
+sacrilegious Bill were passed, England herself might not be smitten.
+When warnings are disregarded, judgments follow. The Evangelicals found
+a weapon ready to their hands.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb54"
+href="#pb54" name="pb54">54</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">But what precisely was the nature of the new plague,
+none of the journals was as yet able to say. The symptoms had not as
+yet been &ldquo;described&rdquo; by any medical authority, for it
+appeared that, contrary to modern precedent, the doctor himself,
+despite all precautions, was peculiarly subject to infection. Out of
+the eleven new cases in Berlin, no less than four were medical men.</p>
+<p class="par">From the layman&rsquo;s point of view the symptoms were
+briefly as follows: Firstly, violent pains at the base of the skull,
+followed by a period of comparative relief which lasted from two to
+five hours. Then, a numbness in the extremities, followed by rapid
+paralysis. Death ensued in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after
+the pains were first experienced. No case, as yet, was known to have
+recovered. A well-known physician in London gave it as his opinion that
+the disease was a hitherto unknown form of cerebro-spinal meningitis of
+unexampled virulence. He protested that the word &ldquo;plague&rdquo;
+was a false description, but that word had already been impressed on
+the public mind, and the disease was spoken of as the &ldquo;new
+plague&rdquo; until the end.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The next morning all London was reading a
+heavily-leaded article by Jasper Thrale. It appeared first in the
+<i>Daily Post</i>, with the announcement that it was not copyright, and
+all the evening papers took it up, and some of them reprinted it in its
+entirety.</p>
+<p class="par">The article began by pointing out that in the recent
+history of civilization Europe had been subject <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb55" href="#pb55" name="pb55">55</a>]</span>to a
+long succession of pestilences. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth
+centuries, wrote Thrale, the Black Death, now commonly supposed to be a
+form of the bubonic plague, was practically endemic in England. In more
+recent times small-pox had been responsible for enormous mortality
+among all classes, and, in our own day, tuberculosis. In the two former
+examples, Thrale pointed out, and in many other diseases, infectious or
+contagious, or both, these pestilences had gradually lost virulence. By
+the elimination of those most susceptible to infection and incapable to
+resist the onslaught of the disease, and by the survival of those whose
+vitality was strong enough either to resist attack or to achieve
+recovery, mankind at last were gradually becoming immune against
+certain infections which had prevailed in the past. And in a greater or
+less degree this immunity was without doubt being obtained against a
+whole host of lesser ills. This comparative immunity, in fact, was one
+of the means of man&rsquo;s evolution towards a more perfect physical
+body.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But let us consider for a moment,&rdquo; wrote
+Thrale, &ldquo;the appalling danger which threatens us when we are
+attacked by a pestilence which is entirely new to humanity; new, so far
+as we know, to the world. In the middle of the fourteenth century the
+Black Death is recorded in some places to have killed two-thirds of the
+whole population, and, notwithstanding the modern improvement in
+sanitation and general hygiene, there is no inherent reason why another
+pestilence may not appear, which may be even more deadly. And we are
+faced at the present <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb56" href="#pb56"
+name="pb56">56</a>]</span>moment with the awful threat that such a
+pestilence has appeared, the pestilence commonly known as the
+&lsquo;new plague.&rsquo; There is no reason why we should consider the
+appearance as without precedent in history; there is no reason why we
+should regard its coming as outside the laws of common probability;
+finally, and most decisively, there is no reason why England should not
+be smitten.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;According to report among the Chinese, this
+&lsquo;new plague&rsquo; has been spasmodically epidemic in Tibet for
+more than a century. We have, as yet, no certain facts upon which to
+base any hypothesis, but is it not credible that during that time some
+bacterium or bacillus&mdash;hitherto harmlessly parasitic, perhaps, in
+the blood of lower animals&mdash;has changed its life habit? In the
+isolated and sparsely inhabited regions of Tibet, it is possible that
+for many thousand years the assumed bacterium was never bred in the
+blood of man; it is possible that when it first found a new host it was
+comparatively harmless to him, but within a hundred years it may have
+become so altered by new conditions that it has developed into what is
+practically a new species. If these theories are relatively true, it is
+not unlikely that this new bacterium is working out its own destruction
+by the destruction of its hosts. It may be that it is one of those
+blind alleys of evolution which reach a certain stage of development
+and then disappear. But meanwhile what of mankind? We know so little of
+the history of microscopic life. There is a whole world of evolution in
+process of which we have no conception, and at this stage, whether my
+hypothesis be a possible <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb57" href=
+"#pb57" name="pb57">57</a>]</span>one or not, we are at least sure that
+an unknown organism&mdash;animal or vegetable&mdash;has become visible
+to us in its effects and may alter the whole history of mankind.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I lay stress on these aspects, because we are so
+hide-bound, so restricted, so conventional in our ideas that we assume,
+without thought, that the process of life as we know of it from a few
+thousand years of history can never be interrupted. In our few years of
+individual existence we become accustomed to certain apparent laws of
+cause and effect, and will not believe that there can be any exception
+to those assumed laws. But, now, in the face of recent evidence, it is
+absolutely essential that we should realize instantly and practically
+that we are threatened with a new factor in life, which imperils the
+whole human race. It is no longer safe to comfort ourselves with the
+belief&mdash;begotten of our vanity&mdash;that the world was
+necessarily made for man. It behoves us to take measures for our
+protection without delay, to undertake our own cause and trust no
+longer in any beneficent Providence that works always for our ultimate
+benefit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;These measures of protection are clearly
+indicated. We must close our doors against the invasion of the plague.
+Quarantine will not protect us; we must have no traffic with Europe
+until the danger is past. By the happy accident of our position we can
+become isolated from the rest of the world. We must close our doors
+before it is too late.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb58" href=
+"#pb58" name="pb58">58</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">If the people had not been seriously scared by the
+sudden irruption of news on the day preceding that on which this
+article was published, they would have ignored Thrale&rsquo;s
+hyperboles&mdash;or laughed. But, caught in a moment of agitation and
+fear, a certain section of the crowd took up Thrale&rsquo;s suggestion,
+talked about the &ldquo;closed door,&rdquo; held meetings, and started
+propaganda. The Press, with its genius for appreciating and following
+public opinion, also took up the suggestion, and was automatically
+divided into two sections, recognizable as Liberal and
+Conservative.</p>
+<p class="par"><i>The Times</i> took command of the situation with a
+leader, in which Thrale&rsquo;s argument was pounded, rather than
+picked, to pieces; but the <i>Daily Mail</i> produced more effect with
+two special articles contributed, one by a bacteriologist, the other by
+a professor of economics. The first had little weight&mdash;all
+argument under that head was as yet founded on the most uncertain
+hypotheses. The second was so convincing that the less ardent
+supporters of the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo; policy were shaken in their
+convictions.</p>
+<p class="par">The writer of the economic article pointed out that an
+England with closed doors could not feed herself for a month. He was
+scrupulously fair in his argument, and was at great pains to show that
+even if preparation was instantly made to lay in large stores of grain
+from Canada, tinned meats from America, and food-stuffs generally from
+the many <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb59" href="#pb59" name=
+"pb59">59</a>]</span>places which were as yet free from any taint of
+plague, it would still be impossible to provide for more than a three
+months&rsquo; isolation. Then, leaving this aspect of the question, he
+went on to show in detail that even if the food could be supplied, the
+practical cessation of our enormous foreign trade would mean the
+destruction of England&rsquo;s commerce, and he wound up with an
+earnest exhortation to the country at large, warning the people to
+beware of scaremongers, pessimists, and opportunists who had their own
+ends to serve, and cared nothing for the general welfare. It was an
+excellent article in every way; quite one of the best that the <i>Daily
+Mail</i> had ever published. And as this, too, was declared free of any
+copyright restrictions, it was largely circulated.</p>
+<p class="par">The <i>Daily Post</i> replied next morning by pointing
+out that the celebrated professor of economics was nullifying all his
+own previous utterances on the case for Tariff Reform, but that retort
+carried little weight. No one cared if the professor contradicted
+himself; anyone, except the faddists, could see that the argument of
+the article was sound, in fact incontrovertible. What had to be done
+was to put pressure on the Local Government Board. It was true that the
+<i>Daily Post</i>, the semi-official organ of the Government, affirmed
+that the Board in question was alert and active, but that announcement
+was regarded as a clich&eacute;; what was wanted were particulars of
+the preventive measures that were being taken.</p>
+<p class="par">The members of the great Gosling family, in offices,
+warehouses and shops followed the line of <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb60" href="#pb60" name="pb60">60</a>]</span>least resistance, while
+making some assertion of their rights as citizens.</p>
+<p class="par">George Gosling&rsquo;s arguments with his crony Flack
+were excellently representative.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What yer think of this &lsquo;closed door&rsquo;
+business?&rdquo; asked Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goin&rsquo; a bit <i>too</i> far, in my
+opinion,&rdquo; returned Gosling judicially.</p>
+<p class="par">Flack&rsquo;s natural incredulity had inclined him in
+the same direction, but his colleague&rsquo;s certainty swung him round
+at once.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t so sure o&rsquo; that,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;Looks to me as things is going pretty bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bad enough, I grant you,&rdquo; returned Gosling.
+&ldquo;But there isn&rsquo;t no need for us to lose our &rsquo;eads
+over it. Take it all round, you know, it&rsquo;s pretty certain as
+things isn&rsquo;t as bad as is made out, whereas, on the other
+&rsquo;and, the &lsquo;closed door&rsquo; policy&rsquo;d mean ruin and
+starvation for &rsquo;undreds of thousands&mdash;there&rsquo;s no
+gettin&rsquo; round that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Better a few &rsquo;undred thousands than the
+&rsquo;ole male population,&rdquo; said Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it come to that, but it won&rsquo;t; no fear,
+not by a long chalk, it won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Gosling.
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s got to be done is to get the Local Government Board
+to work. We&rsquo;ve got to &rsquo;ave a regular system o&rsquo;
+quarantine established, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to
+&rsquo;ave.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of
+prevention at the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could
+have been adopted. The supporters of the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo;
+policy soon began to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb61" href="#pb61"
+name="pb61">61</a>]</span>lose adherents. The scheme was obviously
+alarmist, far-fetched and utterly impracticable....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Through February and the early part of March the
+plague spread through Central Europe, but not with an alarming
+rapidity.</p>
+<p class="par">In the second week of March, Berlin was reporting a
+weekly roll of over five hundred deaths attributable to this cause, and
+Vienna was second with between four and five hundred. In St Petersburg
+and Moscow the figures were no higher, and there were as yet
+comparatively few cases in France, and none in Spain or Portugal.</p>
+<p class="par">Many authorities were of opinion that the mortality had
+reached the maximum, and that the plague would work itself out in the
+course of a few more weeks. Moreover it appeared that the early reports
+of the highly infectious character of the plague must have been grossly
+exaggerated, for as yet there had been not a single case in the British
+Isles despite the enormous traffic between England and the Continent.
+It is true that the strictest quarantine had been established&mdash;it
+had been ascertained that the period of gestation of the germ was about
+fifty hours&mdash;but not one single case had so far been detained in
+quarantine ships or hospitals. It was argued from this that the plague
+was not infectious at all in the ordinary sense, and only mildly
+contagious; that it flourished in certain centres and was not easily
+transferable from one centre to another.</p>
+<p class="par">The only aspect of the thing that was seriously
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb62" href="#pb62" name=
+"pb62">62</a>]</span>alarming was the horrible mortality among doctors
+and the specialists who were endeavouring to recognize and isolate the
+characteristic germ of the disease. Nine English experts who had dared
+martyrdom in the cause of science had gone to Berlin to make
+investigations, and not one of them had returned<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e1183" title="Not in source">.</span> As a consequence of this
+strange susceptibility of the investigator, whether medical man or
+bacteriologist, there was still an extraordinary ignorance of the
+general nature and action of the disease.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, despite this one intimidating aspect of
+the plague, the general attitude in the middle of March was that the
+quarantine arrangements were enormously impeding trade and should be
+relaxed<span class="corr" id="xd23e1188" title="Not in source">.</span>
+The foreign governments were alive to the seriousness of the scourge,
+and were doing all in their power to prevent infection. There had been
+a scare, but people were calm again, now, and able to realize the
+extent of the earlier exaggerations.</p>
+<p class="par">The Government passed the second reading of the English
+Church Disestablishment Bill by a majority of nineteen, before the
+Easter recess, and the Goslings, who had grown used to the plague,
+whose chief attitude towards it was that it was an infernal nuisance
+which interfered with trade, turned their attention gladly to the new
+topic; they all thought that a general election at that moment would
+result in an overwhelming Conservative majority. And as the Liberals
+had been in power for more than ten years, that eventuality was
+regarded with complacency.</p>
+<p class="par">But at this critical moment&mdash;to the joy of the
+Evangelicals&mdash;the new plague set to work in earnest. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb63" href="#pb63" name="pb63">63</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch6" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VI&mdash;</span>DISASTER</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Russia was smitten. Once more communication was
+cut off from Moscow, this time by a different agent<span class="corr"
+id="xd23e1206" title="Not in source">.</span> The work of the city was
+paralysed. Men were falling dead in the street, and there were only
+women to bury them. A wholesale emigration had begun. The roads were
+choked with people on foot and in carriages, for the trains had ceased
+to run.</p>
+<p class="par">The news filtered in by degrees: it was confirmed,
+contradicted and definitely confirmed again every few hours.</p>
+<p class="par">Then came final confirmation, with the news that
+something approaching war had broken out&mdash;a war of defence.
+Germany had sent troops to the frontier to stem the tide of emigrants
+from smitten Russia and Poland; and Austria-Hungary was following her
+example.</p>
+<p class="par">Parliament re-assembled before the Easter recess had
+expired. The time for more drastic measures had come, and the Premier
+explained to the House that it was proposed to bring in a Bill
+immediately to cut off communication with Europe.</p>
+<p class="par">There can be no doubt that England was now badly scared,
+but centuries of protection had established a belief in security which
+was not easily shaken.</p>
+<p class="par">The enthusiasts for the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo; policy
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb64" href="#pb64" name=
+"pb64">64</a>]</span>found plenty of recruits, but on the other side
+there was a solid body of opinion which maintained that the danger was
+grossly exaggerated. And when the <i>Evening Chronicle</i> came out
+with a long leader and a backing of expert opinion, to prove that the
+&ldquo;Closed Door&rdquo; Bill&mdash;as it was commonly
+called&mdash;was a dodge of the Government&rsquo;s in order to retain
+office, a well-marked reaction followed against the last and terrible
+step of cutting off all communication with Europe; and the Conservative
+party was joined by some avowed Liberals who had personal interests to
+consider in this connexion.</p>
+<p class="par">In committee-rooms, members of the Opposition were
+inclined to be jubilant: &ldquo;If we can throw out the Government on
+this Bill we shall simply sweep the country ... all the manufacturers
+in the North will be with us ... even Scotland, most likely ... we
+should come back with a record majority....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The prospects were so magnificent that there could be no
+hesitation in making a party question of the Bill.</p>
+<p class="par">No time was to be lost, for the Bill was to be rushed,
+it was an emergency measure, and it was proposed that it should become
+law within four days. Preparations were already in hand to carry out
+the provisions enacted.</p>
+<p class="par">An urgent rally of the Opposition was made, and when the
+Bill came up for the second reading the Premier addressed a well-filled
+House. The House was not crowded because a large number of people,
+including many members of Parliament, were on their way to America. All
+the big liners were packed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb65" href=
+"#pb65" name="pb65">65</a>]</span>on their outward voyage and were
+returning, contrary to all precedent, in ballast&mdash;this ballast was
+exclusively food-stuffs.</p>
+<p class="par">The Premier introduced the Bill in a speech which was
+remarkable for its sincerity and earnestness. He outlined the
+arrangements that were being made to feed the community, and showed
+clearly that while communication remained open with America, there was
+no fear of any serious shortage. Pausing for a moment on this question
+of intercourse with America, he made a point of the fact that American
+ports were already closed to emigrants from all European countries with
+the one exception of Great Britain, and that if a single case of plague
+were reported in these islands the difficulties of obtaining
+food-stuffs from America and the Colonies would be enormously
+increased. He wound up by almost imploring the House not to make a
+party question of so urgent and necessary a measure at a time when the
+safety of England was so terribly threatened. He pleaded that at this
+critical moment, unparalleled in the history of humanity, it was the
+duty of every man to sink his own personal interests, to be ready to
+make any sacrifice, for the sake of the community.</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Brampton, the leader of the Opposition, then
+completely destroyed the undoubted effect which had been made upon the
+House. He did not openly speak in a party spirit, but he hinted very
+plainly that the Bill under consideration was a mere subterfuge to win
+votes. He poured contempt upon the fear of the plague, which he
+characterized throughout <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb66" href=
+"#pb66" name="pb66">66</a>]</span>as the &ldquo;Russian
+epidemic,&rdquo; and ended with the advice to keep a cool head, to
+preserve the British spirit of sturdy resistance instead of shutting
+our doors and bringing the country to commercial ruin. &ldquo;Are we
+all cravens,&rdquo; he concluded, &ldquo;scurrying like rabbits to our
+burrows at the first hint of alarm?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The further debate, although lengthy, had comparatively
+little influence; the House divided, and the Government was defeated by
+a majority of nine.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The news was all over the country by ten
+o&rsquo;clock that night, and it was noticeable that a large percentage
+of the younger generation still regarded the danger as &ldquo;rather a
+lark.&rdquo; This threat of the plague held a promise of high
+adventure; youth can only realize the possibility of death in its
+relation to others.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, if this bally old plague did come&rdquo;
+... remarked a young man of twenty-two, who was sitting with a friend
+in the little private bar of the &ldquo;Dun Taw&rdquo; Hotel.</p>
+<p class="par">His friend drew his feet up on to the rungs of his tall
+stool and winked at the barmaid.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, go on. What if it did?&rdquo; remarked that
+young woman.</p>
+<p class="par">The young man considered for a moment and then said:
+&ldquo;Those that got left would have a rare old time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the women as&rsquo;d get left, seems
+to me,&rdquo; replied the barmaid, and scored a point. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb67" href="#pb67" name="pb67">67</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, surely you don&rsquo;t come from this part
+of the world?&rdquo; was the compliment evoked by her wit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not me!&rdquo; was the answer, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a
+Londoner, I am. Only started yesterday, and sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t stay
+long if to-day&rsquo;s a fair sample. There &rsquo;asn&rsquo;t been a
+dozen customers in all day, and they were in such a &rsquo;urry to get
+their tonic and go that I&rsquo;m sure they couldn&rsquo;t &rsquo;ave
+told you whether me &rsquo;air was black or ches&rsquo;nut.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Both men immediately looked at the crown of pretty fair
+hair which had been so churlishly slighted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;First thing I noticed about you,&rdquo; said
+one.</p>
+<p class="par">The other, who had hardly spoken before, took the
+cigarette out of his mouth and remarked: &ldquo;You can never get that
+colour with peroxide.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid looked a little suspicious.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, he means it all right, kid,&rdquo; put in the
+younger man quickly. &ldquo;Dicky&rsquo;s one of the serious sort.
+Besides, he&rsquo;s in that line; travels for a firm of wholesale
+chemists.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Dicky nodded gravely. &ldquo;I could see at once it was
+natural,&rdquo; he remarked with the air of an expert.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! you&rsquo;re one of them that keeps their
+eyes open,&rdquo; returned the barmaid approvingly, and Dicky modestly
+acknowledged the compliment by saying that his business necessitated
+close observation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Most men are as blind as bats,&rdquo; continued
+the barmaid, and the examples she gave from her own experience led to
+an absorbing conversation, which was presently interrupted by the
+shriek of the swing door.</p>
+<p class="par">The new-comer was a small, fair man with a neatly waxed
+moustache. He came up to the counter with <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb68" href="#pb68" name="pb68">68</a>]</span>the air of an
+habitu&eacute;, and remarked, &ldquo;Hallo! where&rsquo;s Cis?
+You&rsquo;re new here, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid, recognizing the marks of a regular
+customer, quietly admitted that this was only her second day at the
+&ldquo;Dun Taw.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been away for two months,&rdquo;
+explained the fair man, and ordered &ldquo;Scotch.&rdquo; He was
+evidently in the mood for company, for he brought up a stool and,
+sitting a little way back from the bar, he began to address his three
+hearers at large.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only came back from Europe this evening,&rdquo;
+he said, &ldquo;and glad to be home, I assure you.&rdquo; He raised his
+left hand with a gesture intended to convey horror, and drank half his
+whisky at a gulp.</p>
+<p class="par">Dicky turned to give his serious attention to the
+narrative which was plainly to follow, and somewhat ostentatiously
+observed the details of the new-comer&rsquo;s dress. Dicky had a
+new-found reputation to maintain. His friend looked bored and a little
+sulky, and tried to continue his conversation with the barmaid, but
+that young woman, appreciating the difference in value between a casual
+and a regular customer, passed a broad hint by with a smile and said:
+&ldquo;Europe? Just fancy!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a place to get out of, I assure
+you,&rdquo; said the fair man. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been over there for
+two months&mdash;Germany and Austria chiefly&mdash;but for the last
+fortnight I&rsquo;ve been wasting my time. There&rsquo;s nothing
+doing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t there?&rdquo; commented Dicky with
+great seriousness. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb69" href="#pb69"
+name="pb69">69</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, we&rsquo;re sick to death of this bally
+plague,&rdquo; put in the other young man quickly. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+been simply nothing else in the papers for the last I don&rsquo;t know
+how long. I want to forget it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The fair man reached forward and put down his empty
+glass on the bar counter. &ldquo;Same again, Miss,&rdquo; he said, and
+then: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll all be more sick of the plague before
+we&rsquo;ve finished with it. It&rsquo;s a terror. If I was to tell you
+a few of the things I&rsquo;ve seen in the past fortnight, I
+don&rsquo;t suppose you&rsquo;d believe me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all right; I&rsquo;d believe you
+quick enough,&rdquo; returned the young man. &ldquo;Point is,
+what&rsquo;s the good of getting yourself in a funk about it?
+Personally I don&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s coming to England. If it
+was it would have been here before this. What I say is ...&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">His pronouncement of opinion ceased abruptly. The fair
+man&rsquo;s behaviour riveted attention. He was gazing past the barmaid
+at the orderly rows of shining glasses and various shaped bottles
+behind her. His mouth was open. He gazed intensely, horribly.</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid backed nervously and looked over her
+shoulder. The two young men hastily rose and pushed back their stools.
+The same thought was in all their minds. This neat, fair man was on the
+verge of delirium tremens.</p>
+<p class="par">In a moment the air of intercourse and joviality that
+had pervaded the little room was dissipated; in place of it had come
+shocked surprise and fear.</p>
+<p class="par">There was an interval of slow desolating silence, and
+then the convulsive grip of the fair man <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb70" href="#pb70" name="pb70">70</a>]</span>shattered the glass he
+held, and the fragments fell tinkling to the floor.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; stammered the
+barmaid&rsquo;s admirer, while the barmaid herself shrank back against
+the shelves and watched nervously. She had had experience.</p>
+<p class="par">The fair man&rsquo;s head was being pulled slowly
+backwards by some invisible force. His eyes, staring straight before
+him, appeared to watch with fierce intensity some point that moved
+steadily up the wall of shelves behind the counter; up till it reached
+the ceiling and began to move over the ceiling toward him.</p>
+<p class="par">Then, quite suddenly, the horrible tension was relaxed;
+his head fell loosely forward and he clapped both hands to the nape of
+his neck. He was breathing loudly in short quick gasps.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, do you think he&rsquo;s ill?&rdquo; asked
+the young man. At the suggestion Dicky made a step towards the
+sufferer; his knowledge of chemistry gave him a professional air.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s come from Europe.... Suppose
+it&rsquo;s the plague,&rdquo; whispered the barmaid.</p>
+<p class="par">And at that the two young men started back. As the words
+were spoken realization swept upon them.</p>
+<p class="par">Mumbling something about &ldquo;get a doctor,&rdquo;
+they rushed for the door. One of them made a wide
+d&eacute;tour&mdash;he had to pass the man who sat doubled forward in
+his chair, frantically gripping the base of his skull.</p>
+<p class="par">Hardly had the clatter of the swing door subsided before
+he fell forward on to the floor. He was groaning now, groaning
+detestably.</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid whimpered and stared. &ldquo;Women
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb71" href="#pb71" name=
+"pb71">71</a>]</span>don&rsquo;t get it.&rdquo; she said aloud. But she
+kept to her own side of the counter.</p>
+<p class="par">Later the owner of the &ldquo;Dun Taw&rdquo; identified
+the fair man&mdash;from a distance&mdash;as Mr Stewart, of the firm of
+Barker and Prince.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Thrale&rsquo;s &ldquo;higher forces&rdquo; had
+shown their hand.</p>
+<p class="par">The humble and rotund instrument of their choice had
+served his purpose, and he was probably the first man in London to
+receive the news&mdash;a delicate acknowledgment, perhaps, of his
+services.</p>
+<p class="par">The telegram was addressed to the firm, but as neither
+of the heads of the house had arrived, Gosling opened it according to
+precedent.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Gosh!&rdquo; was his sole exclamation, but the
+tone of it stirred the interest of Flack, who turned to see his
+colleague&rsquo;s rather protuberant blue eyes staring with a fishy
+glare at a flimsy sheet of paper which visibly trembled in the hold of
+two clusters of fat fingers.</p>
+<p class="par">Flack lifted his spectacles and holding them on a level
+with his eyebrows, said, &ldquo;Bad news?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling sat down, and in the fever of the moment wiped
+his forehead with his snuff handkerchief, then discovered his mistake
+and laid the handkerchief carelessly on the desk. This infringement of
+his invariable practice produced even more effect upon Flack than the
+staring eyes and wavering fingers. Gosling might be guilty of mild
+histrionics, but not of such a touch as this. The utter neglect of
+decency <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb72" href="#pb72" name=
+"pb72">72</a>]</span>exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna
+could only portend calamity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes, man, what&rsquo;s the
+matter?&rdquo; asked Flack, still taking an observation under his
+spectacles.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s come, Flack,&rdquo; said Gosling
+feebly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in Scotland. Our Mr Stewart died of it in
+Dundee this mornin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Flack rose from his seat and grabbed the telegram, which
+was brief and pregnant. &ldquo;Stewart died suddenly five a.m. Feared
+plague. Macfie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Tchah!&rdquo; said Flack, still staring at the
+telegram. &ldquo;&lsquo;<i>Feared</i> plague.&rsquo; Lost their
+&rsquo;eads, that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;ve done. Pull yourself
+together, man. I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling swallowed elaborately, discovered his bandanna
+on the desk and hastily pocketed it. &ldquo;Might &rsquo;a been
+&rsquo;eart-disease, d&rsquo;you think?&rdquo; he said eagerly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We-el,&rdquo; remarked Flack, &ldquo;I never
+&rsquo;eard as &rsquo;is &rsquo;eart was affected, did you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling held out his hand for the telegram, and made a
+further elaborate study of it, without, however, discovering any
+hitherto unsuspected evidence relating to the unsoundness of
+Stewart&rsquo;s heart.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It says &lsquo;feared,&rsquo; of course,&rdquo;
+he remarked at last. &ldquo;Macfie wouldn&rsquo;t have said feared if
+&rsquo;e&rsquo;d been sure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d &rsquo;ardly have mentioned plague
+in a telegram if they &rsquo;adn&rsquo;t been pretty certain,
+though,&rdquo; argued Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was so upset that he had to go out and get a nip
+of brandy, a thing he had not done since the morning after Blanche was
+born. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb73" href="#pb73" name=
+"pb73">73</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The partners looked grave when they heard the news from
+Dundee, and London generally looked very grave indeed, when they read
+the full details an hour later in the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">Stewart, it appeared, had come straight through from
+Berlin to London via Flushing and Port Victoria, and on landing in
+England he had managed to escape quarantine. His was not an isolated
+case. For some weeks it had been possible for British subjects to get
+past the officials. There was nothing in the regulations to allow such
+an evasion of the order, but it could be managed occasionally. Stewart
+had been told to spare no expense.</p>
+<p class="par">The <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, although it made the most
+of its opportunity in contents bill and headlines, said that there was
+no cause for alarm, that these things were managed better in Great
+Britain than on the Continent; that the case had been isolated from the
+first moment the plague was recognized (about five hours before death),
+that the body had been burned, and that the most extensive and
+elaborate process of disinfection was being carried out&mdash;even the
+sleeping coach in which Stewart had travelled from London to Dundee
+twelve hours before, had been identified and burned also.</p>
+<p class="par">London still looked grave, but was nevertheless a little
+inclined to congratulate itself on the thoroughness of British methods.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll never get it in England, you see if we do,&rdquo;
+was the remark chiefly in vogue among the great Gosling family.</p>
+<p class="par">But twelve hours or so too late, England was beginning
+to regret that the Government had been <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb74" href="#pb74" name="pb74">74</a>]</span>defeated. It was rumoured
+that the Premier had broken down, had immediately resigned his office,
+and would not seek re-election as a private member.</p>
+<p class="par">This rumour was definitely confirmed in the later
+editions of the evening papers. Mr Brampton had been summoned to
+Buckingham Palace and was forming a temporary ministry which was to
+take office. In the circumstances it was deemed inadvisable to plunge
+the country into a general election at that moment.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Mr Stewart died in the small hours of Friday
+morning, and the next day, Saturday, the 14th of April, was the first
+day of panic.</p>
+<p class="par">The day began with comparative quiet. No further case
+had been notified in Great Britain, but telegraphic communication was
+interrupted between London and Russia, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and
+other continental centres. In Germany matters were growing desperate.
+There had been riots and looting. Military law had been declared in
+several towns; in some cases the mob had been fired upon. Business was
+at a standstill, and the plague was spreading like a fire. Between two
+and three hundred cases were reported from Reims, and upwards of fifty
+from Paris....</p>
+<p class="par">Business houses were being closed in the City of London,
+and the banks noted a marked tendency among their depositors to
+withdraw gold; so marked, indeed, that many banks of high standing
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb75" href="#pb75" name=
+"pb75">75</a>]</span>were glad to be able to close their doors at one
+o&rsquo;clock.</p>
+<p class="par">It was on this Saturday morning, also, that the bottom
+suddenly fell out of the money market. For weeks past, prices had been
+falling steadily, but now they dropped to panic figures. Every one was
+selling, there were no buyers left. Consols were quoted at
+53&ndash;1/2.</p>
+<p class="par">The air of London was heavy with foreboding, and
+throughout the morning the gloom grew deeper. The depressed and worried
+faces to be met at every turn contrasted strangely with the brilliance
+of the weather. For April had come with clear skies and soft, warm
+winds.</p>
+<p class="par">As the day advanced the atmosphere of depression became
+continually more marked, and how extraordinary was the effect upon all
+classes may be judged from the fact that less than 5,000 people paid to
+witness the third replay between Barnsley and Everton, in the
+semi-final of the English cup....</p>
+<p class="par">In London, men and women hung aimlessly about the
+streets waiting for the news they dreaded to hear. The theatres were
+deserted. The feeling of gloom was so real that many women afterwards
+believed that the sky had been overcast, whereas Nature was in one of
+her most brilliant moods.</p>
+<p class="par">It was a few minutes past three when the pressure was
+exploded by the report of the final catastrophe. &ldquo;Two more cases
+of plague in Dundee and one in Edinburgh,&rdquo; was the first
+announcement. That would have been enough to show that all the vaunted
+precautions had been useless, and within <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb76" href="#pb76" name="pb76">76</a>]</span>an hour came the
+notification of two further cases. Before six o&rsquo;clock, eight more
+were notified in Dundee, three more in Edinburgh, and one in
+Newcastle.</p>
+<p class="par">The new plague had reached England. It was then that the
+panic began. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb77" href="#pb77" name=
+"pb77">77</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VII&mdash;</span>PANIC</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Gurney, when he left his office on that Saturday,
+was influenced by the general depression. He went to lunch at the
+&ldquo;White Vine,&rdquo; in the Haymarket, quite determined to keep
+himself in hand, to argue himself out of his low spirits.</p>
+<p class="par">He made a beginning at once.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Every one seems to have a fit of the blues.
+Ernst,&rdquo; he remarked to the waiter with a factitious
+cheerfulness.</p>
+<p class="par">Ernst, less polite than usual, shrugged his shoulders.
+&ldquo;There is enough cause already,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Have you had bad news from Germany?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney, feeling that he had probably been rather brutal.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<span lang="de">Ach Gott! &rsquo;s&rsquo;ist bald
+Keiner mehr da</span>,&rdquo; blubbered Ernst, and he wept without
+restraint as he arranged the table, occasionally wiping his eyes with
+his napkin.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m most awfully sorry,&rdquo; murmured the
+embarrassed Gurney, and retreated behind the horror of his evening
+paper. He found small cause for rejoicing there, however, and discarded
+it as soon as his lunch had been brought by the red-eyed Ernst.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb78" href="#pb78" name=
+"pb78">78</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wonder what Mark Tapley would have done,&rdquo;
+Gurney reflected moodily as he attacked his chop.</p>
+<p class="par">There were few other people in the restaurant, and they
+were all silent and engrossed. That dreadful cloud hung over England,
+the spirit of pestilence threatened to take substance, the air was full
+of horror that might at any moment become a visible shape of
+destruction.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney did not finish his lunch, he lighted a cigarette,
+left four shillings on the table, and hurried out into the air.</p>
+<p class="par">He did not look up at the sky as he turned eastwards
+towards Fleet Street; no one looked up at the sky that afternoon. Heads
+and shoulders were burdened by an invisible weight which kept all eyes
+on the ground.</p>
+<p class="par">Fleet Street was full of people who crowded round the
+windows of newspaper offices, not with the eagerness of a general
+election crowd, but with a subdued surliness which ever and again broke
+out in spurts of violent temper.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney, still struggling to maintain his composure,
+found himself unreasonably irritated when a motor-bus driver shouted at
+him to get out of the way. It seemed to Gurney that to be knocked down
+and run over was preferable to being shouted at. The noise of those
+infernal buses was unbearable, so, also, was that dreadful patter of
+feet upon the pavement and the dull murmur of mournful voices. Why, in
+the name of God, could not people keep quiet?</p>
+<p class="par">He bumped into some one on the pavement as he
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb79" href="#pb79" name=
+"pb79">79</a>]</span>scrambled out of the way of the bus, and the man
+swore at him viciously. Gurney responded, and then discovered that the
+man was known to him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hallo,&rdquo; responded the other.</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they stood awkwardly, staring; then Gurney
+said, &ldquo;Any more news?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The man, who was a sub-editor of the <i>Westminster
+Gazette</i>, shook his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going back
+now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was nothing ten minutes
+ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Pretty awful, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; remarked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">The sub-editor shrugged his shoulders and hurried
+away.</p>
+<p class="par">Presently Gurney found himself wedged among the crowd,
+watching the <i>Daily Chronicle</i> window.</p>
+<p class="par">A few minutes after three, a young man with a very white
+face, fastened a type-written message to the glass.</p>
+<p class="par">There was a rapid constriction of the crowd. Those
+behind, Gurney among them, could not read the message, and pressed
+forward. There were cries of &ldquo;What is it?... I can&rsquo;t
+see.... Read it out....&rdquo; Then those in front gave way slightly, a
+wave of eagerness agitated the mass of watchers, and the news ran back
+from the front. &ldquo;Two more cases of plague in Dundee; one in
+Edinburgh.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">And with that the pressure of dread was suddenly
+dissipated, giving place to something kinetic, dynamic. Now it was fear
+that took the people by the throat: active, compelling fear. Men looked
+at each other with terror and something of hate in their <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb80" href="#pb80" name="pb80">80</a>]</span>eyes,
+the crowd broke and melted. Every man was going to his own home,
+possessed by an instinct to fly before it was too late.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney shouldered his way out, and stopped a taxi that
+was crawling past.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jermyn Street,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">The driver leaned over and pointed to the <i>Daily
+Chronicle</i> window. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the news?&rdquo; he
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The plague&rsquo;s in Dundee and
+Edinburgh,&rdquo; said Gurney, and climbed into the cab and slammed the
+door.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Gawd!&rdquo; muttered the driver, as he drove
+recklessly westwards.</p>
+<p class="par">Sitting in the cab, finding some comfort in the feeling
+of headlong speed, Gurney was debating whether he would not charter the
+man to take him right out of London. But he must go home first for
+money.</p>
+<p class="par">At the door of the house in Jermyn Street he met Jasper
+Thrale.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;Have you heard?&rdquo; asked Gurney
+excitedly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No. What?&rdquo; said Thrale, without
+interest.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There are two more cases in Dundee and one in
+Edinburgh,&rdquo; said Gurney. The driver of the cab got down from his
+seat, and looked from Gurney to Thrale with doubt and question.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale nodded his head. &ldquo;I knew it was sure to
+come,&rdquo; he remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Better get out of this,&rdquo; put in the
+driver.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, rather,&rdquo; agreed Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Thrale. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb81" href="#pb81" name="pb81">81</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, America.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll have it in America
+before you get there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll go there via
+Japan and &rsquo;Frisco.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You seem to know a lot about it,&rdquo; said the
+driver of the cab.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you mean to tell me there&rsquo;s nowhere we
+can go to?&rdquo; persisted Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale smiled. &ldquo;Nowhere in this world,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;This plague has come to destroy mankind.&rdquo; He spoke
+with a quiet assurance that carried conviction.</p>
+<p class="par">The driver of the cab scowled. &ldquo;May as well
+&rsquo;ave a run for my money first, then,&rdquo; he said, and thus
+gave utterance to the thought that was fermenting in many other
+minds.</p>
+<p class="par">There was no hope of escape for the mass, only the rich
+could seek railway termini and take train for Liverpool, Southampton or
+any port where there was the least hope of finding some ship to take
+them out of Europe.</p>
+<p class="par">That night there was panic and riot. The wealthy classes
+were trying to escape, the mob was trying to &ldquo;get a run for its
+money.&rdquo; Yet very little real mischief was done. Two or three
+companies of infantry were sufficient to clear the streets, and not
+more than forty people in all were seriously injured....</p>
+<p class="par">In Downing Street the new Premier sat alone with his
+head in his hands, and wondered what could be done to stop the approach
+of the pestilence. One of the evening papers had suggested that
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb82" href="#pb82" name=
+"pb82">82</a>]</span>a great line of fire should be built across the
+north of England. The Premier wondered whether that scheme were
+feasible. He had never held high office before; he did not know how to
+deal with these great issues. All his political life he had learned
+only the art of party tactics. He had learned that art very well, he
+was a master of debate, and he had shown a wonderful ability to judge
+the bent of the public mind and to make use of his judgments for party
+ends. But now that any action of his was divorced from its accustomed
+object, he was as a man suddenly forced into some new occupation.
+Whenever he tried to think of some means to stay the progress of the
+plague his mind automatically began to consider what influence the
+adoption of such means would have upon the general election which must
+soon come....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;A line of fire across the north,&rdquo; he was
+thinking, &ldquo;would shut off the whole of Scotland. They would never
+forgive us for that. We should lose the entire Scottish
+vote&mdash;it&rsquo;s bad enough as it is.&rdquo; He sat up late into
+the night considering what policy he should put before the Cabinet. He
+tried honestly to consider the position apart from politics, but his
+mind refused to work in that way....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In Jermyn Street Thrale was arguing with Gurney,
+trying to persuade him into a philosophic attitude.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, I suppose there&rsquo;s absolutely nothing
+to be done but sit down and wait,&rdquo; said Gurney. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb83" href="#pb83" name="pb83">83</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Personally,&rdquo; returned Thrale, &ldquo;I have
+no intention of spending my time flying from country to country like a
+marked criminal. That way leads to insanity. I&rsquo;ve seen men become
+animals before now under the influence of fear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, of course, you&rsquo;re quite right,&rdquo;
+agreed Gurney. &ldquo;One must exercise self-control. After all,
+it&rsquo;s only death, and not such a terrible death at that.&rdquo; He
+got up and began to pace the room restlessly, then went to the window
+and looked out. Jermyn Street was almost deserted, but distant sounds
+of shouting came from the direction of Piccadilly. He left the window
+open and turned back into the room.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so infernally hard just to sit still
+and wait,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If only one could do
+something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I doubt, now,&rdquo; said Thrale, quietly,
+&ldquo;whether one could ever have done anything. The public and the
+Government took my warnings in the characteristic way, the only
+possible way in which you could expect twentieth-century humanity to
+take a warning&mdash;a thrill of fear, perhaps, in some cases; frank
+incredulity in others; but no result either way that endured for an
+hour.... Belief in national and personal security, inertia outside the
+routine of necessary, stereotyped employment; these things are
+essential to the running of the machine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose they are,&rdquo; agreed Gurney absently
+He had sat down again and was sucking automatically at an extinguished
+pipe.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In a complex civilization,&rdquo; went on Thrale
+&ldquo;any initiative on the part of the individual outside
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb84" href="#pb84" name=
+"pb84">84</a>]</span>his own tiny sphere of energy is just so much grit
+in the machine. There are recognized methods, they may not be the best,
+the most efficient, but they are accepted and understood. Every clerk
+who has to calculate twelve pence to the shilling knows how his work
+would be lightened if he had only to calculate ten, but he accepts that
+difficulty, because he can do nothing as an individual to introduce the
+decimal system. And that spirit of acceptance grows upon him until the
+individual has the characteristics of the class. Only when a man is
+stirred by too great discomfort does he open his eyes to the
+possibility of initiative; then come labour strikes. If labour had a
+sufficiency of ease and comfort, if its lot were not so violently
+contrasted with that of even the middle-classes, labour would settle
+down to complacency. But the contrast is too great, and to attain that
+complacency of uninitiative we must level down. That was coming; that
+would have come if this plague....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What was that?&rdquo; asked Gurney excitedly,
+jumping to his feet. &ldquo;Did you hear firing?&rdquo; He went to the
+window again, and leaned out. From Piccadilly came the sound of an army
+of trampling feet, of confused cries and shouting. &ldquo;By God,
+there&rsquo;s a riot,&rdquo; exclaimed Gurney. He spoke over his
+shoulder.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale joined him at the window. &ldquo;Panic,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;Senseless, hysterical panic. It won&rsquo;t
+last.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I think I shall go out of London,&rdquo; said
+Gurney. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner ... I&rsquo;d sooner die in the
+country, I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb85" href="#pb85" name=
+"pb85">85</a>]</span>think.&rdquo; He withdrew from the window and
+began to pace up and down the room again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Going to stampede with the rest of
+&rsquo;em?&rdquo; asked Thrale. &ldquo;Extraordinarily infectious
+thing, panic.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s that exactly
+...&rdquo; hesitated Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Animal fear,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;The
+terror of the wild thing threatened with the unknown. The runaway horse
+terrified and rushing to its own destruction. Fly, fly, fly from the
+threat of peril as you did once on the prairies, when to fly meant
+safety.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so infernally depressing in
+London,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, go and brood on death in the
+country,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;That may cheer you up a bit.
+But, take my advice, don&rsquo;t run. Walk at a snail&rsquo;s pace and
+check the least tendency to hurry. Once you begin to quicken your pace,
+you will find yourself hurrying desperately&mdash;and then stampede the
+hell of terror at your heels. After all, you know, you may survive. It
+isn&rsquo;t likely that every man will die.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney caught eagerly at that. &ldquo;No, no, of course
+it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But wouldn&rsquo;t one be much
+more likely to survive if one were living in the country, or by the
+sea&mdash;in some fairly isolated place, for example. I meant to go
+down to Cornwall for my holiday this year, to a little cottage on the
+coast about four miles from Padstow; don&rsquo;t you think in pure air
+and healthy surroundings like that, one would stand a better
+chance?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb86" href="#pb86" name=
+"pb86">86</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; said Thrale carelessly.
+&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t run. In any case you&rsquo;d better wait till
+the middle of the week. The first rush will be over then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes. Perhaps. I&rsquo;ll go on Wednesday, or
+Tuesday....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale smiled grimly. &ldquo;Well, good night,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">When he had gone, Gurney went to the window again. The
+sounds of riot from Piccadilly had died down to a low, confused murmur.
+A motor-car whizzed by along Jermyn Street, and two people passed on
+foot, a man and a woman; the woman was leaning heavily on the
+man&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney turned once more to his pacing of the room. He
+was trying to realize the unrealizable fact that the world offered no
+refuge. For a full hour he struggled with himself, with that new,
+strange instinct which rose up and urged him to fly for his life. At
+last weary and overborne he threw himself into a chair by the dying
+fire and began to cry like a lost child; even as Ernst, the waiter, had
+cried....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The panic emigration lasted until Monday evening,
+and then came news which checked and stayed the rush for the ports of
+Liverpool, Southampton and Queenstown. The plague was already in
+America. It had come, as Thrale had prophesied from the West. At the
+docks many of those favoured <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb87" href=
+"#pb87" name="pb87">87</a>]</span>emigrants who had secured berths,
+hesitated; if it was to be a choice between death in America and death
+in England, they preferred to die at home.</p>
+<p class="par">Yet, even on Tuesday morning, when doubt as to the
+coming of the plague was no longer possible, when Dundee could only
+give approximate figures of the seizures in that town, reporting them
+as not less than a thousand, when it was evident that the whole of
+Scotland was becoming infected with incredible rapidity, and two cases
+were notified as far south as Durham, there remained still an enormous
+body of people who stoutly maintained that, bad as things were, the
+danger was grossly exaggerated, who believed that the danger would soon
+pass, and who, steadfast to the habits of a lifetime, continued their
+routine wherever it was possible so to do, determined to resist to the
+last.</p>
+<p class="par">To this body, possibly some two-fifths of the whole
+urban population, was due the comparative maintenance of law and order.
+In face of the growing destitution due to the wholesale closing of
+factories, warehouses and offices, necessitated by the now complete
+cessation of foreign trade and to the hoarding of food stores and gold
+which was already so marked as to have seriously affected the commerce
+not dependent on foreign sellers and buyers, a semblance of ordinary
+life was still maintained. Newspapers were issued, trains and
+&rsquo;buses were running, theatres and music-halls were open, and many
+normal occupations were carried on.</p>
+<p class="par">Yet everything was infected. It was as if the cloak of
+civilization was worn more loosely. Crime was <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb88" href="#pb88" name=
+"pb88">88</a>]</span>increasing and justice was relaxed. Robberies of
+food were so common that there was no place for the confinement of
+those who were convicted. Shopkeepers were becoming at once more
+reliant upon their own defences, and less scrupulous in their dealings
+with bona-fide customers. No longer could the protection of the State
+be exclusively relied upon, the citizen was becoming lost in the
+individual. Public opinion was being resolved into individual opinion;
+and with the failing of the great restraint every man was developing an
+unsuspected side of his character. Thrown upon his own resources, he
+became continually less civilized, more conscious of possibilities to
+fulfill long-thwarted tendencies and desires; he began to understand
+that when it is a case of <i lang="fr">sauve qui peut</i>, the weakest
+are trampled under foot.</p>
+<p class="par">So the cloak of civilization gaped and showed the form
+of the naked man, with all its blemishes and deformities. And women
+blenched and shuddered. For woman, as yet, was little, if at all,
+altered in character by the fear that was brutalizing man. Her faith in
+the intrinsic rectitude of the beloved conventions was more deeply
+rooted. Moreover woman fears the strictures of woman, more than man
+fears the judgments of man. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb89" href=
+"#pb89" name="pb89">89</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch8" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VIII&mdash;</span>GURNEY IN
+CORNWALL</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Gurney&rsquo;s alternative to flying from the
+plague was to run away from himself. He shirked the issue in his
+conversations with Thrale, shuffled, sophisticated, and in a futile
+endeavour to convince his companion, convinced himself that his
+reasoning was sound and his motive unprejudiced.</p>
+<p class="par">It was not until the following Thursday, however, that
+he took train to Cornwall. He had succeeded in realizing between two
+and three hundred pounds in gold, and this he took with him. He
+intended to lay in stores of flour, sugar and other primary
+necessities; to buy and keep two or three cows, to rear chickens, to
+grow as much garden produce as possible, especially potatoes; and
+generally to provide against the coming scarcity of food and the
+cessation of transport.</p>
+<p class="par">The bungalow on the shores of Constantine Bay, to which
+he departed, was a place well suited to the carrying out of these
+prudent arrangements. It belonged to a friend of his, who was rich
+enough to indulge his whims, and who had spent a considerable sum of
+money in building the place and enclosing ground, but who rarely
+occupied the bungalow himself, and was too careless to bother about
+letting <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb90" href="#pb90" name=
+"pb90">90</a>]</span>it. Gurney had the keys in his possession. When he
+had asked his friend for permission to spend his summer holiday there,
+he had been told to use the place as if it were his own. &ldquo;Jolly
+good thing for me, you know,&rdquo; his friend had said. &ldquo;Keep it
+dry and all that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney was not an idle man. Arrived at his bungalow, he
+lost no time in carrying out the arrangements he had schemed, and for
+nearly three weeks he was so absorbed in this work, in learning new
+occupations and perfecting his plan, that he did, indeed, achieve his
+purpose of running away from himself.</p>
+<p class="par">He became imbued with a new feeling of security; he
+received neither letters nor papers from the outside, and the old
+labourer who assisted him in setting potatoes, who taught him to milk a
+cow and instructed him generally in the primitive arts of
+self-supporting toil, seemed to regard all rumours of the new plague
+which filtered through to the village of St Merryn as some foreign
+nonsense which had little bearing on life in the county of Cornwall, as
+represented by the twenty-five or thirty square miles which were to him
+all the essential world.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney began to believe that the plague would never
+cross the Tamar, and one day in early May, when his provisions against
+a siege were practically completed, he was stirred to attempt a journey
+across the peninsula in order to visit an acquaintance in East Looe.
+Gurney had become conscious of a longing for some companionship. Old
+Hawken was very good at cows and potatoes, but he was rather deaf and
+his range of ideas was severely restricted. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb91" href="#pb91" name="pb91">91</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">From Padstow to Looe is not an ideal journey by
+rail at the best of times, involving as it does, a change of train at
+Wadebridge, Bodmin Road and Liskeard; but Gurney was in no hurry, and
+the conversations he overheard in his compartment were not destructive
+of his new-found complacency. There was, indeed, some mention of the
+plague, but only in relation to the scarcity of food supply and its
+effect on trade. One passenger, very obviously a farmer, was
+congratulating himself that he was getting higher prices for stock than
+he had ever known, and that as luck would have it he had sown an
+unusual number of acres with wheat that year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be
+gettun sixty or seventy a quarter, sure &rsquo;nough,&rdquo; he
+boasted.</p>
+<p class="par">Dickenson&mdash;Gurney&rsquo;s friend in
+Looe&mdash;regarded the matter more seriously, but he, too, seemed
+untouched by any fear of personal infection. He was an ardent Liberal,
+and his chief cause for concern seemed to be that the plague should
+have come at a time when so much progress was being made with
+legislation. He was, also, very distressed at the reports of poverty
+and starvation which abounded, and at the terrible blow to trade
+generally. But he seemed hopeful that the trouble would pass and be
+followed by a new era of enlightened government, founded on sound
+Liberal principles.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney stayed the night and the greater part of the next
+day at Looe. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb92" href="#pb92" name=
+"pb92">92</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">On his return journey he had to wait at Liskeard
+to pick up the main line train for London, which would take him to
+Bodmin Road.</p>
+<p class="par">It was a glorious May evening. The day had been hot, but
+now there was a cool breeze from the sea, and the long shadow from the
+high bank of the cutting enwrapped the whole station in a pleasant
+twilight.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney, deliberately pacing the length of the platform,
+was conscious of physical vigour and a great enjoyment of life. He had
+an imaginative temperament, and in his moments of exaltation he found
+the world both interesting and beautiful, an entirely desirable setting
+for the essential Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">So he strolled up and down the platform, regarded any
+female figure with interest, and was in no way concerned that the train
+was already an hour late. He had expected it to be late. His own train
+from Looe, for no particular reason, had been half an hour late. If he
+missed his connexion at Wadebridge he would only have some seven or
+eight miles to walk.</p>
+<p class="par">Fifteen or twenty other people were waiting on the down
+platform, and presently Gurney became conscious that his
+fellow-passengers were no longer detached into parties of two and
+three, but were collected in groups, discussing, apparently, some
+matter of peculiar interest.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney had been lost in his dreams and had hardly
+noticed the passage of time. He looked at his watch <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb93" href="#pb93" name="pb93">93</a>]</span>and
+found that the train was now two hours overdue. The sun had set, but
+there was still light in the sky. A man detached himself from one of
+the groups and Gurney approached him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Two hours late,&rdquo; he remarked by way of
+introducing himself, and looked at his watch again.</p>
+<p class="par">The man nodded emphatically. &ldquo;Funny thing
+is,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that they&rsquo;ve had no information at the
+office. The stationmaster generally gets advice when the train leaves
+Plymouth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good lord,&rdquo; said Gurney. &ldquo;Do you mean
+to say that the train hasn&rsquo;t got to Plymouth yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Looks like it,&rdquo; said the stranger.
+&ldquo;They say it&rsquo;s the plague. It&rsquo;s dreadfully bad in
+London, they tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;D&rsquo;you mean it&rsquo;s possible the train
+won&rsquo;t come in at all?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I should hardly think that,&rdquo; replied
+the other. &ldquo;Oh, no, I should hardly think that, but goodness
+knows when it will come. Very awkward for me. I want to get to St Ives.
+It&rsquo;s a long way from here. Have you far to go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, Padstow,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Padstow!&rdquo; echoed the stranger.
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good step.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Further than I want to walk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I should say. Thirty miles or so,
+anyway?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;About that,&rdquo; agreed Gurney. &ldquo;I wonder
+where one could get any information.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very awkward,&rdquo; was all the help
+the stranger had to offer. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb94" href=
+"#pb94" name="pb94">94</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Gurney crossed the line and invaded the
+stationmaster&rsquo;s office. &ldquo;Sorry to trouble you,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;but do you think this train&rsquo;s been taken off, for
+any reason?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it &rsquo;asn&rsquo;t been taken off,&rdquo;
+said the stationmaster with a wounded air. &ldquo;It may be a bit
+late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney smiled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something over two
+hours behind now, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t &rsquo;elp it, can I?&rdquo;
+asked the stationmaster. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to &rsquo;ave
+patience.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve had no advice yet from
+Plymouth?&rdquo; persisted Gurney, facing the other&rsquo;s
+ill-temper.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, I &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t; something&rsquo;s gone
+wrong with the wire. We can&rsquo;t get no answer,&rdquo; returned the
+stationmaster. &ldquo;Now, if you please, I &rsquo;ave my work to
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney returned to the down platform and joined a group
+of men, among whom he recognized the man he had spoken to a few minutes
+before.</p>
+<p class="par">The afterglow was dying out of the sky, in the
+south-west a faint young moon was setting behind the high bank of the
+cutting. A porter had lighted the station lamps, but they were not
+turned full on.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The stationmaster tells me that something has
+gone wrong with the telegraphic communication,&rdquo; said Gurney,
+addressing the little knot of passengers collectively. &ldquo;He
+can&rsquo;t get any answer it seems.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Been an accident likely,&rdquo; suggested some
+one.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Or the engine-driver&rsquo;s got the
+plague,&rdquo; said another.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d have put another man on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If they could find one.&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb95" href="#pb95" name="pb95">95</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If we ain&rsquo;t careful we shall be
+gettin&rsquo; the plague down &rsquo;ere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">After all why not? The horrible suggestion sprang up in
+Gurney&rsquo;s mind with new force. That remote city seemed suddenly
+near. He saw in imagination the train leaving Paddington, and only a
+journey of six or seven hours divided that departure from its arrival
+at Liskeard. It might come in at any moment, bearing the awful
+infection. Why should he wait? There was an inn near the station. He
+might find a conveyance there.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Constantine Bay?&rdquo; questioned the
+landlord.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s near St Merryn,&rdquo; said Gurney,
+but still the landlord shook his head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not far from Padstow,&rdquo; explained
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Pard-stow!&rdquo; exclaimed the landlord on a
+rising note. &ldquo;Drive over to Pard-stow at this time o&rsquo;
+night?&rdquo; He appeared to think that Gurney was joking.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, Bodmin, then,&rdquo; suggested Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Aw, why not take the train?&rdquo; asked the
+landlord.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;The train
+doesn&rsquo;t seem to be coming,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bad job, that,&rdquo; answered the landlord.
+&ldquo;Been an accident, sure &rsquo;nough; this new plague or
+something.&rdquo; He was evidently prepared to accept the matter
+philosophically.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t drive me then?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">The landlord shook his head with a grin. He was inclined
+to look upon this foreigner as rather more foolish than the majority of
+his kind. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb96" href="#pb96" name=
+"pb96">96</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Gurney came out of the little inn, and looked down into
+the station. The number of waiting passengers seemed to be decreasing,
+but the light was so dim that he could not see into the shadows.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I must keep hold of myself,&rdquo; he was saying.
+&ldquo;I mustn&rsquo;t run.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">A man was coming up the steep incline towards him, and
+Gurney moved slowly to meet him. He found that it was the stranger he
+had spoken to on the platform.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Any news?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, they&rsquo;ve got a message through from
+Saltash,<span class="corr" id="xd23e1773" title=
+"Not in source">&rdquo;</span> replied the stranger. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+the plague right enough. They say they don&rsquo;t know when
+there&rsquo;ll be another train....&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Days grew into weeks, and still there were no
+trains. Trade was at a standstill, and the prices of home produce
+mounted steadily. Fish there was, but not in great abundance, and the
+towns inland, such as Truro and Bodmin, organized a motor service with
+coast fishing villages, a service which only lasted for a week, by
+reason of the failure of the petrol supply. After that there was a less
+effective horse service.</p>
+<p class="par">Within three weeks after that last train arrived from
+outside, a new system of exchange was coming into vogue. In this little
+congeries of communities in Cornwall, men were beginning to learn the
+uselessness of gold, silver and bronze coins as tokens. Credit had
+collapsed, and a system of barter was being introduced, mainly between
+farmer and fisherman. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb97" href="#pb97"
+name="pb97">97</a>]</span>In time it was possible that Cornwall might
+have become a self-supporting community, for its proportionately few
+inhabitants were rapidly being depleted by want and starvation; but,
+although it was the last place in the British Isles to become infected,
+the plague came there, too, in the end.</p>
+<p class="par">A steamer sent out from Cardiff on a plundering
+expedition carried the plague to the Scillies, and a fishing vessel
+from St Ives carried it on to Newlyn.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb98" href="#pb98" name="pb98">98</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch9" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">IX&mdash;</span>THE DEVOLUTION OF
+GEORGE GOSLING</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The progress of the plague through London and the
+world in general was marked, in the earlier stages, by much the same
+developments as are reported of the plague of 1665. The closed houses,
+the burial pits, the deserted streets, the outbreaks of every kind of
+excess, the various symptoms of fear, cowardice, fortitude and courage,
+evidenced little change in the average of humanity between the
+seventeenth and the twentieth centuries. The most notable difference
+during these earlier stages was in the enormously increased rapidity
+with which the population of London was reduced to starvation point.
+Even before the plague had reached England, want had become general, so
+general, indeed, as to have demonstrated very clearly the truth of the
+great economist&rsquo;s contention that England could not exist for
+three months with closed doors.</p>
+<p class="par">The coming of the plague threw London on to its own very
+limited resources. That vast city, which produced nothing but the
+tokens of wealth, and added nothing to the essentials that support
+life, was instantly reduced to the state of Paris in the winter of
+1870&ndash;71; with the difference, however, that London&rsquo;s
+population could be decreased rapidly <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb99" href="#pb99" name="pb99">99</a>]</span>by emigration, and was,
+also, even more rapidly decreased by pestilence. Yet there was a large
+section of the population which clung with blind obstinacy to the only
+life it knew how to live.</p>
+<p class="par">There was, for instance, George Gosling, more fortunate
+in many respects than the average citizen, who clung desperately to his
+house in Wisteria Grove until forced out of it by the lack of
+water.</p>
+<p class="par">On the ninth day after the first coming of the plague to
+London&mdash;it appeared simultaneously in a dozen places and spread
+with fearful rapidity&mdash;Gosling broke one of the great laws he had
+hitherto observed with such admirable prudence. The offices and
+warehouse in Barbican had been shut up (temporarily, it was supposed),
+and the partners had disappeared from London. But Gosling had a
+duplicate set of keys, and, inspired by the urgency of his
+family&rsquo;s need, he determined to dare a journey into the City in
+order to <i>borrow</i> (he laid great stress on the word) a few
+necessaries of life from the well-stored warehouse of his firm.</p>
+<p class="par">In this scheme, planned with some shrewdness, he
+co-operated with a friend, a fellow-sidesman at the Church of St John
+the Evangelist. This friend was a coal merchant, and thus fortunately
+circumstanced in the possession of wagons and horses.</p>
+<p class="par">These two arranged the details of their borrowing
+expedition between them. Economically, it was a deal on the lines of
+the revived methods of exchange and barter. Gosling was willing to
+exchange certain advantages of knowledge and possession for the hire of
+wagons and horses. It was decided, for obvious <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb100" href="#pb100" name=
+"pb100">100</a>]</span>reasons, to admit no other conspirator into the
+plot, and Boost, the coal merchant, drove one cart and Gosling drove
+the other. Perhaps it should rather be said that he led the other, for,
+after a preliminary trial, he decided that he was safer at the
+horses&rsquo; heads than behind their tails.</p>
+<p class="par">The raid was conducted with perfect success. Boost had a
+head for essentials. The invaluable loads of tinned meats, fruits and
+vegetables were screened by tarpaulins from the possibly too envious
+eyes of hungry passers-by&mdash;quite a number of vagrants were to be
+seen in the streets on that day&mdash;and Boost and Gosling, disguised
+in coal-begrimed garments, made the return journey lugubriously
+calling, &ldquo;Plague, plague,&rdquo; the cry of the drivers of the
+funeral carts which had even then become necessary. Their only checks
+were the various applications they received for the cartage of corpses;
+applications easily put on one side by pointing to the piled-up
+carts&mdash;they had spent six laborious hours in packing them.
+&ldquo;No room; no room,&rdquo; they cried, and on that day the
+applicants who accosted Boost and Gosling were not the only ones who
+had to wait for the disposal of their dead.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling arrived at Wisteria Grove, hot and outwardly
+jubilant, albeit with a horrible fear lurking in his mind that he had
+been in dangerous proximity to those tendered additions to his load.
+His booty was stored in one of the downstairs rooms&mdash;with the
+assistance of Mrs Gosling and the two girls they managed the unpacking
+without interruption in two hours and a half&mdash;and then, with
+boarded windows <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb101" href="#pb101"
+name="pb101">101</a>]</span>and locked doors, the Goslings sat down to
+await the passing of horror.</p>
+<p class="par">Boost died of the plague forty-eight hours after the
+great adventure, but as he had a wife and four daughters his plunder
+was not wasted.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">For nearly a fortnight after the raid the Goslings
+lay snug in their little house in Wisteria Grove, for they, in company
+with the majority of English people at this time, had not yet fully
+appreciated the fact that women were almost immune from infection. In
+all, not more than eight per cent of the whole female population was
+attacked, and of this proportion the mortality was almost exclusively
+among women over fifty years of age. When the first faint rumours of
+the plague had come to Europe, this curious, almost unprecedented,
+immunity of women had been given considerable prominence. It had made
+good copy, theories on the subject had appeared, and the point had
+aroused more interest than that of the mortality among
+males&mdash;infectious diseases were commonplace enough; this new phase
+had a certain novelty and piquancy. But the threat of European
+infection had overwhelmed the interest in the odd predilection of the
+unknown bacterium, and the more vital question had thrown this
+peculiarity into the background. Thus the Goslings and most other women
+feared attack no less than their husbands, brothers and sons, and found
+justification for their fears in the undoubted fact that women had died
+of the plague. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb102" href="#pb102" name=
+"pb102">102</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The Goslings had always jogged along amiably enough;
+their home life would have passed muster as a tolerably happy one. The
+head of the family was out of the house from 8.15 a.m. to 7.15 p.m.
+five days of the week, and it was only occasionally in the evening of
+some long wet Sunday that there was any open bickering.</p>
+<p class="par">Now, confinement in that little house, aggravated by
+fear and by the absence of any interest or diversion coming from
+outside, showed the family to one another in new aspects. Before two
+days had passed the air was tense with the suppressed irritation of
+these four people, held together by scarcely any tie other than that of
+a conventional affection.</p>
+<p class="par">By the third day the air was so heavily charged that
+some explosion was inevitable. It came early in the morning.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling had run out of tobacco, and he thought in the
+circumstances that it would be wiser to send Blanche or Millie than to
+go himself. So, with an air of exaggerated carelessness, he said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Millie, my gel, I wish you&rsquo;d
+just run out and see if you can get me any terbaccer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not me,&rdquo; replied Millie, with decision.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And why not?&rdquo; asked Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie shrugged her shoulders, and called her sister,
+who was in the passage. &ldquo;I say, B., father wants us to go out
+shopping for him. Are you on?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche, duster in hand, appeared at the doorway.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why doesn&rsquo;t he go himself?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; replied her father, getting very
+red, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb103" href="#pb103" name=
+"pb103">103</a>]</span>and speaking with elaborate care,
+&ldquo;men&rsquo;s subject to the infection and women is
+not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all my eye,&rdquo; returned Millie.
+&ldquo;Lots of women have got it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s well known,&rdquo; said Gosling, still
+keeping himself in hand, &ldquo;a matter of common knowledge, that
+women is comparatively immune.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s a man&rsquo;s yarn, that
+is,&rdquo; said Blanche, &ldquo;just to save themselves. We all know
+what men are&mdash;selfish brutes!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you going to fetch me that terbaccer or are
+you not?&rdquo; shouted Mr Gosling suddenly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, we aren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Millie,
+defiantly. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t safe for girls to go about the
+streets, let alone the risk of infection.&rdquo; She had heard her
+father shout before, and she was not, as yet, at all intimidated.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, then, I say you are!&rdquo; shouted her
+father. &ldquo;Lazy, good-for-nothing creatures, the pair of you!
+&rsquo;Oose paid for everything you&rsquo;ve eat or drunk or wore ever
+since you was born? An&rsquo; now you won&rsquo;t even go an
+errand.&rdquo; Then, seeing the ready retort rising to his
+daughters&rsquo; lips, he grew desperate, and, advancing a step towards
+them, he said savagely: &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t go, I&rsquo;ll find a
+way to make yer!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">This was a new aspect, and the two girls were a little
+frightened. Natural instinct prompted them to scream for their
+mother.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been listening at the top of the stairs, and she
+answered the call for help with great promptitude.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You ought to be ashamed of yourself,
+Gosling,&rdquo; she said, on a high note. &ldquo;The streets
+isn&rsquo;t safe for <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb104" href="#pb104"
+name="pb104">104</a>]</span>gels, as you know well enough; and why
+should my gels risk their lives for the sake of your nasty, dirty,
+wasteful &rsquo;abit of smoking, I should like to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling&rsquo;s new-found courage was evaporating at the
+attack of this third enemy. He had been incensed against his daughters,
+but he had not yet overcome the habit of giving in to his wife, for the
+sake of peace. She had managed him very capably for a quarter of a
+century, but on the occasions when she had found it necessary to use
+what she called the &ldquo;rough side of her tongue&rdquo; she had
+demonstrated very clearly which of the two was master.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I should have thought I might &rsquo;a been
+allowed a little terbaccer,&rdquo; he said, resentfully.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo risked his life to lay in provisions, I should like to
+know? An&rsquo; it&rsquo;s a matter o&rsquo; common knowledge as women
+is immune from this plague.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And Mrs Carter, three doors off, carried out dead
+of it the day before yesterday!&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling,
+triumphantly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, &rsquo;ere and there, a case or two,&rdquo;
+replied her husband. &ldquo;But not one woman to a thousand men gets
+it, as every one knows.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And how do you know I mightn&rsquo;t be the
+one?&rdquo; asked Millie, bold now under her mother&rsquo;s
+protection.</p>
+<p class="par">For that morning, the matter remained in abeyance; but
+Gosling, muttering and grumbling, nursed his injury and meditated on
+the fact that his daughters had been afraid of him. Things were altered
+now. There was no convention to tie his <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb105" href="#pb105" name="pb105">105</a>]</span>hands. He would work
+himself into a protective passion and defy the three of them. Also,
+there was an unopened bottle of whisky in the sideboard.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, he would have put off the trial of his
+strength if he had had to seek an opportunity. He was, as yet, too
+civilized to take the initiative in cold blood.</p>
+<p class="par">The opportunity, however, soon presented itself in that
+house. The air had been little cleared by the morning&rsquo;s outbreak,
+and before evening the real explosion came. A mere trifle originated
+it&mdash;a warning from Gosling that their store of provisions would
+not last for ever, and a sharp retort from Millie to the effect that
+her father did not stint himself, followed by a reminder from Mrs
+Gosling that the raid might be repeated.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! yes, you&rsquo;d be willing enough for
+<i>me</i> to die of the plague, I&rsquo;ve no doubt!&rdquo; broke out
+Gosling. &ldquo;<i>I</i> can walk six mile to get you pervisions, but
+you can&rsquo;t go to the corner of the street for my
+terbaccer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Pervisions is necessary, terbaccer
+ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. She was not a clever woman. She
+judged this to be the right opportunity to keep her husband in his
+place, and relied implicitly on the quelling power of her tongue. Her
+intuitions were those of the woman who had lived all her life in a
+London suburb; they did not warn her that she was now dealing with a
+specimen of half-decivilized humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; shouted Gosling,
+getting to his feet. His face was purple, and his pale blue eyes were
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb106" href="#pb106" name=
+"pb106">106</a>]</span>starting from his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll soon
+show you what&rsquo;s necessary and what ain&rsquo;t, and &rsquo;oose
+master in this &rsquo;ouse. And <i>I</i> say terbaccer is necessary,
+an&rsquo; what&rsquo;s more, one o&rsquo; you three&rsquo;s goin&rsquo;
+to fetch it quick! D&rsquo;ye
+&rsquo;ear&mdash;one&mdash;o&rsquo;&mdash;you&mdash;three!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">This inclusion of Mrs Gosling was, indeed, to declare
+war.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie and Blanche screamed and backed, but their mother
+rose to the occasion. She did not reserve herself; she began on her top
+note; but Gosling did not allow her to finish. He strode over to her
+and shook her by the shoulders, shouting to drown her strident
+recriminations. &ldquo;&rsquo;Old your tongue! &rsquo;old your
+tongue!&rdquo; he bawled, and shook her with increasing violence. He
+was feeling his power, and when his wife crumpled up and fell to the
+floor in shrieking hysterics, he still strode on to victory. Taking the
+cowed and terrified Millie by the arm, he dragged her along the
+passage, unlocked and opened the front door and pushed her out into the
+street. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you come back without my
+terbaccer!&rdquo; he shouted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How much?&rdquo; quavered the shrinking
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Alf-a-crown&rsquo;s worth,&rdquo; replied
+Gosling fiercely, and tossed the coin down on the little tiled walk
+that led up to the front door.</p>
+<p class="par">After Millie had gone he stood at the door for a moment,
+thankful for the coolness of the air on his heated face. &ldquo;I got
+to keep this up,&rdquo; he murmured to himself, with his first thought
+of wavering. Behind him he heard the sound of uncontrolled weeping and
+little cries of the &ldquo;first time in twenty-four <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb107" href="#pb107" name=
+"pb107">107</a>]</span>years&rdquo; and &ldquo;what the
+neighbours&rsquo;ll think, I <i>don&rsquo;t</i> know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Neighbours,&rdquo; muttered Gosling,
+contemptuously, &ldquo;there aren&rsquo;t any neighbours&mdash;not to
+count.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">A distant sound of slow wheels caught his ear. He
+listened attentively, and there came to him the remote monotonous chant
+of a dull voice crying: &ldquo;Plague! Plague!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He stepped in quickly and closed the door.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Millie found the Kilburn High Road deserted. No
+traffic of any kind was to be seen in the street, and the rare
+foot-passengers, chiefly women, had all a furtive air. Starvation had
+driven them out to raid. No easy matter, as Millie soon found, for all
+shutters were down, and in many cases shop-fronts were additionally
+protected by great sheets of strong hoarding.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, recovering from her fright, was growing
+resentful. Her little conventional mind was greatly occupied by the
+fact that she was out in the High Road wearing house-shoes without
+heels, in an old print dress, and with no hat to hide the carelessness
+of her hair-dressing. At the corner of Wisteria Grove she stopped and
+tried to remedy this last defect; she had red hair, abundant and
+difficult to control.</p>
+<p class="par">The sight of the deserted High Road did not inspire her
+with self-confidence; she still feared the possibility of meeting some
+one who might recognize <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb108" href=
+"#pb108" name="pb108">108</a>]</span>her. How could one account for
+one&rsquo;s presence in a London thoroughfare at seven o&rsquo;clock on
+a bright May evening in such attire? Certainly not by telling the
+truth.</p>
+<p class="par">The air was wonderfully clear. Coal was becoming very
+scarce, and few fires had been lighted that day to belch forth their
+burden of greasy filth into the atmosphere. The sun was sinking, and
+Millie instinctively clung to the shadow of the pavement on the west
+side of the road. She, too, slunk along with the evasive air that was
+common to the few other pedestrians, the majority of them on this same
+shadowed pavement. That warm, radiant light on the houses opposite
+seemed to hold some horror for them.</p>
+<p class="par">So preoccupied was Millie with her resentment that she
+wandered for two or three hundred yards up the road without any
+distinct idea of what she was seeking. When realization of the futility
+of her search came to her, she stopped in the shadow of a doorway.
+&ldquo;What <i>is</i> the good of going on?&rdquo; she argued.
+&ldquo;All the shops are shut up.&rdquo; But the thought of her father
+in his new aspect of muscular tyrant intimidated her. She dared not
+return without accomplishing her errand. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have another
+look, anyway,&rdquo; she said; and then: &ldquo;Who&rsquo;d have
+thought he was such a brute?&rdquo; She rubbed the bruise on her arm;
+her mouth was twisted into an ugly expression of spiteful resentment.
+Her thoughts were busy with plans of revenge even as she turned to
+prosecute her search for the tyrant&rsquo;s tobacco. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb109" href="#pb109" name="pb109">109</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Here and there shops had been forcibly, burglariously
+entered, plate-glass windows smashed, and interiors cleared of
+everything eatable; the debris showed plainly enough that these rifled
+shops had all belonged to grocers or provision merchants. Into each of
+these ruins Millie stared curiously, hoping foolishly that she might
+find what she sought. She ventured into one and carried away a box of
+soap&mdash;they were running short of soap at home. A sense of moving
+among accessible riches stirred within her, a desire for further
+pillage.</p>
+<p class="par">She came at last to a shop where the shutters were still
+intact, but the door hung drunkenly on one hinge. A little fearfully
+she peered in and discovered that fortune had been kind to her. The
+shop had belonged to a tobacconist, and the contents were almost
+untouched&mdash;there had been more crying needs to satisfy in the
+households of raiders than the desire for tobacco.</p>
+<p class="par">It was very dark inside, and for some seconds Millie
+stared into what seemed absolute blackness, but as her eyes became
+accustomed to the gloom, she saw the interior begin to take outline,
+and when she moved a couple of steps into the place and allowed more
+light to come in through the doorway, various tins, boxes and packets
+in the shelves behind the counter were faintly distinguishable.</p>
+<p class="par">Once inside, the spirit of plunder took hold of her, and
+she began to take down boxes of cigars and cigarettes and packets of
+tobacco, piling them up in a heap on the counter. But she had no basket
+in which to carry the accumulation she was making, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb110" href="#pb110" name="pb110">110</a>]</span>and
+she was feeling under the counter for some box into which to put her
+haul, when the shadows round her deepened again into almost absolute
+darkness. Cautiously she peered up over the counter and saw the
+silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway.</p>
+<p class="par">For ten breathless seconds Millie hung motionless, her
+eyes fixed on the apparition. She was very civilized still, and she was
+suddenly conscious of committing a crime. She feared horribly lest the
+figure in the doorway might discover Millicent Gosling stealing
+tobacco. But the intruder, after recognizing the nature of the
+shop&rsquo;s contents, moved away with a sigh. Millie heard her
+dragging footsteps shuffle past the window.</p>
+<p class="par">That scare decided her movements. She hastily looped up
+the front of her skirt, bundled into it as much plunder as she could
+conveniently carry, and made her way out into the street again.</p>
+<p class="par">She was nearly at the corner of Wisteria Grove before
+she was molested, and then an elderly woman came suddenly out of a
+doorway and laid a hand on Millie&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Whacher got?&rdquo; asked the woman savagely.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, shrinking and terrified, displayed her
+plunder.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cigars,&rdquo; muttered the woman. &ldquo;Whacher
+want with cigars?&rdquo; She opened the boxes and stirred up the
+contents of Millie&rsquo;s improvised bundle in an eager search for
+something to eat. &ldquo;Gawd&rsquo;s truth! yer must be crazy, yer
+thievin&rsquo; little slut!&rdquo; she grumbled, and pushed the girl
+fiercely from her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb111" href="#pb111"
+name="pb111">111</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Millie made good her escape, dropping a box of cigars in
+her flight. Her one thought now was the fear of meeting a policeman. In
+three minutes she was beating fiercely on the door of the little house
+in Wisteria Grove, and, disregarding her father&rsquo;s exclamations of
+pleased surprise when he let her in, she tumbled in a heap on to the
+mat in the passage.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling&rsquo;s first declaration of male superiority
+had been splendidly successful.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">A few minutes after Millie&rsquo;s return, Mrs
+Gosling, red-eyed and timidly vicious, interrupted her husband&rsquo;s
+perfect enjoyment of the long-desired cigar by the announcement:
+&ldquo;The gas is off!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling got up, struck a match, and held it to the
+sitting-room burner. The match burned steadily. There was no pressure
+even of air in the pipes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Turned off at the meter!&rdquo; snapped Gosling.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, lemme go an&rsquo; see!&rdquo; He spoke with the air
+of the superior male, strong in his comprehension of the mechanical
+artifices which so perplex the feminine mind. Mrs Gosling sniffed, and
+stood aside to let him pass. She had already examined the meter.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we got lamps!&rdquo; snarled Gosling when
+he returned. He had always preferred a lamp to read by in the
+evening.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No oil,&rdquo; returned Mrs Gosling, gloomily.
+She&rsquo;d teach him to shake her!</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling meditated. His parochial mind was full
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb112" href="#pb112" name=
+"pb112">112</a>]</span>of indignation. Vague thoughts of &ldquo;getting
+some one into trouble for this&rdquo;&mdash;even of that last,
+desperate act of coercion, writing to the papers about it&mdash;flitted
+through his mind. Plainly something must be done.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Aven&rsquo;t you got any candles?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One or two. They won&rsquo;t last long,&rdquo;
+replied his studiously patient partner.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to use them to-night
+and go to bed early,&rdquo; was Gosling&rsquo;s final judgment. His
+wife left the room with a shrug of forbearing contempt.</p>
+<p class="par">When she had gone, the head of the house went upstairs
+and peered out into the street. The sun had set, and an unprecedented
+mystery of darkness was falling over London. The globes of the tall
+electric standards, catching a last reflection from the fading sky,
+glimmered faintly, but were not illuminated from within by any fierce
+glare of violet light. Darkness and silence enfolded the great dim
+organism that sprawled its vast being over the earth. The spirit of
+mystery caught Gosling in its spell. &ldquo;All dark,&rdquo; he
+murmured, &ldquo;and quiet! Lord! how still it is!&rdquo; Even in his
+own house there was silence. Downstairs, three injured, resentful women
+were talking in whispers.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling, still sucking his cigar, stood entranced,
+peering into the darkness; he had ventured so far as to throw up the
+sash. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the stillness of death!&rdquo; he muttered.
+Then he cocked his head on one side, for he caught the sound of distant
+shouting. Somewhere in the Kilburn Road another raid was in
+progress.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No light,&rdquo; murmured Gosling, &ldquo;and no
+fire!&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb113" href="#pb113" name=
+"pb113">113</a>]</span>An immediate association suggested itself.
+&ldquo;By gosh! and no <i>water</i>!&rdquo; he added. For some seconds
+he contemplated with fearful awe the failure of the great essential of
+life.</p>
+<p class="par">In the cistern room he was reassured by the sound of a
+delicious trickle from the ball-cock. &ldquo;Still going,&rdquo; he
+said to himself; &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to be careful.
+Surely they&rsquo;ll keep the water goin&rsquo;, though; whatever
+&rsquo;appens, they&rsquo;d surely keep the water on?&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Nothing but the failure of the water could have
+driven them from Wisteria Grove. Half-a-dozen times every day Gosling
+would climb up to the top of the house to reassure himself. And at last
+came the day when a dreadful silence reigned under the slates, when no
+delicious tinkle of water gave promise of maintained security from
+water famine.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll come on again at night,&rdquo; said
+Gosling to himself. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to be careful,
+that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He went downstairs and issued orders that no more water
+was to be drawn that day.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we must wash up the breakfast
+things,&rdquo; was his wife&rsquo;s reply.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You mustn&rsquo;t wash up nothing,&rdquo; said
+Gosling, &ldquo;not one blessed thing. It&rsquo;s better to go dirty
+than die o&rsquo; thirst. Hevery drop o&rsquo; the water in that
+cistern must be saved for drinkin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling noisily put down the kettle she was holding.
+&ldquo;Oh! very well, my lord!&rdquo; she remarked, sarcastically. She
+looked at her two daughters with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb114"
+href="#pb114" name="pb114">114</a>]</span>a twist of her mouth. There
+were only two sides in that house; the women were as yet united against
+the common foe.</p>
+<p class="par">When Gosling, fatuously convinced of his authority, had
+gone, his wife quietly filled the kettle and proceeded with her washing
+up.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Your father thinks &rsquo;e knows everything
+these days,&rdquo; remarked the mother to her allies.</p>
+<p class="par">There was much whispering for some time.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling spent most of the day in the roof, but not until
+the afternoon did he realize that the cistern was slowly being emptied.
+His first thought was that one of the pipes leaked, his second that it
+was time to make a demonstration of force. He found a walking-stick in
+the hall....</p>
+<p class="par">But even when that precious half-cistern of water was
+only called upon to supply the needs of thirst, and the Goslings,
+sinking further into the degradation of savagedom, slunk furtive and
+filthy about the gloomy house, it became evident that a move must be
+made sooner or later. Two alternatives were presented: they might go
+north and east to the Lea, or south to the Thames.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling chose the South. He knew Putney; he had been
+born there. He knew nothing of Clapton and its neighbourhood.</p>
+<p class="par">So one bright, clear day at the end of May, the Goslings
+set out on their great trek. The head of the house, driven desperate by
+fear of thirst, raided his late partner&rsquo;s coal sheds and found
+one living horse and several dead ones. The living horse was partly
+revived by water from an adjacent butt, and the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb115" href="#pb115" name="pb115">115</a>]</span>next
+day it was harnessed to a coal cart and commandeered to convey the
+Goslings&rsquo; provisions to Putney. It died half-a-mile short of
+their destination, but they were able, by the exercise of their united
+strength, to get the cart and its burden down to the river.</p>
+<p class="par">They found an empty house without difficulty, but they
+had an unpleasant half-hour in removing what remained of one of the
+previous occupants. Gosling hoped it was not a case of plague. As the
+body was that of a woman, and terribly emaciated, there were some
+grounds for his optimism.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was in a state of some bewilderment. When water
+had been fetched in buckets from the river, and the three women had
+explored, criticized and sniffed over their new home somewhat in the
+manner of strange cats, the head of the house settled down to a cigar
+and a careful consideration of his perplexities.</p>
+<p class="par">In the first place, he wondered why those horses of
+Boost&rsquo;s had not been used for food; in the second, he wondered
+why he had not seen a single man during the whole of the long trek from
+Brondesbury to Putney. By degrees an unbelievable explanation presented
+itself: no men were left. He remembered that the few needy-looking
+women he had seen had looked at him curiously; in retrospect he fancied
+their regard had had some quality of amazement. Gosling scratched the
+bristles of his ten-days&rsquo;-old beard and smoked thoughtfully. He
+almost regretted that he had stared so fiercely and threateningly at
+every chance woman they had seen; he <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb116" href="#pb116" name="pb116">116</a>]</span>might have got some
+news. But the whole journey had been conducted in a spirit of fear;
+they had been defending their food, their lives; they had been
+primitive creatures ready to fight desperately at the smallest
+provocation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No man left,&rdquo; said Gosling to himself, and
+was not convinced. If that indeed were the solution of his perplexity,
+he was faced with an awful corollary; his own time would come. He
+thought of Barbican, E.C., of Flack, of Messrs Barker and Prince, of
+the office staff, and the office itself. He had not been able to rid
+his mind of the idea that in a few weeks he would be back in the City
+again. He had several times rehearsed his surprise when he should be
+told of the depredations in the warehouse; he had wondered only
+yesterday if he dared go to the office in his beard.</p>
+<p class="par">But to-night the change of circumstance, the breaking up
+of old associations, was opening his eyes to new horizons. There might
+never be an office again for him to go to. If he survived&mdash;and he
+was distinctly hopeful on that score&mdash;he might be almost the only
+man left in London; there might not be more than a few thousand in the
+whole of England, in Europe....</p>
+<p class="par">For a time he dwelt on this fantastic vision. Who would
+do the work? What work would there be to do?</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Got to get food,&rdquo; murmured Gosling, and
+wondered vaguely how food was &ldquo;got&rdquo; when there were no
+shops, no warehouses, no foreign agents. His mind turned chiefly to
+meat, since that had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb117" href="#pb117"
+name="pb117">117</a>]</span>been his trade. &ldquo;&rsquo;Ave to rear
+sheep and cattle, I suppose,&rdquo; said Gosling. As an afterthought he
+added: &ldquo;An&rsquo; grow wheat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He sighed heavily. He realized that he had no knowledge
+on the subject of rearing cattle and growing wheat; he also realized
+that he was craving for ordinary food again&mdash;milk, eggs, and fresh
+vegetables. He had a nasty-looking place on his leg which he rightly
+attributed to unwholesome diet.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">6</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">After forty-eight hours&rsquo; residence in the
+new house, Gosling began to pluck up his courage and to dare the perils
+of the streets. He was beginning to have faith in his luck, to believe
+that the plague had passed away and left him untouched.</p>
+<p class="par">And as day succeeded day he ventured further afield; he
+went in search of milk, eggs and vegetables, but he only found young
+nettles, which he brought home and helped to eat when they had been
+boiled over a wood fire. They were all glad to eat nettles, and were
+the better for them. Occasionally he met women on these excursions, and
+stayed to talk to them. Always they had the same tale to
+tell&mdash;their men were dead, and themselves dying of starvation.</p>
+<p class="par">One day at the beginning of June he went as far as
+Petersham, and there at the door of a farmhouse he saw a fine, tall
+young woman. She was such a contrast to the women he usually met on his
+expeditions that he paused and regarded her with curiosity.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb118" href="#pb118" name=
+"pb118">118</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What do <i>you</i> want?&rdquo; asked the young
+woman, suspiciously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose you &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t any milk or
+butter or eggs to sell?&rdquo; asked Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Sell?&rdquo; echoed the girl, contemptuously.
+&ldquo;What &rsquo;ave you got to give us as is worth food?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, money,&rdquo; replied Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Money!&rdquo; came the echo again.
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the good of money when there&rsquo;s nothing to buy
+with it? I wouldn&rsquo;t sell you eggs at a pound apiece.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling scratched his beard&mdash;it looked quite like a
+beard by this time. &ldquo;Rum go, ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he asked, and
+smiled.</p>
+<p class="par">His new acquaintance looked him up and down, and then
+smiled in return, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re right,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;re the first man I&rsquo;ve seen since father died, a
+month back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo&rsquo;s livin&rsquo; with you?&rdquo;
+asked Gosling, pointing to the house.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother and sister, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ard work for you to get a livin&rsquo;, I
+suppose?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;So, so. We&rsquo;re used to farm-work. The
+trouble&rsquo;s to keep the other women off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; replied Gosling reflectively, and the
+two looked at one another again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You &rsquo;ungry?&rdquo; asked the girl.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not to speak of,&rdquo; replied Gosling.
+&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m fair pinin&rsquo; for a change o&rsquo; diet. Been
+livin&rsquo; on tinned things for five weeks or more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come in and have an egg,&rdquo; said the
+girl.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Gosling, &ldquo;I will,
+with pleasure.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb119" href=
+"#pb119" name="pb119">119</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">They grew friendly over that meal&mdash;two eggs and a
+glass of milk. He ate the eggs with butter, but there was no bread. It
+seemed that the young woman&rsquo;s mother and sister were at work on
+the farm, but that one of them had always to stay at home and keep
+guard.</p>
+<p class="par">They discussed the great change that had come over
+England, and wondered what would be the end of it; and after a little
+time, Gosling began to look at the girl with a new expression in his
+pale blue eyes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! Hevrything&rsquo;s changed,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;Nothin&rsquo; won&rsquo;t be the same any more, as far as we can
+see. There&rsquo;s no neighbours now, f&rsquo;rinstance, and no talk of
+what&rsquo;s going on&mdash;or anythin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The girl looked at him thoughtfully. &ldquo;What we miss
+is some man to look after the place,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;re robbed terrible.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling had not meant to go as far as that. He was not
+unprepared for a pleasant flirtation, now that there were no neighbours
+to report him at home, but the idea that he could ever separate himself
+permanently from his family had not occurred to him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you want a man about
+these days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ever done any farm work?&rdquo; asked the
+girl.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling shook his head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you&rsquo;d soon learn,&rdquo; she went
+on.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I must think it over,&rdquo; said Gosling
+suddenly. &ldquo;Shall you be &rsquo;ere to-morrow?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One of us will,&rdquo; said the girl.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! but shall <i>you</i>?&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb120" href="#pb120" name="pb120">120</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ve took a fancy to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very kind of you, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; said the
+girl, and laughed.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling kissed her before he left.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">7</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">He returned the next afternoon and helped to cut
+and stack sainfoin, and afterwards he watched the young woman milk the
+cows. It was so late by the time everything was finished that he was
+persuaded to stay the night.</p>
+<p class="par">In the new Putney house three women wondered what had
+happened to &ldquo;father.&rdquo; They grew increasingly anxious for
+some days, and even tried in a feeble way to search for him. By the end
+of the week they accepted the theory that he too had died of the
+plague.</p>
+<p class="par">They never saw him again. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb121" href="#pb121" name="pb121">121</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch10" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">X&mdash;</span>EXODUS</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In West Hampstead a Jewess, who had once been fat,
+looked out of the windows of her gaudy house. She was partly dressed in
+a garish silk neglig&eacute;. Her face was exceedingly dirty, but the
+limp, pallid flesh was revealed in those places where she had wiped
+away her abundant tears. Her body was bruised and stiff, for in a
+recent raid on a house suspected of containing provisions she had been
+hardly used by her sister women. She had made the mistake of going out
+too well dressed; she had imagined that expensive clothes would command
+respect....</p>
+<p class="par">As she looked out she wept again, bewailing her misery.
+From her earliest youth she had been pampered and spoilt. She had
+learnt that marriage was her sole object in life, and she had sold
+herself at a very respectable price. She had received the applause and
+favour of her family for marrying the man she had chosen as most likely
+to provide her with the luxury which she regarded as her
+birth-right.</p>
+<p class="par">Two days ago she had cooked and eaten the absurdly
+expensive but diminutive dog upon which she had lavished the only love
+of which she had been capable. She had wept continuously as she ate her
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb122" href="#pb122" name=
+"pb122">122</a>]</span>idol, but for the first time she had regretted
+his littleness.</p>
+<p class="par">Hunger and thirst were driving her out of the house of
+which she had been so vain; the primitive pains were awakening in her
+primitive instincts that had never stirred before. From her window she
+could see naught but endless streets of brick, stone and asphalt, but
+beyond that dry, hot, wilderness she knew there were fields&mdash;she
+had seen them out of the corner of her eye when she had motored to
+Brighton. Fields had never been associated in her mind with food until
+the strange new stirring of that unsuspected instinct. Food for her
+meant shops. One went to shops and bought food and bought the best at
+the lowest price possible. With all her pride of position, she had
+never hesitated to haggle with shopkeepers. And when the first pinch
+had come, when her husband had selfishly died of the plague, and her
+household had deserted her, it was to the shops she had gone,
+autocratically demanding her rights. She had learned by experience now
+that she had no longer any rights.</p>
+<p class="par">She dressed herself in her least-conspicuous clothes,
+dabbed her face with powder to cover some of the dirt&mdash;there was
+no water, and in any case she did not feel inclined to
+wash&mdash;carefully stowed away all her money and the best of her
+jewels in a small leather bag, and set out to find the country where
+food grew out of the ground.</p>
+<p class="par">Instinct set her face to the north. She took the road
+towards Hendon.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb123" href="#pb123"
+name="pb123">123</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In every quarter of London, in every great town
+and city throughout Europe, women were setting their faces towards the
+country.</p>
+<p class="par">By the autumn London was empty. The fallen leaves in
+park squares and suburban streets were swept into corners by the wind,
+and when the rain came the leaves clung together and rotted, and so
+continued the long routine of decay and birth.</p>
+<p class="par">When spring came again, Nature returned with delicate,
+strong hands to claim her own. For hundreds of years she had been
+defied in the heart of this great, hard, stone place. Her little
+tentative efforts had been rudely repulsed, no tender thread of grass
+had been allowed to flourish for an hour under the feet of the crushing
+multitude. Yet she had fought with a steady persistence that never
+relaxed a moment&rsquo;s effort. Whenever men had given her a
+moment&rsquo;s opportunity, even in the very heart of that city of
+burning struggle, she had covered the loathed sterility with grass and
+flowers, dandelions, charlock, grounsel and other life that men call
+weeds.</p>
+<p class="par">Now, when her full opportunity came, she set to work in
+her slow, patient way to wreck and cover the defilement of earth. Her
+winds swept dust into every corner, and her rain turned it into a
+shallow bed of soil, ready to receive and nurture the tiny seeds that
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb124" href="#pb124" name=
+"pb124">124</a>]</span>sailed on little feathered wings, or were
+carried by bird and insect to some quiet refuge in which they might
+renew life, and, dying, add fertility to the mother who had brought
+them forth.</p>
+<p class="par">Nature came, also, with her hurricanes, her lightnings
+and her frosts, to rend and destroy. She stripped slates from roofs,
+thrust out gables and overturned solid walls. She came with fungi to
+undermine and with the seeds of trees to split asunder.</p>
+<p class="par">She asked for but a few hundred years of patient,
+continuous work in order to make of London once more a garden; where
+the nightingale might sing in Oxford Street and the children of a new
+race pluck sweet wild flowers over the site of the Bank of
+England....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The spirit of London had gone out of her, and her
+body was crumbling and rotting. There was no life in all that vast
+sprawl of bricks and mortar; the very dogs and cats, deserted by
+humanity, left her to seek their only food, to seek those other living
+things which were their natural quarry.</p>
+<p class="par">In her prime, London had been the chief city of the
+world. Men and women spoke of her as an entity, wrote of her as of a
+personality, loved her as a friend. This aggregate of streets and
+parks, this strange confusion of wealth and squalor, had stood to men
+and women for something definitely lovable. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb125" href="#pb125" name="pb125">125</a>]</span>It
+was not her population they loved, not the polyglot crowd that swarmed
+in her streets, but she herself and all the beauty and intoxication of
+life she had gathered into her embrace.</p>
+<p class="par">Now she was dead. Whatever fine qualities she had
+possessed, whatever vices, had gone from her. She sprawled in all her
+naked ugliness, a huge corpse rotting among the hills, awaiting the
+slow burial which Nature was tediously preparing.</p>
+<p class="par">All those wonderful buildings, the great emporiums in
+the West End, the magnificent banks and insurance offices, museums and
+picture galleries, regarded as the storehouses of incalculable wealth,
+vast hotels, palatial private residences, the thundering railway
+termini, Government offices, Houses of Parliament, theatres, churches
+and cathedrals, all had become meaningless symbols. All had represented
+some activity, some ambition of man, and man had fled to the country
+for food, leaving behind the worthless tokens of wealth that had
+intrigued him for so many centuries.</p>
+<p class="par">Gold and silver grew tarnished in huge safes that none
+wished to rifle, banknotes became mildewed, damp and fungus crept into
+the museums and picture galleries, and in the whole of Great Britain
+there was none to grieve. Every living man and woman was back at the
+work of their ancestors, praying once more to Ceres or Demeter, working
+with bent back to produce the first essentials of life.</p>
+<p class="par">Each individual must produce until such time as there
+was once more a superfluity, until barns were filled and wealth
+re-created, until the strong had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb126"
+href="#pb126" name="pb126">126</a>]</span>seized from the weak and
+demanded labour in return for the use of the stolen instrument, until
+civilization had sprung anew from the soil.</p>
+<p class="par">Meanwhile London was not a city of the dead, but a dead
+city. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb127" href="#pb127" name=
+"pb127">127</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="bk2" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="label">BOOK II</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE MARCH OF THE GOSLINGS</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb129" href="#pb129" name=
+"pb129">129</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="ch11" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XI&mdash;</span>THE SILENT
+CITY</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">July came in with temperate heat and occasional
+showers, ideal weather for the crops; for all the precious growths
+which must ripen before the famine could be stayed. The sudden stoppage
+of all imports, and the flight of the great urban population into the
+country, had demonstrated beyond all question the poverty of
+England&rsquo;s resources of food supply, and the demonstration was to
+prove of value although there was no economist left to theorize.
+England was once again an independent unit, and no longer a member of a
+great world-body. Indeed England was being subdivided. The unit of
+organization was shrinking with amazing rapidity. The necessity for
+concentration grew with every week that passed, the fluidity of the
+superfluous labour was being resolved by death from starvation. The
+women who wandered from one farm to the next died by the way.</p>
+<p class="par">In the Putney house, Mrs Gosling and her daughters were
+faced by the failure of their food supply. The older woman had little
+initiative. She was a true Londoner. Her training and all the
+circumstances of her life had narrowed her imaginative grasp till she
+was only able to comprehend one issue. And as yet her daughters, and
+more particularly Millie, were so <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb130"
+href="#pb130" name="pb130">130</a>]</span>influenced by their
+mother&rsquo;s thought that they, also, had shown little evidence of
+adaptability to the changed conditions.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall &rsquo;ave to be careful,&rdquo; was Mrs
+Gosling&rsquo;s first expression of the necessity for looking to the
+future. She had arranged the bulk of her stores neatly in one room on
+the second floor, and although a goodly array of tins still faced her
+she experienced a miserly shrinking from any diminishment of their
+numbers. Moreover, she had long been without such necessities as flour.
+Barker and Prince had not dealt in flour.</p>
+<p class="par">Returning from her daily inspection one morning in the
+second week of July, Mrs Gosling decided that something must be done at
+once. Fear of the plague was almost dead, but fear of invasion by
+starving women had kept them all close prisoners. That house was a
+fortress.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look &rsquo;ere, gels,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling
+when she came downstairs. &ldquo;Somethin&rsquo; &rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave
+to be done.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche looked thoughtful. Her own mind had already
+begun to work on that great problem of their future. Millie, lazy and
+indifferent, shrugged her shoulders and replied: &ldquo;All very well,
+mother, but what <i>can</i> we do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I been thinking as it&rsquo;s very likely
+as things ain&rsquo;t so bad in some places as they are just about
+&rsquo;ere,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;We got plenty o&rsquo;
+money left, and it seems to me as two of us &rsquo;ad better go out and
+&rsquo;ave a look about, London way. One of us could look after the
+&rsquo;ouse easy enough, now. We &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t &rsquo;ardly seen
+a soul about the past fortnight.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb131" href="#pb131" name="pb131">131</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She
+visualized the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of
+the town, business had begun again, that shops were open and people at
+work. It might be that she could find work there. She was longing for
+the sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of
+isolation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m on,&rdquo; she said briskly. &ldquo;Me
+and Millie had better go, mother, we can walk farther. You can lock up
+after us and you needn&rsquo;t open the door to anyone. Are you on,
+Mill?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must make ourselves look a bit more decent
+first,&rdquo; said Millie, glancing at the mirror over the
+mantelpiece.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; returned Blanche,
+&ldquo;we brought one box of clothes with us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of
+their wardrobe.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come to the worst we could fetch some more things
+from Wisteria. I don&rsquo;t suppose anyone has touched
+&rsquo;em,&rdquo; suggested Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs
+Gosling sighed noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place
+at Putney, and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be
+accessible gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you might go up there one day and
+&rsquo;ave a look at the place,&rdquo; she put in. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+quite likely they&rsquo;ve got things goin&rsquo; again up
+there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made
+themselves presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The
+atmosphere of horror which the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb132"
+href="#pb132" name="pb132">132</a>]</span>plague had brought was being
+lifted. It was as if the dead germs had filled the air with an
+invisible, impalpable dust, that had exercised a strange power of
+depression. The spirit of death had hung over the whole world and
+paralyzed all activity. Now the dust was dispersing. The spirit was
+withdrawing to the unknown deeps from which it had come.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It is nice to feel decent again,&rdquo; said
+Blanche. She lifted her head and threw back her shoulders.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was preening herself before the glass.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m sure you <i>&rsquo;ave</i> made
+yourselves look smart,&rdquo; said their mother with a touch of pride.
+&ldquo;They were good girls,&rdquo; she reflected, &ldquo;if there had
+been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then, who could have
+helped themselves? It had been a terrible time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young
+women, presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St
+John the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to
+buy food in the dead city.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way
+towards Hammersmith.</p>
+<p class="par">The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the
+streets was so sharp and bright that it was as if they saw with
+wonderfully renewed and sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense
+of exhilaration. They <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb133" href=
+"#pb133" name="pb133">133</a>]</span>were conscious of quickened
+emotion, of a sensation of physical well-being.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it <i>clean</i>?&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;H&rsquo;m! Funny!&rdquo; returned Millie.
+&ldquo;Like those photographs of foreign places.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Under their feet was an accumulation of sharp, dry dust,
+detritus of stone, asphalt and steel. In corners where the fugitive
+rubbish had found refuge from the driving wind, the dust had
+accumulated in flat mounds, broken by scraps of paper or the torn flag
+of some rain-soaked poster that gave an untidy air of human refuse.
+Across the open way of certain roads the dust lay in a waved pattern of
+nearly parallel lines, like the ridged sand of the foreshore.</p>
+<p class="par">For some time they kept to the pavements from force of
+habit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, Mill, don&rsquo;t you feel
+adventurous?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie looked dissatisfied. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so lonely,
+B.,&rdquo; was her expression of feeling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Never had London all to myself before,&rdquo;
+said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Near Hammersmith Broadway they saw a tram standing on
+the rails. Its thin tentacle still clung to the overhead wire that had
+once given it life, as if it waited there patiently hoping for a
+renewal of the exhilarating current.</p>
+<p class="par">Almost unconsciously Blanche and Millie quickened their
+pace. Perhaps this was the outermost dying ripple of life, the furthest
+outpost of the new activity that was springing up in central
+London.</p>
+<p class="par">But the tram was guarded by something that in
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb134" href="#pb134" name=
+"pb134">134</a>]</span>the hot, still air seemed to surround it with an
+almost visible mist.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Eugh!&rdquo; ejaculated Millie and shrank back.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t go, Blanche. It&rsquo;s awful!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s hand also had leapt to her face, but she
+took a few steps forward and peered into the sunlit case of steel and
+glass. She saw a heap of clothes about the framework of a grotesquely
+jointed scarecrow, and the gleam of something round, smooth and
+white.</p>
+<p class="par">She screamed faintly, and a filthy dog crept, with a
+thin yelp, from under the seat and came to the door of the tram. For a
+moment it stood there with an air that was half placatory, wrinkling
+its nose and feebly raising a stump of propitiatory tail, then, with
+another protesting yelp, it crept back, furtive and ashamed, to its
+unlawful meat.</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls, handkerchief to nose, hurried by
+breathless, with bent heads. A little past Hammersmith Broadway they
+had their first sight of human life. Two gaunt faces looked out at them
+from an upper window. Blanche waved her hand, but the women in the
+house, half-wondering, half-fearful, at the strange sight of these two
+fancifully dressed girls, shook their heads and drew back. Doubtless
+there was some secret hoard of food in that house and the inmates
+feared the demands of charity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we aren&rsquo;t quite the last,
+anyway,&rdquo; commented Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What were they afraid of?&rdquo; asked
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Thought we wanted to cadge, I expect,&rdquo;
+suggested Blanche. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb135" href="#pb135"
+name="pb135">135</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mean things,&rdquo; was her sister&rsquo;s
+comment.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! <i>we</i> weren&rsquo;t so over-anxious to
+have visitors,&rdquo; Blanche reminded her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>We</i> didn&rsquo;t want their beastly
+food,&rdquo; complained the affronted Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">The shops in Hammersmith did not offer much inducement
+to exploration. Some were still closely shuttered, others presented
+goods that offered no temptation, such as hardware; but the majority
+had already been pillaged and devastated. Most of that work had been
+done in the early days of the plague when panic had reigned, and many
+men were left to lead the raids on the preserves of food.</p>
+<p class="par">Only one great line of shuttered fronts induced the two
+girls to pause.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No need to go to Wisteria for clothes,&rdquo;
+suggested Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How could we get in?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! get in some way easy enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s stealing,&rdquo; said Millie, and
+thought of her raid on the Kilburn tobacconist&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t steal from dead people,&rdquo;
+explained Blanche; &ldquo;besides, who&rsquo;ll have the things if we
+don&rsquo;t?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose it&rsquo;d be all right,&rdquo;
+hesitated Millie, obviously tempted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; returned Blanche and
+paused. &ldquo;I say, Mill,&rdquo; she burst out suddenly.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s all the West-end to choose from. Come
+on!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time they walked more quickly.</p>
+<p class="par">In Kensington High Street they had an adventure.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb136" href="#pb136" name=
+"pb136">136</a>]</span>They saw a woman decked in gorgeous silks,
+strung and studded with jewels from head to foot. She walked with a
+slow and flaunting step, gesticulating, and talking. Every now and
+again she would pause and draw herself up with an affectation of
+immense dignity, finger the ropes of jewels at her breast, and make a
+slow gesture with her hands.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s mad,&rdquo; whispered Blanche, and
+the two girls, terrified and trembling, hastily took refuge in a great
+square cave full of litter and refuse that had once been a
+grocer&rsquo;s shop.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman passed their hiding-place in her stately
+progress westward without giving any sign that she was conscious of
+their presence. When she was nearly opposite to them she made one of
+her stately pauses. &ldquo;Queen of all the Earth,&rdquo; they heard
+her say, &ldquo;Queen and Empress. Queen of the Earth.&rdquo; Her hand
+went up to her head and touched a strange collection of jewels pinned
+in her hair, of tiaras and brooches that flashed brighter than the high
+lights of the brilliant sun. One carelessly fastened brooch fell and
+she pushed it aside with her foot. &ldquo;You understand,&rdquo; she
+said in her high, wavering voice, &ldquo;you understand, Queen and
+Empress, Queen of the Earth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They heard the refrain of her gratified ambition
+repeated as she moved slowly away.</p>
+<p class="par">A long submerged memory rose to the threshold of
+Millie&rsquo;s mind. &ldquo;Thieving slut,&rdquo; she murmured.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb137" href="#pb137" name=
+"pb137">137</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">As they came nearer to representative London the
+signs of deserted traffic were more numerous. By the Albert Memorial
+they saw an overturned motor-bus which had smashed into the park
+railings, and a little further on were two more buses, one standing
+decently at the curb, the other sprawling across the middle of the
+road. The wheels of both were axle deep in the dust which had blown
+against them, and out of the dust a few weak threads of grass were
+sprouting. There were other vehicles, too, cabs, lorries and carts: not
+a great number altogether, but even the fifty or so which the girls saw
+between Kensington and Knightsbridge offered sufficient testimony to
+the awful rapidity with which the plague had spread. For it seems
+probable that in the majority of cases the drivers of these deserted
+vehicles must have been attacked by the first agonizing pains at the
+base of the skull while they were actually employed in driving their
+machines. There were few skeletons to be seen. The lull which
+intervened between the first unmistakable symptoms of the plague and
+the oncoming of the paralysis had given men time to obey their instinct
+to die in seclusion, the old instinct so little altered by
+civilization. Those vestiges of humanity which remained had, for the
+most part, been cleansed by the processes of Nature, but twice the
+girls disturbed a horrible cloud of blue flies which rose with an angry
+buzzing so loud that the girls screamed and ran, leaving the scavengers
+to swoop eagerly back upon <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb138" href=
+"#pb138" name="pb138">138</a>]</span>their carrion. Doubtless the thing
+in the Hammersmith tram had been the body of a woman, recently-dead
+from starvation. Even from the houses there was now little
+exhalation.</p>
+<p class="par">In Knightsbridge, a little past the top of Sloane
+Street, Blanche and Millie came to a shop which diverted them from
+their exploration for a time. Most of the huge rolling shutters had
+been pulled down and secured, but one had stopped half way, and,
+beyond, the great plate-glass windows were uncovered. One of ten
+million tragedies had descended swiftly to interrupt the closing of
+that immense place, and some combination of circumstances had followed
+to prevent the completion of the work. The imaginative might stop to
+speculate on the mystery of that half-closed shutter; the two Goslings
+stopped to admire the wonders behind the glass.</p>
+<p class="par">For a time the desolation and silence of London were
+forgotten. In imagination Blanche and Millie were once again units in
+the vast crowd of antagonists striving valiantly to win some prize in
+the great competition between the boast of wealth and the pathetic
+endeavour of make-believe.</p>
+<p class="par">They stayed to gaze at the &ldquo;creations&rdquo;
+behind the windows, at dummies draped in costly fabrics such as they
+had only dreamed of wearing. The silks, satins and velvets were
+whitened now with the thin snow of dust that had fallen upon them, but
+to Blanche and Millie they appeared still as wonders of beauty.</p>
+<p class="par">For a minute or two they criticized the models.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb139" href="#pb139" name=
+"pb139">139</a>]</span>They spoke at first in low voices, for the deep
+stillness of London held them in unconscious awe, but as they became
+lost in the fascination of their subject they forgot their fear. And
+then they looked at one another a little guiltily.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No harm in seeing if the door&rsquo;s locked,
+anyway,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie looked over her shoulder and saw no movement in
+the frozen streets, save the sweep of one exploring swallow. Even the
+sparrows had deserted the streets. She did not reply in words, but
+signified her agreement of thought by a movement towards the
+entrance.</p>
+<p class="par">The swing doors were not fastened, and they entered
+stealthily.</p>
+<p class="par">They began with the touch of appraising fingers,
+wandering from room to room. But most of the rooms on the ground floor
+were darkened by the drawn shutters, and no glow of light came in
+response to the clicking of the electric switches that they
+experimented with with persistent futility. So they adventured into the
+clearly lit rooms upstairs and experienced a fallacious sense of
+security in the knowledge that they were on the floor above the
+street.</p>
+<p class="par">Fingering gave place to still closer inspection. They
+lifted the models from the stands and shook them out. They held up
+gorgeous robes in front of their own suburban dresses and admired each
+other and themselves in the numerous cheval glasses.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! bother!&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche at last,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! B.&rdquo; expostulated the more timid Millie.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb140" href="#pb140" name=
+"pb140">140</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! why to goodness not?&rdquo; asked her elder
+sister. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s to be any the wiser?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Seems wrong, somehow,&rdquo; replied Millie,
+unable to shake off the conventions which had so long served her as
+conscience.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I am,&rdquo; said Blanche, and retired into
+a little side room to divest herself of her own dress. She had always
+shared a bedroom with her sister, and they observed few modesties
+before each other, but Blanche was mentally incapable of changing her
+dress in the broad avenues of that extensive show-room. It is true that
+the tall casement windows were wide open and the place was completely
+overlooked by the massive buildings opposite, but even if the windows
+had been screened she would not have changed her skirt in the publicity
+of that open place, though every human being in the world were
+dead.</p>
+<p class="par">When she emerged from her dressing-room she was
+transformed indeed. She went over to her still hesitating sister.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do me up, Mill,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche had chosen well; the fine cloth walking dress
+admirably fitted her well-developed young figure. When she had
+discarded her hat and touched up her hair before the glass, only her
+boots and her hands remained to spoil the disguise. Well gloved and
+well shod, she might have passed down the Bond Street of the old
+London, and few women and no man would have known that she had not
+sprung from the ruling classes.</p>
+<p class="par">She posed. She stepped back from the mirror and
+half-unconsciously fell to imitating the manners of <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb141" href="#pb141" name="pb141">141</a>]</span>the
+revered aristocracy she had respectfully studied from a distance.</p>
+<p class="par">In a few minutes she was joined by Millie, also arrayed
+in peacock&rsquo;s feathers and anxious to be
+&ldquo;fastened.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Their excitement increased. Walking dresses gave place
+to evening gowns. They lost their sense of fear and ran into other
+departments searching for long white gloves to hide the disfigurements
+of household work. They paraded and bowed to each other. The climax
+came when they discovered a Court dress, immensely trained, and
+embroidered with gold thread, laid by with evidences of tenderest care
+in endless wrappings of tissue paper. Surely the dress of some elegant
+young duchess!</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they wrangled, but Blanche triumphed.
+&ldquo;You shall have it afterwards,&rdquo; she said, as she ran to her
+dressing-room.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie followed in an elaborate gown of Indian silk; a
+somewhat sulky Millie, inclined to resent her duty of lady&rsquo;s
+maid. She dragged disrespectfully at the innumerable fastenings.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My!&rdquo; ejaculated Blanche when she could
+indulge herself in the glory of full examination before a cheval glass
+in the open show-room. She struggled with her train and when she had
+arranged it to her satisfaction, threw back her shoulders and lifted
+her chin haughtily.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I ought to have some diamonds,&rdquo; she
+reflected.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It drags round the hips,&rdquo; was
+Millie&rsquo;s criticism.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You should say &lsquo;Your Majesty,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+corrected Blanche. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb142" href="#pb142"
+name="pb142">142</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! a Queen, are you?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Rather&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Queen of all the Earth,&rdquo; sneered
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s face suddenly fell. &ldquo;I wonder if
+she began like this,&rdquo; she said, and a note of fear had come into
+her voice.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie&rsquo;s eyes reflected her sister&rsquo;s
+alarm.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! let&rsquo;s get out of this, B.,&rdquo; she
+said, and began to tear at the neck of her Indian silk gown.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wanted diamonds, too,&rdquo; persisted
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! B., it <i>isn&rsquo;t</i> right,&rdquo; said
+Millie. &ldquo;I said it wasn&rsquo;t right and you <i>would</i>
+come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Silence descended upon them for a moment, and then both
+sisters suddenly screamed and ducked, putting up their hands to their
+heads.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goodness! What was that?&rdquo; cried
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">A swallow had swept in through the open window, had
+curved round in one swift movement, and shot out again into the
+sunlight.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only a bird of some sort,&rdquo; said Millie, but
+she was trembling and on the verge of hysterics. &ldquo;Do let&rsquo;s
+get out, B.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">After they had put on their own clothes once more they
+became aware that they were hungry.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>have</i> wasted a lot of time here,&rdquo;
+said Blanche as they made their way out.</p>
+<p class="par">She did not pause to wonder how many women had spent the
+best part of their lives in a precisely similar manner.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we ought to have been looking for
+food,&rdquo; she added. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb143" href=
+"#pb143" name="pb143">143</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; replied Millie. &ldquo;That place
+has given me the creeps.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Growing rather tired and footsore they made their
+way to Piccadilly Circus, and so on to the Strand. Everywhere they
+found the same conditions: a few skeletons, a few deserted vehicles,
+young vegetation taking hold wherever a pinch of soil had found an
+abiding place, and over all a great silence. But food there was none
+that they were able to find, though it is probable that a careful
+investigation of cellars and underground places might have furnished
+some results. The more salient resources of London had been effectively
+pillaged so far as the West-end was concerned. They were too late.</p>
+<p class="par">In Trafalgar Square, Millie sat down and cried. Blanche
+made no attempt to comfort her, but sat wide eyed and wondering. Her
+mind was opening to new ideas. She was beginning to understand that
+London was incapable of supporting even the lives of three women; she
+was wrestling with the problem of existence. Every one had gone. Many
+had died; but many more, surely, must have fled into the country. She
+began to understand that she and her family must also fly into the
+country.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie still sobbed convulsively now and again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! Chuck it, Mill,&rdquo; said Blanche at last.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;d better be getting home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie dabbed her eyes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+starving,&rdquo; she blubbered. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb144"
+href="#pb144" name="pb144">144</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, so am I,&rdquo; returned Blanche.
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I said we&rsquo;d better get home.
+There&rsquo;s nothing to eat here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is&mdash;is every one dead?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, they&rsquo;ve gone off into the country, and
+that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The younger girl sat up, put her hat straight, and blew
+her nose. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it awful, B.?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche pinched her lips together. &ldquo;What are you
+putting your hat straight for?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+no one to see you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you needn&rsquo;t make it any worse,&rdquo;
+retorted Millie on the verge of a fresh outburst of tears.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on!&rdquo; said Blanche, getting to her
+feet.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe I <i>can</i> walk
+home,&rdquo; complained Millie; &ldquo;my feet ache so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to wait a long time if
+you&rsquo;re going to find a bus,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Three empty taxicabs stood in the rank a few feet away
+from them, but it never occurred to either of the two young women to
+attempt any experiment with these mechanisms. If the thought had
+crossed their minds they would have deemed it absurd.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go down by Victoria,&rdquo; suggested
+Blanche. &ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s nearer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In Parliament Square they disturbed a flock of rooks,
+birds which had partly changed their natural habits during the past few
+months and, owing to the superabundance of one kind of food, were
+preying on carrion. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb145" href="#pb145"
+name="pb145">145</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Crows,&rdquo; commented Blanche. &ldquo;Beastly
+things.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wonder if we could get some water to
+drink,&rdquo; was Millie&rsquo;s reply.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, there&rsquo;s the river,&rdquo; suggested
+Blanche, and they turned up towards Westminster Bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">In one of the tall buildings facing the river
+Blanche&rsquo;s attention was caught by an open door.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Mill,&rdquo; she said,
+&ldquo;we&rsquo;ve only been looking for shops. Let&rsquo;s try one of
+these houses. We might find something to eat in there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What of?&rdquo; sneered Blanche. &ldquo;At the
+worst it&rsquo;s skeletons, and we can come out again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie shuddered. &ldquo;You go,&rdquo; she
+suggested.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not by myself, I won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; returned
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There you are, you see,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s different by
+yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I hate it,&rdquo; returned Millie with
+emphasis.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;So do I, in a way, only I&rsquo;m fair
+starving,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;Come on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The building was solidly furnished, and the ground
+floor, although somewhat disordered, still suggested a complacent
+luxury. On the floor lay a copy of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, dated
+May 10; possibly one of the last issues of a London journal. Two of the
+pages were quite blank, and almost the only advertisement was one
+hastily-set announcement of a patent medicine guaranteed as a sure
+protection against the plague. The remainder of the paper was filled
+with reports of the devastation that was being wrought, reports which
+were nevertheless marked by a faint spirit of simulated confidence.
+Between the lines could <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb146" href=
+"#pb146" name="pb146">146</a>]</span>be read the story of desperate men
+clinging to hope with splendid courage. There were no signs of panic
+here. Groves had come out well at the last.</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls hovered over this piece of ancient history
+for a few minutes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said Blanche triumphantly,
+&ldquo;even then, more&rsquo;n two months ago, every one was making for
+the country. We shall have to go, too. I told you we should.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I never said we shouldn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; returned
+Millie. &ldquo;Anyhow there&rsquo;s nothing to eat here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not in this room, there isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said
+Blanche, &ldquo;but there might be in the kitchens. Do you know what
+this place has been?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie shook her head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a man&rsquo;s club,&rdquo;
+announced Blanche. &ldquo;First time you&rsquo;ve been in one, old
+dear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come on, let&rsquo;s have a look downstairs,
+then,&rdquo; returned Millie, careless of her achievement.</p>
+<p class="par">In the first kitchen they found havoc: broken china and
+glass, empty bottles, empty tins, cooking utensils on the floor, one
+table upset, everywhere devastation and the marks of struggle; but in
+none of the empty tins was there the least particle of food. Everything
+had been completely cleaned out. The rats had been there, and had
+gone.</p>
+<p class="par">Exploring deeper, however, they were at last rewarded.
+On a table stood a whole array of unopened tins and in one of them was
+plunged a tin-opener, a single stab had been given, and then, possibly,
+another of these common tragedies had begun. Had <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb147" href="#pb147" name="pb147">147</a>]</span>he
+been alone, that plunderer, or had his companions fled from him in
+terror?</p>
+<p class="par">Here the two girls made a sufficient meal, and
+discovered, moreover, a large store of unopened beer-bottles. They
+shared the contents of one between them, and then, feeling greatly
+reinvigorated, they sought for and found two baskets, which they filled
+with tinned foods. They only took away one bottle of beer&mdash;a
+special treat for their mother&mdash;on account of the weight. They
+remembered that they had a long walk before them; and they were not
+over-elated by their discovery; they were sick to death of tinned
+meats.</p>
+<p class="par">In looking for the baskets they came across a single
+potato that the rats had left. From it had sprung a long, thin,
+etiolated shoot which had crept under the door of the cupboard and was
+making its way across the floor to the light of the window. Already
+that shoot was several feet in length.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Funny how they grow,&rdquo; commented Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Making for the country, I expect,&rdquo; replied
+Blanche, &ldquo;same as we shall have to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">It was a relief to them to find their way into the
+sunlight once more. Those cold, forsaken houses held some suggestion of
+horror, of old activities so abruptly ended by tragedy. From these
+interiors Nature was still shut off. That ghostly tendril aching
+towards the light had no chance for life and reproduction....
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb148" href="#pb148" name=
+"pb148">148</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The two Gosling girls had yet one more adventure
+before they toiled home with their load.</p>
+<p class="par">They were growing bolder, despite the gloom and
+oppression of those human habitations, and some freakish spirit
+prompted Blanche to suggest that they should visit the Houses of
+Parliament. After a brief demur, Millie acceded.</p>
+<p class="par">That great stronghold was open to them now. They might
+walk the floor of the House, sit in the Speaker&rsquo;s chair,
+penetrate into the sacred places of the Upper Chamber.</p>
+<p class="par">Gone were all the rules and formulas, the intricacies
+and precedents of an unwritten constitution, the whole cumbrous
+machinery for the making of new laws. The air was no longer disturbed
+by the wranglings, evasions and cunning shifts of those who had found
+here a stage for their personal ambitions. The high talk of progress
+had died into silence along with the struggle of parties which had
+played the supreme game, side against side, for the prize of power.
+Progress had been defined in this place, in terms of human activity,
+human comfort. The end in sight had been some vague conception of
+general welfare through accumulated riches. And from the sky had fallen
+a pestilence to change the meaning of human terms. In three months the
+old conception of wealth was gone. Money, precious stones, a thousand
+accepted forms of value had become suddenly worthless, of no more
+account than the symbol of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb149" href=
+"#pb149" name="pb149">149</a>]</span>power which lay coated with dust
+on the table of the House of law-makers. Even law itself, that slow
+growth of the centuries, had become meaningless. Who cared if some mad
+woman plundered every jeweller&rsquo;s shop in the whole City? Who was
+to forbid theft or avenge murder? The place of traffic was empty. Only
+one law was left and only one value; the law of self-preservation, the
+value of food.</p>
+<p class="par">The sunlight fell in broad coloured shafts upon two
+half-educated girls come on a plundering expedition, and they might sit
+in the high places if they would, and make new laws for themselves.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche sat for a few moments in the Speaker&rsquo;s
+chair.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fine big place,&rdquo; she
+remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on, B., do,&rdquo; replied Millie.
+&ldquo;I want to get home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As they crossed the Square, Millie looked up at Big Ben.
+&ldquo;Quarter-past nine,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must have
+stopped.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, silly,&rdquo; replied Blanche.
+&ldquo;All the clocks have stopped. Who&rsquo;s to wind
+&rsquo;em?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb150" href="#pb150"
+name="pb150">150</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch12" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XII&mdash;</span>EMIGRANT</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to
+grasp the significance of her daughters&rsquo; report on the condition
+of London. During the past two months she had persuaded herself that
+the traffic of the town was being resumed and that only Putney was
+still desolate. She had always disapproved of Putney; it was damp and
+she had never known anyone who had lived there. It is true that the
+late lamented George Gosling had been born in Putney, but that was more
+than half a century ago, the place was no doubt quite different then;
+and he had left Putney and gone to live in the healthy North before he
+was sixteen. Mrs Gosling was half inclined to blame Putney for all
+their misfortunes&mdash;it was sure to breed infection, being so near
+the river and all&mdash;and she had become hopeful during the past
+month that all would be well with them if they could once get back to
+Kilburn.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;D&rsquo;you mean to say you didn&rsquo;t see no
+one at all?&rdquo; she repeated in great perplexity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Those three we&rsquo;ve told you about,
+that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, o&rsquo; course, they&rsquo;re all shut up
+in the &rsquo;ouses, still; afraid o&rsquo; the plague and
+&rsquo;anging on to what provisions they&rsquo;ve got put by, same as
+us,&rdquo; was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb151" href="#pb151" name=
+"pb151">151</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Millie, and Blanche
+agreed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, but &rsquo;ow d&rsquo;you know?&rdquo;
+persisted the mother. &ldquo;Did you go in to the
+&rsquo;ouses?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One or two,&rdquo; returned Blanche evasively,
+&ldquo;but there wasn&rsquo;t no need to go in. You could
+see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not
+in the Strand?&rdquo; Mrs Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence.
+She could not doubt the good faith of the Strand. If that failed her,
+all was lost.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! can&rsquo;t you understand, mother,&rdquo;
+broke out Blanche petulantly, &ldquo;that the whole of London is
+absolutely deserted? There isn&rsquo;t a soul in the streets.
+There&rsquo;s no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and grass growing
+in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been broken into, all
+those that had food in &rsquo;em, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; words failed
+her. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it, Millie?&rdquo; she concluded lamely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Awful,&rdquo; agreed Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; said
+Mrs Gosling, not yet fully convinced. She considered earnestly for a
+few moments and then asked: &ldquo;Did you go into Charing Cross Post
+Office? They&rsquo;d sure to be open.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; lied Blanche, &ldquo;and we could
+have taken all the money in the place if we&rsquo;d wanted, and no one
+any the wiser.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling looked shocked. &ldquo;I &rsquo;ope my
+gels&rsquo;ll never come to that,&rdquo; she said. Her girls, with a
+wonderful understanding of their mother&rsquo;s opinions, had omitted
+to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge emporium.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No one&rsquo;d ever know,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s One who would,&rdquo; replied Mrs
+Gosling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb152" href="#pb152" name=
+"pb152">152</a>]</span>gravely, and strangely enough, perhaps, the two
+girls looked uneasy, but they were thinking less of the commandments
+miraculously given to Moses than of the probable displeasure of the
+Vicar of St John the Evangelist&rsquo;s Church in Kilburn.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got to do something,
+anyhow,&rdquo; said Blanche, after a pause. &ldquo;I mean we&rsquo;ll
+have to get out of this and go into the country.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We might go to your uncle&rsquo;s in
+Liverpool,&rdquo; suggested Mrs Gosling, tentatively.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long walk,&rdquo; remarked
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling did not grasp the meaning of this objection.
+&ldquo;Well, I think we could afford third-class,<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e2688" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span> she said.
+&ldquo;Besides, though we &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t corresponded much of late
+years, I&rsquo;ve always been under the impression that your uncle is
+doin&rsquo; well in Liverpool; and at such a time as this I&rsquo;m
+sure &rsquo;e&rsquo;ll do the right thing, though whether it would be
+better to let &rsquo;im know we&rsquo;re comin&rsquo; or not I&rsquo;m
+not quite sure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! dear!&rdquo; sighed Blanche, &ldquo;I
+<i>do</i> wish you&rsquo;d try to understand, mother. There
+aren&rsquo;t any trains. There aren&rsquo;t any posts or telegraphs.
+Wherever we go we&rsquo;ve just got to walk. Haven&rsquo;t we,
+Millie?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie began to snivel. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+&rsquo;orrible,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> understand it,&rdquo;
+repeated Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">By degrees, however, the controversy took a new shape.
+Granting for the moment the main contention that London was
+uninhabitated, Mrs Gosling urged that it would be a dangerous, even a
+foolhardy, thing to venture into the country. If there was no
+Government there would be no law and order, was the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb153" href="#pb153" name=
+"pb153">153</a>]</span>substance of her argument; government in her
+mind being represented by its concrete presentation in the form of the
+utterly reliable policeman. Furthermore, she pointed out, that they did
+not know anyone in the country, with the exception of a too-distant
+uncle in Liverpool, and that there would be nowhere for them to go.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall have to work,&rdquo; said Blanche, who
+was surely inspired by her glimpse of the silent city.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got nearly a &rsquo;undred
+pounds left of what your poor father drew out o&rsquo; the bank before
+we shut ourselves up,&rdquo; said her mother.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose we <i>could</i> buy things in the
+country,&rdquo; speculated Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You seem set on the country for some
+reason,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling with a touch of temper.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got to get food,&rdquo;
+returned Blanche, raising her voice. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t live on
+air.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And if food&rsquo;s to be got cheaper in the
+country than in London,&rdquo; snapped Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;my
+experience goes for nothing, but, of course, you know best, if I
+<i>am</i> your mother.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t any food in London, cheap or
+dear, I keep telling you,&rdquo; said Blanche, and left the room
+angrily, slamming the door behind her.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie sat moodily biting her nails.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Blanche lets &rsquo;er temper get the better of
+&rsquo;er,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling addressing the spaces of the
+kitchen in which they were sitting.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s right, worse luck,&rdquo; said Millie.
+&ldquo;We shall have to go. I &rsquo;ate it nearly as much as you
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The argument thus begun was continued with few
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb154" href="#pb154" name=
+"pb154">154</a>]</span>intermissions for a whole week. A thunderstorm,
+followed by two days of overcast weather, came to the support of the
+older woman. One thing was certain among all these terrible
+perplexities, namely, that you couldn&rsquo;t start off for a trip to
+the country on a wet day.</p>
+<p class="par">Meanwhile their stores continued to diminish, and one
+afternoon Mrs Gosling consented to take a walk with Blanche as far as
+Hammersmith Broadway.</p>
+<p class="par">The sight of that blank desert impressed her. Blanche
+pointed out the house in which she had seen the two women five days
+before, but no one was looking out of the window on that afternoon.
+Perhaps they had fled to the country, or were occupied elsewhere in the
+house, or perhaps they had left London by the easier way which had
+become so general in the past few months.</p>
+<p class="par">When she returned to the Putney house, Mrs Gosling wept
+and wished she, too, was dead, but she consented at last to
+Blanche&rsquo;s continually urged proposition, in so far as she
+expressed herself willing to make a move of some sort. She thought they
+might, at least, go back and have a look at Wisteria Grove. And if
+Kilburn had, indeed, fallen as low as Hammersmith, then there was
+apparently no help for it and they must try their luck in the waste and
+desolation of the country. Perhaps some farmer&rsquo;s wife might take
+them in for a time, until they had a chance to look about them. They
+had nearly a hundred pounds in gold.</p>
+<p class="par">The girls found a builder&rsquo;s trolley in a yard near
+by, a truck of sturdy build on two wheels with a long <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb155" href="#pb155" name=
+"pb155">155</a>]</span>handle. It bore marks of having held cement, and
+there were weeds growing in one end of it, but after it had been
+brought home and thoroughly scrubbed, it looked quite a presentable
+means for the transport of the &ldquo;necessaries&rdquo; they proposed
+to take with them.</p>
+<p class="par">They made too generous an estimate of essentials at
+first, piling their truck too high for safety and overtaxing their
+strength; but that problem, like many others, was finally solved for
+them by the clear-sighted guidance of necessity.</p>
+<p class="par">They started one morning&mdash;a Monday if their
+calculations were not at fault&mdash;about two hours after breakfast.
+Mrs Gosling and Millie pushed behind, and Blanche, the inspired one,
+went before, pulled by the handle of the pole and gave the others their
+direction.</p>
+<p class="par">It is possible that they were the last women to leave
+London.</p>
+<p class="par">By chance they discovered the Queen of all the Earth on
+a doorstep near Addison Road. She was quite dead, but they did not
+despoil her of the jewels with which she was still covered.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Mrs Gosling was a source of trouble from the
+outset. She had lived her life indoors. In the Wisteria Grove days, she
+never spent two hours of the twenty-four out of the house. Some times
+for a whole week she had not gone out at all. It was a mark of their
+rise in the world that all the tradesmen called for orders.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb156" href="#pb156" name=
+"pb156">156</a>]</span>She had found little necessity to buy in shops
+during recent years. And so, very surely, she had grown more and more
+limited in her outlook. Her attention had become concentrated on the
+duties of the housewife. She had not kept any servant, a charwoman who
+came for a few hours three times a week had done all that the mistress
+of the house had not dared, in face of neighbourly criticism&mdash;in
+her position she could not be seen washing down the little tiled path
+to the gate nor whitening the steps.</p>
+<p class="par">The effect of this cramped existence on Mrs Gosling
+would not have been noticeable under the old conditions. She had become
+a specialized creature, admirably adapted to her place in the old
+scheme of civilization. No demand was ever made upon her resources
+other than those familiar demands which she was so perfectly educated
+to supply. Even when the plague had come, she had not been compelled to
+alter her mode of life. She had made trouble enough about the lack of
+many things she had once believed to be necessary&mdash;familiar foods,
+soap and the thousand little conveniences that the twentieth century
+inventor had patented to assist the domestic economy of the small
+householder; but the trouble was not too great to be overcome. The
+adaptability required from her was within the scope of her specialized
+vision. She could learn to do without flour, butter, lard, milk, sugar
+and the other things, but she could not learn to think on unfamiliar
+lines.</p>
+<p class="par">That was the essence of her trouble. She was divorced
+from a permanent home. She was asked to walk long miles in the open
+air. Worst of all, she was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb157" href=
+"#pb157" name="pb157">157</a>]</span>called upon for initiative,
+ingenuity; she was required to exercise her imagination in order to
+solve a problem with which she was quite unfamiliar. She was expected
+to develop the potentialities of the wild thing, and to extort food
+from Nature. The whole problem was beyond her comprehension.</p>
+<p class="par">The sight of Kilburn was a great blow to her. She had
+hoped against hope that here, at least, she would find some semblance
+of the life she had known. It had seemed so impossible to her that
+Aiken, the butcher&rsquo;s, or Hobb&rsquo;s, the grocer&rsquo;s, would
+not be open as usual, and the vision of those two desolated and
+ransacked shops&mdash;the latter with but a few murderous spears of
+plate-glass left in its once magnificent windows&mdash;depressed her to
+tears.</p>
+<p class="par">So shaken was she by the sight of these horrors that
+Blanche and Millie raised no objection to sleeping that night in the
+house in Wisteria Grove. Indeed, the two girls were almost tired out,
+although it was yet early in the afternoon. The truck had become very
+heavy in the course of the last two miles; and they had had
+considerable difficulty in negotiating the hill by Westbourne Park
+Station.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was still weeping as she let herself in to
+her old home, and she wept as she prowled about the familiar rooms and
+noted the dust which had fallen like snow on every surface which would
+support it. And for the first time the loss of her husband came home to
+her. She had been almost glad when he had vanished from the Putney
+house&mdash;in that place she had only seen him in his new character of
+tyrant. Here, among familiar associations, she <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb158" href="#pb158" name=
+"pb158">158</a>]</span>recalled the fact that he had been a
+respectable, complacent, hard-working, successful man who had never
+given her cause for trouble, a man who did not drink nor run after
+other women, who held a position in the Church and was looked up to by
+the neighbourhood. According to her definition he had certainly been an
+ideal husband. It is true that they had dropped any pretence of being
+in love with one another after Blanche was born, but that was only
+natural.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling sat on the bed she had shared with him so
+long and hoped he was happy. He was; but if she could have seen the
+nature of his happiness the sight would have given her no comfort.
+Vaguely she pictured him in some strange Paradise, built upon those
+conceptions of the medi&aelig;val artists, mainly Italians, which have
+supplied the ideals of the orthodox. She saw an imperfectly
+transfigured and still fleshly George Gosling, who did unaccustomed
+things with a harp, was dressed in exotic garments and was on terms
+with certain hybrids, largely woman but partly bird, who were clearly
+recognizable as the angelic host. If she had been a Mohammedan, her
+vision would have accorded far more nearly with the fact.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The successful animal is that which is adapted to
+its circumstances. Herbert Spencer would appear foolish and incapable
+in the society of the young wits who frequent the private bar; he might
+be described by them as an old Johnny who knew nothing about
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb159" href="#pb159" name=
+"pb159">159</a>]</span>life. Mrs Gosling in her own home had been a
+ruler; she had had authority over her daughters, and, despite the usual
+evidences of girlish precocity, she had always been mistress of the
+situation. In the affairs of household management she was <i lang=
+"fr">facile princeps</i>, and she commanded the respect accorded to the
+eminent in any form of specialized activity. But even on this second
+morning of their emigration it became clear to Blanche that her mother
+had ceased to rule, and must become a subordinate. A certain respect
+was due to her in her parental relation, but if she could not be coaxed
+she must be coerced.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be better when we get her right away
+from here,&rdquo; was Blanche&rsquo;s diagnosis, and Millie, who had
+also achieved some partial realization of the necessities imposed by
+the new conditions, nodded in agreement.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She wants to stop here altogether, and, of
+course, we can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall starve if we do,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">From that time Mrs Gosling dropped into the humiliating
+position of a kind of mental incapable who must be humoured into
+obedience.</p>
+<p class="par">The first, and in many ways the most difficult, task was
+to persuade her away from Kilburn. She clung desperately to that
+stronghold of her old life.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m too old to change at my age,&rdquo; she
+protested, and when the alternative was clearly put before her, she
+accepted it with a flaccidity that was as aggravating as it was
+unfightable.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner die &rsquo;ere,&rdquo; said Mrs
+Gosling, &ldquo;than go trapesing about the fields lookin&rsquo; for
+somethin&rsquo; to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb160" href="#pb160"
+name="pb160">160</a>]</span>eat. I simply couldn&rsquo;t do it.
+It&rsquo;s different for you two gels, no doubt. You go and leave me
+&rsquo;ere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie might have been tempted to take her mother at her
+word, but Blanche never for a moment entertained the idea of leaving
+her mother behind.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very well, mother,&rdquo; she said, desperately,
+&ldquo;if you won&rsquo;t come we must all stop here and starve, I
+suppose. We&rsquo;ve got enough food to last a fortnight or
+so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As she spoke she looked out of the window of that little
+suburban house, and for the first time in her life a thought came to
+her of the strangeness of preferring such an inconvenient little box to
+the adventure of the wider spaces of open country. Outside, the sun was
+shining brilliantly, but the windows were dim with dust and
+cobwebs.</p>
+<p class="par">Yet her mother was comparatively happy in this hovel;
+she would find delight in cleaning it, although there was no one to
+appraise the result of her effort. She was a specialized animal with
+habits precisely analogous to the instincts of other animals and
+insects. There were insects who could only live in filth and would die
+miserably if removed from their natural surroundings. Mrs Gosling was a
+suburban-house insect who would perish in the open air. After all, the
+chief difference between insects and men is that the insect is born
+perfectly adapted to its specialized existence, man finds, or is forced
+into, a place in the scheme after he has come to maturity....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see why you shouldn&rsquo;t leave
+me behind,&rdquo; pleaded Mrs Gosling. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb161" href="#pb161" name="pb161">161</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Blanche,
+still looking out of the window.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s wicked of you to make us stop here and
+starve,&rdquo; put in Millie. &ldquo;And even you must see that we
+<i>shall</i> starve.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling wept feebly. She had wept much during the
+past twenty-four hours. &ldquo;Where can we go?&rdquo; she wailed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s country on the other side of
+Harrow,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">The thought of Harrow or Timbuctoo was equally repugnant
+to Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Then Millie had an idea. &ldquo;Well, we only brought
+four bottles of water with us,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;where are we
+going to get any more in Kilburn?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling racked her brain in the effort to remember
+some convenient stream in the neighbourhood. &ldquo;It may rain,&rdquo;
+she said feebly at last.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche turned from the window and pointed to the
+blurred prospect of sunlit street. &ldquo;We might be dead before the
+rain came,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">They wore her out in the end.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">With Harrow as an immediate objective, they toiled
+up Willesden Lane with their hand-cart early the next morning. Blanche
+took that route because it was familiar to her, and after passing
+Willesden Green, she followed the tram lines.</p>
+<p class="par">As they got away from London they came upon evidences of
+the exodus which had preceded them. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb162" href="#pb162" name="pb162">162</a>]</span>Bodies of women, for
+the most part no longer <span class="corr" id="xd23e2849" title=
+"Source: maladorous">malodorous</span>, were not infrequent, and pieces
+of household furniture, parcels of clothing, boxes, trunks and smaller
+impedimenta lay by the roadside, the superfluities of earlier loads
+that had been lightened, however reluctantly.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling blenched at the sight of every
+body&mdash;only a few of them could be described as skeletons&mdash;and
+protested that they were all going to their death, but Blanche kept on
+resolutely with a white, set face, and as Millie followed her example,
+if with rather less show of temerity, there was no choice but to
+follow. When the gradients were favourable the girls helped their
+mother on to the truck and gave her a lift. She was a feeble
+walker.</p>
+<p class="par">Not till they reached Sudbury did they see another
+living being of their own species, or any sign of human habitation in
+the long rows of dirty houses.</p>
+<p class="par">The great surge of migration had spread out from the
+centre and become absorbed in circles of ever-widening amplitude. The
+great entity of London had eaten its way so far outwards in to arable
+and pasturage that within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross not a
+thousand women could be found who had been able to obtain any promise
+of security from the products of the soil. And although there were
+great open spaces of land, such as Wembley Park, which had to be
+crossed in the journey outwards, the exiles had been unable to wait
+until such time as seed could be transformed into food by the alchemy
+of Nature. So the pressure had been continually outwards, forcing the
+emigrants toward the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb163" href="#pb163"
+name="pb163">163</a>]</span>more distant farms where some fraction of
+them, at least, might find work and food until the coming of the
+harvest. In Kent, vegetables were comparatively plentiful. In Northern
+Middlesex and Buckinghamshire the majority had to depend upon animal
+food. But in all the Home Counties and in the neighbourhood of every
+large town, famine was following hard upon the heels of the plague, and
+70 per cent of the town-dwelling women and children who had escaped the
+latter visitation died of starvation and exposure before the middle of
+August.</p>
+<p class="par">In the first inner ring, still sparsely populated, were
+to be found those who had had vegetable gardens and had been vigorous
+enough to protect themselves against the flood of migration which had
+swept up against them.</p>
+<p class="par">It was the first signs of this inner ring that the
+Goslings discovered at Sudbury.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">They came upon a little row of cottages, standing
+back a few yards from the road. All three women had been engaged in
+pushing their trolly up an ascent, and with heads down, and all their
+physical energies concentrated upon their task, they did not notice the
+startling difference between these cottages and other houses they had
+passed, until they stopped to take breath at the summit of the
+hill.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling had immediately seated herself upon the
+sloping pole of the trolly handle. She was breathing heavily and had
+her hands pressed to her sides. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb164"
+href="#pb164" name="pb164">164</a>]</span>Millie leaned against the
+side of the trolly, her eyes still on the ground. But Blanche had
+thrown back her shoulders and opened her lungs, and she saw the banner
+of smoke that flew from the middle of the three
+chimney-stacks&mdash;smoke, in this wilderness, smoke the sign of human
+life! To Blanche it seemed the fulfilment of a great hope. She had
+begun to wonder if all the world were dead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;Look!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They looked without eagerness, anticipating some
+familiar horror.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ooh!&rdquo; echoed Millie, when she, too, had
+recognized the harbinger. But Mrs Gosling did not raise her eyes high
+enough.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; she asked stupidly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s some one living in that
+cottage,&rdquo; said Blanche, and pointed upwards to the soaring
+pennant.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s face brightened. &ldquo;Well, to be
+sure,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I wonder if they&rsquo;d let me sit down
+and rest for a few minutes? And perhaps they might be willing to sell
+me a glass of milk. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;d pay a good price for
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We can see, anyway,&rdquo; replied Millie, and
+they roused themselves and pushed on eagerly. The cottage was not more
+than thirty yards away.</p>
+<p class="par">Before they reached it, a woman came to the doorway,
+stared at them for a moment and then came down to the little wooden
+gate.</p>
+<p class="par">She was a thick-set woman of fifty or so, with iron grey
+hair cut close to her head. She wore a tweed skirt which did not reach
+the tops of her heavily <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb165" href=
+"#pb165" name="pb165">165</a>]</span>soled, high boots. She looked
+capable, energetic and muscular. And in her hand she carried about
+three feet of stout broomstick.</p>
+<p class="par">She did not speak until the little procession halted
+before her gate, and then she pointed meaningly up the road with her
+broomstick and said: &ldquo;Go on. You can&rsquo;t stop here.&rdquo;
+She spoke with the voice and inflection of an educated woman.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche paused in the act of setting down the trolly
+handle. Mrs Gosling and Millie stared in amazement; they had been
+prepared to weep on the neck of this human friend, found at last in the
+awful desert of Middlesex.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We only wanted to buy a little milk,&rdquo;
+stammered Blanche, no less astonished than her mother and sister.</p>
+<p class="par">The big woman looked them over with something of pity
+and contempt. &ldquo;I can see you&rsquo;re not dangerous,&rdquo; she
+sneered and crossed her great bare fore-arms over the top of the gate.
+&ldquo;Only three poor feckless idiots going begging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re <i>not</i> begging,&rdquo; retorted
+Blanche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got money and we&rsquo;re willing to
+pay.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Money!&rdquo; repeated the woman. She looked up
+at the sky and nodded her head, as though beseeching pity for these
+feeble creatures. &ldquo;My dear girl,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;what
+do you suppose is the good of money in this world? You can&rsquo;t eat
+money, nor wear it, nor use it to light a fire. Now, if you&rsquo;d
+offered me a box of matches, you should have had all the milk I can
+spare.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I never,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling, who had
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb166" href="#pb166" name=
+"pb166">166</a>]</span>feebly come to rest again on the handle of the
+trolly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, my good woman, you never did,&rdquo; said the
+stranger. &ldquo;You never could and I should say the chances are that
+you never will.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was intimidated and shrinking, even Blanche
+looked a little nervous, but Mrs Gosling was incapable of feeling fear
+of a fellow-woman. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t mean as you won&rsquo;t sell
+us a glass of milk?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Have you got a box of matches you&rsquo;ll
+exchange for it?&rdquo; asked the stranger. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a
+burning glass I stole in Harrow, but you can&rsquo;t depend on the
+sun.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, nor &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t &rsquo;ad, the last
+three weeks,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;But if you&rsquo;ve more
+money a&rsquo;ready than you know what to do with, I should &rsquo;ave
+thought as you&rsquo;d &rsquo;a been willing to spare a glass o&rsquo;
+milk for charity&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The stranger regarded her petitioner with a hard smile.
+&ldquo;Charity&rsquo;s sake?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you realize
+that I&rsquo;ve had to defend this place like a fort against thousands
+of your sort? I&rsquo;ve killed three madwomen who fought me for
+possession and buried &rsquo;em in the orchard like cats. I held out
+through the first rush and I can hold out now easily enough. You three
+are the first I&rsquo;ve seen for a month, and before that they&rsquo;d
+begun to get weak and poor. These are your daughters, I suppose, and
+the three of you had always depended upon some fool of a man to keep
+you. Yes? Well, you deserve all you&rsquo;ve got. Now you can start and
+do a little healthy, useful work for <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb167" href="#pb167" name="pb167">167</a>]</span>yourselves.
+I&rsquo;ve no pity for you. I&rsquo;ve got a damned fool of a sister
+and an old fool of a mother to keep in there,&rdquo; she pointed to the
+cottage with her broomstick. &ldquo;Parasitic like you, both of
+&rsquo;em, and pretty well all the use they are is to keep the fire
+alight. No, my good woman, you get no charity from me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">When she had finished her speech, which she delivered
+with a fluency and point that suggested familiarity with the platform,
+the stranger crossed her arms again over the gate and stared Mrs
+Gosling out of countenance.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come along, my dears,&rdquo; said that outraged
+lady, getting wearily to her feet. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t wish your
+ears soiled by such language from a woman as &rsquo;as forgotten the
+manners of a lady. But, there, poor thing, I&rsquo;ve no doubt
+&rsquo;er &rsquo;ead&rsquo;s been turned with all this
+trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The stranger smiled grimly and made no reply, but as the
+Goslings were moving away, she called out to them suddenly: &ldquo;Hi!
+You! There&rsquo;s a witless creature along the road who&rsquo;ll
+probably help you. The house is up a side road. Bear round to the
+right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What a beast,&rdquo; muttered Blanche when they
+had gone on a few yards.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One o&rsquo; them &lsquo;new&rsquo; women, my
+dear,&rdquo; panted Mrs Gosling, who remembered the beginning of the
+movement and still clung to the old terminology. <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e2936" title="Not in source">&ldquo;</span>&rsquo;Orrible unsexed
+creatures! I remember how your poor father used to &rsquo;ate
+&rsquo;em!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to get even with her,&rdquo; said
+Millie. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb168" href="#pb168" name=
+"pb168">168</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">They bore to the right, and so avoided two turnings
+which led up repulsive-looking hills, but they missed the side
+road.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we must have passed it,&rdquo;
+complained Mrs Gosling at last. Her sighs had been increasing in volume
+and poignancy for the past half-mile, and the prospect of uninhabited
+country which lay immediately around her she found infinitely
+dispiriting.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t an &rsquo;ouse in sight,&rdquo;
+she added, &ldquo;and I really don&rsquo;t believe I <i>can</i> walk
+much farther.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche stopped and looked over the fields on her right
+towards London. In the distance, blurred by an oily wriggle of heat
+haze, she could see the last wave of suburban villas which had broken
+upon this shore of open country. They had left the town behind them at
+last, but they had not found what they sought. This little arm of land
+which cut off Harrow and Wealdstone from the mother lake of London had
+not offered sufficient temptation to delay their forerunners in the
+search for food. Most of them, with a true instinct for what they
+sought, had followed the main road into the Chiltern Hills, and those
+who for some cause or another had wandered into this side track had
+pushed on, even as Blanche and Millie would have done had they not been
+dragged back by their mother&rsquo;s complaints. The sun was falling a
+little towards the west, and bird and animal life, which had seemed to
+rest during the intenser heat of mid-day, was stirring and calling all
+about them. A rabbit lolloped into the road, a few yards away, pricked
+up its ears, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb169" href="#pb169" name=
+"pb169">169</a>]</span>stared for an instant, and then scuttled to
+cover. A blackbird flew out of the hedge and fled chattering up the
+ditch. The air was murmurous with the hum of innumerable insects, and
+above Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s head hovered a group of flies which ever and
+again bobbed down as if following some concerted plan of action, and
+tried to settle on the poor woman&rsquo;s heated face.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! get away, do!&rdquo; she panted, and flapped
+a futile handkerchief.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How quiet it is!&rdquo; said Blanche; and
+although the air was full of sound it did indeed appear that a great
+hush had fallen over the earth. No motor-horn threateningly bellowed
+its automatic demand for right of way; there was no echo of hoofs nor
+grind of wheels; no call of children&rsquo;s voices, nor even the bark
+of a dog. The wild things had the place to themselves again, and the
+sound of their movements called for no response from civilized minds.
+The ears of the Goslings heard, but did not note these, to them,
+useless evidences of life. They were straining and alert for the voice
+of humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve felt the
+&rsquo;eat so much,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling suddenly, and Blanche and
+Millie both started.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said Blanche, and held up a warning
+finger.</p>
+<p class="par">In the distance they heard a sound like the closing of a
+gate, and then, very clear and small, a feminine voice.
+&ldquo;<i>Chuck!</i> chuck! chuck!&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;Chuck! chuck!
+<i>chuck!!!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I told you we&rsquo;d passed it,&rdquo; said Mrs
+Gosling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb170" href="#pb170" name=
+"pb170">170</a>]</span>triumphantly. They turned the trolly and began
+to retrace their footsteps. Their eager eyes tried to peer through the
+spinney of trees which shut them off from the south. Once or twice they
+stopped to listen. The voice was fainter now, but they could hear the
+squawk of greedily competitive fowls. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb171" href="#pb171" name="pb171">171</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch13" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class=
+"divNum">XIII&mdash;</span>DIFFERENCES</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The only side road they could find proved to be no
+more than a track through the little wood. They almost passed it a
+second time, and hesitated at the gate&mdash;a sturdy five-barred gate
+bearing &ldquo;Private&rdquo; on a conspicuous label&mdash;debating
+whether this &ldquo;could be right.&rdquo; They still suffered a spasm
+of fear at the thought of trespass, and to open this gate and march up
+an unknown private road pushing a hand-cart seemed to them an act of
+terrible aggression.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We might leave the cart just inside,&rdquo;
+suggested Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And get our food stole,&rdquo; said Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one about,&rdquo; urged
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s that broomstick woman,&rdquo; said
+Millie. &ldquo;She may have followed us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I dunno if it&rsquo;s safe to go
+foragin&rsquo; in among them trees, neither,&rdquo; continued Mrs
+Gosling. &ldquo;Are you sure this is right, Blanche?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, I&rsquo;m not sure,&rdquo;
+replied Blanche, with a touch of temper.</p>
+<p class="par">They peered through the trees and listened, but no sign
+of a house was to be seen, and all was now silent save for the long
+drone of innumerable bees about their afternoon business. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb172" href="#pb172" name="pb172">172</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on!&rdquo; said Blanche at last. She was
+rapidly learning to solve all their problems by this simple
+formula....</p>
+<p class="par">In the wood they found refuge from those attendant flies
+which had hung over them so persistently.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gave a final flick with her handkerchief and
+declared her relief. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite pleasant in
+&rsquo;ere,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;after the &rsquo;eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls also seemed to find new vigour in the
+shade of the trees.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>have</i> got a cheek!&rdquo; said Millie,
+with a giggle.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! needs must when the devil drives,&rdquo;
+returned Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;and our circumstances is quite out of the
+ordinary. Besides which, there can&rsquo;t be any &rsquo;arm in
+offerin&rsquo; to buy a glass of milk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche tugged at the trolley handle with a flicker of
+impatience. Why would her mother be so foolish? Surely she must see
+that everything was different now? Blanche was beginning to wonder at
+and admire the marvel of her own intelligence. How much cleverer she
+was than the others! How much more ready to appreciate and adapt
+herself to change! They could not understand this new state of things,
+but she could, and she prided herself on her powers of
+discrimination.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different now,&rdquo; she said
+to herself. &ldquo;We can go anywhere and do anything, almost.
+It&rsquo;s like as if we were all starting off level again, in a
+way.&rdquo; She felt uplifted: she took extraordinary pleasure in her
+own realization of facts. A strange, <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb173" href="#pb173" name="pb173">173</a>]</span>new power had come to
+her, a power to enjoy life, through mastery. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s
+different now,&rdquo; she repeated. She was conscious of a sense of
+pity for her mother and sister.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The road through the wood curved sharply round to
+the right, and they came suddenly upon a clearing, and saw the house in
+front of them. It was a long, low house, smothered in roses and
+creepers, and it stood in a wild garden surrounded by a breast-high
+wall of red brick. At the edge of the clearing several cows were lying
+under the shade of the trees, reflectively chewing the cud with slow,
+deliberate enjoyment, while one, solitary, stood with its head over the
+garden gate, motionless, save for an occasional petulant whisp of its
+ropey tail.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, then, what are we going to do?&rdquo; asked
+Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">The procession halted, and the three women regarded the
+guardian cow with every sign of dismay.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Shoo!&rdquo; said Millie feebly, flapping her
+hands; and Blanche repeated the intimidation with greater force; but
+the cow merely acknowledged the salutation by an irritable sweep of its
+tail.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Orrid brute!&rdquo; muttered Mrs Gosling,
+and flicked her handkerchief in the direction of the brute&rsquo;s
+quarters.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said Blanche, conceiving a subtle
+strategy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll drive it away with the cart.&rdquo; She
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb174" href="#pb174" name=
+"pb174">174</a>]</span>turned the trolly round, and the three of them
+grasping the pole, they advanced slowly and warily to the charge,
+pushing their siege ram before them. They made a slight detour to
+achieve a flank attack and allow the enemy a clear way of retreat.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, dear! what <i>are</i> you doing?&rdquo; said
+a voice suddenly, and the three startled Goslings nearly dropped the
+pole in their alarm&mdash;they had been so utterly absorbed in their
+campaign.</p>
+<p class="par">A young woman of sixteen or seventeen, very brown, hot
+and dishevelled, was regarding them from the other side of the garden
+wall with a stare of amazement that even as they turned was flickering
+into laughter.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s that great brute by the gate, my
+dear,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve
+just&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean Alice?&rdquo; interrupted
+the young woman. &ldquo;Oh! you couldn&rsquo;t go charging poor dear
+Alice with a great cart like that! Three of you, too!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is its name Alice?&rdquo; asked Blanche stupidly.
+She did not feel equal to this curious occasion.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>Its</i> name!&rdquo; replied the young woman,
+with scorn. &ldquo;<i>Her</i> name&rsquo;s Alice, if that&rsquo;s what
+you mean.&rdquo; She shook back the hair from her eyes and moved down
+to the gate. The cow acknowledged her presence by an indolent toss of
+the head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! but my sweet Alice!&rdquo; protested the
+young woman; &ldquo;you must move and let these funny people come in.
+It really isn&rsquo;t good for you, dear, to stand about in the sun
+like this, and you&rsquo;d much better go and lie down in the shade for
+a bit!&rdquo; She gently pulled the gate from under the cow&rsquo;s
+chin, and then, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb175" href="#pb175"
+name="pb175">175</a>]</span>laying her hands flat on its side, made as
+if to push it out of the way.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I never!&rdquo; declared Mrs Gosling,
+regarding the performance with much the same awe as she might have
+vouchsafed to a lion-tamer in a circus. &ldquo;&rsquo;Oo&rsquo;d
+&rsquo;ave thought it&rsquo;d &rsquo;a been that tame?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The cow, after a moment&rsquo;s resistance, moved off
+with a leisurely walk in the direction of the wood.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, you funny people, what <i>do</i> you
+want?&rdquo; asked the young woman.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling began to explain, but Blanche quickly
+interposed. &ldquo;Oh! do be quiet, mother; you don&rsquo;t
+understand,&rdquo; she said, and continued, before her mother could
+remonstrate, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come from London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goodness!&rdquo; commented the young woman.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we want&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Blanche
+hesitated. She was surprised to find that in the light of her wonderful
+discovery it was not so easy to define precisely what they ought to
+want. As the broomstick woman had said, they were
+&ldquo;beggars.&rdquo; Fairly confronted with the problem, Blanche saw
+no alternative but a candid acknowledgment of the fact.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You want feeding, of course,&rdquo; put in the
+young woman. &ldquo;They all do. You needn&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re
+the first. We&rsquo;ve had dozens!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">A solution presented itself to Blanche. &ldquo;We
+don&rsquo;t really want food,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a
+lot of tinned things left still, only we&rsquo;re ill with eating
+tinned things. I thought, perhaps, you might be willing to let us have
+some milk and eggs and vegetables in exchange?&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb176" href="#pb176" name="pb176">176</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s sensible enough,&rdquo; commented
+the young woman. &ldquo;If you only knew the things we have been
+offered! Money chiefly, of course&rdquo;&mdash;Mrs Gosling opened her
+mouth, but Blanche frowned and shook her head&mdash;&ldquo;and it does
+seem as if money&rsquo;s about as useless as buttons. In fact,
+I&rsquo;d sooner have buttons&mdash;you <i>can</i> use them. But the
+other funny things&mdash;bits of old furniture, warming-pans,
+jewellery! You should have heard Mrs Isaacson! She was a Jewess who
+came from Hampstead a couple of months ago, and she had a lot of jewels
+she kept in a bag tied round her waist under her skirt; and when Aunt
+May and I simply had to tell her to go she tried to bribe us with an
+old brooch and rubbish. She was a terror. But, I say&rdquo;&mdash;she
+looked at the sun&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got lots of things to do
+before sunset.&rdquo; She paused, and looked at the three Goslings.
+&ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;are you all right? You
+seem all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Again Mrs Gosling began to reply, but Blanche was too
+quick for her. &ldquo;Tell me what you mean by &lsquo;all
+right&rsquo;?&rdquo; she asked, raising her voice to drown her
+mother&rsquo;s &ldquo;Well, I never did &rsquo;ear
+such&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, mother&rsquo;ll give you any
+mortal thing you want,&rdquo; replied the young woman at the gate.
+&ldquo;Dear old mater! She simply won&rsquo;t think of what we&rsquo;re
+going to do in the winter; and I mean, if you come in for to-night,
+say, and we let you have a few odd things, you won&rsquo;t go and plant
+yourselves on us like that Mrs Isaacson and one or two others, because
+if you do, Aunt May and I will have to turn you out, you know.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb177" href="#pb177" name=
+"pb177">177</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What we &rsquo;ave we&rsquo;ll pay for,&rdquo;
+said Mrs Gosling with dignity.</p>
+<p class="par">The young woman smiled. &ldquo;Oh, I dare say!&rdquo;
+she said; &ldquo;pay us with those pretty little yellow counters that
+aren&rsquo;t the least good to anyone. You wait here half a jiff.
+I&rsquo;ll find Aunt May.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She ran up the path and entered the house. A moment
+later they heard her calling &ldquo;Aunt May!
+Auntie&mdash;Aun-<i>tee</i>!&rdquo; somewhere out at the back.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s &rsquo;ope &rsquo;er Aunt
+May&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave more common sense,&rdquo; remarked Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche turned on her almost fiercely. &ldquo;For
+goodness sake, mother,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;do try and get it out of
+your head, if you can, that we can buy things with money. Can&rsquo;t
+you see that everything&rsquo;s different? Can&rsquo;t you see that
+money&rsquo;s no good, that you can&rsquo;t eat it, or wear it, or
+light a fire with it, like that other woman said? <i>Can&rsquo;t</i>
+you understand, or <i>won&rsquo;t</i> you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gaped in amazement. It was incredible that
+the mind of Blanche should also have been distorted by this terrible
+heresy. She turned in sympathy to Millie, who had taken her
+mother&rsquo;s seat on the pole of the trolly, but Millie frowned and
+said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;B.&rsquo;s right. You can&rsquo;t buy things with
+money; not here, anyway. What&rsquo;d they do with money if they got
+it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling looked at the trees, at the cows lying at
+the edge of the wood, at the sunlit fields beyond the house, but she
+saw nothing which suggested an immediate use for gold coin.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb178" href="#pb178" name=
+"pb178">178</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lemme sit down, my dear,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;What with the &rsquo;eat and all this
+walkin&rsquo;&mdash;&mdash;Oh! what wouldn&rsquo;t I give for a cup
+o&rsquo; tea!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie got up sulkily and leaned against the wall.
+&ldquo;I suppose they&rsquo;ll let us stop here to-night, B.?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t make fools of ourselves,&rdquo;
+replied Blanche, spitefully.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling drooped. No inspiration had come to her as
+it had come to her daughter. The older woman had become too
+specialized. She swayed her head, searching&mdash;like some great larva
+dug up from its refuse heap&mdash;confused and feeble in this new
+strange place of light and air.</p>
+<p class="par">And as Blanche had repeated to herself
+&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; so Mrs Gosling seized a
+phrase and clung to it as to some explanation of this horrible
+perplexity. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; she said;
+&ldquo;I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> understand it!&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Aunt May appeared after a long interval&mdash;a
+thin, brown-faced woman of forty or so. She wore a very short skirt, a
+man&rsquo;s jacket and an old deerstalker hat, and she carried a
+pitchfork. She must have brought the pitchfork as an emblem of
+authority, but she did not handle it as the other woman had handled her
+broomstick. The murderous pitchfork appeared little more deadly in her
+keeping than does the mace in the House of Commons, but as an emblem
+the pitchfork was infinitely more effective. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb179" href="#pb179" name="pb179">179</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Aunt May&rsquo;s questions were pertinent and searching,
+and after a few brief explanations had been offered to her she drove
+off the young woman, her niece, whom she addressed as
+&ldquo;Allie,&rdquo; to perform the many duties which were her share of
+the day&rsquo;s work.</p>
+<p class="par">Allie went, laughing.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can sleep here to-night,&rdquo; announced
+Aunt May. &ldquo;We shall have a meal all together soon after sunset.
+Till then you can talk to my sister, who&rsquo;s an invalid.
+She&rsquo;s always eager for news.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She took charge of them as if she were the matron of a
+workhouse receiving new inmates.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better bring your truck into the
+garden,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;or Alice will be turning everything
+over. Inquisitive brute!&rdquo; she added, snapping her fingers at the
+cow, who had returned, and stood within a few feet of them, eyeing the
+Goslings with a slow, dull wonder&mdash;a mournfully sleepy beast whose
+furiously wakeful tail seemed anxious to rouse its owner out of her
+torpor.</p>
+<p class="par">The invalid sister sat by the window of a small room
+that faced west and overlooked the luxuriance of what was still
+recognizably a flower-garden.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My sister, Mrs Pollard,&rdquo; said Aunt May
+sharply, and then addressing the woman who sat huddled in shawls by the
+window, she added: &ldquo;Three more strays, Fanny&mdash;from London,
+Allie tells me.&rdquo; She went out quickly, closing the door with a
+vigour which indicated little tolerance for invalid nerves.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Pollard stretched out a delicate white hand.
+&ldquo;Please come and sit near me,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and tell
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb180" href="#pb180" name=
+"pb180">180</a>]</span>me about London. It is so long since I have had
+any news from there. Perhaps you might be able&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; she
+broke off, and looked at the three strangers with a certain pathetic
+eagerness.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take me bonnet off, ma&rsquo;am, if
+you&rsquo;ll excuse me,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling. She felt at home
+once more within the delightful shelter of a house, although slightly
+overawed by the aspect of the room and its occupant. About both there
+was an air of that class dignity to which Mrs Gosling knew she could
+never attain. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve felt the
+&rsquo;eat as I &rsquo;ave to-day,&rdquo; she remarked politely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Has it been hot?&rdquo; asked Mrs Pollard.
+&ldquo;To me the days all seem so much alike. I want you to tell me,
+were there any young men in London when you left? You haven&rsquo;t
+seen any young man who at all resembles this photograph, have
+you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling stared at the silver-framed photograph which
+Mrs Pollard took from the table at her side, stared and shook her
+head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t seen a single man of any kind
+for two months,&rdquo; said Blanche, &ldquo;not a single one. Have we,
+Millie?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, sitting rather stiffly on her chair, shook her
+head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s terrible,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+sure I don&rsquo;t know where they can have all gone to.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Pollard did not reply for a moment. She looked
+steadfastly out of the window, and tears, which she made no attempt to
+restrain, chased each other in little jerks down her smooth pale
+cheeks. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb181" href="#pb181" name=
+"pb181">181</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling pinched her mouth into an expression of
+suffering sympathy, and shook her head at her daughters to enforce
+silence. Was she not, also, a widow?</p>
+<p class="par">After a short pause, Mrs Pollard fumbled in her lap and
+discovered a black-bordered pocket-handkerchief&mdash;a reminiscence,
+doubtless, of some earlier bereavement. Her expression had been in no
+way distorted as she wept, and after the tears had been wiped away no
+trace of them disfigured her delicate face. Her voice was still calm
+and sweet as she said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I am very foolish to go on hoping. I loved too
+much, and this trial has been sent to teach me that all love but One is
+vain, that I must not set my heart upon things of the earth. And yet I
+go on hoping that my poor boy was not cut off in Sin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Dear, dear!&rdquo; murmured Mrs Gosling.
+&ldquo;You musn&rsquo;t take it to &rsquo;eart too much, ma&rsquo;am.
+Boys will be a little wild and no doubt our &rsquo;eavenly Father will
+make excuses.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Pollard shook her head. &ldquo;If it had only been a
+little wildness,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I should have hope. He is,
+indeed, just and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, but my
+poor Alfred became tainted with the terrible doctrines of Rome. It has
+been the greatest grief of my life, and I have known much
+pain....&rdquo; And again the tears slowly welled up and fell silently
+down that smooth, unchanging face.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling sniffed sympathetically. The two girls
+glanced at one another with slightly raised <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb182" href="#pb182" name=
+"pb182">182</a>]</span>eyebrows and Blanche almost invisibly shrugged
+her shoulders.</p>
+<p class="par">The warm evening light threw the waxen-faced,
+white-shawled figure of the woman in the window into high relief. Her
+look of ecstatic resignation was that of some wonderful medi&aelig;val
+saint returned from the age of vision and miracle to a recently
+purified earth in which the old ideas of saintship had again become
+possible. Her influence was upon the room in which she sat. The sounds
+of the world outside, the evening chorus of wild life, the familiar
+noise of the farm, seemed to blend into a remote music of
+prayer&mdash;&ldquo;Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison!&rdquo; Within was a
+great stillness, as of a thin and bloodless purity; the long
+continuance of a single thought found some echo in every material
+object. While the silence lasted everything in that room was responsive
+to this single keynote of an&aelig;mic virtue.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling tried desperately to weep without noise, and
+even the two girls, falling under the spell, ceased to glance covertly
+at one another with that hint of criticism, but sat subdued and
+weakened as if some element of life had been taken from them.</p>
+<p class="par">The lips of the woman in the window moved noiselessly;
+her hands were clasped in her lap. She was praying.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Firm and somewhat clumsy steps were heard in the
+passage, the door was pushed roughly open, banging back against the
+black oak chair which was set <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb183"
+href="#pb183" name="pb183">183</a>]</span>behind it, and Aunt May
+entered carrying a large tray.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s your dinner, Fanny,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done earlier to-night, in spite of
+interruptions.<span class="corr" id="xd23e3206" title=
+"Not in source">&rdquo;</span> She bustled over to the little table in
+the window, pushed back the Bible and photograph with the edge of the
+tray until she could release one hand, and then, having driven the tray
+into a position of safety, moved Bible and photograph to the centre
+table.</p>
+<p class="par">There was something protestingly vigorous about her
+movements, as though she endeavoured to combat by noise and energy the
+impoverished vitality of that emasculate room.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, you three!&rdquo; she went on. &ldquo;You
+had better come out into the kitchen and take your things off and
+wash.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As the Goslings rose, Mrs Pollard turned to them and
+stretched out to each in turn her delicate white hand. &ldquo;There is
+only one Comforter.&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Put your trust in
+Him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gulped, and Blanche and Millie looked as
+they used to look when they attended the Bible-classes held by the
+vicar&rsquo;s wife.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche gave a shiver of relief as they came out into
+the passage. Her mind was suddenly filled by the astounding thought
+that everything was not different....</p>
+<p class="par">Supper was laid on the kitchen table&mdash;cold chicken,
+potatoes and cabbage, stewed plums and cream, and warm, new milk in a
+jug; no bread, no salt, and no pepper.</p>
+<p class="par">As the three Goslings washed at the scullery sink
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb184" href="#pb184" name=
+"pb184">184</a>]</span>they chattered freely. They felt pleasure at
+release from some cold, draining influence; they felt as if they had
+come out of church after some long, dull service, into the air and
+sunlight.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure she&rsquo;s a very &rsquo;oly
+lady,&rdquo; was Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s final summary.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shivered again. &ldquo;Oh! freezing!&rdquo; was
+her enigmatic reply.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie said it gave her &ldquo;the creeps.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They were a party of seven at supper&mdash;the meal was
+referred to as &ldquo;supper,&rdquo; although to Mrs Pollard it had
+been dignified by the name of &ldquo;dinner&rdquo;&mdash;including two
+young women whom the Goslings had not hitherto seen; strong,
+brown-faced girls, who spoke with a country accent. They had something
+still of the manner of servants, but they were treated as equals both
+by Allie and Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">There was little conversation during the meal, however,
+for all of them were too intent on the business in hand. To the
+Goslings that meal was, indeed, a banquet.</p>
+<p class="par">When they had all finished, Aunt May rose at once.
+&ldquo;Thank Heaven for daylight,&rdquo; she remarked; &ldquo;but we
+must set our brains to work to invent some light for the winter. We
+haven&rsquo;t a candle or a drop of oil left,&rdquo; she went on,
+addressing the Goslings, &ldquo;and for the past five weeks we have had
+to bustle to get everything done before sunset, I can tell you. Last
+night we couldn&rsquo;t wash up after supper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We know,&rdquo; replied Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Aunt May nodded. &ldquo;We all know,&rdquo; she said.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb185" href="#pb185" name=
+"pb185">185</a>]</span>&ldquo;Now, you three girls, get busy!&rdquo;
+And Allie and the two brown-faced young women rose a little
+wearily.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting an old woman,&rdquo; remarked
+Aunt May, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m allowed certain privileges, chief of
+them that I don&rsquo;t work after supper. She paused and looked keenly
+at the three Goslings. &ldquo;Which of you three is in command?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it seems as if my eldest, Blanche, that is,
+&rsquo;as sort o&rsquo; taken the lead the past few days,&rdquo; began
+Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! I thought so,&rdquo; said Aunt May.
+&ldquo;Well, now, Blanche, you&rsquo;d better come out into the garden
+and have a talk with me, and we&rsquo;ll decide what you had better do.
+If your mother and sister would like to go to bed, Allie will show them
+where they can sleep.<span class="corr" id="xd23e3250" title=
+"Not in source">&rdquo;</span></p>
+<p class="par">She moved away in the direction of the garden and
+Blanche followed her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb186" href=
+"#pb186" name="pb186">186</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch14" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XIV&mdash;</span>AUNT MAY</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The sun had set, but as yet the daylight was
+scarcely faded. Under the trees the fowls muttered in subdued
+cluckings, and occasionally one of them would flutter up into the lower
+branches with a squawk of effort and then settle herself with a great
+fluttering and swelling of feathers, and all the suggestion of a fussy
+matron preparing for the night&mdash;preparing only, for these early
+roosters sat open-eyed and watchful, as if they knew that there was no
+chance of sleep for them until every member of that careless crowd
+below had found its appointed place in the dormitory.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We put &rsquo;em inside in the winter,&rdquo;
+remarked Aunt May, as she and Blanche paused, &ldquo;but they prefer
+the trees. We haven&rsquo;t any foxes here, but I&rsquo;ve noticed that
+the wild things seem to be coming back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche nodded. She was thinking how much there was to
+learn concerning those matters which appertained to the production of
+food.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re rather a poor lot,&rdquo; Aunt May
+continued, &ldquo;but they have to forage for themselves, except for
+the few bits of vegetable and such things we can spare them.
+We&rsquo;ve no corn or flour or meal of any kind for ourselves yet. But
+a farmer&rsquo;s wife <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb187" href=
+"#pb187" name="pb187">187</a>]</span>about a mile from here has got a
+few acres of wheat and barley coming on, and we shall help her to
+harvest and take our share later. We shall be rich then,&rdquo; she
+added, with a smile.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m town-bred, you know,&rdquo; said
+Blanche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got an awful lot to learn, Millie and
+me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll learn quickly enough,&rdquo; was the
+answer. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">At the end of the orchard through which they had been
+passing they came to a knoll, crowned by a great elm. Round the trunk
+of the elm a rough seat had been fixed, and here Aunt May sat down with
+a sigh of relief.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blessed thing to earn your own bread
+day by day,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a beautiful thing to
+live near the earth and feel physically tired at night. It&rsquo;s
+delightful to be primitive and agricultural, and I love it. But I have
+a civilized vice, Blanche. I have a store of cigarettes I stole from a
+shop in Harrow, and every night when it&rsquo;s fine I come out here
+after supper and smoke three; and when it&rsquo;s wet I smoke &rsquo;em
+in my own bedroom, and&mdash;I dream. But to-night I&rsquo;m going to
+talk to you, because you want help.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She produced a cigarette case and matches from a side
+pocket of her jacket, lit a cigarette, inhaled the smoke with a long
+gasp of intensest enjoyment, and then said: &ldquo;Men weren&rsquo;t
+fools, my dear; they had pockets in their coats.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Blanche. She felt puzzled and a
+little awkward. She knew that this woman was a <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb188" href="#pb188" name=
+"pb188">188</a>]</span>friend, but the girl&rsquo;s town-bred,
+objective mind was critical and embarrassed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you smoke?&rdquo; asked Aunt May. &ldquo;I can
+spare you a cigarette, though I know the time must come when there
+won&rsquo;t be any more. Still, it&rsquo;s a long way off yet. Bless
+the clever man who invented air-tight tins!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t smoke, thanks,&rdquo; replied
+Blanche, conventionally; and, try as she would, she could not keep some
+hint of stiffness out of her voice. Modern manners take a long time to
+influence suburban homes of the Wisteria Grove type.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! well, you miss a lot!&rdquo; said Aunt May;
+&ldquo;but you&rsquo;re better without it, especially now, when tobacco
+isn&rsquo;t easy to get, and will soon be impossible.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But do you think,&rdquo; asked Blanche, drawing
+her eyebrows together, &ldquo;that this sort of thing is going on
+always?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I dare say. Don&rsquo;t ask me, my dear; the
+problem&rsquo;s beyond me. What we poor women have got to do is to keep
+ourselves alive in the meantime. And that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve come
+out here to talk about. What about your mother and you two girls? Where
+are you going? And what are you proposing to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>I</i> don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Blanche.
+&ldquo;I&mdash;I&rsquo;ve been trying to think.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; remarked Aunt May. &ldquo;I believe
+you&rsquo;ll do. I&rsquo;m doubtful about your sister.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to work on a farm, I
+suppose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the only way to live.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only where?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb189" href="#pb189" name="pb189">189</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been trying to worry
+out,&rdquo; said Aunt May. &ldquo;We do get news here, of a sort. Our
+girls work in Mrs Jordan&rsquo;s fields, and meet girls and women who
+come from Pinner, and the Pinner people hear news from Northwood, and
+the Northwood people from somewhere else; and so we get into touch with
+half a county. But, coming to your affairs; you see, we here are just
+the innermost circle. Most of the women who came from London missed
+this place and passed us by, thanks be!... Now, that poor unfortunate
+Miss Grant, down the road, had to defend herself with weapons.
+Fortunately she&rsquo;s strong.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is Miss Grant the awful woman with the
+broomstick?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not really awful, my dear,&rdquo;
+said Aunt May, smiling; &ldquo;she&rsquo;s a very good sort. A little
+rough in her manners, perhaps, and quite mad about the uselessness of
+the creatures we used to know as men, but a fine, generous, unselfish
+woman, if she does boast of her three murders. Did she tell you that,
+by the way?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche nodded.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She would, of course; and I believe it&rsquo;s
+true; but her theory was to defend her own people. She said
+they&rsquo;d <i>all</i> have died if she hadn&rsquo;t. I&rsquo;m not
+sure about the ethic, but I know dear old Sally Grant meant well.
+However, I&rsquo;m wandering&mdash;I often do when I talk like this.
+The point was that just this little circle here, close to London, is
+very thickly populated, and there&rsquo;s precious little food ready to
+be got any way; but you&rsquo;ll have to pass through the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb190" href="#pb190" name=
+"pb190">190</a>]</span>country beyond Pinner before you&rsquo;ll find a
+place where they&rsquo;ll give you work and keep you. There&rsquo;s a
+surplus in the next ring, I gather, too much labour and too little to
+grow. You&rsquo;ll have to push out into the Chilterns, out to Amersham
+at the nearest. It&rsquo;s all on the main road, of course, which is
+bad in a general way, because that&rsquo;s the road they all took. But
+I think if you&rsquo;ll cut across towards Wycombe you might, perhaps,
+find a place of some sort, though whether they&rsquo;ll feed your
+mother free gratis I can&rsquo;t say. Women are of all sorts, but this
+plague hasn&rsquo;t made &rsquo;em more friendly to one another, or
+perhaps it is we notice it more, and the worst of the lot are the
+farmers&rsquo; wives and daughters who&rsquo;ve got the land. They get
+turned out, though, sometimes. We hear about it. The London women have
+made raids; only, you see, the poor dears don&rsquo;t know what to do
+with the land when they get it, so they have to keep the few who do
+know to teach &rsquo;em&mdash;when they&rsquo;re sensible
+enough&mdash;the raiders, I mean. They aren&rsquo;t always.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be an adventure,&rdquo; remarked
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Aunt May threw away the very short end of her second
+cigarette and lighted her third. &ldquo;Adventure will do you
+good,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">It was nearly dark under the elm. The things of the
+night were coming out. Occasionally a cockchafer would go humming past
+them, the bats were flitting swiftly and silently about the orchard,
+and presently an owl swept by in one great stride of soundless
+flight.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How they are all coming back!&rdquo; murmured
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb191" href="#pb191" name=
+"pb191">191</a>]</span>Aunt May. &ldquo;All the wild things. I never
+saw an owl here before this year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I should be frightened if you weren&rsquo;t
+here,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Nothing to be frightened of, yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In a few years&rsquo; time, perhaps. I
+don&rsquo;t know. We killed a wild cat who came after the chickens a
+few days ago. The cats have gone back already, and the dogs
+aren&rsquo;t so respectful as they used to be. The dogs&rsquo;ll
+interbreed, I suppose, and evolve a common form&mdash;strike some kind
+of average in a beast which will be somewhere near the ancestral type,
+smaller, probably, I don&rsquo;t know. It&rsquo;s a wonderful world,
+and very interesting. I could almost wish man wouldn&rsquo;t return for
+twenty years or so&mdash;just to see how much of his handiwork Nature
+could undo in the interval. I often think about it out here in the
+evenings.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wish I knew more about it,&rdquo; said Blanche
+timidly. &ldquo;Are there any books, do you know,
+that&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t want books, my dear. Keep your
+eyes open and think.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They lapsed into silence again. The third cigarette was
+finished, but Aunt May gave no indication of a desire to get back to
+the house, and Blanche&rsquo;s mind was so excited with all the new
+ideas which were pouring in upon her that she had forgotten her
+tiredness.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s awfully interesting,&rdquo; she said
+at last. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so different. Mother and Millie hate it,
+and they&rsquo;d <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb192" href="#pb192"
+name="pb192">192</a>]</span>like all the old things back; but I
+don&rsquo;t think I would.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re all right. You&rsquo;ll do,&rdquo;
+replied her companion. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re one of the new sort, though
+you might never have found it out if it hadn&rsquo;t been for the
+plague. Now, your sister will do one of two things, in my opinion;
+either she&rsquo;ll stop in some place where there&rsquo;s a
+man&mdash;there&rsquo;s one at Wycombe, by the way&mdash;and have
+children, or she&rsquo;ll turn religious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was about to ask a question, but Aunt May
+stopped her. &ldquo;Never mind about the man, my dear,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll learn quickly enough. It&rsquo;s like Heaven now,
+you see&mdash;no marrying or giving in marriage. With one man to every
+thousand women or so, what can you expect? It&rsquo;s no good kicking
+against it. It&rsquo;s got to be. That&rsquo;s where
+Fanny&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She broke off suddenly, with a little snort
+of impatience. &ldquo;I think to-night&rsquo;s an exception,&rdquo; she
+went on. &ldquo;I like talking to you, and one simply can&rsquo;t talk
+to Allie yet, so just to-night I&rsquo;ll have one more.&rdquo; She
+took out her cigarette case with a touch of impatience.</p>
+<p class="par">It was dark under the elm now, and she had to hold up
+her cigarette case close to her face in order to see the contents.
+&ldquo;Two more,&rdquo; she announced. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a festival,
+and for once I can speak my mind to some one. An imprudence, perhaps,
+like this habit of smoking, but I shall probably never see you again,
+and I&rsquo;m sure you won&rsquo;t tell.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, no!&rdquo; interposed Blanche eagerly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not tired? You don&rsquo;t want to
+go to bed?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb193" href="#pb193"
+name="pb193">193</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not a bit. I love being out here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see you, but I know you&rsquo;re
+speaking the truth,&rdquo; said Aunt May, after a pause. &ldquo;In the
+darkness and silence of the night I will make a confession. I look
+weather-worn and fifty, I know, but I feel absurdly romantic, only
+there&rsquo;s no man in this case. I used to write novels, my
+dear&mdash;an absurd thing for any spinster to do, but they paid, and
+I&rsquo;ve got the itch for self-expression. That&rsquo;s the one
+outlet I miss in this new world of ours. Sally Grant and I can&rsquo;t
+agree, and, in any case, she wants to do all the talking. And sometimes
+I&rsquo;m idiot enough to go on writing little bits even now when I
+have become a capable, practical woman with at least four lives
+dependent upon me. Well, it shows, anyhow, that we writing women
+weren&rsquo;t all fools....&rdquo; She hung on that for a moment or
+two, and then continued.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you religious?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&mdash;I suppose so. We always
+went to Church at home,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;I thought every one
+was, almost. Not quite like Mrs Pollard, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well!&rdquo; said Aunt May.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no harm and a lot of good in being religious, if
+you go about it in the right way. I don&rsquo;t want to change your
+opinions, my dear. It&rsquo;s just a question to me of the right way.
+And I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> see that Fanny&rsquo;s way is right. Here we
+are, and we&rsquo;ve got to make the best of it; and to my mind that
+means facing life, and not shutting yourself into one room with a Bible
+and spending half your time on your knees. Fanny never <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb194" href="#pb194" name="pb194">194</a>]</span>was
+good for much. She brought up Alfred&mdash;my nephew, you
+know&mdash;with only one idea, and she stuffed him so full of holiness
+that the English Church couldn&rsquo;t hold him, and he had to work
+some of it off by going over to Rome. He thought he&rsquo;d have better
+chances of saintship there. He was a poor, pale thing, anyway. Of
+course, that was anathema to Fanny. She might have forgiven him for
+committing a murder, but to become a Roman Catholic&mdash;&mdash;! Oh,
+Lord! She&rsquo;s been praying for him ever since. And, my dear, what
+difference can it make? Alfred&rsquo;s apostasy, I mean. Do you think
+it matters what particular form of worship or pettifogging details of
+belief you adopt? Why can&rsquo;t the Churches take each other for
+granted, and be generous enough to suppose that all roads lead to
+Heaven, which is, according to all accounts, a much better place than
+Rome? But, oh! above all, if you have a religion, do be practical! Come
+out and do your work, instead of sighing and psalm-singing, and
+wearying dumb Heaven with fulsome praise and lamentations of your
+unworthiness, as if you were trying to propitiate a rich customer!</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There, my dear, I won&rsquo;t say any more. My
+last cigarette&rsquo;s done, and wasted, because I was too excited to
+enjoy it. I know I&rsquo;ve been disloyal; but it&rsquo;s my
+temperament. I could slap Fanny sometimes. And she shan&rsquo;t have
+Allie.... It&rsquo;s the night that has affected me. To-morrow I shall
+be just as practical as ever, and you&rsquo;ll forget that you&rsquo;ve
+seen this side of me. Come along. We must go to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This is the greatest night of my life,&rdquo;
+thought <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb195" href="#pb195" name=
+"pb195">195</a>]</span>Blanche as they walked back in silence to the
+house.</p>
+<p class="par">Even when she was in bed, she did not go to sleep at
+once. She lay and listened to the heavy breathing of her mother and
+Millie, and she wondered. Everything, indeed, was different, but
+everybody was just the same, only, in some curious way, individualities
+seemed more pronounced.</p>
+<p class="par">Could it be that everybody was more natural, that there
+was less restraint?</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was not introspective. She did not test the
+theory on herself. She thought of the women she had met that day, and
+of her mother and Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">She fell asleep, determined to be more like Aunt May.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb196" href="#pb196" name=
+"pb196">196</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch15" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XV&mdash;</span>FROM SUDBURY TO
+WYCOMBE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Allie knocked on the Goslings&rsquo; door at
+sunrise the next morning, and Blanche, who had come to bed two hours
+after her mother and sister, was the only one to respond. She woke with
+the feeling that she had something important to do, and that the affair
+was in some way pleasant and inspiring.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was not easily roused. She had slept heavily, and
+did not approve the suggestion that she should get up and dress
+herself.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, B., all right!&rdquo; she mumbled, and
+cuddled down under the bedclothes like a dormouse into its straw.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! do get up!&rdquo; urged Blanche, impatiently,
+and at last resorted to physical force.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What <i>is</i> the matter?&rdquo; snapped Millie,
+struggling to maintain her hold of the blankets. &ldquo;Why
+<i>can&rsquo;t</i> you leave me alone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Because it&rsquo;s time to get up, lazy!&rdquo;
+said Blanche, continuing the struggle.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I said I&rsquo;d get up in a
+minute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, get up then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In a minute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No&mdash;now!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, bother!&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche succeeded at last in obtaining possession of the
+blankets. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb197" href="#pb197" name=
+"pb197">197</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll wake mother!&rdquo; was
+Millie&rsquo;s last, desperate shaft.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try,&rdquo; replied
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie sat up in the bed and wondered vaguely where she
+was. These scenes had often been enacted at Wisteria Grove, and her
+mind had gone back to those delightful days of peace and security. When
+full consciousness returned to her, she was half inclined to cry, and
+more than half inclined to go to sleep again.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was quite as difficult.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the time?&rdquo; was her first
+question.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s not seven,&rdquo;
+murmured Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, still sitting on the bed, wondered whether
+Blanche would let her get to the blankets which were tumbled on the
+floor a few feet away.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, you don&rsquo;t!&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche,
+anticipating the attempt.</p>
+<p class="par">Finally she lost her temper and shook her mother
+vigorously.</p>
+<p class="par">At that, Mrs Gosling sat up suddenly and stared at her.
+&ldquo;What in &rsquo;eaven&rsquo;s name&rsquo;s wrong, gel?&rdquo; she
+asked. Her instinct told her with absolute certainty that it was still
+the middle of the night by Wisteria Grove standards.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! my goodness! I&rsquo;m going to have my hands
+full with you two!&rdquo; broke out Blanche impatiently. Her
+imagination pictured for her in that instant how great the trouble
+would be. She would never be able to wake them up.... <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb198" href="#pb198" name="pb198">198</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">They took the road before eight o&rsquo;clock. Aunt May
+was generous in the matter of eggs and fruit, and she left her many
+urgent duties to point the way for the inexperienced explorers.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Get right out as far as you can,&rdquo; was her
+parting word of advice.</p>
+<p class="par">They did not see Mrs Pollard again. She was still in bed
+when they set out.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Despite the promise of another cloudless day, none
+of the three travellers set out in high spirits. To all of them, even
+to Blanche, it seemed a return to weariness and pain to start out once
+more pushing that abominable truck. That truck represented all their
+troubles. It had become associated with all the discomforts they had
+endured since they left the Putney house. It indicated the paucity of
+their possessions, and yet it was intolerably heavy to push. After
+their brief return to the comfort and stability of a home and natural
+food, this adventuring out into the inhospitable country appeared more
+hopeless than ever. If they could have gone without the truck, they
+might, at least, have avoided that feeling of horrible certainty. They
+might have cheated themselves into the belief that they would return.
+The truck was the brand of their vagabondage.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling did not spare her lamentations concerning
+the hopelessness of their endeavour, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb199" href="#pb199" name="pb199">199</a>]</span>gave it as her
+opinion that they had been most heartlessly treated by Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Turning out a woman of my age into the
+roads,&rdquo; she grumbled. &ldquo;She might &rsquo;ave kept us a day
+or two, I should &rsquo;ave thought. It ain&rsquo;t as if we were
+beggars. We could &rsquo;ave paid for what we &rsquo;ad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She had, indeed, made the suggestion and been repulsed.
+Aunt May had firmly put the offer on one side without explanation. She
+understood that explanations would be wasted on Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was inclined to agree with her mother.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche, at the handle, did not interrupt the statement
+of their grievances. She was occupied with the problem of the future,
+trying to think out some plan in her own confused inconsecutive
+way.</p>
+<p class="par">Their progress was tediously slow. Against the combined
+brake of the truck and Mrs Gosling, they did not average two miles an
+hour; and even before they came to Pinner it was becoming obvious to
+the two girls that they might as well let their mother ride on the
+trolly as allow her to lean her weight upon it as she walked.</p>
+<p class="par">They took the road through Wealdstone to avoid the hill
+and found that they were still in the track of one wing of the foraging
+army which had preceded them. That first rush of emigrants had ravaged
+the stores and houses as locusts will ravage a stretch of country. The
+suburb of regular villas and prim shops had been completely looted.
+Doors stood open and windows were smashed; the spread of ugly houses
+lay among the fields like an unwholesome eruption, awaiting the healing
+process of Nature. Wealdstone <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb200"
+href="#pb200" name="pb200">200</a>]</span>also was deserted by
+humanity. The flood had swept on towards the open country.</p>
+<p class="par">But as they approached Pinner the signs of devastation
+and desertion began to give way. Here and there women could be seen
+working in the fields; one or two children scuttled away before the
+approach of the Goslings and hid in the hedges, children who had
+evidently grown furtive and suspicious, intimidated by the experiences
+of the past two months; and when the outlying houses were
+reached&mdash;detached suburban villas, once occupied by relatively
+wealthy middle-class employers&mdash;it was evident that efforts were
+being made to restore the wreckage of kitchen gardens.</p>
+<p class="par">The Goslings had reached the point at which the wave had
+broken after its great initial energy was spent. Somewhere about this
+fifteen-mile limit, varying somewhat according to local conditions, the
+real disintegration of the crowd had begun. As the numerous tokens of
+the road had shown, a great number of women and children&mdash;possibly
+one-fifth of the whole crowd&mdash;had died of starvation and disease
+before any harbour was reached. From this fifteen-mile circle outwards,
+an increasing number had been stayed in their flight by the
+opportunities of obtaining food. Work was urgently demanded for the
+future, but the determining factor was the present supply of food, and
+the constriction of immediate supply had decided the question of how
+great a proportion of the women and children should remain. Here, about
+Pinner, was more land than the limited number of workers could till,
+but little <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb201" href="#pb201" name=
+"pb201">201</a>]</span>of it was arable, and this year there would be
+almost no harvest of grain.</p>
+<p class="par">Vaguely, Blanche realized this. She remembered Aunt
+May&rsquo;s advice to keep her eyes open, and looking about her as she
+walked she found little promise of security in the grass fields and the
+rare signs of human activity.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling, eager to find some home at any price,
+expressed her usual optimistic opinion with regard to the value of
+money. She saw signs of life again, at last, conditions familiar to
+her. She thought that they were returning once more to some kind of
+recognizable civilization, and began, with some renewal of her old
+vigour, to advise that they should find an hotel or inn and take
+&ldquo;a good look round&rdquo; before going any further.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, heartened by her mother&rsquo;s belief, was of
+much the same opinion, and Blanche was summoned from the pole to listen
+to the proposition.</p>
+<p class="par">She shook her head stubbornly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to argue it out all over
+again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You can just look round and see for
+yourselves that there&rsquo;s no food to be got here. We must get
+further out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling refused to be convinced, and advanced her
+superior knowledge of the world to support her judgment of the
+case.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! very well,&rdquo; said Blanche, at last.
+&ldquo;Come on to the inn and see for yourselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The inn, however, was deserted. All its available supply
+of food, solid and liquid, had long been exhausted, and the gardenless
+house had offered no <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb202" href="#pb202"
+name="pb202">202</a>]</span>particular attractions as a residence.
+Houses were cheap in that place, the whole population of Pinner,
+including children, did not exceed three hundred persons.</p>
+<p class="par">They found a woman working in a garden near by, and she,
+with perhaps unnecessary harshness, warned them that they could not
+stay in the village. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not enough food for us as it
+is,&rdquo; she said, and made some reference to &ldquo;silly
+Londoners.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">That was an expression with which the Goslings were to
+become very familiar in the near future.</p>
+<p class="par">The appeal for pity fell on deaf ears. Mrs Gosling
+learned that she was only one of many thousands who had made the same
+appeal.</p>
+<p class="par">The sun was high in the sky as they trudged out of
+Pinner on the road towards Northwood. It was then Blanche suggested
+that her mother should always ride on the trolly, except when they were
+facing a hill; and after a few weak protestations the suggestion was
+accepted. The trolly was lightened of various useless articles of
+furniture&mdash;a grudging sacrifice on the part of Mrs
+Gosling&mdash;and the party pushed on at a slightly improved pace.</p>
+<p class="par">After her disappointment in Pinner, Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s
+interest in life began rapidly to decline. Seated in her truck, she
+fell into long fits of brooding on the past. She was too old and too
+stereotyped to change, the future held no hope for her, and as the
+meaning and purpose of her existence faded, the life forces within her
+surely and ever more rapidly ebbed. Reality to her became the
+discomfort of the sun&rsquo;s heat, the dust of the road, the creak and
+scream <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb203" href="#pb203" name=
+"pb203">203</a>]</span>of the trolly wheels. She was incapable of
+relating herself to the great scheme of life, her consciousness was
+limited, as it had always been limited, to her immediate surroundings.
+She saw herself as a woman outrageously used by fate, but to fate she
+gave no name; the very idea, indeed, was too abstract to be appreciated
+by her. Blanche, Millie and that horrible truck were all that was left
+of her world, and in spirit she still moved in the beloved, familiar
+places of her suburban home.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">As the Goslings trudged out into the Chilterns
+they came into new conditions. Soon they found over-crowding in place
+of desolation. The harvest was ripening and in a month&rsquo;s time the
+demand for labour would almost equal the supply, for the labour offered
+was quite absurdly unskilled and ten women would be required to perform
+the work of one man equipped with machines. But at the end of July the
+surplus of women, almost exclusively Londoners, had no employment and
+little food, and many were living on grass, nettles, leaves, any green
+stuff they could boil and eat, together with such scraps of meat and
+vegetables as they could steal or beg. Their experiments with wild
+green stuffs often resulted in some form of poisoning, and dysentery
+and starvation were rapidly increasing the mortality among them.
+Nevertheless, in Rickmansworth houses were still at a premium, and many
+of those who camped perforce in fields or by the roadside <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb204" href="#pb204" name="pb204">204</a>]</span>were
+too enfeebled by town-life to stand the exposure of the occasional
+cold, wet nights. The majority of the women in this ring were those who
+had been too weak to struggle on. They represented the class least
+fitted to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The stronger and more
+capable had persisted, and left these congested areas behind them; and
+it was evident that in a very few months a balance between labour and
+supply would be struck by the relentless extermination of the weakest
+by starvation and disease.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche, if she was unable to grasp the problem which
+was being so inevitably solved by the forces of natural law, was at
+least able to recognize clearly enough that she and her two dependents
+must not linger in the district to which they had now come. Aunt May
+had warned her that she must push out as far as Amersham at the
+nearest, but Millie was too tired and footsore to go much further than
+Rickmansworth that night, and after a fruitless search for shelter they
+camped out half a mile from the town in the direction of Chorley
+Wood.</p>
+<p class="par">They made some kind of a shield from the weather by
+emptying and tilting the trolly, and they hid their supply of food
+behind them at the lowest point of this species of lean-to roof. The
+two girls had realized that that supply would soon be raided if the
+fact of its existence were to become known. They had been the object of
+much scrutiny as they passed, and their appearance of well-being had
+prompted endless demands for food, from that pitiful crowd of emaciated
+women and children. It had been a demand <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb205" href="#pb205" name="pb205">205</a>]</span>quickly put on one
+side by lying. Their applicants found it only too easy to believe that
+the Goslings had no food hidden in the truck.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I hated to refuse some of &rsquo;em,&rdquo;
+Blanche said as they carefully hid what food was left to them, before
+turning in for the night, &ldquo;but what good would our little bit
+have done among all that lot? It would have been gone in half a
+jiff.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; agreed Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling had taken little notice of the starving
+crowd. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got nothin&rsquo; to give you,&rdquo; was her
+one form of reply. She might have been dealing with hawkers in Wisteria
+Grove.</p>
+<p class="par">She was curiously apathetic all that afternoon and
+evening, and raised only the feeblest protestation against the
+necessity for sleeping in the open air. But she was very restless
+during the night, her limbs twitched and she moved continually,
+muttering and sometimes crying out. And as the three women were all
+huddled together, partly to make the most of their somewhat
+insufficient lean-to, and partly because they were afraid of the
+terrors of the open air, both Blanche and Millie were constantly
+aroused by their mother&rsquo;s movements. Once they heard her calling
+urgently for &ldquo;George.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s odd, isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;
+whispered Blanche after one such disturbance. &ldquo;Do you think
+she&rsquo;s going to be ill?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Shouldn&rsquo;t wonder,&rdquo; muttered Millie.
+&ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In the morning Blanche was very careful with their food.
+For breakfast they ate only part of a tin of <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb206" href="#pb206" name=
+"pb206">206</a>]</span>condensed beef between them&mdash;Mrs Gosling
+indeed ate hardly anything. The eggs which they had brought from
+Sudbury they reserved, chiefly because they had neither water nor
+fire.</p>
+<p class="par">They drank from a stream, later, and at midday Blanche
+and Millie each ate one of the eggs raw. Mrs Gosling refused all food
+on this occasion. She had been very quiet all the morning, and had made
+little complaint when she had been forced to walk the many hills which
+they were now encountering.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was uneasy and tried to induce her mother to
+talk. &ldquo;Do you feel bad, mother?&rdquo; she asked continually.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wish I could get &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; was all the
+reply she received.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be all right when we can get settled
+somewhere,&rdquo; grumbled Millie. &ldquo;If such a time ever
+comes.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">They came to Amersham in the afternoon. The signs
+of misery and starvation were here less marked. They were approaching
+the outer edge of this ring of compression, having passed through the
+node at Rickmansworth. The faint relief of pressure was evidenced to
+some extent in the attitude of the people they addressed. It is true
+that no immediate hope of food and employment were held out to them,
+but on the one hand Blanche&rsquo;s inquiries were answered with less
+acerbity and on the other they were less besieged by importunate
+demands for charity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb207" href="#pb207"
+name="pb207">207</a>]</span>Blanche gave an egg to one precocious girl
+of thirteen or so, who insisted on helping them to push the truck
+uphill, and she and Millie watched the deft way in which the child
+broke the shell at one end and sucked out the contents. Their own
+methods had been both unclean and wasteful.</p>
+<p class="par">They turned off the Aylesbury Road, towards High Wycombe
+late in the afternoon and about a mile from Amersham came to a farm
+where they made their last inquiry that day.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche saw signs of life in the outbuildings and went
+to investigate, leaving Millie and her mother to guard the truck. She
+found three women and a girl of fourteen or so milking. For some
+minutes she stood watching them, the women, after one glance at her,
+proceeding with their work without paying her any further attention.
+But, at last, the eldest of the three rose from her stool with a sigh
+of relief, picked up her wooden bucket of milk, gave the cow a
+resounding slap on the side, and then, turning to Blanche, said,
+&ldquo;Well, my gal, what&rsquo;s for you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Will you change two pints of milk for a small tin
+of tongue?&rdquo; asked Blanche. It was the first time she had offered
+any of their precious tinned meats in exchange for other food, but she
+wanted milk for her mother, who had hardly eaten anything that day.</p>
+<p class="par">The two other women and the girl looked round and
+regarded Blanche with the first signs of interest they had shown.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Tongue, eh?&rdquo; said the older woman.
+&ldquo;Where from did you get tongue, my gal?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;London,&rdquo; replied Blanche tersely.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb208" href="#pb208" name=
+"pb208">208</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;When did you leave there?&rdquo; asked the woman,
+and then Blanche was engaged in a series of searching questions
+respecting the country she had passed through.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can have the milk if you&rsquo;ve anything to
+put it in,&rdquo; said the woman at last, and Blanche went to fetch the
+tongue and the two bottles that they had had from Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">The bottles had to be scalded, a precaution that had not
+occurred to Blanche, and one of the other women was sent to carry out
+the operation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, your tale don&rsquo;t tell us much,&rdquo;
+said the woman of the farm, &ldquo;but we always pass the news here,
+now. Where are you going to sleep to-night?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can sleep here in the outhouses, if
+you&rsquo;ve a mind to,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;but I warn you we
+get a crowd. Silly Londoners like yourself for the most part, but we
+find a use for &rsquo;em somehow, though I&rsquo;d give the lot for
+three labourers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She paused and twisted her mouth on one side
+reflectively. &ldquo;Ah! well,&rdquo; she went on with a sigh,
+&ldquo;no use grieving over them that&rsquo;s gone; all I was
+goin&rsquo; to say was, if you sleep here you&rsquo;d better keep an
+eye on what food you&rsquo;ve got with you. My lot&rsquo;ll have it
+before you can say knife, if they get half a chance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t us girls, me and my sister,&rdquo;
+explained Blanche. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my mother. She&rsquo;s bad,
+I&rsquo;m afraid. If she could sleep in your kitchen...? <i>She</i>
+wouldn&rsquo;t steal anything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">After a short hesitation the woman consented.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb209" href="#pb209" name=
+"pb209">209</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Yet neither the glory of being once more within the four
+walls of a house, nor the refreshment of the milk which she drank
+readily enough, seemed appreciably to rouse Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s
+spirits.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman of the farm, a kindly enough creature, plied
+the old lady with questions, but received few and confused answers in
+reply. Mrs Gosling seemed dazed and stupid. &ldquo;A touch of the
+sun,&rdquo; the farmer&rsquo;s widow thought.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s been cruel strong the past
+week,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but she&rsquo;ll be all right in a day or
+two, get her to shelter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! that&rsquo;s the trouble,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">That night the farmer&rsquo;s widow said no more on that
+subject. She allowed the three Goslings to sleep in an upstair room, in
+which there was one small bed for the mother, and the two girls slept
+on the floor. Exchanging confidence for confidence, they brought their
+truck into the kitchen; and then the farmer&rsquo;s widow proceeded to
+lock up for the night, an elaborate business, which included the
+fastening of all ground-floor windows and shutters.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a thievin&rsquo; crowd we&rsquo;ve got
+about here,&rdquo; she explained, &ldquo;and you can&rsquo;t blame them
+or anyone when there ain&rsquo;t enough food to go round. But we have
+to be careful for &rsquo;em. Let &rsquo;em go their own way and
+they&rsquo;d eat up everything in a week and then starve. It looks like
+<span class="corr" id="xd23e3626" title=
+"Source: your">you&rsquo;re</span> being hard on &rsquo;em, but
+it&rsquo;s for their own good. There&rsquo;s some, of course,&rdquo;
+she went on, &ldquo;as you have got to get shut of. Only yesterday I
+had to send one of &rsquo;em packing. A Jew <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb210" href="#pb210" name=
+"pb210">210</a>]</span>woman she was, called &rsquo;erself Mrs Isaacson
+or something. She was a caution.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche wondered idly if this were the same Mrs Isaacson
+who had stayed too long with Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman of the farm roused the Goslings at sunrise,
+and she, like Aunt May, had a brisk, practical, morning manner.</p>
+<p class="par">She gave the travellers no more food, but when they were
+nearly ready to take the road again she gave them one valuable piece of
+information.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If I was you,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d
+make through Wycombe straight along the road here, and go up over the
+hill to Marlow. Mind you, they won&rsquo;t let every one stop there.
+But you look two healthy gals enough and it&rsquo;s getting on towards
+harvest when there&rsquo;ll be work as you <i>can</i> do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Marlow?&rdquo; repeated Blanche, fixing the name
+in her memory.</p>
+<p class="par">The farmer&rsquo;s widow nodded. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a
+man there,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;A queer sort, by all accounts. Not
+like Sam Evans, the butcher at Wycombe, he ain&rsquo;t. Seems as this
+Marlow chap don&rsquo;t have no truck with gals, except setting
+&rsquo;em to work. However, time&rsquo;ll show. He may change his mind
+yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They had some difficulty with Mrs Gosling. She refused
+feebly to leave the house. &ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t fit to go out,&rdquo;
+she complained, and when they insisted she asked if they were going
+home.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Best say &lsquo;yes,&rsquo;&rdquo; whispered the
+woman of the farm. &ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s got to her head a bit.
+She&rsquo;ll be all right when you get her to Marlow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche accepted the suggestion, and by this subterfuge
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb211" href="#pb211" name=
+"pb211">211</a>]</span>Mrs Gosling was persuaded into the truck. The
+girl found the ruins of an umbrella, which they rigged up to protect
+her from the sun.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche and Millie were quite convinced now that their
+mother was suffering from a slight attack of sunstroke.</p>
+<p class="par">Both the girls were still footsore, and one of
+Millie&rsquo;s boots had worn into a hole, but they had a definite
+objective at last, and only some ten or twelve miles to travel before
+reaching it.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall be there by midday,&rdquo; said Blanche,
+hopefully.</p>
+<p class="par">Unconsciously, every one was using a new measure of
+time. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb212" href="#pb212" name=
+"pb212">212</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch16" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVI&mdash;</span>THE YOUNG
+BUTCHER OF HIGH WYCOMBE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Near Wycombe a woman rose from under the hedge as
+the Goslings approached, and came out into the middle of the road. She
+was a stout, florid woman, whose age might have been anything between
+forty and fifty. Her gait and the droop of her shoulders, rather than
+the flaccidity of her rather loose skin, gave her the appearance of
+being past middle age.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goot morning,&rdquo; she said as the Goslings
+came up. &ldquo;If it iss no inconvenience I would like to come with
+you.&rdquo; She spoke with a foreign accent, thickening her final
+consonants and giving a different value to some of her vowels.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Blanche curtly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! that! what does it matter?&rdquo; returned
+the woman. &ldquo;I have been living with a farmer&rsquo;s wife further
+back along the road there. But she was not company for me. She was
+common. Now I see that you and your mother are not common. And I do not
+care to live with farmers&rsquo; wives. But where we go? Does it
+matter? We all go to find work in the fields&mdash;aristocrat as much
+as peasant. But iss it not better that we who are not peasants should
+go together?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb213" href="#pb213"
+name="pb213">213</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Millie giggled surreptitiously, and Mrs Gosling appeared
+conscious of the fact that some one was addressing them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re goin&rsquo; &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; she
+remarked, and Millie gently prodded her in the back.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goin&rsquo; &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; repeated Mrs
+Gosling firmly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! You are lucky. There are few that have homes
+now,&rdquo; replied the strange woman. &ldquo;I had a home, once, how
+long ago. Now, during two months, I have no home.&rdquo; She was
+evidently on the verge of tears.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s got a touch of the sun,&rdquo;
+Blanche said in a low voice, &ldquo;and we have to pretend we&rsquo;re
+going home. You needn&rsquo;t tell her we&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Have no fear,&rdquo; replied the stranger.
+&ldquo;I am all that is most discreet, yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche hardened her heart. This woman took too much for
+granted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see it&rsquo;s any use your coming with
+us,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! we others, we should cling together,&rdquo;
+said the stranger, with a large gesture.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re nobody,&rdquo; replied Blanche,
+curtly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss well to say that. I know. There iss good
+reason. I, too, must tell the common people that I am a nobody, I call
+myself, even, Mrs Isaacson. But between us there iss no need to say
+what iss not true. I can see what you are. Although I am not English, I
+have lived many years already in England, and I can see. It iss well
+that we cling together? Yes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; burst out Blanche. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re
+Mrs Isaacson, are you? I&rsquo;ve heard of you.&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb214" href="#pb214" name="pb214">214</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">For one moment Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s fine eyes seemed to
+look inwards in an instantaneous review of her past. &ldquo;Ach! so!
+Then we are friends already,&rdquo; she said cautiously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I heard of you from Aunt May,&rdquo; said
+Blanche, and the faint air of respect with which she pronounced the
+name did not escape the notice of the alert Jewess.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! the so dear and so clever Auntie May,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;But she iss too kind, and work so hard while her
+sister do always nothing. See, I will help you to draw your poor mother
+who has a touch of the sun. You and I at the handle and your beautiful
+sister to push, while we talk a little of the clever Auntie May.
+Yes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche had been forewarned. She could only put one
+construction on the little she had heard of Mrs Isaacson. But the
+Jewess&rsquo;s manner no less than her conversation was subtly
+flattering. Moreover, she had made no appeal for help; finally there
+was a certain urgency about her, a force of will which Blanche found it
+difficult to resist. And as the girl still hesitated Mrs Isaacson
+bravely seized her side of the trolly handle and the procession moved
+on.</p>
+<p class="par">The Goslings found a use for her when they came to the
+drop of Amersham Hill, going down into High Wycombe. Blanche proposed
+that Mrs Gosling should walk down, but the old lady did not seem to
+understand her. She looked perplexed and kept saying, &ldquo;I
+don&rsquo;t remember this road. Are you sure we&rsquo;re goin&rsquo;
+right, Blanche?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! she must not walk in this heat,&rdquo; put in
+Mrs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb215" href="#pb215" name=
+"pb215">215</a>]</span>Isaacson. &ldquo;We three can manage very
+well.&rdquo; And, indeed, although she manifestly suffered greatly from
+the exertion, the Jewess was of very great assistance in retarding the
+speed of the trolly as they made the perilous descent.</p>
+<p class="par">After that there could be no question of calmly telling
+her to go her own way.</p>
+<p class="par">By the time they had crossed the almost deserted
+town&mdash;at that hour nearly all the women were either in their
+houses or working in gardens and fields&mdash;and had found their way
+to the Marlow road, Mrs Isaacson had quite become one of the party, and
+by no means the least energetic.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have something to eat and some milk,
+when we get through the town,&rdquo; said Blanche as they faced the
+long hill up to Handy Cross.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Presently, presently,&rdquo; replied the heaving
+Mrs Isaacson, as though food were of little importance to her, but
+accepting the admission that she had earned the right to share equally
+with the others.</p>
+<p class="par">Their first burst of energy after they had faced the
+ascent brought them to the gates of Wycombe Abbey, and there they
+decided to rest and lunch, blissfully ignorant of the long climb which
+lay before them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It will be nice and quiet here in the
+shade,&rdquo; suggested Mrs Isaacson.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The old conventions would not have suffered them
+to sit and eat thus under the walls, at the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb216" href="#pb216" name="pb216">216</a>]</span>very
+gates of Wycombe Abbey. Their clothes and their boots were wearing
+badly, and Mrs Isaacson, at least, was not too clean. It was
+noticeable, however, that, despite the dryness of the weather, little
+dust clung to them. The surface of the roads had not been pounded and
+crushed into powder during the past six weeks by the constant passage
+of wheeled traffic, and even in the tracks frequented by farm carts the
+roads were stained with green. Indeed, everything was greener than in
+the old days, everything was more vigorous. Whether because the year
+had been favourable, or because it was relieved from the burden of
+choking dust which it had had to endure in other years from May
+onwards, the vegetation in hedges and by the wayside appeared to grow
+more strongly and with a greater self-assertion. And by contrast with
+this vigour and cleanness of plant life, the four women in their
+tumbled clothes and untidy hats, feeble and unsightly remnants of
+forgotten fashion, were as much out of place as if they had been set
+down in ancient Greece. The dowdy foolishness of their apparel marked
+them out from every other living thing about them, they were intruders,
+despoilers of beauty.</p>
+<p class="par">Some dim consciousness of this came to Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">They had spoken little as they ate&mdash;Mrs Gosling
+would touch nothing but milk, and Mrs Isaacson strove desperately and
+with some success to control the greed that showed in the concentrated
+eagerness of her eyes and the grasping crook of her fingers&mdash;and
+when they had finished, lingering in the relief of the shade, they were
+still silent. It seemed as if the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb217"
+href="#pb217" name="pb217">217</a>]</span>first word spoken must
+necessarily hasten the continuation of their journey.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! bother this old hat,&rdquo; said Blanche at
+last. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to take mine off,&rdquo; and she drew out
+the solitary pin which remained to her and cast the hat into the
+ditch.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That won&rsquo;t do it any good,&rdquo; remarked
+Millie but she, too, took off her hat with a sigh of relief.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to chuck hats,&rdquo; said
+Blanche. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the good of &rsquo;em?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson looked doubtful. &ldquo;They are a
+protection from the sun,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Allie never wore a hat, and she didn&rsquo;t come
+to any harm,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No?&rdquo; said Mrs Isaacson, and looked
+thoughtful.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was running her fingers through the masses of her
+red-brown hair, loosening it and lifting it from her head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> a relief,&rdquo; she remarked.
+&ldquo;My head gets so hot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Mrs Isaacson, &ldquo;and what
+beautiful hair! It does not seem right to hide it. I haf a comb in my
+bag. It is almost all I haf left. Let me now comb your beautiful hair
+for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! don&rsquo;t you bother,&rdquo; said Millie
+sheepishly, but she allowed herself to be persuaded. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t
+lose the hair-pins,&rdquo; she warned her newly-found lady&rsquo;s
+maid.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It seems so funny out here in the open
+road,&rdquo; giggled Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s praise was fulsome.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche watched without comment. Mrs Gosling
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb218" href="#pb218" name=
+"pb218">218</a>]</span>was plunged in meditation. She was involved in
+an immense problem relating to the housekeeping at Wisteria Grove. She
+was debating whether the lace curtains at the front windows could be
+washed at home when they went back.</p>
+<p class="par">Suddenly the attention of the three younger women was
+caught by unnatural sounds that came from the further side of the wall
+against which they were leaning&mdash;sounds of voices, laughing and
+singing, the crunch of wheels and the stamping of horses.</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls jumped to their feet. Mrs Isaacson rose
+more deliberately, with a grunt of expostulation. Mrs Gosling was in a
+world far removed and continued to debate her problem.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie&rsquo;s hands were fumbling at her hair, and
+Blanche was first at the gate.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! my!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Why,
+whatever....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; squealed Millie, still struggling
+with her loose mane.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The centre and object of the curious crowd which
+moved slowly down the drive was a landau and pair. The horses were
+decorated as if for a May-day f&ecirc;te, grotesquely, foolishly
+decorated with roses, syringa and buttercups made into shapeless
+bunches and tied to the harness. Three or four women walked at the
+horses&rsquo; heads, leading them with absurdly beflowered ropes.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb219" href="#pb219" name=
+"pb219">219</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Round the landau a dozen girls and young women were
+dancing, chattering, singing, laughing; constantly turning to the
+occupant of the carriage, for whose benefit the whole performance was
+being conducted. Some of them had their necks and breasts bare, and all
+appeared to be frankly shameless. They twisted and danced with clumsy
+eagerness, threw themselves about, screamed and shrieked, unaware of
+any observer but the one whose notice they were seeking to attract.
+They were graceless, civilized savages; Bacchantes who had never known
+the beauty of unconscious abandonment. There was the ugliness of
+conscious purpose in their every attitude, and no trace of the freedom
+that comes from careless rapture.</p>
+<p class="par">In the carriage a man and a woman were sitting side by
+side. The man was young, with strong claims to physical
+beauty&mdash;tall, broad-shouldered, swarthy, with boldly modelled
+features and heavily lidded eyes. But his skin was coarse; the bulk of
+his body was too gross for clean, muscular strength; his curly,
+well-oiled hair was thinning at the temples; his loose mouth leered and
+gaped. He was dressed in a suit of broadly-patterned tweed, his great
+red fingers were covered with rings, he wore a heavy gold bangle on
+each thick, round wrist, and a sweet, frail rose was thrust into his
+black and greasy hair.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman beside him was the typical courtesan of the
+ages, low-browed and full-lipped. Her eyes were eloquent with the
+subtleties of love, with invitation, retreat, fear and desire. Had she
+been dressed becomingly she would have been beautiful; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb220" href="#pb220" name="pb220">220</a>]</span>but
+she was English and modern, and her great meaningless hat and senseless
+garments were of the fashion that had been in vogue just before the
+plague. This reigning sultana and her lover were more incongruous in
+that setting than the two dishevelled, travel-worn girls, who retreated
+timidly to let the landau pass out between the great iron gates.</p>
+<p class="par">The Bacchantes eyed the Goslings with obvious disfavour,
+but the beauty in the landau seemed unaware of their presence until her
+lord&rsquo;s attention was attracted by the sight of Millie&rsquo;s
+hair&mdash;it was all down again, rippling and spreading to her
+waist.</p>
+<p class="par">The young butcher had been lolling back in a corner of
+his carriage, magnificently indolent, sure of worship; but his satiety
+was pierced by the sight of that flaming mane. He sat up and looked at
+Millie with the experienced eyes which had served him so well in his
+judgment of cattle.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, &rsquo;alf a jiff,&rdquo; he
+commanded the nymphs at his horses&rsquo; bridles, and the carriage was
+stopped.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, covered with shame, shrank back, and cowered
+behind Blanche, who threw up her chin and met the butcher&rsquo;s eyes
+with all the contempt of which she was capable&mdash;little enough,
+perhaps, for she, too, was weak with unreasoning terror. Behind their
+backs the Jewess grimaced her scorn of them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be afraid of me&mdash;I
+ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo; to &rsquo;urt yer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began
+the butcher, but his lady interrupted him. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb221" href="#pb221" name="pb221">221</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Her fine eyes grew bright with anger. &ldquo;If you stop
+here, I shall get out,&rdquo; she said, and her inflexion was not that
+of the people.</p>
+<p class="par">The butcher visibly hesitated. It may be that this chain
+had held him too long and was beginning to gall him, but he looked at
+her and wavered.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No &rsquo;arm in stoppin&rsquo;,&rdquo; he
+muttered. &ldquo;Pass the news an&rsquo; that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you going on?&rdquo; demanded the beauty
+fiercely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, all right,&rdquo; he returned
+sullenly. &ldquo;You needen&rsquo; get so blasted &rsquo;uffy about it,
+old gal. Oh, gow on, you!&rdquo; he added to the nymphs. &ldquo;Wot the
+&rsquo;ell are yer starin&rsquo; at?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As the landau moved on, he looked back once at
+Millie.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;What a brute,&rdquo; said Blanche when the
+procession had passed on down the hill towards Wycombe.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How he stared at my hair,&rdquo; said Millie,
+with a giggle. &ldquo;I did try to get it up, but it&rsquo;s that
+stubborn with the heat or something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lucky for us he had that creature with
+him,&rdquo; commented Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie assented without fervour. She was bold enough now
+the danger had passed.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson looked from one to the other and attempted
+no criticism of the adventure.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You must let me do up your beautiful hair,&rdquo;
+she said to the simpering Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was grateful. &ldquo;It <i>is</i> kind of you,
+Mrs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb222" href="#pb222" name=
+"pb222">222</a>]</span>Isaacson, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;My hair is a trouble. I sometimes think I&rsquo;ll cut it all
+off and be done with it....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She appeared excited and chatted incessantly while the
+hair-dressing continued, and Blanche restored the remains of their meal
+to the trolly.</p>
+<p class="par">With some difficulty they succeeded in getting Mrs
+Gosling back into her carriage. She had taken no notice of the
+procession, but as they were starting again she awoke from her
+abstraction to ask: &ldquo;When d&rsquo;you expect we&rsquo;ll be
+&rsquo;ome, Blanche? I&rsquo;ve been thinkin&rsquo; about them curtains
+in the drawin&rsquo;-room....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be home in an hour or two,
+now,&rdquo; Blanche said, reassuringly. She did not know what a
+struggle awaited them before they should top the hill at Handy
+Cross.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson had forsaken her place at the pole.
+&ldquo;I shall be able to push more strongly behind,&rdquo; she had
+said, but despite the theoretical gain in mechanical advantage obtained
+by the new arrangement, the hill seemed never-ending. They had to rest
+continually, and always they looked with increasing irritation at the
+quiet figure in the trolly, chief cause of their distress.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I believe she could walk all right,&rdquo; Millie
+broke out at last.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it was for a little way, it would help,&rdquo;
+commented Mrs Isaacson.</p>
+<p class="par">But when Blanche put the proposition to her mother, Mrs
+Gosling seemed unable to comprehend it, and pity influenced them to
+renew the struggle. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb223" href="#pb223"
+name="pb223">223</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">So they toiled on with growing impatience until they
+reached level ground again; and presently, looking down over the long
+slope of the valley, saw, two miles and a half away, the spire of
+Marlow Church.</p>
+<p class="par">They rested under a hedge for a time, and when they
+started again Millie followed her sister&rsquo;s example and discarded
+her hat. Blanche, with a certain courage of opinion, had left hers
+under the walls of Wycombe Abbey, but Millie&rsquo;s hat found a place
+in the trolly.</p>
+<p class="par">The ease of the long descent permitted a renewal of
+conversation, and Mrs Isaacson and Millie talked in undertones as they
+made their way down towards Marlow. Blanche took little notice of them;
+she was struggling perplexedly with the problems of life. Mrs
+Gosling&rsquo;s presence was negligible.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That was a very handsome fellow in the
+carriage,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Isaacson suddenly, &ldquo;I think you do
+well not to go near that place again.&rdquo; Her fine eyes fixedly
+regarded the broad, rusty back of Mrs Gosling and the broken ribs of
+her umbrella.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie simpered. &ldquo;Oh! I should be safe enough. His
+wife&rsquo;d see to that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She was not his wife,&rdquo; returned Mrs
+Isaacson. &ldquo;Men would not marry now that they are so
+few.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! there&rsquo;s a thing to say!&rdquo;
+exclaimed Millie on a note of expostulation, interested
+nevertheless.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss true,&rdquo; continued Mrs Isaacson.
+&ldquo;I haf heard of this handsome young fellow. He iss a butcher, and
+he goes every day to kill the sheep and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb224" href="#pb224" name="pb224">224</a>]</span>cows, because the
+women do not like that work. And he iss very strong, and clever also.
+He teach a few of the women how to cut up the sheep and the cows. And
+he iss much admired, it iss of course, by all the young women; but he
+does not marry because he is one man among so many women, and it would
+not be right that he should love only one, for so there would be so few
+children and the world would die. Yes! But he has for a time one who
+iss favourite, for another time another favourite. And that iss why I
+warn you not to return. Because I see that he admire your so beautiful
+hair. And I see that if you had not been so modest and so good, and
+hide behind your sister, he would have come down from his carriage and
+put you up there beside him. And he would have said to that bold ugly
+woman. &lsquo;Go, I tire of you, I will haf beside me this one who iss
+young and beautiful and has hair of gold.&rsquo; It iss not safe for
+you, there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I say,&rdquo; commented Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss true,&rdquo; nodded Mrs Isaacson, with
+intensest conviction.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! well, thank goodness, I&rsquo;m not one of
+that sort,&rdquo; said Millie, warm in the knowledge of her virtue.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Truly not,&rdquo; assented Mrs Isaacson.
+&ldquo;You must not be displeased that I warn you. It iss not your
+goodness that I doubt. It iss that this man iss so powerful. He iss
+able to do what he wishes. He iss a king.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; was the mark of surprise with which
+Millie punctuated this remarkable piece of information, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb225" href="#pb225" name="pb225">225</a>]</span>and
+for several yards they trudged on in silence.</p>
+<p class="par">But Millie soon revived this fascinating subject by
+saying thoughtfully, &ldquo;Well, you don&rsquo;t catch me over there
+again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Truly not. It iss not wise,&rdquo; agreed Mrs
+Isaacson, and proceeded to enlarge upon Millie&rsquo;s dangerous
+beauty.</p>
+<p class="par">It was a topic entirely new to Millie. She simpered and
+giggled, disclaimed her attractions, protested that Mrs Isaacson was
+&ldquo;getting at&rdquo; her, and became so absorbed in the fascination
+of her disavowal that she forgot her weariness, her tender
+feet&mdash;naked to the road in two places&mdash;and all her
+discouragements. She walked with a more conscious air, straightening
+her back and lifting her head. The blood moved more freely in her
+veins, and she presently became so vivacious in her replies that
+Blanche was aroused to a sense of something unfamiliar. She checked the
+trolly and looked back at her sister, past the quiet brooding figure of
+Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What is it, Mill?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! nothing!&rdquo; replied Millie. &ldquo;We
+were just talking.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Seem to be enjoying yourselves,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We were saying that we shall soon now arrive at
+some place where we can rest. Yes?&rdquo; put in Mrs Isaacson, and thus
+established a ground of confidence between herself and Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;P&rsquo;raps. I dunno!&rdquo; returned Blanche.
+She sighed and looked round her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb226"
+href="#pb226" name="pb226">226</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">In the fields between them and Marlow they could see
+here and there little figures stooping and straightening.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ooh!&rdquo; exclaimed Millie, suddenly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another man,&rdquo; said Millie,
+pointing. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d better scoot!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">But they made no attempt to put such an impossible plan
+into action. The man had evidently seen them. He was coming towards
+them across one of the fields, shouting to attract their attention.
+&ldquo;Hi! wait a minute!&rdquo; they thought he was saying.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>Mill!</i>&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche, with
+extraordinary emphasis.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; asked Millie, nervously. She was
+flushed and trembling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you see who it is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the one out of the
+carriage....&rdquo; hesitated Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>No!</i> Silly. It&rsquo;s that young fellow
+who used to live with us, our Mr Fastidious. What was his name? Thrale!
+You remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; said Millie. She was conscious of a
+quite inexplicable feeling of disappointment.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He iss a friend? Yes?&rdquo; asked Mrs Isaacson.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb227" href="#pb227" name=
+"pb227">227</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="bk3" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="label">BOOK III</h2>
+<h2 class="main">WOMANKIND IN THE MAKING</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb229" href="#pb229" name=
+"pb229">229</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="ch17" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVII&mdash;</span>LONDON TO
+MARLOW</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The history of mankind is the history of human
+law. The larger ordinances of the universe are commonly referred to
+some superior lawgiver, under such names as God and physico-chemical
+action; names which appear mutually subversive only to the bigot,
+whether theologian or biologist. These larger ordinances sometimes
+appear inflexible, as in the domain of physics and chemistry, sometimes
+empirical as in the development of species, but we may believe that if
+they change at all, the period of change is so great as to be outside
+any possibility of observation by a few thousand generations of
+mankind.</p>
+<p class="par">Human law, on the other hand, is tentative, without
+sound precedent and in its very nature mutable. In our miserably
+limited record of history, that paltry ten thousand years which is but
+a single tick of the cosmic watch, we have been unable to formulate any
+overruling law to which other laws are subject. Climate, race and
+condition impose certain limitations, and within that enceinte
+civilizations have developed a system of rules, increasing always in
+complexity, and have then failed to maintain their place in the
+competitive struggle. It has been rashly suggested that the overriding
+law of laws <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb230" href="#pb230" name=
+"pb230">230</a>]</span>is that rigidity is fatal to the nation. An
+analogy has been found in the growth of the child. Here and there some
+bold spirit has ventured the daring hypothesis that if a young child be
+confined within a perfectly fitting iron shell he will not grow. Such
+speculations, however, do not appeal to mankind as a whole. Perhaps the
+truth of the matter is that nothing appals us so much as the idea that
+man is capable of growth. Is it not inconceivable that any race of men
+could be wiser, more perfect than ourselves?</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, out of all vague speculation one
+deliciously certain axiom presents itself, namely that mankind cannot
+live without law of some kind. The most primitive savage has his
+ordinances. The least primary concussion of individuals develops a rule
+of practice, whether it takes such diverse forms as &ldquo;hit
+first,&rdquo; or &ldquo;present the other cheek&rdquo;; although the
+latter rule has not yet been developed beyond the stage of theory.</p>
+<p class="par">In the unprecedented year of the new plague, the old
+rules were thrown into the melting pot, but within three months
+humanity was evolving precedents for a new statute book. The
+concussions of these three months were fierce and destructive. Women,
+in the face of death, killed and stole in the old primitive ways,
+unhampered now by the necessity to kill and steal according to the
+tedious rules of twentieth-century civilization, rules that women had
+never been foolish enough to reverence in the letter. All those complex
+and incomprehensible laws had been made by men for men, and
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb231" href="#pb231" name=
+"pb231">231</a>]</span>after the plague there was none to administer
+them, for no women and few men had ever had the least idea what the law
+was. Even the lawgivers themselves had had to wait for the
+pronouncement of some prejudiced or unprejudiced judge. Women had long
+known what our Bumbles can only learn by bitter experience, inspired to
+vision in some moment of fury or desolation.</p>
+<p class="par">But within three months of the first great exodus of
+women from the town, one dominant law was being brought to birth. It
+was not written on tables of stone, nor incorporated in any swollen,
+dyspeptic book of statutes; it was not formulated by logic, nor was it
+the outcome of serious thought by any individual or by a solemn
+committee. The law rose into recognition because it was a necessity for
+the life of the majority, and although that majority was not compact,
+had no common deliberate purpose, and had never formulated their demand
+in precise language, the new law came into being before harvest and was
+accepted by all but a small resentful minority of aristocrats and
+landowners, as a supreme ordinance, indisputably just.</p>
+<p class="par">This law was that every woman had a right to her share
+in the bounty of Nature, and the corollary was that she earned her
+right by labour.</p>
+<p class="par">In those days the justice of the principle was perfectly
+obvious; so obvious, indeed, that the law came to birth without the
+obstetric skill of any parliament whatever. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb232" href="#pb232" name="pb232">232</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">It is now impossible to say why such different
+types of male humanity as Jasper Thrale, George Gosling or the Bacchus
+of Wycombe Abbey escaped the plague. The bacillus (surely a strangely
+individual type, it must have been) was never isolated, nor the
+pathology of the disease investigated. The germ was some new
+unprecedented growth which ran through a fierce cycle of development
+within a few months, changed its nature as it swarmed into every corner
+of the earth, and finally expired more quickly than it had come into
+being.</p>
+<p class="par">If the male survivors in Europe and the East had been of
+one type, some theory might be formulated to account for their
+immunity; but so far as science can pronounce an opinion, the living
+male residue can only be explained by the doctrine of chances. A few
+escaped, by accident. In the British Isles there may have been 1,500
+men who thus survived. In the whole of Europe, besides, there were less
+than a thousand. It seems probable that even before Scotland was
+attacked the climax had been reached; by the time the plague reached
+England the first faint evidences of a decline in virulence may be
+marked....</p>
+<p class="par">From the first, Jasper Thrale ventured his life without
+an afterthought. He was fearless by nature. He did not lack those
+powers of imagination which are commonly supposed to add so greatly to
+the terror of death, he simply lacked the feeling of fear. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb233" href="#pb233" name="pb233">233</a>]</span>In
+all his life he had never experienced that sickness of apprehension
+which dissolves our fibre into a quivering jelly&mdash;as though the
+spirit had already withdrawn from the trembling inertia of the flesh.
+Perhaps Thrale&rsquo;s spirit was too dominant for such retreat, was
+more completely master of its material than is the spirit of the common
+man. For the spirit cannot know bodily fear, it is the apprehensive
+flesh that wilts and curdles at the approach of danger. And it is
+worthy of notice that in the old days, up to the early twentieth
+century, these rare cases of fearlessness in individuals were more
+often found among women than among men.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale, with his perfectly careless courage, found
+plenty of work for himself in London during May and early June. He
+acted as a scavenger, and still went far afield with his burial cart
+long after every trace of living male humanity had disappeared from the
+streets of London.</p>
+<p class="par">Then one day, at the end of June, he realized that his
+task was futile, and it came to him that there was work awaiting him of
+more importance than this purification of streets which might never
+again echo to the traffic of humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">So he chose the best bicycle he could find in Holborn
+Viaduct, stripped a relay of four tyres from other machines, and with
+these and a reserve of food made into a somewhat cumbrous parcel, he
+set out to explore the new world.</p>
+<p class="par">He took the Bath Road, intending to make exploration of
+the fertile West Country. He had Cornish blood in his veins, and his
+ultimate goal <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb234" href="#pb234" name=
+"pb234">234</a>]</span>was the county which had almost escaped
+urbanization. As he then visualized the problem, it appeared that life
+would offer greater possibilities in such places.</p>
+<p class="par">But before he reached Colnbrook, he had recognized that
+work was required of him nearer home. The exodus was then in progress.
+He came through armies of helpless women and children flying from
+starvation; women who had no object in view save that of escape to the
+country; &ldquo;Silly Londoners&rdquo; with no knowledge of how food
+was to be obtained when their goal was reached.</p>
+<p class="par">He did not stay there, however. He was beginning to see
+the outline of his plan, and at the same time the limitation of his own
+powers. He saw that enough food could not be raised near London to
+support the multitude, that the death of the many was demanded by the
+needs of the few if any were to survive, and that communities must be
+formed with the common purpose of tilling the land and excluding those
+who could not earn their right to support. In such a catastrophe as
+this, charity became a crime.</p>
+<p class="par">He intended even then to push on beyond Reading, but in
+Maidenhead he met a woman who influenced him to a nearer goal.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">She stepped into the road and held up her
+hand.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale stopped; he thought she was about to make the
+familiar demand either for food or a direction. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb235" href="#pb235" name="pb235">235</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he said curtly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">He shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;To find room,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There is room for you near here,&rdquo; said the
+woman, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;ll work.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;At what?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Machinery, harvesting machinery, agricultural
+machinery of all sorts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where?&rdquo; asked Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">She dropped her voice and looked about her.
+&ldquo;Marlow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&mdash;it&rsquo;s an eddy. Off
+the main roads and by the river. There are less than a thousand women
+there at present, and we are keeping the others out; at least until
+after harvest. There is plenty of land about, and we&rsquo;re keeping
+ourselves at present. Only we <i>do</i> want a man for the machines.
+Will you come and help us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come and see what I can do,&rdquo;
+said Thrale &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t promise to stay.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t there any other men, there?&rdquo;
+he added after a moment&rsquo;s hesitation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One at Wycombe,&rdquo; said the women.
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a butcher, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And meanwhile you might help me,&rdquo; said the
+woman. &ldquo;I come over here with a horse and cart to raid the
+seedsmen&rsquo;s shops. If we leave them the women would eat all the
+beans and peas and things, you know; enough to feed us for the winter
+gone in a week, and no one any the better. Isn&rsquo;t it awful how
+careless we are?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb236" href=
+"#pb236" name="pb236">236</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">She was a fair, clear-eyed girl, with the figure
+and complexion of one who had devoted considerable attention to outdoor
+sports. She was wearing a man&rsquo;s Norfolk jacket (men&rsquo;s
+clothing was so plentiful), and a skirt that barely reached her knees,
+and did not entirely hide cloth knickerbockers which might also have
+been adapted from a man&rsquo;s garment. Below the knickerbockers she
+displayed thick stockings and sandals. Her splendid fair hair furnished
+sufficient protection for her head, and she had dressed a pillow of it
+into the nape of her neck as a shield for the sun.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale looked at her with a frank curiosity as they made
+their way up the town to a seedsman&rsquo;s shop. She had left the
+horse and cart there, she explained, while she explored other streets
+of the town.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Eileen, of Marlow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There
+doesn&rsquo;t seem to be another Eileen there, so one name&rsquo;s
+enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is that how your community feel about it?&rdquo;
+he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">She smiled. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re beginning,&rdquo; she
+said.</p>
+<p class="par">He pondered that for a time, and then asked, &ldquo;Who
+<i>were</i> you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Does it matter?&rdquo; was the answer.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; said Thrale.
+&ldquo;Never did much so far as I was concerned, but I have a memory of
+having seen your photographs in the illustrated <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb237" href="#pb237" name=
+"pb237">237</a>]</span>papers. I was wondering whether you had been
+actress, peeress, scandal; or perhaps all three.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the eldest daughter of the
+late Duke of Hertford,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;the ci-devant Lady
+Eileen Ferrar, citizen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, was that it?&rdquo; replied Thrale
+carelessly. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s this shop of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The loot was heavier than Eileen had anticipated. The
+shop had been ransacked, but they found an untouched store, containing
+such valuables as beans, potatoes and a few small sacks of turnip seed
+at the bottom of a yard. When these had been placed in the cart, they
+decided that the load was sufficient for one horse.</p>
+<p class="par">They took the longer road to Marlow, through Bourne End,
+to avoid the hill. Eileen walked at the horse&rsquo;s head, with Thrale
+beside her wheeling his bicycle, and during those two hours he learnt
+much of the little community which he proposed to serve for a time.</p>
+<p class="par">It seemed that in Marlow&mdash;and the same thing must
+have happened in a hundred other small towns throughout the
+country&mdash;a few women had taken control of the community. These
+women were of all classes and the committee included an Earl&rsquo;s
+widow, a national schoolmistress, a small green-grocer, and an
+unmarried woman of property living half a mile out of the town. These
+women had worked together in an eminently practical way; at first to
+relieve distress, and then to plan the future. They had wasted little
+time in discussions among themselves&mdash;none of them had the
+parliamentary sense <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb238" href="#pb238"
+name="pb238">238</a>]</span>of the uses of debate. When they had
+disagreed, they had had plenty of scope to carry out varying methods
+within their own spheres of influence.</p>
+<p class="par">Their first and most difficult task had been to teach
+the members of their community to work for the common good, and that
+task was by no means perfected as yet. Co-operation was agreeable
+enough to those who had nothing to lose, but the women in temporary
+possession of the sources of food supply were not so easily convinced.
+In many instances the committee&rsquo;s arguments had been suddenly
+clenched by an exposition of <i lang="fr">force majeure</i>, and
+property owners had discovered to their amazement that they had no
+remedy.</p>
+<p class="par">But the head and leader of Marlow was a farmer&rsquo;s
+daughter of nineteen, a certain Carrie Oliver. Her father had had a
+small farm in the Chilterns not far from Fingest. He had been a lazy,
+drunken creature, and from the time Carrie had left the national school
+she had practically carried on the work of the farm single handed. She
+liked the work; the interest of it absorbed her.</p>
+<p class="par">The Marlow schoolmistress had remembered her when the
+committee had first faced the daunting task of providing for the
+future. They had been more or less capable of organizing a majority of
+the women, but no member of the committee knew the secrets of
+agriculture and stock-breeding, and in all Marlow and the neighbourhood
+no woman had been found who was capable of instructing them in all that
+was necessary.</p>
+<p class="par">A deputation of three had been sent to Fingest,
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb239" href="#pb239" name=
+"pb239">239</a>]</span>and had discovered Miss Oliver in the midst of
+plenty, cultivating her farm in comfort now that she had been relieved
+of her father&rsquo;s unwelcome presence.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been covered with confusion when requested to
+leave her retreat and take command of a town and the surrounding twenty
+thousand acres or so within reach of the new community.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she had said, blushing
+and ducking her head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy enough; I&rsquo;ll tell
+you if there&rsquo;s anything you want to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The deputation had then put the case very clearly before
+her, pointing out that in Miss Oliver&rsquo;s hands lay the future of a
+thousand lives.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, dear. I dunno. What can <i>I</i> do?&rdquo;
+Carrie had said, and when the deputation had urged that she should
+return with them and take charge forthwith, she had replied that that
+was quite impossible, that there were the cows to milk, the calves,
+pigs and chickens to feed, and goodness knew how many other necessary
+things to be done before sunset.</p>
+<p class="par">The deputation had said that cows, calves, horses,
+sheep, pigs and chickens might and should be transferred forthwith to
+the neighbourhood of Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">It had taken three days to convince her, Eileen said,
+and added, &ldquo;But she&rsquo;s splendid, now. It&rsquo;s wonderful
+what a lot she knows; and she rides about on a horse everywhere and
+sees to everything. The difficulty is to stop her getting down and
+doing the work herself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale understood that, exceptional male as he was, his
+position in Marlow would be subordinate to that of Miss Oliver.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb240" href="#pb240" name=
+"pb240">240</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Does she understand agricultural
+machinery?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; returned Eileen. &ldquo;But she
+hasn&rsquo;t time, you see, to attend to all that, and it&rsquo;s so
+jolly difficult to learn. I&rsquo;ve been doing a bit. I&rsquo;m better
+at it than most of &rsquo;em. But when I saw you it struck me how
+ripping it would be if you&rsquo;d come and take over that side. Men
+are so jolly good at machinery. We shouldn&rsquo;t miss them much if it
+weren&rsquo;t for that.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">After a marked preliminary hesitation the
+committee appointed Jasper Thrale chief mechanic of Marlow. The
+hesitation was understandable. Their only experience of the ways of men
+in this altered civilization had been drawn from observations of Mr
+Evans at Wycombe. His manner of life appeared representative of what
+they might expect. Nevertheless they did not openly condemn him,
+although he proved an immediate source of trouble, even to these
+organizers in Marlow. The youth of the place was apt to wander over the
+hill in the evenings; &ldquo;just for fun,&rdquo; they said. They went
+in twos and threes, and occasionally one of them stayed behind. These
+evening walks interfered with work. &ldquo;Later on I shouldn&rsquo;t
+mind so much,&rdquo; Lady Durham had said, commenting on the loss of a
+young and active worker, &ldquo;but there is so much to do just
+now.&rdquo; Her comment showed that even then the situation was being
+accepted, and that many women were prepared to adapt their old opinions
+to new conditions. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb241" href="#pb241"
+name="pb241">241</a>]</span>It also showed why the committee hesitated
+to accept Thrale&rsquo;s services.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale understood their difficulty, and went straight to
+the point.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You are afraid that the young women will be
+wasting time, running after me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Set your minds
+at rest. That won&rsquo;t last. And if you give me pupils for my
+machinery I should prefer women over forty in any case. I believe I
+shall find them more capable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He was right in one way. When the excitement of his
+coming had subsided, he was not the cause of much wasted time. He
+adopted a manner with the younger women which did not encourage
+advances. He was, in fact, quite brutally frank. When the young women
+devised all kinds of impossible excuses to linger in his vicinity he
+sent them away with hot indignant faces. Among those who sought their
+sterile amusements in Wycombe it became the fashion openly to express
+hatred and contempt for &ldquo;that engine fellow.&rdquo; It was agreed
+that he &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t a proper man.&rdquo; Another section,
+however, talked scandal, and hinted that assistant-engineer Eileen was
+the cause of Thrale&rsquo;s pretended misogyny.</p>
+<p class="par">The committee found their work more complicated in some
+respects after Thrale&rsquo;s coming.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale, himself, was supremely indifferent to any
+scandal or expression of hatred. He had his hands full, his hours of
+work were only limited by daylight, and six hours sleep was all he
+asked for or desired. After a very brief introduction to the
+intricacies of reaper and rake at the hands of Miss Oliver&mdash;her
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb242" href="#pb242" name=
+"pb242">242</a>]</span>father had never been able to afford a binder,
+but the days of corn-harvest were still far ahead&mdash;he set himself
+to learn the mysteries of all the agricultural machinery in the
+neighbourhood; traction engines, steam ploughs and thrashing machines,
+and to pass on the knowledge he gained to his pupils. He found them
+stupid at first, but they were patient and willing for the most
+part.</p>
+<p class="par">Then, handicapped by the lack of coal, he rode over to
+Bourne End and discovered two locomotives. One of them was standing on
+the line a mile out of the station with a full complement of coaches
+attached, the other was an unencumbered goods engine in a siding. He
+chose the latter for his first experiment, and succeeded in driving it
+back to Marlow. It groaned and screamed in a way that indicated serious
+organic trouble, but after he had overhauled it, it proved capable of
+taking him to Maidenhead, where he found a sound engine in a shed.</p>
+<p class="par">After that he devoted three days to getting a clear line
+to Paddington, a tedious process which involved endless descents from
+the cab, and mountings into signal boxes, experiments with levers and
+the occasional necessity for pushing whole trains out of his path into
+some siding. But at last he returned with magnificent loot of coal from
+the almost untouched London yards beyond Ealing.</p>
+<p class="par">London was still the storehouse of certain valuable
+commodities.</p>
+<p class="par">His passage through the surrounding country was hailed
+with cries of amazement and jubilant <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb243" href="#pb243" name="pb243">243</a>]</span>acclamation. The
+first railway surely excited less astonishment than did Thrale on his
+solitary engine. Doubtless the unfortunate women who saw him pass
+believed that the gods of machinery had returned once more to bring
+relief from all the burden of misery and unfamiliar work.</p>
+<p class="par">And once the points were set and the way open to London
+by rail he could go and return with tools and many other necessaries
+that had offered no temptation to the starving multitude who had fled
+from the town.</p>
+<p class="par">Marlow was greatly blessed among the communities in
+those days.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">6</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The harvest was early that year, and Miss Oliver
+decided to cut certain fields of barley at the end of July.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale&rsquo;s energies were then diverted to the
+superintendence of the reapers and binders, and he rode from field to
+field, overlooking the work of his pupils or spending furious hours in
+struggle with some refractory mechanism.</p>
+<p class="par">One Saturday, an hour or two after midday, he was
+returning from some such struggle, when he saw a strange procession
+coming down that long hill from Handy Cross, which some pious women
+regarded as the road to hell.</p>
+<p class="par">Casual immigration had almost ceased by that time, but
+the sight indicated the necessity for immediate action. The immigration
+laws of Marlow, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb244" href="#pb244"
+name="pb244">244</a>]</span>though not coded as yet, were strict; and
+only bona fide workers were admitted, and even those were critically
+examined.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale shouted to attract attention and the procession
+stopped.</p>
+<p class="par">When he came through the gate on to the road, he was
+accosted by name.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Mr Thrale, fancy finding you,&rdquo; said the
+young woman at the pole of the truck.</p>
+<p class="par">The meeting of Livingstone and Stanley was far less
+amazing.</p>
+<p class="par">An old woman perched on the truck and partly sheltered
+by the remains of an umbrella, regarded his appearance with some show
+of displeasure.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By rights &rsquo;e should &rsquo;ave written to
+me in the first place,&rdquo; she muttered.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s got a touch of the sun,&rdquo;
+explained Blanche hurriedly.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had not yet spoken. He was considering the
+problem of whether he owed any duty to these wanderers, which could
+override his duty to Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where have you come from?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche and Millie explained volubly, by turns and
+together.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You see, we don&rsquo;t let anyone stay
+here,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s eyebrows went up and she waved her too
+exuberant sister aside. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re willing to work,&rdquo; she
+said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And your mother?&rdquo; queried Thrale.
+&ldquo;And this other woman?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb245" href="#pb245" name="pb245">245</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! I work too,&rdquo; put in Mrs Isaacson.
+&ldquo;I have learnt all that is necessary for the farm. I milk and
+feed chickens and everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to come before the
+committee,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anywhere out of the sun,&rdquo; replied Blanche,
+&ldquo;and somewhere where we can put mother. She&rsquo;s very bad,
+I&rsquo;m afraid.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can stay to-night, anyway,&rdquo; returned
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie made a face at him behind his back, and whispered
+to Mrs Isaacson, who pursed her mouth.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you do seem more civilized here,&rdquo;
+remarked Blanche as the procession restarted towards Marlow. Thrale,
+with something of the air of a policeman, was walking by the side of
+the pole.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve come at a good time,&rdquo; was his
+only comment.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie had another shock before they reached the town.
+She saw what she thought was a second man, on horseback this time,
+coming towards them. Marlow, she thought, was evidently a place to live
+in. But the figure was only that of Miss Oliver in corduroy trousers,
+riding astride.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">7</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Fate had dropped the Goslings into Buckinghamshire
+to fulfil their destiny. They had been led to Marlow by a casual
+direction, here and there, after the first propulsion of
+Blanche&rsquo;s instinct had sent them into the country beyond Harrow.
+And fate, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb246" href="#pb246" name=
+"pb246">246</a>]</span>doubtless with some incomprehensible purpose of
+its own in view, had quietly decided that in Marlow they were to stay.
+They had been dropped at a season when, for the first time in the long
+three months&rsquo; history of the community, there was a shortage of
+labour; and Blanche and Millie, browned by exposure and generally
+improved by their first six days of healthy life, were quite acceptable
+additions to the population at that moment. As for Mrs Isaacson, a lady
+of sufficient initiative and force of character to require no kindly
+interposition of Providence on her behalf, she arranged her own future
+as an expert of farm management, and incidentally as the
+Goslings&rsquo; housemate. Mrs Isaacson was a burr that would stick
+anywhere for a time. She displayed an unexpected and highly specialized
+knowledge of the management of farms, when confronted with the expert
+Miss Oliver who was far too embarrassed to press her questions home.
+The casual remarks of Aunt May and her helpers had been retained in Mrs
+Isaacson&rsquo;s brilliant memory and she displayed her knowledge to
+the best possible advantage, filling the gaps with irrelevant
+volubility, gesture and histrionic struggles with the English language,
+which proved suddenly inadequate to the expression of these recondities
+that the German would have so aptly expressed. It was inferred that in
+her native Bavaria, Mrs Isaacson had farmed in the grand style.</p>
+<p class="par">Only Mrs Gosling, useless and ineligible, remained for
+consideration, and she for once took a firm line of her own, and defied
+the committee, Marlow <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb247" href=
+"#pb247" name="pb247">247</a>]</span>generally, and the negligible
+remainder of the cosmos, to alter her determination.</p>
+<p class="par">The home at which they had finally arrived did not suit
+her. The tiny cottage of three rooms in the little street that runs
+down to the town landing stage had no lace curtains in the front
+window, no suites of furniture, no hall to save the discreet caller
+from stepping through the front door straight into the single
+living-room, no accumulation of dustable ornaments, not even a strip of
+carpet or linoleum to cover the nakedness of a bricked floor. It was
+not civilized; it was not decent according to the refined standards of
+Wisteria Grove; it was an impossible place for any respectable woman to
+live in, and Mrs Gosling, with unexpected force of character, chose the
+obvious alternative. She did not, however, make any announcement of her
+determination; she was wrapped in a speculative depression that found
+no relief in words. She had been so ordered, hoisted, dragged and
+bumped through the detested country during the past six days that all
+show of authority had been taken from her. It may be that deep in her
+own mind she cherished a sullen and enduring resentment against her
+daughters, and had vowed to take the last and unanswerable revenge of
+which humanity is capable. But outwardly she preserved that air of
+incomprehension which had marked her during the last stages of their
+journey, and committed herself to no statement of the enormous plan
+which must have been forming in her mind.</p>
+<p class="par">When they took her into the small, brick-paved
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb248" href="#pb248" name=
+"pb248">248</a>]</span>room and deposited her temporarily on a
+wooden-seated chair, while they unpacked what <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e4227" title="Source: remainded">remained</span> to them in the
+accursed trolly, Mrs Gosling took one brief but comprehensive survey of
+her naked surroundings.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a bit touched, isn&rsquo;t
+she?&rdquo; whispered Millie to her sister. &ldquo;Do you think she
+understands where we are or what we&rsquo;re doing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shook her head. &ldquo;I expect she&rsquo;ll be
+all right in a day or two,&rdquo; she ventured, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the
+sun.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls, stirred to a new outlook on life by the
+extraordinary experiences of the past months, were on the threshold of
+diverse adventures. After the toil and anxiety of their tramp through
+inhospitable country, and the hazard of the open air, this reception
+into a community and settlement into a permanent shelter afforded a
+relief which was too unexpected to be qualified as yet by criticism, or
+any comparison with past glories. They were young and plastic, and to
+each of them the future seemed to hold some promise; to them the
+silence and immobility of their mother could only be evidence of
+impaired faculties.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must get her to bed,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Even when Mrs Gosling asked with perfect relevance,
+&ldquo;Are we going to stop &rsquo;ere, Blanche?&rdquo; they humoured
+her with evasive replies. &ldquo;Well, for a day or two,
+perhaps,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Look here, don&rsquo;t you worry about that.
+We&rsquo;re going to put you to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Her head dropped again and she fell back into her moody
+silence. Doubtless she meditated on the many wrongs her daughters had
+done her, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb249" href="#pb249" name=
+"pb249">249</a>]</span>wondered why she should have been brought out to
+die in this wilderness?</p>
+<p class="par">During the nine days that elapsed before her plan
+matured, she made no further comment on her surroundings. She lay in
+the upstairs room, sleeping little, with no desire ever again to face
+the terror of a world which demanded a new mode of thought.
+Unconsciously she had adopted Blanche&rsquo;s phrase,
+&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; but to her the message was
+one of doom, she could not live in a different world.</p>
+<p class="par">And Blanche on her side was puzzled at her
+mother&rsquo;s apathy and said, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand
+it.&rdquo; Yet both the changed conditions and Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s
+unchangeable habit were fundamental things. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb250" href="#pb250" name="pb250">250</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch18" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVIII&mdash;</span>MODES OF
+EXPRESSION</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In Marlow that year harvesting and thrashing were
+carried on simultaneously. August was very dry, and the greater part of
+the corn was never stacked at all. Thrale took his engines into the
+fields, and the shocks were loaded on to carts and fed directly into
+the thrasher. This method entailed some disadvantages, chief among them
+the retarding of the actual harvest-work, but on the whole it probably
+economized labour. The scheme would doubtless have been impracticable
+in the days of small private ownership, but it worked well in this
+instance, favoured as it was by the drought.</p>
+<p class="par">The saving of labour during those six weeks of furious
+toil was a matter of the first importance. The work, indeed, was too
+heavy for many of the women who were unable to stand the physical
+strain of hoisting sheaves from the waggons into the thrasher; and the
+sacks of grain proved so unmanageable that Thrale had to devise a
+makeshift hoist for loading them into the carts. In Marlow, at least,
+machinery was still triumphant, and the committee sighed their relief
+in the sentence: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what we should have done
+without Jasper Thrale.&rdquo; Nevertheless it is quite certain that
+they would have done without him if it had not been for that fortuitous
+meeting in Maidenhead. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb251" href=
+"#pb251" name="pb251">251</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">For Thrale there was no rest possible, even when the
+last field had been cleared and the last clumsily-built stack of straw
+or unthrashed corn erected. Besides the necessity for some form of
+thatching&mdash;or, failing efficiency in that direction, for
+completing the thrashing operations&mdash;he had to turn his attention
+to the immensely difficult problem of turning the grain into flour. He
+knew vaguely that the grain ought to be cleaned and conditioned before
+grinding, and that the actual separation of the constituents of the
+berry was a matter of importance; but he had no practical knowledge of
+the various operations, and in this matter Miss Oliver was quite unable
+to help him.</p>
+<p class="par">The mill beside the lock presented itself as an
+intricate and enormously detailed problem which must be solved by a
+concentrated effort of induction. The only person who appeared to be of
+real assistance to him was Eileen, and she was apt to tire and fall
+into despair when the detail of involved and often concealed machinery
+baffled them for hour after hour. Nevertheless Thrale solved this
+problem also. His first concern was for a head of water. The weirs had
+not been touched since the beginning of May, and the river was very
+low, but by mid-September there was enough water to work for a few
+hours every day, and, despite endless mistakes and setbacks, the mill
+was turning out a sufficient supply of fairly respectable looking
+flour.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had that wonderful masculine faculty for thus
+applying himself to a mechanical problem, and, like his predecessors in
+mechanical invention, it was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb252" href=
+"#pb252" name="pb252">252</a>]</span>the problem and not any promise of
+future reward which interested him. He became absorbed for the time in
+that problem of grinding corn, grudging the hours he was obliged to
+devote to other activities; and when he felt the throb of life running
+through the mill, saw the women he had taught attending each to their
+own appointed task in the economy, and felt the touch of the fine,
+smooth flour between his fingers, he needed no thanks from the
+committee nor promise of independence to reward him for his labour. The
+sight of this thing he had created was sufficient recompense. He loved
+this beautiful efficient toy that changed wheat into flour, and oats
+into meal, it was his to father and to fight for; the perfect child of
+his ingenuity and toil.</p>
+<p class="par">But if Thrale&rsquo;s time was tremendously occupied the
+women found that they had more opportunities for leisure after harvest.
+They were still employed in field and garden, and there was still much
+to be done, but their hours were shorter and the work seemed light in
+contrast with the heroic labour that had been necessary at the
+harvest.</p>
+<p class="par">And with this first coming of comparative ease, this
+first opportunity for reflection since the terrible plague had thrust
+upon them the necessity for fierce and unremitting effort to produce
+the essentials of life, women began to express themselves in their
+various ways. Aspirations and emotions that had been crushed by the
+fatigues of physical labour began to revive; personal inclinations,
+jealousies and resentments became manifest in the detail of
+intercourse; old prejudices, religious and social, once <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb253" href="#pb253" name="pb253">253</a>]</span>more
+assumed an aspect of importance in the interactions of individuals.
+There was a faint stir in the community, the first sign of a trouble
+which was steadily to increase as winter laid its bond upon the
+storehouses of earth.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The two Goslings, working only six or seven hours
+a day in the mill during the latter part of September, found plenty of
+time for chatter and speculation. They, and more especially Blanche,
+had shown themselves capable workers in the harvest field, but when
+hands had been required in his mill Thrale had chosen the Goslings and
+those whom he considered less adapted to field work; and among them Mrs
+Isaacson and a member of the committee, Miss Jenkyn, the
+schoolmistress. (The education problem was in abeyance for the time
+being. The children had run wild for three months, and been subject
+only to the discipline of their mothers, but it was understood that the
+children were to receive attention when the winter brought
+opportunity.)</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche soon distinguished herself as a picked worker in
+this sphere. Her intelligence was of a somewhat more masculine quality
+in some respects than that of the average woman; she was slower, more
+detailed, more logical in her methods. And now that those male
+characteristics&mdash;so often deplored by women in the days before the
+plague&mdash;had been withdrawn from the flux of life, it had become
+evident that they had been an essential part <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb254" href="#pb254" name="pb254">254</a>]</span>of
+the whole, if only a part. Masculine characteristics were at a premium
+in Marlow that autumn, and as a natural consequence were being rated at
+an ever higher value. There was a tendency among some women to become
+more male....</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, however, was not among the progressives. She was
+not gifted intellectually; she had no swift intuitions&mdash;such as
+Eileen had&mdash;which enabled her to comprehend her work; she was
+naturally indolent, and all her emotions came to her through
+sensation.</p>
+<p class="par">When she was put to work in the mill she was secretly
+elated. She did not believe the stories told of Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s
+insensibility to feminine attractions, and if she believed those other
+stories which coupled his name with that of Lady Eileen, Millie was of
+opinion that such an entanglement was not necessarily final.</p>
+<p class="par">The first week of her association with Thrale in the
+work of the mill brought disillusionment.</p>
+<p class="par">When she looked up from her work and caught his eye as
+he passed her, he either stared coldly or stopped and asked in a
+businesslike, austere voice whether she wanted assistance. Such
+intimations should have been sufficient, but in this thing, at least,
+Millie was persistent. She thought that he did not understand&mdash;men
+were proverbially stupid in these matters. So she waited for an
+opportunity and within ten days one was presented.</p>
+<p class="par">A hesitation in some of the machinery she overlooked
+provided sufficient excuse for calling the head engineer. She looked
+down the step-ladder <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb255" href="#pb255"
+name="pb255">255</a>]</span>which communicated with the floor below and
+called hesitatingly, &ldquo;Oh! Please. Mr Thrale.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He heard her and looked up, &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Something gone wrong,&rdquo; she said blushing,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve stopped the rollers, but I don&rsquo;t
+know&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, I&rsquo;m coming,&rdquo; he returned,
+and presently joined her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By the way,&rdquo; he remarked as he began to
+examine the machine, &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t say &lsquo;Mister,&rsquo;
+now. I thought you&rsquo;d learnt that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie simpered. &ldquo;It sounds so familiar not
+to,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Rubbish,&rdquo; grunted Thrale. &ldquo;You can
+call me &lsquo;engineer,&rsquo; I suppose?<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e4311" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, look here,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;do
+you see this hopper in here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She came close to him and peered into the machine.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It gets clogged, do you see?&rdquo; said Thrale,
+&ldquo;and when the meal stutters you&rsquo;ve just got to put your
+hand in and clear it. Understand?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I think so,&rdquo; hesitated Millie. She was
+leaning against him and her body was trembling with delicious
+excitement. Almost unconsciously she pressed a little closer.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale suddenly drew back. &ldquo;Do you
+understand?&rdquo; he said harshly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ye-yes, I think so,&rdquo; returned Millie; and
+she straightened herself, looked up at him for a moment and then
+dropped her eyes, blushing.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;and
+here&rsquo;s another <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb256" href="#pb256"
+name="pb256">256</a>]</span>piece of advice for you. If you want to
+stay in the mill keep your attention on your work. You&rsquo;re a man
+now, for all intents and purposes; you&rsquo;ve got a man&rsquo;s work
+to do, and you must keep your mind on it. If there&rsquo;s any
+foolishness you go out into the turnip fields. You won&rsquo;t have
+another warning,&rdquo; he concluded as he turned and left her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Beast,&rdquo; muttered Millie when she was alone.
+She was shaken with furious anger. &ldquo;I hate you, you silly stuck
+up thing,&rdquo; she whispered fiercely shaking with passion.
+&ldquo;Oh, I wish you only knew how I hate you. I won&rsquo;t touch
+your beastly machines again. I&rsquo;d sooner a million times be out in
+the turnip field than in the same mill with <i>you</i>, you stuck up
+beast. I <i>won&rsquo;t</i> work, I won&rsquo;t do a thing,
+I&rsquo;ll&mdash;I&rsquo;ll&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time she was hysterical.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche coming down from the floor above found her
+sister tearing at her hair.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good heavens, Mill, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie had passed through the worst stages of her
+seizure by then, and she dropped her hands. &ldquo;I dunno,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s this beastly mill, I suppose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I like it,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, <i>you</i>,&rdquo; said Millie, full of scorn
+for Blanche&rsquo;s frigidity. &ldquo;You ought to have been a man, you
+ought.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I dunno what&rsquo;s come to you,&rdquo; was
+Blanche&rsquo;s comment.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">It was maturity that had come to Millie. Her new
+life of air and physical exercise had set the blood <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb257" href="#pb257" name=
+"pb257">257</a>]</span>running in her veins. In the Wisteria Grove days
+she had had an an&aelig;mic tendency; the limited routine of her
+existence and all the suppressions of her narrow life had retarded her
+development. Now she was suddenly ripe. Two months of sun and air had
+brought superabundant vitality, and the surplus had become the most
+important factor in her existence<span class="corr" id="xd23e4363"
+title="Not in source">.</span> She found no outlet for her new vigour
+in the work of the mill. Something within her was crying out for joy.
+She wanted to find expression.</p>
+<p class="par">There were many other young women in Marlow that autumn
+in similar case, and a rumour was current among them that this was a
+favourable time for crossing the hill. It was said that the lord of
+Wycombe was seeking new favourites.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie heard the rumour and tossed her head
+superciliously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let him come here. I&rsquo;d give him a piece of
+my mind,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t come &rsquo;ere,&rdquo; returned
+the gossip. &ldquo;&rsquo;E&rsquo;s afeard of our Mr Thrale.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! Jasper Thrale!&rdquo; said Millie.
+&ldquo;That fellow from Wycombe could knock his head off in no
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The gossip was doubtful.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was incapable of formulating a plan in this
+connexion, but she was seized with a desire for spending the still
+September evenings in the open air, and always something drew her
+towards the hill at Handy Cross. That way lay interest and excitement.
+There was a wonderful fascination in going as far as the top of the
+descent into Wycombe. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb258" href=
+"#pb258" name="pb258">258</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Usually she joined one or two other young women in these
+excursions. It was understood between them that they went &ldquo;for
+fun,&rdquo; and they would laugh and scream when they reached the dip
+past the farm, pretend to push each other down the slope, and cry out
+suddenly: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming! Run!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">But one afternoon, some ten days after Jasper Thrale had
+threatened her with the turnip field, Millie went alone.</p>
+<p class="par">She had left work early. The rain had not come yet, and
+Thrale was becoming anxious with regard to the shortage of water. He
+had the sluices of Marlow and Hedsor weirs closed, and had opened the
+sluices of the weirs above as far as Hambledon, but so little water was
+coming down that he decided to work shorter hours for the present.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche had stayed on at the mill to help with repairs.
+She was rapidly developing into a capable engineer. So Millie, whose
+only service was that of machine minder, found herself alone and
+unoccupied.</p>
+<p class="par">Every one else seemed to be working. Her friends of the
+evening excursions were mostly in the fields on the Henley side of the
+town.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie decided she would lie down on the bed and go to
+sleep for a bit; but even before she came to the cottage she changed
+her mind. It was a deliciously warm, still afternoon.</p>
+<p class="par">Almost automatically she took the road towards Little
+Marlow; a desire for adventure had overtaken her. Why, she argued,
+shouldn&rsquo;t she go into Wycombe? There were plenty of other women
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb259" href="#pb259" name=
+"pb259">259</a>]</span>there. She would be quite safe. She only wanted
+to see what the place was like.</p>
+<p class="par">Her consciousness of perfect rectitude lasted until she
+reached the dip beyond Handy Cross. Farther than this she had not
+ventured before. Some mystery lay beyond the turn of the road.</p>
+<p class="par">She sat down in the grass by the wayside and called
+herself a fool, but she was afraid to go further. She and those friends
+of hers had made this place the entrance to a terrible and fascinating
+beyond. She remembered how they had feared to stay there in the failing
+light, daring each other to remain there alone after sunset. There was
+nothing to be afraid of, she said to herself; and yet she was
+afraid.</p>
+<p class="par">She was hot with her long climb, and the place was quite
+deserted. She decided to take down her hair to cool herself.</p>
+<p class="par">Curiously, she looked upon this simple act as
+deliciously daring and in some way wicked. She cast half-fearful
+glances at the green girt shadows of the descending road, as she shook
+out the masses of her hair. &ldquo;If anyone should come!&rdquo; she
+thought. &ldquo;If <i>he</i> should come...!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She giggled nervously, and shivered.</p>
+<p class="par">But as time passed, and no one came, she began to lose
+her fear, and presently she lay full length on the grass, and stared up
+into the pale blue dome of the sky until her eyes ached and she had to
+close them. The deep hush of the still afternoon enveloped her in a
+great calm.</p>
+<p class="par">For a time she slept peacefully, and then she dreamed
+that she was rushing through the air, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb260" href="#pb260" name="pb260">260</a>]</span>that some one chased
+her. She wanted desperately to be captured, but it was ordained that
+she must fly, and she flew incredibly fast. She flew through the
+sunlight into darkness, and awoke to find that some one was standing
+between her and the sun.</p>
+<p class="par">She lay still, paralysed with terror. She bitterly
+regretted her coming. She would have given ten years of life to be safe
+home in Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, where&rsquo;ve I seen you before?&rdquo;
+asked Sam Evans....</p>
+<p class="par">It was nearly dark when Blanche accosted a knot of women
+in the High Street with a question as to whether they had seen anything
+of her sister.</p>
+<p class="par">One of the women laughed sneeringly. &ldquo;Ah! She went
+over the hill this afternoon,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We were in the
+fields that side, and saw her go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s face burned. &ldquo;She hasn&rsquo;t! I
+know she hasn&rsquo;t!&rdquo; she blurted out. &ldquo;She isn&rsquo;t
+one of that sort.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The woman laughed again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s one of the lucky ones,&rdquo; another
+woman remarked. &ldquo;You can expect her back in a week or two&rsquo;s
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">On the same evening that Millie crossed the hill,
+Lady Eileen Ferrar encountered the spirit of passion in another
+shape.</p>
+<p class="par">The thought of a lonely bathe tempted her, and she
+crossed the river, made her way through deserted Bisham, and back to
+the stream along a narrow, overhung lane beyond Bisham Abbey.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb261" href="#pb261" name=
+"pb261">261</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The sun had set, but when she came out from the trees
+there was light in the sky and on the water. Overhead a few wisps of
+cirrus, sailing in the far heights of air, still caught the direct rays
+of the sun. Eileen paused on the bank, rejoicing in the glow of colour
+about her; but as she gazed, the little fleet of salmon-tinted clouds
+were engulfed in the great earth-shadow, and the delicate crisp
+rose-leaves were transfigured into flat stipples of steel grey.</p>
+<p class="par">A slight chill had come into the air, but the water was
+deliciously soft and warm. Eileen swam a couple of hundred yards
+up-stream, towards the gloom of shadows that obscured the course of the
+river. The after-glow was fading now, and though the surface of the
+water seemed to catch some reflection of light from an unknown source,
+the near distance loomed dark and mysterious. She trod water for a few
+moments, but could not decide whether the river turned to right or
+left. To all appearances, it terminated abruptly fifty yards
+ahead....</p>
+<p class="par">A new sound was forcing itself upon her
+attention&mdash;a low, steady booming. She stopped swimming, and,
+keeping herself afloat by slow, silent movements of hands and feet
+under water, she listened attentively. The dull boom seemed changed
+into a low, ceaseless moan.</p>
+<p class="par">She remembered then the recently opened sluices of
+Temple Weir, but quite suddenly she was aware of fear. She thought she
+saw a movement among the reeds by the bank. She thought she heard
+laughter and the thin pipe of a flute.</p>
+<p class="par">Were the old gods coming back to witness the
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb262" href="#pb262" name=
+"pb262">262</a>]</span>death of man, as they had witnessed his birth?
+Now that machinery and civilization were being re-absorbed into the
+nature-spirit from which they had been wrung by the force of
+man&rsquo;s devilish and alien intelligence, were the old things
+returning for one mad revel before the creatures of their sport
+disappeared for ever, these representatives of a species which had
+failed to hold its own in the struggle for existence?</p>
+<p class="par">Night was coming up like a shadow, and in the east a
+red, enormous moon was rising, coming not to dissipate, but to enhance
+the mysteries of the dark, coming to countenance the wild and blind the
+eyes of man.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen, almost motionless, was floating down with the
+drift of the sluggish stream. She was afraid to intrude upon the
+natural sounds of the night, the stealthy trickle of the river, and the
+furtive rustle of secret movement whose origin she could not guess. And
+again she thought that she heard the trembling reed of a distant
+flute.</p>
+<p class="par">She touched bottom near her landing-place, and waded out
+of the river, crouching, afraid even in the black shadow of the trees
+to exhibit the white column of her slim body. She dried and dressed
+hastily, and when she felt again the touch of her familiar clothes
+about her, she knew that she was safe from the wiles of nymph or satyr.
+She had come out of the half-world that interposes between man and
+Nature; her clothes made her invisible to the earth-gods, and hid them
+from her knowledge. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb263" href="#pb263"
+name="pb263">263</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">But she was still trembling and afraid. The flesh had
+terrors great as those of the spirit.</p>
+<p class="par">A little uncertain wind was coming out of the
+south-west, and the trees were stirred now and again into hushed
+whisperings. A dead leaf brushed her face in falling, and she started
+back, thrusting at an imaginary enemy with nervously agitated
+hands.</p>
+<p class="par">The thought of her remoteness from life terrified her.
+She was alone, face to face with implacable, brutal Nature. Man, the
+boastful, full of foolish pride, was vanishing from the earth. He had
+been an alien, ever out of place, defiling and corrupting the order of
+growth. Now he was beaten and a fugitive. All around her, the
+representative of this vile destructive species, was the slow,
+persistent hatred of the earth, which longed to be at peace again.
+There was no god favourable to man, now that he was dying; the gods of
+man&rsquo;s creation would perish with him. Only a few women were left
+to realize that they were strangers in the world of Nature which hated
+them. The world was not theirs, had never been theirs; they were only
+some horrible, unnatural fungus that had disfigured the Earth for a
+time....</p>
+<p class="par">She moved cautiously and slowly under the darkness of
+the trees, and even when she came back to the road she could not shake
+off her fear. On her right she could see the black cliff of the
+woods<a id="xd23e4468" name="xd23e4468"></a> transfigured by the light
+of the moon. In the day she knew them for woods; now they were strange
+and threatening; they menaced her with <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb264" href="#pb264" name="pb264">264</a>]</span>invasion. She knew
+that they would march down from the hills and swarm across the valley.
+In a hundred, two hundred years, Marlow would be a few heaps of brick
+and stone lost in the heart of the forest.</p>
+<p class="par">Ashamed of her race, she hurried on stealthily towards
+the bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">But before she reached it, she heard the sound of a
+firm, defiant step coming towards her. She paused and listened, and her
+fear fell from her. In the old days she would have feared man more than
+Nature, feared robbery or assault, but now, man was united in a common
+cause; the sound of humanity was the sound of a friend.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hullo!&rdquo; she called, and the voice of Jasper
+Thrale answered. &ldquo;Hullo! Who&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Me&mdash;Eileen,&rdquo; she replied.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been for a bathe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He paused opposite her, and they looked at one
+another.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jolly night,&rdquo; he remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the great god Pan,&rdquo; said
+Eileen. &ldquo;Those sailors in the Ionian Sea were misinformed.
+He&rsquo;s not dead.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why should Pan die and Dionysus live?&rdquo;
+returned Thrale. &ldquo;I hear that Dionysus has claimed one of our
+hands, by the way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you angry?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes. Not with Millie. If <i>you</i> saw Pan, why
+shouldn&rsquo;t <i>she</i> see Dionysus? No, I&rsquo;m angry with the
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb265" href="#pb265" name=
+"pb265">265</a>]</span>Jenkyn woman. She&rsquo;s saying that we ought
+not to have Millie back if she wants to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How silly!&rdquo; commented Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! if that were all!&rdquo; replied Thrale.
+&ldquo;The real trouble is that the Jenkyn woman is proselytizing. She
+wants to revive Church services and Sunday observances. We&rsquo;re
+going to have a split before the winter&rsquo;s over, and all the old
+misunderstandings and antagonisms back again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why, of course we are,&rdquo; returned Eileen,
+after a pause. &ldquo;We are going to divide into those that are afraid
+and those that aren&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s fear that&rsquo;s got hold of
+us, now we&rsquo;ve time to think. It&rsquo;s all about us to-night;
+I&rsquo;ve seen it, and Millie has seen it; and Clara Jenkyn and all
+those who are going with her have seen it; and we&rsquo;ve all got to
+find our own way out.&rdquo; She hesitated for a moment, and then said:
+&ldquo;And what about you? Have you seen it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, for the first time. Within the last ten
+minutes,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">The moon was above the trees now, and she could see his
+face clearly. &ldquo;Have you?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t
+picture it. It can&rsquo;t be Pan or Dionysus, or fear of the Earth or
+of humanity. No; and it can&rsquo;t be the most terrible of all, the
+fear of an idea. What are you afraid of?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid of you,&rdquo; said Thrale, and
+he turned away quickly and hurried on in the direction of the
+river.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I <i>did</i> see Pan,&rdquo; affirmed Eileen, as
+she returned, happy and unafraid, towards Marlow. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb266" href="#pb266" name="pb266">266</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">That mood of the night had suggested to Eileen the
+idea of a single cause which seemed sufficient to account for the
+revivalist tendencies of Miss Jenkyn and certain other women in Marlow.
+Fear was presented as a simple explanation, and Eileen, like many other
+philosophers who had preceded her, was too eager for the simple and
+inclusive explanation.</p>
+<p class="par">At first the revivalist tendency was feeble and
+circumscribed. Twenty or thirty women met in the schoolroom and talked
+and prayed by the light of a single, tenderly nursed oil-lamp. The
+absence of any minister kept them back at first; the less earnest
+needed some concrete embodiment of religion in the form of a black coat
+and white tie.</p>
+<p class="par">But when the rain came in early October, came and
+persisted; when the beeches, instead of flaring into scarlet, grew
+sodden and dead; when the threat of flood grew even more imminent, and
+the distraction of physical toil almost ceased, this little nucleus of
+women was joined by many new recruits, and their comparatively harmless
+prostrations, lamentations and worshippings of the abstract, developed
+into an attempt to enforce a moral law upon the community.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie Gosling, returning to Marlow in mid-October, gave
+the religionists splendid opportunity for a first demonstration.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie returned with a bold face and a shrinking heart.
+She had fled from Wycombe because she could not meet the taunts of the
+women who had so lately <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb267" href=
+"#pb267" name="pb267">267</a>]</span>envied her as she rode, prime
+favourite for a time, in the Dionysian landau. A great loneliness had
+come over her after she was dethroned; she needed sympathy, and she
+hoped that Blanche might be made to understand. Millie came back from
+over the hill prepared with a long tale of excuses.</p>
+<p class="par">She found her sister perfectly complacent.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was a fervent disciple of Jasper Thrale and
+machinery, and Thrale had anticipated Millie&rsquo;s return and in some
+ways prepared for it. At odd moments he had preached the new gospel,
+the tenets of which Blanche had begun to formulate for herself.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no good going back to the old morality
+for a precedent,&rdquo; had been the essential argument used by Thrale;
+&ldquo;we have to face new conditions. If a man is only to have one
+wife now, the race will decline, probably perish. It is a woman&rsquo;s
+duty to bear children.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen, Blanche and a few other young women had wondered
+that he made no application of the argument to his own case, but his
+opinion carried more weight by reason of his continence. Even Miss
+Jenkyn could not urge that his opinion was framed to defend his own
+mode of life, and, failing that casuistical support, she had to fall
+back on the second alternative of her kind, namely, to assert that this
+preacher of antagonistic opinions was either the devil in person or
+possessed by him&mdash;a line of defence which took longer to establish
+than the simple accusation of expediency.</p>
+<p class="par">So Millie, returning one wet October afternoon, found
+that no excuses were required of her. Blanche <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb268" href="#pb268" name=
+"pb268">268</a>]</span>welcomed her and asked no questions, and Jasper
+Thrale and Eileen came to the little cottage in St Peter&rsquo;s Street
+at sunset and treated the prodigal Millie with a new and altogether
+delightful friendliness. It was understood that she would return at
+once to her work in the Mill. But in the school-house opposite another
+reception was being prepared for her.</p>
+<p class="par">The more advanced of the Jenkynites were for taking
+immediate action. Prayer, worship, and the acknowledgment of personal
+sin fell into the background that evening, Millie appeared not as a
+brand to be saved from the burning, but as an abandoned and evil
+creature who must be thrust out of the community if any member of it
+was to save her soul alive. Every one of these furious religionists
+could stand up and declare that she was innocent of the commission of
+this particular sin of Millie&rsquo;s, and every one was willing and
+anxious to cast the first stone.</p>
+<p class="par">The meeting simmered, and at last boiled over into St
+Peter&rsquo;s Street. A band of more than a dozen rigidly virtuous and
+ecstatically Christian women beat at the door of the Goslings&rsquo;
+cottage. They had come to denounce sin and thrust the sinner out of the
+community with physical violence. Each of them in her own heart thought
+of herself as the bride of Christ.</p>
+<p class="par">The door was opened to them by Jasper Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We have come to cast out the evil one!&rdquo;
+cried Miss Jenkyn in a high emotional voice.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What are you talking about?&rdquo; asked Thrale.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb269" href="#pb269" name=
+"pb269">269</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She shall be cast forth from our midst!&rdquo;
+shrilled Miss Jenkyn; and her supporters raised a horrible screaming
+cry of agreement.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cast her forth!&rdquo; they cried, finding full
+justification for their high pitch of emotion in the use of Biblical
+phrase.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cast forth your grandmother!&rdquo; replied
+Thrale calmly. &ldquo;Get back to your homes, and don&rsquo;t be
+foolish.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He is possessed of the devil!&rdquo; chanted Miss
+Jenkyn. &ldquo;The Lord has called upon us to vindicate his honour and
+glory. This man, too, must not be suffered to dwell in the
+congregation.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Down with him! down with him!&rdquo; assented the
+little crowd, now so exalted with the glory of their common purpose
+that they were ready for martyrdom.</p>
+<p class="par">Miss Jenkyn was an undersized, withered little spinster
+of forty-five, and physically impotent; but, drunk with the fervour of
+her emotion, and encouraged by the sympathy of her followers and the
+fury of her own voice, she flung herself fiercely upon the calm figure
+of Jasper Thrale. Her thwarted self-expression had found an outlet. She
+desired the blood of Millie Gosling and Jasper Thrale with the same
+intensity that women had once desired a useless vote.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper Thrale put out a careless hand and pushed her
+back into the arms of the women behind her; but she was up again
+instantly, and, backed by the crowd, who, encouraging themselves by
+shrill screams of &ldquo;Cast them forth!&rdquo; were now thrusting
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb270" href="#pb270" name=
+"pb270">270</a>]</span>forward into the narrow doorway, she renewed the
+assault with all the fierce energy of a struggling kitten.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I shall lose my temper in a minute,&rdquo; said
+Thrale, as he took a step forward and, bracing himself against the door
+frame, drove the women back with vigorous thrusts of his powerful
+arms.</p>
+<p class="par">To lose his temper, indeed, seemed the only way of
+escape; to give way to berserk rage, and so to injure these muscularly
+feeble creatures that they would be unable to continue the struggle.
+But the babble of screaming voices was bringing other helpers to his
+aid, chief among them Lady Durham, and her cold, clear voice fell on
+the hysterical Jenkynites like a douche of cold water.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Clara Jenkyn, what are you doing?&rdquo; asked
+Elsie Durham.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie Gosling must be cast forth,&rdquo; wavered
+the little dishevelled woman; but this time there was no reponse from
+her disciples.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That is a question for the committee,&rdquo;
+replied Elsie Durham. &ldquo;Now, please go to your homes, all of
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Miss Jenkyn tried to explain.</p>
+<p class="par">Elsie Durham walked into the cottage and shut the
+door.</p>
+<p class="par">Inside, Eileen and Blanche were trying to reassure the
+trembling Millie. Outside, the Jenkynites were suffering a more brutal
+martyrdom than that they had sought. The tongues of the new arrivals,
+the fuller-blooded, more physically vigorous members of the community,
+were making sport of these brides of Christ. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb271" href="#pb271" name="pb271">271</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">6</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">But the women of Marlow were to learn afresh the
+old lesson that religious enthusiasm is not to be killed by ridicule or
+oppression. Jasper Thrale understood and appreciated that fact, but the
+policy he suggested could not be approved by the committee.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This emotion is a fundamental thing,&rdquo; he
+said to Lady Durham, &ldquo;and history will show you that persecution
+will intensify it to the point of martyrdom. There is only one way to
+combat it. Give it room. Let them do as they will. The heat of the fire
+is too fierce for you to damp it down; you only supply more fuel. Fan
+it, throw it open to the air, and it will burn itself harmlessly
+out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Elsie Durham shrugged her shoulders. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s
+all very well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s perfectly
+true. But they make you the bone of contention. If it were only Millie
+Gosling&mdash;well&mdash;she might go. We could find a place for
+her&mdash;at Fingest, perhaps. But we can&rsquo;t spare you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why not,&rdquo; returned
+Thrale. &ldquo;I never intended to stay indefinitely. You can carry on
+now without me, and I can fulfil my original intention and push on into
+the West.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear man! we can&rsquo;t, and we
+won&rsquo;t!&rdquo; said Elsie Durham. &ldquo;You are
+indispensable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No one is indispensable,&rdquo; replied
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bother your metaphysics, Jasper!&rdquo; was the
+answer. &ldquo;We are not going to let you go. &lsquo;We&rsquo; is
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb272" href="#pb272" name=
+"pb272">272</a>]</span>the majority of Marlow, not only the committee.
+We&rsquo;ll fight the fanatics somehow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The majority referred to by Elsie Durham was fairly
+compact in relation to this issue of retaining Jasper Thrale, and
+included the two greater of the three recognizable parties in the
+community. Of these three, the greatest was the moderate party, made up
+of Episcopalians, Nonconformists and a few Roman Catholics, who found
+relief for their emotion one day in seven either in the Town Hall or
+Marlow Church, in which places services and meetings were
+held&mdash;the former by certain approved individuals, notably Elsie
+Durham and the widow of the late Rector of Marlow. The second party in
+order of size included all those who either denied the Divine
+revelation or were careless of all religious matters. The third
+party&mdash;the Jenkynites, as they were dubbed by their
+opponents&mdash;had drawn their numbers from every old denomination.
+The Jenkynites were differentiated from the other two parties by
+certain physical differences. For instance, the Jenkynites numbered few
+members under the age of thirty-five; very few of them were fat, and
+very few of them were capable field workers; they were hungry-eyed, and
+had a certain air of disappointed eagerness about them; they looked as
+though they had for ever sought something, and, finding it, had
+remained unsatisfied. In all, there were some seventeen women who might
+have been regarded as quite true to type, and about this vivid nucleus
+were clustered nearly a hundred other women, many of whom exhibited
+some characteristic <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb273" href="#pb273"
+name="pb273">273</a>]</span>mark of the same type, while the remainder,
+perhaps 40 per cent of the whole body, had joined the party out of
+bravado, to seek excitement, or for some purpose of expediency.</p>
+<p class="par">Among the last was Mrs Isaacson, who was the ultimate
+cause of the Jenkynite defeat.</p>
+<p class="par">Ever since she had passed her examination in farm
+supervision, Mrs Isaacson had exhibited an increasing tendency to rest
+on her laurels. She had grown very stout again during her stay in
+Marlow, and complained of severe heart trouble. The least exertion
+brought on violent palpitation accompanied by the most alarming
+symptoms. The poor lady would gasp for breath, press her hands
+convulsively to a spot just below her left breast, and roll up her eyes
+till they presented only a terrifying repulsive rim of blood-streaked
+white, if the least exertion were demanded from her, and yet she would
+persist in the effort until absolutely on the verge of collapse.
+&ldquo;No, no! I must work!&rdquo; she would insist. &ldquo;It iss not
+fair to the others that I do no work. I will try once more. It iss only
+fair.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">At times they had to insist that she should return home
+and rest.</p>
+<p class="par">And as the winter closed in, Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s rests
+became more and more protracted. Jasper Thrale grinned and said:
+&ldquo;I suppose we&rsquo;ve got to keep her&rdquo;; but there was a
+feeling among the other members of the committee that they were
+creating an undesirable precedent. Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s example was
+being followed by other women who preferred rest to work. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb274" href="#pb274" name="pb274">274</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Heart weakness was becoming endemic in Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">Then came the news that Mrs Isaacson had joined the
+Jenkynites. The seventeen received her somewhat doubtfully at first,
+but the body of the sect were in favour of her reception. Possibly they
+were rather proud of counting one more fat woman among them; the
+average member was so noticeably thin.</p>
+<p class="par">Even the seventeen were satisfied within a fortnight of
+Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s conversion. She had a wonderful fluency, and she
+said the right and proper things in her own peculiar English&mdash;a
+form of speech which had a certain piquancy and interest and afforded
+relief and variety after the somewhat stereotyped formulas of the
+seventeen.</p>
+<p class="par">But early in December, before the floods came, Mrs
+Isaacson was convicted of a serious offence against the community. One
+of the committee&rsquo;s first works had been to store certain
+priceless valuables. Tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, salt, baking
+powder, wine and other irreplaceable commodities had been locked up in
+one of the bank premises. In all, they had a fairly large store, upon
+which they had hardly drawn as yet. It was not intended to hoard these
+luxuries indefinitely. After harvest a dole had been made to all the
+workers as acknowledgment of their services, and it had been decided to
+hold another festival on Christmas Day.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson, with unsuspected energy, had burglariously
+entered this storehouse of wealth. She had found an accessible window
+at the rear, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb275" href="#pb275" name=
+"pb275">275</a>]</span>which she had succeeded in forcing, and, despite
+her bulk and the delicate state of her heart, she had effected an
+entrance and stolen tea, sugar, candles and whisky.</p>
+<p class="par">She was, indeed, finally caught in the act; but her
+thefts would probably have escaped notice&mdash;she worked after dark,
+and with a cunning and caution that would have placed her high in the
+profession before the plague&mdash;had it not been for Blanche.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">7</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">It seems that Mrs Isaacson had formed the habit of
+staying up in the evening. She pleaded that she could not sleep during
+the early hours of the night, which was not surprising in view of the
+fact that she slept much during the day; and as she was diligent in
+picking up or begging sufficient wood to maintain the fire, there was
+no reason why Blanche and Millie should offer any objection. Thrale had
+rigged up a dynamo at the mill now to provide artificial light, and the
+girls&rsquo; hours of work were so prolonged that they were glad to get
+to bed at half-past seven. By eight o&rsquo;clock Mrs Isaacson
+evidently counted herself safe from all interruption.</p>
+<p class="par">She might have continued her enjoyment of luxury
+undiscovered throughout the winter if Blanche had not suffered from
+toothache.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been in bed and asleep nearly two hours when her
+dreams of discomfort merged into a consciousness of actual pain. She
+sighed and pressed her cheek into the pillows, made agonizing
+exploration <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb276" href="#pb276" name=
+"pb276">276</a>]</span>with her tongue, and tried to go to sleep again.
+Possibly she might have succeeded had not that unaccountable smell of
+whisky obtruded itself upon her senses.</p>
+<p class="par">At first she thought the house was on fire. That had
+always been her one fear in leaving Mrs Isaacson alone; and she sat up
+in bed and sniffed vigorously. &ldquo;Funny,&rdquo; she murmured;
+&ldquo;it smells like&mdash;like plum pudding.&rdquo; The analogy was
+probably suggested to her by the odour of burning brandy.</p>
+<p class="par">She got up and opened the door of the bedroom.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson slept on a sort of glorified landing, and
+when Blanche stepped outside her own door she could see at once by the
+light of a watery full moon that her lodger had not yet come to
+bed.</p>
+<p class="par">The smell of the spirit was stronger on the landing, and
+Blanche, forgetting her toothache in the excitement of the moment,
+stole quietly down the short flight of crooked stairs. The door giving
+on to the living-room was latched, but there were two convenient
+knot-holes, and through one of them she saw Mrs Isaacson seated by the
+fire drinking hot tea. On the table stood an open whisky bottle and two
+lighted wax candles.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was thunderstruck. Tea, whisky and candles were
+inexplicable things. The thought of witchcraft obtruded itself, and so
+fascinated her that she stood on the stairs gazing through the knothole
+until a sudden rigour reminded her that she was deadly cold.</p>
+<p class="par">She did not interrupt the orgy. She crept back to bed,
+and after much difficulty awakened Millie. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb277" href="#pb277" name="pb277">277</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The sound of their voices must have alarmed Mrs
+Isaacson, for the girls presently heard her stumbling upstairs. They
+stopped their discussion then, and Blanche&rsquo;s toothache being
+mysteriously cured by her excitement, they were soon asleep again.</p>
+<p class="par">Neither of the girls spoke of their discovery to anyone
+the next day, but Blanche returned to the cottage at half-past four,
+when Mrs Isaacson was at a meeting over the way, and explored her
+bedroom<span class="corr" id="xd23e4673" title="Not in source">.</span>
+She found a small store of tea, sugar and candles under the
+mattress&mdash;the whisky bottle had disappeared&mdash;and so came to
+an understanding of Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s self-sacrificing insistence
+that she should perform all work connected with her own
+sleeping-place&mdash;it could hardly be called a room.</p>
+<p class="par">After consultation with Millie, Blanche decided that she
+must inform Jasper Thrale of the contraband.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s been stealing, of course,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;I suppose we shall have to bring it home to her.&rdquo;
+But he laughed at Blanche&rsquo;s indignation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s stealing from <i>us</i>!&rdquo; said
+Blanche, who had developed a fine sense of her duty towards and
+interest in the community.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes! you&rsquo;re quite right,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll inform the committee&mdash;at least, the
+non-Jenkynites.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The five non-Jenkynites were furious.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must make an example,&rdquo; Elsie Durham
+said. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that we shall miss what the Isaacson woman
+has taken&mdash;or will take. It&rsquo;s the question of precedent.
+This is where we are facing the beginning <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb278" href="#pb278" name="pb278">278</a>]</span>of
+law&mdash;isn&rsquo;t it? Somebody has to protect the members of the
+community against themselves. If one steals and goes unpunished,
+another will steal<span class="corr" id="xd23e4693" title=
+"Not in source">.</span> We shall have the women divided into stealers
+and workers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What are you going to do with her?&rdquo; asked
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Turn her out,&rdquo; replied Elsie Durham.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The Jenkynites won&rsquo;t let her go,&rdquo;
+said Thrale raising the larger question.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; said Elsie Durham,
+&ldquo;But that reminds me that we must catch the woman <i lang=
+"la">flagrante delicto</i>; we must have no quibbles about the
+facts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale agreed with the wisdom of this policy, but
+refused to take any part in either the detection or the prosecution of
+Mrs Isaacson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll say its a put-up job if I have
+anything to do with it,&rdquo; he argued.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">8</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The Jenkynites blazed when Rebecca Isaacson was
+finally caught and denounced. The culprit, when caught in the act of
+entering the bank premises had made a slight error of judgment, and
+pleaded the excuse that she was a sleepwalker and quite unconscious of
+what she was doing; but she afterwards adopted a sounder line of
+defence. She made full confession to the seventeen, pleaded extravagant
+penitence with all the necessary references to the blood of the Lamb,
+and displayed all the well-known <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb279"
+href="#pb279" name="pb279">279</a>]</span>signs that she would become
+fervent in well-doing after the ensanguined ablutions had been
+metaphorically performed.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites were enraptured with so real a case of
+sin. They had been compelled to content themselves with so many minor
+failures from grace that the performances were becoming slightly
+monotonous.</p>
+<p class="par">The &ldquo;Sister Rebecca&rdquo; case was refreshingly
+real and genuine, and they meant to make the most of it. Also, this
+case gave them occasion to assert themselves once more against the
+opinions of the community.</p>
+<p class="par">It must not be supposed that the seventeen deliberately
+adopted a practical and apparently promising policy. They were not
+consciously seeking to obtain civil power as were the priests of the
+old days before the plague. The seventeen had no sense of the State as
+represented by the community; they were without question perfectly
+sincere in their beliefs and actions. Their fault, if it can be so
+described, was their inability to adapt themselves to their conditions.
+They were as unchangeable as the old lady who had died sooner than be
+permanently separated from the glories of a house in Wisteria Grove.
+She and the seventeen and many other women in Marlow were demonstrating
+that rigidity of opinion is detrimental to the interests of the growing
+State. The same proposition had been clearly demonstrated by a few
+exceptional individuals in the old days, but progress was so slow, the
+property owners so content, and the average of <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb280" href="#pb280" name=
+"pb280">280</a>]</span>mankind so intensely conservative, that their
+arguments received no attention. For every man who believed in the
+broad principle of maintaining an open mind, there were ten thousand
+who were quite incapable of putting the principle into practice. With
+these women in Marlow the conditions were completely changed. Moreover,
+women are by nature more broad-minded than men in practical affairs.
+Where intuition rather than the hard-and-fast methods of an
+intellectual logic is being brought into play, new and wonderful
+possibilities of adaptation may enter the domain of politics.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites and such individuals as the late Mrs
+Gosling became suddenly conspicuous in the new conditions. The type
+that they represent cannot persist. They are the bonds on a vigorous
+and increasing growth; the tree will grow and burst away all inflexible
+restraints.</p>
+<p class="par">In Marlow the new and vigorous growth was the sense of
+the community. The majority of the women were realizing, consciously or
+unconsciously, that they must work with and for each other. The
+Jenkynite affair served the committee as a valuable object-lesson.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson was free to do as she would while the
+discussion raged. Imprisonment would have been utterly futile. The
+committee did not wish to punish her for her offence against common
+property, they merely wished to rid themselves of an undesirable member
+and to make public announcement that they would in like manner exclude
+any other <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb281" href="#pb281" name=
+"pb281">281</a>]</span>member who proved herself a burden to the
+community.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites were characteristically unable to
+comprehend this argument. They had their own definitions of heinous and
+venial sins, definitions based on ancient precedent, and they counted
+the fault of Millie Gosling in the former and that of Rebecca Isaacson
+in the latter category. They were not susceptible to argument. As they
+saw the problem, no argument was admissible. They had the old law and
+the old prophets on their side, and maintained that what was true once
+was true for all time. In their opinion, changed conditions did not
+affect morality.</p>
+<p class="par">If the need for labour had been great, the affair might
+have been shelved for a time as of less importance than the dominant
+economic demand which takes precedence of all other problems. But
+although the floods had not yet come, there was not enough work for all
+the members of the community, and this comparative idleness reacted
+upon the importance of the Isaacson case in another and probably more
+influential direction than the abstract consideration of justice and
+humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">The women had time to talk, and a new and fascinating
+subject was given them to discuss. And they talked; and their talk
+ripened into action. The affair Isaacson, which included also the
+affair Jenkyns, was brought to a climax at a mass meeting in the Town
+Hall.</p>
+<p class="par">It was decided, noisily, but with considerable emphasis,
+that for the good of the community the <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb282" href="#pb282" name="pb282">282</a>]</span>Jenkynites must go.
+The seventeen were specifically indicated, but it was understood that
+certain of their more advanced adherents would go with them.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites accepted the decision in the spirit of
+their belief. They were martyrs in a great cause. They would leave this
+accursed city (their terminology was always Biblical) and cast off its
+dust from their feet&mdash;although the roads were deep in mud at the
+time. They would go forth to regenerate the world, upheld by their love
+of truth and their zeal for the Word.</p>
+<p class="par">Only Mrs Isaacson dissented, but she was compelled to go
+with them.</p>
+<p class="par">They went forth in the rain, thirty-nine of them in all,
+exalted with conscious righteousness and faint with enthusiasm. The
+women of Marlow were kind to them. They turned out and jeered the
+little procession as it marched out of the town by the Henley Road.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo stole the tea?&rdquo; was the most
+popular taunt, and no doubt the exiles would have preferred that the
+taunts should have been cast at their faith rather than at the social
+misdemeanour of an obscure convert. But any form of martyrdom was
+better than none, and they held their heads high and sang &ldquo;Glory!
+glory!&rdquo; with magnificent fervour.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ve done right,&rdquo;
+commented Elsie Durham. &ldquo;But we should never have had all the
+women with us if there had been no offence against property. That
+touched them&mdash;communal property. I&rsquo;m not sure that it
+isn&rsquo;t become almost dearer than personal property.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb283" href="#pb283" name=
+"pb283">283</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch19" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XIX&mdash;</span>ON THE
+FLOOD</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">From the middle of November onwards, the river had
+been running nearly bank-high, and so much power was available that
+Thrale had been considering the possibility of lighting some of the
+nearer houses by electricity. He had made three journeys to London, and
+with half a dozen assistants he had rifled two dynamos from the power
+station just outside Paddington, and had brought back twenty
+truck-loads of coal.</p>
+<p class="par">The dynamos, however, were still in the truck, covered
+by tarpaulin. Thrale had decided that the luxury of artificial lighting
+could not be provided until all the grain had been thrashed and milled.
+The end of that work was now in sight, and the accumulated wealth of
+flour in Marlow was calculated to be sufficient to last the community
+for at least twelve months. But before the lighting scheme could be put
+in hand, a new trouble had threatened.</p>
+<p class="par">During the first week of December there was almost
+continuous rain, and the river began to top its banks, spreading itself
+over the meadowland below the lock and creeping up the end of St
+Peter&rsquo;s Street. No serious matter as yet, and a short spell of
+frost and clear skies followed; but before Christmas heavy rains came
+again, and Thrale began to grow anxious. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb284" href="#pb284" name="pb284">284</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The weirs down-stream ought to be opened,&rdquo;
+he explained to Eileen. &ldquo;They are probably all up; we need never
+be afraid of shortage here; if we close our own weir we can always hold
+up all the water we want.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is it serious?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not yet, but it may be,&rdquo; he said, looking
+up at the sky. &ldquo;All Marlow might be flooded.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">And still the rain fell, and soon the girls had to wade
+through a foot of water to reach the mill.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I must go down-stream and open all the
+weirs,&rdquo; Thrale announced on Christmas Eve. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been
+looking at a steam launch over at the boat-house; it&rsquo;s in quite
+good condition. I shall bring it up to the town landing-stage to-morrow
+and get enough coal and food aboard to last a week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going alone?&rdquo; said
+Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No! I <i>must</i> take some one to work the
+engine and the locks,&rdquo; returned Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come!&rdquo; announced Eileen, with
+glee.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale shook his head. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to run
+this place,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">Since that night in September no reference had been made
+by either of them to his strange revelation of fear. They had worked
+together as two men might have worked. Neither of them had exhibited
+the least consciousness of sex. Thrale believed that he had put the
+fear away from him, and Eileen was content to wait. She was barely
+twenty.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Blanche could run the mill,&rdquo; she suggested.
+&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much to do now.&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb285" href="#pb285" name="pb285">285</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Thrale turned away from her with a touch of impatience.
+&ldquo;Blanche had better come with me,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I <i>want</i> to come,&rdquo; pleaded Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be sport.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care to trust Blanche with the
+mill,&rdquo; he persisted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s every bit as good as I am,&rdquo; was
+her reply.</p>
+<p class="par">He shook his head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, look here,&rdquo; said Eileen, &ldquo;you
+might let me come, or are you&mdash;are you afraid of&mdash;of what the
+women will say?&rdquo; She was standing by one of the flour-encrusted
+mill windows and she began to scratch a clean place on it with her
+nail.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale did not answer for a moment and then he came and
+stood near her. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Are you sick
+of your work here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t mind a change,&rdquo; she said,
+intent on enlarging her peep-hole.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One forgets that you are women,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;I suppose women are never content with work for
+work&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If you like,&rdquo; returned Eileen
+inconsequently. &ldquo;I can see out now. Why don&rsquo;t we have these
+windows cleaned sometimes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can have them done while I&rsquo;m
+away,&rdquo; he suggested.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming with you,&rdquo; said
+Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! you can come if you like,&rdquo; he said. He
+thought he was perfectly safe, despite this unusual display of
+femininity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb286" href="#pb286" name=
+"pb286">286</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to run the engine,&rdquo; he
+concluded.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I&rsquo;ll run the engine,&rdquo; she agreed
+and looked down at her capable, frankly dirty little hands.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The weirs at Marlow and Hedsor had been roaring
+open-mouthed for ten days before Thrale and Eileen began their journey;
+but the water had been piling up from below and the floods were working
+back up river. The fact that none of the weirs above Henley was closed
+had served to protect Marlow in some degree. There were great floods
+above Sonning, and from Goring to Culham the country was a vast sheet
+of water. This water, however, only came down comparatively slowly
+owing to the dammed condition of the main channel, and a greater
+proportion of it was absorbed. If the upper weirs had been open, Marlow
+would have been under water by the middle of December.</p>
+<p class="par">Not until the launch had been man&oelig;uvred with some
+difficulty through Boulter&rsquo;s Lock did Thrale begin to realize the
+full significance of the situation.</p>
+<p class="par">He had had very great difficulty first in reaching and
+second in raising the paddles of the Taplow weir. In one place the
+force of the flood had broken away the structure, but even with the
+relief this passage had afforded the pressure of water on the paddles
+was so great that he had been working for more than two hours before
+the last valve was opened. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb287" href=
+"#pb287" name="pb287">287</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Eileen had been waiting for him with the launch warped
+up just below the lock where the force of the stream was not so
+great.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether we shall be able to
+carry out this job,&rdquo; remarked Thrale when he rejoined her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, but we must,&rdquo; she expostulated.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you see what has happened?&rdquo; he
+explained. &ldquo;All the water is piled up below us. We shall probably
+find the next locks flood-high, which means that we sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t
+be able to open them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must navigate,&rdquo; said Eileen.
+&ldquo;Steam round them; shoot the weirs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+wondering how far our responsibility goes. If we don&rsquo;t open the
+river right down to Richmond, we shall only be increasing the flood in
+the lower reaches, and there may be women living there. After all,
+Marlow isn&rsquo;t the only place on the river. And there is another
+thing; we may never get back. It&rsquo;s a risky thing we are proposing
+to do. No one could swim against this current. If we were upset and
+carried into a weir, we should be smashed to pieces in no time. Do you
+think the community can spare us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bother the community!&rdquo; replied Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">The community and its activities were already in the
+background of her mind. Marlow had receded into a little distant place
+with which she was no longer connected. The world of adventure and
+romance lay open before her. She wanted only to explore this turbulent
+river, widened now into a miniature Amazon, from which arose the
+islands of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb288" href="#pb288" name=
+"pb288">288</a>]</span>half-submerged houses and trees that composed
+the strange archipelago of Maidenhead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Thrale again.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try. It&rsquo;s no use waiting for the stream to go
+down. We&rsquo;d better go on now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Shall I cast off?&rdquo; asked Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Steady, steady,&rdquo; Thrale warned her.
+&ldquo;The next quarter of a mile is simply a rapid. You must be ready
+to get the engines going full ahead the moment we start, or I
+sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t be able to steer her. And, now, we must both cast
+off together or we shall be across the stream in two ticks. Just loosen
+the rope round the cleats and let go, and then start the engine. Let
+the loose end of the rope drag till we&rsquo;ve time to pick it up. Are
+you ready? All right&mdash;cast off!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The little launch swept out into the current with a
+bound the instant she was released from her moorings, and almost before
+the engines began to revolve she was caught in the rapids that surged
+down from the newly-opened weir. She was only a light draught
+pleasure-boat, designed to navigate the placid surface of the summer
+Thames, and when she entered the curling broken water below the island
+she threw up her nose and plunged like a nervous mare.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Full steam ahead,&rdquo; shouted Thrale at the
+toy wheel. Eileen nodded, crouching over her little engine; the roar of
+the stream had drowned Thrale&rsquo;s voice, but she guessed his
+order.</p>
+<p class="par">Her eyes were bright with excitement. She had no sense
+of fear. She was exhilarated by the sense <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb289" href="#pb289" name="pb289">289</a>]</span>of rapid movement.
+The launch, indeed, was travelling at a remarkable pace. In the narrow
+channel between the islands and the town, the river must have been
+running at nearly ten miles an hour, and the engines were probably
+adding another eight. In the wide spaces of the ocean eighteen miles an
+hour may appear a safe and controllable speed, but this little launch
+was running down hill, she could not be stopped at command, and the
+restricted course was beset with many and dangerous obstacles.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale, handling the little brass wheel forward, was
+conscious of uneasiness. The launch steered after a fashion, but he had
+little control of her. The trees on the banks appeared to be flying
+upstream at the pace of an express train, and ahead of him was the town
+bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">He decided instantly that they could not pass under it,
+and put the wheel over, intending to shoot out of the stream into the
+calm of the flood water over the new open bank. But as the launch
+turned and came across, the current took her stern and turned her half
+round. For a moment her lee rail was under water, and she trembled and
+rocked on the verge of capsize. Then her engines drove her out of the
+stream and she righted herself again and began to cut through the
+almost still, shallow flood water.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Stop her!&rdquo; roared Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; replied Eileen,
+coolly, as she obeyed the order.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No room to pass under the bridge,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;I suppose we&rsquo;ll have to navigate, as you call it.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb290" href="#pb290" name=
+"pb290">290</a>]</span>Go dead slow, and be prepared to stop her at a
+moment&rsquo;s notice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They spent over an hour in finding a passage round the
+approach to the bridge. They had laboriously to pole the launch through
+the tops of hedges, and in one place they were aground for ten minutes.
+But after they had returned to the stream once more they had a rapid
+and easy passage down to Bray. They shot the great arch of the
+Maidenhead railway bridge triumphantly. Eileen said it was
+&ldquo;glorious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The weir at Bray proved even more difficult to negotiate
+than the one above, and by the time it was fully opened the dull
+December afternoon was closing in.</p>
+<p class="par">They spent that night moored to two of the elms that
+ring the isolated little church in the meadows by Boveney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;At this rate,&rdquo; remarked Thrale as they
+settled themselves for the night, &ldquo;it&rsquo;ll take us a week to
+get to Richmond. We&rsquo;ve done two weirs out of thirteen, so
+far.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Thrale&rsquo;s estimate proved excessive. They
+reached Richmond on the fourth day out from Marlow, having opened
+another nine weirs&mdash;the one at Old Windsor had been swept away,
+and the one below Richmond Bridge Thrale opened that afternoon.</p>
+<p class="par">During those four days they had seen few signs of life.
+They had moved, keeping to the main stream <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb291" href="#pb291" name="pb291">291</a>]</span>for
+the most part, in the midst of a wide expanse of water; exploring a
+desolate and wasted country.</p>
+<p class="par">Once they had been hailed by three women, who looked out
+at them from a house in Windsor, and shouted something they did not
+catch; and a woman had been standing on Staines Bridge as they careered
+intrepidly through the centre arch&mdash;they had no time even to
+distinguish her dress. But with these exceptions they might have come
+through the land of an extinct civilization, devoid of life; a land in
+which deserted houses and church towers stood up from the silver sheet
+of a vast lake, that was threaded by this one impetuous torrent of
+swelling river.</p>
+<p class="par">Richmond, also, was deserted. The emigrants had passed
+on over the river or southwards to Petersham and so into Surrey.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well!&rdquo; said Eileen, wiping her
+oil-blackened hands on a bunch of cotton waste, &ldquo;that job&rsquo;s
+done. We&rsquo;ve fairly drawn the plug of the cistern now. And how are
+we going to get back?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll find a couple of bicycles somewhere
+here,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">It had been a clear day, and there was a suggestion of
+frost in the air. The sun was setting very red and full behind the bare
+trees across the river. Save for the gurgle and hiss of the eddying
+flood, everything was very still. The little launch which had served
+them so well, and bore the marks of its great adventure in broken rails
+and bruised sides, was run aground by the side of the bridge. Thrale
+was standing in the road, but Eileen still sat by her engine.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb292" href="#pb292" name=
+"pb292">292</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I hate to leave the launch,&rdquo; she said,
+after a long pause.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We can come back and fetch her up when the flood
+goes down,&rdquo; returned Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done pretty well, the three of
+us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, the three of us,<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e4929" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span> he echoed.<a id=
+"xd23e4932" name="xd23e4932"></a></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It has been great fun,&rdquo; sighed Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale did not reply. He was thinking himself back into
+the past. He saw a street in Melbourne on a burning December evening,
+and the figure of a gaily-clad little brunette who spoke purest cockney
+and asked him why he looked so glum. &ldquo;We ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo;
+to a funeral,&rdquo; she had said. Yet afterwards he had believed that
+something had been buried that night. He had faced his own passion and
+the sight of it had disgusted him. He had seen the shadow of a demon
+who might master him, and he had grappled with it; he believed that he
+had slain and buried lust in Melbourne ten years ago. It had not risen
+up to confront him when the plague had put a world of women at his
+command. He had not been forced to fight, he was not
+tempted&mdash;surely the thing was dead and buried. Only once, on that
+warm September night, had he felt a sudden furious desire to take this
+girl into his arms and fly with her into the woods. The desire had come
+and gone, he was master of it, and in any case it bore no resemblance
+to the brutal thing he had faced in Melbourne.</p>
+<p class="par">Nor, as he stood now by Richmond Bridge watching the
+vault of the sky deepen to an intenser blue, did the feeling that
+possessed him in any way resemble that old cruel passion which had
+flared up and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb293" href="#pb293" name=
+"pb293">293</a>]</span>died&mdash;surely it had died. He could not
+analyse his feeling for this brave, clear-eyed companion, who had faced
+with him all the dangers of the past four days without a sign of fear.
+She had made no advances to him, they were friends, she might have been
+some delightfully clean, wholesome boy. And then his thought was
+pierced and broken by a horrible suggestion.</p>
+<p class="par">A picture of the hill to Handy Cross flashed before him,
+and he saw a little lonely figure creeping furtively away from Marlow.
+He drove his nails into his palms and suddenly cried out.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; said Eileen, turning
+round and looking up at him. &ldquo;Have you forgotten
+anything?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He stepped into the boat and sat down beside her.
+&ldquo;I want to know&mdash;I must know,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">She looked at him and smiled. &ldquo;All right, old
+man,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Fire away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I told you once that I was frightened of
+you,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;I want to know if you have ever been
+frightened of yourself&mdash;or of me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I could never be frightened of you,&rdquo; she
+replied, and looked away towards the rising darkness of the shadows
+across the hurrying river, &ldquo;and I haven&rsquo;t been afraid of
+myself&mdash;yet. I don&rsquo;t think&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t you be frightened of me if I
+picked you up and ran shouting into the woods?&rdquo; he asked,
+fiercely.</p>
+<p class="par">Her eyes met his without reserve. &ldquo;Dear old
+man,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I should love it. I&rsquo;m so glad you
+understand. That was the one thing that prevented our being real
+friends. I&rsquo;ve wanted so much to be frank <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb294" href="#pb294" name="pb294">294</a>]</span>and
+open with you. It&rsquo;s all these silly reserves that make love
+abominable. Now we can be two jolly, clean human beings who understand
+each other, can&rsquo;t we? And we shall be such ripping good friends
+always; quite open and honest with each other.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He drew a deep, sighing breath and put his arms round
+her, drew her close to him and laid his face against hers.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been such an awful ass,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always thought that love was unclean. I&rsquo;ve been
+like that Jenkyn woman. I&rsquo;ve been prurient and suspicious and
+evil-minded. I&rsquo;ve been like the people who cover up statues. But
+there was an excuse for me&mdash;and for them, too. I didn&rsquo;t
+know, because there was no woman like you to teach me. All the women
+I&rsquo;ve known have been secretive and sly. They&rsquo;ve fouled love
+for me by making it seem a hidden, disreputable thing. Oh! we shall be
+ripping good friends, little Eileen&mdash;magnificent
+friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This is a jolly old boat, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;
+replied Eileen, inconsequently. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t smother me, old man.
+And, I say, do you think we&rsquo;ll be able to raid some soap from
+somewhere? Do look at my hands! You couldn&rsquo;t be friends with a
+chap who had hands like that!&rdquo; ...</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;d like to
+remark,&rdquo; said Eileen the next morning. There had been a frost in
+the night, and there was every promise of an easy ride back to
+Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Thrale, examining the deflated
+tyres of two bicycles they had chosen from a shop in the High
+Street.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;d never have understood each other so
+well <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb295" href="#pb295" name=
+"pb295">295</a>]</span>if we hadn&rsquo;t worked together on the same
+job,&rdquo; said Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course not,&rdquo; returned Thrale. His
+tone seemed to imply that she had stated a truth that must always have
+been obvious to sensible people.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That and there being no footle about
+marriage,&rdquo; concluded Eileen.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">A third factor that had contributed to the
+perfection of that complete understanding was not realized by either
+until they were descending the hill into Bisham.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I rather wish we weren&rsquo;t going back,&rdquo;
+said Eileen. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s stop a moment. I want to talk.
+We&rsquo;ve never thought of what we&rsquo;re going to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do?&rdquo; said Jasper, as he dismounted.
+&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve just got to make an announcement and
+that&rsquo;s the end of it. The Jenkyns lot have all gone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the end, it&rsquo;s the
+beginning,&rdquo; replied Eileen. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you see that we
+can&rsquo;t even explain?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t try.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall. We shall have to&mdash;in a way.
+It&rsquo;ll take years and years to do it. But the point is that they
+won&rsquo;t understand, now, none of them, not even Elsie Durham. We
+aren&rsquo;t free any longer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t alone,&rdquo; she added, bringing
+the hitherto unacknowledged factor into prominence.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale frowned and looked up into the thin brightness of
+the frosty sky. &ldquo;Yes, I understand,&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb296" href="#pb296" name="pb296">296</a>]</span>he
+said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s public opinion that compels one to regard love
+as shameful and secret. Alone together, free from every suspicion, we
+hadn&rsquo;t a doubt. But now, we have to explain and we can&rsquo;t
+explain, and we are forced against our wills to wonder whether we can
+be right and all the rest of the world wrong.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>are</i> right,&rdquo; put in Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only we can&rsquo;t prove it to anyone but
+ourselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we shouldn&rsquo;t want to, if we
+hadn&rsquo;t got to live with them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they looked at one another
+thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, we mustn&rsquo;t run away,&rdquo; Jasper
+said, with determination, after a pause. &ldquo;Look, the flood has
+begun to go down already. That&rsquo;s our work. There&rsquo;s other
+work for us to do yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time they were silent, looking down on to Marlow
+and out over the valley.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t go over <i>that</i> hill,&rdquo;
+said Eileen, at last, pointing to the distant rise of Handy Cross.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Jasper, and then, &ldquo;we
+won&rsquo;t hide behind hills. Damn public opinion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes, damn public opinion,&rdquo; agreed
+Eileen. &ldquo;But we won&rsquo;t stay in Marlow always.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb297" href="#pb297" name=
+"pb297">297</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch20" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XX&mdash;</span>THE TERRORS OF
+SPRING</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The frost gave way on the third night, and for ten
+days there was a spell of mild weather with some rain. Carrie Oliver
+began to contemplate the possibility of getting forward with such
+ploughing as still remained to be done. She proposed to have an
+increased acreage of arable that year, and less pasture, less hay and
+less turnips; the arable was to include potatoes, beans and peas. For
+the community was rapidly tending towards vegetarianism. They had no
+butcher in Marlow, and the women revolted against the slaughter of
+cattle and sheep. They were hesitating and clumsy in the attack, and so
+inflicted wounds which were not fatal, they turned sick at the sight of
+the brute&rsquo;s agonies and at the appalling spurts of blood, and
+finally when the animal was at last mercifully dead, they bungled the
+dissection of the carcase.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner starve than do it again,&rdquo;
+was the invariable decision pronounced by any new volunteer who had
+heroically offered to provide Marlow with meat, and even Carrie Oliver
+admitted that it was a &ldquo;beastly dirty job.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only,&rdquo; she added &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll
+&rsquo;ave to go on breeding <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb298" href=
+"#pb298" name="pb298">298</a>]</span>calves or we won&rsquo;t get no
+milk, an&rsquo; what are we goin&rsquo; to do with the
+bullocks?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The committee wondered if some form of barter might not
+be introduced. Wycombe and Henley might have something to offer in
+exchange, or, failing that, might be urged to accept these superfluous
+beasts as a present, returning the skins and horns, for which there
+might be a use in the near future. Sheep must be reared for their
+wool&mdash;the clothes of the community would not last for ever. The
+subjects of tanning and weaving were being studied by certain members
+of the now enlarged committee. Neither operation presented insuperable
+difficulties.</p>
+<p class="par">Now that a certain supply of food was provided for, the
+community was already turning its energy towards the industries. Many
+schemes were being planned and debated. Marlow was well situated, with
+such abundance of water and wood at its gates; and the question of
+attracting desirable immigrants had been raised.</p>
+<p class="par">Time was afforded for the consideration of all these
+schemes by the great frost which began on New Year&rsquo;s Day and
+lasted until the end of February.</p>
+<p class="par">The frost came first from the south-west, and for three
+days the country was changed into a fairy world built of sharp white
+crystals, a world that was seen dimly through a magic veil of mist.
+Then followed a black and bitter wind from the north-east, that bought
+a thin and driving snow, and when the wind fell the country was locked
+in an iron shell that was not relaxed for six weeks. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb299" href="#pb299" name="pb299">299</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The flood had nearly subsided before the first frost
+came, but the river was still high, and presently the water came down
+laden with ice-floes, that jammed against the weir and the mill, and
+formed a sheet of ice that gradually crept back towards the bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">All field and mill work was stopped, and Thrale and
+Eileen spent two or three days a week making excursions to London,
+bringing back coal and other forms of riches.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Their fear of being misunderstood had proved to
+have been an exaggeration. In that exalted mood of theirs, which had
+risen to such heights, after four days of adventurous solitude, they
+had come a little too near the stars. In finding themselves they had
+lost touch with the world.</p>
+<p class="par">Elsie Durham had smiled at their defensive
+announcement.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear children,&rdquo; she had said,
+&ldquo;don&rsquo;t be touchy about it. I am so glad; and, of course,
+I&rsquo;ve known for months that you would come to an understanding.
+And there&rsquo;s no need to tell me that your&mdash;agreement, did you
+say?&mdash;was entirely different to any other. I know. But be human
+about it. Don&rsquo;t apologize for it by being superior to all of
+us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; Eileen had said
+enthusiastically.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless there were many women still left in
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb300" href="#pb300" name=
+"pb300">300</a>]</span>Marlow who were less spiritually-minded than
+Elsie Durham. Comparative idleness induced gossip, and there was more
+than one party in the community which regarded Thrale and Eileen with
+disfavour.</p>
+<p class="par">The old ruts had been worn too deep to be smoothed out
+in a few months, however heavy had been the great roller of necessity.
+And, strangely enough, the life of Sam Evans at High Wycombe was
+regarded by many of the more bigoted with less displeasure than this
+perfectly wholesome and desirable union of Thrale and Eileen. The
+prostitution of Sam Evans was a new thing outside the experience of
+these women, and it was accepted as an outcome of the new conditions.
+The other affair was familiar in its associations, and was condemned on
+both the old and the new precedents.</p>
+<p class="par">The mass of the women were quite unable to think out a
+new morality for themselves....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Relief from all these foolish criticisms,
+gossipings and false emotions came when the frost broke. A warm rain in
+the first week of March released the soil from its bonds, and as the
+retarded spring began to move impatiently into life there was a great
+call for labour.</p>
+<p class="par">But as the year ripened the temperament of the community
+exhibited a new and alarming symptom.</p>
+<p class="par">There was a terrible spirit of depression abroad.</p>
+<p class="par">All Nature was warm with the movement of reproduction.
+Nature was growing and propagating, <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb301" href="#pb301" name="pb301">301</a>]</span>thrusting out and
+taking a larger hold upon life. Nature was coming to the fight with new
+reserves and allies, a fruitful and increasing army, eager for the
+struggle against this little decreasing band of sterile humanity.
+Nature was prolific and these women were barren.</p>
+<p class="par">And in some inexplicable way the consciousness of
+futility had spread through the Marlow community. Some posthumous
+children had been born since the plague, a few young girls&mdash;Millie
+among them&mdash;were pregnant, but death had been busier than life
+during the winter, and from outside came stray reports that in other
+communities death had been busier still.</p>
+<p class="par">What hope was there for that generation? They were too
+few to cope with their task. Grass was growing in their streets, their
+houses were in need of repair, and after their day&rsquo;s labour in
+the fields to provide themselves with food, they had neither strength
+nor inclination to take up the battle anew.</p>
+<p class="par">Moreover, the spice was gone from life. Some inherent
+need for emulation was gone. They were ceasing to take any pride in
+their persons, and in their clothes. They wore knickerbockers or
+trousers for convenience in working, and suffered a strange loss of
+self-esteem in consequence. Many of the younger women still returned in
+the evenings to what skirts and ribbons they still possessed, but the
+habit was declining. The uselessness of it was growing even more
+apparent. There were no sex distinctions or class distinctions among
+them. Of what account was it that one girl was prettier or better
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb302" href="#pb302" name=
+"pb302">302</a>]</span>dressed than her neighbour? What mattered was
+whether she was a stronger or more intelligent worker.</p>
+<p class="par">Above all, the woman&rsquo;s need for love and
+admiration could find no outlet. They realized that they were becoming
+hardened and unsexed, and revolted against the coming change. Something
+within them rose up and cried for expression, and when it was thwarted
+it turned to a thing of evil....</p>
+<p class="par">The mind of the community was becoming distorted.
+Hysteria, sexual perversions, and various forms of religious mania were
+rife. Young women broke into futile and unsatisfying orgies of foolish
+dancing, and middle-aged women became absorbed in the contemplation of
+a male and human god.</p>
+<p class="par">Even the committee did not escape the influence of the
+growing despair. They looked forward to a future when such machines and
+tools as they possessed would be worn out, and they had no means of
+replacing them.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had reported that the line to London was becoming
+unsafe for the passage of his trucks. Rust was at work upon the rails;
+rain and floods had weakened embankments; young growths were springing
+up on the permanent way, and it was hopeless to contemplate any work of
+repair. In the old days an army of men had been needed for that work
+alone. The country roads needed re-metalling, and the houses
+restoration; they had not the means or the labour to undertake half the
+necessary work. There were breaches in the river bank and a large and
+apparently permanent lake was forming in the low <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb303" href="#pb303" name=
+"pb303">303</a>]</span>meadows towards Bourne End. All about them
+Nature was so intensely busy in her own regardless way, and they were
+helpless, now, to oppose her.</p>
+<p class="par">The age of iron and machinery was falling into a swift
+decline. All that the community could look for in the future was a
+return to primitive conditions and the fight for bare life. Every year
+their tools and machines would grow less efficient, every year Nature
+would return more powerful to the attack. In ten years they would be
+fighting her with rude and tedious weapons of wood, grinding their
+scanty corn between two stones, and living from hand to mouth. In the
+bountiful South such a life might have its rewards, but how could they
+endure it in this uncertain and cruel North?</p>
+<p class="par">So while the sun rose higher in the sky and the earth
+was wonderfully reclothed, the women of Marlow fell deeper and deeper
+into the horrors of mental depression. What had they to work for, and
+to hope for, save this miserable possession of unsatisfied life?
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb304" href="#pb304" name=
+"pb304">304</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch21" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XXI&mdash;</span>SMOKE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">One bright morning, at the end of April, Jasper
+and Eileen sat on the cliffs at the Land&rsquo;s End and talked of the
+future.</p>
+<p class="par">Ten days before, they had left Marlow on bicycles to
+make exploration. They intended to return; they had explained they
+would be away for a month at the outside, but in view of the growing
+depression and the loss of spirit shown by the community, they
+considered it necessary to go out and discover what conditions obtained
+in other parts of England. It might be, they urged, that the plague had
+been less deadly in other districts.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We should not know, here,&rdquo; Jasper had
+argued. &ldquo;There may be many men left elsewhere; but they might not
+have been able to communicate with us yet. Their attention, like ours,
+would have been concentrated upon local conditions for a time. Eileen
+and I will find out. Perhaps we may be able to open up communication
+again. In any case we&rsquo;ll come back within a month and
+report.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">His natural instinct had taken him into the West
+Country.</p>
+<p class="par">They had left Elsie Durham slightly more cheerful.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb305" href="#pb305" name=
+"pb305">305</a>]</span>They had given her a gleam of hope, given her
+something, at last, to which she might look forward.</p>
+<p class="par">Their own hopes had quickly faded and died as they rode
+on into the West. By the time they reached Plymouth they were thinking
+of Marlow as a place peculiarly favoured by Providence.</p>
+<p class="par">At first they had passed through communities conducted
+on lines resembling their own, greater or smaller groups of women
+working more or less in co-operation. In many of these communities a
+single man was living&mdash;in some cases two men&mdash;who viewed
+their duty towards society in the same light as the Adonis of
+Wycombe.</p>
+<p class="par">But the unit grew steadily smaller as they progressed.
+It was no longer the town or village community but the farm which was
+the centre of activity, and the occupied farms grew more scattered. For
+it appeared that here in the West the plague had attacked women as well
+as men. Another curious fact they learned was that the men had taken
+longer to die. One woman spoke of having nursed her husband for two
+months before the paralysis proved fatal....</p>
+<p class="par">And if the depression in Marlow had been great, the
+travellers soon learned that elsewhere it was greater still. The women
+worked mechanically, drudgingly. They spoke in low, melancholy voices
+when they were questioned, and save for a faint accession of interest
+in Thrale&rsquo;s presence there, and the signs of some feeble flicker
+of hope as they asked of conditions further north and east, they
+appeared to have no thought beyond the instant necessity of sustaining
+the life to which they clung so feebly. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb306" href="#pb306" name="pb306">306</a>]</span>Thrale and Eileen
+rode on into Cornwall, not because they still hoped, but because they
+both felt a vivid desire to reach the Land&rsquo;s End and gaze out
+over the Atlantic. They wanted to leave this desolate land behind them
+for a few hours, and rest their minds in the presence of the
+unchangeable sea.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let us go on and forget for a few days,&rdquo;
+Eileen had said, and so they had at last reached the furthest limit of
+land.</p>
+<p class="par">Cornwall had proved to be a land of the dead. Save for a
+few women in the neighbourhood of St Austell, they had not seen a
+living human being in the whole county.</p>
+<p class="par">And so, on this clear April morning, they sat upon this
+ultimate cliff and talked of the future.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The water below them was delicately flecked with
+white. No long rollers were riding in from the Atlantic, but the fresh
+April breeze was flicking the crests of little waves into foam; and,
+above, an ever-renewed drift of scattered white clouds threw coursing
+shadows upon the blues and purples of the curdling sea.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen and Thrale had walked southwards as far as Carn
+Voel to avoid the obstruction to vision of the Longships, and on three
+sides they looked out to an unbroken horizon of water, which on that
+bright morning was clearly differentiated from the impending sky.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb307" href="#pb307" name=
+"pb307">307</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One might forget&mdash;here,&rdquo; remarked
+Eileen, after a long silence.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it were better to forget,&rdquo; said
+Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen drew up her knees until she could rest her chin
+upon them, embracing them with her arms. &ldquo;What can one do?&rdquo;
+she asked. &ldquo;What good is it all, if there is no
+future?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Just to live out one&rsquo;s own life in the best
+way,&rdquo; was the answer.</p>
+<p class="par">She frowned over that for a time. &ldquo;Do you really
+believe, dear,&rdquo; she said, when she had considered Jasper&rsquo;s
+suggestion, &ldquo;do you really believe that this is the end of
+humanity?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have
+changed my mind half a dozen times in the last few days. There may be a
+race untouched somewhere&mdash;in the archipelagos of the South Seas,
+perhaps&mdash;which will gradually develop and repeople the world
+again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Or in Australia, or New Zealand,&rdquo; she
+prompted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We should have heard from them before
+this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We must have heard before this.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And is there no hope for us, here in England, in
+Marlow? There are a few boys&mdash;infants born since the plague, you
+know&mdash;and there will be more children in the
+future&mdash;Evans&rsquo;s children and those others. There were two
+men in some places, you remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Can they ever grow up? It seems to me that the
+women are dying. They&rsquo;ve nothing to live for. It&rsquo;s only a
+year since the plague first came, and look at them now. What will they
+be like in five years&rsquo; time? They&rsquo;ll die of hopelessness,
+or commit suicide, or <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb308" href=
+"#pb308" name="pb308">308</a>]</span>simply starve from the lack of any
+purpose in living, because work isn&rsquo;t worth while. And the
+others, the mothers, that have some object in living, will fall back
+into savagery. They&rsquo;ll be so occupied in the necessity for work,
+for forcing a living out of the ground somehow, that they&rsquo;ll have
+neither time nor wish to teach their children. I don&rsquo;t know, but
+it seems to me that we are faced with decrease, gradually leading on to
+extinction.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And I doubt,&rdquo; he continued, after a little
+hesitation, &ldquo;I doubt whether these sons of the new conditions
+will have much vitality. They are the children of lust on the
+father&rsquo;s side, worse still, of tired lust. It does make a
+difference. Perhaps if we were a young and vigorous people like the old
+Jews the seed would be strong enough to override any inherent weakness.
+But we are not, we are an old civilization. Before the plague, we had
+come to a consideration of eugenics. It had been forced upon us. A
+vital and growing people does not spend its time on such a question as
+that. Eugenics was a proposition that grew out of the necessity of the
+time. It was easy enough to deny decadence, and to prove our fitness by
+apparently sound argument, but, to me, it always seemed that this
+growing demand for some form of artificial selection of parents, by
+restriction of the palpably unfit, afforded the surest evidence. Things
+like that are only produced if there is a need for them. Eugenics was a
+symptom.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen sighed. &ldquo;And what about us?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy,&rdquo; replied Jasper.
+&ldquo;Probably the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb309" href="#pb309"
+name="pb309">309</a>]</span>happiest people in the world at the present
+time. And we must try to give some of our happiness to others. We must
+go back to Marlow and work for the community. And I think we&rsquo;ll
+try in our limited way to do something for the younger generation.
+Perhaps, it might be possible for us to go north and try our hands at
+making steel, there are probably women there who would help us. But I
+don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s worth while, unless to preserve our
+knowledge and hand it on. We can only lessen the difficulty in one
+little district for a time. As the pressure of necessity grows, as it
+must grow, we shall be forced to abandon manufacture. The need for food
+will outrun us. We are too few, and it will be simpler and perhaps
+quicker to plough with a wooden plough than to wait for our faulty and
+slowly-produced steel. The adult population, small as it is, must
+decrease, and I&rsquo;m afraid it will decrease more rapidly than we
+anticipate, owing to these causes of depression and lack of
+stimulus....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Eileen at last, getting to
+her feet, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re happy, as you say, and our job seems
+pretty plain before us. To-morrow, I suppose, we ought to be getting
+back, though I hate taking the news to Elsie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper came and stood beside her, and put his arm across
+her shoulders. &ldquo;We, at any rate, must keep our spirits up,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;That, before everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m all right,&rdquo; said Eileen,
+brightly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got you and, for the moment, the sea.
+We&rsquo;ll come back here sometimes, if the roads don&rsquo;t get too
+bad.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb310" href="#pb310" name=
+"pb310">310</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, if the roads don&rsquo;t get too
+bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And, already, the briars are creeping across the
+road from hedge to hedge. The forest is coming back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The forest and the wild.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He drew her a little closer and they stood looking out
+towards the horizon.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In the south-west the clear line had been wiped
+out and what looked like mist was sweeping towards them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a shower coming,&rdquo; said
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">They stood quietly and let the sharp spatter of rain
+beat in their faces, and then the shadow of the storm moved on and the
+horizon line was clear again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a queer cloud out there,&rdquo; said
+Eileen. &ldquo;Is it another shower?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She pointed to a tiny blur on the far rim of the
+sea.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> queer,&rdquo; said Thrale.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so precisely like the smoke of a steamer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a few seconds they gazed in intent silence.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting bigger,&rdquo; broke out
+Eileen, suddenly excited. &ldquo;What is it, Jasper?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I can&rsquo;t make it
+out,&rdquo; he said. He moved away from her and shaded his eyes from
+the glare of the momentarily cloudless sky.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t make it out,&rdquo; he repeated
+mechanically.</p>
+<p class="par">The blur was widening into a grey-black smudge, into a
+vaguely diffused smear with a darker centre. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb311" href="#pb311" name="pb311">311</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;With the wind blowing towards
+us&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; said Jasper, and broke off.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes&mdash;what?&rdquo; asked Eileen, and
+then as he did not answer, she gripped his arm and repeated
+importunately. &ldquo;What? Jasper, what? With the wind blowing towards
+us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By God it is,&rdquo; he said in a low voice,
+disregarding her question. &ldquo;By God it <i>is</i>,&rdquo; he
+repeated, and then a third time, &ldquo;It <i>is</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! what, what? Do answer me! I can&rsquo;t
+see!&rdquo; pleaded Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">But still he did not answer. He stood like a rock and
+stared without wavering at the growing cloud on the horizon.</p>
+<p class="par">And then the cloud began to grow more diffused, to die
+away, and Eileen could see tiny indentations on the sky line,
+indentations which pushed up and presently revealed themselves as
+attached to a little black speck in the remotest distance.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Jasper!&rdquo; she cried, and her eyes filled
+with inexplicable tears, so that she could see only a misty field of
+troubled blue.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a liner,&rdquo; said Jasper at last,
+turning to her. He looked puzzled and his eyes stared through her.
+&ldquo;And its coming from America. Do you suppose the American
+women&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The boat was revealed now. They could see the shape of
+her, the high deck, the two tall funnels and the three masts. She was
+passing across, fifteen miles or so to the south of them, making up
+Channel.</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they felt like shipwrecked sailors on a
+lonely island, who see a vessel pass beyond hail. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb312" href="#pb312" name="pb312">312</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Jasper, what can it be?&rdquo; Eileen
+besought him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a White Star boat,&rdquo; he said, and
+he still spoke as if his mind was far away. &ldquo;Is it possible, is
+it anyway possible that America has survived? Is it possible that there
+is traffic between America and Europe, and that they pass us by for
+fear of infection? How do we know that vessels haven&rsquo;t been
+passing up the Channel for months past? Why should we think that this
+is the first?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> the first,&rdquo; proclaimed Eileen.
+&ldquo;I feel it. Oh, let us hurry. Let us ride and ride as fast as we
+can to Plymouth or Southampton. I know they&rsquo;ll be coming to
+Plymouth or Southampton. Men, Jasper, men! No women would dare to run a
+boat at that pace. See how fast she is going. Oh hurry,
+hurry!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He caught fire then. They ran back to find their
+bicycles. They ran, and presently they rode in silence, with fierce
+intensity. They rode at first as if they had but ten miles to go, and
+the lives of all the women in England depended upon their speed.</p>
+<p class="par">And though they slackened after the first few miles they
+still rode on with such eager determination that they reached Plymouth
+at sunset.</p>
+<p class="par">But they could see no sign of the liner in the waters
+about Plymouth. They saw only the deserted hulks of a hundred vessels
+that had ridden there untouched for twelve months, futile battleships
+and destroyers among them; great, venomous, useless things that had
+become void of all meaning in the struggle of humanity. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb313" href="#pb313" name="pb313">313</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not here. Let&rsquo;s go on!&rdquo;
+said Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s well
+over a hundred miles to Southampton,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nearer a
+hundred and fifty, I should say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But we must go on, we must,&rdquo; urged
+Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">It was evident that Jasper, too, felt a compelling
+desire to go on. He stood still with a look of intense concentration on
+his face. Eileen had seen him look thus, when he had been momentarily
+frustrated by some problem of mill machinery. She waited expectant for
+the solution she was sure would presently emerge.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;A motor,&rdquo; he said, speaking in short
+disconnected sentences. &ldquo;If we can find paraffin and petrol and
+candles&mdash;light of some sort. The engines wouldn&rsquo;t rust, but
+they&rsquo;d clog. It must be paraffin. We daren&rsquo;t clean with
+petrol by artificial light. It&rsquo;s possible. Let&rsquo;s
+try....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">That night Jasper did not sleep, but Eileen, as she sat
+beside him in the softly moving motor, soon lost consciousness of the
+dim streak of road and black river of hedge. The moon, in her third
+quarter, had risen before midnight, and when they started was riding
+deep in the sky, half veiled by a vast wing of dappled cirrus. And
+that, too, merged into her dream. She thought she was driving out into
+the open sea in a ship which became miraculously winged and soared up
+towards an ever-approaching but unincreasing moon. She woke with a
+start to find that it was broad daylight and that a thin misty rain was
+coming up from the sea. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb314" href=
+"#pb314" name="pb314">314</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The Solent,&rdquo; said Jasper, pointing to a
+distant gleam below them.</p>
+<p class="par">On the common they stopped and stood up in the car,
+watching a distant smear of smoke that stained the thin mist.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be coming up Southampton Water with
+the lead going,&rdquo; said Jasper, trying desperately to be calm.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb315" href="#pb315" name=
+"pb315">315</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="epi" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="main">EPILOGUE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb317" href="#pb317" name=
+"pb317">317</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="epi1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="super">EPILOGUE</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE GREAT PLAN</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">On the evening of that day Jasper and Eileen dined
+on board the &ldquo;Bombastic,&rdquo; that latest development of the
+old trans-Atlantic competition in shipbuilding, the boat that had made
+her first journey to New York carrying fugitives from England in the
+days when the threat of the plague grew hourly more imminent. The
+&ldquo;Bombastic&rdquo; had not justified her name, she had fled from
+Southampton without ceremony, and she had not returned for over a year.
+The &ldquo;Apologetic&rdquo; would have been more apt.</p>
+<p class="par">And on this evening of her return, the demeanour of that
+crowd of quiet serious men in the huge over-decorated saloon, gave no
+hint of bombast. As they listened intently to the rapid story of their
+two travel-stained and somewhat ragged guests, there was no hint of
+brag or boast among them all. They came not as conquerors but as
+friends.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But oh, it&rsquo;s <i>your</i> story we want to
+hear,&rdquo; broke in Eileen at last.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been strangely quiet so far, she had become
+suddenly conscious of the defects of her dress. The old associations
+were swarming about her. Eighteen months ago she had sat in just such
+another saloon as this, courted and flattered, the daughter
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb318" href="#pb318" name=
+"pb318">318</a>]</span>of a great aristocrat, a creature on a remote
+and gorgeous pedestal. Now it seemed that she was neither greater nor
+less than any man present. She was one of them, not set apart. She
+looked down at her hands, still oil-stained by her struggles with the
+motor on the previous night.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper had been more patient. He was not less eager than
+Eileen to hear the explanation of this wonderful visit, of the
+resurrection of these twelve hundred men from a dead and silent world.
+But he had restrained his impatience and told his story first. He knew
+that so he would be more quickly satisfied. He would be able to listen
+to men who were not tense with an anxiety to ask questions.</p>
+<p class="par">They were sitting now at one end of a long table in the
+saloon, after eating a meal that had provided once more the longed-for
+satisfaction of salt.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said an American at the head of the
+table, turning to Eileen in answer to her protest, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve
+maybe been selfish in putting all these questions but we&rsquo;re
+looking ahead. We aren&rsquo;t forgetting that we&rsquo;ve a big work
+to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But how did you get here?&rdquo; asked Eileen
+impetuously. &ldquo;How is it that you&rsquo;re all alive?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, as to that, you&rsquo;d better ask the
+doctor, there,&rdquo; replied the American. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a
+countryman of yours, and he&rsquo;s been in the thick of it and knows
+the life story of that plague microbe like the history of
+England.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The doctor, a bearded, grave-eyed man, looked up and
+smiled.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hardly that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We shall
+never know <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb319" href="#pb319" name=
+"pb319">319</a>]</span>now, I hope, the history of the plague organism.
+It was never studied under the microscope&mdash;we were too
+busy&mdash;and now we trust that the bacillus&mdash;if it were a
+bacillus&mdash;has encompassed its own destruction. What interests you,
+however, is that this sudden, miraculously sudden, development of its
+deadly power as regards humanity ran through a determinable cycle of
+evolution. From what you&rsquo;ve told us, already, it seems clear, I
+think, that even in England the bacillus was losing what I may call its
+effectiveness. The men in the West Country you&rsquo;ve described,
+probably died from starvation and neglect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He paused for a moment and then continued: &ldquo;Now in
+America both men and women were attacked. There was certainly a greater
+percentage of male cases, but I suppose something like half the female
+population was infected as well. As far as one can judge the bacillus
+was simply losing power. But for all we know it may have developed, it
+may be entering on a new stage of evolution, and in some apparently
+haphazard way now be beneficial to man instead of deadly. Such things
+may be happening every day below the reach of our knowledge. The little
+world is hidden from us, even as the great world is hidden....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;However,&rdquo; he went on more briskly,
+&ldquo;the thing we do know is that the symptoms of the new plague in
+America differed materially from our expectation of them, gathered from
+the accounts that had reached us from the Old World. In England the
+paralysis lasted, I believe, some forty-eight hours and ended in death.
+In America the paralysis <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb320" href=
+"#pb320" name="pb320">320</a>]</span>rarely ended fatally, but it
+lasted in some cases for six months. &lsquo;Paresis,&rsquo; we called
+it. The patient was perfectly conscious but practically unable to move
+hand or foot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That paresis gave us time to do some very clear
+and consecutive thinking, I may remark,&rdquo; put in an American.
+&ldquo;I had four months to study my ideas of life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The doctor nodded thoughtfully. &ldquo;America is no
+less changed than England,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it is another
+change. Well, you understand that we did not all get the plague over
+there; the thing was less deadly in attack and about ten per cent of us
+were left to look after the patients.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And find food,&rdquo; interpolated one of the
+listeners.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That was a time we won&rsquo;t ever
+forget,&rdquo; agreed another.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Sure thing,&rdquo; said some one, and a general
+murmur of assent ran round the table.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And all the machines were idle, of course,&rdquo;
+continued the doctor, &ldquo;and even when the tide of recovery began
+to flow we had to turn our attention first to the getting of
+food.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for that we&rsquo;d have
+been here before this,&rdquo; said a young man. &ldquo;I feel we owe
+England and Europe some kind of an apology, but we just had to get busy
+on food growing right away. We couldn&rsquo;t spare a ship&rsquo;s crew
+till three weeks ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And the others are hard at it over there
+still,&rdquo; put in another. &ldquo;This is just a pioneer
+party.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so comprehensible now,&rdquo; said
+Thrale <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb321" href="#pb321" name=
+"pb321">321</a>]</span>after a silence, &ldquo;but we had no idea, we
+never thought there could be any one living in America. We thought that
+somehow we must have heard. One forgets....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We tried to get on to you,&rdquo; said one of the
+party, &ldquo;by cable and wireless. We kept on tapping away for
+months, but we got no reply. We thought you must be all dead
+too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we guessed you were having a real bad time
+anyway,&rdquo; amended another. &ldquo;You see we knew the way that
+plague had taken Europe but we kept hoping and trying to get on to you
+all the same.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class="tb">
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a message for Elsie, after
+all,&rdquo; Eileen said to Jasper the next day. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+hope for us yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, there&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; said Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">They had been up at the town railway station assisting a
+party of Americans to investigate the condition of the rolling stock
+and the permanent way. Neither could be pronounced satisfactory. A few
+women had come in from the neighbouring country that morning attracted
+by the sight of an inexplicable pillar of smoke, and their report of
+local conditions had been equally uninspiring. They had spoken of
+famine and failure, but their faces had been lit by a new brightness at
+the sight of this miraculous little army of men. There had been hope in
+the faces and bearing of these toil-worn women, faith in the promise of
+support and succour.</p>
+<p class="par">Now Jasper and Eileen stood looking down towards the
+harbour. The tide was creeping in to <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb322" href="#pb322" name="pb322">322</a>]</span>efface the repulsive
+ugliness of the mud flats, and the sluggish water rippled faintly
+against the foul sloping sides of small boats that had lain anchored
+there for more than twelve months. Behind them, across the line, was a
+row of unsightly houses, hung with weather-slating.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, there&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; repeated
+Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">He was thinking of all the work that lay before them,
+and yet he had faith that a new and better civilization would arise.
+&ldquo;We must get things going again,&rdquo; had been the
+Americans&rsquo; phrase, and they apparently faced the future without a
+qualm.</p>
+<p class="par">But Jasper&rsquo;s mind was perplexed with the detail of
+the mechanical work that must be faced, detail so intricate and
+confused that he was bewildered by its complexity. It appeared to him
+that the crux of the whole problem lay in the North, in the counties of
+coal and iron. Coal and steel were the first essentials, he thought.
+They must begin there in however small a way, and America must send out
+more men, continually more men. To-morrow he was going back in the
+motor, with two experts, to the cable hut in Sennen Cove. They were
+going to test the cable and hoped to re-establish communication with
+America, and then more ships would come and more men, ever more
+men.</p>
+<p class="par">And, even so, they could do little at first, and beyond
+lay the whole of Europe and still further the whole of Asia. Were women
+there, also, maintaining the terrible fight against Nature in the awful
+struggle to find food? Steel and coal we must have, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb323" href="#pb323" name="pb323">323</a>]</span>was
+the burden of his thought, and in his imagination he pictured the
+waking of factories and mines, he had a vision of little engines
+running....</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen&rsquo;s thought had flown ahead. With one
+magnificent leap she had passed from the contemplation of present
+necessity to a realization of the dim future. And <i>her</i> thought
+found words.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hope, lots of hope,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Hope
+of a new clean world. We&rsquo;ve got such a chance to begin all over
+again, and do it better. No more sweated labour, Jasper, and no more
+living on the work of others. We&rsquo;ve just got to pull together and
+work for each other. If we can get enough food, and we can now with all
+these dear men come to help us, we can do such wonderful things
+afterwards. There&rsquo;ll be lots of children growing up in a few
+years&rsquo; time, and we shall teach them the things we&rsquo;ve had
+to learn by the force of necessity. They&rsquo;ll begin so differently
+because, although we have had the experience of all history, we
+sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t be bound by all the foolish conventions that grew
+out of it. Such a silly incongruous growth, wasn&rsquo;t it? But I
+suppose it couldn&rsquo;t be helped in one way. We were so penned in.
+We all had our rotten little places to keep and that took all our time.
+We never had a chance to consider the broad issues, the real
+fundamental things. But you&rsquo;ve got to consider the fundamental
+things when you start clean away from a new beginning.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And, oh! Jasper, surely we have all learnt
+certain things to avoid, haven&rsquo;t we? I mean class distinctions
+and sex distinctions, and things like that. Women won&rsquo;t trouble
+any more about titles and all that rot <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb324" href="#pb324" name="pb324">324</a>]</span>now, and anyway there
+aren&rsquo;t any left to trouble about. And social conditions will be
+so different now that there won&rsquo;t be any more marriage. Marriage
+was a man&rsquo;s prerogative; he wanted to keep his woman to himself,
+and keep his property for his children. It never really protected
+women, and anyway they were capable of protecting themselves if
+they&rsquo;d been given a chance. I know the children were a difficulty
+in the old days, but they won&rsquo;t be now. It&rsquo;ll be
+everybody&rsquo;s business to see that the children get looked after,
+and a woman won&rsquo;t starve just because she hasn&rsquo;t got a
+husband to keep her. She&rsquo;ll get better wages than that. The women
+who have children will be the most precious things we shall have.
+They&rsquo;ll live healthier lives, too, and they won&rsquo;t be
+incapacitated as they used to be. They&rsquo;ll work and be strong
+instead of spending all their time either in doing nothing or pottering
+about the house in an eternal round of cleaning the stupid, ugly things
+we used. We shall have to have all new houses, Jasper, when we get
+things going again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it <i>will</i> be splendid,&rdquo; she broke
+out in a great burst of enthusiasm, &ldquo;and we begin to-day. We have
+begun.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper nodded. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a wonderful
+opportunity,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Wonderful, wonderful,&rdquo; repeated Eileen.
+&ldquo;We all, men and women, start level again. Equality, Jasper,
+It&rsquo;s a beautiful word&mdash;Equality. Of course I know how
+unequal we all are from one point of view, and there must come a sort
+of aristocracy of intellect and efficiency. But underneath there will
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb325" href="#pb325" name=
+"pb325">325</a>]</span>be a true equality for all that, and we shall
+see to it that no man or woman can abuse their powers by making slaves
+again. What a world of slaves it used to be, and we weren&rsquo;t even
+slaves to intellect and efficiency, only to wealth and to money, and to
+some foolish idea of position and power.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got <i>our</i> work to do, here
+and now,&rdquo; said Jasper after a long pause.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Work? Of course, and I love it,&rdquo; returned
+Eileen, &ldquo;and while we work we&rsquo;ve got to think and
+teach.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The tide was coming in steadily, and near them an old
+boat that had been lying on the mud was now afloat once more and had
+taken on some of its old dignity.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen pointed to it. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re afloat
+again,&rdquo; she remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Embarked on the greatest plan the world has ever
+known,&rdquo; added Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all part of the great plan,&rdquo;
+concluded Eileen.</p>
+<p class="trailer xd23e5427">THE END</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="back">
+<div class="div1 imprint"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e5433width"><img src="images/logo.png" alt=""
+width="117" height="125">
+<p class="par first">THE ARDEN PRESS<br>
+LETCHWORTH</p>
+</div>
+<p class="par"><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb329" href="#pb329" name=
+"pb329">1</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e5442width"><img src="images/adtitlepage.png"
+alt="Title page for advertisement section." width="493" height=
+"720"></div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="titlePage">
+<div class="docTitle">
+<div class="mainTitle">A LIST OF<br>
+CURRENT FICTION</div>
+</div>
+<div class="byline">PUBLISHED BY <span class="docAuthor">WILLIAM
+HEINEMANN</span></div>
+<div class="docImprint">AT 21 BEDFORD ST., LONDON, W.C.</div>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb330" href="#pb330" name=
+"pb330">2</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="div1 ads"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first adTopLine">MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN&rsquo;S
+<span class="corr" id="xd23e5462" title="Source: NE">NEW</span>
+FICTION</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">BETWEEN TWO THIEVES</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by RICHARD DEHAN (2nd Impression) <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Dop Doctor,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is really an amazing piece of
+work. Its abounding energy, its grip on our attention, its biting
+humour, its strong, if sometimes lurid word painting have an effect of
+richness and fullness of teeming life, that sweeps one with it. What an
+ample chance for praise and whole hearted enjoyment. The thing unrols
+with a vividness that never fails.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily News and
+Leader.</i></p>
+<p class="par">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27966">THE DOP DOCTOR</a></p>
+<p class="par xd23e5485">[<i>Now in its 13th Edition.</i></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Pulsatingly real&mdash;gloomy, tragic,
+humorous, dignified, real. The cruelty of battle, the depth of
+disgusting villainy, the struggles of great souls, the irony of
+coincidence are all in its pages.... Who touches this book touches a
+man. I am grateful for the wonderful thrills &lsquo;The Dop
+Doctor&rsquo; has given me. It is a novel among a
+thousand.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily Express.</i></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12154">THE WEAKER VESSEL</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by E. F. BENSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">A really good &ldquo;Benson novel&rdquo; than
+which no more can be said.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<div class="table">
+<table class="xd23e5509">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellTop"></td>
+<td class="cellRight cellTop">JUGGERNAUT</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE LUCK OF THE VAILS</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">ACCOUNT RENDERED</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40797">MAMMON &amp; CO.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight">AN ACT IN A BACKWATER</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">PAUL</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44210">THE ANGEL OF PAIN</a></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE PRINCESS SOPHIA</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE BOOK OF MONTHS</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">A REAPING</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE CHALLONERS</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46057">THE RELENTLESS CITY</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE CLIMBER</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40795">SCARLET AND HYSSOP</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45800">THE HOUSE OF DEFENCE</a></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight cellBottom">SHEAVES</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE IMAGE IN THE SAND</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Each Crn. 8vo. Price 6/-.</p>
+<p class="par">Those volumes marked * can also be obtained in the Two
+Shilling net Edition (Heinemann&rsquo;s Two Shilling Novels), uniformly
+bound, with coloured picture wrapper and frontispiece, and also the
+following volumes</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5606">
+<li>THE OSBORNES</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5606">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46782">THE VINTAGE</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5606">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44486">DODO</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par">&#8258; &ldquo;The Book of Months&rdquo; and &ldquo;A
+Reaping&rdquo; form one volume in this Edition. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb331" href="#pb331" name="pb331">3</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2774">THE PATRICIAN</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by JOHN GALSWORTHY <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;I cannot find better praise in which to
+sum up Mr. Galsworthy&rsquo;s &lsquo;Patrician&rsquo; than the one that
+it is &lsquo;deeply interesting&rsquo;. Indeed, there is a vividness
+about the whole story which is absolutely fascinating. It lingers in
+the memory long, long after other novels of a less distinguished but
+more thrilling nature have been completely
+forgotten.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Tatler</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5635">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2772">THE COUNTRY HOUSE</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2773">FRATERNITY</a></li>
+<li>A MOTLEY</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5635">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2771">THE ISLAND
+PHARISEES</a></li>
+<li>THE MAN OF PROPERTY</li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2903">THE INN OF <span class=
+"corr" id="xd23e5652" title=
+"Source: TRANQUILLITY">TRANQUILITY</span></a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">MINNA</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by KARL GJELLERUP <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">A charming idyllic love story set in the
+beautiful &ldquo;Saxon Switzerland.&rdquo; A simpler, sweeter theme
+than the author&rsquo;s last book, but written with the same
+distinction of style and thought.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">By THE SAME AUTHOR.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE PILGRIM KAMANITA</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Behind the imagination which floats
+&lsquo;The Pilgrim Kamanita&rsquo; above the common there is a solid
+background of historical study which enables Mr. Gjellerup to make his
+characters and his scenes real<span class="corr" id="xd23e5671" title=
+"Source: ,">.</span> He has managed to catch the atmosphere of ancient
+India, and so wrap it about every place and act and speech in the story
+that the illusion and spell are on us from beginning to end.... It is a
+real romance, full of life and colour&mdash;and such colour as only
+India, in the full sensuous splendour of Hindu rites, can offer.... It
+is a beautiful allegory of the higher life, full of suggestion and even
+inspiration for those who have ears to hear. Mr. Gjellerup is to be
+congratulated not only on a noble idea, most skilfully presented, but
+also upon a translator who hardly ever lets us feel that we are not
+reading the original.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb332" href="#pb332" name="pb332">4</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44773">A LIKELY STORY</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by WILLIAM DE MORGAN <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;How delightful it all is.... Mr. De
+Morgan is worth having for himself alone and for the point of view of
+the world that he shows us.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is great fun.... Much
+amusement, much cause for sly chuckling throughout the book.... I have
+enjoyed every line of it.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>T.P.&rsquo;s Weekly</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;You cannot resist the charm of the
+narrator, who makes you feel as if you were listening to an
+improvisation.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Spectator</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5704">
+<li>JOSEPH VANCE</li>
+<li>ALICE FOR SHORT</li>
+<li>AN AFFAIR OF DISHONOUR</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5704">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46228">IT NEVER CAN HAPPEN
+AGAIN</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28345">SOMEHOW GOOD</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">SIR GUY AND LADY RANNARD</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by H. N. DICKINSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Keddy,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;<span class="corr" id="xd23e5730" title=
+"Source: Extraodinarily">Extraordinarily</span> clever indeed in this
+study. Apart from the absorbing interest of the two central characters,
+the book is full of able and suggestive studies. The whole book is one
+of the most remarkable that a young man has produced for many a long
+year.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE MAGNATE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ROBERT ELSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is a story that every reader will
+recommend after reading it&mdash;and with excellent reason, for it is
+fresh, original, and powerfully written.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Graphic</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Elson has what Dickens and Thackeray
+and other great writers of fiction have. He has a personality.
+&lsquo;The Magnate&rsquo; is quite the freshest story that we have read
+for a long time. We have no hesitation in recommending it to all
+persons who like a novel which is full of thought and detail and brims
+over with optimism.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb333" href="#pb333" name="pb333">5</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/113">THE SECRET GARDEN</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by Mrs. HODGSON BURNETT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Shuttle,&rdquo; &ldquo;Little Lord
+Fauntleroy,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par">Large Cr. 8vo, with coloured Illustrations by CHARLES
+ROBINSON.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The treatment by the authoress is as
+skilled in technique and vivid in human interest as the reader would
+expect from her.... The illustrations by Mr. Charles Robinson are the
+work of an artist rarely gifted.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">HE WHO PASSED</p>
+<p class="par adByline">To M. L. G. (Anon.) <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;As a story, it is one of the most
+enthralling I have read for a long time.... Six&mdash;seven
+o&rsquo;clock struck&mdash;half-past-seven&mdash;and yet this
+extraordinary narrative of a woman&rsquo;s life held me absolutely
+enthralled.... I forgot the weather; I forgot my own grievances; I
+forgot everything, in fact, under the spell of this wonderful book....
+In fact the whole book bears the stamp of reality from cover to cover.
+There is hardly a false or strained note in it. It is the ruthless
+study of a woman&rsquo;s life.... If it is not the novel of the season,
+the season is not likely to give us anything much
+better.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Tatler</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">Ready shortly, by the same author: &ldquo;The Life
+Mask.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">LESS THAN THE DUST</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by MARY AGNES HAMILTON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;There is something delightfully fresh in
+the method of treatment, something that seems to mark the passing of
+another milestone in the work of the literary woman. Literary is the
+right word, for Miss Hamilton&rsquo;s style bears the stamp of a
+natural purity of diction, while her analysis of emotion and character
+is keen without being over-protracted.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb334" href="#pb334" name=
+"pb334">6</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39794">KING ERRANT</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by FLORA ANNIE STEEL <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40140">On the Face of the
+Waters</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Steel has made for herself a high
+reputation by the excellence of her Indian novels; in the vividness of
+the Oriental picture which it presents her &lsquo;King Errant&rsquo;
+stands on quite as high a level as her other books.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Historically accurate and sufficiently
+absorbing, and the results of Mrs. Steel&rsquo;s careful study of his
+character is that Baber stands out from the mists of nearly four
+centuries as a very real and attractive
+person.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39810">A PRINCE OF
+DREAMERS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39987">THE FLOWER OF
+FORGIVENESS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39821">FROM THE FIVE
+RIVERS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39991">THE HOSTS OF THE
+LORD</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39795">IN THE GUARDIANSHIP OF
+GOD</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39832">IN THE PERMANENT
+WAY</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40142">MISS STUART&rsquo;S
+LEGACY</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40140">ON THE FACE OF THE
+WATERS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39985">THE POTTER&rsquo;S
+THUMB</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40141">RED ROWANS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39813">A SOVEREIGN
+REMEDY</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40045">VOICES IN THE
+NIGHT</a></li>
+<li>and other stories.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">ESSENCE OF HONEYMOON</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by H. PERRY ROBINSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Perry Robinson has never written a
+more fascinating and delightful little story than &lsquo;Essence of
+Honeymoon&rsquo;.... Mr. Perry Robinson says exactly the right
+thing.... An inimitable piece of sporting fun, admirably carried out,
+and we can recommend no better literature for all young people about to
+be married, or even after they have taken that sobering step, than Mr.
+Perry Robinson&rsquo;s delightful pages.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The
+Field</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">A PRISON WITHOUT A WALL</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by RALPH STRAUS <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Scandalous Mr. Waldo.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;This beautiful, whimsical, tragic
+biography. We are lost in admiration of Mr. Straus&rsquo; skill to
+portray the quintessential don. His pictures of combination room
+etiquette are literally to the life. But be knows also a wider world,
+and his touch is sure in drawing the eccentric great lady, the
+old-school politician, the passionate mondaine, and the fashionable
+charlatan.... This perfectly told story.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Mail</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb335" href="#pb335" name=
+"pb335">7</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">JOHN CHRISTOPHER:</p>
+<div class="table">
+<table class="xd23e5895">
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellTop">I.</td>
+<td class="cellRight cellTop"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7979">Dawn and Morning</a>.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">II.</td>
+<td class="cellRight">Storm and Stress.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">III.</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8149">John Christopher in
+Paris</a><span class="corr" id="xd23e5914" title=
+"Not in source">.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">IV.</td>
+<td class="cellRight cellBottom"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7967">The Journey&rsquo;s
+End</a><span class="corr" id="xd23e5922" title=
+"Not in source">.</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ROMAIN ROLLAND <span class="adPrice">each
+6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Translated by GILBERT CANNAN. Author of &ldquo;Little
+Brother,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;To most readers he will be a revelation,
+a new interest in their lives. Take the book up where you will, and you
+feel interested at once. You can read it and re-read it. It never
+wearies nor grows irritating.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily
+Telegraph</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;His English exercises so easy an effect
+that the reader has never for an instant the irritating sense of
+missing beauties through the inadequacies of a borrowed language; we
+have also compared it in many cases with the original and found it
+remarkably accurate. Readers may then be assured that they will lose
+but little of Mr. Rolland&rsquo;s beauty and wisdom, even though they
+are unable to read him in the original, and Mr. Cannan is to be warmly
+congratulated.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;A noble piece of work, which must,
+without any doubt whatever, ultimately receive the praise and attention
+which it so undoubtedly merits.... There is hardly a single book more
+illustrative, more informing and more inspiring ... than M. Romain
+Rolland&rsquo;s creative work, &lsquo;John
+Christopher&rsquo;.&rdquo;&mdash;Extract from descriptive review in
+<i>The Daily Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb336" href=
+"#pb336" name="pb336">8</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO...?</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ELIZABETH ROBINS</p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Come and Find Me,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;She has, indeed, in this fine novel,
+splendidly fulfilled the high purpose that inspired her to draw
+attention to a social danger and existing evil, no less horrible than
+real.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Never, not even when Charles Reade,
+making robust romance from Blue books, was denouncing our prison and
+madhouse systems, has such determined and forceful use been made of
+fiction for the purpose of undoing a grevious social
+evil.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily Chronicle</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">MOLYNEUX OF MAYFAIR</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by DUNCAN SCHWANN</p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Book of a Bachelor,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;This the third of Mr. Schwann&rsquo;s
+novels, is by a very long way his best. Mr. Schwann has beyond question
+written a book that may be termed light and frivolous, if you wish, but
+that nevertheless, as a picture of a certain section of modern London
+Society, has its more important side to it. In deftness, interest, and
+human nature it shows a great advance on &lsquo;The Book of a
+Bachelor.&rsquo;&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE MAGIC OF THE HILL</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is in fact, to be read for its
+light-hearted pictures of modern Paris, Paris seen with eyes of someone
+who knows it intimately and loves it. Mr. Schwann has more than a
+little of Thackeray&rsquo;s absorbing interest in minor characters,
+minor events, and minor problems. The book proves that Mr. Schwann, as
+a student of life, has the right touch and the right
+humour.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb337" href="#pb337" name="pb337">9</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1845">ZULEIKA DOBSON</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by MAX BEERBOHM <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14667">A Christmas
+Garland</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;In a word, he has achieved a
+masterpiece. He has written a book in which wit and invention never
+flag: a book, the writing of which he has enjoyed so tremendously that
+the reader enjoys it with him, as it were, personally, a book that is
+all of a piece, never halts, never drops; a book that is a sheer
+delight from cover to cover.&rdquo;&mdash;Alfred Sutton in <i>The Daily
+Mail</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39145">THE DEVOURERS</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ANNIE VIVANTI CHARTRES <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is delightfully written....
+Mrs. Chartres has humour, she has style, she has
+pathos.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is a great feat for any author to
+succeed in interesting her readers in three successive generations of
+heroines within the covers of a single novel without diminution of
+sympathy; yet that feat has been accomplished in &lsquo;The
+Devourers&rsquo; ... it is an irresistible story and full of
+sympathetic charm.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Evening Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5964">LOVE&rsquo;S PILGRIMAGE</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by UPTON SINCLAIR <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140">The Jungle</a>,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4923">King Midas</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Upton Sinclair has written around
+such a great subject with such marvellous intuition and skill, and has
+presented so many problems which are engaging general attention, that
+all feminists and theorists upon social subjects will be eager to read
+his latest book.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb338" href="#pb338" name="pb338">10</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">PASSION FRUIT</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by E. C. VIVIAN <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The interest all through depends mainly
+upon the male characters, who are drawn with unusual vigour and
+certainty.... The book as a whole is marked by a breadth of handling
+which sets it apart from the average novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning
+Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;Passion Fruit&rsquo; is the work
+of a past-master in story telling.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Sheffield
+Independent</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">BORROWERS OF FORTUNE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by JESSIE LECKIE HERBERTSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Young Life,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">A novel of happier vein than has sometimes been
+the case with Miss Herbertson. Her lighter heart is as infectious as
+her gravity was impressive.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE DECLENSION OF HENRY D&rsquo;ALBIAC</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by V. GOLDIE <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Nigel Thomson,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Majorie Stevens.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is by far the best and the liveliest
+of the suffragist stories we have come across, though by the way, the
+particular propaganda is by no means the chief object of the book.
+Indeed, propaganda of any kind is in its pages always subordinate to
+the author&rsquo;s abundant and vivacious sense of
+humour.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb339" href="#pb339" name="pb339">11</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF HALL CAINE</p>
+<p class="par">(of which over 3 million copies have been sold).</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;These volumes are in every way a
+pleasure to read. Of living authors, Mr. Hall Caine must certainly sway
+as multitudinous a following as any living man. A novel from his pen
+has become indeed for England and America something of an international
+event.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33999">THE BONDMAN</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25572">CAPT&rsquo;N <span class=
+"corr" id="xd23e6112" title="Source: DAVEYS">DAVY&rsquo;S</span>
+HONEYMOON</a></li>
+<li>MY STORY</li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52342">THE WHITE
+PROPHET</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19732">THE ETERNAL CITY</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25570">THE MANXMAN</a></li>
+<li>THE PRODIGAL SON</li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1303">THE SCAPEGOAT</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8407">THE CHRISTIAN</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">A PORTENTOUS HISTORY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ALFRED TENNYSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;With considerable skill we are shown how
+ignorant and conventional prejudice of all the normal inhabitants of
+the village are roused against the poor, good giant, only because he is
+greater than they are. Mr. Tennyson gives a vivid and unpleasant
+picture of prejudice and instinctive cruelty. In Mr. Tennyson we have a
+new novelist with something real and weighty to
+say.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN KETTLE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Captain Kettle,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;When one has once opened &lsquo;The
+Marriage of Kettle&rsquo; it is impossible to put it down unfinished.
+Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne has such a vivid pen and seems so intimately
+acquainted with the sea and seafaring life, and introduces us to so
+many humorous and realistic characters, that we feel as if we had
+actually sailed with the great Kettle on his adventurous voyages, and
+had shared his hairbreadth escapes.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Evening Standard
+and St. James&rsquo;s Gazette</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb340"
+href="#pb340" name="pb340">12</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">TALES OF THE UNEASY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by VIOLET HUNT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Wife of Altamont.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Miss Violet Hunt is eminently skilful,
+albeit a relentless &lsquo;raconteuse&rsquo;, the light of her
+inspiration burns with a hard gemlike flame. Miss Hunt has gained
+greatly in craftsmanship during the last few years: her style is
+excellent, her grip of subjects sure, and her insight exceptionally
+clear and sane.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Athen&aelig;um</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">ESTHER</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by AGNES E. JACOMB <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is well written and the
+characters are well drawn.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Miss Jacomb has written in
+&lsquo;Esther&rsquo; a very interesting novel; its situations are
+original, and the characters are sufficiently individual to make a
+convincing whole....&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3728">THE GETTING OF WISDOM</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by HENRY HANDEL RICHARDSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3727">Maurice Guest</a>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;An extraordinarily intimate and
+sympathetic study of a little girl and of the influence school-life has
+upon her gives unusual charm and interest to this
+story.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;Stalky for Girls&rsquo; might
+very well be the sub-title of Mr. Richardson&rsquo;s story. What
+&lsquo;Stalky &amp; Co.&rsquo; did for the boy, &lsquo;The Getting of
+Wisdom&rsquo; tries to do for the girl. It is a bright, vivid piece of
+character writing.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Saturday Review</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb341" href="#pb341" name="pb341">13</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/746">BURNING DAYLIGHT</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by JACK LONDON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/215">The Call of the Wild</a>,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1056">Martin Eden</a>,&rdquo;
+etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;I have long regarded the stories of Mr.
+Jack London as a welcome relief from the dulness of most contemporary
+fiction, and his latest, &lsquo;Burning Daylight,&rsquo; did not
+disappoint me in this respect. No one who has read the author&rsquo;s
+previous works will need to be told with what wonderful skill the
+atmosphere of this grim and unfriendly land is conveyed. There is one
+chapter, especially, which tells how, for a bet, Daylight raced two
+thousand miles over an unbroken trail of ice in sixty days that seems
+to me absolutely the best piece of descriptive writing of its kind that
+ever I read.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Punch</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38561">THE WHITE PEACOCK</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by D. H. LAWRENCE <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;A book of real distinction, both of
+style and thought. Many of the descriptive passages have an almost
+lyrical charm, and the characterisation is, generally speaking, deft
+and life-like. &lsquo;The White Peacock&rsquo; is a book not only worth
+reading but worth reckoning with, for we are inclined to think that its
+author has come to stay.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">LOVE LIKE THE SEA</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by J. E. PATTERSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Tillers of the Soil,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;He tells his story to the sound of wind
+and waves, and if now and again his ardour for and knowledge of the sea
+leads him aside from the purpose of his scheme, the digressions are so
+admirably done that the book would lose from the point of view of
+literary interest were they omitted.... The three principal characters
+are well drawn (there are minor ones also excellently
+delineated).&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Globe</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb342" href="#pb342" name="pb342">14</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">ADNAM&rsquo;S ORCHARD</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by SARAH GRAND <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8676">THE HEAVENLY
+TWINS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6855">IDEALA</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28088">THE BETH BOOK</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>OUR MANIFOLD NATURE</li>
+<li>etc., etc.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Admirers of Mrs. Grand will be glad to
+find in her new book &lsquo;Adnam&rsquo;s Orchard&rsquo; the same
+vivacity and the same provocative spirit that gave its wide currency to
+her &lsquo;Heavenly Twins,&rsquo; Both qualities sustain and inspire
+her to the last page of the six hundred and thirty which make up her
+latest novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE REWARD OF VIRTUE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by AMBER REEVES <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;There is cleverness enough and to spare,
+but it is ... a spontaneous cleverness, innate, not laboriously
+acquired.... The dialogue ... is so natural, so unaffected, that it is
+quite possible to read it without noticing the high artistic quality of
+it.... For a first novel Miss Reeves&rsquo;s is a remarkable
+achievement; it would be a distinct achievement even were it not a
+first novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE COST OF IT</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ELEANOR MORDAUNT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Garden of Contentment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Packed full of character and real
+life.... The character of the heroine is admirably drawn upon quite
+unconventional lines ... the situation is worked out with remarkable
+vigour and intensity. This is a fine, powerful and impressive novel,
+triumphing over inadequacies of literary training by sheer force of
+sincerity and of glowing human sentiment.<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e6324" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb343" href="#pb343" name=
+"pb343">15</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">A RUNAWAY RING</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by Mrs. HENRY E. DUDENEY <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Maids&rsquo; Money,&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+Orchard Thief,&rdquo; &ldquo;A Large Room,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Her previous work has been good, but in
+&lsquo;A Runaway Ring&rsquo; she has surpassed her best previous
+efforts, and it is no easy matter to do her sufficient honour. To make
+a romance from life&rsquo;s &lsquo;fedious afternoon&rsquo; without
+being simply sentimental is a task which scarcely any accomplish, and
+so, when the thing is done, it can only be judged on its own merits and
+without comparison.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE ADJUSTMENT</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by MARGUERITE BRYANT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker,&rdquo;
+etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;The Adjustment&rsquo; ... is a
+notable novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is an admirable book, of an original
+and impressive nature, the authoress well understands the portrayal of
+human passions, whether love or hate, and makes her characters
+singularly attractive.... Many excellent situations add to the general
+interest.... We advise all who enjoy a thoroughly good novel to add
+&lsquo;The Adjustment&rsquo; to their library list.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The
+Globe</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19943">THE HIPPODROME</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by RACHEL HAYWARD <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Illustrated by CLARA WATERS.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">A brightly coloured story, the scene of which
+is laid in Barcelona. A young Irish girl who is dependent on herself
+for a means of subsistence becomes a &ldquo;star&rdquo; turn at a
+circus. While in the back-waters of that existence she falls in with
+certain gentlemen of international importance. She becomes their dupe
+and slave and passes through many adventures. But there is a way of
+escape and she takes it. Decidedly a book of swift movement and keen
+excitement. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb344" href="#pb344" name=
+"pb344">16</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF LEO TOLSTOY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1399">ANNA <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e6387" title="Source: KARENIN">KARENINA</span></a> <span class=
+"adPrice">2/6 net</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">WAR AND PEACE <span class="adPrice">3/6
+net</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Garnett&rsquo;s translations from
+the Russian are always distinguished by most careful accuracy and a
+fine literary flavour. In this new rendering of Tolstoy she has
+surpassed herself.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Bookman</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Garnett&rsquo;s translation has all
+the ease and vigour which Matthew Arnold found in French versions of
+Russian novels and missed in English. She is indeed so successful that,
+but for the names, one might easily forget he was reading a foreign
+author.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Contemporary Review</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF DOSTOEVSKY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;By the genius of Dostoevsky you are
+always in the presence of living, passionate characters. They are not
+puppets, they are not acting to keep the plot in motion. They are men
+and women&mdash;I should say you can hear them
+breathe&mdash;irresistibly moving to their appointed
+ends.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Evening News</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">I. <a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28054">THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV</a>
+<span class="adPrice">3/6 net</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;No other writer perhaps has given to
+materials so ugly, not merely strength and life, but grave pathos and
+tragic beauty.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">II. THE IDIOT</p>
+<p class="par">Ready Shortly:</p>
+<p class="par">Now for the first time translated in full from the
+Russian by CONSTANCE GARNETT, translator of the Novels of TURGENEV and
+TOLSTOY.</p>
+<p class="par adBottomLine">21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="transcribernote">
+<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2>
+<h3 class="main">Availability</h3>
+<p class="par first">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
+cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
+it away or re-use it under the terms of the <a class="seclink xd23e43"
+title="External link" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/license" rel=
+"license">Project Gutenberg License</a> included with this eBook or
+online at <a class="seclink xd23e43" title="External link" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/" rel="home">www.gutenberg.org</a>.</p>
+<p class="par">This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at <a class="exlink xd23e43" title="External link"
+href="http://www.pgdp.net/">www.pgdp.net</a>.</p>
+<h3 class="main">Encoding</h3>
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>2016-11-24 Started.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 class="main">External References</h3>
+<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These
+links may not work for you.</p>
+<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3>
+<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p>
+<table class="correctiontable" summary=
+"Overview of corrections applied to the text.">
+<tr>
+<th>Page</th>
+<th>Source</th>
+<th>Correction</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e336">10</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4932">292</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e461">16</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rsquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e901">43</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">premisses</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">premises</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1025">50</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&ldquo;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&lsquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1073">52</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1076">52</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1183">62</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e1188">62</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1206">63</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4363">257</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e4673">277</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4693">278</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5914">7</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e5922">7</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1773">96</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2688">152</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e3206">183</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e3250">185</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4311">255</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e4929">292</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6324">14</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2849">162</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">maladorous</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">malodorous</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2936">167</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&ldquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e3626">209</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">your</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">you&rsquo;re</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4227">248</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">remainded</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">remained</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4468">263</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5462">2</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">NE</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">NEW</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5652">3</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">TRANQUILLITY</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">TRANQUILITY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5671">3</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5730">4</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Extraodinarily</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Extraordinarily</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6112">11</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">DAVEYS</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">DAVY&rsquo;S</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6387">16</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">KARENIN</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">KARENINA</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<div class="div1" id="toc">
+<h2 class="main">Table of Contents</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">I.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk1">THE NEW
+PLAGUE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">I.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch1">THE GOSLING
+FAMILY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch1">3</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">II.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch2">THE OPINIONS OF
+JASPER THRALE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch2">19</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">III.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch3">LONDON&rsquo;S
+INCREDULITY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch3">39</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">IV.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch4">MR BARKER&rsquo;S
+FLAIR</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch4">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">V.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch5">THE CLOSED
+DOOR</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch5">52</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">VI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch6">DISASTER</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch6">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">VII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch7">PANIC</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch7">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch8">GURNEY IN
+CORNWALL</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch8">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">IX.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch9">THE DEVOLUTION OF
+GEORGE GOSLING</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch9">98</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">X.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch10">EXODUS</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch10">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">II.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk2">THE MARCH OF THE
+GOSLINGS</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk2">127</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch11">THE SILENT
+CITY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch11">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch12">EMIGRANT</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch12">150</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XIII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href=
+"#ch13">DIFFERENCES</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch13">171</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XIV.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch14">AUNT MAY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch14">186</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XV.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch15">FROM SUDBURY TO
+WYCOMBE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch15">196</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XVI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch16">THE YOUNG BUTCHER
+OF HIGH WYCOMBE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch16">212</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">III.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk3">WOMANKIND IN THE
+MAKING</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk3">227</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XVII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch17">LONDON TO
+MARLOW</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch17">229</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XVIII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch18">MODES OF
+EXPRESSION</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch18">250</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XIX.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch19">ON THE
+FLOOD</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch19">283</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XX.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch20">THE TERRORS OF
+SPRING</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch20">297</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XXI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch21">SMOKE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch21">304</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum"></td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#epi">EPILOGUE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#epi">315</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum"></td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#epi1">THE GREAT
+PLAN</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#epi1">317</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 53611 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Goslings, by J. D. Beresford

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: Goslings

-

-Author: J. D. Beresford

-

-Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53611]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSLINGS ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed

-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project

-Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously

-made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-                                GOSLINGS

-

-                                   By

-

-                            J. D. BERESFORD

-

-               Author of "The Hampdenshire Wonder," etc.

-

-

-                                 London

-                           William Heinemann

-                                  1913

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-BOOK I

-

-THE NEW PLAGUE

-

-

-I--THE GOSLING FAMILY

-

-

-1

-

-"Where's the gels gone to?" asked Mr Gosling.

-

-"Up the 'Igh Road to look at the shops. I'm expectin' 'em in every

-minute."

-

-"Ho!" said Gosling. He leaned against the dresser; the kitchen was

-hot with steam, and he fumbled for a handkerchief in the pocket of

-his black tail coat. He produced first a large red bandanna with which

-he blew his nose vigorously. "Snuff 'andkerchief; brought it 'ome to

-be washed," he remarked, and then brought out a white handkerchief

-which he used to wipe his forehead.

-

-"It's a dirty 'abit snuff-taking," commented Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Well, you can't smoke in the orfice," replied Gosling.

-

-"Must be doin' somethin', I suppose?" said his wife.

-

-When the recital of this formula had been accomplished--it was hallowed

-by a precise repetition every week, and had been established now for

-a quarter of a century--Gosling returned to the subject in hand.

-

-"They does a lot of lookin' at shops," he said, "and then nothin' 'll

-satisfy 'em but buyin' somethin'. Why don't they keep away from 'em?"

-

-"Oh, well; sales begin nex' week," replied Mrs Gosling. "An' that's a

-thing we 'ave to consider in our circumstances." She left the vicinity

-of the gas-stove, and bustled over to the dresser. "'Ere, get out of

-my way, do," she went on, "an' go up and change your coat. Dinner'll

-be ready in two ticks. I shan't wait for the gells if they ain't in."

-

-"Them sales is a fraud," remarked Gosling, but he did not stop to

-argue the point.

-

-He went upstairs and changed his respectable "morning" coat for a

-short alpaca jacket, slipped his cuffs over his hands, put one inside

-the other and placed them in their customary position on the chest of

-drawers, changed his boots for carpet slippers, wetted his hair brush

-and carefully plastered down a long wisp of grey hair over the top

-of his bald head, and then went into the bathroom to wash his hands.

-

-There had been a time in George Gosling's history when he had not been

-so regardful of the decencies of life. But he was a man of position

-now, and his two daughters insisted on these ceremonial observances.

-

-Gosling was one of the world's successes. He had started life as

-a National School boy, and had worked his way up through all the

-grades--messenger, office-boy, junior clerk, clerk, senior clerk,

-head clerk, accountant--to his present responsible position as head of

-the counting-house, with a salary of £26 a month. He rented a house

-in Wisteria Grove, Brondesbury, at £45 a year; he was a sidesman

-of the church of St John the Evangelist, Kilburn; a member of Local

-Committees; and in moments of expansion he talked of seeking election

-to the District Council. A solid, sober, thoroughly respectable man,

-Gosling, about whom there had never been a hint of scandal; grown

-stout now, and bald--save for a little hair over the ears, and that

-one persistent grey tress which he used as a sort of insufficient

-wrapping for his naked skull.

-

-Such was the George Gosling seen by his wife, daughters, neighbours,

-and heads of the firm of wholesale provision merchants for whom he had

-worked for forty-one years in Barbican, E.C. Yet there was another man,

-hardly realized by George Gosling himself, and apparently so little

-representative that even his particular cronies in the office would

-never have entered any description of him, if they had been obliged

-to give a detailed account of their colleague's character.

-

-Nevertheless, if you heard Gosling laughing uproariously at some story

-produced by one of those cronies, you might be quite certain that it

-was a story he would not repeat before his daughters, though he might

-tell his wife--if it were not too broad. If you watched Gosling in the

-street, you would see that he took a strange, unaccountable interest in

-the feet and ankles of young women. And if many of Gosling's thoughts

-and desires had been translated into action, the Vicar of St John the

-Evangelist would have dismissed his sidesman with disgust, the Local

-Committees would have had no more of him, and his wife and daughters

-would have regarded him as the most depraved of criminals.

-

-Fortunately, Gosling had never been tempted beyond the powers of

-his resistance. At fifty-five, he may be regarded as safe from

-temptation. He seldom put any restraint upon his thoughts, outside

-business hours; but he had an ideal which ruled his life--the ideal

-of respectability. George Gosling counted himself--and others counted

-him also--as respectable a man as could be found in the Metropolitan

-Police area. There were, perhaps, a quarter of a million other men

-in the same area, equally respectable.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-As he was drying his hands, Gosling heard the front door slam and

-his daughters' voices in the passage below, followed by a shrill

-exhortation from the kitchen: "Now, gels, 'urry up, dinner's all

-ready and your father's waitin'!"

-

-Gosling trotted downstairs and received the usual salute from his two

-girls. He noted that they were a shade more effusive than usual. "Want

-more money for fal-lals," was his inward comment. They were always

-wanting money for "fal-lals."

-

-He adopted his usual line of defence through dinner and constantly

-brought the subject of conversation back to the need for a reduction

-of expenses. He did not see Blanche wink at Millie across the table,

-during these strategic exercises; nor catch the glance of understanding

-which passed between the girls and their mother. So, as his dinner

-comforted and cheered him, Gosling began to relax into his usual

-facetiousness; incredibly believing, despite the invariable precedents

-of his family history, that his daughters had been convinced of the

-hopelessness of approaching him for money that evening.

-

-The credulous creature even allowed them to make their opening,

-and then assisted them to a statement of their petition.

-

-They were talking of a friend's engagement to be married, and Gosling

-with an obtuseness he never displayed in business remarked, "Wish my

-gels 'ud get married."

-

-"Talking about us, father?" asked Blanche.

-

-"Well, you're the only gels I've got--as I know of," said Gosling.

-

-"Well, how can you expect us to get married when we haven't got a

-decent thing to put on?" returned Blanche.

-

-Gosling realized his danger too late. "Pooh! That don't make any

-difference," he said hastily, adopting a thoroughly unsound line of

-defence; "I never noticed what your mother was wearing when I courted

-'er."

-

-"Dessay you didn't," replied Millie, "I dessay most fellows couldn't

-tell you what a girl was wearing, but it makes just all the difference

-for all that."

-

-"Of course it does," said Blanche. "A girl's got no chance these days

-unless she can look smart. No fellow's going to marry a dowdy."

-

-"It does make a big difference, there's no denyin'," put in Mrs

-Gosling, as though she was being convinced against her will.

-

-"And now the sales are just beginning----"

-

-Poor Gosling knew the game was up. They had made no direct attack

-upon his pocket, yet; but they would not relax their grip of this

-fascinating subject till they had achieved their object. Blanche was

-saying that she was ashamed to be seen anywhere; and procrastination

-would be met at once by the argument--how well he knew it--based on

-the premise that if you didn't buy at sale-time, you had to pay twice

-as much later.

-

-It was quite useless for Gosling to fidget, throw himself back in

-his chair, frown, shake his head, and look horribly determined;

-the course of progress was unalterable from the direct attack: "Do

-you like to see us going about in rags, father?" through the stage

-of "Well, well, 'ow much do you want? I simply can't afford----"

-and the ensuing haggles down to the despairing sigh as the original

-minimum demanded--in this case no less than five pounds--was forlornly

-conceded, and clinched by Blanche's, "We must have it before the end

-of the week, dad, the sales begin on Monday."

-

-At the end of it all, he received what compensation they had to offer

-him; hugs and kisses, offers to do all sorts of impossible things,

-assistance in getting his armchair into precisely the right position,

-and him into the chair, and the table cleared and the lamp in just

-the right place for him to read his half-penny evening paper which

-was fetched for him from the pocket of his overcoat. And, finally,

-the crux of Gosling's whole position, a general air of complacency,

-good-temper and comfort.

-

-Gosling was an easy-going man, he hated rows.

-

-"Mind you, you two," he remarked with a return to facetiousness as he

-settled himself with his carpet slippers spread out to the fire--"mind

-you, I look on this money as an investment. You two gels got to get

-married; and quick or I shall be in the bankrup'cy Court. Don't you

-forget as these 'fal-lals' is bought for a purpose."

-

-"Oh, don't be so horrid, father," said Blanche, with a change of front;

-"it sounds as if we were setting traps for men."

-

-"Well, ain't you?" asked Gosling. "You said just now----"

-

-"Not like that," interrupted Blanche. "It's very different just wanting

-to look nice. Personally, I'm in no 'urry to get married, thank you."

-

-"You wait till Mr Right comes along," put in Mrs Gosling, and then

-turned the conversation by saying: "Well, father, what's the news

-this evening?"

-

-"Nothin' excitin'," replied Gosling. "Seems this new plague's spreadin'

-in China."

-

-"They're always inventin' new diseases, nowadays, or callin' old ones

-by new names," said Mrs Gosling. The two girls were busy with a sheet

-of note-paper and a stump of pencil that seemed to require frequent

-lubrication; they were making calculations.

-

-"This one's quite new, seemingly," returned Gosling. "It's only the

-men as get it."

-

-"No need for us to worry, then," put in Millie, more as a duty,

-some slight return for benefits promised, than because she took any

-interest in the subject. Blanche was absorbed; her unseeing gaze was

-fixed on the mantelpiece and ever and again she removed the point of

-the pencil from her mouth and wrote feverishly.

-

-"Oh, ain't there?" replied Gosling. He turned his head in order to

-argue from so strong a position. "And where'd you be, and all the

-rest of the women, if you 'adn't got no men to look after you?"

-

-"I expect we could get along pretty well, if we had to," said Millie.

-

-Gosling winked at his wife, and indicated by an upward movement of

-his chin that he was astounded at such innocence. "Who'd buy your

-'fal-lals' for you, I should like to know?" he asked.

-

-"We'd have to earn money for ourselves," said Millie.

-

-"Ah! I'd like to see you or Blanche takin' over my job," replied her

-father. "Why, I'll lay there's 'alf a dozen mistakes in the figurin'

-she's doing at the present moment. Let me see!"

-

-Blanche descended suddenly from visions of Paradise, and put her hand

-over the sheet of note-paper. "You can't, father," she said.

-

-Gosling looked sly. "Indeed?" he said, with simulated surprise. "And

-why not? Ain't I to be allowed to judge of the nature of the investment

-I'm goin' in for? I might give you an 'int or two from the gentleman's

-point of view."

-

-Blanche shook her head. "I haven't added it up yet," she said.

-

-Gosling did not press the point; he returned to his original

-position. "I dunno where you ladies 'ud be if you 'adn't no gentlemen

-to look after you."

-

-Mrs Gosling smirked. "We'll 'ope it won't come to that," she

-said. "China's a long way off."

-

-"Appears as there's been one case in Russia, though," remarked

-Gosling. He saw that he had rather a good thing in this threat of male

-extermination, a pleasant, harmless threat to hold over his feminine

-dependents; a means to emphasize the facts of masculine superiority

-and of the absolute necessity for masculine intelligence; facts that

-were not sufficiently well realized in Wisteria Grove, at times.

-

-Mrs Gosling yawned surreptitiously. She was doing her best to be

-pleasant, but the subject bored her. She was a practical woman

-who worked hard all day to keep her house clean, and received very

-feeble assistance from the daughters for whom her one ambition was

-an establishment conducted on lines precisely similar to her own.

-

-Millie and Blanche had returned to their calculations and were

-completely absorbed.

-

-"In Russia? Just fancy," commented Mrs Gosling.

-

-"In Moscow," said Gosling, studying his Evening News. "'E was an

-official on the trans-Siberian Railway. 'As soon as the disease

-was identified as a case of the new plague,'" read Gosling, "'the

-patient was at once removed to the infectious hospital and strictly

-isolated. He died within two hours of his admission. Stringent measures

-are being taken to prevent the infection from spreading.'"

-

-"Was 'e a married man?" asked Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Doesn't say," replied her husband. "But the point is that if it once

-gets to Europe, who knows where it'll stop?"

-

-"They'll see to that, you may be sure," said Mrs Gosling, with a

-beautiful faith in the scientific resources of civilization. "It said

-somethin' about that in the bit you've just read."

-

-Gosling was not to be done out of his argument. "Very like," he

-said. "But now, just supposin' as this 'ere plague did spread to

-London, and 'alf the men couldn't go to work; where d'you fancy

-you'd be?"

-

-Mrs Gosling was unable to grasp the intricacies of this

-abstraction. "Well, of course, every one knows as we couldn't get on

-without the men," she said.

-

-"Ah! well there you are, got it in once," said Gosling. "And don't

-you gels forget it," he added turning to his daughters.

-

-Millie only giggled, but Blanche said, "All right, dad, we won't."

-

-The girls returned to their calculations; they had arrived at the

-stage of cutting out all those items which were not "absolutely

-necessary." Five pounds had proved a miserably inadequate sum on paper.

-

-Gosling returned to his Evening News, which presently slipped gently

-from his hand to the floor. Mrs Gosling looked up from her sewing

-and put a finger on her lips. The voices of Blanche and Millie were

-subdued to sibilant whisperings.

-

-Gosling had forgotten his economic problems, and his daring

-abstractions concerning a world despoiled of male activity, especially

-of that essential activity, as he figured it, the making of money--the

-wage-earner was enjoying his after-dinner nap, hedged about, protected

-and cared for by his womankind.

-

-There may have been a quarter of a million wage-earners in Greater

-London at that moment, who, however much they differed from Gosling

-on such minor questions as Tariff Reform or the capabilities of the

-then Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have agreed with him as a

-matter of course, on the essentials he had discussed that evening.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-At half-past nine the click of the letter-box, followed by a resounding

-double-knock, announced the arrival of the last post. Millie jumped

-up at once and went out eagerly.

-

-Mr Gosling opened his eyes and stared with drunken fixity at the

-mantelpiece; then, without moving the rest of his body, he began to

-grope automatically with his left hand for the fallen newspaper. He

-found it at last, picked it up and pretended to read with sleep-sodden

-eyes.

-

-"It's the post, dear," remarked Mrs Gosling.

-

-Gosling yawned enormously. "Who's it for?" he asked.

-

-"Millie! Millie!" called Mrs Gosling. "Why don't you bring the

-letters in?"

-

-Millie did not reply, but she came slowly into the room, in her hands

-a letter which she was examining minutely.

-

-"Who's it for, Mill?" asked Blanche, impatiently.

-

-"Father," replied Millie, still intent on her study. "It's a foreign

-letter. I seem to remember the writing, too, only I can't fix it

-exactly."

-

-"'Ere, 'and it over, my gel," said Gosling, and Millie reluctantly

-parted with her fascinating enigma.

-

-"I know that 'and, too," remarked Gosling, and he, also, would have

-spent some time in the attempt to guess the puzzle without looking

-up the answer within the envelope, but the three spectators, who were

-not sharing his interest, manifested impatience.

-

-"Well, ain't you going to open it, father?" asked Millie, and Mrs

-Gosling looked at her husband over her spectacles and remarked,

-"It must be a business letter, if it comes from foreign parts."

-

-"Don't get business letters to this address," returned the head

-of the house, "besides which it's from Warsaw; we don't do nothin'

-with Warsaw."

-

-At last he opened the letter.

-

-The three women fixed their gaze on Gosling's face.

-

-"Well?" ejaculated Millie, after a silence of several seconds. "Aren't

-you going to tell us?"

-

-"You'd never guess," said Gosling triumphantly.

-

-"Anyone we know?" asked Blanche.

-

-"Yes, a gentleman."

-

-"Oh! tell us, father," urged the impatient Millie.

-

-"It's from the Mr Thrale, as lodged with us once," announced Gosling.

-

-"Oh! dear, our Mr Fastidious," commented Blanche, "I thought he was

-dead long ago."

-

-"It must be over four years since 'e left," put in Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Getting on for five," corrected Blanche. "I remember I put my hair

-up while he was here."

-

-"What's he say?" asked Millie.

-

-"'E says, 'Dear Mr Gosling, I expect you will be surprised to 'ear

-from me after my five years' silence----'"

-

-"I said it was five years," put in Blanche. "Go on, dad!"

-

-Dad resumed "... 'but I 'ave been in various parts of the world and it

-'as been quite impossible to keep up a correspondence. I am writing

-now to tell you that I shall be back in London in a few days, and to

-ask you whether you can find a room for me in Wisteria Grove?'"

-

-"Well! I should 'ave thought he'd 'ave written to me to ask that!" said

-Mrs Gosling.

-

-"So 'e should 'ave, by rights," agreed Gosling. "But 'e's a queer

-card is Mr Thrale."

-

-"Bit dotty, if you ask me," said Blanche.

-

-"'S that all?" asked Mrs Gosling.

-

-"No, 'e says: 'I can't give you an address as I go on to Berlin

-immediately, but I will look you up the evening after I arrive. Eastern

-Europe is not safe at the present time. There 'ave been several

-cases of the new plague in Moscow, but the authorities are doing

-everything they can--which is much in Russia--to keep the news out

-of the press, yours sincerely, Jasper Thrale,' and that's the lot,"

-concluded Gosling.

-

-"I do think he's a cool hand," commented Blanche. "Of course you

-won't have him as a paying guest now?"

-

-Gosling and his wife looked at each other, thoughtfully.

-

-"Well----" hesitated Gosling.

-

-"'E might bring the infection," suggested Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Oh! no fear of that," returned her husband, "but I dunno as we want

-a boarder now. Five years ago I 'adn't got my big rise----"

-

-"Oh, no, father; what would the neighbours think of us if we started

-to take boarders again?" protested Blanche.

-

-"It wouldn't look well," agreed Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Jus' what I was thinking," said the head of the house. "'Owever,

-there's no 'arm in payin' us a friendly visit."

-

-"O' course not," said Mrs Gosling, "though I do think it odd 'e

-shouldn't 'ave written to me in the first place.

-

-"He's dotty!" said Blanche.

-

-Gosling shook his head. "Not by a very long chalk 'e ain't," was his

-firm pronouncement....

-

-"Well, girls, what about bed?" asked Mrs Gosling, putting away the

-"bit of mending" she had been engaged upon.

-

-Gosling yawned again, stretched himself, and rose grunting to his

-feet. "I'm about ready for my bed," he remarked, and after another

-yawn he started his nightly round of inspection.

-

-When he returned to the sitting-room the others were all ready to

-retire. Gosling kissed his daughters, and the two girls and their

-mother went upstairs. Gosling carefully took off the larger pieces

-of coal from the fire and put them under the grate, rolled up the

-hearthrug, saw that the window was securely fastened, extinguished

-the lamp and followed his "womenfolk."

-

-As he was undressing his thoughts turned once more to the threat of

-the new disease which was devastating China.

-

-"Rum thing about that new plague," he remarked to his wife. "Seems

-as it's only men as get it."

-

-"They'd never let it spread to England," replied Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Oh! there's no fear of that, none whatever," said Gosling, "but it's

-rum that about women never catching it."

-

-The attitude of the Goslings faithfully reflected that of the immense

-majority of English people. The faith in the hygienic and scientific

-resources which were at the disposal of the authorities, and the

-implicit trust in the vigilance and energy of those authorities, were

-sufficient to allay any fears that were not too imminent. It was some

-one's duty to look after these things, and if they were not looked

-after there would be letters in the papers about it. At last, without

-question, the authorities would be roused to a sense of duty and the

-trouble, whatever it was, would be stopped. Precisely what authority

-managed these affairs none of the huge Gosling family knew. Vaguely

-they pictured Medical Boards, or Health Committees; dimly they

-connected these things with local government; at the top, doubtless,

-was some managing authority--in Whitehall probably--something to

-do with the supreme head of affairs, the much abused but eminently

-paternal Government.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-II--THE OPINIONS OF JASPER THRALE

-

-

-1

-

-"Lord, how I do envy you," said Morgan Gurney.

-

-Jasper Thrale sat forward in his chair. "There's no reason why you

-shouldn't do what I've done--and more," he said.

-

-"Theoretically, I suppose not," replied Gurney. "It's just making

-the big effort to start with. You see I've got a very decent berth

-and good prospects, and it's comfortable and all that. Only when

-some fellow like you comes along and tells one yarns of the world

-outside, I get sort of hankerings after the sea and adventure, and

-seeing the big things. It's only now and then--ordinary times I'm

-contented enough." He stuck his pipe in the corner of his mouth and

-stared into the fire.

-

-"The only things that really count are feeling clean and strong and

-able," said Thrale. "You never really have that feeling if you live

-in the big cities."

-

-"I've felt like that sometimes after a long bicycle ride," interpolated

-Gurney.

-

-"But then the feeling is wasted, you see," said Thrale. "When you

-feel like that and there is something tremendous to spend it upon,

-you get the great emotion as well."

-

-"Like the glimmer of St Agnes' light, after you'd been eight weeks

-out of sight of land?" reflected Gurney, going back to one of Thrale's

-reminiscences.

-

-"To feel that you are a part of life, not this dead, stale life of

-the city, but the life of the whole universe," said Thrale.

-

-"I know," replied Gurney. "To-night I've half a mind to chuck my job

-and go out looking for mystery."

-

-"But you won't do it," said Thrale.

-

-Gurney sighed and began to analyse the instinct within himself,

-to find precisely why he wanted to do it.

-

-"Well, I must go," said Thrale, getting to his feet, "I've got to

-find some sort of lodging."

-

-"I thought you were going to stay with those Gosling people of yours,"

-said Gurney.

-

-"No! That's off. I went to see them last night and they won't have

-me. The old man's making his £300 a year now, and the family's too

-respectable to take boarders." Thrale picked up his hat and held out

-his hand.

-

-"But, look here, old chap, why the devil can't you stay here?" asked

-Gurney.

-

-"I didn't know that you'd anywhere to put me," said Thrale.

-

-"Oh, yes. There's always a room to be had downstairs," said Gurney.

-

-After a brief discussion the arrangement was made.

-

-"It's understood I'm to pay my whack," said Thrale.

-

-"Of course, if you insist----"

-

-When Thrale had gone to fetch his luggage from the hotel, Gurney

-sat pondering over the fire. He was debating whether he had been

-altogether wise in pressing his invitation. He was wondering whether

-the curiously rousing personality of Thrale, and the stories of those

-still existent corners of the world outside the rules of civilization

-were good for a civil servant with an income of £600 a year. Gurney,

-faced with the plain alternatives, could only decide that he would be a

-fool to throw up a congenial and lucrative occupation such as his own,

-in order to face present physical discomfort and future penury. He

-knew that the discomforts would be very real to him at first. His

-friends would think him mad. And all for the sake of experiencing

-some high emotion now and again, in order to feel clean and fresh

-and be able to discover something of the unknown mystery of life.

-

-"I suppose there is something of the poet in me," reflected

-Gurney. "And I expect I should hate the discomforts. One's imagination

-gets led away...."

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-During the next few evenings the conversations between these two

-friends were many and protracted.

-

-Thrale was the teacher, and Gurney was content to sit at his feet

-and learn. He had a receptive mind, he was interested in all life,

-but Uppingham, Trinity Hall, and the Home Civil had constricted his

-mental processes. At twenty-nine he was losing flexibility. Thrale

-gave him back his power to think, set him outside the formulas of

-his school, taught him that however sound his deductions, there was

-not one of his premises which could not be disputed.

-

-Thrale was Gurney's senior by three years, and when Thrale left

-Uppingham at eighteen, he had gone out into the world. He had a

-patrimony of some £200 a year; but he had taken only a lump sum of

-£100 and had started out to appease his furious curiosity concerning

-life. He had laboured as a miner in the Klondike; had sailed, working

-his passage as an ordinary seaman, from San Francisco to Southampton;

-he had been a stockman in Australia, assistant to a planter in Ceylon,

-a furnace minder in Kimberley and a tally clerk in Hong Kong. For

-nearly nine years, indeed, he had earned a living in every country

-of the world except Europe, and then he had come back to London and

-invested the accumulation of income that his trustee had amassed for

-him. The mere spending of money had no fascination for him. During

-the six months he had remained in London he had lived very simply,

-lodging with the Goslings in Kilburn, and, because he could not live

-idly, exploring every corner of the great city and writing articles

-for the journals. He might have earned a large income by this latter

-means, for he had an originality of outlook and a freshness of style

-that made his contributions eagerly sought after once he had obtained

-a hearing--no difficult matter in London for anyone who has something

-new to say. But experience, not income, was his desire, and at the

-end of six months he had accepted an offer from the Daily Post as a

-European correspondent--on space. He was offered £600 a year, but

-he preferred to be free, and he had no wish to be confined to one

-capital or country.

-

-In those five years he had traversed Europe, sending in his articles

-irregularly, as he required money. And during that time his chief

-trustee--a lawyer of the soundest reputation--had absconded, and

-Thrale found his private income reduced to about £40 a year, the

-interest on one of the investments he had made, in his own name only,

-with his former accumulation--two other investments made at the same

-time had proved unsound.

-

-This loss had not troubled him in any way. When he had read in a

-London journal of his trustee's abscondence--he was later sentenced

-to fourteen years' penal servitude--Thrale had smiled and dismissed

-the matter from his mind. He could always earn all the money he

-required, and had never, not even subconsciously, relied upon his

-private fortune.

-

-He had now come back to London with a definite purpose, he had come

-to warn England of a great danger....

-

-One other distinguishing mark of Jasper Thrale's life must be

-understood, a mark which differentiated him from the overwhelming

-majority of his fellow men--women had no fascination for him. Once in

-his life, and once only, had he approached and tasted experience--with

-a pretty little Melbourne cocotte. That experience he had undertaken

-deliberately, because he felt that until it had been undergone one

-great factor of life would be unknown to him. He had come away from

-it filled with a disgust of himself that had endured for months....

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Fragments of the long conversations between Thrale and Gurney,

-the exchange of a few germane ideas among the irrelevant mass,

-had a bearing upon their immediate future. There was, for instance,

-a criticism of the Goslings, introduced on one occasion, which had

-a certain significance in relation to subsequent developments.

-

-Some question of Gurney's prompted Thrale to the opinion that the

-Goslings were in the main precisely like half a million other families

-of the same class.

-

-"But that's just what makes them so interesting," said Gurney,

-not because he believed it, but because at the moment he wanted to

-lead the conversation into safe ground, away from the too appealing

-attractions of the big world outside the little village of London.

-

-Thrale laughed. "That's truer than you guess," he said. "Every

-large generalization, however trite, is a valuable contribution to

-knowledge--if it's more or less accurate."

-

-"Generalize, then, mon vieux," suggested Gurney, "from the characters

-and doings of your little geese."

-

-"I've seen glimmerings of the immortal god in the old man," said

-Thrale, "like the hint of sunlight seen through a filthy pane

-of obscured glass. He's a prurient-minded old beast leading what's

-called a respectable life, but if he could indulge his ruling desire

-with absolute secrecy, no woman would be safe with him. In his world

-he can't do that, or thinks he can't, which comes to precisely the

-same thing. He is too much afraid of being caught, he sees danger

-where none exists, he looks to all sorts of possibilities, and won't

-take a million-to-one chance because he is risking his all--which is

-included in the one word, respectability."

-

-"Jolly good thing. What?" remarked Gurney.

-

-"Good for society as a whole, apparently," replied Thrale, "but surely

-not good for the man. I've told you that I have seen glimmerings of

-the god in him, but outside the routine of his work the man's mind

-is clogged. He's not much over fifty, and he has no outlet, now,

-for his desires. He's like a man with choked pores, and his body is

-poisoned. And in this particular Gosling is certainly no exception

-either to his class or to the great mass of civilized man. Well, what

-I wonder is whether in a society which is built up of interdependent

-units the whole can be sound when the greater number of the constituent

-units are rotten."

-

-"But look here, old chap," protested Gurney, "if things are as you say,

-and men rule the country, why shouldn't they alter public opinion,

-and so open the way to do as they jolly well please?"

-

-"Because the majority are too much ashamed of their desires to dare

-the attempt in the first place, and in the second because they don't

-wish to open the way for other men. They aren't united in this; they

-are as jealous as women. If they once opened the way to free love,

-their own belongings wouldn't be safe."

-

-"What's your remedy, then?"

-

-"Oh! a few thousand more years of moral development," said Thrale,

-carelessly, "an evolution towards self-consciousness, a fuller

-understanding of the meaning of life, and a finer altruism."

-

-"You don't look far ahead," remarked Gurney.

-

-"Do you think anyone can look even a year ahead?" asked Thrale.

-

-"There have been some pretty good attempts in some ways--Swedenborg,

-for instance, and Samuel Butler...."

-

-"Yes, yes, that's all right, in some ways--the development of

-certain sorts of knowledge, for example. But there is always the

-chance of the unpredictable element coming in and upsetting the whole

-calculation. Some invention may do it, an unforeseen clash of opinions

-or an epidemic...."

-

-For a time they drifted further away from their original topic till

-some remark reminded Gurney that he had meant to ask a question and

-had forgotten it.

-

-"By the way," he said, "I wanted to ask you what you meant when you

-said you had seen a god in old Gosling?"

-

-"Just a touch of imagination and wonder, now and again," replied

-Thrale. "Something he was quite unconscious of himself. I remember

-standing with him on Blackfriars Bridge, and he looked down at the

-river and said: 'I s'pose it was clean once, banks and sand and so

-on, before all this muck came.' Then he looked at me quickly to see

-if I was laughing at him. That was the god in him trying to create

-purity out of filth, even though it was only a casual thought. It was

-smothered again at once. His training reasserted itself. 'Lot better

-for trade the way it is, though,' was his next remark."

-

-"But how can you alter it?" asked Gurney.

-

-"My dear chap, you can't alter these things by any cut-and-dried plan,

-any more than you can dam the Gulf Stream. We can only lay a brick

-or two in the right place. We aren't the architects; the best of us

-are only bricklayers, and the best of the best can only lay two or

-three bricks in a lifetime. Our job is to do that if we can. We can

-only guess very feebly at the design of the building; and often it is

-our duty partly to pull down the work that our forefathers built...."

-

-Presently Gurney asked if his companion had ever seen a god in Mrs

-Gosling.

-

-Thrale shook his head. "It didn't come within my experience," he

-said. "Don't condemn her on that account, but she, like all the women

-I have ever met, has been too intent upon the facts of life ever to see

-its mystery. Mrs Gosling hadn't the power to conceive an abstract idea;

-she had to make some application of it to her own particular experience

-before she could understand the simplest concept. Morality to her

-signified people who behaved as she and her family did; wickedness

-meant vaguely, criminals, Sarah Jones who was an unmarried mother, and

-anyone who didn't believe in the God of the Established Church. Always

-people, you see, in this connexion; in others it might be things;

-but ideas apart from people or things she couldn't grasp. Her two

-daughters thought in precisely the same way...."

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-One Saturday afternoon Thrale came into Gurney's chambers and burst

-out: "Just Heaven! why you fools stand it I can't imagine!"

-

-"What's up now?" asked Gurney.

-

-Thrale sat down and drew his chair up to the table. The pupils of

-his dark eyes were contracted and seemed to glow as if they were

-illuminated from within.

-

-"I was in Oxford Street this morning, watching the women at the

-sales," he said. "All the biggest shops in London are devoted to

-women's clothes. Do you realize that? And it's not only that they're

-the biggest--there are more of them than any other six trades put

-together can show, bar the drink trade, of course. The north side

-of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court Road to the Marble Arch is one

-long succession of huge drapers and milliners. And what in God's name

-is the sense or reason of it? What do these huge shops sell?"

-

-"Dresses, I suppose," ventured Gurney, "and stockings, underlinen,

-corsets, hats, and so on."

-

-"And frippery," said Thrale, fixing his brilliant dark eyes on Gurney,

-"And frippery. Machine lace, ribbons, yokes, cheap blouses, feathers,

-insertions, belts, fifty thousand different kinds of bits and rags

-to be tacked on here and there, worn for a few weeks and then thrown

-away. Millions of little frivolous, stupid odds and ends that are

-bought by women and girls of all classes below the motor-class, to

-make a pretence--gauds and tawdry rubbish not one whit better from the

-artistic point of view than the shells and feathers of any half-naked

-Melanesian savage. In fact, meaningless as the Melanesians' decorations

-are, they do achieve more effect. And what's it all for, I ask you?"

-

-Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.

-

-"The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn't it?" he said. "The

-desire--often subconscious, no doubt--to attract."

-

-"Well, if that is so," said Thrale, "what terribly unintelligent

-fools women must be! If women really set out to attract men, they must

-realize that they are pandering to a sex instinct. Do you think any man

-is attracted by a litter of odds and ends? Doesn't every woman sneer

-when they see some Frenchwoman, perhaps, who dresses to display her

-figure instead of hiding it? Don't they bitterly resent the fact that

-their own men-folk are resistlessly drawn to stare at, and inwardly

-desire, such a woman? Don't they know perfectly well that such a woman

-is attractive to men in a way their own disguised bodies can never be?"

-

-"Yes, old chap; but your average middle-class English girl hasn't

-got the physical attractions to start with," put in Gurney.

-

-"Look at it in another way, then," replied Thrale. "Doesn't every

-woman know perfectly well--haven't you heard them say--that a

-nurse's dress is very becoming--a plain, more or less tightly-fitting

-print dress, with linen collars and cuffs? Don't you know yourself

-that that attire is more attractive to you than any befrilled and

-bedecorated arrangement of lace, ribbons and gauds? Why are so many

-men irresistibly attracted by parlourmaids and housemaids?"

-

-"Yes," meditated Gurney, "that's all true enough. Well, are women

-all fools, or what is it?"

-

-"The majority of women are sheep," said Thrale. "They follow as

-they are led, and don't or won't see that they are being led. And

-the leaders are chiefly men--men who have trumpery to sell. Why do

-the fashions change every year--sometimes more often than that in

-matters of detail? Because the trade would smash if they didn't. New

-fashions must be forced on the buyers, or the returns would drop;

-women would be able to make their last year's clothes do for another

-summer. That must be stopped at any cost. Those vast establishments

-must maintain an enormous turnover if they are to pay their fabulous

-rents and armies of assistants. There are two means of keeping up

-the sales, and both are utilized to the full. The first is to supply

-cheap, miraculously cheap, rubbish which cannot be made to last for

-more than a season. The second is to alter the fashions which affect

-the more durable stuffs, so that last year's dresses cannot be used

-again. This fashion-working scheme reacts upon the poorer buyers,

-because it compels them to do something to imitate the prevailing

-mode, if they can't afford to have entirely new frocks. That is where

-all these bits of frilling and what-not come in; make-believe stuff

-to imitate the real buyers--the large majority of whom don't buy in

-Oxford Street, by the way.

-

-"Mind you, there is a limit to the sheep-like docility of women in this

-connexion. They refused, for instance, to return to the crinoline, and

-they refused the harem skirt--one of the very few sensible devices

-of the fashion-imposers. And this in the face of the prolonged,

-strenuous and expensive methods of the fashion ring. With regard to

-the crinoline, I think that failure was due to over-conceit on the

-part of the fashion-imposers. They had come to believe that they

-could make the poor fools of women accept anything, and on the two

-marked occasions on which they attempted to introduce the crinoline,

-the contrast to the existing mode was too glaring. If the fraud had

-been worked more gradually by way of full skirts and flounces, some

-modification of the crinoline to the necessities of 'buses and tubes

-might have been foisted upon the buyers."

-

-"Oh, my Lord!" ejaculated Gurney; "do you mean to say that women just

-accept these fashions without any sense or reason at all?"

-

-"You're rather a blithering ass, at times, Gurney," remarked Thrale.

-

-Gurney smiled. "You don't give me time to think," he said, "I feel

-like an accumulator being charged. I haven't had time yet to begin

-working on my own account. You're so mighty--so mighty dynamic--and

-positive, old chap."

-

-"Well, it's so absurdly obvious that there must be a reason for women

-accepting the fashions, you idiot!" returned Thrale. "And the first

-and biggest reason is class distinction. The women with money want

-to brag of it by differentiating themselves from the ruck of their

-sisters, and the poor women try to imitate them to the best of their

-ability. Women dress for other women. There is sex rivalry as well as

-class rivalry at the bottom of it, but they dare not put sex rivalry

-first and dress to please men alone, because they are afraid of the

-opinions of other women."

-

-"Sounds all right," said Gurney, and sighed.

-

-"And we, damned fools of men, stand all this foolishness and pay for

-it. Pay, by Jove! I should think so! I should like to see the trade

-returns of all the stuff of this kind that is sold in England alone

-in one year. They would make the naval estimates look small, I'll

-warrant. We even imitate the women's foolishness in some degree. There

-are men's fashions too, but the madness is not so marked; fortunately

-the body of middle-class men can't afford to make fools of themselves

-as well as of their women--though they are asses enough to wear linen

-shirts and collars which are uncomfortable unsightly and expensive

-to wash."

-

-Gurney regarded his lecturer's canvas shirt and collar, and then

-stood up and observed his own immaculate linen in the glass over the

-fireplace. "I must say I like stiff collars and shirts," he remarked;

-"gives one a kind of spruceness."

-

-Thrale laughed. "It's only another sex instinct," he said. "Women

-like men to look 'smart.' When you are playing games with other men,

-or camping out, you don't care a hang for your 'spruceness.' Oh! and

-I'll admit the class distinction rot comes in too. You're afraid

-of public opinion, afraid of being thought common. If the jeunesse

-dorée started the soft shirt in real earnest, you would soon be able

-to persuade your women that that looked smart or spruce, or whatever

-you liked to call it."

-

-"Look here, you know," said Gurney, "you're an anarchist, that's what

-you are."

-

-"You're half a woman, Gurney," said Thrale. "You think in names. All

-people are 'anarchists' who think in ideas instead of following

-conventions."

-

-

-

-

-5

-

-Not until he had been staying with Gurney for more than a week did

-Thrale speak explicitly of his purpose in London. But one cold evening

-at the end of January, as the two men were sitting by a roaring fire

-that Gurney had built up, the younger man unknowingly opened the

-subject by saying,

-

-"Things are pretty slack at the present moment. The Evening Chronicle

-has even fallen back on the 'New Plague' for the sake of news."

-

-"What do they say?" asked Thrale. He was lying back in his chair,

-nursing one knee, and staring up at the ceiling.

-

-"Oh, the usual rot!" said Gurney "That the thing isn't understood,

-has never been 'described' by any medical or scientific authority; that

-it is apparently confined to one little corner of Asia at the present

-time, but that if it got hold in Europe it might be serious. And then

-a lot of yap about the unknown forces of Nature; special article by

-a chap who's been reading too much Wells, I should imagine."

-

-"It seems so incredible to us in twentieth-century England that

-anything really serious could happen," remarked Thrale. "We are

-so well looked after and cared for. We sit down and wait for some

-authority to move, with a perfect confidence that when it does move,

-everything is bound to be all right."

-

-"With such an organism as society has become," said Gurney, "things

-must be worked like that. A certain group to perform one function,

-other groups for other functions, and so on."

-

-"Cell-specialization?" commented Thrale. "Some day to be perfected

-in socialism."

-

-"I believe socialism must come in some form," said Gurney.

-

-"Yes, it's an interesting speculation, in some ways," said Thrale,

-"but the higher forces are about to put a new spoke in the human wheel,

-and the machinery has to be stopped for a time."

-

-"What have you got hold of now?" asked Gurney.

-

-"The thoughtful man," went on Thrale, still staring up at the ceiling,

-"would have asked me to define my expression 'the higher forces.'"

-

-"Well, old man, I knew that was beyond even your capacity," returned

-Gurney, "so I thought we might 'cut the cackle and come to the

-'osses.'"

-

-Thrale suddenly released his knee and sat upright; then he moved his

-chair so that he directly confronted his companion.

-

-"Look here, Gurney," he said, and the pupils of his eyes contracted

-till they looked like black crystal glowing with dark red light. "Do

-you realize how some outside control has always diverted man's

-progress; how when nations have tended to crystallize into specialized

-government, some irruption from outside has always broken it up? You

-can trace the principle through all known history, but the most

-marked cases are those of the Egyptians and the Incas--two nations

-which had developed specialized government to a science. There is

-some power--whether we can credit it with an intelligence in any way

-comprehensible to us from the feeble basis of our own knowledge,

-I doubt--but there is some outside power which will not permit

-mankind to crystallize into an organism. From our, human, point of

-view, from the point of view of individual comfort and happiness,

-it would be of enormous benefit to us if we could develop a system

-of specialization and swamp the individual in the community. And in

-times of peace and prosperity that is always the direction in which

-civilization tends to evolve. But beyond a certain point--as the

-individualists have not failed to point out--that state of perfect

-government will lead to stagnation, degeneration, death. Now, in the

-little span of time that we know as the history of mankind, there

-has been no world-civilization. As soon as a nation tended to become

-over-civilized and degenerate, some other, younger, more barbarous

-people flowed over them and wiped them out. In the case of Peru the

-process had gone very far, owing to the advantages of the Incas'

-peculiar segregation. But then, you see, the development in the East,

-the new world (I ought to explain that I find the oldest civilization

-of the present epoch in America) reached a point in Spain and England

-which sent them out across a hemisphere to wreck and destroy the Incas.

-

-"Well, we have now reached a condition when the nations are in touch

-with one another and progress becomes more general. We are in sight

-of a system of European, Colonial and Trans-Atlantic Socialism,

-more or less reciprocal and carrying the promise of universal

-peace. Whence, you ask, is any irruption to come that will break up

-this strong crystallizing system which is admittedly to work for the

-happiness and comfort of the individual? There has been much talk

-of an Asiatic invasion, a rebellious India or an invading China,

-but those civilizations are older than ours; if we can trust the

-precedents of history in this connexion, the conquerors have always

-been the younger race." He broke off abruptly.

-

-Gurney had been sitting fascinated and hypnotized by the compulsion

-of Thrale's personality; he had been held by the keen, intent stare

-of those wonderful dark eyes. When Thrale stopped, however, the

-tension snapped.

-

-"Well," remarked Gurney, "I think that's a jolly good argument to

-prove that we have, at last, reached a stage of universal progress

-towards the ideal."

-

-"You can't conceive," asked Thrale, "of any cataclysm that would

-involve a return to the old segregation of nations, and bring about

-a new epoch beginning with separated peoples evolving on more or less

-racial lines?"

-

-Gurney pondered for a moment or two and then shook his head.

-

-"Little wonder," said Thrale, "I had often considered this problem,

-and I could think of no upheaval which would bring about the familiar

-effect of submersion. Years ago there was always the possibility of a

-European war, but even that would have only a temporary effect despite

-the forecast of Mr Wells in The War in the Air. No, I considered and

-wondered if my theory was faulty. I was willing to reject it if I

-could find a flaw...."

-

-"And then?" questioned Gurney.

-

-Thrale leaned forward again and once more compelled the other's

-fascinated attention.

-

-"And then, when I was in Northern China, seven weeks ago, I saw a

-solution, so appalling, so inconceivably ghastly, that I rejected

-it with horror. For days I went about fighting my own conviction. I

-couldn't believe it! By God, I would not believe it!

-

-"There, within a hundred and fifty miles of the border of Tibet, the

-outside forces have planted a seed which has been maturing in secret

-for more than a year. There that seed has taken root, and from that

-centre is spreading more and more rapidly, and it may spread over

-the whole world. It is like some filthily poisonous and incredibly

-prolific weed, and its seeds, now that it has once established itself,

-are borne by every wind, dropping here and there in an ever-widening

-circle, every seed becoming a fresh centre of distribution outwards."

-

-"But what, in Heaven's name, is the weed?" whispered Gurney.

-

-"A new disease--a new plague--unknown by man, against which, so

-far as we know, he has no weapon. In those scattered villages among

-the mountains there are no men left to work. Everything is done by

-women. They are prohibited more fiercely than any leper settlement. No

-one dares to approach within five miles of them. But every week or

-two another village is smitten, and the inhabitants fly in terror

-and carry the infection with them.

-

-"Gurney, it's come to Europe! There are new centres of distribution

-in Russia at the present time. If it isn't stopped it will come to

-England. And it doesn't decimate the population. It wipes the men

-clean out of existence; not one man in ten thousand, the Chinese

-say, escapes.

-

-"Is it possible that this can be the means of the 'higher forces'

-I spoke of, the means to segregate the nations once more?"

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-III--LONDON'S INCREDULITY

-

-

-1

-

-Jasper Thrale's mission was no easy one. England, it appeared,

-was slightly preoccupied at the moment, and had no ear for

-warnings. Generally, he was either treated as a fanatic and laughed

-at, or he was told that he greatly exaggerated the danger and that

-these matters could safely be entrusted to the Local Government Board,

-which had brilliantly handled the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth

-disease. But there were some exceptions to this rule.

-

-His first definite statement had been made to his own editor, Watson

-Maxwell of the Daily Post.

-

-"Yes," said Maxwell, when he had given Thrale a patient hearing,

-"it is certainly a matter that needs attention. Would you care to go

-out as our special commissioner and report at length?..."

-

-"There isn't time," replied Thrale. "The thing is urgent."

-

-Maxwell brought his eyebrows together and looked keenly at his

-correspondent. "Do you really think it's so serious, Thrale?" he

-asked. "After all, what evidence have you, beyond the Chinese reports?"

-

-"I know there are several cases in Russia," said Thrale.

-

-"Yes, yes; I don't doubt that," returned Maxwell, with a touch of

-impatience. "But unless you can bring evidence to show that this new

-disease is as deadly as you say, it is not a matter that I could give

-space to at the present time. For one thing, the Evening Chronicle has

-been making rather a feature of it for the last three or four days,

-and I don't see that I could do much unless we had some special inside

-information. Then, the House will be sitting again next week, and

-it seems to me not altogether improbable that we shall have a stormy

-session, which will mean that a good deal of ordinary matter will have

-to give way...." He broke off, and then added, with a friendly smile:

-"But if you would go out as our commissioner, we should be glad to

-make you a proposal."

-

-"There will be no need for a commissioner in a week's time," replied

-Thrale. "You don't seem to understand that I'm not looking out for a

-job. I don't want to write articles; I don't want to be paid for the

-information I can supply. I foresee a grave danger, which is growing

-more grave hourly by reason of the Russian Government's censorship of

-all reports referring to the plague. It is a danger which should be

-understood at once. If you send any commissioner, send the cleverest

-physician you can find, and a bacteriologist."

-

-There could be no doubt of Thrale's earnestness, and Maxwell, who was

-not only a very capable editor, but also an able and intellectual man,

-was impressed. Unfortunately, the interests of his proprietors at

-that moment necessitated a great effort to prop up the very unstable

-Liberal Government, which had been in power for four years and was

-now on its last legs. It was so essential from the proprietors' point

-of view--three of them were on the Government front bench--that the

-dissolution should be postponed until such time as the Ministry could

-go to the country with a reasonable prospect of success. A tentative

-English Church Disestablishment Bill was to be introduced in the coming

-session, and it was hoped that if the Government had to go to the

-country they could make a platform on that one clear issue. It was a

-good Bill, designed to win the Nonconformist vote, without completely

-alienating the High Church party. In other words, the Government was

-eager at that moment to please the majority of the electors, which is,

-presumably, the highest object of a representative government.

-

-"If it had been at any other time," said Maxwell, and pushed his

-chair back.

-

-Thrale understood that the interview was at an end. He rose from his

-chair and picked up his hat.

-

-"We shall be glad to print any articles you care to send us," said

-Maxwell, with his kind smile, "but I can't undertake a campaign,

-you understand, at the present moment."

-

-It was nearly four o'clock, but Thrale just managed to catch Groves

-of the Evening Chronicle.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-Groves had his hat on, and was just off to tea at his club when

-Thrale's name was sent in to him. He told the messenger that he would

-see Mr Thrale in the waiting-room downstairs.

-

-Thrale had had some experience of newspaper methods, and he inferred

-that the reception was equivalent to a refusal to see him. He knew

-what those interviews in downstairs waiting-rooms implied. It was

-not the first time that he had been treated like an insurance agent

-or a tradesman and told, in effect, "Not to-day, thank you."

-

-In this case he was mistaken in his inference. Groves had had an

-eye on Thrale's articles for some time past, and though he thought

-it a diplomatic essential to keep his man waiting for ten minutes,

-he had no intention of offending him.

-

-Groves came into the waiting-room with a slightly abstracted

-air. "Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Thrale," he said. "The fact is,

-that I wanted to finish before I left. Did you want to see me about

-anything particular?"

-

-"Yes," returned Thrale; "I have some facts about the new plague which

-ought to be given publicity at once."

-

-Groves pursed his thick lips and shook his head. "Well, well," he said,

-"will you come and have tea with me at the club?"

-

-He took Thrale's assent for granted, and went out abruptly, leaving

-his guest to follow.

-

-In the taxicab Groves talked of nothing but the lack of originality

-in invention in reference to aeroplanes. He seemed to take it as a

-personal affront that no workable adaptation of the aeroplane had

-been made to short-distance passenger traffic.

-

-Indeed, it was not till after "tea"--in Groves' case an euphemism for

-whisky and soda--that he would approach the subject of Thrale's visit.

-

-"The fact is, my dear fellow," he said, "that our campaign hasn't

-caught on. I'm going to let it down gently and drop it after to-day's

-edition. You see, we've got to get the Government out this session,

-and I'm going to start a new campaign. Can't give you any particulars

-yet, but you'll see the beginning of it next Monday." Like Maxwell,

-Groves differentiated between the uses of the singular and plural

-pronouns in speaking of his work. There was a distinction to be

-inferred between the initiation and responsibilities of the editor

-and those of his proprietors.

-

-Groves was not at all impressed by any earnestness or forebodings. He

-seemed to think that a touch of the plague in London might be rather

-a good thing in some ways. People wanted waking up--especially to

-the importance of getting rid of the present Government.

-

-It appeared that Thrale's articles on other subjects would be

-acceptable to the readers of the Evening Chronicle, but there was no

-suggestion that he should go out to Russia as a special commissioner.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Grant Lacey, of The Times, listened seriously to Thrale's exposition,

-and then, in a finely delivered speech which lasted twenty minutes,

-proved to his own complete satisfaction that Thrale's premises,

-deductions, and whole argument were thoroughly unsound. Lacey,

-however, was greatly interested in the condition of Russia, and

-promised Thrale magnificent terms if he would tour St Petersburg,

-Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw--and then return and contribute a special series

-of articles. References to the new plague would not be prohibited in

-the series if Thrale still found any cause for alarm.

-

-In all, Thrale had interviews with the editors of nine important

-journals; the other six developed on the general lines already

-indicated--either he was not taken seriously or was told that the

-danger was greatly exaggerated. The real causes of his failure were

-two:--first, the critical position of the Government; second, the

-precocious campaign of the Evening Chronicle--the latter had taken

-the wind out of the sails of less enterprising journals.

-

-Thrale's next step was to obtain introductions to Ministers and

-prominent members of the Opposition; but from them he received even

-less attention--he did not obtain interviews on many occasions--and, if

-possible, less encouragement. The President of the Local Government

-Board informed him that the matter was already engaging that

-department's energies; the others were all manifestly preoccupied

-with more immediate interests.

-

-But little less than a fortnight after the initiation of his campaign

-Thrale received a special message from the editor of the Daily Post. It

-was nearly midnight, and the messenger was waiting with a taxicab.

-

-The message ran: "Received through news agency report of three cases

-of plague in Berlin. Can you come down at once?--Maxwell."

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-IV--MR BARKER'S FLAIR

-

-

-1

-

-Jasper Thrale, in the partial exposition of his philosophy (if

-that description is not too large for such vague imaginings), had

-included very definite reference to certain "higher forces" to which

-he had attributed peculiar powers of interference in humanity's

-management of its own concerns. Doubtless these powers had control

-of various instruments, and were able to exercise their influence

-in any direction and by any means. In the present case it would

-seem that they were working in devious and subtle ways--and in this

-at least they differed not at all from the methods attributable to

-that we have called Providence, or the Laws of Nature; any assumed

-guide or irrefragible, incomprehensible ordination. It is a common

-characteristic of these forces that they seem able to control the

-inconceivably great and the inconceivably small with equal certitude.

-

-Not that George Gosling touched any limits. He was moderately large

-in body and small in intellect, but neither the physical excess nor

-the mental deficiency marked him out from his fellow men. In the

-office, indeed, he was regarded by the firm and his colleagues as a

-capable man of business whose embonpoint was quite consistent with

-his employment by a firm of wholesale provision merchants.

-

-On the Thursday morning that saw the announcement in the morning papers

-that a case of the new plague was reported in Berlin, Gosling was

-called into the partners' private office on some matter of accountancy.

-

-The senior partner of Barker and Prince was eager, grasping and

-imaginative; his name had originally been German, and ended, in

-"stein," but he had changed it for the convenience of his English

-connexion. Prince was a large rubicund man, friendly and noisy in

-his manners, but accounted a shrewd buyer.

-

-It was not until Gosling was about to depart that the higher forces

-turned their attention to Barbican and then they suddenly urged

-Gosling to say, without premeditation on his part,

-

-"I see there's a case of this 'ere new plague in Berlin."

-

-Mr Prince laughed and winked at his subordinate. "Some of us'll have

-to start a hareem, soon; who knows?" he said, and laughed again,

-more loudly than ever.

-

-"I suppose you haf not heard any other reports, eh?" asked Mr Barker.

-

-"Well, curiously enough, I 'ave," said Gosling. "A young feller who

-used to lodge with us five years back, come 'ome from Russia about

-a fortnight since, and 'e tells me as the plague's spreadin' like

-wildfire in Russia."

-

-Mr Prince laughed again, and Mr Barker seemed about to turn his

-attention to other matters, when the higher forces sent Gosling the

-one great inspiration of his life. It came to him with startling

-suddenness, but he gave utterance to it as simply and with as little

-verve as he spoke his "good morning" to the office-boy.

-

-"I been thinkin', sir," he said (he had never once thought of it until

-this moment), "as it might be well to keep a neye on this plague,

-so to speak."

-

-"Ah! Zo?" said Mr Barker; a phrase which Gosling correctly interpreted

-as the expression of a desire for the elucidation of his last remark.

-

-"Well, I been thinkin', if you'll excuse me, sir," he went on, "as

-though the plague's only in the bud, so to speak, at the present time,

-it seems very likely to spread so far as we can judge; and that what

-with quarantine, p'raps, and p'raps shortage of labour and so on,

-it might mean 'igher prices for our stuff."

-

-"Zo!" said Mr Barker, but this time the monosyllable was

-reflective. The great inspiration had found fruitful soil.

-

-"Brince," continued Barker after a minute's thought, "I haf a

-flair. We will buy heavily at once. But not through our London

-house, no; or others will follow us too quickly. You must not go,

-we will zend Ztewart from Dundee, it will zeem that we prepare for

-the zhipping strike in the north. We buy heavily; yes? I haf a flair."

-

-"But, I say," said Mr Prince, who had the greatest confidence in his

-partner's insight, "I say, Barker, d'you think this plague's serious?"

-

-"I am putting money on it, ain't I?" asked Barker.

-

-Prince and Gosling exchanged a scared glance. Until that moment it

-had not come home to either of them that it was possible for English

-affairs to be affected by this strange and deadly disease.

-

-The remainder of the conversation was complicated and exceedingly

-technical.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-When he came back into the counting-house, Gosling looked unnaturally

-thoughtful.

-

-"Anything gorne wrong?" asked his crony, Flack.

-

-"There's nothing wrong with the 'ouse, if that's what you mean,"

-replied Gosling mysteriously.

-

-"What then?" asked Flack.

-

-"It's this 'ere new plague," returned Gosling.

-

-"Tchah! That's all my eye," said Flack. He was a narrow-chested,

-high-shouldered man of sixty, with a thin grey beard, and he had a

-consistently incredulous mind.

-

-Out here in the counting-house, Gosling's thrill of fear was rapidly

-subsiding, and he had no intention of passing over his own important

-part in the house's decision to buy for a rise; so he bulged out his

-cheeks, shook his head and said:

-

-"Not by a long chalk it ain't, Flack; not by a long chalk. There

-was that young feller, Thrale, as I was tellin' you about; 'e gave

-me a hidea or two, and now s'mornin' we 'ave this very serious news

-from Berlin."

-

-"Papers 'ave to make the worst of everything," said Flack. "It's

-their livin'."

-

-"Anyways," continued Gosling, "I put it quite straight to the 'ouse

-this mornin', as we might do worse under the circumstances than buy

-'eavily...."

-

-"You did?" asked Flack, and he cocked up his spectacles and looked

-at Gosling underneath them.

-

-"I did," replied Gosling.

-

-"What did Mr Barker say to that?" asked Flack.

-

-"He took my advice."

-

-"Lord's sakes, you don't tell me so?" said Flack, his spectacles on

-his forehead.

-

-"I'm now about to dictate various letters to our 'ouse in Dundee,"

-replied Gosling, dropping his voice to a whisper, and assuming an

-air of mysterious importance, "advising them to send our Mr Stewart

-to Vienna immediate, from where 'e is to proceed to Berlin. 'E is,

-also, to 'ave private instructions from the 'ouse as to the extent

-of 'is buyin'--which I may tell you in confidence, Flack, will be

-enormous--e-normous." Gosling raised his head slowly on the first

-syllable, brought it down with a jerk on the second, and left the

-third largely to the imagination.

-

-"But d'yer mean to tell me," expostulated Flack, "as all this is on

-account of this plague? They been usin' that as a blind, my boy."

-

-Gosling laid a bunch of swollen fingers on his colleague's arm. "I

-tell you, Flack, old boy," he said, "that this is serious. When Mr

-Barker took up my advice, as 'e did very quick, Mr Prince said, 'You

-don't tell me as you really take this plague serious, Barker?' 'e

-said. And Mr Barker looked up and says, 'I'm goin' to put all my

-money on it.'" Gosling paused and then repeated, "Mr Barker says as

-'e's goin' to put all our money on it, Flack."

-

-"Lord's sakes!" said Flack. Here, indeed, was an argument strong enough

-to break down even his consistent incredulity. "But d'yer mean to tell

-me," he persisted, "that Mr Barker thinks as it'll come to England?"

-

-"We-el, you know," returned Gosling, "we need not, p'raps go quite

-so far as that. But it may go far enough to interfere with European

-markets, there may be trouble with quarantine, and such-like...."

-

-"Ah, well, that," said Flack with an air of relief. "Jus' so, jus'

-so. Mr Barker can see as far through a brick wall as most people,

-and so I've always said." He dropped his spectacles on to his nose

-again, and returned to his interrupted accountancy.

-

-Gosling went fussily into his own room and rang for his typist--a

-competent and presentable young woman, among whose duties that of

-turning her superior's letters into equivalent English was not the

-lightest.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Gosling was very full of importance that day, and during lunch he

-wore the air of a man who had secret and valuable information. He

-was too well versed in City methods and too loyal to his own house

-to give any hint of Barker and Prince's speculations in Austria and

-Germany; but when the subject of the new plague inevitably came into

-the conversation, he spoke with an authority that was heightened by

-the hint of reserve implicit in his every dictum.

-

-When the latest joke on the subject, fresh from the Stock Exchange,

-had been retailed by one of the usual group of lunchers, and had

-been received with the guffaws it merited, Gosling suddenly screwed

-his face to an unaccustomed seriousness and said, "But it's serious,

-you know, extremely serious."

-

-And by degrees, from this and many other better informed sources,

-the rumour ran through the City that the new plague was serious,

-extremely serious. That afternoon there was a slight drop of prices in

-certain industrial shares, and a slight rise in wheat and some other

-imported food stuffs; fluctuations which could not be attributed to

-ordinary causes. Mr Barker's foresight was justified once again in

-the eyes of Gosling and Flack. Before five o'clock another letter

-was posted to Dundee, enforcing haste.

-

-In the bosom of his family that evening, Gosling was a little pompous,

-and talked of economy. But his wife and daughters, although they

-assumed an air of interest, were quite convinced that the head of

-the house in Wisteria Grove was making the most of a rumour for his

-own purposes.

-

-As Blanche said to Millie, later, father was always finding some

-excuse for keeping them short of dress money. That five pounds had

-proved inadequate to supply even their immediate necessities, and

-they were already meditating another attack.

-

-"We simply must get another three pounds somehow," said Millie. And

-Blanche quite agreed with her.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-V--THE CLOSED DOOR

-

-

-1

-

-There was a lull for forty-eight hours after that announcement of

-the case of the new plague in Berlin, and Maxwell was beginning to

-regret his headlines when the news began to come in, this time in

-volume. The Russian censorship had broken down, and the news agencies

-were suddenly flooded with reports. There were several thousand cases

-of the plague in Eastern Russia; the north and south were affected,

-many men were dying in such towns as Kharkov and Rostov; there were

-a dozen cases in St Petersburg; there was a such a rush of reports

-that it was quite impossible to distinguish between those that were

-probably true and those that were certainly false.

-

-The morning papers gave as much space as they could spare, and had

-even broken up some of the matter dealing with the arrangements for

-the opening of Parliament on that day. But the evening papers had

-news that put all previous reports in the shade. Eleven more cases

-were reported in Berlin, three in Hamburg, five in Prague and one in

-Vienna. But more important, more thrilling still, was the news that

-H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo, the Tsar's younger brother, had died of

-the plague in Moscow, and Professor Schlesinger in Berlin. Until that

-startling announcement came, the English public had incomprehensibly

-imagined that only peasants, Chinamen and people of the lower social

-grades were attacked by this strange new infection.

-

-In the later editions it was reported on good authority that Professor

-Schlesinger had been observing a sample of the blood of the first

-case of plague that had been recognized in Berlin.

-

-Nevertheless the majority of readers, after glancing through the

-obituary notices of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo and of the world-famed

-bacteriologist, turned to the account--only slightly abbreviated--of

-the opening of Parliament. And in many households the subject of

-the new plague gave place to the fiercely controversial topic of the

-English Church Disestablishment Bill, which had been indicated in the

-King's Speech as a measure that was to be introduced in the forthcoming

-session. Many opponents of the Bill coupled the two chief items of

-news and said that the plague was a warning against infidelity. It

-may be assumed that they found sufficient warrant for the killing

-of a few thousand Russians, including a prince of the blood and a

-great German scientist, in the acknowledged importance of England

-among the nations. The death of half a million or so Chinamen in the

-first instance had been a delicate hint; now came the more urgent

-warning. Who knew but that if this sacrilegious Bill were passed,

-England herself might not be smitten. When warnings are disregarded,

-judgments follow. The Evangelicals found a weapon ready to their

-hands....

-

-But what precisely was the nature of the new plague, none of the

-journals was as yet able to say. The symptoms had not as yet been

-"described" by any medical authority, for it appeared that, contrary

-to modern precedent, the doctor himself, despite all precautions,

-was peculiarly subject to infection. Out of the eleven new cases in

-Berlin, no less than four were medical men.

-

-From the layman's point of view the symptoms were briefly as follows:

-Firstly, violent pains at the base of the skull, followed by a period

-of comparative relief which lasted from two to five hours. Then,

-a numbness in the extremities, followed by rapid paralysis. Death

-ensued in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the pains were

-first experienced. No case, as yet, was known to have recovered. A

-well-known physician in London gave it as his opinion that the disease

-was a hitherto unknown form of cerebro-spinal meningitis of unexampled

-virulence. He protested that the word "plague" was a false description,

-but that word had already been impressed on the public mind, and the

-disease was spoken of as the "new plague" until the end.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The next morning all London was reading a heavily-leaded article

-by Jasper Thrale. It appeared first in the Daily Post, with the

-announcement that it was not copyright, and all the evening papers

-took it up, and some of them reprinted it in its entirety.

-

-The article began by pointing out that in the recent history

-of civilization Europe had been subject to a long succession of

-pestilences. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries,

-wrote Thrale, the Black Death, now commonly supposed to be a form

-of the bubonic plague, was practically endemic in England. In more

-recent times small-pox had been responsible for enormous mortality

-among all classes, and, in our own day, tuberculosis. In the two

-former examples, Thrale pointed out, and in many other diseases,

-infectious or contagious, or both, these pestilences had gradually

-lost virulence. By the elimination of those most susceptible to

-infection and incapable to resist the onslaught of the disease, and

-by the survival of those whose vitality was strong enough either to

-resist attack or to achieve recovery, mankind at last were gradually

-becoming immune against certain infections which had prevailed in the

-past. And in a greater or less degree this immunity was without doubt

-being obtained against a whole host of lesser ills. This comparative

-immunity, in fact, was one of the means of man's evolution towards

-a more perfect physical body.

-

-"But let us consider for a moment," wrote Thrale, "the appalling

-danger which threatens us when we are attacked by a pestilence which

-is entirely new to humanity; new, so far as we know, to the world. In

-the middle of the fourteenth century the Black Death is recorded in

-some places to have killed two-thirds of the whole population, and,

-notwithstanding the modern improvement in sanitation and general

-hygiene, there is no inherent reason why another pestilence may not

-appear, which may be even more deadly. And we are faced at the present

-moment with the awful threat that such a pestilence has appeared, the

-pestilence commonly known as the 'new plague.' There is no reason why

-we should consider the appearance as without precedent in history;

-there is no reason why we should regard its coming as outside the

-laws of common probability; finally, and most decisively, there is

-no reason why England should not be smitten.

-

-"According to report among the Chinese, this 'new plague' has been

-spasmodically epidemic in Tibet for more than a century. We have, as

-yet, no certain facts upon which to base any hypothesis, but is it not

-credible that during that time some bacterium or bacillus--hitherto

-harmlessly parasitic, perhaps, in the blood of lower animals--has

-changed its life habit? In the isolated and sparsely inhabited

-regions of Tibet, it is possible that for many thousand years the

-assumed bacterium was never bred in the blood of man; it is possible

-that when it first found a new host it was comparatively harmless

-to him, but within a hundred years it may have become so altered by

-new conditions that it has developed into what is practically a new

-species. If these theories are relatively true, it is not unlikely

-that this new bacterium is working out its own destruction by the

-destruction of its hosts. It may be that it is one of those blind

-alleys of evolution which reach a certain stage of development and

-then disappear. But meanwhile what of mankind? We know so little of

-the history of microscopic life. There is a whole world of evolution

-in process of which we have no conception, and at this stage, whether

-my hypothesis be a possible one or not, we are at least sure that an

-unknown organism--animal or vegetable--has become visible to us in

-its effects and may alter the whole history of mankind.

-

-"I lay stress on these aspects, because we are so hide-bound, so

-restricted, so conventional in our ideas that we assume, without

-thought, that the process of life as we know of it from a few thousand

-years of history can never be interrupted. In our few years of

-individual existence we become accustomed to certain apparent laws of

-cause and effect, and will not believe that there can be any exception

-to those assumed laws. But, now, in the face of recent evidence, it is

-absolutely essential that we should realize instantly and practically

-that we are threatened with a new factor in life, which imperils the

-whole human race. It is no longer safe to comfort ourselves with the

-belief--begotten of our vanity--that the world was necessarily made for

-man. It behoves us to take measures for our protection without delay,

-to undertake our own cause and trust no longer in any beneficent

-Providence that works always for our ultimate benefit.

-

-"These measures of protection are clearly indicated. We must close our

-doors against the invasion of the plague. Quarantine will not protect

-us; we must have no traffic with Europe until the danger is past. By

-the happy accident of our position we can become isolated from the

-rest of the world. We must close our doors before it is too late."

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-If the people had not been seriously scared by the sudden irruption of

-news on the day preceding that on which this article was published,

-they would have ignored Thrale's hyperboles--or laughed. But, caught

-in a moment of agitation and fear, a certain section of the crowd took

-up Thrale's suggestion, talked about the "closed door," held meetings,

-and started propaganda. The Press, with its genius for appreciating

-and following public opinion, also took up the suggestion, and was

-automatically divided into two sections, recognizable as Liberal

-and Conservative.

-

-The Times took command of the situation with a leader, in which

-Thrale's argument was pounded, rather than picked, to pieces;

-but the Daily Mail produced more effect with two special articles

-contributed, one by a bacteriologist, the other by a professor of

-economics. The first had little weight--all argument under that head

-was as yet founded on the most uncertain hypotheses. The second was

-so convincing that the less ardent supporters of the "closed door"

-policy were shaken in their convictions.

-

-The writer of the economic article pointed out that an England with

-closed doors could not feed herself for a month. He was scrupulously

-fair in his argument, and was at great pains to show that even if

-preparation was instantly made to lay in large stores of grain from

-Canada, tinned meats from America, and food-stuffs generally from

-the many places which were as yet free from any taint of plague, it

-would still be impossible to provide for more than a three months'

-isolation. Then, leaving this aspect of the question, he went on to

-show in detail that even if the food could be supplied, the practical

-cessation of our enormous foreign trade would mean the destruction of

-England's commerce, and he wound up with an earnest exhortation to

-the country at large, warning the people to beware of scaremongers,

-pessimists, and opportunists who had their own ends to serve, and

-cared nothing for the general welfare. It was an excellent article

-in every way; quite one of the best that the Daily Mail had ever

-published. And as this, too, was declared free of any copyright

-restrictions, it was largely circulated.

-

-The Daily Post replied next morning by pointing out that the

-celebrated professor of economics was nullifying all his own previous

-utterances on the case for Tariff Reform, but that retort carried

-little weight. No one cared if the professor contradicted himself;

-anyone, except the faddists, could see that the argument of the

-article was sound, in fact incontrovertible. What had to be done was

-to put pressure on the Local Government Board. It was true that the

-Daily Post, the semi-official organ of the Government, affirmed that

-the Board in question was alert and active, but that announcement

-was regarded as a cliché; what was wanted were particulars of the

-preventive measures that were being taken.

-

-The members of the great Gosling family, in offices, warehouses

-and shops followed the line of least resistance, while making some

-assertion of their rights as citizens.

-

-George Gosling's arguments with his crony Flack were excellently

-representative.

-

-"What yer think of this 'closed door' business?" asked Flack.

-

-"Goin' a bit too far, in my opinion," returned Gosling judicially.

-

-Flack's natural incredulity had inclined him in the same direction,

-but his colleague's certainty swung him round at once.

-

-"I ain't so sure o' that," he said. "Looks to me as things is going

-pretty bad."

-

-"Bad enough, I grant you," returned Gosling. "But there isn't no

-need for us to lose our 'eads over it. Take it all round, you know,

-it's pretty certain as things isn't as bad as is made out, whereas,

-on the other 'and, the 'closed door' policy'd mean ruin and starvation

-for 'undreds of thousands--there's no gettin' round that."

-

-"Better a few 'undred thousands than the 'ole male population,"

-said Flack.

-

-"If it come to that, but it won't; no fear, not by a long chalk,

-it won't," replied Gosling. "What's got to be done is to get the

-Local Government Board to work. We've got to 'ave a regular system o'

-quarantine established, that's what we've got to 'ave."

-

-It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of prevention at

-the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could have been

-adopted. The supporters of the "closed door" policy soon began to

-lose adherents. The scheme was obviously alarmist, far-fetched and

-utterly impracticable....

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-Through February and the early part of March the plague spread through

-Central Europe, but not with an alarming rapidity.

-

-In the second week of March, Berlin was reporting a weekly roll of

-over five hundred deaths attributable to this cause, and Vienna was

-second with between four and five hundred. In St Petersburg and Moscow

-the figures were no higher, and there were as yet comparatively few

-cases in France, and none in Spain or Portugal.

-

-Many authorities were of opinion that the mortality had reached the

-maximum, and that the plague would work itself out in the course

-of a few more weeks. Moreover it appeared that the early reports

-of the highly infectious character of the plague must have been

-grossly exaggerated, for as yet there had been not a single case

-in the British Isles despite the enormous traffic between England

-and the Continent. It is true that the strictest quarantine had been

-established--it had been ascertained that the period of gestation of

-the germ was about fifty hours--but not one single case had so far

-been detained in quarantine ships or hospitals. It was argued from

-this that the plague was not infectious at all in the ordinary sense,

-and only mildly contagious; that it flourished in certain centres

-and was not easily transferable from one centre to another.

-

-The only aspect of the thing that was seriously alarming was

-the horrible mortality among doctors and the specialists who were

-endeavouring to recognize and isolate the characteristic germ of the

-disease. Nine English experts who had dared martyrdom in the cause

-of science had gone to Berlin to make investigations, and not one of

-them had returned. As a consequence of this strange susceptibility

-of the investigator, whether medical man or bacteriologist, there was

-still an extraordinary ignorance of the general nature and action of

-the disease.

-

-Nevertheless, despite this one intimidating aspect of the plague,

-the general attitude in the middle of March was that the quarantine

-arrangements were enormously impeding trade and should be relaxed. The

-foreign governments were alive to the seriousness of the scourge,

-and were doing all in their power to prevent infection. There had

-been a scare, but people were calm again, now, and able to realize

-the extent of the earlier exaggerations.

-

-The Government passed the second reading of the English Church

-Disestablishment Bill by a majority of nineteen, before the Easter

-recess, and the Goslings, who had grown used to the plague, whose

-chief attitude towards it was that it was an infernal nuisance which

-interfered with trade, turned their attention gladly to the new topic;

-they all thought that a general election at that moment would result

-in an overwhelming Conservative majority. And as the Liberals had

-been in power for more than ten years, that eventuality was regarded

-with complacency.

-

-But at this critical moment--to the joy of the Evangelicals--the new

-plague set to work in earnest.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-VI--DISASTER

-

-

-1

-

-Russia was smitten. Once more communication was cut off from Moscow,

-this time by a different agent. The work of the city was paralysed. Men

-were falling dead in the street, and there were only women to bury

-them. A wholesale emigration had begun. The roads were choked with

-people on foot and in carriages, for the trains had ceased to run.

-

-The news filtered in by degrees: it was confirmed, contradicted and

-definitely confirmed again every few hours.

-

-Then came final confirmation, with the news that something approaching

-war had broken out--a war of defence. Germany had sent troops to the

-frontier to stem the tide of emigrants from smitten Russia and Poland;

-and Austria-Hungary was following her example.

-

-Parliament re-assembled before the Easter recess had expired. The

-time for more drastic measures had come, and the Premier explained

-to the House that it was proposed to bring in a Bill immediately to

-cut off communication with Europe.

-

-There can be no doubt that England was now badly scared, but centuries

-of protection had established a belief in security which was not

-easily shaken.

-

-The enthusiasts for the "closed door" policy found plenty of

-recruits, but on the other side there was a solid body of opinion

-which maintained that the danger was grossly exaggerated. And when the

-Evening Chronicle came out with a long leader and a backing of expert

-opinion, to prove that the "Closed Door" Bill--as it was commonly

-called--was a dodge of the Government's in order to retain office,

-a well-marked reaction followed against the last and terrible step

-of cutting off all communication with Europe; and the Conservative

-party was joined by some avowed Liberals who had personal interests

-to consider in this connexion.

-

-In committee-rooms, members of the Opposition were inclined to be

-jubilant: "If we can throw out the Government on this Bill we shall

-simply sweep the country ... all the manufacturers in the North will

-be with us ... even Scotland, most likely ... we should come back

-with a record majority...."

-

-The prospects were so magnificent that there could be no hesitation

-in making a party question of the Bill.

-

-No time was to be lost, for the Bill was to be rushed, it was an

-emergency measure, and it was proposed that it should become law

-within four days. Preparations were already in hand to carry out the

-provisions enacted.

-

-An urgent rally of the Opposition was made, and when the Bill came up

-for the second reading the Premier addressed a well-filled House. The

-House was not crowded because a large number of people, including many

-members of Parliament, were on their way to America. All the big liners

-were packed on their outward voyage and were returning, contrary to

-all precedent, in ballast--this ballast was exclusively food-stuffs.

-

-The Premier introduced the Bill in a speech which was remarkable

-for its sincerity and earnestness. He outlined the arrangements that

-were being made to feed the community, and showed clearly that while

-communication remained open with America, there was no fear of any

-serious shortage. Pausing for a moment on this question of intercourse

-with America, he made a point of the fact that American ports were

-already closed to emigrants from all European countries with the one

-exception of Great Britain, and that if a single case of plague were

-reported in these islands the difficulties of obtaining food-stuffs

-from America and the Colonies would be enormously increased. He wound

-up by almost imploring the House not to make a party question of so

-urgent and necessary a measure at a time when the safety of England

-was so terribly threatened. He pleaded that at this critical moment,

-unparalleled in the history of humanity, it was the duty of every man

-to sink his own personal interests, to be ready to make any sacrifice,

-for the sake of the community.

-

-Mr Brampton, the leader of the Opposition, then completely destroyed

-the undoubted effect which had been made upon the House. He did

-not openly speak in a party spirit, but he hinted very plainly that

-the Bill under consideration was a mere subterfuge to win votes. He

-poured contempt upon the fear of the plague, which he characterized

-throughout as the "Russian epidemic," and ended with the advice to

-keep a cool head, to preserve the British spirit of sturdy resistance

-instead of shutting our doors and bringing the country to commercial

-ruin. "Are we all cravens," he concluded, "scurrying like rabbits to

-our burrows at the first hint of alarm?"

-

-The further debate, although lengthy, had comparatively little

-influence; the House divided, and the Government was defeated by a

-majority of nine.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The news was all over the country by ten o'clock that night, and it

-was noticeable that a large percentage of the younger generation

-still regarded the danger as "rather a lark." This threat of the

-plague held a promise of high adventure; youth can only realize the

-possibility of death in its relation to others.

-

-"I say, if this bally old plague did come" ... remarked a young man

-of twenty-two, who was sitting with a friend in the little private

-bar of the "Dun Taw" Hotel.

-

-His friend drew his feet up on to the rungs of his tall stool and

-winked at the barmaid.

-

-"Well, go on. What if it did?" remarked that young woman.

-

-The young man considered for a moment and then said: "Those that got

-left would have a rare old time."

-

-"It's the women as'd get left, seems to me," replied the barmaid,

-and scored a point.

-

-"I say, surely you don't come from this part of the world?" was the

-compliment evoked by her wit.

-

-"Not me!" was the answer, "I'm a Londoner, I am. Only started

-yesterday, and sha'n't stay long if to-day's a fair sample. There

-'asn't been a dozen customers in all day, and they were in such a

-'urry to get their tonic and go that I'm sure they couldn't 'ave told

-you whether me 'air was black or ches'nut."

-

-Both men immediately looked at the crown of pretty fair hair which

-had been so churlishly slighted.

-

-"First thing I noticed about you," said one.

-

-The other, who had hardly spoken before, took the cigarette out of

-his mouth and remarked: "You can never get that colour with peroxide."

-

-The barmaid looked a little suspicious.

-

-"Oh, he means it all right, kid," put in the younger man

-quickly. "Dicky's one of the serious sort. Besides, he's in that line;

-travels for a firm of wholesale chemists."

-

-Dicky nodded gravely. "I could see at once it was natural," he remarked

-with the air of an expert.

-

-"Ah! you're one of them that keeps their eyes open," returned the

-barmaid approvingly, and Dicky modestly acknowledged the compliment

-by saying that his business necessitated close observation.

-

-"Most men are as blind as bats," continued the barmaid, and the

-examples she gave from her own experience led to an absorbing

-conversation, which was presently interrupted by the shriek of the

-swing door.

-

-The new-comer was a small, fair man with a neatly waxed moustache. He

-came up to the counter with the air of an habitué, and remarked,

-"Hallo! where's Cis? You're new here, aren't you?"

-

-The barmaid, recognizing the marks of a regular customer, quietly

-admitted that this was only her second day at the "Dun Taw."

-

-"I've been away for two months," explained the fair man, and ordered

-"Scotch." He was evidently in the mood for company, for he brought

-up a stool and, sitting a little way back from the bar, he began to

-address his three hearers at large.

-

-"Only came back from Europe this evening," he said, "and glad to be

-home, I assure you." He raised his left hand with a gesture intended

-to convey horror, and drank half his whisky at a gulp.

-

-Dicky turned to give his serious attention to the narrative which

-was plainly to follow, and somewhat ostentatiously observed the

-details of the new-comer's dress. Dicky had a new-found reputation

-to maintain. His friend looked bored and a little sulky, and tried

-to continue his conversation with the barmaid, but that young woman,

-appreciating the difference in value between a casual and a regular

-customer, passed a broad hint by with a smile and said: "Europe? Just

-fancy!"

-

-"It's a place to get out of, I assure you," said the fair man. "I've

-been over there for two months--Germany and Austria chiefly--but for

-the last fortnight I've been wasting my time. There's nothing doing."

-

-"Isn't there?" commented Dicky with great seriousness.

-

-"Oh, we're sick to death of this bally plague," put in the other

-young man quickly. "There's been simply nothing else in the papers

-for the last I don't know how long. I want to forget it."

-

-The fair man reached forward and put down his empty glass on the bar

-counter. "Same again, Miss," he said, and then: "We'll all be more

-sick of the plague before we've finished with it. It's a terror. If I

-was to tell you a few of the things I've seen in the past fortnight,

-I don't suppose you'd believe me."

-

-"That's all right; I'd believe you quick enough," returned the young

-man. "Point is, what's the good of getting yourself in a funk about

-it? Personally I don't believe it's coming to England. If it was it

-would have been here before this. What I say is ..."

-

-His pronouncement of opinion ceased abruptly. The fair man's behaviour

-riveted attention. He was gazing past the barmaid at the orderly rows

-of shining glasses and various shaped bottles behind her. His mouth

-was open. He gazed intensely, horribly.

-

-The barmaid backed nervously and looked over her shoulder. The

-two young men hastily rose and pushed back their stools. The same

-thought was in all their minds. This neat, fair man was on the verge

-of delirium tremens.

-

-In a moment the air of intercourse and joviality that had pervaded the

-little room was dissipated; in place of it had come shocked surprise

-and fear.

-

-There was an interval of slow desolating silence, and then the

-convulsive grip of the fair man shattered the glass he held, and the

-fragments fell tinkling to the floor.

-

-"I say, what's up?" stammered the barmaid's admirer, while the barmaid

-herself shrank back against the shelves and watched nervously. She

-had had experience.

-

-The fair man's head was being pulled slowly backwards by some invisible

-force. His eyes, staring straight before him, appeared to watch with

-fierce intensity some point that moved steadily up the wall of shelves

-behind the counter; up till it reached the ceiling and began to move

-over the ceiling toward him.

-

-Then, quite suddenly, the horrible tension was relaxed; his head fell

-loosely forward and he clapped both hands to the nape of his neck. He

-was breathing loudly in short quick gasps.

-

-"I say, do you think he's ill?" asked the young man. At the suggestion

-Dicky made a step towards the sufferer; his knowledge of chemistry

-gave him a professional air.

-

-"He's come from Europe.... Suppose it's the plague," whispered the

-barmaid.

-

-And at that the two young men started back. As the words were spoken

-realization swept upon them.

-

-Mumbling something about "get a doctor," they rushed for the door. One

-of them made a wide détour--he had to pass the man who sat doubled

-forward in his chair, frantically gripping the base of his skull.

-

-Hardly had the clatter of the swing door subsided before he fell

-forward on to the floor. He was groaning now, groaning detestably.

-

-The barmaid whimpered and stared. "Women don't get it." she said

-aloud. But she kept to her own side of the counter.

-

-Later the owner of the "Dun Taw" identified the fair man--from a

-distance--as Mr Stewart, of the firm of Barker and Prince.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Thrale's "higher forces" had shown their hand.

-

-The humble and rotund instrument of their choice had served his

-purpose, and he was probably the first man in London to receive the

-news--a delicate acknowledgment, perhaps, of his services.

-

-The telegram was addressed to the firm, but as neither of the heads

-of the house had arrived, Gosling opened it according to precedent.

-

-"Gosh!" was his sole exclamation, but the tone of it stirred the

-interest of Flack, who turned to see his colleague's rather protuberant

-blue eyes staring with a fishy glare at a flimsy sheet of paper which

-visibly trembled in the hold of two clusters of fat fingers.

-

-Flack lifted his spectacles and holding them on a level with his

-eyebrows, said, "Bad news?"

-

-Gosling sat down, and in the fever of the moment wiped his forehead

-with his snuff handkerchief, then discovered his mistake and laid

-the handkerchief carelessly on the desk. This infringement of his

-invariable practice produced even more effect upon Flack than the

-staring eyes and wavering fingers. Gosling might be guilty of mild

-histrionics, but not of such a touch as this. The utter neglect of

-decency exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna could only

-portend calamity.

-

-"Lord's sakes, man, what's the matter?" asked Flack, still taking an

-observation under his spectacles.

-

-"It's come, Flack," said Gosling feebly. "It's in Scotland. Our Mr

-Stewart died of it in Dundee this mornin'."

-

-Flack rose from his seat and grabbed the telegram, which was brief

-and pregnant. "Stewart died suddenly five a.m. Feared plague. Macfie."

-

-"Tchah!" said Flack, still staring at the telegram. "'Feared

-plague.' Lost their 'eads, that's what they've done. Pull yourself

-together, man. I don't believe a word of it."

-

-Gosling swallowed elaborately, discovered his bandanna on the desk and

-hastily pocketed it. "Might 'a been 'eart-disease, d'you think?" he

-said eagerly.

-

-"We-el," remarked Flack, "I never 'eard as 'is 'eart was affected,

-did you?"

-

-Gosling held out his hand for the telegram, and made a further

-elaborate study of it, without, however, discovering any hitherto

-unsuspected evidence relating to the unsoundness of Stewart's heart.

-

-"It says 'feared,' of course," he remarked at last. "Macfie wouldn't

-have said feared if 'e'd been sure."

-

-"They'd 'ardly have mentioned plague in a telegram if they 'adn't

-been pretty certain, though," argued Flack.

-

-Gosling was so upset that he had to go out and get a nip of brandy,

-a thing he had not done since the morning after Blanche was born.

-

-The partners looked grave when they heard the news from Dundee, and

-London generally looked very grave indeed, when they read the full

-details an hour later in the Evening Chronicle.

-

-Stewart, it appeared, had come straight through from Berlin to

-London via Flushing and Port Victoria, and on landing in England he

-had managed to escape quarantine. His was not an isolated case. For

-some weeks it had been possible for British subjects to get past

-the officials. There was nothing in the regulations to allow such an

-evasion of the order, but it could be managed occasionally. Stewart

-had been told to spare no expense.

-

-The Evening Chronicle, although it made the most of its opportunity in

-contents bill and headlines, said that there was no cause for alarm,

-that these things were managed better in Great Britain than on the

-Continent; that the case had been isolated from the first moment the

-plague was recognized (about five hours before death), that the body

-had been burned, and that the most extensive and elaborate process of

-disinfection was being carried out--even the sleeping coach in which

-Stewart had travelled from London to Dundee twelve hours before,

-had been identified and burned also.

-

-London still looked grave, but was nevertheless a little inclined to

-congratulate itself on the thoroughness of British methods. "We'll

-never get it in England, you see if we do," was the remark chiefly

-in vogue among the great Gosling family.

-

-But twelve hours or so too late, England was beginning to regret that

-the Government had been defeated. It was rumoured that the Premier

-had broken down, had immediately resigned his office, and would not

-seek re-election as a private member.

-

-This rumour was definitely confirmed in the later editions of the

-evening papers. Mr Brampton had been summoned to Buckingham Palace

-and was forming a temporary ministry which was to take office. In

-the circumstances it was deemed inadvisable to plunge the country

-into a general election at that moment.

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-Mr Stewart died in the small hours of Friday morning, and the next day,

-Saturday, the 14th of April, was the first day of panic.

-

-The day began with comparative quiet. No further case had been notified

-in Great Britain, but telegraphic communication was interrupted between

-London and Russia, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and other continental

-centres. In Germany matters were growing desperate. There had been

-riots and looting. Military law had been declared in several towns; in

-some cases the mob had been fired upon. Business was at a standstill,

-and the plague was spreading like a fire. Between two and three hundred

-cases were reported from Reims, and upwards of fifty from Paris....

-

-Business houses were being closed in the City of London, and the

-banks noted a marked tendency among their depositors to withdraw gold;

-so marked, indeed, that many banks of high standing were glad to be

-able to close their doors at one o'clock.

-

-It was on this Saturday morning, also, that the bottom suddenly

-fell out of the money market. For weeks past, prices had been falling

-steadily, but now they dropped to panic figures. Every one was selling,

-there were no buyers left. Consols were quoted at 53-1/2.

-

-The air of London was heavy with foreboding, and throughout the

-morning the gloom grew deeper. The depressed and worried faces to

-be met at every turn contrasted strangely with the brilliance of the

-weather. For April had come with clear skies and soft, warm winds.

-

-As the day advanced the atmosphere of depression became continually

-more marked, and how extraordinary was the effect upon all classes may

-be judged from the fact that less than 5,000 people paid to witness

-the third replay between Barnsley and Everton, in the semi-final of

-the English cup....

-

-In London, men and women hung aimlessly about the streets waiting

-for the news they dreaded to hear. The theatres were deserted. The

-feeling of gloom was so real that many women afterwards believed

-that the sky had been overcast, whereas Nature was in one of her most

-brilliant moods.

-

-It was a few minutes past three when the pressure was exploded by the

-report of the final catastrophe. "Two more cases of plague in Dundee

-and one in Edinburgh," was the first announcement. That would have been

-enough to show that all the vaunted precautions had been useless, and

-within an hour came the notification of two further cases. Before six

-o'clock, eight more were notified in Dundee, three more in Edinburgh,

-and one in Newcastle.

-

-The new plague had reached England. It was then that the panic began.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-VII--PANIC

-

-

-1

-

-Gurney, when he left his office on that Saturday, was influenced by

-the general depression. He went to lunch at the "White Vine," in the

-Haymarket, quite determined to keep himself in hand, to argue himself

-out of his low spirits.

-

-He made a beginning at once.

-

-"Every one seems to have a fit of the blues. Ernst," he remarked to

-the waiter with a factitious cheerfulness.

-

-Ernst, less polite than usual, shrugged his shoulders. "There is

-enough cause already," he said.

-

-"Have you had bad news from Germany?" asked Gurney, feeling that he

-had probably been rather brutal.

-

-"Ach Gott! 's'ist bald Keiner mehr da," blubbered Ernst, and he wept

-without restraint as he arranged the table, occasionally wiping his

-eyes with his napkin.

-

-"I'm most awfully sorry," murmured the embarrassed Gurney, and

-retreated behind the horror of his evening paper. He found small

-cause for rejoicing there, however, and discarded it as soon as his

-lunch had been brought by the red-eyed Ernst.

-

-"I wonder what Mark Tapley would have done," Gurney reflected moodily

-as he attacked his chop.

-

-There were few other people in the restaurant, and they were all silent

-and engrossed. That dreadful cloud hung over England, the spirit of

-pestilence threatened to take substance, the air was full of horror

-that might at any moment become a visible shape of destruction.

-

-Gurney did not finish his lunch, he lighted a cigarette, left four

-shillings on the table, and hurried out into the air.

-

-He did not look up at the sky as he turned eastwards towards Fleet

-Street; no one looked up at the sky that afternoon. Heads and shoulders

-were burdened by an invisible weight which kept all eyes on the ground.

-

-Fleet Street was full of people who crowded round the windows of

-newspaper offices, not with the eagerness of a general election crowd,

-but with a subdued surliness which ever and again broke out in spurts

-of violent temper.

-

-Gurney, still struggling to maintain his composure, found himself

-unreasonably irritated when a motor-bus driver shouted at him to get

-out of the way. It seemed to Gurney that to be knocked down and run

-over was preferable to being shouted at. The noise of those infernal

-buses was unbearable, so, also, was that dreadful patter of feet upon

-the pavement and the dull murmur of mournful voices. Why, in the name

-of God, could not people keep quiet?

-

-He bumped into some one on the pavement as he scrambled out of the

-way of the bus, and the man swore at him viciously. Gurney responded,

-and then discovered that the man was known to him.

-

-"Hallo!" he said. "You?"

-

-"Hallo," responded the other.

-

-For a moment they stood awkwardly, staring; then Gurney said, "Any

-more news?"

-

-The man, who was a sub-editor of the Westminster Gazette, shook his

-head. "I'm just going back now," he said. "There was nothing ten

-minutes ago."

-

-"Pretty awful, isn't it?" remarked Gurney.

-

-The sub-editor shrugged his shoulders and hurried away.

-

-Presently Gurney found himself wedged among the crowd, watching the

-Daily Chronicle window.

-

-A few minutes after three, a young man with a very white face,

-fastened a type-written message to the glass.

-

-There was a rapid constriction of the crowd. Those behind, Gurney

-among them, could not read the message, and pressed forward. There

-were cries of "What is it?... I can't see.... Read it out...." Then

-those in front gave way slightly, a wave of eagerness agitated the

-mass of watchers, and the news ran back from the front. "Two more

-cases of plague in Dundee; one in Edinburgh."

-

-And with that the pressure of dread was suddenly dissipated, giving

-place to something kinetic, dynamic. Now it was fear that took the

-people by the throat: active, compelling fear. Men looked at each

-other with terror and something of hate in their eyes, the crowd

-broke and melted. Every man was going to his own home, possessed by

-an instinct to fly before it was too late.

-

-Gurney shouldered his way out, and stopped a taxi that was crawling

-past.

-

-"Jermyn Street," he said.

-

-The driver leaned over and pointed to the Daily Chronicle

-window. "What's the news?" he asked.

-

-"The plague's in Dundee and Edinburgh," said Gurney, and climbed into

-the cab and slammed the door.

-

-"Gawd!" muttered the driver, as he drove recklessly westwards.

-

-Sitting in the cab, finding some comfort in the feeling of headlong

-speed, Gurney was debating whether he would not charter the man to

-take him right out of London. But he must go home first for money.

-

-At the door of the house in Jermyn Street he met Jasper Thrale.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-"Have you heard?" asked Gurney excitedly.

-

-"No. What?" said Thrale, without interest.

-

-"There are two more cases in Dundee and one in Edinburgh," said

-Gurney. The driver of the cab got down from his seat, and looked from

-Gurney to Thrale with doubt and question.

-

-Thrale nodded his head. "I knew it was sure to come," he remarked.

-

-"Better get out of this," put in the driver.

-

-"Yes, rather," agreed Gurney.

-

-"Where to?" asked Thrale.

-

-"Well, America."

-

-Thrale laughed. "They'll have it in America before you get there,"

-he said. "It'll go there via Japan and 'Frisco."

-

-"You seem to know a lot about it," said the driver of the cab.

-

-"Do you mean to tell me there's nowhere we can go to?" persisted

-Gurney.

-

-Thrale smiled. "Nowhere in this world," he said. "This plague has

-come to destroy mankind." He spoke with a quiet assurance that

-carried conviction.

-

-The driver of the cab scowled. "May as well 'ave a run for my money

-first, then," he said, and thus gave utterance to the thought that

-was fermenting in many other minds.

-

-There was no hope of escape for the mass, only the rich could seek

-railway termini and take train for Liverpool, Southampton or any port

-where there was the least hope of finding some ship to take them out

-of Europe.

-

-That night there was panic and riot. The wealthy classes were trying

-to escape, the mob was trying to "get a run for its money." Yet very

-little real mischief was done. Two or three companies of infantry

-were sufficient to clear the streets, and not more than forty people

-in all were seriously injured....

-

-In Downing Street the new Premier sat alone with his head in his

-hands, and wondered what could be done to stop the approach of the

-pestilence. One of the evening papers had suggested that a great line

-of fire should be built across the north of England. The Premier

-wondered whether that scheme were feasible. He had never held high

-office before; he did not know how to deal with these great issues. All

-his political life he had learned only the art of party tactics. He

-had learned that art very well, he was a master of debate, and he

-had shown a wonderful ability to judge the bent of the public mind

-and to make use of his judgments for party ends. But now that any

-action of his was divorced from its accustomed object, he was as

-a man suddenly forced into some new occupation. Whenever he tried

-to think of some means to stay the progress of the plague his mind

-automatically began to consider what influence the adoption of such

-means would have upon the general election which must soon come....

-

-"A line of fire across the north," he was thinking, "would shut

-off the whole of Scotland. They would never forgive us for that. We

-should lose the entire Scottish vote--it's bad enough as it is." He

-sat up late into the night considering what policy he should put

-before the Cabinet. He tried honestly to consider the position apart

-from politics, but his mind refused to work in that way....

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-In Jermyn Street Thrale was arguing with Gurney, trying to persuade

-him into a philosophic attitude.

-

-"Yes, I suppose there's absolutely nothing to be done but sit down

-and wait," said Gurney.

-

-"Personally," returned Thrale, "I have no intention of spending my

-time flying from country to country like a marked criminal. That way

-leads to insanity. I've seen men become animals before now under the

-influence of fear."

-

-"Yes, of course, you're quite right," agreed Gurney. "One must exercise

-self-control. After all, it's only death, and not such a terrible

-death at that." He got up and began to pace the room restlessly,

-then went to the window and looked out. Jermyn Street was almost

-deserted, but distant sounds of shouting came from the direction of

-Piccadilly. He left the window open and turned back into the room.

-

-"It's so infernally hard just to sit still and wait," he said. "If

-only one could do something."

-

-"I doubt, now," said Thrale, quietly, "whether one could ever have

-done anything. The public and the Government took my warnings in

-the characteristic way, the only possible way in which you could

-expect twentieth-century humanity to take a warning--a thrill of

-fear, perhaps, in some cases; frank incredulity in others; but no

-result either way that endured for an hour.... Belief in national

-and personal security, inertia outside the routine of necessary,

-stereotyped employment; these things are essential to the running of

-the machine."

-

-"I suppose they are," agreed Gurney absently He had sat down again

-and was sucking automatically at an extinguished pipe.

-

-"In a complex civilization," went on Thrale "any initiative on the part

-of the individual outside his own tiny sphere of energy is just so much

-grit in the machine. There are recognized methods, they may not be the

-best, the most efficient, but they are accepted and understood. Every

-clerk who has to calculate twelve pence to the shilling knows how

-his work would be lightened if he had only to calculate ten, but he

-accepts that difficulty, because he can do nothing as an individual to

-introduce the decimal system. And that spirit of acceptance grows upon

-him until the individual has the characteristics of the class. Only

-when a man is stirred by too great discomfort does he open his eyes to

-the possibility of initiative; then come labour strikes. If labour had

-a sufficiency of ease and comfort, if its lot were not so violently

-contrasted with that of even the middle-classes, labour would settle

-down to complacency. But the contrast is too great, and to attain

-that complacency of uninitiative we must level down. That was coming;

-that would have come if this plague...."

-

-"What was that?" asked Gurney excitedly, jumping to his feet. "Did

-you hear firing?" He went to the window again, and leaned out. From

-Piccadilly came the sound of an army of trampling feet, of confused

-cries and shouting. "By God, there's a riot," exclaimed Gurney. He

-spoke over his shoulder.

-

-Thrale joined him at the window. "Panic," he said. "Senseless,

-hysterical panic. It won't last."

-

-"I think I shall go out of London," said Gurney. "I'd sooner ... I'd

-sooner die in the country, I think." He withdrew from the window and

-began to pace up and down the room again.

-

-"Going to stampede with the rest of 'em?" asked

-Thrale. "Extraordinarily infectious thing, panic."

-

-"I don't think it's that exactly ..." hesitated Gurney.

-

-"Animal fear," said Thrale. "The terror of the wild thing threatened

-with the unknown. The runaway horse terrified and rushing to its own

-destruction. Fly, fly, fly from the threat of peril as you did once

-on the prairies, when to fly meant safety."

-

-"It's so infernally depressing in London," said Gurney.

-

-"All right, go and brood on death in the country," replied

-Thrale. "That may cheer you up a bit. But, take my advice,

-don't run. Walk at a snail's pace and check the least tendency to

-hurry. Once you begin to quicken your pace, you will find yourself

-hurrying desperately--and then stampede the hell of terror at your

-heels. After all, you know, you may survive. It isn't likely that

-every man will die."

-

-Gurney caught eagerly at that. "No, no, of course it isn't," he

-said. "But wouldn't one be much more likely to survive if one were

-living in the country, or by the sea--in some fairly isolated place,

-for example. I meant to go down to Cornwall for my holiday this year,

-to a little cottage on the coast about four miles from Padstow;

-don't you think in pure air and healthy surroundings like that,

-one would stand a better chance?"

-

-"Very likely," said Thrale carelessly. "But don't run. In any case

-you'd better wait till the middle of the week. The first rush will

-be over then."

-

-"Yes. Perhaps. I'll go on Wednesday, or Tuesday...."

-

-Thrale smiled grimly. "Well, good night," he said. "I'm going to bed."

-

-When he had gone, Gurney went to the window again. The sounds of riot

-from Piccadilly had died down to a low, confused murmur. A motor-car

-whizzed by along Jermyn Street, and two people passed on foot, a man

-and a woman; the woman was leaning heavily on the man's arm.

-

-Gurney turned once more to his pacing of the room. He was trying to

-realize the unrealizable fact that the world offered no refuge. For a

-full hour he struggled with himself, with that new, strange instinct

-which rose up and urged him to fly for his life. At last weary and

-overborne he threw himself into a chair by the dying fire and began

-to cry like a lost child; even as Ernst, the waiter, had cried....

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-The panic emigration lasted until Monday evening, and then came

-news which checked and stayed the rush for the ports of Liverpool,

-Southampton and Queenstown. The plague was already in America. It

-had come, as Thrale had prophesied from the West. At the docks many

-of those favoured emigrants who had secured berths, hesitated; if

-it was to be a choice between death in America and death in England,

-they preferred to die at home.

-

-Yet, even on Tuesday morning, when doubt as to the coming of the

-plague was no longer possible, when Dundee could only give approximate

-figures of the seizures in that town, reporting them as not less than a

-thousand, when it was evident that the whole of Scotland was becoming

-infected with incredible rapidity, and two cases were notified as far

-south as Durham, there remained still an enormous body of people who

-stoutly maintained that, bad as things were, the danger was grossly

-exaggerated, who believed that the danger would soon pass, and who,

-steadfast to the habits of a lifetime, continued their routine wherever

-it was possible so to do, determined to resist to the last.

-

-To this body, possibly some two-fifths of the whole urban population,

-was due the comparative maintenance of law and order. In face of

-the growing destitution due to the wholesale closing of factories,

-warehouses and offices, necessitated by the now complete cessation

-of foreign trade and to the hoarding of food stores and gold which

-was already so marked as to have seriously affected the commerce

-not dependent on foreign sellers and buyers, a semblance of ordinary

-life was still maintained. Newspapers were issued, trains and 'buses

-were running, theatres and music-halls were open, and many normal

-occupations were carried on.

-

-Yet everything was infected. It was as if the cloak of civilization

-was worn more loosely. Crime was increasing and justice was

-relaxed. Robberies of food were so common that there was no place for

-the confinement of those who were convicted. Shopkeepers were becoming

-at once more reliant upon their own defences, and less scrupulous in

-their dealings with bona-fide customers. No longer could the protection

-of the State be exclusively relied upon, the citizen was becoming lost

-in the individual. Public opinion was being resolved into individual

-opinion; and with the failing of the great restraint every man was

-developing an unsuspected side of his character. Thrown upon his

-own resources, he became continually less civilized, more conscious

-of possibilities to fulfill long-thwarted tendencies and desires;

-he began to understand that when it is a case of sauve qui peut,

-the weakest are trampled under foot.

-

-So the cloak of civilization gaped and showed the form of the naked

-man, with all its blemishes and deformities. And women blenched

-and shuddered. For woman, as yet, was little, if at all, altered

-in character by the fear that was brutalizing man. Her faith in

-the intrinsic rectitude of the beloved conventions was more deeply

-rooted. Moreover woman fears the strictures of woman, more than man

-fears the judgments of man.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-VIII--GURNEY IN CORNWALL

-

-

-1

-

-Gurney's alternative to flying from the plague was to run away from

-himself. He shirked the issue in his conversations with Thrale,

-shuffled, sophisticated, and in a futile endeavour to convince his

-companion, convinced himself that his reasoning was sound and his

-motive unprejudiced.

-

-It was not until the following Thursday, however, that he took train

-to Cornwall. He had succeeded in realizing between two and three

-hundred pounds in gold, and this he took with him. He intended to

-lay in stores of flour, sugar and other primary necessities; to buy

-and keep two or three cows, to rear chickens, to grow as much garden

-produce as possible, especially potatoes; and generally to provide

-against the coming scarcity of food and the cessation of transport.

-

-The bungalow on the shores of Constantine Bay, to which he departed,

-was a place well suited to the carrying out of these prudent

-arrangements. It belonged to a friend of his, who was rich enough

-to indulge his whims, and who had spent a considerable sum of money

-in building the place and enclosing ground, but who rarely occupied

-the bungalow himself, and was too careless to bother about letting

-it. Gurney had the keys in his possession. When he had asked his

-friend for permission to spend his summer holiday there, he had been

-told to use the place as if it were his own. "Jolly good thing for me,

-you know," his friend had said. "Keep it dry and all that."

-

-Gurney was not an idle man. Arrived at his bungalow, he lost no time

-in carrying out the arrangements he had schemed, and for nearly three

-weeks he was so absorbed in this work, in learning new occupations

-and perfecting his plan, that he did, indeed, achieve his purpose of

-running away from himself.

-

-He became imbued with a new feeling of security; he received neither

-letters nor papers from the outside, and the old labourer who assisted

-him in setting potatoes, who taught him to milk a cow and instructed

-him generally in the primitive arts of self-supporting toil, seemed

-to regard all rumours of the new plague which filtered through to the

-village of St Merryn as some foreign nonsense which had little bearing

-on life in the county of Cornwall, as represented by the twenty-five

-or thirty square miles which were to him all the essential world.

-

-Gurney began to believe that the plague would never cross the Tamar,

-and one day in early May, when his provisions against a siege were

-practically completed, he was stirred to attempt a journey across the

-peninsula in order to visit an acquaintance in East Looe. Gurney had

-become conscious of a longing for some companionship. Old Hawken was

-very good at cows and potatoes, but he was rather deaf and his range

-of ideas was severely restricted.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-From Padstow to Looe is not an ideal journey by rail at the best of

-times, involving as it does, a change of train at Wadebridge, Bodmin

-Road and Liskeard; but Gurney was in no hurry, and the conversations

-he overheard in his compartment were not destructive of his new-found

-complacency. There was, indeed, some mention of the plague, but only in

-relation to the scarcity of food supply and its effect on trade. One

-passenger, very obviously a farmer, was congratulating himself that

-he was getting higher prices for stock than he had ever known, and

-that as luck would have it he had sown an unusual number of acres

-with wheat that year. "I'll be gettun sixty or seventy a quarter,

-sure 'nough," he boasted.

-

-Dickenson--Gurney's friend in Looe--regarded the matter more seriously,

-but he, too, seemed untouched by any fear of personal infection. He was

-an ardent Liberal, and his chief cause for concern seemed to be that

-the plague should have come at a time when so much progress was being

-made with legislation. He was, also, very distressed at the reports

-of poverty and starvation which abounded, and at the terrible blow to

-trade generally. But he seemed hopeful that the trouble would pass

-and be followed by a new era of enlightened government, founded on

-sound Liberal principles.

-

-Gurney stayed the night and the greater part of the next day at Looe.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-On his return journey he had to wait at Liskeard to pick up the main

-line train for London, which would take him to Bodmin Road.

-

-It was a glorious May evening. The day had been hot, but now there

-was a cool breeze from the sea, and the long shadow from the high

-bank of the cutting enwrapped the whole station in a pleasant twilight.

-

-Gurney, deliberately pacing the length of the platform, was conscious

-of physical vigour and a great enjoyment of life. He had an imaginative

-temperament, and in his moments of exaltation he found the world

-both interesting and beautiful, an entirely desirable setting for

-the essential Gurney.

-

-So he strolled up and down the platform, regarded any female figure

-with interest, and was in no way concerned that the train was already

-an hour late. He had expected it to be late. His own train from Looe,

-for no particular reason, had been half an hour late. If he missed

-his connexion at Wadebridge he would only have some seven or eight

-miles to walk.

-

-Fifteen or twenty other people were waiting on the down platform,

-and presently Gurney became conscious that his fellow-passengers were

-no longer detached into parties of two and three, but were collected

-in groups, discussing, apparently, some matter of peculiar interest.

-

-Gurney had been lost in his dreams and had hardly noticed the passage

-of time. He looked at his watch and found that the train was now two

-hours overdue. The sun had set, but there was still light in the sky. A

-man detached himself from one of the groups and Gurney approached him.

-

-"Two hours late," he remarked by way of introducing himself, and

-looked at his watch again.

-

-The man nodded emphatically. "Funny thing is," he said, "that they've

-had no information at the office. The stationmaster generally gets

-advice when the train leaves Plymouth."

-

-"Good lord," said Gurney. "Do you mean to say that the train hasn't

-got to Plymouth yet?"

-

-"Looks like it," said the stranger. "They say it's the plague. It's

-dreadfully bad in London, they tell me."

-

-"D'you mean it's possible the train won't come in at all?" asked

-Gurney.

-

-"Oh! I should hardly think that," replied the other. "Oh, no, I should

-hardly think that, but goodness knows when it will come. Very awkward

-for me. I want to get to St Ives. It's a long way from here. Have

-you far to go?"

-

-"Well, Padstow," said Gurney.

-

-"Padstow!" echoed the stranger. "That's a good step."

-

-"Further than I want to walk."

-

-"I should say. Thirty miles or so, anyway?"

-

-"About that," agreed Gurney. "I wonder where one could get any

-information.

-

-"It's very awkward," was all the help the stranger had to offer.

-

-Gurney crossed the line and invaded the stationmaster's office. "Sorry

-to trouble you," he said, "but do you think this train's been taken

-off, for any reason?"

-

-"Oh, it 'asn't been taken off," said the stationmaster with a wounded

-air. "It may be a bit late."

-

-Gurney smiled. "It's something over two hours behind now, isn't

-it?" he said.

-

-"Well, I can't 'elp it, can I?" asked the stationmaster. "You'll

-'ave to 'ave patience."

-

-"You've had no advice yet from Plymouth?" persisted Gurney, facing

-the other's ill-temper.

-

-"No, I 'aven't; something's gone wrong with the wire. We can't get

-no answer," returned the stationmaster. "Now, if you please, I 'ave

-my work to do."

-

-Gurney returned to the down platform and joined a group of men,

-among whom he recognized the man he had spoken to a few minutes before.

-

-The afterglow was dying out of the sky, in the south-west a faint

-young moon was setting behind the high bank of the cutting. A porter

-had lighted the station lamps, but they were not turned full on.

-

-"The stationmaster tells me that something has gone wrong with the

-telegraphic communication," said Gurney, addressing the little knot

-of passengers collectively. "He can't get any answer it seems."

-

-"Been an accident likely," suggested some one.

-

-"Or the engine-driver's got the plague," said another.

-

-"They'd have put another man on."

-

-"If they could find one."

-

-"If we ain't careful we shall be gettin' the plague down 'ere."

-

-After all why not? The horrible suggestion sprang up in Gurney's

-mind with new force. That remote city seemed suddenly near. He saw in

-imagination the train leaving Paddington, and only a journey of six or

-seven hours divided that departure from its arrival at Liskeard. It

-might come in at any moment, bearing the awful infection. Why should

-he wait? There was an inn near the station. He might find a conveyance

-there.

-

-"Constantine Bay?" questioned the landlord.

-

-"It's near St Merryn," said Gurney, but still the landlord shook

-his head.

-

-"Not far from Padstow," explained Gurney.

-

-"Pard-stow!" exclaimed the landlord on a rising note. "Drive over to

-Pard-stow at this time o' night?" He appeared to think that Gurney

-was joking.

-

-"Well, Bodmin, then," suggested Gurney.

-

-"Aw, why not take the train?" asked the landlord.

-

-Gurney shrugged his shoulders. "The train doesn't seem to be coming,"

-he said.

-

-"Bad job, that," answered the landlord. "Been an accident, sure

-'nough; this new plague or something." He was evidently prepared to

-accept the matter philosophically.

-

-"You can't drive me then?" asked Gurney.

-

-The landlord shook his head with a grin. He was inclined to look upon

-this foreigner as rather more foolish than the majority of his kind.

-

-Gurney came out of the little inn, and looked down into the

-station. The number of waiting passengers seemed to be decreasing,

-but the light was so dim that he could not see into the shadows.

-

-"I must keep hold of myself," he was saying. "I mustn't run."

-

-A man was coming up the steep incline towards him, and Gurney moved

-slowly to meet him. He found that it was the stranger he had spoken

-to on the platform.

-

-"Any news?" asked Gurney.

-

-"Yes, they've got a message through from Saltash," replied the

-stranger. "It's the plague right enough. They say they don't know

-when there'll be another train...."

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-Days grew into weeks, and still there were no trains. Trade was at a

-standstill, and the prices of home produce mounted steadily. Fish there

-was, but not in great abundance, and the towns inland, such as Truro

-and Bodmin, organized a motor service with coast fishing villages,

-a service which only lasted for a week, by reason of the failure of

-the petrol supply. After that there was a less effective horse service.

-

-Within three weeks after that last train arrived from outside, a new

-system of exchange was coming into vogue. In this little congeries of

-communities in Cornwall, men were beginning to learn the uselessness

-of gold, silver and bronze coins as tokens. Credit had collapsed,

-and a system of barter was being introduced, mainly between farmer and

-fisherman. In time it was possible that Cornwall might have become a

-self-supporting community, for its proportionately few inhabitants

-were rapidly being depleted by want and starvation; but, although

-it was the last place in the British Isles to become infected, the

-plague came there, too, in the end.

-

-A steamer sent out from Cardiff on a plundering expedition carried

-the plague to the Scillies, and a fishing vessel from St Ives carried

-it on to Newlyn....

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-IX--THE DEVOLUTION OF GEORGE GOSLING

-

-

-1

-

-The progress of the plague through London and the world in general was

-marked, in the earlier stages, by much the same developments as are

-reported of the plague of 1665. The closed houses, the burial pits,

-the deserted streets, the outbreaks of every kind of excess, the

-various symptoms of fear, cowardice, fortitude and courage, evidenced

-little change in the average of humanity between the seventeenth and

-the twentieth centuries. The most notable difference during these

-earlier stages was in the enormously increased rapidity with which

-the population of London was reduced to starvation point. Even before

-the plague had reached England, want had become general, so general,

-indeed, as to have demonstrated very clearly the truth of the great

-economist's contention that England could not exist for three months

-with closed doors.

-

-The coming of the plague threw London on to its own very limited

-resources. That vast city, which produced nothing but the tokens of

-wealth, and added nothing to the essentials that support life, was

-instantly reduced to the state of Paris in the winter of 1870-71; with

-the difference, however, that London's population could be decreased

-rapidly by emigration, and was, also, even more rapidly decreased

-by pestilence. Yet there was a large section of the population which

-clung with blind obstinacy to the only life it knew how to live.

-

-There was, for instance, George Gosling, more fortunate in many

-respects than the average citizen, who clung desperately to his house

-in Wisteria Grove until forced out of it by the lack of water.

-

-On the ninth day after the first coming of the plague to London--it

-appeared simultaneously in a dozen places and spread with fearful

-rapidity--Gosling broke one of the great laws he had hitherto observed

-with such admirable prudence. The offices and warehouse in Barbican

-had been shut up (temporarily, it was supposed), and the partners had

-disappeared from London. But Gosling had a duplicate set of keys, and,

-inspired by the urgency of his family's need, he determined to dare

-a journey into the City in order to borrow (he laid great stress on

-the word) a few necessaries of life from the well-stored warehouse

-of his firm.

-

-In this scheme, planned with some shrewdness, he co-operated with a

-friend, a fellow-sidesman at the Church of St John the Evangelist. This

-friend was a coal merchant, and thus fortunately circumstanced in

-the possession of wagons and horses.

-

-These two arranged the details of their borrowing expedition between

-them. Economically, it was a deal on the lines of the revived

-methods of exchange and barter. Gosling was willing to exchange

-certain advantages of knowledge and possession for the hire of wagons

-and horses. It was decided, for obvious reasons, to admit no other

-conspirator into the plot, and Boost, the coal merchant, drove one

-cart and Gosling drove the other. Perhaps it should rather be said

-that he led the other, for, after a preliminary trial, he decided

-that he was safer at the horses' heads than behind their tails.

-

-The raid was conducted with perfect success. Boost had a head

-for essentials. The invaluable loads of tinned meats, fruits and

-vegetables were screened by tarpaulins from the possibly too envious

-eyes of hungry passers-by--quite a number of vagrants were to be

-seen in the streets on that day--and Boost and Gosling, disguised in

-coal-begrimed garments, made the return journey lugubriously calling,

-"Plague, plague," the cry of the drivers of the funeral carts which

-had even then become necessary. Their only checks were the various

-applications they received for the cartage of corpses; applications

-easily put on one side by pointing to the piled-up carts--they had

-spent six laborious hours in packing them. "No room; no room," they

-cried, and on that day the applicants who accosted Boost and Gosling

-were not the only ones who had to wait for the disposal of their dead.

-

-Gosling arrived at Wisteria Grove, hot and outwardly jubilant,

-albeit with a horrible fear lurking in his mind that he had been

-in dangerous proximity to those tendered additions to his load. His

-booty was stored in one of the downstairs rooms--with the assistance

-of Mrs Gosling and the two girls they managed the unpacking without

-interruption in two hours and a half--and then, with boarded windows

-and locked doors, the Goslings sat down to await the passing of horror.

-

-Boost died of the plague forty-eight hours after the great adventure,

-but as he had a wife and four daughters his plunder was not wasted.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-For nearly a fortnight after the raid the Goslings lay snug in their

-little house in Wisteria Grove, for they, in company with the majority

-of English people at this time, had not yet fully appreciated the

-fact that women were almost immune from infection. In all, not more

-than eight per cent of the whole female population was attacked, and

-of this proportion the mortality was almost exclusively among women

-over fifty years of age. When the first faint rumours of the plague

-had come to Europe, this curious, almost unprecedented, immunity of

-women had been given considerable prominence. It had made good copy,

-theories on the subject had appeared, and the point had aroused more

-interest than that of the mortality among males--infectious diseases

-were commonplace enough; this new phase had a certain novelty and

-piquancy. But the threat of European infection had overwhelmed the

-interest in the odd predilection of the unknown bacterium, and the more

-vital question had thrown this peculiarity into the background. Thus

-the Goslings and most other women feared attack no less than their

-husbands, brothers and sons, and found justification for their fears

-in the undoubted fact that women had died of the plague.

-

-The Goslings had always jogged along amiably enough; their home life

-would have passed muster as a tolerably happy one. The head of the

-family was out of the house from 8.15 a.m. to 7.15 p.m. five days of

-the week, and it was only occasionally in the evening of some long

-wet Sunday that there was any open bickering.

-

-Now, confinement in that little house, aggravated by fear and by the

-absence of any interest or diversion coming from outside, showed the

-family to one another in new aspects. Before two days had passed the

-air was tense with the suppressed irritation of these four people,

-held together by scarcely any tie other than that of a conventional

-affection.

-

-By the third day the air was so heavily charged that some explosion

-was inevitable. It came early in the morning.

-

-Gosling had run out of tobacco, and he thought in the circumstances

-that it would be wiser to send Blanche or Millie than to go

-himself. So, with an air of exaggerated carelessness, he said:

-

-"Look here, Millie, my gel, I wish you'd just run out and see if you

-can get me any terbaccer."

-

-"Not me," replied Millie, with decision.

-

-"And why not?" asked Gosling.

-

-Millie shrugged her shoulders, and called her sister, who was in the

-passage. "I say, B., father wants us to go out shopping for him. Are

-you on?"

-

-Blanche, duster in hand, appeared at the doorway.

-

-"Why doesn't he go himself?" she asked.

-

-"Because," replied her father, getting very red, and speaking with

-elaborate care, "men's subject to the infection and women is not."

-

-"That's all my eye," returned Millie. "Lots of women have got it."

-

-"It's well known," said Gosling, still keeping himself in hand,

-"a matter of common knowledge, that women is comparatively immune."

-

-"Oh, that's a man's yarn, that is," said Blanche, "just to save

-themselves. We all know what men are--selfish brutes!"

-

-"Are you going to fetch me that terbaccer or are you not?" shouted

-Mr Gosling suddenly.

-

-"No, we aren't," said Millie, defiantly. "It isn't safe for girls to

-go about the streets, let alone the risk of infection." She had heard

-her father shout before, and she was not, as yet, at all intimidated.

-

-"Well, then, I say you are!" shouted her father. "Lazy,

-good-for-nothing creatures, the pair of you! 'Oose paid for everything

-you've eat or drunk or wore ever since you was born? An' now you

-won't even go an errand." Then, seeing the ready retort rising to his

-daughters' lips, he grew desperate, and, advancing a step towards them,

-he said savagely: "If you don't go, I'll find a way to make yer!"

-

-This was a new aspect, and the two girls were a little

-frightened. Natural instinct prompted them to scream for their mother.

-

-She had been listening at the top of the stairs, and she answered

-the call for help with great promptitude.

-

-"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gosling," she said, on a high

-note. "The streets isn't safe for gels, as you know well enough;

-and why should my gels risk their lives for the sake of your nasty,

-dirty, wasteful 'abit of smoking, I should like to know?"

-

-Gosling's new-found courage was evaporating at the attack of this

-third enemy. He had been incensed against his daughters, but he had

-not yet overcome the habit of giving in to his wife, for the sake of

-peace. She had managed him very capably for a quarter of a century,

-but on the occasions when she had found it necessary to use what

-she called the "rough side of her tongue" she had demonstrated very

-clearly which of the two was master.

-

-"I should have thought I might 'a been allowed a little terbaccer,"

-he said, resentfully. "'Oo risked his life to lay in provisions, I

-should like to know? An' it's a matter o' common knowledge as women

-is immune from this plague."

-

-"And Mrs Carter, three doors off, carried out dead of it the day

-before yesterday!" remarked Mrs Gosling, triumphantly.

-

-"Oh, 'ere and there, a case or two," replied her husband. "But not

-one woman to a thousand men gets it, as every one knows."

-

-"And how do you know I mightn't be the one?" asked Millie, bold now

-under her mother's protection.

-

-For that morning, the matter remained in abeyance; but Gosling,

-muttering and grumbling, nursed his injury and meditated on the

-fact that his daughters had been afraid of him. Things were altered

-now. There was no convention to tie his hands. He would work himself

-into a protective passion and defy the three of them. Also, there

-was an unopened bottle of whisky in the sideboard.

-

-Nevertheless, he would have put off the trial of his strength if he

-had had to seek an opportunity. He was, as yet, too civilized to take

-the initiative in cold blood.

-

-The opportunity, however, soon presented itself in that house. The air

-had been little cleared by the morning's outbreak, and before evening

-the real explosion came. A mere trifle originated it--a warning from

-Gosling that their store of provisions would not last for ever, and a

-sharp retort from Millie to the effect that her father did not stint

-himself, followed by a reminder from Mrs Gosling that the raid might

-be repeated.

-

-"Oh! yes, you'd be willing enough for me to die of the plague, I've no

-doubt!" broke out Gosling. "I can walk six mile to get you pervisions,

-but you can't go to the corner of the street for my terbaccer."

-

-"Pervisions is necessary, terbaccer ain't," said Mrs Gosling. She was

-not a clever woman. She judged this to be the right opportunity to

-keep her husband in his place, and relied implicitly on the quelling

-power of her tongue. Her intuitions were those of the woman who had

-lived all her life in a London suburb; they did not warn her that

-she was now dealing with a specimen of half-decivilized humanity.

-

-"Oh! ain't it?" shouted Gosling, getting to his feet. His face was

-purple, and his pale blue eyes were starting from his head. "I'll soon

-show you what's necessary and what ain't, and 'oose master in this

-'ouse. And I say terbaccer is necessary, an' what's more, one o'

-you three's goin' to fetch it quick! D'ye 'ear--one--o'--you--three!"

-

-This inclusion of Mrs Gosling was, indeed, to declare war.

-

-Millie and Blanche screamed and backed, but their mother rose to

-the occasion. She did not reserve herself; she began on her top

-note; but Gosling did not allow her to finish. He strode over to

-her and shook her by the shoulders, shouting to drown her strident

-recriminations. "'Old your tongue! 'old your tongue!" he bawled, and

-shook her with increasing violence. He was feeling his power, and when

-his wife crumpled up and fell to the floor in shrieking hysterics,

-he still strode on to victory. Taking the cowed and terrified Millie

-by the arm, he dragged her along the passage, unlocked and opened

-the front door and pushed her out into the street. "And don't you

-come back without my terbaccer!" he shouted.

-

-"How much?" quavered the shrinking Millie.

-

-"'Alf-a-crown's worth," replied Gosling fiercely, and tossed the coin

-down on the little tiled walk that led up to the front door.

-

-After Millie had gone he stood at the door for a moment, thankful for

-the coolness of the air on his heated face. "I got to keep this up,"

-he murmured to himself, with his first thought of wavering. Behind

-him he heard the sound of uncontrolled weeping and little cries of the

-"first time in twenty-four years" and "what the neighbours'll think,

-I don't know."

-

-"Neighbours," muttered Gosling, contemptuously, "there aren't any

-neighbours--not to count."

-

-A distant sound of slow wheels caught his ear. He listened attentively,

-and there came to him the remote monotonous chant of a dull voice

-crying: "Plague! Plague!"

-

-He stepped in quickly and closed the door.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Millie found the Kilburn High Road deserted. No traffic of any kind

-was to be seen in the street, and the rare foot-passengers, chiefly

-women, had all a furtive air. Starvation had driven them out to

-raid. No easy matter, as Millie soon found, for all shutters were

-down, and in many cases shop-fronts were additionally protected by

-great sheets of strong hoarding.

-

-Millie, recovering from her fright, was growing resentful. Her little

-conventional mind was greatly occupied by the fact that she was out in

-the High Road wearing house-shoes without heels, in an old print dress,

-and with no hat to hide the carelessness of her hair-dressing. At

-the corner of Wisteria Grove she stopped and tried to remedy this

-last defect; she had red hair, abundant and difficult to control.

-

-The sight of the deserted High Road did not inspire her with

-self-confidence; she still feared the possibility of meeting some

-one who might recognize her. How could one account for one's presence

-in a London thoroughfare at seven o'clock on a bright May evening in

-such attire? Certainly not by telling the truth.

-

-The air was wonderfully clear. Coal was becoming very scarce, and

-few fires had been lighted that day to belch forth their burden of

-greasy filth into the atmosphere. The sun was sinking, and Millie

-instinctively clung to the shadow of the pavement on the west side of

-the road. She, too, slunk along with the evasive air that was common to

-the few other pedestrians, the majority of them on this same shadowed

-pavement. That warm, radiant light on the houses opposite seemed to

-hold some horror for them.

-

-So preoccupied was Millie with her resentment that she wandered for

-two or three hundred yards up the road without any distinct idea of

-what she was seeking. When realization of the futility of her search

-came to her, she stopped in the shadow of a doorway. "What is the

-good of going on?" she argued. "All the shops are shut up." But the

-thought of her father in his new aspect of muscular tyrant intimidated

-her. She dared not return without accomplishing her errand. "I'll

-have another look, anyway," she said; and then: "Who'd have thought

-he was such a brute?" She rubbed the bruise on her arm; her mouth was

-twisted into an ugly expression of spiteful resentment. Her thoughts

-were busy with plans of revenge even as she turned to prosecute her

-search for the tyrant's tobacco.

-

-Here and there shops had been forcibly, burglariously entered,

-plate-glass windows smashed, and interiors cleared of everything

-eatable; the debris showed plainly enough that these rifled shops

-had all belonged to grocers or provision merchants. Into each of

-these ruins Millie stared curiously, hoping foolishly that she might

-find what she sought. She ventured into one and carried away a box of

-soap--they were running short of soap at home. A sense of moving among

-accessible riches stirred within her, a desire for further pillage.

-

-She came at last to a shop where the shutters were still intact, but

-the door hung drunkenly on one hinge. A little fearfully she peered in

-and discovered that fortune had been kind to her. The shop had belonged

-to a tobacconist, and the contents were almost untouched--there had

-been more crying needs to satisfy in the households of raiders than

-the desire for tobacco.

-

-It was very dark inside, and for some seconds Millie stared into what

-seemed absolute blackness, but as her eyes became accustomed to the

-gloom, she saw the interior begin to take outline, and when she moved

-a couple of steps into the place and allowed more light to come in

-through the doorway, various tins, boxes and packets in the shelves

-behind the counter were faintly distinguishable.

-

-Once inside, the spirit of plunder took hold of her, and she began

-to take down boxes of cigars and cigarettes and packets of tobacco,

-piling them up in a heap on the counter. But she had no basket in which

-to carry the accumulation she was making, and she was feeling under

-the counter for some box into which to put her haul, when the shadows

-round her deepened again into almost absolute darkness. Cautiously

-she peered up over the counter and saw the silhouette of a woman

-standing in the doorway.

-

-For ten breathless seconds Millie hung motionless, her eyes fixed on

-the apparition. She was very civilized still, and she was suddenly

-conscious of committing a crime. She feared horribly lest the figure

-in the doorway might discover Millicent Gosling stealing tobacco. But

-the intruder, after recognizing the nature of the shop's contents,

-moved away with a sigh. Millie heard her dragging footsteps shuffle

-past the window.

-

-That scare decided her movements. She hastily looped up the front of

-her skirt, bundled into it as much plunder as she could conveniently

-carry, and made her way out into the street again.

-

-She was nearly at the corner of Wisteria Grove before she was molested,

-and then an elderly woman came suddenly out of a doorway and laid a

-hand on Millie's arm.

-

-"Whacher got?" asked the woman savagely.

-

-Millie, shrinking and terrified, displayed her plunder.

-

-"Cigars," muttered the woman. "Whacher want with cigars?" She opened

-the boxes and stirred up the contents of Millie's improvised bundle

-in an eager search for something to eat. "Gawd's truth! yer must be

-crazy, yer thievin' little slut!" she grumbled, and pushed the girl

-fiercely from her.

-

-Millie made good her escape, dropping a box of cigars in her

-flight. Her one thought now was the fear of meeting a policeman. In

-three minutes she was beating fiercely on the door of the little

-house in Wisteria Grove, and, disregarding her father's exclamations

-of pleased surprise when he let her in, she tumbled in a heap on to

-the mat in the passage.

-

-Gosling's first declaration of male superiority had been splendidly

-successful.

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-A few minutes after Millie's return, Mrs Gosling, red-eyed and

-timidly vicious, interrupted her husband's perfect enjoyment of the

-long-desired cigar by the announcement: "The gas is off!"

-

-Gosling got up, struck a match, and held it to the sitting-room

-burner. The match burned steadily. There was no pressure even of air

-in the pipes.

-

-"Turned off at the meter!" snapped Gosling. "'Ere, lemme go an'

-see!" He spoke with the air of the superior male, strong in his

-comprehension of the mechanical artifices which so perplex the feminine

-mind. Mrs Gosling sniffed, and stood aside to let him pass. She had

-already examined the meter.

-

-"Well, we got lamps!" snarled Gosling when he returned. He had always

-preferred a lamp to read by in the evening.

-

-"No oil," returned Mrs Gosling, gloomily. She'd teach him to shake her!

-

-Gosling meditated. His parochial mind was full of indignation. Vague

-thoughts of "getting some one into trouble for this"--even of

-that last, desperate act of coercion, writing to the papers about

-it--flitted through his mind. Plainly something must be done. "'Aven't

-you got any candles?" he asked.

-

-"One or two. They won't last long," replied his studiously patient

-partner.

-

-"Well, we'll 'ave to use them to-night and go to bed early," was

-Gosling's final judgment. His wife left the room with a shrug of

-forbearing contempt.

-

-When she had gone, the head of the house went upstairs and peered

-out into the street. The sun had set, and an unprecedented mystery

-of darkness was falling over London. The globes of the tall electric

-standards, catching a last reflection from the fading sky, glimmered

-faintly, but were not illuminated from within by any fierce glare of

-violet light. Darkness and silence enfolded the great dim organism that

-sprawled its vast being over the earth. The spirit of mystery caught

-Gosling in its spell. "All dark," he murmured, "and quiet! Lord! how

-still it is!" Even in his own house there was silence. Downstairs,

-three injured, resentful women were talking in whispers.

-

-Gosling, still sucking his cigar, stood entranced, peering into the

-darkness; he had ventured so far as to throw up the sash. "It's the

-stillness of death!" he muttered. Then he cocked his head on one side,

-for he caught the sound of distant shouting. Somewhere in the Kilburn

-Road another raid was in progress.

-

-"No light," murmured Gosling, "and no fire!" An immediate association

-suggested itself. "By gosh! and no water!" he added. For some seconds

-he contemplated with fearful awe the failure of the great essential

-of life.

-

-In the cistern room he was reassured by the sound of a delicious

-trickle from the ball-cock. "Still going," he said to himself;

-"but we'll 'ave to be careful. Surely they'll keep the water goin',

-though; whatever 'appens, they'd surely keep the water on?"

-

-

-

-

-5

-

-Nothing but the failure of the water could have driven them from

-Wisteria Grove. Half-a-dozen times every day Gosling would climb up

-to the top of the house to reassure himself. And at last came the day

-when a dreadful silence reigned under the slates, when no delicious

-tinkle of water gave promise of maintained security from water famine.

-

-"It'll come on again at night," said Gosling to himself. "We'll

-'ave to be careful, that's all."

-

-He went downstairs and issued orders that no more water was to be

-drawn that day.

-

-"Well, we must wash up the breakfast things," was his wife's reply.

-

-"You mustn't wash up nothing," said Gosling, "not one blessed

-thing. It's better to go dirty than die o' thirst. Hevery drop o'

-the water in that cistern must be saved for drinkin'."

-

-Mrs Gosling noisily put down the kettle she was holding. "Oh! very

-well, my lord!" she remarked, sarcastically. She looked at her two

-daughters with a twist of her mouth. There were only two sides in

-that house; the women were as yet united against the common foe.

-

-When Gosling, fatuously convinced of his authority, had gone, his

-wife quietly filled the kettle and proceeded with her washing up.

-

-"Your father thinks 'e knows everything these days," remarked the

-mother to her allies.

-

-There was much whispering for some time.

-

-Gosling spent most of the day in the roof, but not until the afternoon

-did he realize that the cistern was slowly being emptied. His first

-thought was that one of the pipes leaked, his second that it was

-time to make a demonstration of force. He found a walking-stick in

-the hall....

-

-But even when that precious half-cistern of water was only called

-upon to supply the needs of thirst, and the Goslings, sinking further

-into the degradation of savagedom, slunk furtive and filthy about

-the gloomy house, it became evident that a move must be made sooner

-or later. Two alternatives were presented: they might go north and

-east to the Lea, or south to the Thames.

-

-Gosling chose the South. He knew Putney; he had been born there. He

-knew nothing of Clapton and its neighbourhood.

-

-So one bright, clear day at the end of May, the Goslings set out on

-their great trek. The head of the house, driven desperate by fear of

-thirst, raided his late partner's coal sheds and found one living

-horse and several dead ones. The living horse was partly revived

-by water from an adjacent butt, and the next day it was harnessed

-to a coal cart and commandeered to convey the Goslings' provisions

-to Putney. It died half-a-mile short of their destination, but they

-were able, by the exercise of their united strength, to get the cart

-and its burden down to the river.

-

-They found an empty house without difficulty, but they had an

-unpleasant half-hour in removing what remained of one of the previous

-occupants. Gosling hoped it was not a case of plague. As the body was

-that of a woman, and terribly emaciated, there were some grounds for

-his optimism.

-

-Gosling was in a state of some bewilderment. When water had been

-fetched in buckets from the river, and the three women had explored,

-criticized and sniffed over their new home somewhat in the manner

-of strange cats, the head of the house settled down to a cigar and

-a careful consideration of his perplexities.

-

-In the first place, he wondered why those horses of Boost's had not

-been used for food; in the second, he wondered why he had not seen

-a single man during the whole of the long trek from Brondesbury to

-Putney. By degrees an unbelievable explanation presented itself:

-no men were left. He remembered that the few needy-looking women

-he had seen had looked at him curiously; in retrospect he fancied

-their regard had had some quality of amazement. Gosling scratched

-the bristles of his ten-days'-old beard and smoked thoughtfully. He

-almost regretted that he had stared so fiercely and threateningly at

-every chance woman they had seen; he might have got some news. But the

-whole journey had been conducted in a spirit of fear; they had been

-defending their food, their lives; they had been primitive creatures

-ready to fight desperately at the smallest provocation.

-

-"No man left," said Gosling to himself, and was not convinced. If

-that indeed were the solution of his perplexity, he was faced with

-an awful corollary; his own time would come. He thought of Barbican,

-E.C., of Flack, of Messrs Barker and Prince, of the office staff,

-and the office itself. He had not been able to rid his mind of the

-idea that in a few weeks he would be back in the City again. He had

-several times rehearsed his surprise when he should be told of the

-depredations in the warehouse; he had wondered only yesterday if he

-dared go to the office in his beard.

-

-But to-night the change of circumstance, the breaking up of old

-associations, was opening his eyes to new horizons. There might

-never be an office again for him to go to. If he survived--and he

-was distinctly hopeful on that score--he might be almost the only

-man left in London; there might not be more than a few thousand in

-the whole of England, in Europe....

-

-For a time he dwelt on this fantastic vision. Who would do the

-work? What work would there be to do?

-

-"Got to get food," murmured Gosling, and wondered vaguely how food was

-"got" when there were no shops, no warehouses, no foreign agents. His

-mind turned chiefly to meat, since that had been his trade. "'Ave to

-rear sheep and cattle, I suppose," said Gosling. As an afterthought

-he added: "An' grow wheat."

-

-He sighed heavily. He realized that he had no knowledge on the subject

-of rearing cattle and growing wheat; he also realized that he was

-craving for ordinary food again--milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables. He

-had a nasty-looking place on his leg which he rightly attributed to

-unwholesome diet.

-

-

-

-

-6

-

-After forty-eight hours' residence in the new house, Gosling began

-to pluck up his courage and to dare the perils of the streets. He

-was beginning to have faith in his luck, to believe that the plague

-had passed away and left him untouched.

-

-And as day succeeded day he ventured further afield; he went in search

-of milk, eggs and vegetables, but he only found young nettles, which

-he brought home and helped to eat when they had been boiled over a

-wood fire. They were all glad to eat nettles, and were the better for

-them. Occasionally he met women on these excursions, and stayed to

-talk to them. Always they had the same tale to tell--their men were

-dead, and themselves dying of starvation.

-

-One day at the beginning of June he went as far as Petersham, and

-there at the door of a farmhouse he saw a fine, tall young woman. She

-was such a contrast to the women he usually met on his expeditions

-that he paused and regarded her with curiosity.

-

-"What do you want?" asked the young woman, suspiciously.

-

-"I suppose you 'aven't any milk or butter or eggs to sell?" asked

-Gosling.

-

-"Sell?" echoed the girl, contemptuously. "What 'ave you got to give

-us as is worth food?"

-

-"Well, money," replied Gosling.

-

-"Money!" came the echo again. "What's the good of money when there's

-nothing to buy with it? I wouldn't sell you eggs at a pound apiece."

-

-Gosling scratched his beard--it looked quite like a beard by this

-time. "Rum go, ain't it?" he asked, and smiled.

-

-His new acquaintance looked him up and down, and then smiled in return,

-"You're right," she said. "You're the first man I've seen since father

-died, a month back."

-

-"'Oo's livin' with you?" asked Gosling, pointing to the house.

-

-"Mother and sister, that's all."

-

-"'Ard work for you to get a livin', I suppose?"

-

-"So, so. We're used to farm-work. The trouble's to keep the other

-women off."

-

-"Ah!" replied Gosling reflectively, and the two looked at one another

-again.

-

-"You 'ungry?" asked the girl.

-

-"Not to speak of," replied Gosling. "But I'm fair pinin' for a change

-o' diet. Been livin' on tinned things for five weeks or more."

-

-"Come in and have an egg," said the girl.

-

-"Thank you," said Gosling, "I will, with pleasure."

-

-They grew friendly over that meal--two eggs and a glass of milk. He

-ate the eggs with butter, but there was no bread. It seemed that the

-young woman's mother and sister were at work on the farm, but that

-one of them had always to stay at home and keep guard.

-

-They discussed the great change that had come over England, and

-wondered what would be the end of it; and after a little time, Gosling

-began to look at the girl with a new expression in his pale blue eyes.

-

-"Ah! Hevrything's changed," he said. "Nothin' won't be the same any

-more, as far as we can see. There's no neighbours now, f'rinstance,

-and no talk of what's going on--or anythin'."

-

-The girl looked at him thoughtfully. "What we miss is some man to

-look after the place," she said. "We're robbed terrible."

-

-Gosling had not meant to go as far as that. He was not unprepared for

-a pleasant flirtation, now that there were no neighbours to report him

-at home, but the idea that he could ever separate himself permanently

-from his family had not occurred to him.

-

-"Yes," he said, "you want a man about these days."

-

-"Ever done any farm work?" asked the girl.

-

-Gosling shook his head.

-

-"Well, you'd soon learn," she went on.

-

-"I must think it over," said Gosling suddenly. "Shall you be 'ere

-to-morrow?"

-

-"One of us will," said the girl.

-

-"Ah! but shall you?"

-

-"Why me?"

-

-"Well, I've took a fancy to you."

-

-"Very kind of you, I'm sure," said the girl, and laughed.

-

-Gosling kissed her before he left.

-

-

-

-

-7

-

-He returned the next afternoon and helped to cut and stack sainfoin,

-and afterwards he watched the young woman milk the cows. It was so

-late by the time everything was finished that he was persuaded to

-stay the night.

-

-In the new Putney house three women wondered what had happened to

-"father." They grew increasingly anxious for some days, and even

-tried in a feeble way to search for him. By the end of the week they

-accepted the theory that he too had died of the plague.

-

-They never saw him again.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-X--EXODUS

-

-

-1

-

-In West Hampstead a Jewess, who had once been fat, looked out of the

-windows of her gaudy house. She was partly dressed in a garish silk

-negligé. Her face was exceedingly dirty, but the limp, pallid flesh

-was revealed in those places where she had wiped away her abundant

-tears. Her body was bruised and stiff, for in a recent raid on a house

-suspected of containing provisions she had been hardly used by her

-sister women. She had made the mistake of going out too well dressed;

-she had imagined that expensive clothes would command respect....

-

-As she looked out she wept again, bewailing her misery. From her

-earliest youth she had been pampered and spoilt. She had learnt that

-marriage was her sole object in life, and she had sold herself at

-a very respectable price. She had received the applause and favour

-of her family for marrying the man she had chosen as most likely to

-provide her with the luxury which she regarded as her birth-right.

-

-Two days ago she had cooked and eaten the absurdly expensive but

-diminutive dog upon which she had lavished the only love of which

-she had been capable. She had wept continuously as she ate her idol,

-but for the first time she had regretted his littleness.

-

-Hunger and thirst were driving her out of the house of which she had

-been so vain; the primitive pains were awakening in her primitive

-instincts that had never stirred before. From her window she could

-see naught but endless streets of brick, stone and asphalt, but

-beyond that dry, hot, wilderness she knew there were fields--she

-had seen them out of the corner of her eye when she had motored to

-Brighton. Fields had never been associated in her mind with food until

-the strange new stirring of that unsuspected instinct. Food for her

-meant shops. One went to shops and bought food and bought the best

-at the lowest price possible. With all her pride of position, she

-had never hesitated to haggle with shopkeepers. And when the first

-pinch had come, when her husband had selfishly died of the plague,

-and her household had deserted her, it was to the shops she had gone,

-autocratically demanding her rights. She had learned by experience

-now that she had no longer any rights.

-

-She dressed herself in her least-conspicuous clothes, dabbed her

-face with powder to cover some of the dirt--there was no water,

-and in any case she did not feel inclined to wash--carefully stowed

-away all her money and the best of her jewels in a small leather bag,

-and set out to find the country where food grew out of the ground.

-

-Instinct set her face to the north. She took the road towards

-Hendon....

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-In every quarter of London, in every great town and city throughout

-Europe, women were setting their faces towards the country.

-

-By the autumn London was empty. The fallen leaves in park squares

-and suburban streets were swept into corners by the wind, and when

-the rain came the leaves clung together and rotted, and so continued

-the long routine of decay and birth.

-

-When spring came again, Nature returned with delicate, strong hands

-to claim her own. For hundreds of years she had been defied in the

-heart of this great, hard, stone place. Her little tentative efforts

-had been rudely repulsed, no tender thread of grass had been allowed

-to flourish for an hour under the feet of the crushing multitude. Yet

-she had fought with a steady persistence that never relaxed a moment's

-effort. Whenever men had given her a moment's opportunity, even in

-the very heart of that city of burning struggle, she had covered

-the loathed sterility with grass and flowers, dandelions, charlock,

-grounsel and other life that men call weeds.

-

-Now, when her full opportunity came, she set to work in her slow,

-patient way to wreck and cover the defilement of earth. Her winds

-swept dust into every corner, and her rain turned it into a shallow

-bed of soil, ready to receive and nurture the tiny seeds that sailed

-on little feathered wings, or were carried by bird and insect to

-some quiet refuge in which they might renew life, and, dying, add

-fertility to the mother who had brought them forth.

-

-Nature came, also, with her hurricanes, her lightnings and her frosts,

-to rend and destroy. She stripped slates from roofs, thrust out gables

-and overturned solid walls. She came with fungi to undermine and with

-the seeds of trees to split asunder.

-

-She asked for but a few hundred years of patient, continuous work in

-order to make of London once more a garden; where the nightingale

-might sing in Oxford Street and the children of a new race pluck

-sweet wild flowers over the site of the Bank of England....

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-The spirit of London had gone out of her, and her body was crumbling

-and rotting. There was no life in all that vast sprawl of bricks and

-mortar; the very dogs and cats, deserted by humanity, left her to

-seek their only food, to seek those other living things which were

-their natural quarry.

-

-In her prime, London had been the chief city of the world. Men and

-women spoke of her as an entity, wrote of her as of a personality,

-loved her as a friend. This aggregate of streets and parks, this

-strange confusion of wealth and squalor, had stood to men and women for

-something definitely lovable. It was not her population they loved, not

-the polyglot crowd that swarmed in her streets, but she herself and all

-the beauty and intoxication of life she had gathered into her embrace.

-

-Now she was dead. Whatever fine qualities she had possessed, whatever

-vices, had gone from her. She sprawled in all her naked ugliness,

-a huge corpse rotting among the hills, awaiting the slow burial which

-Nature was tediously preparing.

-

-All those wonderful buildings, the great emporiums in the West End,

-the magnificent banks and insurance offices, museums and picture

-galleries, regarded as the storehouses of incalculable wealth, vast

-hotels, palatial private residences, the thundering railway termini,

-Government offices, Houses of Parliament, theatres, churches and

-cathedrals, all had become meaningless symbols. All had represented

-some activity, some ambition of man, and man had fled to the country

-for food, leaving behind the worthless tokens of wealth that had

-intrigued him for so many centuries.

-

-Gold and silver grew tarnished in huge safes that none wished to rifle,

-banknotes became mildewed, damp and fungus crept into the museums and

-picture galleries, and in the whole of Great Britain there was none

-to grieve. Every living man and woman was back at the work of their

-ancestors, praying once more to Ceres or Demeter, working with bent

-back to produce the first essentials of life.

-

-Each individual must produce until such time as there was once more

-a superfluity, until barns were filled and wealth re-created, until

-the strong had seized from the weak and demanded labour in return for

-the use of the stolen instrument, until civilization had sprung anew

-from the soil.

-

-Meanwhile London was not a city of the dead, but a dead city.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-BOOK II

-

-THE MARCH OF THE GOSLINGS

-

-

-XI--THE SILENT CITY

-

-

-1

-

-July came in with temperate heat and occasional showers, ideal weather

-for the crops; for all the precious growths which must ripen before

-the famine could be stayed. The sudden stoppage of all imports,

-and the flight of the great urban population into the country, had

-demonstrated beyond all question the poverty of England's resources

-of food supply, and the demonstration was to prove of value although

-there was no economist left to theorize. England was once again an

-independent unit, and no longer a member of a great world-body. Indeed

-England was being subdivided. The unit of organization was shrinking

-with amazing rapidity. The necessity for concentration grew with

-every week that passed, the fluidity of the superfluous labour was

-being resolved by death from starvation. The women who wandered from

-one farm to the next died by the way.

-

-In the Putney house, Mrs Gosling and her daughters were faced

-by the failure of their food supply. The older woman had little

-initiative. She was a true Londoner. Her training and all the

-circumstances of her life had narrowed her imaginative grasp till

-she was only able to comprehend one issue. And as yet her daughters,

-and more particularly Millie, were so influenced by their mother's

-thought that they, also, had shown little evidence of adaptability

-to the changed conditions.

-

-"We shall 'ave to be careful," was Mrs Gosling's first expression of

-the necessity for looking to the future. She had arranged the bulk

-of her stores neatly in one room on the second floor, and although

-a goodly array of tins still faced her she experienced a miserly

-shrinking from any diminishment of their numbers. Moreover, she had

-long been without such necessities as flour. Barker and Prince had

-not dealt in flour.

-

-Returning from her daily inspection one morning in the second week of

-July, Mrs Gosling decided that something must be done at once. Fear

-of the plague was almost dead, but fear of invasion by starving women

-had kept them all close prisoners. That house was a fortress.

-

-"Look 'ere, gels," said Mrs Gosling when she came

-downstairs. "Somethin' 'll 'ave to be done."

-

-Blanche looked thoughtful. Her own mind had already begun to work

-on that great problem of their future. Millie, lazy and indifferent,

-shrugged her shoulders and replied: "All very well, mother, but what

-can we do?"

-

-"Well, I been thinking as it's very likely as things ain't so bad in

-some places as they are just about 'ere," said Mrs Gosling. "We got

-plenty o' money left, and it seems to me as two of us 'ad better go

-out and 'ave a look about, London way. One of us could look after

-the 'ouse easy enough, now. We 'aven't 'ardly seen a soul about the

-past fortnight."

-

-The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She visualized

-the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of the town,

-business had begun again, that shops were open and people at work. It

-might be that she could find work there. She was longing for the

-sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of isolation.

-

-"I'm on," she said briskly. "Me and Millie had better go, mother,

-we can walk farther. You can lock up after us and you needn't open

-the door to anyone. Are you on, Mill?"

-

-"We must make ourselves look a bit more decent first," said Millie,

-glancing at the mirror over the mantelpiece.

-

-"Well, of course," returned Blanche, "we brought one box of clothes

-with us."

-

-They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of their wardrobe.

-

-"Come to the worst we could fetch some more things from Wisteria. I

-don't suppose anyone has touched 'em," suggested Blanche.

-

-At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs Gosling sighed

-noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place at Putney,

-and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be accessible

-gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been.

-

-"Well, you might go up there one day and 'ave a look at the place," she

-put in. "It's quite likely they've got things goin' again up there."

-

-In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made themselves

-presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The atmosphere

-of horror which the plague had brought was being lifted. It was as if

-the dead germs had filled the air with an invisible, impalpable dust,

-that had exercised a strange power of depression. The spirit of death

-had hung over the whole world and paralyzed all activity. Now the

-dust was dispersing. The spirit was withdrawing to the unknown deeps

-from which it had come.

-

-"It is nice to feel decent again," said Blanche. She lifted her head

-and threw back her shoulders.

-

-Millie was preening herself before the glass.

-

-"Well, I'm sure you 'ave made yourselves look smart," said their

-mother with a touch of pride. "They were good girls," she reflected,

-"if there had been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then,

-who could have helped themselves? It had been a terrible time."

-

-The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young women,

-presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St John

-the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to buy

-food in the dead city.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way towards Hammersmith.

-

-The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the streets was so sharp

-and bright that it was as if they saw with wonderfully renewed and

-sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense of exhilaration. They

-were conscious of quickened emotion, of a sensation of physical

-well-being.

-

-"Isn't it clean?" said Blanche.

-

-"H'm! Funny!" returned Millie. "Like those photographs of foreign

-places."

-

-Under their feet was an accumulation of sharp, dry dust, detritus of

-stone, asphalt and steel. In corners where the fugitive rubbish had

-found refuge from the driving wind, the dust had accumulated in flat

-mounds, broken by scraps of paper or the torn flag of some rain-soaked

-poster that gave an untidy air of human refuse. Across the open way

-of certain roads the dust lay in a waved pattern of nearly parallel

-lines, like the ridged sand of the foreshore.

-

-For some time they kept to the pavements from force of habit.

-

-"I say, Mill, don't you feel adventurous?" asked Blanche.

-

-Millie looked dissatisfied. "It's so lonely, B.," was her expression

-of feeling.

-

-"Never had London all to myself before," said Blanche.

-

-Near Hammersmith Broadway they saw a tram standing on the rails. Its

-thin tentacle still clung to the overhead wire that had once given

-it life, as if it waited there patiently hoping for a renewal of the

-exhilarating current.

-

-Almost unconsciously Blanche and Millie quickened their pace. Perhaps

-this was the outermost dying ripple of life, the furthest outpost of

-the new activity that was springing up in central London.

-

-But the tram was guarded by something that in the hot, still air

-seemed to surround it with an almost visible mist.

-

-"Eugh!" ejaculated Millie and shrank back. "Don't go, Blanche. It's

-awful!"

-

-Blanche's hand also had leapt to her face, but she took a few steps

-forward and peered into the sunlit case of steel and glass. She saw a

-heap of clothes about the framework of a grotesquely jointed scarecrow,

-and the gleam of something round, smooth and white.

-

-She screamed faintly, and a filthy dog crept, with a thin yelp,

-from under the seat and came to the door of the tram. For a moment

-it stood there with an air that was half placatory, wrinkling its

-nose and feebly raising a stump of propitiatory tail, then, with

-another protesting yelp, it crept back, furtive and ashamed, to its

-unlawful meat.

-

-The two girls, handkerchief to nose, hurried by breathless, with

-bent heads. A little past Hammersmith Broadway they had their first

-sight of human life. Two gaunt faces looked out at them from an

-upper window. Blanche waved her hand, but the women in the house,

-half-wondering, half-fearful, at the strange sight of these two

-fancifully dressed girls, shook their heads and drew back. Doubtless

-there was some secret hoard of food in that house and the inmates

-feared the demands of charity.

-

-"Well, we aren't quite the last, anyway," commented Blanche.

-

-"What were they afraid of?" asked Millie.

-

-"Thought we wanted to cadge, I expect," suggested Blanche.

-

-"Mean things," was her sister's comment.

-

-"Well! we weren't so over-anxious to have visitors," Blanche reminded

-her.

-

-"We didn't want their beastly food," complained the affronted Millie.

-

-The shops in Hammersmith did not offer much inducement to

-exploration. Some were still closely shuttered, others presented

-goods that offered no temptation, such as hardware; but the majority

-had already been pillaged and devastated. Most of that work had been

-done in the early days of the plague when panic had reigned, and many

-men were left to lead the raids on the preserves of food.

-

-Only one great line of shuttered fronts induced the two girls to pause.

-

-"No need to go to Wisteria for clothes," suggested Blanche.

-

-"How could we get in?" asked Millie.

-

-"Oh! get in some way easy enough."

-

-"It's stealing," said Millie, and thought of her raid on the Kilburn

-tobacconist's.

-

-"You can't steal from dead people," explained Blanche; "besides,

-who'll have the things if we don't?"

-

-"I suppose it'd be all right," hesitated Millie, obviously tempted.

-

-"Well, of course," returned Blanche and paused. "I say, Mill," she

-burst out suddenly. "There's all the West-end to choose from. Come on!"

-

-For a time they walked more quickly.

-

-In Kensington High Street they had an adventure. They saw a woman

-decked in gorgeous silks, strung and studded with jewels from head

-to foot. She walked with a slow and flaunting step, gesticulating,

-and talking. Every now and again she would pause and draw herself up

-with an affectation of immense dignity, finger the ropes of jewels

-at her breast, and make a slow gesture with her hands.

-

-"She's mad," whispered Blanche, and the two girls, terrified and

-trembling, hastily took refuge in a great square cave full of litter

-and refuse that had once been a grocer's shop.

-

-The woman passed their hiding-place in her stately progress

-westward without giving any sign that she was conscious of their

-presence. When she was nearly opposite to them she made one of

-her stately pauses. "Queen of all the Earth," they heard her say,

-"Queen and Empress. Queen of the Earth." Her hand went up to her head

-and touched a strange collection of jewels pinned in her hair, of

-tiaras and brooches that flashed brighter than the high lights of the

-brilliant sun. One carelessly fastened brooch fell and she pushed it

-aside with her foot. "You understand," she said in her high, wavering

-voice, "you understand, Queen and Empress, Queen of the Earth."

-

-They heard the refrain of her gratified ambition repeated as she

-moved slowly away.

-

-A long submerged memory rose to the threshold of Millie's

-mind. "Thieving slut," she murmured.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-As they came nearer to representative London the signs of deserted

-traffic were more numerous. By the Albert Memorial they saw an

-overturned motor-bus which had smashed into the park railings, and a

-little further on were two more buses, one standing decently at the

-curb, the other sprawling across the middle of the road. The wheels

-of both were axle deep in the dust which had blown against them, and

-out of the dust a few weak threads of grass were sprouting. There

-were other vehicles, too, cabs, lorries and carts: not a great

-number altogether, but even the fifty or so which the girls saw

-between Kensington and Knightsbridge offered sufficient testimony

-to the awful rapidity with which the plague had spread. For it seems

-probable that in the majority of cases the drivers of these deserted

-vehicles must have been attacked by the first agonizing pains at

-the base of the skull while they were actually employed in driving

-their machines. There were few skeletons to be seen. The lull which

-intervened between the first unmistakable symptoms of the plague

-and the oncoming of the paralysis had given men time to obey their

-instinct to die in seclusion, the old instinct so little altered by

-civilization. Those vestiges of humanity which remained had, for the

-most part, been cleansed by the processes of Nature, but twice the

-girls disturbed a horrible cloud of blue flies which rose with an angry

-buzzing so loud that the girls screamed and ran, leaving the scavengers

-to swoop eagerly back upon their carrion. Doubtless the thing in the

-Hammersmith tram had been the body of a woman, recently-dead from

-starvation. Even from the houses there was now little exhalation.

-

-In Knightsbridge, a little past the top of Sloane Street, Blanche

-and Millie came to a shop which diverted them from their exploration

-for a time. Most of the huge rolling shutters had been pulled down

-and secured, but one had stopped half way, and, beyond, the great

-plate-glass windows were uncovered. One of ten million tragedies had

-descended swiftly to interrupt the closing of that immense place,

-and some combination of circumstances had followed to prevent the

-completion of the work. The imaginative might stop to speculate on

-the mystery of that half-closed shutter; the two Goslings stopped to

-admire the wonders behind the glass.

-

-For a time the desolation and silence of London were forgotten. In

-imagination Blanche and Millie were once again units in the vast crowd

-of antagonists striving valiantly to win some prize in the great

-competition between the boast of wealth and the pathetic endeavour

-of make-believe.

-

-They stayed to gaze at the "creations" behind the windows, at dummies

-draped in costly fabrics such as they had only dreamed of wearing. The

-silks, satins and velvets were whitened now with the thin snow of dust

-that had fallen upon them, but to Blanche and Millie they appeared

-still as wonders of beauty.

-

-For a minute or two they criticized the models. They spoke at

-first in low voices, for the deep stillness of London held them in

-unconscious awe, but as they became lost in the fascination of their

-subject they forgot their fear. And then they looked at one another

-a little guiltily.

-

-"No harm in seeing if the door's locked, anyway," said Blanche.

-

-Millie looked over her shoulder and saw no movement in the frozen

-streets, save the sweep of one exploring swallow. Even the sparrows

-had deserted the streets. She did not reply in words, but signified

-her agreement of thought by a movement towards the entrance.

-

-The swing doors were not fastened, and they entered stealthily.

-

-They began with the touch of appraising fingers, wandering from room to

-room. But most of the rooms on the ground floor were darkened by the

-drawn shutters, and no glow of light came in response to the clicking

-of the electric switches that they experimented with with persistent

-futility. So they adventured into the clearly lit rooms upstairs and

-experienced a fallacious sense of security in the knowledge that they

-were on the floor above the street.

-

-Fingering gave place to still closer inspection. They lifted the

-models from the stands and shook them out. They held up gorgeous

-robes in front of their own suburban dresses and admired each other

-and themselves in the numerous cheval glasses.

-

-"Oh! bother!" exclaimed Blanche at last, "I'm going to try on."

-

-"Oh! B." expostulated the more timid Millie.

-

-"Well! why to goodness not?" asked her elder sister. "Who's to be

-any the wiser?"

-

-"Seems wrong, somehow," replied Millie, unable to shake off the

-conventions which had so long served her as conscience.

-

-"Well, I am," said Blanche, and retired into a little side room to

-divest herself of her own dress. She had always shared a bedroom

-with her sister, and they observed few modesties before each other,

-but Blanche was mentally incapable of changing her dress in the broad

-avenues of that extensive show-room. It is true that the tall casement

-windows were wide open and the place was completely overlooked by the

-massive buildings opposite, but even if the windows had been screened

-she would not have changed her skirt in the publicity of that open

-place, though every human being in the world were dead.

-

-When she emerged from her dressing-room she was transformed indeed. She

-went over to her still hesitating sister.

-

-"Do me up, Mill," she said.

-

-Blanche had chosen well; the fine cloth walking dress admirably

-fitted her well-developed young figure. When she had discarded her

-hat and touched up her hair before the glass, only her boots and her

-hands remained to spoil the disguise. Well gloved and well shod,

-she might have passed down the Bond Street of the old London, and

-few women and no man would have known that she had not sprung from

-the ruling classes.

-

-She posed. She stepped back from the mirror and half-unconsciously

-fell to imitating the manners of the revered aristocracy she had

-respectfully studied from a distance.

-

-In a few minutes she was joined by Millie, also arrayed in peacock's

-feathers and anxious to be "fastened."

-

-Their excitement increased. Walking dresses gave place to evening

-gowns. They lost their sense of fear and ran into other departments

-searching for long white gloves to hide the disfigurements of household

-work. They paraded and bowed to each other. The climax came when they

-discovered a Court dress, immensely trained, and embroidered with gold

-thread, laid by with evidences of tenderest care in endless wrappings

-of tissue paper. Surely the dress of some elegant young duchess!

-

-For a moment they wrangled, but Blanche triumphed. "You shall have

-it afterwards," she said, as she ran to her dressing-room.

-

-Millie followed in an elaborate gown of Indian silk; a somewhat

-sulky Millie, inclined to resent her duty of lady's maid. She dragged

-disrespectfully at the innumerable fastenings.

-

-"My!" ejaculated Blanche when she could indulge herself in the glory

-of full examination before a cheval glass in the open show-room. She

-struggled with her train and when she had arranged it to her

-satisfaction, threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin haughtily.

-

-"I ought to have some diamonds," she reflected.

-

-"It drags round the hips," was Millie's criticism.

-

-"You should say 'Your Majesty,'" corrected Blanche.

-

-"Oh! a Queen, are you?" asked Millie.

-

-"Rather----"

-

-"Queen of all the Earth," sneered Millie.

-

-Blanche's face suddenly fell. "I wonder if she began like this,"

-she said, and a note of fear had come into her voice.

-

-Millie's eyes reflected her sister's alarm.

-

-"Oh! let's get out of this, B.," she said, and began to tear at the

-neck of her Indian silk gown.

-

-"I wanted diamonds, too," persisted Blanche.

-

-"Oh! B., it isn't right," said Millie. "I said it wasn't right and

-you would come."

-

-Silence descended upon them for a moment, and then both sisters

-suddenly screamed and ducked, putting up their hands to their heads.

-

-"Goodness! What was that?" cried Blanche.

-

-A swallow had swept in through the open window, had curved round in

-one swift movement, and shot out again into the sunlight.

-

-"Only a bird of some sort," said Millie, but she was trembling and

-on the verge of hysterics. "Do let's get out, B."

-

-After they had put on their own clothes once more they became aware

-that they were hungry.

-

-"We have wasted a lot of time here," said Blanche as they made their

-way out.

-

-She did not pause to wonder how many women had spent the best part

-of their lives in a precisely similar manner.

-

-"And we ought to have been looking for food," she added.

-

-"Come on," replied Millie. "That place has given me the creeps."

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-Growing rather tired and footsore they made their way to Piccadilly

-Circus, and so on to the Strand. Everywhere they found the same

-conditions: a few skeletons, a few deserted vehicles, young vegetation

-taking hold wherever a pinch of soil had found an abiding place,

-and over all a great silence. But food there was none that they were

-able to find, though it is probable that a careful investigation of

-cellars and underground places might have furnished some results. The

-more salient resources of London had been effectively pillaged so

-far as the West-end was concerned. They were too late.

-

-In Trafalgar Square, Millie sat down and cried. Blanche made no attempt

-to comfort her, but sat wide eyed and wondering. Her mind was opening

-to new ideas. She was beginning to understand that London was incapable

-of supporting even the lives of three women; she was wrestling with

-the problem of existence. Every one had gone. Many had died; but many

-more, surely, must have fled into the country. She began to understand

-that she and her family must also fly into the country.

-

-Millie still sobbed convulsively now and again.

-

-"Oh! Chuck it, Mill," said Blanche at last. "We'd better be getting

-home."

-

-Millie dabbed her eyes. "I'm starving," she blubbered.

-

-"Well, so am I," returned Blanche. "That's why I said we'd better

-get home. There's nothing to eat here."

-

-"Is--is every one dead?"

-

-"No, they've gone off into the country, and that's what we've got

-to do."

-

-The younger girl sat up, put her hat straight, and blew her

-nose. "Isn't it awful, B.?" she said.

-

-Blanche pinched her lips together. "What are you putting your hat

-straight for?" she asked. "There's no one to see you."

-

-"Well, you needn't make it any worse," retorted Millie on the verge

-of a fresh outburst of tears.

-

-"Oh! come on!" said Blanche, getting to her feet.

-

-"I don't believe I can walk home," complained Millie; "my feet

-ache so."

-

-"You'll have to wait a long time if you're going to find a bus,"

-returned Blanche.

-

-Three empty taxicabs stood in the rank a few feet away from them,

-but it never occurred to either of the two young women to attempt any

-experiment with these mechanisms. If the thought had crossed their

-minds they would have deemed it absurd.

-

-"Let's go down by Victoria," suggested Blanche. "I believe it's

-nearer."

-

-In Parliament Square they disturbed a flock of rooks, birds which

-had partly changed their natural habits during the past few months

-and, owing to the superabundance of one kind of food, were preying

-on carrion.

-

-"Crows," commented Blanche. "Beastly things."

-

-"I wonder if we could get some water to drink," was Millie's reply.

-

-"Well, there's the river," suggested Blanche, and they turned up

-towards Westminster Bridge.

-

-In one of the tall buildings facing the river Blanche's attention

-was caught by an open door.

-

-"Look here, Mill," she said, "we've only been looking for shops. Let's

-try one of these houses. We might find something to eat in there."

-

-"I'm afraid," said Millie.

-

-"What of?" sneered Blanche. "At the worst it's skeletons, and we can

-come out again."

-

-Millie shuddered. "You go," she suggested.

-

-"Not by myself, I won't," returned Blanche.

-

-"There you are, you see," said Millie.

-

-"Well, it's different by yourself."

-

-"I hate it," returned Millie with emphasis.

-

-"So do I, in a way, only I'm fair starving," said Blanche. "Come on."

-

-The building was solidly furnished, and the ground floor, although

-somewhat disordered, still suggested a complacent luxury. On the floor

-lay a copy of the Evening Chronicle, dated May 10; possibly one of the

-last issues of a London journal. Two of the pages were quite blank,

-and almost the only advertisement was one hastily-set announcement of a

-patent medicine guaranteed as a sure protection against the plague. The

-remainder of the paper was filled with reports of the devastation that

-was being wrought, reports which were nevertheless marked by a faint

-spirit of simulated confidence. Between the lines could be read the

-story of desperate men clinging to hope with splendid courage. There

-were no signs of panic here. Groves had come out well at the last.

-

-The two girls hovered over this piece of ancient history for a few

-minutes.

-

-"You see," said Blanche triumphantly, "even then, more'n two months

-ago, every one was making for the country. We shall have to go,

-too. I told you we should."

-

-"I never said we shouldn't," returned Millie. "Anyhow there's nothing

-to eat here."

-

-"Not in this room, there isn't," said Blanche, "but there might be

-in the kitchens. Do you know what this place has been?"

-

-Millie shook her head.

-

-"It's been a man's club," announced Blanche. "First time you've been

-in one, old dear."

-

-"Come on, let's have a look downstairs, then," returned Millie,

-careless of her achievement.

-

-In the first kitchen they found havoc: broken china and glass, empty

-bottles, empty tins, cooking utensils on the floor, one table upset,

-everywhere devastation and the marks of struggle; but in none of the

-empty tins was there the least particle of food. Everything had been

-completely cleaned out. The rats had been there, and had gone.

-

-Exploring deeper, however, they were at last rewarded. On a table

-stood a whole array of unopened tins and in one of them was plunged

-a tin-opener, a single stab had been given, and then, possibly,

-another of these common tragedies had begun. Had he been alone,

-that plunderer, or had his companions fled from him in terror?

-

-Here the two girls made a sufficient meal, and discovered, moreover,

-a large store of unopened beer-bottles. They shared the contents

-of one between them, and then, feeling greatly reinvigorated, they

-sought for and found two baskets, which they filled with tinned

-foods. They only took away one bottle of beer--a special treat for

-their mother--on account of the weight. They remembered that they

-had a long walk before them; and they were not over-elated by their

-discovery; they were sick to death of tinned meats.

-

-In looking for the baskets they came across a single potato that the

-rats had left. From it had sprung a long, thin, etiolated shoot which

-had crept under the door of the cupboard and was making its way across

-the floor to the light of the window. Already that shoot was several

-feet in length.

-

-"Funny how they grow," commented Millie.

-

-"Making for the country, I expect," replied Blanche, "same as we

-shall have to do."

-

-It was a relief to them to find their way into the sunlight once

-more. Those cold, forsaken houses held some suggestion of horror,

-of old activities so abruptly ended by tragedy. From these interiors

-Nature was still shut off. That ghostly tendril aching towards the

-light had no chance for life and reproduction....

-

-

-

-

-5

-

-The two Gosling girls had yet one more adventure before they toiled

-home with their load.

-

-They were growing bolder, despite the gloom and oppression of those

-human habitations, and some freakish spirit prompted Blanche to suggest

-that they should visit the Houses of Parliament. After a brief demur,

-Millie acceded.

-

-That great stronghold was open to them now. They might walk the floor

-of the House, sit in the Speaker's chair, penetrate into the sacred

-places of the Upper Chamber.

-

-Gone were all the rules and formulas, the intricacies and precedents

-of an unwritten constitution, the whole cumbrous machinery for the

-making of new laws. The air was no longer disturbed by the wranglings,

-evasions and cunning shifts of those who had found here a stage for

-their personal ambitions. The high talk of progress had died into

-silence along with the struggle of parties which had played the supreme

-game, side against side, for the prize of power. Progress had been

-defined in this place, in terms of human activity, human comfort. The

-end in sight had been some vague conception of general welfare through

-accumulated riches. And from the sky had fallen a pestilence to change

-the meaning of human terms. In three months the old conception of

-wealth was gone. Money, precious stones, a thousand accepted forms

-of value had become suddenly worthless, of no more account than the

-symbol of power which lay coated with dust on the table of the House

-of law-makers. Even law itself, that slow growth of the centuries,

-had become meaningless. Who cared if some mad woman plundered every

-jeweller's shop in the whole City? Who was to forbid theft or avenge

-murder? The place of traffic was empty. Only one law was left and

-only one value; the law of self-preservation, the value of food.

-

-The sunlight fell in broad coloured shafts upon two half-educated

-girls come on a plundering expedition, and they might sit in the high

-places if they would, and make new laws for themselves.

-

-Blanche sat for a few moments in the Speaker's chair.

-

-"It's a fine big place," she remarked.

-

-"Oh! come on, B., do," replied Millie. "I want to get home."

-

-As they crossed the Square, Millie looked up at Big Ben. "Quarter-past

-nine," she said. "It must have stopped."

-

-"Well, of course, silly," replied Blanche. "All the clocks have

-stopped. Who's to wind 'em?"

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XII--EMIGRANT

-

-

-1

-

-For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to grasp the significance

-of her daughters' report on the condition of London. During the past

-two months she had persuaded herself that the traffic of the town was

-being resumed and that only Putney was still desolate. She had always

-disapproved of Putney; it was damp and she had never known anyone who

-had lived there. It is true that the late lamented George Gosling had

-been born in Putney, but that was more than half a century ago, the

-place was no doubt quite different then; and he had left Putney and

-gone to live in the healthy North before he was sixteen. Mrs Gosling

-was half inclined to blame Putney for all their misfortunes--it was

-sure to breed infection, being so near the river and all--and she had

-become hopeful during the past month that all would be well with them

-if they could once get back to Kilburn.

-

-"D'you mean to say you didn't see no one at all?" she repeated in

-great perplexity.

-

-"Those three we've told you about, that's all," said Blanche.

-

-"Well, o' course, they're all shut up in the 'ouses, still; afraid

-o' the plague and 'anging on to what provisions they've got put by,

-same as us," was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward.

-

-"They ain't," said Millie, and Blanche agreed.

-

-"Well, but 'ow d'you know?" persisted the mother. "Did you go in to

-the 'ouses?"

-

-"One or two," returned Blanche evasively, "but there wasn't no need

-to go in. You could see."

-

-"Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not in the Strand?" Mrs

-Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence. She could not doubt the

-good faith of the Strand. If that failed her, all was lost.

-

-"Oh! can't you understand, mother," broke out Blanche petulantly,

-"that the whole of London is absolutely deserted? There isn't a soul

-in the streets. There's no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and

-grass growing in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been

-broken into, all those that had food in 'em, and----" words failed

-her. "Isn't it, Millie?" she concluded lamely.

-

-"Awful," agreed Millie.

-

-"Well, I can't understand it," said Mrs Gosling, not yet fully

-convinced. She considered earnestly for a few moments and then asked:

-"Did you go into Charing Cross Post Office? They'd sure to be open."

-

-"Yes!" lied Blanche, "and we could have taken all the money in the

-place if we'd wanted, and no one any the wiser."

-

-Mrs Gosling looked shocked. "I 'ope my gels'll never come to that,"

-she said. Her girls, with a wonderful understanding of their mother's

-opinions, had omitted to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge

-emporium.

-

-"No one'd ever know," said Millie.

-

-"There's One who would," replied Mrs Gosling gravely, and strangely

-enough, perhaps, the two girls looked uneasy, but they were thinking

-less of the commandments miraculously given to Moses than of the

-probable displeasure of the Vicar of St John the Evangelist's Church

-in Kilburn.

-

-"Well, we've got to do something, anyhow," said Blanche, after a

-pause. "I mean we'll have to get out of this and go into the country."

-

-"We might go to your uncle's in Liverpool," suggested Mrs Gosling,

-tentatively.

-

-"It's a long walk," remarked Blanche.

-

-Mrs Gosling did not grasp the meaning of this objection. "Well,

-I think we could afford third-class," she said. "Besides, though we

-'aven't corresponded much of late years, I've always been under the

-impression that your uncle is doin' well in Liverpool; and at such a

-time as this I'm sure 'e'll do the right thing, though whether it would

-be better to let 'im know we're comin' or not I'm not quite sure."

-

-"Oh! dear!" sighed Blanche, "I do wish you'd try to understand,

-mother. There aren't any trains. There aren't any posts or

-telegraphs. Wherever we go we've just got to walk. Haven't we, Millie?"

-

-Millie began to snivel. "It's 'orrible," she said.

-

-"Well I can't understand it," repeated Mrs Gosling.

-

-By degrees, however, the controversy took a new shape. Granting for

-the moment the main contention that London was uninhabitated, Mrs

-Gosling urged that it would be a dangerous, even a foolhardy, thing

-to venture into the country. If there was no Government there would

-be no law and order, was the substance of her argument; government in

-her mind being represented by its concrete presentation in the form of

-the utterly reliable policeman. Furthermore, she pointed out, that they

-did not know anyone in the country, with the exception of a too-distant

-uncle in Liverpool, and that there would be nowhere for them to go.

-

-"We shall have to work," said Blanche, who was surely inspired by

-her glimpse of the silent city.

-

-"Well, we've got nearly a 'undred pounds left of what your poor father

-drew out o' the bank before we shut ourselves up," said her mother.

-

-"I suppose we could buy things in the country," speculated Blanche.

-

-"You seem set on the country for some reason," said Mrs Gosling with

-a touch of temper.

-

-"Well, we've got to get food," returned Blanche, raising her voice. "We

-can't live on air."

-

-"And if food's to be got cheaper in the country than in London,"

-snapped Mrs Gosling, "my experience goes for nothing, but, of course,

-you know best, if I am your mother."

-

-"There isn't any food in London, cheap or dear, I keep telling you,"

-said Blanche, and left the room angrily, slamming the door behind her.

-

-Millie sat moodily biting her nails.

-

-"Blanche lets 'er temper get the better of 'er," remarked Mrs Gosling

-addressing the spaces of the kitchen in which they were sitting.

-

-"It's right, worse luck," said Millie. "We shall have to go. I 'ate

-it nearly as much as you do."

-

-The argument thus begun was continued with few intermissions for a

-whole week. A thunderstorm, followed by two days of overcast weather,

-came to the support of the older woman. One thing was certain among

-all these terrible perplexities, namely, that you couldn't start off

-for a trip to the country on a wet day.

-

-Meanwhile their stores continued to diminish, and one afternoon Mrs

-Gosling consented to take a walk with Blanche as far as Hammersmith

-Broadway.

-

-The sight of that blank desert impressed her. Blanche pointed out

-the house in which she had seen the two women five days before, but

-no one was looking out of the window on that afternoon. Perhaps they

-had fled to the country, or were occupied elsewhere in the house,

-or perhaps they had left London by the easier way which had become

-so general in the past few months.

-

-When she returned to the Putney house, Mrs Gosling wept and wished she,

-too, was dead, but she consented at last to Blanche's continually urged

-proposition, in so far as she expressed herself willing to make a move

-of some sort. She thought they might, at least, go back and have a

-look at Wisteria Grove. And if Kilburn had, indeed, fallen as low as

-Hammersmith, then there was apparently no help for it and they must

-try their luck in the waste and desolation of the country. Perhaps

-some farmer's wife might take them in for a time, until they had a

-chance to look about them. They had nearly a hundred pounds in gold.

-

-The girls found a builder's trolley in a yard near by, a truck of

-sturdy build on two wheels with a long handle. It bore marks of

-having held cement, and there were weeds growing in one end of it,

-but after it had been brought home and thoroughly scrubbed, it looked

-quite a presentable means for the transport of the "necessaries"

-they proposed to take with them.

-

-They made too generous an estimate of essentials at first, piling

-their truck too high for safety and overtaxing their strength; but

-that problem, like many others, was finally solved for them by the

-clear-sighted guidance of necessity.

-

-They started one morning--a Monday if their calculations were not

-at fault--about two hours after breakfast. Mrs Gosling and Millie

-pushed behind, and Blanche, the inspired one, went before, pulled by

-the handle of the pole and gave the others their direction.

-

-It is possible that they were the last women to leave London.

-

-By chance they discovered the Queen of all the Earth on a doorstep

-near Addison Road. She was quite dead, but they did not despoil her

-of the jewels with which she was still covered.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-Mrs Gosling was a source of trouble from the outset. She had lived

-her life indoors. In the Wisteria Grove days, she never spent two

-hours of the twenty-four out of the house. Some times for a whole

-week she had not gone out at all. It was a mark of their rise in the

-world that all the tradesmen called for orders. She had found little

-necessity to buy in shops during recent years. And so, very surely,

-she had grown more and more limited in her outlook. Her attention

-had become concentrated on the duties of the housewife. She had not

-kept any servant, a charwoman who came for a few hours three times

-a week had done all that the mistress of the house had not dared, in

-face of neighbourly criticism--in her position she could not be seen

-washing down the little tiled path to the gate nor whitening the steps.

-

-The effect of this cramped existence on Mrs Gosling would not

-have been noticeable under the old conditions. She had become a

-specialized creature, admirably adapted to her place in the old

-scheme of civilization. No demand was ever made upon her resources

-other than those familiar demands which she was so perfectly educated

-to supply. Even when the plague had come, she had not been compelled

-to alter her mode of life. She had made trouble enough about the lack

-of many things she had once believed to be necessary--familiar foods,

-soap and the thousand little conveniences that the twentieth century

-inventor had patented to assist the domestic economy of the small

-householder; but the trouble was not too great to be overcome. The

-adaptability required from her was within the scope of her specialized

-vision. She could learn to do without flour, butter, lard, milk,

-sugar and the other things, but she could not learn to think on

-unfamiliar lines.

-

-That was the essence of her trouble. She was divorced from a permanent

-home. She was asked to walk long miles in the open air. Worst of all,

-she was called upon for initiative, ingenuity; she was required to

-exercise her imagination in order to solve a problem with which she

-was quite unfamiliar. She was expected to develop the potentialities

-of the wild thing, and to extort food from Nature. The whole problem

-was beyond her comprehension.

-

-The sight of Kilburn was a great blow to her. She had hoped against

-hope that here, at least, she would find some semblance of the life

-she had known. It had seemed so impossible to her that Aiken, the

-butcher's, or Hobb's, the grocer's, would not be open as usual, and

-the vision of those two desolated and ransacked shops--the latter with

-but a few murderous spears of plate-glass left in its once magnificent

-windows--depressed her to tears.

-

-So shaken was she by the sight of these horrors that Blanche and

-Millie raised no objection to sleeping that night in the house in

-Wisteria Grove. Indeed, the two girls were almost tired out, although

-it was yet early in the afternoon. The truck had become very heavy

-in the course of the last two miles; and they had had considerable

-difficulty in negotiating the hill by Westbourne Park Station.

-

-Mrs Gosling was still weeping as she let herself in to her old home,

-and she wept as she prowled about the familiar rooms and noted the

-dust which had fallen like snow on every surface which would support

-it. And for the first time the loss of her husband came home to

-her. She had been almost glad when he had vanished from the Putney

-house--in that place she had only seen him in his new character of

-tyrant. Here, among familiar associations, she recalled the fact that

-he had been a respectable, complacent, hard-working, successful man

-who had never given her cause for trouble, a man who did not drink

-nor run after other women, who held a position in the Church and was

-looked up to by the neighbourhood. According to her definition he had

-certainly been an ideal husband. It is true that they had dropped any

-pretence of being in love with one another after Blanche was born,

-but that was only natural.

-

-Mrs Gosling sat on the bed she had shared with him so long and hoped

-he was happy. He was; but if she could have seen the nature of his

-happiness the sight would have given her no comfort. Vaguely she

-pictured him in some strange Paradise, built upon those conceptions

-of the mediæval artists, mainly Italians, which have supplied the

-ideals of the orthodox. She saw an imperfectly transfigured and still

-fleshly George Gosling, who did unaccustomed things with a harp,

-was dressed in exotic garments and was on terms with certain hybrids,

-largely woman but partly bird, who were clearly recognizable as the

-angelic host. If she had been a Mohammedan, her vision would have

-accorded far more nearly with the fact.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-The successful animal is that which is adapted to its

-circumstances. Herbert Spencer would appear foolish and incapable in

-the society of the young wits who frequent the private bar; he might

-be described by them as an old Johnny who knew nothing about life. Mrs

-Gosling in her own home had been a ruler; she had had authority over

-her daughters, and, despite the usual evidences of girlish precocity,

-she had always been mistress of the situation. In the affairs of

-household management she was facile princeps, and she commanded

-the respect accorded to the eminent in any form of specialized

-activity. But even on this second morning of their emigration it became

-clear to Blanche that her mother had ceased to rule, and must become a

-subordinate. A certain respect was due to her in her parental relation,

-but if she could not be coaxed she must be coerced.

-

-"She'll be better when we get her right away from here," was Blanche's

-diagnosis, and Millie, who had also achieved some partial realization

-of the necessities imposed by the new conditions, nodded in agreement.

-

-"She wants to stop here altogether, and, of course, we can't,"

-she said.

-

-"We shall starve if we do," said Blanche.

-

-From that time Mrs Gosling dropped into the humiliating position of

-a kind of mental incapable who must be humoured into obedience.

-

-The first, and in many ways the most difficult, task was to persuade

-her away from Kilburn. She clung desperately to that stronghold of

-her old life.

-

-"I'm too old to change at my age," she protested, and when the

-alternative was clearly put before her, she accepted it with a

-flaccidity that was as aggravating as it was unfightable.

-

-"I'd sooner die 'ere," said Mrs Gosling, "than go trapesing about the

-fields lookin' for somethin' to eat. I simply couldn't do it. It's

-different for you two gels, no doubt. You go and leave me 'ere."

-

-Millie might have been tempted to take her mother at her word,

-but Blanche never for a moment entertained the idea of leaving her

-mother behind.

-

-"Very well, mother," she said, desperately, "if you won't come we

-must all stop here and starve, I suppose. We've got enough food to

-last a fortnight or so."

-

-As she spoke she looked out of the window of that little suburban

-house, and for the first time in her life a thought came to her of

-the strangeness of preferring such an inconvenient little box to the

-adventure of the wider spaces of open country. Outside, the sun was

-shining brilliantly, but the windows were dim with dust and cobwebs.

-

-Yet her mother was comparatively happy in this hovel; she would

-find delight in cleaning it, although there was no one to appraise

-the result of her effort. She was a specialized animal with

-habits precisely analogous to the instincts of other animals and

-insects. There were insects who could only live in filth and would die

-miserably if removed from their natural surroundings. Mrs Gosling was

-a suburban-house insect who would perish in the open air. After all,

-the chief difference between insects and men is that the insect is

-born perfectly adapted to its specialized existence, man finds, or

-is forced into, a place in the scheme after he has come to maturity....

-

-"I can't see why you shouldn't leave me behind," pleaded Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Well, we won't," replied Blanche, still looking out of the window.

-

-"It's wicked of you to make us stop here and starve," put in

-Millie. "And even you must see that we shall starve."

-

-Mrs Gosling wept feebly. She had wept much during the past twenty-four

-hours. "Where can we go?" she wailed.

-

-"There's country on the other side of Harrow," said Blanche.

-

-The thought of Harrow or Timbuctoo was equally repugnant to Mrs

-Gosling.

-

-Then Millie had an idea. "Well, we only brought four bottles of water

-with us," she said, "where are we going to get any more in Kilburn?"

-

-Mrs Gosling racked her brain in the effort to remember some convenient

-stream in the neighbourhood. "It may rain," she said feebly at last.

-

-Blanche turned from the window and pointed to the blurred prospect

-of sunlit street. "We might be dead before the rain came," she said.

-

-They wore her out in the end.

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-With Harrow as an immediate objective, they toiled up Willesden Lane

-with their hand-cart early the next morning. Blanche took that route

-because it was familiar to her, and after passing Willesden Green,

-she followed the tram lines.

-

-As they got away from London they came upon evidences of the exodus

-which had preceded them. Bodies of women, for the most part no longer

-malodorous, were not infrequent, and pieces of household furniture,

-parcels of clothing, boxes, trunks and smaller impedimenta lay by the

-roadside, the superfluities of earlier loads that had been lightened,

-however reluctantly.

-

-Mrs Gosling blenched at the sight of every body--only a few of them

-could be described as skeletons--and protested that they were all

-going to their death, but Blanche kept on resolutely with a white,

-set face, and as Millie followed her example, if with rather less show

-of temerity, there was no choice but to follow. When the gradients

-were favourable the girls helped their mother on to the truck and

-gave her a lift. She was a feeble walker.

-

-Not till they reached Sudbury did they see another living being of

-their own species, or any sign of human habitation in the long rows

-of dirty houses.

-

-The great surge of migration had spread out from the centre and become

-absorbed in circles of ever-widening amplitude. The great entity of

-London had eaten its way so far outwards in to arable and pasturage

-that within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross not a thousand women

-could be found who had been able to obtain any promise of security

-from the products of the soil. And although there were great open

-spaces of land, such as Wembley Park, which had to be crossed in the

-journey outwards, the exiles had been unable to wait until such time

-as seed could be transformed into food by the alchemy of Nature. So

-the pressure had been continually outwards, forcing the emigrants

-toward the more distant farms where some fraction of them, at least,

-might find work and food until the coming of the harvest. In Kent,

-vegetables were comparatively plentiful. In Northern Middlesex and

-Buckinghamshire the majority had to depend upon animal food. But in

-all the Home Counties and in the neighbourhood of every large town,

-famine was following hard upon the heels of the plague, and 70 per

-cent of the town-dwelling women and children who had escaped the latter

-visitation died of starvation and exposure before the middle of August.

-

-In the first inner ring, still sparsely populated, were to be found

-those who had had vegetable gardens and had been vigorous enough to

-protect themselves against the flood of migration which had swept up

-against them.

-

-It was the first signs of this inner ring that the Goslings discovered

-at Sudbury.

-

-

-

-

-5

-

-They came upon a little row of cottages, standing back a few yards from

-the road. All three women had been engaged in pushing their trolly

-up an ascent, and with heads down, and all their physical energies

-concentrated upon their task, they did not notice the startling

-difference between these cottages and other houses they had passed,

-until they stopped to take breath at the summit of the hill.

-

-Mrs Gosling had immediately seated herself upon the sloping pole

-of the trolly handle. She was breathing heavily and had her hands

-pressed to her sides. Millie leaned against the side of the trolly,

-her eyes still on the ground. But Blanche had thrown back her shoulders

-and opened her lungs, and she saw the banner of smoke that flew from

-the middle of the three chimney-stacks--smoke, in this wilderness,

-smoke the sign of human life! To Blanche it seemed the fulfilment of

-a great hope. She had begun to wonder if all the world were dead.

-

-"Oh!" she gasped. "Look!"

-

-They looked without eagerness, anticipating some familiar horror.

-

-"Ooh!" echoed Millie, when she, too, had recognized the harbinger. But

-Mrs Gosling did not raise her eyes high enough.

-

-"What?" she asked stupidly.

-

-"There's some one living in that cottage," said Blanche, and pointed

-upwards to the soaring pennant.

-

-Mrs Gosling's face brightened. "Well, to be sure," she said, "I wonder

-if they'd let me sit down and rest for a few minutes? And perhaps

-they might be willing to sell me a glass of milk. I'm sure I'd pay

-a good price for it."

-

-"We can see, anyway," replied Millie, and they roused themselves and

-pushed on eagerly. The cottage was not more than thirty yards away.

-

-Before they reached it, a woman came to the doorway, stared at them

-for a moment and then came down to the little wooden gate.

-

-She was a thick-set woman of fifty or so, with iron grey hair cut

-close to her head. She wore a tweed skirt which did not reach the

-tops of her heavily soled, high boots. She looked capable, energetic

-and muscular. And in her hand she carried about three feet of stout

-broomstick.

-

-She did not speak until the little procession halted before her gate,

-and then she pointed meaningly up the road with her broomstick and

-said: "Go on. You can't stop here." She spoke with the voice and

-inflection of an educated woman.

-

-Blanche paused in the act of setting down the trolly handle. Mrs

-Gosling and Millie stared in amazement; they had been prepared to

-weep on the neck of this human friend, found at last in the awful

-desert of Middlesex.

-

-"We only wanted to buy a little milk," stammered Blanche, no less

-astonished than her mother and sister.

-

-The big woman looked them over with something of pity and contempt. "I

-can see you're not dangerous," she sneered and crossed her great bare

-fore-arms over the top of the gate. "Only three poor feckless idiots

-going begging."

-

-"We're not begging," retorted Blanche. "We've got money and we're

-willing to pay."

-

-"Money!" repeated the woman. She looked up at the sky and nodded

-her head, as though beseeching pity for these feeble creatures. "My

-dear girl," she went on, "what do you suppose is the good of money

-in this world? You can't eat money, nor wear it, nor use it to light

-a fire. Now, if you'd offered me a box of matches, you should have

-had all the milk I can spare."

-

-"Well, I never," put in Mrs Gosling, who had feebly come to rest

-again on the handle of the trolly.

-

-"No, my good woman, you never did," said the stranger. "You never

-could and I should say the chances are that you never will."

-

-Millie was intimidated and shrinking, even Blanche looked a

-little nervous, but Mrs Gosling was incapable of feeling fear of

-a fellow-woman. "You can't mean as you won't sell us a glass of

-milk?" she said.

-

-"Have you got a box of matches you'll exchange for it?" asked the

-stranger. "I've got a burning glass I stole in Harrow, but you can't

-depend on the sun."

-

-"No, nor 'aven't 'ad, the last three weeks," said Mrs Gosling. "But

-if you've more money a'ready than you know what to do with, I should

-'ave thought as you'd 'a been willing to spare a glass o' milk for

-charity's sake."

-

-The stranger regarded her petitioner with a hard smile. "Charity's

-sake?" she said. "Do you realize that I've had to defend this place

-like a fort against thousands of your sort? I've killed three madwomen

-who fought me for possession and buried 'em in the orchard like

-cats. I held out through the first rush and I can hold out now easily

-enough. You three are the first I've seen for a month, and before

-that they'd begun to get weak and poor. These are your daughters,

-I suppose, and the three of you had always depended upon some fool

-of a man to keep you. Yes? Well, you deserve all you've got. Now you

-can start and do a little healthy, useful work for yourselves. I've

-no pity for you. I've got a damned fool of a sister and an old fool

-of a mother to keep in there," she pointed to the cottage with her

-broomstick. "Parasitic like you, both of 'em, and pretty well all

-the use they are is to keep the fire alight. No, my good woman,

-you get no charity from me."

-

-When she had finished her speech, which she delivered with a fluency

-and point that suggested familiarity with the platform, the stranger

-crossed her arms again over the gate and stared Mrs Gosling out

-of countenance.

-

-"Come along, my dears," said that outraged lady, getting wearily to

-her feet. "I wouldn't wish your ears soiled by such language from a

-woman as 'as forgotten the manners of a lady. But, there, poor thing,

-I've no doubt 'er 'ead's been turned with all this trouble."

-

-The stranger smiled grimly and made no reply, but as the Goslings

-were moving away, she called out to them suddenly: "Hi! You! There's

-a witless creature along the road who'll probably help you. The house

-is up a side road. Bear round to the right."

-

-"What a beast," muttered Blanche when they had gone on a few yards.

-

-"One o' them 'new' women, my dear," panted Mrs Gosling, who

-remembered the beginning of the movement and still clung to the old

-terminology. "'Orrible unsexed creatures! I remember how your poor

-father used to 'ate 'em!"

-

-"I'd like to get even with her," said Millie.

-

-They bore to the right, and so avoided two turnings which led up

-repulsive-looking hills, but they missed the side road.

-

-"I'm sure we must have passed it," complained Mrs Gosling at

-last. Her sighs had been increasing in volume and poignancy for the

-past half-mile, and the prospect of uninhabited country which lay

-immediately around her she found infinitely dispiriting.

-

-"There isn't an 'ouse in sight," she added, "and I really don't

-believe I can walk much farther."

-

-Blanche stopped and looked over the fields on her right towards

-London. In the distance, blurred by an oily wriggle of heat haze, she

-could see the last wave of suburban villas which had broken upon this

-shore of open country. They had left the town behind them at last,

-but they had not found what they sought. This little arm of land

-which cut off Harrow and Wealdstone from the mother lake of London

-had not offered sufficient temptation to delay their forerunners in

-the search for food. Most of them, with a true instinct for what they

-sought, had followed the main road into the Chiltern Hills, and those

-who for some cause or another had wandered into this side track had

-pushed on, even as Blanche and Millie would have done had they not

-been dragged back by their mother's complaints. The sun was falling

-a little towards the west, and bird and animal life, which had seemed

-to rest during the intenser heat of mid-day, was stirring and calling

-all about them. A rabbit lolloped into the road, a few yards away,

-pricked up its ears, stared for an instant, and then scuttled to

-cover. A blackbird flew out of the hedge and fled chattering up the

-ditch. The air was murmurous with the hum of innumerable insects,

-and above Mrs Gosling's head hovered a group of flies which ever

-and again bobbed down as if following some concerted plan of action,

-and tried to settle on the poor woman's heated face.

-

-"Oh! get away, do!" she panted, and flapped a futile handkerchief.

-

-"How quiet it is!" said Blanche; and although the air was full of

-sound it did indeed appear that a great hush had fallen over the

-earth. No motor-horn threateningly bellowed its automatic demand for

-right of way; there was no echo of hoofs nor grind of wheels; no call

-of children's voices, nor even the bark of a dog. The wild things had

-the place to themselves again, and the sound of their movements called

-for no response from civilized minds. The ears of the Goslings heard,

-but did not note these, to them, useless evidences of life. They were

-straining and alert for the voice of humanity.

-

-"I don't know when I've felt the 'eat so much," said Mrs Gosling

-suddenly, and Blanche and Millie both started.

-

-"Hush!" said Blanche, and held up a warning finger.

-

-In the distance they heard a sound like the closing of a gate, and

-then, very clear and small, a feminine voice. "Chuck! chuck! chuck!" it

-said. "Chuck! chuck! chuck!!!"

-

-"I told you we'd passed it," said Mrs Gosling triumphantly. They turned

-the trolly and began to retrace their footsteps. Their eager eyes

-tried to peer through the spinney of trees which shut them off from

-the south. Once or twice they stopped to listen. The voice was fainter

-now, but they could hear the squawk of greedily competitive fowls.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XIII--DIFFERENCES

-

-

-1

-

-The only side road they could find proved to be no more than a track

-through the little wood. They almost passed it a second time, and

-hesitated at the gate--a sturdy five-barred gate bearing "Private"

-on a conspicuous label--debating whether this "could be right." They

-still suffered a spasm of fear at the thought of trespass, and to open

-this gate and march up an unknown private road pushing a hand-cart

-seemed to them an act of terrible aggression.

-

-"We might leave the cart just inside," suggested Blanche.

-

-"And get our food stole," said Mrs Gosling.

-

-"There's no one about," urged Blanche.

-

-"There's that broomstick woman," said Millie. "She may have followed

-us."

-

-"I'm sure I dunno if it's safe to go foragin' in among them trees,

-neither," continued Mrs Gosling. "Are you sure this is right, Blanche?"

-

-"Well, of course, I'm not sure," replied Blanche, with a touch

-of temper.

-

-They peered through the trees and listened, but no sign of a house

-was to be seen, and all was now silent save for the long drone of

-innumerable bees about their afternoon business.

-

-"Oh! come on!" said Blanche at last. She was rapidly learning to

-solve all their problems by this simple formula....

-

-In the wood they found refuge from those attendant flies which had

-hung over them so persistently.

-

-Mrs Gosling gave a final flick with her handkerchief and declared

-her relief. "It's quite pleasant in 'ere," she said, "after the 'eat."

-

-The two girls also seemed to find new vigour in the shade of the trees.

-

-"We have got a cheek!" said Millie, with a giggle.

-

-"Well! needs must when the devil drives," returned Mrs Gosling,

-"and our circumstances is quite out of the ordinary. Besides which,

-there can't be any 'arm in offerin' to buy a glass of milk."

-

-Blanche tugged at the trolley handle with a flicker of impatience. Why

-would her mother be so foolish? Surely she must see that everything

-was different now? Blanche was beginning to wonder at and admire

-the marvel of her own intelligence. How much cleverer she was than

-the others! How much more ready to appreciate and adapt herself to

-change! They could not understand this new state of things, but she

-could, and she prided herself on her powers of discrimination.

-

-"Everything's different now," she said to herself. "We can go anywhere

-and do anything, almost. It's like as if we were all starting off

-level again, in a way." She felt uplifted: she took extraordinary

-pleasure in her own realization of facts. A strange, new power had

-come to her, a power to enjoy life, through mastery. "Everything's

-different now," she repeated. She was conscious of a sense of pity

-for her mother and sister.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The road through the wood curved sharply round to the right, and they

-came suddenly upon a clearing, and saw the house in front of them. It

-was a long, low house, smothered in roses and creepers, and it stood

-in a wild garden surrounded by a breast-high wall of red brick. At the

-edge of the clearing several cows were lying under the shade of the

-trees, reflectively chewing the cud with slow, deliberate enjoyment,

-while one, solitary, stood with its head over the garden gate,

-motionless, save for an occasional petulant whisp of its ropey tail.

-

-"Now, then, what are we going to do?" asked Mrs Gosling.

-

-The procession halted, and the three women regarded the guardian cow

-with every sign of dismay.

-

-"Shoo!" said Millie feebly, flapping her hands; and Blanche repeated

-the intimidation with greater force; but the cow merely acknowledged

-the salutation by an irritable sweep of its tail.

-

-"'Orrid brute!" muttered Mrs Gosling, and flicked her handkerchief

-in the direction of the brute's quarters.

-

-"I know," said Blanche, conceiving a subtle strategy. "We'll drive

-it away with the cart." She turned the trolly round, and the three of

-them grasping the pole, they advanced slowly and warily to the charge,

-pushing their siege ram before them. They made a slight detour to

-achieve a flank attack and allow the enemy a clear way of retreat.

-

-"Oh, dear! what are you doing?" said a voice suddenly, and the three

-startled Goslings nearly dropped the pole in their alarm--they had

-been so utterly absorbed in their campaign.

-

-A young woman of sixteen or seventeen, very brown, hot and dishevelled,

-was regarding them from the other side of the garden wall with a stare

-of amazement that even as they turned was flickering into laughter.

-

-"It's that great brute by the gate, my dear," said Mrs Gosling,

-"and we've just----"

-

-"You don't mean Alice?" interrupted the young woman. "Oh! you couldn't

-go charging poor dear Alice with a great cart like that! Three of

-you, too!"

-

-"Is its name Alice?" asked Blanche stupidly. She did not feel equal

-to this curious occasion.

-

-"Its name!" replied the young woman, with scorn. "Her name's Alice,

-if that's what you mean." She shook back the hair from her eyes

-and moved down to the gate. The cow acknowledged her presence by an

-indolent toss of the head.

-

-"Oh! but my sweet Alice!" protested the young woman; "you must move

-and let these funny people come in. It really isn't good for you,

-dear, to stand about in the sun like this, and you'd much better go

-and lie down in the shade for a bit!" She gently pulled the gate from

-under the cow's chin, and then, laying her hands flat on its side,

-made as if to push it out of the way.

-

-"Well, I never!" declared Mrs Gosling, regarding the performance with

-much the same awe as she might have vouchsafed to a lion-tamer in a

-circus. "'Oo'd 'ave thought it'd 'a been that tame?"

-

-The cow, after a moment's resistance, moved off with a leisurely walk

-in the direction of the wood.

-

-"Now, you funny people, what do you want?" asked the young woman.

-

-Mrs Gosling began to explain, but Blanche quickly interposed. "Oh! do

-be quiet, mother; you don't understand," she said, and continued,

-before her mother could remonstrate, "We've come from London."

-

-"Goodness!" commented the young woman.

-

-"And we want----" Blanche hesitated. She was surprised to find that

-in the light of her wonderful discovery it was not so easy to define

-precisely what they ought to want. As the broomstick woman had said,

-they were "beggars." Fairly confronted with the problem, Blanche saw

-no alternative but a candid acknowledgment of the fact.

-

-"You want feeding, of course," put in the young woman. "They all

-do. You needn't think you're the first. We've had dozens!"

-

-A solution presented itself to Blanche. "We don't really want food,"

-she said. "We've got a lot of tinned things left still, only we're ill

-with eating tinned things. I thought, perhaps, you might be willing

-to let us have some milk and eggs and vegetables in exchange?"

-

-"That's sensible enough," commented the young woman. "If you only

-knew the things we have been offered! Money chiefly, of course"--Mrs

-Gosling opened her mouth, but Blanche frowned and shook her head--"and

-it does seem as if money's about as useless as buttons. In fact, I'd

-sooner have buttons--you can use them. But the other funny things--bits

-of old furniture, warming-pans, jewellery! You should have heard Mrs

-Isaacson! She was a Jewess who came from Hampstead a couple of months

-ago, and she had a lot of jewels she kept in a bag tied round her

-waist under her skirt; and when Aunt May and I simply had to tell her

-to go she tried to bribe us with an old brooch and rubbish. She was a

-terror. But, I say"--she looked at the sun--"I've got lots of things to

-do before sunset." She paused, and looked at the three Goslings. "Look

-here," she went on, "are you all right? You seem all right."

-

-Again Mrs Gosling began to reply, but Blanche was too quick for

-her. "Tell me what you mean by 'all right'?" she asked, raising her

-voice to drown her mother's "Well, I never did 'ear such----"

-

-"Well, of course, mother'll give you any mortal thing you want,"

-replied the young woman at the gate. "Dear old mater! She simply

-won't think of what we're going to do in the winter; and I mean, if

-you come in for to-night, say, and we let you have a few odd things,

-you won't go and plant yourselves on us like that Mrs Isaacson and

-one or two others, because if you do, Aunt May and I will have to

-turn you out, you know."

-

-"What we 'ave we'll pay for," said Mrs Gosling with dignity.

-

-The young woman smiled. "Oh, I dare say!" she said; "pay us with

-those pretty little yellow counters that aren't the least good to

-anyone. You wait here half a jiff. I'll find Aunt May."

-

-She ran up the path and entered the house. A moment later they heard

-her calling "Aunt May! Auntie--Aun-tee!" somewhere out at the back.

-

-"Let's 'ope 'er Aunt May'll 'ave more common sense," remarked Mrs

-Gosling.

-

-Blanche turned on her almost fiercely. "For goodness sake, mother,"

-she said, "do try and get it out of your head, if you can, that we can

-buy things with money. Can't you see that everything's different? Can't

-you see that money's no good, that you can't eat it, or wear it, or

-light a fire with it, like that other woman said? Can't you understand,

-or won't you?"

-

-Mrs Gosling gaped in amazement. It was incredible that the mind of

-Blanche should also have been distorted by this terrible heresy. She

-turned in sympathy to Millie, who had taken her mother's seat on the

-pole of the trolly, but Millie frowned and said:

-

-"B.'s right. You can't buy things with money; not here, anyway. What'd

-they do with money if they got it?"

-

-Mrs Gosling looked at the trees, at the cows lying at the edge of

-the wood, at the sunlit fields beyond the house, but she saw nothing

-which suggested an immediate use for gold coin.

-

-"Lemme sit down, my dear," she said. "What with the 'eat and all this

-walkin'----Oh! what wouldn't I give for a cup o' tea!"

-

-Millie got up sulkily and leaned against the wall. "I suppose they'll

-let us stop here to-night, B.?" she asked.

-

-"If we don't make fools of ourselves," replied Blanche, spitefully.

-

-Mrs Gosling drooped. No inspiration had come to her as it had come to

-her daughter. The older woman had become too specialized. She swayed

-her head, searching--like some great larva dug up from its refuse

-heap--confused and feeble in this new strange place of light and air.

-

-And as Blanche had repeated to herself "Everything's different," so

-Mrs Gosling seized a phrase and clung to it as to some explanation

-of this horrible perplexity. "I can't understand it," she said;

-"I can't understand it!"

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Aunt May appeared after a long interval--a thin, brown-faced woman of

-forty or so. She wore a very short skirt, a man's jacket and an old

-deerstalker hat, and she carried a pitchfork. She must have brought

-the pitchfork as an emblem of authority, but she did not handle it as

-the other woman had handled her broomstick. The murderous pitchfork

-appeared little more deadly in her keeping than does the mace in

-the House of Commons, but as an emblem the pitchfork was infinitely

-more effective.

-

-Aunt May's questions were pertinent and searching, and after a few

-brief explanations had been offered to her she drove off the young

-woman, her niece, whom she addressed as "Allie," to perform the many

-duties which were her share of the day's work.

-

-Allie went, laughing.

-

-"You can sleep here to-night," announced Aunt May. "We shall have

-a meal all together soon after sunset. Till then you can talk to my

-sister, who's an invalid. She's always eager for news."

-

-She took charge of them as if she were the matron of a workhouse

-receiving new inmates.

-

-"You'd better bring your truck into the garden," she said, "or Alice

-will be turning everything over. Inquisitive brute!" she added,

-snapping her fingers at the cow, who had returned, and stood within

-a few feet of them, eyeing the Goslings with a slow, dull wonder--a

-mournfully sleepy beast whose furiously wakeful tail seemed anxious

-to rouse its owner out of her torpor.

-

-The invalid sister sat by the window of a small room that faced

-west and overlooked the luxuriance of what was still recognizably

-a flower-garden.

-

-"My sister, Mrs Pollard," said Aunt May sharply, and then addressing

-the woman who sat huddled in shawls by the window, she added: "Three

-more strays, Fanny--from London, Allie tells me." She went out quickly,

-closing the door with a vigour which indicated little tolerance for

-invalid nerves.

-

-Mrs Pollard stretched out a delicate white hand. "Please come and sit

-near me," she said, "and tell me about London. It is so long since

-I have had any news from there. Perhaps you might be able----" she

-broke off, and looked at the three strangers with a certain pathetic

-eagerness.

-

-"I'll take me bonnet off, ma'am, if you'll excuse me," remarked Mrs

-Gosling. She felt at home once more within the delightful shelter of

-a house, although slightly overawed by the aspect of the room and

-its occupant. About both there was an air of that class dignity to

-which Mrs Gosling knew she could never attain. "I don't know when

-I've felt the 'eat as I 'ave to-day," she remarked politely.

-

-"Has it been hot?" asked Mrs Pollard. "To me the days all seem so much

-alike. I want you to tell me, were there any young men in London when

-you left? You haven't seen any young man who at all resembles this

-photograph, have you?"

-

-Mrs Gosling stared at the silver-framed photograph which Mrs Pollard

-took from the table at her side, stared and shook her head.

-

-"We haven't seen a single man of any kind for two months," said

-Blanche, "not a single one. Have we, Millie?"

-

-Millie, sitting rather stiffly on her chair, shook her head. "It's

-terrible," she said. "I'm sure I don't know where they can have all

-gone to."

-

-Mrs Pollard did not reply for a moment. She looked steadfastly out

-of the window, and tears, which she made no attempt to restrain,

-chased each other in little jerks down her smooth pale cheeks.

-

-Mrs Gosling pinched her mouth into an expression of suffering sympathy,

-and shook her head at her daughters to enforce silence. Was she not,

-also, a widow?

-

-After a short pause, Mrs Pollard fumbled in her lap and discovered

-a black-bordered pocket-handkerchief--a reminiscence, doubtless, of

-some earlier bereavement. Her expression had been in no way distorted

-as she wept, and after the tears had been wiped away no trace of them

-disfigured her delicate face. Her voice was still calm and sweet as

-she said:

-

-"I am very foolish to go on hoping. I loved too much, and this trial

-has been sent to teach me that all love but One is vain, that I must

-not set my heart upon things of the earth. And yet I go on hoping

-that my poor boy was not cut off in Sin."

-

-"Dear, dear!" murmured Mrs Gosling. "You musn't take it to 'eart too

-much, ma'am. Boys will be a little wild and no doubt our 'eavenly

-Father will make excuses."

-

-Mrs Pollard shook her head. "If it had only been a little wildness,"

-she said, "I should have hope. He is, indeed, just and merciful, slow

-to anger and of great kindness, but my poor Alfred became tainted

-with the terrible doctrines of Rome. It has been the greatest grief

-of my life, and I have known much pain...." And again the tears slowly

-welled up and fell silently down that smooth, unchanging face.

-

-Mrs Gosling sniffed sympathetically. The two girls glanced at one

-another with slightly raised eyebrows and Blanche almost invisibly

-shrugged her shoulders.

-

-The warm evening light threw the waxen-faced, white-shawled figure

-of the woman in the window into high relief. Her look of ecstatic

-resignation was that of some wonderful mediæval saint returned from

-the age of vision and miracle to a recently purified earth in which

-the old ideas of saintship had again become possible. Her influence

-was upon the room in which she sat. The sounds of the world outside,

-the evening chorus of wild life, the familiar noise of the farm,

-seemed to blend into a remote music of prayer--"Kyrie Eleison! Christe

-Eleison!" Within was a great stillness, as of a thin and bloodless

-purity; the long continuance of a single thought found some echo in

-every material object. While the silence lasted everything in that

-room was responsive to this single keynote of anæmic virtue.

-

-Mrs Gosling tried desperately to weep without noise, and even the

-two girls, falling under the spell, ceased to glance covertly at one

-another with that hint of criticism, but sat subdued and weakened as

-if some element of life had been taken from them.

-

-The lips of the woman in the window moved noiselessly; her hands were

-clasped in her lap. She was praying.

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-Firm and somewhat clumsy steps were heard in the passage, the door

-was pushed roughly open, banging back against the black oak chair

-which was set behind it, and Aunt May entered carrying a large tray.

-

-"Here's your dinner, Fanny," she said. "We've done earlier to-night,

-in spite of interruptions." She bustled over to the little table in the

-window, pushed back the Bible and photograph with the edge of the tray

-until she could release one hand, and then, having driven the tray into

-a position of safety, moved Bible and photograph to the centre table.

-

-There was something protestingly vigorous about her movements, as

-though she endeavoured to combat by noise and energy the impoverished

-vitality of that emasculate room.

-

-"Now, you three!" she went on. "You had better come out into the

-kitchen and take your things off and wash."

-

-As the Goslings rose, Mrs Pollard turned to them and stretched

-out to each in turn her delicate white hand. "There is only one

-Comforter." she said. "Put your trust in Him."

-

-Mrs Gosling gulped, and Blanche and Millie looked as they used to

-look when they attended the Bible-classes held by the vicar's wife.

-

-Blanche gave a shiver of relief as they came out into the passage. Her

-mind was suddenly filled by the astounding thought that everything

-was not different....

-

-Supper was laid on the kitchen table--cold chicken, potatoes and

-cabbage, stewed plums and cream, and warm, new milk in a jug; no bread,

-no salt, and no pepper.

-

-As the three Goslings washed at the scullery sink they chattered

-freely. They felt pleasure at release from some cold, draining

-influence; they felt as if they had come out of church after some long,

-dull service, into the air and sunlight.

-

-"I'm sure she's a very 'oly lady," was Mrs Gosling's final summary.

-

-Blanche shivered again. "Oh! freezing!" was her enigmatic reply.

-

-Millie said it gave her "the creeps."

-

-They were a party of seven at supper--the meal was referred to as

-"supper," although to Mrs Pollard it had been dignified by the name of

-"dinner"--including two young women whom the Goslings had not hitherto

-seen; strong, brown-faced girls, who spoke with a country accent. They

-had something still of the manner of servants, but they were treated

-as equals both by Allie and Aunt May.

-

-There was little conversation during the meal, however, for all of

-them were too intent on the business in hand. To the Goslings that

-meal was, indeed, a banquet.

-

-When they had all finished, Aunt May rose at once. "Thank Heaven

-for daylight," she remarked; "but we must set our brains to work to

-invent some light for the winter. We haven't a candle or a drop of

-oil left," she went on, addressing the Goslings, "and for the past

-five weeks we have had to bustle to get everything done before sunset,

-I can tell you. Last night we couldn't wash up after supper."

-

-"We know," replied Blanche.

-

-Aunt May nodded. "We all know," she said. "Now, you three girls,

-get busy!" And Allie and the two brown-faced young women rose a

-little wearily.

-

-"I'm getting an old woman," remarked Aunt May, "and I'm allowed certain

-privileges, chief of them that I don't work after supper. She paused

-and looked keenly at the three Goslings. "Which of you three is in

-command?" she asked.

-

-"Well, it seems as if my eldest, Blanche, that is, 'as sort o' taken

-the lead the past few days," began Mrs Gosling.

-

-"Ah! I thought so," said Aunt May. "Well, now, Blanche, you'd better

-come out into the garden and have a talk with me, and we'll decide

-what you had better do. If your mother and sister would like to go

-to bed, Allie will show them where they can sleep."

-

-She moved away in the direction of the garden and Blanche followed her.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIV

-

-XIV--AUNT MAY

-

-

-The sun had set, but as yet the daylight was scarcely faded. Under

-the trees the fowls muttered in subdued cluckings, and occasionally

-one of them would flutter up into the lower branches with a squawk of

-effort and then settle herself with a great fluttering and swelling

-of feathers, and all the suggestion of a fussy matron preparing for

-the night--preparing only, for these early roosters sat open-eyed

-and watchful, as if they knew that there was no chance of sleep for

-them until every member of that careless crowd below had found its

-appointed place in the dormitory.

-

-"We put 'em inside in the winter," remarked Aunt May, as she and

-Blanche paused, "but they prefer the trees. We haven't any foxes here,

-but I've noticed that the wild things seem to be coming back."

-

-Blanche nodded. She was thinking how much there was to learn concerning

-those matters which appertained to the production of food.

-

-"They're rather a poor lot," Aunt May continued, "but they have to

-forage for themselves, except for the few bits of vegetable and such

-things we can spare them. We've no corn or flour or meal of any kind

-for ourselves yet. But a farmer's wife about a mile from here has got

-a few acres of wheat and barley coming on, and we shall help her to

-harvest and take our share later. We shall be rich then," she added,

-with a smile.

-

-"I'm town-bred, you know," said Blanche. "We've got an awful lot to

-learn, Millie and me."

-

-"You'll learn quickly enough," was the answer. "You'll have to."

-

-"I suppose," returned Blanche.

-

-At the end of the orchard through which they had been passing they came

-to a knoll, crowned by a great elm. Round the trunk of the elm a rough

-seat had been fixed, and here Aunt May sat down with a sigh of relief.

-

-"It's a blessed thing to earn your own bread day by day," she

-said. "It's a beautiful thing to live near the earth and feel

-physically tired at night. It's delightful to be primitive and

-agricultural, and I love it. But I have a civilized vice, Blanche. I

-have a store of cigarettes I stole from a shop in Harrow, and every

-night when it's fine I come out here after supper and smoke three;

-and when it's wet I smoke 'em in my own bedroom, and--I dream. But

-to-night I'm going to talk to you, because you want help."

-

-She produced a cigarette case and matches from a side pocket of

-her jacket, lit a cigarette, inhaled the smoke with a long gasp of

-intensest enjoyment, and then said: "Men weren't fools, my dear;

-they had pockets in their coats."

-

-"Yes?" said Blanche. She felt puzzled and a little awkward. She knew

-that this woman was a friend, but the girl's town-bred, objective

-mind was critical and embarrassed.

-

-"Do you smoke?" asked Aunt May. "I can spare you a cigarette, though

-I know the time must come when there won't be any more. Still, it's

-a long way off yet. Bless the clever man who invented air-tight tins!"

-

-"No, I don't smoke, thanks," replied Blanche, conventionally; and,

-try as she would, she could not keep some hint of stiffness out of

-her voice. Modern manners take a long time to influence suburban

-homes of the Wisteria Grove type.

-

-"Ah! well, you miss a lot!" said Aunt May; "but you're better without

-it, especially now, when tobacco isn't easy to get, and will soon

-be impossible."

-

-"But do you think," asked Blanche, drawing her eyebrows together,

-"that this sort of thing is going on always?"

-

-"I dare say. Don't ask me, my dear; the problem's beyond me. What

-we poor women have got to do is to keep ourselves alive in the

-meantime. And that's what we've come out here to talk about. What

-about your mother and you two girls? Where are you going? And what

-are you proposing to do?"

-

-"I don't know," said Blanche. "I--I've been trying to think."

-

-"Good!" remarked Aunt May. "I believe you'll do. I'm doubtful about

-your sister."

-

-"We'll have to work on a farm, I suppose."

-

-"It's the only way to live."

-

-"Only where?"

-

-"That's what I've been trying to worry out," said Aunt May. "We do

-get news here, of a sort. Our girls work in Mrs Jordan's fields, and

-meet girls and women who come from Pinner, and the Pinner people hear

-news from Northwood, and the Northwood people from somewhere else;

-and so we get into touch with half a county. But, coming to your

-affairs; you see, we here are just the innermost circle. Most of

-the women who came from London missed this place and passed us by,

-thanks be!... Now, that poor unfortunate Miss Grant, down the road,

-had to defend herself with weapons. Fortunately she's strong."

-

-"Is Miss Grant the awful woman with the broomstick?" asked Blanche.

-

-"She's not really awful, my dear," said Aunt May, smiling; "she's

-a very good sort. A little rough in her manners, perhaps, and quite

-mad about the uselessness of the creatures we used to know as men,

-but a fine, generous, unselfish woman, if she does boast of her three

-murders. Did she tell you that, by the way?"

-

-Blanche nodded.

-

-"She would, of course; and I believe it's true; but her theory was

-to defend her own people. She said they'd all have died if she

-hadn't. I'm not sure about the ethic, but I know dear old Sally

-Grant meant well. However, I'm wandering--I often do when I talk

-like this. The point was that just this little circle here, close

-to London, is very thickly populated, and there's precious little

-food ready to be got any way; but you'll have to pass through the

-country beyond Pinner before you'll find a place where they'll give

-you work and keep you. There's a surplus in the next ring, I gather,

-too much labour and too little to grow. You'll have to push out into

-the Chilterns, out to Amersham at the nearest. It's all on the main

-road, of course, which is bad in a general way, because that's the

-road they all took. But I think if you'll cut across towards Wycombe

-you might, perhaps, find a place of some sort, though whether they'll

-feed your mother free gratis I can't say. Women are of all sorts, but

-this plague hasn't made 'em more friendly to one another, or perhaps

-it is we notice it more, and the worst of the lot are the farmers'

-wives and daughters who've got the land. They get turned out, though,

-sometimes. We hear about it. The London women have made raids; only,

-you see, the poor dears don't know what to do with the land when they

-get it, so they have to keep the few who do know to teach 'em--when

-they're sensible enough--the raiders, I mean. They aren't always."

-

-"It'll be an adventure," remarked Blanche.

-

-Aunt May threw away the very short end of her second cigarette and

-lighted her third. "Adventure will do you good," she said.

-

-It was nearly dark under the elm. The things of the night were coming

-out. Occasionally a cockchafer would go humming past them, the bats

-were flitting swiftly and silently about the orchard, and presently

-an owl swept by in one great stride of soundless flight.

-

-"How they are all coming back!" murmured Aunt May. "All the wild

-things. I never saw an owl here before this year."

-

-"I should be frightened if you weren't here," said Blanche.

-

-"Nothing to be frightened of, yet."

-

-"Yet?"

-

-"In a few years' time, perhaps. I don't know. We killed a wild cat

-who came after the chickens a few days ago. The cats have gone back

-already, and the dogs aren't so respectful as they used to be. The

-dogs'll interbreed, I suppose, and evolve a common form--strike some

-kind of average in a beast which will be somewhere near the ancestral

-type, smaller, probably, I don't know. It's a wonderful world, and

-very interesting. I could almost wish man wouldn't return for twenty

-years or so--just to see how much of his handiwork Nature could undo

-in the interval. I often think about it out here in the evenings."

-

-"I wish I knew more about it," said Blanche timidly. "Are there any

-books, do you know, that----"

-

-"You won't want books, my dear. Keep your eyes open and think."

-

-They lapsed into silence again. The third cigarette was finished,

-but Aunt May gave no indication of a desire to get back to the house,

-and Blanche's mind was so excited with all the new ideas which were

-pouring in upon her that she had forgotten her tiredness.

-

-"It's awfully interesting," she said at last. "It's all so

-different. Mother and Millie hate it, and they'd like all the old

-things back; but I don't think I would."

-

-"You're all right. You'll do," replied her companion. "You're one of

-the new sort, though you might never have found it out if it hadn't

-been for the plague. Now, your sister will do one of two things,

-in my opinion; either she'll stop in some place where there's a

-man--there's one at Wycombe, by the way--and have children, or she'll

-turn religious."

-

-Blanche was about to ask a question, but Aunt May stopped her. "Never

-mind about the man, my dear," she said. "You'll learn quickly

-enough. It's like Heaven now, you see--no marrying or giving in

-marriage. With one man to every thousand women or so, what can you

-expect? It's no good kicking against it. It's got to be. That's

-where Fanny----" She broke off suddenly, with a little snort of

-impatience. "I think to-night's an exception," she went on. "I like

-talking to you, and one simply can't talk to Allie yet, so just

-to-night I'll have one more." She took out her cigarette case with

-a touch of impatience.

-

-It was dark under the elm now, and she had to hold up her cigarette

-case close to her face in order to see the contents. "Two more,"

-she announced. "It's a festival, and for once I can speak my mind

-to some one. An imprudence, perhaps, like this habit of smoking,

-but I shall probably never see you again, and I'm sure you won't tell."

-

-"Oh, no!" interposed Blanche eagerly.

-

-"You're not tired? You don't want to go to bed?"

-

-"Not a bit. I love being out here."

-

-"I can't see you, but I know you're speaking the truth," said Aunt May,

-after a pause. "In the darkness and silence of the night I will make a

-confession. I look weather-worn and fifty, I know, but I feel absurdly

-romantic, only there's no man in this case. I used to write novels,

-my dear--an absurd thing for any spinster to do, but they paid, and

-I've got the itch for self-expression. That's the one outlet I miss

-in this new world of ours. Sally Grant and I can't agree, and, in any

-case, she wants to do all the talking. And sometimes I'm idiot enough

-to go on writing little bits even now when I have become a capable,

-practical woman with at least four lives dependent upon me. Well,

-it shows, anyhow, that we writing women weren't all fools...." She

-hung on that for a moment or two, and then continued.

-

-"Are you religious?"

-

-"I don't know--I suppose so. We always went to Church at home," said

-Blanche. "I thought every one was, almost. Not quite like Mrs Pollard,

-of course."

-

-"Oh, well!" said Aunt May. "There's no harm and a lot of good in

-being religious, if you go about it in the right way. I don't want to

-change your opinions, my dear. It's just a question to me of the right

-way. And I can't see that Fanny's way is right. Here we are, and we've

-got to make the best of it; and to my mind that means facing life,

-and not shutting yourself into one room with a Bible and spending half

-your time on your knees. Fanny never was good for much. She brought

-up Alfred--my nephew, you know--with only one idea, and she stuffed

-him so full of holiness that the English Church couldn't hold him,

-and he had to work some of it off by going over to Rome. He thought

-he'd have better chances of saintship there. He was a poor, pale thing,

-anyway. Of course, that was anathema to Fanny. She might have forgiven

-him for committing a murder, but to become a Roman Catholic----! Oh,

-Lord! She's been praying for him ever since. And, my dear, what

-difference can it make? Alfred's apostasy, I mean. Do you think it

-matters what particular form of worship or pettifogging details of

-belief you adopt? Why can't the Churches take each other for granted,

-and be generous enough to suppose that all roads lead to Heaven, which

-is, according to all accounts, a much better place than Rome? But,

-oh! above all, if you have a religion, do be practical! Come out and

-do your work, instead of sighing and psalm-singing, and wearying dumb

-Heaven with fulsome praise and lamentations of your unworthiness,

-as if you were trying to propitiate a rich customer!

-

-"There, my dear, I won't say any more. My last cigarette's done,

-and wasted, because I was too excited to enjoy it. I know I've been

-disloyal; but it's my temperament. I could slap Fanny sometimes. And

-she shan't have Allie.... It's the night that has affected

-me. To-morrow I shall be just as practical as ever, and you'll forget

-that you've seen this side of me. Come along. We must go to bed."

-

-"This is the greatest night of my life," thought Blanche as they

-walked back in silence to the house.

-

-Even when she was in bed, she did not go to sleep at once. She lay

-and listened to the heavy breathing of her mother and Millie, and

-she wondered. Everything, indeed, was different, but everybody was

-just the same, only, in some curious way, individualities seemed

-more pronounced.

-

-Could it be that everybody was more natural, that there was less

-restraint?

-

-Blanche was not introspective. She did not test the theory on

-herself. She thought of the women she had met that day, and of her

-mother and Millie.

-

-She fell asleep, determined to be more like Aunt May.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XV--FROM SUDBURY TO WYCOMBE

-

-

-1

-

-Allie knocked on the Goslings' door at sunrise the next morning, and

-Blanche, who had come to bed two hours after her mother and sister,

-was the only one to respond. She woke with the feeling that she

-had something important to do, and that the affair was in some way

-pleasant and inspiring.

-

-Millie was not easily roused. She had slept heavily, and did not

-approve the suggestion that she should get up and dress herself.

-

-"All right, B., all right!" she mumbled, and cuddled down under the

-bedclothes like a dormouse into its straw.

-

-"Oh! do get up!" urged Blanche, impatiently, and at last resorted to

-physical force.

-

-"What is the matter?" snapped Millie, struggling to maintain her hold

-of the blankets. "Why can't you leave me alone?"

-

-"Because it's time to get up, lazy!" said Blanche, continuing the

-struggle.

-

-"Well, I said I'd get up in a minute."

-

-"Well, get up then."

-

-"In a minute."

-

-"No--now!"

-

-"Oh, bother!" said Millie.

-

-Blanche succeeded at last in obtaining possession of the blankets.

-

-"You'll wake mother!" was Millie's last, desperate shaft.

-

-"I'm going to try," replied Blanche.

-

-Millie sat up in the bed and wondered vaguely where she was. These

-scenes had often been enacted at Wisteria Grove, and her mind had

-gone back to those delightful days of peace and security. When full

-consciousness returned to her, she was half inclined to cry, and more

-than half inclined to go to sleep again.

-

-Mrs Gosling was quite as difficult.

-

-"What's the time?" was her first question.

-

-"I don't know," said Blanche.

-

-"I'm sure it's not seven," murmured Mrs Gosling.

-

-Millie, still sitting on the bed, wondered whether Blanche would

-let her get to the blankets which were tumbled on the floor a few

-feet away.

-

-"No, you don't!" exclaimed Blanche, anticipating the attempt.

-

-Finally she lost her temper and shook her mother vigorously.

-

-At that, Mrs Gosling sat up suddenly and stared at her. "What in

-'eaven's name's wrong, gel?" she asked. Her instinct told her with

-absolute certainty that it was still the middle of the night by

-Wisteria Grove standards.

-

-"Oh! my goodness! I'm going to have my hands full with you two!" broke

-out Blanche impatiently. Her imagination pictured for her in that

-instant how great the trouble would be. She would never be able to

-wake them up....

-

-They took the road before eight o'clock. Aunt May was generous in

-the matter of eggs and fruit, and she left her many urgent duties to

-point the way for the inexperienced explorers.

-

-"Get right out as far as you can," was her parting word of advice.

-

-They did not see Mrs Pollard again. She was still in bed when they

-set out.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-Despite the promise of another cloudless day, none of the three

-travellers set out in high spirits. To all of them, even to Blanche,

-it seemed a return to weariness and pain to start out once more

-pushing that abominable truck. That truck represented all their

-troubles. It had become associated with all the discomforts they

-had endured since they left the Putney house. It indicated the

-paucity of their possessions, and yet it was intolerably heavy to

-push. After their brief return to the comfort and stability of a home

-and natural food, this adventuring out into the inhospitable country

-appeared more hopeless than ever. If they could have gone without the

-truck, they might, at least, have avoided that feeling of horrible

-certainty. They might have cheated themselves into the belief that

-they would return. The truck was the brand of their vagabondage.

-

-Mrs Gosling did not spare her lamentations concerning the hopelessness

-of their endeavour, and gave it as her opinion that they had been

-most heartlessly treated by Aunt May.

-

-"Turning out a woman of my age into the roads," she grumbled. "She

-might 'ave kept us a day or two, I should 'ave thought. It ain't as

-if we were beggars. We could 'ave paid for what we 'ad."

-

-She had, indeed, made the suggestion and been repulsed. Aunt May had

-firmly put the offer on one side without explanation. She understood

-that explanations would be wasted on Mrs Gosling.

-

-Millie was inclined to agree with her mother.

-

-Blanche, at the handle, did not interrupt the statement of their

-grievances. She was occupied with the problem of the future, trying

-to think out some plan in her own confused inconsecutive way.

-

-Their progress was tediously slow. Against the combined brake of

-the truck and Mrs Gosling, they did not average two miles an hour;

-and even before they came to Pinner it was becoming obvious to the

-two girls that they might as well let their mother ride on the trolly

-as allow her to lean her weight upon it as she walked.

-

-They took the road through Wealdstone to avoid the hill and found that

-they were still in the track of one wing of the foraging army which

-had preceded them. That first rush of emigrants had ravaged the stores

-and houses as locusts will ravage a stretch of country. The suburb

-of regular villas and prim shops had been completely looted. Doors

-stood open and windows were smashed; the spread of ugly houses lay

-among the fields like an unwholesome eruption, awaiting the healing

-process of Nature. Wealdstone also was deserted by humanity. The

-flood had swept on towards the open country.

-

-But as they approached Pinner the signs of devastation and desertion

-began to give way. Here and there women could be seen working in

-the fields; one or two children scuttled away before the approach

-of the Goslings and hid in the hedges, children who had evidently

-grown furtive and suspicious, intimidated by the experiences of the

-past two months; and when the outlying houses were reached--detached

-suburban villas, once occupied by relatively wealthy middle-class

-employers--it was evident that efforts were being made to restore

-the wreckage of kitchen gardens.

-

-The Goslings had reached the point at which the wave had broken

-after its great initial energy was spent. Somewhere about this

-fifteen-mile limit, varying somewhat according to local conditions,

-the real disintegration of the crowd had begun. As the numerous tokens

-of the road had shown, a great number of women and children--possibly

-one-fifth of the whole crowd--had died of starvation and disease before

-any harbour was reached. From this fifteen-mile circle outwards, an

-increasing number had been stayed in their flight by the opportunities

-of obtaining food. Work was urgently demanded for the future, but the

-determining factor was the present supply of food, and the constriction

-of immediate supply had decided the question of how great a proportion

-of the women and children should remain. Here, about Pinner, was more

-land than the limited number of workers could till, but little of it

-was arable, and this year there would be almost no harvest of grain.

-

-Vaguely, Blanche realized this. She remembered Aunt May's advice to

-keep her eyes open, and looking about her as she walked she found

-little promise of security in the grass fields and the rare signs of

-human activity.

-

-Mrs Gosling, eager to find some home at any price, expressed her usual

-optimistic opinion with regard to the value of money. She saw signs of

-life again, at last, conditions familiar to her. She thought that they

-were returning once more to some kind of recognizable civilization,

-and began, with some renewal of her old vigour, to advise that they

-should find an hotel or inn and take "a good look round" before going

-any further.

-

-Millie, heartened by her mother's belief, was of much the same opinion,

-and Blanche was summoned from the pole to listen to the proposition.

-

-She shook her head stubbornly.

-

-"I'm not going to argue it out all over again," she said. "You can

-just look round and see for yourselves that there's no food to be

-got here. We must get further out."

-

-Mrs Gosling refused to be convinced, and advanced her superior

-knowledge of the world to support her judgment of the case.

-

-"Oh! very well," said Blanche, at last. "Come on to the inn and see

-for yourselves."

-

-The inn, however, was deserted. All its available supply of food,

-solid and liquid, had long been exhausted, and the gardenless house had

-offered no particular attractions as a residence. Houses were cheap

-in that place, the whole population of Pinner, including children,

-did not exceed three hundred persons.

-

-They found a woman working in a garden near by, and she, with perhaps

-unnecessary harshness, warned them that they could not stay in the

-village. "There's not enough food for us as it is," she said, and

-made some reference to "silly Londoners."

-

-That was an expression with which the Goslings were to become very

-familiar in the near future.

-

-The appeal for pity fell on deaf ears. Mrs Gosling learned that she

-was only one of many thousands who had made the same appeal.

-

-The sun was high in the sky as they trudged out of Pinner on the

-road towards Northwood. It was then Blanche suggested that her mother

-should always ride on the trolly, except when they were facing a hill;

-and after a few weak protestations the suggestion was accepted. The

-trolly was lightened of various useless articles of furniture--a

-grudging sacrifice on the part of Mrs Gosling--and the party pushed

-on at a slightly improved pace.

-

-After her disappointment in Pinner, Mrs Gosling's interest in life

-began rapidly to decline. Seated in her truck, she fell into long

-fits of brooding on the past. She was too old and too stereotyped

-to change, the future held no hope for her, and as the meaning and

-purpose of her existence faded, the life forces within her surely and

-ever more rapidly ebbed. Reality to her became the discomfort of the

-sun's heat, the dust of the road, the creak and scream of the trolly

-wheels. She was incapable of relating herself to the great scheme of

-life, her consciousness was limited, as it had always been limited,

-to her immediate surroundings. She saw herself as a woman outrageously

-used by fate, but to fate she gave no name; the very idea, indeed,

-was too abstract to be appreciated by her. Blanche, Millie and that

-horrible truck were all that was left of her world, and in spirit

-she still moved in the beloved, familiar places of her suburban home.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-As the Goslings trudged out into the Chilterns they came into new

-conditions. Soon they found over-crowding in place of desolation. The

-harvest was ripening and in a month's time the demand for labour

-would almost equal the supply, for the labour offered was quite

-absurdly unskilled and ten women would be required to perform the

-work of one man equipped with machines. But at the end of July the

-surplus of women, almost exclusively Londoners, had no employment

-and little food, and many were living on grass, nettles, leaves,

-any green stuff they could boil and eat, together with such scraps

-of meat and vegetables as they could steal or beg. Their experiments

-with wild green stuffs often resulted in some form of poisoning,

-and dysentery and starvation were rapidly increasing the mortality

-among them. Nevertheless, in Rickmansworth houses were still at a

-premium, and many of those who camped perforce in fields or by the

-roadside were too enfeebled by town-life to stand the exposure of the

-occasional cold, wet nights. The majority of the women in this ring

-were those who had been too weak to struggle on. They represented the

-class least fitted to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The

-stronger and more capable had persisted, and left these congested

-areas behind them; and it was evident that in a very few months a

-balance between labour and supply would be struck by the relentless

-extermination of the weakest by starvation and disease.

-

-Blanche, if she was unable to grasp the problem which was being so

-inevitably solved by the forces of natural law, was at least able

-to recognize clearly enough that she and her two dependents must not

-linger in the district to which they had now come. Aunt May had warned

-her that she must push out as far as Amersham at the nearest, but

-Millie was too tired and footsore to go much further than Rickmansworth

-that night, and after a fruitless search for shelter they camped out

-half a mile from the town in the direction of Chorley Wood.

-

-They made some kind of a shield from the weather by emptying and

-tilting the trolly, and they hid their supply of food behind them

-at the lowest point of this species of lean-to roof. The two girls

-had realized that that supply would soon be raided if the fact of

-its existence were to become known. They had been the object of

-much scrutiny as they passed, and their appearance of well-being

-had prompted endless demands for food, from that pitiful crowd of

-emaciated women and children. It had been a demand quickly put on

-one side by lying. Their applicants found it only too easy to believe

-that the Goslings had no food hidden in the truck.

-

-"I hated to refuse some of 'em," Blanche said as they carefully

-hid what food was left to them, before turning in for the night,

-"but what good would our little bit have done among all that lot? It

-would have been gone in half a jiff."

-

-"Well, of course," agreed Millie.

-

-Mrs Gosling had taken little notice of the starving crowd. "We've got

-nothin' to give you," was her one form of reply. She might have been

-dealing with hawkers in Wisteria Grove.

-

-She was curiously apathetic all that afternoon and evening, and

-raised only the feeblest protestation against the necessity for

-sleeping in the open air. But she was very restless during the night,

-her limbs twitched and she moved continually, muttering and sometimes

-crying out. And as the three women were all huddled together, partly

-to make the most of their somewhat insufficient lean-to, and partly

-because they were afraid of the terrors of the open air, both Blanche

-and Millie were constantly aroused by their mother's movements. Once

-they heard her calling urgently for "George."

-

-"Mother's odd, isn't she?" whispered Blanche after one such

-disturbance. "Do you think she's going to be ill?"

-

-"Shouldn't wonder," muttered Millie. "Who wouldn't be?"

-

-In the morning Blanche was very careful with their food. For breakfast

-they ate only part of a tin of condensed beef between them--Mrs Gosling

-indeed ate hardly anything. The eggs which they had brought from

-Sudbury they reserved, chiefly because they had neither water nor fire.

-

-They drank from a stream, later, and at midday Blanche and Millie

-each ate one of the eggs raw. Mrs Gosling refused all food on this

-occasion. She had been very quiet all the morning, and had made little

-complaint when she had been forced to walk the many hills which they

-were now encountering.

-

-Blanche was uneasy and tried to induce her mother to talk. "Do you

-feel bad, mother?" she asked continually.

-

-"I wish I could get 'ome," was all the reply she received.

-

-"She'll be all right when we can get settled somewhere," grumbled

-Millie. "If such a time ever comes."

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-They came to Amersham in the afternoon. The signs of misery and

-starvation were here less marked. They were approaching the outer

-edge of this ring of compression, having passed through the node at

-Rickmansworth. The faint relief of pressure was evidenced to some

-extent in the attitude of the people they addressed. It is true that

-no immediate hope of food and employment were held out to them, but

-on the one hand Blanche's inquiries were answered with less acerbity

-and on the other they were less besieged by importunate demands for

-charity. Blanche gave an egg to one precocious girl of thirteen or

-so, who insisted on helping them to push the truck uphill, and she

-and Millie watched the deft way in which the child broke the shell

-at one end and sucked out the contents. Their own methods had been

-both unclean and wasteful.

-

-They turned off the Aylesbury Road, towards High Wycombe late in the

-afternoon and about a mile from Amersham came to a farm where they

-made their last inquiry that day.

-

-Blanche saw signs of life in the outbuildings and went to investigate,

-leaving Millie and her mother to guard the truck. She found three

-women and a girl of fourteen or so milking. For some minutes she stood

-watching them, the women, after one glance at her, proceeding with

-their work without paying her any further attention. But, at last,

-the eldest of the three rose from her stool with a sigh of relief,

-picked up her wooden bucket of milk, gave the cow a resounding slap

-on the side, and then, turning to Blanche, said, "Well, my gal,

-what's for you?"

-

-"Will you change two pints of milk for a small tin of tongue?" asked

-Blanche. It was the first time she had offered any of their precious

-tinned meats in exchange for other food, but she wanted milk for her

-mother, who had hardly eaten anything that day.

-

-The two other women and the girl looked round and regarded Blanche

-with the first signs of interest they had shown.

-

-"Tongue, eh?" said the older woman. "Where from did you get tongue,

-my gal?"

-

-"London," replied Blanche tersely.

-

-"When did you leave there?" asked the woman, and then Blanche was

-engaged in a series of searching questions respecting the country

-she had passed through.

-

-"You can have the milk if you've anything to put it in," said the

-woman at last, and Blanche went to fetch the tongue and the two

-bottles that they had had from Aunt May.

-

-The bottles had to be scalded, a precaution that had not occurred

-to Blanche, and one of the other women was sent to carry out the

-operation.

-

-"Well, your tale don't tell us much," said the woman of the farm,

-"but we always pass the news here, now. Where are you going to sleep

-to-night?"

-

-Blanche shrugged her shoulders.

-

-"You can sleep here in the outhouses, if you've a mind to," said the

-woman, "but I warn you we get a crowd. Silly Londoners like yourself

-for the most part, but we find a use for 'em somehow, though I'd give

-the lot for three labourers."

-

-She paused and twisted her mouth on one side reflectively. "Ah! well,"

-she went on with a sigh, "no use grieving over them that's gone;

-all I was goin' to say was, if you sleep here you'd better keep an

-eye on what food you've got with you. My lot'll have it before you

-can say knife, if they get half a chance."

-

-"It isn't us girls, me and my sister," explained Blanche. "It's

-my mother. She's bad, I'm afraid. If she could sleep in your

-kitchen...? She wouldn't steal anything."

-

-After a short hesitation the woman consented.

-

-Yet neither the glory of being once more within the four walls of a

-house, nor the refreshment of the milk which she drank readily enough,

-seemed appreciably to rouse Mrs Gosling's spirits.

-

-The woman of the farm, a kindly enough creature, plied the old lady

-with questions, but received few and confused answers in reply. Mrs

-Gosling seemed dazed and stupid. "A touch of the sun," the farmer's

-widow thought.

-

-"The sun's been cruel strong the past week," she said, "but she'll

-be all right in a day or two, get her to shelter."

-

-"Ah! that's the trouble," said Blanche.

-

-That night the farmer's widow said no more on that subject. She

-allowed the three Goslings to sleep in an upstair room, in which

-there was one small bed for the mother, and the two girls slept on

-the floor. Exchanging confidence for confidence, they brought their

-truck into the kitchen; and then the farmer's widow proceeded to lock

-up for the night, an elaborate business, which included the fastening

-of all ground-floor windows and shutters.

-

-"It's a thievin' crowd we've got about here," she explained, "and

-you can't blame them or anyone when there ain't enough food to go

-round. But we have to be careful for 'em. Let 'em go their own way

-and they'd eat up everything in a week and then starve. It looks

-like you're being hard on 'em, but it's for their own good. There's

-some, of course," she went on, "as you have got to get shut of. Only

-yesterday I had to send one of 'em packing. A Jew woman she was,

-called 'erself Mrs Isaacson or something. She was a caution."

-

-Blanche wondered idly if this were the same Mrs Isaacson who had

-stayed too long with Aunt May.

-

-The woman of the farm roused the Goslings at sunrise, and she, like

-Aunt May, had a brisk, practical, morning manner.

-

-She gave the travellers no more food, but when they were nearly ready

-to take the road again she gave them one valuable piece of information.

-

-"If I was you," she said, "I'd make through Wycombe straight along the

-road here, and go up over the hill to Marlow. Mind you, they won't

-let every one stop there. But you look two healthy gals enough and

-it's getting on towards harvest when there'll be work as you can do."

-

-"Marlow?" repeated Blanche, fixing the name in her memory.

-

-The farmer's widow nodded. "There's a man there," she said. "A queer

-sort, by all accounts. Not like Sam Evans, the butcher at Wycombe,

-he ain't. Seems as this Marlow chap don't have no truck with gals,

-except setting 'em to work. However, time'll show. He may change his

-mind yet."

-

-They had some difficulty with Mrs Gosling. She refused feebly to

-leave the house. "I ain't fit to go out," she complained, and when

-they insisted she asked if they were going home.

-

-"Best say 'yes,'" whispered the woman of the farm. "The sun's got to

-her head a bit. She'll be all right when you get her to Marlow."

-

-Blanche accepted the suggestion, and by this subterfuge Mrs Gosling

-was persuaded into the truck. The girl found the ruins of an umbrella,

-which they rigged up to protect her from the sun.

-

-Blanche and Millie were quite convinced now that their mother was

-suffering from a slight attack of sunstroke.

-

-Both the girls were still footsore, and one of Millie's boots had worn

-into a hole, but they had a definite objective at last, and only some

-ten or twelve miles to travel before reaching it.

-

-"We shall be there by midday," said Blanche, hopefully.

-

-Unconsciously, every one was using a new measure of time.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XVI--THE YOUNG BUTCHER OF HIGH WYCOMBE

-

-

-1

-

-Near Wycombe a woman rose from under the hedge as the Goslings

-approached, and came out into the middle of the road. She was a

-stout, florid woman, whose age might have been anything between forty

-and fifty. Her gait and the droop of her shoulders, rather than the

-flaccidity of her rather loose skin, gave her the appearance of being

-past middle age.

-

-"Goot morning," she said as the Goslings came up. "If it iss no

-inconvenience I would like to come with you." She spoke with a foreign

-accent, thickening her final consonants and giving a different value

-to some of her vowels.

-

-"Where to?" asked Blanche curtly.

-

-"Ah! that! what does it matter?" returned the woman. "I have been

-living with a farmer's wife further back along the road there. But

-she was not company for me. She was common. Now I see that you and

-your mother are not common. And I do not care to live with farmers'

-wives. But where we go? Does it matter? We all go to find work in the

-fields--aristocrat as much as peasant. But iss it not better that we

-who are not peasants should go together?"

-

-Millie giggled surreptitiously, and Mrs Gosling appeared conscious

-of the fact that some one was addressing them.

-

-"We're goin' 'ome," she remarked, and Millie gently prodded her in

-the back.

-

-"Goin' 'ome," repeated Mrs Gosling firmly.

-

-"Ach! You are lucky. There are few that have homes now," replied the

-strange woman. "I had a home, once, how long ago. Now, during two

-months, I have no home." She was evidently on the verge of tears.

-

-"Mother's got a touch of the sun," Blanche said in a low voice, "and

-we have to pretend we're going home. You needn't tell her we're not."

-

-"Have no fear," replied the stranger. "I am all that is most discreet,

-yes."

-

-Blanche hardened her heart. This woman took too much for granted. "I

-don't see it's any use your coming with us," she said.

-

-"Ach! we others, we should cling together," said the stranger, with

-a large gesture.

-

-"We're nobody," replied Blanche, curtly.

-

-"It iss well to say that. I know. There iss good reason. I, too,

-must tell the common people that I am a nobody, I call myself, even,

-Mrs Isaacson. But between us there iss no need to say what iss not

-true. I can see what you are. Although I am not English, I have lived

-many years already in England, and I can see. It iss well that we

-cling together? Yes?"

-

-"Oh!" burst out Blanche. "You're Mrs Isaacson, are you? I've heard

-of you."

-

-For one moment Mrs Isaacson's fine eyes seemed to look inwards in

-an instantaneous review of her past. "Ach! so! Then we are friends

-already," she said cautiously.

-

-"I heard of you from Aunt May," said Blanche, and the faint air of

-respect with which she pronounced the name did not escape the notice

-of the alert Jewess.

-

-"Ach! the so dear and so clever Auntie May," she said. "But she iss

-too kind, and work so hard while her sister do always nothing. See,

-I will help you to draw your poor mother who has a touch of the

-sun. You and I at the handle and your beautiful sister to push,

-while we talk a little of the clever Auntie May. Yes?"

-

-Blanche had been forewarned. She could only put one construction on

-the little she had heard of Mrs Isaacson. But the Jewess's manner no

-less than her conversation was subtly flattering. Moreover, she had

-made no appeal for help; finally there was a certain urgency about

-her, a force of will which Blanche found it difficult to resist. And

-as the girl still hesitated Mrs Isaacson bravely seized her side of

-the trolly handle and the procession moved on.

-

-The Goslings found a use for her when they came to the drop of Amersham

-Hill, going down into High Wycombe. Blanche proposed that Mrs Gosling

-should walk down, but the old lady did not seem to understand her. She

-looked perplexed and kept saying, "I don't remember this road. Are

-you sure we're goin' right, Blanche?"

-

-"Ah! she must not walk in this heat," put in Mrs Isaacson. "We three

-can manage very well." And, indeed, although she manifestly suffered

-greatly from the exertion, the Jewess was of very great assistance

-in retarding the speed of the trolly as they made the perilous descent.

-

-After that there could be no question of calmly telling her to go

-her own way.

-

-By the time they had crossed the almost deserted town--at that hour

-nearly all the women were either in their houses or working in gardens

-and fields--and had found their way to the Marlow road, Mrs Isaacson

-had quite become one of the party, and by no means the least energetic.

-

-"We'll have something to eat and some milk, when we get through the

-town," said Blanche as they faced the long hill up to Handy Cross.

-

-"Presently, presently," replied the heaving Mrs Isaacson, as though

-food were of little importance to her, but accepting the admission

-that she had earned the right to share equally with the others.

-

-Their first burst of energy after they had faced the ascent brought

-them to the gates of Wycombe Abbey, and there they decided to rest

-and lunch, blissfully ignorant of the long climb which lay before them.

-

-"It will be nice and quiet here in the shade," suggested Mrs Isaacson.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The old conventions would not have suffered them to sit and eat thus

-under the walls, at the very gates of Wycombe Abbey. Their clothes and

-their boots were wearing badly, and Mrs Isaacson, at least, was not

-too clean. It was noticeable, however, that, despite the dryness of

-the weather, little dust clung to them. The surface of the roads had

-not been pounded and crushed into powder during the past six weeks

-by the constant passage of wheeled traffic, and even in the tracks

-frequented by farm carts the roads were stained with green. Indeed,

-everything was greener than in the old days, everything was more

-vigorous. Whether because the year had been favourable, or because

-it was relieved from the burden of choking dust which it had had to

-endure in other years from May onwards, the vegetation in hedges and

-by the wayside appeared to grow more strongly and with a greater

-self-assertion. And by contrast with this vigour and cleanness of

-plant life, the four women in their tumbled clothes and untidy hats,

-feeble and unsightly remnants of forgotten fashion, were as much out

-of place as if they had been set down in ancient Greece. The dowdy

-foolishness of their apparel marked them out from every other living

-thing about them, they were intruders, despoilers of beauty.

-

-Some dim consciousness of this came to Blanche.

-

-They had spoken little as they ate--Mrs Gosling would touch nothing

-but milk, and Mrs Isaacson strove desperately and with some success

-to control the greed that showed in the concentrated eagerness of her

-eyes and the grasping crook of her fingers--and when they had finished,

-lingering in the relief of the shade, they were still silent. It seemed

-as if the first word spoken must necessarily hasten the continuation

-of their journey.

-

-"Oh! bother this old hat," said Blanche at last. "I'm going to take

-mine off," and she drew out the solitary pin which remained to her

-and cast the hat into the ditch.

-

-"That won't do it any good," remarked Millie but she, too, took off

-her hat with a sigh of relief.

-

-"I'm going to chuck hats," said Blanche. "What's the good of 'em?"

-

-Mrs Isaacson looked doubtful. "They are a protection from the sun,"

-she said.

-

-"Allie never wore a hat, and she didn't come to any harm," returned

-Blanche.

-

-"No?" said Mrs Isaacson, and looked thoughtful.

-

-Millie was running her fingers through the masses of her red-brown

-hair, loosening it and lifting it from her head.

-

-"It is a relief," she remarked. "My head gets so hot."

-

-"Ah!" said Mrs Isaacson, "and what beautiful hair! It does not seem

-right to hide it. I haf a comb in my bag. It is almost all I haf

-left. Let me now comb your beautiful hair for you."

-

-"Oh! don't you bother," said Millie sheepishly, but she allowed

-herself to be persuaded. "Don't lose the hair-pins," she warned her

-newly-found lady's maid.

-

-"It seems so funny out here in the open road," giggled Millie.

-

-Mrs Isaacson's praise was fulsome.

-

-Blanche watched without comment. Mrs Gosling was plunged in

-meditation. She was involved in an immense problem relating to the

-housekeeping at Wisteria Grove. She was debating whether the lace

-curtains at the front windows could be washed at home when they

-went back.

-

-Suddenly the attention of the three younger women was caught by

-unnatural sounds that came from the further side of the wall against

-which they were leaning--sounds of voices, laughing and singing,

-the crunch of wheels and the stamping of horses.

-

-The two girls jumped to their feet. Mrs Isaacson rose more

-deliberately, with a grunt of expostulation. Mrs Gosling was in a

-world far removed and continued to debate her problem.

-

-Millie's hands were fumbling at her hair, and Blanche was first at

-the gate.

-

-"Oh! my!" she exclaimed. "Why, whatever...."

-

-"Goody!" squealed Millie, still struggling with her loose mane.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-The centre and object of the curious crowd which moved slowly down

-the drive was a landau and pair. The horses were decorated as if

-for a May-day fête, grotesquely, foolishly decorated with roses,

-syringa and buttercups made into shapeless bunches and tied to the

-harness. Three or four women walked at the horses' heads, leading

-them with absurdly beflowered ropes.

-

-Round the landau a dozen girls and young women were dancing,

-chattering, singing, laughing; constantly turning to the occupant

-of the carriage, for whose benefit the whole performance was being

-conducted. Some of them had their necks and breasts bare, and all

-appeared to be frankly shameless. They twisted and danced with

-clumsy eagerness, threw themselves about, screamed and shrieked,

-unaware of any observer but the one whose notice they were seeking

-to attract. They were graceless, civilized savages; Bacchantes who

-had never known the beauty of unconscious abandonment. There was the

-ugliness of conscious purpose in their every attitude, and no trace

-of the freedom that comes from careless rapture.

-

-In the carriage a man and a woman were sitting side by side. The

-man was young, with strong claims to physical beauty--tall,

-broad-shouldered, swarthy, with boldly modelled features and heavily

-lidded eyes. But his skin was coarse; the bulk of his body was too

-gross for clean, muscular strength; his curly, well-oiled hair was

-thinning at the temples; his loose mouth leered and gaped. He was

-dressed in a suit of broadly-patterned tweed, his great red fingers

-were covered with rings, he wore a heavy gold bangle on each thick,

-round wrist, and a sweet, frail rose was thrust into his black and

-greasy hair.

-

-The woman beside him was the typical courtesan of the ages, low-browed

-and full-lipped. Her eyes were eloquent with the subtleties of love,

-with invitation, retreat, fear and desire. Had she been dressed

-becomingly she would have been beautiful; but she was English and

-modern, and her great meaningless hat and senseless garments were

-of the fashion that had been in vogue just before the plague. This

-reigning sultana and her lover were more incongruous in that setting

-than the two dishevelled, travel-worn girls, who retreated timidly

-to let the landau pass out between the great iron gates.

-

-The Bacchantes eyed the Goslings with obvious disfavour, but the

-beauty in the landau seemed unaware of their presence until her lord's

-attention was attracted by the sight of Millie's hair--it was all

-down again, rippling and spreading to her waist.

-

-The young butcher had been lolling back in a corner of his carriage,

-magnificently indolent, sure of worship; but his satiety was pierced by

-the sight of that flaming mane. He sat up and looked at Millie with

-the experienced eyes which had served him so well in his judgment

-of cattle.

-

-"'Ere, 'alf a jiff," he commanded the nymphs at his horses' bridles,

-and the carriage was stopped.

-

-Millie, covered with shame, shrank back, and cowered behind Blanche,

-who threw up her chin and met the butcher's eyes with all the contempt

-of which she was capable--little enough, perhaps, for she, too, was

-weak with unreasoning terror. Behind their backs the Jewess grimaced

-her scorn of them.

-

-"You needn't be afraid of me--I ain't goin' to 'urt yer----" began

-the butcher, but his lady interrupted him.

-

-Her fine eyes grew bright with anger. "If you stop here, I shall get

-out," she said, and her inflexion was not that of the people.

-

-The butcher visibly hesitated. It may be that this chain had held

-him too long and was beginning to gall him, but he looked at her

-and wavered.

-

-"No 'arm in stoppin'," he muttered. "Pass the news an' that."

-

-"Are you going on?" demanded the beauty fiercely.

-

-"All right, all right," he returned sullenly. "You needen' get so

-blasted 'uffy about it, old gal. Oh, gow on, you!" he added to the

-nymphs. "Wot the 'ell are yer starin' at?"

-

-As the landau moved on, he looked back once at Millie.

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-"What a brute," said Blanche when the procession had passed on down

-the hill towards Wycombe.

-

-"How he stared at my hair," said Millie, with a giggle. "I did try

-to get it up, but it's that stubborn with the heat or something."

-

-"Lucky for us he had that creature with him," commented Blanche.

-

-Millie assented without fervour. She was bold enough now the danger

-had passed.

-

-Mrs Isaacson looked from one to the other and attempted no criticism

-of the adventure.

-

-"You must let me do up your beautiful hair," she said to the simpering

-Millie.

-

-Millie was grateful. "It is kind of you, Mrs Isaacson, I'm sure,"

-she said. "My hair is a trouble. I sometimes think I'll cut it all

-off and be done with it...."

-

-She appeared excited and chatted incessantly while the hair-dressing

-continued, and Blanche restored the remains of their meal to the

-trolly.

-

-With some difficulty they succeeded in getting Mrs Gosling back

-into her carriage. She had taken no notice of the procession, but

-as they were starting again she awoke from her abstraction to ask:

-"When d'you expect we'll be 'ome, Blanche? I've been thinkin' about

-them curtains in the drawin'-room...."

-

-"We'll be home in an hour or two, now," Blanche said, reassuringly. She

-did not know what a struggle awaited them before they should top the

-hill at Handy Cross.

-

-Mrs Isaacson had forsaken her place at the pole. "I shall be able to

-push more strongly behind," she had said, but despite the theoretical

-gain in mechanical advantage obtained by the new arrangement, the hill

-seemed never-ending. They had to rest continually, and always they

-looked with increasing irritation at the quiet figure in the trolly,

-chief cause of their distress.

-

-"I believe she could walk all right," Millie broke out at last.

-

-"If it was for a little way, it would help," commented Mrs Isaacson.

-

-But when Blanche put the proposition to her mother, Mrs Gosling

-seemed unable to comprehend it, and pity influenced them to renew

-the struggle.

-

-So they toiled on with growing impatience until they reached level

-ground again; and presently, looking down over the long slope of the

-valley, saw, two miles and a half away, the spire of Marlow Church.

-

-They rested under a hedge for a time, and when they started again

-Millie followed her sister's example and discarded her hat. Blanche,

-with a certain courage of opinion, had left hers under the walls of

-Wycombe Abbey, but Millie's hat found a place in the trolly.

-

-The ease of the long descent permitted a renewal of conversation,

-and Mrs Isaacson and Millie talked in undertones as they made their

-way down towards Marlow. Blanche took little notice of them; she

-was struggling perplexedly with the problems of life. Mrs Gosling's

-presence was negligible.

-

-"That was a very handsome fellow in the carriage," remarked Mrs

-Isaacson suddenly, "I think you do well not to go near that place

-again." Her fine eyes fixedly regarded the broad, rusty back of Mrs

-Gosling and the broken ribs of her umbrella.

-

-Millie simpered. "Oh! I should be safe enough. His wife'd see to that."

-

-"She was not his wife," returned Mrs Isaacson. "Men would not marry

-now that they are so few."

-

-"Well! there's a thing to say!" exclaimed Millie on a note of

-expostulation, interested nevertheless.

-

-"It iss true," continued Mrs Isaacson. "I haf heard of this handsome

-young fellow. He iss a butcher, and he goes every day to kill the

-sheep and cows, because the women do not like that work. And he iss

-very strong, and clever also. He teach a few of the women how to cut

-up the sheep and the cows. And he iss much admired, it iss of course,

-by all the young women; but he does not marry because he is one man

-among so many women, and it would not be right that he should love

-only one, for so there would be so few children and the world would

-die. Yes! But he has for a time one who iss favourite, for another time

-another favourite. And that iss why I warn you not to return. Because

-I see that he admire your so beautiful hair. And I see that if you

-had not been so modest and so good, and hide behind your sister, he

-would have come down from his carriage and put you up there beside

-him. And he would have said to that bold ugly woman. 'Go, I tire of

-you, I will haf beside me this one who iss young and beautiful and

-has hair of gold.' It iss not safe for you, there."

-

-"Oh! I say," commented Millie.

-

-"It iss true," nodded Mrs Isaacson, with intensest conviction.

-

-"Oh! well, thank goodness, I'm not one of that sort," said Millie,

-warm in the knowledge of her virtue.

-

-"Truly not," assented Mrs Isaacson. "You must not be displeased that

-I warn you. It iss not your goodness that I doubt. It iss that this

-man iss so powerful. He iss able to do what he wishes. He iss a king."

-

-"Goody!" was the mark of surprise with which Millie punctuated this

-remarkable piece of information, and for several yards they trudged

-on in silence.

-

-But Millie soon revived this fascinating subject by saying

-thoughtfully, "Well, you don't catch me over there again."

-

-"Truly not. It iss not wise," agreed Mrs Isaacson, and proceeded to

-enlarge upon Millie's dangerous beauty.

-

-It was a topic entirely new to Millie. She simpered and giggled,

-disclaimed her attractions, protested that Mrs Isaacson was "getting

-at" her, and became so absorbed in the fascination of her disavowal

-that she forgot her weariness, her tender feet--naked to the road

-in two places--and all her discouragements. She walked with a more

-conscious air, straightening her back and lifting her head. The blood

-moved more freely in her veins, and she presently became so vivacious

-in her replies that Blanche was aroused to a sense of something

-unfamiliar. She checked the trolly and looked back at her sister,

-past the quiet brooding figure of Mrs Gosling.

-

-"What is it, Mill?" she asked.

-

-"Oh! nothing!" replied Millie. "We were just talking."

-

-"Seem to be enjoying yourselves," said Blanche.

-

-"We were saying that we shall soon now arrive at some place where we

-can rest. Yes?" put in Mrs Isaacson, and thus established a ground

-of confidence between herself and Millie.

-

-"P'raps. I dunno!" returned Blanche. She sighed and looked round her.

-

-In the fields between them and Marlow they could see here and there

-little figures stooping and straightening.

-

-"Ooh!" exclaimed Millie, suddenly.

-

-"What?" asked Blanche.

-

-"There's another man," said Millie, pointing. "We'd better scoot!"

-

-But they made no attempt to put such an impossible plan into

-action. The man had evidently seen them. He was coming towards

-them across one of the fields, shouting to attract their

-attention. "Hi! wait a minute!" they thought he was saying.

-

-"Mill!" exclaimed Blanche, with extraordinary emphasis.

-

-"What?" asked Millie, nervously. She was flushed and trembling.

-

-"Do you see who it is?"

-

-"It isn't the one out of the carriage...." hesitated Millie.

-

-"No! Silly. It's that young fellow who used to live with us, our Mr

-Fastidious. What was his name? Thrale! You remember."

-

-"Goody!" said Millie. She was conscious of a quite inexplicable

-feeling of disappointment.

-

-"He iss a friend? Yes?" asked Mrs Isaacson.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-BOOK III

-

-WOMANKIND IN THE MAKING

-

-

-XVII--LONDON TO MARLOW

-

-

-1

-

-The history of mankind is the history of human law. The larger

-ordinances of the universe are commonly referred to some superior

-lawgiver, under such names as God and physico-chemical action; names

-which appear mutually subversive only to the bigot, whether theologian

-or biologist. These larger ordinances sometimes appear inflexible,

-as in the domain of physics and chemistry, sometimes empirical as in

-the development of species, but we may believe that if they change at

-all, the period of change is so great as to be outside any possibility

-of observation by a few thousand generations of mankind.

-

-Human law, on the other hand, is tentative, without sound precedent

-and in its very nature mutable. In our miserably limited record of

-history, that paltry ten thousand years which is but a single tick of

-the cosmic watch, we have been unable to formulate any overruling law

-to which other laws are subject. Climate, race and condition impose

-certain limitations, and within that enceinte civilizations have

-developed a system of rules, increasing always in complexity, and have

-then failed to maintain their place in the competitive struggle. It

-has been rashly suggested that the overriding law of laws is that

-rigidity is fatal to the nation. An analogy has been found in the

-growth of the child. Here and there some bold spirit has ventured

-the daring hypothesis that if a young child be confined within a

-perfectly fitting iron shell he will not grow. Such speculations,

-however, do not appeal to mankind as a whole. Perhaps the truth of

-the matter is that nothing appals us so much as the idea that man

-is capable of growth. Is it not inconceivable that any race of men

-could be wiser, more perfect than ourselves?

-

-Nevertheless, out of all vague speculation one deliciously certain

-axiom presents itself, namely that mankind cannot live without law

-of some kind. The most primitive savage has his ordinances. The

-least primary concussion of individuals develops a rule of practice,

-whether it takes such diverse forms as "hit first," or "present the

-other cheek"; although the latter rule has not yet been developed

-beyond the stage of theory.

-

-In the unprecedented year of the new plague, the old rules were thrown

-into the melting pot, but within three months humanity was evolving

-precedents for a new statute book. The concussions of these three

-months were fierce and destructive. Women, in the face of death, killed

-and stole in the old primitive ways, unhampered now by the necessity

-to kill and steal according to the tedious rules of twentieth-century

-civilization, rules that women had never been foolish enough to

-reverence in the letter. All those complex and incomprehensible laws

-had been made by men for men, and after the plague there was none

-to administer them, for no women and few men had ever had the least

-idea what the law was. Even the lawgivers themselves had had to wait

-for the pronouncement of some prejudiced or unprejudiced judge. Women

-had long known what our Bumbles can only learn by bitter experience,

-inspired to vision in some moment of fury or desolation.

-

-But within three months of the first great exodus of women from the

-town, one dominant law was being brought to birth. It was not written

-on tables of stone, nor incorporated in any swollen, dyspeptic book of

-statutes; it was not formulated by logic, nor was it the outcome of

-serious thought by any individual or by a solemn committee. The law

-rose into recognition because it was a necessity for the life of the

-majority, and although that majority was not compact, had no common

-deliberate purpose, and had never formulated their demand in precise

-language, the new law came into being before harvest and was accepted

-by all but a small resentful minority of aristocrats and landowners,

-as a supreme ordinance, indisputably just.

-

-This law was that every woman had a right to her share in the bounty

-of Nature, and the corollary was that she earned her right by labour.

-

-In those days the justice of the principle was perfectly obvious;

-so obvious, indeed, that the law came to birth without the obstetric

-skill of any parliament whatever.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-It is now impossible to say why such different types of male humanity

-as Jasper Thrale, George Gosling or the Bacchus of Wycombe Abbey

-escaped the plague. The bacillus (surely a strangely individual

-type, it must have been) was never isolated, nor the pathology of

-the disease investigated. The germ was some new unprecedented growth

-which ran through a fierce cycle of development within a few months,

-changed its nature as it swarmed into every corner of the earth,

-and finally expired more quickly than it had come into being.

-

-If the male survivors in Europe and the East had been of one type,

-some theory might be formulated to account for their immunity; but

-so far as science can pronounce an opinion, the living male residue

-can only be explained by the doctrine of chances. A few escaped,

-by accident. In the British Isles there may have been 1,500 men who

-thus survived. In the whole of Europe, besides, there were less than

-a thousand. It seems probable that even before Scotland was attacked

-the climax had been reached; by the time the plague reached England

-the first faint evidences of a decline in virulence may be marked....

-

-From the first, Jasper Thrale ventured his life without an

-afterthought. He was fearless by nature. He did not lack those powers

-of imagination which are commonly supposed to add so greatly to the

-terror of death, he simply lacked the feeling of fear. In all his life

-he had never experienced that sickness of apprehension which dissolves

-our fibre into a quivering jelly--as though the spirit had already

-withdrawn from the trembling inertia of the flesh. Perhaps Thrale's

-spirit was too dominant for such retreat, was more completely master

-of its material than is the spirit of the common man. For the spirit

-cannot know bodily fear, it is the apprehensive flesh that wilts and

-curdles at the approach of danger. And it is worthy of notice that

-in the old days, up to the early twentieth century, these rare cases

-of fearlessness in individuals were more often found among women than

-among men.

-

-Thrale, with his perfectly careless courage, found plenty of work for

-himself in London during May and early June. He acted as a scavenger,

-and still went far afield with his burial cart long after every trace

-of living male humanity had disappeared from the streets of London.

-

-Then one day, at the end of June, he realized that his task was

-futile, and it came to him that there was work awaiting him of more

-importance than this purification of streets which might never again

-echo to the traffic of humanity.

-

-So he chose the best bicycle he could find in Holborn Viaduct,

-stripped a relay of four tyres from other machines, and with these

-and a reserve of food made into a somewhat cumbrous parcel, he set

-out to explore the new world.

-

-He took the Bath Road, intending to make exploration of the fertile

-West Country. He had Cornish blood in his veins, and his ultimate

-goal was the county which had almost escaped urbanization. As he then

-visualized the problem, it appeared that life would offer greater

-possibilities in such places.

-

-But before he reached Colnbrook, he had recognized that work was

-required of him nearer home. The exodus was then in progress. He came

-through armies of helpless women and children flying from starvation;

-women who had no object in view save that of escape to the country;

-"Silly Londoners" with no knowledge of how food was to be obtained

-when their goal was reached.

-

-He did not stay there, however. He was beginning to see the outline of

-his plan, and at the same time the limitation of his own powers. He

-saw that enough food could not be raised near London to support the

-multitude, that the death of the many was demanded by the needs of

-the few if any were to survive, and that communities must be formed

-with the common purpose of tilling the land and excluding those who

-could not earn their right to support. In such a catastrophe as this,

-charity became a crime.

-

-He intended even then to push on beyond Reading, but in Maidenhead

-he met a woman who influenced him to a nearer goal.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-She stepped into the road and held up her hand.

-

-Thrale stopped; he thought she was about to make the familiar demand

-either for food or a direction.

-

-"Well?" he said curtly.

-

-"Where are you going?" she asked.

-

-He shrugged his shoulders. "To find room," he said.

-

-"There is room for you near here," said the woman, "if you'll work."

-

-"At what?" he asked.

-

-"Machinery, harvesting machinery, agricultural machinery of all sorts."

-

-"Where?" asked Thrale.

-

-She dropped her voice and looked about her. "Marlow," she

-said. "It--it's an eddy. Off the main roads and by the river. There

-are less than a thousand women there at present, and we are keeping

-the others out; at least until after harvest. There is plenty of land

-about, and we're keeping ourselves at present. Only we do want a man

-for the machines. Will you come and help us?"

-

-"I'll come and see what I can do," said Thrale "I won't promise

-to stay."

-

-"Aren't there any other men, there?" he added after a moment's

-hesitation.

-

-"One at Wycombe," said the women. "He's a butcher, but----"

-

-"I understand," said Thrale.

-

-"And meanwhile you might help me," said the woman. "I come over here

-with a horse and cart to raid the seedsmen's shops. If we leave them

-the women would eat all the beans and peas and things, you know;

-enough to feed us for the winter gone in a week, and no one any the

-better. Isn't it awful how careless we are?"

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-She was a fair, clear-eyed girl, with the figure and complexion of

-one who had devoted considerable attention to outdoor sports. She

-was wearing a man's Norfolk jacket (men's clothing was so plentiful),

-and a skirt that barely reached her knees, and did not entirely hide

-cloth knickerbockers which might also have been adapted from a man's

-garment. Below the knickerbockers she displayed thick stockings and

-sandals. Her splendid fair hair furnished sufficient protection for

-her head, and she had dressed a pillow of it into the nape of her

-neck as a shield for the sun.

-

-Thrale looked at her with a frank curiosity as they made their way up

-the town to a seedsman's shop. She had left the horse and cart there,

-she explained, while she explored other streets of the town.

-

-"Who are you?" he asked.

-

-"Eileen, of Marlow," she said. "There doesn't seem to be another

-Eileen there, so one name's enough."

-

-"Is that how your community feel about it?" he asked.

-

-She smiled. "We're beginning," she said.

-

-He pondered that for a time, and then asked, "Who were you?"

-

-"Does it matter?" was the answer.

-

-"Not in the least," said Thrale. "Never did much so far as I was

-concerned, but I have a memory of having seen your photographs in

-the illustrated papers. I was wondering whether you had been actress,

-peeress, scandal; or perhaps all three."

-

-She laughed. "I'm the eldest daughter of the late Duke of Hertford,"

-she said, "the ci-devant Lady Eileen Ferrar, citizen."

-

-"Oh, was that it?" replied Thrale carelessly. "Where's this shop

-of yours?"

-

-The loot was heavier than Eileen had anticipated. The shop had been

-ransacked, but they found an untouched store, containing such valuables

-as beans, potatoes and a few small sacks of turnip seed at the bottom

-of a yard. When these had been placed in the cart, they decided that

-the load was sufficient for one horse.

-

-They took the longer road to Marlow, through Bourne End, to avoid

-the hill. Eileen walked at the horse's head, with Thrale beside her

-wheeling his bicycle, and during those two hours he learnt much of

-the little community which he proposed to serve for a time.

-

-It seemed that in Marlow--and the same thing must have happened in

-a hundred other small towns throughout the country--a few women had

-taken control of the community. These women were of all classes and

-the committee included an Earl's widow, a national schoolmistress,

-a small green-grocer, and an unmarried woman of property living

-half a mile out of the town. These women had worked together in an

-eminently practical way; at first to relieve distress, and then to

-plan the future. They had wasted little time in discussions among

-themselves--none of them had the parliamentary sense of the uses

-of debate. When they had disagreed, they had had plenty of scope to

-carry out varying methods within their own spheres of influence.

-

-Their first and most difficult task had been to teach the members

-of their community to work for the common good, and that task was

-by no means perfected as yet. Co-operation was agreeable enough to

-those who had nothing to lose, but the women in temporary possession

-of the sources of food supply were not so easily convinced. In many

-instances the committee's arguments had been suddenly clenched by an

-exposition of force majeure, and property owners had discovered to

-their amazement that they had no remedy.

-

-But the head and leader of Marlow was a farmer's daughter of

-nineteen, a certain Carrie Oliver. Her father had had a small farm

-in the Chilterns not far from Fingest. He had been a lazy, drunken

-creature, and from the time Carrie had left the national school she

-had practically carried on the work of the farm single handed. She

-liked the work; the interest of it absorbed her.

-

-The Marlow schoolmistress had remembered her when the committee had

-first faced the daunting task of providing for the future. They had

-been more or less capable of organizing a majority of the women,

-but no member of the committee knew the secrets of agriculture and

-stock-breeding, and in all Marlow and the neighbourhood no woman

-had been found who was capable of instructing them in all that was

-necessary.

-

-A deputation of three had been sent to Fingest, and had discovered

-Miss Oliver in the midst of plenty, cultivating her farm in comfort

-now that she had been relieved of her father's unwelcome presence.

-

-She had been covered with confusion when requested to leave her retreat

-and take command of a town and the surrounding twenty thousand acres

-or so within reach of the new community.

-

-"Oh! I can't," she had said, blushing and ducking her head. "It's

-easy enough; I'll tell you if there's anything you want to know."

-

-The deputation had then put the case very clearly before her, pointing

-out that in Miss Oliver's hands lay the future of a thousand lives.

-

-"Oh, dear. I dunno. What can I do?" Carrie had said, and when the

-deputation had urged that she should return with them and take charge

-forthwith, she had replied that that was quite impossible, that there

-were the cows to milk, the calves, pigs and chickens to feed, and

-goodness knew how many other necessary things to be done before sunset.

-

-The deputation had said that cows, calves, horses, sheep, pigs and

-chickens might and should be transferred forthwith to the neighbourhood

-of Marlow.

-

-It had taken three days to convince her, Eileen said, and added,

-"But she's splendid, now. It's wonderful what a lot she knows; and

-she rides about on a horse everywhere and sees to everything. The

-difficulty is to stop her getting down and doing the work herself."

-

-Thrale understood that, exceptional male as he was, his position in

-Marlow would be subordinate to that of Miss Oliver.

-

-"Does she understand agricultural machinery?" he asked.

-

-"Oh, yes," returned Eileen. "But she hasn't time, you see, to attend

-to all that, and it's so jolly difficult to learn. I've been doing a

-bit. I'm better at it than most of 'em. But when I saw you it struck

-me how ripping it would be if you'd come and take over that side. Men

-are so jolly good at machinery. We shouldn't miss them much if it

-weren't for that."

-

-

-

-

-5

-

-After a marked preliminary hesitation the committee appointed

-Jasper Thrale chief mechanic of Marlow. The hesitation was

-understandable. Their only experience of the ways of men in this

-altered civilization had been drawn from observations of Mr Evans

-at Wycombe. His manner of life appeared representative of what they

-might expect. Nevertheless they did not openly condemn him, although

-he proved an immediate source of trouble, even to these organizers

-in Marlow. The youth of the place was apt to wander over the hill

-in the evenings; "just for fun," they said. They went in twos and

-threes, and occasionally one of them stayed behind. These evening

-walks interfered with work. "Later on I shouldn't mind so much,"

-Lady Durham had said, commenting on the loss of a young and active

-worker, "but there is so much to do just now." Her comment showed

-that even then the situation was being accepted, and that many women

-were prepared to adapt their old opinions to new conditions. It also

-showed why the committee hesitated to accept Thrale's services.

-

-Thrale understood their difficulty, and went straight to the point.

-

-"You are afraid that the young women will be wasting time, running

-after me," he said. "Set your minds at rest. That won't last. And if

-you give me pupils for my machinery I should prefer women over forty

-in any case. I believe I shall find them more capable."

-

-He was right in one way. When the excitement of his coming had

-subsided, he was not the cause of much wasted time. He adopted a

-manner with the younger women which did not encourage advances. He

-was, in fact, quite brutally frank. When the young women devised all

-kinds of impossible excuses to linger in his vicinity he sent them

-away with hot indignant faces. Among those who sought their sterile

-amusements in Wycombe it became the fashion openly to express hatred

-and contempt for "that engine fellow." It was agreed that he "wasn't a

-proper man." Another section, however, talked scandal, and hinted that

-assistant-engineer Eileen was the cause of Thrale's pretended misogyny.

-

-The committee found their work more complicated in some respects

-after Thrale's coming.

-

-Thrale, himself, was supremely indifferent to any scandal or expression

-of hatred. He had his hands full, his hours of work were only limited

-by daylight, and six hours sleep was all he asked for or desired. After

-a very brief introduction to the intricacies of reaper and rake at

-the hands of Miss Oliver--her father had never been able to afford

-a binder, but the days of corn-harvest were still far ahead--he set

-himself to learn the mysteries of all the agricultural machinery in the

-neighbourhood; traction engines, steam ploughs and thrashing machines,

-and to pass on the knowledge he gained to his pupils. He found them

-stupid at first, but they were patient and willing for the most part.

-

-Then, handicapped by the lack of coal, he rode over to Bourne End and

-discovered two locomotives. One of them was standing on the line a

-mile out of the station with a full complement of coaches attached,

-the other was an unencumbered goods engine in a siding. He chose the

-latter for his first experiment, and succeeded in driving it back

-to Marlow. It groaned and screamed in a way that indicated serious

-organic trouble, but after he had overhauled it, it proved capable

-of taking him to Maidenhead, where he found a sound engine in a shed.

-

-After that he devoted three days to getting a clear line to Paddington,

-a tedious process which involved endless descents from the cab,

-and mountings into signal boxes, experiments with levers and the

-occasional necessity for pushing whole trains out of his path into

-some siding. But at last he returned with magnificent loot of coal

-from the almost untouched London yards beyond Ealing.

-

-London was still the storehouse of certain valuable commodities.

-

-His passage through the surrounding country was hailed with cries of

-amazement and jubilant acclamation. The first railway surely excited

-less astonishment than did Thrale on his solitary engine. Doubtless

-the unfortunate women who saw him pass believed that the gods of

-machinery had returned once more to bring relief from all the burden

-of misery and unfamiliar work.

-

-And once the points were set and the way open to London by rail he

-could go and return with tools and many other necessaries that had

-offered no temptation to the starving multitude who had fled from

-the town.

-

-Marlow was greatly blessed among the communities in those days.

-

-

-

-

-6

-

-The harvest was early that year, and Miss Oliver decided to cut

-certain fields of barley at the end of July.

-

-Thrale's energies were then diverted to the superintendence of the

-reapers and binders, and he rode from field to field, overlooking

-the work of his pupils or spending furious hours in struggle with

-some refractory mechanism.

-

-One Saturday, an hour or two after midday, he was returning from some

-such struggle, when he saw a strange procession coming down that long

-hill from Handy Cross, which some pious women regarded as the road

-to hell.

-

-Casual immigration had almost ceased by that time, but the sight

-indicated the necessity for immediate action. The immigration laws

-of Marlow, though not coded as yet, were strict; and only bona fide

-workers were admitted, and even those were critically examined.

-

-Thrale shouted to attract attention and the procession stopped.

-

-When he came through the gate on to the road, he was accosted by name.

-

-"Oh, Mr Thrale, fancy finding you," said the young woman at the pole

-of the truck.

-

-The meeting of Livingstone and Stanley was far less amazing.

-

-An old woman perched on the truck and partly sheltered by the remains

-of an umbrella, regarded his appearance with some show of displeasure.

-

-"By rights 'e should 'ave written to me in the first place," she

-muttered.

-

-"Mother's got a touch of the sun," explained Blanche hurriedly.

-

-Thrale had not yet spoken. He was considering the problem of whether

-he owed any duty to these wanderers, which could override his duty

-to Marlow.

-

-"Where have you come from?" he asked.

-

-Blanche and Millie explained volubly, by turns and together.

-

-"You see, we don't let anyone stay here," said Thrale.

-

-Blanche's eyebrows went up and she waved her too exuberant sister

-aside. "We're willing to work," she said.

-

-"And your mother?" queried Thrale. "And this other woman?"

-

-"Ach! I work too," put in Mrs Isaacson. "I have learnt all that is

-necessary for the farm. I milk and feed chickens and everything."

-

-"You'll have to come before the committee," said Thrale.

-

-"Anywhere out of the sun," replied Blanche, "and somewhere where we

-can put mother. She's very bad, I'm afraid."

-

-"You can stay to-night, anyway," returned Thrale.

-

-Millie made a face at him behind his back, and whispered to Mrs

-Isaacson, who pursed her mouth.

-

-"Well, you do seem more civilized here," remarked Blanche as the

-procession restarted towards Marlow. Thrale, with something of the

-air of a policeman, was walking by the side of the pole.

-

-"You've come at a good time," was his only comment.

-

-Millie had another shock before they reached the town. She saw what

-she thought was a second man, on horseback this time, coming towards

-them. Marlow, she thought, was evidently a place to live in. But

-the figure was only that of Miss Oliver in corduroy trousers,

-riding astride.

-

-

-

-

-7

-

-Fate had dropped the Goslings into Buckinghamshire to fulfil their

-destiny. They had been led to Marlow by a casual direction, here

-and there, after the first propulsion of Blanche's instinct had sent

-them into the country beyond Harrow. And fate, doubtless with some

-incomprehensible purpose of its own in view, had quietly decided

-that in Marlow they were to stay. They had been dropped at a season

-when, for the first time in the long three months' history of the

-community, there was a shortage of labour; and Blanche and Millie,

-browned by exposure and generally improved by their first six days of

-healthy life, were quite acceptable additions to the population at that

-moment. As for Mrs Isaacson, a lady of sufficient initiative and force

-of character to require no kindly interposition of Providence on her

-behalf, she arranged her own future as an expert of farm management,

-and incidentally as the Goslings' housemate. Mrs Isaacson was a burr

-that would stick anywhere for a time. She displayed an unexpected

-and highly specialized knowledge of the management of farms, when

-confronted with the expert Miss Oliver who was far too embarrassed

-to press her questions home. The casual remarks of Aunt May and her

-helpers had been retained in Mrs Isaacson's brilliant memory and she

-displayed her knowledge to the best possible advantage, filling the

-gaps with irrelevant volubility, gesture and histrionic struggles

-with the English language, which proved suddenly inadequate to the

-expression of these recondities that the German would have so aptly

-expressed. It was inferred that in her native Bavaria, Mrs Isaacson

-had farmed in the grand style.

-

-Only Mrs Gosling, useless and ineligible, remained for consideration,

-and she for once took a firm line of her own, and defied the committee,

-Marlow generally, and the negligible remainder of the cosmos, to

-alter her determination.

-

-The home at which they had finally arrived did not suit her. The

-tiny cottage of three rooms in the little street that runs down to

-the town landing stage had no lace curtains in the front window,

-no suites of furniture, no hall to save the discreet caller from

-stepping through the front door straight into the single living-room,

-no accumulation of dustable ornaments, not even a strip of carpet

-or linoleum to cover the nakedness of a bricked floor. It was not

-civilized; it was not decent according to the refined standards of

-Wisteria Grove; it was an impossible place for any respectable woman

-to live in, and Mrs Gosling, with unexpected force of character,

-chose the obvious alternative. She did not, however, make any

-announcement of her determination; she was wrapped in a speculative

-depression that found no relief in words. She had been so ordered,

-hoisted, dragged and bumped through the detested country during the

-past six days that all show of authority had been taken from her. It

-may be that deep in her own mind she cherished a sullen and enduring

-resentment against her daughters, and had vowed to take the last and

-unanswerable revenge of which humanity is capable. But outwardly she

-preserved that air of incomprehension which had marked her during the

-last stages of their journey, and committed herself to no statement

-of the enormous plan which must have been forming in her mind.

-

-When they took her into the small, brick-paved room and deposited

-her temporarily on a wooden-seated chair, while they unpacked what

-remained to them in the accursed trolly, Mrs Gosling took one brief

-but comprehensive survey of her naked surroundings.

-

-"She's a bit touched, isn't she?" whispered Millie to her sister. "Do

-you think she understands where we are or what we're doing?"

-

-Blanche shook her head. "I expect she'll be all right in a day or two,"

-she ventured, "It's the sun."

-

-The two girls, stirred to a new outlook on life by the extraordinary

-experiences of the past months, were on the threshold of diverse

-adventures. After the toil and anxiety of their tramp through

-inhospitable country, and the hazard of the open air, this reception

-into a community and settlement into a permanent shelter afforded a

-relief which was too unexpected to be qualified as yet by criticism,

-or any comparison with past glories. They were young and plastic,

-and to each of them the future seemed to hold some promise; to them

-the silence and immobility of their mother could only be evidence of

-impaired faculties.

-

-"We must get her to bed," said Blanche.

-

-Even when Mrs Gosling asked with perfect relevance, "Are we going to

-stop 'ere, Blanche?" they humoured her with evasive replies. "Well,

-for a day or two, perhaps," and "Look here, don't you worry about

-that. We're going to put you to bed."

-

-Her head dropped again and she fell back into her moody

-silence. Doubtless she meditated on the many wrongs her daughters

-had done her, and wondered why she should have been brought out to

-die in this wilderness?

-

-During the nine days that elapsed before her plan matured, she made

-no further comment on her surroundings. She lay in the upstairs room,

-sleeping little, with no desire ever again to face the terror of a

-world which demanded a new mode of thought. Unconsciously she had

-adopted Blanche's phrase, "Everything's different," but to her the

-message was one of doom, she could not live in a different world.

-

-And Blanche on her side was puzzled at her mother's apathy and said,

-"I can't understand it." Yet both the changed conditions and Mrs

-Gosling's unchangeable habit were fundamental things.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XVIII--MODES OF EXPRESSION

-

-

-1

-

-In Marlow that year harvesting and thrashing were carried on

-simultaneously. August was very dry, and the greater part of the corn

-was never stacked at all. Thrale took his engines into the fields,

-and the shocks were loaded on to carts and fed directly into the

-thrasher. This method entailed some disadvantages, chief among them

-the retarding of the actual harvest-work, but on the whole it probably

-economized labour. The scheme would doubtless have been impracticable

-in the days of small private ownership, but it worked well in this

-instance, favoured as it was by the drought.

-

-The saving of labour during those six weeks of furious toil was a

-matter of the first importance. The work, indeed, was too heavy for

-many of the women who were unable to stand the physical strain of

-hoisting sheaves from the waggons into the thrasher; and the sacks

-of grain proved so unmanageable that Thrale had to devise a makeshift

-hoist for loading them into the carts. In Marlow, at least, machinery

-was still triumphant, and the committee sighed their relief in the

-sentence: "I don't know what we should have done without Jasper

-Thrale." Nevertheless it is quite certain that they would have

-done without him if it had not been for that fortuitous meeting

-in Maidenhead.

-

-For Thrale there was no rest possible, even when the last field had

-been cleared and the last clumsily-built stack of straw or unthrashed

-corn erected. Besides the necessity for some form of thatching--or,

-failing efficiency in that direction, for completing the thrashing

-operations--he had to turn his attention to the immensely difficult

-problem of turning the grain into flour. He knew vaguely that the

-grain ought to be cleaned and conditioned before grinding, and that

-the actual separation of the constituents of the berry was a matter

-of importance; but he had no practical knowledge of the various

-operations, and in this matter Miss Oliver was quite unable to

-help him.

-

-The mill beside the lock presented itself as an intricate and

-enormously detailed problem which must be solved by a concentrated

-effort of induction. The only person who appeared to be of real

-assistance to him was Eileen, and she was apt to tire and fall into

-despair when the detail of involved and often concealed machinery

-baffled them for hour after hour. Nevertheless Thrale solved this

-problem also. His first concern was for a head of water. The weirs

-had not been touched since the beginning of May, and the river was

-very low, but by mid-September there was enough water to work for

-a few hours every day, and, despite endless mistakes and setbacks,

-the mill was turning out a sufficient supply of fairly respectable

-looking flour.

-

-Thrale had that wonderful masculine faculty for thus applying himself

-to a mechanical problem, and, like his predecessors in mechanical

-invention, it was the problem and not any promise of future reward

-which interested him. He became absorbed for the time in that problem

-of grinding corn, grudging the hours he was obliged to devote to

-other activities; and when he felt the throb of life running through

-the mill, saw the women he had taught attending each to their own

-appointed task in the economy, and felt the touch of the fine, smooth

-flour between his fingers, he needed no thanks from the committee

-nor promise of independence to reward him for his labour. The sight

-of this thing he had created was sufficient recompense. He loved this

-beautiful efficient toy that changed wheat into flour, and oats into

-meal, it was his to father and to fight for; the perfect child of

-his ingenuity and toil.

-

-But if Thrale's time was tremendously occupied the women found that

-they had more opportunities for leisure after harvest. They were still

-employed in field and garden, and there was still much to be done,

-but their hours were shorter and the work seemed light in contrast

-with the heroic labour that had been necessary at the harvest.

-

-And with this first coming of comparative ease, this first

-opportunity for reflection since the terrible plague had thrust upon

-them the necessity for fierce and unremitting effort to produce the

-essentials of life, women began to express themselves in their various

-ways. Aspirations and emotions that had been crushed by the fatigues

-of physical labour began to revive; personal inclinations, jealousies

-and resentments became manifest in the detail of intercourse; old

-prejudices, religious and social, once more assumed an aspect of

-importance in the interactions of individuals. There was a faint stir

-in the community, the first sign of a trouble which was steadily to

-increase as winter laid its bond upon the storehouses of earth.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The two Goslings, working only six or seven hours a day in the

-mill during the latter part of September, found plenty of time for

-chatter and speculation. They, and more especially Blanche, had shown

-themselves capable workers in the harvest field, but when hands had

-been required in his mill Thrale had chosen the Goslings and those whom

-he considered less adapted to field work; and among them Mrs Isaacson

-and a member of the committee, Miss Jenkyn, the schoolmistress. (The

-education problem was in abeyance for the time being. The children had

-run wild for three months, and been subject only to the discipline

-of their mothers, but it was understood that the children were to

-receive attention when the winter brought opportunity.)

-

-Blanche soon distinguished herself as a picked worker in this

-sphere. Her intelligence was of a somewhat more masculine quality

-in some respects than that of the average woman; she was slower,

-more detailed, more logical in her methods. And now that those male

-characteristics--so often deplored by women in the days before the

-plague--had been withdrawn from the flux of life, it had become

-evident that they had been an essential part of the whole, if only

-a part. Masculine characteristics were at a premium in Marlow that

-autumn, and as a natural consequence were being rated at an ever higher

-value. There was a tendency among some women to become more male....

-

-Millie, however, was not among the progressives. She was not gifted

-intellectually; she had no swift intuitions--such as Eileen had--which

-enabled her to comprehend her work; she was naturally indolent,

-and all her emotions came to her through sensation.

-

-When she was put to work in the mill she was secretly elated. She

-did not believe the stories told of Jasper Thrale's insensibility to

-feminine attractions, and if she believed those other stories which

-coupled his name with that of Lady Eileen, Millie was of opinion that

-such an entanglement was not necessarily final.

-

-The first week of her association with Thrale in the work of the mill

-brought disillusionment.

-

-When she looked up from her work and caught his eye as he passed her,

-he either stared coldly or stopped and asked in a businesslike, austere

-voice whether she wanted assistance. Such intimations should have been

-sufficient, but in this thing, at least, Millie was persistent. She

-thought that he did not understand--men were proverbially stupid in

-these matters. So she waited for an opportunity and within ten days

-one was presented.

-

-A hesitation in some of the machinery she overlooked provided

-sufficient excuse for calling the head engineer. She looked down

-the step-ladder which communicated with the floor below and called

-hesitatingly, "Oh! Please. Mr Thrale."

-

-He heard her and looked up, "What is it?" he asked.

-

-"Something gone wrong," she said blushing, "I've stopped the rollers,

-but I don't know----"

-

-"All right, I'm coming," he returned, and presently joined her.

-

-"By the way," he remarked as he began to examine the machine,

-"we don't say 'Mister,' now. I thought you'd learnt that."

-

-Millie simpered. "It sounds so familiar not to," she said.

-

-"Rubbish," grunted Thrale. "You can call me 'engineer,' I suppose?"

-

-"Now, look here," he continued, "do you see this hopper in here?"

-

-She came close to him and peered into the machine.

-

-"It gets clogged, do you see?" said Thrale, "and when the meal stutters

-you've just got to put your hand in and clear it. Understand?"

-

-"I think so," hesitated Millie. She was leaning against him and her

-body was trembling with delicious excitement. Almost unconsciously

-she pressed a little closer.

-

-Thrale suddenly drew back. "Do you understand?" he said harshly.

-

-"Ye-yes, I think so," returned Millie; and she straightened herself,

-looked up at him for a moment and then dropped her eyes, blushing.

-

-"Very well," said Thrale, "and here's another piece of advice for

-you. If you want to stay in the mill keep your attention on your

-work. You're a man now, for all intents and purposes; you've got a

-man's work to do, and you must keep your mind on it. If there's any

-foolishness you go out into the turnip fields. You won't have another

-warning," he concluded as he turned and left her.

-

-"Beast," muttered Millie when she was alone. She was shaken with

-furious anger. "I hate you, you silly stuck up thing," she whispered

-fiercely shaking with passion. "Oh, I wish you only knew how I hate

-you. I won't touch your beastly machines again. I'd sooner a million

-times be out in the turnip field than in the same mill with you,

-you stuck up beast. I won't work, I won't do a thing, I'll--I'll----"

-

-For a time she was hysterical.

-

-Blanche coming down from the floor above found her sister tearing at

-her hair.

-

-"Good heavens, Mill, what's up?" she asked.

-

-Millie had passed through the worst stages of her seizure by then,

-and she dropped her hands. "I dunno," she said. "It's this beastly

-mill, I suppose."

-

-"I like it," returned Blanche.

-

-"Oh, you," said Millie, full of scorn for Blanche's frigidity. "You

-ought to have been a man, you ought."

-

-"I dunno what's come to you," was Blanche's comment.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-It was maturity that had come to Millie. Her new life of air and

-physical exercise had set the blood running in her veins. In the

-Wisteria Grove days she had had an anæmic tendency; the limited

-routine of her existence and all the suppressions of her narrow life

-had retarded her development. Now she was suddenly ripe. Two months

-of sun and air had brought superabundant vitality, and the surplus

-had become the most important factor in her existence. She found no

-outlet for her new vigour in the work of the mill. Something within

-her was crying out for joy. She wanted to find expression.

-

-There were many other young women in Marlow that autumn in similar

-case, and a rumour was current among them that this was a favourable

-time for crossing the hill. It was said that the lord of Wycombe was

-seeking new favourites.

-

-Millie heard the rumour and tossed her head superciliously.

-

-"Let him come here. I'd give him a piece of my mind," she said.

-

-"He doesn't come 'ere," returned the gossip. "'E's afeard of our

-Mr Thrale."

-

-"Oh! Jasper Thrale!" said Millie. "That fellow from Wycombe could

-knock his head off in no time."

-

-The gossip was doubtful.

-

-Millie was incapable of formulating a plan in this connexion, but she

-was seized with a desire for spending the still September evenings in

-the open air, and always something drew her towards the hill at Handy

-Cross. That way lay interest and excitement. There was a wonderful

-fascination in going as far as the top of the descent into Wycombe.

-

-Usually she joined one or two other young women in these excursions. It

-was understood between them that they went "for fun," and they

-would laugh and scream when they reached the dip past the farm,

-pretend to push each other down the slope, and cry out suddenly:

-"He's coming! Run!"

-

-But one afternoon, some ten days after Jasper Thrale had threatened

-her with the turnip field, Millie went alone.

-

-She had left work early. The rain had not come yet, and Thrale was

-becoming anxious with regard to the shortage of water. He had the

-sluices of Marlow and Hedsor weirs closed, and had opened the sluices

-of the weirs above as far as Hambledon, but so little water was coming

-down that he decided to work shorter hours for the present.

-

-Blanche had stayed on at the mill to help with repairs. She was

-rapidly developing into a capable engineer. So Millie, whose only

-service was that of machine minder, found herself alone and unoccupied.

-

-Every one else seemed to be working. Her friends of the evening

-excursions were mostly in the fields on the Henley side of the town.

-

-Millie decided she would lie down on the bed and go to sleep for a bit;

-but even before she came to the cottage she changed her mind. It was

-a deliciously warm, still afternoon.

-

-Almost automatically she took the road towards Little Marlow; a desire

-for adventure had overtaken her. Why, she argued, shouldn't she go

-into Wycombe? There were plenty of other women there. She would be

-quite safe. She only wanted to see what the place was like.

-

-Her consciousness of perfect rectitude lasted until she reached

-the dip beyond Handy Cross. Farther than this she had not ventured

-before. Some mystery lay beyond the turn of the road.

-

-She sat down in the grass by the wayside and called herself a fool,

-but she was afraid to go further. She and those friends of hers had

-made this place the entrance to a terrible and fascinating beyond. She

-remembered how they had feared to stay there in the failing light,

-daring each other to remain there alone after sunset. There was

-nothing to be afraid of, she said to herself; and yet she was afraid.

-

-She was hot with her long climb, and the place was quite deserted. She

-decided to take down her hair to cool herself.

-

-Curiously, she looked upon this simple act as deliciously daring and

-in some way wicked. She cast half-fearful glances at the green girt

-shadows of the descending road, as she shook out the masses of her

-hair. "If anyone should come!" she thought. "If he should come...!"

-

-She giggled nervously, and shivered.

-

-But as time passed, and no one came, she began to lose her fear,

-and presently she lay full length on the grass, and stared up into

-the pale blue dome of the sky until her eyes ached and she had to

-close them. The deep hush of the still afternoon enveloped her in a

-great calm.

-

-For a time she slept peacefully, and then she dreamed that she was

-rushing through the air, and that some one chased her. She wanted

-desperately to be captured, but it was ordained that she must fly, and

-she flew incredibly fast. She flew through the sunlight into darkness,

-and awoke to find that some one was standing between her and the sun.

-

-She lay still, paralysed with terror. She bitterly regretted her

-coming. She would have given ten years of life to be safe home

-in Marlow.

-

-"Now, where've I seen you before?" asked Sam Evans....

-

-It was nearly dark when Blanche accosted a knot of women in the

-High Street with a question as to whether they had seen anything of

-her sister.

-

-One of the women laughed sneeringly. "Ah! She went over the hill

-this afternoon," she said. "We were in the fields that side, and saw

-her go."

-

-Blanche's face burned. "She hasn't! I know she hasn't!" she blurted

-out. "She isn't one of that sort."

-

-The woman laughed again.

-

-"She's one of the lucky ones," another woman remarked. "You can expect

-her back in a week or two's time."

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-On the same evening that Millie crossed the hill, Lady Eileen Ferrar

-encountered the spirit of passion in another shape.

-

-The thought of a lonely bathe tempted her, and she crossed the river,

-made her way through deserted Bisham, and back to the stream along

-a narrow, overhung lane beyond Bisham Abbey.

-

-The sun had set, but when she came out from the trees there was

-light in the sky and on the water. Overhead a few wisps of cirrus,

-sailing in the far heights of air, still caught the direct rays of the

-sun. Eileen paused on the bank, rejoicing in the glow of colour about

-her; but as she gazed, the little fleet of salmon-tinted clouds were

-engulfed in the great earth-shadow, and the delicate crisp rose-leaves

-were transfigured into flat stipples of steel grey.

-

-A slight chill had come into the air, but the water was deliciously

-soft and warm. Eileen swam a couple of hundred yards up-stream,

-towards the gloom of shadows that obscured the course of the river. The

-after-glow was fading now, and though the surface of the water seemed

-to catch some reflection of light from an unknown source, the near

-distance loomed dark and mysterious. She trod water for a few moments,

-but could not decide whether the river turned to right or left. To

-all appearances, it terminated abruptly fifty yards ahead....

-

-A new sound was forcing itself upon her attention--a low, steady

-booming. She stopped swimming, and, keeping herself afloat by

-slow, silent movements of hands and feet under water, she listened

-attentively. The dull boom seemed changed into a low, ceaseless moan.

-

-She remembered then the recently opened sluices of Temple Weir, but

-quite suddenly she was aware of fear. She thought she saw a movement

-among the reeds by the bank. She thought she heard laughter and the

-thin pipe of a flute.

-

-Were the old gods coming back to witness the death of man, as they

-had witnessed his birth? Now that machinery and civilization were

-being re-absorbed into the nature-spirit from which they had been

-wrung by the force of man's devilish and alien intelligence, were the

-old things returning for one mad revel before the creatures of their

-sport disappeared for ever, these representatives of a species which

-had failed to hold its own in the struggle for existence?

-

-Night was coming up like a shadow, and in the east a red, enormous

-moon was rising, coming not to dissipate, but to enhance the mysteries

-of the dark, coming to countenance the wild and blind the eyes of man.

-

-Eileen, almost motionless, was floating down with the drift of the

-sluggish stream. She was afraid to intrude upon the natural sounds of

-the night, the stealthy trickle of the river, and the furtive rustle

-of secret movement whose origin she could not guess. And again she

-thought that she heard the trembling reed of a distant flute.

-

-She touched bottom near her landing-place, and waded out of the river,

-crouching, afraid even in the black shadow of the trees to exhibit

-the white column of her slim body. She dried and dressed hastily,

-and when she felt again the touch of her familiar clothes about her,

-she knew that she was safe from the wiles of nymph or satyr. She had

-come out of the half-world that interposes between man and Nature;

-her clothes made her invisible to the earth-gods, and hid them from

-her knowledge.

-

-But she was still trembling and afraid. The flesh had terrors great

-as those of the spirit.

-

-A little uncertain wind was coming out of the south-west, and the

-trees were stirred now and again into hushed whisperings. A dead leaf

-brushed her face in falling, and she started back, thrusting at an

-imaginary enemy with nervously agitated hands.

-

-The thought of her remoteness from life terrified her. She was alone,

-face to face with implacable, brutal Nature. Man, the boastful, full

-of foolish pride, was vanishing from the earth. He had been an alien,

-ever out of place, defiling and corrupting the order of growth. Now he

-was beaten and a fugitive. All around her, the representative of this

-vile destructive species, was the slow, persistent hatred of the earth,

-which longed to be at peace again. There was no god favourable to man,

-now that he was dying; the gods of man's creation would perish with

-him. Only a few women were left to realize that they were strangers

-in the world of Nature which hated them. The world was not theirs,

-had never been theirs; they were only some horrible, unnatural fungus

-that had disfigured the Earth for a time....

-

-She moved cautiously and slowly under the darkness of the trees,

-and even when she came back to the road she could not shake off

-her fear. On her right she could see the black cliff of the woods

-transfigured by the light of the moon. In the day she knew them for

-woods; now they were strange and threatening; they menaced her with

-invasion. She knew that they would march down from the hills and swarm

-across the valley. In a hundred, two hundred years, Marlow would be

-a few heaps of brick and stone lost in the heart of the forest.

-

-Ashamed of her race, she hurried on stealthily towards the bridge.

-

-But before she reached it, she heard the sound of a firm, defiant

-step coming towards her. She paused and listened, and her fear fell

-from her. In the old days she would have feared man more than Nature,

-feared robbery or assault, but now, man was united in a common cause;

-the sound of humanity was the sound of a friend.

-

-"Hullo!" she called, and the voice of Jasper Thrale

-answered. "Hullo! Who's that?" he said.

-

-"Me--Eileen," she replied. "I've been for a bathe."

-

-He paused opposite her, and they looked at one another.

-

-"Jolly night," he remarked.

-

-"I've seen the great god Pan," said Eileen. "Those sailors in the

-Ionian Sea were misinformed. He's not dead."

-

-"Why should Pan die and Dionysus live?" returned Thrale. "I hear that

-Dionysus has claimed one of our hands, by the way."

-

-"Millie?"

-

-"Yes."

-

-"Are you angry?"

-

-"Yes. Not with Millie. If you saw Pan, why shouldn't she see

-Dionysus? No, I'm angry with the Jenkyn woman. She's saying that we

-ought not to have Millie back if she wants to come."

-

-"How silly!" commented Eileen.

-

-"Oh! if that were all!" replied Thrale. "The real trouble is that the

-Jenkyn woman is proselytizing. She wants to revive Church services and

-Sunday observances. We're going to have a split before the winter's

-over, and all the old misunderstandings and antagonisms back again."

-

-"Why, of course we are," returned Eileen, after a pause. "We are

-going to divide into those that are afraid and those that aren't. It's

-fear that's got hold of us, now we've time to think. It's all about

-us to-night; I've seen it, and Millie has seen it; and Clara Jenkyn

-and all those who are going with her have seen it; and we've all got

-to find our own way out." She hesitated for a moment, and then said:

-"And what about you? Have you seen it?"

-

-"Yes, for the first time. Within the last ten minutes," said Thrale.

-

-The moon was above the trees now, and she could see his face

-clearly. "Have you?" she asked. "I can't picture it. It can't be Pan

-or Dionysus, or fear of the Earth or of humanity. No; and it can't be

-the most terrible of all, the fear of an idea. What are you afraid of?"

-

-"I'm afraid of you," said Thrale, and he turned away quickly and

-hurried on in the direction of the river.

-

-"I did see Pan," affirmed Eileen, as she returned, happy and unafraid,

-towards Marlow.

-

-

-

-

-5

-

-That mood of the night had suggested to Eileen the idea of a single

-cause which seemed sufficient to account for the revivalist tendencies

-of Miss Jenkyn and certain other women in Marlow. Fear was presented as

-a simple explanation, and Eileen, like many other philosophers who had

-preceded her, was too eager for the simple and inclusive explanation.

-

-At first the revivalist tendency was feeble and circumscribed. Twenty

-or thirty women met in the schoolroom and talked and prayed by

-the light of a single, tenderly nursed oil-lamp. The absence of any

-minister kept them back at first; the less earnest needed some concrete

-embodiment of religion in the form of a black coat and white tie.

-

-But when the rain came in early October, came and persisted; when the

-beeches, instead of flaring into scarlet, grew sodden and dead; when

-the threat of flood grew even more imminent, and the distraction of

-physical toil almost ceased, this little nucleus of women was joined

-by many new recruits, and their comparatively harmless prostrations,

-lamentations and worshippings of the abstract, developed into an

-attempt to enforce a moral law upon the community.

-

-Millie Gosling, returning to Marlow in mid-October, gave the

-religionists splendid opportunity for a first demonstration.

-

-Millie returned with a bold face and a shrinking heart. She had fled

-from Wycombe because she could not meet the taunts of the women who

-had so lately envied her as she rode, prime favourite for a time,

-in the Dionysian landau. A great loneliness had come over her after

-she was dethroned; she needed sympathy, and she hoped that Blanche

-might be made to understand. Millie came back from over the hill

-prepared with a long tale of excuses.

-

-She found her sister perfectly complacent.

-

-Blanche was a fervent disciple of Jasper Thrale and machinery, and

-Thrale had anticipated Millie's return and in some ways prepared

-for it. At odd moments he had preached the new gospel, the tenets of

-which Blanche had begun to formulate for herself.

-

-"It's no good going back to the old morality for a precedent," had

-been the essential argument used by Thrale; "we have to face new

-conditions. If a man is only to have one wife now, the race will

-decline, probably perish. It is a woman's duty to bear children."

-

-Eileen, Blanche and a few other young women had wondered that he made

-no application of the argument to his own case, but his opinion carried

-more weight by reason of his continence. Even Miss Jenkyn could not

-urge that his opinion was framed to defend his own mode of life,

-and, failing that casuistical support, she had to fall back on the

-second alternative of her kind, namely, to assert that this preacher

-of antagonistic opinions was either the devil in person or possessed

-by him--a line of defence which took longer to establish than the

-simple accusation of expediency.

-

-So Millie, returning one wet October afternoon, found that no excuses

-were required of her. Blanche welcomed her and asked no questions,

-and Jasper Thrale and Eileen came to the little cottage in St

-Peter's Street at sunset and treated the prodigal Millie with a new

-and altogether delightful friendliness. It was understood that she

-would return at once to her work in the Mill. But in the school-house

-opposite another reception was being prepared for her.

-

-The more advanced of the Jenkynites were for taking immediate

-action. Prayer, worship, and the acknowledgment of personal sin fell

-into the background that evening, Millie appeared not as a brand

-to be saved from the burning, but as an abandoned and evil creature

-who must be thrust out of the community if any member of it was to

-save her soul alive. Every one of these furious religionists could

-stand up and declare that she was innocent of the commission of this

-particular sin of Millie's, and every one was willing and anxious to

-cast the first stone.

-

-The meeting simmered, and at last boiled over into St Peter's Street. A

-band of more than a dozen rigidly virtuous and ecstatically Christian

-women beat at the door of the Goslings' cottage. They had come to

-denounce sin and thrust the sinner out of the community with physical

-violence. Each of them in her own heart thought of herself as the

-bride of Christ.

-

-The door was opened to them by Jasper Thrale.

-

-"We have come to cast out the evil one!" cried Miss Jenkyn in a high

-emotional voice.

-

-"What are you talking about?" asked Thrale.

-

-"She shall be cast forth from our midst!" shrilled Miss Jenkyn;

-and her supporters raised a horrible screaming cry of agreement.

-

-"Cast her forth!" they cried, finding full justification for their

-high pitch of emotion in the use of Biblical phrase.

-

-"Cast forth your grandmother!" replied Thrale calmly. "Get back to

-your homes, and don't be foolish."

-

-"He is possessed of the devil!" chanted Miss Jenkyn. "The Lord has

-called upon us to vindicate his honour and glory. This man, too,

-must not be suffered to dwell in the congregation."

-

-"Down with him! down with him!" assented the little crowd, now so

-exalted with the glory of their common purpose that they were ready

-for martyrdom.

-

-Miss Jenkyn was an undersized, withered little spinster of forty-five,

-and physically impotent; but, drunk with the fervour of her emotion,

-and encouraged by the sympathy of her followers and the fury of her

-own voice, she flung herself fiercely upon the calm figure of Jasper

-Thrale. Her thwarted self-expression had found an outlet. She desired

-the blood of Millie Gosling and Jasper Thrale with the same intensity

-that women had once desired a useless vote.

-

-Jasper Thrale put out a careless hand and pushed her back into the arms

-of the women behind her; but she was up again instantly, and, backed

-by the crowd, who, encouraging themselves by shrill screams of "Cast

-them forth!" were now thrusting forward into the narrow doorway, she

-renewed the assault with all the fierce energy of a struggling kitten.

-

-"I shall lose my temper in a minute," said Thrale, as he took a step

-forward and, bracing himself against the door frame, drove the women

-back with vigorous thrusts of his powerful arms.

-

-To lose his temper, indeed, seemed the only way of escape; to give way

-to berserk rage, and so to injure these muscularly feeble creatures

-that they would be unable to continue the struggle. But the babble of

-screaming voices was bringing other helpers to his aid, chief among

-them Lady Durham, and her cold, clear voice fell on the hysterical

-Jenkynites like a douche of cold water.

-

-"Clara Jenkyn, what are you doing?" asked Elsie Durham.

-

-"Millie Gosling must be cast forth," wavered the little dishevelled

-woman; but this time there was no reponse from her disciples.

-

-"That is a question for the committee," replied Elsie Durham. "Now,

-please go to your homes, all of you."

-

-Miss Jenkyn tried to explain.

-

-Elsie Durham walked into the cottage and shut the door.

-

-Inside, Eileen and Blanche were trying to reassure the trembling

-Millie. Outside, the Jenkynites were suffering a more brutal martyrdom

-than that they had sought. The tongues of the new arrivals, the

-fuller-blooded, more physically vigorous members of the community,

-were making sport of these brides of Christ.

-

-

-

-

-6

-

-But the women of Marlow were to learn afresh the old lesson

-that religious enthusiasm is not to be killed by ridicule or

-oppression. Jasper Thrale understood and appreciated that fact,

-but the policy he suggested could not be approved by the committee.

-

-"This emotion is a fundamental thing," he said to Lady Durham,

-"and history will show you that persecution will intensify it to

-the point of martyrdom. There is only one way to combat it. Give it

-room. Let them do as they will. The heat of the fire is too fierce

-for you to damp it down; you only supply more fuel. Fan it, throw it

-open to the air, and it will burn itself harmlessly out."

-

-Elsie Durham shrugged her shoulders. "That's all very well," she

-said. "I believe it's perfectly true. But they make you the bone of

-contention. If it were only Millie Gosling--well--she might go. We

-could find a place for her--at Fingest, perhaps. But we can't spare

-you."

-

-"I don't know why not," returned Thrale. "I never intended to stay

-indefinitely. You can carry on now without me, and I can fulfil my

-original intention and push on into the West."

-

-"My dear man! we can't, and we won't!" said Elsie Durham. "You are

-indispensable."

-

-"No one is indispensable," replied Thrale.

-

-"Bother your metaphysics, Jasper!" was the answer. "We are not

-going to let you go. 'We' is the majority of Marlow, not only the

-committee. We'll fight the fanatics somehow."

-

-The majority referred to by Elsie Durham was fairly compact in

-relation to this issue of retaining Jasper Thrale, and included the two

-greater of the three recognizable parties in the community. Of these

-three, the greatest was the moderate party, made up of Episcopalians,

-Nonconformists and a few Roman Catholics, who found relief for their

-emotion one day in seven either in the Town Hall or Marlow Church,

-in which places services and meetings were held--the former by

-certain approved individuals, notably Elsie Durham and the widow

-of the late Rector of Marlow. The second party in order of size

-included all those who either denied the Divine revelation or were

-careless of all religious matters. The third party--the Jenkynites,

-as they were dubbed by their opponents--had drawn their numbers from

-every old denomination. The Jenkynites were differentiated from the

-other two parties by certain physical differences. For instance, the

-Jenkynites numbered few members under the age of thirty-five; very

-few of them were fat, and very few of them were capable field workers;

-they were hungry-eyed, and had a certain air of disappointed eagerness

-about them; they looked as though they had for ever sought something,

-and, finding it, had remained unsatisfied. In all, there were some

-seventeen women who might have been regarded as quite true to type,

-and about this vivid nucleus were clustered nearly a hundred other

-women, many of whom exhibited some characteristic mark of the same

-type, while the remainder, perhaps 40 per cent of the whole body,

-had joined the party out of bravado, to seek excitement, or for some

-purpose of expediency.

-

-Among the last was Mrs Isaacson, who was the ultimate cause of the

-Jenkynite defeat.

-

-Ever since she had passed her examination in farm supervision,

-Mrs Isaacson had exhibited an increasing tendency to rest on her

-laurels. She had grown very stout again during her stay in Marlow,

-and complained of severe heart trouble. The least exertion brought on

-violent palpitation accompanied by the most alarming symptoms. The

-poor lady would gasp for breath, press her hands convulsively to

-a spot just below her left breast, and roll up her eyes till they

-presented only a terrifying repulsive rim of blood-streaked white, if

-the least exertion were demanded from her, and yet she would persist

-in the effort until absolutely on the verge of collapse. "No, no! I

-must work!" she would insist. "It iss not fair to the others that I

-do no work. I will try once more. It iss only fair."

-

-At times they had to insist that she should return home and rest.

-

-And as the winter closed in, Mrs Isaacson's rests became more and

-more protracted. Jasper Thrale grinned and said: "I suppose we've

-got to keep her"; but there was a feeling among the other members of

-the committee that they were creating an undesirable precedent. Mrs

-Isaacson's example was being followed by other women who preferred

-rest to work.

-

-Heart weakness was becoming endemic in Marlow.

-

-Then came the news that Mrs Isaacson had joined the Jenkynites. The

-seventeen received her somewhat doubtfully at first, but the body of

-the sect were in favour of her reception. Possibly they were rather

-proud of counting one more fat woman among them; the average member

-was so noticeably thin.

-

-Even the seventeen were satisfied within a fortnight of Mrs Isaacson's

-conversion. She had a wonderful fluency, and she said the right and

-proper things in her own peculiar English--a form of speech which

-had a certain piquancy and interest and afforded relief and variety

-after the somewhat stereotyped formulas of the seventeen.

-

-But early in December, before the floods came, Mrs Isaacson was

-convicted of a serious offence against the community. One of

-the committee's first works had been to store certain priceless

-valuables. Tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, salt, baking powder,

-wine and other irreplaceable commodities had been locked up in one

-of the bank premises. In all, they had a fairly large store, upon

-which they had hardly drawn as yet. It was not intended to hoard these

-luxuries indefinitely. After harvest a dole had been made to all the

-workers as acknowledgment of their services, and it had been decided

-to hold another festival on Christmas Day.

-

-Mrs Isaacson, with unsuspected energy, had burglariously entered this

-storehouse of wealth. She had found an accessible window at the rear,

-which she had succeeded in forcing, and, despite her bulk and the

-delicate state of her heart, she had effected an entrance and stolen

-tea, sugar, candles and whisky.

-

-She was, indeed, finally caught in the act; but her thefts would

-probably have escaped notice--she worked after dark, and with a cunning

-and caution that would have placed her high in the profession before

-the plague--had it not been for Blanche.

-

-

-

-

-7

-

-It seems that Mrs Isaacson had formed the habit of staying up in the

-evening. She pleaded that she could not sleep during the early hours

-of the night, which was not surprising in view of the fact that she

-slept much during the day; and as she was diligent in picking up or

-begging sufficient wood to maintain the fire, there was no reason why

-Blanche and Millie should offer any objection. Thrale had rigged up

-a dynamo at the mill now to provide artificial light, and the girls'

-hours of work were so prolonged that they were glad to get to bed

-at half-past seven. By eight o'clock Mrs Isaacson evidently counted

-herself safe from all interruption.

-

-She might have continued her enjoyment of luxury undiscovered

-throughout the winter if Blanche had not suffered from toothache.

-

-She had been in bed and asleep nearly two hours when her dreams of

-discomfort merged into a consciousness of actual pain. She sighed

-and pressed her cheek into the pillows, made agonizing exploration

-with her tongue, and tried to go to sleep again. Possibly she might

-have succeeded had not that unaccountable smell of whisky obtruded

-itself upon her senses.

-

-At first she thought the house was on fire. That had always been her

-one fear in leaving Mrs Isaacson alone; and she sat up in bed and

-sniffed vigorously. "Funny," she murmured; "it smells like--like plum

-pudding." The analogy was probably suggested to her by the odour of

-burning brandy.

-

-She got up and opened the door of the bedroom.

-

-Mrs Isaacson slept on a sort of glorified landing, and when Blanche

-stepped outside her own door she could see at once by the light of

-a watery full moon that her lodger had not yet come to bed.

-

-The smell of the spirit was stronger on the landing, and Blanche,

-forgetting her toothache in the excitement of the moment, stole

-quietly down the short flight of crooked stairs. The door giving

-on to the living-room was latched, but there were two convenient

-knot-holes, and through one of them she saw Mrs Isaacson seated by

-the fire drinking hot tea. On the table stood an open whisky bottle

-and two lighted wax candles.

-

-Blanche was thunderstruck. Tea, whisky and candles were inexplicable

-things. The thought of witchcraft obtruded itself, and so fascinated

-her that she stood on the stairs gazing through the knothole until

-a sudden rigour reminded her that she was deadly cold.

-

-She did not interrupt the orgy. She crept back to bed, and after much

-difficulty awakened Millie.

-

-The sound of their voices must have alarmed Mrs Isaacson, for the

-girls presently heard her stumbling upstairs. They stopped their

-discussion then, and Blanche's toothache being mysteriously cured by

-her excitement, they were soon asleep again.

-

-Neither of the girls spoke of their discovery to anyone the next

-day, but Blanche returned to the cottage at half-past four, when Mrs

-Isaacson was at a meeting over the way, and explored her bedroom. She

-found a small store of tea, sugar and candles under the mattress--the

-whisky bottle had disappeared--and so came to an understanding of

-Mrs Isaacson's self-sacrificing insistence that she should perform

-all work connected with her own sleeping-place--it could hardly be

-called a room.

-

-After consultation with Millie, Blanche decided that she must inform

-Jasper Thrale of the contraband.

-

-"She's been stealing, of course," he said. "I suppose we shall have

-to bring it home to her." But he laughed at Blanche's indignation.

-

-"She's stealing from us!" said Blanche, who had developed a fine

-sense of her duty towards and interest in the community.

-

-"Oh, yes! you're quite right," said Thrale. "I'll inform the

-committee--at least, the non-Jenkynites."

-

-The five non-Jenkynites were furious.

-

-"We must make an example," Elsie Durham said. "It isn't that we

-shall miss what the Isaacson woman has taken--or will take. It's the

-question of precedent. This is where we are facing the beginning of

-law--isn't it? Somebody has to protect the members of the community

-against themselves. If one steals and goes unpunished, another will

-steal. We shall have the women divided into stealers and workers."

-

-"What are you going to do with her?" asked Thrale.

-

-"Turn her out," replied Elsie Durham.

-

-"The Jenkynites won't let her go," said Thrale raising the larger

-question.

-

-"We shall see," said Elsie Durham, "But that reminds me that we must

-catch the woman flagrante delicto; we must have no quibbles about

-the facts."

-

-Thrale agreed with the wisdom of this policy, but refused to

-take any part in either the detection or the prosecution of Mrs

-Isaacson. "They'll say its a put-up job if I have anything to do with

-it," he argued.

-

-

-

-

-8

-

-The Jenkynites blazed when Rebecca Isaacson was finally caught and

-denounced. The culprit, when caught in the act of entering the bank

-premises had made a slight error of judgment, and pleaded the excuse

-that she was a sleepwalker and quite unconscious of what she was

-doing; but she afterwards adopted a sounder line of defence. She made

-full confession to the seventeen, pleaded extravagant penitence with

-all the necessary references to the blood of the Lamb, and displayed

-all the well-known signs that she would become fervent in well-doing

-after the ensanguined ablutions had been metaphorically performed.

-

-The Jenkynites were enraptured with so real a case of sin. They had

-been compelled to content themselves with so many minor failures from

-grace that the performances were becoming slightly monotonous.

-

-The "Sister Rebecca" case was refreshingly real and genuine, and they

-meant to make the most of it. Also, this case gave them occasion to

-assert themselves once more against the opinions of the community.

-

-It must not be supposed that the seventeen deliberately adopted a

-practical and apparently promising policy. They were not consciously

-seeking to obtain civil power as were the priests of the old days

-before the plague. The seventeen had no sense of the State as

-represented by the community; they were without question perfectly

-sincere in their beliefs and actions. Their fault, if it can be

-so described, was their inability to adapt themselves to their

-conditions. They were as unchangeable as the old lady who had died

-sooner than be permanently separated from the glories of a house in

-Wisteria Grove. She and the seventeen and many other women in Marlow

-were demonstrating that rigidity of opinion is detrimental to the

-interests of the growing State. The same proposition had been clearly

-demonstrated by a few exceptional individuals in the old days, but

-progress was so slow, the property owners so content, and the average

-of mankind so intensely conservative, that their arguments received

-no attention. For every man who believed in the broad principle of

-maintaining an open mind, there were ten thousand who were quite

-incapable of putting the principle into practice. With these women

-in Marlow the conditions were completely changed. Moreover, women

-are by nature more broad-minded than men in practical affairs. Where

-intuition rather than the hard-and-fast methods of an intellectual

-logic is being brought into play, new and wonderful possibilities of

-adaptation may enter the domain of politics.

-

-The Jenkynites and such individuals as the late Mrs Gosling became

-suddenly conspicuous in the new conditions. The type that they

-represent cannot persist. They are the bonds on a vigorous and

-increasing growth; the tree will grow and burst away all inflexible

-restraints.

-

-In Marlow the new and vigorous growth was the sense of the

-community. The majority of the women were realizing, consciously

-or unconsciously, that they must work with and for each other. The

-Jenkynite affair served the committee as a valuable object-lesson.

-

-Mrs Isaacson was free to do as she would while the discussion

-raged. Imprisonment would have been utterly futile. The committee

-did not wish to punish her for her offence against common property,

-they merely wished to rid themselves of an undesirable member and to

-make public announcement that they would in like manner exclude any

-other member who proved herself a burden to the community.

-

-The Jenkynites were characteristically unable to comprehend this

-argument. They had their own definitions of heinous and venial sins,

-definitions based on ancient precedent, and they counted the fault

-of Millie Gosling in the former and that of Rebecca Isaacson in the

-latter category. They were not susceptible to argument. As they saw

-the problem, no argument was admissible. They had the old law and the

-old prophets on their side, and maintained that what was true once

-was true for all time. In their opinion, changed conditions did not

-affect morality.

-

-If the need for labour had been great, the affair might have been

-shelved for a time as of less importance than the dominant economic

-demand which takes precedence of all other problems. But although

-the floods had not yet come, there was not enough work for all the

-members of the community, and this comparative idleness reacted upon

-the importance of the Isaacson case in another and probably more

-influential direction than the abstract consideration of justice

-and humanity.

-

-The women had time to talk, and a new and fascinating subject was

-given them to discuss. And they talked; and their talk ripened into

-action. The affair Isaacson, which included also the affair Jenkyns,

-was brought to a climax at a mass meeting in the Town Hall.

-

-It was decided, noisily, but with considerable emphasis, that for

-the good of the community the Jenkynites must go. The seventeen were

-specifically indicated, but it was understood that certain of their

-more advanced adherents would go with them.

-

-The Jenkynites accepted the decision in the spirit of their

-belief. They were martyrs in a great cause. They would leave this

-accursed city (their terminology was always Biblical) and cast off

-its dust from their feet--although the roads were deep in mud at the

-time. They would go forth to regenerate the world, upheld by their

-love of truth and their zeal for the Word.

-

-Only Mrs Isaacson dissented, but she was compelled to go with them.

-

-They went forth in the rain, thirty-nine of them in all, exalted

-with conscious righteousness and faint with enthusiasm. The women

-of Marlow were kind to them. They turned out and jeered the little

-procession as it marched out of the town by the Henley Road.

-

-"'Oo stole the tea?" was the most popular taunt, and no doubt the

-exiles would have preferred that the taunts should have been cast

-at their faith rather than at the social misdemeanour of an obscure

-convert. But any form of martyrdom was better than none, and they held

-their heads high and sang "Glory! glory!" with magnificent fervour.

-

-"I'm sure we've done right," commented Elsie Durham. "But we should

-never have had all the women with us if there had been no offence

-against property. That touched them--communal property. I'm not sure

-that it isn't become almost dearer than personal property."

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XIX--ON THE FLOOD

-

-

-1

-

-From the middle of November onwards, the river had been running

-nearly bank-high, and so much power was available that Thrale had been

-considering the possibility of lighting some of the nearer houses by

-electricity. He had made three journeys to London, and with half a

-dozen assistants he had rifled two dynamos from the power station just

-outside Paddington, and had brought back twenty truck-loads of coal.

-

-The dynamos, however, were still in the truck, covered by

-tarpaulin. Thrale had decided that the luxury of artificial lighting

-could not be provided until all the grain had been thrashed and

-milled. The end of that work was now in sight, and the accumulated

-wealth of flour in Marlow was calculated to be sufficient to last the

-community for at least twelve months. But before the lighting scheme

-could be put in hand, a new trouble had threatened.

-

-During the first week of December there was almost continuous rain,

-and the river began to top its banks, spreading itself over the

-meadowland below the lock and creeping up the end of St Peter's

-Street. No serious matter as yet, and a short spell of frost and

-clear skies followed; but before Christmas heavy rains came again,

-and Thrale began to grow anxious.

-

-"The weirs down-stream ought to be opened," he explained to

-Eileen. "They are probably all up; we need never be afraid of shortage

-here; if we close our own weir we can always hold up all the water

-we want."

-

-"Is it serious?" she asked.

-

-"Not yet, but it may be," he said, looking up at the sky. "All Marlow

-might be flooded."

-

-And still the rain fell, and soon the girls had to wade through a

-foot of water to reach the mill.

-

-"I must go down-stream and open all the weirs," Thrale announced

-on Christmas Eve. "I've been looking at a steam launch over at the

-boat-house; it's in quite good condition. I shall bring it up to the

-town landing-stage to-morrow and get enough coal and food aboard to

-last a week."

-

-"You're not going alone?" said Eileen.

-

-"No! I must take some one to work the engine and the locks," returned

-Thrale.

-

-"I'll come!" announced Eileen, with glee.

-

-Thrale shook his head. "You'll have to run this place," he said.

-

-Since that night in September no reference had been made by either of

-them to his strange revelation of fear. They had worked together as

-two men might have worked. Neither of them had exhibited the least

-consciousness of sex. Thrale believed that he had put the fear away

-from him, and Eileen was content to wait. She was barely twenty.

-

-"Blanche could run the mill," she suggested. "There isn't much to

-do now."

-

-Thrale turned away from her with a touch of impatience. "Blanche had

-better come with me," he said.

-

-"I want to come," pleaded Eileen.

-

-"Why?" he asked.

-

-"It'll be sport."

-

-"I don't care to trust Blanche with the mill," he persisted.

-

-"She's every bit as good as I am," was her reply.

-

-He shook his head.

-

-"Oh, look here," said Eileen, "you might let me come, or are you--are

-you afraid of--of what the women will say?" She was standing by one

-of the flour-encrusted mill windows and she began to scratch a clean

-place on it with her nail.

-

-Thrale did not answer for a moment and then he came and stood near

-her. "What is it?" he asked. "Are you sick of your work here?"

-

-"I shouldn't mind a change," she said, intent on enlarging her

-peep-hole.

-

-"One forgets that you are women," said Thrale. "I suppose women are

-never content with work for work's sake."

-

-"If you like," returned Eileen inconsequently. "I can see out now. Why

-don't we have these windows cleaned sometimes?"

-

-"You can have them done while I'm away," he suggested.

-

-"I'm coming with you," said Eileen.

-

-"Oh! you can come if you like," he said. He thought he was perfectly

-safe, despite this unusual display of femininity.

-

-"You'll have to run the engine," he concluded.

-

-"Oh! I'll run the engine," she agreed and looked down at her capable,

-frankly dirty little hands.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The weirs at Marlow and Hedsor had been roaring open-mouthed for ten

-days before Thrale and Eileen began their journey; but the water

-had been piling up from below and the floods were working back up

-river. The fact that none of the weirs above Henley was closed had

-served to protect Marlow in some degree. There were great floods

-above Sonning, and from Goring to Culham the country was a vast sheet

-of water. This water, however, only came down comparatively slowly

-owing to the dammed condition of the main channel, and a greater

-proportion of it was absorbed. If the upper weirs had been open,

-Marlow would have been under water by the middle of December.

-

-Not until the launch had been manoeuvred with some difficulty through

-Boulter's Lock did Thrale begin to realize the full significance of

-the situation.

-

-He had had very great difficulty first in reaching and second in

-raising the paddles of the Taplow weir. In one place the force of

-the flood had broken away the structure, but even with the relief

-this passage had afforded the pressure of water on the paddles was

-so great that he had been working for more than two hours before the

-last valve was opened.

-

-Eileen had been waiting for him with the launch warped up just below

-the lock where the force of the stream was not so great.

-

-"I don't know whether we shall be able to carry out this job,"

-remarked Thrale when he rejoined her.

-

-"Oh, but we must," she expostulated.

-

-"Do you see what has happened?" he explained. "All the water is piled

-up below us. We shall probably find the next locks flood-high, which

-means that we sha'n't be able to open them."

-

-"We must navigate," said Eileen. "Steam round them; shoot the weirs."

-

-"Oh, well," said Thrale, "I'm wondering how far our responsibility

-goes. If we don't open the river right down to Richmond, we shall only

-be increasing the flood in the lower reaches, and there may be women

-living there. After all, Marlow isn't the only place on the river. And

-there is another thing; we may never get back. It's a risky thing we

-are proposing to do. No one could swim against this current. If we

-were upset and carried into a weir, we should be smashed to pieces

-in no time. Do you think the community can spare us?"

-

-"Bother the community!" replied Eileen.

-

-The community and its activities were already in the background of

-her mind. Marlow had receded into a little distant place with which

-she was no longer connected. The world of adventure and romance lay

-open before her. She wanted only to explore this turbulent river,

-widened now into a miniature Amazon, from which arose the islands of

-half-submerged houses and trees that composed the strange archipelago

-of Maidenhead.

-

-"Oh, well," said Thrale again. "We'll try. It's no use waiting for

-the stream to go down. We'd better go on now."

-

-"Shall I cast off?" asked Eileen.

-

-"Steady, steady," Thrale warned her. "The next quarter of a mile

-is simply a rapid. You must be ready to get the engines going full

-ahead the moment we start, or I sha'n't be able to steer her. And,

-now, we must both cast off together or we shall be across the stream

-in two ticks. Just loosen the rope round the cleats and let go, and

-then start the engine. Let the loose end of the rope drag till we've

-time to pick it up. Are you ready? All right--cast off!"

-

-The little launch swept out into the current with a bound the instant

-she was released from her moorings, and almost before the engines

-began to revolve she was caught in the rapids that surged down from

-the newly-opened weir. She was only a light draught pleasure-boat,

-designed to navigate the placid surface of the summer Thames, and

-when she entered the curling broken water below the island she threw

-up her nose and plunged like a nervous mare.

-

-"Full steam ahead," shouted Thrale at the toy wheel. Eileen nodded,

-crouching over her little engine; the roar of the stream had drowned

-Thrale's voice, but she guessed his order.

-

-Her eyes were bright with excitement. She had no sense of fear. She

-was exhilarated by the sense of rapid movement. The launch, indeed,

-was travelling at a remarkable pace. In the narrow channel between the

-islands and the town, the river must have been running at nearly ten

-miles an hour, and the engines were probably adding another eight. In

-the wide spaces of the ocean eighteen miles an hour may appear a safe

-and controllable speed, but this little launch was running down hill,

-she could not be stopped at command, and the restricted course was

-beset with many and dangerous obstacles.

-

-Thrale, handling the little brass wheel forward, was conscious of

-uneasiness. The launch steered after a fashion, but he had little

-control of her. The trees on the banks appeared to be flying upstream

-at the pace of an express train, and ahead of him was the town bridge.

-

-He decided instantly that they could not pass under it, and put the

-wheel over, intending to shoot out of the stream into the calm of the

-flood water over the new open bank. But as the launch turned and came

-across, the current took her stern and turned her half round. For a

-moment her lee rail was under water, and she trembled and rocked on

-the verge of capsize. Then her engines drove her out of the stream and

-she righted herself again and began to cut through the almost still,

-shallow flood water.

-

-"Stop her!" roared Thrale.

-

-"I say, what's up?" replied Eileen, coolly, as she obeyed the order.

-

-"No room to pass under the bridge," said Thrale. "I suppose we'll

-have to navigate, as you call it. Go dead slow, and be prepared to

-stop her at a moment's notice."

-

-They spent over an hour in finding a passage round the approach to

-the bridge. They had laboriously to pole the launch through the tops

-of hedges, and in one place they were aground for ten minutes. But

-after they had returned to the stream once more they had a rapid and

-easy passage down to Bray. They shot the great arch of the Maidenhead

-railway bridge triumphantly. Eileen said it was "glorious."

-

-The weir at Bray proved even more difficult to negotiate than the

-one above, and by the time it was fully opened the dull December

-afternoon was closing in.

-

-They spent that night moored to two of the elms that ring the isolated

-little church in the meadows by Boveney.

-

-"At this rate," remarked Thrale as they settled themselves for the

-night, "it'll take us a week to get to Richmond. We've done two weirs

-out of thirteen, so far."

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Thrale's estimate proved excessive. They reached Richmond on the

-fourth day out from Marlow, having opened another nine weirs--the

-one at Old Windsor had been swept away, and the one below Richmond

-Bridge Thrale opened that afternoon.

-

-During those four days they had seen few signs of life. They had moved,

-keeping to the main stream for the most part, in the midst of a wide

-expanse of water; exploring a desolate and wasted country.

-

-Once they had been hailed by three women, who looked out at them from

-a house in Windsor, and shouted something they did not catch; and a

-woman had been standing on Staines Bridge as they careered intrepidly

-through the centre arch--they had no time even to distinguish her

-dress. But with these exceptions they might have come through the land

-of an extinct civilization, devoid of life; a land in which deserted

-houses and church towers stood up from the silver sheet of a vast lake,

-that was threaded by this one impetuous torrent of swelling river.

-

-Richmond, also, was deserted. The emigrants had passed on over the

-river or southwards to Petersham and so into Surrey.

-

-"Well!" said Eileen, wiping her oil-blackened hands on a bunch of

-cotton waste, "that job's done. We've fairly drawn the plug of the

-cistern now. And how are we going to get back?"

-

-"We'll find a couple of bicycles somewhere here," said Thrale.

-

-It had been a clear day, and there was a suggestion of frost in the

-air. The sun was setting very red and full behind the bare trees

-across the river. Save for the gurgle and hiss of the eddying flood,

-everything was very still. The little launch which had served them

-so well, and bore the marks of its great adventure in broken rails

-and bruised sides, was run aground by the side of the bridge. Thrale

-was standing in the road, but Eileen still sat by her engine.

-

-"I hate to leave the launch," she said, after a long pause.

-

-"We can come back and fetch her up when the flood goes down,"

-returned Thrale.

-

-"We've done pretty well, the three of us."

-

-"Yes, the three of us," he echoed.

-

-"It has been great fun," sighed Eileen.

-

-Thrale did not reply. He was thinking himself back into the past. He

-saw a street in Melbourne on a burning December evening, and the

-figure of a gaily-clad little brunette who spoke purest cockney

-and asked him why he looked so glum. "We ain't goin' to a funeral,"

-she had said. Yet afterwards he had believed that something had been

-buried that night. He had faced his own passion and the sight of it had

-disgusted him. He had seen the shadow of a demon who might master him,

-and he had grappled with it; he believed that he had slain and buried

-lust in Melbourne ten years ago. It had not risen up to confront him

-when the plague had put a world of women at his command. He had not

-been forced to fight, he was not tempted--surely the thing was dead

-and buried. Only once, on that warm September night, had he felt a

-sudden furious desire to take this girl into his arms and fly with

-her into the woods. The desire had come and gone, he was master of

-it, and in any case it bore no resemblance to the brutal thing he

-had faced in Melbourne.

-

-Nor, as he stood now by Richmond Bridge watching the vault of the

-sky deepen to an intenser blue, did the feeling that possessed him

-in any way resemble that old cruel passion which had flared up and

-died--surely it had died. He could not analyse his feeling for this

-brave, clear-eyed companion, who had faced with him all the dangers of

-the past four days without a sign of fear. She had made no advances

-to him, they were friends, she might have been some delightfully

-clean, wholesome boy. And then his thought was pierced and broken by

-a horrible suggestion.

-

-A picture of the hill to Handy Cross flashed before him, and he saw

-a little lonely figure creeping furtively away from Marlow. He drove

-his nails into his palms and suddenly cried out.

-

-"What's up?" said Eileen, turning round and looking up at him. "Have

-you forgotten anything?"

-

-He stepped into the boat and sat down beside her. "I want to know--I

-must know," he said.

-

-She looked at him and smiled. "All right, old man," she said. "Fire

-away."

-

-"I told you once that I was frightened of you," said Thrale. "I want

-to know if you have ever been frightened of yourself--or of me?"

-

-"I could never be frightened of you," she replied, and looked away

-towards the rising darkness of the shadows across the hurrying river,

-"and I haven't been afraid of myself--yet. I don't think----"

-

-"Wouldn't you be frightened of me if I picked you up and ran shouting

-into the woods?" he asked, fiercely.

-

-Her eyes met his without reserve. "Dear old man," she said. "I

-should love it. I'm so glad you understand. That was the one thing

-that prevented our being real friends. I've wanted so much to be

-frank and open with you. It's all these silly reserves that make love

-abominable. Now we can be two jolly, clean human beings who understand

-each other, can't we? And we shall be such ripping good friends always;

-quite open and honest with each other."

-

-He drew a deep, sighing breath and put his arms round her, drew

-her close to him and laid his face against hers. "I've been such an

-awful ass," he said. "I've always thought that love was unclean. I've

-been like that Jenkyn woman. I've been prurient and suspicious and

-evil-minded. I've been like the people who cover up statues. But

-there was an excuse for me--and for them, too. I didn't know, because

-there was no woman like you to teach me. All the women I've known have

-been secretive and sly. They've fouled love for me by making it seem

-a hidden, disreputable thing. Oh! we shall be ripping good friends,

-little Eileen--magnificent friends."

-

-"This is a jolly old boat, isn't it?" replied Eileen,

-inconsequently. "Don't smother me, old man. And, I say, do you

-think we'll be able to raid some soap from somewhere? Do look at

-my hands! You couldn't be friends with a chap who had hands like

-that!" ...

-

-"There's one thing I'd like to remark," said Eileen the next

-morning. There had been a frost in the night, and there was every

-promise of an easy ride back to Marlow.

-

-"Yes?" said Thrale, examining the deflated tyres of two bicycles they

-had chosen from a shop in the High Street.

-

-"We'd never have understood each other so well if we hadn't worked

-together on the same job," said Eileen.

-

-"Well, of course not," returned Thrale. His tone seemed to imply

-that she had stated a truth that must always have been obvious to

-sensible people.

-

-"That and there being no footle about marriage," concluded Eileen.

-

-

-

-

-4

-

-A third factor that had contributed to the perfection of that complete

-understanding was not realized by either until they were descending

-the hill into Bisham.

-

-"I rather wish we weren't going back," said Eileen. "Let's stop a

-moment. I want to talk. We've never thought of what we're going to do."

-

-"Do?" said Jasper, as he dismounted. "Well, we've just got to make an

-announcement and that's the end of it. The Jenkyns lot have all gone."

-

-"It isn't the end, it's the beginning," replied Eileen. "Don't you

-see that we can't even explain?"

-

-"We sha'n't try."

-

-"We shall. We shall have to--in a way. It'll take years and years to

-do it. But the point is that they won't understand, now, none of them,

-not even Elsie Durham. We aren't free any longer."

-

-"We aren't alone," she added, bringing the hitherto unacknowledged

-factor into prominence.

-

-Thrale frowned and looked up into the thin brightness of the frosty

-sky. "Yes, I understand," he said. "It's public opinion that compels

-one to regard love as shameful and secret. Alone together, free from

-every suspicion, we hadn't a doubt. But now, we have to explain and we

-can't explain, and we are forced against our wills to wonder whether

-we can be right and all the rest of the world wrong."

-

-"We are right," put in Eileen.

-

-"Only we can't prove it to anyone but ourselves."

-

-"And we shouldn't want to, if we hadn't got to live with them."

-

-For a moment they looked at one another thoughtfully.

-

-"No, we mustn't run away," Jasper said, with determination, after

-a pause. "Look, the flood has begun to go down already. That's our

-work. There's other work for us to do yet."

-

-For a time they were silent, looking down on to Marlow and out over

-the valley.

-

-"We didn't go over that hill," said Eileen, at last, pointing to the

-distant rise of Handy Cross.

-

-"No," replied Jasper, and then, "we won't hide behind hills. Damn

-public opinion."

-

-"Oh, yes, damn public opinion," agreed Eileen. "But we won't stay in

-Marlow always."

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XX--THE TERRORS OF SPRING

-

-

-1

-

-The frost gave way on the third night, and for ten days there

-was a spell of mild weather with some rain. Carrie Oliver began to

-contemplate the possibility of getting forward with such ploughing as

-still remained to be done. She proposed to have an increased acreage

-of arable that year, and less pasture, less hay and less turnips; the

-arable was to include potatoes, beans and peas. For the community was

-rapidly tending towards vegetarianism. They had no butcher in Marlow,

-and the women revolted against the slaughter of cattle and sheep. They

-were hesitating and clumsy in the attack, and so inflicted wounds which

-were not fatal, they turned sick at the sight of the brute's agonies

-and at the appalling spurts of blood, and finally when the animal was

-at last mercifully dead, they bungled the dissection of the carcase.

-

-"I'd sooner starve than do it again," was the invariable decision

-pronounced by any new volunteer who had heroically offered to provide

-Marlow with meat, and even Carrie Oliver admitted that it was a

-"beastly dirty job."

-

-"Only," she added "we'll 'ave to go on breeding calves or we won't

-get no milk, an' what are we goin' to do with the bullocks?"

-

-The committee wondered if some form of barter might not be

-introduced. Wycombe and Henley might have something to offer

-in exchange, or, failing that, might be urged to accept these

-superfluous beasts as a present, returning the skins and horns,

-for which there might be a use in the near future. Sheep must be

-reared for their wool--the clothes of the community would not last

-for ever. The subjects of tanning and weaving were being studied

-by certain members of the now enlarged committee. Neither operation

-presented insuperable difficulties.

-

-Now that a certain supply of food was provided for, the community

-was already turning its energy towards the industries. Many schemes

-were being planned and debated. Marlow was well situated, with

-such abundance of water and wood at its gates; and the question of

-attracting desirable immigrants had been raised.

-

-Time was afforded for the consideration of all these schemes by the

-great frost which began on New Year's Day and lasted until the end

-of February.

-

-The frost came first from the south-west, and for three days the

-country was changed into a fairy world built of sharp white crystals,

-a world that was seen dimly through a magic veil of mist. Then followed

-a black and bitter wind from the north-east, that bought a thin and

-driving snow, and when the wind fell the country was locked in an

-iron shell that was not relaxed for six weeks.

-

-The flood had nearly subsided before the first frost came, but the

-river was still high, and presently the water came down laden with

-ice-floes, that jammed against the weir and the mill, and formed a

-sheet of ice that gradually crept back towards the bridge.

-

-All field and mill work was stopped, and Thrale and Eileen spent two

-or three days a week making excursions to London, bringing back coal

-and other forms of riches.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-Their fear of being misunderstood had proved to have been an

-exaggeration. In that exalted mood of theirs, which had risen to such

-heights, after four days of adventurous solitude, they had come a

-little too near the stars. In finding themselves they had lost touch

-with the world.

-

-Elsie Durham had smiled at their defensive announcement.

-

-"My dear children," she had said, "don't be touchy about it. I am so

-glad; and, of course, I've known for months that you would come to an

-understanding. And there's no need to tell me that your--agreement,

-did you say?--was entirely different to any other. I know. But be

-human about it. Don't apologize for it by being superior to all of us."

-

-"Oh, you're a dear," Eileen had said enthusiastically.

-

-Nevertheless there were many women still left in Marlow who were less

-spiritually-minded than Elsie Durham. Comparative idleness induced

-gossip, and there was more than one party in the community which

-regarded Thrale and Eileen with disfavour.

-

-The old ruts had been worn too deep to be smoothed out in a few

-months, however heavy had been the great roller of necessity. And,

-strangely enough, the life of Sam Evans at High Wycombe was regarded

-by many of the more bigoted with less displeasure than this perfectly

-wholesome and desirable union of Thrale and Eileen. The prostitution

-of Sam Evans was a new thing outside the experience of these women,

-and it was accepted as an outcome of the new conditions. The other

-affair was familiar in its associations, and was condemned on both

-the old and the new precedents.

-

-The mass of the women were quite unable to think out a new morality

-for themselves....

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-Relief from all these foolish criticisms, gossipings and false emotions

-came when the frost broke. A warm rain in the first week of March

-released the soil from its bonds, and as the retarded spring began

-to move impatiently into life there was a great call for labour.

-

-But as the year ripened the temperament of the community exhibited

-a new and alarming symptom.

-

-There was a terrible spirit of depression abroad.

-

-All Nature was warm with the movement of reproduction. Nature was

-growing and propagating, thrusting out and taking a larger hold upon

-life. Nature was coming to the fight with new reserves and allies,

-a fruitful and increasing army, eager for the struggle against this

-little decreasing band of sterile humanity. Nature was prolific and

-these women were barren.

-

-And in some inexplicable way the consciousness of futility had spread

-through the Marlow community. Some posthumous children had been

-born since the plague, a few young girls--Millie among them--were

-pregnant, but death had been busier than life during the winter,

-and from outside came stray reports that in other communities death

-had been busier still.

-

-What hope was there for that generation? They were too few to cope with

-their task. Grass was growing in their streets, their houses were in

-need of repair, and after their day's labour in the fields to provide

-themselves with food, they had neither strength nor inclination to

-take up the battle anew.

-

-Moreover, the spice was gone from life. Some inherent need for

-emulation was gone. They were ceasing to take any pride in their

-persons, and in their clothes. They wore knickerbockers or trousers for

-convenience in working, and suffered a strange loss of self-esteem in

-consequence. Many of the younger women still returned in the evenings

-to what skirts and ribbons they still possessed, but the habit was

-declining. The uselessness of it was growing even more apparent. There

-were no sex distinctions or class distinctions among them. Of what

-account was it that one girl was prettier or better dressed than

-her neighbour? What mattered was whether she was a stronger or more

-intelligent worker.

-

-Above all, the woman's need for love and admiration could find no

-outlet. They realized that they were becoming hardened and unsexed,

-and revolted against the coming change. Something within them rose

-up and cried for expression, and when it was thwarted it turned to

-a thing of evil....

-

-The mind of the community was becoming distorted. Hysteria, sexual

-perversions, and various forms of religious mania were rife. Young

-women broke into futile and unsatisfying orgies of foolish dancing,

-and middle-aged women became absorbed in the contemplation of a male

-and human god.

-

-Even the committee did not escape the influence of the growing

-despair. They looked forward to a future when such machines and

-tools as they possessed would be worn out, and they had no means of

-replacing them.

-

-Thrale had reported that the line to London was becoming unsafe for

-the passage of his trucks. Rust was at work upon the rails; rain and

-floods had weakened embankments; young growths were springing up

-on the permanent way, and it was hopeless to contemplate any work

-of repair. In the old days an army of men had been needed for that

-work alone. The country roads needed re-metalling, and the houses

-restoration; they had not the means or the labour to undertake half

-the necessary work. There were breaches in the river bank and a large

-and apparently permanent lake was forming in the low meadows towards

-Bourne End. All about them Nature was so intensely busy in her own

-regardless way, and they were helpless, now, to oppose her.

-

-The age of iron and machinery was falling into a swift decline. All

-that the community could look for in the future was a return to

-primitive conditions and the fight for bare life. Every year their

-tools and machines would grow less efficient, every year Nature would

-return more powerful to the attack. In ten years they would be fighting

-her with rude and tedious weapons of wood, grinding their scanty corn

-between two stones, and living from hand to mouth. In the bountiful

-South such a life might have its rewards, but how could they endure

-it in this uncertain and cruel North?

-

-So while the sun rose higher in the sky and the earth was wonderfully

-reclothed, the women of Marlow fell deeper and deeper into the horrors

-of mental depression. What had they to work for, and to hope for,

-save this miserable possession of unsatisfied life?

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-XXI--SMOKE

-

-

-1

-

-One bright morning, at the end of April, Jasper and Eileen sat on

-the cliffs at the Land's End and talked of the future.

-

-Ten days before, they had left Marlow on bicycles to make

-exploration. They intended to return; they had explained they would be

-away for a month at the outside, but in view of the growing depression

-and the loss of spirit shown by the community, they considered it

-necessary to go out and discover what conditions obtained in other

-parts of England. It might be, they urged, that the plague had been

-less deadly in other districts.

-

-"We should not know, here," Jasper had argued. "There may be many men

-left elsewhere; but they might not have been able to communicate with

-us yet. Their attention, like ours, would have been concentrated upon

-local conditions for a time. Eileen and I will find out. Perhaps we

-may be able to open up communication again. In any case we'll come

-back within a month and report."

-

-His natural instinct had taken him into the West Country.

-

-They had left Elsie Durham slightly more cheerful. They had given

-her a gleam of hope, given her something, at last, to which she might

-look forward.

-

-Their own hopes had quickly faded and died as they rode on into the

-West. By the time they reached Plymouth they were thinking of Marlow

-as a place peculiarly favoured by Providence.

-

-At first they had passed through communities conducted on lines

-resembling their own, greater or smaller groups of women working

-more or less in co-operation. In many of these communities a single

-man was living--in some cases two men--who viewed their duty towards

-society in the same light as the Adonis of Wycombe.

-

-But the unit grew steadily smaller as they progressed. It was no

-longer the town or village community but the farm which was the

-centre of activity, and the occupied farms grew more scattered. For

-it appeared that here in the West the plague had attacked women as

-well as men. Another curious fact they learned was that the men had

-taken longer to die. One woman spoke of having nursed her husband

-for two months before the paralysis proved fatal....

-

-And if the depression in Marlow had been great, the travellers

-soon learned that elsewhere it was greater still. The women worked

-mechanically, drudgingly. They spoke in low, melancholy voices when

-they were questioned, and save for a faint accession of interest in

-Thrale's presence there, and the signs of some feeble flicker of hope

-as they asked of conditions further north and east, they appeared to

-have no thought beyond the instant necessity of sustaining the life to

-which they clung so feebly. Thrale and Eileen rode on into Cornwall,

-not because they still hoped, but because they both felt a vivid

-desire to reach the Land's End and gaze out over the Atlantic. They

-wanted to leave this desolate land behind them for a few hours,

-and rest their minds in the presence of the unchangeable sea.

-

-"Let us go on and forget for a few days," Eileen had said, and so

-they had at last reached the furthest limit of land.

-

-Cornwall had proved to be a land of the dead. Save for a few women

-in the neighbourhood of St Austell, they had not seen a living human

-being in the whole county.

-

-And so, on this clear April morning, they sat upon this ultimate

-cliff and talked of the future.

-

-

-

-

-2

-

-The water below them was delicately flecked with white. No long

-rollers were riding in from the Atlantic, but the fresh April breeze

-was flicking the crests of little waves into foam; and, above, an

-ever-renewed drift of scattered white clouds threw coursing shadows

-upon the blues and purples of the curdling sea.

-

-Eileen and Thrale had walked southwards as far as Carn Voel to avoid

-the obstruction to vision of the Longships, and on three sides they

-looked out to an unbroken horizon of water, which on that bright

-morning was clearly differentiated from the impending sky.

-

-"One might forget--here," remarked Eileen, after a long silence.

-

-"If it were better to forget," said Jasper.

-

-Eileen drew up her knees until she could rest her chin upon them,

-embracing them with her arms. "What can one do?" she asked. "What

-good is it all, if there is no future?"

-

-"Just to live out one's own life in the best way," was the answer.

-

-She frowned over that for a time. "Do you really believe, dear,"

-she said, when she had considered Jasper's suggestion, "do you really

-believe that this is the end of humanity?"

-

-"I don't know," he said. "I have changed my mind half a dozen times

-in the last few days. There may be a race untouched somewhere--in

-the archipelagos of the South Seas, perhaps--which will gradually

-develop and repeople the world again."

-

-"Or in Australia, or New Zealand," she prompted.

-

-"We should have heard from them before this," he said. "We must have

-heard before this."

-

-"And is there no hope for us, here in England, in Marlow? There are a

-few boys--infants born since the plague, you know--and there will be

-more children in the future--Evans's children and those others. There

-were two men in some places, you remember."

-

-"Can they ever grow up? It seems to me that the women are

-dying. They've nothing to live for. It's only a year since the

-plague first came, and look at them now. What will they be like in

-five years' time? They'll die of hopelessness, or commit suicide,

-or simply starve from the lack of any purpose in living, because work

-isn't worth while. And the others, the mothers, that have some object

-in living, will fall back into savagery. They'll be so occupied in the

-necessity for work, for forcing a living out of the ground somehow,

-that they'll have neither time nor wish to teach their children. I

-don't know, but it seems to me that we are faced with decrease,

-gradually leading on to extinction.

-

-"And I doubt," he continued, after a little hesitation, "I doubt

-whether these sons of the new conditions will have much vitality. They

-are the children of lust on the father's side, worse still, of tired

-lust. It does make a difference. Perhaps if we were a young and

-vigorous people like the old Jews the seed would be strong enough

-to override any inherent weakness. But we are not, we are an old

-civilization. Before the plague, we had come to a consideration of

-eugenics. It had been forced upon us. A vital and growing people

-does not spend its time on such a question as that. Eugenics was a

-proposition that grew out of the necessity of the time. It was easy

-enough to deny decadence, and to prove our fitness by apparently sound

-argument, but, to me, it always seemed that this growing demand for

-some form of artificial selection of parents, by restriction of the

-palpably unfit, afforded the surest evidence. Things like that are

-only produced if there is a need for them. Eugenics was a symptom."

-

-Eileen sighed. "And what about us?" she asked.

-

-"We're happy," replied Jasper. "Probably the happiest people in

-the world at the present time. And we must try to give some of our

-happiness to others. We must go back to Marlow and work for the

-community. And I think we'll try in our limited way to do something

-for the younger generation. Perhaps, it might be possible for us

-to go north and try our hands at making steel, there are probably

-women there who would help us. But I don't think it's worth while,

-unless to preserve our knowledge and hand it on. We can only lessen

-the difficulty in one little district for a time. As the pressure

-of necessity grows, as it must grow, we shall be forced to abandon

-manufacture. The need for food will outrun us. We are too few, and it

-will be simpler and perhaps quicker to plough with a wooden plough

-than to wait for our faulty and slowly-produced steel. The adult

-population, small as it is, must decrease, and I'm afraid it will

-decrease more rapidly than we anticipate, owing to these causes of

-depression and lack of stimulus...."

-

-"Oh, well," said Eileen at last, getting to her feet, "we're happy,

-as you say, and our job seems pretty plain before us. To-morrow, I

-suppose, we ought to be getting back, though I hate taking the news

-to Elsie."

-

-Jasper came and stood beside her, and put his arm across her

-shoulders. "We, at any rate, must keep our spirits up," he said. "That,

-before everything."

-

-"I'm all right," said Eileen, brightly. "I've got you and, for the

-moment, the sea. We'll come back here sometimes, if the roads don't

-get too bad."

-

-"Yes, if the roads don't get too bad."

-

-"And, already, the briars are creeping across the road from hedge to

-hedge. The forest is coming back."

-

-"The forest and the wild."

-

-He drew her a little closer and they stood looking out towards the

-horizon.

-

-

-

-

-3

-

-In the south-west the clear line had been wiped out and what looked

-like mist was sweeping towards them.

-

-"There's a shower coming," said Thrale.

-

-They stood quietly and let the sharp spatter of rain beat in their

-faces, and then the shadow of the storm moved on and the horizon line

-was clear again.

-

-"That's a queer cloud out there," said Eileen. "Is it another shower?"

-

-She pointed to a tiny blur on the far rim of the sea.

-

-"It is queer," said Thrale. "It's so precisely like the smoke of

-a steamer."

-

-For a few seconds they gazed in intent silence.

-

-"It's getting bigger," broke out Eileen, suddenly excited. "What is

-it, Jasper?"

-

-"I don't know. I can't make it out," he said. He moved away from her

-and shaded his eyes from the glare of the momentarily cloudless sky.

-

-"I can't make it out," he repeated mechanically.

-

-The blur was widening into a grey-black smudge, into a vaguely diffused

-smear with a darker centre.

-

-"With the wind blowing towards us----" said Jasper, and broke off.

-

-"Yes, yes--what?" asked Eileen, and then as he did not answer, she

-gripped his arm and repeated importunately. "What? Jasper, what? With

-the wind blowing towards us?"

-

-"By God it is," he said in a low voice, disregarding her question. "By

-God it is," he repeated, and then a third time, "It is."

-

-"Oh! what, what? Do answer me! I can't see!" pleaded Eileen.

-

-But still he did not answer. He stood like a rock and stared without

-wavering at the growing cloud on the horizon.

-

-And then the cloud began to grow more diffused, to die away, and

-Eileen could see tiny indentations on the sky line, indentations

-which pushed up and presently revealed themselves as attached to a

-little black speck in the remotest distance.

-

-"Oh, Jasper!" she cried, and her eyes filled with inexplicable tears,

-so that she could see only a misty field of troubled blue.

-

-"It's a liner," said Jasper at last, turning to her. He looked puzzled

-and his eyes stared through her. "And its coming from America. Do

-you suppose the American women----"

-

-The boat was revealed now. They could see the shape of her, the high

-deck, the two tall funnels and the three masts. She was passing across,

-fifteen miles or so to the south of them, making up Channel.

-

-For a moment they felt like shipwrecked sailors on a lonely island,

-who see a vessel pass beyond hail.

-

-"Oh, Jasper, what can it be?" Eileen besought him.

-

-"It's a White Star boat," he said, and he still spoke as if his mind

-was far away. "Is it possible, is it anyway possible that America

-has survived? Is it possible that there is traffic between America

-and Europe, and that they pass us by for fear of infection? How do

-we know that vessels haven't been passing up the Channel for months

-past? Why should we think that this is the first?"

-

-"It is the first," proclaimed Eileen. "I feel it. Oh, let us hurry. Let

-us ride and ride as fast as we can to Plymouth or Southampton. I

-know they'll be coming to Plymouth or Southampton. Men, Jasper,

-men! No women would dare to run a boat at that pace. See how fast

-she is going. Oh hurry, hurry!"

-

-He caught fire then. They ran back to find their bicycles. They ran,

-and presently they rode in silence, with fierce intensity. They rode

-at first as if they had but ten miles to go, and the lives of all

-the women in England depended upon their speed.

-

-And though they slackened after the first few miles they still rode

-on with such eager determination that they reached Plymouth at sunset.

-

-But they could see no sign of the liner in the waters about

-Plymouth. They saw only the deserted hulks of a hundred vessels that

-had ridden there untouched for twelve months, futile battleships and

-destroyers among them; great, venomous, useless things that had become

-void of all meaning in the struggle of humanity.

-

-"It's not here. Let's go on!" said Eileen.

-

-Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "It's well over a hundred miles to

-Southampton," he said. "Nearer a hundred and fifty, I should say."

-

-"But we must go on, we must," urged Eileen.

-

-It was evident that Jasper, too, felt a compelling desire to go on. He

-stood still with a look of intense concentration on his face. Eileen

-had seen him look thus, when he had been momentarily frustrated by

-some problem of mill machinery. She waited expectant for the solution

-she was sure would presently emerge.

-

-"A motor," he said, speaking in short disconnected sentences. "If

-we can find paraffin and petrol and candles--light of some sort. The

-engines wouldn't rust, but they'd clog. It must be paraffin. We daren't

-clean with petrol by artificial light. It's possible. Let's try...."

-

-That night Jasper did not sleep, but Eileen, as she sat beside him in

-the softly moving motor, soon lost consciousness of the dim streak

-of road and black river of hedge. The moon, in her third quarter,

-had risen before midnight, and when they started was riding deep in

-the sky, half veiled by a vast wing of dappled cirrus. And that, too,

-merged into her dream. She thought she was driving out into the open

-sea in a ship which became miraculously winged and soared up towards

-an ever-approaching but unincreasing moon. She woke with a start to

-find that it was broad daylight and that a thin misty rain was coming

-up from the sea.

-

-"The Solent," said Jasper, pointing to a distant gleam below them.

-

-On the common they stopped and stood up in the car, watching a distant

-smear of smoke that stained the thin mist.

-

-"She'll be coming up Southampton Water with the lead going," said

-Jasper, trying desperately to be calm.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-EPILOGUE

-

-

-THE GREAT PLAN

-

-On the evening of that day Jasper and Eileen dined on board the

-"Bombastic," that latest development of the old trans-Atlantic

-competition in shipbuilding, the boat that had made her first journey

-to New York carrying fugitives from England in the days when the

-threat of the plague grew hourly more imminent. The "Bombastic"

-had not justified her name, she had fled from Southampton without

-ceremony, and she had not returned for over a year. The "Apologetic"

-would have been more apt.

-

-And on this evening of her return, the demeanour of that crowd of

-quiet serious men in the huge over-decorated saloon, gave no hint of

-bombast. As they listened intently to the rapid story of their two

-travel-stained and somewhat ragged guests, there was no hint of brag

-or boast among them all. They came not as conquerors but as friends.

-

-"But oh, it's your story we want to hear," broke in Eileen at last.

-

-She had been strangely quiet so far, she had become suddenly conscious

-of the defects of her dress. The old associations were swarming about

-her. Eighteen months ago she had sat in just such another saloon

-as this, courted and flattered, the daughter of a great aristocrat,

-a creature on a remote and gorgeous pedestal. Now it seemed that she

-was neither greater nor less than any man present. She was one of

-them, not set apart. She looked down at her hands, still oil-stained

-by her struggles with the motor on the previous night.

-

-Jasper had been more patient. He was not less eager than Eileen to

-hear the explanation of this wonderful visit, of the resurrection

-of these twelve hundred men from a dead and silent world. But he had

-restrained his impatience and told his story first. He knew that so

-he would be more quickly satisfied. He would be able to listen to

-men who were not tense with an anxiety to ask questions.

-

-They were sitting now at one end of a long table in the saloon, after

-eating a meal that had provided once more the longed-for satisfaction

-of salt.

-

-"Well," said an American at the head of the table, turning to Eileen

-in answer to her protest, "we've maybe been selfish in putting all

-these questions but we're looking ahead. We aren't forgetting that

-we've a big work to do."

-

-"But how did you get here?" asked Eileen impetuously. "How is it that

-you're all alive?"

-

-"Well, as to that, you'd better ask the doctor, there," replied the

-American. "He's a countryman of yours, and he's been in the thick of

-it and knows the life story of that plague microbe like the history

-of England."

-

-The doctor, a bearded, grave-eyed man, looked up and smiled.

-

-"Hardly that," he said. "We shall never know now, I hope, the history

-of the plague organism. It was never studied under the microscope--we

-were too busy--and now we trust that the bacillus--if it were a

-bacillus--has encompassed its own destruction. What interests you,

-however, is that this sudden, miraculously sudden, development of its

-deadly power as regards humanity ran through a determinable cycle

-of evolution. From what you've told us, already, it seems clear, I

-think, that even in England the bacillus was losing what I may call

-its effectiveness. The men in the West Country you've described,

-probably died from starvation and neglect."

-

-He paused for a moment and then continued: "Now in America both men

-and women were attacked. There was certainly a greater percentage of

-male cases, but I suppose something like half the female population

-was infected as well. As far as one can judge the bacillus was simply

-losing power. But for all we know it may have developed, it may be

-entering on a new stage of evolution, and in some apparently haphazard

-way now be beneficial to man instead of deadly. Such things may be

-happening every day below the reach of our knowledge. The little

-world is hidden from us, even as the great world is hidden....

-

-"However," he went on more briskly, "the thing we do know is that the

-symptoms of the new plague in America differed materially from our

-expectation of them, gathered from the accounts that had reached us

-from the Old World. In England the paralysis lasted, I believe, some

-forty-eight hours and ended in death. In America the paralysis rarely

-ended fatally, but it lasted in some cases for six months. 'Paresis,'

-we called it. The patient was perfectly conscious but practically

-unable to move hand or foot."

-

-"That paresis gave us time to do some very clear and consecutive

-thinking, I may remark," put in an American. "I had four months to

-study my ideas of life."

-

-The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "America is no less changed than

-England," he said, "but it is another change. Well, you understand

-that we did not all get the plague over there; the thing was less

-deadly in attack and about ten per cent of us were left to look after

-the patients."

-

-"And find food," interpolated one of the listeners.

-

-"That was a time we won't ever forget," agreed another.

-

-"Sure thing," said some one, and a general murmur of assent ran round

-the table.

-

-"And all the machines were idle, of course," continued the doctor,

-"and even when the tide of recovery began to flow we had to turn our

-attention first to the getting of food."

-

-"If it hadn't been for that we'd have been here before this," said a

-young man. "I feel we owe England and Europe some kind of an apology,

-but we just had to get busy on food growing right away. We couldn't

-spare a ship's crew till three weeks ago."

-

-"And the others are hard at it over there still," put in another. "This

-is just a pioneer party."

-

-"It's all so comprehensible now," said Thrale after a silence, "but

-we had no idea, we never thought there could be any one living in

-America. We thought that somehow we must have heard. One forgets...."

-

-"We tried to get on to you," said one of the party, "by cable and

-wireless. We kept on tapping away for months, but we got no reply. We

-thought you must be all dead too."

-

-"Well, we guessed you were having a real bad time anyway," amended

-another. "You see we knew the way that plague had taken Europe but

-we kept hoping and trying to get on to you all the same."

-

-

-

-"We've got a message for Elsie, after all," Eileen said to Jasper

-the next day. "There's hope for us yet."

-

-"Yes, there's hope," said Jasper.

-

-They had been up at the town railway station assisting a party of

-Americans to investigate the condition of the rolling stock and the

-permanent way. Neither could be pronounced satisfactory. A few women

-had come in from the neighbouring country that morning attracted by

-the sight of an inexplicable pillar of smoke, and their report of

-local conditions had been equally uninspiring. They had spoken of

-famine and failure, but their faces had been lit by a new brightness

-at the sight of this miraculous little army of men. There had been

-hope in the faces and bearing of these toil-worn women, faith in the

-promise of support and succour.

-

-Now Jasper and Eileen stood looking down towards the harbour. The tide

-was creeping in to efface the repulsive ugliness of the mud flats,

-and the sluggish water rippled faintly against the foul sloping sides

-of small boats that had lain anchored there for more than twelve

-months. Behind them, across the line, was a row of unsightly houses,

-hung with weather-slating.

-

-"Oh, there's hope," repeated Jasper.

-

-He was thinking of all the work that lay before them, and yet he

-had faith that a new and better civilization would arise. "We must

-get things going again," had been the Americans' phrase, and they

-apparently faced the future without a qualm.

-

-But Jasper's mind was perplexed with the detail of the mechanical

-work that must be faced, detail so intricate and confused that he

-was bewildered by its complexity. It appeared to him that the crux

-of the whole problem lay in the North, in the counties of coal and

-iron. Coal and steel were the first essentials, he thought. They must

-begin there in however small a way, and America must send out more

-men, continually more men. To-morrow he was going back in the motor,

-with two experts, to the cable hut in Sennen Cove. They were going to

-test the cable and hoped to re-establish communication with America,

-and then more ships would come and more men, ever more men.

-

-And, even so, they could do little at first, and beyond lay the whole

-of Europe and still further the whole of Asia. Were women there, also,

-maintaining the terrible fight against Nature in the awful struggle to

-find food? Steel and coal we must have, was the burden of his thought,

-and in his imagination he pictured the waking of factories and mines,

-he had a vision of little engines running....

-

-Eileen's thought had flown ahead. With one magnificent leap she had

-passed from the contemplation of present necessity to a realization

-of the dim future. And her thought found words.

-

-"Hope, lots of hope," she said. "Hope of a new clean world. We've

-got such a chance to begin all over again, and do it better. No

-more sweated labour, Jasper, and no more living on the work of

-others. We've just got to pull together and work for each other. If

-we can get enough food, and we can now with all these dear men come

-to help us, we can do such wonderful things afterwards. There'll be

-lots of children growing up in a few years' time, and we shall teach

-them the things we've had to learn by the force of necessity. They'll

-begin so differently because, although we have had the experience

-of all history, we sha'n't be bound by all the foolish conventions

-that grew out of it. Such a silly incongruous growth, wasn't it? But

-I suppose it couldn't be helped in one way. We were so penned in. We

-all had our rotten little places to keep and that took all our time. We

-never had a chance to consider the broad issues, the real fundamental

-things. But you've got to consider the fundamental things when you

-start clean away from a new beginning.

-

-"And, oh! Jasper, surely we have all learnt certain things to avoid,

-haven't we? I mean class distinctions and sex distinctions, and things

-like that. Women won't trouble any more about titles and all that rot

-now, and anyway there aren't any left to trouble about. And social

-conditions will be so different now that there won't be any more

-marriage. Marriage was a man's prerogative; he wanted to keep his

-woman to himself, and keep his property for his children. It never

-really protected women, and anyway they were capable of protecting

-themselves if they'd been given a chance. I know the children were a

-difficulty in the old days, but they won't be now. It'll be everybody's

-business to see that the children get looked after, and a woman won't

-starve just because she hasn't got a husband to keep her. She'll get

-better wages than that. The women who have children will be the most

-precious things we shall have. They'll live healthier lives, too, and

-they won't be incapacitated as they used to be. They'll work and be

-strong instead of spending all their time either in doing nothing or

-pottering about the house in an eternal round of cleaning the stupid,

-ugly things we used. We shall have to have all new houses, Jasper,

-when we get things going again.

-

-"Oh, it will be splendid," she broke out in a great burst of

-enthusiasm, "and we begin to-day. We have begun."

-

-Jasper nodded. "It's a wonderful opportunity," he said.

-

-"Wonderful, wonderful," repeated Eileen. "We all, men and women, start

-level again. Equality, Jasper, It's a beautiful word--Equality. Of

-course I know how unequal we all are from one point of view, and

-there must come a sort of aristocracy of intellect and efficiency. But

-underneath there will be a true equality for all that, and we shall

-see to it that no man or woman can abuse their powers by making

-slaves again. What a world of slaves it used to be, and we weren't

-even slaves to intellect and efficiency, only to wealth and to money,

-and to some foolish idea of position and power."

-

-"Well, we've got our work to do, here and now," said Jasper after a

-long pause.

-

-"Work? Of course, and I love it," returned Eileen, "and while we work

-we've got to think and teach."

-

-The tide was coming in steadily, and near them an old boat that had

-been lying on the mud was now afloat once more and had taken on some

-of its old dignity.

-

-Eileen pointed to it. "We're afloat again," she remarked.

-

-"Embarked on the greatest plan the world has ever known," added Jasper.

-

-"Oh, it's all part of the great plan," concluded Eileen.

-

-

-

-                                THE END

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Goslings, by J. D. Beresford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Goslings
+
+Author: J. D. Beresford
+
+Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53611]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSLINGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project
+Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously
+made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                GOSLINGS
+
+                                   By
+
+                            J. D. BERESFORD
+
+               Author of "The Hampdenshire Wonder," etc.
+
+
+                                 London
+                           William Heinemann
+                                  1913
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+THE NEW PLAGUE
+
+
+I--THE GOSLING FAMILY
+
+
+1
+
+"Where's the gels gone to?" asked Mr Gosling.
+
+"Up the 'Igh Road to look at the shops. I'm expectin' 'em in every
+minute."
+
+"Ho!" said Gosling. He leaned against the dresser; the kitchen was
+hot with steam, and he fumbled for a handkerchief in the pocket of
+his black tail coat. He produced first a large red bandanna with which
+he blew his nose vigorously. "Snuff 'andkerchief; brought it 'ome to
+be washed," he remarked, and then brought out a white handkerchief
+which he used to wipe his forehead.
+
+"It's a dirty 'abit snuff-taking," commented Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Well, you can't smoke in the orfice," replied Gosling.
+
+"Must be doin' somethin', I suppose?" said his wife.
+
+When the recital of this formula had been accomplished--it was hallowed
+by a precise repetition every week, and had been established now for
+a quarter of a century--Gosling returned to the subject in hand.
+
+"They does a lot of lookin' at shops," he said, "and then nothin' 'll
+satisfy 'em but buyin' somethin'. Why don't they keep away from 'em?"
+
+"Oh, well; sales begin nex' week," replied Mrs Gosling. "An' that's a
+thing we 'ave to consider in our circumstances." She left the vicinity
+of the gas-stove, and bustled over to the dresser. "'Ere, get out of
+my way, do," she went on, "an' go up and change your coat. Dinner'll
+be ready in two ticks. I shan't wait for the gells if they ain't in."
+
+"Them sales is a fraud," remarked Gosling, but he did not stop to
+argue the point.
+
+He went upstairs and changed his respectable "morning" coat for a
+short alpaca jacket, slipped his cuffs over his hands, put one inside
+the other and placed them in their customary position on the chest of
+drawers, changed his boots for carpet slippers, wetted his hair brush
+and carefully plastered down a long wisp of grey hair over the top
+of his bald head, and then went into the bathroom to wash his hands.
+
+There had been a time in George Gosling's history when he had not been
+so regardful of the decencies of life. But he was a man of position
+now, and his two daughters insisted on these ceremonial observances.
+
+Gosling was one of the world's successes. He had started life as
+a National School boy, and had worked his way up through all the
+grades--messenger, office-boy, junior clerk, clerk, senior clerk,
+head clerk, accountant--to his present responsible position as head of
+the counting-house, with a salary of £26 a month. He rented a house
+in Wisteria Grove, Brondesbury, at £45 a year; he was a sidesman
+of the church of St John the Evangelist, Kilburn; a member of Local
+Committees; and in moments of expansion he talked of seeking election
+to the District Council. A solid, sober, thoroughly respectable man,
+Gosling, about whom there had never been a hint of scandal; grown
+stout now, and bald--save for a little hair over the ears, and that
+one persistent grey tress which he used as a sort of insufficient
+wrapping for his naked skull.
+
+Such was the George Gosling seen by his wife, daughters, neighbours,
+and heads of the firm of wholesale provision merchants for whom he had
+worked for forty-one years in Barbican, E.C. Yet there was another man,
+hardly realized by George Gosling himself, and apparently so little
+representative that even his particular cronies in the office would
+never have entered any description of him, if they had been obliged
+to give a detailed account of their colleague's character.
+
+Nevertheless, if you heard Gosling laughing uproariously at some story
+produced by one of those cronies, you might be quite certain that it
+was a story he would not repeat before his daughters, though he might
+tell his wife--if it were not too broad. If you watched Gosling in the
+street, you would see that he took a strange, unaccountable interest in
+the feet and ankles of young women. And if many of Gosling's thoughts
+and desires had been translated into action, the Vicar of St John the
+Evangelist would have dismissed his sidesman with disgust, the Local
+Committees would have had no more of him, and his wife and daughters
+would have regarded him as the most depraved of criminals.
+
+Fortunately, Gosling had never been tempted beyond the powers of
+his resistance. At fifty-five, he may be regarded as safe from
+temptation. He seldom put any restraint upon his thoughts, outside
+business hours; but he had an ideal which ruled his life--the ideal
+of respectability. George Gosling counted himself--and others counted
+him also--as respectable a man as could be found in the Metropolitan
+Police area. There were, perhaps, a quarter of a million other men
+in the same area, equally respectable.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+As he was drying his hands, Gosling heard the front door slam and
+his daughters' voices in the passage below, followed by a shrill
+exhortation from the kitchen: "Now, gels, 'urry up, dinner's all
+ready and your father's waitin'!"
+
+Gosling trotted downstairs and received the usual salute from his two
+girls. He noted that they were a shade more effusive than usual. "Want
+more money for fal-lals," was his inward comment. They were always
+wanting money for "fal-lals."
+
+He adopted his usual line of defence through dinner and constantly
+brought the subject of conversation back to the need for a reduction
+of expenses. He did not see Blanche wink at Millie across the table,
+during these strategic exercises; nor catch the glance of understanding
+which passed between the girls and their mother. So, as his dinner
+comforted and cheered him, Gosling began to relax into his usual
+facetiousness; incredibly believing, despite the invariable precedents
+of his family history, that his daughters had been convinced of the
+hopelessness of approaching him for money that evening.
+
+The credulous creature even allowed them to make their opening,
+and then assisted them to a statement of their petition.
+
+They were talking of a friend's engagement to be married, and Gosling
+with an obtuseness he never displayed in business remarked, "Wish my
+gels 'ud get married."
+
+"Talking about us, father?" asked Blanche.
+
+"Well, you're the only gels I've got--as I know of," said Gosling.
+
+"Well, how can you expect us to get married when we haven't got a
+decent thing to put on?" returned Blanche.
+
+Gosling realized his danger too late. "Pooh! That don't make any
+difference," he said hastily, adopting a thoroughly unsound line of
+defence; "I never noticed what your mother was wearing when I courted
+'er."
+
+"Dessay you didn't," replied Millie, "I dessay most fellows couldn't
+tell you what a girl was wearing, but it makes just all the difference
+for all that."
+
+"Of course it does," said Blanche. "A girl's got no chance these days
+unless she can look smart. No fellow's going to marry a dowdy."
+
+"It does make a big difference, there's no denyin'," put in Mrs
+Gosling, as though she was being convinced against her will.
+
+"And now the sales are just beginning----"
+
+Poor Gosling knew the game was up. They had made no direct attack
+upon his pocket, yet; but they would not relax their grip of this
+fascinating subject till they had achieved their object. Blanche was
+saying that she was ashamed to be seen anywhere; and procrastination
+would be met at once by the argument--how well he knew it--based on
+the premise that if you didn't buy at sale-time, you had to pay twice
+as much later.
+
+It was quite useless for Gosling to fidget, throw himself back in
+his chair, frown, shake his head, and look horribly determined;
+the course of progress was unalterable from the direct attack: "Do
+you like to see us going about in rags, father?" through the stage
+of "Well, well, 'ow much do you want? I simply can't afford----"
+and the ensuing haggles down to the despairing sigh as the original
+minimum demanded--in this case no less than five pounds--was forlornly
+conceded, and clinched by Blanche's, "We must have it before the end
+of the week, dad, the sales begin on Monday."
+
+At the end of it all, he received what compensation they had to offer
+him; hugs and kisses, offers to do all sorts of impossible things,
+assistance in getting his armchair into precisely the right position,
+and him into the chair, and the table cleared and the lamp in just
+the right place for him to read his half-penny evening paper which
+was fetched for him from the pocket of his overcoat. And, finally,
+the crux of Gosling's whole position, a general air of complacency,
+good-temper and comfort.
+
+Gosling was an easy-going man, he hated rows.
+
+"Mind you, you two," he remarked with a return to facetiousness as he
+settled himself with his carpet slippers spread out to the fire--"mind
+you, I look on this money as an investment. You two gels got to get
+married; and quick or I shall be in the bankrup'cy Court. Don't you
+forget as these 'fal-lals' is bought for a purpose."
+
+"Oh, don't be so horrid, father," said Blanche, with a change of front;
+"it sounds as if we were setting traps for men."
+
+"Well, ain't you?" asked Gosling. "You said just now----"
+
+"Not like that," interrupted Blanche. "It's very different just wanting
+to look nice. Personally, I'm in no 'urry to get married, thank you."
+
+"You wait till Mr Right comes along," put in Mrs Gosling, and then
+turned the conversation by saying: "Well, father, what's the news
+this evening?"
+
+"Nothin' excitin'," replied Gosling. "Seems this new plague's spreadin'
+in China."
+
+"They're always inventin' new diseases, nowadays, or callin' old ones
+by new names," said Mrs Gosling. The two girls were busy with a sheet
+of note-paper and a stump of pencil that seemed to require frequent
+lubrication; they were making calculations.
+
+"This one's quite new, seemingly," returned Gosling. "It's only the
+men as get it."
+
+"No need for us to worry, then," put in Millie, more as a duty,
+some slight return for benefits promised, than because she took any
+interest in the subject. Blanche was absorbed; her unseeing gaze was
+fixed on the mantelpiece and ever and again she removed the point of
+the pencil from her mouth and wrote feverishly.
+
+"Oh, ain't there?" replied Gosling. He turned his head in order to
+argue from so strong a position. "And where'd you be, and all the
+rest of the women, if you 'adn't got no men to look after you?"
+
+"I expect we could get along pretty well, if we had to," said Millie.
+
+Gosling winked at his wife, and indicated by an upward movement of
+his chin that he was astounded at such innocence. "Who'd buy your
+'fal-lals' for you, I should like to know?" he asked.
+
+"We'd have to earn money for ourselves," said Millie.
+
+"Ah! I'd like to see you or Blanche takin' over my job," replied her
+father. "Why, I'll lay there's 'alf a dozen mistakes in the figurin'
+she's doing at the present moment. Let me see!"
+
+Blanche descended suddenly from visions of Paradise, and put her hand
+over the sheet of note-paper. "You can't, father," she said.
+
+Gosling looked sly. "Indeed?" he said, with simulated surprise. "And
+why not? Ain't I to be allowed to judge of the nature of the investment
+I'm goin' in for? I might give you an 'int or two from the gentleman's
+point of view."
+
+Blanche shook her head. "I haven't added it up yet," she said.
+
+Gosling did not press the point; he returned to his original
+position. "I dunno where you ladies 'ud be if you 'adn't no gentlemen
+to look after you."
+
+Mrs Gosling smirked. "We'll 'ope it won't come to that," she
+said. "China's a long way off."
+
+"Appears as there's been one case in Russia, though," remarked
+Gosling. He saw that he had rather a good thing in this threat of male
+extermination, a pleasant, harmless threat to hold over his feminine
+dependents; a means to emphasize the facts of masculine superiority
+and of the absolute necessity for masculine intelligence; facts that
+were not sufficiently well realized in Wisteria Grove, at times.
+
+Mrs Gosling yawned surreptitiously. She was doing her best to be
+pleasant, but the subject bored her. She was a practical woman
+who worked hard all day to keep her house clean, and received very
+feeble assistance from the daughters for whom her one ambition was
+an establishment conducted on lines precisely similar to her own.
+
+Millie and Blanche had returned to their calculations and were
+completely absorbed.
+
+"In Russia? Just fancy," commented Mrs Gosling.
+
+"In Moscow," said Gosling, studying his Evening News. "'E was an
+official on the trans-Siberian Railway. 'As soon as the disease
+was identified as a case of the new plague,'" read Gosling, "'the
+patient was at once removed to the infectious hospital and strictly
+isolated. He died within two hours of his admission. Stringent measures
+are being taken to prevent the infection from spreading.'"
+
+"Was 'e a married man?" asked Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Doesn't say," replied her husband. "But the point is that if it once
+gets to Europe, who knows where it'll stop?"
+
+"They'll see to that, you may be sure," said Mrs Gosling, with a
+beautiful faith in the scientific resources of civilization. "It said
+somethin' about that in the bit you've just read."
+
+Gosling was not to be done out of his argument. "Very like," he
+said. "But now, just supposin' as this 'ere plague did spread to
+London, and 'alf the men couldn't go to work; where d'you fancy
+you'd be?"
+
+Mrs Gosling was unable to grasp the intricacies of this
+abstraction. "Well, of course, every one knows as we couldn't get on
+without the men," she said.
+
+"Ah! well there you are, got it in once," said Gosling. "And don't
+you gels forget it," he added turning to his daughters.
+
+Millie only giggled, but Blanche said, "All right, dad, we won't."
+
+The girls returned to their calculations; they had arrived at the
+stage of cutting out all those items which were not "absolutely
+necessary." Five pounds had proved a miserably inadequate sum on paper.
+
+Gosling returned to his Evening News, which presently slipped gently
+from his hand to the floor. Mrs Gosling looked up from her sewing
+and put a finger on her lips. The voices of Blanche and Millie were
+subdued to sibilant whisperings.
+
+Gosling had forgotten his economic problems, and his daring
+abstractions concerning a world despoiled of male activity, especially
+of that essential activity, as he figured it, the making of money--the
+wage-earner was enjoying his after-dinner nap, hedged about, protected
+and cared for by his womankind.
+
+There may have been a quarter of a million wage-earners in Greater
+London at that moment, who, however much they differed from Gosling
+on such minor questions as Tariff Reform or the capabilities of the
+then Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have agreed with him as a
+matter of course, on the essentials he had discussed that evening.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+At half-past nine the click of the letter-box, followed by a resounding
+double-knock, announced the arrival of the last post. Millie jumped
+up at once and went out eagerly.
+
+Mr Gosling opened his eyes and stared with drunken fixity at the
+mantelpiece; then, without moving the rest of his body, he began to
+grope automatically with his left hand for the fallen newspaper. He
+found it at last, picked it up and pretended to read with sleep-sodden
+eyes.
+
+"It's the post, dear," remarked Mrs Gosling.
+
+Gosling yawned enormously. "Who's it for?" he asked.
+
+"Millie! Millie!" called Mrs Gosling. "Why don't you bring the
+letters in?"
+
+Millie did not reply, but she came slowly into the room, in her hands
+a letter which she was examining minutely.
+
+"Who's it for, Mill?" asked Blanche, impatiently.
+
+"Father," replied Millie, still intent on her study. "It's a foreign
+letter. I seem to remember the writing, too, only I can't fix it
+exactly."
+
+"'Ere, 'and it over, my gel," said Gosling, and Millie reluctantly
+parted with her fascinating enigma.
+
+"I know that 'and, too," remarked Gosling, and he, also, would have
+spent some time in the attempt to guess the puzzle without looking
+up the answer within the envelope, but the three spectators, who were
+not sharing his interest, manifested impatience.
+
+"Well, ain't you going to open it, father?" asked Millie, and Mrs
+Gosling looked at her husband over her spectacles and remarked,
+"It must be a business letter, if it comes from foreign parts."
+
+"Don't get business letters to this address," returned the head
+of the house, "besides which it's from Warsaw; we don't do nothin'
+with Warsaw."
+
+At last he opened the letter.
+
+The three women fixed their gaze on Gosling's face.
+
+"Well?" ejaculated Millie, after a silence of several seconds. "Aren't
+you going to tell us?"
+
+"You'd never guess," said Gosling triumphantly.
+
+"Anyone we know?" asked Blanche.
+
+"Yes, a gentleman."
+
+"Oh! tell us, father," urged the impatient Millie.
+
+"It's from the Mr Thrale, as lodged with us once," announced Gosling.
+
+"Oh! dear, our Mr Fastidious," commented Blanche, "I thought he was
+dead long ago."
+
+"It must be over four years since 'e left," put in Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Getting on for five," corrected Blanche. "I remember I put my hair
+up while he was here."
+
+"What's he say?" asked Millie.
+
+"'E says, 'Dear Mr Gosling, I expect you will be surprised to 'ear
+from me after my five years' silence----'"
+
+"I said it was five years," put in Blanche. "Go on, dad!"
+
+Dad resumed "... 'but I 'ave been in various parts of the world and it
+'as been quite impossible to keep up a correspondence. I am writing
+now to tell you that I shall be back in London in a few days, and to
+ask you whether you can find a room for me in Wisteria Grove?'"
+
+"Well! I should 'ave thought he'd 'ave written to me to ask that!" said
+Mrs Gosling.
+
+"So 'e should 'ave, by rights," agreed Gosling. "But 'e's a queer
+card is Mr Thrale."
+
+"Bit dotty, if you ask me," said Blanche.
+
+"'S that all?" asked Mrs Gosling.
+
+"No, 'e says: 'I can't give you an address as I go on to Berlin
+immediately, but I will look you up the evening after I arrive. Eastern
+Europe is not safe at the present time. There 'ave been several
+cases of the new plague in Moscow, but the authorities are doing
+everything they can--which is much in Russia--to keep the news out
+of the press, yours sincerely, Jasper Thrale,' and that's the lot,"
+concluded Gosling.
+
+"I do think he's a cool hand," commented Blanche. "Of course you
+won't have him as a paying guest now?"
+
+Gosling and his wife looked at each other, thoughtfully.
+
+"Well----" hesitated Gosling.
+
+"'E might bring the infection," suggested Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Oh! no fear of that," returned her husband, "but I dunno as we want
+a boarder now. Five years ago I 'adn't got my big rise----"
+
+"Oh, no, father; what would the neighbours think of us if we started
+to take boarders again?" protested Blanche.
+
+"It wouldn't look well," agreed Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Jus' what I was thinking," said the head of the house. "'Owever,
+there's no 'arm in payin' us a friendly visit."
+
+"O' course not," said Mrs Gosling, "though I do think it odd 'e
+shouldn't 'ave written to me in the first place.
+
+"He's dotty!" said Blanche.
+
+Gosling shook his head. "Not by a very long chalk 'e ain't," was his
+firm pronouncement....
+
+"Well, girls, what about bed?" asked Mrs Gosling, putting away the
+"bit of mending" she had been engaged upon.
+
+Gosling yawned again, stretched himself, and rose grunting to his
+feet. "I'm about ready for my bed," he remarked, and after another
+yawn he started his nightly round of inspection.
+
+When he returned to the sitting-room the others were all ready to
+retire. Gosling kissed his daughters, and the two girls and their
+mother went upstairs. Gosling carefully took off the larger pieces
+of coal from the fire and put them under the grate, rolled up the
+hearthrug, saw that the window was securely fastened, extinguished
+the lamp and followed his "womenfolk."
+
+As he was undressing his thoughts turned once more to the threat of
+the new disease which was devastating China.
+
+"Rum thing about that new plague," he remarked to his wife. "Seems
+as it's only men as get it."
+
+"They'd never let it spread to England," replied Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Oh! there's no fear of that, none whatever," said Gosling, "but it's
+rum that about women never catching it."
+
+The attitude of the Goslings faithfully reflected that of the immense
+majority of English people. The faith in the hygienic and scientific
+resources which were at the disposal of the authorities, and the
+implicit trust in the vigilance and energy of those authorities, were
+sufficient to allay any fears that were not too imminent. It was some
+one's duty to look after these things, and if they were not looked
+after there would be letters in the papers about it. At last, without
+question, the authorities would be roused to a sense of duty and the
+trouble, whatever it was, would be stopped. Precisely what authority
+managed these affairs none of the huge Gosling family knew. Vaguely
+they pictured Medical Boards, or Health Committees; dimly they
+connected these things with local government; at the top, doubtless,
+was some managing authority--in Whitehall probably--something to
+do with the supreme head of affairs, the much abused but eminently
+paternal Government.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+II--THE OPINIONS OF JASPER THRALE
+
+
+1
+
+"Lord, how I do envy you," said Morgan Gurney.
+
+Jasper Thrale sat forward in his chair. "There's no reason why you
+shouldn't do what I've done--and more," he said.
+
+"Theoretically, I suppose not," replied Gurney. "It's just making
+the big effort to start with. You see I've got a very decent berth
+and good prospects, and it's comfortable and all that. Only when
+some fellow like you comes along and tells one yarns of the world
+outside, I get sort of hankerings after the sea and adventure, and
+seeing the big things. It's only now and then--ordinary times I'm
+contented enough." He stuck his pipe in the corner of his mouth and
+stared into the fire.
+
+"The only things that really count are feeling clean and strong and
+able," said Thrale. "You never really have that feeling if you live
+in the big cities."
+
+"I've felt like that sometimes after a long bicycle ride," interpolated
+Gurney.
+
+"But then the feeling is wasted, you see," said Thrale. "When you
+feel like that and there is something tremendous to spend it upon,
+you get the great emotion as well."
+
+"Like the glimmer of St Agnes' light, after you'd been eight weeks
+out of sight of land?" reflected Gurney, going back to one of Thrale's
+reminiscences.
+
+"To feel that you are a part of life, not this dead, stale life of
+the city, but the life of the whole universe," said Thrale.
+
+"I know," replied Gurney. "To-night I've half a mind to chuck my job
+and go out looking for mystery."
+
+"But you won't do it," said Thrale.
+
+Gurney sighed and began to analyse the instinct within himself,
+to find precisely why he wanted to do it.
+
+"Well, I must go," said Thrale, getting to his feet, "I've got to
+find some sort of lodging."
+
+"I thought you were going to stay with those Gosling people of yours,"
+said Gurney.
+
+"No! That's off. I went to see them last night and they won't have
+me. The old man's making his £300 a year now, and the family's too
+respectable to take boarders." Thrale picked up his hat and held out
+his hand.
+
+"But, look here, old chap, why the devil can't you stay here?" asked
+Gurney.
+
+"I didn't know that you'd anywhere to put me," said Thrale.
+
+"Oh, yes. There's always a room to be had downstairs," said Gurney.
+
+After a brief discussion the arrangement was made.
+
+"It's understood I'm to pay my whack," said Thrale.
+
+"Of course, if you insist----"
+
+When Thrale had gone to fetch his luggage from the hotel, Gurney
+sat pondering over the fire. He was debating whether he had been
+altogether wise in pressing his invitation. He was wondering whether
+the curiously rousing personality of Thrale, and the stories of those
+still existent corners of the world outside the rules of civilization
+were good for a civil servant with an income of £600 a year. Gurney,
+faced with the plain alternatives, could only decide that he would be a
+fool to throw up a congenial and lucrative occupation such as his own,
+in order to face present physical discomfort and future penury. He
+knew that the discomforts would be very real to him at first. His
+friends would think him mad. And all for the sake of experiencing
+some high emotion now and again, in order to feel clean and fresh
+and be able to discover something of the unknown mystery of life.
+
+"I suppose there is something of the poet in me," reflected
+Gurney. "And I expect I should hate the discomforts. One's imagination
+gets led away...."
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+During the next few evenings the conversations between these two
+friends were many and protracted.
+
+Thrale was the teacher, and Gurney was content to sit at his feet
+and learn. He had a receptive mind, he was interested in all life,
+but Uppingham, Trinity Hall, and the Home Civil had constricted his
+mental processes. At twenty-nine he was losing flexibility. Thrale
+gave him back his power to think, set him outside the formulas of
+his school, taught him that however sound his deductions, there was
+not one of his premises which could not be disputed.
+
+Thrale was Gurney's senior by three years, and when Thrale left
+Uppingham at eighteen, he had gone out into the world. He had a
+patrimony of some £200 a year; but he had taken only a lump sum of
+£100 and had started out to appease his furious curiosity concerning
+life. He had laboured as a miner in the Klondike; had sailed, working
+his passage as an ordinary seaman, from San Francisco to Southampton;
+he had been a stockman in Australia, assistant to a planter in Ceylon,
+a furnace minder in Kimberley and a tally clerk in Hong Kong. For
+nearly nine years, indeed, he had earned a living in every country
+of the world except Europe, and then he had come back to London and
+invested the accumulation of income that his trustee had amassed for
+him. The mere spending of money had no fascination for him. During
+the six months he had remained in London he had lived very simply,
+lodging with the Goslings in Kilburn, and, because he could not live
+idly, exploring every corner of the great city and writing articles
+for the journals. He might have earned a large income by this latter
+means, for he had an originality of outlook and a freshness of style
+that made his contributions eagerly sought after once he had obtained
+a hearing--no difficult matter in London for anyone who has something
+new to say. But experience, not income, was his desire, and at the
+end of six months he had accepted an offer from the Daily Post as a
+European correspondent--on space. He was offered £600 a year, but
+he preferred to be free, and he had no wish to be confined to one
+capital or country.
+
+In those five years he had traversed Europe, sending in his articles
+irregularly, as he required money. And during that time his chief
+trustee--a lawyer of the soundest reputation--had absconded, and
+Thrale found his private income reduced to about £40 a year, the
+interest on one of the investments he had made, in his own name only,
+with his former accumulation--two other investments made at the same
+time had proved unsound.
+
+This loss had not troubled him in any way. When he had read in a
+London journal of his trustee's abscondence--he was later sentenced
+to fourteen years' penal servitude--Thrale had smiled and dismissed
+the matter from his mind. He could always earn all the money he
+required, and had never, not even subconsciously, relied upon his
+private fortune.
+
+He had now come back to London with a definite purpose, he had come
+to warn England of a great danger....
+
+One other distinguishing mark of Jasper Thrale's life must be
+understood, a mark which differentiated him from the overwhelming
+majority of his fellow men--women had no fascination for him. Once in
+his life, and once only, had he approached and tasted experience--with
+a pretty little Melbourne cocotte. That experience he had undertaken
+deliberately, because he felt that until it had been undergone one
+great factor of life would be unknown to him. He had come away from
+it filled with a disgust of himself that had endured for months....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Fragments of the long conversations between Thrale and Gurney,
+the exchange of a few germane ideas among the irrelevant mass,
+had a bearing upon their immediate future. There was, for instance,
+a criticism of the Goslings, introduced on one occasion, which had
+a certain significance in relation to subsequent developments.
+
+Some question of Gurney's prompted Thrale to the opinion that the
+Goslings were in the main precisely like half a million other families
+of the same class.
+
+"But that's just what makes them so interesting," said Gurney,
+not because he believed it, but because at the moment he wanted to
+lead the conversation into safe ground, away from the too appealing
+attractions of the big world outside the little village of London.
+
+Thrale laughed. "That's truer than you guess," he said. "Every
+large generalization, however trite, is a valuable contribution to
+knowledge--if it's more or less accurate."
+
+"Generalize, then, mon vieux," suggested Gurney, "from the characters
+and doings of your little geese."
+
+"I've seen glimmerings of the immortal god in the old man," said
+Thrale, "like the hint of sunlight seen through a filthy pane
+of obscured glass. He's a prurient-minded old beast leading what's
+called a respectable life, but if he could indulge his ruling desire
+with absolute secrecy, no woman would be safe with him. In his world
+he can't do that, or thinks he can't, which comes to precisely the
+same thing. He is too much afraid of being caught, he sees danger
+where none exists, he looks to all sorts of possibilities, and won't
+take a million-to-one chance because he is risking his all--which is
+included in the one word, respectability."
+
+"Jolly good thing. What?" remarked Gurney.
+
+"Good for society as a whole, apparently," replied Thrale, "but surely
+not good for the man. I've told you that I have seen glimmerings of
+the god in him, but outside the routine of his work the man's mind
+is clogged. He's not much over fifty, and he has no outlet, now,
+for his desires. He's like a man with choked pores, and his body is
+poisoned. And in this particular Gosling is certainly no exception
+either to his class or to the great mass of civilized man. Well, what
+I wonder is whether in a society which is built up of interdependent
+units the whole can be sound when the greater number of the constituent
+units are rotten."
+
+"But look here, old chap," protested Gurney, "if things are as you say,
+and men rule the country, why shouldn't they alter public opinion,
+and so open the way to do as they jolly well please?"
+
+"Because the majority are too much ashamed of their desires to dare
+the attempt in the first place, and in the second because they don't
+wish to open the way for other men. They aren't united in this; they
+are as jealous as women. If they once opened the way to free love,
+their own belongings wouldn't be safe."
+
+"What's your remedy, then?"
+
+"Oh! a few thousand more years of moral development," said Thrale,
+carelessly, "an evolution towards self-consciousness, a fuller
+understanding of the meaning of life, and a finer altruism."
+
+"You don't look far ahead," remarked Gurney.
+
+"Do you think anyone can look even a year ahead?" asked Thrale.
+
+"There have been some pretty good attempts in some ways--Swedenborg,
+for instance, and Samuel Butler...."
+
+"Yes, yes, that's all right, in some ways--the development of
+certain sorts of knowledge, for example. But there is always the
+chance of the unpredictable element coming in and upsetting the whole
+calculation. Some invention may do it, an unforeseen clash of opinions
+or an epidemic...."
+
+For a time they drifted further away from their original topic till
+some remark reminded Gurney that he had meant to ask a question and
+had forgotten it.
+
+"By the way," he said, "I wanted to ask you what you meant when you
+said you had seen a god in old Gosling?"
+
+"Just a touch of imagination and wonder, now and again," replied
+Thrale. "Something he was quite unconscious of himself. I remember
+standing with him on Blackfriars Bridge, and he looked down at the
+river and said: 'I s'pose it was clean once, banks and sand and so
+on, before all this muck came.' Then he looked at me quickly to see
+if I was laughing at him. That was the god in him trying to create
+purity out of filth, even though it was only a casual thought. It was
+smothered again at once. His training reasserted itself. 'Lot better
+for trade the way it is, though,' was his next remark."
+
+"But how can you alter it?" asked Gurney.
+
+"My dear chap, you can't alter these things by any cut-and-dried plan,
+any more than you can dam the Gulf Stream. We can only lay a brick
+or two in the right place. We aren't the architects; the best of us
+are only bricklayers, and the best of the best can only lay two or
+three bricks in a lifetime. Our job is to do that if we can. We can
+only guess very feebly at the design of the building; and often it is
+our duty partly to pull down the work that our forefathers built...."
+
+Presently Gurney asked if his companion had ever seen a god in Mrs
+Gosling.
+
+Thrale shook his head. "It didn't come within my experience," he
+said. "Don't condemn her on that account, but she, like all the women
+I have ever met, has been too intent upon the facts of life ever to see
+its mystery. Mrs Gosling hadn't the power to conceive an abstract idea;
+she had to make some application of it to her own particular experience
+before she could understand the simplest concept. Morality to her
+signified people who behaved as she and her family did; wickedness
+meant vaguely, criminals, Sarah Jones who was an unmarried mother, and
+anyone who didn't believe in the God of the Established Church. Always
+people, you see, in this connexion; in others it might be things;
+but ideas apart from people or things she couldn't grasp. Her two
+daughters thought in precisely the same way...."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+One Saturday afternoon Thrale came into Gurney's chambers and burst
+out: "Just Heaven! why you fools stand it I can't imagine!"
+
+"What's up now?" asked Gurney.
+
+Thrale sat down and drew his chair up to the table. The pupils of
+his dark eyes were contracted and seemed to glow as if they were
+illuminated from within.
+
+"I was in Oxford Street this morning, watching the women at the
+sales," he said. "All the biggest shops in London are devoted to
+women's clothes. Do you realize that? And it's not only that they're
+the biggest--there are more of them than any other six trades put
+together can show, bar the drink trade, of course. The north side
+of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court Road to the Marble Arch is one
+long succession of huge drapers and milliners. And what in God's name
+is the sense or reason of it? What do these huge shops sell?"
+
+"Dresses, I suppose," ventured Gurney, "and stockings, underlinen,
+corsets, hats, and so on."
+
+"And frippery," said Thrale, fixing his brilliant dark eyes on Gurney,
+"And frippery. Machine lace, ribbons, yokes, cheap blouses, feathers,
+insertions, belts, fifty thousand different kinds of bits and rags
+to be tacked on here and there, worn for a few weeks and then thrown
+away. Millions of little frivolous, stupid odds and ends that are
+bought by women and girls of all classes below the motor-class, to
+make a pretence--gauds and tawdry rubbish not one whit better from the
+artistic point of view than the shells and feathers of any half-naked
+Melanesian savage. In fact, meaningless as the Melanesians' decorations
+are, they do achieve more effect. And what's it all for, I ask you?"
+
+Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.
+
+"The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn't it?" he said. "The
+desire--often subconscious, no doubt--to attract."
+
+"Well, if that is so," said Thrale, "what terribly unintelligent
+fools women must be! If women really set out to attract men, they must
+realize that they are pandering to a sex instinct. Do you think any man
+is attracted by a litter of odds and ends? Doesn't every woman sneer
+when they see some Frenchwoman, perhaps, who dresses to display her
+figure instead of hiding it? Don't they bitterly resent the fact that
+their own men-folk are resistlessly drawn to stare at, and inwardly
+desire, such a woman? Don't they know perfectly well that such a woman
+is attractive to men in a way their own disguised bodies can never be?"
+
+"Yes, old chap; but your average middle-class English girl hasn't
+got the physical attractions to start with," put in Gurney.
+
+"Look at it in another way, then," replied Thrale. "Doesn't every
+woman know perfectly well--haven't you heard them say--that a
+nurse's dress is very becoming--a plain, more or less tightly-fitting
+print dress, with linen collars and cuffs? Don't you know yourself
+that that attire is more attractive to you than any befrilled and
+bedecorated arrangement of lace, ribbons and gauds? Why are so many
+men irresistibly attracted by parlourmaids and housemaids?"
+
+"Yes," meditated Gurney, "that's all true enough. Well, are women
+all fools, or what is it?"
+
+"The majority of women are sheep," said Thrale. "They follow as
+they are led, and don't or won't see that they are being led. And
+the leaders are chiefly men--men who have trumpery to sell. Why do
+the fashions change every year--sometimes more often than that in
+matters of detail? Because the trade would smash if they didn't. New
+fashions must be forced on the buyers, or the returns would drop;
+women would be able to make their last year's clothes do for another
+summer. That must be stopped at any cost. Those vast establishments
+must maintain an enormous turnover if they are to pay their fabulous
+rents and armies of assistants. There are two means of keeping up
+the sales, and both are utilized to the full. The first is to supply
+cheap, miraculously cheap, rubbish which cannot be made to last for
+more than a season. The second is to alter the fashions which affect
+the more durable stuffs, so that last year's dresses cannot be used
+again. This fashion-working scheme reacts upon the poorer buyers,
+because it compels them to do something to imitate the prevailing
+mode, if they can't afford to have entirely new frocks. That is where
+all these bits of frilling and what-not come in; make-believe stuff
+to imitate the real buyers--the large majority of whom don't buy in
+Oxford Street, by the way.
+
+"Mind you, there is a limit to the sheep-like docility of women in this
+connexion. They refused, for instance, to return to the crinoline, and
+they refused the harem skirt--one of the very few sensible devices
+of the fashion-imposers. And this in the face of the prolonged,
+strenuous and expensive methods of the fashion ring. With regard to
+the crinoline, I think that failure was due to over-conceit on the
+part of the fashion-imposers. They had come to believe that they
+could make the poor fools of women accept anything, and on the two
+marked occasions on which they attempted to introduce the crinoline,
+the contrast to the existing mode was too glaring. If the fraud had
+been worked more gradually by way of full skirts and flounces, some
+modification of the crinoline to the necessities of 'buses and tubes
+might have been foisted upon the buyers."
+
+"Oh, my Lord!" ejaculated Gurney; "do you mean to say that women just
+accept these fashions without any sense or reason at all?"
+
+"You're rather a blithering ass, at times, Gurney," remarked Thrale.
+
+Gurney smiled. "You don't give me time to think," he said, "I feel
+like an accumulator being charged. I haven't had time yet to begin
+working on my own account. You're so mighty--so mighty dynamic--and
+positive, old chap."
+
+"Well, it's so absurdly obvious that there must be a reason for women
+accepting the fashions, you idiot!" returned Thrale. "And the first
+and biggest reason is class distinction. The women with money want
+to brag of it by differentiating themselves from the ruck of their
+sisters, and the poor women try to imitate them to the best of their
+ability. Women dress for other women. There is sex rivalry as well as
+class rivalry at the bottom of it, but they dare not put sex rivalry
+first and dress to please men alone, because they are afraid of the
+opinions of other women."
+
+"Sounds all right," said Gurney, and sighed.
+
+"And we, damned fools of men, stand all this foolishness and pay for
+it. Pay, by Jove! I should think so! I should like to see the trade
+returns of all the stuff of this kind that is sold in England alone
+in one year. They would make the naval estimates look small, I'll
+warrant. We even imitate the women's foolishness in some degree. There
+are men's fashions too, but the madness is not so marked; fortunately
+the body of middle-class men can't afford to make fools of themselves
+as well as of their women--though they are asses enough to wear linen
+shirts and collars which are uncomfortable unsightly and expensive
+to wash."
+
+Gurney regarded his lecturer's canvas shirt and collar, and then
+stood up and observed his own immaculate linen in the glass over the
+fireplace. "I must say I like stiff collars and shirts," he remarked;
+"gives one a kind of spruceness."
+
+Thrale laughed. "It's only another sex instinct," he said. "Women
+like men to look 'smart.' When you are playing games with other men,
+or camping out, you don't care a hang for your 'spruceness.' Oh! and
+I'll admit the class distinction rot comes in too. You're afraid
+of public opinion, afraid of being thought common. If the jeunesse
+dorée started the soft shirt in real earnest, you would soon be able
+to persuade your women that that looked smart or spruce, or whatever
+you liked to call it."
+
+"Look here, you know," said Gurney, "you're an anarchist, that's what
+you are."
+
+"You're half a woman, Gurney," said Thrale. "You think in names. All
+people are 'anarchists' who think in ideas instead of following
+conventions."
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+Not until he had been staying with Gurney for more than a week did
+Thrale speak explicitly of his purpose in London. But one cold evening
+at the end of January, as the two men were sitting by a roaring fire
+that Gurney had built up, the younger man unknowingly opened the
+subject by saying,
+
+"Things are pretty slack at the present moment. The Evening Chronicle
+has even fallen back on the 'New Plague' for the sake of news."
+
+"What do they say?" asked Thrale. He was lying back in his chair,
+nursing one knee, and staring up at the ceiling.
+
+"Oh, the usual rot!" said Gurney "That the thing isn't understood,
+has never been 'described' by any medical or scientific authority; that
+it is apparently confined to one little corner of Asia at the present
+time, but that if it got hold in Europe it might be serious. And then
+a lot of yap about the unknown forces of Nature; special article by
+a chap who's been reading too much Wells, I should imagine."
+
+"It seems so incredible to us in twentieth-century England that
+anything really serious could happen," remarked Thrale. "We are
+so well looked after and cared for. We sit down and wait for some
+authority to move, with a perfect confidence that when it does move,
+everything is bound to be all right."
+
+"With such an organism as society has become," said Gurney, "things
+must be worked like that. A certain group to perform one function,
+other groups for other functions, and so on."
+
+"Cell-specialization?" commented Thrale. "Some day to be perfected
+in socialism."
+
+"I believe socialism must come in some form," said Gurney.
+
+"Yes, it's an interesting speculation, in some ways," said Thrale,
+"but the higher forces are about to put a new spoke in the human wheel,
+and the machinery has to be stopped for a time."
+
+"What have you got hold of now?" asked Gurney.
+
+"The thoughtful man," went on Thrale, still staring up at the ceiling,
+"would have asked me to define my expression 'the higher forces.'"
+
+"Well, old man, I knew that was beyond even your capacity," returned
+Gurney, "so I thought we might 'cut the cackle and come to the
+'osses.'"
+
+Thrale suddenly released his knee and sat upright; then he moved his
+chair so that he directly confronted his companion.
+
+"Look here, Gurney," he said, and the pupils of his eyes contracted
+till they looked like black crystal glowing with dark red light. "Do
+you realize how some outside control has always diverted man's
+progress; how when nations have tended to crystallize into specialized
+government, some irruption from outside has always broken it up? You
+can trace the principle through all known history, but the most
+marked cases are those of the Egyptians and the Incas--two nations
+which had developed specialized government to a science. There is
+some power--whether we can credit it with an intelligence in any way
+comprehensible to us from the feeble basis of our own knowledge,
+I doubt--but there is some outside power which will not permit
+mankind to crystallize into an organism. From our, human, point of
+view, from the point of view of individual comfort and happiness,
+it would be of enormous benefit to us if we could develop a system
+of specialization and swamp the individual in the community. And in
+times of peace and prosperity that is always the direction in which
+civilization tends to evolve. But beyond a certain point--as the
+individualists have not failed to point out--that state of perfect
+government will lead to stagnation, degeneration, death. Now, in the
+little span of time that we know as the history of mankind, there
+has been no world-civilization. As soon as a nation tended to become
+over-civilized and degenerate, some other, younger, more barbarous
+people flowed over them and wiped them out. In the case of Peru the
+process had gone very far, owing to the advantages of the Incas'
+peculiar segregation. But then, you see, the development in the East,
+the new world (I ought to explain that I find the oldest civilization
+of the present epoch in America) reached a point in Spain and England
+which sent them out across a hemisphere to wreck and destroy the Incas.
+
+"Well, we have now reached a condition when the nations are in touch
+with one another and progress becomes more general. We are in sight
+of a system of European, Colonial and Trans-Atlantic Socialism,
+more or less reciprocal and carrying the promise of universal
+peace. Whence, you ask, is any irruption to come that will break up
+this strong crystallizing system which is admittedly to work for the
+happiness and comfort of the individual? There has been much talk
+of an Asiatic invasion, a rebellious India or an invading China,
+but those civilizations are older than ours; if we can trust the
+precedents of history in this connexion, the conquerors have always
+been the younger race." He broke off abruptly.
+
+Gurney had been sitting fascinated and hypnotized by the compulsion
+of Thrale's personality; he had been held by the keen, intent stare
+of those wonderful dark eyes. When Thrale stopped, however, the
+tension snapped.
+
+"Well," remarked Gurney, "I think that's a jolly good argument to
+prove that we have, at last, reached a stage of universal progress
+towards the ideal."
+
+"You can't conceive," asked Thrale, "of any cataclysm that would
+involve a return to the old segregation of nations, and bring about
+a new epoch beginning with separated peoples evolving on more or less
+racial lines?"
+
+Gurney pondered for a moment or two and then shook his head.
+
+"Little wonder," said Thrale, "I had often considered this problem,
+and I could think of no upheaval which would bring about the familiar
+effect of submersion. Years ago there was always the possibility of a
+European war, but even that would have only a temporary effect despite
+the forecast of Mr Wells in The War in the Air. No, I considered and
+wondered if my theory was faulty. I was willing to reject it if I
+could find a flaw...."
+
+"And then?" questioned Gurney.
+
+Thrale leaned forward again and once more compelled the other's
+fascinated attention.
+
+"And then, when I was in Northern China, seven weeks ago, I saw a
+solution, so appalling, so inconceivably ghastly, that I rejected
+it with horror. For days I went about fighting my own conviction. I
+couldn't believe it! By God, I would not believe it!
+
+"There, within a hundred and fifty miles of the border of Tibet, the
+outside forces have planted a seed which has been maturing in secret
+for more than a year. There that seed has taken root, and from that
+centre is spreading more and more rapidly, and it may spread over
+the whole world. It is like some filthily poisonous and incredibly
+prolific weed, and its seeds, now that it has once established itself,
+are borne by every wind, dropping here and there in an ever-widening
+circle, every seed becoming a fresh centre of distribution outwards."
+
+"But what, in Heaven's name, is the weed?" whispered Gurney.
+
+"A new disease--a new plague--unknown by man, against which, so
+far as we know, he has no weapon. In those scattered villages among
+the mountains there are no men left to work. Everything is done by
+women. They are prohibited more fiercely than any leper settlement. No
+one dares to approach within five miles of them. But every week or
+two another village is smitten, and the inhabitants fly in terror
+and carry the infection with them.
+
+"Gurney, it's come to Europe! There are new centres of distribution
+in Russia at the present time. If it isn't stopped it will come to
+England. And it doesn't decimate the population. It wipes the men
+clean out of existence; not one man in ten thousand, the Chinese
+say, escapes.
+
+"Is it possible that this can be the means of the 'higher forces'
+I spoke of, the means to segregate the nations once more?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III--LONDON'S INCREDULITY
+
+
+1
+
+Jasper Thrale's mission was no easy one. England, it appeared,
+was slightly preoccupied at the moment, and had no ear for
+warnings. Generally, he was either treated as a fanatic and laughed
+at, or he was told that he greatly exaggerated the danger and that
+these matters could safely be entrusted to the Local Government Board,
+which had brilliantly handled the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth
+disease. But there were some exceptions to this rule.
+
+His first definite statement had been made to his own editor, Watson
+Maxwell of the Daily Post.
+
+"Yes," said Maxwell, when he had given Thrale a patient hearing,
+"it is certainly a matter that needs attention. Would you care to go
+out as our special commissioner and report at length?..."
+
+"There isn't time," replied Thrale. "The thing is urgent."
+
+Maxwell brought his eyebrows together and looked keenly at his
+correspondent. "Do you really think it's so serious, Thrale?" he
+asked. "After all, what evidence have you, beyond the Chinese reports?"
+
+"I know there are several cases in Russia," said Thrale.
+
+"Yes, yes; I don't doubt that," returned Maxwell, with a touch of
+impatience. "But unless you can bring evidence to show that this new
+disease is as deadly as you say, it is not a matter that I could give
+space to at the present time. For one thing, the Evening Chronicle has
+been making rather a feature of it for the last three or four days,
+and I don't see that I could do much unless we had some special inside
+information. Then, the House will be sitting again next week, and
+it seems to me not altogether improbable that we shall have a stormy
+session, which will mean that a good deal of ordinary matter will have
+to give way...." He broke off, and then added, with a friendly smile:
+"But if you would go out as our commissioner, we should be glad to
+make you a proposal."
+
+"There will be no need for a commissioner in a week's time," replied
+Thrale. "You don't seem to understand that I'm not looking out for a
+job. I don't want to write articles; I don't want to be paid for the
+information I can supply. I foresee a grave danger, which is growing
+more grave hourly by reason of the Russian Government's censorship of
+all reports referring to the plague. It is a danger which should be
+understood at once. If you send any commissioner, send the cleverest
+physician you can find, and a bacteriologist."
+
+There could be no doubt of Thrale's earnestness, and Maxwell, who was
+not only a very capable editor, but also an able and intellectual man,
+was impressed. Unfortunately, the interests of his proprietors at
+that moment necessitated a great effort to prop up the very unstable
+Liberal Government, which had been in power for four years and was
+now on its last legs. It was so essential from the proprietors' point
+of view--three of them were on the Government front bench--that the
+dissolution should be postponed until such time as the Ministry could
+go to the country with a reasonable prospect of success. A tentative
+English Church Disestablishment Bill was to be introduced in the coming
+session, and it was hoped that if the Government had to go to the
+country they could make a platform on that one clear issue. It was a
+good Bill, designed to win the Nonconformist vote, without completely
+alienating the High Church party. In other words, the Government was
+eager at that moment to please the majority of the electors, which is,
+presumably, the highest object of a representative government.
+
+"If it had been at any other time," said Maxwell, and pushed his
+chair back.
+
+Thrale understood that the interview was at an end. He rose from his
+chair and picked up his hat.
+
+"We shall be glad to print any articles you care to send us," said
+Maxwell, with his kind smile, "but I can't undertake a campaign,
+you understand, at the present moment."
+
+It was nearly four o'clock, but Thrale just managed to catch Groves
+of the Evening Chronicle.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Groves had his hat on, and was just off to tea at his club when
+Thrale's name was sent in to him. He told the messenger that he would
+see Mr Thrale in the waiting-room downstairs.
+
+Thrale had had some experience of newspaper methods, and he inferred
+that the reception was equivalent to a refusal to see him. He knew
+what those interviews in downstairs waiting-rooms implied. It was
+not the first time that he had been treated like an insurance agent
+or a tradesman and told, in effect, "Not to-day, thank you."
+
+In this case he was mistaken in his inference. Groves had had an
+eye on Thrale's articles for some time past, and though he thought
+it a diplomatic essential to keep his man waiting for ten minutes,
+he had no intention of offending him.
+
+Groves came into the waiting-room with a slightly abstracted
+air. "Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Thrale," he said. "The fact is,
+that I wanted to finish before I left. Did you want to see me about
+anything particular?"
+
+"Yes," returned Thrale; "I have some facts about the new plague which
+ought to be given publicity at once."
+
+Groves pursed his thick lips and shook his head. "Well, well," he said,
+"will you come and have tea with me at the club?"
+
+He took Thrale's assent for granted, and went out abruptly, leaving
+his guest to follow.
+
+In the taxicab Groves talked of nothing but the lack of originality
+in invention in reference to aeroplanes. He seemed to take it as a
+personal affront that no workable adaptation of the aeroplane had
+been made to short-distance passenger traffic.
+
+Indeed, it was not till after "tea"--in Groves' case an euphemism for
+whisky and soda--that he would approach the subject of Thrale's visit.
+
+"The fact is, my dear fellow," he said, "that our campaign hasn't
+caught on. I'm going to let it down gently and drop it after to-day's
+edition. You see, we've got to get the Government out this session,
+and I'm going to start a new campaign. Can't give you any particulars
+yet, but you'll see the beginning of it next Monday." Like Maxwell,
+Groves differentiated between the uses of the singular and plural
+pronouns in speaking of his work. There was a distinction to be
+inferred between the initiation and responsibilities of the editor
+and those of his proprietors.
+
+Groves was not at all impressed by any earnestness or forebodings. He
+seemed to think that a touch of the plague in London might be rather
+a good thing in some ways. People wanted waking up--especially to
+the importance of getting rid of the present Government.
+
+It appeared that Thrale's articles on other subjects would be
+acceptable to the readers of the Evening Chronicle, but there was no
+suggestion that he should go out to Russia as a special commissioner.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Grant Lacey, of The Times, listened seriously to Thrale's exposition,
+and then, in a finely delivered speech which lasted twenty minutes,
+proved to his own complete satisfaction that Thrale's premises,
+deductions, and whole argument were thoroughly unsound. Lacey,
+however, was greatly interested in the condition of Russia, and
+promised Thrale magnificent terms if he would tour St Petersburg,
+Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw--and then return and contribute a special series
+of articles. References to the new plague would not be prohibited in
+the series if Thrale still found any cause for alarm.
+
+In all, Thrale had interviews with the editors of nine important
+journals; the other six developed on the general lines already
+indicated--either he was not taken seriously or was told that the
+danger was greatly exaggerated. The real causes of his failure were
+two:--first, the critical position of the Government; second, the
+precocious campaign of the Evening Chronicle--the latter had taken
+the wind out of the sails of less enterprising journals.
+
+Thrale's next step was to obtain introductions to Ministers and
+prominent members of the Opposition; but from them he received even
+less attention--he did not obtain interviews on many occasions--and, if
+possible, less encouragement. The President of the Local Government
+Board informed him that the matter was already engaging that
+department's energies; the others were all manifestly preoccupied
+with more immediate interests.
+
+But little less than a fortnight after the initiation of his campaign
+Thrale received a special message from the editor of the Daily Post. It
+was nearly midnight, and the messenger was waiting with a taxicab.
+
+The message ran: "Received through news agency report of three cases
+of plague in Berlin. Can you come down at once?--Maxwell."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IV--MR BARKER'S FLAIR
+
+
+1
+
+Jasper Thrale, in the partial exposition of his philosophy (if
+that description is not too large for such vague imaginings), had
+included very definite reference to certain "higher forces" to which
+he had attributed peculiar powers of interference in humanity's
+management of its own concerns. Doubtless these powers had control
+of various instruments, and were able to exercise their influence
+in any direction and by any means. In the present case it would
+seem that they were working in devious and subtle ways--and in this
+at least they differed not at all from the methods attributable to
+that we have called Providence, or the Laws of Nature; any assumed
+guide or irrefragible, incomprehensible ordination. It is a common
+characteristic of these forces that they seem able to control the
+inconceivably great and the inconceivably small with equal certitude.
+
+Not that George Gosling touched any limits. He was moderately large
+in body and small in intellect, but neither the physical excess nor
+the mental deficiency marked him out from his fellow men. In the
+office, indeed, he was regarded by the firm and his colleagues as a
+capable man of business whose embonpoint was quite consistent with
+his employment by a firm of wholesale provision merchants.
+
+On the Thursday morning that saw the announcement in the morning papers
+that a case of the new plague was reported in Berlin, Gosling was
+called into the partners' private office on some matter of accountancy.
+
+The senior partner of Barker and Prince was eager, grasping and
+imaginative; his name had originally been German, and ended, in
+"stein," but he had changed it for the convenience of his English
+connexion. Prince was a large rubicund man, friendly and noisy in
+his manners, but accounted a shrewd buyer.
+
+It was not until Gosling was about to depart that the higher forces
+turned their attention to Barbican and then they suddenly urged
+Gosling to say, without premeditation on his part,
+
+"I see there's a case of this 'ere new plague in Berlin."
+
+Mr Prince laughed and winked at his subordinate. "Some of us'll have
+to start a hareem, soon; who knows?" he said, and laughed again,
+more loudly than ever.
+
+"I suppose you haf not heard any other reports, eh?" asked Mr Barker.
+
+"Well, curiously enough, I 'ave," said Gosling. "A young feller who
+used to lodge with us five years back, come 'ome from Russia about
+a fortnight since, and 'e tells me as the plague's spreadin' like
+wildfire in Russia."
+
+Mr Prince laughed again, and Mr Barker seemed about to turn his
+attention to other matters, when the higher forces sent Gosling the
+one great inspiration of his life. It came to him with startling
+suddenness, but he gave utterance to it as simply and with as little
+verve as he spoke his "good morning" to the office-boy.
+
+"I been thinkin', sir," he said (he had never once thought of it until
+this moment), "as it might be well to keep a neye on this plague,
+so to speak."
+
+"Ah! Zo?" said Mr Barker; a phrase which Gosling correctly interpreted
+as the expression of a desire for the elucidation of his last remark.
+
+"Well, I been thinkin', if you'll excuse me, sir," he went on, "as
+though the plague's only in the bud, so to speak, at the present time,
+it seems very likely to spread so far as we can judge; and that what
+with quarantine, p'raps, and p'raps shortage of labour and so on,
+it might mean 'igher prices for our stuff."
+
+"Zo!" said Mr Barker, but this time the monosyllable was
+reflective. The great inspiration had found fruitful soil.
+
+"Brince," continued Barker after a minute's thought, "I haf a
+flair. We will buy heavily at once. But not through our London
+house, no; or others will follow us too quickly. You must not go,
+we will zend Ztewart from Dundee, it will zeem that we prepare for
+the zhipping strike in the north. We buy heavily; yes? I haf a flair."
+
+"But, I say," said Mr Prince, who had the greatest confidence in his
+partner's insight, "I say, Barker, d'you think this plague's serious?"
+
+"I am putting money on it, ain't I?" asked Barker.
+
+Prince and Gosling exchanged a scared glance. Until that moment it
+had not come home to either of them that it was possible for English
+affairs to be affected by this strange and deadly disease.
+
+The remainder of the conversation was complicated and exceedingly
+technical.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+When he came back into the counting-house, Gosling looked unnaturally
+thoughtful.
+
+"Anything gorne wrong?" asked his crony, Flack.
+
+"There's nothing wrong with the 'ouse, if that's what you mean,"
+replied Gosling mysteriously.
+
+"What then?" asked Flack.
+
+"It's this 'ere new plague," returned Gosling.
+
+"Tchah! That's all my eye," said Flack. He was a narrow-chested,
+high-shouldered man of sixty, with a thin grey beard, and he had a
+consistently incredulous mind.
+
+Out here in the counting-house, Gosling's thrill of fear was rapidly
+subsiding, and he had no intention of passing over his own important
+part in the house's decision to buy for a rise; so he bulged out his
+cheeks, shook his head and said:
+
+"Not by a long chalk it ain't, Flack; not by a long chalk. There
+was that young feller, Thrale, as I was tellin' you about; 'e gave
+me a hidea or two, and now s'mornin' we 'ave this very serious news
+from Berlin."
+
+"Papers 'ave to make the worst of everything," said Flack. "It's
+their livin'."
+
+"Anyways," continued Gosling, "I put it quite straight to the 'ouse
+this mornin', as we might do worse under the circumstances than buy
+'eavily...."
+
+"You did?" asked Flack, and he cocked up his spectacles and looked
+at Gosling underneath them.
+
+"I did," replied Gosling.
+
+"What did Mr Barker say to that?" asked Flack.
+
+"He took my advice."
+
+"Lord's sakes, you don't tell me so?" said Flack, his spectacles on
+his forehead.
+
+"I'm now about to dictate various letters to our 'ouse in Dundee,"
+replied Gosling, dropping his voice to a whisper, and assuming an
+air of mysterious importance, "advising them to send our Mr Stewart
+to Vienna immediate, from where 'e is to proceed to Berlin. 'E is,
+also, to 'ave private instructions from the 'ouse as to the extent
+of 'is buyin'--which I may tell you in confidence, Flack, will be
+enormous--e-normous." Gosling raised his head slowly on the first
+syllable, brought it down with a jerk on the second, and left the
+third largely to the imagination.
+
+"But d'yer mean to tell me," expostulated Flack, "as all this is on
+account of this plague? They been usin' that as a blind, my boy."
+
+Gosling laid a bunch of swollen fingers on his colleague's arm. "I
+tell you, Flack, old boy," he said, "that this is serious. When Mr
+Barker took up my advice, as 'e did very quick, Mr Prince said, 'You
+don't tell me as you really take this plague serious, Barker?' 'e
+said. And Mr Barker looked up and says, 'I'm goin' to put all my
+money on it.'" Gosling paused and then repeated, "Mr Barker says as
+'e's goin' to put all our money on it, Flack."
+
+"Lord's sakes!" said Flack. Here, indeed, was an argument strong enough
+to break down even his consistent incredulity. "But d'yer mean to tell
+me," he persisted, "that Mr Barker thinks as it'll come to England?"
+
+"We-el, you know," returned Gosling, "we need not, p'raps go quite
+so far as that. But it may go far enough to interfere with European
+markets, there may be trouble with quarantine, and such-like...."
+
+"Ah, well, that," said Flack with an air of relief. "Jus' so, jus'
+so. Mr Barker can see as far through a brick wall as most people,
+and so I've always said." He dropped his spectacles on to his nose
+again, and returned to his interrupted accountancy.
+
+Gosling went fussily into his own room and rang for his typist--a
+competent and presentable young woman, among whose duties that of
+turning her superior's letters into equivalent English was not the
+lightest.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Gosling was very full of importance that day, and during lunch he
+wore the air of a man who had secret and valuable information. He
+was too well versed in City methods and too loyal to his own house
+to give any hint of Barker and Prince's speculations in Austria and
+Germany; but when the subject of the new plague inevitably came into
+the conversation, he spoke with an authority that was heightened by
+the hint of reserve implicit in his every dictum.
+
+When the latest joke on the subject, fresh from the Stock Exchange,
+had been retailed by one of the usual group of lunchers, and had
+been received with the guffaws it merited, Gosling suddenly screwed
+his face to an unaccustomed seriousness and said, "But it's serious,
+you know, extremely serious."
+
+And by degrees, from this and many other better informed sources,
+the rumour ran through the City that the new plague was serious,
+extremely serious. That afternoon there was a slight drop of prices in
+certain industrial shares, and a slight rise in wheat and some other
+imported food stuffs; fluctuations which could not be attributed to
+ordinary causes. Mr Barker's foresight was justified once again in
+the eyes of Gosling and Flack. Before five o'clock another letter
+was posted to Dundee, enforcing haste.
+
+In the bosom of his family that evening, Gosling was a little pompous,
+and talked of economy. But his wife and daughters, although they
+assumed an air of interest, were quite convinced that the head of
+the house in Wisteria Grove was making the most of a rumour for his
+own purposes.
+
+As Blanche said to Millie, later, father was always finding some
+excuse for keeping them short of dress money. That five pounds had
+proved inadequate to supply even their immediate necessities, and
+they were already meditating another attack.
+
+"We simply must get another three pounds somehow," said Millie. And
+Blanche quite agreed with her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+V--THE CLOSED DOOR
+
+
+1
+
+There was a lull for forty-eight hours after that announcement of
+the case of the new plague in Berlin, and Maxwell was beginning to
+regret his headlines when the news began to come in, this time in
+volume. The Russian censorship had broken down, and the news agencies
+were suddenly flooded with reports. There were several thousand cases
+of the plague in Eastern Russia; the north and south were affected,
+many men were dying in such towns as Kharkov and Rostov; there were
+a dozen cases in St Petersburg; there was a such a rush of reports
+that it was quite impossible to distinguish between those that were
+probably true and those that were certainly false.
+
+The morning papers gave as much space as they could spare, and had
+even broken up some of the matter dealing with the arrangements for
+the opening of Parliament on that day. But the evening papers had
+news that put all previous reports in the shade. Eleven more cases
+were reported in Berlin, three in Hamburg, five in Prague and one in
+Vienna. But more important, more thrilling still, was the news that
+H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo, the Tsar's younger brother, had died of
+the plague in Moscow, and Professor Schlesinger in Berlin. Until that
+startling announcement came, the English public had incomprehensibly
+imagined that only peasants, Chinamen and people of the lower social
+grades were attacked by this strange new infection.
+
+In the later editions it was reported on good authority that Professor
+Schlesinger had been observing a sample of the blood of the first
+case of plague that had been recognized in Berlin.
+
+Nevertheless the majority of readers, after glancing through the
+obituary notices of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo and of the world-famed
+bacteriologist, turned to the account--only slightly abbreviated--of
+the opening of Parliament. And in many households the subject of
+the new plague gave place to the fiercely controversial topic of the
+English Church Disestablishment Bill, which had been indicated in the
+King's Speech as a measure that was to be introduced in the forthcoming
+session. Many opponents of the Bill coupled the two chief items of
+news and said that the plague was a warning against infidelity. It
+may be assumed that they found sufficient warrant for the killing
+of a few thousand Russians, including a prince of the blood and a
+great German scientist, in the acknowledged importance of England
+among the nations. The death of half a million or so Chinamen in the
+first instance had been a delicate hint; now came the more urgent
+warning. Who knew but that if this sacrilegious Bill were passed,
+England herself might not be smitten. When warnings are disregarded,
+judgments follow. The Evangelicals found a weapon ready to their
+hands....
+
+But what precisely was the nature of the new plague, none of the
+journals was as yet able to say. The symptoms had not as yet been
+"described" by any medical authority, for it appeared that, contrary
+to modern precedent, the doctor himself, despite all precautions,
+was peculiarly subject to infection. Out of the eleven new cases in
+Berlin, no less than four were medical men.
+
+From the layman's point of view the symptoms were briefly as follows:
+Firstly, violent pains at the base of the skull, followed by a period
+of comparative relief which lasted from two to five hours. Then,
+a numbness in the extremities, followed by rapid paralysis. Death
+ensued in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the pains were
+first experienced. No case, as yet, was known to have recovered. A
+well-known physician in London gave it as his opinion that the disease
+was a hitherto unknown form of cerebro-spinal meningitis of unexampled
+virulence. He protested that the word "plague" was a false description,
+but that word had already been impressed on the public mind, and the
+disease was spoken of as the "new plague" until the end.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The next morning all London was reading a heavily-leaded article
+by Jasper Thrale. It appeared first in the Daily Post, with the
+announcement that it was not copyright, and all the evening papers
+took it up, and some of them reprinted it in its entirety.
+
+The article began by pointing out that in the recent history
+of civilization Europe had been subject to a long succession of
+pestilences. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries,
+wrote Thrale, the Black Death, now commonly supposed to be a form
+of the bubonic plague, was practically endemic in England. In more
+recent times small-pox had been responsible for enormous mortality
+among all classes, and, in our own day, tuberculosis. In the two
+former examples, Thrale pointed out, and in many other diseases,
+infectious or contagious, or both, these pestilences had gradually
+lost virulence. By the elimination of those most susceptible to
+infection and incapable to resist the onslaught of the disease, and
+by the survival of those whose vitality was strong enough either to
+resist attack or to achieve recovery, mankind at last were gradually
+becoming immune against certain infections which had prevailed in the
+past. And in a greater or less degree this immunity was without doubt
+being obtained against a whole host of lesser ills. This comparative
+immunity, in fact, was one of the means of man's evolution towards
+a more perfect physical body.
+
+"But let us consider for a moment," wrote Thrale, "the appalling
+danger which threatens us when we are attacked by a pestilence which
+is entirely new to humanity; new, so far as we know, to the world. In
+the middle of the fourteenth century the Black Death is recorded in
+some places to have killed two-thirds of the whole population, and,
+notwithstanding the modern improvement in sanitation and general
+hygiene, there is no inherent reason why another pestilence may not
+appear, which may be even more deadly. And we are faced at the present
+moment with the awful threat that such a pestilence has appeared, the
+pestilence commonly known as the 'new plague.' There is no reason why
+we should consider the appearance as without precedent in history;
+there is no reason why we should regard its coming as outside the
+laws of common probability; finally, and most decisively, there is
+no reason why England should not be smitten.
+
+"According to report among the Chinese, this 'new plague' has been
+spasmodically epidemic in Tibet for more than a century. We have, as
+yet, no certain facts upon which to base any hypothesis, but is it not
+credible that during that time some bacterium or bacillus--hitherto
+harmlessly parasitic, perhaps, in the blood of lower animals--has
+changed its life habit? In the isolated and sparsely inhabited
+regions of Tibet, it is possible that for many thousand years the
+assumed bacterium was never bred in the blood of man; it is possible
+that when it first found a new host it was comparatively harmless
+to him, but within a hundred years it may have become so altered by
+new conditions that it has developed into what is practically a new
+species. If these theories are relatively true, it is not unlikely
+that this new bacterium is working out its own destruction by the
+destruction of its hosts. It may be that it is one of those blind
+alleys of evolution which reach a certain stage of development and
+then disappear. But meanwhile what of mankind? We know so little of
+the history of microscopic life. There is a whole world of evolution
+in process of which we have no conception, and at this stage, whether
+my hypothesis be a possible one or not, we are at least sure that an
+unknown organism--animal or vegetable--has become visible to us in
+its effects and may alter the whole history of mankind.
+
+"I lay stress on these aspects, because we are so hide-bound, so
+restricted, so conventional in our ideas that we assume, without
+thought, that the process of life as we know of it from a few thousand
+years of history can never be interrupted. In our few years of
+individual existence we become accustomed to certain apparent laws of
+cause and effect, and will not believe that there can be any exception
+to those assumed laws. But, now, in the face of recent evidence, it is
+absolutely essential that we should realize instantly and practically
+that we are threatened with a new factor in life, which imperils the
+whole human race. It is no longer safe to comfort ourselves with the
+belief--begotten of our vanity--that the world was necessarily made for
+man. It behoves us to take measures for our protection without delay,
+to undertake our own cause and trust no longer in any beneficent
+Providence that works always for our ultimate benefit.
+
+"These measures of protection are clearly indicated. We must close our
+doors against the invasion of the plague. Quarantine will not protect
+us; we must have no traffic with Europe until the danger is past. By
+the happy accident of our position we can become isolated from the
+rest of the world. We must close our doors before it is too late."
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+If the people had not been seriously scared by the sudden irruption of
+news on the day preceding that on which this article was published,
+they would have ignored Thrale's hyperboles--or laughed. But, caught
+in a moment of agitation and fear, a certain section of the crowd took
+up Thrale's suggestion, talked about the "closed door," held meetings,
+and started propaganda. The Press, with its genius for appreciating
+and following public opinion, also took up the suggestion, and was
+automatically divided into two sections, recognizable as Liberal
+and Conservative.
+
+The Times took command of the situation with a leader, in which
+Thrale's argument was pounded, rather than picked, to pieces;
+but the Daily Mail produced more effect with two special articles
+contributed, one by a bacteriologist, the other by a professor of
+economics. The first had little weight--all argument under that head
+was as yet founded on the most uncertain hypotheses. The second was
+so convincing that the less ardent supporters of the "closed door"
+policy were shaken in their convictions.
+
+The writer of the economic article pointed out that an England with
+closed doors could not feed herself for a month. He was scrupulously
+fair in his argument, and was at great pains to show that even if
+preparation was instantly made to lay in large stores of grain from
+Canada, tinned meats from America, and food-stuffs generally from
+the many places which were as yet free from any taint of plague, it
+would still be impossible to provide for more than a three months'
+isolation. Then, leaving this aspect of the question, he went on to
+show in detail that even if the food could be supplied, the practical
+cessation of our enormous foreign trade would mean the destruction of
+England's commerce, and he wound up with an earnest exhortation to
+the country at large, warning the people to beware of scaremongers,
+pessimists, and opportunists who had their own ends to serve, and
+cared nothing for the general welfare. It was an excellent article
+in every way; quite one of the best that the Daily Mail had ever
+published. And as this, too, was declared free of any copyright
+restrictions, it was largely circulated.
+
+The Daily Post replied next morning by pointing out that the
+celebrated professor of economics was nullifying all his own previous
+utterances on the case for Tariff Reform, but that retort carried
+little weight. No one cared if the professor contradicted himself;
+anyone, except the faddists, could see that the argument of the
+article was sound, in fact incontrovertible. What had to be done was
+to put pressure on the Local Government Board. It was true that the
+Daily Post, the semi-official organ of the Government, affirmed that
+the Board in question was alert and active, but that announcement
+was regarded as a cliché; what was wanted were particulars of the
+preventive measures that were being taken.
+
+The members of the great Gosling family, in offices, warehouses
+and shops followed the line of least resistance, while making some
+assertion of their rights as citizens.
+
+George Gosling's arguments with his crony Flack were excellently
+representative.
+
+"What yer think of this 'closed door' business?" asked Flack.
+
+"Goin' a bit too far, in my opinion," returned Gosling judicially.
+
+Flack's natural incredulity had inclined him in the same direction,
+but his colleague's certainty swung him round at once.
+
+"I ain't so sure o' that," he said. "Looks to me as things is going
+pretty bad."
+
+"Bad enough, I grant you," returned Gosling. "But there isn't no
+need for us to lose our 'eads over it. Take it all round, you know,
+it's pretty certain as things isn't as bad as is made out, whereas,
+on the other 'and, the 'closed door' policy'd mean ruin and starvation
+for 'undreds of thousands--there's no gettin' round that."
+
+"Better a few 'undred thousands than the 'ole male population,"
+said Flack.
+
+"If it come to that, but it won't; no fear, not by a long chalk,
+it won't," replied Gosling. "What's got to be done is to get the
+Local Government Board to work. We've got to 'ave a regular system o'
+quarantine established, that's what we've got to 'ave."
+
+It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of prevention at
+the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could have been
+adopted. The supporters of the "closed door" policy soon began to
+lose adherents. The scheme was obviously alarmist, far-fetched and
+utterly impracticable....
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Through February and the early part of March the plague spread through
+Central Europe, but not with an alarming rapidity.
+
+In the second week of March, Berlin was reporting a weekly roll of
+over five hundred deaths attributable to this cause, and Vienna was
+second with between four and five hundred. In St Petersburg and Moscow
+the figures were no higher, and there were as yet comparatively few
+cases in France, and none in Spain or Portugal.
+
+Many authorities were of opinion that the mortality had reached the
+maximum, and that the plague would work itself out in the course
+of a few more weeks. Moreover it appeared that the early reports
+of the highly infectious character of the plague must have been
+grossly exaggerated, for as yet there had been not a single case
+in the British Isles despite the enormous traffic between England
+and the Continent. It is true that the strictest quarantine had been
+established--it had been ascertained that the period of gestation of
+the germ was about fifty hours--but not one single case had so far
+been detained in quarantine ships or hospitals. It was argued from
+this that the plague was not infectious at all in the ordinary sense,
+and only mildly contagious; that it flourished in certain centres
+and was not easily transferable from one centre to another.
+
+The only aspect of the thing that was seriously alarming was
+the horrible mortality among doctors and the specialists who were
+endeavouring to recognize and isolate the characteristic germ of the
+disease. Nine English experts who had dared martyrdom in the cause
+of science had gone to Berlin to make investigations, and not one of
+them had returned. As a consequence of this strange susceptibility
+of the investigator, whether medical man or bacteriologist, there was
+still an extraordinary ignorance of the general nature and action of
+the disease.
+
+Nevertheless, despite this one intimidating aspect of the plague,
+the general attitude in the middle of March was that the quarantine
+arrangements were enormously impeding trade and should be relaxed. The
+foreign governments were alive to the seriousness of the scourge,
+and were doing all in their power to prevent infection. There had
+been a scare, but people were calm again, now, and able to realize
+the extent of the earlier exaggerations.
+
+The Government passed the second reading of the English Church
+Disestablishment Bill by a majority of nineteen, before the Easter
+recess, and the Goslings, who had grown used to the plague, whose
+chief attitude towards it was that it was an infernal nuisance which
+interfered with trade, turned their attention gladly to the new topic;
+they all thought that a general election at that moment would result
+in an overwhelming Conservative majority. And as the Liberals had
+been in power for more than ten years, that eventuality was regarded
+with complacency.
+
+But at this critical moment--to the joy of the Evangelicals--the new
+plague set to work in earnest.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VI--DISASTER
+
+
+1
+
+Russia was smitten. Once more communication was cut off from Moscow,
+this time by a different agent. The work of the city was paralysed. Men
+were falling dead in the street, and there were only women to bury
+them. A wholesale emigration had begun. The roads were choked with
+people on foot and in carriages, for the trains had ceased to run.
+
+The news filtered in by degrees: it was confirmed, contradicted and
+definitely confirmed again every few hours.
+
+Then came final confirmation, with the news that something approaching
+war had broken out--a war of defence. Germany had sent troops to the
+frontier to stem the tide of emigrants from smitten Russia and Poland;
+and Austria-Hungary was following her example.
+
+Parliament re-assembled before the Easter recess had expired. The
+time for more drastic measures had come, and the Premier explained
+to the House that it was proposed to bring in a Bill immediately to
+cut off communication with Europe.
+
+There can be no doubt that England was now badly scared, but centuries
+of protection had established a belief in security which was not
+easily shaken.
+
+The enthusiasts for the "closed door" policy found plenty of
+recruits, but on the other side there was a solid body of opinion
+which maintained that the danger was grossly exaggerated. And when the
+Evening Chronicle came out with a long leader and a backing of expert
+opinion, to prove that the "Closed Door" Bill--as it was commonly
+called--was a dodge of the Government's in order to retain office,
+a well-marked reaction followed against the last and terrible step
+of cutting off all communication with Europe; and the Conservative
+party was joined by some avowed Liberals who had personal interests
+to consider in this connexion.
+
+In committee-rooms, members of the Opposition were inclined to be
+jubilant: "If we can throw out the Government on this Bill we shall
+simply sweep the country ... all the manufacturers in the North will
+be with us ... even Scotland, most likely ... we should come back
+with a record majority...."
+
+The prospects were so magnificent that there could be no hesitation
+in making a party question of the Bill.
+
+No time was to be lost, for the Bill was to be rushed, it was an
+emergency measure, and it was proposed that it should become law
+within four days. Preparations were already in hand to carry out the
+provisions enacted.
+
+An urgent rally of the Opposition was made, and when the Bill came up
+for the second reading the Premier addressed a well-filled House. The
+House was not crowded because a large number of people, including many
+members of Parliament, were on their way to America. All the big liners
+were packed on their outward voyage and were returning, contrary to
+all precedent, in ballast--this ballast was exclusively food-stuffs.
+
+The Premier introduced the Bill in a speech which was remarkable
+for its sincerity and earnestness. He outlined the arrangements that
+were being made to feed the community, and showed clearly that while
+communication remained open with America, there was no fear of any
+serious shortage. Pausing for a moment on this question of intercourse
+with America, he made a point of the fact that American ports were
+already closed to emigrants from all European countries with the one
+exception of Great Britain, and that if a single case of plague were
+reported in these islands the difficulties of obtaining food-stuffs
+from America and the Colonies would be enormously increased. He wound
+up by almost imploring the House not to make a party question of so
+urgent and necessary a measure at a time when the safety of England
+was so terribly threatened. He pleaded that at this critical moment,
+unparalleled in the history of humanity, it was the duty of every man
+to sink his own personal interests, to be ready to make any sacrifice,
+for the sake of the community.
+
+Mr Brampton, the leader of the Opposition, then completely destroyed
+the undoubted effect which had been made upon the House. He did
+not openly speak in a party spirit, but he hinted very plainly that
+the Bill under consideration was a mere subterfuge to win votes. He
+poured contempt upon the fear of the plague, which he characterized
+throughout as the "Russian epidemic," and ended with the advice to
+keep a cool head, to preserve the British spirit of sturdy resistance
+instead of shutting our doors and bringing the country to commercial
+ruin. "Are we all cravens," he concluded, "scurrying like rabbits to
+our burrows at the first hint of alarm?"
+
+The further debate, although lengthy, had comparatively little
+influence; the House divided, and the Government was defeated by a
+majority of nine.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The news was all over the country by ten o'clock that night, and it
+was noticeable that a large percentage of the younger generation
+still regarded the danger as "rather a lark." This threat of the
+plague held a promise of high adventure; youth can only realize the
+possibility of death in its relation to others.
+
+"I say, if this bally old plague did come" ... remarked a young man
+of twenty-two, who was sitting with a friend in the little private
+bar of the "Dun Taw" Hotel.
+
+His friend drew his feet up on to the rungs of his tall stool and
+winked at the barmaid.
+
+"Well, go on. What if it did?" remarked that young woman.
+
+The young man considered for a moment and then said: "Those that got
+left would have a rare old time."
+
+"It's the women as'd get left, seems to me," replied the barmaid,
+and scored a point.
+
+"I say, surely you don't come from this part of the world?" was the
+compliment evoked by her wit.
+
+"Not me!" was the answer, "I'm a Londoner, I am. Only started
+yesterday, and sha'n't stay long if to-day's a fair sample. There
+'asn't been a dozen customers in all day, and they were in such a
+'urry to get their tonic and go that I'm sure they couldn't 'ave told
+you whether me 'air was black or ches'nut."
+
+Both men immediately looked at the crown of pretty fair hair which
+had been so churlishly slighted.
+
+"First thing I noticed about you," said one.
+
+The other, who had hardly spoken before, took the cigarette out of
+his mouth and remarked: "You can never get that colour with peroxide."
+
+The barmaid looked a little suspicious.
+
+"Oh, he means it all right, kid," put in the younger man
+quickly. "Dicky's one of the serious sort. Besides, he's in that line;
+travels for a firm of wholesale chemists."
+
+Dicky nodded gravely. "I could see at once it was natural," he remarked
+with the air of an expert.
+
+"Ah! you're one of them that keeps their eyes open," returned the
+barmaid approvingly, and Dicky modestly acknowledged the compliment
+by saying that his business necessitated close observation.
+
+"Most men are as blind as bats," continued the barmaid, and the
+examples she gave from her own experience led to an absorbing
+conversation, which was presently interrupted by the shriek of the
+swing door.
+
+The new-comer was a small, fair man with a neatly waxed moustache. He
+came up to the counter with the air of an habitué, and remarked,
+"Hallo! where's Cis? You're new here, aren't you?"
+
+The barmaid, recognizing the marks of a regular customer, quietly
+admitted that this was only her second day at the "Dun Taw."
+
+"I've been away for two months," explained the fair man, and ordered
+"Scotch." He was evidently in the mood for company, for he brought
+up a stool and, sitting a little way back from the bar, he began to
+address his three hearers at large.
+
+"Only came back from Europe this evening," he said, "and glad to be
+home, I assure you." He raised his left hand with a gesture intended
+to convey horror, and drank half his whisky at a gulp.
+
+Dicky turned to give his serious attention to the narrative which
+was plainly to follow, and somewhat ostentatiously observed the
+details of the new-comer's dress. Dicky had a new-found reputation
+to maintain. His friend looked bored and a little sulky, and tried
+to continue his conversation with the barmaid, but that young woman,
+appreciating the difference in value between a casual and a regular
+customer, passed a broad hint by with a smile and said: "Europe? Just
+fancy!"
+
+"It's a place to get out of, I assure you," said the fair man. "I've
+been over there for two months--Germany and Austria chiefly--but for
+the last fortnight I've been wasting my time. There's nothing doing."
+
+"Isn't there?" commented Dicky with great seriousness.
+
+"Oh, we're sick to death of this bally plague," put in the other
+young man quickly. "There's been simply nothing else in the papers
+for the last I don't know how long. I want to forget it."
+
+The fair man reached forward and put down his empty glass on the bar
+counter. "Same again, Miss," he said, and then: "We'll all be more
+sick of the plague before we've finished with it. It's a terror. If I
+was to tell you a few of the things I've seen in the past fortnight,
+I don't suppose you'd believe me."
+
+"That's all right; I'd believe you quick enough," returned the young
+man. "Point is, what's the good of getting yourself in a funk about
+it? Personally I don't believe it's coming to England. If it was it
+would have been here before this. What I say is ..."
+
+His pronouncement of opinion ceased abruptly. The fair man's behaviour
+riveted attention. He was gazing past the barmaid at the orderly rows
+of shining glasses and various shaped bottles behind her. His mouth
+was open. He gazed intensely, horribly.
+
+The barmaid backed nervously and looked over her shoulder. The
+two young men hastily rose and pushed back their stools. The same
+thought was in all their minds. This neat, fair man was on the verge
+of delirium tremens.
+
+In a moment the air of intercourse and joviality that had pervaded the
+little room was dissipated; in place of it had come shocked surprise
+and fear.
+
+There was an interval of slow desolating silence, and then the
+convulsive grip of the fair man shattered the glass he held, and the
+fragments fell tinkling to the floor.
+
+"I say, what's up?" stammered the barmaid's admirer, while the barmaid
+herself shrank back against the shelves and watched nervously. She
+had had experience.
+
+The fair man's head was being pulled slowly backwards by some invisible
+force. His eyes, staring straight before him, appeared to watch with
+fierce intensity some point that moved steadily up the wall of shelves
+behind the counter; up till it reached the ceiling and began to move
+over the ceiling toward him.
+
+Then, quite suddenly, the horrible tension was relaxed; his head fell
+loosely forward and he clapped both hands to the nape of his neck. He
+was breathing loudly in short quick gasps.
+
+"I say, do you think he's ill?" asked the young man. At the suggestion
+Dicky made a step towards the sufferer; his knowledge of chemistry
+gave him a professional air.
+
+"He's come from Europe.... Suppose it's the plague," whispered the
+barmaid.
+
+And at that the two young men started back. As the words were spoken
+realization swept upon them.
+
+Mumbling something about "get a doctor," they rushed for the door. One
+of them made a wide détour--he had to pass the man who sat doubled
+forward in his chair, frantically gripping the base of his skull.
+
+Hardly had the clatter of the swing door subsided before he fell
+forward on to the floor. He was groaning now, groaning detestably.
+
+The barmaid whimpered and stared. "Women don't get it." she said
+aloud. But she kept to her own side of the counter.
+
+Later the owner of the "Dun Taw" identified the fair man--from a
+distance--as Mr Stewart, of the firm of Barker and Prince.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Thrale's "higher forces" had shown their hand.
+
+The humble and rotund instrument of their choice had served his
+purpose, and he was probably the first man in London to receive the
+news--a delicate acknowledgment, perhaps, of his services.
+
+The telegram was addressed to the firm, but as neither of the heads
+of the house had arrived, Gosling opened it according to precedent.
+
+"Gosh!" was his sole exclamation, but the tone of it stirred the
+interest of Flack, who turned to see his colleague's rather protuberant
+blue eyes staring with a fishy glare at a flimsy sheet of paper which
+visibly trembled in the hold of two clusters of fat fingers.
+
+Flack lifted his spectacles and holding them on a level with his
+eyebrows, said, "Bad news?"
+
+Gosling sat down, and in the fever of the moment wiped his forehead
+with his snuff handkerchief, then discovered his mistake and laid
+the handkerchief carelessly on the desk. This infringement of his
+invariable practice produced even more effect upon Flack than the
+staring eyes and wavering fingers. Gosling might be guilty of mild
+histrionics, but not of such a touch as this. The utter neglect of
+decency exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna could only
+portend calamity.
+
+"Lord's sakes, man, what's the matter?" asked Flack, still taking an
+observation under his spectacles.
+
+"It's come, Flack," said Gosling feebly. "It's in Scotland. Our Mr
+Stewart died of it in Dundee this mornin'."
+
+Flack rose from his seat and grabbed the telegram, which was brief
+and pregnant. "Stewart died suddenly five a.m. Feared plague. Macfie."
+
+"Tchah!" said Flack, still staring at the telegram. "'Feared
+plague.' Lost their 'eads, that's what they've done. Pull yourself
+together, man. I don't believe a word of it."
+
+Gosling swallowed elaborately, discovered his bandanna on the desk and
+hastily pocketed it. "Might 'a been 'eart-disease, d'you think?" he
+said eagerly.
+
+"We-el," remarked Flack, "I never 'eard as 'is 'eart was affected,
+did you?"
+
+Gosling held out his hand for the telegram, and made a further
+elaborate study of it, without, however, discovering any hitherto
+unsuspected evidence relating to the unsoundness of Stewart's heart.
+
+"It says 'feared,' of course," he remarked at last. "Macfie wouldn't
+have said feared if 'e'd been sure."
+
+"They'd 'ardly have mentioned plague in a telegram if they 'adn't
+been pretty certain, though," argued Flack.
+
+Gosling was so upset that he had to go out and get a nip of brandy,
+a thing he had not done since the morning after Blanche was born.
+
+The partners looked grave when they heard the news from Dundee, and
+London generally looked very grave indeed, when they read the full
+details an hour later in the Evening Chronicle.
+
+Stewart, it appeared, had come straight through from Berlin to
+London via Flushing and Port Victoria, and on landing in England he
+had managed to escape quarantine. His was not an isolated case. For
+some weeks it had been possible for British subjects to get past
+the officials. There was nothing in the regulations to allow such an
+evasion of the order, but it could be managed occasionally. Stewart
+had been told to spare no expense.
+
+The Evening Chronicle, although it made the most of its opportunity in
+contents bill and headlines, said that there was no cause for alarm,
+that these things were managed better in Great Britain than on the
+Continent; that the case had been isolated from the first moment the
+plague was recognized (about five hours before death), that the body
+had been burned, and that the most extensive and elaborate process of
+disinfection was being carried out--even the sleeping coach in which
+Stewart had travelled from London to Dundee twelve hours before,
+had been identified and burned also.
+
+London still looked grave, but was nevertheless a little inclined to
+congratulate itself on the thoroughness of British methods. "We'll
+never get it in England, you see if we do," was the remark chiefly
+in vogue among the great Gosling family.
+
+But twelve hours or so too late, England was beginning to regret that
+the Government had been defeated. It was rumoured that the Premier
+had broken down, had immediately resigned his office, and would not
+seek re-election as a private member.
+
+This rumour was definitely confirmed in the later editions of the
+evening papers. Mr Brampton had been summoned to Buckingham Palace
+and was forming a temporary ministry which was to take office. In
+the circumstances it was deemed inadvisable to plunge the country
+into a general election at that moment.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Mr Stewart died in the small hours of Friday morning, and the next day,
+Saturday, the 14th of April, was the first day of panic.
+
+The day began with comparative quiet. No further case had been notified
+in Great Britain, but telegraphic communication was interrupted between
+London and Russia, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and other continental
+centres. In Germany matters were growing desperate. There had been
+riots and looting. Military law had been declared in several towns; in
+some cases the mob had been fired upon. Business was at a standstill,
+and the plague was spreading like a fire. Between two and three hundred
+cases were reported from Reims, and upwards of fifty from Paris....
+
+Business houses were being closed in the City of London, and the
+banks noted a marked tendency among their depositors to withdraw gold;
+so marked, indeed, that many banks of high standing were glad to be
+able to close their doors at one o'clock.
+
+It was on this Saturday morning, also, that the bottom suddenly
+fell out of the money market. For weeks past, prices had been falling
+steadily, but now they dropped to panic figures. Every one was selling,
+there were no buyers left. Consols were quoted at 53-1/2.
+
+The air of London was heavy with foreboding, and throughout the
+morning the gloom grew deeper. The depressed and worried faces to
+be met at every turn contrasted strangely with the brilliance of the
+weather. For April had come with clear skies and soft, warm winds.
+
+As the day advanced the atmosphere of depression became continually
+more marked, and how extraordinary was the effect upon all classes may
+be judged from the fact that less than 5,000 people paid to witness
+the third replay between Barnsley and Everton, in the semi-final of
+the English cup....
+
+In London, men and women hung aimlessly about the streets waiting
+for the news they dreaded to hear. The theatres were deserted. The
+feeling of gloom was so real that many women afterwards believed
+that the sky had been overcast, whereas Nature was in one of her most
+brilliant moods.
+
+It was a few minutes past three when the pressure was exploded by the
+report of the final catastrophe. "Two more cases of plague in Dundee
+and one in Edinburgh," was the first announcement. That would have been
+enough to show that all the vaunted precautions had been useless, and
+within an hour came the notification of two further cases. Before six
+o'clock, eight more were notified in Dundee, three more in Edinburgh,
+and one in Newcastle.
+
+The new plague had reached England. It was then that the panic began.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VII--PANIC
+
+
+1
+
+Gurney, when he left his office on that Saturday, was influenced by
+the general depression. He went to lunch at the "White Vine," in the
+Haymarket, quite determined to keep himself in hand, to argue himself
+out of his low spirits.
+
+He made a beginning at once.
+
+"Every one seems to have a fit of the blues. Ernst," he remarked to
+the waiter with a factitious cheerfulness.
+
+Ernst, less polite than usual, shrugged his shoulders. "There is
+enough cause already," he said.
+
+"Have you had bad news from Germany?" asked Gurney, feeling that he
+had probably been rather brutal.
+
+"Ach Gott! 's'ist bald Keiner mehr da," blubbered Ernst, and he wept
+without restraint as he arranged the table, occasionally wiping his
+eyes with his napkin.
+
+"I'm most awfully sorry," murmured the embarrassed Gurney, and
+retreated behind the horror of his evening paper. He found small
+cause for rejoicing there, however, and discarded it as soon as his
+lunch had been brought by the red-eyed Ernst.
+
+"I wonder what Mark Tapley would have done," Gurney reflected moodily
+as he attacked his chop.
+
+There were few other people in the restaurant, and they were all silent
+and engrossed. That dreadful cloud hung over England, the spirit of
+pestilence threatened to take substance, the air was full of horror
+that might at any moment become a visible shape of destruction.
+
+Gurney did not finish his lunch, he lighted a cigarette, left four
+shillings on the table, and hurried out into the air.
+
+He did not look up at the sky as he turned eastwards towards Fleet
+Street; no one looked up at the sky that afternoon. Heads and shoulders
+were burdened by an invisible weight which kept all eyes on the ground.
+
+Fleet Street was full of people who crowded round the windows of
+newspaper offices, not with the eagerness of a general election crowd,
+but with a subdued surliness which ever and again broke out in spurts
+of violent temper.
+
+Gurney, still struggling to maintain his composure, found himself
+unreasonably irritated when a motor-bus driver shouted at him to get
+out of the way. It seemed to Gurney that to be knocked down and run
+over was preferable to being shouted at. The noise of those infernal
+buses was unbearable, so, also, was that dreadful patter of feet upon
+the pavement and the dull murmur of mournful voices. Why, in the name
+of God, could not people keep quiet?
+
+He bumped into some one on the pavement as he scrambled out of the
+way of the bus, and the man swore at him viciously. Gurney responded,
+and then discovered that the man was known to him.
+
+"Hallo!" he said. "You?"
+
+"Hallo," responded the other.
+
+For a moment they stood awkwardly, staring; then Gurney said, "Any
+more news?"
+
+The man, who was a sub-editor of the Westminster Gazette, shook his
+head. "I'm just going back now," he said. "There was nothing ten
+minutes ago."
+
+"Pretty awful, isn't it?" remarked Gurney.
+
+The sub-editor shrugged his shoulders and hurried away.
+
+Presently Gurney found himself wedged among the crowd, watching the
+Daily Chronicle window.
+
+A few minutes after three, a young man with a very white face,
+fastened a type-written message to the glass.
+
+There was a rapid constriction of the crowd. Those behind, Gurney
+among them, could not read the message, and pressed forward. There
+were cries of "What is it?... I can't see.... Read it out...." Then
+those in front gave way slightly, a wave of eagerness agitated the
+mass of watchers, and the news ran back from the front. "Two more
+cases of plague in Dundee; one in Edinburgh."
+
+And with that the pressure of dread was suddenly dissipated, giving
+place to something kinetic, dynamic. Now it was fear that took the
+people by the throat: active, compelling fear. Men looked at each
+other with terror and something of hate in their eyes, the crowd
+broke and melted. Every man was going to his own home, possessed by
+an instinct to fly before it was too late.
+
+Gurney shouldered his way out, and stopped a taxi that was crawling
+past.
+
+"Jermyn Street," he said.
+
+The driver leaned over and pointed to the Daily Chronicle
+window. "What's the news?" he asked.
+
+"The plague's in Dundee and Edinburgh," said Gurney, and climbed into
+the cab and slammed the door.
+
+"Gawd!" muttered the driver, as he drove recklessly westwards.
+
+Sitting in the cab, finding some comfort in the feeling of headlong
+speed, Gurney was debating whether he would not charter the man to
+take him right out of London. But he must go home first for money.
+
+At the door of the house in Jermyn Street he met Jasper Thrale.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+"Have you heard?" asked Gurney excitedly.
+
+"No. What?" said Thrale, without interest.
+
+"There are two more cases in Dundee and one in Edinburgh," said
+Gurney. The driver of the cab got down from his seat, and looked from
+Gurney to Thrale with doubt and question.
+
+Thrale nodded his head. "I knew it was sure to come," he remarked.
+
+"Better get out of this," put in the driver.
+
+"Yes, rather," agreed Gurney.
+
+"Where to?" asked Thrale.
+
+"Well, America."
+
+Thrale laughed. "They'll have it in America before you get there,"
+he said. "It'll go there via Japan and 'Frisco."
+
+"You seem to know a lot about it," said the driver of the cab.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me there's nowhere we can go to?" persisted
+Gurney.
+
+Thrale smiled. "Nowhere in this world," he said. "This plague has
+come to destroy mankind." He spoke with a quiet assurance that
+carried conviction.
+
+The driver of the cab scowled. "May as well 'ave a run for my money
+first, then," he said, and thus gave utterance to the thought that
+was fermenting in many other minds.
+
+There was no hope of escape for the mass, only the rich could seek
+railway termini and take train for Liverpool, Southampton or any port
+where there was the least hope of finding some ship to take them out
+of Europe.
+
+That night there was panic and riot. The wealthy classes were trying
+to escape, the mob was trying to "get a run for its money." Yet very
+little real mischief was done. Two or three companies of infantry
+were sufficient to clear the streets, and not more than forty people
+in all were seriously injured....
+
+In Downing Street the new Premier sat alone with his head in his
+hands, and wondered what could be done to stop the approach of the
+pestilence. One of the evening papers had suggested that a great line
+of fire should be built across the north of England. The Premier
+wondered whether that scheme were feasible. He had never held high
+office before; he did not know how to deal with these great issues. All
+his political life he had learned only the art of party tactics. He
+had learned that art very well, he was a master of debate, and he
+had shown a wonderful ability to judge the bent of the public mind
+and to make use of his judgments for party ends. But now that any
+action of his was divorced from its accustomed object, he was as
+a man suddenly forced into some new occupation. Whenever he tried
+to think of some means to stay the progress of the plague his mind
+automatically began to consider what influence the adoption of such
+means would have upon the general election which must soon come....
+
+"A line of fire across the north," he was thinking, "would shut
+off the whole of Scotland. They would never forgive us for that. We
+should lose the entire Scottish vote--it's bad enough as it is." He
+sat up late into the night considering what policy he should put
+before the Cabinet. He tried honestly to consider the position apart
+from politics, but his mind refused to work in that way....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+In Jermyn Street Thrale was arguing with Gurney, trying to persuade
+him into a philosophic attitude.
+
+"Yes, I suppose there's absolutely nothing to be done but sit down
+and wait," said Gurney.
+
+"Personally," returned Thrale, "I have no intention of spending my
+time flying from country to country like a marked criminal. That way
+leads to insanity. I've seen men become animals before now under the
+influence of fear."
+
+"Yes, of course, you're quite right," agreed Gurney. "One must exercise
+self-control. After all, it's only death, and not such a terrible
+death at that." He got up and began to pace the room restlessly,
+then went to the window and looked out. Jermyn Street was almost
+deserted, but distant sounds of shouting came from the direction of
+Piccadilly. He left the window open and turned back into the room.
+
+"It's so infernally hard just to sit still and wait," he said. "If
+only one could do something."
+
+"I doubt, now," said Thrale, quietly, "whether one could ever have
+done anything. The public and the Government took my warnings in
+the characteristic way, the only possible way in which you could
+expect twentieth-century humanity to take a warning--a thrill of
+fear, perhaps, in some cases; frank incredulity in others; but no
+result either way that endured for an hour.... Belief in national
+and personal security, inertia outside the routine of necessary,
+stereotyped employment; these things are essential to the running of
+the machine."
+
+"I suppose they are," agreed Gurney absently He had sat down again
+and was sucking automatically at an extinguished pipe.
+
+"In a complex civilization," went on Thrale "any initiative on the part
+of the individual outside his own tiny sphere of energy is just so much
+grit in the machine. There are recognized methods, they may not be the
+best, the most efficient, but they are accepted and understood. Every
+clerk who has to calculate twelve pence to the shilling knows how
+his work would be lightened if he had only to calculate ten, but he
+accepts that difficulty, because he can do nothing as an individual to
+introduce the decimal system. And that spirit of acceptance grows upon
+him until the individual has the characteristics of the class. Only
+when a man is stirred by too great discomfort does he open his eyes to
+the possibility of initiative; then come labour strikes. If labour had
+a sufficiency of ease and comfort, if its lot were not so violently
+contrasted with that of even the middle-classes, labour would settle
+down to complacency. But the contrast is too great, and to attain
+that complacency of uninitiative we must level down. That was coming;
+that would have come if this plague...."
+
+"What was that?" asked Gurney excitedly, jumping to his feet. "Did
+you hear firing?" He went to the window again, and leaned out. From
+Piccadilly came the sound of an army of trampling feet, of confused
+cries and shouting. "By God, there's a riot," exclaimed Gurney. He
+spoke over his shoulder.
+
+Thrale joined him at the window. "Panic," he said. "Senseless,
+hysterical panic. It won't last."
+
+"I think I shall go out of London," said Gurney. "I'd sooner ... I'd
+sooner die in the country, I think." He withdrew from the window and
+began to pace up and down the room again.
+
+"Going to stampede with the rest of 'em?" asked
+Thrale. "Extraordinarily infectious thing, panic."
+
+"I don't think it's that exactly ..." hesitated Gurney.
+
+"Animal fear," said Thrale. "The terror of the wild thing threatened
+with the unknown. The runaway horse terrified and rushing to its own
+destruction. Fly, fly, fly from the threat of peril as you did once
+on the prairies, when to fly meant safety."
+
+"It's so infernally depressing in London," said Gurney.
+
+"All right, go and brood on death in the country," replied
+Thrale. "That may cheer you up a bit. But, take my advice,
+don't run. Walk at a snail's pace and check the least tendency to
+hurry. Once you begin to quicken your pace, you will find yourself
+hurrying desperately--and then stampede the hell of terror at your
+heels. After all, you know, you may survive. It isn't likely that
+every man will die."
+
+Gurney caught eagerly at that. "No, no, of course it isn't," he
+said. "But wouldn't one be much more likely to survive if one were
+living in the country, or by the sea--in some fairly isolated place,
+for example. I meant to go down to Cornwall for my holiday this year,
+to a little cottage on the coast about four miles from Padstow;
+don't you think in pure air and healthy surroundings like that,
+one would stand a better chance?"
+
+"Very likely," said Thrale carelessly. "But don't run. In any case
+you'd better wait till the middle of the week. The first rush will
+be over then."
+
+"Yes. Perhaps. I'll go on Wednesday, or Tuesday...."
+
+Thrale smiled grimly. "Well, good night," he said. "I'm going to bed."
+
+When he had gone, Gurney went to the window again. The sounds of riot
+from Piccadilly had died down to a low, confused murmur. A motor-car
+whizzed by along Jermyn Street, and two people passed on foot, a man
+and a woman; the woman was leaning heavily on the man's arm.
+
+Gurney turned once more to his pacing of the room. He was trying to
+realize the unrealizable fact that the world offered no refuge. For a
+full hour he struggled with himself, with that new, strange instinct
+which rose up and urged him to fly for his life. At last weary and
+overborne he threw himself into a chair by the dying fire and began
+to cry like a lost child; even as Ernst, the waiter, had cried....
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+The panic emigration lasted until Monday evening, and then came
+news which checked and stayed the rush for the ports of Liverpool,
+Southampton and Queenstown. The plague was already in America. It
+had come, as Thrale had prophesied from the West. At the docks many
+of those favoured emigrants who had secured berths, hesitated; if
+it was to be a choice between death in America and death in England,
+they preferred to die at home.
+
+Yet, even on Tuesday morning, when doubt as to the coming of the
+plague was no longer possible, when Dundee could only give approximate
+figures of the seizures in that town, reporting them as not less than a
+thousand, when it was evident that the whole of Scotland was becoming
+infected with incredible rapidity, and two cases were notified as far
+south as Durham, there remained still an enormous body of people who
+stoutly maintained that, bad as things were, the danger was grossly
+exaggerated, who believed that the danger would soon pass, and who,
+steadfast to the habits of a lifetime, continued their routine wherever
+it was possible so to do, determined to resist to the last.
+
+To this body, possibly some two-fifths of the whole urban population,
+was due the comparative maintenance of law and order. In face of
+the growing destitution due to the wholesale closing of factories,
+warehouses and offices, necessitated by the now complete cessation
+of foreign trade and to the hoarding of food stores and gold which
+was already so marked as to have seriously affected the commerce
+not dependent on foreign sellers and buyers, a semblance of ordinary
+life was still maintained. Newspapers were issued, trains and 'buses
+were running, theatres and music-halls were open, and many normal
+occupations were carried on.
+
+Yet everything was infected. It was as if the cloak of civilization
+was worn more loosely. Crime was increasing and justice was
+relaxed. Robberies of food were so common that there was no place for
+the confinement of those who were convicted. Shopkeepers were becoming
+at once more reliant upon their own defences, and less scrupulous in
+their dealings with bona-fide customers. No longer could the protection
+of the State be exclusively relied upon, the citizen was becoming lost
+in the individual. Public opinion was being resolved into individual
+opinion; and with the failing of the great restraint every man was
+developing an unsuspected side of his character. Thrown upon his
+own resources, he became continually less civilized, more conscious
+of possibilities to fulfill long-thwarted tendencies and desires;
+he began to understand that when it is a case of sauve qui peut,
+the weakest are trampled under foot.
+
+So the cloak of civilization gaped and showed the form of the naked
+man, with all its blemishes and deformities. And women blenched
+and shuddered. For woman, as yet, was little, if at all, altered
+in character by the fear that was brutalizing man. Her faith in
+the intrinsic rectitude of the beloved conventions was more deeply
+rooted. Moreover woman fears the strictures of woman, more than man
+fears the judgments of man.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VIII--GURNEY IN CORNWALL
+
+
+1
+
+Gurney's alternative to flying from the plague was to run away from
+himself. He shirked the issue in his conversations with Thrale,
+shuffled, sophisticated, and in a futile endeavour to convince his
+companion, convinced himself that his reasoning was sound and his
+motive unprejudiced.
+
+It was not until the following Thursday, however, that he took train
+to Cornwall. He had succeeded in realizing between two and three
+hundred pounds in gold, and this he took with him. He intended to
+lay in stores of flour, sugar and other primary necessities; to buy
+and keep two or three cows, to rear chickens, to grow as much garden
+produce as possible, especially potatoes; and generally to provide
+against the coming scarcity of food and the cessation of transport.
+
+The bungalow on the shores of Constantine Bay, to which he departed,
+was a place well suited to the carrying out of these prudent
+arrangements. It belonged to a friend of his, who was rich enough
+to indulge his whims, and who had spent a considerable sum of money
+in building the place and enclosing ground, but who rarely occupied
+the bungalow himself, and was too careless to bother about letting
+it. Gurney had the keys in his possession. When he had asked his
+friend for permission to spend his summer holiday there, he had been
+told to use the place as if it were his own. "Jolly good thing for me,
+you know," his friend had said. "Keep it dry and all that."
+
+Gurney was not an idle man. Arrived at his bungalow, he lost no time
+in carrying out the arrangements he had schemed, and for nearly three
+weeks he was so absorbed in this work, in learning new occupations
+and perfecting his plan, that he did, indeed, achieve his purpose of
+running away from himself.
+
+He became imbued with a new feeling of security; he received neither
+letters nor papers from the outside, and the old labourer who assisted
+him in setting potatoes, who taught him to milk a cow and instructed
+him generally in the primitive arts of self-supporting toil, seemed
+to regard all rumours of the new plague which filtered through to the
+village of St Merryn as some foreign nonsense which had little bearing
+on life in the county of Cornwall, as represented by the twenty-five
+or thirty square miles which were to him all the essential world.
+
+Gurney began to believe that the plague would never cross the Tamar,
+and one day in early May, when his provisions against a siege were
+practically completed, he was stirred to attempt a journey across the
+peninsula in order to visit an acquaintance in East Looe. Gurney had
+become conscious of a longing for some companionship. Old Hawken was
+very good at cows and potatoes, but he was rather deaf and his range
+of ideas was severely restricted.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+From Padstow to Looe is not an ideal journey by rail at the best of
+times, involving as it does, a change of train at Wadebridge, Bodmin
+Road and Liskeard; but Gurney was in no hurry, and the conversations
+he overheard in his compartment were not destructive of his new-found
+complacency. There was, indeed, some mention of the plague, but only in
+relation to the scarcity of food supply and its effect on trade. One
+passenger, very obviously a farmer, was congratulating himself that
+he was getting higher prices for stock than he had ever known, and
+that as luck would have it he had sown an unusual number of acres
+with wheat that year. "I'll be gettun sixty or seventy a quarter,
+sure 'nough," he boasted.
+
+Dickenson--Gurney's friend in Looe--regarded the matter more seriously,
+but he, too, seemed untouched by any fear of personal infection. He was
+an ardent Liberal, and his chief cause for concern seemed to be that
+the plague should have come at a time when so much progress was being
+made with legislation. He was, also, very distressed at the reports
+of poverty and starvation which abounded, and at the terrible blow to
+trade generally. But he seemed hopeful that the trouble would pass
+and be followed by a new era of enlightened government, founded on
+sound Liberal principles.
+
+Gurney stayed the night and the greater part of the next day at Looe.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+On his return journey he had to wait at Liskeard to pick up the main
+line train for London, which would take him to Bodmin Road.
+
+It was a glorious May evening. The day had been hot, but now there
+was a cool breeze from the sea, and the long shadow from the high
+bank of the cutting enwrapped the whole station in a pleasant twilight.
+
+Gurney, deliberately pacing the length of the platform, was conscious
+of physical vigour and a great enjoyment of life. He had an imaginative
+temperament, and in his moments of exaltation he found the world
+both interesting and beautiful, an entirely desirable setting for
+the essential Gurney.
+
+So he strolled up and down the platform, regarded any female figure
+with interest, and was in no way concerned that the train was already
+an hour late. He had expected it to be late. His own train from Looe,
+for no particular reason, had been half an hour late. If he missed
+his connexion at Wadebridge he would only have some seven or eight
+miles to walk.
+
+Fifteen or twenty other people were waiting on the down platform,
+and presently Gurney became conscious that his fellow-passengers were
+no longer detached into parties of two and three, but were collected
+in groups, discussing, apparently, some matter of peculiar interest.
+
+Gurney had been lost in his dreams and had hardly noticed the passage
+of time. He looked at his watch and found that the train was now two
+hours overdue. The sun had set, but there was still light in the sky. A
+man detached himself from one of the groups and Gurney approached him.
+
+"Two hours late," he remarked by way of introducing himself, and
+looked at his watch again.
+
+The man nodded emphatically. "Funny thing is," he said, "that they've
+had no information at the office. The stationmaster generally gets
+advice when the train leaves Plymouth."
+
+"Good lord," said Gurney. "Do you mean to say that the train hasn't
+got to Plymouth yet?"
+
+"Looks like it," said the stranger. "They say it's the plague. It's
+dreadfully bad in London, they tell me."
+
+"D'you mean it's possible the train won't come in at all?" asked
+Gurney.
+
+"Oh! I should hardly think that," replied the other. "Oh, no, I should
+hardly think that, but goodness knows when it will come. Very awkward
+for me. I want to get to St Ives. It's a long way from here. Have
+you far to go?"
+
+"Well, Padstow," said Gurney.
+
+"Padstow!" echoed the stranger. "That's a good step."
+
+"Further than I want to walk."
+
+"I should say. Thirty miles or so, anyway?"
+
+"About that," agreed Gurney. "I wonder where one could get any
+information.
+
+"It's very awkward," was all the help the stranger had to offer.
+
+Gurney crossed the line and invaded the stationmaster's office. "Sorry
+to trouble you," he said, "but do you think this train's been taken
+off, for any reason?"
+
+"Oh, it 'asn't been taken off," said the stationmaster with a wounded
+air. "It may be a bit late."
+
+Gurney smiled. "It's something over two hours behind now, isn't
+it?" he said.
+
+"Well, I can't 'elp it, can I?" asked the stationmaster. "You'll
+'ave to 'ave patience."
+
+"You've had no advice yet from Plymouth?" persisted Gurney, facing
+the other's ill-temper.
+
+"No, I 'aven't; something's gone wrong with the wire. We can't get
+no answer," returned the stationmaster. "Now, if you please, I 'ave
+my work to do."
+
+Gurney returned to the down platform and joined a group of men,
+among whom he recognized the man he had spoken to a few minutes before.
+
+The afterglow was dying out of the sky, in the south-west a faint
+young moon was setting behind the high bank of the cutting. A porter
+had lighted the station lamps, but they were not turned full on.
+
+"The stationmaster tells me that something has gone wrong with the
+telegraphic communication," said Gurney, addressing the little knot
+of passengers collectively. "He can't get any answer it seems."
+
+"Been an accident likely," suggested some one.
+
+"Or the engine-driver's got the plague," said another.
+
+"They'd have put another man on."
+
+"If they could find one."
+
+"If we ain't careful we shall be gettin' the plague down 'ere."
+
+After all why not? The horrible suggestion sprang up in Gurney's
+mind with new force. That remote city seemed suddenly near. He saw in
+imagination the train leaving Paddington, and only a journey of six or
+seven hours divided that departure from its arrival at Liskeard. It
+might come in at any moment, bearing the awful infection. Why should
+he wait? There was an inn near the station. He might find a conveyance
+there.
+
+"Constantine Bay?" questioned the landlord.
+
+"It's near St Merryn," said Gurney, but still the landlord shook
+his head.
+
+"Not far from Padstow," explained Gurney.
+
+"Pard-stow!" exclaimed the landlord on a rising note. "Drive over to
+Pard-stow at this time o' night?" He appeared to think that Gurney
+was joking.
+
+"Well, Bodmin, then," suggested Gurney.
+
+"Aw, why not take the train?" asked the landlord.
+
+Gurney shrugged his shoulders. "The train doesn't seem to be coming,"
+he said.
+
+"Bad job, that," answered the landlord. "Been an accident, sure
+'nough; this new plague or something." He was evidently prepared to
+accept the matter philosophically.
+
+"You can't drive me then?" asked Gurney.
+
+The landlord shook his head with a grin. He was inclined to look upon
+this foreigner as rather more foolish than the majority of his kind.
+
+Gurney came out of the little inn, and looked down into the
+station. The number of waiting passengers seemed to be decreasing,
+but the light was so dim that he could not see into the shadows.
+
+"I must keep hold of myself," he was saying. "I mustn't run."
+
+A man was coming up the steep incline towards him, and Gurney moved
+slowly to meet him. He found that it was the stranger he had spoken
+to on the platform.
+
+"Any news?" asked Gurney.
+
+"Yes, they've got a message through from Saltash," replied the
+stranger. "It's the plague right enough. They say they don't know
+when there'll be another train...."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Days grew into weeks, and still there were no trains. Trade was at a
+standstill, and the prices of home produce mounted steadily. Fish there
+was, but not in great abundance, and the towns inland, such as Truro
+and Bodmin, organized a motor service with coast fishing villages,
+a service which only lasted for a week, by reason of the failure of
+the petrol supply. After that there was a less effective horse service.
+
+Within three weeks after that last train arrived from outside, a new
+system of exchange was coming into vogue. In this little congeries of
+communities in Cornwall, men were beginning to learn the uselessness
+of gold, silver and bronze coins as tokens. Credit had collapsed,
+and a system of barter was being introduced, mainly between farmer and
+fisherman. In time it was possible that Cornwall might have become a
+self-supporting community, for its proportionately few inhabitants
+were rapidly being depleted by want and starvation; but, although
+it was the last place in the British Isles to become infected, the
+plague came there, too, in the end.
+
+A steamer sent out from Cardiff on a plundering expedition carried
+the plague to the Scillies, and a fishing vessel from St Ives carried
+it on to Newlyn....
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IX--THE DEVOLUTION OF GEORGE GOSLING
+
+
+1
+
+The progress of the plague through London and the world in general was
+marked, in the earlier stages, by much the same developments as are
+reported of the plague of 1665. The closed houses, the burial pits,
+the deserted streets, the outbreaks of every kind of excess, the
+various symptoms of fear, cowardice, fortitude and courage, evidenced
+little change in the average of humanity between the seventeenth and
+the twentieth centuries. The most notable difference during these
+earlier stages was in the enormously increased rapidity with which
+the population of London was reduced to starvation point. Even before
+the plague had reached England, want had become general, so general,
+indeed, as to have demonstrated very clearly the truth of the great
+economist's contention that England could not exist for three months
+with closed doors.
+
+The coming of the plague threw London on to its own very limited
+resources. That vast city, which produced nothing but the tokens of
+wealth, and added nothing to the essentials that support life, was
+instantly reduced to the state of Paris in the winter of 1870-71; with
+the difference, however, that London's population could be decreased
+rapidly by emigration, and was, also, even more rapidly decreased
+by pestilence. Yet there was a large section of the population which
+clung with blind obstinacy to the only life it knew how to live.
+
+There was, for instance, George Gosling, more fortunate in many
+respects than the average citizen, who clung desperately to his house
+in Wisteria Grove until forced out of it by the lack of water.
+
+On the ninth day after the first coming of the plague to London--it
+appeared simultaneously in a dozen places and spread with fearful
+rapidity--Gosling broke one of the great laws he had hitherto observed
+with such admirable prudence. The offices and warehouse in Barbican
+had been shut up (temporarily, it was supposed), and the partners had
+disappeared from London. But Gosling had a duplicate set of keys, and,
+inspired by the urgency of his family's need, he determined to dare
+a journey into the City in order to borrow (he laid great stress on
+the word) a few necessaries of life from the well-stored warehouse
+of his firm.
+
+In this scheme, planned with some shrewdness, he co-operated with a
+friend, a fellow-sidesman at the Church of St John the Evangelist. This
+friend was a coal merchant, and thus fortunately circumstanced in
+the possession of wagons and horses.
+
+These two arranged the details of their borrowing expedition between
+them. Economically, it was a deal on the lines of the revived
+methods of exchange and barter. Gosling was willing to exchange
+certain advantages of knowledge and possession for the hire of wagons
+and horses. It was decided, for obvious reasons, to admit no other
+conspirator into the plot, and Boost, the coal merchant, drove one
+cart and Gosling drove the other. Perhaps it should rather be said
+that he led the other, for, after a preliminary trial, he decided
+that he was safer at the horses' heads than behind their tails.
+
+The raid was conducted with perfect success. Boost had a head
+for essentials. The invaluable loads of tinned meats, fruits and
+vegetables were screened by tarpaulins from the possibly too envious
+eyes of hungry passers-by--quite a number of vagrants were to be
+seen in the streets on that day--and Boost and Gosling, disguised in
+coal-begrimed garments, made the return journey lugubriously calling,
+"Plague, plague," the cry of the drivers of the funeral carts which
+had even then become necessary. Their only checks were the various
+applications they received for the cartage of corpses; applications
+easily put on one side by pointing to the piled-up carts--they had
+spent six laborious hours in packing them. "No room; no room," they
+cried, and on that day the applicants who accosted Boost and Gosling
+were not the only ones who had to wait for the disposal of their dead.
+
+Gosling arrived at Wisteria Grove, hot and outwardly jubilant,
+albeit with a horrible fear lurking in his mind that he had been
+in dangerous proximity to those tendered additions to his load. His
+booty was stored in one of the downstairs rooms--with the assistance
+of Mrs Gosling and the two girls they managed the unpacking without
+interruption in two hours and a half--and then, with boarded windows
+and locked doors, the Goslings sat down to await the passing of horror.
+
+Boost died of the plague forty-eight hours after the great adventure,
+but as he had a wife and four daughters his plunder was not wasted.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+For nearly a fortnight after the raid the Goslings lay snug in their
+little house in Wisteria Grove, for they, in company with the majority
+of English people at this time, had not yet fully appreciated the
+fact that women were almost immune from infection. In all, not more
+than eight per cent of the whole female population was attacked, and
+of this proportion the mortality was almost exclusively among women
+over fifty years of age. When the first faint rumours of the plague
+had come to Europe, this curious, almost unprecedented, immunity of
+women had been given considerable prominence. It had made good copy,
+theories on the subject had appeared, and the point had aroused more
+interest than that of the mortality among males--infectious diseases
+were commonplace enough; this new phase had a certain novelty and
+piquancy. But the threat of European infection had overwhelmed the
+interest in the odd predilection of the unknown bacterium, and the more
+vital question had thrown this peculiarity into the background. Thus
+the Goslings and most other women feared attack no less than their
+husbands, brothers and sons, and found justification for their fears
+in the undoubted fact that women had died of the plague.
+
+The Goslings had always jogged along amiably enough; their home life
+would have passed muster as a tolerably happy one. The head of the
+family was out of the house from 8.15 a.m. to 7.15 p.m. five days of
+the week, and it was only occasionally in the evening of some long
+wet Sunday that there was any open bickering.
+
+Now, confinement in that little house, aggravated by fear and by the
+absence of any interest or diversion coming from outside, showed the
+family to one another in new aspects. Before two days had passed the
+air was tense with the suppressed irritation of these four people,
+held together by scarcely any tie other than that of a conventional
+affection.
+
+By the third day the air was so heavily charged that some explosion
+was inevitable. It came early in the morning.
+
+Gosling had run out of tobacco, and he thought in the circumstances
+that it would be wiser to send Blanche or Millie than to go
+himself. So, with an air of exaggerated carelessness, he said:
+
+"Look here, Millie, my gel, I wish you'd just run out and see if you
+can get me any terbaccer."
+
+"Not me," replied Millie, with decision.
+
+"And why not?" asked Gosling.
+
+Millie shrugged her shoulders, and called her sister, who was in the
+passage. "I say, B., father wants us to go out shopping for him. Are
+you on?"
+
+Blanche, duster in hand, appeared at the doorway.
+
+"Why doesn't he go himself?" she asked.
+
+"Because," replied her father, getting very red, and speaking with
+elaborate care, "men's subject to the infection and women is not."
+
+"That's all my eye," returned Millie. "Lots of women have got it."
+
+"It's well known," said Gosling, still keeping himself in hand,
+"a matter of common knowledge, that women is comparatively immune."
+
+"Oh, that's a man's yarn, that is," said Blanche, "just to save
+themselves. We all know what men are--selfish brutes!"
+
+"Are you going to fetch me that terbaccer or are you not?" shouted
+Mr Gosling suddenly.
+
+"No, we aren't," said Millie, defiantly. "It isn't safe for girls to
+go about the streets, let alone the risk of infection." She had heard
+her father shout before, and she was not, as yet, at all intimidated.
+
+"Well, then, I say you are!" shouted her father. "Lazy,
+good-for-nothing creatures, the pair of you! 'Oose paid for everything
+you've eat or drunk or wore ever since you was born? An' now you
+won't even go an errand." Then, seeing the ready retort rising to his
+daughters' lips, he grew desperate, and, advancing a step towards them,
+he said savagely: "If you don't go, I'll find a way to make yer!"
+
+This was a new aspect, and the two girls were a little
+frightened. Natural instinct prompted them to scream for their mother.
+
+She had been listening at the top of the stairs, and she answered
+the call for help with great promptitude.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gosling," she said, on a high
+note. "The streets isn't safe for gels, as you know well enough;
+and why should my gels risk their lives for the sake of your nasty,
+dirty, wasteful 'abit of smoking, I should like to know?"
+
+Gosling's new-found courage was evaporating at the attack of this
+third enemy. He had been incensed against his daughters, but he had
+not yet overcome the habit of giving in to his wife, for the sake of
+peace. She had managed him very capably for a quarter of a century,
+but on the occasions when she had found it necessary to use what
+she called the "rough side of her tongue" she had demonstrated very
+clearly which of the two was master.
+
+"I should have thought I might 'a been allowed a little terbaccer,"
+he said, resentfully. "'Oo risked his life to lay in provisions, I
+should like to know? An' it's a matter o' common knowledge as women
+is immune from this plague."
+
+"And Mrs Carter, three doors off, carried out dead of it the day
+before yesterday!" remarked Mrs Gosling, triumphantly.
+
+"Oh, 'ere and there, a case or two," replied her husband. "But not
+one woman to a thousand men gets it, as every one knows."
+
+"And how do you know I mightn't be the one?" asked Millie, bold now
+under her mother's protection.
+
+For that morning, the matter remained in abeyance; but Gosling,
+muttering and grumbling, nursed his injury and meditated on the
+fact that his daughters had been afraid of him. Things were altered
+now. There was no convention to tie his hands. He would work himself
+into a protective passion and defy the three of them. Also, there
+was an unopened bottle of whisky in the sideboard.
+
+Nevertheless, he would have put off the trial of his strength if he
+had had to seek an opportunity. He was, as yet, too civilized to take
+the initiative in cold blood.
+
+The opportunity, however, soon presented itself in that house. The air
+had been little cleared by the morning's outbreak, and before evening
+the real explosion came. A mere trifle originated it--a warning from
+Gosling that their store of provisions would not last for ever, and a
+sharp retort from Millie to the effect that her father did not stint
+himself, followed by a reminder from Mrs Gosling that the raid might
+be repeated.
+
+"Oh! yes, you'd be willing enough for me to die of the plague, I've no
+doubt!" broke out Gosling. "I can walk six mile to get you pervisions,
+but you can't go to the corner of the street for my terbaccer."
+
+"Pervisions is necessary, terbaccer ain't," said Mrs Gosling. She was
+not a clever woman. She judged this to be the right opportunity to
+keep her husband in his place, and relied implicitly on the quelling
+power of her tongue. Her intuitions were those of the woman who had
+lived all her life in a London suburb; they did not warn her that
+she was now dealing with a specimen of half-decivilized humanity.
+
+"Oh! ain't it?" shouted Gosling, getting to his feet. His face was
+purple, and his pale blue eyes were starting from his head. "I'll soon
+show you what's necessary and what ain't, and 'oose master in this
+'ouse. And I say terbaccer is necessary, an' what's more, one o'
+you three's goin' to fetch it quick! D'ye 'ear--one--o'--you--three!"
+
+This inclusion of Mrs Gosling was, indeed, to declare war.
+
+Millie and Blanche screamed and backed, but their mother rose to
+the occasion. She did not reserve herself; she began on her top
+note; but Gosling did not allow her to finish. He strode over to
+her and shook her by the shoulders, shouting to drown her strident
+recriminations. "'Old your tongue! 'old your tongue!" he bawled, and
+shook her with increasing violence. He was feeling his power, and when
+his wife crumpled up and fell to the floor in shrieking hysterics,
+he still strode on to victory. Taking the cowed and terrified Millie
+by the arm, he dragged her along the passage, unlocked and opened
+the front door and pushed her out into the street. "And don't you
+come back without my terbaccer!" he shouted.
+
+"How much?" quavered the shrinking Millie.
+
+"'Alf-a-crown's worth," replied Gosling fiercely, and tossed the coin
+down on the little tiled walk that led up to the front door.
+
+After Millie had gone he stood at the door for a moment, thankful for
+the coolness of the air on his heated face. "I got to keep this up,"
+he murmured to himself, with his first thought of wavering. Behind
+him he heard the sound of uncontrolled weeping and little cries of the
+"first time in twenty-four years" and "what the neighbours'll think,
+I don't know."
+
+"Neighbours," muttered Gosling, contemptuously, "there aren't any
+neighbours--not to count."
+
+A distant sound of slow wheels caught his ear. He listened attentively,
+and there came to him the remote monotonous chant of a dull voice
+crying: "Plague! Plague!"
+
+He stepped in quickly and closed the door.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Millie found the Kilburn High Road deserted. No traffic of any kind
+was to be seen in the street, and the rare foot-passengers, chiefly
+women, had all a furtive air. Starvation had driven them out to
+raid. No easy matter, as Millie soon found, for all shutters were
+down, and in many cases shop-fronts were additionally protected by
+great sheets of strong hoarding.
+
+Millie, recovering from her fright, was growing resentful. Her little
+conventional mind was greatly occupied by the fact that she was out in
+the High Road wearing house-shoes without heels, in an old print dress,
+and with no hat to hide the carelessness of her hair-dressing. At
+the corner of Wisteria Grove she stopped and tried to remedy this
+last defect; she had red hair, abundant and difficult to control.
+
+The sight of the deserted High Road did not inspire her with
+self-confidence; she still feared the possibility of meeting some
+one who might recognize her. How could one account for one's presence
+in a London thoroughfare at seven o'clock on a bright May evening in
+such attire? Certainly not by telling the truth.
+
+The air was wonderfully clear. Coal was becoming very scarce, and
+few fires had been lighted that day to belch forth their burden of
+greasy filth into the atmosphere. The sun was sinking, and Millie
+instinctively clung to the shadow of the pavement on the west side of
+the road. She, too, slunk along with the evasive air that was common to
+the few other pedestrians, the majority of them on this same shadowed
+pavement. That warm, radiant light on the houses opposite seemed to
+hold some horror for them.
+
+So preoccupied was Millie with her resentment that she wandered for
+two or three hundred yards up the road without any distinct idea of
+what she was seeking. When realization of the futility of her search
+came to her, she stopped in the shadow of a doorway. "What is the
+good of going on?" she argued. "All the shops are shut up." But the
+thought of her father in his new aspect of muscular tyrant intimidated
+her. She dared not return without accomplishing her errand. "I'll
+have another look, anyway," she said; and then: "Who'd have thought
+he was such a brute?" She rubbed the bruise on her arm; her mouth was
+twisted into an ugly expression of spiteful resentment. Her thoughts
+were busy with plans of revenge even as she turned to prosecute her
+search for the tyrant's tobacco.
+
+Here and there shops had been forcibly, burglariously entered,
+plate-glass windows smashed, and interiors cleared of everything
+eatable; the debris showed plainly enough that these rifled shops
+had all belonged to grocers or provision merchants. Into each of
+these ruins Millie stared curiously, hoping foolishly that she might
+find what she sought. She ventured into one and carried away a box of
+soap--they were running short of soap at home. A sense of moving among
+accessible riches stirred within her, a desire for further pillage.
+
+She came at last to a shop where the shutters were still intact, but
+the door hung drunkenly on one hinge. A little fearfully she peered in
+and discovered that fortune had been kind to her. The shop had belonged
+to a tobacconist, and the contents were almost untouched--there had
+been more crying needs to satisfy in the households of raiders than
+the desire for tobacco.
+
+It was very dark inside, and for some seconds Millie stared into what
+seemed absolute blackness, but as her eyes became accustomed to the
+gloom, she saw the interior begin to take outline, and when she moved
+a couple of steps into the place and allowed more light to come in
+through the doorway, various tins, boxes and packets in the shelves
+behind the counter were faintly distinguishable.
+
+Once inside, the spirit of plunder took hold of her, and she began
+to take down boxes of cigars and cigarettes and packets of tobacco,
+piling them up in a heap on the counter. But she had no basket in which
+to carry the accumulation she was making, and she was feeling under
+the counter for some box into which to put her haul, when the shadows
+round her deepened again into almost absolute darkness. Cautiously
+she peered up over the counter and saw the silhouette of a woman
+standing in the doorway.
+
+For ten breathless seconds Millie hung motionless, her eyes fixed on
+the apparition. She was very civilized still, and she was suddenly
+conscious of committing a crime. She feared horribly lest the figure
+in the doorway might discover Millicent Gosling stealing tobacco. But
+the intruder, after recognizing the nature of the shop's contents,
+moved away with a sigh. Millie heard her dragging footsteps shuffle
+past the window.
+
+That scare decided her movements. She hastily looped up the front of
+her skirt, bundled into it as much plunder as she could conveniently
+carry, and made her way out into the street again.
+
+She was nearly at the corner of Wisteria Grove before she was molested,
+and then an elderly woman came suddenly out of a doorway and laid a
+hand on Millie's arm.
+
+"Whacher got?" asked the woman savagely.
+
+Millie, shrinking and terrified, displayed her plunder.
+
+"Cigars," muttered the woman. "Whacher want with cigars?" She opened
+the boxes and stirred up the contents of Millie's improvised bundle
+in an eager search for something to eat. "Gawd's truth! yer must be
+crazy, yer thievin' little slut!" she grumbled, and pushed the girl
+fiercely from her.
+
+Millie made good her escape, dropping a box of cigars in her
+flight. Her one thought now was the fear of meeting a policeman. In
+three minutes she was beating fiercely on the door of the little
+house in Wisteria Grove, and, disregarding her father's exclamations
+of pleased surprise when he let her in, she tumbled in a heap on to
+the mat in the passage.
+
+Gosling's first declaration of male superiority had been splendidly
+successful.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+A few minutes after Millie's return, Mrs Gosling, red-eyed and
+timidly vicious, interrupted her husband's perfect enjoyment of the
+long-desired cigar by the announcement: "The gas is off!"
+
+Gosling got up, struck a match, and held it to the sitting-room
+burner. The match burned steadily. There was no pressure even of air
+in the pipes.
+
+"Turned off at the meter!" snapped Gosling. "'Ere, lemme go an'
+see!" He spoke with the air of the superior male, strong in his
+comprehension of the mechanical artifices which so perplex the feminine
+mind. Mrs Gosling sniffed, and stood aside to let him pass. She had
+already examined the meter.
+
+"Well, we got lamps!" snarled Gosling when he returned. He had always
+preferred a lamp to read by in the evening.
+
+"No oil," returned Mrs Gosling, gloomily. She'd teach him to shake her!
+
+Gosling meditated. His parochial mind was full of indignation. Vague
+thoughts of "getting some one into trouble for this"--even of
+that last, desperate act of coercion, writing to the papers about
+it--flitted through his mind. Plainly something must be done. "'Aven't
+you got any candles?" he asked.
+
+"One or two. They won't last long," replied his studiously patient
+partner.
+
+"Well, we'll 'ave to use them to-night and go to bed early," was
+Gosling's final judgment. His wife left the room with a shrug of
+forbearing contempt.
+
+When she had gone, the head of the house went upstairs and peered
+out into the street. The sun had set, and an unprecedented mystery
+of darkness was falling over London. The globes of the tall electric
+standards, catching a last reflection from the fading sky, glimmered
+faintly, but were not illuminated from within by any fierce glare of
+violet light. Darkness and silence enfolded the great dim organism that
+sprawled its vast being over the earth. The spirit of mystery caught
+Gosling in its spell. "All dark," he murmured, "and quiet! Lord! how
+still it is!" Even in his own house there was silence. Downstairs,
+three injured, resentful women were talking in whispers.
+
+Gosling, still sucking his cigar, stood entranced, peering into the
+darkness; he had ventured so far as to throw up the sash. "It's the
+stillness of death!" he muttered. Then he cocked his head on one side,
+for he caught the sound of distant shouting. Somewhere in the Kilburn
+Road another raid was in progress.
+
+"No light," murmured Gosling, "and no fire!" An immediate association
+suggested itself. "By gosh! and no water!" he added. For some seconds
+he contemplated with fearful awe the failure of the great essential
+of life.
+
+In the cistern room he was reassured by the sound of a delicious
+trickle from the ball-cock. "Still going," he said to himself;
+"but we'll 'ave to be careful. Surely they'll keep the water goin',
+though; whatever 'appens, they'd surely keep the water on?"
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+Nothing but the failure of the water could have driven them from
+Wisteria Grove. Half-a-dozen times every day Gosling would climb up
+to the top of the house to reassure himself. And at last came the day
+when a dreadful silence reigned under the slates, when no delicious
+tinkle of water gave promise of maintained security from water famine.
+
+"It'll come on again at night," said Gosling to himself. "We'll
+'ave to be careful, that's all."
+
+He went downstairs and issued orders that no more water was to be
+drawn that day.
+
+"Well, we must wash up the breakfast things," was his wife's reply.
+
+"You mustn't wash up nothing," said Gosling, "not one blessed
+thing. It's better to go dirty than die o' thirst. Hevery drop o'
+the water in that cistern must be saved for drinkin'."
+
+Mrs Gosling noisily put down the kettle she was holding. "Oh! very
+well, my lord!" she remarked, sarcastically. She looked at her two
+daughters with a twist of her mouth. There were only two sides in
+that house; the women were as yet united against the common foe.
+
+When Gosling, fatuously convinced of his authority, had gone, his
+wife quietly filled the kettle and proceeded with her washing up.
+
+"Your father thinks 'e knows everything these days," remarked the
+mother to her allies.
+
+There was much whispering for some time.
+
+Gosling spent most of the day in the roof, but not until the afternoon
+did he realize that the cistern was slowly being emptied. His first
+thought was that one of the pipes leaked, his second that it was
+time to make a demonstration of force. He found a walking-stick in
+the hall....
+
+But even when that precious half-cistern of water was only called
+upon to supply the needs of thirst, and the Goslings, sinking further
+into the degradation of savagedom, slunk furtive and filthy about
+the gloomy house, it became evident that a move must be made sooner
+or later. Two alternatives were presented: they might go north and
+east to the Lea, or south to the Thames.
+
+Gosling chose the South. He knew Putney; he had been born there. He
+knew nothing of Clapton and its neighbourhood.
+
+So one bright, clear day at the end of May, the Goslings set out on
+their great trek. The head of the house, driven desperate by fear of
+thirst, raided his late partner's coal sheds and found one living
+horse and several dead ones. The living horse was partly revived
+by water from an adjacent butt, and the next day it was harnessed
+to a coal cart and commandeered to convey the Goslings' provisions
+to Putney. It died half-a-mile short of their destination, but they
+were able, by the exercise of their united strength, to get the cart
+and its burden down to the river.
+
+They found an empty house without difficulty, but they had an
+unpleasant half-hour in removing what remained of one of the previous
+occupants. Gosling hoped it was not a case of plague. As the body was
+that of a woman, and terribly emaciated, there were some grounds for
+his optimism.
+
+Gosling was in a state of some bewilderment. When water had been
+fetched in buckets from the river, and the three women had explored,
+criticized and sniffed over their new home somewhat in the manner
+of strange cats, the head of the house settled down to a cigar and
+a careful consideration of his perplexities.
+
+In the first place, he wondered why those horses of Boost's had not
+been used for food; in the second, he wondered why he had not seen
+a single man during the whole of the long trek from Brondesbury to
+Putney. By degrees an unbelievable explanation presented itself:
+no men were left. He remembered that the few needy-looking women
+he had seen had looked at him curiously; in retrospect he fancied
+their regard had had some quality of amazement. Gosling scratched
+the bristles of his ten-days'-old beard and smoked thoughtfully. He
+almost regretted that he had stared so fiercely and threateningly at
+every chance woman they had seen; he might have got some news. But the
+whole journey had been conducted in a spirit of fear; they had been
+defending their food, their lives; they had been primitive creatures
+ready to fight desperately at the smallest provocation.
+
+"No man left," said Gosling to himself, and was not convinced. If
+that indeed were the solution of his perplexity, he was faced with
+an awful corollary; his own time would come. He thought of Barbican,
+E.C., of Flack, of Messrs Barker and Prince, of the office staff,
+and the office itself. He had not been able to rid his mind of the
+idea that in a few weeks he would be back in the City again. He had
+several times rehearsed his surprise when he should be told of the
+depredations in the warehouse; he had wondered only yesterday if he
+dared go to the office in his beard.
+
+But to-night the change of circumstance, the breaking up of old
+associations, was opening his eyes to new horizons. There might
+never be an office again for him to go to. If he survived--and he
+was distinctly hopeful on that score--he might be almost the only
+man left in London; there might not be more than a few thousand in
+the whole of England, in Europe....
+
+For a time he dwelt on this fantastic vision. Who would do the
+work? What work would there be to do?
+
+"Got to get food," murmured Gosling, and wondered vaguely how food was
+"got" when there were no shops, no warehouses, no foreign agents. His
+mind turned chiefly to meat, since that had been his trade. "'Ave to
+rear sheep and cattle, I suppose," said Gosling. As an afterthought
+he added: "An' grow wheat."
+
+He sighed heavily. He realized that he had no knowledge on the subject
+of rearing cattle and growing wheat; he also realized that he was
+craving for ordinary food again--milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables. He
+had a nasty-looking place on his leg which he rightly attributed to
+unwholesome diet.
+
+
+
+
+6
+
+After forty-eight hours' residence in the new house, Gosling began
+to pluck up his courage and to dare the perils of the streets. He
+was beginning to have faith in his luck, to believe that the plague
+had passed away and left him untouched.
+
+And as day succeeded day he ventured further afield; he went in search
+of milk, eggs and vegetables, but he only found young nettles, which
+he brought home and helped to eat when they had been boiled over a
+wood fire. They were all glad to eat nettles, and were the better for
+them. Occasionally he met women on these excursions, and stayed to
+talk to them. Always they had the same tale to tell--their men were
+dead, and themselves dying of starvation.
+
+One day at the beginning of June he went as far as Petersham, and
+there at the door of a farmhouse he saw a fine, tall young woman. She
+was such a contrast to the women he usually met on his expeditions
+that he paused and regarded her with curiosity.
+
+"What do you want?" asked the young woman, suspiciously.
+
+"I suppose you 'aven't any milk or butter or eggs to sell?" asked
+Gosling.
+
+"Sell?" echoed the girl, contemptuously. "What 'ave you got to give
+us as is worth food?"
+
+"Well, money," replied Gosling.
+
+"Money!" came the echo again. "What's the good of money when there's
+nothing to buy with it? I wouldn't sell you eggs at a pound apiece."
+
+Gosling scratched his beard--it looked quite like a beard by this
+time. "Rum go, ain't it?" he asked, and smiled.
+
+His new acquaintance looked him up and down, and then smiled in return,
+"You're right," she said. "You're the first man I've seen since father
+died, a month back."
+
+"'Oo's livin' with you?" asked Gosling, pointing to the house.
+
+"Mother and sister, that's all."
+
+"'Ard work for you to get a livin', I suppose?"
+
+"So, so. We're used to farm-work. The trouble's to keep the other
+women off."
+
+"Ah!" replied Gosling reflectively, and the two looked at one another
+again.
+
+"You 'ungry?" asked the girl.
+
+"Not to speak of," replied Gosling. "But I'm fair pinin' for a change
+o' diet. Been livin' on tinned things for five weeks or more."
+
+"Come in and have an egg," said the girl.
+
+"Thank you," said Gosling, "I will, with pleasure."
+
+They grew friendly over that meal--two eggs and a glass of milk. He
+ate the eggs with butter, but there was no bread. It seemed that the
+young woman's mother and sister were at work on the farm, but that
+one of them had always to stay at home and keep guard.
+
+They discussed the great change that had come over England, and
+wondered what would be the end of it; and after a little time, Gosling
+began to look at the girl with a new expression in his pale blue eyes.
+
+"Ah! Hevrything's changed," he said. "Nothin' won't be the same any
+more, as far as we can see. There's no neighbours now, f'rinstance,
+and no talk of what's going on--or anythin'."
+
+The girl looked at him thoughtfully. "What we miss is some man to
+look after the place," she said. "We're robbed terrible."
+
+Gosling had not meant to go as far as that. He was not unprepared for
+a pleasant flirtation, now that there were no neighbours to report him
+at home, but the idea that he could ever separate himself permanently
+from his family had not occurred to him.
+
+"Yes," he said, "you want a man about these days."
+
+"Ever done any farm work?" asked the girl.
+
+Gosling shook his head.
+
+"Well, you'd soon learn," she went on.
+
+"I must think it over," said Gosling suddenly. "Shall you be 'ere
+to-morrow?"
+
+"One of us will," said the girl.
+
+"Ah! but shall you?"
+
+"Why me?"
+
+"Well, I've took a fancy to you."
+
+"Very kind of you, I'm sure," said the girl, and laughed.
+
+Gosling kissed her before he left.
+
+
+
+
+7
+
+He returned the next afternoon and helped to cut and stack sainfoin,
+and afterwards he watched the young woman milk the cows. It was so
+late by the time everything was finished that he was persuaded to
+stay the night.
+
+In the new Putney house three women wondered what had happened to
+"father." They grew increasingly anxious for some days, and even
+tried in a feeble way to search for him. By the end of the week they
+accepted the theory that he too had died of the plague.
+
+They never saw him again.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+X--EXODUS
+
+
+1
+
+In West Hampstead a Jewess, who had once been fat, looked out of the
+windows of her gaudy house. She was partly dressed in a garish silk
+negligé. Her face was exceedingly dirty, but the limp, pallid flesh
+was revealed in those places where she had wiped away her abundant
+tears. Her body was bruised and stiff, for in a recent raid on a house
+suspected of containing provisions she had been hardly used by her
+sister women. She had made the mistake of going out too well dressed;
+she had imagined that expensive clothes would command respect....
+
+As she looked out she wept again, bewailing her misery. From her
+earliest youth she had been pampered and spoilt. She had learnt that
+marriage was her sole object in life, and she had sold herself at
+a very respectable price. She had received the applause and favour
+of her family for marrying the man she had chosen as most likely to
+provide her with the luxury which she regarded as her birth-right.
+
+Two days ago she had cooked and eaten the absurdly expensive but
+diminutive dog upon which she had lavished the only love of which
+she had been capable. She had wept continuously as she ate her idol,
+but for the first time she had regretted his littleness.
+
+Hunger and thirst were driving her out of the house of which she had
+been so vain; the primitive pains were awakening in her primitive
+instincts that had never stirred before. From her window she could
+see naught but endless streets of brick, stone and asphalt, but
+beyond that dry, hot, wilderness she knew there were fields--she
+had seen them out of the corner of her eye when she had motored to
+Brighton. Fields had never been associated in her mind with food until
+the strange new stirring of that unsuspected instinct. Food for her
+meant shops. One went to shops and bought food and bought the best
+at the lowest price possible. With all her pride of position, she
+had never hesitated to haggle with shopkeepers. And when the first
+pinch had come, when her husband had selfishly died of the plague,
+and her household had deserted her, it was to the shops she had gone,
+autocratically demanding her rights. She had learned by experience
+now that she had no longer any rights.
+
+She dressed herself in her least-conspicuous clothes, dabbed her
+face with powder to cover some of the dirt--there was no water,
+and in any case she did not feel inclined to wash--carefully stowed
+away all her money and the best of her jewels in a small leather bag,
+and set out to find the country where food grew out of the ground.
+
+Instinct set her face to the north. She took the road towards
+Hendon....
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+In every quarter of London, in every great town and city throughout
+Europe, women were setting their faces towards the country.
+
+By the autumn London was empty. The fallen leaves in park squares
+and suburban streets were swept into corners by the wind, and when
+the rain came the leaves clung together and rotted, and so continued
+the long routine of decay and birth.
+
+When spring came again, Nature returned with delicate, strong hands
+to claim her own. For hundreds of years she had been defied in the
+heart of this great, hard, stone place. Her little tentative efforts
+had been rudely repulsed, no tender thread of grass had been allowed
+to flourish for an hour under the feet of the crushing multitude. Yet
+she had fought with a steady persistence that never relaxed a moment's
+effort. Whenever men had given her a moment's opportunity, even in
+the very heart of that city of burning struggle, she had covered
+the loathed sterility with grass and flowers, dandelions, charlock,
+grounsel and other life that men call weeds.
+
+Now, when her full opportunity came, she set to work in her slow,
+patient way to wreck and cover the defilement of earth. Her winds
+swept dust into every corner, and her rain turned it into a shallow
+bed of soil, ready to receive and nurture the tiny seeds that sailed
+on little feathered wings, or were carried by bird and insect to
+some quiet refuge in which they might renew life, and, dying, add
+fertility to the mother who had brought them forth.
+
+Nature came, also, with her hurricanes, her lightnings and her frosts,
+to rend and destroy. She stripped slates from roofs, thrust out gables
+and overturned solid walls. She came with fungi to undermine and with
+the seeds of trees to split asunder.
+
+She asked for but a few hundred years of patient, continuous work in
+order to make of London once more a garden; where the nightingale
+might sing in Oxford Street and the children of a new race pluck
+sweet wild flowers over the site of the Bank of England....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+The spirit of London had gone out of her, and her body was crumbling
+and rotting. There was no life in all that vast sprawl of bricks and
+mortar; the very dogs and cats, deserted by humanity, left her to
+seek their only food, to seek those other living things which were
+their natural quarry.
+
+In her prime, London had been the chief city of the world. Men and
+women spoke of her as an entity, wrote of her as of a personality,
+loved her as a friend. This aggregate of streets and parks, this
+strange confusion of wealth and squalor, had stood to men and women for
+something definitely lovable. It was not her population they loved, not
+the polyglot crowd that swarmed in her streets, but she herself and all
+the beauty and intoxication of life she had gathered into her embrace.
+
+Now she was dead. Whatever fine qualities she had possessed, whatever
+vices, had gone from her. She sprawled in all her naked ugliness,
+a huge corpse rotting among the hills, awaiting the slow burial which
+Nature was tediously preparing.
+
+All those wonderful buildings, the great emporiums in the West End,
+the magnificent banks and insurance offices, museums and picture
+galleries, regarded as the storehouses of incalculable wealth, vast
+hotels, palatial private residences, the thundering railway termini,
+Government offices, Houses of Parliament, theatres, churches and
+cathedrals, all had become meaningless symbols. All had represented
+some activity, some ambition of man, and man had fled to the country
+for food, leaving behind the worthless tokens of wealth that had
+intrigued him for so many centuries.
+
+Gold and silver grew tarnished in huge safes that none wished to rifle,
+banknotes became mildewed, damp and fungus crept into the museums and
+picture galleries, and in the whole of Great Britain there was none
+to grieve. Every living man and woman was back at the work of their
+ancestors, praying once more to Ceres or Demeter, working with bent
+back to produce the first essentials of life.
+
+Each individual must produce until such time as there was once more
+a superfluity, until barns were filled and wealth re-created, until
+the strong had seized from the weak and demanded labour in return for
+the use of the stolen instrument, until civilization had sprung anew
+from the soil.
+
+Meanwhile London was not a city of the dead, but a dead city.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+THE MARCH OF THE GOSLINGS
+
+
+XI--THE SILENT CITY
+
+
+1
+
+July came in with temperate heat and occasional showers, ideal weather
+for the crops; for all the precious growths which must ripen before
+the famine could be stayed. The sudden stoppage of all imports,
+and the flight of the great urban population into the country, had
+demonstrated beyond all question the poverty of England's resources
+of food supply, and the demonstration was to prove of value although
+there was no economist left to theorize. England was once again an
+independent unit, and no longer a member of a great world-body. Indeed
+England was being subdivided. The unit of organization was shrinking
+with amazing rapidity. The necessity for concentration grew with
+every week that passed, the fluidity of the superfluous labour was
+being resolved by death from starvation. The women who wandered from
+one farm to the next died by the way.
+
+In the Putney house, Mrs Gosling and her daughters were faced
+by the failure of their food supply. The older woman had little
+initiative. She was a true Londoner. Her training and all the
+circumstances of her life had narrowed her imaginative grasp till
+she was only able to comprehend one issue. And as yet her daughters,
+and more particularly Millie, were so influenced by their mother's
+thought that they, also, had shown little evidence of adaptability
+to the changed conditions.
+
+"We shall 'ave to be careful," was Mrs Gosling's first expression of
+the necessity for looking to the future. She had arranged the bulk
+of her stores neatly in one room on the second floor, and although
+a goodly array of tins still faced her she experienced a miserly
+shrinking from any diminishment of their numbers. Moreover, she had
+long been without such necessities as flour. Barker and Prince had
+not dealt in flour.
+
+Returning from her daily inspection one morning in the second week of
+July, Mrs Gosling decided that something must be done at once. Fear
+of the plague was almost dead, but fear of invasion by starving women
+had kept them all close prisoners. That house was a fortress.
+
+"Look 'ere, gels," said Mrs Gosling when she came
+downstairs. "Somethin' 'll 'ave to be done."
+
+Blanche looked thoughtful. Her own mind had already begun to work
+on that great problem of their future. Millie, lazy and indifferent,
+shrugged her shoulders and replied: "All very well, mother, but what
+can we do?"
+
+"Well, I been thinking as it's very likely as things ain't so bad in
+some places as they are just about 'ere," said Mrs Gosling. "We got
+plenty o' money left, and it seems to me as two of us 'ad better go
+out and 'ave a look about, London way. One of us could look after
+the 'ouse easy enough, now. We 'aven't 'ardly seen a soul about the
+past fortnight."
+
+The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She visualized
+the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of the town,
+business had begun again, that shops were open and people at work. It
+might be that she could find work there. She was longing for the
+sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of isolation.
+
+"I'm on," she said briskly. "Me and Millie had better go, mother,
+we can walk farther. You can lock up after us and you needn't open
+the door to anyone. Are you on, Mill?"
+
+"We must make ourselves look a bit more decent first," said Millie,
+glancing at the mirror over the mantelpiece.
+
+"Well, of course," returned Blanche, "we brought one box of clothes
+with us."
+
+They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of their wardrobe.
+
+"Come to the worst we could fetch some more things from Wisteria. I
+don't suppose anyone has touched 'em," suggested Blanche.
+
+At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs Gosling sighed
+noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place at Putney,
+and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be accessible
+gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been.
+
+"Well, you might go up there one day and 'ave a look at the place," she
+put in. "It's quite likely they've got things goin' again up there."
+
+In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made themselves
+presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The atmosphere
+of horror which the plague had brought was being lifted. It was as if
+the dead germs had filled the air with an invisible, impalpable dust,
+that had exercised a strange power of depression. The spirit of death
+had hung over the whole world and paralyzed all activity. Now the
+dust was dispersing. The spirit was withdrawing to the unknown deeps
+from which it had come.
+
+"It is nice to feel decent again," said Blanche. She lifted her head
+and threw back her shoulders.
+
+Millie was preening herself before the glass.
+
+"Well, I'm sure you 'ave made yourselves look smart," said their
+mother with a touch of pride. "They were good girls," she reflected,
+"if there had been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then,
+who could have helped themselves? It had been a terrible time."
+
+The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young women,
+presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St John
+the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to buy
+food in the dead city.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way towards Hammersmith.
+
+The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the streets was so sharp
+and bright that it was as if they saw with wonderfully renewed and
+sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense of exhilaration. They
+were conscious of quickened emotion, of a sensation of physical
+well-being.
+
+"Isn't it clean?" said Blanche.
+
+"H'm! Funny!" returned Millie. "Like those photographs of foreign
+places."
+
+Under their feet was an accumulation of sharp, dry dust, detritus of
+stone, asphalt and steel. In corners where the fugitive rubbish had
+found refuge from the driving wind, the dust had accumulated in flat
+mounds, broken by scraps of paper or the torn flag of some rain-soaked
+poster that gave an untidy air of human refuse. Across the open way
+of certain roads the dust lay in a waved pattern of nearly parallel
+lines, like the ridged sand of the foreshore.
+
+For some time they kept to the pavements from force of habit.
+
+"I say, Mill, don't you feel adventurous?" asked Blanche.
+
+Millie looked dissatisfied. "It's so lonely, B.," was her expression
+of feeling.
+
+"Never had London all to myself before," said Blanche.
+
+Near Hammersmith Broadway they saw a tram standing on the rails. Its
+thin tentacle still clung to the overhead wire that had once given
+it life, as if it waited there patiently hoping for a renewal of the
+exhilarating current.
+
+Almost unconsciously Blanche and Millie quickened their pace. Perhaps
+this was the outermost dying ripple of life, the furthest outpost of
+the new activity that was springing up in central London.
+
+But the tram was guarded by something that in the hot, still air
+seemed to surround it with an almost visible mist.
+
+"Eugh!" ejaculated Millie and shrank back. "Don't go, Blanche. It's
+awful!"
+
+Blanche's hand also had leapt to her face, but she took a few steps
+forward and peered into the sunlit case of steel and glass. She saw a
+heap of clothes about the framework of a grotesquely jointed scarecrow,
+and the gleam of something round, smooth and white.
+
+She screamed faintly, and a filthy dog crept, with a thin yelp,
+from under the seat and came to the door of the tram. For a moment
+it stood there with an air that was half placatory, wrinkling its
+nose and feebly raising a stump of propitiatory tail, then, with
+another protesting yelp, it crept back, furtive and ashamed, to its
+unlawful meat.
+
+The two girls, handkerchief to nose, hurried by breathless, with
+bent heads. A little past Hammersmith Broadway they had their first
+sight of human life. Two gaunt faces looked out at them from an
+upper window. Blanche waved her hand, but the women in the house,
+half-wondering, half-fearful, at the strange sight of these two
+fancifully dressed girls, shook their heads and drew back. Doubtless
+there was some secret hoard of food in that house and the inmates
+feared the demands of charity.
+
+"Well, we aren't quite the last, anyway," commented Blanche.
+
+"What were they afraid of?" asked Millie.
+
+"Thought we wanted to cadge, I expect," suggested Blanche.
+
+"Mean things," was her sister's comment.
+
+"Well! we weren't so over-anxious to have visitors," Blanche reminded
+her.
+
+"We didn't want their beastly food," complained the affronted Millie.
+
+The shops in Hammersmith did not offer much inducement to
+exploration. Some were still closely shuttered, others presented
+goods that offered no temptation, such as hardware; but the majority
+had already been pillaged and devastated. Most of that work had been
+done in the early days of the plague when panic had reigned, and many
+men were left to lead the raids on the preserves of food.
+
+Only one great line of shuttered fronts induced the two girls to pause.
+
+"No need to go to Wisteria for clothes," suggested Blanche.
+
+"How could we get in?" asked Millie.
+
+"Oh! get in some way easy enough."
+
+"It's stealing," said Millie, and thought of her raid on the Kilburn
+tobacconist's.
+
+"You can't steal from dead people," explained Blanche; "besides,
+who'll have the things if we don't?"
+
+"I suppose it'd be all right," hesitated Millie, obviously tempted.
+
+"Well, of course," returned Blanche and paused. "I say, Mill," she
+burst out suddenly. "There's all the West-end to choose from. Come on!"
+
+For a time they walked more quickly.
+
+In Kensington High Street they had an adventure. They saw a woman
+decked in gorgeous silks, strung and studded with jewels from head
+to foot. She walked with a slow and flaunting step, gesticulating,
+and talking. Every now and again she would pause and draw herself up
+with an affectation of immense dignity, finger the ropes of jewels
+at her breast, and make a slow gesture with her hands.
+
+"She's mad," whispered Blanche, and the two girls, terrified and
+trembling, hastily took refuge in a great square cave full of litter
+and refuse that had once been a grocer's shop.
+
+The woman passed their hiding-place in her stately progress
+westward without giving any sign that she was conscious of their
+presence. When she was nearly opposite to them she made one of
+her stately pauses. "Queen of all the Earth," they heard her say,
+"Queen and Empress. Queen of the Earth." Her hand went up to her head
+and touched a strange collection of jewels pinned in her hair, of
+tiaras and brooches that flashed brighter than the high lights of the
+brilliant sun. One carelessly fastened brooch fell and she pushed it
+aside with her foot. "You understand," she said in her high, wavering
+voice, "you understand, Queen and Empress, Queen of the Earth."
+
+They heard the refrain of her gratified ambition repeated as she
+moved slowly away.
+
+A long submerged memory rose to the threshold of Millie's
+mind. "Thieving slut," she murmured.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+As they came nearer to representative London the signs of deserted
+traffic were more numerous. By the Albert Memorial they saw an
+overturned motor-bus which had smashed into the park railings, and a
+little further on were two more buses, one standing decently at the
+curb, the other sprawling across the middle of the road. The wheels
+of both were axle deep in the dust which had blown against them, and
+out of the dust a few weak threads of grass were sprouting. There
+were other vehicles, too, cabs, lorries and carts: not a great
+number altogether, but even the fifty or so which the girls saw
+between Kensington and Knightsbridge offered sufficient testimony
+to the awful rapidity with which the plague had spread. For it seems
+probable that in the majority of cases the drivers of these deserted
+vehicles must have been attacked by the first agonizing pains at
+the base of the skull while they were actually employed in driving
+their machines. There were few skeletons to be seen. The lull which
+intervened between the first unmistakable symptoms of the plague
+and the oncoming of the paralysis had given men time to obey their
+instinct to die in seclusion, the old instinct so little altered by
+civilization. Those vestiges of humanity which remained had, for the
+most part, been cleansed by the processes of Nature, but twice the
+girls disturbed a horrible cloud of blue flies which rose with an angry
+buzzing so loud that the girls screamed and ran, leaving the scavengers
+to swoop eagerly back upon their carrion. Doubtless the thing in the
+Hammersmith tram had been the body of a woman, recently-dead from
+starvation. Even from the houses there was now little exhalation.
+
+In Knightsbridge, a little past the top of Sloane Street, Blanche
+and Millie came to a shop which diverted them from their exploration
+for a time. Most of the huge rolling shutters had been pulled down
+and secured, but one had stopped half way, and, beyond, the great
+plate-glass windows were uncovered. One of ten million tragedies had
+descended swiftly to interrupt the closing of that immense place,
+and some combination of circumstances had followed to prevent the
+completion of the work. The imaginative might stop to speculate on
+the mystery of that half-closed shutter; the two Goslings stopped to
+admire the wonders behind the glass.
+
+For a time the desolation and silence of London were forgotten. In
+imagination Blanche and Millie were once again units in the vast crowd
+of antagonists striving valiantly to win some prize in the great
+competition between the boast of wealth and the pathetic endeavour
+of make-believe.
+
+They stayed to gaze at the "creations" behind the windows, at dummies
+draped in costly fabrics such as they had only dreamed of wearing. The
+silks, satins and velvets were whitened now with the thin snow of dust
+that had fallen upon them, but to Blanche and Millie they appeared
+still as wonders of beauty.
+
+For a minute or two they criticized the models. They spoke at
+first in low voices, for the deep stillness of London held them in
+unconscious awe, but as they became lost in the fascination of their
+subject they forgot their fear. And then they looked at one another
+a little guiltily.
+
+"No harm in seeing if the door's locked, anyway," said Blanche.
+
+Millie looked over her shoulder and saw no movement in the frozen
+streets, save the sweep of one exploring swallow. Even the sparrows
+had deserted the streets. She did not reply in words, but signified
+her agreement of thought by a movement towards the entrance.
+
+The swing doors were not fastened, and they entered stealthily.
+
+They began with the touch of appraising fingers, wandering from room to
+room. But most of the rooms on the ground floor were darkened by the
+drawn shutters, and no glow of light came in response to the clicking
+of the electric switches that they experimented with with persistent
+futility. So they adventured into the clearly lit rooms upstairs and
+experienced a fallacious sense of security in the knowledge that they
+were on the floor above the street.
+
+Fingering gave place to still closer inspection. They lifted the
+models from the stands and shook them out. They held up gorgeous
+robes in front of their own suburban dresses and admired each other
+and themselves in the numerous cheval glasses.
+
+"Oh! bother!" exclaimed Blanche at last, "I'm going to try on."
+
+"Oh! B." expostulated the more timid Millie.
+
+"Well! why to goodness not?" asked her elder sister. "Who's to be
+any the wiser?"
+
+"Seems wrong, somehow," replied Millie, unable to shake off the
+conventions which had so long served her as conscience.
+
+"Well, I am," said Blanche, and retired into a little side room to
+divest herself of her own dress. She had always shared a bedroom
+with her sister, and they observed few modesties before each other,
+but Blanche was mentally incapable of changing her dress in the broad
+avenues of that extensive show-room. It is true that the tall casement
+windows were wide open and the place was completely overlooked by the
+massive buildings opposite, but even if the windows had been screened
+she would not have changed her skirt in the publicity of that open
+place, though every human being in the world were dead.
+
+When she emerged from her dressing-room she was transformed indeed. She
+went over to her still hesitating sister.
+
+"Do me up, Mill," she said.
+
+Blanche had chosen well; the fine cloth walking dress admirably
+fitted her well-developed young figure. When she had discarded her
+hat and touched up her hair before the glass, only her boots and her
+hands remained to spoil the disguise. Well gloved and well shod,
+she might have passed down the Bond Street of the old London, and
+few women and no man would have known that she had not sprung from
+the ruling classes.
+
+She posed. She stepped back from the mirror and half-unconsciously
+fell to imitating the manners of the revered aristocracy she had
+respectfully studied from a distance.
+
+In a few minutes she was joined by Millie, also arrayed in peacock's
+feathers and anxious to be "fastened."
+
+Their excitement increased. Walking dresses gave place to evening
+gowns. They lost their sense of fear and ran into other departments
+searching for long white gloves to hide the disfigurements of household
+work. They paraded and bowed to each other. The climax came when they
+discovered a Court dress, immensely trained, and embroidered with gold
+thread, laid by with evidences of tenderest care in endless wrappings
+of tissue paper. Surely the dress of some elegant young duchess!
+
+For a moment they wrangled, but Blanche triumphed. "You shall have
+it afterwards," she said, as she ran to her dressing-room.
+
+Millie followed in an elaborate gown of Indian silk; a somewhat
+sulky Millie, inclined to resent her duty of lady's maid. She dragged
+disrespectfully at the innumerable fastenings.
+
+"My!" ejaculated Blanche when she could indulge herself in the glory
+of full examination before a cheval glass in the open show-room. She
+struggled with her train and when she had arranged it to her
+satisfaction, threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin haughtily.
+
+"I ought to have some diamonds," she reflected.
+
+"It drags round the hips," was Millie's criticism.
+
+"You should say 'Your Majesty,'" corrected Blanche.
+
+"Oh! a Queen, are you?" asked Millie.
+
+"Rather----"
+
+"Queen of all the Earth," sneered Millie.
+
+Blanche's face suddenly fell. "I wonder if she began like this,"
+she said, and a note of fear had come into her voice.
+
+Millie's eyes reflected her sister's alarm.
+
+"Oh! let's get out of this, B.," she said, and began to tear at the
+neck of her Indian silk gown.
+
+"I wanted diamonds, too," persisted Blanche.
+
+"Oh! B., it isn't right," said Millie. "I said it wasn't right and
+you would come."
+
+Silence descended upon them for a moment, and then both sisters
+suddenly screamed and ducked, putting up their hands to their heads.
+
+"Goodness! What was that?" cried Blanche.
+
+A swallow had swept in through the open window, had curved round in
+one swift movement, and shot out again into the sunlight.
+
+"Only a bird of some sort," said Millie, but she was trembling and
+on the verge of hysterics. "Do let's get out, B."
+
+After they had put on their own clothes once more they became aware
+that they were hungry.
+
+"We have wasted a lot of time here," said Blanche as they made their
+way out.
+
+She did not pause to wonder how many women had spent the best part
+of their lives in a precisely similar manner.
+
+"And we ought to have been looking for food," she added.
+
+"Come on," replied Millie. "That place has given me the creeps."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Growing rather tired and footsore they made their way to Piccadilly
+Circus, and so on to the Strand. Everywhere they found the same
+conditions: a few skeletons, a few deserted vehicles, young vegetation
+taking hold wherever a pinch of soil had found an abiding place,
+and over all a great silence. But food there was none that they were
+able to find, though it is probable that a careful investigation of
+cellars and underground places might have furnished some results. The
+more salient resources of London had been effectively pillaged so
+far as the West-end was concerned. They were too late.
+
+In Trafalgar Square, Millie sat down and cried. Blanche made no attempt
+to comfort her, but sat wide eyed and wondering. Her mind was opening
+to new ideas. She was beginning to understand that London was incapable
+of supporting even the lives of three women; she was wrestling with
+the problem of existence. Every one had gone. Many had died; but many
+more, surely, must have fled into the country. She began to understand
+that she and her family must also fly into the country.
+
+Millie still sobbed convulsively now and again.
+
+"Oh! Chuck it, Mill," said Blanche at last. "We'd better be getting
+home."
+
+Millie dabbed her eyes. "I'm starving," she blubbered.
+
+"Well, so am I," returned Blanche. "That's why I said we'd better
+get home. There's nothing to eat here."
+
+"Is--is every one dead?"
+
+"No, they've gone off into the country, and that's what we've got
+to do."
+
+The younger girl sat up, put her hat straight, and blew her
+nose. "Isn't it awful, B.?" she said.
+
+Blanche pinched her lips together. "What are you putting your hat
+straight for?" she asked. "There's no one to see you."
+
+"Well, you needn't make it any worse," retorted Millie on the verge
+of a fresh outburst of tears.
+
+"Oh! come on!" said Blanche, getting to her feet.
+
+"I don't believe I can walk home," complained Millie; "my feet
+ache so."
+
+"You'll have to wait a long time if you're going to find a bus,"
+returned Blanche.
+
+Three empty taxicabs stood in the rank a few feet away from them,
+but it never occurred to either of the two young women to attempt any
+experiment with these mechanisms. If the thought had crossed their
+minds they would have deemed it absurd.
+
+"Let's go down by Victoria," suggested Blanche. "I believe it's
+nearer."
+
+In Parliament Square they disturbed a flock of rooks, birds which
+had partly changed their natural habits during the past few months
+and, owing to the superabundance of one kind of food, were preying
+on carrion.
+
+"Crows," commented Blanche. "Beastly things."
+
+"I wonder if we could get some water to drink," was Millie's reply.
+
+"Well, there's the river," suggested Blanche, and they turned up
+towards Westminster Bridge.
+
+In one of the tall buildings facing the river Blanche's attention
+was caught by an open door.
+
+"Look here, Mill," she said, "we've only been looking for shops. Let's
+try one of these houses. We might find something to eat in there."
+
+"I'm afraid," said Millie.
+
+"What of?" sneered Blanche. "At the worst it's skeletons, and we can
+come out again."
+
+Millie shuddered. "You go," she suggested.
+
+"Not by myself, I won't," returned Blanche.
+
+"There you are, you see," said Millie.
+
+"Well, it's different by yourself."
+
+"I hate it," returned Millie with emphasis.
+
+"So do I, in a way, only I'm fair starving," said Blanche. "Come on."
+
+The building was solidly furnished, and the ground floor, although
+somewhat disordered, still suggested a complacent luxury. On the floor
+lay a copy of the Evening Chronicle, dated May 10; possibly one of the
+last issues of a London journal. Two of the pages were quite blank,
+and almost the only advertisement was one hastily-set announcement of a
+patent medicine guaranteed as a sure protection against the plague. The
+remainder of the paper was filled with reports of the devastation that
+was being wrought, reports which were nevertheless marked by a faint
+spirit of simulated confidence. Between the lines could be read the
+story of desperate men clinging to hope with splendid courage. There
+were no signs of panic here. Groves had come out well at the last.
+
+The two girls hovered over this piece of ancient history for a few
+minutes.
+
+"You see," said Blanche triumphantly, "even then, more'n two months
+ago, every one was making for the country. We shall have to go,
+too. I told you we should."
+
+"I never said we shouldn't," returned Millie. "Anyhow there's nothing
+to eat here."
+
+"Not in this room, there isn't," said Blanche, "but there might be
+in the kitchens. Do you know what this place has been?"
+
+Millie shook her head.
+
+"It's been a man's club," announced Blanche. "First time you've been
+in one, old dear."
+
+"Come on, let's have a look downstairs, then," returned Millie,
+careless of her achievement.
+
+In the first kitchen they found havoc: broken china and glass, empty
+bottles, empty tins, cooking utensils on the floor, one table upset,
+everywhere devastation and the marks of struggle; but in none of the
+empty tins was there the least particle of food. Everything had been
+completely cleaned out. The rats had been there, and had gone.
+
+Exploring deeper, however, they were at last rewarded. On a table
+stood a whole array of unopened tins and in one of them was plunged
+a tin-opener, a single stab had been given, and then, possibly,
+another of these common tragedies had begun. Had he been alone,
+that plunderer, or had his companions fled from him in terror?
+
+Here the two girls made a sufficient meal, and discovered, moreover,
+a large store of unopened beer-bottles. They shared the contents
+of one between them, and then, feeling greatly reinvigorated, they
+sought for and found two baskets, which they filled with tinned
+foods. They only took away one bottle of beer--a special treat for
+their mother--on account of the weight. They remembered that they
+had a long walk before them; and they were not over-elated by their
+discovery; they were sick to death of tinned meats.
+
+In looking for the baskets they came across a single potato that the
+rats had left. From it had sprung a long, thin, etiolated shoot which
+had crept under the door of the cupboard and was making its way across
+the floor to the light of the window. Already that shoot was several
+feet in length.
+
+"Funny how they grow," commented Millie.
+
+"Making for the country, I expect," replied Blanche, "same as we
+shall have to do."
+
+It was a relief to them to find their way into the sunlight once
+more. Those cold, forsaken houses held some suggestion of horror,
+of old activities so abruptly ended by tragedy. From these interiors
+Nature was still shut off. That ghostly tendril aching towards the
+light had no chance for life and reproduction....
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+The two Gosling girls had yet one more adventure before they toiled
+home with their load.
+
+They were growing bolder, despite the gloom and oppression of those
+human habitations, and some freakish spirit prompted Blanche to suggest
+that they should visit the Houses of Parliament. After a brief demur,
+Millie acceded.
+
+That great stronghold was open to them now. They might walk the floor
+of the House, sit in the Speaker's chair, penetrate into the sacred
+places of the Upper Chamber.
+
+Gone were all the rules and formulas, the intricacies and precedents
+of an unwritten constitution, the whole cumbrous machinery for the
+making of new laws. The air was no longer disturbed by the wranglings,
+evasions and cunning shifts of those who had found here a stage for
+their personal ambitions. The high talk of progress had died into
+silence along with the struggle of parties which had played the supreme
+game, side against side, for the prize of power. Progress had been
+defined in this place, in terms of human activity, human comfort. The
+end in sight had been some vague conception of general welfare through
+accumulated riches. And from the sky had fallen a pestilence to change
+the meaning of human terms. In three months the old conception of
+wealth was gone. Money, precious stones, a thousand accepted forms
+of value had become suddenly worthless, of no more account than the
+symbol of power which lay coated with dust on the table of the House
+of law-makers. Even law itself, that slow growth of the centuries,
+had become meaningless. Who cared if some mad woman plundered every
+jeweller's shop in the whole City? Who was to forbid theft or avenge
+murder? The place of traffic was empty. Only one law was left and
+only one value; the law of self-preservation, the value of food.
+
+The sunlight fell in broad coloured shafts upon two half-educated
+girls come on a plundering expedition, and they might sit in the high
+places if they would, and make new laws for themselves.
+
+Blanche sat for a few moments in the Speaker's chair.
+
+"It's a fine big place," she remarked.
+
+"Oh! come on, B., do," replied Millie. "I want to get home."
+
+As they crossed the Square, Millie looked up at Big Ben. "Quarter-past
+nine," she said. "It must have stopped."
+
+"Well, of course, silly," replied Blanche. "All the clocks have
+stopped. Who's to wind 'em?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XII--EMIGRANT
+
+
+1
+
+For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to grasp the significance
+of her daughters' report on the condition of London. During the past
+two months she had persuaded herself that the traffic of the town was
+being resumed and that only Putney was still desolate. She had always
+disapproved of Putney; it was damp and she had never known anyone who
+had lived there. It is true that the late lamented George Gosling had
+been born in Putney, but that was more than half a century ago, the
+place was no doubt quite different then; and he had left Putney and
+gone to live in the healthy North before he was sixteen. Mrs Gosling
+was half inclined to blame Putney for all their misfortunes--it was
+sure to breed infection, being so near the river and all--and she had
+become hopeful during the past month that all would be well with them
+if they could once get back to Kilburn.
+
+"D'you mean to say you didn't see no one at all?" she repeated in
+great perplexity.
+
+"Those three we've told you about, that's all," said Blanche.
+
+"Well, o' course, they're all shut up in the 'ouses, still; afraid
+o' the plague and 'anging on to what provisions they've got put by,
+same as us," was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward.
+
+"They ain't," said Millie, and Blanche agreed.
+
+"Well, but 'ow d'you know?" persisted the mother. "Did you go in to
+the 'ouses?"
+
+"One or two," returned Blanche evasively, "but there wasn't no need
+to go in. You could see."
+
+"Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not in the Strand?" Mrs
+Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence. She could not doubt the
+good faith of the Strand. If that failed her, all was lost.
+
+"Oh! can't you understand, mother," broke out Blanche petulantly,
+"that the whole of London is absolutely deserted? There isn't a soul
+in the streets. There's no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and
+grass growing in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been
+broken into, all those that had food in 'em, and----" words failed
+her. "Isn't it, Millie?" she concluded lamely.
+
+"Awful," agreed Millie.
+
+"Well, I can't understand it," said Mrs Gosling, not yet fully
+convinced. She considered earnestly for a few moments and then asked:
+"Did you go into Charing Cross Post Office? They'd sure to be open."
+
+"Yes!" lied Blanche, "and we could have taken all the money in the
+place if we'd wanted, and no one any the wiser."
+
+Mrs Gosling looked shocked. "I 'ope my gels'll never come to that,"
+she said. Her girls, with a wonderful understanding of their mother's
+opinions, had omitted to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge
+emporium.
+
+"No one'd ever know," said Millie.
+
+"There's One who would," replied Mrs Gosling gravely, and strangely
+enough, perhaps, the two girls looked uneasy, but they were thinking
+less of the commandments miraculously given to Moses than of the
+probable displeasure of the Vicar of St John the Evangelist's Church
+in Kilburn.
+
+"Well, we've got to do something, anyhow," said Blanche, after a
+pause. "I mean we'll have to get out of this and go into the country."
+
+"We might go to your uncle's in Liverpool," suggested Mrs Gosling,
+tentatively.
+
+"It's a long walk," remarked Blanche.
+
+Mrs Gosling did not grasp the meaning of this objection. "Well,
+I think we could afford third-class," she said. "Besides, though we
+'aven't corresponded much of late years, I've always been under the
+impression that your uncle is doin' well in Liverpool; and at such a
+time as this I'm sure 'e'll do the right thing, though whether it would
+be better to let 'im know we're comin' or not I'm not quite sure."
+
+"Oh! dear!" sighed Blanche, "I do wish you'd try to understand,
+mother. There aren't any trains. There aren't any posts or
+telegraphs. Wherever we go we've just got to walk. Haven't we, Millie?"
+
+Millie began to snivel. "It's 'orrible," she said.
+
+"Well I can't understand it," repeated Mrs Gosling.
+
+By degrees, however, the controversy took a new shape. Granting for
+the moment the main contention that London was uninhabitated, Mrs
+Gosling urged that it would be a dangerous, even a foolhardy, thing
+to venture into the country. If there was no Government there would
+be no law and order, was the substance of her argument; government in
+her mind being represented by its concrete presentation in the form of
+the utterly reliable policeman. Furthermore, she pointed out, that they
+did not know anyone in the country, with the exception of a too-distant
+uncle in Liverpool, and that there would be nowhere for them to go.
+
+"We shall have to work," said Blanche, who was surely inspired by
+her glimpse of the silent city.
+
+"Well, we've got nearly a 'undred pounds left of what your poor father
+drew out o' the bank before we shut ourselves up," said her mother.
+
+"I suppose we could buy things in the country," speculated Blanche.
+
+"You seem set on the country for some reason," said Mrs Gosling with
+a touch of temper.
+
+"Well, we've got to get food," returned Blanche, raising her voice. "We
+can't live on air."
+
+"And if food's to be got cheaper in the country than in London,"
+snapped Mrs Gosling, "my experience goes for nothing, but, of course,
+you know best, if I am your mother."
+
+"There isn't any food in London, cheap or dear, I keep telling you,"
+said Blanche, and left the room angrily, slamming the door behind her.
+
+Millie sat moodily biting her nails.
+
+"Blanche lets 'er temper get the better of 'er," remarked Mrs Gosling
+addressing the spaces of the kitchen in which they were sitting.
+
+"It's right, worse luck," said Millie. "We shall have to go. I 'ate
+it nearly as much as you do."
+
+The argument thus begun was continued with few intermissions for a
+whole week. A thunderstorm, followed by two days of overcast weather,
+came to the support of the older woman. One thing was certain among
+all these terrible perplexities, namely, that you couldn't start off
+for a trip to the country on a wet day.
+
+Meanwhile their stores continued to diminish, and one afternoon Mrs
+Gosling consented to take a walk with Blanche as far as Hammersmith
+Broadway.
+
+The sight of that blank desert impressed her. Blanche pointed out
+the house in which she had seen the two women five days before, but
+no one was looking out of the window on that afternoon. Perhaps they
+had fled to the country, or were occupied elsewhere in the house,
+or perhaps they had left London by the easier way which had become
+so general in the past few months.
+
+When she returned to the Putney house, Mrs Gosling wept and wished she,
+too, was dead, but she consented at last to Blanche's continually urged
+proposition, in so far as she expressed herself willing to make a move
+of some sort. She thought they might, at least, go back and have a
+look at Wisteria Grove. And if Kilburn had, indeed, fallen as low as
+Hammersmith, then there was apparently no help for it and they must
+try their luck in the waste and desolation of the country. Perhaps
+some farmer's wife might take them in for a time, until they had a
+chance to look about them. They had nearly a hundred pounds in gold.
+
+The girls found a builder's trolley in a yard near by, a truck of
+sturdy build on two wheels with a long handle. It bore marks of
+having held cement, and there were weeds growing in one end of it,
+but after it had been brought home and thoroughly scrubbed, it looked
+quite a presentable means for the transport of the "necessaries"
+they proposed to take with them.
+
+They made too generous an estimate of essentials at first, piling
+their truck too high for safety and overtaxing their strength; but
+that problem, like many others, was finally solved for them by the
+clear-sighted guidance of necessity.
+
+They started one morning--a Monday if their calculations were not
+at fault--about two hours after breakfast. Mrs Gosling and Millie
+pushed behind, and Blanche, the inspired one, went before, pulled by
+the handle of the pole and gave the others their direction.
+
+It is possible that they were the last women to leave London.
+
+By chance they discovered the Queen of all the Earth on a doorstep
+near Addison Road. She was quite dead, but they did not despoil her
+of the jewels with which she was still covered.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Mrs Gosling was a source of trouble from the outset. She had lived
+her life indoors. In the Wisteria Grove days, she never spent two
+hours of the twenty-four out of the house. Some times for a whole
+week she had not gone out at all. It was a mark of their rise in the
+world that all the tradesmen called for orders. She had found little
+necessity to buy in shops during recent years. And so, very surely,
+she had grown more and more limited in her outlook. Her attention
+had become concentrated on the duties of the housewife. She had not
+kept any servant, a charwoman who came for a few hours three times
+a week had done all that the mistress of the house had not dared, in
+face of neighbourly criticism--in her position she could not be seen
+washing down the little tiled path to the gate nor whitening the steps.
+
+The effect of this cramped existence on Mrs Gosling would not
+have been noticeable under the old conditions. She had become a
+specialized creature, admirably adapted to her place in the old
+scheme of civilization. No demand was ever made upon her resources
+other than those familiar demands which she was so perfectly educated
+to supply. Even when the plague had come, she had not been compelled
+to alter her mode of life. She had made trouble enough about the lack
+of many things she had once believed to be necessary--familiar foods,
+soap and the thousand little conveniences that the twentieth century
+inventor had patented to assist the domestic economy of the small
+householder; but the trouble was not too great to be overcome. The
+adaptability required from her was within the scope of her specialized
+vision. She could learn to do without flour, butter, lard, milk,
+sugar and the other things, but she could not learn to think on
+unfamiliar lines.
+
+That was the essence of her trouble. She was divorced from a permanent
+home. She was asked to walk long miles in the open air. Worst of all,
+she was called upon for initiative, ingenuity; she was required to
+exercise her imagination in order to solve a problem with which she
+was quite unfamiliar. She was expected to develop the potentialities
+of the wild thing, and to extort food from Nature. The whole problem
+was beyond her comprehension.
+
+The sight of Kilburn was a great blow to her. She had hoped against
+hope that here, at least, she would find some semblance of the life
+she had known. It had seemed so impossible to her that Aiken, the
+butcher's, or Hobb's, the grocer's, would not be open as usual, and
+the vision of those two desolated and ransacked shops--the latter with
+but a few murderous spears of plate-glass left in its once magnificent
+windows--depressed her to tears.
+
+So shaken was she by the sight of these horrors that Blanche and
+Millie raised no objection to sleeping that night in the house in
+Wisteria Grove. Indeed, the two girls were almost tired out, although
+it was yet early in the afternoon. The truck had become very heavy
+in the course of the last two miles; and they had had considerable
+difficulty in negotiating the hill by Westbourne Park Station.
+
+Mrs Gosling was still weeping as she let herself in to her old home,
+and she wept as she prowled about the familiar rooms and noted the
+dust which had fallen like snow on every surface which would support
+it. And for the first time the loss of her husband came home to
+her. She had been almost glad when he had vanished from the Putney
+house--in that place she had only seen him in his new character of
+tyrant. Here, among familiar associations, she recalled the fact that
+he had been a respectable, complacent, hard-working, successful man
+who had never given her cause for trouble, a man who did not drink
+nor run after other women, who held a position in the Church and was
+looked up to by the neighbourhood. According to her definition he had
+certainly been an ideal husband. It is true that they had dropped any
+pretence of being in love with one another after Blanche was born,
+but that was only natural.
+
+Mrs Gosling sat on the bed she had shared with him so long and hoped
+he was happy. He was; but if she could have seen the nature of his
+happiness the sight would have given her no comfort. Vaguely she
+pictured him in some strange Paradise, built upon those conceptions
+of the mediæval artists, mainly Italians, which have supplied the
+ideals of the orthodox. She saw an imperfectly transfigured and still
+fleshly George Gosling, who did unaccustomed things with a harp,
+was dressed in exotic garments and was on terms with certain hybrids,
+largely woman but partly bird, who were clearly recognizable as the
+angelic host. If she had been a Mohammedan, her vision would have
+accorded far more nearly with the fact.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+The successful animal is that which is adapted to its
+circumstances. Herbert Spencer would appear foolish and incapable in
+the society of the young wits who frequent the private bar; he might
+be described by them as an old Johnny who knew nothing about life. Mrs
+Gosling in her own home had been a ruler; she had had authority over
+her daughters, and, despite the usual evidences of girlish precocity,
+she had always been mistress of the situation. In the affairs of
+household management she was facile princeps, and she commanded
+the respect accorded to the eminent in any form of specialized
+activity. But even on this second morning of their emigration it became
+clear to Blanche that her mother had ceased to rule, and must become a
+subordinate. A certain respect was due to her in her parental relation,
+but if she could not be coaxed she must be coerced.
+
+"She'll be better when we get her right away from here," was Blanche's
+diagnosis, and Millie, who had also achieved some partial realization
+of the necessities imposed by the new conditions, nodded in agreement.
+
+"She wants to stop here altogether, and, of course, we can't,"
+she said.
+
+"We shall starve if we do," said Blanche.
+
+From that time Mrs Gosling dropped into the humiliating position of
+a kind of mental incapable who must be humoured into obedience.
+
+The first, and in many ways the most difficult, task was to persuade
+her away from Kilburn. She clung desperately to that stronghold of
+her old life.
+
+"I'm too old to change at my age," she protested, and when the
+alternative was clearly put before her, she accepted it with a
+flaccidity that was as aggravating as it was unfightable.
+
+"I'd sooner die 'ere," said Mrs Gosling, "than go trapesing about the
+fields lookin' for somethin' to eat. I simply couldn't do it. It's
+different for you two gels, no doubt. You go and leave me 'ere."
+
+Millie might have been tempted to take her mother at her word,
+but Blanche never for a moment entertained the idea of leaving her
+mother behind.
+
+"Very well, mother," she said, desperately, "if you won't come we
+must all stop here and starve, I suppose. We've got enough food to
+last a fortnight or so."
+
+As she spoke she looked out of the window of that little suburban
+house, and for the first time in her life a thought came to her of
+the strangeness of preferring such an inconvenient little box to the
+adventure of the wider spaces of open country. Outside, the sun was
+shining brilliantly, but the windows were dim with dust and cobwebs.
+
+Yet her mother was comparatively happy in this hovel; she would
+find delight in cleaning it, although there was no one to appraise
+the result of her effort. She was a specialized animal with
+habits precisely analogous to the instincts of other animals and
+insects. There were insects who could only live in filth and would die
+miserably if removed from their natural surroundings. Mrs Gosling was
+a suburban-house insect who would perish in the open air. After all,
+the chief difference between insects and men is that the insect is
+born perfectly adapted to its specialized existence, man finds, or
+is forced into, a place in the scheme after he has come to maturity....
+
+"I can't see why you shouldn't leave me behind," pleaded Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Well, we won't," replied Blanche, still looking out of the window.
+
+"It's wicked of you to make us stop here and starve," put in
+Millie. "And even you must see that we shall starve."
+
+Mrs Gosling wept feebly. She had wept much during the past twenty-four
+hours. "Where can we go?" she wailed.
+
+"There's country on the other side of Harrow," said Blanche.
+
+The thought of Harrow or Timbuctoo was equally repugnant to Mrs
+Gosling.
+
+Then Millie had an idea. "Well, we only brought four bottles of water
+with us," she said, "where are we going to get any more in Kilburn?"
+
+Mrs Gosling racked her brain in the effort to remember some convenient
+stream in the neighbourhood. "It may rain," she said feebly at last.
+
+Blanche turned from the window and pointed to the blurred prospect
+of sunlit street. "We might be dead before the rain came," she said.
+
+They wore her out in the end.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+With Harrow as an immediate objective, they toiled up Willesden Lane
+with their hand-cart early the next morning. Blanche took that route
+because it was familiar to her, and after passing Willesden Green,
+she followed the tram lines.
+
+As they got away from London they came upon evidences of the exodus
+which had preceded them. Bodies of women, for the most part no longer
+malodorous, were not infrequent, and pieces of household furniture,
+parcels of clothing, boxes, trunks and smaller impedimenta lay by the
+roadside, the superfluities of earlier loads that had been lightened,
+however reluctantly.
+
+Mrs Gosling blenched at the sight of every body--only a few of them
+could be described as skeletons--and protested that they were all
+going to their death, but Blanche kept on resolutely with a white,
+set face, and as Millie followed her example, if with rather less show
+of temerity, there was no choice but to follow. When the gradients
+were favourable the girls helped their mother on to the truck and
+gave her a lift. She was a feeble walker.
+
+Not till they reached Sudbury did they see another living being of
+their own species, or any sign of human habitation in the long rows
+of dirty houses.
+
+The great surge of migration had spread out from the centre and become
+absorbed in circles of ever-widening amplitude. The great entity of
+London had eaten its way so far outwards in to arable and pasturage
+that within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross not a thousand women
+could be found who had been able to obtain any promise of security
+from the products of the soil. And although there were great open
+spaces of land, such as Wembley Park, which had to be crossed in the
+journey outwards, the exiles had been unable to wait until such time
+as seed could be transformed into food by the alchemy of Nature. So
+the pressure had been continually outwards, forcing the emigrants
+toward the more distant farms where some fraction of them, at least,
+might find work and food until the coming of the harvest. In Kent,
+vegetables were comparatively plentiful. In Northern Middlesex and
+Buckinghamshire the majority had to depend upon animal food. But in
+all the Home Counties and in the neighbourhood of every large town,
+famine was following hard upon the heels of the plague, and 70 per
+cent of the town-dwelling women and children who had escaped the latter
+visitation died of starvation and exposure before the middle of August.
+
+In the first inner ring, still sparsely populated, were to be found
+those who had had vegetable gardens and had been vigorous enough to
+protect themselves against the flood of migration which had swept up
+against them.
+
+It was the first signs of this inner ring that the Goslings discovered
+at Sudbury.
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+They came upon a little row of cottages, standing back a few yards from
+the road. All three women had been engaged in pushing their trolly
+up an ascent, and with heads down, and all their physical energies
+concentrated upon their task, they did not notice the startling
+difference between these cottages and other houses they had passed,
+until they stopped to take breath at the summit of the hill.
+
+Mrs Gosling had immediately seated herself upon the sloping pole
+of the trolly handle. She was breathing heavily and had her hands
+pressed to her sides. Millie leaned against the side of the trolly,
+her eyes still on the ground. But Blanche had thrown back her shoulders
+and opened her lungs, and she saw the banner of smoke that flew from
+the middle of the three chimney-stacks--smoke, in this wilderness,
+smoke the sign of human life! To Blanche it seemed the fulfilment of
+a great hope. She had begun to wonder if all the world were dead.
+
+"Oh!" she gasped. "Look!"
+
+They looked without eagerness, anticipating some familiar horror.
+
+"Ooh!" echoed Millie, when she, too, had recognized the harbinger. But
+Mrs Gosling did not raise her eyes high enough.
+
+"What?" she asked stupidly.
+
+"There's some one living in that cottage," said Blanche, and pointed
+upwards to the soaring pennant.
+
+Mrs Gosling's face brightened. "Well, to be sure," she said, "I wonder
+if they'd let me sit down and rest for a few minutes? And perhaps
+they might be willing to sell me a glass of milk. I'm sure I'd pay
+a good price for it."
+
+"We can see, anyway," replied Millie, and they roused themselves and
+pushed on eagerly. The cottage was not more than thirty yards away.
+
+Before they reached it, a woman came to the doorway, stared at them
+for a moment and then came down to the little wooden gate.
+
+She was a thick-set woman of fifty or so, with iron grey hair cut
+close to her head. She wore a tweed skirt which did not reach the
+tops of her heavily soled, high boots. She looked capable, energetic
+and muscular. And in her hand she carried about three feet of stout
+broomstick.
+
+She did not speak until the little procession halted before her gate,
+and then she pointed meaningly up the road with her broomstick and
+said: "Go on. You can't stop here." She spoke with the voice and
+inflection of an educated woman.
+
+Blanche paused in the act of setting down the trolly handle. Mrs
+Gosling and Millie stared in amazement; they had been prepared to
+weep on the neck of this human friend, found at last in the awful
+desert of Middlesex.
+
+"We only wanted to buy a little milk," stammered Blanche, no less
+astonished than her mother and sister.
+
+The big woman looked them over with something of pity and contempt. "I
+can see you're not dangerous," she sneered and crossed her great bare
+fore-arms over the top of the gate. "Only three poor feckless idiots
+going begging."
+
+"We're not begging," retorted Blanche. "We've got money and we're
+willing to pay."
+
+"Money!" repeated the woman. She looked up at the sky and nodded
+her head, as though beseeching pity for these feeble creatures. "My
+dear girl," she went on, "what do you suppose is the good of money
+in this world? You can't eat money, nor wear it, nor use it to light
+a fire. Now, if you'd offered me a box of matches, you should have
+had all the milk I can spare."
+
+"Well, I never," put in Mrs Gosling, who had feebly come to rest
+again on the handle of the trolly.
+
+"No, my good woman, you never did," said the stranger. "You never
+could and I should say the chances are that you never will."
+
+Millie was intimidated and shrinking, even Blanche looked a
+little nervous, but Mrs Gosling was incapable of feeling fear of
+a fellow-woman. "You can't mean as you won't sell us a glass of
+milk?" she said.
+
+"Have you got a box of matches you'll exchange for it?" asked the
+stranger. "I've got a burning glass I stole in Harrow, but you can't
+depend on the sun."
+
+"No, nor 'aven't 'ad, the last three weeks," said Mrs Gosling. "But
+if you've more money a'ready than you know what to do with, I should
+'ave thought as you'd 'a been willing to spare a glass o' milk for
+charity's sake."
+
+The stranger regarded her petitioner with a hard smile. "Charity's
+sake?" she said. "Do you realize that I've had to defend this place
+like a fort against thousands of your sort? I've killed three madwomen
+who fought me for possession and buried 'em in the orchard like
+cats. I held out through the first rush and I can hold out now easily
+enough. You three are the first I've seen for a month, and before
+that they'd begun to get weak and poor. These are your daughters,
+I suppose, and the three of you had always depended upon some fool
+of a man to keep you. Yes? Well, you deserve all you've got. Now you
+can start and do a little healthy, useful work for yourselves. I've
+no pity for you. I've got a damned fool of a sister and an old fool
+of a mother to keep in there," she pointed to the cottage with her
+broomstick. "Parasitic like you, both of 'em, and pretty well all
+the use they are is to keep the fire alight. No, my good woman,
+you get no charity from me."
+
+When she had finished her speech, which she delivered with a fluency
+and point that suggested familiarity with the platform, the stranger
+crossed her arms again over the gate and stared Mrs Gosling out
+of countenance.
+
+"Come along, my dears," said that outraged lady, getting wearily to
+her feet. "I wouldn't wish your ears soiled by such language from a
+woman as 'as forgotten the manners of a lady. But, there, poor thing,
+I've no doubt 'er 'ead's been turned with all this trouble."
+
+The stranger smiled grimly and made no reply, but as the Goslings
+were moving away, she called out to them suddenly: "Hi! You! There's
+a witless creature along the road who'll probably help you. The house
+is up a side road. Bear round to the right."
+
+"What a beast," muttered Blanche when they had gone on a few yards.
+
+"One o' them 'new' women, my dear," panted Mrs Gosling, who
+remembered the beginning of the movement and still clung to the old
+terminology. "'Orrible unsexed creatures! I remember how your poor
+father used to 'ate 'em!"
+
+"I'd like to get even with her," said Millie.
+
+They bore to the right, and so avoided two turnings which led up
+repulsive-looking hills, but they missed the side road.
+
+"I'm sure we must have passed it," complained Mrs Gosling at
+last. Her sighs had been increasing in volume and poignancy for the
+past half-mile, and the prospect of uninhabited country which lay
+immediately around her she found infinitely dispiriting.
+
+"There isn't an 'ouse in sight," she added, "and I really don't
+believe I can walk much farther."
+
+Blanche stopped and looked over the fields on her right towards
+London. In the distance, blurred by an oily wriggle of heat haze, she
+could see the last wave of suburban villas which had broken upon this
+shore of open country. They had left the town behind them at last,
+but they had not found what they sought. This little arm of land
+which cut off Harrow and Wealdstone from the mother lake of London
+had not offered sufficient temptation to delay their forerunners in
+the search for food. Most of them, with a true instinct for what they
+sought, had followed the main road into the Chiltern Hills, and those
+who for some cause or another had wandered into this side track had
+pushed on, even as Blanche and Millie would have done had they not
+been dragged back by their mother's complaints. The sun was falling
+a little towards the west, and bird and animal life, which had seemed
+to rest during the intenser heat of mid-day, was stirring and calling
+all about them. A rabbit lolloped into the road, a few yards away,
+pricked up its ears, stared for an instant, and then scuttled to
+cover. A blackbird flew out of the hedge and fled chattering up the
+ditch. The air was murmurous with the hum of innumerable insects,
+and above Mrs Gosling's head hovered a group of flies which ever
+and again bobbed down as if following some concerted plan of action,
+and tried to settle on the poor woman's heated face.
+
+"Oh! get away, do!" she panted, and flapped a futile handkerchief.
+
+"How quiet it is!" said Blanche; and although the air was full of
+sound it did indeed appear that a great hush had fallen over the
+earth. No motor-horn threateningly bellowed its automatic demand for
+right of way; there was no echo of hoofs nor grind of wheels; no call
+of children's voices, nor even the bark of a dog. The wild things had
+the place to themselves again, and the sound of their movements called
+for no response from civilized minds. The ears of the Goslings heard,
+but did not note these, to them, useless evidences of life. They were
+straining and alert for the voice of humanity.
+
+"I don't know when I've felt the 'eat so much," said Mrs Gosling
+suddenly, and Blanche and Millie both started.
+
+"Hush!" said Blanche, and held up a warning finger.
+
+In the distance they heard a sound like the closing of a gate, and
+then, very clear and small, a feminine voice. "Chuck! chuck! chuck!" it
+said. "Chuck! chuck! chuck!!!"
+
+"I told you we'd passed it," said Mrs Gosling triumphantly. They turned
+the trolly and began to retrace their footsteps. Their eager eyes
+tried to peer through the spinney of trees which shut them off from
+the south. Once or twice they stopped to listen. The voice was fainter
+now, but they could hear the squawk of greedily competitive fowls.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIII--DIFFERENCES
+
+
+1
+
+The only side road they could find proved to be no more than a track
+through the little wood. They almost passed it a second time, and
+hesitated at the gate--a sturdy five-barred gate bearing "Private"
+on a conspicuous label--debating whether this "could be right." They
+still suffered a spasm of fear at the thought of trespass, and to open
+this gate and march up an unknown private road pushing a hand-cart
+seemed to them an act of terrible aggression.
+
+"We might leave the cart just inside," suggested Blanche.
+
+"And get our food stole," said Mrs Gosling.
+
+"There's no one about," urged Blanche.
+
+"There's that broomstick woman," said Millie. "She may have followed
+us."
+
+"I'm sure I dunno if it's safe to go foragin' in among them trees,
+neither," continued Mrs Gosling. "Are you sure this is right, Blanche?"
+
+"Well, of course, I'm not sure," replied Blanche, with a touch
+of temper.
+
+They peered through the trees and listened, but no sign of a house
+was to be seen, and all was now silent save for the long drone of
+innumerable bees about their afternoon business.
+
+"Oh! come on!" said Blanche at last. She was rapidly learning to
+solve all their problems by this simple formula....
+
+In the wood they found refuge from those attendant flies which had
+hung over them so persistently.
+
+Mrs Gosling gave a final flick with her handkerchief and declared
+her relief. "It's quite pleasant in 'ere," she said, "after the 'eat."
+
+The two girls also seemed to find new vigour in the shade of the trees.
+
+"We have got a cheek!" said Millie, with a giggle.
+
+"Well! needs must when the devil drives," returned Mrs Gosling,
+"and our circumstances is quite out of the ordinary. Besides which,
+there can't be any 'arm in offerin' to buy a glass of milk."
+
+Blanche tugged at the trolley handle with a flicker of impatience. Why
+would her mother be so foolish? Surely she must see that everything
+was different now? Blanche was beginning to wonder at and admire
+the marvel of her own intelligence. How much cleverer she was than
+the others! How much more ready to appreciate and adapt herself to
+change! They could not understand this new state of things, but she
+could, and she prided herself on her powers of discrimination.
+
+"Everything's different now," she said to herself. "We can go anywhere
+and do anything, almost. It's like as if we were all starting off
+level again, in a way." She felt uplifted: she took extraordinary
+pleasure in her own realization of facts. A strange, new power had
+come to her, a power to enjoy life, through mastery. "Everything's
+different now," she repeated. She was conscious of a sense of pity
+for her mother and sister.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The road through the wood curved sharply round to the right, and they
+came suddenly upon a clearing, and saw the house in front of them. It
+was a long, low house, smothered in roses and creepers, and it stood
+in a wild garden surrounded by a breast-high wall of red brick. At the
+edge of the clearing several cows were lying under the shade of the
+trees, reflectively chewing the cud with slow, deliberate enjoyment,
+while one, solitary, stood with its head over the garden gate,
+motionless, save for an occasional petulant whisp of its ropey tail.
+
+"Now, then, what are we going to do?" asked Mrs Gosling.
+
+The procession halted, and the three women regarded the guardian cow
+with every sign of dismay.
+
+"Shoo!" said Millie feebly, flapping her hands; and Blanche repeated
+the intimidation with greater force; but the cow merely acknowledged
+the salutation by an irritable sweep of its tail.
+
+"'Orrid brute!" muttered Mrs Gosling, and flicked her handkerchief
+in the direction of the brute's quarters.
+
+"I know," said Blanche, conceiving a subtle strategy. "We'll drive
+it away with the cart." She turned the trolly round, and the three of
+them grasping the pole, they advanced slowly and warily to the charge,
+pushing their siege ram before them. They made a slight detour to
+achieve a flank attack and allow the enemy a clear way of retreat.
+
+"Oh, dear! what are you doing?" said a voice suddenly, and the three
+startled Goslings nearly dropped the pole in their alarm--they had
+been so utterly absorbed in their campaign.
+
+A young woman of sixteen or seventeen, very brown, hot and dishevelled,
+was regarding them from the other side of the garden wall with a stare
+of amazement that even as they turned was flickering into laughter.
+
+"It's that great brute by the gate, my dear," said Mrs Gosling,
+"and we've just----"
+
+"You don't mean Alice?" interrupted the young woman. "Oh! you couldn't
+go charging poor dear Alice with a great cart like that! Three of
+you, too!"
+
+"Is its name Alice?" asked Blanche stupidly. She did not feel equal
+to this curious occasion.
+
+"Its name!" replied the young woman, with scorn. "Her name's Alice,
+if that's what you mean." She shook back the hair from her eyes
+and moved down to the gate. The cow acknowledged her presence by an
+indolent toss of the head.
+
+"Oh! but my sweet Alice!" protested the young woman; "you must move
+and let these funny people come in. It really isn't good for you,
+dear, to stand about in the sun like this, and you'd much better go
+and lie down in the shade for a bit!" She gently pulled the gate from
+under the cow's chin, and then, laying her hands flat on its side,
+made as if to push it out of the way.
+
+"Well, I never!" declared Mrs Gosling, regarding the performance with
+much the same awe as she might have vouchsafed to a lion-tamer in a
+circus. "'Oo'd 'ave thought it'd 'a been that tame?"
+
+The cow, after a moment's resistance, moved off with a leisurely walk
+in the direction of the wood.
+
+"Now, you funny people, what do you want?" asked the young woman.
+
+Mrs Gosling began to explain, but Blanche quickly interposed. "Oh! do
+be quiet, mother; you don't understand," she said, and continued,
+before her mother could remonstrate, "We've come from London."
+
+"Goodness!" commented the young woman.
+
+"And we want----" Blanche hesitated. She was surprised to find that
+in the light of her wonderful discovery it was not so easy to define
+precisely what they ought to want. As the broomstick woman had said,
+they were "beggars." Fairly confronted with the problem, Blanche saw
+no alternative but a candid acknowledgment of the fact.
+
+"You want feeding, of course," put in the young woman. "They all
+do. You needn't think you're the first. We've had dozens!"
+
+A solution presented itself to Blanche. "We don't really want food,"
+she said. "We've got a lot of tinned things left still, only we're ill
+with eating tinned things. I thought, perhaps, you might be willing
+to let us have some milk and eggs and vegetables in exchange?"
+
+"That's sensible enough," commented the young woman. "If you only
+knew the things we have been offered! Money chiefly, of course"--Mrs
+Gosling opened her mouth, but Blanche frowned and shook her head--"and
+it does seem as if money's about as useless as buttons. In fact, I'd
+sooner have buttons--you can use them. But the other funny things--bits
+of old furniture, warming-pans, jewellery! You should have heard Mrs
+Isaacson! She was a Jewess who came from Hampstead a couple of months
+ago, and she had a lot of jewels she kept in a bag tied round her
+waist under her skirt; and when Aunt May and I simply had to tell her
+to go she tried to bribe us with an old brooch and rubbish. She was a
+terror. But, I say"--she looked at the sun--"I've got lots of things to
+do before sunset." She paused, and looked at the three Goslings. "Look
+here," she went on, "are you all right? You seem all right."
+
+Again Mrs Gosling began to reply, but Blanche was too quick for
+her. "Tell me what you mean by 'all right'?" she asked, raising her
+voice to drown her mother's "Well, I never did 'ear such----"
+
+"Well, of course, mother'll give you any mortal thing you want,"
+replied the young woman at the gate. "Dear old mater! She simply
+won't think of what we're going to do in the winter; and I mean, if
+you come in for to-night, say, and we let you have a few odd things,
+you won't go and plant yourselves on us like that Mrs Isaacson and
+one or two others, because if you do, Aunt May and I will have to
+turn you out, you know."
+
+"What we 'ave we'll pay for," said Mrs Gosling with dignity.
+
+The young woman smiled. "Oh, I dare say!" she said; "pay us with
+those pretty little yellow counters that aren't the least good to
+anyone. You wait here half a jiff. I'll find Aunt May."
+
+She ran up the path and entered the house. A moment later they heard
+her calling "Aunt May! Auntie--Aun-tee!" somewhere out at the back.
+
+"Let's 'ope 'er Aunt May'll 'ave more common sense," remarked Mrs
+Gosling.
+
+Blanche turned on her almost fiercely. "For goodness sake, mother,"
+she said, "do try and get it out of your head, if you can, that we can
+buy things with money. Can't you see that everything's different? Can't
+you see that money's no good, that you can't eat it, or wear it, or
+light a fire with it, like that other woman said? Can't you understand,
+or won't you?"
+
+Mrs Gosling gaped in amazement. It was incredible that the mind of
+Blanche should also have been distorted by this terrible heresy. She
+turned in sympathy to Millie, who had taken her mother's seat on the
+pole of the trolly, but Millie frowned and said:
+
+"B.'s right. You can't buy things with money; not here, anyway. What'd
+they do with money if they got it?"
+
+Mrs Gosling looked at the trees, at the cows lying at the edge of
+the wood, at the sunlit fields beyond the house, but she saw nothing
+which suggested an immediate use for gold coin.
+
+"Lemme sit down, my dear," she said. "What with the 'eat and all this
+walkin'----Oh! what wouldn't I give for a cup o' tea!"
+
+Millie got up sulkily and leaned against the wall. "I suppose they'll
+let us stop here to-night, B.?" she asked.
+
+"If we don't make fools of ourselves," replied Blanche, spitefully.
+
+Mrs Gosling drooped. No inspiration had come to her as it had come to
+her daughter. The older woman had become too specialized. She swayed
+her head, searching--like some great larva dug up from its refuse
+heap--confused and feeble in this new strange place of light and air.
+
+And as Blanche had repeated to herself "Everything's different," so
+Mrs Gosling seized a phrase and clung to it as to some explanation
+of this horrible perplexity. "I can't understand it," she said;
+"I can't understand it!"
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Aunt May appeared after a long interval--a thin, brown-faced woman of
+forty or so. She wore a very short skirt, a man's jacket and an old
+deerstalker hat, and she carried a pitchfork. She must have brought
+the pitchfork as an emblem of authority, but she did not handle it as
+the other woman had handled her broomstick. The murderous pitchfork
+appeared little more deadly in her keeping than does the mace in
+the House of Commons, but as an emblem the pitchfork was infinitely
+more effective.
+
+Aunt May's questions were pertinent and searching, and after a few
+brief explanations had been offered to her she drove off the young
+woman, her niece, whom she addressed as "Allie," to perform the many
+duties which were her share of the day's work.
+
+Allie went, laughing.
+
+"You can sleep here to-night," announced Aunt May. "We shall have
+a meal all together soon after sunset. Till then you can talk to my
+sister, who's an invalid. She's always eager for news."
+
+She took charge of them as if she were the matron of a workhouse
+receiving new inmates.
+
+"You'd better bring your truck into the garden," she said, "or Alice
+will be turning everything over. Inquisitive brute!" she added,
+snapping her fingers at the cow, who had returned, and stood within
+a few feet of them, eyeing the Goslings with a slow, dull wonder--a
+mournfully sleepy beast whose furiously wakeful tail seemed anxious
+to rouse its owner out of her torpor.
+
+The invalid sister sat by the window of a small room that faced
+west and overlooked the luxuriance of what was still recognizably
+a flower-garden.
+
+"My sister, Mrs Pollard," said Aunt May sharply, and then addressing
+the woman who sat huddled in shawls by the window, she added: "Three
+more strays, Fanny--from London, Allie tells me." She went out quickly,
+closing the door with a vigour which indicated little tolerance for
+invalid nerves.
+
+Mrs Pollard stretched out a delicate white hand. "Please come and sit
+near me," she said, "and tell me about London. It is so long since
+I have had any news from there. Perhaps you might be able----" she
+broke off, and looked at the three strangers with a certain pathetic
+eagerness.
+
+"I'll take me bonnet off, ma'am, if you'll excuse me," remarked Mrs
+Gosling. She felt at home once more within the delightful shelter of
+a house, although slightly overawed by the aspect of the room and
+its occupant. About both there was an air of that class dignity to
+which Mrs Gosling knew she could never attain. "I don't know when
+I've felt the 'eat as I 'ave to-day," she remarked politely.
+
+"Has it been hot?" asked Mrs Pollard. "To me the days all seem so much
+alike. I want you to tell me, were there any young men in London when
+you left? You haven't seen any young man who at all resembles this
+photograph, have you?"
+
+Mrs Gosling stared at the silver-framed photograph which Mrs Pollard
+took from the table at her side, stared and shook her head.
+
+"We haven't seen a single man of any kind for two months," said
+Blanche, "not a single one. Have we, Millie?"
+
+Millie, sitting rather stiffly on her chair, shook her head. "It's
+terrible," she said. "I'm sure I don't know where they can have all
+gone to."
+
+Mrs Pollard did not reply for a moment. She looked steadfastly out
+of the window, and tears, which she made no attempt to restrain,
+chased each other in little jerks down her smooth pale cheeks.
+
+Mrs Gosling pinched her mouth into an expression of suffering sympathy,
+and shook her head at her daughters to enforce silence. Was she not,
+also, a widow?
+
+After a short pause, Mrs Pollard fumbled in her lap and discovered
+a black-bordered pocket-handkerchief--a reminiscence, doubtless, of
+some earlier bereavement. Her expression had been in no way distorted
+as she wept, and after the tears had been wiped away no trace of them
+disfigured her delicate face. Her voice was still calm and sweet as
+she said:
+
+"I am very foolish to go on hoping. I loved too much, and this trial
+has been sent to teach me that all love but One is vain, that I must
+not set my heart upon things of the earth. And yet I go on hoping
+that my poor boy was not cut off in Sin."
+
+"Dear, dear!" murmured Mrs Gosling. "You musn't take it to 'eart too
+much, ma'am. Boys will be a little wild and no doubt our 'eavenly
+Father will make excuses."
+
+Mrs Pollard shook her head. "If it had only been a little wildness,"
+she said, "I should have hope. He is, indeed, just and merciful, slow
+to anger and of great kindness, but my poor Alfred became tainted
+with the terrible doctrines of Rome. It has been the greatest grief
+of my life, and I have known much pain...." And again the tears slowly
+welled up and fell silently down that smooth, unchanging face.
+
+Mrs Gosling sniffed sympathetically. The two girls glanced at one
+another with slightly raised eyebrows and Blanche almost invisibly
+shrugged her shoulders.
+
+The warm evening light threw the waxen-faced, white-shawled figure
+of the woman in the window into high relief. Her look of ecstatic
+resignation was that of some wonderful mediæval saint returned from
+the age of vision and miracle to a recently purified earth in which
+the old ideas of saintship had again become possible. Her influence
+was upon the room in which she sat. The sounds of the world outside,
+the evening chorus of wild life, the familiar noise of the farm,
+seemed to blend into a remote music of prayer--"Kyrie Eleison! Christe
+Eleison!" Within was a great stillness, as of a thin and bloodless
+purity; the long continuance of a single thought found some echo in
+every material object. While the silence lasted everything in that
+room was responsive to this single keynote of anæmic virtue.
+
+Mrs Gosling tried desperately to weep without noise, and even the
+two girls, falling under the spell, ceased to glance covertly at one
+another with that hint of criticism, but sat subdued and weakened as
+if some element of life had been taken from them.
+
+The lips of the woman in the window moved noiselessly; her hands were
+clasped in her lap. She was praying.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+Firm and somewhat clumsy steps were heard in the passage, the door
+was pushed roughly open, banging back against the black oak chair
+which was set behind it, and Aunt May entered carrying a large tray.
+
+"Here's your dinner, Fanny," she said. "We've done earlier to-night,
+in spite of interruptions." She bustled over to the little table in the
+window, pushed back the Bible and photograph with the edge of the tray
+until she could release one hand, and then, having driven the tray into
+a position of safety, moved Bible and photograph to the centre table.
+
+There was something protestingly vigorous about her movements, as
+though she endeavoured to combat by noise and energy the impoverished
+vitality of that emasculate room.
+
+"Now, you three!" she went on. "You had better come out into the
+kitchen and take your things off and wash."
+
+As the Goslings rose, Mrs Pollard turned to them and stretched
+out to each in turn her delicate white hand. "There is only one
+Comforter." she said. "Put your trust in Him."
+
+Mrs Gosling gulped, and Blanche and Millie looked as they used to
+look when they attended the Bible-classes held by the vicar's wife.
+
+Blanche gave a shiver of relief as they came out into the passage. Her
+mind was suddenly filled by the astounding thought that everything
+was not different....
+
+Supper was laid on the kitchen table--cold chicken, potatoes and
+cabbage, stewed plums and cream, and warm, new milk in a jug; no bread,
+no salt, and no pepper.
+
+As the three Goslings washed at the scullery sink they chattered
+freely. They felt pleasure at release from some cold, draining
+influence; they felt as if they had come out of church after some long,
+dull service, into the air and sunlight.
+
+"I'm sure she's a very 'oly lady," was Mrs Gosling's final summary.
+
+Blanche shivered again. "Oh! freezing!" was her enigmatic reply.
+
+Millie said it gave her "the creeps."
+
+They were a party of seven at supper--the meal was referred to as
+"supper," although to Mrs Pollard it had been dignified by the name of
+"dinner"--including two young women whom the Goslings had not hitherto
+seen; strong, brown-faced girls, who spoke with a country accent. They
+had something still of the manner of servants, but they were treated
+as equals both by Allie and Aunt May.
+
+There was little conversation during the meal, however, for all of
+them were too intent on the business in hand. To the Goslings that
+meal was, indeed, a banquet.
+
+When they had all finished, Aunt May rose at once. "Thank Heaven
+for daylight," she remarked; "but we must set our brains to work to
+invent some light for the winter. We haven't a candle or a drop of
+oil left," she went on, addressing the Goslings, "and for the past
+five weeks we have had to bustle to get everything done before sunset,
+I can tell you. Last night we couldn't wash up after supper."
+
+"We know," replied Blanche.
+
+Aunt May nodded. "We all know," she said. "Now, you three girls,
+get busy!" And Allie and the two brown-faced young women rose a
+little wearily.
+
+"I'm getting an old woman," remarked Aunt May, "and I'm allowed certain
+privileges, chief of them that I don't work after supper. She paused
+and looked keenly at the three Goslings. "Which of you three is in
+command?" she asked.
+
+"Well, it seems as if my eldest, Blanche, that is, 'as sort o' taken
+the lead the past few days," began Mrs Gosling.
+
+"Ah! I thought so," said Aunt May. "Well, now, Blanche, you'd better
+come out into the garden and have a talk with me, and we'll decide
+what you had better do. If your mother and sister would like to go
+to bed, Allie will show them where they can sleep."
+
+She moved away in the direction of the garden and Blanche followed her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+XIV--AUNT MAY
+
+
+The sun had set, but as yet the daylight was scarcely faded. Under
+the trees the fowls muttered in subdued cluckings, and occasionally
+one of them would flutter up into the lower branches with a squawk of
+effort and then settle herself with a great fluttering and swelling
+of feathers, and all the suggestion of a fussy matron preparing for
+the night--preparing only, for these early roosters sat open-eyed
+and watchful, as if they knew that there was no chance of sleep for
+them until every member of that careless crowd below had found its
+appointed place in the dormitory.
+
+"We put 'em inside in the winter," remarked Aunt May, as she and
+Blanche paused, "but they prefer the trees. We haven't any foxes here,
+but I've noticed that the wild things seem to be coming back."
+
+Blanche nodded. She was thinking how much there was to learn concerning
+those matters which appertained to the production of food.
+
+"They're rather a poor lot," Aunt May continued, "but they have to
+forage for themselves, except for the few bits of vegetable and such
+things we can spare them. We've no corn or flour or meal of any kind
+for ourselves yet. But a farmer's wife about a mile from here has got
+a few acres of wheat and barley coming on, and we shall help her to
+harvest and take our share later. We shall be rich then," she added,
+with a smile.
+
+"I'm town-bred, you know," said Blanche. "We've got an awful lot to
+learn, Millie and me."
+
+"You'll learn quickly enough," was the answer. "You'll have to."
+
+"I suppose," returned Blanche.
+
+At the end of the orchard through which they had been passing they came
+to a knoll, crowned by a great elm. Round the trunk of the elm a rough
+seat had been fixed, and here Aunt May sat down with a sigh of relief.
+
+"It's a blessed thing to earn your own bread day by day," she
+said. "It's a beautiful thing to live near the earth and feel
+physically tired at night. It's delightful to be primitive and
+agricultural, and I love it. But I have a civilized vice, Blanche. I
+have a store of cigarettes I stole from a shop in Harrow, and every
+night when it's fine I come out here after supper and smoke three;
+and when it's wet I smoke 'em in my own bedroom, and--I dream. But
+to-night I'm going to talk to you, because you want help."
+
+She produced a cigarette case and matches from a side pocket of
+her jacket, lit a cigarette, inhaled the smoke with a long gasp of
+intensest enjoyment, and then said: "Men weren't fools, my dear;
+they had pockets in their coats."
+
+"Yes?" said Blanche. She felt puzzled and a little awkward. She knew
+that this woman was a friend, but the girl's town-bred, objective
+mind was critical and embarrassed.
+
+"Do you smoke?" asked Aunt May. "I can spare you a cigarette, though
+I know the time must come when there won't be any more. Still, it's
+a long way off yet. Bless the clever man who invented air-tight tins!"
+
+"No, I don't smoke, thanks," replied Blanche, conventionally; and,
+try as she would, she could not keep some hint of stiffness out of
+her voice. Modern manners take a long time to influence suburban
+homes of the Wisteria Grove type.
+
+"Ah! well, you miss a lot!" said Aunt May; "but you're better without
+it, especially now, when tobacco isn't easy to get, and will soon
+be impossible."
+
+"But do you think," asked Blanche, drawing her eyebrows together,
+"that this sort of thing is going on always?"
+
+"I dare say. Don't ask me, my dear; the problem's beyond me. What
+we poor women have got to do is to keep ourselves alive in the
+meantime. And that's what we've come out here to talk about. What
+about your mother and you two girls? Where are you going? And what
+are you proposing to do?"
+
+"I don't know," said Blanche. "I--I've been trying to think."
+
+"Good!" remarked Aunt May. "I believe you'll do. I'm doubtful about
+your sister."
+
+"We'll have to work on a farm, I suppose."
+
+"It's the only way to live."
+
+"Only where?"
+
+"That's what I've been trying to worry out," said Aunt May. "We do
+get news here, of a sort. Our girls work in Mrs Jordan's fields, and
+meet girls and women who come from Pinner, and the Pinner people hear
+news from Northwood, and the Northwood people from somewhere else;
+and so we get into touch with half a county. But, coming to your
+affairs; you see, we here are just the innermost circle. Most of
+the women who came from London missed this place and passed us by,
+thanks be!... Now, that poor unfortunate Miss Grant, down the road,
+had to defend herself with weapons. Fortunately she's strong."
+
+"Is Miss Grant the awful woman with the broomstick?" asked Blanche.
+
+"She's not really awful, my dear," said Aunt May, smiling; "she's
+a very good sort. A little rough in her manners, perhaps, and quite
+mad about the uselessness of the creatures we used to know as men,
+but a fine, generous, unselfish woman, if she does boast of her three
+murders. Did she tell you that, by the way?"
+
+Blanche nodded.
+
+"She would, of course; and I believe it's true; but her theory was
+to defend her own people. She said they'd all have died if she
+hadn't. I'm not sure about the ethic, but I know dear old Sally
+Grant meant well. However, I'm wandering--I often do when I talk
+like this. The point was that just this little circle here, close
+to London, is very thickly populated, and there's precious little
+food ready to be got any way; but you'll have to pass through the
+country beyond Pinner before you'll find a place where they'll give
+you work and keep you. There's a surplus in the next ring, I gather,
+too much labour and too little to grow. You'll have to push out into
+the Chilterns, out to Amersham at the nearest. It's all on the main
+road, of course, which is bad in a general way, because that's the
+road they all took. But I think if you'll cut across towards Wycombe
+you might, perhaps, find a place of some sort, though whether they'll
+feed your mother free gratis I can't say. Women are of all sorts, but
+this plague hasn't made 'em more friendly to one another, or perhaps
+it is we notice it more, and the worst of the lot are the farmers'
+wives and daughters who've got the land. They get turned out, though,
+sometimes. We hear about it. The London women have made raids; only,
+you see, the poor dears don't know what to do with the land when they
+get it, so they have to keep the few who do know to teach 'em--when
+they're sensible enough--the raiders, I mean. They aren't always."
+
+"It'll be an adventure," remarked Blanche.
+
+Aunt May threw away the very short end of her second cigarette and
+lighted her third. "Adventure will do you good," she said.
+
+It was nearly dark under the elm. The things of the night were coming
+out. Occasionally a cockchafer would go humming past them, the bats
+were flitting swiftly and silently about the orchard, and presently
+an owl swept by in one great stride of soundless flight.
+
+"How they are all coming back!" murmured Aunt May. "All the wild
+things. I never saw an owl here before this year."
+
+"I should be frightened if you weren't here," said Blanche.
+
+"Nothing to be frightened of, yet."
+
+"Yet?"
+
+"In a few years' time, perhaps. I don't know. We killed a wild cat
+who came after the chickens a few days ago. The cats have gone back
+already, and the dogs aren't so respectful as they used to be. The
+dogs'll interbreed, I suppose, and evolve a common form--strike some
+kind of average in a beast which will be somewhere near the ancestral
+type, smaller, probably, I don't know. It's a wonderful world, and
+very interesting. I could almost wish man wouldn't return for twenty
+years or so--just to see how much of his handiwork Nature could undo
+in the interval. I often think about it out here in the evenings."
+
+"I wish I knew more about it," said Blanche timidly. "Are there any
+books, do you know, that----"
+
+"You won't want books, my dear. Keep your eyes open and think."
+
+They lapsed into silence again. The third cigarette was finished,
+but Aunt May gave no indication of a desire to get back to the house,
+and Blanche's mind was so excited with all the new ideas which were
+pouring in upon her that she had forgotten her tiredness.
+
+"It's awfully interesting," she said at last. "It's all so
+different. Mother and Millie hate it, and they'd like all the old
+things back; but I don't think I would."
+
+"You're all right. You'll do," replied her companion. "You're one of
+the new sort, though you might never have found it out if it hadn't
+been for the plague. Now, your sister will do one of two things,
+in my opinion; either she'll stop in some place where there's a
+man--there's one at Wycombe, by the way--and have children, or she'll
+turn religious."
+
+Blanche was about to ask a question, but Aunt May stopped her. "Never
+mind about the man, my dear," she said. "You'll learn quickly
+enough. It's like Heaven now, you see--no marrying or giving in
+marriage. With one man to every thousand women or so, what can you
+expect? It's no good kicking against it. It's got to be. That's
+where Fanny----" She broke off suddenly, with a little snort of
+impatience. "I think to-night's an exception," she went on. "I like
+talking to you, and one simply can't talk to Allie yet, so just
+to-night I'll have one more." She took out her cigarette case with
+a touch of impatience.
+
+It was dark under the elm now, and she had to hold up her cigarette
+case close to her face in order to see the contents. "Two more,"
+she announced. "It's a festival, and for once I can speak my mind
+to some one. An imprudence, perhaps, like this habit of smoking,
+but I shall probably never see you again, and I'm sure you won't tell."
+
+"Oh, no!" interposed Blanche eagerly.
+
+"You're not tired? You don't want to go to bed?"
+
+"Not a bit. I love being out here."
+
+"I can't see you, but I know you're speaking the truth," said Aunt May,
+after a pause. "In the darkness and silence of the night I will make a
+confession. I look weather-worn and fifty, I know, but I feel absurdly
+romantic, only there's no man in this case. I used to write novels,
+my dear--an absurd thing for any spinster to do, but they paid, and
+I've got the itch for self-expression. That's the one outlet I miss
+in this new world of ours. Sally Grant and I can't agree, and, in any
+case, she wants to do all the talking. And sometimes I'm idiot enough
+to go on writing little bits even now when I have become a capable,
+practical woman with at least four lives dependent upon me. Well,
+it shows, anyhow, that we writing women weren't all fools...." She
+hung on that for a moment or two, and then continued.
+
+"Are you religious?"
+
+"I don't know--I suppose so. We always went to Church at home," said
+Blanche. "I thought every one was, almost. Not quite like Mrs Pollard,
+of course."
+
+"Oh, well!" said Aunt May. "There's no harm and a lot of good in
+being religious, if you go about it in the right way. I don't want to
+change your opinions, my dear. It's just a question to me of the right
+way. And I can't see that Fanny's way is right. Here we are, and we've
+got to make the best of it; and to my mind that means facing life,
+and not shutting yourself into one room with a Bible and spending half
+your time on your knees. Fanny never was good for much. She brought
+up Alfred--my nephew, you know--with only one idea, and she stuffed
+him so full of holiness that the English Church couldn't hold him,
+and he had to work some of it off by going over to Rome. He thought
+he'd have better chances of saintship there. He was a poor, pale thing,
+anyway. Of course, that was anathema to Fanny. She might have forgiven
+him for committing a murder, but to become a Roman Catholic----! Oh,
+Lord! She's been praying for him ever since. And, my dear, what
+difference can it make? Alfred's apostasy, I mean. Do you think it
+matters what particular form of worship or pettifogging details of
+belief you adopt? Why can't the Churches take each other for granted,
+and be generous enough to suppose that all roads lead to Heaven, which
+is, according to all accounts, a much better place than Rome? But,
+oh! above all, if you have a religion, do be practical! Come out and
+do your work, instead of sighing and psalm-singing, and wearying dumb
+Heaven with fulsome praise and lamentations of your unworthiness,
+as if you were trying to propitiate a rich customer!
+
+"There, my dear, I won't say any more. My last cigarette's done,
+and wasted, because I was too excited to enjoy it. I know I've been
+disloyal; but it's my temperament. I could slap Fanny sometimes. And
+she shan't have Allie.... It's the night that has affected
+me. To-morrow I shall be just as practical as ever, and you'll forget
+that you've seen this side of me. Come along. We must go to bed."
+
+"This is the greatest night of my life," thought Blanche as they
+walked back in silence to the house.
+
+Even when she was in bed, she did not go to sleep at once. She lay
+and listened to the heavy breathing of her mother and Millie, and
+she wondered. Everything, indeed, was different, but everybody was
+just the same, only, in some curious way, individualities seemed
+more pronounced.
+
+Could it be that everybody was more natural, that there was less
+restraint?
+
+Blanche was not introspective. She did not test the theory on
+herself. She thought of the women she had met that day, and of her
+mother and Millie.
+
+She fell asleep, determined to be more like Aunt May.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XV--FROM SUDBURY TO WYCOMBE
+
+
+1
+
+Allie knocked on the Goslings' door at sunrise the next morning, and
+Blanche, who had come to bed two hours after her mother and sister,
+was the only one to respond. She woke with the feeling that she
+had something important to do, and that the affair was in some way
+pleasant and inspiring.
+
+Millie was not easily roused. She had slept heavily, and did not
+approve the suggestion that she should get up and dress herself.
+
+"All right, B., all right!" she mumbled, and cuddled down under the
+bedclothes like a dormouse into its straw.
+
+"Oh! do get up!" urged Blanche, impatiently, and at last resorted to
+physical force.
+
+"What is the matter?" snapped Millie, struggling to maintain her hold
+of the blankets. "Why can't you leave me alone?"
+
+"Because it's time to get up, lazy!" said Blanche, continuing the
+struggle.
+
+"Well, I said I'd get up in a minute."
+
+"Well, get up then."
+
+"In a minute."
+
+"No--now!"
+
+"Oh, bother!" said Millie.
+
+Blanche succeeded at last in obtaining possession of the blankets.
+
+"You'll wake mother!" was Millie's last, desperate shaft.
+
+"I'm going to try," replied Blanche.
+
+Millie sat up in the bed and wondered vaguely where she was. These
+scenes had often been enacted at Wisteria Grove, and her mind had
+gone back to those delightful days of peace and security. When full
+consciousness returned to her, she was half inclined to cry, and more
+than half inclined to go to sleep again.
+
+Mrs Gosling was quite as difficult.
+
+"What's the time?" was her first question.
+
+"I don't know," said Blanche.
+
+"I'm sure it's not seven," murmured Mrs Gosling.
+
+Millie, still sitting on the bed, wondered whether Blanche would
+let her get to the blankets which were tumbled on the floor a few
+feet away.
+
+"No, you don't!" exclaimed Blanche, anticipating the attempt.
+
+Finally she lost her temper and shook her mother vigorously.
+
+At that, Mrs Gosling sat up suddenly and stared at her. "What in
+'eaven's name's wrong, gel?" she asked. Her instinct told her with
+absolute certainty that it was still the middle of the night by
+Wisteria Grove standards.
+
+"Oh! my goodness! I'm going to have my hands full with you two!" broke
+out Blanche impatiently. Her imagination pictured for her in that
+instant how great the trouble would be. She would never be able to
+wake them up....
+
+They took the road before eight o'clock. Aunt May was generous in
+the matter of eggs and fruit, and she left her many urgent duties to
+point the way for the inexperienced explorers.
+
+"Get right out as far as you can," was her parting word of advice.
+
+They did not see Mrs Pollard again. She was still in bed when they
+set out.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Despite the promise of another cloudless day, none of the three
+travellers set out in high spirits. To all of them, even to Blanche,
+it seemed a return to weariness and pain to start out once more
+pushing that abominable truck. That truck represented all their
+troubles. It had become associated with all the discomforts they
+had endured since they left the Putney house. It indicated the
+paucity of their possessions, and yet it was intolerably heavy to
+push. After their brief return to the comfort and stability of a home
+and natural food, this adventuring out into the inhospitable country
+appeared more hopeless than ever. If they could have gone without the
+truck, they might, at least, have avoided that feeling of horrible
+certainty. They might have cheated themselves into the belief that
+they would return. The truck was the brand of their vagabondage.
+
+Mrs Gosling did not spare her lamentations concerning the hopelessness
+of their endeavour, and gave it as her opinion that they had been
+most heartlessly treated by Aunt May.
+
+"Turning out a woman of my age into the roads," she grumbled. "She
+might 'ave kept us a day or two, I should 'ave thought. It ain't as
+if we were beggars. We could 'ave paid for what we 'ad."
+
+She had, indeed, made the suggestion and been repulsed. Aunt May had
+firmly put the offer on one side without explanation. She understood
+that explanations would be wasted on Mrs Gosling.
+
+Millie was inclined to agree with her mother.
+
+Blanche, at the handle, did not interrupt the statement of their
+grievances. She was occupied with the problem of the future, trying
+to think out some plan in her own confused inconsecutive way.
+
+Their progress was tediously slow. Against the combined brake of
+the truck and Mrs Gosling, they did not average two miles an hour;
+and even before they came to Pinner it was becoming obvious to the
+two girls that they might as well let their mother ride on the trolly
+as allow her to lean her weight upon it as she walked.
+
+They took the road through Wealdstone to avoid the hill and found that
+they were still in the track of one wing of the foraging army which
+had preceded them. That first rush of emigrants had ravaged the stores
+and houses as locusts will ravage a stretch of country. The suburb
+of regular villas and prim shops had been completely looted. Doors
+stood open and windows were smashed; the spread of ugly houses lay
+among the fields like an unwholesome eruption, awaiting the healing
+process of Nature. Wealdstone also was deserted by humanity. The
+flood had swept on towards the open country.
+
+But as they approached Pinner the signs of devastation and desertion
+began to give way. Here and there women could be seen working in
+the fields; one or two children scuttled away before the approach
+of the Goslings and hid in the hedges, children who had evidently
+grown furtive and suspicious, intimidated by the experiences of the
+past two months; and when the outlying houses were reached--detached
+suburban villas, once occupied by relatively wealthy middle-class
+employers--it was evident that efforts were being made to restore
+the wreckage of kitchen gardens.
+
+The Goslings had reached the point at which the wave had broken
+after its great initial energy was spent. Somewhere about this
+fifteen-mile limit, varying somewhat according to local conditions,
+the real disintegration of the crowd had begun. As the numerous tokens
+of the road had shown, a great number of women and children--possibly
+one-fifth of the whole crowd--had died of starvation and disease before
+any harbour was reached. From this fifteen-mile circle outwards, an
+increasing number had been stayed in their flight by the opportunities
+of obtaining food. Work was urgently demanded for the future, but the
+determining factor was the present supply of food, and the constriction
+of immediate supply had decided the question of how great a proportion
+of the women and children should remain. Here, about Pinner, was more
+land than the limited number of workers could till, but little of it
+was arable, and this year there would be almost no harvest of grain.
+
+Vaguely, Blanche realized this. She remembered Aunt May's advice to
+keep her eyes open, and looking about her as she walked she found
+little promise of security in the grass fields and the rare signs of
+human activity.
+
+Mrs Gosling, eager to find some home at any price, expressed her usual
+optimistic opinion with regard to the value of money. She saw signs of
+life again, at last, conditions familiar to her. She thought that they
+were returning once more to some kind of recognizable civilization,
+and began, with some renewal of her old vigour, to advise that they
+should find an hotel or inn and take "a good look round" before going
+any further.
+
+Millie, heartened by her mother's belief, was of much the same opinion,
+and Blanche was summoned from the pole to listen to the proposition.
+
+She shook her head stubbornly.
+
+"I'm not going to argue it out all over again," she said. "You can
+just look round and see for yourselves that there's no food to be
+got here. We must get further out."
+
+Mrs Gosling refused to be convinced, and advanced her superior
+knowledge of the world to support her judgment of the case.
+
+"Oh! very well," said Blanche, at last. "Come on to the inn and see
+for yourselves."
+
+The inn, however, was deserted. All its available supply of food,
+solid and liquid, had long been exhausted, and the gardenless house had
+offered no particular attractions as a residence. Houses were cheap
+in that place, the whole population of Pinner, including children,
+did not exceed three hundred persons.
+
+They found a woman working in a garden near by, and she, with perhaps
+unnecessary harshness, warned them that they could not stay in the
+village. "There's not enough food for us as it is," she said, and
+made some reference to "silly Londoners."
+
+That was an expression with which the Goslings were to become very
+familiar in the near future.
+
+The appeal for pity fell on deaf ears. Mrs Gosling learned that she
+was only one of many thousands who had made the same appeal.
+
+The sun was high in the sky as they trudged out of Pinner on the
+road towards Northwood. It was then Blanche suggested that her mother
+should always ride on the trolly, except when they were facing a hill;
+and after a few weak protestations the suggestion was accepted. The
+trolly was lightened of various useless articles of furniture--a
+grudging sacrifice on the part of Mrs Gosling--and the party pushed
+on at a slightly improved pace.
+
+After her disappointment in Pinner, Mrs Gosling's interest in life
+began rapidly to decline. Seated in her truck, she fell into long
+fits of brooding on the past. She was too old and too stereotyped
+to change, the future held no hope for her, and as the meaning and
+purpose of her existence faded, the life forces within her surely and
+ever more rapidly ebbed. Reality to her became the discomfort of the
+sun's heat, the dust of the road, the creak and scream of the trolly
+wheels. She was incapable of relating herself to the great scheme of
+life, her consciousness was limited, as it had always been limited,
+to her immediate surroundings. She saw herself as a woman outrageously
+used by fate, but to fate she gave no name; the very idea, indeed,
+was too abstract to be appreciated by her. Blanche, Millie and that
+horrible truck were all that was left of her world, and in spirit
+she still moved in the beloved, familiar places of her suburban home.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+As the Goslings trudged out into the Chilterns they came into new
+conditions. Soon they found over-crowding in place of desolation. The
+harvest was ripening and in a month's time the demand for labour
+would almost equal the supply, for the labour offered was quite
+absurdly unskilled and ten women would be required to perform the
+work of one man equipped with machines. But at the end of July the
+surplus of women, almost exclusively Londoners, had no employment
+and little food, and many were living on grass, nettles, leaves,
+any green stuff they could boil and eat, together with such scraps
+of meat and vegetables as they could steal or beg. Their experiments
+with wild green stuffs often resulted in some form of poisoning,
+and dysentery and starvation were rapidly increasing the mortality
+among them. Nevertheless, in Rickmansworth houses were still at a
+premium, and many of those who camped perforce in fields or by the
+roadside were too enfeebled by town-life to stand the exposure of the
+occasional cold, wet nights. The majority of the women in this ring
+were those who had been too weak to struggle on. They represented the
+class least fitted to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The
+stronger and more capable had persisted, and left these congested
+areas behind them; and it was evident that in a very few months a
+balance between labour and supply would be struck by the relentless
+extermination of the weakest by starvation and disease.
+
+Blanche, if she was unable to grasp the problem which was being so
+inevitably solved by the forces of natural law, was at least able
+to recognize clearly enough that she and her two dependents must not
+linger in the district to which they had now come. Aunt May had warned
+her that she must push out as far as Amersham at the nearest, but
+Millie was too tired and footsore to go much further than Rickmansworth
+that night, and after a fruitless search for shelter they camped out
+half a mile from the town in the direction of Chorley Wood.
+
+They made some kind of a shield from the weather by emptying and
+tilting the trolly, and they hid their supply of food behind them
+at the lowest point of this species of lean-to roof. The two girls
+had realized that that supply would soon be raided if the fact of
+its existence were to become known. They had been the object of
+much scrutiny as they passed, and their appearance of well-being
+had prompted endless demands for food, from that pitiful crowd of
+emaciated women and children. It had been a demand quickly put on
+one side by lying. Their applicants found it only too easy to believe
+that the Goslings had no food hidden in the truck.
+
+"I hated to refuse some of 'em," Blanche said as they carefully
+hid what food was left to them, before turning in for the night,
+"but what good would our little bit have done among all that lot? It
+would have been gone in half a jiff."
+
+"Well, of course," agreed Millie.
+
+Mrs Gosling had taken little notice of the starving crowd. "We've got
+nothin' to give you," was her one form of reply. She might have been
+dealing with hawkers in Wisteria Grove.
+
+She was curiously apathetic all that afternoon and evening, and
+raised only the feeblest protestation against the necessity for
+sleeping in the open air. But she was very restless during the night,
+her limbs twitched and she moved continually, muttering and sometimes
+crying out. And as the three women were all huddled together, partly
+to make the most of their somewhat insufficient lean-to, and partly
+because they were afraid of the terrors of the open air, both Blanche
+and Millie were constantly aroused by their mother's movements. Once
+they heard her calling urgently for "George."
+
+"Mother's odd, isn't she?" whispered Blanche after one such
+disturbance. "Do you think she's going to be ill?"
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," muttered Millie. "Who wouldn't be?"
+
+In the morning Blanche was very careful with their food. For breakfast
+they ate only part of a tin of condensed beef between them--Mrs Gosling
+indeed ate hardly anything. The eggs which they had brought from
+Sudbury they reserved, chiefly because they had neither water nor fire.
+
+They drank from a stream, later, and at midday Blanche and Millie
+each ate one of the eggs raw. Mrs Gosling refused all food on this
+occasion. She had been very quiet all the morning, and had made little
+complaint when she had been forced to walk the many hills which they
+were now encountering.
+
+Blanche was uneasy and tried to induce her mother to talk. "Do you
+feel bad, mother?" she asked continually.
+
+"I wish I could get 'ome," was all the reply she received.
+
+"She'll be all right when we can get settled somewhere," grumbled
+Millie. "If such a time ever comes."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+They came to Amersham in the afternoon. The signs of misery and
+starvation were here less marked. They were approaching the outer
+edge of this ring of compression, having passed through the node at
+Rickmansworth. The faint relief of pressure was evidenced to some
+extent in the attitude of the people they addressed. It is true that
+no immediate hope of food and employment were held out to them, but
+on the one hand Blanche's inquiries were answered with less acerbity
+and on the other they were less besieged by importunate demands for
+charity. Blanche gave an egg to one precocious girl of thirteen or
+so, who insisted on helping them to push the truck uphill, and she
+and Millie watched the deft way in which the child broke the shell
+at one end and sucked out the contents. Their own methods had been
+both unclean and wasteful.
+
+They turned off the Aylesbury Road, towards High Wycombe late in the
+afternoon and about a mile from Amersham came to a farm where they
+made their last inquiry that day.
+
+Blanche saw signs of life in the outbuildings and went to investigate,
+leaving Millie and her mother to guard the truck. She found three
+women and a girl of fourteen or so milking. For some minutes she stood
+watching them, the women, after one glance at her, proceeding with
+their work without paying her any further attention. But, at last,
+the eldest of the three rose from her stool with a sigh of relief,
+picked up her wooden bucket of milk, gave the cow a resounding slap
+on the side, and then, turning to Blanche, said, "Well, my gal,
+what's for you?"
+
+"Will you change two pints of milk for a small tin of tongue?" asked
+Blanche. It was the first time she had offered any of their precious
+tinned meats in exchange for other food, but she wanted milk for her
+mother, who had hardly eaten anything that day.
+
+The two other women and the girl looked round and regarded Blanche
+with the first signs of interest they had shown.
+
+"Tongue, eh?" said the older woman. "Where from did you get tongue,
+my gal?"
+
+"London," replied Blanche tersely.
+
+"When did you leave there?" asked the woman, and then Blanche was
+engaged in a series of searching questions respecting the country
+she had passed through.
+
+"You can have the milk if you've anything to put it in," said the
+woman at last, and Blanche went to fetch the tongue and the two
+bottles that they had had from Aunt May.
+
+The bottles had to be scalded, a precaution that had not occurred
+to Blanche, and one of the other women was sent to carry out the
+operation.
+
+"Well, your tale don't tell us much," said the woman of the farm,
+"but we always pass the news here, now. Where are you going to sleep
+to-night?"
+
+Blanche shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You can sleep here in the outhouses, if you've a mind to," said the
+woman, "but I warn you we get a crowd. Silly Londoners like yourself
+for the most part, but we find a use for 'em somehow, though I'd give
+the lot for three labourers."
+
+She paused and twisted her mouth on one side reflectively. "Ah! well,"
+she went on with a sigh, "no use grieving over them that's gone;
+all I was goin' to say was, if you sleep here you'd better keep an
+eye on what food you've got with you. My lot'll have it before you
+can say knife, if they get half a chance."
+
+"It isn't us girls, me and my sister," explained Blanche. "It's
+my mother. She's bad, I'm afraid. If she could sleep in your
+kitchen...? She wouldn't steal anything."
+
+After a short hesitation the woman consented.
+
+Yet neither the glory of being once more within the four walls of a
+house, nor the refreshment of the milk which she drank readily enough,
+seemed appreciably to rouse Mrs Gosling's spirits.
+
+The woman of the farm, a kindly enough creature, plied the old lady
+with questions, but received few and confused answers in reply. Mrs
+Gosling seemed dazed and stupid. "A touch of the sun," the farmer's
+widow thought.
+
+"The sun's been cruel strong the past week," she said, "but she'll
+be all right in a day or two, get her to shelter."
+
+"Ah! that's the trouble," said Blanche.
+
+That night the farmer's widow said no more on that subject. She
+allowed the three Goslings to sleep in an upstair room, in which
+there was one small bed for the mother, and the two girls slept on
+the floor. Exchanging confidence for confidence, they brought their
+truck into the kitchen; and then the farmer's widow proceeded to lock
+up for the night, an elaborate business, which included the fastening
+of all ground-floor windows and shutters.
+
+"It's a thievin' crowd we've got about here," she explained, "and
+you can't blame them or anyone when there ain't enough food to go
+round. But we have to be careful for 'em. Let 'em go their own way
+and they'd eat up everything in a week and then starve. It looks
+like you're being hard on 'em, but it's for their own good. There's
+some, of course," she went on, "as you have got to get shut of. Only
+yesterday I had to send one of 'em packing. A Jew woman she was,
+called 'erself Mrs Isaacson or something. She was a caution."
+
+Blanche wondered idly if this were the same Mrs Isaacson who had
+stayed too long with Aunt May.
+
+The woman of the farm roused the Goslings at sunrise, and she, like
+Aunt May, had a brisk, practical, morning manner.
+
+She gave the travellers no more food, but when they were nearly ready
+to take the road again she gave them one valuable piece of information.
+
+"If I was you," she said, "I'd make through Wycombe straight along the
+road here, and go up over the hill to Marlow. Mind you, they won't
+let every one stop there. But you look two healthy gals enough and
+it's getting on towards harvest when there'll be work as you can do."
+
+"Marlow?" repeated Blanche, fixing the name in her memory.
+
+The farmer's widow nodded. "There's a man there," she said. "A queer
+sort, by all accounts. Not like Sam Evans, the butcher at Wycombe,
+he ain't. Seems as this Marlow chap don't have no truck with gals,
+except setting 'em to work. However, time'll show. He may change his
+mind yet."
+
+They had some difficulty with Mrs Gosling. She refused feebly to
+leave the house. "I ain't fit to go out," she complained, and when
+they insisted she asked if they were going home.
+
+"Best say 'yes,'" whispered the woman of the farm. "The sun's got to
+her head a bit. She'll be all right when you get her to Marlow."
+
+Blanche accepted the suggestion, and by this subterfuge Mrs Gosling
+was persuaded into the truck. The girl found the ruins of an umbrella,
+which they rigged up to protect her from the sun.
+
+Blanche and Millie were quite convinced now that their mother was
+suffering from a slight attack of sunstroke.
+
+Both the girls were still footsore, and one of Millie's boots had worn
+into a hole, but they had a definite objective at last, and only some
+ten or twelve miles to travel before reaching it.
+
+"We shall be there by midday," said Blanche, hopefully.
+
+Unconsciously, every one was using a new measure of time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XVI--THE YOUNG BUTCHER OF HIGH WYCOMBE
+
+
+1
+
+Near Wycombe a woman rose from under the hedge as the Goslings
+approached, and came out into the middle of the road. She was a
+stout, florid woman, whose age might have been anything between forty
+and fifty. Her gait and the droop of her shoulders, rather than the
+flaccidity of her rather loose skin, gave her the appearance of being
+past middle age.
+
+"Goot morning," she said as the Goslings came up. "If it iss no
+inconvenience I would like to come with you." She spoke with a foreign
+accent, thickening her final consonants and giving a different value
+to some of her vowels.
+
+"Where to?" asked Blanche curtly.
+
+"Ah! that! what does it matter?" returned the woman. "I have been
+living with a farmer's wife further back along the road there. But
+she was not company for me. She was common. Now I see that you and
+your mother are not common. And I do not care to live with farmers'
+wives. But where we go? Does it matter? We all go to find work in the
+fields--aristocrat as much as peasant. But iss it not better that we
+who are not peasants should go together?"
+
+Millie giggled surreptitiously, and Mrs Gosling appeared conscious
+of the fact that some one was addressing them.
+
+"We're goin' 'ome," she remarked, and Millie gently prodded her in
+the back.
+
+"Goin' 'ome," repeated Mrs Gosling firmly.
+
+"Ach! You are lucky. There are few that have homes now," replied the
+strange woman. "I had a home, once, how long ago. Now, during two
+months, I have no home." She was evidently on the verge of tears.
+
+"Mother's got a touch of the sun," Blanche said in a low voice, "and
+we have to pretend we're going home. You needn't tell her we're not."
+
+"Have no fear," replied the stranger. "I am all that is most discreet,
+yes."
+
+Blanche hardened her heart. This woman took too much for granted. "I
+don't see it's any use your coming with us," she said.
+
+"Ach! we others, we should cling together," said the stranger, with
+a large gesture.
+
+"We're nobody," replied Blanche, curtly.
+
+"It iss well to say that. I know. There iss good reason. I, too,
+must tell the common people that I am a nobody, I call myself, even,
+Mrs Isaacson. But between us there iss no need to say what iss not
+true. I can see what you are. Although I am not English, I have lived
+many years already in England, and I can see. It iss well that we
+cling together? Yes?"
+
+"Oh!" burst out Blanche. "You're Mrs Isaacson, are you? I've heard
+of you."
+
+For one moment Mrs Isaacson's fine eyes seemed to look inwards in
+an instantaneous review of her past. "Ach! so! Then we are friends
+already," she said cautiously.
+
+"I heard of you from Aunt May," said Blanche, and the faint air of
+respect with which she pronounced the name did not escape the notice
+of the alert Jewess.
+
+"Ach! the so dear and so clever Auntie May," she said. "But she iss
+too kind, and work so hard while her sister do always nothing. See,
+I will help you to draw your poor mother who has a touch of the
+sun. You and I at the handle and your beautiful sister to push,
+while we talk a little of the clever Auntie May. Yes?"
+
+Blanche had been forewarned. She could only put one construction on
+the little she had heard of Mrs Isaacson. But the Jewess's manner no
+less than her conversation was subtly flattering. Moreover, she had
+made no appeal for help; finally there was a certain urgency about
+her, a force of will which Blanche found it difficult to resist. And
+as the girl still hesitated Mrs Isaacson bravely seized her side of
+the trolly handle and the procession moved on.
+
+The Goslings found a use for her when they came to the drop of Amersham
+Hill, going down into High Wycombe. Blanche proposed that Mrs Gosling
+should walk down, but the old lady did not seem to understand her. She
+looked perplexed and kept saying, "I don't remember this road. Are
+you sure we're goin' right, Blanche?"
+
+"Ah! she must not walk in this heat," put in Mrs Isaacson. "We three
+can manage very well." And, indeed, although she manifestly suffered
+greatly from the exertion, the Jewess was of very great assistance
+in retarding the speed of the trolly as they made the perilous descent.
+
+After that there could be no question of calmly telling her to go
+her own way.
+
+By the time they had crossed the almost deserted town--at that hour
+nearly all the women were either in their houses or working in gardens
+and fields--and had found their way to the Marlow road, Mrs Isaacson
+had quite become one of the party, and by no means the least energetic.
+
+"We'll have something to eat and some milk, when we get through the
+town," said Blanche as they faced the long hill up to Handy Cross.
+
+"Presently, presently," replied the heaving Mrs Isaacson, as though
+food were of little importance to her, but accepting the admission
+that she had earned the right to share equally with the others.
+
+Their first burst of energy after they had faced the ascent brought
+them to the gates of Wycombe Abbey, and there they decided to rest
+and lunch, blissfully ignorant of the long climb which lay before them.
+
+"It will be nice and quiet here in the shade," suggested Mrs Isaacson.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The old conventions would not have suffered them to sit and eat thus
+under the walls, at the very gates of Wycombe Abbey. Their clothes and
+their boots were wearing badly, and Mrs Isaacson, at least, was not
+too clean. It was noticeable, however, that, despite the dryness of
+the weather, little dust clung to them. The surface of the roads had
+not been pounded and crushed into powder during the past six weeks
+by the constant passage of wheeled traffic, and even in the tracks
+frequented by farm carts the roads were stained with green. Indeed,
+everything was greener than in the old days, everything was more
+vigorous. Whether because the year had been favourable, or because
+it was relieved from the burden of choking dust which it had had to
+endure in other years from May onwards, the vegetation in hedges and
+by the wayside appeared to grow more strongly and with a greater
+self-assertion. And by contrast with this vigour and cleanness of
+plant life, the four women in their tumbled clothes and untidy hats,
+feeble and unsightly remnants of forgotten fashion, were as much out
+of place as if they had been set down in ancient Greece. The dowdy
+foolishness of their apparel marked them out from every other living
+thing about them, they were intruders, despoilers of beauty.
+
+Some dim consciousness of this came to Blanche.
+
+They had spoken little as they ate--Mrs Gosling would touch nothing
+but milk, and Mrs Isaacson strove desperately and with some success
+to control the greed that showed in the concentrated eagerness of her
+eyes and the grasping crook of her fingers--and when they had finished,
+lingering in the relief of the shade, they were still silent. It seemed
+as if the first word spoken must necessarily hasten the continuation
+of their journey.
+
+"Oh! bother this old hat," said Blanche at last. "I'm going to take
+mine off," and she drew out the solitary pin which remained to her
+and cast the hat into the ditch.
+
+"That won't do it any good," remarked Millie but she, too, took off
+her hat with a sigh of relief.
+
+"I'm going to chuck hats," said Blanche. "What's the good of 'em?"
+
+Mrs Isaacson looked doubtful. "They are a protection from the sun,"
+she said.
+
+"Allie never wore a hat, and she didn't come to any harm," returned
+Blanche.
+
+"No?" said Mrs Isaacson, and looked thoughtful.
+
+Millie was running her fingers through the masses of her red-brown
+hair, loosening it and lifting it from her head.
+
+"It is a relief," she remarked. "My head gets so hot."
+
+"Ah!" said Mrs Isaacson, "and what beautiful hair! It does not seem
+right to hide it. I haf a comb in my bag. It is almost all I haf
+left. Let me now comb your beautiful hair for you."
+
+"Oh! don't you bother," said Millie sheepishly, but she allowed
+herself to be persuaded. "Don't lose the hair-pins," she warned her
+newly-found lady's maid.
+
+"It seems so funny out here in the open road," giggled Millie.
+
+Mrs Isaacson's praise was fulsome.
+
+Blanche watched without comment. Mrs Gosling was plunged in
+meditation. She was involved in an immense problem relating to the
+housekeeping at Wisteria Grove. She was debating whether the lace
+curtains at the front windows could be washed at home when they
+went back.
+
+Suddenly the attention of the three younger women was caught by
+unnatural sounds that came from the further side of the wall against
+which they were leaning--sounds of voices, laughing and singing,
+the crunch of wheels and the stamping of horses.
+
+The two girls jumped to their feet. Mrs Isaacson rose more
+deliberately, with a grunt of expostulation. Mrs Gosling was in a
+world far removed and continued to debate her problem.
+
+Millie's hands were fumbling at her hair, and Blanche was first at
+the gate.
+
+"Oh! my!" she exclaimed. "Why, whatever...."
+
+"Goody!" squealed Millie, still struggling with her loose mane.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+The centre and object of the curious crowd which moved slowly down
+the drive was a landau and pair. The horses were decorated as if
+for a May-day fête, grotesquely, foolishly decorated with roses,
+syringa and buttercups made into shapeless bunches and tied to the
+harness. Three or four women walked at the horses' heads, leading
+them with absurdly beflowered ropes.
+
+Round the landau a dozen girls and young women were dancing,
+chattering, singing, laughing; constantly turning to the occupant
+of the carriage, for whose benefit the whole performance was being
+conducted. Some of them had their necks and breasts bare, and all
+appeared to be frankly shameless. They twisted and danced with
+clumsy eagerness, threw themselves about, screamed and shrieked,
+unaware of any observer but the one whose notice they were seeking
+to attract. They were graceless, civilized savages; Bacchantes who
+had never known the beauty of unconscious abandonment. There was the
+ugliness of conscious purpose in their every attitude, and no trace
+of the freedom that comes from careless rapture.
+
+In the carriage a man and a woman were sitting side by side. The
+man was young, with strong claims to physical beauty--tall,
+broad-shouldered, swarthy, with boldly modelled features and heavily
+lidded eyes. But his skin was coarse; the bulk of his body was too
+gross for clean, muscular strength; his curly, well-oiled hair was
+thinning at the temples; his loose mouth leered and gaped. He was
+dressed in a suit of broadly-patterned tweed, his great red fingers
+were covered with rings, he wore a heavy gold bangle on each thick,
+round wrist, and a sweet, frail rose was thrust into his black and
+greasy hair.
+
+The woman beside him was the typical courtesan of the ages, low-browed
+and full-lipped. Her eyes were eloquent with the subtleties of love,
+with invitation, retreat, fear and desire. Had she been dressed
+becomingly she would have been beautiful; but she was English and
+modern, and her great meaningless hat and senseless garments were
+of the fashion that had been in vogue just before the plague. This
+reigning sultana and her lover were more incongruous in that setting
+than the two dishevelled, travel-worn girls, who retreated timidly
+to let the landau pass out between the great iron gates.
+
+The Bacchantes eyed the Goslings with obvious disfavour, but the
+beauty in the landau seemed unaware of their presence until her lord's
+attention was attracted by the sight of Millie's hair--it was all
+down again, rippling and spreading to her waist.
+
+The young butcher had been lolling back in a corner of his carriage,
+magnificently indolent, sure of worship; but his satiety was pierced by
+the sight of that flaming mane. He sat up and looked at Millie with
+the experienced eyes which had served him so well in his judgment
+of cattle.
+
+"'Ere, 'alf a jiff," he commanded the nymphs at his horses' bridles,
+and the carriage was stopped.
+
+Millie, covered with shame, shrank back, and cowered behind Blanche,
+who threw up her chin and met the butcher's eyes with all the contempt
+of which she was capable--little enough, perhaps, for she, too, was
+weak with unreasoning terror. Behind their backs the Jewess grimaced
+her scorn of them.
+
+"You needn't be afraid of me--I ain't goin' to 'urt yer----" began
+the butcher, but his lady interrupted him.
+
+Her fine eyes grew bright with anger. "If you stop here, I shall get
+out," she said, and her inflexion was not that of the people.
+
+The butcher visibly hesitated. It may be that this chain had held
+him too long and was beginning to gall him, but he looked at her
+and wavered.
+
+"No 'arm in stoppin'," he muttered. "Pass the news an' that."
+
+"Are you going on?" demanded the beauty fiercely.
+
+"All right, all right," he returned sullenly. "You needen' get so
+blasted 'uffy about it, old gal. Oh, gow on, you!" he added to the
+nymphs. "Wot the 'ell are yer starin' at?"
+
+As the landau moved on, he looked back once at Millie.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+"What a brute," said Blanche when the procession had passed on down
+the hill towards Wycombe.
+
+"How he stared at my hair," said Millie, with a giggle. "I did try
+to get it up, but it's that stubborn with the heat or something."
+
+"Lucky for us he had that creature with him," commented Blanche.
+
+Millie assented without fervour. She was bold enough now the danger
+had passed.
+
+Mrs Isaacson looked from one to the other and attempted no criticism
+of the adventure.
+
+"You must let me do up your beautiful hair," she said to the simpering
+Millie.
+
+Millie was grateful. "It is kind of you, Mrs Isaacson, I'm sure,"
+she said. "My hair is a trouble. I sometimes think I'll cut it all
+off and be done with it...."
+
+She appeared excited and chatted incessantly while the hair-dressing
+continued, and Blanche restored the remains of their meal to the
+trolly.
+
+With some difficulty they succeeded in getting Mrs Gosling back
+into her carriage. She had taken no notice of the procession, but
+as they were starting again she awoke from her abstraction to ask:
+"When d'you expect we'll be 'ome, Blanche? I've been thinkin' about
+them curtains in the drawin'-room...."
+
+"We'll be home in an hour or two, now," Blanche said, reassuringly. She
+did not know what a struggle awaited them before they should top the
+hill at Handy Cross.
+
+Mrs Isaacson had forsaken her place at the pole. "I shall be able to
+push more strongly behind," she had said, but despite the theoretical
+gain in mechanical advantage obtained by the new arrangement, the hill
+seemed never-ending. They had to rest continually, and always they
+looked with increasing irritation at the quiet figure in the trolly,
+chief cause of their distress.
+
+"I believe she could walk all right," Millie broke out at last.
+
+"If it was for a little way, it would help," commented Mrs Isaacson.
+
+But when Blanche put the proposition to her mother, Mrs Gosling
+seemed unable to comprehend it, and pity influenced them to renew
+the struggle.
+
+So they toiled on with growing impatience until they reached level
+ground again; and presently, looking down over the long slope of the
+valley, saw, two miles and a half away, the spire of Marlow Church.
+
+They rested under a hedge for a time, and when they started again
+Millie followed her sister's example and discarded her hat. Blanche,
+with a certain courage of opinion, had left hers under the walls of
+Wycombe Abbey, but Millie's hat found a place in the trolly.
+
+The ease of the long descent permitted a renewal of conversation,
+and Mrs Isaacson and Millie talked in undertones as they made their
+way down towards Marlow. Blanche took little notice of them; she
+was struggling perplexedly with the problems of life. Mrs Gosling's
+presence was negligible.
+
+"That was a very handsome fellow in the carriage," remarked Mrs
+Isaacson suddenly, "I think you do well not to go near that place
+again." Her fine eyes fixedly regarded the broad, rusty back of Mrs
+Gosling and the broken ribs of her umbrella.
+
+Millie simpered. "Oh! I should be safe enough. His wife'd see to that."
+
+"She was not his wife," returned Mrs Isaacson. "Men would not marry
+now that they are so few."
+
+"Well! there's a thing to say!" exclaimed Millie on a note of
+expostulation, interested nevertheless.
+
+"It iss true," continued Mrs Isaacson. "I haf heard of this handsome
+young fellow. He iss a butcher, and he goes every day to kill the
+sheep and cows, because the women do not like that work. And he iss
+very strong, and clever also. He teach a few of the women how to cut
+up the sheep and the cows. And he iss much admired, it iss of course,
+by all the young women; but he does not marry because he is one man
+among so many women, and it would not be right that he should love
+only one, for so there would be so few children and the world would
+die. Yes! But he has for a time one who iss favourite, for another time
+another favourite. And that iss why I warn you not to return. Because
+I see that he admire your so beautiful hair. And I see that if you
+had not been so modest and so good, and hide behind your sister, he
+would have come down from his carriage and put you up there beside
+him. And he would have said to that bold ugly woman. 'Go, I tire of
+you, I will haf beside me this one who iss young and beautiful and
+has hair of gold.' It iss not safe for you, there."
+
+"Oh! I say," commented Millie.
+
+"It iss true," nodded Mrs Isaacson, with intensest conviction.
+
+"Oh! well, thank goodness, I'm not one of that sort," said Millie,
+warm in the knowledge of her virtue.
+
+"Truly not," assented Mrs Isaacson. "You must not be displeased that
+I warn you. It iss not your goodness that I doubt. It iss that this
+man iss so powerful. He iss able to do what he wishes. He iss a king."
+
+"Goody!" was the mark of surprise with which Millie punctuated this
+remarkable piece of information, and for several yards they trudged
+on in silence.
+
+But Millie soon revived this fascinating subject by saying
+thoughtfully, "Well, you don't catch me over there again."
+
+"Truly not. It iss not wise," agreed Mrs Isaacson, and proceeded to
+enlarge upon Millie's dangerous beauty.
+
+It was a topic entirely new to Millie. She simpered and giggled,
+disclaimed her attractions, protested that Mrs Isaacson was "getting
+at" her, and became so absorbed in the fascination of her disavowal
+that she forgot her weariness, her tender feet--naked to the road
+in two places--and all her discouragements. She walked with a more
+conscious air, straightening her back and lifting her head. The blood
+moved more freely in her veins, and she presently became so vivacious
+in her replies that Blanche was aroused to a sense of something
+unfamiliar. She checked the trolly and looked back at her sister,
+past the quiet brooding figure of Mrs Gosling.
+
+"What is it, Mill?" she asked.
+
+"Oh! nothing!" replied Millie. "We were just talking."
+
+"Seem to be enjoying yourselves," said Blanche.
+
+"We were saying that we shall soon now arrive at some place where we
+can rest. Yes?" put in Mrs Isaacson, and thus established a ground
+of confidence between herself and Millie.
+
+"P'raps. I dunno!" returned Blanche. She sighed and looked round her.
+
+In the fields between them and Marlow they could see here and there
+little figures stooping and straightening.
+
+"Ooh!" exclaimed Millie, suddenly.
+
+"What?" asked Blanche.
+
+"There's another man," said Millie, pointing. "We'd better scoot!"
+
+But they made no attempt to put such an impossible plan into
+action. The man had evidently seen them. He was coming towards
+them across one of the fields, shouting to attract their
+attention. "Hi! wait a minute!" they thought he was saying.
+
+"Mill!" exclaimed Blanche, with extraordinary emphasis.
+
+"What?" asked Millie, nervously. She was flushed and trembling.
+
+"Do you see who it is?"
+
+"It isn't the one out of the carriage...." hesitated Millie.
+
+"No! Silly. It's that young fellow who used to live with us, our Mr
+Fastidious. What was his name? Thrale! You remember."
+
+"Goody!" said Millie. She was conscious of a quite inexplicable
+feeling of disappointment.
+
+"He iss a friend? Yes?" asked Mrs Isaacson.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+WOMANKIND IN THE MAKING
+
+
+XVII--LONDON TO MARLOW
+
+
+1
+
+The history of mankind is the history of human law. The larger
+ordinances of the universe are commonly referred to some superior
+lawgiver, under such names as God and physico-chemical action; names
+which appear mutually subversive only to the bigot, whether theologian
+or biologist. These larger ordinances sometimes appear inflexible,
+as in the domain of physics and chemistry, sometimes empirical as in
+the development of species, but we may believe that if they change at
+all, the period of change is so great as to be outside any possibility
+of observation by a few thousand generations of mankind.
+
+Human law, on the other hand, is tentative, without sound precedent
+and in its very nature mutable. In our miserably limited record of
+history, that paltry ten thousand years which is but a single tick of
+the cosmic watch, we have been unable to formulate any overruling law
+to which other laws are subject. Climate, race and condition impose
+certain limitations, and within that enceinte civilizations have
+developed a system of rules, increasing always in complexity, and have
+then failed to maintain their place in the competitive struggle. It
+has been rashly suggested that the overriding law of laws is that
+rigidity is fatal to the nation. An analogy has been found in the
+growth of the child. Here and there some bold spirit has ventured
+the daring hypothesis that if a young child be confined within a
+perfectly fitting iron shell he will not grow. Such speculations,
+however, do not appeal to mankind as a whole. Perhaps the truth of
+the matter is that nothing appals us so much as the idea that man
+is capable of growth. Is it not inconceivable that any race of men
+could be wiser, more perfect than ourselves?
+
+Nevertheless, out of all vague speculation one deliciously certain
+axiom presents itself, namely that mankind cannot live without law
+of some kind. The most primitive savage has his ordinances. The
+least primary concussion of individuals develops a rule of practice,
+whether it takes such diverse forms as "hit first," or "present the
+other cheek"; although the latter rule has not yet been developed
+beyond the stage of theory.
+
+In the unprecedented year of the new plague, the old rules were thrown
+into the melting pot, but within three months humanity was evolving
+precedents for a new statute book. The concussions of these three
+months were fierce and destructive. Women, in the face of death, killed
+and stole in the old primitive ways, unhampered now by the necessity
+to kill and steal according to the tedious rules of twentieth-century
+civilization, rules that women had never been foolish enough to
+reverence in the letter. All those complex and incomprehensible laws
+had been made by men for men, and after the plague there was none
+to administer them, for no women and few men had ever had the least
+idea what the law was. Even the lawgivers themselves had had to wait
+for the pronouncement of some prejudiced or unprejudiced judge. Women
+had long known what our Bumbles can only learn by bitter experience,
+inspired to vision in some moment of fury or desolation.
+
+But within three months of the first great exodus of women from the
+town, one dominant law was being brought to birth. It was not written
+on tables of stone, nor incorporated in any swollen, dyspeptic book of
+statutes; it was not formulated by logic, nor was it the outcome of
+serious thought by any individual or by a solemn committee. The law
+rose into recognition because it was a necessity for the life of the
+majority, and although that majority was not compact, had no common
+deliberate purpose, and had never formulated their demand in precise
+language, the new law came into being before harvest and was accepted
+by all but a small resentful minority of aristocrats and landowners,
+as a supreme ordinance, indisputably just.
+
+This law was that every woman had a right to her share in the bounty
+of Nature, and the corollary was that she earned her right by labour.
+
+In those days the justice of the principle was perfectly obvious;
+so obvious, indeed, that the law came to birth without the obstetric
+skill of any parliament whatever.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+It is now impossible to say why such different types of male humanity
+as Jasper Thrale, George Gosling or the Bacchus of Wycombe Abbey
+escaped the plague. The bacillus (surely a strangely individual
+type, it must have been) was never isolated, nor the pathology of
+the disease investigated. The germ was some new unprecedented growth
+which ran through a fierce cycle of development within a few months,
+changed its nature as it swarmed into every corner of the earth,
+and finally expired more quickly than it had come into being.
+
+If the male survivors in Europe and the East had been of one type,
+some theory might be formulated to account for their immunity; but
+so far as science can pronounce an opinion, the living male residue
+can only be explained by the doctrine of chances. A few escaped,
+by accident. In the British Isles there may have been 1,500 men who
+thus survived. In the whole of Europe, besides, there were less than
+a thousand. It seems probable that even before Scotland was attacked
+the climax had been reached; by the time the plague reached England
+the first faint evidences of a decline in virulence may be marked....
+
+From the first, Jasper Thrale ventured his life without an
+afterthought. He was fearless by nature. He did not lack those powers
+of imagination which are commonly supposed to add so greatly to the
+terror of death, he simply lacked the feeling of fear. In all his life
+he had never experienced that sickness of apprehension which dissolves
+our fibre into a quivering jelly--as though the spirit had already
+withdrawn from the trembling inertia of the flesh. Perhaps Thrale's
+spirit was too dominant for such retreat, was more completely master
+of its material than is the spirit of the common man. For the spirit
+cannot know bodily fear, it is the apprehensive flesh that wilts and
+curdles at the approach of danger. And it is worthy of notice that
+in the old days, up to the early twentieth century, these rare cases
+of fearlessness in individuals were more often found among women than
+among men.
+
+Thrale, with his perfectly careless courage, found plenty of work for
+himself in London during May and early June. He acted as a scavenger,
+and still went far afield with his burial cart long after every trace
+of living male humanity had disappeared from the streets of London.
+
+Then one day, at the end of June, he realized that his task was
+futile, and it came to him that there was work awaiting him of more
+importance than this purification of streets which might never again
+echo to the traffic of humanity.
+
+So he chose the best bicycle he could find in Holborn Viaduct,
+stripped a relay of four tyres from other machines, and with these
+and a reserve of food made into a somewhat cumbrous parcel, he set
+out to explore the new world.
+
+He took the Bath Road, intending to make exploration of the fertile
+West Country. He had Cornish blood in his veins, and his ultimate
+goal was the county which had almost escaped urbanization. As he then
+visualized the problem, it appeared that life would offer greater
+possibilities in such places.
+
+But before he reached Colnbrook, he had recognized that work was
+required of him nearer home. The exodus was then in progress. He came
+through armies of helpless women and children flying from starvation;
+women who had no object in view save that of escape to the country;
+"Silly Londoners" with no knowledge of how food was to be obtained
+when their goal was reached.
+
+He did not stay there, however. He was beginning to see the outline of
+his plan, and at the same time the limitation of his own powers. He
+saw that enough food could not be raised near London to support the
+multitude, that the death of the many was demanded by the needs of
+the few if any were to survive, and that communities must be formed
+with the common purpose of tilling the land and excluding those who
+could not earn their right to support. In such a catastrophe as this,
+charity became a crime.
+
+He intended even then to push on beyond Reading, but in Maidenhead
+he met a woman who influenced him to a nearer goal.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+She stepped into the road and held up her hand.
+
+Thrale stopped; he thought she was about to make the familiar demand
+either for food or a direction.
+
+"Well?" he said curtly.
+
+"Where are you going?" she asked.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. "To find room," he said.
+
+"There is room for you near here," said the woman, "if you'll work."
+
+"At what?" he asked.
+
+"Machinery, harvesting machinery, agricultural machinery of all sorts."
+
+"Where?" asked Thrale.
+
+She dropped her voice and looked about her. "Marlow," she
+said. "It--it's an eddy. Off the main roads and by the river. There
+are less than a thousand women there at present, and we are keeping
+the others out; at least until after harvest. There is plenty of land
+about, and we're keeping ourselves at present. Only we do want a man
+for the machines. Will you come and help us?"
+
+"I'll come and see what I can do," said Thrale "I won't promise
+to stay."
+
+"Aren't there any other men, there?" he added after a moment's
+hesitation.
+
+"One at Wycombe," said the women. "He's a butcher, but----"
+
+"I understand," said Thrale.
+
+"And meanwhile you might help me," said the woman. "I come over here
+with a horse and cart to raid the seedsmen's shops. If we leave them
+the women would eat all the beans and peas and things, you know;
+enough to feed us for the winter gone in a week, and no one any the
+better. Isn't it awful how careless we are?"
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+She was a fair, clear-eyed girl, with the figure and complexion of
+one who had devoted considerable attention to outdoor sports. She
+was wearing a man's Norfolk jacket (men's clothing was so plentiful),
+and a skirt that barely reached her knees, and did not entirely hide
+cloth knickerbockers which might also have been adapted from a man's
+garment. Below the knickerbockers she displayed thick stockings and
+sandals. Her splendid fair hair furnished sufficient protection for
+her head, and she had dressed a pillow of it into the nape of her
+neck as a shield for the sun.
+
+Thrale looked at her with a frank curiosity as they made their way up
+the town to a seedsman's shop. She had left the horse and cart there,
+she explained, while she explored other streets of the town.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked.
+
+"Eileen, of Marlow," she said. "There doesn't seem to be another
+Eileen there, so one name's enough."
+
+"Is that how your community feel about it?" he asked.
+
+She smiled. "We're beginning," she said.
+
+He pondered that for a time, and then asked, "Who were you?"
+
+"Does it matter?" was the answer.
+
+"Not in the least," said Thrale. "Never did much so far as I was
+concerned, but I have a memory of having seen your photographs in
+the illustrated papers. I was wondering whether you had been actress,
+peeress, scandal; or perhaps all three."
+
+She laughed. "I'm the eldest daughter of the late Duke of Hertford,"
+she said, "the ci-devant Lady Eileen Ferrar, citizen."
+
+"Oh, was that it?" replied Thrale carelessly. "Where's this shop
+of yours?"
+
+The loot was heavier than Eileen had anticipated. The shop had been
+ransacked, but they found an untouched store, containing such valuables
+as beans, potatoes and a few small sacks of turnip seed at the bottom
+of a yard. When these had been placed in the cart, they decided that
+the load was sufficient for one horse.
+
+They took the longer road to Marlow, through Bourne End, to avoid
+the hill. Eileen walked at the horse's head, with Thrale beside her
+wheeling his bicycle, and during those two hours he learnt much of
+the little community which he proposed to serve for a time.
+
+It seemed that in Marlow--and the same thing must have happened in
+a hundred other small towns throughout the country--a few women had
+taken control of the community. These women were of all classes and
+the committee included an Earl's widow, a national schoolmistress,
+a small green-grocer, and an unmarried woman of property living
+half a mile out of the town. These women had worked together in an
+eminently practical way; at first to relieve distress, and then to
+plan the future. They had wasted little time in discussions among
+themselves--none of them had the parliamentary sense of the uses
+of debate. When they had disagreed, they had had plenty of scope to
+carry out varying methods within their own spheres of influence.
+
+Their first and most difficult task had been to teach the members
+of their community to work for the common good, and that task was
+by no means perfected as yet. Co-operation was agreeable enough to
+those who had nothing to lose, but the women in temporary possession
+of the sources of food supply were not so easily convinced. In many
+instances the committee's arguments had been suddenly clenched by an
+exposition of force majeure, and property owners had discovered to
+their amazement that they had no remedy.
+
+But the head and leader of Marlow was a farmer's daughter of
+nineteen, a certain Carrie Oliver. Her father had had a small farm
+in the Chilterns not far from Fingest. He had been a lazy, drunken
+creature, and from the time Carrie had left the national school she
+had practically carried on the work of the farm single handed. She
+liked the work; the interest of it absorbed her.
+
+The Marlow schoolmistress had remembered her when the committee had
+first faced the daunting task of providing for the future. They had
+been more or less capable of organizing a majority of the women,
+but no member of the committee knew the secrets of agriculture and
+stock-breeding, and in all Marlow and the neighbourhood no woman
+had been found who was capable of instructing them in all that was
+necessary.
+
+A deputation of three had been sent to Fingest, and had discovered
+Miss Oliver in the midst of plenty, cultivating her farm in comfort
+now that she had been relieved of her father's unwelcome presence.
+
+She had been covered with confusion when requested to leave her retreat
+and take command of a town and the surrounding twenty thousand acres
+or so within reach of the new community.
+
+"Oh! I can't," she had said, blushing and ducking her head. "It's
+easy enough; I'll tell you if there's anything you want to know."
+
+The deputation had then put the case very clearly before her, pointing
+out that in Miss Oliver's hands lay the future of a thousand lives.
+
+"Oh, dear. I dunno. What can I do?" Carrie had said, and when the
+deputation had urged that she should return with them and take charge
+forthwith, she had replied that that was quite impossible, that there
+were the cows to milk, the calves, pigs and chickens to feed, and
+goodness knew how many other necessary things to be done before sunset.
+
+The deputation had said that cows, calves, horses, sheep, pigs and
+chickens might and should be transferred forthwith to the neighbourhood
+of Marlow.
+
+It had taken three days to convince her, Eileen said, and added,
+"But she's splendid, now. It's wonderful what a lot she knows; and
+she rides about on a horse everywhere and sees to everything. The
+difficulty is to stop her getting down and doing the work herself."
+
+Thrale understood that, exceptional male as he was, his position in
+Marlow would be subordinate to that of Miss Oliver.
+
+"Does she understand agricultural machinery?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," returned Eileen. "But she hasn't time, you see, to attend
+to all that, and it's so jolly difficult to learn. I've been doing a
+bit. I'm better at it than most of 'em. But when I saw you it struck
+me how ripping it would be if you'd come and take over that side. Men
+are so jolly good at machinery. We shouldn't miss them much if it
+weren't for that."
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+After a marked preliminary hesitation the committee appointed
+Jasper Thrale chief mechanic of Marlow. The hesitation was
+understandable. Their only experience of the ways of men in this
+altered civilization had been drawn from observations of Mr Evans
+at Wycombe. His manner of life appeared representative of what they
+might expect. Nevertheless they did not openly condemn him, although
+he proved an immediate source of trouble, even to these organizers
+in Marlow. The youth of the place was apt to wander over the hill
+in the evenings; "just for fun," they said. They went in twos and
+threes, and occasionally one of them stayed behind. These evening
+walks interfered with work. "Later on I shouldn't mind so much,"
+Lady Durham had said, commenting on the loss of a young and active
+worker, "but there is so much to do just now." Her comment showed
+that even then the situation was being accepted, and that many women
+were prepared to adapt their old opinions to new conditions. It also
+showed why the committee hesitated to accept Thrale's services.
+
+Thrale understood their difficulty, and went straight to the point.
+
+"You are afraid that the young women will be wasting time, running
+after me," he said. "Set your minds at rest. That won't last. And if
+you give me pupils for my machinery I should prefer women over forty
+in any case. I believe I shall find them more capable."
+
+He was right in one way. When the excitement of his coming had
+subsided, he was not the cause of much wasted time. He adopted a
+manner with the younger women which did not encourage advances. He
+was, in fact, quite brutally frank. When the young women devised all
+kinds of impossible excuses to linger in his vicinity he sent them
+away with hot indignant faces. Among those who sought their sterile
+amusements in Wycombe it became the fashion openly to express hatred
+and contempt for "that engine fellow." It was agreed that he "wasn't a
+proper man." Another section, however, talked scandal, and hinted that
+assistant-engineer Eileen was the cause of Thrale's pretended misogyny.
+
+The committee found their work more complicated in some respects
+after Thrale's coming.
+
+Thrale, himself, was supremely indifferent to any scandal or expression
+of hatred. He had his hands full, his hours of work were only limited
+by daylight, and six hours sleep was all he asked for or desired. After
+a very brief introduction to the intricacies of reaper and rake at
+the hands of Miss Oliver--her father had never been able to afford
+a binder, but the days of corn-harvest were still far ahead--he set
+himself to learn the mysteries of all the agricultural machinery in the
+neighbourhood; traction engines, steam ploughs and thrashing machines,
+and to pass on the knowledge he gained to his pupils. He found them
+stupid at first, but they were patient and willing for the most part.
+
+Then, handicapped by the lack of coal, he rode over to Bourne End and
+discovered two locomotives. One of them was standing on the line a
+mile out of the station with a full complement of coaches attached,
+the other was an unencumbered goods engine in a siding. He chose the
+latter for his first experiment, and succeeded in driving it back
+to Marlow. It groaned and screamed in a way that indicated serious
+organic trouble, but after he had overhauled it, it proved capable
+of taking him to Maidenhead, where he found a sound engine in a shed.
+
+After that he devoted three days to getting a clear line to Paddington,
+a tedious process which involved endless descents from the cab,
+and mountings into signal boxes, experiments with levers and the
+occasional necessity for pushing whole trains out of his path into
+some siding. But at last he returned with magnificent loot of coal
+from the almost untouched London yards beyond Ealing.
+
+London was still the storehouse of certain valuable commodities.
+
+His passage through the surrounding country was hailed with cries of
+amazement and jubilant acclamation. The first railway surely excited
+less astonishment than did Thrale on his solitary engine. Doubtless
+the unfortunate women who saw him pass believed that the gods of
+machinery had returned once more to bring relief from all the burden
+of misery and unfamiliar work.
+
+And once the points were set and the way open to London by rail he
+could go and return with tools and many other necessaries that had
+offered no temptation to the starving multitude who had fled from
+the town.
+
+Marlow was greatly blessed among the communities in those days.
+
+
+
+
+6
+
+The harvest was early that year, and Miss Oliver decided to cut
+certain fields of barley at the end of July.
+
+Thrale's energies were then diverted to the superintendence of the
+reapers and binders, and he rode from field to field, overlooking
+the work of his pupils or spending furious hours in struggle with
+some refractory mechanism.
+
+One Saturday, an hour or two after midday, he was returning from some
+such struggle, when he saw a strange procession coming down that long
+hill from Handy Cross, which some pious women regarded as the road
+to hell.
+
+Casual immigration had almost ceased by that time, but the sight
+indicated the necessity for immediate action. The immigration laws
+of Marlow, though not coded as yet, were strict; and only bona fide
+workers were admitted, and even those were critically examined.
+
+Thrale shouted to attract attention and the procession stopped.
+
+When he came through the gate on to the road, he was accosted by name.
+
+"Oh, Mr Thrale, fancy finding you," said the young woman at the pole
+of the truck.
+
+The meeting of Livingstone and Stanley was far less amazing.
+
+An old woman perched on the truck and partly sheltered by the remains
+of an umbrella, regarded his appearance with some show of displeasure.
+
+"By rights 'e should 'ave written to me in the first place," she
+muttered.
+
+"Mother's got a touch of the sun," explained Blanche hurriedly.
+
+Thrale had not yet spoken. He was considering the problem of whether
+he owed any duty to these wanderers, which could override his duty
+to Marlow.
+
+"Where have you come from?" he asked.
+
+Blanche and Millie explained volubly, by turns and together.
+
+"You see, we don't let anyone stay here," said Thrale.
+
+Blanche's eyebrows went up and she waved her too exuberant sister
+aside. "We're willing to work," she said.
+
+"And your mother?" queried Thrale. "And this other woman?"
+
+"Ach! I work too," put in Mrs Isaacson. "I have learnt all that is
+necessary for the farm. I milk and feed chickens and everything."
+
+"You'll have to come before the committee," said Thrale.
+
+"Anywhere out of the sun," replied Blanche, "and somewhere where we
+can put mother. She's very bad, I'm afraid."
+
+"You can stay to-night, anyway," returned Thrale.
+
+Millie made a face at him behind his back, and whispered to Mrs
+Isaacson, who pursed her mouth.
+
+"Well, you do seem more civilized here," remarked Blanche as the
+procession restarted towards Marlow. Thrale, with something of the
+air of a policeman, was walking by the side of the pole.
+
+"You've come at a good time," was his only comment.
+
+Millie had another shock before they reached the town. She saw what
+she thought was a second man, on horseback this time, coming towards
+them. Marlow, she thought, was evidently a place to live in. But
+the figure was only that of Miss Oliver in corduroy trousers,
+riding astride.
+
+
+
+
+7
+
+Fate had dropped the Goslings into Buckinghamshire to fulfil their
+destiny. They had been led to Marlow by a casual direction, here
+and there, after the first propulsion of Blanche's instinct had sent
+them into the country beyond Harrow. And fate, doubtless with some
+incomprehensible purpose of its own in view, had quietly decided
+that in Marlow they were to stay. They had been dropped at a season
+when, for the first time in the long three months' history of the
+community, there was a shortage of labour; and Blanche and Millie,
+browned by exposure and generally improved by their first six days of
+healthy life, were quite acceptable additions to the population at that
+moment. As for Mrs Isaacson, a lady of sufficient initiative and force
+of character to require no kindly interposition of Providence on her
+behalf, she arranged her own future as an expert of farm management,
+and incidentally as the Goslings' housemate. Mrs Isaacson was a burr
+that would stick anywhere for a time. She displayed an unexpected
+and highly specialized knowledge of the management of farms, when
+confronted with the expert Miss Oliver who was far too embarrassed
+to press her questions home. The casual remarks of Aunt May and her
+helpers had been retained in Mrs Isaacson's brilliant memory and she
+displayed her knowledge to the best possible advantage, filling the
+gaps with irrelevant volubility, gesture and histrionic struggles
+with the English language, which proved suddenly inadequate to the
+expression of these recondities that the German would have so aptly
+expressed. It was inferred that in her native Bavaria, Mrs Isaacson
+had farmed in the grand style.
+
+Only Mrs Gosling, useless and ineligible, remained for consideration,
+and she for once took a firm line of her own, and defied the committee,
+Marlow generally, and the negligible remainder of the cosmos, to
+alter her determination.
+
+The home at which they had finally arrived did not suit her. The
+tiny cottage of three rooms in the little street that runs down to
+the town landing stage had no lace curtains in the front window,
+no suites of furniture, no hall to save the discreet caller from
+stepping through the front door straight into the single living-room,
+no accumulation of dustable ornaments, not even a strip of carpet
+or linoleum to cover the nakedness of a bricked floor. It was not
+civilized; it was not decent according to the refined standards of
+Wisteria Grove; it was an impossible place for any respectable woman
+to live in, and Mrs Gosling, with unexpected force of character,
+chose the obvious alternative. She did not, however, make any
+announcement of her determination; she was wrapped in a speculative
+depression that found no relief in words. She had been so ordered,
+hoisted, dragged and bumped through the detested country during the
+past six days that all show of authority had been taken from her. It
+may be that deep in her own mind she cherished a sullen and enduring
+resentment against her daughters, and had vowed to take the last and
+unanswerable revenge of which humanity is capable. But outwardly she
+preserved that air of incomprehension which had marked her during the
+last stages of their journey, and committed herself to no statement
+of the enormous plan which must have been forming in her mind.
+
+When they took her into the small, brick-paved room and deposited
+her temporarily on a wooden-seated chair, while they unpacked what
+remained to them in the accursed trolly, Mrs Gosling took one brief
+but comprehensive survey of her naked surroundings.
+
+"She's a bit touched, isn't she?" whispered Millie to her sister. "Do
+you think she understands where we are or what we're doing?"
+
+Blanche shook her head. "I expect she'll be all right in a day or two,"
+she ventured, "It's the sun."
+
+The two girls, stirred to a new outlook on life by the extraordinary
+experiences of the past months, were on the threshold of diverse
+adventures. After the toil and anxiety of their tramp through
+inhospitable country, and the hazard of the open air, this reception
+into a community and settlement into a permanent shelter afforded a
+relief which was too unexpected to be qualified as yet by criticism,
+or any comparison with past glories. They were young and plastic,
+and to each of them the future seemed to hold some promise; to them
+the silence and immobility of their mother could only be evidence of
+impaired faculties.
+
+"We must get her to bed," said Blanche.
+
+Even when Mrs Gosling asked with perfect relevance, "Are we going to
+stop 'ere, Blanche?" they humoured her with evasive replies. "Well,
+for a day or two, perhaps," and "Look here, don't you worry about
+that. We're going to put you to bed."
+
+Her head dropped again and she fell back into her moody
+silence. Doubtless she meditated on the many wrongs her daughters
+had done her, and wondered why she should have been brought out to
+die in this wilderness?
+
+During the nine days that elapsed before her plan matured, she made
+no further comment on her surroundings. She lay in the upstairs room,
+sleeping little, with no desire ever again to face the terror of a
+world which demanded a new mode of thought. Unconsciously she had
+adopted Blanche's phrase, "Everything's different," but to her the
+message was one of doom, she could not live in a different world.
+
+And Blanche on her side was puzzled at her mother's apathy and said,
+"I can't understand it." Yet both the changed conditions and Mrs
+Gosling's unchangeable habit were fundamental things.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XVIII--MODES OF EXPRESSION
+
+
+1
+
+In Marlow that year harvesting and thrashing were carried on
+simultaneously. August was very dry, and the greater part of the corn
+was never stacked at all. Thrale took his engines into the fields,
+and the shocks were loaded on to carts and fed directly into the
+thrasher. This method entailed some disadvantages, chief among them
+the retarding of the actual harvest-work, but on the whole it probably
+economized labour. The scheme would doubtless have been impracticable
+in the days of small private ownership, but it worked well in this
+instance, favoured as it was by the drought.
+
+The saving of labour during those six weeks of furious toil was a
+matter of the first importance. The work, indeed, was too heavy for
+many of the women who were unable to stand the physical strain of
+hoisting sheaves from the waggons into the thrasher; and the sacks
+of grain proved so unmanageable that Thrale had to devise a makeshift
+hoist for loading them into the carts. In Marlow, at least, machinery
+was still triumphant, and the committee sighed their relief in the
+sentence: "I don't know what we should have done without Jasper
+Thrale." Nevertheless it is quite certain that they would have
+done without him if it had not been for that fortuitous meeting
+in Maidenhead.
+
+For Thrale there was no rest possible, even when the last field had
+been cleared and the last clumsily-built stack of straw or unthrashed
+corn erected. Besides the necessity for some form of thatching--or,
+failing efficiency in that direction, for completing the thrashing
+operations--he had to turn his attention to the immensely difficult
+problem of turning the grain into flour. He knew vaguely that the
+grain ought to be cleaned and conditioned before grinding, and that
+the actual separation of the constituents of the berry was a matter
+of importance; but he had no practical knowledge of the various
+operations, and in this matter Miss Oliver was quite unable to
+help him.
+
+The mill beside the lock presented itself as an intricate and
+enormously detailed problem which must be solved by a concentrated
+effort of induction. The only person who appeared to be of real
+assistance to him was Eileen, and she was apt to tire and fall into
+despair when the detail of involved and often concealed machinery
+baffled them for hour after hour. Nevertheless Thrale solved this
+problem also. His first concern was for a head of water. The weirs
+had not been touched since the beginning of May, and the river was
+very low, but by mid-September there was enough water to work for
+a few hours every day, and, despite endless mistakes and setbacks,
+the mill was turning out a sufficient supply of fairly respectable
+looking flour.
+
+Thrale had that wonderful masculine faculty for thus applying himself
+to a mechanical problem, and, like his predecessors in mechanical
+invention, it was the problem and not any promise of future reward
+which interested him. He became absorbed for the time in that problem
+of grinding corn, grudging the hours he was obliged to devote to
+other activities; and when he felt the throb of life running through
+the mill, saw the women he had taught attending each to their own
+appointed task in the economy, and felt the touch of the fine, smooth
+flour between his fingers, he needed no thanks from the committee
+nor promise of independence to reward him for his labour. The sight
+of this thing he had created was sufficient recompense. He loved this
+beautiful efficient toy that changed wheat into flour, and oats into
+meal, it was his to father and to fight for; the perfect child of
+his ingenuity and toil.
+
+But if Thrale's time was tremendously occupied the women found that
+they had more opportunities for leisure after harvest. They were still
+employed in field and garden, and there was still much to be done,
+but their hours were shorter and the work seemed light in contrast
+with the heroic labour that had been necessary at the harvest.
+
+And with this first coming of comparative ease, this first
+opportunity for reflection since the terrible plague had thrust upon
+them the necessity for fierce and unremitting effort to produce the
+essentials of life, women began to express themselves in their various
+ways. Aspirations and emotions that had been crushed by the fatigues
+of physical labour began to revive; personal inclinations, jealousies
+and resentments became manifest in the detail of intercourse; old
+prejudices, religious and social, once more assumed an aspect of
+importance in the interactions of individuals. There was a faint stir
+in the community, the first sign of a trouble which was steadily to
+increase as winter laid its bond upon the storehouses of earth.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The two Goslings, working only six or seven hours a day in the
+mill during the latter part of September, found plenty of time for
+chatter and speculation. They, and more especially Blanche, had shown
+themselves capable workers in the harvest field, but when hands had
+been required in his mill Thrale had chosen the Goslings and those whom
+he considered less adapted to field work; and among them Mrs Isaacson
+and a member of the committee, Miss Jenkyn, the schoolmistress. (The
+education problem was in abeyance for the time being. The children had
+run wild for three months, and been subject only to the discipline
+of their mothers, but it was understood that the children were to
+receive attention when the winter brought opportunity.)
+
+Blanche soon distinguished herself as a picked worker in this
+sphere. Her intelligence was of a somewhat more masculine quality
+in some respects than that of the average woman; she was slower,
+more detailed, more logical in her methods. And now that those male
+characteristics--so often deplored by women in the days before the
+plague--had been withdrawn from the flux of life, it had become
+evident that they had been an essential part of the whole, if only
+a part. Masculine characteristics were at a premium in Marlow that
+autumn, and as a natural consequence were being rated at an ever higher
+value. There was a tendency among some women to become more male....
+
+Millie, however, was not among the progressives. She was not gifted
+intellectually; she had no swift intuitions--such as Eileen had--which
+enabled her to comprehend her work; she was naturally indolent,
+and all her emotions came to her through sensation.
+
+When she was put to work in the mill she was secretly elated. She
+did not believe the stories told of Jasper Thrale's insensibility to
+feminine attractions, and if she believed those other stories which
+coupled his name with that of Lady Eileen, Millie was of opinion that
+such an entanglement was not necessarily final.
+
+The first week of her association with Thrale in the work of the mill
+brought disillusionment.
+
+When she looked up from her work and caught his eye as he passed her,
+he either stared coldly or stopped and asked in a businesslike, austere
+voice whether she wanted assistance. Such intimations should have been
+sufficient, but in this thing, at least, Millie was persistent. She
+thought that he did not understand--men were proverbially stupid in
+these matters. So she waited for an opportunity and within ten days
+one was presented.
+
+A hesitation in some of the machinery she overlooked provided
+sufficient excuse for calling the head engineer. She looked down
+the step-ladder which communicated with the floor below and called
+hesitatingly, "Oh! Please. Mr Thrale."
+
+He heard her and looked up, "What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Something gone wrong," she said blushing, "I've stopped the rollers,
+but I don't know----"
+
+"All right, I'm coming," he returned, and presently joined her.
+
+"By the way," he remarked as he began to examine the machine,
+"we don't say 'Mister,' now. I thought you'd learnt that."
+
+Millie simpered. "It sounds so familiar not to," she said.
+
+"Rubbish," grunted Thrale. "You can call me 'engineer,' I suppose?"
+
+"Now, look here," he continued, "do you see this hopper in here?"
+
+She came close to him and peered into the machine.
+
+"It gets clogged, do you see?" said Thrale, "and when the meal stutters
+you've just got to put your hand in and clear it. Understand?"
+
+"I think so," hesitated Millie. She was leaning against him and her
+body was trembling with delicious excitement. Almost unconsciously
+she pressed a little closer.
+
+Thrale suddenly drew back. "Do you understand?" he said harshly.
+
+"Ye-yes, I think so," returned Millie; and she straightened herself,
+looked up at him for a moment and then dropped her eyes, blushing.
+
+"Very well," said Thrale, "and here's another piece of advice for
+you. If you want to stay in the mill keep your attention on your
+work. You're a man now, for all intents and purposes; you've got a
+man's work to do, and you must keep your mind on it. If there's any
+foolishness you go out into the turnip fields. You won't have another
+warning," he concluded as he turned and left her.
+
+"Beast," muttered Millie when she was alone. She was shaken with
+furious anger. "I hate you, you silly stuck up thing," she whispered
+fiercely shaking with passion. "Oh, I wish you only knew how I hate
+you. I won't touch your beastly machines again. I'd sooner a million
+times be out in the turnip field than in the same mill with you,
+you stuck up beast. I won't work, I won't do a thing, I'll--I'll----"
+
+For a time she was hysterical.
+
+Blanche coming down from the floor above found her sister tearing at
+her hair.
+
+"Good heavens, Mill, what's up?" she asked.
+
+Millie had passed through the worst stages of her seizure by then,
+and she dropped her hands. "I dunno," she said. "It's this beastly
+mill, I suppose."
+
+"I like it," returned Blanche.
+
+"Oh, you," said Millie, full of scorn for Blanche's frigidity. "You
+ought to have been a man, you ought."
+
+"I dunno what's come to you," was Blanche's comment.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+It was maturity that had come to Millie. Her new life of air and
+physical exercise had set the blood running in her veins. In the
+Wisteria Grove days she had had an anæmic tendency; the limited
+routine of her existence and all the suppressions of her narrow life
+had retarded her development. Now she was suddenly ripe. Two months
+of sun and air had brought superabundant vitality, and the surplus
+had become the most important factor in her existence. She found no
+outlet for her new vigour in the work of the mill. Something within
+her was crying out for joy. She wanted to find expression.
+
+There were many other young women in Marlow that autumn in similar
+case, and a rumour was current among them that this was a favourable
+time for crossing the hill. It was said that the lord of Wycombe was
+seeking new favourites.
+
+Millie heard the rumour and tossed her head superciliously.
+
+"Let him come here. I'd give him a piece of my mind," she said.
+
+"He doesn't come 'ere," returned the gossip. "'E's afeard of our
+Mr Thrale."
+
+"Oh! Jasper Thrale!" said Millie. "That fellow from Wycombe could
+knock his head off in no time."
+
+The gossip was doubtful.
+
+Millie was incapable of formulating a plan in this connexion, but she
+was seized with a desire for spending the still September evenings in
+the open air, and always something drew her towards the hill at Handy
+Cross. That way lay interest and excitement. There was a wonderful
+fascination in going as far as the top of the descent into Wycombe.
+
+Usually she joined one or two other young women in these excursions. It
+was understood between them that they went "for fun," and they
+would laugh and scream when they reached the dip past the farm,
+pretend to push each other down the slope, and cry out suddenly:
+"He's coming! Run!"
+
+But one afternoon, some ten days after Jasper Thrale had threatened
+her with the turnip field, Millie went alone.
+
+She had left work early. The rain had not come yet, and Thrale was
+becoming anxious with regard to the shortage of water. He had the
+sluices of Marlow and Hedsor weirs closed, and had opened the sluices
+of the weirs above as far as Hambledon, but so little water was coming
+down that he decided to work shorter hours for the present.
+
+Blanche had stayed on at the mill to help with repairs. She was
+rapidly developing into a capable engineer. So Millie, whose only
+service was that of machine minder, found herself alone and unoccupied.
+
+Every one else seemed to be working. Her friends of the evening
+excursions were mostly in the fields on the Henley side of the town.
+
+Millie decided she would lie down on the bed and go to sleep for a bit;
+but even before she came to the cottage she changed her mind. It was
+a deliciously warm, still afternoon.
+
+Almost automatically she took the road towards Little Marlow; a desire
+for adventure had overtaken her. Why, she argued, shouldn't she go
+into Wycombe? There were plenty of other women there. She would be
+quite safe. She only wanted to see what the place was like.
+
+Her consciousness of perfect rectitude lasted until she reached
+the dip beyond Handy Cross. Farther than this she had not ventured
+before. Some mystery lay beyond the turn of the road.
+
+She sat down in the grass by the wayside and called herself a fool,
+but she was afraid to go further. She and those friends of hers had
+made this place the entrance to a terrible and fascinating beyond. She
+remembered how they had feared to stay there in the failing light,
+daring each other to remain there alone after sunset. There was
+nothing to be afraid of, she said to herself; and yet she was afraid.
+
+She was hot with her long climb, and the place was quite deserted. She
+decided to take down her hair to cool herself.
+
+Curiously, she looked upon this simple act as deliciously daring and
+in some way wicked. She cast half-fearful glances at the green girt
+shadows of the descending road, as she shook out the masses of her
+hair. "If anyone should come!" she thought. "If he should come...!"
+
+She giggled nervously, and shivered.
+
+But as time passed, and no one came, she began to lose her fear,
+and presently she lay full length on the grass, and stared up into
+the pale blue dome of the sky until her eyes ached and she had to
+close them. The deep hush of the still afternoon enveloped her in a
+great calm.
+
+For a time she slept peacefully, and then she dreamed that she was
+rushing through the air, and that some one chased her. She wanted
+desperately to be captured, but it was ordained that she must fly, and
+she flew incredibly fast. She flew through the sunlight into darkness,
+and awoke to find that some one was standing between her and the sun.
+
+She lay still, paralysed with terror. She bitterly regretted her
+coming. She would have given ten years of life to be safe home
+in Marlow.
+
+"Now, where've I seen you before?" asked Sam Evans....
+
+It was nearly dark when Blanche accosted a knot of women in the
+High Street with a question as to whether they had seen anything of
+her sister.
+
+One of the women laughed sneeringly. "Ah! She went over the hill
+this afternoon," she said. "We were in the fields that side, and saw
+her go."
+
+Blanche's face burned. "She hasn't! I know she hasn't!" she blurted
+out. "She isn't one of that sort."
+
+The woman laughed again.
+
+"She's one of the lucky ones," another woman remarked. "You can expect
+her back in a week or two's time."
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+On the same evening that Millie crossed the hill, Lady Eileen Ferrar
+encountered the spirit of passion in another shape.
+
+The thought of a lonely bathe tempted her, and she crossed the river,
+made her way through deserted Bisham, and back to the stream along
+a narrow, overhung lane beyond Bisham Abbey.
+
+The sun had set, but when she came out from the trees there was
+light in the sky and on the water. Overhead a few wisps of cirrus,
+sailing in the far heights of air, still caught the direct rays of the
+sun. Eileen paused on the bank, rejoicing in the glow of colour about
+her; but as she gazed, the little fleet of salmon-tinted clouds were
+engulfed in the great earth-shadow, and the delicate crisp rose-leaves
+were transfigured into flat stipples of steel grey.
+
+A slight chill had come into the air, but the water was deliciously
+soft and warm. Eileen swam a couple of hundred yards up-stream,
+towards the gloom of shadows that obscured the course of the river. The
+after-glow was fading now, and though the surface of the water seemed
+to catch some reflection of light from an unknown source, the near
+distance loomed dark and mysterious. She trod water for a few moments,
+but could not decide whether the river turned to right or left. To
+all appearances, it terminated abruptly fifty yards ahead....
+
+A new sound was forcing itself upon her attention--a low, steady
+booming. She stopped swimming, and, keeping herself afloat by
+slow, silent movements of hands and feet under water, she listened
+attentively. The dull boom seemed changed into a low, ceaseless moan.
+
+She remembered then the recently opened sluices of Temple Weir, but
+quite suddenly she was aware of fear. She thought she saw a movement
+among the reeds by the bank. She thought she heard laughter and the
+thin pipe of a flute.
+
+Were the old gods coming back to witness the death of man, as they
+had witnessed his birth? Now that machinery and civilization were
+being re-absorbed into the nature-spirit from which they had been
+wrung by the force of man's devilish and alien intelligence, were the
+old things returning for one mad revel before the creatures of their
+sport disappeared for ever, these representatives of a species which
+had failed to hold its own in the struggle for existence?
+
+Night was coming up like a shadow, and in the east a red, enormous
+moon was rising, coming not to dissipate, but to enhance the mysteries
+of the dark, coming to countenance the wild and blind the eyes of man.
+
+Eileen, almost motionless, was floating down with the drift of the
+sluggish stream. She was afraid to intrude upon the natural sounds of
+the night, the stealthy trickle of the river, and the furtive rustle
+of secret movement whose origin she could not guess. And again she
+thought that she heard the trembling reed of a distant flute.
+
+She touched bottom near her landing-place, and waded out of the river,
+crouching, afraid even in the black shadow of the trees to exhibit
+the white column of her slim body. She dried and dressed hastily,
+and when she felt again the touch of her familiar clothes about her,
+she knew that she was safe from the wiles of nymph or satyr. She had
+come out of the half-world that interposes between man and Nature;
+her clothes made her invisible to the earth-gods, and hid them from
+her knowledge.
+
+But she was still trembling and afraid. The flesh had terrors great
+as those of the spirit.
+
+A little uncertain wind was coming out of the south-west, and the
+trees were stirred now and again into hushed whisperings. A dead leaf
+brushed her face in falling, and she started back, thrusting at an
+imaginary enemy with nervously agitated hands.
+
+The thought of her remoteness from life terrified her. She was alone,
+face to face with implacable, brutal Nature. Man, the boastful, full
+of foolish pride, was vanishing from the earth. He had been an alien,
+ever out of place, defiling and corrupting the order of growth. Now he
+was beaten and a fugitive. All around her, the representative of this
+vile destructive species, was the slow, persistent hatred of the earth,
+which longed to be at peace again. There was no god favourable to man,
+now that he was dying; the gods of man's creation would perish with
+him. Only a few women were left to realize that they were strangers
+in the world of Nature which hated them. The world was not theirs,
+had never been theirs; they were only some horrible, unnatural fungus
+that had disfigured the Earth for a time....
+
+She moved cautiously and slowly under the darkness of the trees,
+and even when she came back to the road she could not shake off
+her fear. On her right she could see the black cliff of the woods
+transfigured by the light of the moon. In the day she knew them for
+woods; now they were strange and threatening; they menaced her with
+invasion. She knew that they would march down from the hills and swarm
+across the valley. In a hundred, two hundred years, Marlow would be
+a few heaps of brick and stone lost in the heart of the forest.
+
+Ashamed of her race, she hurried on stealthily towards the bridge.
+
+But before she reached it, she heard the sound of a firm, defiant
+step coming towards her. She paused and listened, and her fear fell
+from her. In the old days she would have feared man more than Nature,
+feared robbery or assault, but now, man was united in a common cause;
+the sound of humanity was the sound of a friend.
+
+"Hullo!" she called, and the voice of Jasper Thrale
+answered. "Hullo! Who's that?" he said.
+
+"Me--Eileen," she replied. "I've been for a bathe."
+
+He paused opposite her, and they looked at one another.
+
+"Jolly night," he remarked.
+
+"I've seen the great god Pan," said Eileen. "Those sailors in the
+Ionian Sea were misinformed. He's not dead."
+
+"Why should Pan die and Dionysus live?" returned Thrale. "I hear that
+Dionysus has claimed one of our hands, by the way."
+
+"Millie?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are you angry?"
+
+"Yes. Not with Millie. If you saw Pan, why shouldn't she see
+Dionysus? No, I'm angry with the Jenkyn woman. She's saying that we
+ought not to have Millie back if she wants to come."
+
+"How silly!" commented Eileen.
+
+"Oh! if that were all!" replied Thrale. "The real trouble is that the
+Jenkyn woman is proselytizing. She wants to revive Church services and
+Sunday observances. We're going to have a split before the winter's
+over, and all the old misunderstandings and antagonisms back again."
+
+"Why, of course we are," returned Eileen, after a pause. "We are
+going to divide into those that are afraid and those that aren't. It's
+fear that's got hold of us, now we've time to think. It's all about
+us to-night; I've seen it, and Millie has seen it; and Clara Jenkyn
+and all those who are going with her have seen it; and we've all got
+to find our own way out." She hesitated for a moment, and then said:
+"And what about you? Have you seen it?"
+
+"Yes, for the first time. Within the last ten minutes," said Thrale.
+
+The moon was above the trees now, and she could see his face
+clearly. "Have you?" she asked. "I can't picture it. It can't be Pan
+or Dionysus, or fear of the Earth or of humanity. No; and it can't be
+the most terrible of all, the fear of an idea. What are you afraid of?"
+
+"I'm afraid of you," said Thrale, and he turned away quickly and
+hurried on in the direction of the river.
+
+"I did see Pan," affirmed Eileen, as she returned, happy and unafraid,
+towards Marlow.
+
+
+
+
+5
+
+That mood of the night had suggested to Eileen the idea of a single
+cause which seemed sufficient to account for the revivalist tendencies
+of Miss Jenkyn and certain other women in Marlow. Fear was presented as
+a simple explanation, and Eileen, like many other philosophers who had
+preceded her, was too eager for the simple and inclusive explanation.
+
+At first the revivalist tendency was feeble and circumscribed. Twenty
+or thirty women met in the schoolroom and talked and prayed by
+the light of a single, tenderly nursed oil-lamp. The absence of any
+minister kept them back at first; the less earnest needed some concrete
+embodiment of religion in the form of a black coat and white tie.
+
+But when the rain came in early October, came and persisted; when the
+beeches, instead of flaring into scarlet, grew sodden and dead; when
+the threat of flood grew even more imminent, and the distraction of
+physical toil almost ceased, this little nucleus of women was joined
+by many new recruits, and their comparatively harmless prostrations,
+lamentations and worshippings of the abstract, developed into an
+attempt to enforce a moral law upon the community.
+
+Millie Gosling, returning to Marlow in mid-October, gave the
+religionists splendid opportunity for a first demonstration.
+
+Millie returned with a bold face and a shrinking heart. She had fled
+from Wycombe because she could not meet the taunts of the women who
+had so lately envied her as she rode, prime favourite for a time,
+in the Dionysian landau. A great loneliness had come over her after
+she was dethroned; she needed sympathy, and she hoped that Blanche
+might be made to understand. Millie came back from over the hill
+prepared with a long tale of excuses.
+
+She found her sister perfectly complacent.
+
+Blanche was a fervent disciple of Jasper Thrale and machinery, and
+Thrale had anticipated Millie's return and in some ways prepared
+for it. At odd moments he had preached the new gospel, the tenets of
+which Blanche had begun to formulate for herself.
+
+"It's no good going back to the old morality for a precedent," had
+been the essential argument used by Thrale; "we have to face new
+conditions. If a man is only to have one wife now, the race will
+decline, probably perish. It is a woman's duty to bear children."
+
+Eileen, Blanche and a few other young women had wondered that he made
+no application of the argument to his own case, but his opinion carried
+more weight by reason of his continence. Even Miss Jenkyn could not
+urge that his opinion was framed to defend his own mode of life,
+and, failing that casuistical support, she had to fall back on the
+second alternative of her kind, namely, to assert that this preacher
+of antagonistic opinions was either the devil in person or possessed
+by him--a line of defence which took longer to establish than the
+simple accusation of expediency.
+
+So Millie, returning one wet October afternoon, found that no excuses
+were required of her. Blanche welcomed her and asked no questions,
+and Jasper Thrale and Eileen came to the little cottage in St
+Peter's Street at sunset and treated the prodigal Millie with a new
+and altogether delightful friendliness. It was understood that she
+would return at once to her work in the Mill. But in the school-house
+opposite another reception was being prepared for her.
+
+The more advanced of the Jenkynites were for taking immediate
+action. Prayer, worship, and the acknowledgment of personal sin fell
+into the background that evening, Millie appeared not as a brand
+to be saved from the burning, but as an abandoned and evil creature
+who must be thrust out of the community if any member of it was to
+save her soul alive. Every one of these furious religionists could
+stand up and declare that she was innocent of the commission of this
+particular sin of Millie's, and every one was willing and anxious to
+cast the first stone.
+
+The meeting simmered, and at last boiled over into St Peter's Street. A
+band of more than a dozen rigidly virtuous and ecstatically Christian
+women beat at the door of the Goslings' cottage. They had come to
+denounce sin and thrust the sinner out of the community with physical
+violence. Each of them in her own heart thought of herself as the
+bride of Christ.
+
+The door was opened to them by Jasper Thrale.
+
+"We have come to cast out the evil one!" cried Miss Jenkyn in a high
+emotional voice.
+
+"What are you talking about?" asked Thrale.
+
+"She shall be cast forth from our midst!" shrilled Miss Jenkyn;
+and her supporters raised a horrible screaming cry of agreement.
+
+"Cast her forth!" they cried, finding full justification for their
+high pitch of emotion in the use of Biblical phrase.
+
+"Cast forth your grandmother!" replied Thrale calmly. "Get back to
+your homes, and don't be foolish."
+
+"He is possessed of the devil!" chanted Miss Jenkyn. "The Lord has
+called upon us to vindicate his honour and glory. This man, too,
+must not be suffered to dwell in the congregation."
+
+"Down with him! down with him!" assented the little crowd, now so
+exalted with the glory of their common purpose that they were ready
+for martyrdom.
+
+Miss Jenkyn was an undersized, withered little spinster of forty-five,
+and physically impotent; but, drunk with the fervour of her emotion,
+and encouraged by the sympathy of her followers and the fury of her
+own voice, she flung herself fiercely upon the calm figure of Jasper
+Thrale. Her thwarted self-expression had found an outlet. She desired
+the blood of Millie Gosling and Jasper Thrale with the same intensity
+that women had once desired a useless vote.
+
+Jasper Thrale put out a careless hand and pushed her back into the arms
+of the women behind her; but she was up again instantly, and, backed
+by the crowd, who, encouraging themselves by shrill screams of "Cast
+them forth!" were now thrusting forward into the narrow doorway, she
+renewed the assault with all the fierce energy of a struggling kitten.
+
+"I shall lose my temper in a minute," said Thrale, as he took a step
+forward and, bracing himself against the door frame, drove the women
+back with vigorous thrusts of his powerful arms.
+
+To lose his temper, indeed, seemed the only way of escape; to give way
+to berserk rage, and so to injure these muscularly feeble creatures
+that they would be unable to continue the struggle. But the babble of
+screaming voices was bringing other helpers to his aid, chief among
+them Lady Durham, and her cold, clear voice fell on the hysterical
+Jenkynites like a douche of cold water.
+
+"Clara Jenkyn, what are you doing?" asked Elsie Durham.
+
+"Millie Gosling must be cast forth," wavered the little dishevelled
+woman; but this time there was no reponse from her disciples.
+
+"That is a question for the committee," replied Elsie Durham. "Now,
+please go to your homes, all of you."
+
+Miss Jenkyn tried to explain.
+
+Elsie Durham walked into the cottage and shut the door.
+
+Inside, Eileen and Blanche were trying to reassure the trembling
+Millie. Outside, the Jenkynites were suffering a more brutal martyrdom
+than that they had sought. The tongues of the new arrivals, the
+fuller-blooded, more physically vigorous members of the community,
+were making sport of these brides of Christ.
+
+
+
+
+6
+
+But the women of Marlow were to learn afresh the old lesson
+that religious enthusiasm is not to be killed by ridicule or
+oppression. Jasper Thrale understood and appreciated that fact,
+but the policy he suggested could not be approved by the committee.
+
+"This emotion is a fundamental thing," he said to Lady Durham,
+"and history will show you that persecution will intensify it to
+the point of martyrdom. There is only one way to combat it. Give it
+room. Let them do as they will. The heat of the fire is too fierce
+for you to damp it down; you only supply more fuel. Fan it, throw it
+open to the air, and it will burn itself harmlessly out."
+
+Elsie Durham shrugged her shoulders. "That's all very well," she
+said. "I believe it's perfectly true. But they make you the bone of
+contention. If it were only Millie Gosling--well--she might go. We
+could find a place for her--at Fingest, perhaps. But we can't spare
+you."
+
+"I don't know why not," returned Thrale. "I never intended to stay
+indefinitely. You can carry on now without me, and I can fulfil my
+original intention and push on into the West."
+
+"My dear man! we can't, and we won't!" said Elsie Durham. "You are
+indispensable."
+
+"No one is indispensable," replied Thrale.
+
+"Bother your metaphysics, Jasper!" was the answer. "We are not
+going to let you go. 'We' is the majority of Marlow, not only the
+committee. We'll fight the fanatics somehow."
+
+The majority referred to by Elsie Durham was fairly compact in
+relation to this issue of retaining Jasper Thrale, and included the two
+greater of the three recognizable parties in the community. Of these
+three, the greatest was the moderate party, made up of Episcopalians,
+Nonconformists and a few Roman Catholics, who found relief for their
+emotion one day in seven either in the Town Hall or Marlow Church,
+in which places services and meetings were held--the former by
+certain approved individuals, notably Elsie Durham and the widow
+of the late Rector of Marlow. The second party in order of size
+included all those who either denied the Divine revelation or were
+careless of all religious matters. The third party--the Jenkynites,
+as they were dubbed by their opponents--had drawn their numbers from
+every old denomination. The Jenkynites were differentiated from the
+other two parties by certain physical differences. For instance, the
+Jenkynites numbered few members under the age of thirty-five; very
+few of them were fat, and very few of them were capable field workers;
+they were hungry-eyed, and had a certain air of disappointed eagerness
+about them; they looked as though they had for ever sought something,
+and, finding it, had remained unsatisfied. In all, there were some
+seventeen women who might have been regarded as quite true to type,
+and about this vivid nucleus were clustered nearly a hundred other
+women, many of whom exhibited some characteristic mark of the same
+type, while the remainder, perhaps 40 per cent of the whole body,
+had joined the party out of bravado, to seek excitement, or for some
+purpose of expediency.
+
+Among the last was Mrs Isaacson, who was the ultimate cause of the
+Jenkynite defeat.
+
+Ever since she had passed her examination in farm supervision,
+Mrs Isaacson had exhibited an increasing tendency to rest on her
+laurels. She had grown very stout again during her stay in Marlow,
+and complained of severe heart trouble. The least exertion brought on
+violent palpitation accompanied by the most alarming symptoms. The
+poor lady would gasp for breath, press her hands convulsively to
+a spot just below her left breast, and roll up her eyes till they
+presented only a terrifying repulsive rim of blood-streaked white, if
+the least exertion were demanded from her, and yet she would persist
+in the effort until absolutely on the verge of collapse. "No, no! I
+must work!" she would insist. "It iss not fair to the others that I
+do no work. I will try once more. It iss only fair."
+
+At times they had to insist that she should return home and rest.
+
+And as the winter closed in, Mrs Isaacson's rests became more and
+more protracted. Jasper Thrale grinned and said: "I suppose we've
+got to keep her"; but there was a feeling among the other members of
+the committee that they were creating an undesirable precedent. Mrs
+Isaacson's example was being followed by other women who preferred
+rest to work.
+
+Heart weakness was becoming endemic in Marlow.
+
+Then came the news that Mrs Isaacson had joined the Jenkynites. The
+seventeen received her somewhat doubtfully at first, but the body of
+the sect were in favour of her reception. Possibly they were rather
+proud of counting one more fat woman among them; the average member
+was so noticeably thin.
+
+Even the seventeen were satisfied within a fortnight of Mrs Isaacson's
+conversion. She had a wonderful fluency, and she said the right and
+proper things in her own peculiar English--a form of speech which
+had a certain piquancy and interest and afforded relief and variety
+after the somewhat stereotyped formulas of the seventeen.
+
+But early in December, before the floods came, Mrs Isaacson was
+convicted of a serious offence against the community. One of
+the committee's first works had been to store certain priceless
+valuables. Tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, salt, baking powder,
+wine and other irreplaceable commodities had been locked up in one
+of the bank premises. In all, they had a fairly large store, upon
+which they had hardly drawn as yet. It was not intended to hoard these
+luxuries indefinitely. After harvest a dole had been made to all the
+workers as acknowledgment of their services, and it had been decided
+to hold another festival on Christmas Day.
+
+Mrs Isaacson, with unsuspected energy, had burglariously entered this
+storehouse of wealth. She had found an accessible window at the rear,
+which she had succeeded in forcing, and, despite her bulk and the
+delicate state of her heart, she had effected an entrance and stolen
+tea, sugar, candles and whisky.
+
+She was, indeed, finally caught in the act; but her thefts would
+probably have escaped notice--she worked after dark, and with a cunning
+and caution that would have placed her high in the profession before
+the plague--had it not been for Blanche.
+
+
+
+
+7
+
+It seems that Mrs Isaacson had formed the habit of staying up in the
+evening. She pleaded that she could not sleep during the early hours
+of the night, which was not surprising in view of the fact that she
+slept much during the day; and as she was diligent in picking up or
+begging sufficient wood to maintain the fire, there was no reason why
+Blanche and Millie should offer any objection. Thrale had rigged up
+a dynamo at the mill now to provide artificial light, and the girls'
+hours of work were so prolonged that they were glad to get to bed
+at half-past seven. By eight o'clock Mrs Isaacson evidently counted
+herself safe from all interruption.
+
+She might have continued her enjoyment of luxury undiscovered
+throughout the winter if Blanche had not suffered from toothache.
+
+She had been in bed and asleep nearly two hours when her dreams of
+discomfort merged into a consciousness of actual pain. She sighed
+and pressed her cheek into the pillows, made agonizing exploration
+with her tongue, and tried to go to sleep again. Possibly she might
+have succeeded had not that unaccountable smell of whisky obtruded
+itself upon her senses.
+
+At first she thought the house was on fire. That had always been her
+one fear in leaving Mrs Isaacson alone; and she sat up in bed and
+sniffed vigorously. "Funny," she murmured; "it smells like--like plum
+pudding." The analogy was probably suggested to her by the odour of
+burning brandy.
+
+She got up and opened the door of the bedroom.
+
+Mrs Isaacson slept on a sort of glorified landing, and when Blanche
+stepped outside her own door she could see at once by the light of
+a watery full moon that her lodger had not yet come to bed.
+
+The smell of the spirit was stronger on the landing, and Blanche,
+forgetting her toothache in the excitement of the moment, stole
+quietly down the short flight of crooked stairs. The door giving
+on to the living-room was latched, but there were two convenient
+knot-holes, and through one of them she saw Mrs Isaacson seated by
+the fire drinking hot tea. On the table stood an open whisky bottle
+and two lighted wax candles.
+
+Blanche was thunderstruck. Tea, whisky and candles were inexplicable
+things. The thought of witchcraft obtruded itself, and so fascinated
+her that she stood on the stairs gazing through the knothole until
+a sudden rigour reminded her that she was deadly cold.
+
+She did not interrupt the orgy. She crept back to bed, and after much
+difficulty awakened Millie.
+
+The sound of their voices must have alarmed Mrs Isaacson, for the
+girls presently heard her stumbling upstairs. They stopped their
+discussion then, and Blanche's toothache being mysteriously cured by
+her excitement, they were soon asleep again.
+
+Neither of the girls spoke of their discovery to anyone the next
+day, but Blanche returned to the cottage at half-past four, when Mrs
+Isaacson was at a meeting over the way, and explored her bedroom. She
+found a small store of tea, sugar and candles under the mattress--the
+whisky bottle had disappeared--and so came to an understanding of
+Mrs Isaacson's self-sacrificing insistence that she should perform
+all work connected with her own sleeping-place--it could hardly be
+called a room.
+
+After consultation with Millie, Blanche decided that she must inform
+Jasper Thrale of the contraband.
+
+"She's been stealing, of course," he said. "I suppose we shall have
+to bring it home to her." But he laughed at Blanche's indignation.
+
+"She's stealing from us!" said Blanche, who had developed a fine
+sense of her duty towards and interest in the community.
+
+"Oh, yes! you're quite right," said Thrale. "I'll inform the
+committee--at least, the non-Jenkynites."
+
+The five non-Jenkynites were furious.
+
+"We must make an example," Elsie Durham said. "It isn't that we
+shall miss what the Isaacson woman has taken--or will take. It's the
+question of precedent. This is where we are facing the beginning of
+law--isn't it? Somebody has to protect the members of the community
+against themselves. If one steals and goes unpunished, another will
+steal. We shall have the women divided into stealers and workers."
+
+"What are you going to do with her?" asked Thrale.
+
+"Turn her out," replied Elsie Durham.
+
+"The Jenkynites won't let her go," said Thrale raising the larger
+question.
+
+"We shall see," said Elsie Durham, "But that reminds me that we must
+catch the woman flagrante delicto; we must have no quibbles about
+the facts."
+
+Thrale agreed with the wisdom of this policy, but refused to
+take any part in either the detection or the prosecution of Mrs
+Isaacson. "They'll say its a put-up job if I have anything to do with
+it," he argued.
+
+
+
+
+8
+
+The Jenkynites blazed when Rebecca Isaacson was finally caught and
+denounced. The culprit, when caught in the act of entering the bank
+premises had made a slight error of judgment, and pleaded the excuse
+that she was a sleepwalker and quite unconscious of what she was
+doing; but she afterwards adopted a sounder line of defence. She made
+full confession to the seventeen, pleaded extravagant penitence with
+all the necessary references to the blood of the Lamb, and displayed
+all the well-known signs that she would become fervent in well-doing
+after the ensanguined ablutions had been metaphorically performed.
+
+The Jenkynites were enraptured with so real a case of sin. They had
+been compelled to content themselves with so many minor failures from
+grace that the performances were becoming slightly monotonous.
+
+The "Sister Rebecca" case was refreshingly real and genuine, and they
+meant to make the most of it. Also, this case gave them occasion to
+assert themselves once more against the opinions of the community.
+
+It must not be supposed that the seventeen deliberately adopted a
+practical and apparently promising policy. They were not consciously
+seeking to obtain civil power as were the priests of the old days
+before the plague. The seventeen had no sense of the State as
+represented by the community; they were without question perfectly
+sincere in their beliefs and actions. Their fault, if it can be
+so described, was their inability to adapt themselves to their
+conditions. They were as unchangeable as the old lady who had died
+sooner than be permanently separated from the glories of a house in
+Wisteria Grove. She and the seventeen and many other women in Marlow
+were demonstrating that rigidity of opinion is detrimental to the
+interests of the growing State. The same proposition had been clearly
+demonstrated by a few exceptional individuals in the old days, but
+progress was so slow, the property owners so content, and the average
+of mankind so intensely conservative, that their arguments received
+no attention. For every man who believed in the broad principle of
+maintaining an open mind, there were ten thousand who were quite
+incapable of putting the principle into practice. With these women
+in Marlow the conditions were completely changed. Moreover, women
+are by nature more broad-minded than men in practical affairs. Where
+intuition rather than the hard-and-fast methods of an intellectual
+logic is being brought into play, new and wonderful possibilities of
+adaptation may enter the domain of politics.
+
+The Jenkynites and such individuals as the late Mrs Gosling became
+suddenly conspicuous in the new conditions. The type that they
+represent cannot persist. They are the bonds on a vigorous and
+increasing growth; the tree will grow and burst away all inflexible
+restraints.
+
+In Marlow the new and vigorous growth was the sense of the
+community. The majority of the women were realizing, consciously
+or unconsciously, that they must work with and for each other. The
+Jenkynite affair served the committee as a valuable object-lesson.
+
+Mrs Isaacson was free to do as she would while the discussion
+raged. Imprisonment would have been utterly futile. The committee
+did not wish to punish her for her offence against common property,
+they merely wished to rid themselves of an undesirable member and to
+make public announcement that they would in like manner exclude any
+other member who proved herself a burden to the community.
+
+The Jenkynites were characteristically unable to comprehend this
+argument. They had their own definitions of heinous and venial sins,
+definitions based on ancient precedent, and they counted the fault
+of Millie Gosling in the former and that of Rebecca Isaacson in the
+latter category. They were not susceptible to argument. As they saw
+the problem, no argument was admissible. They had the old law and the
+old prophets on their side, and maintained that what was true once
+was true for all time. In their opinion, changed conditions did not
+affect morality.
+
+If the need for labour had been great, the affair might have been
+shelved for a time as of less importance than the dominant economic
+demand which takes precedence of all other problems. But although
+the floods had not yet come, there was not enough work for all the
+members of the community, and this comparative idleness reacted upon
+the importance of the Isaacson case in another and probably more
+influential direction than the abstract consideration of justice
+and humanity.
+
+The women had time to talk, and a new and fascinating subject was
+given them to discuss. And they talked; and their talk ripened into
+action. The affair Isaacson, which included also the affair Jenkyns,
+was brought to a climax at a mass meeting in the Town Hall.
+
+It was decided, noisily, but with considerable emphasis, that for
+the good of the community the Jenkynites must go. The seventeen were
+specifically indicated, but it was understood that certain of their
+more advanced adherents would go with them.
+
+The Jenkynites accepted the decision in the spirit of their
+belief. They were martyrs in a great cause. They would leave this
+accursed city (their terminology was always Biblical) and cast off
+its dust from their feet--although the roads were deep in mud at the
+time. They would go forth to regenerate the world, upheld by their
+love of truth and their zeal for the Word.
+
+Only Mrs Isaacson dissented, but she was compelled to go with them.
+
+They went forth in the rain, thirty-nine of them in all, exalted
+with conscious righteousness and faint with enthusiasm. The women
+of Marlow were kind to them. They turned out and jeered the little
+procession as it marched out of the town by the Henley Road.
+
+"'Oo stole the tea?" was the most popular taunt, and no doubt the
+exiles would have preferred that the taunts should have been cast
+at their faith rather than at the social misdemeanour of an obscure
+convert. But any form of martyrdom was better than none, and they held
+their heads high and sang "Glory! glory!" with magnificent fervour.
+
+"I'm sure we've done right," commented Elsie Durham. "But we should
+never have had all the women with us if there had been no offence
+against property. That touched them--communal property. I'm not sure
+that it isn't become almost dearer than personal property."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIX--ON THE FLOOD
+
+
+1
+
+From the middle of November onwards, the river had been running
+nearly bank-high, and so much power was available that Thrale had been
+considering the possibility of lighting some of the nearer houses by
+electricity. He had made three journeys to London, and with half a
+dozen assistants he had rifled two dynamos from the power station just
+outside Paddington, and had brought back twenty truck-loads of coal.
+
+The dynamos, however, were still in the truck, covered by
+tarpaulin. Thrale had decided that the luxury of artificial lighting
+could not be provided until all the grain had been thrashed and
+milled. The end of that work was now in sight, and the accumulated
+wealth of flour in Marlow was calculated to be sufficient to last the
+community for at least twelve months. But before the lighting scheme
+could be put in hand, a new trouble had threatened.
+
+During the first week of December there was almost continuous rain,
+and the river began to top its banks, spreading itself over the
+meadowland below the lock and creeping up the end of St Peter's
+Street. No serious matter as yet, and a short spell of frost and
+clear skies followed; but before Christmas heavy rains came again,
+and Thrale began to grow anxious.
+
+"The weirs down-stream ought to be opened," he explained to
+Eileen. "They are probably all up; we need never be afraid of shortage
+here; if we close our own weir we can always hold up all the water
+we want."
+
+"Is it serious?" she asked.
+
+"Not yet, but it may be," he said, looking up at the sky. "All Marlow
+might be flooded."
+
+And still the rain fell, and soon the girls had to wade through a
+foot of water to reach the mill.
+
+"I must go down-stream and open all the weirs," Thrale announced
+on Christmas Eve. "I've been looking at a steam launch over at the
+boat-house; it's in quite good condition. I shall bring it up to the
+town landing-stage to-morrow and get enough coal and food aboard to
+last a week."
+
+"You're not going alone?" said Eileen.
+
+"No! I must take some one to work the engine and the locks," returned
+Thrale.
+
+"I'll come!" announced Eileen, with glee.
+
+Thrale shook his head. "You'll have to run this place," he said.
+
+Since that night in September no reference had been made by either of
+them to his strange revelation of fear. They had worked together as
+two men might have worked. Neither of them had exhibited the least
+consciousness of sex. Thrale believed that he had put the fear away
+from him, and Eileen was content to wait. She was barely twenty.
+
+"Blanche could run the mill," she suggested. "There isn't much to
+do now."
+
+Thrale turned away from her with a touch of impatience. "Blanche had
+better come with me," he said.
+
+"I want to come," pleaded Eileen.
+
+"Why?" he asked.
+
+"It'll be sport."
+
+"I don't care to trust Blanche with the mill," he persisted.
+
+"She's every bit as good as I am," was her reply.
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Oh, look here," said Eileen, "you might let me come, or are you--are
+you afraid of--of what the women will say?" She was standing by one
+of the flour-encrusted mill windows and she began to scratch a clean
+place on it with her nail.
+
+Thrale did not answer for a moment and then he came and stood near
+her. "What is it?" he asked. "Are you sick of your work here?"
+
+"I shouldn't mind a change," she said, intent on enlarging her
+peep-hole.
+
+"One forgets that you are women," said Thrale. "I suppose women are
+never content with work for work's sake."
+
+"If you like," returned Eileen inconsequently. "I can see out now. Why
+don't we have these windows cleaned sometimes?"
+
+"You can have them done while I'm away," he suggested.
+
+"I'm coming with you," said Eileen.
+
+"Oh! you can come if you like," he said. He thought he was perfectly
+safe, despite this unusual display of femininity.
+
+"You'll have to run the engine," he concluded.
+
+"Oh! I'll run the engine," she agreed and looked down at her capable,
+frankly dirty little hands.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The weirs at Marlow and Hedsor had been roaring open-mouthed for ten
+days before Thrale and Eileen began their journey; but the water
+had been piling up from below and the floods were working back up
+river. The fact that none of the weirs above Henley was closed had
+served to protect Marlow in some degree. There were great floods
+above Sonning, and from Goring to Culham the country was a vast sheet
+of water. This water, however, only came down comparatively slowly
+owing to the dammed condition of the main channel, and a greater
+proportion of it was absorbed. If the upper weirs had been open,
+Marlow would have been under water by the middle of December.
+
+Not until the launch had been manoeuvred with some difficulty through
+Boulter's Lock did Thrale begin to realize the full significance of
+the situation.
+
+He had had very great difficulty first in reaching and second in
+raising the paddles of the Taplow weir. In one place the force of
+the flood had broken away the structure, but even with the relief
+this passage had afforded the pressure of water on the paddles was
+so great that he had been working for more than two hours before the
+last valve was opened.
+
+Eileen had been waiting for him with the launch warped up just below
+the lock where the force of the stream was not so great.
+
+"I don't know whether we shall be able to carry out this job,"
+remarked Thrale when he rejoined her.
+
+"Oh, but we must," she expostulated.
+
+"Do you see what has happened?" he explained. "All the water is piled
+up below us. We shall probably find the next locks flood-high, which
+means that we sha'n't be able to open them."
+
+"We must navigate," said Eileen. "Steam round them; shoot the weirs."
+
+"Oh, well," said Thrale, "I'm wondering how far our responsibility
+goes. If we don't open the river right down to Richmond, we shall only
+be increasing the flood in the lower reaches, and there may be women
+living there. After all, Marlow isn't the only place on the river. And
+there is another thing; we may never get back. It's a risky thing we
+are proposing to do. No one could swim against this current. If we
+were upset and carried into a weir, we should be smashed to pieces
+in no time. Do you think the community can spare us?"
+
+"Bother the community!" replied Eileen.
+
+The community and its activities were already in the background of
+her mind. Marlow had receded into a little distant place with which
+she was no longer connected. The world of adventure and romance lay
+open before her. She wanted only to explore this turbulent river,
+widened now into a miniature Amazon, from which arose the islands of
+half-submerged houses and trees that composed the strange archipelago
+of Maidenhead.
+
+"Oh, well," said Thrale again. "We'll try. It's no use waiting for
+the stream to go down. We'd better go on now."
+
+"Shall I cast off?" asked Eileen.
+
+"Steady, steady," Thrale warned her. "The next quarter of a mile
+is simply a rapid. You must be ready to get the engines going full
+ahead the moment we start, or I sha'n't be able to steer her. And,
+now, we must both cast off together or we shall be across the stream
+in two ticks. Just loosen the rope round the cleats and let go, and
+then start the engine. Let the loose end of the rope drag till we've
+time to pick it up. Are you ready? All right--cast off!"
+
+The little launch swept out into the current with a bound the instant
+she was released from her moorings, and almost before the engines
+began to revolve she was caught in the rapids that surged down from
+the newly-opened weir. She was only a light draught pleasure-boat,
+designed to navigate the placid surface of the summer Thames, and
+when she entered the curling broken water below the island she threw
+up her nose and plunged like a nervous mare.
+
+"Full steam ahead," shouted Thrale at the toy wheel. Eileen nodded,
+crouching over her little engine; the roar of the stream had drowned
+Thrale's voice, but she guessed his order.
+
+Her eyes were bright with excitement. She had no sense of fear. She
+was exhilarated by the sense of rapid movement. The launch, indeed,
+was travelling at a remarkable pace. In the narrow channel between the
+islands and the town, the river must have been running at nearly ten
+miles an hour, and the engines were probably adding another eight. In
+the wide spaces of the ocean eighteen miles an hour may appear a safe
+and controllable speed, but this little launch was running down hill,
+she could not be stopped at command, and the restricted course was
+beset with many and dangerous obstacles.
+
+Thrale, handling the little brass wheel forward, was conscious of
+uneasiness. The launch steered after a fashion, but he had little
+control of her. The trees on the banks appeared to be flying upstream
+at the pace of an express train, and ahead of him was the town bridge.
+
+He decided instantly that they could not pass under it, and put the
+wheel over, intending to shoot out of the stream into the calm of the
+flood water over the new open bank. But as the launch turned and came
+across, the current took her stern and turned her half round. For a
+moment her lee rail was under water, and she trembled and rocked on
+the verge of capsize. Then her engines drove her out of the stream and
+she righted herself again and began to cut through the almost still,
+shallow flood water.
+
+"Stop her!" roared Thrale.
+
+"I say, what's up?" replied Eileen, coolly, as she obeyed the order.
+
+"No room to pass under the bridge," said Thrale. "I suppose we'll
+have to navigate, as you call it. Go dead slow, and be prepared to
+stop her at a moment's notice."
+
+They spent over an hour in finding a passage round the approach to
+the bridge. They had laboriously to pole the launch through the tops
+of hedges, and in one place they were aground for ten minutes. But
+after they had returned to the stream once more they had a rapid and
+easy passage down to Bray. They shot the great arch of the Maidenhead
+railway bridge triumphantly. Eileen said it was "glorious."
+
+The weir at Bray proved even more difficult to negotiate than the
+one above, and by the time it was fully opened the dull December
+afternoon was closing in.
+
+They spent that night moored to two of the elms that ring the isolated
+little church in the meadows by Boveney.
+
+"At this rate," remarked Thrale as they settled themselves for the
+night, "it'll take us a week to get to Richmond. We've done two weirs
+out of thirteen, so far."
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Thrale's estimate proved excessive. They reached Richmond on the
+fourth day out from Marlow, having opened another nine weirs--the
+one at Old Windsor had been swept away, and the one below Richmond
+Bridge Thrale opened that afternoon.
+
+During those four days they had seen few signs of life. They had moved,
+keeping to the main stream for the most part, in the midst of a wide
+expanse of water; exploring a desolate and wasted country.
+
+Once they had been hailed by three women, who looked out at them from
+a house in Windsor, and shouted something they did not catch; and a
+woman had been standing on Staines Bridge as they careered intrepidly
+through the centre arch--they had no time even to distinguish her
+dress. But with these exceptions they might have come through the land
+of an extinct civilization, devoid of life; a land in which deserted
+houses and church towers stood up from the silver sheet of a vast lake,
+that was threaded by this one impetuous torrent of swelling river.
+
+Richmond, also, was deserted. The emigrants had passed on over the
+river or southwards to Petersham and so into Surrey.
+
+"Well!" said Eileen, wiping her oil-blackened hands on a bunch of
+cotton waste, "that job's done. We've fairly drawn the plug of the
+cistern now. And how are we going to get back?"
+
+"We'll find a couple of bicycles somewhere here," said Thrale.
+
+It had been a clear day, and there was a suggestion of frost in the
+air. The sun was setting very red and full behind the bare trees
+across the river. Save for the gurgle and hiss of the eddying flood,
+everything was very still. The little launch which had served them
+so well, and bore the marks of its great adventure in broken rails
+and bruised sides, was run aground by the side of the bridge. Thrale
+was standing in the road, but Eileen still sat by her engine.
+
+"I hate to leave the launch," she said, after a long pause.
+
+"We can come back and fetch her up when the flood goes down,"
+returned Thrale.
+
+"We've done pretty well, the three of us."
+
+"Yes, the three of us," he echoed.
+
+"It has been great fun," sighed Eileen.
+
+Thrale did not reply. He was thinking himself back into the past. He
+saw a street in Melbourne on a burning December evening, and the
+figure of a gaily-clad little brunette who spoke purest cockney
+and asked him why he looked so glum. "We ain't goin' to a funeral,"
+she had said. Yet afterwards he had believed that something had been
+buried that night. He had faced his own passion and the sight of it had
+disgusted him. He had seen the shadow of a demon who might master him,
+and he had grappled with it; he believed that he had slain and buried
+lust in Melbourne ten years ago. It had not risen up to confront him
+when the plague had put a world of women at his command. He had not
+been forced to fight, he was not tempted--surely the thing was dead
+and buried. Only once, on that warm September night, had he felt a
+sudden furious desire to take this girl into his arms and fly with
+her into the woods. The desire had come and gone, he was master of
+it, and in any case it bore no resemblance to the brutal thing he
+had faced in Melbourne.
+
+Nor, as he stood now by Richmond Bridge watching the vault of the
+sky deepen to an intenser blue, did the feeling that possessed him
+in any way resemble that old cruel passion which had flared up and
+died--surely it had died. He could not analyse his feeling for this
+brave, clear-eyed companion, who had faced with him all the dangers of
+the past four days without a sign of fear. She had made no advances
+to him, they were friends, she might have been some delightfully
+clean, wholesome boy. And then his thought was pierced and broken by
+a horrible suggestion.
+
+A picture of the hill to Handy Cross flashed before him, and he saw
+a little lonely figure creeping furtively away from Marlow. He drove
+his nails into his palms and suddenly cried out.
+
+"What's up?" said Eileen, turning round and looking up at him. "Have
+you forgotten anything?"
+
+He stepped into the boat and sat down beside her. "I want to know--I
+must know," he said.
+
+She looked at him and smiled. "All right, old man," she said. "Fire
+away."
+
+"I told you once that I was frightened of you," said Thrale. "I want
+to know if you have ever been frightened of yourself--or of me?"
+
+"I could never be frightened of you," she replied, and looked away
+towards the rising darkness of the shadows across the hurrying river,
+"and I haven't been afraid of myself--yet. I don't think----"
+
+"Wouldn't you be frightened of me if I picked you up and ran shouting
+into the woods?" he asked, fiercely.
+
+Her eyes met his without reserve. "Dear old man," she said. "I
+should love it. I'm so glad you understand. That was the one thing
+that prevented our being real friends. I've wanted so much to be
+frank and open with you. It's all these silly reserves that make love
+abominable. Now we can be two jolly, clean human beings who understand
+each other, can't we? And we shall be such ripping good friends always;
+quite open and honest with each other."
+
+He drew a deep, sighing breath and put his arms round her, drew
+her close to him and laid his face against hers. "I've been such an
+awful ass," he said. "I've always thought that love was unclean. I've
+been like that Jenkyn woman. I've been prurient and suspicious and
+evil-minded. I've been like the people who cover up statues. But
+there was an excuse for me--and for them, too. I didn't know, because
+there was no woman like you to teach me. All the women I've known have
+been secretive and sly. They've fouled love for me by making it seem
+a hidden, disreputable thing. Oh! we shall be ripping good friends,
+little Eileen--magnificent friends."
+
+"This is a jolly old boat, isn't it?" replied Eileen,
+inconsequently. "Don't smother me, old man. And, I say, do you
+think we'll be able to raid some soap from somewhere? Do look at
+my hands! You couldn't be friends with a chap who had hands like
+that!" ...
+
+"There's one thing I'd like to remark," said Eileen the next
+morning. There had been a frost in the night, and there was every
+promise of an easy ride back to Marlow.
+
+"Yes?" said Thrale, examining the deflated tyres of two bicycles they
+had chosen from a shop in the High Street.
+
+"We'd never have understood each other so well if we hadn't worked
+together on the same job," said Eileen.
+
+"Well, of course not," returned Thrale. His tone seemed to imply
+that she had stated a truth that must always have been obvious to
+sensible people.
+
+"That and there being no footle about marriage," concluded Eileen.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+A third factor that had contributed to the perfection of that complete
+understanding was not realized by either until they were descending
+the hill into Bisham.
+
+"I rather wish we weren't going back," said Eileen. "Let's stop a
+moment. I want to talk. We've never thought of what we're going to do."
+
+"Do?" said Jasper, as he dismounted. "Well, we've just got to make an
+announcement and that's the end of it. The Jenkyns lot have all gone."
+
+"It isn't the end, it's the beginning," replied Eileen. "Don't you
+see that we can't even explain?"
+
+"We sha'n't try."
+
+"We shall. We shall have to--in a way. It'll take years and years to
+do it. But the point is that they won't understand, now, none of them,
+not even Elsie Durham. We aren't free any longer."
+
+"We aren't alone," she added, bringing the hitherto unacknowledged
+factor into prominence.
+
+Thrale frowned and looked up into the thin brightness of the frosty
+sky. "Yes, I understand," he said. "It's public opinion that compels
+one to regard love as shameful and secret. Alone together, free from
+every suspicion, we hadn't a doubt. But now, we have to explain and we
+can't explain, and we are forced against our wills to wonder whether
+we can be right and all the rest of the world wrong."
+
+"We are right," put in Eileen.
+
+"Only we can't prove it to anyone but ourselves."
+
+"And we shouldn't want to, if we hadn't got to live with them."
+
+For a moment they looked at one another thoughtfully.
+
+"No, we mustn't run away," Jasper said, with determination, after
+a pause. "Look, the flood has begun to go down already. That's our
+work. There's other work for us to do yet."
+
+For a time they were silent, looking down on to Marlow and out over
+the valley.
+
+"We didn't go over that hill," said Eileen, at last, pointing to the
+distant rise of Handy Cross.
+
+"No," replied Jasper, and then, "we won't hide behind hills. Damn
+public opinion."
+
+"Oh, yes, damn public opinion," agreed Eileen. "But we won't stay in
+Marlow always."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XX--THE TERRORS OF SPRING
+
+
+1
+
+The frost gave way on the third night, and for ten days there
+was a spell of mild weather with some rain. Carrie Oliver began to
+contemplate the possibility of getting forward with such ploughing as
+still remained to be done. She proposed to have an increased acreage
+of arable that year, and less pasture, less hay and less turnips; the
+arable was to include potatoes, beans and peas. For the community was
+rapidly tending towards vegetarianism. They had no butcher in Marlow,
+and the women revolted against the slaughter of cattle and sheep. They
+were hesitating and clumsy in the attack, and so inflicted wounds which
+were not fatal, they turned sick at the sight of the brute's agonies
+and at the appalling spurts of blood, and finally when the animal was
+at last mercifully dead, they bungled the dissection of the carcase.
+
+"I'd sooner starve than do it again," was the invariable decision
+pronounced by any new volunteer who had heroically offered to provide
+Marlow with meat, and even Carrie Oliver admitted that it was a
+"beastly dirty job."
+
+"Only," she added "we'll 'ave to go on breeding calves or we won't
+get no milk, an' what are we goin' to do with the bullocks?"
+
+The committee wondered if some form of barter might not be
+introduced. Wycombe and Henley might have something to offer
+in exchange, or, failing that, might be urged to accept these
+superfluous beasts as a present, returning the skins and horns,
+for which there might be a use in the near future. Sheep must be
+reared for their wool--the clothes of the community would not last
+for ever. The subjects of tanning and weaving were being studied
+by certain members of the now enlarged committee. Neither operation
+presented insuperable difficulties.
+
+Now that a certain supply of food was provided for, the community
+was already turning its energy towards the industries. Many schemes
+were being planned and debated. Marlow was well situated, with
+such abundance of water and wood at its gates; and the question of
+attracting desirable immigrants had been raised.
+
+Time was afforded for the consideration of all these schemes by the
+great frost which began on New Year's Day and lasted until the end
+of February.
+
+The frost came first from the south-west, and for three days the
+country was changed into a fairy world built of sharp white crystals,
+a world that was seen dimly through a magic veil of mist. Then followed
+a black and bitter wind from the north-east, that bought a thin and
+driving snow, and when the wind fell the country was locked in an
+iron shell that was not relaxed for six weeks.
+
+The flood had nearly subsided before the first frost came, but the
+river was still high, and presently the water came down laden with
+ice-floes, that jammed against the weir and the mill, and formed a
+sheet of ice that gradually crept back towards the bridge.
+
+All field and mill work was stopped, and Thrale and Eileen spent two
+or three days a week making excursions to London, bringing back coal
+and other forms of riches.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+Their fear of being misunderstood had proved to have been an
+exaggeration. In that exalted mood of theirs, which had risen to such
+heights, after four days of adventurous solitude, they had come a
+little too near the stars. In finding themselves they had lost touch
+with the world.
+
+Elsie Durham had smiled at their defensive announcement.
+
+"My dear children," she had said, "don't be touchy about it. I am so
+glad; and, of course, I've known for months that you would come to an
+understanding. And there's no need to tell me that your--agreement,
+did you say?--was entirely different to any other. I know. But be
+human about it. Don't apologize for it by being superior to all of us."
+
+"Oh, you're a dear," Eileen had said enthusiastically.
+
+Nevertheless there were many women still left in Marlow who were less
+spiritually-minded than Elsie Durham. Comparative idleness induced
+gossip, and there was more than one party in the community which
+regarded Thrale and Eileen with disfavour.
+
+The old ruts had been worn too deep to be smoothed out in a few
+months, however heavy had been the great roller of necessity. And,
+strangely enough, the life of Sam Evans at High Wycombe was regarded
+by many of the more bigoted with less displeasure than this perfectly
+wholesome and desirable union of Thrale and Eileen. The prostitution
+of Sam Evans was a new thing outside the experience of these women,
+and it was accepted as an outcome of the new conditions. The other
+affair was familiar in its associations, and was condemned on both
+the old and the new precedents.
+
+The mass of the women were quite unable to think out a new morality
+for themselves....
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+Relief from all these foolish criticisms, gossipings and false emotions
+came when the frost broke. A warm rain in the first week of March
+released the soil from its bonds, and as the retarded spring began
+to move impatiently into life there was a great call for labour.
+
+But as the year ripened the temperament of the community exhibited
+a new and alarming symptom.
+
+There was a terrible spirit of depression abroad.
+
+All Nature was warm with the movement of reproduction. Nature was
+growing and propagating, thrusting out and taking a larger hold upon
+life. Nature was coming to the fight with new reserves and allies,
+a fruitful and increasing army, eager for the struggle against this
+little decreasing band of sterile humanity. Nature was prolific and
+these women were barren.
+
+And in some inexplicable way the consciousness of futility had spread
+through the Marlow community. Some posthumous children had been
+born since the plague, a few young girls--Millie among them--were
+pregnant, but death had been busier than life during the winter,
+and from outside came stray reports that in other communities death
+had been busier still.
+
+What hope was there for that generation? They were too few to cope with
+their task. Grass was growing in their streets, their houses were in
+need of repair, and after their day's labour in the fields to provide
+themselves with food, they had neither strength nor inclination to
+take up the battle anew.
+
+Moreover, the spice was gone from life. Some inherent need for
+emulation was gone. They were ceasing to take any pride in their
+persons, and in their clothes. They wore knickerbockers or trousers for
+convenience in working, and suffered a strange loss of self-esteem in
+consequence. Many of the younger women still returned in the evenings
+to what skirts and ribbons they still possessed, but the habit was
+declining. The uselessness of it was growing even more apparent. There
+were no sex distinctions or class distinctions among them. Of what
+account was it that one girl was prettier or better dressed than
+her neighbour? What mattered was whether she was a stronger or more
+intelligent worker.
+
+Above all, the woman's need for love and admiration could find no
+outlet. They realized that they were becoming hardened and unsexed,
+and revolted against the coming change. Something within them rose
+up and cried for expression, and when it was thwarted it turned to
+a thing of evil....
+
+The mind of the community was becoming distorted. Hysteria, sexual
+perversions, and various forms of religious mania were rife. Young
+women broke into futile and unsatisfying orgies of foolish dancing,
+and middle-aged women became absorbed in the contemplation of a male
+and human god.
+
+Even the committee did not escape the influence of the growing
+despair. They looked forward to a future when such machines and
+tools as they possessed would be worn out, and they had no means of
+replacing them.
+
+Thrale had reported that the line to London was becoming unsafe for
+the passage of his trucks. Rust was at work upon the rails; rain and
+floods had weakened embankments; young growths were springing up
+on the permanent way, and it was hopeless to contemplate any work
+of repair. In the old days an army of men had been needed for that
+work alone. The country roads needed re-metalling, and the houses
+restoration; they had not the means or the labour to undertake half
+the necessary work. There were breaches in the river bank and a large
+and apparently permanent lake was forming in the low meadows towards
+Bourne End. All about them Nature was so intensely busy in her own
+regardless way, and they were helpless, now, to oppose her.
+
+The age of iron and machinery was falling into a swift decline. All
+that the community could look for in the future was a return to
+primitive conditions and the fight for bare life. Every year their
+tools and machines would grow less efficient, every year Nature would
+return more powerful to the attack. In ten years they would be fighting
+her with rude and tedious weapons of wood, grinding their scanty corn
+between two stones, and living from hand to mouth. In the bountiful
+South such a life might have its rewards, but how could they endure
+it in this uncertain and cruel North?
+
+So while the sun rose higher in the sky and the earth was wonderfully
+reclothed, the women of Marlow fell deeper and deeper into the horrors
+of mental depression. What had they to work for, and to hope for,
+save this miserable possession of unsatisfied life?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XXI--SMOKE
+
+
+1
+
+One bright morning, at the end of April, Jasper and Eileen sat on
+the cliffs at the Land's End and talked of the future.
+
+Ten days before, they had left Marlow on bicycles to make
+exploration. They intended to return; they had explained they would be
+away for a month at the outside, but in view of the growing depression
+and the loss of spirit shown by the community, they considered it
+necessary to go out and discover what conditions obtained in other
+parts of England. It might be, they urged, that the plague had been
+less deadly in other districts.
+
+"We should not know, here," Jasper had argued. "There may be many men
+left elsewhere; but they might not have been able to communicate with
+us yet. Their attention, like ours, would have been concentrated upon
+local conditions for a time. Eileen and I will find out. Perhaps we
+may be able to open up communication again. In any case we'll come
+back within a month and report."
+
+His natural instinct had taken him into the West Country.
+
+They had left Elsie Durham slightly more cheerful. They had given
+her a gleam of hope, given her something, at last, to which she might
+look forward.
+
+Their own hopes had quickly faded and died as they rode on into the
+West. By the time they reached Plymouth they were thinking of Marlow
+as a place peculiarly favoured by Providence.
+
+At first they had passed through communities conducted on lines
+resembling their own, greater or smaller groups of women working
+more or less in co-operation. In many of these communities a single
+man was living--in some cases two men--who viewed their duty towards
+society in the same light as the Adonis of Wycombe.
+
+But the unit grew steadily smaller as they progressed. It was no
+longer the town or village community but the farm which was the
+centre of activity, and the occupied farms grew more scattered. For
+it appeared that here in the West the plague had attacked women as
+well as men. Another curious fact they learned was that the men had
+taken longer to die. One woman spoke of having nursed her husband
+for two months before the paralysis proved fatal....
+
+And if the depression in Marlow had been great, the travellers
+soon learned that elsewhere it was greater still. The women worked
+mechanically, drudgingly. They spoke in low, melancholy voices when
+they were questioned, and save for a faint accession of interest in
+Thrale's presence there, and the signs of some feeble flicker of hope
+as they asked of conditions further north and east, they appeared to
+have no thought beyond the instant necessity of sustaining the life to
+which they clung so feebly. Thrale and Eileen rode on into Cornwall,
+not because they still hoped, but because they both felt a vivid
+desire to reach the Land's End and gaze out over the Atlantic. They
+wanted to leave this desolate land behind them for a few hours,
+and rest their minds in the presence of the unchangeable sea.
+
+"Let us go on and forget for a few days," Eileen had said, and so
+they had at last reached the furthest limit of land.
+
+Cornwall had proved to be a land of the dead. Save for a few women
+in the neighbourhood of St Austell, they had not seen a living human
+being in the whole county.
+
+And so, on this clear April morning, they sat upon this ultimate
+cliff and talked of the future.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+The water below them was delicately flecked with white. No long
+rollers were riding in from the Atlantic, but the fresh April breeze
+was flicking the crests of little waves into foam; and, above, an
+ever-renewed drift of scattered white clouds threw coursing shadows
+upon the blues and purples of the curdling sea.
+
+Eileen and Thrale had walked southwards as far as Carn Voel to avoid
+the obstruction to vision of the Longships, and on three sides they
+looked out to an unbroken horizon of water, which on that bright
+morning was clearly differentiated from the impending sky.
+
+"One might forget--here," remarked Eileen, after a long silence.
+
+"If it were better to forget," said Jasper.
+
+Eileen drew up her knees until she could rest her chin upon them,
+embracing them with her arms. "What can one do?" she asked. "What
+good is it all, if there is no future?"
+
+"Just to live out one's own life in the best way," was the answer.
+
+She frowned over that for a time. "Do you really believe, dear,"
+she said, when she had considered Jasper's suggestion, "do you really
+believe that this is the end of humanity?"
+
+"I don't know," he said. "I have changed my mind half a dozen times
+in the last few days. There may be a race untouched somewhere--in
+the archipelagos of the South Seas, perhaps--which will gradually
+develop and repeople the world again."
+
+"Or in Australia, or New Zealand," she prompted.
+
+"We should have heard from them before this," he said. "We must have
+heard before this."
+
+"And is there no hope for us, here in England, in Marlow? There are a
+few boys--infants born since the plague, you know--and there will be
+more children in the future--Evans's children and those others. There
+were two men in some places, you remember."
+
+"Can they ever grow up? It seems to me that the women are
+dying. They've nothing to live for. It's only a year since the
+plague first came, and look at them now. What will they be like in
+five years' time? They'll die of hopelessness, or commit suicide,
+or simply starve from the lack of any purpose in living, because work
+isn't worth while. And the others, the mothers, that have some object
+in living, will fall back into savagery. They'll be so occupied in the
+necessity for work, for forcing a living out of the ground somehow,
+that they'll have neither time nor wish to teach their children. I
+don't know, but it seems to me that we are faced with decrease,
+gradually leading on to extinction.
+
+"And I doubt," he continued, after a little hesitation, "I doubt
+whether these sons of the new conditions will have much vitality. They
+are the children of lust on the father's side, worse still, of tired
+lust. It does make a difference. Perhaps if we were a young and
+vigorous people like the old Jews the seed would be strong enough
+to override any inherent weakness. But we are not, we are an old
+civilization. Before the plague, we had come to a consideration of
+eugenics. It had been forced upon us. A vital and growing people
+does not spend its time on such a question as that. Eugenics was a
+proposition that grew out of the necessity of the time. It was easy
+enough to deny decadence, and to prove our fitness by apparently sound
+argument, but, to me, it always seemed that this growing demand for
+some form of artificial selection of parents, by restriction of the
+palpably unfit, afforded the surest evidence. Things like that are
+only produced if there is a need for them. Eugenics was a symptom."
+
+Eileen sighed. "And what about us?" she asked.
+
+"We're happy," replied Jasper. "Probably the happiest people in
+the world at the present time. And we must try to give some of our
+happiness to others. We must go back to Marlow and work for the
+community. And I think we'll try in our limited way to do something
+for the younger generation. Perhaps, it might be possible for us
+to go north and try our hands at making steel, there are probably
+women there who would help us. But I don't think it's worth while,
+unless to preserve our knowledge and hand it on. We can only lessen
+the difficulty in one little district for a time. As the pressure
+of necessity grows, as it must grow, we shall be forced to abandon
+manufacture. The need for food will outrun us. We are too few, and it
+will be simpler and perhaps quicker to plough with a wooden plough
+than to wait for our faulty and slowly-produced steel. The adult
+population, small as it is, must decrease, and I'm afraid it will
+decrease more rapidly than we anticipate, owing to these causes of
+depression and lack of stimulus...."
+
+"Oh, well," said Eileen at last, getting to her feet, "we're happy,
+as you say, and our job seems pretty plain before us. To-morrow, I
+suppose, we ought to be getting back, though I hate taking the news
+to Elsie."
+
+Jasper came and stood beside her, and put his arm across her
+shoulders. "We, at any rate, must keep our spirits up," he said. "That,
+before everything."
+
+"I'm all right," said Eileen, brightly. "I've got you and, for the
+moment, the sea. We'll come back here sometimes, if the roads don't
+get too bad."
+
+"Yes, if the roads don't get too bad."
+
+"And, already, the briars are creeping across the road from hedge to
+hedge. The forest is coming back."
+
+"The forest and the wild."
+
+He drew her a little closer and they stood looking out towards the
+horizon.
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+In the south-west the clear line had been wiped out and what looked
+like mist was sweeping towards them.
+
+"There's a shower coming," said Thrale.
+
+They stood quietly and let the sharp spatter of rain beat in their
+faces, and then the shadow of the storm moved on and the horizon line
+was clear again.
+
+"That's a queer cloud out there," said Eileen. "Is it another shower?"
+
+She pointed to a tiny blur on the far rim of the sea.
+
+"It is queer," said Thrale. "It's so precisely like the smoke of
+a steamer."
+
+For a few seconds they gazed in intent silence.
+
+"It's getting bigger," broke out Eileen, suddenly excited. "What is
+it, Jasper?"
+
+"I don't know. I can't make it out," he said. He moved away from her
+and shaded his eyes from the glare of the momentarily cloudless sky.
+
+"I can't make it out," he repeated mechanically.
+
+The blur was widening into a grey-black smudge, into a vaguely diffused
+smear with a darker centre.
+
+"With the wind blowing towards us----" said Jasper, and broke off.
+
+"Yes, yes--what?" asked Eileen, and then as he did not answer, she
+gripped his arm and repeated importunately. "What? Jasper, what? With
+the wind blowing towards us?"
+
+"By God it is," he said in a low voice, disregarding her question. "By
+God it is," he repeated, and then a third time, "It is."
+
+"Oh! what, what? Do answer me! I can't see!" pleaded Eileen.
+
+But still he did not answer. He stood like a rock and stared without
+wavering at the growing cloud on the horizon.
+
+And then the cloud began to grow more diffused, to die away, and
+Eileen could see tiny indentations on the sky line, indentations
+which pushed up and presently revealed themselves as attached to a
+little black speck in the remotest distance.
+
+"Oh, Jasper!" she cried, and her eyes filled with inexplicable tears,
+so that she could see only a misty field of troubled blue.
+
+"It's a liner," said Jasper at last, turning to her. He looked puzzled
+and his eyes stared through her. "And its coming from America. Do
+you suppose the American women----"
+
+The boat was revealed now. They could see the shape of her, the high
+deck, the two tall funnels and the three masts. She was passing across,
+fifteen miles or so to the south of them, making up Channel.
+
+For a moment they felt like shipwrecked sailors on a lonely island,
+who see a vessel pass beyond hail.
+
+"Oh, Jasper, what can it be?" Eileen besought him.
+
+"It's a White Star boat," he said, and he still spoke as if his mind
+was far away. "Is it possible, is it anyway possible that America
+has survived? Is it possible that there is traffic between America
+and Europe, and that they pass us by for fear of infection? How do
+we know that vessels haven't been passing up the Channel for months
+past? Why should we think that this is the first?"
+
+"It is the first," proclaimed Eileen. "I feel it. Oh, let us hurry. Let
+us ride and ride as fast as we can to Plymouth or Southampton. I
+know they'll be coming to Plymouth or Southampton. Men, Jasper,
+men! No women would dare to run a boat at that pace. See how fast
+she is going. Oh hurry, hurry!"
+
+He caught fire then. They ran back to find their bicycles. They ran,
+and presently they rode in silence, with fierce intensity. They rode
+at first as if they had but ten miles to go, and the lives of all
+the women in England depended upon their speed.
+
+And though they slackened after the first few miles they still rode
+on with such eager determination that they reached Plymouth at sunset.
+
+But they could see no sign of the liner in the waters about
+Plymouth. They saw only the deserted hulks of a hundred vessels that
+had ridden there untouched for twelve months, futile battleships and
+destroyers among them; great, venomous, useless things that had become
+void of all meaning in the struggle of humanity.
+
+"It's not here. Let's go on!" said Eileen.
+
+Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "It's well over a hundred miles to
+Southampton," he said. "Nearer a hundred and fifty, I should say."
+
+"But we must go on, we must," urged Eileen.
+
+It was evident that Jasper, too, felt a compelling desire to go on. He
+stood still with a look of intense concentration on his face. Eileen
+had seen him look thus, when he had been momentarily frustrated by
+some problem of mill machinery. She waited expectant for the solution
+she was sure would presently emerge.
+
+"A motor," he said, speaking in short disconnected sentences. "If
+we can find paraffin and petrol and candles--light of some sort. The
+engines wouldn't rust, but they'd clog. It must be paraffin. We daren't
+clean with petrol by artificial light. It's possible. Let's try...."
+
+That night Jasper did not sleep, but Eileen, as she sat beside him in
+the softly moving motor, soon lost consciousness of the dim streak
+of road and black river of hedge. The moon, in her third quarter,
+had risen before midnight, and when they started was riding deep in
+the sky, half veiled by a vast wing of dappled cirrus. And that, too,
+merged into her dream. She thought she was driving out into the open
+sea in a ship which became miraculously winged and soared up towards
+an ever-approaching but unincreasing moon. She woke with a start to
+find that it was broad daylight and that a thin misty rain was coming
+up from the sea.
+
+"The Solent," said Jasper, pointing to a distant gleam below them.
+
+On the common they stopped and stood up in the car, watching a distant
+smear of smoke that stained the thin mist.
+
+"She'll be coming up Southampton Water with the lead going," said
+Jasper, trying desperately to be calm.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+
+THE GREAT PLAN
+
+On the evening of that day Jasper and Eileen dined on board the
+"Bombastic," that latest development of the old trans-Atlantic
+competition in shipbuilding, the boat that had made her first journey
+to New York carrying fugitives from England in the days when the
+threat of the plague grew hourly more imminent. The "Bombastic"
+had not justified her name, she had fled from Southampton without
+ceremony, and she had not returned for over a year. The "Apologetic"
+would have been more apt.
+
+And on this evening of her return, the demeanour of that crowd of
+quiet serious men in the huge over-decorated saloon, gave no hint of
+bombast. As they listened intently to the rapid story of their two
+travel-stained and somewhat ragged guests, there was no hint of brag
+or boast among them all. They came not as conquerors but as friends.
+
+"But oh, it's your story we want to hear," broke in Eileen at last.
+
+She had been strangely quiet so far, she had become suddenly conscious
+of the defects of her dress. The old associations were swarming about
+her. Eighteen months ago she had sat in just such another saloon
+as this, courted and flattered, the daughter of a great aristocrat,
+a creature on a remote and gorgeous pedestal. Now it seemed that she
+was neither greater nor less than any man present. She was one of
+them, not set apart. She looked down at her hands, still oil-stained
+by her struggles with the motor on the previous night.
+
+Jasper had been more patient. He was not less eager than Eileen to
+hear the explanation of this wonderful visit, of the resurrection
+of these twelve hundred men from a dead and silent world. But he had
+restrained his impatience and told his story first. He knew that so
+he would be more quickly satisfied. He would be able to listen to
+men who were not tense with an anxiety to ask questions.
+
+They were sitting now at one end of a long table in the saloon, after
+eating a meal that had provided once more the longed-for satisfaction
+of salt.
+
+"Well," said an American at the head of the table, turning to Eileen
+in answer to her protest, "we've maybe been selfish in putting all
+these questions but we're looking ahead. We aren't forgetting that
+we've a big work to do."
+
+"But how did you get here?" asked Eileen impetuously. "How is it that
+you're all alive?"
+
+"Well, as to that, you'd better ask the doctor, there," replied the
+American. "He's a countryman of yours, and he's been in the thick of
+it and knows the life story of that plague microbe like the history
+of England."
+
+The doctor, a bearded, grave-eyed man, looked up and smiled.
+
+"Hardly that," he said. "We shall never know now, I hope, the history
+of the plague organism. It was never studied under the microscope--we
+were too busy--and now we trust that the bacillus--if it were a
+bacillus--has encompassed its own destruction. What interests you,
+however, is that this sudden, miraculously sudden, development of its
+deadly power as regards humanity ran through a determinable cycle
+of evolution. From what you've told us, already, it seems clear, I
+think, that even in England the bacillus was losing what I may call
+its effectiveness. The men in the West Country you've described,
+probably died from starvation and neglect."
+
+He paused for a moment and then continued: "Now in America both men
+and women were attacked. There was certainly a greater percentage of
+male cases, but I suppose something like half the female population
+was infected as well. As far as one can judge the bacillus was simply
+losing power. But for all we know it may have developed, it may be
+entering on a new stage of evolution, and in some apparently haphazard
+way now be beneficial to man instead of deadly. Such things may be
+happening every day below the reach of our knowledge. The little
+world is hidden from us, even as the great world is hidden....
+
+"However," he went on more briskly, "the thing we do know is that the
+symptoms of the new plague in America differed materially from our
+expectation of them, gathered from the accounts that had reached us
+from the Old World. In England the paralysis lasted, I believe, some
+forty-eight hours and ended in death. In America the paralysis rarely
+ended fatally, but it lasted in some cases for six months. 'Paresis,'
+we called it. The patient was perfectly conscious but practically
+unable to move hand or foot."
+
+"That paresis gave us time to do some very clear and consecutive
+thinking, I may remark," put in an American. "I had four months to
+study my ideas of life."
+
+The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "America is no less changed than
+England," he said, "but it is another change. Well, you understand
+that we did not all get the plague over there; the thing was less
+deadly in attack and about ten per cent of us were left to look after
+the patients."
+
+"And find food," interpolated one of the listeners.
+
+"That was a time we won't ever forget," agreed another.
+
+"Sure thing," said some one, and a general murmur of assent ran round
+the table.
+
+"And all the machines were idle, of course," continued the doctor,
+"and even when the tide of recovery began to flow we had to turn our
+attention first to the getting of food."
+
+"If it hadn't been for that we'd have been here before this," said a
+young man. "I feel we owe England and Europe some kind of an apology,
+but we just had to get busy on food growing right away. We couldn't
+spare a ship's crew till three weeks ago."
+
+"And the others are hard at it over there still," put in another. "This
+is just a pioneer party."
+
+"It's all so comprehensible now," said Thrale after a silence, "but
+we had no idea, we never thought there could be any one living in
+America. We thought that somehow we must have heard. One forgets...."
+
+"We tried to get on to you," said one of the party, "by cable and
+wireless. We kept on tapping away for months, but we got no reply. We
+thought you must be all dead too."
+
+"Well, we guessed you were having a real bad time anyway," amended
+another. "You see we knew the way that plague had taken Europe but
+we kept hoping and trying to get on to you all the same."
+
+
+
+"We've got a message for Elsie, after all," Eileen said to Jasper
+the next day. "There's hope for us yet."
+
+"Yes, there's hope," said Jasper.
+
+They had been up at the town railway station assisting a party of
+Americans to investigate the condition of the rolling stock and the
+permanent way. Neither could be pronounced satisfactory. A few women
+had come in from the neighbouring country that morning attracted by
+the sight of an inexplicable pillar of smoke, and their report of
+local conditions had been equally uninspiring. They had spoken of
+famine and failure, but their faces had been lit by a new brightness
+at the sight of this miraculous little army of men. There had been
+hope in the faces and bearing of these toil-worn women, faith in the
+promise of support and succour.
+
+Now Jasper and Eileen stood looking down towards the harbour. The tide
+was creeping in to efface the repulsive ugliness of the mud flats,
+and the sluggish water rippled faintly against the foul sloping sides
+of small boats that had lain anchored there for more than twelve
+months. Behind them, across the line, was a row of unsightly houses,
+hung with weather-slating.
+
+"Oh, there's hope," repeated Jasper.
+
+He was thinking of all the work that lay before them, and yet he
+had faith that a new and better civilization would arise. "We must
+get things going again," had been the Americans' phrase, and they
+apparently faced the future without a qualm.
+
+But Jasper's mind was perplexed with the detail of the mechanical
+work that must be faced, detail so intricate and confused that he
+was bewildered by its complexity. It appeared to him that the crux
+of the whole problem lay in the North, in the counties of coal and
+iron. Coal and steel were the first essentials, he thought. They must
+begin there in however small a way, and America must send out more
+men, continually more men. To-morrow he was going back in the motor,
+with two experts, to the cable hut in Sennen Cove. They were going to
+test the cable and hoped to re-establish communication with America,
+and then more ships would come and more men, ever more men.
+
+And, even so, they could do little at first, and beyond lay the whole
+of Europe and still further the whole of Asia. Were women there, also,
+maintaining the terrible fight against Nature in the awful struggle to
+find food? Steel and coal we must have, was the burden of his thought,
+and in his imagination he pictured the waking of factories and mines,
+he had a vision of little engines running....
+
+Eileen's thought had flown ahead. With one magnificent leap she had
+passed from the contemplation of present necessity to a realization
+of the dim future. And her thought found words.
+
+"Hope, lots of hope," she said. "Hope of a new clean world. We've
+got such a chance to begin all over again, and do it better. No
+more sweated labour, Jasper, and no more living on the work of
+others. We've just got to pull together and work for each other. If
+we can get enough food, and we can now with all these dear men come
+to help us, we can do such wonderful things afterwards. There'll be
+lots of children growing up in a few years' time, and we shall teach
+them the things we've had to learn by the force of necessity. They'll
+begin so differently because, although we have had the experience
+of all history, we sha'n't be bound by all the foolish conventions
+that grew out of it. Such a silly incongruous growth, wasn't it? But
+I suppose it couldn't be helped in one way. We were so penned in. We
+all had our rotten little places to keep and that took all our time. We
+never had a chance to consider the broad issues, the real fundamental
+things. But you've got to consider the fundamental things when you
+start clean away from a new beginning.
+
+"And, oh! Jasper, surely we have all learnt certain things to avoid,
+haven't we? I mean class distinctions and sex distinctions, and things
+like that. Women won't trouble any more about titles and all that rot
+now, and anyway there aren't any left to trouble about. And social
+conditions will be so different now that there won't be any more
+marriage. Marriage was a man's prerogative; he wanted to keep his
+woman to himself, and keep his property for his children. It never
+really protected women, and anyway they were capable of protecting
+themselves if they'd been given a chance. I know the children were a
+difficulty in the old days, but they won't be now. It'll be everybody's
+business to see that the children get looked after, and a woman won't
+starve just because she hasn't got a husband to keep her. She'll get
+better wages than that. The women who have children will be the most
+precious things we shall have. They'll live healthier lives, too, and
+they won't be incapacitated as they used to be. They'll work and be
+strong instead of spending all their time either in doing nothing or
+pottering about the house in an eternal round of cleaning the stupid,
+ugly things we used. We shall have to have all new houses, Jasper,
+when we get things going again.
+
+"Oh, it will be splendid," she broke out in a great burst of
+enthusiasm, "and we begin to-day. We have begun."
+
+Jasper nodded. "It's a wonderful opportunity," he said.
+
+"Wonderful, wonderful," repeated Eileen. "We all, men and women, start
+level again. Equality, Jasper, It's a beautiful word--Equality. Of
+course I know how unequal we all are from one point of view, and
+there must come a sort of aristocracy of intellect and efficiency. But
+underneath there will be a true equality for all that, and we shall
+see to it that no man or woman can abuse their powers by making
+slaves again. What a world of slaves it used to be, and we weren't
+even slaves to intellect and efficiency, only to wealth and to money,
+and to some foolish idea of position and power."
+
+"Well, we've got our work to do, here and now," said Jasper after a
+long pause.
+
+"Work? Of course, and I love it," returned Eileen, "and while we work
+we've got to think and teach."
+
+The tide was coming in steadily, and near them an old boat that had
+been lying on the mud was now afloat once more and had taken on some
+of its old dignity.
+
+Eileen pointed to it. "We're afloat again," she remarked.
+
+"Embarked on the greatest plan the world has ever known," added Jasper.
+
+"Oh, it's all part of the great plan," concluded Eileen.
+
+
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Goslings, by J. D. Beresford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Goslings
+
+Author: J. D. Beresford
+
+Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53611]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSLINGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project
+Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously
+made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<div class="front">
+<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e100width"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=
+"Original Front Cover." width="462" height="720"></div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e106width"><img src="images/titlepage.png" alt=
+"Original Title Page." width="410" height="720"></div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 frenchtitle"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first xd23e112">Goslings</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ads" class="div1 ads"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main xd23e116">New 6s. Novels</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"><b>THE AMBASSADRESS. By William
+Wriothesley.</b></p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE WEAKER VESSEL. By E. F. Benson</b>, author of
+&ldquo;Account Rendered,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>&ldquo;WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO...?&rdquo; By Elizabeth
+Robins</b>, author of &ldquo;The Magnetic North,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>A RUNAWAY RING. By Mrs Henry Dudeney</b>, author of
+&ldquo;The Orchard Thief,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>LU OF THE RANGES. By Eleanor Mordaunt</b>, author of
+&ldquo;The Cost of It,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE STORY OF STEPHEN COMPTON. By J. E. Patterson</b>,
+author of &ldquo;Tillers of the Soil,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE FRONTIERS OF THE HEART. By Victor
+Margueritte.</b></p>
+<p class="par"><b>JOHN CHRISTOPHER (IV). Journey&rsquo;s End. By Romain
+Rolland</b>, translated by Gilbert Cannan.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>THE HIPPODROME. By Rachel Hayward.</b></p>
+<p class="par"><b>GUTTER BABIES. By Dorothea Slade</b>, illustrated by
+Lady Stanley.</p>
+<p class="par"><b>MINNA. By Karl Gjellerup</b>, author of &ldquo;The
+Pilgrim Kamanita.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par"><b>GROWING PAINS. By Ivy Low.</b></p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="titlePage">
+<div class="docTitle">
+<div class="mainTitle">Goslings</div>
+</div>
+<div class="byline">By<br>
+<span class="docAuthor">J. D. Beresford</span><br>
+Author of &ldquo;The Hampdenshire Wonder,&rdquo; etc.</div>
+<div class="docImprint">London<br>
+William Heinemann<br>
+<span class="docDate">1913</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 copyright"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first xd23e193"><i>Copyright</i>, 1913] <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb1" href="#pb1" name="pb1">1</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="body">
+<div id="bk1" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="label">BOOK I</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE NEW PLAGUE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb3" href="#pb3" name=
+"pb3">3</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="ch1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">I&mdash;</span>THE GOSLING
+FAMILY</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the gels gone to?&rdquo;
+asked Mr Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Up the &rsquo;Igh Road to look at the shops.
+I&rsquo;m expectin&rsquo; &rsquo;em in every minute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ho!&rdquo; said Gosling. He leaned against the
+dresser; the kitchen was hot with steam, and he fumbled for a
+handkerchief in the pocket of his black tail coat. He produced first a
+large red bandanna with which he blew his nose vigorously. &ldquo;Snuff
+&rsquo;andkerchief; brought it &rsquo;ome to be washed,&rdquo; he
+remarked, and then brought out a white handkerchief which he used to
+wipe his forehead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dirty &rsquo;abit
+snuff-taking,&rdquo; commented Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you can&rsquo;t smoke in the orfice,&rdquo;
+replied Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Must be doin&rsquo; somethin&rsquo;, I
+suppose?&rdquo; said his wife.</p>
+<p class="par">When the recital of this formula had been
+accomplished&mdash;it was hallowed by a precise repetition every week,
+and had been established now for a quarter of a century&mdash;Gosling
+returned to the subject in hand. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb4"
+href="#pb4" name="pb4">4</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They does a lot of lookin&rsquo; at shops,&rdquo;
+he said, &ldquo;and then nothin&rsquo; &rsquo;ll satisfy &rsquo;em but
+buyin&rsquo; somethin&rsquo;. Why don&rsquo;t they keep away from
+&rsquo;em?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well; sales begin nex&rsquo; week,&rdquo;
+replied Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;An&rsquo; that&rsquo;s a thing we
+&rsquo;ave to consider in our circumstances.&rdquo; She left the
+vicinity of the gas-stove, and bustled over to the dresser.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, get out of my way, do,&rdquo; she went on,
+&ldquo;an&rsquo; go up and change your coat. Dinner&rsquo;ll be ready
+in two ticks. I shan&rsquo;t wait for the gells if they ain&rsquo;t
+in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Them sales is a fraud,&rdquo; remarked Gosling,
+but he did not stop to argue the point.</p>
+<p class="par">He went upstairs and changed his respectable
+&ldquo;morning&rdquo; coat for a short alpaca jacket, slipped his cuffs
+over his hands, put one inside the other and placed them in their
+customary position on the chest of drawers, changed his boots for
+carpet slippers, wetted his hair brush and carefully plastered down a
+long wisp of grey hair over the top of his bald head, and then went
+into the bathroom to wash his hands.</p>
+<p class="par">There had been a time in George Gosling&rsquo;s history
+when he had not been so regardful of the decencies of life. But he was
+a man of position now, and his two daughters insisted on these
+ceremonial observances.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was one of the world&rsquo;s successes. He had
+started life as a National School boy, and had worked his way up
+through all the grades&mdash;messenger, office-boy, junior clerk,
+clerk, senior clerk, head clerk, accountant&mdash;to his present
+responsible position as head of the counting-house, with a salary of
+&pound;26 a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb5" href="#pb5" name=
+"pb5">5</a>]</span>month. He rented a house in Wisteria Grove,
+Brondesbury, at &pound;45 a year; he was a sidesman of the church of St
+John the Evangelist, Kilburn; a member of Local Committees; and in
+moments of expansion he talked of seeking election to the District
+Council. A solid, sober, thoroughly respectable man, Gosling, about
+whom there had never been a hint of scandal; grown stout now, and
+bald&mdash;save for a little hair over the ears, and that one
+persistent grey tress which he used as a sort of insufficient wrapping
+for his naked skull.</p>
+<p class="par">Such was the George Gosling seen by his wife, daughters,
+neighbours, and heads of the firm of wholesale provision merchants for
+whom he had worked for forty-one years in Barbican, E.C. Yet there was
+another man, hardly realized by George Gosling himself, and apparently
+so little representative that even his particular cronies in the office
+would never have entered any description of him, if they had been
+obliged to give a detailed account of their colleague&rsquo;s
+character.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, if you heard Gosling laughing uproariously
+at some story produced by one of those cronies, you might be quite
+certain that it was a story he would not repeat before his daughters,
+though he might tell his wife&mdash;if it were not too broad. If you
+watched Gosling in the street, you would see that he took a strange,
+unaccountable interest in the feet and ankles of young women. And if
+many of Gosling&rsquo;s thoughts and desires had been translated into
+action, the Vicar of St John the Evangelist would have dismissed his
+sidesman with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb6" href="#pb6" name=
+"pb6">6</a>]</span>disgust, the Local Committees would have had no more
+of him, and his wife and daughters would have regarded him as the most
+depraved of criminals.</p>
+<p class="par">Fortunately, Gosling had never been tempted beyond the
+powers of his resistance. At fifty-five, he may be regarded as safe
+from temptation. He seldom put any restraint upon his thoughts, outside
+business hours; but he had an ideal which ruled his life&mdash;the
+ideal of respectability. George Gosling counted himself&mdash;and
+others counted him also&mdash;as respectable a man as could be found in
+the Metropolitan Police area. There were, perhaps, a quarter of a
+million other men in the same area, equally respectable.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">As he was drying his hands, Gosling heard the
+front door slam and his daughters&rsquo; voices in the passage below,
+followed by a shrill exhortation from the kitchen: &ldquo;Now, gels,
+&rsquo;urry up, dinner&rsquo;s all ready and your father&rsquo;s
+waitin&rsquo;!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling trotted downstairs and received the usual salute
+from his two girls. He noted that they were a shade more effusive than
+usual. &ldquo;Want more money for fal-lals,&rdquo; was his inward
+comment. They were always wanting money for &ldquo;fal-lals.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He adopted his usual line of defence through dinner and
+constantly brought the subject of conversation back to the need for a
+reduction of expenses. He did not see Blanche wink at Millie across the
+table, during these strategic exercises; nor catch the glance of
+understanding which passed between <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb7"
+href="#pb7" name="pb7">7</a>]</span>the girls and their mother. So, as
+his dinner comforted and cheered him, Gosling began to relax into his
+usual facetiousness; incredibly believing, despite the invariable
+precedents of his family history, that his daughters had been convinced
+of the hopelessness of approaching him for money that evening.</p>
+<p class="par">The credulous creature even allowed them to make their
+opening, and then assisted them to a statement of their petition.</p>
+<p class="par">They were talking of a friend&rsquo;s engagement to be
+married, and Gosling with an obtuseness he never displayed in business
+remarked, &ldquo;Wish my gels &rsquo;ud get married.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Talking about us, father?&rdquo; asked
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you&rsquo;re the only gels I&rsquo;ve
+got&mdash;as I know of,&rdquo; said Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, how can you expect us to get married when
+we haven&rsquo;t got a decent thing to put on?&rdquo; returned
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling realized his danger too late. &ldquo;Pooh! That
+don&rsquo;t make any difference,&rdquo; he said hastily, adopting a
+thoroughly unsound line of defence; &ldquo;I never noticed what your
+mother was wearing when I courted &rsquo;er.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Dessay you didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Millie,
+&ldquo;I dessay most fellows couldn&rsquo;t tell you what a girl was
+wearing, but it makes just all the difference for all that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Of course it does,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;A
+girl&rsquo;s got no chance these days unless she can look smart. No
+fellow&rsquo;s going to marry a dowdy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It does make a big difference, there&rsquo;s no
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb8" href="#pb8" name=
+"pb8">8</a>]</span>denyin&rsquo;,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling, as though
+she was being convinced against her will.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And now the sales are just
+beginning&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Poor Gosling knew the game was up. They had made no
+direct attack upon his pocket, yet; but they would not relax their grip
+of this fascinating subject till they had achieved their object.
+Blanche was saying that she was ashamed to be seen anywhere; and
+procrastination would be met at once by the argument&mdash;how well he
+knew it&mdash;based on the premise that if you didn&rsquo;t buy at
+sale-time, you had to pay twice as much later.</p>
+<p class="par">It was quite useless for Gosling to fidget, throw
+himself back in his chair, frown, shake his head, and look horribly
+determined; the course of progress was unalterable from the direct
+attack: &ldquo;Do you <i>like</i> to see us going about in rags,
+father?&rdquo; through the stage of &ldquo;Well, well, &rsquo;ow much
+do you want? I simply <i>can&rsquo;t</i> afford&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+and the ensuing haggles down to the despairing sigh as the original
+minimum demanded&mdash;in this case no less than five pounds&mdash;was
+forlornly conceded, and clinched by Blanche&rsquo;s, &ldquo;We must
+have it before the end of the week, dad, the sales begin on
+Monday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">At the end of it all, he received what compensation they
+had to offer him; hugs and kisses, offers to do all sorts of impossible
+things, assistance in getting his armchair into precisely the right
+position, and him into the chair, and the table cleared and the lamp in
+just the right place for him to read his half-penny evening paper which
+was fetched for him from the pocket of his overcoat. And, finally, the
+crux of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb9" href="#pb9" name=
+"pb9">9</a>]</span>Gosling&rsquo;s whole position, a general air of
+complacency, good-temper and comfort.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was an easy-going man, he hated rows.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mind you, you two,&rdquo; he remarked with a
+return to facetiousness as he settled himself with his carpet slippers
+spread out to the fire&mdash;&ldquo;mind you, I look on this money as
+an investment. You two gels got to get married; and quick or I shall be
+in the bankrup&rsquo;cy Court. Don&rsquo;t you forget as these
+&lsquo;fal-lals&rsquo; is bought for a purpose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t be so horrid, father,&rdquo; said
+Blanche, with a change of front; &ldquo;it sounds as if we were setting
+traps for men.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, ain&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; asked Gosling.
+&ldquo;You said just now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not like that,&rdquo; interrupted Blanche.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very different just wanting to look nice. Personally,
+I&rsquo;m in no &rsquo;urry to get married, thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You wait till Mr Right comes along,&rdquo; put in
+Mrs Gosling, and then turned the conversation by saying: &ldquo;Well,
+father, what&rsquo;s the news this evening?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Nothin&rsquo; excitin&rsquo;,&rdquo; replied
+Gosling. &ldquo;Seems this new plague&rsquo;s spreadin&rsquo; in
+China.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re always inventin&rsquo; new
+diseases, nowadays, or callin&rsquo; old ones by new names,&rdquo; said
+Mrs Gosling. The two girls were busy with a sheet of note-paper and a
+stump of pencil that seemed to require frequent lubrication; they were
+making calculations.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This one&rsquo;s quite new, seemingly,&rdquo;
+returned Gosling. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only the men as get it.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb10" href="#pb10" name=
+"pb10">10</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No need for us to worry, then,&rdquo; put in
+Millie, more as a duty, some slight return for benefits promised, than
+because she took any interest in the subject. Blanche was absorbed; her
+unseeing gaze was fixed on the mantelpiece and ever and again she
+removed the point of the pencil from her mouth and wrote
+feverishly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, ain&rsquo;t there?&rdquo; replied Gosling. He
+turned his head in order to argue from so strong a position. &ldquo;And
+where&rsquo;d you be, and all the rest of the women, if you
+&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t got no men to look after you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I expect we could get along pretty well, if we
+had to,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling winked at his wife, and indicated by an upward
+movement of his chin that he was astounded at such innocence.
+&ldquo;Who&rsquo;d buy your &lsquo;fal-lals&rsquo; for you, I should
+like to know?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;d have to earn money for
+ourselves,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! I&rsquo;d like to see you or Blanche
+takin&rsquo; over my job,&rdquo; replied her father. &ldquo;Why,
+I&rsquo;ll lay there&rsquo;s &rsquo;alf a dozen mistakes in the
+figurin&rsquo; she&rsquo;s doing at the present moment. Let me
+see!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche descended suddenly from visions of Paradise, and
+put her hand over the sheet of note-paper. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t,
+father,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling looked sly. &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; he said, with
+simulated surprise. &ldquo;And why not?<a id="xd23e336" name=
+"xd23e336"></a> Ain&rsquo;t I to be allowed to judge of the nature of
+the investment I&rsquo;m goin&rsquo; in for? I might give you an
+&rsquo;int or two from the gentleman&rsquo;s point of view.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb11" href="#pb11" name=
+"pb11">11</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shook her head. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t added it
+up yet,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling did not press the point; he returned to his
+original position. &ldquo;I dunno where you ladies &rsquo;ud be if you
+&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t no gentlemen to look after you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling smirked. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ope it
+won&rsquo;t come to that,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;China&rsquo;s a long
+way off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Appears as there&rsquo;s been one case in Russia,
+though,&rdquo; remarked Gosling. He saw that he had rather a good thing
+in this threat of male extermination, a pleasant, harmless threat to
+hold over his feminine dependents; a means to emphasize the facts of
+masculine superiority and of the absolute necessity for masculine
+intelligence; facts that were not sufficiently well realized in
+Wisteria Grove, at times.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling yawned surreptitiously. She was doing her
+best to be pleasant, but the subject bored her. She was a practical
+woman who worked hard all day to keep her house clean, and received
+very feeble assistance from the daughters for whom her one ambition was
+an establishment conducted on lines precisely similar to her own.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie and Blanche had returned to their calculations
+and were completely absorbed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In Russia? Just fancy,&rdquo; commented Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In Moscow,&rdquo; said Gosling, studying his
+<i>Evening News</i>. &ldquo;&rsquo;E was an official on the
+trans-Siberian Railway. &lsquo;As soon as the disease was identified as
+a case of the new plague,&rsquo;&rdquo; read Gosling, &ldquo;&lsquo;the
+patient was at once removed to the infectious hospital and strictly
+isolated. He died within two <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb12" href=
+"#pb12" name="pb12">12</a>]</span>hours of his admission. Stringent
+measures are being taken to prevent the infection from
+spreading.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Was &rsquo;e a married man?&rdquo; asked Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; replied her husband.
+&ldquo;But the point is that if it once gets to Europe, who knows where
+it&rsquo;ll stop?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll see to that, you may be
+sure,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling, with a beautiful faith in the scientific
+resources of civilization. &ldquo;It said somethin&rsquo; about that in
+the bit you&rsquo;ve just read.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was not to be done out of his argument.
+&ldquo;Very like,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But now, just supposin&rsquo;
+as this &rsquo;ere plague did spread to London, and &rsquo;alf the men
+couldn&rsquo;t go to work; where d&rsquo;you fancy you&rsquo;d
+be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was unable to grasp the intricacies of this
+abstraction. &ldquo;Well, of course, every one knows as we
+couldn&rsquo;t get on without the men,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! well there you are, got it in once,&rdquo;
+said Gosling. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you gels forget it,&rdquo; he
+added turning to his daughters.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie only giggled, but Blanche said, &ldquo;All right,
+dad, we won&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The girls returned to their calculations; they had
+arrived at the stage of cutting out all those items which were not
+&ldquo;absolutely necessary.&rdquo; Five pounds had proved a miserably
+inadequate sum on paper.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling returned to his <i>Evening News</i>, which
+presently slipped gently from his hand to the floor. Mrs Gosling looked
+up from her sewing and put a finger on her lips. The voices of Blanche
+and Millie were subdued to sibilant whisperings. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb13" href="#pb13" name="pb13">13</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Gosling had forgotten his economic problems, and his
+daring abstractions concerning a world despoiled of male activity,
+especially of that essential activity, as he figured it, the making of
+money&mdash;the wage-earner was enjoying his after-dinner nap, hedged
+about, protected and cared for by his womankind.</p>
+<p class="par">There may have been a quarter of a million wage-earners
+in Greater London at that moment, who, however much they differed from
+Gosling on such minor questions as Tariff Reform or the capabilities of
+the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have agreed with him as a
+matter of course, on the essentials he had discussed that evening.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">At half-past nine the click of the letter-box,
+followed by a resounding double-knock, announced the arrival of the
+last post. Millie jumped up at once and went out eagerly.</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Gosling opened his eyes and stared with drunken
+fixity at the mantelpiece; then, without moving the rest of his body,
+he began to grope automatically with his left hand for the fallen
+newspaper. He found it at last, picked it up and pretended to read with
+sleep-sodden eyes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the post, dear,&rdquo; remarked Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling yawned enormously. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s it
+for?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie! Millie!&rdquo; called Mrs Gosling.
+&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you bring the letters in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie did not reply, but she came slowly into the
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb14" href="#pb14" name=
+"pb14">14</a>]</span>room, in her hands a letter which she was
+examining minutely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s it for, Mill?&rdquo; asked Blanche,
+impatiently.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Father,&rdquo; replied Millie, still intent on
+her study. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a foreign letter. I seem to remember the
+writing, too, only I can&rsquo;t fix it exactly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, &rsquo;and it over, my gel,&rdquo;
+said Gosling, and Millie reluctantly parted with her fascinating
+enigma.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know that &rsquo;and, too,&rdquo; remarked
+Gosling, and he, also, would have spent some time in the attempt to
+guess the puzzle without looking up the answer within the envelope, but
+the three spectators, who were not sharing his interest, manifested
+impatience.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, ain&rsquo;t you going to open it,
+father?&rdquo; asked Millie, and Mrs Gosling looked at her husband over
+her spectacles and remarked, &ldquo;It must be a business letter, if it
+comes from foreign parts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get business letters to this
+address,&rdquo; returned the head of the house, &ldquo;besides which
+it&rsquo;s from Warsaw; we don&rsquo;t do nothin&rsquo; with
+Warsaw.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">At last he opened the letter.</p>
+<p class="par">The three women fixed their gaze on Gosling&rsquo;s
+face.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; ejaculated Millie, after a silence
+of several seconds. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to tell
+us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;d never guess,&rdquo; said Gosling
+triumphantly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anyone we know?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, a gentleman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! tell us, father,&rdquo; urged the impatient
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s from the Mr Thrale, as lodged with us
+once,&rdquo; announced Gosling. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb15"
+href="#pb15" name="pb15">15</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! dear, our Mr Fastidious,&rdquo; commented
+Blanche, &ldquo;I thought he was dead long ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It must be over four years since &rsquo;e
+left,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Getting on for five,&rdquo; corrected Blanche.
+&ldquo;I remember I put my hair up while he was here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s he say?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;E says, &lsquo;Dear Mr Gosling, I expect
+you will be surprised to &rsquo;ear from me after my five years&rsquo;
+silence&mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I said it was five years,&rdquo; put in Blanche.
+&ldquo;Go on, dad!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Dad resumed &ldquo;... &lsquo;but I &rsquo;ave been in
+various parts of the world and it &rsquo;as been quite impossible to
+keep up a correspondence. I am writing now to tell you that I shall be
+back in London in a few days, and to ask you whether you can find a
+room for me in Wisteria Grove?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! I should &rsquo;ave thought he&rsquo;d
+&rsquo;ave written to me to ask that!&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;So &rsquo;e should &rsquo;ave, by rights,&rdquo;
+agreed Gosling. &ldquo;But &rsquo;e&rsquo;s a queer card is Mr
+Thrale.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bit dotty, if you ask me,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;S that all?&rdquo; asked Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, &rsquo;e says: &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t give you
+an address as I go on to Berlin immediately, but I will look you up the
+evening after I arrive. Eastern Europe is not safe at the present time.
+There &rsquo;ave been several cases of the new plague in Moscow, but
+the authorities are doing everything they can&mdash;which is much in
+Russia&mdash;to keep the news out of the press, yours sincerely,
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb16" href="#pb16" name=
+"pb16">16</a>]</span>Jasper Thrale,<span class="corr" id="xd23e461"
+title="Source: &rdquo;">&rsquo;</span> and that&rsquo;s the lot,&rdquo;
+concluded Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I do think he&rsquo;s a cool hand,&rdquo;
+commented Blanche. &ldquo;Of course you won&rsquo;t have him as a
+paying guest now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling and his wife looked at each other,
+thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; hesitated Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;E might bring the infection,&rdquo;
+suggested Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! no fear of that,&rdquo; returned her husband,
+&ldquo;but I dunno as we want a boarder now. Five years ago I
+&rsquo;adn&rsquo;t got my big rise&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, no, father; what would the neighbours think
+of us if we started to take boarders again?&rdquo; protested
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t look well,&rdquo; agreed Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jus&rsquo; what I was thinking,&rdquo; said the
+head of the house. &ldquo;&rsquo;Owever, there&rsquo;s no &rsquo;arm in
+payin&rsquo; us a friendly visit.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;O&rsquo; course not,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling,
+&ldquo;though I do think it odd &rsquo;e shouldn&rsquo;t &rsquo;ave
+written to me in the first place.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s dotty!&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling shook his head. &ldquo;Not by a very long chalk
+&rsquo;e ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; was his firm pronouncement....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, girls, what about bed?&rdquo; asked Mrs
+Gosling, putting away the &ldquo;bit of mending&rdquo; she had been
+engaged upon.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling yawned again, stretched himself, and rose
+grunting to his feet. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m about ready for <i>my</i>
+bed,&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb17" href="#pb17" name=
+"pb17">17</a>]</span>he remarked, and after another yawn he started his
+nightly round of inspection.</p>
+<p class="par">When he returned to the sitting-room the others were all
+ready to retire. Gosling kissed his daughters, and the two girls and
+their mother went upstairs. Gosling carefully took off the larger
+pieces of coal from the fire and put them under the grate, rolled up
+the hearthrug, saw that the window was securely fastened, extinguished
+the lamp and followed his &ldquo;womenfolk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As he was undressing his thoughts turned once more to
+the threat of the new disease which was devastating China.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Rum thing about that new plague,&rdquo; he
+remarked to his wife. &ldquo;Seems as it&rsquo;s only men as get
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d never let it spread to
+England,&rdquo; replied Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! there&rsquo;s no fear of that, none
+whatever,&rdquo; said Gosling, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s rum that about
+women never catching it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The attitude of the Goslings faithfully reflected that
+of the immense majority of English people. The faith in the hygienic
+and scientific resources which were at the disposal of the authorities,
+and the implicit trust in the vigilance and energy of those
+authorities, were sufficient to allay any fears that were not too
+imminent. It was some one&rsquo;s duty to look after these things, and
+if they were not looked after there would be letters in the papers
+about it. At last, without question, the authorities would be roused to
+a sense of duty and the trouble, whatever it was, would be stopped.
+Precisely what authority <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb18" href=
+"#pb18" name="pb18">18</a>]</span>managed these affairs none of the
+huge Gosling family knew. Vaguely they pictured Medical Boards, or
+Health Committees; dimly they connected these things with local
+government; at the top, doubtless, was some managing authority&mdash;in
+Whitehall probably&mdash;something to do with the supreme head of
+affairs, the much abused but eminently paternal Government.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb19" href="#pb19" name=
+"pb19">19</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch2" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">II&mdash;</span>THE OPINIONS OF
+JASPER THRALE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;Lord, how I do envy you,&rdquo; said Morgan
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper Thrale sat forward in his chair.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason why you shouldn&rsquo;t do what
+I&rsquo;ve done&mdash;and more,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Theoretically, I suppose not,&rdquo; replied
+Gurney. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just making the big effort to start with. You
+see I&rsquo;ve got a very decent berth and good prospects, and
+it&rsquo;s comfortable and all that. Only when some fellow like you
+comes along and tells one yarns of the world outside, I get sort of
+hankerings after the sea and adventure, and seeing the big things.
+It&rsquo;s only now and then&mdash;ordinary times I&rsquo;m contented
+enough.&rdquo; He stuck his pipe in the corner of his mouth and stared
+into the fire.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The only things that really count are feeling
+clean and strong and able,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;You never really
+have that feeling if you live in the big cities.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve felt like that sometimes after a long
+bicycle ride,&rdquo; interpolated Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But then the feeling is wasted, you see,&rdquo;
+said Thrale. &ldquo;When you feel like that and there is something
+tremendous to spend it upon, you get the great emotion as
+well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Like the glimmer of St Agnes&rsquo; light, after
+you&rsquo;d <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb20" href="#pb20" name=
+"pb20">20</a>]</span>been eight weeks out of sight of land?&rdquo;
+reflected Gurney, going back to one of Thrale&rsquo;s
+reminiscences.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;To feel that you are a part of life, not this
+dead, stale life of the city, but the life of the whole
+universe,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; replied Gurney. &ldquo;To-night
+I&rsquo;ve half a mind to chuck my job and go out looking for
+mystery.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; said
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney sighed and began to analyse the instinct within
+himself, to find precisely why he wanted to do it.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I must go,&rdquo; said Thrale, getting to
+his feet, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to find some sort of
+lodging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I thought you were going to stay with those
+Gosling people of yours,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No! That&rsquo;s off. I went to see them last
+night and they won&rsquo;t have me. The old man&rsquo;s making his
+&pound;300 a year now, and the family&rsquo;s too respectable to take
+boarders.&rdquo; Thrale picked up his hat and held out his hand.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But, look here, old chap, why the devil
+can&rsquo;t you stay here?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that you&rsquo;d anywhere to
+put me,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes. There&rsquo;s always a room to be had
+downstairs,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">After a brief discussion the arrangement was made.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s understood I&rsquo;m to pay my
+whack,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Of course, if you insist&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb21" href="#pb21" name=
+"pb21">21</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">When Thrale had gone to fetch his luggage from the
+hotel, Gurney sat pondering over the fire. He was debating whether he
+had been altogether wise in pressing his invitation. He was wondering
+whether the curiously rousing personality of Thrale, and the stories of
+those still existent corners of the world outside the rules of
+civilization were good for a civil servant with an income of &pound;600
+a year. Gurney, faced with the plain alternatives, could only decide
+that he would be a fool to throw up a congenial and lucrative
+occupation such as his own, in order to face present physical
+discomfort and future penury. He knew that the discomforts would be
+very real to him at first. His friends would think him mad. And all for
+the sake of experiencing some high emotion now and again, in order to
+feel clean and fresh and be able to discover something of the unknown
+mystery of life.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose there is something of the poet in
+me,&rdquo; reflected Gurney. &ldquo;And I expect I should hate the
+discomforts. One&rsquo;s imagination gets led away....&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">During the next few evenings the conversations
+between these two friends were many and protracted.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale was the teacher, and Gurney was content to sit at
+his feet and learn. He had a receptive mind, he was interested in all
+life, but Uppingham, Trinity Hall, and the Home Civil had constricted
+his mental processes. At twenty-nine he was losing flexibility. Thrale
+gave him back his power to think, set him <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb22" href="#pb22" name="pb22">22</a>]</span>outside the formulas of
+his school, taught him that however sound his deductions, there was not
+one of his premises which could not be disputed.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale was Gurney&rsquo;s senior by three years, and
+when Thrale left Uppingham at eighteen, he had gone out into the world.
+He had a patrimony of some &pound;200 a year; but he had taken only a
+lump sum of &pound;100 and had started out to appease his furious
+curiosity concerning life. He had laboured as a miner in the Klondike;
+had sailed, working his passage as an ordinary seaman, from San
+Francisco to Southampton; he had been a stockman in Australia,
+assistant to a planter in Ceylon, a furnace minder in Kimberley and a
+tally clerk in Hong Kong. For nearly nine years, indeed, he had earned
+a living in every country of the world except Europe, and then he had
+come back to London and invested the accumulation of income that his
+trustee had amassed for him. The mere spending of money had no
+fascination for him. During the six months he had remained in London he
+had lived very simply, lodging with the Goslings in Kilburn, and,
+because he could not live idly, exploring every corner of the great
+city and writing articles for the journals. He might have earned a
+large income by this latter means, for he had an originality of outlook
+and a freshness of style that made his contributions eagerly sought
+after once he had obtained a hearing&mdash;no difficult matter in
+London for anyone who has something new to say. But experience, not
+income, was his desire, and at the end of six months he had accepted an
+offer from the <i>Daily Post</i> as a European <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb23" href="#pb23" name=
+"pb23">23</a>]</span>correspondent&mdash;on space. He was offered
+&pound;600 a year, but he preferred to be free, and he had no wish to
+be confined to one capital or country.</p>
+<p class="par">In those five years he had traversed Europe, sending in
+his articles irregularly, as he required money. And during that time
+his chief trustee&mdash;a lawyer of the soundest reputation&mdash;had
+absconded, and Thrale found his private income reduced to about
+&pound;40 a year, the interest on one of the investments he had made,
+in his own name only, with his former accumulation&mdash;two other
+investments made at the same time had proved unsound.</p>
+<p class="par">This loss had not troubled him in any way. When he had
+read in a London journal of his trustee&rsquo;s abscondence&mdash;he
+was later sentenced to fourteen years&rsquo; penal
+servitude&mdash;Thrale had smiled and dismissed the matter from his
+mind. He could always earn all the money he required, and had never,
+not even subconsciously, relied upon his private fortune.</p>
+<p class="par">He had now come back to London with a definite purpose,
+he had come to warn England of a great danger....</p>
+<p class="par">One other distinguishing mark of Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s
+life must be understood, a mark which differentiated him from the
+overwhelming majority of his fellow men&mdash;women had no fascination
+for him. Once in his life, and once only, had he approached and tasted
+experience&mdash;with a pretty little Melbourne <i>cocotte</i>. That
+experience he had undertaken deliberately, because he felt that until
+it had been undergone one great factor of life would be unknown to him.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb24" href="#pb24" name=
+"pb24">24</a>]</span>He had come away from it filled with a disgust of
+himself that had endured for months....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Fragments of the long conversations between Thrale
+and Gurney, the exchange of a few germane ideas among the irrelevant
+mass, had a bearing upon their immediate future. There was, for
+instance, a criticism of the Goslings, introduced on one occasion,
+which had a certain significance in relation to subsequent
+developments.</p>
+<p class="par">Some question of Gurney&rsquo;s prompted Thrale to the
+opinion that the Goslings were in the main precisely like half a
+million other families of the same class.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s just what makes them so
+interesting,&rdquo; said Gurney, not because he believed it, but
+because at the moment he wanted to lead the conversation into safe
+ground, away from the too appealing attractions of the big world
+outside the little village of London.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s truer than you
+guess,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Every large generalization, however
+trite, is a valuable contribution to knowledge&mdash;if it&rsquo;s more
+or less accurate.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Generalize, then, mon vieux,&rdquo; suggested
+Gurney, &ldquo;from the characters and doings of your little
+geese.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen glimmerings of the immortal god
+in the old man,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;like the hint of sunlight
+seen through a filthy pane of obscured glass. He&rsquo;s a
+prurient-minded old beast leading what&rsquo;s called a <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb25" href="#pb25" name=
+"pb25">25</a>]</span>respectable life, but if he could indulge his
+ruling desire with absolute secrecy, no woman would be safe with him.
+In his world he can&rsquo;t do that, or thinks he can&rsquo;t, which
+comes to precisely the same thing. He is too much afraid of being
+caught, he sees danger where none exists, he looks to all sorts of
+possibilities, and won&rsquo;t take a million-to-one chance because he
+is risking his all&mdash;which is included in the one word,
+respectability.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jolly good thing. What?&rdquo; remarked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good for society as a whole, apparently,&rdquo;
+replied Thrale, &ldquo;but surely not good for the man. I&rsquo;ve told
+you that I have seen glimmerings of the god in him, but outside the
+routine of his work the man&rsquo;s mind is clogged. He&rsquo;s not
+much over fifty, and he has no outlet, now, for his desires. He&rsquo;s
+like a man with choked pores, and his body is poisoned. And in this
+particular Gosling is certainly no exception either to his class or to
+the great mass of civilized man. Well, what I wonder is whether in a
+society which is built up of interdependent units the whole can be
+sound when the greater number of the constituent units are
+rotten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But look here, old chap,&rdquo; protested Gurney,
+&ldquo;if things are as you say, and men rule the country, why
+shouldn&rsquo;t they alter public opinion, and so open the way to do as
+they jolly well please?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Because the majority are too much ashamed of
+their desires to dare the attempt in the first place, and in the second
+because they don&rsquo;t wish to open the way for other men. They
+aren&rsquo;t united in this; they are as jealous as women. If they once
+opened <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb26" href="#pb26" name=
+"pb26">26</a>]</span>the way to free love, their own belongings
+wouldn&rsquo;t be safe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your remedy, then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! a few thousand more years of moral
+development,&rdquo; said Thrale, carelessly, &ldquo;an evolution
+towards self-consciousness, a fuller understanding of the meaning of
+life, and a finer altruism.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look far ahead,&rdquo; remarked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you think anyone can look even a year
+ahead?&rdquo; asked Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There have been some pretty good attempts in some
+ways&mdash;Swedenborg, for instance, and Samuel Butler....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes, that&rsquo;s all right, in some
+ways&mdash;the development of certain sorts of knowledge, for example.
+But there is always the chance of the unpredictable element coming in
+and upsetting the whole calculation. Some invention may do it, an
+unforeseen clash of opinions or an epidemic....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time they drifted further away from their original
+topic till some remark reminded Gurney that he had meant to ask a
+question and had forgotten it.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By the way,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wanted to
+ask you what you meant when you said you had seen a god in old
+Gosling?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Just a touch of imagination and wonder, now and
+again,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;Something he was quite unconscious
+of himself. I remember standing with him on Blackfriars Bridge, and he
+looked down at the river and said: &lsquo;I s&rsquo;pose it was clean
+once, banks and sand and so on, before all this muck <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb27" href="#pb27" name=
+"pb27">27</a>]</span>came.&rsquo; Then he looked at me quickly to see
+if I was laughing at him. That was the god in him trying to create
+purity out of filth, even though it was only a casual thought. It was
+smothered again at once. His training reasserted itself. &lsquo;Lot
+better for trade the way it is, though,&rsquo; was his next
+remark.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But how can you alter it?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear chap, you can&rsquo;t alter these things
+by any cut-and-dried plan, any more than you can dam the Gulf Stream.
+We can only lay a brick or two in the right place. We aren&rsquo;t the
+architects; the best of us are only bricklayers, and the best of the
+best can only lay two or three bricks in a lifetime. Our job is to do
+that if we can. We can only guess very feebly at the design of the
+building; and often it is our duty partly to pull down the work that
+our forefathers built....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Presently Gurney asked if his companion had ever seen a
+god in Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale shook his head. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t come
+within my experience,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t condemn her on
+that account, but she, like all the women I have ever met, has been too
+intent upon the facts of life ever to see its mystery. Mrs Gosling
+hadn&rsquo;t the power to conceive an abstract idea; she had to make
+some application of it to her own particular experience before she
+could understand the simplest concept. Morality to her signified people
+who behaved as she and her family did; wickedness meant vaguely,
+criminals, Sarah Jones who was an unmarried mother, and anyone who
+didn&rsquo;t believe in the God of the Established Church. Always
+people, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb28" href="#pb28" name=
+"pb28">28</a>]</span>you see, in this connexion; in others it might be
+things; but ideas apart from people or things she couldn&rsquo;t grasp.
+Her two daughters thought in precisely the same way....&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">One Saturday afternoon Thrale came into
+Gurney&rsquo;s chambers and burst out: &ldquo;Just Heaven! why you
+fools stand it I can&rsquo;t imagine!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up now?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale sat down and drew his chair up to the table. The
+pupils of his dark eyes were contracted and seemed to glow as if they
+were illuminated from within.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I was in Oxford Street this morning, watching the
+women at the sales,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All the biggest shops in
+London are devoted to women&rsquo;s clothes. Do you realize that? And
+it&rsquo;s not only that they&rsquo;re the biggest&mdash;there are more
+of them than any other six trades put together can show, bar the drink
+trade, of course. The north side of Oxford Street from Tottenham Court
+Road to the Marble Arch is one long succession of huge drapers and
+milliners. And what in God&rsquo;s name is the sense or reason of it?
+What do these huge shops sell?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Dresses, I suppose,&rdquo; ventured Gurney,
+&ldquo;and stockings, underlinen, corsets, hats, and so on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>And</i> frippery,&rdquo; said Thrale, fixing
+his brilliant dark eyes on Gurney, &ldquo;And <i>frippery</i>. Machine
+lace, ribbons, yokes, cheap blouses, feathers, insertions, belts, fifty
+thousand different kinds of bits and rags to be tacked on here and
+there, worn for a few <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb29" href="#pb29"
+name="pb29">29</a>]</span>weeks and then thrown away. Millions of
+little frivolous, stupid odds and ends that are bought by women and
+girls of all classes below the motor-class, to make a
+pretence&mdash;gauds and tawdry rubbish not one whit better from the
+artistic point of view than the shells and feathers of any half-naked
+Melanesian savage. In fact, meaningless as the Melanesians&rsquo;
+decorations are, they do achieve more effect. And what&rsquo;s it all
+for, I ask you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn&rsquo;t
+it?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The desire&mdash;often subconscious, no
+doubt&mdash;to attract.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, if that is so,&rdquo; said Thrale,
+&ldquo;what terribly unintelligent fools women must be! If women really
+set out to attract men, they must realize that they are pandering to a
+sex instinct. Do you think any man is attracted by a litter of odds and
+ends? Doesn&rsquo;t every woman sneer when they see some Frenchwoman,
+perhaps, who dresses to display her figure instead of hiding it?
+Don&rsquo;t they bitterly resent the fact that their own men-folk are
+resistlessly drawn to stare at, and inwardly desire, such a woman?
+Don&rsquo;t they know perfectly well that such a woman is attractive to
+men in a way their own disguised bodies can never be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, old chap; but your average middle-class
+English girl hasn&rsquo;t got the physical attractions to start
+with,&rdquo; put in Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look at it in another way, then,&rdquo; replied
+Thrale. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t every woman know perfectly
+well&mdash;haven&rsquo;t you heard them say&mdash;that a nurse&rsquo;s
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb30" href="#pb30" name=
+"pb30">30</a>]</span>dress is very becoming&mdash;a plain, more or less
+tightly-fitting print dress, with linen collars and cuffs? Don&rsquo;t
+you know yourself that that attire is more attractive to you than any
+befrilled and bedecorated arrangement of lace, ribbons and gauds? Why
+are so many men irresistibly attracted by parlourmaids and
+housemaids?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; meditated Gurney, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s
+all true enough. Well, are women all fools, or what is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The majority of women are <i>sheep</i>,&rdquo;
+said Thrale. &ldquo;They follow as they are led, and don&rsquo;t or
+won&rsquo;t see that they are being led. And the leaders are chiefly
+men&mdash;men who have trumpery to sell. Why do the fashions change
+every year&mdash;sometimes more often than that in matters of detail?
+Because the trade would smash if they didn&rsquo;t. New fashions must
+be forced on the buyers, or the returns would drop; women would be able
+to make their last year&rsquo;s clothes do for another summer. That
+must be stopped at any cost. Those vast establishments must maintain an
+enormous turnover if they are to pay their fabulous rents and armies of
+assistants. There are two means of keeping up the sales, and both are
+utilized to the full. The first is to supply cheap, miraculously cheap,
+rubbish which cannot be made to last for more than a season. The second
+is to alter the fashions which affect the more durable stuffs, so that
+last year&rsquo;s dresses cannot be used again. This fashion-working
+scheme reacts upon the poorer buyers, because it compels them to do
+something to imitate the prevailing mode, if they can&rsquo;t afford to
+have entirely new frocks. That is where all these <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb31" href="#pb31" name="pb31">31</a>]</span>bits of
+frilling and what-not come in; make-believe stuff to imitate the real
+buyers&mdash;the large majority of whom don&rsquo;t buy in Oxford
+Street, by the way.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mind you, there is a limit to the sheep-like
+docility of women in this connexion. They refused, for instance, to
+return to the crinoline, and they refused the harem skirt&mdash;one of
+the very few sensible devices of the fashion-imposers. And this in the
+face of the prolonged, strenuous and expensive methods of the fashion
+ring. With regard to the crinoline, I think that failure was due to
+over-conceit on the part of the fashion-imposers. They had come to
+believe that they could make the poor fools of women accept anything,
+and on the two marked occasions on which they attempted to introduce
+the crinoline, the contrast to the existing mode was too glaring. If
+the fraud had been worked more gradually by way of full skirts and
+flounces, some modification of the crinoline to the necessities of
+&rsquo;buses and tubes might have been foisted upon the
+buyers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, my Lord!&rdquo; ejaculated Gurney; &ldquo;do
+you mean to say that women just accept these fashions without any sense
+or reason at all?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re rather a blithering ass, at times,
+Gurney,&rdquo; remarked Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney smiled. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t give me time to
+think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I feel like an accumulator being charged.
+I haven&rsquo;t had time yet to begin working on my own account.
+You&rsquo;re so mighty&mdash;so mighty dynamic&mdash;and positive, old
+chap.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s so absurdly obvious that there
+must be a reason for women accepting the fashions, you <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb32" href="#pb32" name=
+"pb32">32</a>]</span>idiot!&rdquo; returned Thrale. &ldquo;And the
+first and biggest reason is class distinction. The women with money
+want to brag of it by differentiating themselves from the ruck of their
+sisters, and the poor women try to imitate them to the best of their
+ability. Women dress for other women. There is sex rivalry as well as
+class rivalry at the bottom of it, but they dare not put sex rivalry
+first and dress to please men alone, because they are afraid of the
+opinions of other women.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Sounds all right,&rdquo; said Gurney, and
+sighed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we, damned fools of men, stand all this
+foolishness and <i>pay</i> for it. Pay, by Jove! I should think so! I
+should like to see the trade returns of all the stuff of this kind that
+is sold in England alone in one year. They would make the naval
+estimates look small, I&rsquo;ll warrant. We even imitate the
+women&rsquo;s foolishness in some degree. There are men&rsquo;s
+fashions too, but the madness is not so marked; fortunately the body of
+middle-class men can&rsquo;t afford to make fools of themselves as well
+as of their women&mdash;though they are asses enough to wear linen
+shirts and collars which are uncomfortable unsightly and expensive to
+wash.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney regarded his lecturer&rsquo;s canvas shirt and
+collar, and then stood up and observed his own immaculate linen in the
+glass over the fireplace. &ldquo;I must say I like stiff collars and
+shirts,&rdquo; he remarked; &ldquo;gives one a kind of
+spruceness.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only another sex
+instinct,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Women like men to look
+&lsquo;smart.&rsquo; When you are playing games with other men, or
+camping <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb33" href="#pb33" name=
+"pb33">33</a>]</span>out, you don&rsquo;t care a hang for your
+&lsquo;spruceness.&rsquo; Oh! and I&rsquo;ll admit the class
+distinction rot comes in too. You&rsquo;re afraid of public opinion,
+afraid of being thought common. If the jeunesse dor&eacute;e started
+the soft shirt in real earnest, you would soon be able to persuade your
+women that that looked smart or spruce, or whatever you liked to call
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, you know,&rdquo; said Gurney,
+&ldquo;you&rsquo;re an anarchist, that&rsquo;s what you are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re half a woman, Gurney,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;You think in names. All people are
+&lsquo;anarchists&rsquo; who think in ideas instead of following
+conventions.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Not until he had been staying with Gurney for more
+than a week did Thrale speak explicitly of his purpose in London. But
+one cold evening at the end of January, as the two men were sitting by
+a roaring fire that Gurney had built up, the younger man unknowingly
+opened the subject by saying,</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Things are pretty slack at the present moment.
+The <i>Evening Chronicle</i> has even fallen back on the &lsquo;New
+Plague&rsquo; for the sake of news.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What do they say?&rdquo; asked Thrale. He was
+lying back in his chair, nursing one knee, and staring up at the
+ceiling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, the usual rot!&rdquo; said Gurney &ldquo;That
+the thing isn&rsquo;t understood, has never been
+&lsquo;described&rsquo; by any medical or scientific authority; that it
+is apparently confined to one little corner of Asia at the present
+time, but that if it got hold in Europe <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb34" href="#pb34" name="pb34">34</a>]</span>it might be serious. And
+then a lot of yap about the unknown forces of Nature; special article
+by a chap who&rsquo;s been reading too much Wells, I should
+imagine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It seems so incredible to us in twentieth-century
+England that anything really serious could happen,&rdquo; remarked
+Thrale. &ldquo;We are so well looked after and cared for. We sit down
+and wait for some authority to move, with a perfect confidence that
+when it does move, everything is bound to be all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;With such an organism as society has
+become,&rdquo; said Gurney, &ldquo;things must be worked like that. A
+certain group to perform one function, other groups for other
+functions, and so on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cell-specialization?&rdquo; commented Thrale.
+&ldquo;Some day to be perfected in socialism.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I believe socialism must come in some
+form,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s an interesting speculation, in
+some ways,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;but the higher forces are about
+to put a new spoke in the human wheel, and the machinery has to be
+stopped for a time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What have you got hold of now?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The thoughtful man,&rdquo; went on Thrale, still
+staring up at the ceiling, &ldquo;would have asked me to define my
+expression &lsquo;the higher forces.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, old man, I knew that was beyond even your
+capacity,&rdquo; returned Gurney, &ldquo;so I thought we might
+&lsquo;cut the cackle and come to the &rsquo;osses.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale suddenly released his knee and sat upright;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb35" href="#pb35" name=
+"pb35">35</a>]</span>then he moved his chair so that he directly
+confronted his companion.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Gurney,&rdquo; he said, and the pupils
+of his eyes contracted till they looked like black crystal glowing with
+dark red light. &ldquo;Do you realize how some outside control has
+always diverted man&rsquo;s progress; how when nations have tended to
+crystallize into specialized government, some irruption from outside
+has always broken it up? You can trace the principle through all known
+history, but the most marked cases are those of the Egyptians and the
+Incas&mdash;two nations which had developed specialized government to a
+science. There is some power&mdash;whether we can credit it with an
+intelligence in any way comprehensible to us from the feeble basis of
+our own knowledge, I doubt&mdash;but there is some outside power which
+will not permit mankind to crystallize into an organism. From our,
+human, point of view, from the point of view of individual comfort and
+happiness, it would be of enormous benefit to us if we could develop a
+system of specialization and swamp the individual in the community. And
+in times of peace and prosperity that is always the direction in which
+civilization tends to evolve. But beyond a certain point&mdash;as the
+individualists have not failed to point out&mdash;that state of perfect
+government will lead to stagnation, degeneration, death. Now, in the
+little span of time that we know as the history of mankind, there has
+been no world-civilization. As soon as a nation tended to become
+over-civilized and degenerate, some other, younger, more barbarous
+people flowed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb36" href="#pb36" name=
+"pb36">36</a>]</span>over them and wiped them out. In the case of Peru
+the process had gone very far, owing to the advantages of the
+Incas&rsquo; peculiar segregation. But then, you see, the development
+in the East, the new world (I ought to explain that I find the oldest
+civilization of the present epoch in America) reached a point in Spain
+and England which sent them out across a hemisphere to wreck and
+destroy the Incas.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we have now reached a condition when the
+nations are in touch with one another and progress becomes more
+general. We are in sight of a system of European, Colonial and
+Trans-Atlantic Socialism, more or less reciprocal and carrying the
+promise of universal peace. Whence, you ask, is any irruption to come
+that will break up this strong crystallizing system which is admittedly
+to work for the happiness and comfort of the individual? There has been
+much talk of an Asiatic invasion, a rebellious India or an invading
+China, but those civilizations are older than ours; if we can trust the
+precedents of history in this connexion, the conquerors have always
+been the younger race.&rdquo; He broke off abruptly.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney had been sitting fascinated and hypnotized by the
+compulsion of Thrale&rsquo;s personality; he had been held by the keen,
+intent stare of those wonderful dark eyes. When Thrale stopped,
+however, the tension snapped.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; remarked Gurney, &ldquo;I think
+that&rsquo;s a jolly good argument to prove that we have, at last,
+reached a stage of universal progress towards the ideal.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb37" href="#pb37" name=
+"pb37">37</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t conceive,&rdquo; asked Thrale,
+&ldquo;of any cataclysm that would involve a return to the old
+segregation of nations, and bring about a new epoch beginning with
+separated peoples evolving on more or less racial lines?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney pondered for a moment or two and then shook his
+head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Little wonder,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;I had
+often considered this problem, and I could think of no upheaval which
+would bring about the familiar effect of submersion. Years ago there
+was always the possibility of a European war, but even that would have
+only a temporary effect despite the forecast of Mr Wells in <i>The War
+in the Air</i>. No, I considered and wondered if my theory was faulty.
+I was willing to reject it if I could find a flaw....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And then?&rdquo; questioned Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale leaned forward again and once more compelled the
+other&rsquo;s fascinated attention.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And then, when I was in Northern China, seven
+weeks ago, I saw a solution, so appalling, so inconceivably ghastly,
+that I rejected it with horror. For days I went about fighting my own
+conviction. I couldn&rsquo;t believe it! By God, I <i>would</i> not
+believe it!</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There, within a hundred and fifty miles of the
+border of Tibet, the outside forces have planted a seed which has been
+maturing in secret for more than a year. There that seed has taken
+root, and from that centre is spreading more and more rapidly, and it
+may spread over the whole world. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb38"
+href="#pb38" name="pb38">38</a>]</span>It is like some filthily
+poisonous and incredibly prolific weed, and its seeds, now that it has
+once established itself, are borne by every wind, dropping here and
+there in an ever-widening circle, every seed becoming a fresh centre of
+distribution outwards.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But what, in Heaven&rsquo;s name, is the
+weed?&rdquo; whispered Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;A new disease&mdash;a new plague&mdash;unknown by
+man, against which, so far as we know, he has no weapon. In those
+scattered villages among the mountains there are no men left to work.
+Everything is done by women. They are prohibited more fiercely than any
+leper settlement. No one dares to approach within five miles of them.
+But every week or two another village is smitten, and the inhabitants
+fly in terror and carry the infection with them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Gurney, it&rsquo;s come to Europe! There are new
+centres of distribution in Russia at the present time. If it
+isn&rsquo;t stopped it will come to England. And it doesn&rsquo;t
+decimate the population. It wipes the men clean out of existence; not
+one man in ten thousand, the Chinese say, escapes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is it possible that this can be the means of the
+&lsquo;higher forces&rsquo; I spoke of, the means to segregate the
+nations once more?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb39" href=
+"#pb39" name="pb39">39</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch3" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">III&mdash;</span>LONDON&rsquo;S
+INCREDULITY</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s mission was no easy one.
+England, it appeared, was slightly preoccupied at the moment, and had
+no ear for warnings. Generally, he was either treated as a fanatic and
+laughed at, or he was told that he greatly exaggerated the danger and
+that these matters could safely be entrusted to the Local Government
+Board, which had brilliantly handled the recent outbreak of
+foot-and-mouth disease. But there were some exceptions to this
+rule.</p>
+<p class="par">His first definite statement had been made to his own
+editor, Watson Maxwell of the <i>Daily Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Maxwell, when he had given
+Thrale a patient hearing, &ldquo;it is certainly a matter that needs
+attention. Would you care to go out as our special commissioner and
+report at length?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t time,&rdquo; replied Thrale.
+&ldquo;The thing is urgent.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Maxwell brought his eyebrows together and looked keenly
+at his correspondent. &ldquo;Do you really think it&rsquo;s so serious,
+Thrale?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;After all, what evidence have you,
+beyond the Chinese reports?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know there are several cases in Russia,&rdquo;
+said Thrale. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb40" href="#pb40" name=
+"pb40">40</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes; I don&rsquo;t doubt that,&rdquo;
+returned Maxwell, with a touch of impatience. &ldquo;But unless you can
+bring evidence to show that this new disease is as deadly as you say,
+it is not a matter that I could give space to at the present time. For
+one thing, the <i>Evening Chronicle</i> has been making rather a
+feature of it for the last three or four days, and I don&rsquo;t see
+that I could do much unless we had some special inside information.
+Then, the House will be sitting again next week, and it seems to me not
+altogether improbable that we shall have a stormy session, which will
+mean that a good deal of ordinary matter will have to give
+way....&rdquo; He broke off, and then added, with a friendly smile:
+&ldquo;But if you would go out as our commissioner, we should be glad
+to make you a proposal.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There will be no need for a commissioner in a
+week&rsquo;s time,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t seem
+to understand that I&rsquo;m not looking out for a job. I don&rsquo;t
+want to write articles; I don&rsquo;t want to be paid for the
+information I can supply. I foresee a grave danger, which is growing
+more grave hourly by reason of the Russian Government&rsquo;s
+censorship of all reports referring to the plague. It is a danger which
+should be understood at once. If you send any commissioner, send the
+cleverest physician you can find, and a bacteriologist.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">There could be no doubt of Thrale&rsquo;s earnestness,
+and Maxwell, who was not only a very capable editor, but also an able
+and intellectual man, was impressed. Unfortunately, the interests of
+his proprietors at that moment necessitated a great effort <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb41" href="#pb41" name="pb41">41</a>]</span>to prop
+up the very unstable Liberal Government, which had been in power for
+four years and was now on its last legs. It was so essential from the
+proprietors&rsquo; point of view&mdash;three of them were on the
+Government front bench&mdash;that the dissolution should be postponed
+until such time as the Ministry could go to the country with a
+reasonable prospect of success. A tentative English Church
+Disestablishment Bill was to be introduced in the coming session, and
+it was hoped that if the Government had to go to the country they could
+make a platform on that one clear issue. It was a good Bill, designed
+to win the Nonconformist vote, without completely alienating the High
+Church party. In other words, the Government was eager at that moment
+to please the majority of the electors, which is, presumably, the
+highest object of a representative government.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it had been at any other time,&rdquo; said
+Maxwell, and pushed his chair back.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale understood that the interview was at an end. He
+rose from his chair and picked up his hat.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall be glad to print any articles you care
+to send us,&rdquo; said Maxwell, with his kind smile, &ldquo;but I
+can&rsquo;t undertake a campaign, you understand, at the present
+moment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">It was nearly four o&rsquo;clock, but Thrale just
+managed to catch Groves of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Groves had his hat on, and was just off to tea at
+his club when Thrale&rsquo;s name was sent in to him. He <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb42" href="#pb42" name="pb42">42</a>]</span>told the
+messenger that he would see Mr Thrale in the waiting-room
+downstairs.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had had some experience of newspaper methods, and
+he inferred that the reception was equivalent to a refusal to see him.
+He knew what those interviews in downstairs waiting-rooms implied. It
+was not the first time that he had been treated like an insurance agent
+or a tradesman and told, in effect, &ldquo;Not to-day, thank
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In this case he was mistaken in his inference. Groves
+had had an eye on Thrale&rsquo;s articles for some time past, and
+though he thought it a diplomatic essential to keep his man waiting for
+ten minutes, he had no intention of offending him.</p>
+<p class="par">Groves came into the waiting-room with a slightly
+abstracted air. &ldquo;Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Thrale,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;The fact is, that I wanted to finish before I left. Did
+you want to see me about anything particular?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; returned Thrale; &ldquo;I have some
+facts about the new plague which ought to be given publicity at
+once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Groves pursed his thick lips and shook his head.
+&ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;will you come and have tea
+with me at the club?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He took Thrale&rsquo;s assent for granted, and went out
+abruptly, leaving his guest to follow.</p>
+<p class="par">In the taxicab Groves talked of nothing but the lack of
+originality in invention in reference to aeroplanes. He seemed to take
+it as a personal affront that no workable adaptation of the aeroplane
+had been made to short-distance passenger traffic. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb43" href="#pb43" name="pb43">43</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Indeed, it was not till after &ldquo;tea&rdquo;&mdash;in
+Groves&rsquo; case an euphemism for whisky and soda&mdash;that he would
+approach the subject of Thrale&rsquo;s visit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The fact is, my dear fellow,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;that our campaign hasn&rsquo;t caught on. I&rsquo;m going to let
+it down gently and drop it after to-day&rsquo;s edition. You see,
+we&rsquo;ve got to get the Government out this session, and I&rsquo;m
+going to start a new campaign. Can&rsquo;t give you any particulars
+yet, but you&rsquo;ll see the beginning of it next Monday.&rdquo; Like
+Maxwell, Groves differentiated between the uses of the singular and
+plural pronouns in speaking of his work. There was a distinction to be
+inferred between the initiation and responsibilities of the editor and
+those of his proprietors.</p>
+<p class="par">Groves was not at all impressed by any earnestness or
+forebodings. He seemed to think that a touch of the plague in London
+might be rather a good thing in some ways. People wanted waking
+up&mdash;especially to the importance of getting rid of the present
+Government.</p>
+<p class="par">It appeared that Thrale&rsquo;s articles on other
+subjects would be acceptable to the readers of the <i>Evening
+Chronicle</i>, but there was no suggestion that he should go out to
+Russia as a special commissioner.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Grant Lacey, of <i>The Times</i>, listened
+seriously to Thrale&rsquo;s exposition, and then, in a finely delivered
+speech which lasted twenty minutes, proved to his own complete
+satisfaction that Thrale&rsquo;s <span class="corr" id="xd23e901"
+title="Source: premisses">premises</span>, deductions, and whole
+argument were thoroughly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb44" href=
+"#pb44" name="pb44">44</a>]</span>unsound. Lacey, however, was greatly
+interested in the condition of Russia, and promised Thrale magnificent
+terms if he would tour St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw&mdash;and
+then return and contribute a special series of articles. References to
+the new plague would not be prohibited in the series if Thrale still
+found any cause for alarm.</p>
+<p class="par">In all, Thrale had interviews with the editors of nine
+important journals; the other six developed on the general lines
+already indicated&mdash;either he was not taken seriously or was told
+that the danger was greatly exaggerated. The real causes of his failure
+were two:&mdash;first, the critical position of the Government; second,
+the precocious campaign of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>&mdash;the
+latter had taken the wind out of the sails of less enterprising
+journals.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale&rsquo;s next step was to obtain introductions to
+Ministers and prominent members of the Opposition; but from them he
+received even less attention&mdash;he did not obtain interviews on many
+occasions&mdash;and, if possible, less encouragement. The President of
+the Local Government Board informed him that the matter was already
+engaging that department&rsquo;s energies; the others were all
+manifestly preoccupied with more immediate interests.</p>
+<p class="par">But little less than a fortnight after the initiation of
+his campaign Thrale received a special message from the editor of the
+<i>Daily Post</i>. It was nearly midnight, and the messenger was
+waiting with a taxicab.</p>
+<p class="par">The message ran: &ldquo;Received through news agency
+report of three cases of plague in Berlin. Can you come down at
+once?&mdash;Maxwell.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb45" href=
+"#pb45" name="pb45">45</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch4" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">IV&mdash;</span>MR BARKER&rsquo;S
+FLAIR</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Jasper Thrale, in the partial exposition of his
+philosophy (if that description is not too large for such vague
+imaginings), had included very definite reference to certain
+&ldquo;higher forces&rdquo; to which he had attributed peculiar powers
+of interference in humanity&rsquo;s management of its own concerns.
+Doubtless these powers had control of various instruments, and were
+able to exercise their influence in any direction and by any means. In
+the present case it would seem that they were working in devious and
+subtle ways&mdash;and in this at least they differed not at all from
+the methods attributable to that we have called Providence, or the Laws
+of Nature; any assumed guide or irrefragible, incomprehensible
+ordination. It is a common characteristic of these forces that they
+seem able to control the inconceivably great and the inconceivably
+small with equal certitude.</p>
+<p class="par">Not that George Gosling touched any limits. He was
+moderately large in body and small in intellect, but neither the
+physical excess nor the mental deficiency marked him out from his
+fellow men. In the office, indeed, he was regarded by the firm and his
+colleagues as a capable man of business whose <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb46" href="#pb46" name=
+"pb46">46</a>]</span>embonpoint was quite consistent with his
+employment by a firm of wholesale provision merchants.</p>
+<p class="par">On the Thursday morning that saw the announcement in the
+morning papers that a case of the new plague was reported in Berlin,
+Gosling was called into the partners&rsquo; private office on some
+matter of accountancy.</p>
+<p class="par">The senior partner of Barker and Prince was eager,
+grasping and imaginative; his name had originally been German, and
+ended, in &ldquo;stein,&rdquo; but he had changed it for the
+convenience of his English connexion. Prince was a large rubicund man,
+friendly and noisy in his manners, but accounted a shrewd buyer.</p>
+<p class="par">It was not until Gosling was about to depart that the
+higher forces turned their attention to Barbican and then they suddenly
+urged Gosling to say, without premeditation on his part,</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I see there&rsquo;s a case of this &rsquo;ere new
+plague in Berlin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Prince laughed and winked at his subordinate.
+&ldquo;Some of us&rsquo;ll have to start a hareem, soon; who
+knows?&rdquo; he said, and laughed again, more loudly than ever.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose you haf not heard any other reports,
+eh?&rdquo; asked Mr Barker.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, curiously enough, I &rsquo;ave,&rdquo; said
+Gosling. &ldquo;A young feller who used to lodge with us five years
+back, come &rsquo;ome from Russia about a fortnight since, and &rsquo;e
+tells me as the plague&rsquo;s spreadin&rsquo; like wildfire in
+Russia.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Prince laughed again, and Mr Barker seemed
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb47" href="#pb47" name=
+"pb47">47</a>]</span>about to turn his attention to other matters, when
+the higher forces sent Gosling the one great inspiration of his life.
+It came to him with startling suddenness, but he gave utterance to it
+as simply and with as little verve as he spoke his &ldquo;good
+morning&rdquo; to the office-boy.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I been thinkin&rsquo;, sir,&rdquo; he said (he
+had never once thought of it until this moment), &ldquo;as it might be
+well to keep a neye on this plague, so to speak.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! Zo?&rdquo; said Mr Barker; a phrase which
+Gosling correctly interpreted as the expression of a desire for the
+elucidation of his last remark.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I been thinkin&rsquo;, if you&rsquo;ll
+excuse me, sir,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;as though the plague&rsquo;s
+only in the bud, so to speak, at the present time, it seems very likely
+to spread so far as we can judge; and that what with quarantine,
+p&rsquo;raps, and p&rsquo;raps shortage of labour and so on, it might
+mean &rsquo;igher prices for our stuff.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Zo!&rdquo; said Mr Barker, but this time the
+monosyllable was reflective. The great inspiration had found fruitful
+soil.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Brince,&rdquo; continued Barker after a
+minute&rsquo;s thought, &ldquo;I haf a flair. We will buy heavily at
+once. But not through our London house, no; or others will follow us
+too quickly. <i>You</i> must not go, we will zend Ztewart from Dundee,
+it will zeem that we prepare for the zhipping strike in the north. We
+buy heavily; yes? I haf a flair.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But, I say,&rdquo; said Mr Prince, who had the
+greatest confidence in his partner&rsquo;s insight, &ldquo;I say,
+Barker, d&rsquo;you think this plague&rsquo;s serious?&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb48" href="#pb48" name=
+"pb48">48</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I am putting money on it, ain&rsquo;t I?&rdquo;
+asked Barker.</p>
+<p class="par">Prince and Gosling exchanged a scared glance. Until that
+moment it had not come home to either of them that it was possible for
+English affairs to be affected by this strange and deadly disease.</p>
+<p class="par">The remainder of the conversation was complicated and
+exceedingly technical.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">When he came back into the counting-house, Gosling
+looked unnaturally thoughtful.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anything gorne wrong?&rdquo; asked his crony,
+Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with the &rsquo;ouse,
+if that&rsquo;s what you mean,&rdquo; replied Gosling mysteriously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What then?&rdquo; asked Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s this &rsquo;ere new plague,&rdquo;
+returned Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Tchah! That&rsquo;s all my eye,&rdquo; said
+Flack. He was a narrow-chested, high-shouldered man of sixty, with a
+thin grey beard, and he had a consistently incredulous mind.</p>
+<p class="par">Out here in the counting-house, Gosling&rsquo;s thrill
+of fear was rapidly subsiding, and he had no intention of passing over
+his own important part in the house&rsquo;s decision to buy for a rise;
+so he bulged out his cheeks, shook his head and said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not by a long chalk it ain&rsquo;t, Flack; not by
+a long chalk. There was that young feller, Thrale, as I was
+tellin&rsquo; you about; &rsquo;e gave me a hidea or two, and now
+s&rsquo;mornin&rsquo; we &rsquo;ave this very serious news from
+Berlin.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb49" href="#pb49" name=
+"pb49">49</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Papers &rsquo;ave to make the worst of
+everything,&rdquo; said Flack. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s their
+livin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anyways,&rdquo; continued Gosling, &ldquo;I put
+it quite straight to the &rsquo;ouse this mornin&rsquo;, as we might do
+worse under the circumstances than buy &rsquo;eavily....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You <i>did</i>?&rdquo; asked Flack, and he cocked
+up his spectacles and looked at Gosling underneath them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; replied Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What did Mr Barker say to that?&rdquo; asked
+Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He took my advice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes, you don&rsquo;t tell me
+so?&rdquo; said Flack, his spectacles on his forehead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m now about to dictate various letters to
+our &rsquo;ouse in Dundee,&rdquo; replied Gosling, dropping his voice
+to a whisper, and assuming an air of mysterious importance,
+&ldquo;advising them to send our Mr Stewart to Vienna immediate, from
+where &rsquo;e is to proceed to Berlin. &rsquo;E is, also, to
+&rsquo;ave private instructions from the &rsquo;ouse as to the extent
+of &lsquo;is buyin&rsquo;&mdash;which I may tell you in confidence,
+Flack, will be enormous&mdash;e-<i>nor</i>mous.&rdquo; Gosling raised
+his head slowly on the first syllable, brought it down with a jerk on
+the second, and left the third largely to the imagination.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But d&rsquo;yer mean to tell me,&rdquo;
+expostulated Flack, &ldquo;as all this is on account of this plague?
+They been usin&rsquo; that as a blind, my boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling laid a bunch of swollen fingers on his
+colleague&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;I tell you, Flack, old boy,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;that this is serious. When Mr Barker took up my advice, as
+&rsquo;e did very quick, Mr Prince said, &lsquo;You don&rsquo;t tell me
+as you really take this plague serious, Barker?&rsquo; &rsquo;e said.
+And Mr Barker looked up <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb50" href=
+"#pb50" name="pb50">50</a>]</span>and says, <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e1025" title="Source: &ldquo;">&lsquo;</span>I&rsquo;m goin&rsquo;
+to put all my money on it.&rsquo;&rdquo; Gosling paused and then
+repeated, &ldquo;Mr Barker says as &rsquo;e&rsquo;s goin&rsquo; to put
+all our money on it, Flack.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes!&rdquo; said Flack. Here,
+indeed, was an argument strong enough to break down even his consistent
+incredulity. &ldquo;But d&rsquo;yer mean to tell me,&rdquo; he
+persisted, &ldquo;that Mr Barker thinks as it&rsquo;ll come to
+England?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We-el, you know,&rdquo; returned Gosling,
+&ldquo;we need not, p&rsquo;raps go quite so far as that. But it may go
+far enough to interfere with European markets, there may be trouble
+with quarantine, and such-like....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah, well, that,&rdquo; said Flack with an air of
+relief. &ldquo;Jus&rsquo; <i>so</i>, jus&rsquo; <i>so</i>. Mr Barker
+can see as far through a brick wall as most people, and so I&rsquo;ve
+always said.&rdquo; He dropped his spectacles on to his nose again, and
+returned to his interrupted accountancy.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling went fussily into his own room and rang for his
+typist&mdash;a competent and presentable young woman, among whose
+duties that of turning her superior&rsquo;s letters into equivalent
+English was not the lightest.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Gosling was very full of importance that day, and
+during lunch he wore the air of a man who had secret and valuable
+information. He was too well versed in City methods and too loyal to
+his own house to give any hint of Barker and Prince&rsquo;s
+speculations in Austria and Germany; but when the subject of the new
+plague inevitably came into the conversation, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb51" href="#pb51" name="pb51">51</a>]</span>he spoke
+with an authority that was heightened by the hint of reserve implicit
+in his every dictum.</p>
+<p class="par">When the latest joke on the subject, fresh from the
+Stock Exchange, had been retailed by one of the usual group of
+lunchers, and had been received with the guffaws it merited, Gosling
+suddenly screwed his face to an unaccustomed seriousness and said,
+&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s serious, you know, extremely serious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">And by degrees, from this and many other better informed
+sources, the rumour ran through the City that the new plague was
+serious, extremely serious. That afternoon there was a slight drop of
+prices in certain industrial shares, and a slight rise in wheat and
+some other imported food stuffs; fluctuations which could not be
+attributed to ordinary causes. Mr Barker&rsquo;s foresight was
+justified once again in the eyes of Gosling and Flack. Before five
+o&rsquo;clock another letter was posted to Dundee, enforcing haste.</p>
+<p class="par">In the bosom of his family that evening, Gosling was a
+little pompous, and talked of economy. But his wife and daughters,
+although they assumed an air of interest, were quite convinced that the
+head of the house in Wisteria Grove was making the most of a rumour for
+his own purposes.</p>
+<p class="par">As Blanche said to Millie, later, father was always
+finding some excuse for keeping them short of dress money. That five
+pounds had proved inadequate to supply even their immediate
+necessities, and they were already meditating another attack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We simply must get another three pounds
+somehow,&rdquo; said Millie. And Blanche quite agreed with her.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb52" href="#pb52" name=
+"pb52">52</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">V&mdash;</span>THE CLOSED
+DOOR</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">There was a lull for forty-eight hours after that
+announcement of the case of the new plague in Berlin, and Maxwell was
+beginning to regret his headlines when the news began to come in, this
+time in volume. The Russian censorship had broken down, and the news
+agencies were suddenly flooded with reports. There were several
+thousand cases of the plague in Eastern Russia; the north and south
+were affected, many men were dying in such towns as Kharkov and Rostov;
+there were a dozen cases in St Petersburg; there was a such a rush of
+reports that it was quite impossible to distinguish between those that
+were probably true and those that were certainly false.</p>
+<p class="par">The morning papers gave as much space as they could
+spare, and had even broken up some of the matter dealing with the
+arrangements for the opening of Parliament on that day. But the evening
+papers had news that put all previous reports in the shade. Eleven more
+cases were reported in Berlin<span class="corr" id="xd23e1073" title=
+"Not in source">,</span> three in Hamburg, five in Prague and one in
+Vienna<span class="corr" id="xd23e1076" title="Not in source">.</span>
+But more important, more thrilling still, was the news that H.I.H. the
+Grand Duke Kirylo, the Tsar&rsquo;s younger brother, had died of the
+plague in Moscow, and Professor Schlesinger in Berlin. Until that
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb53" href="#pb53" name=
+"pb53">53</a>]</span>startling announcement came, the English public
+had incomprehensibly imagined that only peasants, Chinamen and people
+of the lower social grades were attacked by this strange new
+infection.</p>
+<p class="par">In the later editions it was reported on good authority
+that Professor Schlesinger had been observing a sample of the blood of
+the first case of plague that had been recognized in Berlin.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless the majority of readers, after glancing
+through the obituary notices of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Kirylo and of the
+world-famed bacteriologist, turned to the account&mdash;only slightly
+abbreviated&mdash;of the opening of Parliament. And in many households
+the subject of the new plague gave place to the fiercely controversial
+topic of the English Church Disestablishment Bill, which had been
+indicated in the King&rsquo;s Speech as a measure that was to be
+introduced in the forthcoming session. Many opponents of the Bill
+coupled the two chief items of news and said that the plague was a
+warning against infidelity. It may be assumed that they found
+sufficient warrant for the killing of a few thousand Russians,
+including a prince of the blood and a great German scientist, in the
+acknowledged importance of England among the nations. The death of half
+a million or so Chinamen in the first instance had been a delicate
+hint; now came the more urgent warning. Who knew but that if this
+sacrilegious Bill were passed, England herself might not be smitten.
+When warnings are disregarded, judgments follow. The Evangelicals found
+a weapon ready to their hands.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb54"
+href="#pb54" name="pb54">54</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">But what precisely was the nature of the new plague,
+none of the journals was as yet able to say. The symptoms had not as
+yet been &ldquo;described&rdquo; by any medical authority, for it
+appeared that, contrary to modern precedent, the doctor himself,
+despite all precautions, was peculiarly subject to infection. Out of
+the eleven new cases in Berlin, no less than four were medical men.</p>
+<p class="par">From the layman&rsquo;s point of view the symptoms were
+briefly as follows: Firstly, violent pains at the base of the skull,
+followed by a period of comparative relief which lasted from two to
+five hours. Then, a numbness in the extremities, followed by rapid
+paralysis. Death ensued in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after
+the pains were first experienced. No case, as yet, was known to have
+recovered. A well-known physician in London gave it as his opinion that
+the disease was a hitherto unknown form of cerebro-spinal meningitis of
+unexampled virulence. He protested that the word &ldquo;plague&rdquo;
+was a false description, but that word had already been impressed on
+the public mind, and the disease was spoken of as the &ldquo;new
+plague&rdquo; until the end.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The next morning all London was reading a
+heavily-leaded article by Jasper Thrale. It appeared first in the
+<i>Daily Post</i>, with the announcement that it was not copyright, and
+all the evening papers took it up, and some of them reprinted it in its
+entirety.</p>
+<p class="par">The article began by pointing out that in the recent
+history of civilization Europe had been subject <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb55" href="#pb55" name="pb55">55</a>]</span>to a
+long succession of pestilences. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth
+centuries, wrote Thrale, the Black Death, now commonly supposed to be a
+form of the bubonic plague, was practically endemic in England. In more
+recent times small-pox had been responsible for enormous mortality
+among all classes, and, in our own day, tuberculosis. In the two former
+examples, Thrale pointed out, and in many other diseases, infectious or
+contagious, or both, these pestilences had gradually lost virulence. By
+the elimination of those most susceptible to infection and incapable to
+resist the onslaught of the disease, and by the survival of those whose
+vitality was strong enough either to resist attack or to achieve
+recovery, mankind at last were gradually becoming immune against
+certain infections which had prevailed in the past. And in a greater or
+less degree this immunity was without doubt being obtained against a
+whole host of lesser ills. This comparative immunity, in fact, was one
+of the means of man&rsquo;s evolution towards a more perfect physical
+body.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But let us consider for a moment,&rdquo; wrote
+Thrale, &ldquo;the appalling danger which threatens us when we are
+attacked by a pestilence which is entirely new to humanity; new, so far
+as we know, to the world. In the middle of the fourteenth century the
+Black Death is recorded in some places to have killed two-thirds of the
+whole population, and, notwithstanding the modern improvement in
+sanitation and general hygiene, there is no inherent reason why another
+pestilence may not appear, which may be even more deadly. And we are
+faced at the present <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb56" href="#pb56"
+name="pb56">56</a>]</span>moment with the awful threat that such a
+pestilence has appeared, the pestilence commonly known as the
+&lsquo;new plague.&rsquo; There is no reason why we should consider the
+appearance as without precedent in history; there is no reason why we
+should regard its coming as outside the laws of common probability;
+finally, and most decisively, there is no reason why England should not
+be smitten.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;According to report among the Chinese, this
+&lsquo;new plague&rsquo; has been spasmodically epidemic in Tibet for
+more than a century. We have, as yet, no certain facts upon which to
+base any hypothesis, but is it not credible that during that time some
+bacterium or bacillus&mdash;hitherto harmlessly parasitic, perhaps, in
+the blood of lower animals&mdash;has changed its life habit? In the
+isolated and sparsely inhabited regions of Tibet, it is possible that
+for many thousand years the assumed bacterium was never bred in the
+blood of man; it is possible that when it first found a new host it was
+comparatively harmless to him, but within a hundred years it may have
+become so altered by new conditions that it has developed into what is
+practically a new species. If these theories are relatively true, it is
+not unlikely that this new bacterium is working out its own destruction
+by the destruction of its hosts. It may be that it is one of those
+blind alleys of evolution which reach a certain stage of development
+and then disappear. But meanwhile what of mankind? We know so little of
+the history of microscopic life. There is a whole world of evolution in
+process of which we have no conception, and at this stage, whether my
+hypothesis be a possible <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb57" href=
+"#pb57" name="pb57">57</a>]</span>one or not, we are at least sure that
+an unknown organism&mdash;animal or vegetable&mdash;has become visible
+to us in its effects and may alter the whole history of mankind.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I lay stress on these aspects, because we are so
+hide-bound, so restricted, so conventional in our ideas that we assume,
+without thought, that the process of life as we know of it from a few
+thousand years of history can never be interrupted. In our few years of
+individual existence we become accustomed to certain apparent laws of
+cause and effect, and will not believe that there can be any exception
+to those assumed laws. But, now, in the face of recent evidence, it is
+absolutely essential that we should realize instantly and practically
+that we are threatened with a new factor in life, which imperils the
+whole human race. It is no longer safe to comfort ourselves with the
+belief&mdash;begotten of our vanity&mdash;that the world was
+necessarily made for man. It behoves us to take measures for our
+protection without delay, to undertake our own cause and trust no
+longer in any beneficent Providence that works always for our ultimate
+benefit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;These measures of protection are clearly
+indicated. We must close our doors against the invasion of the plague.
+Quarantine will not protect us; we must have no traffic with Europe
+until the danger is past. By the happy accident of our position we can
+become isolated from the rest of the world. We must close our doors
+before it is too late.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb58" href=
+"#pb58" name="pb58">58</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">If the people had not been seriously scared by the
+sudden irruption of news on the day preceding that on which this
+article was published, they would have ignored Thrale&rsquo;s
+hyperboles&mdash;or laughed. But, caught in a moment of agitation and
+fear, a certain section of the crowd took up Thrale&rsquo;s suggestion,
+talked about the &ldquo;closed door,&rdquo; held meetings, and started
+propaganda. The Press, with its genius for appreciating and following
+public opinion, also took up the suggestion, and was automatically
+divided into two sections, recognizable as Liberal and
+Conservative.</p>
+<p class="par"><i>The Times</i> took command of the situation with a
+leader, in which Thrale&rsquo;s argument was pounded, rather than
+picked, to pieces; but the <i>Daily Mail</i> produced more effect with
+two special articles contributed, one by a bacteriologist, the other by
+a professor of economics. The first had little weight&mdash;all
+argument under that head was as yet founded on the most uncertain
+hypotheses. The second was so convincing that the less ardent
+supporters of the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo; policy were shaken in their
+convictions.</p>
+<p class="par">The writer of the economic article pointed out that an
+England with closed doors could not feed herself for a month. He was
+scrupulously fair in his argument, and was at great pains to show that
+even if preparation was instantly made to lay in large stores of grain
+from Canada, tinned meats from America, and food-stuffs generally from
+the many <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb59" href="#pb59" name=
+"pb59">59</a>]</span>places which were as yet free from any taint of
+plague, it would still be impossible to provide for more than a three
+months&rsquo; isolation. Then, leaving this aspect of the question, he
+went on to show in detail that even if the food could be supplied, the
+practical cessation of our enormous foreign trade would mean the
+destruction of England&rsquo;s commerce, and he wound up with an
+earnest exhortation to the country at large, warning the people to
+beware of scaremongers, pessimists, and opportunists who had their own
+ends to serve, and cared nothing for the general welfare. It was an
+excellent article in every way; quite one of the best that the <i>Daily
+Mail</i> had ever published. And as this, too, was declared free of any
+copyright restrictions, it was largely circulated.</p>
+<p class="par">The <i>Daily Post</i> replied next morning by pointing
+out that the celebrated professor of economics was nullifying all his
+own previous utterances on the case for Tariff Reform, but that retort
+carried little weight. No one cared if the professor contradicted
+himself; anyone, except the faddists, could see that the argument of
+the article was sound, in fact incontrovertible. What had to be done
+was to put pressure on the Local Government Board. It was true that the
+<i>Daily Post</i>, the semi-official organ of the Government, affirmed
+that the Board in question was alert and active, but that announcement
+was regarded as a clich&eacute;; what was wanted were particulars of
+the preventive measures that were being taken.</p>
+<p class="par">The members of the great Gosling family, in offices,
+warehouses and shops followed the line of <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb60" href="#pb60" name="pb60">60</a>]</span>least resistance, while
+making some assertion of their rights as citizens.</p>
+<p class="par">George Gosling&rsquo;s arguments with his crony Flack
+were excellently representative.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What yer think of this &lsquo;closed door&rsquo;
+business?&rdquo; asked Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goin&rsquo; a bit <i>too</i> far, in my
+opinion,&rdquo; returned Gosling judicially.</p>
+<p class="par">Flack&rsquo;s natural incredulity had inclined him in
+the same direction, but his colleague&rsquo;s certainty swung him round
+at once.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t so sure o&rsquo; that,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;Looks to me as things is going pretty bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bad enough, I grant you,&rdquo; returned Gosling.
+&ldquo;But there isn&rsquo;t no need for us to lose our &rsquo;eads
+over it. Take it all round, you know, it&rsquo;s pretty certain as
+things isn&rsquo;t as bad as is made out, whereas, on the other
+&rsquo;and, the &lsquo;closed door&rsquo; policy&rsquo;d mean ruin and
+starvation for &rsquo;undreds of thousands&mdash;there&rsquo;s no
+gettin&rsquo; round that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Better a few &rsquo;undred thousands than the
+&rsquo;ole male population,&rdquo; said Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it come to that, but it won&rsquo;t; no fear,
+not by a long chalk, it won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Gosling.
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s got to be done is to get the Local Government Board
+to work. We&rsquo;ve got to &rsquo;ave a regular system o&rsquo;
+quarantine established, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to
+&rsquo;ave.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">It did, indeed, appear the most practical form of
+prevention at the moment; it is hard to see what other measures could
+have been adopted. The supporters of the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo;
+policy soon began to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb61" href="#pb61"
+name="pb61">61</a>]</span>lose adherents. The scheme was obviously
+alarmist, far-fetched and utterly impracticable....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Through February and the early part of March the
+plague spread through Central Europe, but not with an alarming
+rapidity.</p>
+<p class="par">In the second week of March, Berlin was reporting a
+weekly roll of over five hundred deaths attributable to this cause, and
+Vienna was second with between four and five hundred. In St Petersburg
+and Moscow the figures were no higher, and there were as yet
+comparatively few cases in France, and none in Spain or Portugal.</p>
+<p class="par">Many authorities were of opinion that the mortality had
+reached the maximum, and that the plague would work itself out in the
+course of a few more weeks. Moreover it appeared that the early reports
+of the highly infectious character of the plague must have been grossly
+exaggerated, for as yet there had been not a single case in the British
+Isles despite the enormous traffic between England and the Continent.
+It is true that the strictest quarantine had been established&mdash;it
+had been ascertained that the period of gestation of the germ was about
+fifty hours&mdash;but not one single case had so far been detained in
+quarantine ships or hospitals. It was argued from this that the plague
+was not infectious at all in the ordinary sense, and only mildly
+contagious; that it flourished in certain centres and was not easily
+transferable from one centre to another.</p>
+<p class="par">The only aspect of the thing that was seriously
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb62" href="#pb62" name=
+"pb62">62</a>]</span>alarming was the horrible mortality among doctors
+and the specialists who were endeavouring to recognize and isolate the
+characteristic germ of the disease. Nine English experts who had dared
+martyrdom in the cause of science had gone to Berlin to make
+investigations, and not one of them had returned<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e1183" title="Not in source">.</span> As a consequence of this
+strange susceptibility of the investigator, whether medical man or
+bacteriologist, there was still an extraordinary ignorance of the
+general nature and action of the disease.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, despite this one intimidating aspect of
+the plague, the general attitude in the middle of March was that the
+quarantine arrangements were enormously impeding trade and should be
+relaxed<span class="corr" id="xd23e1188" title="Not in source">.</span>
+The foreign governments were alive to the seriousness of the scourge,
+and were doing all in their power to prevent infection. There had been
+a scare, but people were calm again, now, and able to realize the
+extent of the earlier exaggerations.</p>
+<p class="par">The Government passed the second reading of the English
+Church Disestablishment Bill by a majority of nineteen, before the
+Easter recess, and the Goslings, who had grown used to the plague,
+whose chief attitude towards it was that it was an infernal nuisance
+which interfered with trade, turned their attention gladly to the new
+topic; they all thought that a general election at that moment would
+result in an overwhelming Conservative majority. And as the Liberals
+had been in power for more than ten years, that eventuality was
+regarded with complacency.</p>
+<p class="par">But at this critical moment&mdash;to the joy of the
+Evangelicals&mdash;the new plague set to work in earnest. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb63" href="#pb63" name="pb63">63</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch6" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VI&mdash;</span>DISASTER</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Russia was smitten. Once more communication was
+cut off from Moscow, this time by a different agent<span class="corr"
+id="xd23e1206" title="Not in source">.</span> The work of the city was
+paralysed. Men were falling dead in the street, and there were only
+women to bury them. A wholesale emigration had begun. The roads were
+choked with people on foot and in carriages, for the trains had ceased
+to run.</p>
+<p class="par">The news filtered in by degrees: it was confirmed,
+contradicted and definitely confirmed again every few hours.</p>
+<p class="par">Then came final confirmation, with the news that
+something approaching war had broken out&mdash;a war of defence.
+Germany had sent troops to the frontier to stem the tide of emigrants
+from smitten Russia and Poland; and Austria-Hungary was following her
+example.</p>
+<p class="par">Parliament re-assembled before the Easter recess had
+expired. The time for more drastic measures had come, and the Premier
+explained to the House that it was proposed to bring in a Bill
+immediately to cut off communication with Europe.</p>
+<p class="par">There can be no doubt that England was now badly scared,
+but centuries of protection had established a belief in security which
+was not easily shaken.</p>
+<p class="par">The enthusiasts for the &ldquo;closed door&rdquo; policy
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb64" href="#pb64" name=
+"pb64">64</a>]</span>found plenty of recruits, but on the other side
+there was a solid body of opinion which maintained that the danger was
+grossly exaggerated. And when the <i>Evening Chronicle</i> came out
+with a long leader and a backing of expert opinion, to prove that the
+&ldquo;Closed Door&rdquo; Bill&mdash;as it was commonly
+called&mdash;was a dodge of the Government&rsquo;s in order to retain
+office, a well-marked reaction followed against the last and terrible
+step of cutting off all communication with Europe; and the Conservative
+party was joined by some avowed Liberals who had personal interests to
+consider in this connexion.</p>
+<p class="par">In committee-rooms, members of the Opposition were
+inclined to be jubilant: &ldquo;If we can throw out the Government on
+this Bill we shall simply sweep the country ... all the manufacturers
+in the North will be with us ... even Scotland, most likely ... we
+should come back with a record majority....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The prospects were so magnificent that there could be no
+hesitation in making a party question of the Bill.</p>
+<p class="par">No time was to be lost, for the Bill was to be rushed,
+it was an emergency measure, and it was proposed that it should become
+law within four days. Preparations were already in hand to carry out
+the provisions enacted.</p>
+<p class="par">An urgent rally of the Opposition was made, and when the
+Bill came up for the second reading the Premier addressed a well-filled
+House. The House was not crowded because a large number of people,
+including many members of Parliament, were on their way to America. All
+the big liners were packed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb65" href=
+"#pb65" name="pb65">65</a>]</span>on their outward voyage and were
+returning, contrary to all precedent, in ballast&mdash;this ballast was
+exclusively food-stuffs.</p>
+<p class="par">The Premier introduced the Bill in a speech which was
+remarkable for its sincerity and earnestness. He outlined the
+arrangements that were being made to feed the community, and showed
+clearly that while communication remained open with America, there was
+no fear of any serious shortage. Pausing for a moment on this question
+of intercourse with America, he made a point of the fact that American
+ports were already closed to emigrants from all European countries with
+the one exception of Great Britain, and that if a single case of plague
+were reported in these islands the difficulties of obtaining
+food-stuffs from America and the Colonies would be enormously
+increased. He wound up by almost imploring the House not to make a
+party question of so urgent and necessary a measure at a time when the
+safety of England was so terribly threatened. He pleaded that at this
+critical moment, unparalleled in the history of humanity, it was the
+duty of every man to sink his own personal interests, to be ready to
+make any sacrifice, for the sake of the community.</p>
+<p class="par">Mr Brampton, the leader of the Opposition, then
+completely destroyed the undoubted effect which had been made upon the
+House. He did not openly speak in a party spirit, but he hinted very
+plainly that the Bill under consideration was a mere subterfuge to win
+votes. He poured contempt upon the fear of the plague, which he
+characterized throughout <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb66" href=
+"#pb66" name="pb66">66</a>]</span>as the &ldquo;Russian
+epidemic,&rdquo; and ended with the advice to keep a cool head, to
+preserve the British spirit of sturdy resistance instead of shutting
+our doors and bringing the country to commercial ruin. &ldquo;Are we
+all cravens,&rdquo; he concluded, &ldquo;scurrying like rabbits to our
+burrows at the first hint of alarm?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The further debate, although lengthy, had comparatively
+little influence; the House divided, and the Government was defeated by
+a majority of nine.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The news was all over the country by ten
+o&rsquo;clock that night, and it was noticeable that a large percentage
+of the younger generation still regarded the danger as &ldquo;rather a
+lark.&rdquo; This threat of the plague held a promise of high
+adventure; youth can only realize the possibility of death in its
+relation to others.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, if this bally old plague did come&rdquo;
+... remarked a young man of twenty-two, who was sitting with a friend
+in the little private bar of the &ldquo;Dun Taw&rdquo; Hotel.</p>
+<p class="par">His friend drew his feet up on to the rungs of his tall
+stool and winked at the barmaid.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, go on. What if it did?&rdquo; remarked that
+young woman.</p>
+<p class="par">The young man considered for a moment and then said:
+&ldquo;Those that got left would have a rare old time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the women as&rsquo;d get left, seems
+to me,&rdquo; replied the barmaid, and scored a point. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb67" href="#pb67" name="pb67">67</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, surely you don&rsquo;t come from this part
+of the world?&rdquo; was the compliment evoked by her wit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not me!&rdquo; was the answer, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a
+Londoner, I am. Only started yesterday, and sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t stay
+long if to-day&rsquo;s a fair sample. There &rsquo;asn&rsquo;t been a
+dozen customers in all day, and they were in such a &rsquo;urry to get
+their tonic and go that I&rsquo;m sure they couldn&rsquo;t &rsquo;ave
+told you whether me &rsquo;air was black or ches&rsquo;nut.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Both men immediately looked at the crown of pretty fair
+hair which had been so churlishly slighted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;First thing I noticed about you,&rdquo; said
+one.</p>
+<p class="par">The other, who had hardly spoken before, took the
+cigarette out of his mouth and remarked: &ldquo;You can never get that
+colour with peroxide.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid looked a little suspicious.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, he means it all right, kid,&rdquo; put in the
+younger man quickly. &ldquo;Dicky&rsquo;s one of the serious sort.
+Besides, he&rsquo;s in that line; travels for a firm of wholesale
+chemists.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Dicky nodded gravely. &ldquo;I could see at once it was
+natural,&rdquo; he remarked with the air of an expert.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! you&rsquo;re one of them that keeps their
+eyes open,&rdquo; returned the barmaid approvingly, and Dicky modestly
+acknowledged the compliment by saying that his business necessitated
+close observation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Most men are as blind as bats,&rdquo; continued
+the barmaid, and the examples she gave from her own experience led to
+an absorbing conversation, which was presently interrupted by the
+shriek of the swing door.</p>
+<p class="par">The new-comer was a small, fair man with a neatly waxed
+moustache. He came up to the counter with <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb68" href="#pb68" name="pb68">68</a>]</span>the air of an
+habitu&eacute;, and remarked, &ldquo;Hallo! where&rsquo;s Cis?
+You&rsquo;re new here, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid, recognizing the marks of a regular
+customer, quietly admitted that this was only her second day at the
+&ldquo;Dun Taw.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been away for two months,&rdquo;
+explained the fair man, and ordered &ldquo;Scotch.&rdquo; He was
+evidently in the mood for company, for he brought up a stool and,
+sitting a little way back from the bar, he began to address his three
+hearers at large.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only came back from Europe this evening,&rdquo;
+he said, &ldquo;and glad to be home, I assure you.&rdquo; He raised his
+left hand with a gesture intended to convey horror, and drank half his
+whisky at a gulp.</p>
+<p class="par">Dicky turned to give his serious attention to the
+narrative which was plainly to follow, and somewhat ostentatiously
+observed the details of the new-comer&rsquo;s dress. Dicky had a
+new-found reputation to maintain. His friend looked bored and a little
+sulky, and tried to continue his conversation with the barmaid, but
+that young woman, appreciating the difference in value between a casual
+and a regular customer, passed a broad hint by with a smile and said:
+&ldquo;Europe? Just fancy!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a place to get out of, I assure
+you,&rdquo; said the fair man. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been over there for
+two months&mdash;Germany and Austria chiefly&mdash;but for the last
+fortnight I&rsquo;ve been wasting my time. There&rsquo;s nothing
+doing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t there?&rdquo; commented Dicky with
+great seriousness. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb69" href="#pb69"
+name="pb69">69</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, we&rsquo;re sick to death of this bally
+plague,&rdquo; put in the other young man quickly. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+been simply nothing else in the papers for the last I don&rsquo;t know
+how long. I want to forget it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The fair man reached forward and put down his empty
+glass on the bar counter. &ldquo;Same again, Miss,&rdquo; he said, and
+then: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll all be more sick of the plague before
+we&rsquo;ve finished with it. It&rsquo;s a terror. If I was to tell you
+a few of the things I&rsquo;ve seen in the past fortnight, I
+don&rsquo;t suppose you&rsquo;d believe me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all right; I&rsquo;d believe you
+quick enough,&rdquo; returned the young man. &ldquo;Point is,
+what&rsquo;s the good of getting yourself in a funk about it?
+Personally I don&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s coming to England. If it
+was it would have been here before this. What I say is ...&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">His pronouncement of opinion ceased abruptly. The fair
+man&rsquo;s behaviour riveted attention. He was gazing past the barmaid
+at the orderly rows of shining glasses and various shaped bottles
+behind her. His mouth was open. He gazed intensely, horribly.</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid backed nervously and looked over her
+shoulder. The two young men hastily rose and pushed back their stools.
+The same thought was in all their minds. This neat, fair man was on the
+verge of delirium tremens.</p>
+<p class="par">In a moment the air of intercourse and joviality that
+had pervaded the little room was dissipated; in place of it had come
+shocked surprise and fear.</p>
+<p class="par">There was an interval of slow desolating silence, and
+then the convulsive grip of the fair man <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb70" href="#pb70" name="pb70">70</a>]</span>shattered the glass he
+held, and the fragments fell tinkling to the floor.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; stammered the
+barmaid&rsquo;s admirer, while the barmaid herself shrank back against
+the shelves and watched nervously. She had had experience.</p>
+<p class="par">The fair man&rsquo;s head was being pulled slowly
+backwards by some invisible force. His eyes, staring straight before
+him, appeared to watch with fierce intensity some point that moved
+steadily up the wall of shelves behind the counter; up till it reached
+the ceiling and began to move over the ceiling toward him.</p>
+<p class="par">Then, quite suddenly, the horrible tension was relaxed;
+his head fell loosely forward and he clapped both hands to the nape of
+his neck. He was breathing loudly in short quick gasps.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, do you think he&rsquo;s ill?&rdquo; asked
+the young man. At the suggestion Dicky made a step towards the
+sufferer; his knowledge of chemistry gave him a professional air.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s come from Europe.... Suppose
+it&rsquo;s the plague,&rdquo; whispered the barmaid.</p>
+<p class="par">And at that the two young men started back. As the words
+were spoken realization swept upon them.</p>
+<p class="par">Mumbling something about &ldquo;get a doctor,&rdquo;
+they rushed for the door. One of them made a wide
+d&eacute;tour&mdash;he had to pass the man who sat doubled forward in
+his chair, frantically gripping the base of his skull.</p>
+<p class="par">Hardly had the clatter of the swing door subsided before
+he fell forward on to the floor. He was groaning now, groaning
+detestably.</p>
+<p class="par">The barmaid whimpered and stared. &ldquo;Women
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb71" href="#pb71" name=
+"pb71">71</a>]</span>don&rsquo;t get it.&rdquo; she said aloud. But she
+kept to her own side of the counter.</p>
+<p class="par">Later the owner of the &ldquo;Dun Taw&rdquo; identified
+the fair man&mdash;from a distance&mdash;as Mr Stewart, of the firm of
+Barker and Prince.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Thrale&rsquo;s &ldquo;higher forces&rdquo; had
+shown their hand.</p>
+<p class="par">The humble and rotund instrument of their choice had
+served his purpose, and he was probably the first man in London to
+receive the news&mdash;a delicate acknowledgment, perhaps, of his
+services.</p>
+<p class="par">The telegram was addressed to the firm, but as neither
+of the heads of the house had arrived, Gosling opened it according to
+precedent.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Gosh!&rdquo; was his sole exclamation, but the
+tone of it stirred the interest of Flack, who turned to see his
+colleague&rsquo;s rather protuberant blue eyes staring with a fishy
+glare at a flimsy sheet of paper which visibly trembled in the hold of
+two clusters of fat fingers.</p>
+<p class="par">Flack lifted his spectacles and holding them on a level
+with his eyebrows, said, &ldquo;Bad news?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling sat down, and in the fever of the moment wiped
+his forehead with his snuff handkerchief, then discovered his mistake
+and laid the handkerchief carelessly on the desk. This infringement of
+his invariable practice produced even more effect upon Flack than the
+staring eyes and wavering fingers. Gosling might be guilty of mild
+histrionics, but not of such a touch as this. The utter neglect of
+decency <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb72" href="#pb72" name=
+"pb72">72</a>]</span>exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna
+could only portend calamity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s sakes, man, what&rsquo;s the
+matter?&rdquo; asked Flack, still taking an observation under his
+spectacles.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s come, Flack,&rdquo; said Gosling
+feebly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in Scotland. Our Mr Stewart died of it in
+Dundee this mornin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Flack rose from his seat and grabbed the telegram, which
+was brief and pregnant. &ldquo;Stewart died suddenly five a.m. Feared
+plague. Macfie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Tchah!&rdquo; said Flack, still staring at the
+telegram. &ldquo;&lsquo;<i>Feared</i> plague.&rsquo; Lost their
+&rsquo;eads, that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;ve done. Pull yourself
+together, man. I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling swallowed elaborately, discovered his bandanna
+on the desk and hastily pocketed it. &ldquo;Might &rsquo;a been
+&rsquo;eart-disease, d&rsquo;you think?&rdquo; he said eagerly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We-el,&rdquo; remarked Flack, &ldquo;I never
+&rsquo;eard as &rsquo;is &rsquo;eart was affected, did you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling held out his hand for the telegram, and made a
+further elaborate study of it, without, however, discovering any
+hitherto unsuspected evidence relating to the unsoundness of
+Stewart&rsquo;s heart.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It says &lsquo;feared,&rsquo; of course,&rdquo;
+he remarked at last. &ldquo;Macfie wouldn&rsquo;t have said feared if
+&rsquo;e&rsquo;d been sure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d &rsquo;ardly have mentioned plague
+in a telegram if they &rsquo;adn&rsquo;t been pretty certain,
+though,&rdquo; argued Flack.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was so upset that he had to go out and get a nip
+of brandy, a thing he had not done since the morning after Blanche was
+born. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb73" href="#pb73" name=
+"pb73">73</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The partners looked grave when they heard the news from
+Dundee, and London generally looked very grave indeed, when they read
+the full details an hour later in the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">Stewart, it appeared, had come straight through from
+Berlin to London via Flushing and Port Victoria, and on landing in
+England he had managed to escape quarantine. His was not an isolated
+case. For some weeks it had been possible for British subjects to get
+past the officials. There was nothing in the regulations to allow such
+an evasion of the order, but it could be managed occasionally. Stewart
+had been told to spare no expense.</p>
+<p class="par">The <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, although it made the most
+of its opportunity in contents bill and headlines, said that there was
+no cause for alarm, that these things were managed better in Great
+Britain than on the Continent; that the case had been isolated from the
+first moment the plague was recognized (about five hours before death),
+that the body had been burned, and that the most extensive and
+elaborate process of disinfection was being carried out&mdash;even the
+sleeping coach in which Stewart had travelled from London to Dundee
+twelve hours before, had been identified and burned also.</p>
+<p class="par">London still looked grave, but was nevertheless a little
+inclined to congratulate itself on the thoroughness of British methods.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll never get it in England, you see if we do,&rdquo;
+was the remark chiefly in vogue among the great Gosling family.</p>
+<p class="par">But twelve hours or so too late, England was beginning
+to regret that the Government had been <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb74" href="#pb74" name="pb74">74</a>]</span>defeated. It was rumoured
+that the Premier had broken down, had immediately resigned his office,
+and would not seek re-election as a private member.</p>
+<p class="par">This rumour was definitely confirmed in the later
+editions of the evening papers. Mr Brampton had been summoned to
+Buckingham Palace and was forming a temporary ministry which was to
+take office. In the circumstances it was deemed inadvisable to plunge
+the country into a general election at that moment.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Mr Stewart died in the small hours of Friday
+morning, and the next day, Saturday, the 14th of April, was the first
+day of panic.</p>
+<p class="par">The day began with comparative quiet. No further case
+had been notified in Great Britain, but telegraphic communication was
+interrupted between London and Russia, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and
+other continental centres. In Germany matters were growing desperate.
+There had been riots and looting. Military law had been declared in
+several towns; in some cases the mob had been fired upon. Business was
+at a standstill, and the plague was spreading like a fire. Between two
+and three hundred cases were reported from Reims, and upwards of fifty
+from Paris....</p>
+<p class="par">Business houses were being closed in the City of London,
+and the banks noted a marked tendency among their depositors to
+withdraw gold; so marked, indeed, that many banks of high standing
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb75" href="#pb75" name=
+"pb75">75</a>]</span>were glad to be able to close their doors at one
+o&rsquo;clock.</p>
+<p class="par">It was on this Saturday morning, also, that the bottom
+suddenly fell out of the money market. For weeks past, prices had been
+falling steadily, but now they dropped to panic figures. Every one was
+selling, there were no buyers left. Consols were quoted at
+53&ndash;1/2.</p>
+<p class="par">The air of London was heavy with foreboding, and
+throughout the morning the gloom grew deeper. The depressed and worried
+faces to be met at every turn contrasted strangely with the brilliance
+of the weather. For April had come with clear skies and soft, warm
+winds.</p>
+<p class="par">As the day advanced the atmosphere of depression became
+continually more marked, and how extraordinary was the effect upon all
+classes may be judged from the fact that less than 5,000 people paid to
+witness the third replay between Barnsley and Everton, in the
+semi-final of the English cup....</p>
+<p class="par">In London, men and women hung aimlessly about the
+streets waiting for the news they dreaded to hear. The theatres were
+deserted. The feeling of gloom was so real that many women afterwards
+believed that the sky had been overcast, whereas Nature was in one of
+her most brilliant moods.</p>
+<p class="par">It was a few minutes past three when the pressure was
+exploded by the report of the final catastrophe. &ldquo;Two more cases
+of plague in Dundee and one in Edinburgh,&rdquo; was the first
+announcement. That would have been enough to show that all the vaunted
+precautions had been useless, and within <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb76" href="#pb76" name="pb76">76</a>]</span>an hour came the
+notification of two further cases. Before six o&rsquo;clock, eight more
+were notified in Dundee, three more in Edinburgh, and one in
+Newcastle.</p>
+<p class="par">The new plague had reached England. It was then that the
+panic began. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb77" href="#pb77" name=
+"pb77">77</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VII&mdash;</span>PANIC</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Gurney, when he left his office on that Saturday,
+was influenced by the general depression. He went to lunch at the
+&ldquo;White Vine,&rdquo; in the Haymarket, quite determined to keep
+himself in hand, to argue himself out of his low spirits.</p>
+<p class="par">He made a beginning at once.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Every one seems to have a fit of the blues.
+Ernst,&rdquo; he remarked to the waiter with a factitious
+cheerfulness.</p>
+<p class="par">Ernst, less polite than usual, shrugged his shoulders.
+&ldquo;There is enough cause already,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Have you had bad news from Germany?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney, feeling that he had probably been rather brutal.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<span lang="de">Ach Gott! &rsquo;s&rsquo;ist bald
+Keiner mehr da</span>,&rdquo; blubbered Ernst, and he wept without
+restraint as he arranged the table, occasionally wiping his eyes with
+his napkin.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m most awfully sorry,&rdquo; murmured the
+embarrassed Gurney, and retreated behind the horror of his evening
+paper. He found small cause for rejoicing there, however, and discarded
+it as soon as his lunch had been brought by the red-eyed Ernst.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb78" href="#pb78" name=
+"pb78">78</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wonder what Mark Tapley would have done,&rdquo;
+Gurney reflected moodily as he attacked his chop.</p>
+<p class="par">There were few other people in the restaurant, and they
+were all silent and engrossed. That dreadful cloud hung over England,
+the spirit of pestilence threatened to take substance, the air was full
+of horror that might at any moment become a visible shape of
+destruction.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney did not finish his lunch, he lighted a cigarette,
+left four shillings on the table, and hurried out into the air.</p>
+<p class="par">He did not look up at the sky as he turned eastwards
+towards Fleet Street; no one looked up at the sky that afternoon. Heads
+and shoulders were burdened by an invisible weight which kept all eyes
+on the ground.</p>
+<p class="par">Fleet Street was full of people who crowded round the
+windows of newspaper offices, not with the eagerness of a general
+election crowd, but with a subdued surliness which ever and again broke
+out in spurts of violent temper.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney, still struggling to maintain his composure,
+found himself unreasonably irritated when a motor-bus driver shouted at
+him to get out of the way. It seemed to Gurney that to be knocked down
+and run over was preferable to being shouted at. The noise of those
+infernal buses was unbearable, so, also, was that dreadful patter of
+feet upon the pavement and the dull murmur of mournful voices. Why, in
+the name of God, could not people keep quiet?</p>
+<p class="par">He bumped into some one on the pavement as he
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb79" href="#pb79" name=
+"pb79">79</a>]</span>scrambled out of the way of the bus, and the man
+swore at him viciously. Gurney responded, and then discovered that the
+man was known to him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hallo,&rdquo; responded the other.</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they stood awkwardly, staring; then Gurney
+said, &ldquo;Any more news?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The man, who was a sub-editor of the <i>Westminster
+Gazette</i>, shook his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going back
+now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was nothing ten minutes
+ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Pretty awful, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; remarked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">The sub-editor shrugged his shoulders and hurried
+away.</p>
+<p class="par">Presently Gurney found himself wedged among the crowd,
+watching the <i>Daily Chronicle</i> window.</p>
+<p class="par">A few minutes after three, a young man with a very white
+face, fastened a type-written message to the glass.</p>
+<p class="par">There was a rapid constriction of the crowd. Those
+behind, Gurney among them, could not read the message, and pressed
+forward. There were cries of &ldquo;What is it?... I can&rsquo;t
+see.... Read it out....&rdquo; Then those in front gave way slightly, a
+wave of eagerness agitated the mass of watchers, and the news ran back
+from the front. &ldquo;Two more cases of plague in Dundee; one in
+Edinburgh.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">And with that the pressure of dread was suddenly
+dissipated, giving place to something kinetic, dynamic. Now it was fear
+that took the people by the throat: active, compelling fear. Men looked
+at each other with terror and something of hate in their <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb80" href="#pb80" name="pb80">80</a>]</span>eyes,
+the crowd broke and melted. Every man was going to his own home,
+possessed by an instinct to fly before it was too late.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney shouldered his way out, and stopped a taxi that
+was crawling past.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jermyn Street,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">The driver leaned over and pointed to the <i>Daily
+Chronicle</i> window. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the news?&rdquo; he
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The plague&rsquo;s in Dundee and
+Edinburgh,&rdquo; said Gurney, and climbed into the cab and slammed the
+door.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Gawd!&rdquo; muttered the driver, as he drove
+recklessly westwards.</p>
+<p class="par">Sitting in the cab, finding some comfort in the feeling
+of headlong speed, Gurney was debating whether he would not charter the
+man to take him right out of London. But he must go home first for
+money.</p>
+<p class="par">At the door of the house in Jermyn Street he met Jasper
+Thrale.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;Have you heard?&rdquo; asked Gurney
+excitedly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No. What?&rdquo; said Thrale, without
+interest.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There are two more cases in Dundee and one in
+Edinburgh,&rdquo; said Gurney. The driver of the cab got down from his
+seat, and looked from Gurney to Thrale with doubt and question.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale nodded his head. &ldquo;I knew it was sure to
+come,&rdquo; he remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Better get out of this,&rdquo; put in the
+driver.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, rather,&rdquo; agreed Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Thrale. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb81" href="#pb81" name="pb81">81</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, America.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale laughed. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll have it in America
+before you get there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll go there via
+Japan and &rsquo;Frisco.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You seem to know a lot about it,&rdquo; said the
+driver of the cab.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you mean to tell me there&rsquo;s nowhere we
+can go to?&rdquo; persisted Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale smiled. &ldquo;Nowhere in this world,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;This plague has come to destroy mankind.&rdquo; He spoke
+with a quiet assurance that carried conviction.</p>
+<p class="par">The driver of the cab scowled. &ldquo;May as well
+&rsquo;ave a run for my money first, then,&rdquo; he said, and thus
+gave utterance to the thought that was fermenting in many other
+minds.</p>
+<p class="par">There was no hope of escape for the mass, only the rich
+could seek railway termini and take train for Liverpool, Southampton or
+any port where there was the least hope of finding some ship to take
+them out of Europe.</p>
+<p class="par">That night there was panic and riot. The wealthy classes
+were trying to escape, the mob was trying to &ldquo;get a run for its
+money.&rdquo; Yet very little real mischief was done. Two or three
+companies of infantry were sufficient to clear the streets, and not
+more than forty people in all were seriously injured....</p>
+<p class="par">In Downing Street the new Premier sat alone with his
+head in his hands, and wondered what could be done to stop the approach
+of the pestilence. One of the evening papers had suggested that
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb82" href="#pb82" name=
+"pb82">82</a>]</span>a great line of fire should be built across the
+north of England. The Premier wondered whether that scheme were
+feasible. He had never held high office before; he did not know how to
+deal with these great issues. All his political life he had learned
+only the art of party tactics. He had learned that art very well, he
+was a master of debate, and he had shown a wonderful ability to judge
+the bent of the public mind and to make use of his judgments for party
+ends. But now that any action of his was divorced from its accustomed
+object, he was as a man suddenly forced into some new occupation.
+Whenever he tried to think of some means to stay the progress of the
+plague his mind automatically began to consider what influence the
+adoption of such means would have upon the general election which must
+soon come....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;A line of fire across the north,&rdquo; he was
+thinking, &ldquo;would shut off the whole of Scotland. They would never
+forgive us for that. We should lose the entire Scottish
+vote&mdash;it&rsquo;s bad enough as it is.&rdquo; He sat up late into
+the night considering what policy he should put before the Cabinet. He
+tried honestly to consider the position apart from politics, but his
+mind refused to work in that way....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In Jermyn Street Thrale was arguing with Gurney,
+trying to persuade him into a philosophic attitude.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, I suppose there&rsquo;s absolutely nothing
+to be done but sit down and wait,&rdquo; said Gurney. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb83" href="#pb83" name="pb83">83</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Personally,&rdquo; returned Thrale, &ldquo;I have
+no intention of spending my time flying from country to country like a
+marked criminal. That way leads to insanity. I&rsquo;ve seen men become
+animals before now under the influence of fear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, of course, you&rsquo;re quite right,&rdquo;
+agreed Gurney. &ldquo;One must exercise self-control. After all,
+it&rsquo;s only death, and not such a terrible death at that.&rdquo; He
+got up and began to pace the room restlessly, then went to the window
+and looked out. Jermyn Street was almost deserted, but distant sounds
+of shouting came from the direction of Piccadilly. He left the window
+open and turned back into the room.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so infernally hard just to sit still
+and wait,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If only one could do
+something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I doubt, now,&rdquo; said Thrale, quietly,
+&ldquo;whether one could ever have done anything. The public and the
+Government took my warnings in the characteristic way, the only
+possible way in which you could expect twentieth-century humanity to
+take a warning&mdash;a thrill of fear, perhaps, in some cases; frank
+incredulity in others; but no result either way that endured for an
+hour.... Belief in national and personal security, inertia outside the
+routine of necessary, stereotyped employment; these things are
+essential to the running of the machine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose they are,&rdquo; agreed Gurney absently
+He had sat down again and was sucking automatically at an extinguished
+pipe.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In a complex civilization,&rdquo; went on Thrale
+&ldquo;any initiative on the part of the individual outside
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb84" href="#pb84" name=
+"pb84">84</a>]</span>his own tiny sphere of energy is just so much grit
+in the machine. There are recognized methods, they may not be the best,
+the most efficient, but they are accepted and understood. Every clerk
+who has to calculate twelve pence to the shilling knows how his work
+would be lightened if he had only to calculate ten, but he accepts that
+difficulty, because he can do nothing as an individual to introduce the
+decimal system. And that spirit of acceptance grows upon him until the
+individual has the characteristics of the class. Only when a man is
+stirred by too great discomfort does he open his eyes to the
+possibility of initiative; then come labour strikes. If labour had a
+sufficiency of ease and comfort, if its lot were not so violently
+contrasted with that of even the middle-classes, labour would settle
+down to complacency. But the contrast is too great, and to attain that
+complacency of uninitiative we must level down. That was coming; that
+would have come if this plague....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What was that?&rdquo; asked Gurney excitedly,
+jumping to his feet. &ldquo;Did you hear firing?&rdquo; He went to the
+window again, and leaned out. From Piccadilly came the sound of an army
+of trampling feet, of confused cries and shouting. &ldquo;By God,
+there&rsquo;s a riot,&rdquo; exclaimed Gurney. He spoke over his
+shoulder.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale joined him at the window. &ldquo;Panic,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;Senseless, hysterical panic. It won&rsquo;t
+last.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I think I shall go out of London,&rdquo; said
+Gurney. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner ... I&rsquo;d sooner die in the
+country, I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb85" href="#pb85" name=
+"pb85">85</a>]</span>think.&rdquo; He withdrew from the window and
+began to pace up and down the room again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Going to stampede with the rest of
+&rsquo;em?&rdquo; asked Thrale. &ldquo;Extraordinarily infectious
+thing, panic.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s that exactly
+...&rdquo; hesitated Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Animal fear,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;The
+terror of the wild thing threatened with the unknown. The runaway horse
+terrified and rushing to its own destruction. Fly, fly, fly from the
+threat of peril as you did once on the prairies, when to fly meant
+safety.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so infernally depressing in
+London,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, go and brood on death in the
+country,&rdquo; replied Thrale. &ldquo;That may cheer you up a bit.
+But, take my advice, don&rsquo;t run. Walk at a snail&rsquo;s pace and
+check the least tendency to hurry. Once you begin to quicken your pace,
+you will find yourself hurrying desperately&mdash;and then stampede the
+hell of terror at your heels. After all, you know, you may survive. It
+isn&rsquo;t likely that every man will die.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney caught eagerly at that. &ldquo;No, no, of course
+it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But wouldn&rsquo;t one be much
+more likely to survive if one were living in the country, or by the
+sea&mdash;in some fairly isolated place, for example. I meant to go
+down to Cornwall for my holiday this year, to a little cottage on the
+coast about four miles from Padstow; don&rsquo;t you think in pure air
+and healthy surroundings like that, one would stand a better
+chance?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb86" href="#pb86" name=
+"pb86">86</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; said Thrale carelessly.
+&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t run. In any case you&rsquo;d better wait till
+the middle of the week. The first rush will be over then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes. Perhaps. I&rsquo;ll go on Wednesday, or
+Tuesday....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale smiled grimly. &ldquo;Well, good night,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">When he had gone, Gurney went to the window again. The
+sounds of riot from Piccadilly had died down to a low, confused murmur.
+A motor-car whizzed by along Jermyn Street, and two people passed on
+foot, a man and a woman; the woman was leaning heavily on the
+man&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney turned once more to his pacing of the room. He
+was trying to realize the unrealizable fact that the world offered no
+refuge. For a full hour he struggled with himself, with that new,
+strange instinct which rose up and urged him to fly for his life. At
+last weary and overborne he threw himself into a chair by the dying
+fire and began to cry like a lost child; even as Ernst, the waiter, had
+cried....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The panic emigration lasted until Monday evening,
+and then came news which checked and stayed the rush for the ports of
+Liverpool, Southampton and Queenstown. The plague was already in
+America. It had come, as Thrale had prophesied from the West. At the
+docks many of those favoured <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb87" href=
+"#pb87" name="pb87">87</a>]</span>emigrants who had secured berths,
+hesitated; if it was to be a choice between death in America and death
+in England, they preferred to die at home.</p>
+<p class="par">Yet, even on Tuesday morning, when doubt as to the
+coming of the plague was no longer possible, when Dundee could only
+give approximate figures of the seizures in that town, reporting them
+as not less than a thousand, when it was evident that the whole of
+Scotland was becoming infected with incredible rapidity, and two cases
+were notified as far south as Durham, there remained still an enormous
+body of people who stoutly maintained that, bad as things were, the
+danger was grossly exaggerated, who believed that the danger would soon
+pass, and who, steadfast to the habits of a lifetime, continued their
+routine wherever it was possible so to do, determined to resist to the
+last.</p>
+<p class="par">To this body, possibly some two-fifths of the whole
+urban population, was due the comparative maintenance of law and order.
+In face of the growing destitution due to the wholesale closing of
+factories, warehouses and offices, necessitated by the now complete
+cessation of foreign trade and to the hoarding of food stores and gold
+which was already so marked as to have seriously affected the commerce
+not dependent on foreign sellers and buyers, a semblance of ordinary
+life was still maintained. Newspapers were issued, trains and
+&rsquo;buses were running, theatres and music-halls were open, and many
+normal occupations were carried on.</p>
+<p class="par">Yet everything was infected. It was as if the cloak of
+civilization was worn more loosely. Crime was <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb88" href="#pb88" name=
+"pb88">88</a>]</span>increasing and justice was relaxed. Robberies of
+food were so common that there was no place for the confinement of
+those who were convicted. Shopkeepers were becoming at once more
+reliant upon their own defences, and less scrupulous in their dealings
+with bona-fide customers. No longer could the protection of the State
+be exclusively relied upon, the citizen was becoming lost in the
+individual. Public opinion was being resolved into individual opinion;
+and with the failing of the great restraint every man was developing an
+unsuspected side of his character. Thrown upon his own resources, he
+became continually less civilized, more conscious of possibilities to
+fulfill long-thwarted tendencies and desires; he began to understand
+that when it is a case of <i lang="fr">sauve qui peut</i>, the weakest
+are trampled under foot.</p>
+<p class="par">So the cloak of civilization gaped and showed the form
+of the naked man, with all its blemishes and deformities. And women
+blenched and shuddered. For woman, as yet, was little, if at all,
+altered in character by the fear that was brutalizing man. Her faith in
+the intrinsic rectitude of the beloved conventions was more deeply
+rooted. Moreover woman fears the strictures of woman, more than man
+fears the judgments of man. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb89" href=
+"#pb89" name="pb89">89</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch8" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">VIII&mdash;</span>GURNEY IN
+CORNWALL</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Gurney&rsquo;s alternative to flying from the
+plague was to run away from himself. He shirked the issue in his
+conversations with Thrale, shuffled, sophisticated, and in a futile
+endeavour to convince his companion, convinced himself that his
+reasoning was sound and his motive unprejudiced.</p>
+<p class="par">It was not until the following Thursday, however, that
+he took train to Cornwall. He had succeeded in realizing between two
+and three hundred pounds in gold, and this he took with him. He
+intended to lay in stores of flour, sugar and other primary
+necessities; to buy and keep two or three cows, to rear chickens, to
+grow as much garden produce as possible, especially potatoes; and
+generally to provide against the coming scarcity of food and the
+cessation of transport.</p>
+<p class="par">The bungalow on the shores of Constantine Bay, to which
+he departed, was a place well suited to the carrying out of these
+prudent arrangements. It belonged to a friend of his, who was rich
+enough to indulge his whims, and who had spent a considerable sum of
+money in building the place and enclosing ground, but who rarely
+occupied the bungalow himself, and was too careless to bother about
+letting <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb90" href="#pb90" name=
+"pb90">90</a>]</span>it. Gurney had the keys in his possession. When he
+had asked his friend for permission to spend his summer holiday there,
+he had been told to use the place as if it were his own. &ldquo;Jolly
+good thing for me, you know,&rdquo; his friend had said. &ldquo;Keep it
+dry and all that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney was not an idle man. Arrived at his bungalow, he
+lost no time in carrying out the arrangements he had schemed, and for
+nearly three weeks he was so absorbed in this work, in learning new
+occupations and perfecting his plan, that he did, indeed, achieve his
+purpose of running away from himself.</p>
+<p class="par">He became imbued with a new feeling of security; he
+received neither letters nor papers from the outside, and the old
+labourer who assisted him in setting potatoes, who taught him to milk a
+cow and instructed him generally in the primitive arts of
+self-supporting toil, seemed to regard all rumours of the new plague
+which filtered through to the village of St Merryn as some foreign
+nonsense which had little bearing on life in the county of Cornwall, as
+represented by the twenty-five or thirty square miles which were to him
+all the essential world.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney began to believe that the plague would never
+cross the Tamar, and one day in early May, when his provisions against
+a siege were practically completed, he was stirred to attempt a journey
+across the peninsula in order to visit an acquaintance in East Looe.
+Gurney had become conscious of a longing for some companionship. Old
+Hawken was very good at cows and potatoes, but he was rather deaf and
+his range of ideas was severely restricted. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb91" href="#pb91" name="pb91">91</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">From Padstow to Looe is not an ideal journey by
+rail at the best of times, involving as it does, a change of train at
+Wadebridge, Bodmin Road and Liskeard; but Gurney was in no hurry, and
+the conversations he overheard in his compartment were not destructive
+of his new-found complacency. There was, indeed, some mention of the
+plague, but only in relation to the scarcity of food supply and its
+effect on trade. One passenger, very obviously a farmer, was
+congratulating himself that he was getting higher prices for stock than
+he had ever known, and that as luck would have it he had sown an
+unusual number of acres with wheat that year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be
+gettun sixty or seventy a quarter, sure &rsquo;nough,&rdquo; he
+boasted.</p>
+<p class="par">Dickenson&mdash;Gurney&rsquo;s friend in
+Looe&mdash;regarded the matter more seriously, but he, too, seemed
+untouched by any fear of personal infection. He was an ardent Liberal,
+and his chief cause for concern seemed to be that the plague should
+have come at a time when so much progress was being made with
+legislation. He was, also, very distressed at the reports of poverty
+and starvation which abounded, and at the terrible blow to trade
+generally. But he seemed hopeful that the trouble would pass and be
+followed by a new era of enlightened government, founded on sound
+Liberal principles.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney stayed the night and the greater part of the next
+day at Looe. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb92" href="#pb92" name=
+"pb92">92</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">On his return journey he had to wait at Liskeard
+to pick up the main line train for London, which would take him to
+Bodmin Road.</p>
+<p class="par">It was a glorious May evening. The day had been hot, but
+now there was a cool breeze from the sea, and the long shadow from the
+high bank of the cutting enwrapped the whole station in a pleasant
+twilight.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney, deliberately pacing the length of the platform,
+was conscious of physical vigour and a great enjoyment of life. He had
+an imaginative temperament, and in his moments of exaltation he found
+the world both interesting and beautiful, an entirely desirable setting
+for the essential Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">So he strolled up and down the platform, regarded any
+female figure with interest, and was in no way concerned that the train
+was already an hour late. He had expected it to be late. His own train
+from Looe, for no particular reason, had been half an hour late. If he
+missed his connexion at Wadebridge he would only have some seven or
+eight miles to walk.</p>
+<p class="par">Fifteen or twenty other people were waiting on the down
+platform, and presently Gurney became conscious that his
+fellow-passengers were no longer detached into parties of two and
+three, but were collected in groups, discussing, apparently, some
+matter of peculiar interest.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney had been lost in his dreams and had hardly
+noticed the passage of time. He looked at his watch <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb93" href="#pb93" name="pb93">93</a>]</span>and
+found that the train was now two hours overdue. The sun had set, but
+there was still light in the sky. A man detached himself from one of
+the groups and Gurney approached him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Two hours late,&rdquo; he remarked by way of
+introducing himself, and looked at his watch again.</p>
+<p class="par">The man nodded emphatically. &ldquo;Funny thing
+is,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that they&rsquo;ve had no information at the
+office. The stationmaster generally gets advice when the train leaves
+Plymouth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good lord,&rdquo; said Gurney. &ldquo;Do you mean
+to say that the train hasn&rsquo;t got to Plymouth yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Looks like it,&rdquo; said the stranger.
+&ldquo;They say it&rsquo;s the plague. It&rsquo;s dreadfully bad in
+London, they tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;D&rsquo;you mean it&rsquo;s possible the train
+won&rsquo;t come in at all?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I should hardly think that,&rdquo; replied
+the other. &ldquo;Oh, no, I should hardly think that, but goodness
+knows when it will come. Very awkward for me. I want to get to St Ives.
+It&rsquo;s a long way from here. Have you far to go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, Padstow,&rdquo; said Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Padstow!&rdquo; echoed the stranger.
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good step.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Further than I want to walk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I should say. Thirty miles or so,
+anyway?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;About that,&rdquo; agreed Gurney. &ldquo;I wonder
+where one could get any information.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very awkward,&rdquo; was all the help
+the stranger had to offer. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb94" href=
+"#pb94" name="pb94">94</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Gurney crossed the line and invaded the
+stationmaster&rsquo;s office. &ldquo;Sorry to trouble you,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;but do you think this train&rsquo;s been taken off, for
+any reason?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it &rsquo;asn&rsquo;t been taken off,&rdquo;
+said the stationmaster with a wounded air. &ldquo;It may be a bit
+late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney smiled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something over two
+hours behind now, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t &rsquo;elp it, can I?&rdquo;
+asked the stationmaster. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to &rsquo;ave
+patience.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve had no advice yet from
+Plymouth?&rdquo; persisted Gurney, facing the other&rsquo;s
+ill-temper.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, I &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t; something&rsquo;s gone
+wrong with the wire. We can&rsquo;t get no answer,&rdquo; returned the
+stationmaster. &ldquo;Now, if you please, I &rsquo;ave my work to
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney returned to the down platform and joined a group
+of men, among whom he recognized the man he had spoken to a few minutes
+before.</p>
+<p class="par">The afterglow was dying out of the sky, in the
+south-west a faint young moon was setting behind the high bank of the
+cutting. A porter had lighted the station lamps, but they were not
+turned full on.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The stationmaster tells me that something has
+gone wrong with the telegraphic communication,&rdquo; said Gurney,
+addressing the little knot of passengers collectively. &ldquo;He
+can&rsquo;t get any answer it seems.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Been an accident likely,&rdquo; suggested some
+one.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Or the engine-driver&rsquo;s got the
+plague,&rdquo; said another.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;d have put another man on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If they could find one.&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb95" href="#pb95" name="pb95">95</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If we ain&rsquo;t careful we shall be
+gettin&rsquo; the plague down &rsquo;ere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">After all why not? The horrible suggestion sprang up in
+Gurney&rsquo;s mind with new force. That remote city seemed suddenly
+near. He saw in imagination the train leaving Paddington, and only a
+journey of six or seven hours divided that departure from its arrival
+at Liskeard. It might come in at any moment, bearing the awful
+infection. Why should he wait? There was an inn near the station. He
+might find a conveyance there.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Constantine Bay?&rdquo; questioned the
+landlord.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s near St Merryn,&rdquo; said Gurney,
+but still the landlord shook his head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not far from Padstow,&rdquo; explained
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Pard-stow!&rdquo; exclaimed the landlord on a
+rising note. &ldquo;Drive over to Pard-stow at this time o&rsquo;
+night?&rdquo; He appeared to think that Gurney was joking.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, Bodmin, then,&rdquo; suggested Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Aw, why not take the train?&rdquo; asked the
+landlord.</p>
+<p class="par">Gurney shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;The train
+doesn&rsquo;t seem to be coming,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bad job, that,&rdquo; answered the landlord.
+&ldquo;Been an accident, sure &rsquo;nough; this new plague or
+something.&rdquo; He was evidently prepared to accept the matter
+philosophically.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t drive me then?&rdquo; asked
+Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">The landlord shook his head with a grin. He was inclined
+to look upon this foreigner as rather more foolish than the majority of
+his kind. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb96" href="#pb96" name=
+"pb96">96</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Gurney came out of the little inn, and looked down into
+the station. The number of waiting passengers seemed to be decreasing,
+but the light was so dim that he could not see into the shadows.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I must keep hold of myself,&rdquo; he was saying.
+&ldquo;I mustn&rsquo;t run.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">A man was coming up the steep incline towards him, and
+Gurney moved slowly to meet him. He found that it was the stranger he
+had spoken to on the platform.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Any news?&rdquo; asked Gurney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, they&rsquo;ve got a message through from
+Saltash,<span class="corr" id="xd23e1773" title=
+"Not in source">&rdquo;</span> replied the stranger. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+the plague right enough. They say they don&rsquo;t know when
+there&rsquo;ll be another train....&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Days grew into weeks, and still there were no
+trains. Trade was at a standstill, and the prices of home produce
+mounted steadily. Fish there was, but not in great abundance, and the
+towns inland, such as Truro and Bodmin, organized a motor service with
+coast fishing villages, a service which only lasted for a week, by
+reason of the failure of the petrol supply. After that there was a less
+effective horse service.</p>
+<p class="par">Within three weeks after that last train arrived from
+outside, a new system of exchange was coming into vogue. In this little
+congeries of communities in Cornwall, men were beginning to learn the
+uselessness of gold, silver and bronze coins as tokens. Credit had
+collapsed, and a system of barter was being introduced, mainly between
+farmer and fisherman. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb97" href="#pb97"
+name="pb97">97</a>]</span>In time it was possible that Cornwall might
+have become a self-supporting community, for its proportionately few
+inhabitants were rapidly being depleted by want and starvation; but,
+although it was the last place in the British Isles to become infected,
+the plague came there, too, in the end.</p>
+<p class="par">A steamer sent out from Cardiff on a plundering
+expedition carried the plague to the Scillies, and a fishing vessel
+from St Ives carried it on to Newlyn.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb98" href="#pb98" name="pb98">98</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch9" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">IX&mdash;</span>THE DEVOLUTION OF
+GEORGE GOSLING</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The progress of the plague through London and the
+world in general was marked, in the earlier stages, by much the same
+developments as are reported of the plague of 1665. The closed houses,
+the burial pits, the deserted streets, the outbreaks of every kind of
+excess, the various symptoms of fear, cowardice, fortitude and courage,
+evidenced little change in the average of humanity between the
+seventeenth and the twentieth centuries. The most notable difference
+during these earlier stages was in the enormously increased rapidity
+with which the population of London was reduced to starvation point.
+Even before the plague had reached England, want had become general, so
+general, indeed, as to have demonstrated very clearly the truth of the
+great economist&rsquo;s contention that England could not exist for
+three months with closed doors.</p>
+<p class="par">The coming of the plague threw London on to its own very
+limited resources. That vast city, which produced nothing but the
+tokens of wealth, and added nothing to the essentials that support
+life, was instantly reduced to the state of Paris in the winter of
+1870&ndash;71; with the difference, however, that London&rsquo;s
+population could be decreased rapidly <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb99" href="#pb99" name="pb99">99</a>]</span>by emigration, and was,
+also, even more rapidly decreased by pestilence. Yet there was a large
+section of the population which clung with blind obstinacy to the only
+life it knew how to live.</p>
+<p class="par">There was, for instance, George Gosling, more fortunate
+in many respects than the average citizen, who clung desperately to his
+house in Wisteria Grove until forced out of it by the lack of
+water.</p>
+<p class="par">On the ninth day after the first coming of the plague to
+London&mdash;it appeared simultaneously in a dozen places and spread
+with fearful rapidity&mdash;Gosling broke one of the great laws he had
+hitherto observed with such admirable prudence. The offices and
+warehouse in Barbican had been shut up (temporarily, it was supposed),
+and the partners had disappeared from London. But Gosling had a
+duplicate set of keys, and, inspired by the urgency of his
+family&rsquo;s need, he determined to dare a journey into the City in
+order to <i>borrow</i> (he laid great stress on the word) a few
+necessaries of life from the well-stored warehouse of his firm.</p>
+<p class="par">In this scheme, planned with some shrewdness, he
+co-operated with a friend, a fellow-sidesman at the Church of St John
+the Evangelist. This friend was a coal merchant, and thus fortunately
+circumstanced in the possession of wagons and horses.</p>
+<p class="par">These two arranged the details of their borrowing
+expedition between them. Economically, it was a deal on the lines of
+the revived methods of exchange and barter. Gosling was willing to
+exchange certain advantages of knowledge and possession for the hire of
+wagons and horses. It was decided, for obvious <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb100" href="#pb100" name=
+"pb100">100</a>]</span>reasons, to admit no other conspirator into the
+plot, and Boost, the coal merchant, drove one cart and Gosling drove
+the other. Perhaps it should rather be said that he led the other, for,
+after a preliminary trial, he decided that he was safer at the
+horses&rsquo; heads than behind their tails.</p>
+<p class="par">The raid was conducted with perfect success. Boost had a
+head for essentials. The invaluable loads of tinned meats, fruits and
+vegetables were screened by tarpaulins from the possibly too envious
+eyes of hungry passers-by&mdash;quite a number of vagrants were to be
+seen in the streets on that day&mdash;and Boost and Gosling, disguised
+in coal-begrimed garments, made the return journey lugubriously
+calling, &ldquo;Plague, plague,&rdquo; the cry of the drivers of the
+funeral carts which had even then become necessary. Their only checks
+were the various applications they received for the cartage of corpses;
+applications easily put on one side by pointing to the piled-up
+carts&mdash;they had spent six laborious hours in packing them.
+&ldquo;No room; no room,&rdquo; they cried, and on that day the
+applicants who accosted Boost and Gosling were not the only ones who
+had to wait for the disposal of their dead.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling arrived at Wisteria Grove, hot and outwardly
+jubilant, albeit with a horrible fear lurking in his mind that he had
+been in dangerous proximity to those tendered additions to his load.
+His booty was stored in one of the downstairs rooms&mdash;with the
+assistance of Mrs Gosling and the two girls they managed the unpacking
+without interruption in two hours and a half&mdash;and then, with
+boarded windows <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb101" href="#pb101"
+name="pb101">101</a>]</span>and locked doors, the Goslings sat down to
+await the passing of horror.</p>
+<p class="par">Boost died of the plague forty-eight hours after the
+great adventure, but as he had a wife and four daughters his plunder
+was not wasted.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">For nearly a fortnight after the raid the Goslings
+lay snug in their little house in Wisteria Grove, for they, in company
+with the majority of English people at this time, had not yet fully
+appreciated the fact that women were almost immune from infection. In
+all, not more than eight per cent of the whole female population was
+attacked, and of this proportion the mortality was almost exclusively
+among women over fifty years of age. When the first faint rumours of
+the plague had come to Europe, this curious, almost unprecedented,
+immunity of women had been given considerable prominence. It had made
+good copy, theories on the subject had appeared, and the point had
+aroused more interest than that of the mortality among
+males&mdash;infectious diseases were commonplace enough; this new phase
+had a certain novelty and piquancy. But the threat of European
+infection had overwhelmed the interest in the odd predilection of the
+unknown bacterium, and the more vital question had thrown this
+peculiarity into the background. Thus the Goslings and most other women
+feared attack no less than their husbands, brothers and sons, and found
+justification for their fears in the undoubted fact that women had died
+of the plague. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb102" href="#pb102" name=
+"pb102">102</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The Goslings had always jogged along amiably enough;
+their home life would have passed muster as a tolerably happy one. The
+head of the family was out of the house from 8.15 a.m. to 7.15 p.m.
+five days of the week, and it was only occasionally in the evening of
+some long wet Sunday that there was any open bickering.</p>
+<p class="par">Now, confinement in that little house, aggravated by
+fear and by the absence of any interest or diversion coming from
+outside, showed the family to one another in new aspects. Before two
+days had passed the air was tense with the suppressed irritation of
+these four people, held together by scarcely any tie other than that of
+a conventional affection.</p>
+<p class="par">By the third day the air was so heavily charged that
+some explosion was inevitable. It came early in the morning.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling had run out of tobacco, and he thought in the
+circumstances that it would be wiser to send Blanche or Millie than to
+go himself. So, with an air of exaggerated carelessness, he said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Millie, my gel, I wish you&rsquo;d
+just run out and see if you can get me any terbaccer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not me,&rdquo; replied Millie, with decision.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And why not?&rdquo; asked Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie shrugged her shoulders, and called her sister,
+who was in the passage. &ldquo;I say, B., father wants us to go out
+shopping for him. Are you on?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche, duster in hand, appeared at the doorway.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why doesn&rsquo;t he go himself?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; replied her father, getting very
+red, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb103" href="#pb103" name=
+"pb103">103</a>]</span>and speaking with elaborate care,
+&ldquo;men&rsquo;s subject to the infection and women is
+not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all my eye,&rdquo; returned Millie.
+&ldquo;Lots of women have got it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s well known,&rdquo; said Gosling, still
+keeping himself in hand, &ldquo;a matter of common knowledge, that
+women is comparatively immune.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s a man&rsquo;s yarn, that
+is,&rdquo; said Blanche, &ldquo;just to save themselves. We all know
+what men are&mdash;selfish brutes!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you going to fetch me that terbaccer or are
+you not?&rdquo; shouted Mr Gosling suddenly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, we aren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Millie,
+defiantly. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t safe for girls to go about the
+streets, let alone the risk of infection.&rdquo; She had heard her
+father shout before, and she was not, as yet, at all intimidated.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, then, I say you are!&rdquo; shouted her
+father. &ldquo;Lazy, good-for-nothing creatures, the pair of you!
+&rsquo;Oose paid for everything you&rsquo;ve eat or drunk or wore ever
+since you was born? An&rsquo; now you won&rsquo;t even go an
+errand.&rdquo; Then, seeing the ready retort rising to his
+daughters&rsquo; lips, he grew desperate, and, advancing a step towards
+them, he said savagely: &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t go, I&rsquo;ll find a
+way to make yer!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">This was a new aspect, and the two girls were a little
+frightened. Natural instinct prompted them to scream for their
+mother.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been listening at the top of the stairs, and she
+answered the call for help with great promptitude.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You ought to be ashamed of yourself,
+Gosling,&rdquo; she said, on a high note. &ldquo;The streets
+isn&rsquo;t safe for <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb104" href="#pb104"
+name="pb104">104</a>]</span>gels, as you know well enough; and why
+should my gels risk their lives for the sake of your nasty, dirty,
+wasteful &rsquo;abit of smoking, I should like to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling&rsquo;s new-found courage was evaporating at the
+attack of this third enemy. He had been incensed against his daughters,
+but he had not yet overcome the habit of giving in to his wife, for the
+sake of peace. She had managed him very capably for a quarter of a
+century, but on the occasions when she had found it necessary to use
+what she called the &ldquo;rough side of her tongue&rdquo; she had
+demonstrated very clearly which of the two was master.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I should have thought I might &rsquo;a been
+allowed a little terbaccer,&rdquo; he said, resentfully.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo risked his life to lay in provisions, I should like to
+know? An&rsquo; it&rsquo;s a matter o&rsquo; common knowledge as women
+is immune from this plague.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And Mrs Carter, three doors off, carried out dead
+of it the day before yesterday!&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling,
+triumphantly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, &rsquo;ere and there, a case or two,&rdquo;
+replied her husband. &ldquo;But not one woman to a thousand men gets
+it, as every one knows.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And how do you know I mightn&rsquo;t be the
+one?&rdquo; asked Millie, bold now under her mother&rsquo;s
+protection.</p>
+<p class="par">For that morning, the matter remained in abeyance; but
+Gosling, muttering and grumbling, nursed his injury and meditated on
+the fact that his daughters had been afraid of him. Things were altered
+now. There was no convention to tie his <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb105" href="#pb105" name="pb105">105</a>]</span>hands. He would work
+himself into a protective passion and defy the three of them. Also,
+there was an unopened bottle of whisky in the sideboard.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, he would have put off the trial of his
+strength if he had had to seek an opportunity. He was, as yet, too
+civilized to take the initiative in cold blood.</p>
+<p class="par">The opportunity, however, soon presented itself in that
+house. The air had been little cleared by the morning&rsquo;s outbreak,
+and before evening the real explosion came. A mere trifle originated
+it&mdash;a warning from Gosling that their store of provisions would
+not last for ever, and a sharp retort from Millie to the effect that
+her father did not stint himself, followed by a reminder from Mrs
+Gosling that the raid might be repeated.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! yes, you&rsquo;d be willing enough for
+<i>me</i> to die of the plague, I&rsquo;ve no doubt!&rdquo; broke out
+Gosling. &ldquo;<i>I</i> can walk six mile to get you pervisions, but
+you can&rsquo;t go to the corner of the street for my
+terbaccer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Pervisions is necessary, terbaccer
+ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. She was not a clever woman. She
+judged this to be the right opportunity to keep her husband in his
+place, and relied implicitly on the quelling power of her tongue. Her
+intuitions were those of the woman who had lived all her life in a
+London suburb; they did not warn her that she was now dealing with a
+specimen of half-decivilized humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; shouted Gosling,
+getting to his feet. His face was purple, and his pale blue eyes were
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb106" href="#pb106" name=
+"pb106">106</a>]</span>starting from his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll soon
+show you what&rsquo;s necessary and what ain&rsquo;t, and &rsquo;oose
+master in this &rsquo;ouse. And <i>I</i> say terbaccer is necessary,
+an&rsquo; what&rsquo;s more, one o&rsquo; you three&rsquo;s goin&rsquo;
+to fetch it quick! D&rsquo;ye
+&rsquo;ear&mdash;one&mdash;o&rsquo;&mdash;you&mdash;three!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">This inclusion of Mrs Gosling was, indeed, to declare
+war.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie and Blanche screamed and backed, but their mother
+rose to the occasion. She did not reserve herself; she began on her top
+note; but Gosling did not allow her to finish. He strode over to her
+and shook her by the shoulders, shouting to drown her strident
+recriminations. &ldquo;&rsquo;Old your tongue! &rsquo;old your
+tongue!&rdquo; he bawled, and shook her with increasing violence. He
+was feeling his power, and when his wife crumpled up and fell to the
+floor in shrieking hysterics, he still strode on to victory. Taking the
+cowed and terrified Millie by the arm, he dragged her along the
+passage, unlocked and opened the front door and pushed her out into the
+street. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you come back without my
+terbaccer!&rdquo; he shouted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How much?&rdquo; quavered the shrinking
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Alf-a-crown&rsquo;s worth,&rdquo; replied
+Gosling fiercely, and tossed the coin down on the little tiled walk
+that led up to the front door.</p>
+<p class="par">After Millie had gone he stood at the door for a moment,
+thankful for the coolness of the air on his heated face. &ldquo;I got
+to keep this up,&rdquo; he murmured to himself, with his first thought
+of wavering. Behind him he heard the sound of uncontrolled weeping and
+little cries of the &ldquo;first time in twenty-four <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb107" href="#pb107" name=
+"pb107">107</a>]</span>years&rdquo; and &ldquo;what the
+neighbours&rsquo;ll think, I <i>don&rsquo;t</i> know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Neighbours,&rdquo; muttered Gosling,
+contemptuously, &ldquo;there aren&rsquo;t any neighbours&mdash;not to
+count.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">A distant sound of slow wheels caught his ear. He
+listened attentively, and there came to him the remote monotonous chant
+of a dull voice crying: &ldquo;Plague! Plague!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He stepped in quickly and closed the door.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Millie found the Kilburn High Road deserted. No
+traffic of any kind was to be seen in the street, and the rare
+foot-passengers, chiefly women, had all a furtive air. Starvation had
+driven them out to raid. No easy matter, as Millie soon found, for all
+shutters were down, and in many cases shop-fronts were additionally
+protected by great sheets of strong hoarding.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, recovering from her fright, was growing
+resentful. Her little conventional mind was greatly occupied by the
+fact that she was out in the High Road wearing house-shoes without
+heels, in an old print dress, and with no hat to hide the carelessness
+of her hair-dressing. At the corner of Wisteria Grove she stopped and
+tried to remedy this last defect; she had red hair, abundant and
+difficult to control.</p>
+<p class="par">The sight of the deserted High Road did not inspire her
+with self-confidence; she still feared the possibility of meeting some
+one who might recognize <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb108" href=
+"#pb108" name="pb108">108</a>]</span>her. How could one account for
+one&rsquo;s presence in a London thoroughfare at seven o&rsquo;clock on
+a bright May evening in such attire? Certainly not by telling the
+truth.</p>
+<p class="par">The air was wonderfully clear. Coal was becoming very
+scarce, and few fires had been lighted that day to belch forth their
+burden of greasy filth into the atmosphere. The sun was sinking, and
+Millie instinctively clung to the shadow of the pavement on the west
+side of the road. She, too, slunk along with the evasive air that was
+common to the few other pedestrians, the majority of them on this same
+shadowed pavement. That warm, radiant light on the houses opposite
+seemed to hold some horror for them.</p>
+<p class="par">So preoccupied was Millie with her resentment that she
+wandered for two or three hundred yards up the road without any
+distinct idea of what she was seeking. When realization of the futility
+of her search came to her, she stopped in the shadow of a doorway.
+&ldquo;What <i>is</i> the good of going on?&rdquo; she argued.
+&ldquo;All the shops are shut up.&rdquo; But the thought of her father
+in his new aspect of muscular tyrant intimidated her. She dared not
+return without accomplishing her errand. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have another
+look, anyway,&rdquo; she said; and then: &ldquo;Who&rsquo;d have
+thought he was such a brute?&rdquo; She rubbed the bruise on her arm;
+her mouth was twisted into an ugly expression of spiteful resentment.
+Her thoughts were busy with plans of revenge even as she turned to
+prosecute her search for the tyrant&rsquo;s tobacco. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb109" href="#pb109" name="pb109">109</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Here and there shops had been forcibly, burglariously
+entered, plate-glass windows smashed, and interiors cleared of
+everything eatable; the debris showed plainly enough that these rifled
+shops had all belonged to grocers or provision merchants. Into each of
+these ruins Millie stared curiously, hoping foolishly that she might
+find what she sought. She ventured into one and carried away a box of
+soap&mdash;they were running short of soap at home. A sense of moving
+among accessible riches stirred within her, a desire for further
+pillage.</p>
+<p class="par">She came at last to a shop where the shutters were still
+intact, but the door hung drunkenly on one hinge. A little fearfully
+she peered in and discovered that fortune had been kind to her. The
+shop had belonged to a tobacconist, and the contents were almost
+untouched&mdash;there had been more crying needs to satisfy in the
+households of raiders than the desire for tobacco.</p>
+<p class="par">It was very dark inside, and for some seconds Millie
+stared into what seemed absolute blackness, but as her eyes became
+accustomed to the gloom, she saw the interior begin to take outline,
+and when she moved a couple of steps into the place and allowed more
+light to come in through the doorway, various tins, boxes and packets
+in the shelves behind the counter were faintly distinguishable.</p>
+<p class="par">Once inside, the spirit of plunder took hold of her, and
+she began to take down boxes of cigars and cigarettes and packets of
+tobacco, piling them up in a heap on the counter. But she had no basket
+in which to carry the accumulation she was making, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb110" href="#pb110" name="pb110">110</a>]</span>and
+she was feeling under the counter for some box into which to put her
+haul, when the shadows round her deepened again into almost absolute
+darkness. Cautiously she peered up over the counter and saw the
+silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway.</p>
+<p class="par">For ten breathless seconds Millie hung motionless, her
+eyes fixed on the apparition. She was very civilized still, and she was
+suddenly conscious of committing a crime. She feared horribly lest the
+figure in the doorway might discover Millicent Gosling stealing
+tobacco. But the intruder, after recognizing the nature of the
+shop&rsquo;s contents, moved away with a sigh. Millie heard her
+dragging footsteps shuffle past the window.</p>
+<p class="par">That scare decided her movements. She hastily looped up
+the front of her skirt, bundled into it as much plunder as she could
+conveniently carry, and made her way out into the street again.</p>
+<p class="par">She was nearly at the corner of Wisteria Grove before
+she was molested, and then an elderly woman came suddenly out of a
+doorway and laid a hand on Millie&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Whacher got?&rdquo; asked the woman savagely.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, shrinking and terrified, displayed her
+plunder.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cigars,&rdquo; muttered the woman. &ldquo;Whacher
+want with cigars?&rdquo; She opened the boxes and stirred up the
+contents of Millie&rsquo;s improvised bundle in an eager search for
+something to eat. &ldquo;Gawd&rsquo;s truth! yer must be crazy, yer
+thievin&rsquo; little slut!&rdquo; she grumbled, and pushed the girl
+fiercely from her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb111" href="#pb111"
+name="pb111">111</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Millie made good her escape, dropping a box of cigars in
+her flight. Her one thought now was the fear of meeting a policeman. In
+three minutes she was beating fiercely on the door of the little house
+in Wisteria Grove, and, disregarding her father&rsquo;s exclamations of
+pleased surprise when he let her in, she tumbled in a heap on to the
+mat in the passage.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling&rsquo;s first declaration of male superiority
+had been splendidly successful.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">A few minutes after Millie&rsquo;s return, Mrs
+Gosling, red-eyed and timidly vicious, interrupted her husband&rsquo;s
+perfect enjoyment of the long-desired cigar by the announcement:
+&ldquo;The gas is off!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling got up, struck a match, and held it to the
+sitting-room burner. The match burned steadily. There was no pressure
+even of air in the pipes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Turned off at the meter!&rdquo; snapped Gosling.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, lemme go an&rsquo; see!&rdquo; He spoke with the air
+of the superior male, strong in his comprehension of the mechanical
+artifices which so perplex the feminine mind. Mrs Gosling sniffed, and
+stood aside to let him pass. She had already examined the meter.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we got lamps!&rdquo; snarled Gosling when
+he returned. He had always preferred a lamp to read by in the
+evening.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No oil,&rdquo; returned Mrs Gosling, gloomily.
+She&rsquo;d teach him to shake her!</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling meditated. His parochial mind was full
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb112" href="#pb112" name=
+"pb112">112</a>]</span>of indignation. Vague thoughts of &ldquo;getting
+some one into trouble for this&rdquo;&mdash;even of that last,
+desperate act of coercion, writing to the papers about it&mdash;flitted
+through his mind. Plainly something must be done.
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Aven&rsquo;t you got any candles?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One or two. They won&rsquo;t last long,&rdquo;
+replied his studiously patient partner.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to use them to-night
+and go to bed early,&rdquo; was Gosling&rsquo;s final judgment. His
+wife left the room with a shrug of forbearing contempt.</p>
+<p class="par">When she had gone, the head of the house went upstairs
+and peered out into the street. The sun had set, and an unprecedented
+mystery of darkness was falling over London. The globes of the tall
+electric standards, catching a last reflection from the fading sky,
+glimmered faintly, but were not illuminated from within by any fierce
+glare of violet light. Darkness and silence enfolded the great dim
+organism that sprawled its vast being over the earth. The spirit of
+mystery caught Gosling in its spell. &ldquo;All dark,&rdquo; he
+murmured, &ldquo;and quiet! Lord! how still it is!&rdquo; Even in his
+own house there was silence. Downstairs, three injured, resentful women
+were talking in whispers.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling, still sucking his cigar, stood entranced,
+peering into the darkness; he had ventured so far as to throw up the
+sash. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the stillness of death!&rdquo; he muttered.
+Then he cocked his head on one side, for he caught the sound of distant
+shouting. Somewhere in the Kilburn Road another raid was in
+progress.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No light,&rdquo; murmured Gosling, &ldquo;and no
+fire!&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb113" href="#pb113" name=
+"pb113">113</a>]</span>An immediate association suggested itself.
+&ldquo;By gosh! and no <i>water</i>!&rdquo; he added. For some seconds
+he contemplated with fearful awe the failure of the great essential of
+life.</p>
+<p class="par">In the cistern room he was reassured by the sound of a
+delicious trickle from the ball-cock. &ldquo;Still going,&rdquo; he
+said to himself; &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to be careful.
+Surely they&rsquo;ll keep the water goin&rsquo;, though; whatever
+&rsquo;appens, they&rsquo;d surely keep the water on?&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Nothing but the failure of the water could have
+driven them from Wisteria Grove. Half-a-dozen times every day Gosling
+would climb up to the top of the house to reassure himself. And at last
+came the day when a dreadful silence reigned under the slates, when no
+delicious tinkle of water gave promise of maintained security from
+water famine.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll come on again at night,&rdquo; said
+Gosling to himself. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave to be careful,
+that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He went downstairs and issued orders that no more water
+was to be drawn that day.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we must wash up the breakfast
+things,&rdquo; was his wife&rsquo;s reply.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You mustn&rsquo;t wash up nothing,&rdquo; said
+Gosling, &ldquo;not one blessed thing. It&rsquo;s better to go dirty
+than die o&rsquo; thirst. Hevery drop o&rsquo; the water in that
+cistern must be saved for drinkin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling noisily put down the kettle she was holding.
+&ldquo;Oh! very well, my lord!&rdquo; she remarked, sarcastically. She
+looked at her two daughters with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb114"
+href="#pb114" name="pb114">114</a>]</span>a twist of her mouth. There
+were only two sides in that house; the women were as yet united against
+the common foe.</p>
+<p class="par">When Gosling, fatuously convinced of his authority, had
+gone, his wife quietly filled the kettle and proceeded with her washing
+up.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Your father thinks &rsquo;e knows everything
+these days,&rdquo; remarked the mother to her allies.</p>
+<p class="par">There was much whispering for some time.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling spent most of the day in the roof, but not until
+the afternoon did he realize that the cistern was slowly being emptied.
+His first thought was that one of the pipes leaked, his second that it
+was time to make a demonstration of force. He found a walking-stick in
+the hall....</p>
+<p class="par">But even when that precious half-cistern of water was
+only called upon to supply the needs of thirst, and the Goslings,
+sinking further into the degradation of savagedom, slunk furtive and
+filthy about the gloomy house, it became evident that a move must be
+made sooner or later. Two alternatives were presented: they might go
+north and east to the Lea, or south to the Thames.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling chose the South. He knew Putney; he had been
+born there. He knew nothing of Clapton and its neighbourhood.</p>
+<p class="par">So one bright, clear day at the end of May, the Goslings
+set out on their great trek. The head of the house, driven desperate by
+fear of thirst, raided his late partner&rsquo;s coal sheds and found
+one living horse and several dead ones. The living horse was partly
+revived by water from an adjacent butt, and the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb115" href="#pb115" name="pb115">115</a>]</span>next
+day it was harnessed to a coal cart and commandeered to convey the
+Goslings&rsquo; provisions to Putney. It died half-a-mile short of
+their destination, but they were able, by the exercise of their united
+strength, to get the cart and its burden down to the river.</p>
+<p class="par">They found an empty house without difficulty, but they
+had an unpleasant half-hour in removing what remained of one of the
+previous occupants. Gosling hoped it was not a case of plague. As the
+body was that of a woman, and terribly emaciated, there were some
+grounds for his optimism.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling was in a state of some bewilderment. When water
+had been fetched in buckets from the river, and the three women had
+explored, criticized and sniffed over their new home somewhat in the
+manner of strange cats, the head of the house settled down to a cigar
+and a careful consideration of his perplexities.</p>
+<p class="par">In the first place, he wondered why those horses of
+Boost&rsquo;s had not been used for food; in the second, he wondered
+why he had not seen a single man during the whole of the long trek from
+Brondesbury to Putney. By degrees an unbelievable explanation presented
+itself: no men were left. He remembered that the few needy-looking
+women he had seen had looked at him curiously; in retrospect he fancied
+their regard had had some quality of amazement. Gosling scratched the
+bristles of his ten-days&rsquo;-old beard and smoked thoughtfully. He
+almost regretted that he had stared so fiercely and threateningly at
+every chance woman they had seen; he <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb116" href="#pb116" name="pb116">116</a>]</span>might have got some
+news. But the whole journey had been conducted in a spirit of fear;
+they had been defending their food, their lives; they had been
+primitive creatures ready to fight desperately at the smallest
+provocation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No man left,&rdquo; said Gosling to himself, and
+was not convinced. If that indeed were the solution of his perplexity,
+he was faced with an awful corollary; his own time would come. He
+thought of Barbican, E.C., of Flack, of Messrs Barker and Prince, of
+the office staff, and the office itself. He had not been able to rid
+his mind of the idea that in a few weeks he would be back in the City
+again. He had several times rehearsed his surprise when he should be
+told of the depredations in the warehouse; he had wondered only
+yesterday if he dared go to the office in his beard.</p>
+<p class="par">But to-night the change of circumstance, the breaking up
+of old associations, was opening his eyes to new horizons. There might
+never be an office again for him to go to. If he survived&mdash;and he
+was distinctly hopeful on that score&mdash;he might be almost the only
+man left in London; there might not be more than a few thousand in the
+whole of England, in Europe....</p>
+<p class="par">For a time he dwelt on this fantastic vision. Who would
+do the work? What work would there be to do?</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Got to get food,&rdquo; murmured Gosling, and
+wondered vaguely how food was &ldquo;got&rdquo; when there were no
+shops, no warehouses, no foreign agents. His mind turned chiefly to
+meat, since that had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb117" href="#pb117"
+name="pb117">117</a>]</span>been his trade. &ldquo;&rsquo;Ave to rear
+sheep and cattle, I suppose,&rdquo; said Gosling. As an afterthought he
+added: &ldquo;An&rsquo; grow wheat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He sighed heavily. He realized that he had no knowledge
+on the subject of rearing cattle and growing wheat; he also realized
+that he was craving for ordinary food again&mdash;milk, eggs, and fresh
+vegetables. He had a nasty-looking place on his leg which he rightly
+attributed to unwholesome diet.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">6</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">After forty-eight hours&rsquo; residence in the
+new house, Gosling began to pluck up his courage and to dare the perils
+of the streets. He was beginning to have faith in his luck, to believe
+that the plague had passed away and left him untouched.</p>
+<p class="par">And as day succeeded day he ventured further afield; he
+went in search of milk, eggs and vegetables, but he only found young
+nettles, which he brought home and helped to eat when they had been
+boiled over a wood fire. They were all glad to eat nettles, and were
+the better for them. Occasionally he met women on these excursions, and
+stayed to talk to them. Always they had the same tale to
+tell&mdash;their men were dead, and themselves dying of starvation.</p>
+<p class="par">One day at the beginning of June he went as far as
+Petersham, and there at the door of a farmhouse he saw a fine, tall
+young woman. She was such a contrast to the women he usually met on his
+expeditions that he paused and regarded her with curiosity.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb118" href="#pb118" name=
+"pb118">118</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What do <i>you</i> want?&rdquo; asked the young
+woman, suspiciously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose you &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t any milk or
+butter or eggs to sell?&rdquo; asked Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Sell?&rdquo; echoed the girl, contemptuously.
+&ldquo;What &rsquo;ave you got to give us as is worth food?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, money,&rdquo; replied Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Money!&rdquo; came the echo again.
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the good of money when there&rsquo;s nothing to buy
+with it? I wouldn&rsquo;t sell you eggs at a pound apiece.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling scratched his beard&mdash;it looked quite like a
+beard by this time. &ldquo;Rum go, ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he asked, and
+smiled.</p>
+<p class="par">His new acquaintance looked him up and down, and then
+smiled in return, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re right,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;re the first man I&rsquo;ve seen since father died, a
+month back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo&rsquo;s livin&rsquo; with you?&rdquo;
+asked Gosling, pointing to the house.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother and sister, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ard work for you to get a livin&rsquo;, I
+suppose?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;So, so. We&rsquo;re used to farm-work. The
+trouble&rsquo;s to keep the other women off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; replied Gosling reflectively, and the
+two looked at one another again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You &rsquo;ungry?&rdquo; asked the girl.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not to speak of,&rdquo; replied Gosling.
+&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m fair pinin&rsquo; for a change o&rsquo; diet. Been
+livin&rsquo; on tinned things for five weeks or more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come in and have an egg,&rdquo; said the
+girl.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Gosling, &ldquo;I will,
+with pleasure.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb119" href=
+"#pb119" name="pb119">119</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">They grew friendly over that meal&mdash;two eggs and a
+glass of milk. He ate the eggs with butter, but there was no bread. It
+seemed that the young woman&rsquo;s mother and sister were at work on
+the farm, but that one of them had always to stay at home and keep
+guard.</p>
+<p class="par">They discussed the great change that had come over
+England, and wondered what would be the end of it; and after a little
+time, Gosling began to look at the girl with a new expression in his
+pale blue eyes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! Hevrything&rsquo;s changed,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;Nothin&rsquo; won&rsquo;t be the same any more, as far as we can
+see. There&rsquo;s no neighbours now, f&rsquo;rinstance, and no talk of
+what&rsquo;s going on&mdash;or anythin&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The girl looked at him thoughtfully. &ldquo;What we miss
+is some man to look after the place,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;re robbed terrible.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling had not meant to go as far as that. He was not
+unprepared for a pleasant flirtation, now that there were no neighbours
+to report him at home, but the idea that he could ever separate himself
+permanently from his family had not occurred to him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you want a man about
+these days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ever done any farm work?&rdquo; asked the
+girl.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling shook his head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you&rsquo;d soon learn,&rdquo; she went
+on.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I must think it over,&rdquo; said Gosling
+suddenly. &ldquo;Shall you be &rsquo;ere to-morrow?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One of us will,&rdquo; said the girl.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! but shall <i>you</i>?&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb120" href="#pb120" name="pb120">120</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ve took a fancy to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very kind of you, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; said the
+girl, and laughed.</p>
+<p class="par">Gosling kissed her before he left.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">7</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">He returned the next afternoon and helped to cut
+and stack sainfoin, and afterwards he watched the young woman milk the
+cows. It was so late by the time everything was finished that he was
+persuaded to stay the night.</p>
+<p class="par">In the new Putney house three women wondered what had
+happened to &ldquo;father.&rdquo; They grew increasingly anxious for
+some days, and even tried in a feeble way to search for him. By the end
+of the week they accepted the theory that he too had died of the
+plague.</p>
+<p class="par">They never saw him again. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb121" href="#pb121" name="pb121">121</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch10" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">X&mdash;</span>EXODUS</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In West Hampstead a Jewess, who had once been fat,
+looked out of the windows of her gaudy house. She was partly dressed in
+a garish silk neglig&eacute;. Her face was exceedingly dirty, but the
+limp, pallid flesh was revealed in those places where she had wiped
+away her abundant tears. Her body was bruised and stiff, for in a
+recent raid on a house suspected of containing provisions she had been
+hardly used by her sister women. She had made the mistake of going out
+too well dressed; she had imagined that expensive clothes would command
+respect....</p>
+<p class="par">As she looked out she wept again, bewailing her misery.
+From her earliest youth she had been pampered and spoilt. She had
+learnt that marriage was her sole object in life, and she had sold
+herself at a very respectable price. She had received the applause and
+favour of her family for marrying the man she had chosen as most likely
+to provide her with the luxury which she regarded as her
+birth-right.</p>
+<p class="par">Two days ago she had cooked and eaten the absurdly
+expensive but diminutive dog upon which she had lavished the only love
+of which she had been capable. She had wept continuously as she ate her
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb122" href="#pb122" name=
+"pb122">122</a>]</span>idol, but for the first time she had regretted
+his littleness.</p>
+<p class="par">Hunger and thirst were driving her out of the house of
+which she had been so vain; the primitive pains were awakening in her
+primitive instincts that had never stirred before. From her window she
+could see naught but endless streets of brick, stone and asphalt, but
+beyond that dry, hot, wilderness she knew there were fields&mdash;she
+had seen them out of the corner of her eye when she had motored to
+Brighton. Fields had never been associated in her mind with food until
+the strange new stirring of that unsuspected instinct. Food for her
+meant shops. One went to shops and bought food and bought the best at
+the lowest price possible. With all her pride of position, she had
+never hesitated to haggle with shopkeepers. And when the first pinch
+had come, when her husband had selfishly died of the plague, and her
+household had deserted her, it was to the shops she had gone,
+autocratically demanding her rights. She had learned by experience now
+that she had no longer any rights.</p>
+<p class="par">She dressed herself in her least-conspicuous clothes,
+dabbed her face with powder to cover some of the dirt&mdash;there was
+no water, and in any case she did not feel inclined to
+wash&mdash;carefully stowed away all her money and the best of her
+jewels in a small leather bag, and set out to find the country where
+food grew out of the ground.</p>
+<p class="par">Instinct set her face to the north. She took the road
+towards Hendon.... <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb123" href="#pb123"
+name="pb123">123</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In every quarter of London, in every great town
+and city throughout Europe, women were setting their faces towards the
+country.</p>
+<p class="par">By the autumn London was empty. The fallen leaves in
+park squares and suburban streets were swept into corners by the wind,
+and when the rain came the leaves clung together and rotted, and so
+continued the long routine of decay and birth.</p>
+<p class="par">When spring came again, Nature returned with delicate,
+strong hands to claim her own. For hundreds of years she had been
+defied in the heart of this great, hard, stone place. Her little
+tentative efforts had been rudely repulsed, no tender thread of grass
+had been allowed to flourish for an hour under the feet of the crushing
+multitude. Yet she had fought with a steady persistence that never
+relaxed a moment&rsquo;s effort. Whenever men had given her a
+moment&rsquo;s opportunity, even in the very heart of that city of
+burning struggle, she had covered the loathed sterility with grass and
+flowers, dandelions, charlock, grounsel and other life that men call
+weeds.</p>
+<p class="par">Now, when her full opportunity came, she set to work in
+her slow, patient way to wreck and cover the defilement of earth. Her
+winds swept dust into every corner, and her rain turned it into a
+shallow bed of soil, ready to receive and nurture the tiny seeds that
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb124" href="#pb124" name=
+"pb124">124</a>]</span>sailed on little feathered wings, or were
+carried by bird and insect to some quiet refuge in which they might
+renew life, and, dying, add fertility to the mother who had brought
+them forth.</p>
+<p class="par">Nature came, also, with her hurricanes, her lightnings
+and her frosts, to rend and destroy. She stripped slates from roofs,
+thrust out gables and overturned solid walls. She came with fungi to
+undermine and with the seeds of trees to split asunder.</p>
+<p class="par">She asked for but a few hundred years of patient,
+continuous work in order to make of London once more a garden; where
+the nightingale might sing in Oxford Street and the children of a new
+race pluck sweet wild flowers over the site of the Bank of
+England....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The spirit of London had gone out of her, and her
+body was crumbling and rotting. There was no life in all that vast
+sprawl of bricks and mortar; the very dogs and cats, deserted by
+humanity, left her to seek their only food, to seek those other living
+things which were their natural quarry.</p>
+<p class="par">In her prime, London had been the chief city of the
+world. Men and women spoke of her as an entity, wrote of her as of a
+personality, loved her as a friend. This aggregate of streets and
+parks, this strange confusion of wealth and squalor, had stood to men
+and women for something definitely lovable. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb125" href="#pb125" name="pb125">125</a>]</span>It
+was not her population they loved, not the polyglot crowd that swarmed
+in her streets, but she herself and all the beauty and intoxication of
+life she had gathered into her embrace.</p>
+<p class="par">Now she was dead. Whatever fine qualities she had
+possessed, whatever vices, had gone from her. She sprawled in all her
+naked ugliness, a huge corpse rotting among the hills, awaiting the
+slow burial which Nature was tediously preparing.</p>
+<p class="par">All those wonderful buildings, the great emporiums in
+the West End, the magnificent banks and insurance offices, museums and
+picture galleries, regarded as the storehouses of incalculable wealth,
+vast hotels, palatial private residences, the thundering railway
+termini, Government offices, Houses of Parliament, theatres, churches
+and cathedrals, all had become meaningless symbols. All had represented
+some activity, some ambition of man, and man had fled to the country
+for food, leaving behind the worthless tokens of wealth that had
+intrigued him for so many centuries.</p>
+<p class="par">Gold and silver grew tarnished in huge safes that none
+wished to rifle, banknotes became mildewed, damp and fungus crept into
+the museums and picture galleries, and in the whole of Great Britain
+there was none to grieve. Every living man and woman was back at the
+work of their ancestors, praying once more to Ceres or Demeter, working
+with bent back to produce the first essentials of life.</p>
+<p class="par">Each individual must produce until such time as there
+was once more a superfluity, until barns were filled and wealth
+re-created, until the strong had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb126"
+href="#pb126" name="pb126">126</a>]</span>seized from the weak and
+demanded labour in return for the use of the stolen instrument, until
+civilization had sprung anew from the soil.</p>
+<p class="par">Meanwhile London was not a city of the dead, but a dead
+city. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb127" href="#pb127" name=
+"pb127">127</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="bk2" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="label">BOOK II</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE MARCH OF THE GOSLINGS</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb129" href="#pb129" name=
+"pb129">129</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="ch11" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XI&mdash;</span>THE SILENT
+CITY</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">July came in with temperate heat and occasional
+showers, ideal weather for the crops; for all the precious growths
+which must ripen before the famine could be stayed. The sudden stoppage
+of all imports, and the flight of the great urban population into the
+country, had demonstrated beyond all question the poverty of
+England&rsquo;s resources of food supply, and the demonstration was to
+prove of value although there was no economist left to theorize.
+England was once again an independent unit, and no longer a member of a
+great world-body. Indeed England was being subdivided. The unit of
+organization was shrinking with amazing rapidity. The necessity for
+concentration grew with every week that passed, the fluidity of the
+superfluous labour was being resolved by death from starvation. The
+women who wandered from one farm to the next died by the way.</p>
+<p class="par">In the Putney house, Mrs Gosling and her daughters were
+faced by the failure of their food supply. The older woman had little
+initiative. She was a true Londoner. Her training and all the
+circumstances of her life had narrowed her imaginative grasp till she
+was only able to comprehend one issue. And as yet her daughters, and
+more particularly Millie, were so <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb130"
+href="#pb130" name="pb130">130</a>]</span>influenced by their
+mother&rsquo;s thought that they, also, had shown little evidence of
+adaptability to the changed conditions.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall &rsquo;ave to be careful,&rdquo; was Mrs
+Gosling&rsquo;s first expression of the necessity for looking to the
+future. She had arranged the bulk of her stores neatly in one room on
+the second floor, and although a goodly array of tins still faced her
+she experienced a miserly shrinking from any diminishment of their
+numbers. Moreover, she had long been without such necessities as flour.
+Barker and Prince had not dealt in flour.</p>
+<p class="par">Returning from her daily inspection one morning in the
+second week of July, Mrs Gosling decided that something must be done at
+once. Fear of the plague was almost dead, but fear of invasion by
+starving women had kept them all close prisoners. That house was a
+fortress.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look &rsquo;ere, gels,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling
+when she came downstairs. &ldquo;Somethin&rsquo; &rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave
+to be done.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche looked thoughtful. Her own mind had already
+begun to work on that great problem of their future. Millie, lazy and
+indifferent, shrugged her shoulders and replied: &ldquo;All very well,
+mother, but what <i>can</i> we do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I been thinking as it&rsquo;s very likely
+as things ain&rsquo;t so bad in some places as they are just about
+&rsquo;ere,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;We got plenty o&rsquo;
+money left, and it seems to me as two of us &rsquo;ad better go out and
+&rsquo;ave a look about, London way. One of us could look after the
+&rsquo;ouse easy enough, now. We &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t &rsquo;ardly seen
+a soul about the past fortnight.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb131" href="#pb131" name="pb131">131</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She
+visualized the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of
+the town, business had begun again, that shops were open and people at
+work. It might be that she could find work there. She was longing for
+the sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of
+isolation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m on,&rdquo; she said briskly. &ldquo;Me
+and Millie had better go, mother, we can walk farther. You can lock up
+after us and you needn&rsquo;t open the door to anyone. Are you on,
+Mill?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must make ourselves look a bit more decent
+first,&rdquo; said Millie, glancing at the mirror over the
+mantelpiece.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; returned Blanche,
+&ldquo;we brought one box of clothes with us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of
+their wardrobe.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come to the worst we could fetch some more things
+from Wisteria. I don&rsquo;t suppose anyone has touched
+&rsquo;em,&rdquo; suggested Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs
+Gosling sighed noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place
+at Putney, and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be
+accessible gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you might go up there one day and
+&rsquo;ave a look at the place,&rdquo; she put in. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+quite likely they&rsquo;ve got things goin&rsquo; again up
+there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made
+themselves presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The
+atmosphere of horror which the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb132"
+href="#pb132" name="pb132">132</a>]</span>plague had brought was being
+lifted. It was as if the dead germs had filled the air with an
+invisible, impalpable dust, that had exercised a strange power of
+depression. The spirit of death had hung over the whole world and
+paralyzed all activity. Now the dust was dispersing. The spirit was
+withdrawing to the unknown deeps from which it had come.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It is nice to feel decent again,&rdquo; said
+Blanche. She lifted her head and threw back her shoulders.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was preening herself before the glass.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m sure you <i>&rsquo;ave</i> made
+yourselves look smart,&rdquo; said their mother with a touch of pride.
+&ldquo;They were good girls,&rdquo; she reflected, &ldquo;if there had
+been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then, who could have
+helped themselves? It had been a terrible time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young
+women, presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St
+John the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to
+buy food in the dead city.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way
+towards Hammersmith.</p>
+<p class="par">The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the
+streets was so sharp and bright that it was as if they saw with
+wonderfully renewed and sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense
+of exhilaration. They <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb133" href=
+"#pb133" name="pb133">133</a>]</span>were conscious of quickened
+emotion, of a sensation of physical well-being.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it <i>clean</i>?&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;H&rsquo;m! Funny!&rdquo; returned Millie.
+&ldquo;Like those photographs of foreign places.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Under their feet was an accumulation of sharp, dry dust,
+detritus of stone, asphalt and steel. In corners where the fugitive
+rubbish had found refuge from the driving wind, the dust had
+accumulated in flat mounds, broken by scraps of paper or the torn flag
+of some rain-soaked poster that gave an untidy air of human refuse.
+Across the open way of certain roads the dust lay in a waved pattern of
+nearly parallel lines, like the ridged sand of the foreshore.</p>
+<p class="par">For some time they kept to the pavements from force of
+habit.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, Mill, don&rsquo;t you feel
+adventurous?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie looked dissatisfied. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so lonely,
+B.,&rdquo; was her expression of feeling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Never had London all to myself before,&rdquo;
+said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Near Hammersmith Broadway they saw a tram standing on
+the rails. Its thin tentacle still clung to the overhead wire that had
+once given it life, as if it waited there patiently hoping for a
+renewal of the exhilarating current.</p>
+<p class="par">Almost unconsciously Blanche and Millie quickened their
+pace. Perhaps this was the outermost dying ripple of life, the furthest
+outpost of the new activity that was springing up in central
+London.</p>
+<p class="par">But the tram was guarded by something that in
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb134" href="#pb134" name=
+"pb134">134</a>]</span>the hot, still air seemed to surround it with an
+almost visible mist.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Eugh!&rdquo; ejaculated Millie and shrank back.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t go, Blanche. It&rsquo;s awful!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s hand also had leapt to her face, but she
+took a few steps forward and peered into the sunlit case of steel and
+glass. She saw a heap of clothes about the framework of a grotesquely
+jointed scarecrow, and the gleam of something round, smooth and
+white.</p>
+<p class="par">She screamed faintly, and a filthy dog crept, with a
+thin yelp, from under the seat and came to the door of the tram. For a
+moment it stood there with an air that was half placatory, wrinkling
+its nose and feebly raising a stump of propitiatory tail, then, with
+another protesting yelp, it crept back, furtive and ashamed, to its
+unlawful meat.</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls, handkerchief to nose, hurried by
+breathless, with bent heads. A little past Hammersmith Broadway they
+had their first sight of human life. Two gaunt faces looked out at them
+from an upper window. Blanche waved her hand, but the women in the
+house, half-wondering, half-fearful, at the strange sight of these two
+fancifully dressed girls, shook their heads and drew back. Doubtless
+there was some secret hoard of food in that house and the inmates
+feared the demands of charity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we aren&rsquo;t quite the last,
+anyway,&rdquo; commented Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What were they afraid of?&rdquo; asked
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Thought we wanted to cadge, I expect,&rdquo;
+suggested Blanche. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb135" href="#pb135"
+name="pb135">135</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mean things,&rdquo; was her sister&rsquo;s
+comment.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! <i>we</i> weren&rsquo;t so over-anxious to
+have visitors,&rdquo; Blanche reminded her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>We</i> didn&rsquo;t want their beastly
+food,&rdquo; complained the affronted Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">The shops in Hammersmith did not offer much inducement
+to exploration. Some were still closely shuttered, others presented
+goods that offered no temptation, such as hardware; but the majority
+had already been pillaged and devastated. Most of that work had been
+done in the early days of the plague when panic had reigned, and many
+men were left to lead the raids on the preserves of food.</p>
+<p class="par">Only one great line of shuttered fronts induced the two
+girls to pause.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No need to go to Wisteria for clothes,&rdquo;
+suggested Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How could we get in?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! get in some way easy enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s stealing,&rdquo; said Millie, and
+thought of her raid on the Kilburn tobacconist&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t steal from dead people,&rdquo;
+explained Blanche; &ldquo;besides, who&rsquo;ll have the things if we
+don&rsquo;t?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose it&rsquo;d be all right,&rdquo;
+hesitated Millie, obviously tempted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; returned Blanche and
+paused. &ldquo;I say, Mill,&rdquo; she burst out suddenly.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s all the West-end to choose from. Come
+on!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time they walked more quickly.</p>
+<p class="par">In Kensington High Street they had an adventure.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb136" href="#pb136" name=
+"pb136">136</a>]</span>They saw a woman decked in gorgeous silks,
+strung and studded with jewels from head to foot. She walked with a
+slow and flaunting step, gesticulating, and talking. Every now and
+again she would pause and draw herself up with an affectation of
+immense dignity, finger the ropes of jewels at her breast, and make a
+slow gesture with her hands.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s mad,&rdquo; whispered Blanche, and
+the two girls, terrified and trembling, hastily took refuge in a great
+square cave full of litter and refuse that had once been a
+grocer&rsquo;s shop.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman passed their hiding-place in her stately
+progress westward without giving any sign that she was conscious of
+their presence. When she was nearly opposite to them she made one of
+her stately pauses. &ldquo;Queen of all the Earth,&rdquo; they heard
+her say, &ldquo;Queen and Empress. Queen of the Earth.&rdquo; Her hand
+went up to her head and touched a strange collection of jewels pinned
+in her hair, of tiaras and brooches that flashed brighter than the high
+lights of the brilliant sun. One carelessly fastened brooch fell and
+she pushed it aside with her foot. &ldquo;You understand,&rdquo; she
+said in her high, wavering voice, &ldquo;you understand, Queen and
+Empress, Queen of the Earth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They heard the refrain of her gratified ambition
+repeated as she moved slowly away.</p>
+<p class="par">A long submerged memory rose to the threshold of
+Millie&rsquo;s mind. &ldquo;Thieving slut,&rdquo; she murmured.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb137" href="#pb137" name=
+"pb137">137</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">As they came nearer to representative London the
+signs of deserted traffic were more numerous. By the Albert Memorial
+they saw an overturned motor-bus which had smashed into the park
+railings, and a little further on were two more buses, one standing
+decently at the curb, the other sprawling across the middle of the
+road. The wheels of both were axle deep in the dust which had blown
+against them, and out of the dust a few weak threads of grass were
+sprouting. There were other vehicles, too, cabs, lorries and carts: not
+a great number altogether, but even the fifty or so which the girls saw
+between Kensington and Knightsbridge offered sufficient testimony to
+the awful rapidity with which the plague had spread. For it seems
+probable that in the majority of cases the drivers of these deserted
+vehicles must have been attacked by the first agonizing pains at the
+base of the skull while they were actually employed in driving their
+machines. There were few skeletons to be seen. The lull which
+intervened between the first unmistakable symptoms of the plague and
+the oncoming of the paralysis had given men time to obey their instinct
+to die in seclusion, the old instinct so little altered by
+civilization. Those vestiges of humanity which remained had, for the
+most part, been cleansed by the processes of Nature, but twice the
+girls disturbed a horrible cloud of blue flies which rose with an angry
+buzzing so loud that the girls screamed and ran, leaving the scavengers
+to swoop eagerly back upon <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb138" href=
+"#pb138" name="pb138">138</a>]</span>their carrion. Doubtless the thing
+in the Hammersmith tram had been the body of a woman, recently-dead
+from starvation. Even from the houses there was now little
+exhalation.</p>
+<p class="par">In Knightsbridge, a little past the top of Sloane
+Street, Blanche and Millie came to a shop which diverted them from
+their exploration for a time. Most of the huge rolling shutters had
+been pulled down and secured, but one had stopped half way, and,
+beyond, the great plate-glass windows were uncovered. One of ten
+million tragedies had descended swiftly to interrupt the closing of
+that immense place, and some combination of circumstances had followed
+to prevent the completion of the work. The imaginative might stop to
+speculate on the mystery of that half-closed shutter; the two Goslings
+stopped to admire the wonders behind the glass.</p>
+<p class="par">For a time the desolation and silence of London were
+forgotten. In imagination Blanche and Millie were once again units in
+the vast crowd of antagonists striving valiantly to win some prize in
+the great competition between the boast of wealth and the pathetic
+endeavour of make-believe.</p>
+<p class="par">They stayed to gaze at the &ldquo;creations&rdquo;
+behind the windows, at dummies draped in costly fabrics such as they
+had only dreamed of wearing. The silks, satins and velvets were
+whitened now with the thin snow of dust that had fallen upon them, but
+to Blanche and Millie they appeared still as wonders of beauty.</p>
+<p class="par">For a minute or two they criticized the models.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb139" href="#pb139" name=
+"pb139">139</a>]</span>They spoke at first in low voices, for the deep
+stillness of London held them in unconscious awe, but as they became
+lost in the fascination of their subject they forgot their fear. And
+then they looked at one another a little guiltily.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No harm in seeing if the door&rsquo;s locked,
+anyway,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie looked over her shoulder and saw no movement in
+the frozen streets, save the sweep of one exploring swallow. Even the
+sparrows had deserted the streets. She did not reply in words, but
+signified her agreement of thought by a movement towards the
+entrance.</p>
+<p class="par">The swing doors were not fastened, and they entered
+stealthily.</p>
+<p class="par">They began with the touch of appraising fingers,
+wandering from room to room. But most of the rooms on the ground floor
+were darkened by the drawn shutters, and no glow of light came in
+response to the clicking of the electric switches that they
+experimented with with persistent futility. So they adventured into the
+clearly lit rooms upstairs and experienced a fallacious sense of
+security in the knowledge that they were on the floor above the
+street.</p>
+<p class="par">Fingering gave place to still closer inspection. They
+lifted the models from the stands and shook them out. They held up
+gorgeous robes in front of their own suburban dresses and admired each
+other and themselves in the numerous cheval glasses.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! bother!&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche at last,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! B.&rdquo; expostulated the more timid Millie.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb140" href="#pb140" name=
+"pb140">140</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! why to goodness not?&rdquo; asked her elder
+sister. &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s to be any the wiser?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Seems wrong, somehow,&rdquo; replied Millie,
+unable to shake off the conventions which had so long served her as
+conscience.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I am,&rdquo; said Blanche, and retired into
+a little side room to divest herself of her own dress. She had always
+shared a bedroom with her sister, and they observed few modesties
+before each other, but Blanche was mentally incapable of changing her
+dress in the broad avenues of that extensive show-room. It is true that
+the tall casement windows were wide open and the place was completely
+overlooked by the massive buildings opposite, but even if the windows
+had been screened she would not have changed her skirt in the publicity
+of that open place, though every human being in the world were
+dead.</p>
+<p class="par">When she emerged from her dressing-room she was
+transformed indeed. She went over to her still hesitating sister.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do me up, Mill,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche had chosen well; the fine cloth walking dress
+admirably fitted her well-developed young figure. When she had
+discarded her hat and touched up her hair before the glass, only her
+boots and her hands remained to spoil the disguise. Well gloved and
+well shod, she might have passed down the Bond Street of the old
+London, and few women and no man would have known that she had not
+sprung from the ruling classes.</p>
+<p class="par">She posed. She stepped back from the mirror and
+half-unconsciously fell to imitating the manners of <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb141" href="#pb141" name="pb141">141</a>]</span>the
+revered aristocracy she had respectfully studied from a distance.</p>
+<p class="par">In a few minutes she was joined by Millie, also arrayed
+in peacock&rsquo;s feathers and anxious to be
+&ldquo;fastened.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Their excitement increased. Walking dresses gave place
+to evening gowns. They lost their sense of fear and ran into other
+departments searching for long white gloves to hide the disfigurements
+of household work. They paraded and bowed to each other. The climax
+came when they discovered a Court dress, immensely trained, and
+embroidered with gold thread, laid by with evidences of tenderest care
+in endless wrappings of tissue paper. Surely the dress of some elegant
+young duchess!</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they wrangled, but Blanche triumphed.
+&ldquo;You shall have it afterwards,&rdquo; she said, as she ran to her
+dressing-room.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie followed in an elaborate gown of Indian silk; a
+somewhat sulky Millie, inclined to resent her duty of lady&rsquo;s
+maid. She dragged disrespectfully at the innumerable fastenings.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My!&rdquo; ejaculated Blanche when she could
+indulge herself in the glory of full examination before a cheval glass
+in the open show-room. She struggled with her train and when she had
+arranged it to her satisfaction, threw back her shoulders and lifted
+her chin haughtily.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I ought to have some diamonds,&rdquo; she
+reflected.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It drags round the hips,&rdquo; was
+Millie&rsquo;s criticism.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You should say &lsquo;Your Majesty,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+corrected Blanche. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb142" href="#pb142"
+name="pb142">142</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! a Queen, are you?&rdquo; asked Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Rather&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Queen of all the Earth,&rdquo; sneered
+Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s face suddenly fell. &ldquo;I wonder if
+she began like this,&rdquo; she said, and a note of fear had come into
+her voice.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie&rsquo;s eyes reflected her sister&rsquo;s
+alarm.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! let&rsquo;s get out of this, B.,&rdquo; she
+said, and began to tear at the neck of her Indian silk gown.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wanted diamonds, too,&rdquo; persisted
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! B., it <i>isn&rsquo;t</i> right,&rdquo; said
+Millie. &ldquo;I said it wasn&rsquo;t right and you <i>would</i>
+come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Silence descended upon them for a moment, and then both
+sisters suddenly screamed and ducked, putting up their hands to their
+heads.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goodness! What was that?&rdquo; cried
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">A swallow had swept in through the open window, had
+curved round in one swift movement, and shot out again into the
+sunlight.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only a bird of some sort,&rdquo; said Millie, but
+she was trembling and on the verge of hysterics. &ldquo;Do let&rsquo;s
+get out, B.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">After they had put on their own clothes once more they
+became aware that they were hungry.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>have</i> wasted a lot of time here,&rdquo;
+said Blanche as they made their way out.</p>
+<p class="par">She did not pause to wonder how many women had spent the
+best part of their lives in a precisely similar manner.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we ought to have been looking for
+food,&rdquo; she added. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb143" href=
+"#pb143" name="pb143">143</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; replied Millie. &ldquo;That place
+has given me the creeps.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Growing rather tired and footsore they made their
+way to Piccadilly Circus, and so on to the Strand. Everywhere they
+found the same conditions: a few skeletons, a few deserted vehicles,
+young vegetation taking hold wherever a pinch of soil had found an
+abiding place, and over all a great silence. But food there was none
+that they were able to find, though it is probable that a careful
+investigation of cellars and underground places might have furnished
+some results. The more salient resources of London had been effectively
+pillaged so far as the West-end was concerned. They were too late.</p>
+<p class="par">In Trafalgar Square, Millie sat down and cried. Blanche
+made no attempt to comfort her, but sat wide eyed and wondering. Her
+mind was opening to new ideas. She was beginning to understand that
+London was incapable of supporting even the lives of three women; she
+was wrestling with the problem of existence. Every one had gone. Many
+had died; but many more, surely, must have fled into the country. She
+began to understand that she and her family must also fly into the
+country.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie still sobbed convulsively now and again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! Chuck it, Mill,&rdquo; said Blanche at last.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;d better be getting home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie dabbed her eyes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+starving,&rdquo; she blubbered. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb144"
+href="#pb144" name="pb144">144</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, so am I,&rdquo; returned Blanche.
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I said we&rsquo;d better get home.
+There&rsquo;s nothing to eat here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is&mdash;is every one dead?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, they&rsquo;ve gone off into the country, and
+that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The younger girl sat up, put her hat straight, and blew
+her nose. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it awful, B.?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche pinched her lips together. &ldquo;What are you
+putting your hat straight for?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+no one to see you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you needn&rsquo;t make it any worse,&rdquo;
+retorted Millie on the verge of a fresh outburst of tears.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on!&rdquo; said Blanche, getting to her
+feet.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe I <i>can</i> walk
+home,&rdquo; complained Millie; &ldquo;my feet ache so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to wait a long time if
+you&rsquo;re going to find a bus,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Three empty taxicabs stood in the rank a few feet away
+from them, but it never occurred to either of the two young women to
+attempt any experiment with these mechanisms. If the thought had
+crossed their minds they would have deemed it absurd.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go down by Victoria,&rdquo; suggested
+Blanche. &ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s nearer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In Parliament Square they disturbed a flock of rooks,
+birds which had partly changed their natural habits during the past few
+months and, owing to the superabundance of one kind of food, were
+preying on carrion. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb145" href="#pb145"
+name="pb145">145</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Crows,&rdquo; commented Blanche. &ldquo;Beastly
+things.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wonder if we could get some water to
+drink,&rdquo; was Millie&rsquo;s reply.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, there&rsquo;s the river,&rdquo; suggested
+Blanche, and they turned up towards Westminster Bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">In one of the tall buildings facing the river
+Blanche&rsquo;s attention was caught by an open door.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Look here, Mill,&rdquo; she said,
+&ldquo;we&rsquo;ve only been looking for shops. Let&rsquo;s try one of
+these houses. We might find something to eat in there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What of?&rdquo; sneered Blanche. &ldquo;At the
+worst it&rsquo;s skeletons, and we can come out again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie shuddered. &ldquo;You go,&rdquo; she
+suggested.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not by myself, I won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; returned
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There you are, you see,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s different by
+yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I hate it,&rdquo; returned Millie with
+emphasis.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;So do I, in a way, only I&rsquo;m fair
+starving,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;Come on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The building was solidly furnished, and the ground
+floor, although somewhat disordered, still suggested a complacent
+luxury. On the floor lay a copy of the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, dated
+May 10; possibly one of the last issues of a London journal. Two of the
+pages were quite blank, and almost the only advertisement was one
+hastily-set announcement of a patent medicine guaranteed as a sure
+protection against the plague. The remainder of the paper was filled
+with reports of the devastation that was being wrought, reports which
+were nevertheless marked by a faint spirit of simulated confidence.
+Between the lines could <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb146" href=
+"#pb146" name="pb146">146</a>]</span>be read the story of desperate men
+clinging to hope with splendid courage. There were no signs of panic
+here. Groves had come out well at the last.</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls hovered over this piece of ancient history
+for a few minutes.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said Blanche triumphantly,
+&ldquo;even then, more&rsquo;n two months ago, every one was making for
+the country. We shall have to go, too. I told you we should.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I never said we shouldn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; returned
+Millie. &ldquo;Anyhow there&rsquo;s nothing to eat here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not in this room, there isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said
+Blanche, &ldquo;but there might be in the kitchens. Do you know what
+this place has been?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie shook her head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a man&rsquo;s club,&rdquo;
+announced Blanche. &ldquo;First time you&rsquo;ve been in one, old
+dear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come on, let&rsquo;s have a look downstairs,
+then,&rdquo; returned Millie, careless of her achievement.</p>
+<p class="par">In the first kitchen they found havoc: broken china and
+glass, empty bottles, empty tins, cooking utensils on the floor, one
+table upset, everywhere devastation and the marks of struggle; but in
+none of the empty tins was there the least particle of food. Everything
+had been completely cleaned out. The rats had been there, and had
+gone.</p>
+<p class="par">Exploring deeper, however, they were at last rewarded.
+On a table stood a whole array of unopened tins and in one of them was
+plunged a tin-opener, a single stab had been given, and then, possibly,
+another of these common tragedies had begun. Had <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb147" href="#pb147" name="pb147">147</a>]</span>he
+been alone, that plunderer, or had his companions fled from him in
+terror?</p>
+<p class="par">Here the two girls made a sufficient meal, and
+discovered, moreover, a large store of unopened beer-bottles. They
+shared the contents of one between them, and then, feeling greatly
+reinvigorated, they sought for and found two baskets, which they filled
+with tinned foods. They only took away one bottle of beer&mdash;a
+special treat for their mother&mdash;on account of the weight. They
+remembered that they had a long walk before them; and they were not
+over-elated by their discovery; they were sick to death of tinned
+meats.</p>
+<p class="par">In looking for the baskets they came across a single
+potato that the rats had left. From it had sprung a long, thin,
+etiolated shoot which had crept under the door of the cupboard and was
+making its way across the floor to the light of the window. Already
+that shoot was several feet in length.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Funny how they grow,&rdquo; commented Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Making for the country, I expect,&rdquo; replied
+Blanche, &ldquo;same as we shall have to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">It was a relief to them to find their way into the
+sunlight once more. Those cold, forsaken houses held some suggestion of
+horror, of old activities so abruptly ended by tragedy. From these
+interiors Nature was still shut off. That ghostly tendril aching
+towards the light had no chance for life and reproduction....
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb148" href="#pb148" name=
+"pb148">148</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The two Gosling girls had yet one more adventure
+before they toiled home with their load.</p>
+<p class="par">They were growing bolder, despite the gloom and
+oppression of those human habitations, and some freakish spirit
+prompted Blanche to suggest that they should visit the Houses of
+Parliament. After a brief demur, Millie acceded.</p>
+<p class="par">That great stronghold was open to them now. They might
+walk the floor of the House, sit in the Speaker&rsquo;s chair,
+penetrate into the sacred places of the Upper Chamber.</p>
+<p class="par">Gone were all the rules and formulas, the intricacies
+and precedents of an unwritten constitution, the whole cumbrous
+machinery for the making of new laws. The air was no longer disturbed
+by the wranglings, evasions and cunning shifts of those who had found
+here a stage for their personal ambitions. The high talk of progress
+had died into silence along with the struggle of parties which had
+played the supreme game, side against side, for the prize of power.
+Progress had been defined in this place, in terms of human activity,
+human comfort. The end in sight had been some vague conception of
+general welfare through accumulated riches. And from the sky had fallen
+a pestilence to change the meaning of human terms. In three months the
+old conception of wealth was gone. Money, precious stones, a thousand
+accepted forms of value had become suddenly worthless, of no more
+account than the symbol of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb149" href=
+"#pb149" name="pb149">149</a>]</span>power which lay coated with dust
+on the table of the House of law-makers. Even law itself, that slow
+growth of the centuries, had become meaningless. Who cared if some mad
+woman plundered every jeweller&rsquo;s shop in the whole City? Who was
+to forbid theft or avenge murder? The place of traffic was empty. Only
+one law was left and only one value; the law of self-preservation, the
+value of food.</p>
+<p class="par">The sunlight fell in broad coloured shafts upon two
+half-educated girls come on a plundering expedition, and they might sit
+in the high places if they would, and make new laws for themselves.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche sat for a few moments in the Speaker&rsquo;s
+chair.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fine big place,&rdquo; she
+remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on, B., do,&rdquo; replied Millie.
+&ldquo;I want to get home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As they crossed the Square, Millie looked up at Big Ben.
+&ldquo;Quarter-past nine,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must have
+stopped.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, silly,&rdquo; replied Blanche.
+&ldquo;All the clocks have stopped. Who&rsquo;s to wind
+&rsquo;em?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb150" href="#pb150"
+name="pb150">150</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch12" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XII&mdash;</span>EMIGRANT</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to
+grasp the significance of her daughters&rsquo; report on the condition
+of London. During the past two months she had persuaded herself that
+the traffic of the town was being resumed and that only Putney was
+still desolate. She had always disapproved of Putney; it was damp and
+she had never known anyone who had lived there. It is true that the
+late lamented George Gosling had been born in Putney, but that was more
+than half a century ago, the place was no doubt quite different then;
+and he had left Putney and gone to live in the healthy North before he
+was sixteen. Mrs Gosling was half inclined to blame Putney for all
+their misfortunes&mdash;it was sure to breed infection, being so near
+the river and all&mdash;and she had become hopeful during the past
+month that all would be well with them if they could once get back to
+Kilburn.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;D&rsquo;you mean to say you didn&rsquo;t see no
+one at all?&rdquo; she repeated in great perplexity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Those three we&rsquo;ve told you about,
+that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, o&rsquo; course, they&rsquo;re all shut up
+in the &rsquo;ouses, still; afraid o&rsquo; the plague and
+&rsquo;anging on to what provisions they&rsquo;ve got put by, same as
+us,&rdquo; was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb151" href="#pb151" name=
+"pb151">151</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They ain&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Millie, and Blanche
+agreed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, but &rsquo;ow d&rsquo;you know?&rdquo;
+persisted the mother. &ldquo;Did you go in to the
+&rsquo;ouses?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One or two,&rdquo; returned Blanche evasively,
+&ldquo;but there wasn&rsquo;t no need to go in. You could
+see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not
+in the Strand?&rdquo; Mrs Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence.
+She could not doubt the good faith of the Strand. If that failed her,
+all was lost.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! can&rsquo;t you understand, mother,&rdquo;
+broke out Blanche petulantly, &ldquo;that the whole of London is
+absolutely deserted? There isn&rsquo;t a soul in the streets.
+There&rsquo;s no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and grass growing
+in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been broken into, all
+those that had food in &rsquo;em, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; words failed
+her. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it, Millie?&rdquo; she concluded lamely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Awful,&rdquo; agreed Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; said
+Mrs Gosling, not yet fully convinced. She considered earnestly for a
+few moments and then asked: &ldquo;Did you go into Charing Cross Post
+Office? They&rsquo;d sure to be open.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; lied Blanche, &ldquo;and we could
+have taken all the money in the place if we&rsquo;d wanted, and no one
+any the wiser.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling looked shocked. &ldquo;I &rsquo;ope my
+gels&rsquo;ll never come to that,&rdquo; she said. Her girls, with a
+wonderful understanding of their mother&rsquo;s opinions, had omitted
+to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge emporium.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No one&rsquo;d ever know,&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s One who would,&rdquo; replied Mrs
+Gosling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb152" href="#pb152" name=
+"pb152">152</a>]</span>gravely, and strangely enough, perhaps, the two
+girls looked uneasy, but they were thinking less of the commandments
+miraculously given to Moses than of the probable displeasure of the
+Vicar of St John the Evangelist&rsquo;s Church in Kilburn.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got to do something,
+anyhow,&rdquo; said Blanche, after a pause. &ldquo;I mean we&rsquo;ll
+have to get out of this and go into the country.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We might go to your uncle&rsquo;s in
+Liverpool,&rdquo; suggested Mrs Gosling, tentatively.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long walk,&rdquo; remarked
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling did not grasp the meaning of this objection.
+&ldquo;Well, I think we could afford third-class,<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e2688" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span> she said.
+&ldquo;Besides, though we &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t corresponded much of late
+years, I&rsquo;ve always been under the impression that your uncle is
+doin&rsquo; well in Liverpool; and at such a time as this I&rsquo;m
+sure &rsquo;e&rsquo;ll do the right thing, though whether it would be
+better to let &rsquo;im know we&rsquo;re comin&rsquo; or not I&rsquo;m
+not quite sure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! dear!&rdquo; sighed Blanche, &ldquo;I
+<i>do</i> wish you&rsquo;d try to understand, mother. There
+aren&rsquo;t any trains. There aren&rsquo;t any posts or telegraphs.
+Wherever we go we&rsquo;ve just got to walk. Haven&rsquo;t we,
+Millie?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie began to snivel. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+&rsquo;orrible,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> understand it,&rdquo;
+repeated Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">By degrees, however, the controversy took a new shape.
+Granting for the moment the main contention that London was
+uninhabitated, Mrs Gosling urged that it would be a dangerous, even a
+foolhardy, thing to venture into the country. If there was no
+Government there would be no law and order, was the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb153" href="#pb153" name=
+"pb153">153</a>]</span>substance of her argument; government in her
+mind being represented by its concrete presentation in the form of the
+utterly reliable policeman. Furthermore, she pointed out, that they did
+not know anyone in the country, with the exception of a too-distant
+uncle in Liverpool, and that there would be nowhere for them to go.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall have to work,&rdquo; said Blanche, who
+was surely inspired by her glimpse of the silent city.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got nearly a &rsquo;undred
+pounds left of what your poor father drew out o&rsquo; the bank before
+we shut ourselves up,&rdquo; said her mother.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose we <i>could</i> buy things in the
+country,&rdquo; speculated Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You seem set on the country for some
+reason,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling with a touch of temper.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got to get food,&rdquo;
+returned Blanche, raising her voice. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t live on
+air.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And if food&rsquo;s to be got cheaper in the
+country than in London,&rdquo; snapped Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;my
+experience goes for nothing, but, of course, you know best, if I
+<i>am</i> your mother.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t any food in London, cheap or
+dear, I keep telling you,&rdquo; said Blanche, and left the room
+angrily, slamming the door behind her.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie sat moodily biting her nails.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Blanche lets &rsquo;er temper get the better of
+&rsquo;er,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling addressing the spaces of the
+kitchen in which they were sitting.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s right, worse luck,&rdquo; said Millie.
+&ldquo;We shall have to go. I &rsquo;ate it nearly as much as you
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The argument thus begun was continued with few
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb154" href="#pb154" name=
+"pb154">154</a>]</span>intermissions for a whole week. A thunderstorm,
+followed by two days of overcast weather, came to the support of the
+older woman. One thing was certain among all these terrible
+perplexities, namely, that you couldn&rsquo;t start off for a trip to
+the country on a wet day.</p>
+<p class="par">Meanwhile their stores continued to diminish, and one
+afternoon Mrs Gosling consented to take a walk with Blanche as far as
+Hammersmith Broadway.</p>
+<p class="par">The sight of that blank desert impressed her. Blanche
+pointed out the house in which she had seen the two women five days
+before, but no one was looking out of the window on that afternoon.
+Perhaps they had fled to the country, or were occupied elsewhere in the
+house, or perhaps they had left London by the easier way which had
+become so general in the past few months.</p>
+<p class="par">When she returned to the Putney house, Mrs Gosling wept
+and wished she, too, was dead, but she consented at last to
+Blanche&rsquo;s continually urged proposition, in so far as she
+expressed herself willing to make a move of some sort. She thought they
+might, at least, go back and have a look at Wisteria Grove. And if
+Kilburn had, indeed, fallen as low as Hammersmith, then there was
+apparently no help for it and they must try their luck in the waste and
+desolation of the country. Perhaps some farmer&rsquo;s wife might take
+them in for a time, until they had a chance to look about them. They
+had nearly a hundred pounds in gold.</p>
+<p class="par">The girls found a builder&rsquo;s trolley in a yard near
+by, a truck of sturdy build on two wheels with a long <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb155" href="#pb155" name=
+"pb155">155</a>]</span>handle. It bore marks of having held cement, and
+there were weeds growing in one end of it, but after it had been
+brought home and thoroughly scrubbed, it looked quite a presentable
+means for the transport of the &ldquo;necessaries&rdquo; they proposed
+to take with them.</p>
+<p class="par">They made too generous an estimate of essentials at
+first, piling their truck too high for safety and overtaxing their
+strength; but that problem, like many others, was finally solved for
+them by the clear-sighted guidance of necessity.</p>
+<p class="par">They started one morning&mdash;a Monday if their
+calculations were not at fault&mdash;about two hours after breakfast.
+Mrs Gosling and Millie pushed behind, and Blanche, the inspired one,
+went before, pulled by the handle of the pole and gave the others their
+direction.</p>
+<p class="par">It is possible that they were the last women to leave
+London.</p>
+<p class="par">By chance they discovered the Queen of all the Earth on
+a doorstep near Addison Road. She was quite dead, but they did not
+despoil her of the jewels with which she was still covered.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Mrs Gosling was a source of trouble from the
+outset. She had lived her life indoors. In the Wisteria Grove days, she
+never spent two hours of the twenty-four out of the house. Some times
+for a whole week she had not gone out at all. It was a mark of their
+rise in the world that all the tradesmen called for orders.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb156" href="#pb156" name=
+"pb156">156</a>]</span>She had found little necessity to buy in shops
+during recent years. And so, very surely, she had grown more and more
+limited in her outlook. Her attention had become concentrated on the
+duties of the housewife. She had not kept any servant, a charwoman who
+came for a few hours three times a week had done all that the mistress
+of the house had not dared, in face of neighbourly criticism&mdash;in
+her position she could not be seen washing down the little tiled path
+to the gate nor whitening the steps.</p>
+<p class="par">The effect of this cramped existence on Mrs Gosling
+would not have been noticeable under the old conditions. She had become
+a specialized creature, admirably adapted to her place in the old
+scheme of civilization. No demand was ever made upon her resources
+other than those familiar demands which she was so perfectly educated
+to supply. Even when the plague had come, she had not been compelled to
+alter her mode of life. She had made trouble enough about the lack of
+many things she had once believed to be necessary&mdash;familiar foods,
+soap and the thousand little conveniences that the twentieth century
+inventor had patented to assist the domestic economy of the small
+householder; but the trouble was not too great to be overcome. The
+adaptability required from her was within the scope of her specialized
+vision. She could learn to do without flour, butter, lard, milk, sugar
+and the other things, but she could not learn to think on unfamiliar
+lines.</p>
+<p class="par">That was the essence of her trouble. She was divorced
+from a permanent home. She was asked to walk long miles in the open
+air. Worst of all, she was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb157" href=
+"#pb157" name="pb157">157</a>]</span>called upon for initiative,
+ingenuity; she was required to exercise her imagination in order to
+solve a problem with which she was quite unfamiliar. She was expected
+to develop the potentialities of the wild thing, and to extort food
+from Nature. The whole problem was beyond her comprehension.</p>
+<p class="par">The sight of Kilburn was a great blow to her. She had
+hoped against hope that here, at least, she would find some semblance
+of the life she had known. It had seemed so impossible to her that
+Aiken, the butcher&rsquo;s, or Hobb&rsquo;s, the grocer&rsquo;s, would
+not be open as usual, and the vision of those two desolated and
+ransacked shops&mdash;the latter with but a few murderous spears of
+plate-glass left in its once magnificent windows&mdash;depressed her to
+tears.</p>
+<p class="par">So shaken was she by the sight of these horrors that
+Blanche and Millie raised no objection to sleeping that night in the
+house in Wisteria Grove. Indeed, the two girls were almost tired out,
+although it was yet early in the afternoon. The truck had become very
+heavy in the course of the last two miles; and they had had
+considerable difficulty in negotiating the hill by Westbourne Park
+Station.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was still weeping as she let herself in to
+her old home, and she wept as she prowled about the familiar rooms and
+noted the dust which had fallen like snow on every surface which would
+support it. And for the first time the loss of her husband came home to
+her. She had been almost glad when he had vanished from the Putney
+house&mdash;in that place she had only seen him in his new character of
+tyrant. Here, among familiar associations, she <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb158" href="#pb158" name=
+"pb158">158</a>]</span>recalled the fact that he had been a
+respectable, complacent, hard-working, successful man who had never
+given her cause for trouble, a man who did not drink nor run after
+other women, who held a position in the Church and was looked up to by
+the neighbourhood. According to her definition he had certainly been an
+ideal husband. It is true that they had dropped any pretence of being
+in love with one another after Blanche was born, but that was only
+natural.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling sat on the bed she had shared with him so
+long and hoped he was happy. He was; but if she could have seen the
+nature of his happiness the sight would have given her no comfort.
+Vaguely she pictured him in some strange Paradise, built upon those
+conceptions of the medi&aelig;val artists, mainly Italians, which have
+supplied the ideals of the orthodox. She saw an imperfectly
+transfigured and still fleshly George Gosling, who did unaccustomed
+things with a harp, was dressed in exotic garments and was on terms
+with certain hybrids, largely woman but partly bird, who were clearly
+recognizable as the angelic host. If she had been a Mohammedan, her
+vision would have accorded far more nearly with the fact.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The successful animal is that which is adapted to
+its circumstances. Herbert Spencer would appear foolish and incapable
+in the society of the young wits who frequent the private bar; he might
+be described by them as an old Johnny who knew nothing about
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb159" href="#pb159" name=
+"pb159">159</a>]</span>life. Mrs Gosling in her own home had been a
+ruler; she had had authority over her daughters, and, despite the usual
+evidences of girlish precocity, she had always been mistress of the
+situation. In the affairs of household management she was <i lang=
+"fr">facile princeps</i>, and she commanded the respect accorded to the
+eminent in any form of specialized activity. But even on this second
+morning of their emigration it became clear to Blanche that her mother
+had ceased to rule, and must become a subordinate. A certain respect
+was due to her in her parental relation, but if she could not be coaxed
+she must be coerced.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be better when we get her right away
+from here,&rdquo; was Blanche&rsquo;s diagnosis, and Millie, who had
+also achieved some partial realization of the necessities imposed by
+the new conditions, nodded in agreement.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She wants to stop here altogether, and, of
+course, we can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall starve if we do,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">From that time Mrs Gosling dropped into the humiliating
+position of a kind of mental incapable who must be humoured into
+obedience.</p>
+<p class="par">The first, and in many ways the most difficult, task was
+to persuade her away from Kilburn. She clung desperately to that
+stronghold of her old life.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m too old to change at my age,&rdquo; she
+protested, and when the alternative was clearly put before her, she
+accepted it with a flaccidity that was as aggravating as it was
+unfightable.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner die &rsquo;ere,&rdquo; said Mrs
+Gosling, &ldquo;than go trapesing about the fields lookin&rsquo; for
+somethin&rsquo; to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb160" href="#pb160"
+name="pb160">160</a>]</span>eat. I simply couldn&rsquo;t do it.
+It&rsquo;s different for you two gels, no doubt. You go and leave me
+&rsquo;ere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie might have been tempted to take her mother at her
+word, but Blanche never for a moment entertained the idea of leaving
+her mother behind.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very well, mother,&rdquo; she said, desperately,
+&ldquo;if you won&rsquo;t come we must all stop here and starve, I
+suppose. We&rsquo;ve got enough food to last a fortnight or
+so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As she spoke she looked out of the window of that little
+suburban house, and for the first time in her life a thought came to
+her of the strangeness of preferring such an inconvenient little box to
+the adventure of the wider spaces of open country. Outside, the sun was
+shining brilliantly, but the windows were dim with dust and
+cobwebs.</p>
+<p class="par">Yet her mother was comparatively happy in this hovel;
+she would find delight in cleaning it, although there was no one to
+appraise the result of her effort. She was a specialized animal with
+habits precisely analogous to the instincts of other animals and
+insects. There were insects who could only live in filth and would die
+miserably if removed from their natural surroundings. Mrs Gosling was a
+suburban-house insect who would perish in the open air. After all, the
+chief difference between insects and men is that the insect is born
+perfectly adapted to its specialized existence, man finds, or is forced
+into, a place in the scheme after he has come to maturity....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see why you shouldn&rsquo;t leave
+me behind,&rdquo; pleaded Mrs Gosling. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb161" href="#pb161" name="pb161">161</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; replied Blanche,
+still looking out of the window.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s wicked of you to make us stop here and
+starve,&rdquo; put in Millie. &ldquo;And even you must see that we
+<i>shall</i> starve.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling wept feebly. She had wept much during the
+past twenty-four hours. &ldquo;Where can we go?&rdquo; she wailed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s country on the other side of
+Harrow,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">The thought of Harrow or Timbuctoo was equally repugnant
+to Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Then Millie had an idea. &ldquo;Well, we only brought
+four bottles of water with us,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;where are we
+going to get any more in Kilburn?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling racked her brain in the effort to remember
+some convenient stream in the neighbourhood. &ldquo;It may rain,&rdquo;
+she said feebly at last.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche turned from the window and pointed to the
+blurred prospect of sunlit street. &ldquo;We might be dead before the
+rain came,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">They wore her out in the end.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">With Harrow as an immediate objective, they toiled
+up Willesden Lane with their hand-cart early the next morning. Blanche
+took that route because it was familiar to her, and after passing
+Willesden Green, she followed the tram lines.</p>
+<p class="par">As they got away from London they came upon evidences of
+the exodus which had preceded them. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb162" href="#pb162" name="pb162">162</a>]</span>Bodies of women, for
+the most part no longer <span class="corr" id="xd23e2849" title=
+"Source: maladorous">malodorous</span>, were not infrequent, and pieces
+of household furniture, parcels of clothing, boxes, trunks and smaller
+impedimenta lay by the roadside, the superfluities of earlier loads
+that had been lightened, however reluctantly.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling blenched at the sight of every
+body&mdash;only a few of them could be described as skeletons&mdash;and
+protested that they were all going to their death, but Blanche kept on
+resolutely with a white, set face, and as Millie followed her example,
+if with rather less show of temerity, there was no choice but to
+follow. When the gradients were favourable the girls helped their
+mother on to the truck and gave her a lift. She was a feeble
+walker.</p>
+<p class="par">Not till they reached Sudbury did they see another
+living being of their own species, or any sign of human habitation in
+the long rows of dirty houses.</p>
+<p class="par">The great surge of migration had spread out from the
+centre and become absorbed in circles of ever-widening amplitude. The
+great entity of London had eaten its way so far outwards in to arable
+and pasturage that within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross not a
+thousand women could be found who had been able to obtain any promise
+of security from the products of the soil. And although there were
+great open spaces of land, such as Wembley Park, which had to be
+crossed in the journey outwards, the exiles had been unable to wait
+until such time as seed could be transformed into food by the alchemy
+of Nature. So the pressure had been continually outwards, forcing the
+emigrants toward the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb163" href="#pb163"
+name="pb163">163</a>]</span>more distant farms where some fraction of
+them, at least, might find work and food until the coming of the
+harvest. In Kent, vegetables were comparatively plentiful. In Northern
+Middlesex and Buckinghamshire the majority had to depend upon animal
+food. But in all the Home Counties and in the neighbourhood of every
+large town, famine was following hard upon the heels of the plague, and
+70 per cent of the town-dwelling women and children who had escaped the
+latter visitation died of starvation and exposure before the middle of
+August.</p>
+<p class="par">In the first inner ring, still sparsely populated, were
+to be found those who had had vegetable gardens and had been vigorous
+enough to protect themselves against the flood of migration which had
+swept up against them.</p>
+<p class="par">It was the first signs of this inner ring that the
+Goslings discovered at Sudbury.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">They came upon a little row of cottages, standing
+back a few yards from the road. All three women had been engaged in
+pushing their trolly up an ascent, and with heads down, and all their
+physical energies concentrated upon their task, they did not notice the
+startling difference between these cottages and other houses they had
+passed, until they stopped to take breath at the summit of the
+hill.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling had immediately seated herself upon the
+sloping pole of the trolly handle. She was breathing heavily and had
+her hands pressed to her sides. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb164"
+href="#pb164" name="pb164">164</a>]</span>Millie leaned against the
+side of the trolly, her eyes still on the ground. But Blanche had
+thrown back her shoulders and opened her lungs, and she saw the banner
+of smoke that flew from the middle of the three
+chimney-stacks&mdash;smoke, in this wilderness, smoke the sign of human
+life! To Blanche it seemed the fulfilment of a great hope. She had
+begun to wonder if all the world were dead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;Look!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They looked without eagerness, anticipating some
+familiar horror.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ooh!&rdquo; echoed Millie, when she, too, had
+recognized the harbinger. But Mrs Gosling did not raise her eyes high
+enough.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; she asked stupidly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s some one living in that
+cottage,&rdquo; said Blanche, and pointed upwards to the soaring
+pennant.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s face brightened. &ldquo;Well, to be
+sure,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I wonder if they&rsquo;d let me sit down
+and rest for a few minutes? And perhaps they might be willing to sell
+me a glass of milk. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;d pay a good price for
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We can see, anyway,&rdquo; replied Millie, and
+they roused themselves and pushed on eagerly. The cottage was not more
+than thirty yards away.</p>
+<p class="par">Before they reached it, a woman came to the doorway,
+stared at them for a moment and then came down to the little wooden
+gate.</p>
+<p class="par">She was a thick-set woman of fifty or so, with iron grey
+hair cut close to her head. She wore a tweed skirt which did not reach
+the tops of her heavily <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb165" href=
+"#pb165" name="pb165">165</a>]</span>soled, high boots. She looked
+capable, energetic and muscular. And in her hand she carried about
+three feet of stout broomstick.</p>
+<p class="par">She did not speak until the little procession halted
+before her gate, and then she pointed meaningly up the road with her
+broomstick and said: &ldquo;Go on. You can&rsquo;t stop here.&rdquo;
+She spoke with the voice and inflection of an educated woman.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche paused in the act of setting down the trolly
+handle. Mrs Gosling and Millie stared in amazement; they had been
+prepared to weep on the neck of this human friend, found at last in the
+awful desert of Middlesex.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We only wanted to buy a little milk,&rdquo;
+stammered Blanche, no less astonished than her mother and sister.</p>
+<p class="par">The big woman looked them over with something of pity
+and contempt. &ldquo;I can see you&rsquo;re not dangerous,&rdquo; she
+sneered and crossed her great bare fore-arms over the top of the gate.
+&ldquo;Only three poor feckless idiots going begging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re <i>not</i> begging,&rdquo; retorted
+Blanche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got money and we&rsquo;re willing to
+pay.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Money!&rdquo; repeated the woman. She looked up
+at the sky and nodded her head, as though beseeching pity for these
+feeble creatures. &ldquo;My dear girl,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;what
+do you suppose is the good of money in this world? You can&rsquo;t eat
+money, nor wear it, nor use it to light a fire. Now, if you&rsquo;d
+offered me a box of matches, you should have had all the milk I can
+spare.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I never,&rdquo; put in Mrs Gosling, who had
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb166" href="#pb166" name=
+"pb166">166</a>]</span>feebly come to rest again on the handle of the
+trolly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, my good woman, you never did,&rdquo; said the
+stranger. &ldquo;You never could and I should say the chances are that
+you never will.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was intimidated and shrinking, even Blanche
+looked a little nervous, but Mrs Gosling was incapable of feeling fear
+of a fellow-woman. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t mean as you won&rsquo;t sell
+us a glass of milk?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Have you got a box of matches you&rsquo;ll
+exchange for it?&rdquo; asked the stranger. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a
+burning glass I stole in Harrow, but you can&rsquo;t depend on the
+sun.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, nor &rsquo;aven&rsquo;t &rsquo;ad, the last
+three weeks,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling. &ldquo;But if you&rsquo;ve more
+money a&rsquo;ready than you know what to do with, I should &rsquo;ave
+thought as you&rsquo;d &rsquo;a been willing to spare a glass o&rsquo;
+milk for charity&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The stranger regarded her petitioner with a hard smile.
+&ldquo;Charity&rsquo;s sake?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you realize
+that I&rsquo;ve had to defend this place like a fort against thousands
+of your sort? I&rsquo;ve killed three madwomen who fought me for
+possession and buried &rsquo;em in the orchard like cats. I held out
+through the first rush and I can hold out now easily enough. You three
+are the first I&rsquo;ve seen for a month, and before that they&rsquo;d
+begun to get weak and poor. These are your daughters, I suppose, and
+the three of you had always depended upon some fool of a man to keep
+you. Yes? Well, you deserve all you&rsquo;ve got. Now you can start and
+do a little healthy, useful work for <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb167" href="#pb167" name="pb167">167</a>]</span>yourselves.
+I&rsquo;ve no pity for you. I&rsquo;ve got a damned fool of a sister
+and an old fool of a mother to keep in there,&rdquo; she pointed to the
+cottage with her broomstick. &ldquo;Parasitic like you, both of
+&rsquo;em, and pretty well all the use they are is to keep the fire
+alight. No, my good woman, you get no charity from me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">When she had finished her speech, which she delivered
+with a fluency and point that suggested familiarity with the platform,
+the stranger crossed her arms again over the gate and stared Mrs
+Gosling out of countenance.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Come along, my dears,&rdquo; said that outraged
+lady, getting wearily to her feet. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t wish your
+ears soiled by such language from a woman as &rsquo;as forgotten the
+manners of a lady. But, there, poor thing, I&rsquo;ve no doubt
+&rsquo;er &rsquo;ead&rsquo;s been turned with all this
+trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The stranger smiled grimly and made no reply, but as the
+Goslings were moving away, she called out to them suddenly: &ldquo;Hi!
+You! There&rsquo;s a witless creature along the road who&rsquo;ll
+probably help you. The house is up a side road. Bear round to the
+right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What a beast,&rdquo; muttered Blanche when they
+had gone on a few yards.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One o&rsquo; them &lsquo;new&rsquo; women, my
+dear,&rdquo; panted Mrs Gosling, who remembered the beginning of the
+movement and still clung to the old terminology. <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e2936" title="Not in source">&ldquo;</span>&rsquo;Orrible unsexed
+creatures! I remember how your poor father used to &rsquo;ate
+&rsquo;em!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to get even with her,&rdquo; said
+Millie. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb168" href="#pb168" name=
+"pb168">168</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">They bore to the right, and so avoided two turnings
+which led up repulsive-looking hills, but they missed the side
+road.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we must have passed it,&rdquo;
+complained Mrs Gosling at last. Her sighs had been increasing in volume
+and poignancy for the past half-mile, and the prospect of uninhabited
+country which lay immediately around her she found infinitely
+dispiriting.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t an &rsquo;ouse in sight,&rdquo;
+she added, &ldquo;and I really don&rsquo;t believe I <i>can</i> walk
+much farther.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche stopped and looked over the fields on her right
+towards London. In the distance, blurred by an oily wriggle of heat
+haze, she could see the last wave of suburban villas which had broken
+upon this shore of open country. They had left the town behind them at
+last, but they had not found what they sought. This little arm of land
+which cut off Harrow and Wealdstone from the mother lake of London had
+not offered sufficient temptation to delay their forerunners in the
+search for food. Most of them, with a true instinct for what they
+sought, had followed the main road into the Chiltern Hills, and those
+who for some cause or another had wandered into this side track had
+pushed on, even as Blanche and Millie would have done had they not been
+dragged back by their mother&rsquo;s complaints. The sun was falling a
+little towards the west, and bird and animal life, which had seemed to
+rest during the intenser heat of mid-day, was stirring and calling all
+about them. A rabbit lolloped into the road, a few yards away, pricked
+up its ears, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb169" href="#pb169" name=
+"pb169">169</a>]</span>stared for an instant, and then scuttled to
+cover. A blackbird flew out of the hedge and fled chattering up the
+ditch. The air was murmurous with the hum of innumerable insects, and
+above Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s head hovered a group of flies which ever and
+again bobbed down as if following some concerted plan of action, and
+tried to settle on the poor woman&rsquo;s heated face.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! get away, do!&rdquo; she panted, and flapped
+a futile handkerchief.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How quiet it is!&rdquo; said Blanche; and
+although the air was full of sound it did indeed appear that a great
+hush had fallen over the earth. No motor-horn threateningly bellowed
+its automatic demand for right of way; there was no echo of hoofs nor
+grind of wheels; no call of children&rsquo;s voices, nor even the bark
+of a dog. The wild things had the place to themselves again, and the
+sound of their movements called for no response from civilized minds.
+The ears of the Goslings heard, but did not note these, to them,
+useless evidences of life. They were straining and alert for the voice
+of humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve felt the
+&rsquo;eat so much,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling suddenly, and Blanche and
+Millie both started.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; said Blanche, and held up a warning
+finger.</p>
+<p class="par">In the distance they heard a sound like the closing of a
+gate, and then, very clear and small, a feminine voice.
+&ldquo;<i>Chuck!</i> chuck! chuck!&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;Chuck! chuck!
+<i>chuck!!!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I told you we&rsquo;d passed it,&rdquo; said Mrs
+Gosling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb170" href="#pb170" name=
+"pb170">170</a>]</span>triumphantly. They turned the trolly and began
+to retrace their footsteps. Their eager eyes tried to peer through the
+spinney of trees which shut them off from the south. Once or twice they
+stopped to listen. The voice was fainter now, but they could hear the
+squawk of greedily competitive fowls. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb171" href="#pb171" name="pb171">171</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch13" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class=
+"divNum">XIII&mdash;</span>DIFFERENCES</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The only side road they could find proved to be no
+more than a track through the little wood. They almost passed it a
+second time, and hesitated at the gate&mdash;a sturdy five-barred gate
+bearing &ldquo;Private&rdquo; on a conspicuous label&mdash;debating
+whether this &ldquo;could be right.&rdquo; They still suffered a spasm
+of fear at the thought of trespass, and to open this gate and march up
+an unknown private road pushing a hand-cart seemed to them an act of
+terrible aggression.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We might leave the cart just inside,&rdquo;
+suggested Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And get our food stole,&rdquo; said Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one about,&rdquo; urged
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s that broomstick woman,&rdquo; said
+Millie. &ldquo;She may have followed us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I dunno if it&rsquo;s safe to go
+foragin&rsquo; in among them trees, neither,&rdquo; continued Mrs
+Gosling. &ldquo;Are you sure this is right, Blanche?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, I&rsquo;m not sure,&rdquo;
+replied Blanche, with a touch of temper.</p>
+<p class="par">They peered through the trees and listened, but no sign
+of a house was to be seen, and all was now silent save for the long
+drone of innumerable bees about their afternoon business. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb172" href="#pb172" name="pb172">172</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! come on!&rdquo; said Blanche at last. She was
+rapidly learning to solve all their problems by this simple
+formula....</p>
+<p class="par">In the wood they found refuge from those attendant flies
+which had hung over them so persistently.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gave a final flick with her handkerchief and
+declared her relief. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite pleasant in
+&rsquo;ere,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;after the &rsquo;eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls also seemed to find new vigour in the
+shade of the trees.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>have</i> got a cheek!&rdquo; said Millie,
+with a giggle.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! needs must when the devil drives,&rdquo;
+returned Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;and our circumstances is quite out of the
+ordinary. Besides which, there can&rsquo;t be any &rsquo;arm in
+offerin&rsquo; to buy a glass of milk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche tugged at the trolley handle with a flicker of
+impatience. Why would her mother be so foolish? Surely she must see
+that everything was different now? Blanche was beginning to wonder at
+and admire the marvel of her own intelligence. How much cleverer she
+was than the others! How much more ready to appreciate and adapt
+herself to change! They could not understand this new state of things,
+but she could, and she prided herself on her powers of
+discrimination.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different now,&rdquo; she said
+to herself. &ldquo;We can go anywhere and do anything, almost.
+It&rsquo;s like as if we were all starting off level again, in a
+way.&rdquo; She felt uplifted: she took extraordinary pleasure in her
+own realization of facts. A strange, <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb173" href="#pb173" name="pb173">173</a>]</span>new power had come to
+her, a power to enjoy life, through mastery. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s
+different now,&rdquo; she repeated. She was conscious of a sense of
+pity for her mother and sister.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The road through the wood curved sharply round to
+the right, and they came suddenly upon a clearing, and saw the house in
+front of them. It was a long, low house, smothered in roses and
+creepers, and it stood in a wild garden surrounded by a breast-high
+wall of red brick. At the edge of the clearing several cows were lying
+under the shade of the trees, reflectively chewing the cud with slow,
+deliberate enjoyment, while one, solitary, stood with its head over the
+garden gate, motionless, save for an occasional petulant whisp of its
+ropey tail.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, then, what are we going to do?&rdquo; asked
+Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">The procession halted, and the three women regarded the
+guardian cow with every sign of dismay.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Shoo!&rdquo; said Millie feebly, flapping her
+hands; and Blanche repeated the intimidation with greater force; but
+the cow merely acknowledged the salutation by an irritable sweep of its
+tail.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Orrid brute!&rdquo; muttered Mrs Gosling,
+and flicked her handkerchief in the direction of the brute&rsquo;s
+quarters.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said Blanche, conceiving a subtle
+strategy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll drive it away with the cart.&rdquo; She
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb174" href="#pb174" name=
+"pb174">174</a>]</span>turned the trolly round, and the three of them
+grasping the pole, they advanced slowly and warily to the charge,
+pushing their siege ram before them. They made a slight detour to
+achieve a flank attack and allow the enemy a clear way of retreat.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, dear! what <i>are</i> you doing?&rdquo; said
+a voice suddenly, and the three startled Goslings nearly dropped the
+pole in their alarm&mdash;they had been so utterly absorbed in their
+campaign.</p>
+<p class="par">A young woman of sixteen or seventeen, very brown, hot
+and dishevelled, was regarding them from the other side of the garden
+wall with a stare of amazement that even as they turned was flickering
+into laughter.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s that great brute by the gate, my
+dear,&rdquo; said Mrs Gosling, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve
+just&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean Alice?&rdquo; interrupted
+the young woman. &ldquo;Oh! you couldn&rsquo;t go charging poor dear
+Alice with a great cart like that! Three of you, too!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is its name Alice?&rdquo; asked Blanche stupidly.
+She did not feel equal to this curious occasion.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>Its</i> name!&rdquo; replied the young woman,
+with scorn. &ldquo;<i>Her</i> name&rsquo;s Alice, if that&rsquo;s what
+you mean.&rdquo; She shook back the hair from her eyes and moved down
+to the gate. The cow acknowledged her presence by an indolent toss of
+the head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! but my sweet Alice!&rdquo; protested the
+young woman; &ldquo;you must move and let these funny people come in.
+It really isn&rsquo;t good for you, dear, to stand about in the sun
+like this, and you&rsquo;d much better go and lie down in the shade for
+a bit!&rdquo; She gently pulled the gate from under the cow&rsquo;s
+chin, and then, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb175" href="#pb175"
+name="pb175">175</a>]</span>laying her hands flat on its side, made as
+if to push it out of the way.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I never!&rdquo; declared Mrs Gosling,
+regarding the performance with much the same awe as she might have
+vouchsafed to a lion-tamer in a circus. &ldquo;&rsquo;Oo&rsquo;d
+&rsquo;ave thought it&rsquo;d &rsquo;a been that tame?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The cow, after a moment&rsquo;s resistance, moved off
+with a leisurely walk in the direction of the wood.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, you funny people, what <i>do</i> you
+want?&rdquo; asked the young woman.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling began to explain, but Blanche quickly
+interposed. &ldquo;Oh! do be quiet, mother; you don&rsquo;t
+understand,&rdquo; she said, and continued, before her mother could
+remonstrate, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come from London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goodness!&rdquo; commented the young woman.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we want&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Blanche
+hesitated. She was surprised to find that in the light of her wonderful
+discovery it was not so easy to define precisely what they ought to
+want. As the broomstick woman had said, they were
+&ldquo;beggars.&rdquo; Fairly confronted with the problem, Blanche saw
+no alternative but a candid acknowledgment of the fact.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You want feeding, of course,&rdquo; put in the
+young woman. &ldquo;They all do. You needn&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re
+the first. We&rsquo;ve had dozens!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">A solution presented itself to Blanche. &ldquo;We
+don&rsquo;t really want food,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a
+lot of tinned things left still, only we&rsquo;re ill with eating
+tinned things. I thought, perhaps, you might be willing to let us have
+some milk and eggs and vegetables in exchange?&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb176" href="#pb176" name="pb176">176</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s sensible enough,&rdquo; commented
+the young woman. &ldquo;If you only knew the things we have been
+offered! Money chiefly, of course&rdquo;&mdash;Mrs Gosling opened her
+mouth, but Blanche frowned and shook her head&mdash;&ldquo;and it does
+seem as if money&rsquo;s about as useless as buttons. In fact,
+I&rsquo;d sooner have buttons&mdash;you <i>can</i> use them. But the
+other funny things&mdash;bits of old furniture, warming-pans,
+jewellery! You should have heard Mrs Isaacson! She was a Jewess who
+came from Hampstead a couple of months ago, and she had a lot of jewels
+she kept in a bag tied round her waist under her skirt; and when Aunt
+May and I simply had to tell her to go she tried to bribe us with an
+old brooch and rubbish. She was a terror. But, I say&rdquo;&mdash;she
+looked at the sun&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got lots of things to do
+before sunset.&rdquo; She paused, and looked at the three Goslings.
+&ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;are you all right? You
+seem all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Again Mrs Gosling began to reply, but Blanche was too
+quick for her. &ldquo;Tell me what you mean by &lsquo;all
+right&rsquo;?&rdquo; she asked, raising her voice to drown her
+mother&rsquo;s &ldquo;Well, I never did &rsquo;ear
+such&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course, mother&rsquo;ll give you any
+mortal thing you want,&rdquo; replied the young woman at the gate.
+&ldquo;Dear old mater! She simply won&rsquo;t think of what we&rsquo;re
+going to do in the winter; and I mean, if you come in for to-night,
+say, and we let you have a few odd things, you won&rsquo;t go and plant
+yourselves on us like that Mrs Isaacson and one or two others, because
+if you do, Aunt May and I will have to turn you out, you know.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb177" href="#pb177" name=
+"pb177">177</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What we &rsquo;ave we&rsquo;ll pay for,&rdquo;
+said Mrs Gosling with dignity.</p>
+<p class="par">The young woman smiled. &ldquo;Oh, I dare say!&rdquo;
+she said; &ldquo;pay us with those pretty little yellow counters that
+aren&rsquo;t the least good to anyone. You wait here half a jiff.
+I&rsquo;ll find Aunt May.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She ran up the path and entered the house. A moment
+later they heard her calling &ldquo;Aunt May!
+Auntie&mdash;Aun-<i>tee</i>!&rdquo; somewhere out at the back.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s &rsquo;ope &rsquo;er Aunt
+May&rsquo;ll &rsquo;ave more common sense,&rdquo; remarked Mrs
+Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche turned on her almost fiercely. &ldquo;For
+goodness sake, mother,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;do try and get it out of
+your head, if you can, that we can buy things with money. Can&rsquo;t
+you see that everything&rsquo;s different? Can&rsquo;t you see that
+money&rsquo;s no good, that you can&rsquo;t eat it, or wear it, or
+light a fire with it, like that other woman said? <i>Can&rsquo;t</i>
+you understand, or <i>won&rsquo;t</i> you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gaped in amazement. It was incredible that
+the mind of Blanche should also have been distorted by this terrible
+heresy. She turned in sympathy to Millie, who had taken her
+mother&rsquo;s seat on the pole of the trolly, but Millie frowned and
+said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;B.&rsquo;s right. You can&rsquo;t buy things with
+money; not here, anyway. What&rsquo;d they do with money if they got
+it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling looked at the trees, at the cows lying at
+the edge of the wood, at the sunlit fields beyond the house, but she
+saw nothing which suggested an immediate use for gold coin.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb178" href="#pb178" name=
+"pb178">178</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lemme sit down, my dear,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;What with the &rsquo;eat and all this
+walkin&rsquo;&mdash;&mdash;Oh! what wouldn&rsquo;t I give for a cup
+o&rsquo; tea!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie got up sulkily and leaned against the wall.
+&ldquo;I suppose they&rsquo;ll let us stop here to-night, B.?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t make fools of ourselves,&rdquo;
+replied Blanche, spitefully.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling drooped. No inspiration had come to her as
+it had come to her daughter. The older woman had become too
+specialized. She swayed her head, searching&mdash;like some great larva
+dug up from its refuse heap&mdash;confused and feeble in this new
+strange place of light and air.</p>
+<p class="par">And as Blanche had repeated to herself
+&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; so Mrs Gosling seized a
+phrase and clung to it as to some explanation of this horrible
+perplexity. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; she said;
+&ldquo;I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> understand it!&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Aunt May appeared after a long interval&mdash;a
+thin, brown-faced woman of forty or so. She wore a very short skirt, a
+man&rsquo;s jacket and an old deerstalker hat, and she carried a
+pitchfork. She must have brought the pitchfork as an emblem of
+authority, but she did not handle it as the other woman had handled her
+broomstick. The murderous pitchfork appeared little more deadly in her
+keeping than does the mace in the House of Commons, but as an emblem
+the pitchfork was infinitely more effective. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb179" href="#pb179" name="pb179">179</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Aunt May&rsquo;s questions were pertinent and searching,
+and after a few brief explanations had been offered to her she drove
+off the young woman, her niece, whom she addressed as
+&ldquo;Allie,&rdquo; to perform the many duties which were her share of
+the day&rsquo;s work.</p>
+<p class="par">Allie went, laughing.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can sleep here to-night,&rdquo; announced
+Aunt May. &ldquo;We shall have a meal all together soon after sunset.
+Till then you can talk to my sister, who&rsquo;s an invalid.
+She&rsquo;s always eager for news.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She took charge of them as if she were the matron of a
+workhouse receiving new inmates.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better bring your truck into the
+garden,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;or Alice will be turning everything
+over. Inquisitive brute!&rdquo; she added, snapping her fingers at the
+cow, who had returned, and stood within a few feet of them, eyeing the
+Goslings with a slow, dull wonder&mdash;a mournfully sleepy beast whose
+furiously wakeful tail seemed anxious to rouse its owner out of her
+torpor.</p>
+<p class="par">The invalid sister sat by the window of a small room
+that faced west and overlooked the luxuriance of what was still
+recognizably a flower-garden.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My sister, Mrs Pollard,&rdquo; said Aunt May
+sharply, and then addressing the woman who sat huddled in shawls by the
+window, she added: &ldquo;Three more strays, Fanny&mdash;from London,
+Allie tells me.&rdquo; She went out quickly, closing the door with a
+vigour which indicated little tolerance for invalid nerves.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Pollard stretched out a delicate white hand.
+&ldquo;Please come and sit near me,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and tell
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb180" href="#pb180" name=
+"pb180">180</a>]</span>me about London. It is so long since I have had
+any news from there. Perhaps you might be able&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; she
+broke off, and looked at the three strangers with a certain pathetic
+eagerness.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take me bonnet off, ma&rsquo;am, if
+you&rsquo;ll excuse me,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Gosling. She felt at home
+once more within the delightful shelter of a house, although slightly
+overawed by the aspect of the room and its occupant. About both there
+was an air of that class dignity to which Mrs Gosling knew she could
+never attain. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve felt the
+&rsquo;eat as I &rsquo;ave to-day,&rdquo; she remarked politely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Has it been hot?&rdquo; asked Mrs Pollard.
+&ldquo;To me the days all seem so much alike. I want you to tell me,
+were there any young men in London when you left? You haven&rsquo;t
+seen any young man who at all resembles this photograph, have
+you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling stared at the silver-framed photograph which
+Mrs Pollard took from the table at her side, stared and shook her
+head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t seen a single man of any kind
+for two months,&rdquo; said Blanche, &ldquo;not a single one. Have we,
+Millie?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, sitting rather stiffly on her chair, shook her
+head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s terrible,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+sure I don&rsquo;t know where they can have all gone to.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Pollard did not reply for a moment. She looked
+steadfastly out of the window, and tears, which she made no attempt to
+restrain, chased each other in little jerks down her smooth pale
+cheeks. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb181" href="#pb181" name=
+"pb181">181</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling pinched her mouth into an expression of
+suffering sympathy, and shook her head at her daughters to enforce
+silence. Was she not, also, a widow?</p>
+<p class="par">After a short pause, Mrs Pollard fumbled in her lap and
+discovered a black-bordered pocket-handkerchief&mdash;a reminiscence,
+doubtless, of some earlier bereavement. Her expression had been in no
+way distorted as she wept, and after the tears had been wiped away no
+trace of them disfigured her delicate face. Her voice was still calm
+and sweet as she said:</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I am very foolish to go on hoping. I loved too
+much, and this trial has been sent to teach me that all love but One is
+vain, that I must not set my heart upon things of the earth. And yet I
+go on hoping that my poor boy was not cut off in Sin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Dear, dear!&rdquo; murmured Mrs Gosling.
+&ldquo;You musn&rsquo;t take it to &rsquo;eart too much, ma&rsquo;am.
+Boys will be a little wild and no doubt our &rsquo;eavenly Father will
+make excuses.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Pollard shook her head. &ldquo;If it had only been a
+little wildness,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I should have hope. He is,
+indeed, just and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, but my
+poor Alfred became tainted with the terrible doctrines of Rome. It has
+been the greatest grief of my life, and I have known much
+pain....&rdquo; And again the tears slowly welled up and fell silently
+down that smooth, unchanging face.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling sniffed sympathetically. The two girls
+glanced at one another with slightly raised <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb182" href="#pb182" name=
+"pb182">182</a>]</span>eyebrows and Blanche almost invisibly shrugged
+her shoulders.</p>
+<p class="par">The warm evening light threw the waxen-faced,
+white-shawled figure of the woman in the window into high relief. Her
+look of ecstatic resignation was that of some wonderful medi&aelig;val
+saint returned from the age of vision and miracle to a recently
+purified earth in which the old ideas of saintship had again become
+possible. Her influence was upon the room in which she sat. The sounds
+of the world outside, the evening chorus of wild life, the familiar
+noise of the farm, seemed to blend into a remote music of
+prayer&mdash;&ldquo;Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison!&rdquo; Within was a
+great stillness, as of a thin and bloodless purity; the long
+continuance of a single thought found some echo in every material
+object. While the silence lasted everything in that room was responsive
+to this single keynote of an&aelig;mic virtue.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling tried desperately to weep without noise, and
+even the two girls, falling under the spell, ceased to glance covertly
+at one another with that hint of criticism, but sat subdued and
+weakened as if some element of life had been taken from them.</p>
+<p class="par">The lips of the woman in the window moved noiselessly;
+her hands were clasped in her lap. She was praying.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Firm and somewhat clumsy steps were heard in the
+passage, the door was pushed roughly open, banging back against the
+black oak chair which was set <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb183"
+href="#pb183" name="pb183">183</a>]</span>behind it, and Aunt May
+entered carrying a large tray.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s your dinner, Fanny,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done earlier to-night, in spite of
+interruptions.<span class="corr" id="xd23e3206" title=
+"Not in source">&rdquo;</span> She bustled over to the little table in
+the window, pushed back the Bible and photograph with the edge of the
+tray until she could release one hand, and then, having driven the tray
+into a position of safety, moved Bible and photograph to the centre
+table.</p>
+<p class="par">There was something protestingly vigorous about her
+movements, as though she endeavoured to combat by noise and energy the
+impoverished vitality of that emasculate room.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, you three!&rdquo; she went on. &ldquo;You
+had better come out into the kitchen and take your things off and
+wash.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As the Goslings rose, Mrs Pollard turned to them and
+stretched out to each in turn her delicate white hand. &ldquo;There is
+only one Comforter.&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Put your trust in
+Him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling gulped, and Blanche and Millie looked as
+they used to look when they attended the Bible-classes held by the
+vicar&rsquo;s wife.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche gave a shiver of relief as they came out into
+the passage. Her mind was suddenly filled by the astounding thought
+that everything was not different....</p>
+<p class="par">Supper was laid on the kitchen table&mdash;cold chicken,
+potatoes and cabbage, stewed plums and cream, and warm, new milk in a
+jug; no bread, no salt, and no pepper.</p>
+<p class="par">As the three Goslings washed at the scullery sink
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb184" href="#pb184" name=
+"pb184">184</a>]</span>they chattered freely. They felt pleasure at
+release from some cold, draining influence; they felt as if they had
+come out of church after some long, dull service, into the air and
+sunlight.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure she&rsquo;s a very &rsquo;oly
+lady,&rdquo; was Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s final summary.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shivered again. &ldquo;Oh! freezing!&rdquo; was
+her enigmatic reply.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie said it gave her &ldquo;the creeps.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They were a party of seven at supper&mdash;the meal was
+referred to as &ldquo;supper,&rdquo; although to Mrs Pollard it had
+been dignified by the name of &ldquo;dinner&rdquo;&mdash;including two
+young women whom the Goslings had not hitherto seen; strong,
+brown-faced girls, who spoke with a country accent. They had something
+still of the manner of servants, but they were treated as equals both
+by Allie and Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">There was little conversation during the meal, however,
+for all of them were too intent on the business in hand. To the
+Goslings that meal was, indeed, a banquet.</p>
+<p class="par">When they had all finished, Aunt May rose at once.
+&ldquo;Thank Heaven for daylight,&rdquo; she remarked; &ldquo;but we
+must set our brains to work to invent some light for the winter. We
+haven&rsquo;t a candle or a drop of oil left,&rdquo; she went on,
+addressing the Goslings, &ldquo;and for the past five weeks we have had
+to bustle to get everything done before sunset, I can tell you. Last
+night we couldn&rsquo;t wash up after supper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We know,&rdquo; replied Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Aunt May nodded. &ldquo;We all know,&rdquo; she said.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb185" href="#pb185" name=
+"pb185">185</a>]</span>&ldquo;Now, you three girls, get busy!&rdquo;
+And Allie and the two brown-faced young women rose a little
+wearily.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting an old woman,&rdquo; remarked
+Aunt May, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m allowed certain privileges, chief of
+them that I don&rsquo;t work after supper. She paused and looked keenly
+at the three Goslings. &ldquo;Which of you three is in command?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, it seems as if my eldest, Blanche, that is,
+&rsquo;as sort o&rsquo; taken the lead the past few days,&rdquo; began
+Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! I thought so,&rdquo; said Aunt May.
+&ldquo;Well, now, Blanche, you&rsquo;d better come out into the garden
+and have a talk with me, and we&rsquo;ll decide what you had better do.
+If your mother and sister would like to go to bed, Allie will show them
+where they can sleep.<span class="corr" id="xd23e3250" title=
+"Not in source">&rdquo;</span></p>
+<p class="par">She moved away in the direction of the garden and
+Blanche followed her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb186" href=
+"#pb186" name="pb186">186</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch14" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XIV&mdash;</span>AUNT MAY</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The sun had set, but as yet the daylight was
+scarcely faded. Under the trees the fowls muttered in subdued
+cluckings, and occasionally one of them would flutter up into the lower
+branches with a squawk of effort and then settle herself with a great
+fluttering and swelling of feathers, and all the suggestion of a fussy
+matron preparing for the night&mdash;preparing only, for these early
+roosters sat open-eyed and watchful, as if they knew that there was no
+chance of sleep for them until every member of that careless crowd
+below had found its appointed place in the dormitory.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We put &rsquo;em inside in the winter,&rdquo;
+remarked Aunt May, as she and Blanche paused, &ldquo;but they prefer
+the trees. We haven&rsquo;t any foxes here, but I&rsquo;ve noticed that
+the wild things seem to be coming back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche nodded. She was thinking how much there was to
+learn concerning those matters which appertained to the production of
+food.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re rather a poor lot,&rdquo; Aunt May
+continued, &ldquo;but they have to forage for themselves, except for
+the few bits of vegetable and such things we can spare them.
+We&rsquo;ve no corn or flour or meal of any kind for ourselves yet. But
+a farmer&rsquo;s wife <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb187" href=
+"#pb187" name="pb187">187</a>]</span>about a mile from here has got a
+few acres of wheat and barley coming on, and we shall help her to
+harvest and take our share later. We shall be rich then,&rdquo; she
+added, with a smile.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m town-bred, you know,&rdquo; said
+Blanche. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got an awful lot to learn, Millie and
+me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll learn quickly enough,&rdquo; was the
+answer. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">At the end of the orchard through which they had been
+passing they came to a knoll, crowned by a great elm. Round the trunk
+of the elm a rough seat had been fixed, and here Aunt May sat down with
+a sigh of relief.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blessed thing to earn your own bread
+day by day,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a beautiful thing to
+live near the earth and feel physically tired at night. It&rsquo;s
+delightful to be primitive and agricultural, and I love it. But I have
+a civilized vice, Blanche. I have a store of cigarettes I stole from a
+shop in Harrow, and every night when it&rsquo;s fine I come out here
+after supper and smoke three; and when it&rsquo;s wet I smoke &rsquo;em
+in my own bedroom, and&mdash;I dream. But to-night I&rsquo;m going to
+talk to you, because you want help.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She produced a cigarette case and matches from a side
+pocket of her jacket, lit a cigarette, inhaled the smoke with a long
+gasp of intensest enjoyment, and then said: &ldquo;Men weren&rsquo;t
+fools, my dear; they had pockets in their coats.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Blanche. She felt puzzled and a
+little awkward. She knew that this woman was a <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb188" href="#pb188" name=
+"pb188">188</a>]</span>friend, but the girl&rsquo;s town-bred,
+objective mind was critical and embarrassed.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you smoke?&rdquo; asked Aunt May. &ldquo;I can
+spare you a cigarette, though I know the time must come when there
+won&rsquo;t be any more. Still, it&rsquo;s a long way off yet. Bless
+the clever man who invented air-tight tins!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t smoke, thanks,&rdquo; replied
+Blanche, conventionally; and, try as she would, she could not keep some
+hint of stiffness out of her voice. Modern manners take a long time to
+influence suburban homes of the Wisteria Grove type.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! well, you miss a lot!&rdquo; said Aunt May;
+&ldquo;but you&rsquo;re better without it, especially now, when tobacco
+isn&rsquo;t easy to get, and will soon be impossible.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But do you think,&rdquo; asked Blanche, drawing
+her eyebrows together, &ldquo;that this sort of thing is going on
+always?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I dare say. Don&rsquo;t ask me, my dear; the
+problem&rsquo;s beyond me. What we poor women have got to do is to keep
+ourselves alive in the meantime. And that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve come
+out here to talk about. What about your mother and you two girls? Where
+are you going? And what are you proposing to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>I</i> don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Blanche.
+&ldquo;I&mdash;I&rsquo;ve been trying to think.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; remarked Aunt May. &ldquo;I believe
+you&rsquo;ll do. I&rsquo;m doubtful about your sister.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to work on a farm, I
+suppose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the only way to live.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only where?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb189" href="#pb189" name="pb189">189</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been trying to worry
+out,&rdquo; said Aunt May. &ldquo;We do get news here, of a sort. Our
+girls work in Mrs Jordan&rsquo;s fields, and meet girls and women who
+come from Pinner, and the Pinner people hear news from Northwood, and
+the Northwood people from somewhere else; and so we get into touch with
+half a county. But, coming to your affairs; you see, we here are just
+the innermost circle. Most of the women who came from London missed
+this place and passed us by, thanks be!... Now, that poor unfortunate
+Miss Grant, down the road, had to defend herself with weapons.
+Fortunately she&rsquo;s strong.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is Miss Grant the awful woman with the
+broomstick?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not really awful, my dear,&rdquo;
+said Aunt May, smiling; &ldquo;she&rsquo;s a very good sort. A little
+rough in her manners, perhaps, and quite mad about the uselessness of
+the creatures we used to know as men, but a fine, generous, unselfish
+woman, if she does boast of her three murders. Did she tell you that,
+by the way?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche nodded.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She would, of course; and I believe it&rsquo;s
+true; but her theory was to defend her own people. She said
+they&rsquo;d <i>all</i> have died if she hadn&rsquo;t. I&rsquo;m not
+sure about the ethic, but I know dear old Sally Grant meant well.
+However, I&rsquo;m wandering&mdash;I often do when I talk like this.
+The point was that just this little circle here, close to London, is
+very thickly populated, and there&rsquo;s precious little food ready to
+be got any way; but you&rsquo;ll have to pass through the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb190" href="#pb190" name=
+"pb190">190</a>]</span>country beyond Pinner before you&rsquo;ll find a
+place where they&rsquo;ll give you work and keep you. There&rsquo;s a
+surplus in the next ring, I gather, too much labour and too little to
+grow. You&rsquo;ll have to push out into the Chilterns, out to Amersham
+at the nearest. It&rsquo;s all on the main road, of course, which is
+bad in a general way, because that&rsquo;s the road they all took. But
+I think if you&rsquo;ll cut across towards Wycombe you might, perhaps,
+find a place of some sort, though whether they&rsquo;ll feed your
+mother free gratis I can&rsquo;t say. Women are of all sorts, but this
+plague hasn&rsquo;t made &rsquo;em more friendly to one another, or
+perhaps it is we notice it more, and the worst of the lot are the
+farmers&rsquo; wives and daughters who&rsquo;ve got the land. They get
+turned out, though, sometimes. We hear about it. The London women have
+made raids; only, you see, the poor dears don&rsquo;t know what to do
+with the land when they get it, so they have to keep the few who do
+know to teach &rsquo;em&mdash;when they&rsquo;re sensible
+enough&mdash;the raiders, I mean. They aren&rsquo;t always.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be an adventure,&rdquo; remarked
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Aunt May threw away the very short end of her second
+cigarette and lighted her third. &ldquo;Adventure will do you
+good,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">It was nearly dark under the elm. The things of the
+night were coming out. Occasionally a cockchafer would go humming past
+them, the bats were flitting swiftly and silently about the orchard,
+and presently an owl swept by in one great stride of soundless
+flight.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How they are all coming back!&rdquo; murmured
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb191" href="#pb191" name=
+"pb191">191</a>]</span>Aunt May. &ldquo;All the wild things. I never
+saw an owl here before this year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I should be frightened if you weren&rsquo;t
+here,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Nothing to be frightened of, yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In a few years&rsquo; time, perhaps. I
+don&rsquo;t know. We killed a wild cat who came after the chickens a
+few days ago. The cats have gone back already, and the dogs
+aren&rsquo;t so respectful as they used to be. The dogs&rsquo;ll
+interbreed, I suppose, and evolve a common form&mdash;strike some kind
+of average in a beast which will be somewhere near the ancestral type,
+smaller, probably, I don&rsquo;t know. It&rsquo;s a wonderful world,
+and very interesting. I could almost wish man wouldn&rsquo;t return for
+twenty years or so&mdash;just to see how much of his handiwork Nature
+could undo in the interval. I often think about it out here in the
+evenings.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wish I knew more about it,&rdquo; said Blanche
+timidly. &ldquo;Are there any books, do you know,
+that&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t want books, my dear. Keep your
+eyes open and think.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They lapsed into silence again. The third cigarette was
+finished, but Aunt May gave no indication of a desire to get back to
+the house, and Blanche&rsquo;s mind was so excited with all the new
+ideas which were pouring in upon her that she had forgotten her
+tiredness.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s awfully interesting,&rdquo; she said
+at last. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so different. Mother and Millie hate it,
+and they&rsquo;d <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb192" href="#pb192"
+name="pb192">192</a>]</span>like all the old things back; but I
+don&rsquo;t think I would.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re all right. You&rsquo;ll do,&rdquo;
+replied her companion. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re one of the new sort, though
+you might never have found it out if it hadn&rsquo;t been for the
+plague. Now, your sister will do one of two things, in my opinion;
+either she&rsquo;ll stop in some place where there&rsquo;s a
+man&mdash;there&rsquo;s one at Wycombe, by the way&mdash;and have
+children, or she&rsquo;ll turn religious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was about to ask a question, but Aunt May
+stopped her. &ldquo;Never mind about the man, my dear,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll learn quickly enough. It&rsquo;s like Heaven now,
+you see&mdash;no marrying or giving in marriage. With one man to every
+thousand women or so, what can you expect? It&rsquo;s no good kicking
+against it. It&rsquo;s got to be. That&rsquo;s where
+Fanny&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; She broke off suddenly, with a little snort
+of impatience. &ldquo;I think to-night&rsquo;s an exception,&rdquo; she
+went on. &ldquo;I like talking to you, and one simply can&rsquo;t talk
+to Allie yet, so just to-night I&rsquo;ll have one more.&rdquo; She
+took out her cigarette case with a touch of impatience.</p>
+<p class="par">It was dark under the elm now, and she had to hold up
+her cigarette case close to her face in order to see the contents.
+&ldquo;Two more,&rdquo; she announced. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a festival,
+and for once I can speak my mind to some one. An imprudence, perhaps,
+like this habit of smoking, but I shall probably never see you again,
+and I&rsquo;m sure you won&rsquo;t tell.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, no!&rdquo; interposed Blanche eagerly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not tired? You don&rsquo;t want to
+go to bed?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb193" href="#pb193"
+name="pb193">193</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not a bit. I love being out here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see you, but I know you&rsquo;re
+speaking the truth,&rdquo; said Aunt May, after a pause. &ldquo;In the
+darkness and silence of the night I will make a confession. I look
+weather-worn and fifty, I know, but I feel absurdly romantic, only
+there&rsquo;s no man in this case. I used to write novels, my
+dear&mdash;an absurd thing for any spinster to do, but they paid, and
+I&rsquo;ve got the itch for self-expression. That&rsquo;s the one
+outlet I miss in this new world of ours. Sally Grant and I can&rsquo;t
+agree, and, in any case, she wants to do all the talking. And sometimes
+I&rsquo;m idiot enough to go on writing little bits even now when I
+have become a capable, practical woman with at least four lives
+dependent upon me. Well, it shows, anyhow, that we writing women
+weren&rsquo;t all fools....&rdquo; She hung on that for a moment or
+two, and then continued.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you religious?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&mdash;I suppose so. We always
+went to Church at home,&rdquo; said Blanche. &ldquo;I thought every one
+was, almost. Not quite like Mrs Pollard, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well!&rdquo; said Aunt May.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no harm and a lot of good in being religious, if
+you go about it in the right way. I don&rsquo;t want to change your
+opinions, my dear. It&rsquo;s just a question to me of the right way.
+And I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> see that Fanny&rsquo;s way is right. Here we
+are, and we&rsquo;ve got to make the best of it; and to my mind that
+means facing life, and not shutting yourself into one room with a Bible
+and spending half your time on your knees. Fanny never <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb194" href="#pb194" name="pb194">194</a>]</span>was
+good for much. She brought up Alfred&mdash;my nephew, you
+know&mdash;with only one idea, and she stuffed him so full of holiness
+that the English Church couldn&rsquo;t hold him, and he had to work
+some of it off by going over to Rome. He thought he&rsquo;d have better
+chances of saintship there. He was a poor, pale thing, anyway. Of
+course, that was anathema to Fanny. She might have forgiven him for
+committing a murder, but to become a Roman Catholic&mdash;&mdash;! Oh,
+Lord! She&rsquo;s been praying for him ever since. And, my dear, what
+difference can it make? Alfred&rsquo;s apostasy, I mean. Do you think
+it matters what particular form of worship or pettifogging details of
+belief you adopt? Why can&rsquo;t the Churches take each other for
+granted, and be generous enough to suppose that all roads lead to
+Heaven, which is, according to all accounts, a much better place than
+Rome? But, oh! above all, if you have a religion, do be practical! Come
+out and do your work, instead of sighing and psalm-singing, and
+wearying dumb Heaven with fulsome praise and lamentations of your
+unworthiness, as if you were trying to propitiate a rich customer!</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There, my dear, I won&rsquo;t say any more. My
+last cigarette&rsquo;s done, and wasted, because I was too excited to
+enjoy it. I know I&rsquo;ve been disloyal; but it&rsquo;s my
+temperament. I could slap Fanny sometimes. And she shan&rsquo;t have
+Allie.... It&rsquo;s the night that has affected me. To-morrow I shall
+be just as practical as ever, and you&rsquo;ll forget that you&rsquo;ve
+seen this side of me. Come along. We must go to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This is the greatest night of my life,&rdquo;
+thought <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb195" href="#pb195" name=
+"pb195">195</a>]</span>Blanche as they walked back in silence to the
+house.</p>
+<p class="par">Even when she was in bed, she did not go to sleep at
+once. She lay and listened to the heavy breathing of her mother and
+Millie, and she wondered. Everything, indeed, was different, but
+everybody was just the same, only, in some curious way, individualities
+seemed more pronounced.</p>
+<p class="par">Could it be that everybody was more natural, that there
+was less restraint?</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was not introspective. She did not test the
+theory on herself. She thought of the women she had met that day, and
+of her mother and Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">She fell asleep, determined to be more like Aunt May.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb196" href="#pb196" name=
+"pb196">196</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch15" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XV&mdash;</span>FROM SUDBURY TO
+WYCOMBE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Allie knocked on the Goslings&rsquo; door at
+sunrise the next morning, and Blanche, who had come to bed two hours
+after her mother and sister, was the only one to respond. She woke with
+the feeling that she had something important to do, and that the affair
+was in some way pleasant and inspiring.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was not easily roused. She had slept heavily, and
+did not approve the suggestion that she should get up and dress
+herself.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, B., all right!&rdquo; she mumbled, and
+cuddled down under the bedclothes like a dormouse into its straw.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! do get up!&rdquo; urged Blanche, impatiently,
+and at last resorted to physical force.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What <i>is</i> the matter?&rdquo; snapped Millie,
+struggling to maintain her hold of the blankets. &ldquo;Why
+<i>can&rsquo;t</i> you leave me alone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Because it&rsquo;s time to get up, lazy!&rdquo;
+said Blanche, continuing the struggle.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, I said I&rsquo;d get up in a
+minute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, get up then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;In a minute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No&mdash;now!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, bother!&rdquo; said Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche succeeded at last in obtaining possession of the
+blankets. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb197" href="#pb197" name=
+"pb197">197</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll wake mother!&rdquo; was
+Millie&rsquo;s last, desperate shaft.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try,&rdquo; replied
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie sat up in the bed and wondered vaguely where she
+was. These scenes had often been enacted at Wisteria Grove, and her
+mind had gone back to those delightful days of peace and security. When
+full consciousness returned to her, she was half inclined to cry, and
+more than half inclined to go to sleep again.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling was quite as difficult.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the time?&rdquo; was her first
+question.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s not seven,&rdquo;
+murmured Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, still sitting on the bed, wondered whether
+Blanche would let her get to the blankets which were tumbled on the
+floor a few feet away.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, you don&rsquo;t!&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche,
+anticipating the attempt.</p>
+<p class="par">Finally she lost her temper and shook her mother
+vigorously.</p>
+<p class="par">At that, Mrs Gosling sat up suddenly and stared at her.
+&ldquo;What in &rsquo;eaven&rsquo;s name&rsquo;s wrong, gel?&rdquo; she
+asked. Her instinct told her with absolute certainty that it was still
+the middle of the night by Wisteria Grove standards.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! my goodness! I&rsquo;m going to have my hands
+full with you two!&rdquo; broke out Blanche impatiently. Her
+imagination pictured for her in that instant how great the trouble
+would be. She would never be able to wake them up.... <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb198" href="#pb198" name="pb198">198</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">They took the road before eight o&rsquo;clock. Aunt May
+was generous in the matter of eggs and fruit, and she left her many
+urgent duties to point the way for the inexperienced explorers.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Get right out as far as you can,&rdquo; was her
+parting word of advice.</p>
+<p class="par">They did not see Mrs Pollard again. She was still in bed
+when they set out.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Despite the promise of another cloudless day, none
+of the three travellers set out in high spirits. To all of them, even
+to Blanche, it seemed a return to weariness and pain to start out once
+more pushing that abominable truck. That truck represented all their
+troubles. It had become associated with all the discomforts they had
+endured since they left the Putney house. It indicated the paucity of
+their possessions, and yet it was intolerably heavy to push. After
+their brief return to the comfort and stability of a home and natural
+food, this adventuring out into the inhospitable country appeared more
+hopeless than ever. If they could have gone without the truck, they
+might, at least, have avoided that feeling of horrible certainty. They
+might have cheated themselves into the belief that they would return.
+The truck was the brand of their vagabondage.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling did not spare her lamentations concerning
+the hopelessness of their endeavour, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb199" href="#pb199" name="pb199">199</a>]</span>gave it as her
+opinion that they had been most heartlessly treated by Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Turning out a woman of my age into the
+roads,&rdquo; she grumbled. &ldquo;She might &rsquo;ave kept us a day
+or two, I should &rsquo;ave thought. It ain&rsquo;t as if we were
+beggars. We could &rsquo;ave paid for what we &rsquo;ad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She had, indeed, made the suggestion and been repulsed.
+Aunt May had firmly put the offer on one side without explanation. She
+understood that explanations would be wasted on Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was inclined to agree with her mother.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche, at the handle, did not interrupt the statement
+of their grievances. She was occupied with the problem of the future,
+trying to think out some plan in her own confused inconsecutive
+way.</p>
+<p class="par">Their progress was tediously slow. Against the combined
+brake of the truck and Mrs Gosling, they did not average two miles an
+hour; and even before they came to Pinner it was becoming obvious to
+the two girls that they might as well let their mother ride on the
+trolly as allow her to lean her weight upon it as she walked.</p>
+<p class="par">They took the road through Wealdstone to avoid the hill
+and found that they were still in the track of one wing of the foraging
+army which had preceded them. That first rush of emigrants had ravaged
+the stores and houses as locusts will ravage a stretch of country. The
+suburb of regular villas and prim shops had been completely looted.
+Doors stood open and windows were smashed; the spread of ugly houses
+lay among the fields like an unwholesome eruption, awaiting the healing
+process of Nature. Wealdstone <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb200"
+href="#pb200" name="pb200">200</a>]</span>also was deserted by
+humanity. The flood had swept on towards the open country.</p>
+<p class="par">But as they approached Pinner the signs of devastation
+and desertion began to give way. Here and there women could be seen
+working in the fields; one or two children scuttled away before the
+approach of the Goslings and hid in the hedges, children who had
+evidently grown furtive and suspicious, intimidated by the experiences
+of the past two months; and when the outlying houses were
+reached&mdash;detached suburban villas, once occupied by relatively
+wealthy middle-class employers&mdash;it was evident that efforts were
+being made to restore the wreckage of kitchen gardens.</p>
+<p class="par">The Goslings had reached the point at which the wave had
+broken after its great initial energy was spent. Somewhere about this
+fifteen-mile limit, varying somewhat according to local conditions, the
+real disintegration of the crowd had begun. As the numerous tokens of
+the road had shown, a great number of women and children&mdash;possibly
+one-fifth of the whole crowd&mdash;had died of starvation and disease
+before any harbour was reached. From this fifteen-mile circle outwards,
+an increasing number had been stayed in their flight by the
+opportunities of obtaining food. Work was urgently demanded for the
+future, but the determining factor was the present supply of food, and
+the constriction of immediate supply had decided the question of how
+great a proportion of the women and children should remain. Here, about
+Pinner, was more land than the limited number of workers could till,
+but little <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb201" href="#pb201" name=
+"pb201">201</a>]</span>of it was arable, and this year there would be
+almost no harvest of grain.</p>
+<p class="par">Vaguely, Blanche realized this. She remembered Aunt
+May&rsquo;s advice to keep her eyes open, and looking about her as she
+walked she found little promise of security in the grass fields and the
+rare signs of human activity.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling, eager to find some home at any price,
+expressed her usual optimistic opinion with regard to the value of
+money. She saw signs of life again, at last, conditions familiar to
+her. She thought that they were returning once more to some kind of
+recognizable civilization, and began, with some renewal of her old
+vigour, to advise that they should find an hotel or inn and take
+&ldquo;a good look round&rdquo; before going any further.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, heartened by her mother&rsquo;s belief, was of
+much the same opinion, and Blanche was summoned from the pole to listen
+to the proposition.</p>
+<p class="par">She shook her head stubbornly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to argue it out all over
+again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You can just look round and see for
+yourselves that there&rsquo;s no food to be got here. We must get
+further out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling refused to be convinced, and advanced her
+superior knowledge of the world to support her judgment of the
+case.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! very well,&rdquo; said Blanche, at last.
+&ldquo;Come on to the inn and see for yourselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The inn, however, was deserted. All its available supply
+of food, solid and liquid, had long been exhausted, and the gardenless
+house had offered no <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb202" href="#pb202"
+name="pb202">202</a>]</span>particular attractions as a residence.
+Houses were cheap in that place, the whole population of Pinner,
+including children, did not exceed three hundred persons.</p>
+<p class="par">They found a woman working in a garden near by, and she,
+with perhaps unnecessary harshness, warned them that they could not
+stay in the village. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not enough food for us as it
+is,&rdquo; she said, and made some reference to &ldquo;silly
+Londoners.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">That was an expression with which the Goslings were to
+become very familiar in the near future.</p>
+<p class="par">The appeal for pity fell on deaf ears. Mrs Gosling
+learned that she was only one of many thousands who had made the same
+appeal.</p>
+<p class="par">The sun was high in the sky as they trudged out of
+Pinner on the road towards Northwood. It was then Blanche suggested
+that her mother should always ride on the trolly, except when they were
+facing a hill; and after a few weak protestations the suggestion was
+accepted. The trolly was lightened of various useless articles of
+furniture&mdash;a grudging sacrifice on the part of Mrs
+Gosling&mdash;and the party pushed on at a slightly improved pace.</p>
+<p class="par">After her disappointment in Pinner, Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s
+interest in life began rapidly to decline. Seated in her truck, she
+fell into long fits of brooding on the past. She was too old and too
+stereotyped to change, the future held no hope for her, and as the
+meaning and purpose of her existence faded, the life forces within her
+surely and ever more rapidly ebbed. Reality to her became the
+discomfort of the sun&rsquo;s heat, the dust of the road, the creak and
+scream <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb203" href="#pb203" name=
+"pb203">203</a>]</span>of the trolly wheels. She was incapable of
+relating herself to the great scheme of life, her consciousness was
+limited, as it had always been limited, to her immediate surroundings.
+She saw herself as a woman outrageously used by fate, but to fate she
+gave no name; the very idea, indeed, was too abstract to be appreciated
+by her. Blanche, Millie and that horrible truck were all that was left
+of her world, and in spirit she still moved in the beloved, familiar
+places of her suburban home.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">As the Goslings trudged out into the Chilterns
+they came into new conditions. Soon they found over-crowding in place
+of desolation. The harvest was ripening and in a month&rsquo;s time the
+demand for labour would almost equal the supply, for the labour offered
+was quite absurdly unskilled and ten women would be required to perform
+the work of one man equipped with machines. But at the end of July the
+surplus of women, almost exclusively Londoners, had no employment and
+little food, and many were living on grass, nettles, leaves, any green
+stuff they could boil and eat, together with such scraps of meat and
+vegetables as they could steal or beg. Their experiments with wild
+green stuffs often resulted in some form of poisoning, and dysentery
+and starvation were rapidly increasing the mortality among them.
+Nevertheless, in Rickmansworth houses were still at a premium, and many
+of those who camped perforce in fields or by the roadside <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb204" href="#pb204" name="pb204">204</a>]</span>were
+too enfeebled by town-life to stand the exposure of the occasional
+cold, wet nights. The majority of the women in this ring were those who
+had been too weak to struggle on. They represented the class least
+fitted to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The stronger and more
+capable had persisted, and left these congested areas behind them; and
+it was evident that in a very few months a balance between labour and
+supply would be struck by the relentless extermination of the weakest
+by starvation and disease.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche, if she was unable to grasp the problem which
+was being so inevitably solved by the forces of natural law, was at
+least able to recognize clearly enough that she and her two dependents
+must not linger in the district to which they had now come. Aunt May
+had warned her that she must push out as far as Amersham at the
+nearest, but Millie was too tired and footsore to go much further than
+Rickmansworth that night, and after a fruitless search for shelter they
+camped out half a mile from the town in the direction of Chorley
+Wood.</p>
+<p class="par">They made some kind of a shield from the weather by
+emptying and tilting the trolly, and they hid their supply of food
+behind them at the lowest point of this species of lean-to roof. The
+two girls had realized that that supply would soon be raided if the
+fact of its existence were to become known. They had been the object of
+much scrutiny as they passed, and their appearance of well-being had
+prompted endless demands for food, from that pitiful crowd of emaciated
+women and children. It had been a demand <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb205" href="#pb205" name="pb205">205</a>]</span>quickly put on one
+side by lying. Their applicants found it only too easy to believe that
+the Goslings had no food hidden in the truck.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I hated to refuse some of &rsquo;em,&rdquo;
+Blanche said as they carefully hid what food was left to them, before
+turning in for the night, &ldquo;but what good would our little bit
+have done among all that lot? It would have been gone in half a
+jiff.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course,&rdquo; agreed Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Gosling had taken little notice of the starving
+crowd. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got nothin&rsquo; to give you,&rdquo; was her
+one form of reply. She might have been dealing with hawkers in Wisteria
+Grove.</p>
+<p class="par">She was curiously apathetic all that afternoon and
+evening, and raised only the feeblest protestation against the
+necessity for sleeping in the open air. But she was very restless
+during the night, her limbs twitched and she moved continually,
+muttering and sometimes crying out. And as the three women were all
+huddled together, partly to make the most of their somewhat
+insufficient lean-to, and partly because they were afraid of the
+terrors of the open air, both Blanche and Millie were constantly
+aroused by their mother&rsquo;s movements. Once they heard her calling
+urgently for &ldquo;George.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s odd, isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;
+whispered Blanche after one such disturbance. &ldquo;Do you think
+she&rsquo;s going to be ill?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Shouldn&rsquo;t wonder,&rdquo; muttered Millie.
+&ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">In the morning Blanche was very careful with their food.
+For breakfast they ate only part of a tin of <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb206" href="#pb206" name=
+"pb206">206</a>]</span>condensed beef between them&mdash;Mrs Gosling
+indeed ate hardly anything. The eggs which they had brought from
+Sudbury they reserved, chiefly because they had neither water nor
+fire.</p>
+<p class="par">They drank from a stream, later, and at midday Blanche
+and Millie each ate one of the eggs raw. Mrs Gosling refused all food
+on this occasion. She had been very quiet all the morning, and had made
+little complaint when she had been forced to walk the many hills which
+they were now encountering.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was uneasy and tried to induce her mother to
+talk. &ldquo;Do you feel bad, mother?&rdquo; she asked continually.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I wish I could get &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; was all the
+reply she received.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be all right when we can get settled
+somewhere,&rdquo; grumbled Millie. &ldquo;If such a time ever
+comes.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">They came to Amersham in the afternoon. The signs
+of misery and starvation were here less marked. They were approaching
+the outer edge of this ring of compression, having passed through the
+node at Rickmansworth. The faint relief of pressure was evidenced to
+some extent in the attitude of the people they addressed. It is true
+that no immediate hope of food and employment were held out to them,
+but on the one hand Blanche&rsquo;s inquiries were answered with less
+acerbity and on the other they were less besieged by importunate
+demands for charity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb207" href="#pb207"
+name="pb207">207</a>]</span>Blanche gave an egg to one precocious girl
+of thirteen or so, who insisted on helping them to push the truck
+uphill, and she and Millie watched the deft way in which the child
+broke the shell at one end and sucked out the contents. Their own
+methods had been both unclean and wasteful.</p>
+<p class="par">They turned off the Aylesbury Road, towards High Wycombe
+late in the afternoon and about a mile from Amersham came to a farm
+where they made their last inquiry that day.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche saw signs of life in the outbuildings and went
+to investigate, leaving Millie and her mother to guard the truck. She
+found three women and a girl of fourteen or so milking. For some
+minutes she stood watching them, the women, after one glance at her,
+proceeding with their work without paying her any further attention.
+But, at last, the eldest of the three rose from her stool with a sigh
+of relief, picked up her wooden bucket of milk, gave the cow a
+resounding slap on the side, and then, turning to Blanche, said,
+&ldquo;Well, my gal, what&rsquo;s for you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Will you change two pints of milk for a small tin
+of tongue?&rdquo; asked Blanche. It was the first time she had offered
+any of their precious tinned meats in exchange for other food, but she
+wanted milk for her mother, who had hardly eaten anything that day.</p>
+<p class="par">The two other women and the girl looked round and
+regarded Blanche with the first signs of interest they had shown.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Tongue, eh?&rdquo; said the older woman.
+&ldquo;Where from did you get tongue, my gal?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;London,&rdquo; replied Blanche tersely.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb208" href="#pb208" name=
+"pb208">208</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;When did you leave there?&rdquo; asked the woman,
+and then Blanche was engaged in a series of searching questions
+respecting the country she had passed through.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can have the milk if you&rsquo;ve anything to
+put it in,&rdquo; said the woman at last, and Blanche went to fetch the
+tongue and the two bottles that they had had from Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">The bottles had to be scalded, a precaution that had not
+occurred to Blanche, and one of the other women was sent to carry out
+the operation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, your tale don&rsquo;t tell us much,&rdquo;
+said the woman of the farm, &ldquo;but we always pass the news here,
+now. Where are you going to sleep to-night?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can sleep here in the outhouses, if
+you&rsquo;ve a mind to,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;but I warn you we
+get a crowd. Silly Londoners like yourself for the most part, but we
+find a use for &rsquo;em somehow, though I&rsquo;d give the lot for
+three labourers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She paused and twisted her mouth on one side
+reflectively. &ldquo;Ah! well,&rdquo; she went on with a sigh,
+&ldquo;no use grieving over them that&rsquo;s gone; all I was
+goin&rsquo; to say was, if you sleep here you&rsquo;d better keep an
+eye on what food you&rsquo;ve got with you. My lot&rsquo;ll have it
+before you can say knife, if they get half a chance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t us girls, me and my sister,&rdquo;
+explained Blanche. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my mother. She&rsquo;s bad,
+I&rsquo;m afraid. If she could sleep in your kitchen...? <i>She</i>
+wouldn&rsquo;t steal anything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">After a short hesitation the woman consented.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb209" href="#pb209" name=
+"pb209">209</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Yet neither the glory of being once more within the four
+walls of a house, nor the refreshment of the milk which she drank
+readily enough, seemed appreciably to rouse Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s
+spirits.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman of the farm, a kindly enough creature, plied
+the old lady with questions, but received few and confused answers in
+reply. Mrs Gosling seemed dazed and stupid. &ldquo;A touch of the
+sun,&rdquo; the farmer&rsquo;s widow thought.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s been cruel strong the past
+week,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but she&rsquo;ll be all right in a day or
+two, get her to shelter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! that&rsquo;s the trouble,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">That night the farmer&rsquo;s widow said no more on that
+subject. She allowed the three Goslings to sleep in an upstair room, in
+which there was one small bed for the mother, and the two girls slept
+on the floor. Exchanging confidence for confidence, they brought their
+truck into the kitchen; and then the farmer&rsquo;s widow proceeded to
+lock up for the night, an elaborate business, which included the
+fastening of all ground-floor windows and shutters.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a thievin&rsquo; crowd we&rsquo;ve got
+about here,&rdquo; she explained, &ldquo;and you can&rsquo;t blame them
+or anyone when there ain&rsquo;t enough food to go round. But we have
+to be careful for &rsquo;em. Let &rsquo;em go their own way and
+they&rsquo;d eat up everything in a week and then starve. It looks like
+<span class="corr" id="xd23e3626" title=
+"Source: your">you&rsquo;re</span> being hard on &rsquo;em, but
+it&rsquo;s for their own good. There&rsquo;s some, of course,&rdquo;
+she went on, &ldquo;as you have got to get shut of. Only yesterday I
+had to send one of &rsquo;em packing. A Jew <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb210" href="#pb210" name=
+"pb210">210</a>]</span>woman she was, called &rsquo;erself Mrs Isaacson
+or something. She was a caution.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche wondered idly if this were the same Mrs Isaacson
+who had stayed too long with Aunt May.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman of the farm roused the Goslings at sunrise,
+and she, like Aunt May, had a brisk, practical, morning manner.</p>
+<p class="par">She gave the travellers no more food, but when they were
+nearly ready to take the road again she gave them one valuable piece of
+information.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If I was you,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d
+make through Wycombe straight along the road here, and go up over the
+hill to Marlow. Mind you, they won&rsquo;t let every one stop there.
+But you look two healthy gals enough and it&rsquo;s getting on towards
+harvest when there&rsquo;ll be work as you <i>can</i> do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Marlow?&rdquo; repeated Blanche, fixing the name
+in her memory.</p>
+<p class="par">The farmer&rsquo;s widow nodded. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a
+man there,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;A queer sort, by all accounts. Not
+like Sam Evans, the butcher at Wycombe, he ain&rsquo;t. Seems as this
+Marlow chap don&rsquo;t have no truck with gals, except setting
+&rsquo;em to work. However, time&rsquo;ll show. He may change his mind
+yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They had some difficulty with Mrs Gosling. She refused
+feebly to leave the house. &ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t fit to go out,&rdquo;
+she complained, and when they insisted she asked if they were going
+home.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Best say &lsquo;yes,&rsquo;&rdquo; whispered the
+woman of the farm. &ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s got to her head a bit.
+She&rsquo;ll be all right when you get her to Marlow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche accepted the suggestion, and by this subterfuge
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb211" href="#pb211" name=
+"pb211">211</a>]</span>Mrs Gosling was persuaded into the truck. The
+girl found the ruins of an umbrella, which they rigged up to protect
+her from the sun.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche and Millie were quite convinced now that their
+mother was suffering from a slight attack of sunstroke.</p>
+<p class="par">Both the girls were still footsore, and one of
+Millie&rsquo;s boots had worn into a hole, but they had a definite
+objective at last, and only some ten or twelve miles to travel before
+reaching it.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall be there by midday,&rdquo; said Blanche,
+hopefully.</p>
+<p class="par">Unconsciously, every one was using a new measure of
+time. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb212" href="#pb212" name=
+"pb212">212</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch16" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVI&mdash;</span>THE YOUNG
+BUTCHER OF HIGH WYCOMBE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Near Wycombe a woman rose from under the hedge as
+the Goslings approached, and came out into the middle of the road. She
+was a stout, florid woman, whose age might have been anything between
+forty and fifty. Her gait and the droop of her shoulders, rather than
+the flaccidity of her rather loose skin, gave her the appearance of
+being past middle age.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goot morning,&rdquo; she said as the Goslings
+came up. &ldquo;If it iss no inconvenience I would like to come with
+you.&rdquo; She spoke with a foreign accent, thickening her final
+consonants and giving a different value to some of her vowels.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Blanche curtly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! that! what does it matter?&rdquo; returned
+the woman. &ldquo;I have been living with a farmer&rsquo;s wife further
+back along the road there. But she was not company for me. She was
+common. Now I see that you and your mother are not common. And I do not
+care to live with farmers&rsquo; wives. But where we go? Does it
+matter? We all go to find work in the fields&mdash;aristocrat as much
+as peasant. But iss it not better that we who are not peasants should
+go together?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb213" href="#pb213"
+name="pb213">213</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Millie giggled surreptitiously, and Mrs Gosling appeared
+conscious of the fact that some one was addressing them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re goin&rsquo; &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; she
+remarked, and Millie gently prodded her in the back.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goin&rsquo; &rsquo;ome,&rdquo; repeated Mrs
+Gosling firmly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! You are lucky. There are few that have homes
+now,&rdquo; replied the strange woman. &ldquo;I had a home, once, how
+long ago. Now, during two months, I have no home.&rdquo; She was
+evidently on the verge of tears.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s got a touch of the sun,&rdquo;
+Blanche said in a low voice, &ldquo;and we have to pretend we&rsquo;re
+going home. You needn&rsquo;t tell her we&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Have no fear,&rdquo; replied the stranger.
+&ldquo;I am all that is most discreet, yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche hardened her heart. This woman took too much for
+granted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see it&rsquo;s any use your coming with
+us,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! we others, we should cling together,&rdquo;
+said the stranger, with a large gesture.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re nobody,&rdquo; replied Blanche,
+curtly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss well to say that. I know. There iss good
+reason. I, too, must tell the common people that I am a nobody, I call
+myself, even, Mrs Isaacson. But between us there iss no need to say
+what iss not true. I can see what you are. Although I am not English, I
+have lived many years already in England, and I can see. It iss well
+that we cling together? Yes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; burst out Blanche. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re
+Mrs Isaacson, are you? I&rsquo;ve heard of you.&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb214" href="#pb214" name="pb214">214</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">For one moment Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s fine eyes seemed to
+look inwards in an instantaneous review of her past. &ldquo;Ach! so!
+Then we are friends already,&rdquo; she said cautiously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I heard of you from Aunt May,&rdquo; said
+Blanche, and the faint air of respect with which she pronounced the
+name did not escape the notice of the alert Jewess.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! the so dear and so clever Auntie May,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;But she iss too kind, and work so hard while her
+sister do always nothing. See, I will help you to draw your poor mother
+who has a touch of the sun. You and I at the handle and your beautiful
+sister to push, while we talk a little of the clever Auntie May.
+Yes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche had been forewarned. She could only put one
+construction on the little she had heard of Mrs Isaacson. But the
+Jewess&rsquo;s manner no less than her conversation was subtly
+flattering. Moreover, she had made no appeal for help; finally there
+was a certain urgency about her, a force of will which Blanche found it
+difficult to resist. And as the girl still hesitated Mrs Isaacson
+bravely seized her side of the trolly handle and the procession moved
+on.</p>
+<p class="par">The Goslings found a use for her when they came to the
+drop of Amersham Hill, going down into High Wycombe. Blanche proposed
+that Mrs Gosling should walk down, but the old lady did not seem to
+understand her. She looked perplexed and kept saying, &ldquo;I
+don&rsquo;t remember this road. Are you sure we&rsquo;re goin&rsquo;
+right, Blanche?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah! she must not walk in this heat,&rdquo; put in
+Mrs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb215" href="#pb215" name=
+"pb215">215</a>]</span>Isaacson. &ldquo;We three can manage very
+well.&rdquo; And, indeed, although she manifestly suffered greatly from
+the exertion, the Jewess was of very great assistance in retarding the
+speed of the trolly as they made the perilous descent.</p>
+<p class="par">After that there could be no question of calmly telling
+her to go her own way.</p>
+<p class="par">By the time they had crossed the almost deserted
+town&mdash;at that hour nearly all the women were either in their
+houses or working in gardens and fields&mdash;and had found their way
+to the Marlow road, Mrs Isaacson had quite become one of the party, and
+by no means the least energetic.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have something to eat and some milk,
+when we get through the town,&rdquo; said Blanche as they faced the
+long hill up to Handy Cross.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Presently, presently,&rdquo; replied the heaving
+Mrs Isaacson, as though food were of little importance to her, but
+accepting the admission that she had earned the right to share equally
+with the others.</p>
+<p class="par">Their first burst of energy after they had faced the
+ascent brought them to the gates of Wycombe Abbey, and there they
+decided to rest and lunch, blissfully ignorant of the long climb which
+lay before them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It will be nice and quiet here in the
+shade,&rdquo; suggested Mrs Isaacson.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The old conventions would not have suffered them
+to sit and eat thus under the walls, at the <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb216" href="#pb216" name="pb216">216</a>]</span>very
+gates of Wycombe Abbey. Their clothes and their boots were wearing
+badly, and Mrs Isaacson, at least, was not too clean. It was
+noticeable, however, that, despite the dryness of the weather, little
+dust clung to them. The surface of the roads had not been pounded and
+crushed into powder during the past six weeks by the constant passage
+of wheeled traffic, and even in the tracks frequented by farm carts the
+roads were stained with green. Indeed, everything was greener than in
+the old days, everything was more vigorous. Whether because the year
+had been favourable, or because it was relieved from the burden of
+choking dust which it had had to endure in other years from May
+onwards, the vegetation in hedges and by the wayside appeared to grow
+more strongly and with a greater self-assertion. And by contrast with
+this vigour and cleanness of plant life, the four women in their
+tumbled clothes and untidy hats, feeble and unsightly remnants of
+forgotten fashion, were as much out of place as if they had been set
+down in ancient Greece. The dowdy foolishness of their apparel marked
+them out from every other living thing about them, they were intruders,
+despoilers of beauty.</p>
+<p class="par">Some dim consciousness of this came to Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">They had spoken little as they ate&mdash;Mrs Gosling
+would touch nothing but milk, and Mrs Isaacson strove desperately and
+with some success to control the greed that showed in the concentrated
+eagerness of her eyes and the grasping crook of her fingers&mdash;and
+when they had finished, lingering in the relief of the shade, they were
+still silent. It seemed as if the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb217"
+href="#pb217" name="pb217">217</a>]</span>first word spoken must
+necessarily hasten the continuation of their journey.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! bother this old hat,&rdquo; said Blanche at
+last. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to take mine off,&rdquo; and she drew out
+the solitary pin which remained to her and cast the hat into the
+ditch.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That won&rsquo;t do it any good,&rdquo; remarked
+Millie but she, too, took off her hat with a sigh of relief.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to chuck hats,&rdquo; said
+Blanche. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the good of &rsquo;em?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson looked doubtful. &ldquo;They are a
+protection from the sun,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Allie never wore a hat, and she didn&rsquo;t come
+to any harm,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No?&rdquo; said Mrs Isaacson, and looked
+thoughtful.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was running her fingers through the masses of her
+red-brown hair, loosening it and lifting it from her head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> a relief,&rdquo; she remarked.
+&ldquo;My head gets so hot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Mrs Isaacson, &ldquo;and what
+beautiful hair! It does not seem right to hide it. I haf a comb in my
+bag. It is almost all I haf left. Let me now comb your beautiful hair
+for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! don&rsquo;t you bother,&rdquo; said Millie
+sheepishly, but she allowed herself to be persuaded. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t
+lose the hair-pins,&rdquo; she warned her newly-found lady&rsquo;s
+maid.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It seems so funny out here in the open
+road,&rdquo; giggled Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s praise was fulsome.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche watched without comment. Mrs Gosling
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb218" href="#pb218" name=
+"pb218">218</a>]</span>was plunged in meditation. She was involved in
+an immense problem relating to the housekeeping at Wisteria Grove. She
+was debating whether the lace curtains at the front windows could be
+washed at home when they went back.</p>
+<p class="par">Suddenly the attention of the three younger women was
+caught by unnatural sounds that came from the further side of the wall
+against which they were leaning&mdash;sounds of voices, laughing and
+singing, the crunch of wheels and the stamping of horses.</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls jumped to their feet. Mrs Isaacson rose
+more deliberately, with a grunt of expostulation. Mrs Gosling was in a
+world far removed and continued to debate her problem.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie&rsquo;s hands were fumbling at her hair, and
+Blanche was first at the gate.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! my!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Why,
+whatever....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; squealed Millie, still struggling
+with her loose mane.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The centre and object of the curious crowd which
+moved slowly down the drive was a landau and pair. The horses were
+decorated as if for a May-day f&ecirc;te, grotesquely, foolishly
+decorated with roses, syringa and buttercups made into shapeless
+bunches and tied to the harness. Three or four women walked at the
+horses&rsquo; heads, leading them with absurdly beflowered ropes.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb219" href="#pb219" name=
+"pb219">219</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Round the landau a dozen girls and young women were
+dancing, chattering, singing, laughing; constantly turning to the
+occupant of the carriage, for whose benefit the whole performance was
+being conducted. Some of them had their necks and breasts bare, and all
+appeared to be frankly shameless. They twisted and danced with clumsy
+eagerness, threw themselves about, screamed and shrieked, unaware of
+any observer but the one whose notice they were seeking to attract.
+They were graceless, civilized savages; Bacchantes who had never known
+the beauty of unconscious abandonment. There was the ugliness of
+conscious purpose in their every attitude, and no trace of the freedom
+that comes from careless rapture.</p>
+<p class="par">In the carriage a man and a woman were sitting side by
+side. The man was young, with strong claims to physical
+beauty&mdash;tall, broad-shouldered, swarthy, with boldly modelled
+features and heavily lidded eyes. But his skin was coarse; the bulk of
+his body was too gross for clean, muscular strength; his curly,
+well-oiled hair was thinning at the temples; his loose mouth leered and
+gaped. He was dressed in a suit of broadly-patterned tweed, his great
+red fingers were covered with rings, he wore a heavy gold bangle on
+each thick, round wrist, and a sweet, frail rose was thrust into his
+black and greasy hair.</p>
+<p class="par">The woman beside him was the typical courtesan of the
+ages, low-browed and full-lipped. Her eyes were eloquent with the
+subtleties of love, with invitation, retreat, fear and desire. Had she
+been dressed becomingly she would have been beautiful; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb220" href="#pb220" name="pb220">220</a>]</span>but
+she was English and modern, and her great meaningless hat and senseless
+garments were of the fashion that had been in vogue just before the
+plague. This reigning sultana and her lover were more incongruous in
+that setting than the two dishevelled, travel-worn girls, who retreated
+timidly to let the landau pass out between the great iron gates.</p>
+<p class="par">The Bacchantes eyed the Goslings with obvious disfavour,
+but the beauty in the landau seemed unaware of their presence until her
+lord&rsquo;s attention was attracted by the sight of Millie&rsquo;s
+hair&mdash;it was all down again, rippling and spreading to her
+waist.</p>
+<p class="par">The young butcher had been lolling back in a corner of
+his carriage, magnificently indolent, sure of worship; but his satiety
+was pierced by the sight of that flaming mane. He sat up and looked at
+Millie with the experienced eyes which had served him so well in his
+judgment of cattle.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Ere, &rsquo;alf a jiff,&rdquo; he
+commanded the nymphs at his horses&rsquo; bridles, and the carriage was
+stopped.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, covered with shame, shrank back, and cowered
+behind Blanche, who threw up her chin and met the butcher&rsquo;s eyes
+with all the contempt of which she was capable&mdash;little enough,
+perhaps, for she, too, was weak with unreasoning terror. Behind their
+backs the Jewess grimaced her scorn of them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be afraid of me&mdash;I
+ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo; to &rsquo;urt yer&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began
+the butcher, but his lady interrupted him. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb221" href="#pb221" name="pb221">221</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Her fine eyes grew bright with anger. &ldquo;If you stop
+here, I shall get out,&rdquo; she said, and her inflexion was not that
+of the people.</p>
+<p class="par">The butcher visibly hesitated. It may be that this chain
+had held him too long and was beginning to gall him, but he looked at
+her and wavered.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No &rsquo;arm in stoppin&rsquo;,&rdquo; he
+muttered. &ldquo;Pass the news an&rsquo; that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you going on?&rdquo; demanded the beauty
+fiercely.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, all right,&rdquo; he returned
+sullenly. &ldquo;You needen&rsquo; get so blasted &rsquo;uffy about it,
+old gal. Oh, gow on, you!&rdquo; he added to the nymphs. &ldquo;Wot the
+&rsquo;ell are yer starin&rsquo; at?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">As the landau moved on, he looked back once at
+Millie.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">&ldquo;What a brute,&rdquo; said Blanche when the
+procession had passed on down the hill towards Wycombe.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How he stared at my hair,&rdquo; said Millie,
+with a giggle. &ldquo;I did try to get it up, but it&rsquo;s that
+stubborn with the heat or something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Lucky for us he had that creature with
+him,&rdquo; commented Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie assented without fervour. She was bold enough now
+the danger had passed.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson looked from one to the other and attempted
+no criticism of the adventure.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You must let me do up your beautiful hair,&rdquo;
+she said to the simpering Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was grateful. &ldquo;It <i>is</i> kind of you,
+Mrs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb222" href="#pb222" name=
+"pb222">222</a>]</span>Isaacson, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;My hair is a trouble. I sometimes think I&rsquo;ll cut it all
+off and be done with it....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She appeared excited and chatted incessantly while the
+hair-dressing continued, and Blanche restored the remains of their meal
+to the trolly.</p>
+<p class="par">With some difficulty they succeeded in getting Mrs
+Gosling back into her carriage. She had taken no notice of the
+procession, but as they were starting again she awoke from her
+abstraction to ask: &ldquo;When d&rsquo;you expect we&rsquo;ll be
+&rsquo;ome, Blanche? I&rsquo;ve been thinkin&rsquo; about them curtains
+in the drawin&rsquo;-room....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be home in an hour or two,
+now,&rdquo; Blanche said, reassuringly. She did not know what a
+struggle awaited them before they should top the hill at Handy
+Cross.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson had forsaken her place at the pole.
+&ldquo;I shall be able to push more strongly behind,&rdquo; she had
+said, but despite the theoretical gain in mechanical advantage obtained
+by the new arrangement, the hill seemed never-ending. They had to rest
+continually, and always they looked with increasing irritation at the
+quiet figure in the trolly, chief cause of their distress.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I believe she could walk all right,&rdquo; Millie
+broke out at last.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it was for a little way, it would help,&rdquo;
+commented Mrs Isaacson.</p>
+<p class="par">But when Blanche put the proposition to her mother, Mrs
+Gosling seemed unable to comprehend it, and pity influenced them to
+renew the struggle. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb223" href="#pb223"
+name="pb223">223</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">So they toiled on with growing impatience until they
+reached level ground again; and presently, looking down over the long
+slope of the valley, saw, two miles and a half away, the spire of
+Marlow Church.</p>
+<p class="par">They rested under a hedge for a time, and when they
+started again Millie followed her sister&rsquo;s example and discarded
+her hat. Blanche, with a certain courage of opinion, had left hers
+under the walls of Wycombe Abbey, but Millie&rsquo;s hat found a place
+in the trolly.</p>
+<p class="par">The ease of the long descent permitted a renewal of
+conversation, and Mrs Isaacson and Millie talked in undertones as they
+made their way down towards Marlow. Blanche took little notice of them;
+she was struggling perplexedly with the problems of life. Mrs
+Gosling&rsquo;s presence was negligible.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That was a very handsome fellow in the
+carriage,&rdquo; remarked Mrs Isaacson suddenly, &ldquo;I think you do
+well not to go near that place again.&rdquo; Her fine eyes fixedly
+regarded the broad, rusty back of Mrs Gosling and the broken ribs of
+her umbrella.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie simpered. &ldquo;Oh! I should be safe enough. His
+wife&rsquo;d see to that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She was not his wife,&rdquo; returned Mrs
+Isaacson. &ldquo;Men would not marry now that they are so
+few.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well! there&rsquo;s a thing to say!&rdquo;
+exclaimed Millie on a note of expostulation, interested
+nevertheless.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss true,&rdquo; continued Mrs Isaacson.
+&ldquo;I haf heard of this handsome young fellow. He iss a butcher, and
+he goes every day to kill the sheep and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb224" href="#pb224" name="pb224">224</a>]</span>cows, because the
+women do not like that work. And he iss very strong, and clever also.
+He teach a few of the women how to cut up the sheep and the cows. And
+he iss much admired, it iss of course, by all the young women; but he
+does not marry because he is one man among so many women, and it would
+not be right that he should love only one, for so there would be so few
+children and the world would die. Yes! But he has for a time one who
+iss favourite, for another time another favourite. And that iss why I
+warn you not to return. Because I see that he admire your so beautiful
+hair. And I see that if you had not been so modest and so good, and
+hide behind your sister, he would have come down from his carriage and
+put you up there beside him. And he would have said to that bold ugly
+woman. &lsquo;Go, I tire of you, I will haf beside me this one who iss
+young and beautiful and has hair of gold.&rsquo; It iss not safe for
+you, there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I say,&rdquo; commented Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It iss true,&rdquo; nodded Mrs Isaacson, with
+intensest conviction.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! well, thank goodness, I&rsquo;m not one of
+that sort,&rdquo; said Millie, warm in the knowledge of her virtue.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Truly not,&rdquo; assented Mrs Isaacson.
+&ldquo;You must not be displeased that I warn you. It iss not your
+goodness that I doubt. It iss that this man iss so powerful. He iss
+able to do what he wishes. He iss a king.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; was the mark of surprise with which
+Millie punctuated this remarkable piece of information, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb225" href="#pb225" name="pb225">225</a>]</span>and
+for several yards they trudged on in silence.</p>
+<p class="par">But Millie soon revived this fascinating subject by
+saying thoughtfully, &ldquo;Well, you don&rsquo;t catch me over there
+again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Truly not. It iss not wise,&rdquo; agreed Mrs
+Isaacson, and proceeded to enlarge upon Millie&rsquo;s dangerous
+beauty.</p>
+<p class="par">It was a topic entirely new to Millie. She simpered and
+giggled, disclaimed her attractions, protested that Mrs Isaacson was
+&ldquo;getting at&rdquo; her, and became so absorbed in the fascination
+of her disavowal that she forgot her weariness, her tender
+feet&mdash;naked to the road in two places&mdash;and all her
+discouragements. She walked with a more conscious air, straightening
+her back and lifting her head. The blood moved more freely in her
+veins, and she presently became so vivacious in her replies that
+Blanche was aroused to a sense of something unfamiliar. She checked the
+trolly and looked back at her sister, past the quiet brooding figure of
+Mrs Gosling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What is it, Mill?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! nothing!&rdquo; replied Millie. &ldquo;We
+were just talking.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Seem to be enjoying yourselves,&rdquo; said
+Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We were saying that we shall soon now arrive at
+some place where we can rest. Yes?&rdquo; put in Mrs Isaacson, and thus
+established a ground of confidence between herself and Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;P&rsquo;raps. I dunno!&rdquo; returned Blanche.
+She sighed and looked round her. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb226"
+href="#pb226" name="pb226">226</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">In the fields between them and Marlow they could see
+here and there little figures stooping and straightening.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ooh!&rdquo; exclaimed Millie, suddenly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; asked Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another man,&rdquo; said Millie,
+pointing. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d better scoot!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">But they made no attempt to put such an impossible plan
+into action. The man had evidently seen them. He was coming towards
+them across one of the fields, shouting to attract their attention.
+&ldquo;Hi! wait a minute!&rdquo; they thought he was saying.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>Mill!</i>&rdquo; exclaimed Blanche, with
+extraordinary emphasis.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What?&rdquo; asked Millie, nervously. She was
+flushed and trembling.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you see who it is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the one out of the
+carriage....&rdquo; hesitated Millie.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;<i>No!</i> Silly. It&rsquo;s that young fellow
+who used to live with us, our Mr Fastidious. What was his name? Thrale!
+You remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Goody!&rdquo; said Millie. She was conscious of a
+quite inexplicable feeling of disappointment.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He iss a friend? Yes?&rdquo; asked Mrs Isaacson.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb227" href="#pb227" name=
+"pb227">227</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="bk3" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="label">BOOK III</h2>
+<h2 class="main">WOMANKIND IN THE MAKING</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb229" href="#pb229" name=
+"pb229">229</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="ch17" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVII&mdash;</span>LONDON TO
+MARLOW</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The history of mankind is the history of human
+law. The larger ordinances of the universe are commonly referred to
+some superior lawgiver, under such names as God and physico-chemical
+action; names which appear mutually subversive only to the bigot,
+whether theologian or biologist. These larger ordinances sometimes
+appear inflexible, as in the domain of physics and chemistry, sometimes
+empirical as in the development of species, but we may believe that if
+they change at all, the period of change is so great as to be outside
+any possibility of observation by a few thousand generations of
+mankind.</p>
+<p class="par">Human law, on the other hand, is tentative, without
+sound precedent and in its very nature mutable. In our miserably
+limited record of history, that paltry ten thousand years which is but
+a single tick of the cosmic watch, we have been unable to formulate any
+overruling law to which other laws are subject. Climate, race and
+condition impose certain limitations, and within that enceinte
+civilizations have developed a system of rules, increasing always in
+complexity, and have then failed to maintain their place in the
+competitive struggle. It has been rashly suggested that the overriding
+law of laws <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb230" href="#pb230" name=
+"pb230">230</a>]</span>is that rigidity is fatal to the nation. An
+analogy has been found in the growth of the child. Here and there some
+bold spirit has ventured the daring hypothesis that if a young child be
+confined within a perfectly fitting iron shell he will not grow. Such
+speculations, however, do not appeal to mankind as a whole. Perhaps the
+truth of the matter is that nothing appals us so much as the idea that
+man is capable of growth. Is it not inconceivable that any race of men
+could be wiser, more perfect than ourselves?</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless, out of all vague speculation one
+deliciously certain axiom presents itself, namely that mankind cannot
+live without law of some kind. The most primitive savage has his
+ordinances. The least primary concussion of individuals develops a rule
+of practice, whether it takes such diverse forms as &ldquo;hit
+first,&rdquo; or &ldquo;present the other cheek&rdquo;; although the
+latter rule has not yet been developed beyond the stage of theory.</p>
+<p class="par">In the unprecedented year of the new plague, the old
+rules were thrown into the melting pot, but within three months
+humanity was evolving precedents for a new statute book. The
+concussions of these three months were fierce and destructive. Women,
+in the face of death, killed and stole in the old primitive ways,
+unhampered now by the necessity to kill and steal according to the
+tedious rules of twentieth-century civilization, rules that women had
+never been foolish enough to reverence in the letter. All those complex
+and incomprehensible laws had been made by men for men, and
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb231" href="#pb231" name=
+"pb231">231</a>]</span>after the plague there was none to administer
+them, for no women and few men had ever had the least idea what the law
+was. Even the lawgivers themselves had had to wait for the
+pronouncement of some prejudiced or unprejudiced judge. Women had long
+known what our Bumbles can only learn by bitter experience, inspired to
+vision in some moment of fury or desolation.</p>
+<p class="par">But within three months of the first great exodus of
+women from the town, one dominant law was being brought to birth. It
+was not written on tables of stone, nor incorporated in any swollen,
+dyspeptic book of statutes; it was not formulated by logic, nor was it
+the outcome of serious thought by any individual or by a solemn
+committee. The law rose into recognition because it was a necessity for
+the life of the majority, and although that majority was not compact,
+had no common deliberate purpose, and had never formulated their demand
+in precise language, the new law came into being before harvest and was
+accepted by all but a small resentful minority of aristocrats and
+landowners, as a supreme ordinance, indisputably just.</p>
+<p class="par">This law was that every woman had a right to her share
+in the bounty of Nature, and the corollary was that she earned her
+right by labour.</p>
+<p class="par">In those days the justice of the principle was perfectly
+obvious; so obvious, indeed, that the law came to birth without the
+obstetric skill of any parliament whatever. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb232" href="#pb232" name="pb232">232</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">It is now impossible to say why such different
+types of male humanity as Jasper Thrale, George Gosling or the Bacchus
+of Wycombe Abbey escaped the plague. The bacillus (surely a strangely
+individual type, it must have been) was never isolated, nor the
+pathology of the disease investigated. The germ was some new
+unprecedented growth which ran through a fierce cycle of development
+within a few months, changed its nature as it swarmed into every corner
+of the earth, and finally expired more quickly than it had come into
+being.</p>
+<p class="par">If the male survivors in Europe and the East had been of
+one type, some theory might be formulated to account for their
+immunity; but so far as science can pronounce an opinion, the living
+male residue can only be explained by the doctrine of chances. A few
+escaped, by accident. In the British Isles there may have been 1,500
+men who thus survived. In the whole of Europe, besides, there were less
+than a thousand. It seems probable that even before Scotland was
+attacked the climax had been reached; by the time the plague reached
+England the first faint evidences of a decline in virulence may be
+marked....</p>
+<p class="par">From the first, Jasper Thrale ventured his life without
+an afterthought. He was fearless by nature. He did not lack those
+powers of imagination which are commonly supposed to add so greatly to
+the terror of death, he simply lacked the feeling of fear. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb233" href="#pb233" name="pb233">233</a>]</span>In
+all his life he had never experienced that sickness of apprehension
+which dissolves our fibre into a quivering jelly&mdash;as though the
+spirit had already withdrawn from the trembling inertia of the flesh.
+Perhaps Thrale&rsquo;s spirit was too dominant for such retreat, was
+more completely master of its material than is the spirit of the common
+man. For the spirit cannot know bodily fear, it is the apprehensive
+flesh that wilts and curdles at the approach of danger. And it is
+worthy of notice that in the old days, up to the early twentieth
+century, these rare cases of fearlessness in individuals were more
+often found among women than among men.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale, with his perfectly careless courage, found
+plenty of work for himself in London during May and early June. He
+acted as a scavenger, and still went far afield with his burial cart
+long after every trace of living male humanity had disappeared from the
+streets of London.</p>
+<p class="par">Then one day, at the end of June, he realized that his
+task was futile, and it came to him that there was work awaiting him of
+more importance than this purification of streets which might never
+again echo to the traffic of humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">So he chose the best bicycle he could find in Holborn
+Viaduct, stripped a relay of four tyres from other machines, and with
+these and a reserve of food made into a somewhat cumbrous parcel, he
+set out to explore the new world.</p>
+<p class="par">He took the Bath Road, intending to make exploration of
+the fertile West Country. He had Cornish blood in his veins, and his
+ultimate goal <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb234" href="#pb234" name=
+"pb234">234</a>]</span>was the county which had almost escaped
+urbanization. As he then visualized the problem, it appeared that life
+would offer greater possibilities in such places.</p>
+<p class="par">But before he reached Colnbrook, he had recognized that
+work was required of him nearer home. The exodus was then in progress.
+He came through armies of helpless women and children flying from
+starvation; women who had no object in view save that of escape to the
+country; &ldquo;Silly Londoners&rdquo; with no knowledge of how food
+was to be obtained when their goal was reached.</p>
+<p class="par">He did not stay there, however. He was beginning to see
+the outline of his plan, and at the same time the limitation of his own
+powers. He saw that enough food could not be raised near London to
+support the multitude, that the death of the many was demanded by the
+needs of the few if any were to survive, and that communities must be
+formed with the common purpose of tilling the land and excluding those
+who could not earn their right to support. In such a catastrophe as
+this, charity became a crime.</p>
+<p class="par">He intended even then to push on beyond Reading, but in
+Maidenhead he met a woman who influenced him to a nearer goal.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">She stepped into the road and held up her
+hand.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale stopped; he thought she was about to make the
+familiar demand either for food or a direction. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb235" href="#pb235" name="pb235">235</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he said curtly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">He shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;To find room,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There is room for you near here,&rdquo; said the
+woman, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;ll work.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;At what?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Machinery, harvesting machinery, agricultural
+machinery of all sorts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where?&rdquo; asked Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">She dropped her voice and looked about her.
+&ldquo;Marlow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&mdash;it&rsquo;s an eddy. Off
+the main roads and by the river. There are less than a thousand women
+there at present, and we are keeping the others out; at least until
+after harvest. There is plenty of land about, and we&rsquo;re keeping
+ourselves at present. Only we <i>do</i> want a man for the machines.
+Will you come and help us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come and see what I can do,&rdquo;
+said Thrale &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t promise to stay.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t there any other men, there?&rdquo;
+he added after a moment&rsquo;s hesitation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One at Wycombe,&rdquo; said the women.
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a butcher, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And meanwhile you might help me,&rdquo; said the
+woman. &ldquo;I come over here with a horse and cart to raid the
+seedsmen&rsquo;s shops. If we leave them the women would eat all the
+beans and peas and things, you know; enough to feed us for the winter
+gone in a week, and no one any the better. Isn&rsquo;t it awful how
+careless we are?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb236" href=
+"#pb236" name="pb236">236</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">She was a fair, clear-eyed girl, with the figure
+and complexion of one who had devoted considerable attention to outdoor
+sports. She was wearing a man&rsquo;s Norfolk jacket (men&rsquo;s
+clothing was so plentiful), and a skirt that barely reached her knees,
+and did not entirely hide cloth knickerbockers which might also have
+been adapted from a man&rsquo;s garment. Below the knickerbockers she
+displayed thick stockings and sandals. Her splendid fair hair furnished
+sufficient protection for her head, and she had dressed a pillow of it
+into the nape of her neck as a shield for the sun.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale looked at her with a frank curiosity as they made
+their way up the town to a seedsman&rsquo;s shop. She had left the
+horse and cart there, she explained, while she explored other streets
+of the town.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Eileen, of Marlow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There
+doesn&rsquo;t seem to be another Eileen there, so one name&rsquo;s
+enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is that how your community feel about it?&rdquo;
+he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">She smiled. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re beginning,&rdquo; she
+said.</p>
+<p class="par">He pondered that for a time, and then asked, &ldquo;Who
+<i>were</i> you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Does it matter?&rdquo; was the answer.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; said Thrale.
+&ldquo;Never did much so far as I was concerned, but I have a memory of
+having seen your photographs in the illustrated <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb237" href="#pb237" name=
+"pb237">237</a>]</span>papers. I was wondering whether you had been
+actress, peeress, scandal; or perhaps all three.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the eldest daughter of the
+late Duke of Hertford,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;the ci-devant Lady
+Eileen Ferrar, citizen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, was that it?&rdquo; replied Thrale
+carelessly. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s this shop of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The loot was heavier than Eileen had anticipated. The
+shop had been ransacked, but they found an untouched store, containing
+such valuables as beans, potatoes and a few small sacks of turnip seed
+at the bottom of a yard. When these had been placed in the cart, they
+decided that the load was sufficient for one horse.</p>
+<p class="par">They took the longer road to Marlow, through Bourne End,
+to avoid the hill. Eileen walked at the horse&rsquo;s head, with Thrale
+beside her wheeling his bicycle, and during those two hours he learnt
+much of the little community which he proposed to serve for a time.</p>
+<p class="par">It seemed that in Marlow&mdash;and the same thing must
+have happened in a hundred other small towns throughout the
+country&mdash;a few women had taken control of the community. These
+women were of all classes and the committee included an Earl&rsquo;s
+widow, a national schoolmistress, a small green-grocer, and an
+unmarried woman of property living half a mile out of the town. These
+women had worked together in an eminently practical way; at first to
+relieve distress, and then to plan the future. They had wasted little
+time in discussions among themselves&mdash;none of them had the
+parliamentary sense <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb238" href="#pb238"
+name="pb238">238</a>]</span>of the uses of debate. When they had
+disagreed, they had had plenty of scope to carry out varying methods
+within their own spheres of influence.</p>
+<p class="par">Their first and most difficult task had been to teach
+the members of their community to work for the common good, and that
+task was by no means perfected as yet. Co-operation was agreeable
+enough to those who had nothing to lose, but the women in temporary
+possession of the sources of food supply were not so easily convinced.
+In many instances the committee&rsquo;s arguments had been suddenly
+clenched by an exposition of <i lang="fr">force majeure</i>, and
+property owners had discovered to their amazement that they had no
+remedy.</p>
+<p class="par">But the head and leader of Marlow was a farmer&rsquo;s
+daughter of nineteen, a certain Carrie Oliver. Her father had had a
+small farm in the Chilterns not far from Fingest. He had been a lazy,
+drunken creature, and from the time Carrie had left the national school
+she had practically carried on the work of the farm single handed. She
+liked the work; the interest of it absorbed her.</p>
+<p class="par">The Marlow schoolmistress had remembered her when the
+committee had first faced the daunting task of providing for the
+future. They had been more or less capable of organizing a majority of
+the women, but no member of the committee knew the secrets of
+agriculture and stock-breeding, and in all Marlow and the neighbourhood
+no woman had been found who was capable of instructing them in all that
+was necessary.</p>
+<p class="par">A deputation of three had been sent to Fingest,
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb239" href="#pb239" name=
+"pb239">239</a>]</span>and had discovered Miss Oliver in the midst of
+plenty, cultivating her farm in comfort now that she had been relieved
+of her father&rsquo;s unwelcome presence.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been covered with confusion when requested to
+leave her retreat and take command of a town and the surrounding twenty
+thousand acres or so within reach of the new community.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she had said, blushing
+and ducking her head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy enough; I&rsquo;ll tell
+you if there&rsquo;s anything you want to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The deputation had then put the case very clearly before
+her, pointing out that in Miss Oliver&rsquo;s hands lay the future of a
+thousand lives.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, dear. I dunno. What can <i>I</i> do?&rdquo;
+Carrie had said, and when the deputation had urged that she should
+return with them and take charge forthwith, she had replied that that
+was quite impossible, that there were the cows to milk, the calves,
+pigs and chickens to feed, and goodness knew how many other necessary
+things to be done before sunset.</p>
+<p class="par">The deputation had said that cows, calves, horses,
+sheep, pigs and chickens might and should be transferred forthwith to
+the neighbourhood of Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">It had taken three days to convince her, Eileen said,
+and added, &ldquo;But she&rsquo;s splendid, now. It&rsquo;s wonderful
+what a lot she knows; and she rides about on a horse everywhere and
+sees to everything. The difficulty is to stop her getting down and
+doing the work herself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale understood that, exceptional male as he was, his
+position in Marlow would be subordinate to that of Miss Oliver.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb240" href="#pb240" name=
+"pb240">240</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Does she understand agricultural
+machinery?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; returned Eileen. &ldquo;But she
+hasn&rsquo;t time, you see, to attend to all that, and it&rsquo;s so
+jolly difficult to learn. I&rsquo;ve been doing a bit. I&rsquo;m better
+at it than most of &rsquo;em. But when I saw you it struck me how
+ripping it would be if you&rsquo;d come and take over that side. Men
+are so jolly good at machinery. We shouldn&rsquo;t miss them much if it
+weren&rsquo;t for that.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">After a marked preliminary hesitation the
+committee appointed Jasper Thrale chief mechanic of Marlow. The
+hesitation was understandable. Their only experience of the ways of men
+in this altered civilization had been drawn from observations of Mr
+Evans at Wycombe. His manner of life appeared representative of what
+they might expect. Nevertheless they did not openly condemn him,
+although he proved an immediate source of trouble, even to these
+organizers in Marlow. The youth of the place was apt to wander over the
+hill in the evenings; &ldquo;just for fun,&rdquo; they said. They went
+in twos and threes, and occasionally one of them stayed behind. These
+evening walks interfered with work. &ldquo;Later on I shouldn&rsquo;t
+mind so much,&rdquo; Lady Durham had said, commenting on the loss of a
+young and active worker, &ldquo;but there is so much to do just
+now.&rdquo; Her comment showed that even then the situation was being
+accepted, and that many women were prepared to adapt their old opinions
+to new conditions. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb241" href="#pb241"
+name="pb241">241</a>]</span>It also showed why the committee hesitated
+to accept Thrale&rsquo;s services.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale understood their difficulty, and went straight to
+the point.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You are afraid that the young women will be
+wasting time, running after me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Set your minds
+at rest. That won&rsquo;t last. And if you give me pupils for my
+machinery I should prefer women over forty in any case. I believe I
+shall find them more capable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He was right in one way. When the excitement of his
+coming had subsided, he was not the cause of much wasted time. He
+adopted a manner with the younger women which did not encourage
+advances. He was, in fact, quite brutally frank. When the young women
+devised all kinds of impossible excuses to linger in his vicinity he
+sent them away with hot indignant faces. Among those who sought their
+sterile amusements in Wycombe it became the fashion openly to express
+hatred and contempt for &ldquo;that engine fellow.&rdquo; It was agreed
+that he &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t a proper man.&rdquo; Another section,
+however, talked scandal, and hinted that assistant-engineer Eileen was
+the cause of Thrale&rsquo;s pretended misogyny.</p>
+<p class="par">The committee found their work more complicated in some
+respects after Thrale&rsquo;s coming.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale, himself, was supremely indifferent to any
+scandal or expression of hatred. He had his hands full, his hours of
+work were only limited by daylight, and six hours sleep was all he
+asked for or desired. After a very brief introduction to the
+intricacies of reaper and rake at the hands of Miss Oliver&mdash;her
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb242" href="#pb242" name=
+"pb242">242</a>]</span>father had never been able to afford a binder,
+but the days of corn-harvest were still far ahead&mdash;he set himself
+to learn the mysteries of all the agricultural machinery in the
+neighbourhood; traction engines, steam ploughs and thrashing machines,
+and to pass on the knowledge he gained to his pupils. He found them
+stupid at first, but they were patient and willing for the most
+part.</p>
+<p class="par">Then, handicapped by the lack of coal, he rode over to
+Bourne End and discovered two locomotives. One of them was standing on
+the line a mile out of the station with a full complement of coaches
+attached, the other was an unencumbered goods engine in a siding. He
+chose the latter for his first experiment, and succeeded in driving it
+back to Marlow. It groaned and screamed in a way that indicated serious
+organic trouble, but after he had overhauled it, it proved capable of
+taking him to Maidenhead, where he found a sound engine in a shed.</p>
+<p class="par">After that he devoted three days to getting a clear line
+to Paddington, a tedious process which involved endless descents from
+the cab, and mountings into signal boxes, experiments with levers and
+the occasional necessity for pushing whole trains out of his path into
+some siding. But at last he returned with magnificent loot of coal from
+the almost untouched London yards beyond Ealing.</p>
+<p class="par">London was still the storehouse of certain valuable
+commodities.</p>
+<p class="par">His passage through the surrounding country was hailed
+with cries of amazement and jubilant <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb243" href="#pb243" name="pb243">243</a>]</span>acclamation. The
+first railway surely excited less astonishment than did Thrale on his
+solitary engine. Doubtless the unfortunate women who saw him pass
+believed that the gods of machinery had returned once more to bring
+relief from all the burden of misery and unfamiliar work.</p>
+<p class="par">And once the points were set and the way open to London
+by rail he could go and return with tools and many other necessaries
+that had offered no temptation to the starving multitude who had fled
+from the town.</p>
+<p class="par">Marlow was greatly blessed among the communities in
+those days.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">6</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The harvest was early that year, and Miss Oliver
+decided to cut certain fields of barley at the end of July.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale&rsquo;s energies were then diverted to the
+superintendence of the reapers and binders, and he rode from field to
+field, overlooking the work of his pupils or spending furious hours in
+struggle with some refractory mechanism.</p>
+<p class="par">One Saturday, an hour or two after midday, he was
+returning from some such struggle, when he saw a strange procession
+coming down that long hill from Handy Cross, which some pious women
+regarded as the road to hell.</p>
+<p class="par">Casual immigration had almost ceased by that time, but
+the sight indicated the necessity for immediate action. The immigration
+laws of Marlow, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb244" href="#pb244"
+name="pb244">244</a>]</span>though not coded as yet, were strict; and
+only bona fide workers were admitted, and even those were critically
+examined.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale shouted to attract attention and the procession
+stopped.</p>
+<p class="par">When he came through the gate on to the road, he was
+accosted by name.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Mr Thrale, fancy finding you,&rdquo; said the
+young woman at the pole of the truck.</p>
+<p class="par">The meeting of Livingstone and Stanley was far less
+amazing.</p>
+<p class="par">An old woman perched on the truck and partly sheltered
+by the remains of an umbrella, regarded his appearance with some show
+of displeasure.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By rights &rsquo;e should &rsquo;ave written to
+me in the first place,&rdquo; she muttered.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Mother&rsquo;s got a touch of the sun,&rdquo;
+explained Blanche hurriedly.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had not yet spoken. He was considering the
+problem of whether he owed any duty to these wanderers, which could
+override his duty to Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Where have you come from?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche and Millie explained volubly, by turns and
+together.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You see, we don&rsquo;t let anyone stay
+here,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s eyebrows went up and she waved her too
+exuberant sister aside. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re willing to work,&rdquo; she
+said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And your mother?&rdquo; queried Thrale.
+&ldquo;And this other woman?&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb245" href="#pb245" name="pb245">245</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ach! I work too,&rdquo; put in Mrs Isaacson.
+&ldquo;I have learnt all that is necessary for the farm. I milk and
+feed chickens and everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to come before the
+committee,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Anywhere out of the sun,&rdquo; replied Blanche,
+&ldquo;and somewhere where we can put mother. She&rsquo;s very bad,
+I&rsquo;m afraid.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can stay to-night, anyway,&rdquo; returned
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie made a face at him behind his back, and whispered
+to Mrs Isaacson, who pursed her mouth.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, you do seem more civilized here,&rdquo;
+remarked Blanche as the procession restarted towards Marlow. Thrale,
+with something of the air of a policeman, was walking by the side of
+the pole.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve come at a good time,&rdquo; was his
+only comment.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie had another shock before they reached the town.
+She saw what she thought was a second man, on horseback this time,
+coming towards them. Marlow, she thought, was evidently a place to live
+in. But the figure was only that of Miss Oliver in corduroy trousers,
+riding astride.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">7</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Fate had dropped the Goslings into Buckinghamshire
+to fulfil their destiny. They had been led to Marlow by a casual
+direction, here and there, after the first propulsion of
+Blanche&rsquo;s instinct had sent them into the country beyond Harrow.
+And fate, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb246" href="#pb246" name=
+"pb246">246</a>]</span>doubtless with some incomprehensible purpose of
+its own in view, had quietly decided that in Marlow they were to stay.
+They had been dropped at a season when, for the first time in the long
+three months&rsquo; history of the community, there was a shortage of
+labour; and Blanche and Millie, browned by exposure and generally
+improved by their first six days of healthy life, were quite acceptable
+additions to the population at that moment. As for Mrs Isaacson, a lady
+of sufficient initiative and force of character to require no kindly
+interposition of Providence on her behalf, she arranged her own future
+as an expert of farm management, and incidentally as the
+Goslings&rsquo; housemate. Mrs Isaacson was a burr that would stick
+anywhere for a time. She displayed an unexpected and highly specialized
+knowledge of the management of farms, when confronted with the expert
+Miss Oliver who was far too embarrassed to press her questions home.
+The casual remarks of Aunt May and her helpers had been retained in Mrs
+Isaacson&rsquo;s brilliant memory and she displayed her knowledge to
+the best possible advantage, filling the gaps with irrelevant
+volubility, gesture and histrionic struggles with the English language,
+which proved suddenly inadequate to the expression of these recondities
+that the German would have so aptly expressed. It was inferred that in
+her native Bavaria, Mrs Isaacson had farmed in the grand style.</p>
+<p class="par">Only Mrs Gosling, useless and ineligible, remained for
+consideration, and she for once took a firm line of her own, and defied
+the committee, Marlow <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb247" href=
+"#pb247" name="pb247">247</a>]</span>generally, and the negligible
+remainder of the cosmos, to alter her determination.</p>
+<p class="par">The home at which they had finally arrived did not suit
+her. The tiny cottage of three rooms in the little street that runs
+down to the town landing stage had no lace curtains in the front
+window, no suites of furniture, no hall to save the discreet caller
+from stepping through the front door straight into the single
+living-room, no accumulation of dustable ornaments, not even a strip of
+carpet or linoleum to cover the nakedness of a bricked floor. It was
+not civilized; it was not decent according to the refined standards of
+Wisteria Grove; it was an impossible place for any respectable woman to
+live in, and Mrs Gosling, with unexpected force of character, chose the
+obvious alternative. She did not, however, make any announcement of her
+determination; she was wrapped in a speculative depression that found
+no relief in words. She had been so ordered, hoisted, dragged and
+bumped through the detested country during the past six days that all
+show of authority had been taken from her. It may be that deep in her
+own mind she cherished a sullen and enduring resentment against her
+daughters, and had vowed to take the last and unanswerable revenge of
+which humanity is capable. But outwardly she preserved that air of
+incomprehension which had marked her during the last stages of their
+journey, and committed herself to no statement of the enormous plan
+which must have been forming in her mind.</p>
+<p class="par">When they took her into the small, brick-paved
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb248" href="#pb248" name=
+"pb248">248</a>]</span>room and deposited her temporarily on a
+wooden-seated chair, while they unpacked what <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e4227" title="Source: remainded">remained</span> to them in the
+accursed trolly, Mrs Gosling took one brief but comprehensive survey of
+her naked surroundings.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a bit touched, isn&rsquo;t
+she?&rdquo; whispered Millie to her sister. &ldquo;Do you think she
+understands where we are or what we&rsquo;re doing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche shook her head. &ldquo;I expect she&rsquo;ll be
+all right in a day or two,&rdquo; she ventured, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the
+sun.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The two girls, stirred to a new outlook on life by the
+extraordinary experiences of the past months, were on the threshold of
+diverse adventures. After the toil and anxiety of their tramp through
+inhospitable country, and the hazard of the open air, this reception
+into a community and settlement into a permanent shelter afforded a
+relief which was too unexpected to be qualified as yet by criticism, or
+any comparison with past glories. They were young and plastic, and to
+each of them the future seemed to hold some promise; to them the
+silence and immobility of their mother could only be evidence of
+impaired faculties.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must get her to bed,&rdquo; said Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">Even when Mrs Gosling asked with perfect relevance,
+&ldquo;Are we going to stop &rsquo;ere, Blanche?&rdquo; they humoured
+her with evasive replies. &ldquo;Well, for a day or two,
+perhaps,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Look here, don&rsquo;t you worry about that.
+We&rsquo;re going to put you to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Her head dropped again and she fell back into her moody
+silence. Doubtless she meditated on the many wrongs her daughters had
+done her, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb249" href="#pb249" name=
+"pb249">249</a>]</span>wondered why she should have been brought out to
+die in this wilderness?</p>
+<p class="par">During the nine days that elapsed before her plan
+matured, she made no further comment on her surroundings. She lay in
+the upstairs room, sleeping little, with no desire ever again to face
+the terror of a world which demanded a new mode of thought.
+Unconsciously she had adopted Blanche&rsquo;s phrase,
+&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s different,&rdquo; but to her the message was
+one of doom, she could not live in a different world.</p>
+<p class="par">And Blanche on her side was puzzled at her
+mother&rsquo;s apathy and said, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand
+it.&rdquo; Yet both the changed conditions and Mrs Gosling&rsquo;s
+unchangeable habit were fundamental things. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb250" href="#pb250" name="pb250">250</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch18" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XVIII&mdash;</span>MODES OF
+EXPRESSION</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In Marlow that year harvesting and thrashing were
+carried on simultaneously. August was very dry, and the greater part of
+the corn was never stacked at all. Thrale took his engines into the
+fields, and the shocks were loaded on to carts and fed directly into
+the thrasher. This method entailed some disadvantages, chief among them
+the retarding of the actual harvest-work, but on the whole it probably
+economized labour. The scheme would doubtless have been impracticable
+in the days of small private ownership, but it worked well in this
+instance, favoured as it was by the drought.</p>
+<p class="par">The saving of labour during those six weeks of furious
+toil was a matter of the first importance. The work, indeed, was too
+heavy for many of the women who were unable to stand the physical
+strain of hoisting sheaves from the waggons into the thrasher; and the
+sacks of grain proved so unmanageable that Thrale had to devise a
+makeshift hoist for loading them into the carts. In Marlow, at least,
+machinery was still triumphant, and the committee sighed their relief
+in the sentence: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what we should have done
+without Jasper Thrale.&rdquo; Nevertheless it is quite certain that
+they would have done without him if it had not been for that fortuitous
+meeting in Maidenhead. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb251" href=
+"#pb251" name="pb251">251</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">For Thrale there was no rest possible, even when the
+last field had been cleared and the last clumsily-built stack of straw
+or unthrashed corn erected. Besides the necessity for some form of
+thatching&mdash;or, failing efficiency in that direction, for
+completing the thrashing operations&mdash;he had to turn his attention
+to the immensely difficult problem of turning the grain into flour. He
+knew vaguely that the grain ought to be cleaned and conditioned before
+grinding, and that the actual separation of the constituents of the
+berry was a matter of importance; but he had no practical knowledge of
+the various operations, and in this matter Miss Oliver was quite unable
+to help him.</p>
+<p class="par">The mill beside the lock presented itself as an
+intricate and enormously detailed problem which must be solved by a
+concentrated effort of induction. The only person who appeared to be of
+real assistance to him was Eileen, and she was apt to tire and fall
+into despair when the detail of involved and often concealed machinery
+baffled them for hour after hour. Nevertheless Thrale solved this
+problem also. His first concern was for a head of water. The weirs had
+not been touched since the beginning of May, and the river was very
+low, but by mid-September there was enough water to work for a few
+hours every day, and, despite endless mistakes and setbacks, the mill
+was turning out a sufficient supply of fairly respectable looking
+flour.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had that wonderful masculine faculty for thus
+applying himself to a mechanical problem, and, like his predecessors in
+mechanical invention, it was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb252" href=
+"#pb252" name="pb252">252</a>]</span>the problem and not any promise of
+future reward which interested him. He became absorbed for the time in
+that problem of grinding corn, grudging the hours he was obliged to
+devote to other activities; and when he felt the throb of life running
+through the mill, saw the women he had taught attending each to their
+own appointed task in the economy, and felt the touch of the fine,
+smooth flour between his fingers, he needed no thanks from the
+committee nor promise of independence to reward him for his labour. The
+sight of this thing he had created was sufficient recompense. He loved
+this beautiful efficient toy that changed wheat into flour, and oats
+into meal, it was his to father and to fight for; the perfect child of
+his ingenuity and toil.</p>
+<p class="par">But if Thrale&rsquo;s time was tremendously occupied the
+women found that they had more opportunities for leisure after harvest.
+They were still employed in field and garden, and there was still much
+to be done, but their hours were shorter and the work seemed light in
+contrast with the heroic labour that had been necessary at the
+harvest.</p>
+<p class="par">And with this first coming of comparative ease, this
+first opportunity for reflection since the terrible plague had thrust
+upon them the necessity for fierce and unremitting effort to produce
+the essentials of life, women began to express themselves in their
+various ways. Aspirations and emotions that had been crushed by the
+fatigues of physical labour began to revive; personal inclinations,
+jealousies and resentments became manifest in the detail of
+intercourse; old prejudices, religious and social, once <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb253" href="#pb253" name="pb253">253</a>]</span>more
+assumed an aspect of importance in the interactions of individuals.
+There was a faint stir in the community, the first sign of a trouble
+which was steadily to increase as winter laid its bond upon the
+storehouses of earth.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The two Goslings, working only six or seven hours
+a day in the mill during the latter part of September, found plenty of
+time for chatter and speculation. They, and more especially Blanche,
+had shown themselves capable workers in the harvest field, but when
+hands had been required in his mill Thrale had chosen the Goslings and
+those whom he considered less adapted to field work; and among them Mrs
+Isaacson and a member of the committee, Miss Jenkyn, the
+schoolmistress. (The education problem was in abeyance for the time
+being. The children had run wild for three months, and been subject
+only to the discipline of their mothers, but it was understood that the
+children were to receive attention when the winter brought
+opportunity.)</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche soon distinguished herself as a picked worker in
+this sphere. Her intelligence was of a somewhat more masculine quality
+in some respects than that of the average woman; she was slower, more
+detailed, more logical in her methods. And now that those male
+characteristics&mdash;so often deplored by women in the days before the
+plague&mdash;had been withdrawn from the flux of life, it had become
+evident that they had been an essential part <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb254" href="#pb254" name="pb254">254</a>]</span>of
+the whole, if only a part. Masculine characteristics were at a premium
+in Marlow that autumn, and as a natural consequence were being rated at
+an ever higher value. There was a tendency among some women to become
+more male....</p>
+<p class="par">Millie, however, was not among the progressives. She was
+not gifted intellectually; she had no swift intuitions&mdash;such as
+Eileen had&mdash;which enabled her to comprehend her work; she was
+naturally indolent, and all her emotions came to her through
+sensation.</p>
+<p class="par">When she was put to work in the mill she was secretly
+elated. She did not believe the stories told of Jasper Thrale&rsquo;s
+insensibility to feminine attractions, and if she believed those other
+stories which coupled his name with that of Lady Eileen, Millie was of
+opinion that such an entanglement was not necessarily final.</p>
+<p class="par">The first week of her association with Thrale in the
+work of the mill brought disillusionment.</p>
+<p class="par">When she looked up from her work and caught his eye as
+he passed her, he either stared coldly or stopped and asked in a
+businesslike, austere voice whether she wanted assistance. Such
+intimations should have been sufficient, but in this thing, at least,
+Millie was persistent. She thought that he did not understand&mdash;men
+were proverbially stupid in these matters. So she waited for an
+opportunity and within ten days one was presented.</p>
+<p class="par">A hesitation in some of the machinery she overlooked
+provided sufficient excuse for calling the head engineer. She looked
+down the step-ladder <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb255" href="#pb255"
+name="pb255">255</a>]</span>which communicated with the floor below and
+called hesitatingly, &ldquo;Oh! Please. Mr Thrale.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He heard her and looked up, &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Something gone wrong,&rdquo; she said blushing,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve stopped the rollers, but I don&rsquo;t
+know&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;All right, I&rsquo;m coming,&rdquo; he returned,
+and presently joined her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By the way,&rdquo; he remarked as he began to
+examine the machine, &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t say &lsquo;Mister,&rsquo;
+now. I thought you&rsquo;d learnt that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Millie simpered. &ldquo;It sounds so familiar not
+to,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Rubbish,&rdquo; grunted Thrale. &ldquo;You can
+call me &lsquo;engineer,&rsquo; I suppose?<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e4311" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, look here,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;do
+you see this hopper in here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She came close to him and peered into the machine.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It gets clogged, do you see?&rdquo; said Thrale,
+&ldquo;and when the meal stutters you&rsquo;ve just got to put your
+hand in and clear it. Understand?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I think so,&rdquo; hesitated Millie. She was
+leaning against him and her body was trembling with delicious
+excitement. Almost unconsciously she pressed a little closer.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale suddenly drew back. &ldquo;Do you
+understand?&rdquo; he said harshly.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Ye-yes, I think so,&rdquo; returned Millie; and
+she straightened herself, looked up at him for a moment and then
+dropped her eyes, blushing.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;and
+here&rsquo;s another <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb256" href="#pb256"
+name="pb256">256</a>]</span>piece of advice for you. If you want to
+stay in the mill keep your attention on your work. You&rsquo;re a man
+now, for all intents and purposes; you&rsquo;ve got a man&rsquo;s work
+to do, and you must keep your mind on it. If there&rsquo;s any
+foolishness you go out into the turnip fields. You won&rsquo;t have
+another warning,&rdquo; he concluded as he turned and left her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Beast,&rdquo; muttered Millie when she was alone.
+She was shaken with furious anger. &ldquo;I hate you, you silly stuck
+up thing,&rdquo; she whispered fiercely shaking with passion.
+&ldquo;Oh, I wish you only knew how I hate you. I won&rsquo;t touch
+your beastly machines again. I&rsquo;d sooner a million times be out in
+the turnip field than in the same mill with <i>you</i>, you stuck up
+beast. I <i>won&rsquo;t</i> work, I won&rsquo;t do a thing,
+I&rsquo;ll&mdash;I&rsquo;ll&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time she was hysterical.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche coming down from the floor above found her
+sister tearing at her hair.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Good heavens, Mill, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie had passed through the worst stages of her
+seizure by then, and she dropped her hands. &ldquo;I dunno,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s this beastly mill, I suppose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I like it,&rdquo; returned Blanche.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, <i>you</i>,&rdquo; said Millie, full of scorn
+for Blanche&rsquo;s frigidity. &ldquo;You ought to have been a man, you
+ought.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I dunno what&rsquo;s come to you,&rdquo; was
+Blanche&rsquo;s comment.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">It was maturity that had come to Millie. Her new
+life of air and physical exercise had set the blood <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb257" href="#pb257" name=
+"pb257">257</a>]</span>running in her veins. In the Wisteria Grove days
+she had had an an&aelig;mic tendency; the limited routine of her
+existence and all the suppressions of her narrow life had retarded her
+development. Now she was suddenly ripe. Two months of sun and air had
+brought superabundant vitality, and the surplus had become the most
+important factor in her existence<span class="corr" id="xd23e4363"
+title="Not in source">.</span> She found no outlet for her new vigour
+in the work of the mill. Something within her was crying out for joy.
+She wanted to find expression.</p>
+<p class="par">There were many other young women in Marlow that autumn
+in similar case, and a rumour was current among them that this was a
+favourable time for crossing the hill. It was said that the lord of
+Wycombe was seeking new favourites.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie heard the rumour and tossed her head
+superciliously.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let him come here. I&rsquo;d give him a piece of
+my mind,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t come &rsquo;ere,&rdquo; returned
+the gossip. &ldquo;&rsquo;E&rsquo;s afeard of our Mr Thrale.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! Jasper Thrale!&rdquo; said Millie.
+&ldquo;That fellow from Wycombe could knock his head off in no
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The gossip was doubtful.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie was incapable of formulating a plan in this
+connexion, but she was seized with a desire for spending the still
+September evenings in the open air, and always something drew her
+towards the hill at Handy Cross. That way lay interest and excitement.
+There was a wonderful fascination in going as far as the top of the
+descent into Wycombe. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb258" href=
+"#pb258" name="pb258">258</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Usually she joined one or two other young women in these
+excursions. It was understood between them that they went &ldquo;for
+fun,&rdquo; and they would laugh and scream when they reached the dip
+past the farm, pretend to push each other down the slope, and cry out
+suddenly: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming! Run!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">But one afternoon, some ten days after Jasper Thrale had
+threatened her with the turnip field, Millie went alone.</p>
+<p class="par">She had left work early. The rain had not come yet, and
+Thrale was becoming anxious with regard to the shortage of water. He
+had the sluices of Marlow and Hedsor weirs closed, and had opened the
+sluices of the weirs above as far as Hambledon, but so little water was
+coming down that he decided to work shorter hours for the present.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche had stayed on at the mill to help with repairs.
+She was rapidly developing into a capable engineer. So Millie, whose
+only service was that of machine minder, found herself alone and
+unoccupied.</p>
+<p class="par">Every one else seemed to be working. Her friends of the
+evening excursions were mostly in the fields on the Henley side of the
+town.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie decided she would lie down on the bed and go to
+sleep for a bit; but even before she came to the cottage she changed
+her mind. It was a deliciously warm, still afternoon.</p>
+<p class="par">Almost automatically she took the road towards Little
+Marlow; a desire for adventure had overtaken her. Why, she argued,
+shouldn&rsquo;t she go into Wycombe? There were plenty of other women
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb259" href="#pb259" name=
+"pb259">259</a>]</span>there. She would be quite safe. She only wanted
+to see what the place was like.</p>
+<p class="par">Her consciousness of perfect rectitude lasted until she
+reached the dip beyond Handy Cross. Farther than this she had not
+ventured before. Some mystery lay beyond the turn of the road.</p>
+<p class="par">She sat down in the grass by the wayside and called
+herself a fool, but she was afraid to go further. She and those friends
+of hers had made this place the entrance to a terrible and fascinating
+beyond. She remembered how they had feared to stay there in the failing
+light, daring each other to remain there alone after sunset. There was
+nothing to be afraid of, she said to herself; and yet she was
+afraid.</p>
+<p class="par">She was hot with her long climb, and the place was quite
+deserted. She decided to take down her hair to cool herself.</p>
+<p class="par">Curiously, she looked upon this simple act as
+deliciously daring and in some way wicked. She cast half-fearful
+glances at the green girt shadows of the descending road, as she shook
+out the masses of her hair. &ldquo;If anyone should come!&rdquo; she
+thought. &ldquo;If <i>he</i> should come...!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She giggled nervously, and shivered.</p>
+<p class="par">But as time passed, and no one came, she began to lose
+her fear, and presently she lay full length on the grass, and stared up
+into the pale blue dome of the sky until her eyes ached and she had to
+close them. The deep hush of the still afternoon enveloped her in a
+great calm.</p>
+<p class="par">For a time she slept peacefully, and then she dreamed
+that she was rushing through the air, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb260" href="#pb260" name="pb260">260</a>]</span>that some one chased
+her. She wanted desperately to be captured, but it was ordained that
+she must fly, and she flew incredibly fast. She flew through the
+sunlight into darkness, and awoke to find that some one was standing
+between her and the sun.</p>
+<p class="par">She lay still, paralysed with terror. She bitterly
+regretted her coming. She would have given ten years of life to be safe
+home in Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Now, where&rsquo;ve I seen you before?&rdquo;
+asked Sam Evans....</p>
+<p class="par">It was nearly dark when Blanche accosted a knot of women
+in the High Street with a question as to whether they had seen anything
+of her sister.</p>
+<p class="par">One of the women laughed sneeringly. &ldquo;Ah! She went
+over the hill this afternoon,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We were in the
+fields that side, and saw her go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche&rsquo;s face burned. &ldquo;She hasn&rsquo;t! I
+know she hasn&rsquo;t!&rdquo; she blurted out. &ldquo;She isn&rsquo;t
+one of that sort.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The woman laughed again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s one of the lucky ones,&rdquo; another
+woman remarked. &ldquo;You can expect her back in a week or two&rsquo;s
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">On the same evening that Millie crossed the hill,
+Lady Eileen Ferrar encountered the spirit of passion in another
+shape.</p>
+<p class="par">The thought of a lonely bathe tempted her, and she
+crossed the river, made her way through deserted Bisham, and back to
+the stream along a narrow, overhung lane beyond Bisham Abbey.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb261" href="#pb261" name=
+"pb261">261</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The sun had set, but when she came out from the trees
+there was light in the sky and on the water. Overhead a few wisps of
+cirrus, sailing in the far heights of air, still caught the direct rays
+of the sun. Eileen paused on the bank, rejoicing in the glow of colour
+about her; but as she gazed, the little fleet of salmon-tinted clouds
+were engulfed in the great earth-shadow, and the delicate crisp
+rose-leaves were transfigured into flat stipples of steel grey.</p>
+<p class="par">A slight chill had come into the air, but the water was
+deliciously soft and warm. Eileen swam a couple of hundred yards
+up-stream, towards the gloom of shadows that obscured the course of the
+river. The after-glow was fading now, and though the surface of the
+water seemed to catch some reflection of light from an unknown source,
+the near distance loomed dark and mysterious. She trod water for a few
+moments, but could not decide whether the river turned to right or
+left. To all appearances, it terminated abruptly fifty yards
+ahead....</p>
+<p class="par">A new sound was forcing itself upon her
+attention&mdash;a low, steady booming. She stopped swimming, and,
+keeping herself afloat by slow, silent movements of hands and feet
+under water, she listened attentively. The dull boom seemed changed
+into a low, ceaseless moan.</p>
+<p class="par">She remembered then the recently opened sluices of
+Temple Weir, but quite suddenly she was aware of fear. She thought she
+saw a movement among the reeds by the bank. She thought she heard
+laughter and the thin pipe of a flute.</p>
+<p class="par">Were the old gods coming back to witness the
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb262" href="#pb262" name=
+"pb262">262</a>]</span>death of man, as they had witnessed his birth?
+Now that machinery and civilization were being re-absorbed into the
+nature-spirit from which they had been wrung by the force of
+man&rsquo;s devilish and alien intelligence, were the old things
+returning for one mad revel before the creatures of their sport
+disappeared for ever, these representatives of a species which had
+failed to hold its own in the struggle for existence?</p>
+<p class="par">Night was coming up like a shadow, and in the east a
+red, enormous moon was rising, coming not to dissipate, but to enhance
+the mysteries of the dark, coming to countenance the wild and blind the
+eyes of man.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen, almost motionless, was floating down with the
+drift of the sluggish stream. She was afraid to intrude upon the
+natural sounds of the night, the stealthy trickle of the river, and the
+furtive rustle of secret movement whose origin she could not guess. And
+again she thought that she heard the trembling reed of a distant
+flute.</p>
+<p class="par">She touched bottom near her landing-place, and waded out
+of the river, crouching, afraid even in the black shadow of the trees
+to exhibit the white column of her slim body. She dried and dressed
+hastily, and when she felt again the touch of her familiar clothes
+about her, she knew that she was safe from the wiles of nymph or satyr.
+She had come out of the half-world that interposes between man and
+Nature; her clothes made her invisible to the earth-gods, and hid them
+from her knowledge. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb263" href="#pb263"
+name="pb263">263</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">But she was still trembling and afraid. The flesh had
+terrors great as those of the spirit.</p>
+<p class="par">A little uncertain wind was coming out of the
+south-west, and the trees were stirred now and again into hushed
+whisperings. A dead leaf brushed her face in falling, and she started
+back, thrusting at an imaginary enemy with nervously agitated
+hands.</p>
+<p class="par">The thought of her remoteness from life terrified her.
+She was alone, face to face with implacable, brutal Nature. Man, the
+boastful, full of foolish pride, was vanishing from the earth. He had
+been an alien, ever out of place, defiling and corrupting the order of
+growth. Now he was beaten and a fugitive. All around her, the
+representative of this vile destructive species, was the slow,
+persistent hatred of the earth, which longed to be at peace again.
+There was no god favourable to man, now that he was dying; the gods of
+man&rsquo;s creation would perish with him. Only a few women were left
+to realize that they were strangers in the world of Nature which hated
+them. The world was not theirs, had never been theirs; they were only
+some horrible, unnatural fungus that had disfigured the Earth for a
+time....</p>
+<p class="par">She moved cautiously and slowly under the darkness of
+the trees, and even when she came back to the road she could not shake
+off her fear. On her right she could see the black cliff of the
+woods<a id="xd23e4468" name="xd23e4468"></a> transfigured by the light
+of the moon. In the day she knew them for woods; now they were strange
+and threatening; they menaced her with <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb264" href="#pb264" name="pb264">264</a>]</span>invasion. She knew
+that they would march down from the hills and swarm across the valley.
+In a hundred, two hundred years, Marlow would be a few heaps of brick
+and stone lost in the heart of the forest.</p>
+<p class="par">Ashamed of her race, she hurried on stealthily towards
+the bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">But before she reached it, she heard the sound of a
+firm, defiant step coming towards her. She paused and listened, and her
+fear fell from her. In the old days she would have feared man more than
+Nature, feared robbery or assault, but now, man was united in a common
+cause; the sound of humanity was the sound of a friend.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hullo!&rdquo; she called, and the voice of Jasper
+Thrale answered. &ldquo;Hullo! Who&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Me&mdash;Eileen,&rdquo; she replied.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been for a bathe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He paused opposite her, and they looked at one
+another.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Jolly night,&rdquo; he remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the great god Pan,&rdquo; said
+Eileen. &ldquo;Those sailors in the Ionian Sea were misinformed.
+He&rsquo;s not dead.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why should Pan die and Dionysus live?&rdquo;
+returned Thrale. &ldquo;I hear that Dionysus has claimed one of our
+hands, by the way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Are you angry?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes. Not with Millie. If <i>you</i> saw Pan, why
+shouldn&rsquo;t <i>she</i> see Dionysus? No, I&rsquo;m angry with the
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb265" href="#pb265" name=
+"pb265">265</a>]</span>Jenkyn woman. She&rsquo;s saying that we ought
+not to have Millie back if she wants to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;How silly!&rdquo; commented Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! if that were all!&rdquo; replied Thrale.
+&ldquo;The real trouble is that the Jenkyn woman is proselytizing. She
+wants to revive Church services and Sunday observances. We&rsquo;re
+going to have a split before the winter&rsquo;s over, and all the old
+misunderstandings and antagonisms back again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why, of course we are,&rdquo; returned Eileen,
+after a pause. &ldquo;We are going to divide into those that are afraid
+and those that aren&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s fear that&rsquo;s got hold of
+us, now we&rsquo;ve time to think. It&rsquo;s all about us to-night;
+I&rsquo;ve seen it, and Millie has seen it; and Clara Jenkyn and all
+those who are going with her have seen it; and we&rsquo;ve all got to
+find our own way out.&rdquo; She hesitated for a moment, and then said:
+&ldquo;And what about you? Have you seen it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, for the first time. Within the last ten
+minutes,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">The moon was above the trees now, and she could see his
+face clearly. &ldquo;Have you?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t
+picture it. It can&rsquo;t be Pan or Dionysus, or fear of the Earth or
+of humanity. No; and it can&rsquo;t be the most terrible of all, the
+fear of an idea. What are you afraid of?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid of you,&rdquo; said Thrale, and
+he turned away quickly and hurried on in the direction of the
+river.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I <i>did</i> see Pan,&rdquo; affirmed Eileen, as
+she returned, happy and unafraid, towards Marlow. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb266" href="#pb266" name="pb266">266</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">5</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">That mood of the night had suggested to Eileen the
+idea of a single cause which seemed sufficient to account for the
+revivalist tendencies of Miss Jenkyn and certain other women in Marlow.
+Fear was presented as a simple explanation, and Eileen, like many other
+philosophers who had preceded her, was too eager for the simple and
+inclusive explanation.</p>
+<p class="par">At first the revivalist tendency was feeble and
+circumscribed. Twenty or thirty women met in the schoolroom and talked
+and prayed by the light of a single, tenderly nursed oil-lamp. The
+absence of any minister kept them back at first; the less earnest
+needed some concrete embodiment of religion in the form of a black coat
+and white tie.</p>
+<p class="par">But when the rain came in early October, came and
+persisted; when the beeches, instead of flaring into scarlet, grew
+sodden and dead; when the threat of flood grew even more imminent, and
+the distraction of physical toil almost ceased, this little nucleus of
+women was joined by many new recruits, and their comparatively harmless
+prostrations, lamentations and worshippings of the abstract, developed
+into an attempt to enforce a moral law upon the community.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie Gosling, returning to Marlow in mid-October, gave
+the religionists splendid opportunity for a first demonstration.</p>
+<p class="par">Millie returned with a bold face and a shrinking heart.
+She had fled from Wycombe because she could not meet the taunts of the
+women who had so lately <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb267" href=
+"#pb267" name="pb267">267</a>]</span>envied her as she rode, prime
+favourite for a time, in the Dionysian landau. A great loneliness had
+come over her after she was dethroned; she needed sympathy, and she
+hoped that Blanche might be made to understand. Millie came back from
+over the hill prepared with a long tale of excuses.</p>
+<p class="par">She found her sister perfectly complacent.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was a fervent disciple of Jasper Thrale and
+machinery, and Thrale had anticipated Millie&rsquo;s return and in some
+ways prepared for it. At odd moments he had preached the new gospel,
+the tenets of which Blanche had begun to formulate for herself.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no good going back to the old morality
+for a precedent,&rdquo; had been the essential argument used by Thrale;
+&ldquo;we have to face new conditions. If a man is only to have one
+wife now, the race will decline, probably perish. It is a woman&rsquo;s
+duty to bear children.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen, Blanche and a few other young women had wondered
+that he made no application of the argument to his own case, but his
+opinion carried more weight by reason of his continence. Even Miss
+Jenkyn could not urge that his opinion was framed to defend his own
+mode of life, and, failing that casuistical support, she had to fall
+back on the second alternative of her kind, namely, to assert that this
+preacher of antagonistic opinions was either the devil in person or
+possessed by him&mdash;a line of defence which took longer to establish
+than the simple accusation of expediency.</p>
+<p class="par">So Millie, returning one wet October afternoon, found
+that no excuses were required of her. Blanche <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb268" href="#pb268" name=
+"pb268">268</a>]</span>welcomed her and asked no questions, and Jasper
+Thrale and Eileen came to the little cottage in St Peter&rsquo;s Street
+at sunset and treated the prodigal Millie with a new and altogether
+delightful friendliness. It was understood that she would return at
+once to her work in the Mill. But in the school-house opposite another
+reception was being prepared for her.</p>
+<p class="par">The more advanced of the Jenkynites were for taking
+immediate action. Prayer, worship, and the acknowledgment of personal
+sin fell into the background that evening, Millie appeared not as a
+brand to be saved from the burning, but as an abandoned and evil
+creature who must be thrust out of the community if any member of it
+was to save her soul alive. Every one of these furious religionists
+could stand up and declare that she was innocent of the commission of
+this particular sin of Millie&rsquo;s, and every one was willing and
+anxious to cast the first stone.</p>
+<p class="par">The meeting simmered, and at last boiled over into St
+Peter&rsquo;s Street. A band of more than a dozen rigidly virtuous and
+ecstatically Christian women beat at the door of the Goslings&rsquo;
+cottage. They had come to denounce sin and thrust the sinner out of the
+community with physical violence. Each of them in her own heart thought
+of herself as the bride of Christ.</p>
+<p class="par">The door was opened to them by Jasper Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We have come to cast out the evil one!&rdquo;
+cried Miss Jenkyn in a high emotional voice.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What are you talking about?&rdquo; asked Thrale.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb269" href="#pb269" name=
+"pb269">269</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She shall be cast forth from our midst!&rdquo;
+shrilled Miss Jenkyn; and her supporters raised a horrible screaming
+cry of agreement.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cast her forth!&rdquo; they cried, finding full
+justification for their high pitch of emotion in the use of Biblical
+phrase.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Cast forth your grandmother!&rdquo; replied
+Thrale calmly. &ldquo;Get back to your homes, and don&rsquo;t be
+foolish.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;He is possessed of the devil!&rdquo; chanted Miss
+Jenkyn. &ldquo;The Lord has called upon us to vindicate his honour and
+glory. This man, too, must not be suffered to dwell in the
+congregation.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Down with him! down with him!&rdquo; assented the
+little crowd, now so exalted with the glory of their common purpose
+that they were ready for martyrdom.</p>
+<p class="par">Miss Jenkyn was an undersized, withered little spinster
+of forty-five, and physically impotent; but, drunk with the fervour of
+her emotion, and encouraged by the sympathy of her followers and the
+fury of her own voice, she flung herself fiercely upon the calm figure
+of Jasper Thrale. Her thwarted self-expression had found an outlet. She
+desired the blood of Millie Gosling and Jasper Thrale with the same
+intensity that women had once desired a useless vote.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper Thrale put out a careless hand and pushed her
+back into the arms of the women behind her; but she was up again
+instantly, and, backed by the crowd, who, encouraging themselves by
+shrill screams of &ldquo;Cast them forth!&rdquo; were now thrusting
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb270" href="#pb270" name=
+"pb270">270</a>]</span>forward into the narrow doorway, she renewed the
+assault with all the fierce energy of a struggling kitten.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I shall lose my temper in a minute,&rdquo; said
+Thrale, as he took a step forward and, bracing himself against the door
+frame, drove the women back with vigorous thrusts of his powerful
+arms.</p>
+<p class="par">To lose his temper, indeed, seemed the only way of
+escape; to give way to berserk rage, and so to injure these muscularly
+feeble creatures that they would be unable to continue the struggle.
+But the babble of screaming voices was bringing other helpers to his
+aid, chief among them Lady Durham, and her cold, clear voice fell on
+the hysterical Jenkynites like a douche of cold water.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Clara Jenkyn, what are you doing?&rdquo; asked
+Elsie Durham.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Millie Gosling must be cast forth,&rdquo; wavered
+the little dishevelled woman; but this time there was no reponse from
+her disciples.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That is a question for the committee,&rdquo;
+replied Elsie Durham. &ldquo;Now, please go to your homes, all of
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Miss Jenkyn tried to explain.</p>
+<p class="par">Elsie Durham walked into the cottage and shut the
+door.</p>
+<p class="par">Inside, Eileen and Blanche were trying to reassure the
+trembling Millie. Outside, the Jenkynites were suffering a more brutal
+martyrdom than that they had sought. The tongues of the new arrivals,
+the fuller-blooded, more physically vigorous members of the community,
+were making sport of these brides of Christ. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb271" href="#pb271" name="pb271">271</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">6</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">But the women of Marlow were to learn afresh the
+old lesson that religious enthusiasm is not to be killed by ridicule or
+oppression. Jasper Thrale understood and appreciated that fact, but the
+policy he suggested could not be approved by the committee.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This emotion is a fundamental thing,&rdquo; he
+said to Lady Durham, &ldquo;and history will show you that persecution
+will intensify it to the point of martyrdom. There is only one way to
+combat it. Give it room. Let them do as they will. The heat of the fire
+is too fierce for you to damp it down; you only supply more fuel. Fan
+it, throw it open to the air, and it will burn itself harmlessly
+out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Elsie Durham shrugged her shoulders. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s
+all very well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s perfectly
+true. But they make you the bone of contention. If it were only Millie
+Gosling&mdash;well&mdash;she might go. We could find a place for
+her&mdash;at Fingest, perhaps. But we can&rsquo;t spare you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why not,&rdquo; returned
+Thrale. &ldquo;I never intended to stay indefinitely. You can carry on
+now without me, and I can fulfil my original intention and push on into
+the West.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear man! we can&rsquo;t, and we
+won&rsquo;t!&rdquo; said Elsie Durham. &ldquo;You are
+indispensable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No one is indispensable,&rdquo; replied
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bother your metaphysics, Jasper!&rdquo; was the
+answer. &ldquo;We are not going to let you go. &lsquo;We&rsquo; is
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb272" href="#pb272" name=
+"pb272">272</a>]</span>the majority of Marlow, not only the committee.
+We&rsquo;ll fight the fanatics somehow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The majority referred to by Elsie Durham was fairly
+compact in relation to this issue of retaining Jasper Thrale, and
+included the two greater of the three recognizable parties in the
+community. Of these three, the greatest was the moderate party, made up
+of Episcopalians, Nonconformists and a few Roman Catholics, who found
+relief for their emotion one day in seven either in the Town Hall or
+Marlow Church, in which places services and meetings were
+held&mdash;the former by certain approved individuals, notably Elsie
+Durham and the widow of the late Rector of Marlow. The second party in
+order of size included all those who either denied the Divine
+revelation or were careless of all religious matters. The third
+party&mdash;the Jenkynites, as they were dubbed by their
+opponents&mdash;had drawn their numbers from every old denomination.
+The Jenkynites were differentiated from the other two parties by
+certain physical differences. For instance, the Jenkynites numbered few
+members under the age of thirty-five; very few of them were fat, and
+very few of them were capable field workers; they were hungry-eyed, and
+had a certain air of disappointed eagerness about them; they looked as
+though they had for ever sought something, and, finding it, had
+remained unsatisfied. In all, there were some seventeen women who might
+have been regarded as quite true to type, and about this vivid nucleus
+were clustered nearly a hundred other women, many of whom exhibited
+some characteristic <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb273" href="#pb273"
+name="pb273">273</a>]</span>mark of the same type, while the remainder,
+perhaps 40 per cent of the whole body, had joined the party out of
+bravado, to seek excitement, or for some purpose of expediency.</p>
+<p class="par">Among the last was Mrs Isaacson, who was the ultimate
+cause of the Jenkynite defeat.</p>
+<p class="par">Ever since she had passed her examination in farm
+supervision, Mrs Isaacson had exhibited an increasing tendency to rest
+on her laurels. She had grown very stout again during her stay in
+Marlow, and complained of severe heart trouble. The least exertion
+brought on violent palpitation accompanied by the most alarming
+symptoms. The poor lady would gasp for breath, press her hands
+convulsively to a spot just below her left breast, and roll up her eyes
+till they presented only a terrifying repulsive rim of blood-streaked
+white, if the least exertion were demanded from her, and yet she would
+persist in the effort until absolutely on the verge of collapse.
+&ldquo;No, no! I must work!&rdquo; she would insist. &ldquo;It iss not
+fair to the others that I do no work. I will try once more. It iss only
+fair.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">At times they had to insist that she should return home
+and rest.</p>
+<p class="par">And as the winter closed in, Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s rests
+became more and more protracted. Jasper Thrale grinned and said:
+&ldquo;I suppose we&rsquo;ve got to keep her&rdquo;; but there was a
+feeling among the other members of the committee that they were
+creating an undesirable precedent. Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s example was
+being followed by other women who preferred rest to work. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb274" href="#pb274" name="pb274">274</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Heart weakness was becoming endemic in Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">Then came the news that Mrs Isaacson had joined the
+Jenkynites. The seventeen received her somewhat doubtfully at first,
+but the body of the sect were in favour of her reception. Possibly they
+were rather proud of counting one more fat woman among them; the
+average member was so noticeably thin.</p>
+<p class="par">Even the seventeen were satisfied within a fortnight of
+Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s conversion. She had a wonderful fluency, and she
+said the right and proper things in her own peculiar English&mdash;a
+form of speech which had a certain piquancy and interest and afforded
+relief and variety after the somewhat stereotyped formulas of the
+seventeen.</p>
+<p class="par">But early in December, before the floods came, Mrs
+Isaacson was convicted of a serious offence against the community. One
+of the committee&rsquo;s first works had been to store certain
+priceless valuables. Tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, salt, baking
+powder, wine and other irreplaceable commodities had been locked up in
+one of the bank premises. In all, they had a fairly large store, upon
+which they had hardly drawn as yet. It was not intended to hoard these
+luxuries indefinitely. After harvest a dole had been made to all the
+workers as acknowledgment of their services, and it had been decided to
+hold another festival on Christmas Day.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson, with unsuspected energy, had burglariously
+entered this storehouse of wealth. She had found an accessible window
+at the rear, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb275" href="#pb275" name=
+"pb275">275</a>]</span>which she had succeeded in forcing, and, despite
+her bulk and the delicate state of her heart, she had effected an
+entrance and stolen tea, sugar, candles and whisky.</p>
+<p class="par">She was, indeed, finally caught in the act; but her
+thefts would probably have escaped notice&mdash;she worked after dark,
+and with a cunning and caution that would have placed her high in the
+profession before the plague&mdash;had it not been for Blanche.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">7</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">It seems that Mrs Isaacson had formed the habit of
+staying up in the evening. She pleaded that she could not sleep during
+the early hours of the night, which was not surprising in view of the
+fact that she slept much during the day; and as she was diligent in
+picking up or begging sufficient wood to maintain the fire, there was
+no reason why Blanche and Millie should offer any objection. Thrale had
+rigged up a dynamo at the mill now to provide artificial light, and the
+girls&rsquo; hours of work were so prolonged that they were glad to get
+to bed at half-past seven. By eight o&rsquo;clock Mrs Isaacson
+evidently counted herself safe from all interruption.</p>
+<p class="par">She might have continued her enjoyment of luxury
+undiscovered throughout the winter if Blanche had not suffered from
+toothache.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been in bed and asleep nearly two hours when her
+dreams of discomfort merged into a consciousness of actual pain. She
+sighed and pressed her cheek into the pillows, made agonizing
+exploration <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb276" href="#pb276" name=
+"pb276">276</a>]</span>with her tongue, and tried to go to sleep again.
+Possibly she might have succeeded had not that unaccountable smell of
+whisky obtruded itself upon her senses.</p>
+<p class="par">At first she thought the house was on fire. That had
+always been her one fear in leaving Mrs Isaacson alone; and she sat up
+in bed and sniffed vigorously. &ldquo;Funny,&rdquo; she murmured;
+&ldquo;it smells like&mdash;like plum pudding.&rdquo; The analogy was
+probably suggested to her by the odour of burning brandy.</p>
+<p class="par">She got up and opened the door of the bedroom.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson slept on a sort of glorified landing, and
+when Blanche stepped outside her own door she could see at once by the
+light of a watery full moon that her lodger had not yet come to
+bed.</p>
+<p class="par">The smell of the spirit was stronger on the landing, and
+Blanche, forgetting her toothache in the excitement of the moment,
+stole quietly down the short flight of crooked stairs. The door giving
+on to the living-room was latched, but there were two convenient
+knot-holes, and through one of them she saw Mrs Isaacson seated by the
+fire drinking hot tea. On the table stood an open whisky bottle and two
+lighted wax candles.</p>
+<p class="par">Blanche was thunderstruck. Tea, whisky and candles were
+inexplicable things. The thought of witchcraft obtruded itself, and so
+fascinated her that she stood on the stairs gazing through the knothole
+until a sudden rigour reminded her that she was deadly cold.</p>
+<p class="par">She did not interrupt the orgy. She crept back to bed,
+and after much difficulty awakened Millie. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb277" href="#pb277" name="pb277">277</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The sound of their voices must have alarmed Mrs
+Isaacson, for the girls presently heard her stumbling upstairs. They
+stopped their discussion then, and Blanche&rsquo;s toothache being
+mysteriously cured by her excitement, they were soon asleep again.</p>
+<p class="par">Neither of the girls spoke of their discovery to anyone
+the next day, but Blanche returned to the cottage at half-past four,
+when Mrs Isaacson was at a meeting over the way, and explored her
+bedroom<span class="corr" id="xd23e4673" title="Not in source">.</span>
+She found a small store of tea, sugar and candles under the
+mattress&mdash;the whisky bottle had disappeared&mdash;and so came to
+an understanding of Mrs Isaacson&rsquo;s self-sacrificing insistence
+that she should perform all work connected with her own
+sleeping-place&mdash;it could hardly be called a room.</p>
+<p class="par">After consultation with Millie, Blanche decided that she
+must inform Jasper Thrale of the contraband.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s been stealing, of course,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;I suppose we shall have to bring it home to her.&rdquo;
+But he laughed at Blanche&rsquo;s indignation.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s stealing from <i>us</i>!&rdquo; said
+Blanche, who had developed a fine sense of her duty towards and
+interest in the community.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes! you&rsquo;re quite right,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll inform the committee&mdash;at least, the
+non-Jenkynites.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The five non-Jenkynites were furious.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must make an example,&rdquo; Elsie Durham
+said. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that we shall miss what the Isaacson woman
+has taken&mdash;or will take. It&rsquo;s the question of precedent.
+This is where we are facing the beginning <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb278" href="#pb278" name="pb278">278</a>]</span>of
+law&mdash;isn&rsquo;t it? Somebody has to protect the members of the
+community against themselves. If one steals and goes unpunished,
+another will steal<span class="corr" id="xd23e4693" title=
+"Not in source">.</span> We shall have the women divided into stealers
+and workers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What are you going to do with her?&rdquo; asked
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Turn her out,&rdquo; replied Elsie Durham.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The Jenkynites won&rsquo;t let her go,&rdquo;
+said Thrale raising the larger question.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; said Elsie Durham,
+&ldquo;But that reminds me that we must catch the woman <i lang=
+"la">flagrante delicto</i>; we must have no quibbles about the
+facts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale agreed with the wisdom of this policy, but
+refused to take any part in either the detection or the prosecution of
+Mrs Isaacson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll say its a put-up job if I have
+anything to do with it,&rdquo; he argued.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">8</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The Jenkynites blazed when Rebecca Isaacson was
+finally caught and denounced. The culprit, when caught in the act of
+entering the bank premises had made a slight error of judgment, and
+pleaded the excuse that she was a sleepwalker and quite unconscious of
+what she was doing; but she afterwards adopted a sounder line of
+defence. She made full confession to the seventeen, pleaded extravagant
+penitence with all the necessary references to the blood of the Lamb,
+and displayed all the well-known <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb279"
+href="#pb279" name="pb279">279</a>]</span>signs that she would become
+fervent in well-doing after the ensanguined ablutions had been
+metaphorically performed.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites were enraptured with so real a case of
+sin. They had been compelled to content themselves with so many minor
+failures from grace that the performances were becoming slightly
+monotonous.</p>
+<p class="par">The &ldquo;Sister Rebecca&rdquo; case was refreshingly
+real and genuine, and they meant to make the most of it. Also, this
+case gave them occasion to assert themselves once more against the
+opinions of the community.</p>
+<p class="par">It must not be supposed that the seventeen deliberately
+adopted a practical and apparently promising policy. They were not
+consciously seeking to obtain civil power as were the priests of the
+old days before the plague. The seventeen had no sense of the State as
+represented by the community; they were without question perfectly
+sincere in their beliefs and actions. Their fault, if it can be so
+described, was their inability to adapt themselves to their conditions.
+They were as unchangeable as the old lady who had died sooner than be
+permanently separated from the glories of a house in Wisteria Grove.
+She and the seventeen and many other women in Marlow were demonstrating
+that rigidity of opinion is detrimental to the interests of the growing
+State. The same proposition had been clearly demonstrated by a few
+exceptional individuals in the old days, but progress was so slow, the
+property owners so content, and the average of <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb280" href="#pb280" name=
+"pb280">280</a>]</span>mankind so intensely conservative, that their
+arguments received no attention. For every man who believed in the
+broad principle of maintaining an open mind, there were ten thousand
+who were quite incapable of putting the principle into practice. With
+these women in Marlow the conditions were completely changed. Moreover,
+women are by nature more broad-minded than men in practical affairs.
+Where intuition rather than the hard-and-fast methods of an
+intellectual logic is being brought into play, new and wonderful
+possibilities of adaptation may enter the domain of politics.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites and such individuals as the late Mrs
+Gosling became suddenly conspicuous in the new conditions. The type
+that they represent cannot persist. They are the bonds on a vigorous
+and increasing growth; the tree will grow and burst away all inflexible
+restraints.</p>
+<p class="par">In Marlow the new and vigorous growth was the sense of
+the community. The majority of the women were realizing, consciously or
+unconsciously, that they must work with and for each other. The
+Jenkynite affair served the committee as a valuable object-lesson.</p>
+<p class="par">Mrs Isaacson was free to do as she would while the
+discussion raged. Imprisonment would have been utterly futile. The
+committee did not wish to punish her for her offence against common
+property, they merely wished to rid themselves of an undesirable member
+and to make public announcement that they would in like manner exclude
+any other <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb281" href="#pb281" name=
+"pb281">281</a>]</span>member who proved herself a burden to the
+community.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites were characteristically unable to
+comprehend this argument. They had their own definitions of heinous and
+venial sins, definitions based on ancient precedent, and they counted
+the fault of Millie Gosling in the former and that of Rebecca Isaacson
+in the latter category. They were not susceptible to argument. As they
+saw the problem, no argument was admissible. They had the old law and
+the old prophets on their side, and maintained that what was true once
+was true for all time. In their opinion, changed conditions did not
+affect morality.</p>
+<p class="par">If the need for labour had been great, the affair might
+have been shelved for a time as of less importance than the dominant
+economic demand which takes precedence of all other problems. But
+although the floods had not yet come, there was not enough work for all
+the members of the community, and this comparative idleness reacted
+upon the importance of the Isaacson case in another and probably more
+influential direction than the abstract consideration of justice and
+humanity.</p>
+<p class="par">The women had time to talk, and a new and fascinating
+subject was given them to discuss. And they talked; and their talk
+ripened into action. The affair Isaacson, which included also the
+affair Jenkyns, was brought to a climax at a mass meeting in the Town
+Hall.</p>
+<p class="par">It was decided, noisily, but with considerable emphasis,
+that for the good of the community the <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb282" href="#pb282" name="pb282">282</a>]</span>Jenkynites must go.
+The seventeen were specifically indicated, but it was understood that
+certain of their more advanced adherents would go with them.</p>
+<p class="par">The Jenkynites accepted the decision in the spirit of
+their belief. They were martyrs in a great cause. They would leave this
+accursed city (their terminology was always Biblical) and cast off its
+dust from their feet&mdash;although the roads were deep in mud at the
+time. They would go forth to regenerate the world, upheld by their love
+of truth and their zeal for the Word.</p>
+<p class="par">Only Mrs Isaacson dissented, but she was compelled to go
+with them.</p>
+<p class="par">They went forth in the rain, thirty-nine of them in all,
+exalted with conscious righteousness and faint with enthusiasm. The
+women of Marlow were kind to them. They turned out and jeered the
+little procession as it marched out of the town by the Henley Road.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;&rsquo;Oo stole the tea?&rdquo; was the most
+popular taunt, and no doubt the exiles would have preferred that the
+taunts should have been cast at their faith rather than at the social
+misdemeanour of an obscure convert. But any form of martyrdom was
+better than none, and they held their heads high and sang &ldquo;Glory!
+glory!&rdquo; with magnificent fervour.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ve done right,&rdquo;
+commented Elsie Durham. &ldquo;But we should never have had all the
+women with us if there had been no offence against property. That
+touched them&mdash;communal property. I&rsquo;m not sure that it
+isn&rsquo;t become almost dearer than personal property.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb283" href="#pb283" name=
+"pb283">283</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch19" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XIX&mdash;</span>ON THE
+FLOOD</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">From the middle of November onwards, the river had
+been running nearly bank-high, and so much power was available that
+Thrale had been considering the possibility of lighting some of the
+nearer houses by electricity. He had made three journeys to London, and
+with half a dozen assistants he had rifled two dynamos from the power
+station just outside Paddington, and had brought back twenty
+truck-loads of coal.</p>
+<p class="par">The dynamos, however, were still in the truck, covered
+by tarpaulin. Thrale had decided that the luxury of artificial lighting
+could not be provided until all the grain had been thrashed and milled.
+The end of that work was now in sight, and the accumulated wealth of
+flour in Marlow was calculated to be sufficient to last the community
+for at least twelve months. But before the lighting scheme could be put
+in hand, a new trouble had threatened.</p>
+<p class="par">During the first week of December there was almost
+continuous rain, and the river began to top its banks, spreading itself
+over the meadowland below the lock and creeping up the end of St
+Peter&rsquo;s Street. No serious matter as yet, and a short spell of
+frost and clear skies followed; but before Christmas heavy rains came
+again, and Thrale began to grow anxious. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb284" href="#pb284" name="pb284">284</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The weirs down-stream ought to be opened,&rdquo;
+he explained to Eileen. &ldquo;They are probably all up; we need never
+be afraid of shortage here; if we close our own weir we can always hold
+up all the water we want.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Is it serious?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Not yet, but it may be,&rdquo; he said, looking
+up at the sky. &ldquo;All Marlow might be flooded.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">And still the rain fell, and soon the girls had to wade
+through a foot of water to reach the mill.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I must go down-stream and open all the
+weirs,&rdquo; Thrale announced on Christmas Eve. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been
+looking at a steam launch over at the boat-house; it&rsquo;s in quite
+good condition. I shall bring it up to the town landing-stage to-morrow
+and get enough coal and food aboard to last a week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going alone?&rdquo; said
+Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No! I <i>must</i> take some one to work the
+engine and the locks,&rdquo; returned Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come!&rdquo; announced Eileen, with
+glee.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale shook his head. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to run
+this place,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">Since that night in September no reference had been made
+by either of them to his strange revelation of fear. They had worked
+together as two men might have worked. Neither of them had exhibited
+the least consciousness of sex. Thrale believed that he had put the
+fear away from him, and Eileen was content to wait. She was barely
+twenty.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Blanche could run the mill,&rdquo; she suggested.
+&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much to do now.&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb285" href="#pb285" name="pb285">285</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Thrale turned away from her with a touch of impatience.
+&ldquo;Blanche had better come with me,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I <i>want</i> to come,&rdquo; pleaded Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be sport.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care to trust Blanche with the
+mill,&rdquo; he persisted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;s every bit as good as I am,&rdquo; was
+her reply.</p>
+<p class="par">He shook his head.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, look here,&rdquo; said Eileen, &ldquo;you
+might let me come, or are you&mdash;are you afraid of&mdash;of what the
+women will say?&rdquo; She was standing by one of the flour-encrusted
+mill windows and she began to scratch a clean place on it with her
+nail.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale did not answer for a moment and then he came and
+stood near her. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Are you sick
+of your work here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t mind a change,&rdquo; she said,
+intent on enlarging her peep-hole.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One forgets that you are women,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;I suppose women are never content with work for
+work&rsquo;s sake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If you like,&rdquo; returned Eileen
+inconsequently. &ldquo;I can see out now. Why don&rsquo;t we have these
+windows cleaned sometimes?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You can have them done while I&rsquo;m
+away,&rdquo; he suggested.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming with you,&rdquo; said
+Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! you can come if you like,&rdquo; he said. He
+thought he was perfectly safe, despite this unusual display of
+femininity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb286" href="#pb286" name=
+"pb286">286</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to run the engine,&rdquo; he
+concluded.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! I&rsquo;ll run the engine,&rdquo; she agreed
+and looked down at her capable, frankly dirty little hands.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The weirs at Marlow and Hedsor had been roaring
+open-mouthed for ten days before Thrale and Eileen began their journey;
+but the water had been piling up from below and the floods were working
+back up river. The fact that none of the weirs above Henley was closed
+had served to protect Marlow in some degree. There were great floods
+above Sonning, and from Goring to Culham the country was a vast sheet
+of water. This water, however, only came down comparatively slowly
+owing to the dammed condition of the main channel, and a greater
+proportion of it was absorbed. If the upper weirs had been open, Marlow
+would have been under water by the middle of December.</p>
+<p class="par">Not until the launch had been man&oelig;uvred with some
+difficulty through Boulter&rsquo;s Lock did Thrale begin to realize the
+full significance of the situation.</p>
+<p class="par">He had had very great difficulty first in reaching and
+second in raising the paddles of the Taplow weir. In one place the
+force of the flood had broken away the structure, but even with the
+relief this passage had afforded the pressure of water on the paddles
+was so great that he had been working for more than two hours before
+the last valve was opened. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb287" href=
+"#pb287" name="pb287">287</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">Eileen had been waiting for him with the launch warped
+up just below the lock where the force of the stream was not so
+great.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether we shall be able to
+carry out this job,&rdquo; remarked Thrale when he rejoined her.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, but we must,&rdquo; she expostulated.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do you see what has happened?&rdquo; he
+explained. &ldquo;All the water is piled up below us. We shall probably
+find the next locks flood-high, which means that we sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t
+be able to open them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We must navigate,&rdquo; said Eileen.
+&ldquo;Steam round them; shoot the weirs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Thrale, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+wondering how far our responsibility goes. If we don&rsquo;t open the
+river right down to Richmond, we shall only be increasing the flood in
+the lower reaches, and there may be women living there. After all,
+Marlow isn&rsquo;t the only place on the river. And there is another
+thing; we may never get back. It&rsquo;s a risky thing we are proposing
+to do. No one could swim against this current. If we were upset and
+carried into a weir, we should be smashed to pieces in no time. Do you
+think the community can spare us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Bother the community!&rdquo; replied Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">The community and its activities were already in the
+background of her mind. Marlow had receded into a little distant place
+with which she was no longer connected. The world of adventure and
+romance lay open before her. She wanted only to explore this turbulent
+river, widened now into a miniature Amazon, from which arose the
+islands of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb288" href="#pb288" name=
+"pb288">288</a>]</span>half-submerged houses and trees that composed
+the strange archipelago of Maidenhead.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Thrale again.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try. It&rsquo;s no use waiting for the stream to go
+down. We&rsquo;d better go on now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Shall I cast off?&rdquo; asked Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Steady, steady,&rdquo; Thrale warned her.
+&ldquo;The next quarter of a mile is simply a rapid. You must be ready
+to get the engines going full ahead the moment we start, or I
+sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t be able to steer her. And, now, we must both cast
+off together or we shall be across the stream in two ticks. Just loosen
+the rope round the cleats and let go, and then start the engine. Let
+the loose end of the rope drag till we&rsquo;ve time to pick it up. Are
+you ready? All right&mdash;cast off!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The little launch swept out into the current with a
+bound the instant she was released from her moorings, and almost before
+the engines began to revolve she was caught in the rapids that surged
+down from the newly-opened weir. She was only a light draught
+pleasure-boat, designed to navigate the placid surface of the summer
+Thames, and when she entered the curling broken water below the island
+she threw up her nose and plunged like a nervous mare.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Full steam ahead,&rdquo; shouted Thrale at the
+toy wheel. Eileen nodded, crouching over her little engine; the roar of
+the stream had drowned Thrale&rsquo;s voice, but she guessed his
+order.</p>
+<p class="par">Her eyes were bright with excitement. She had no sense
+of fear. She was exhilarated by the sense <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb289" href="#pb289" name="pb289">289</a>]</span>of rapid movement.
+The launch, indeed, was travelling at a remarkable pace. In the narrow
+channel between the islands and the town, the river must have been
+running at nearly ten miles an hour, and the engines were probably
+adding another eight. In the wide spaces of the ocean eighteen miles an
+hour may appear a safe and controllable speed, but this little launch
+was running down hill, she could not be stopped at command, and the
+restricted course was beset with many and dangerous obstacles.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale, handling the little brass wheel forward, was
+conscious of uneasiness. The launch steered after a fashion, but he had
+little control of her. The trees on the banks appeared to be flying
+upstream at the pace of an express train, and ahead of him was the town
+bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">He decided instantly that they could not pass under it,
+and put the wheel over, intending to shoot out of the stream into the
+calm of the flood water over the new open bank. But as the launch
+turned and came across, the current took her stern and turned her half
+round. For a moment her lee rail was under water, and she trembled and
+rocked on the verge of capsize. Then her engines drove her out of the
+stream and she righted herself again and began to cut through the
+almost still, shallow flood water.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Stop her!&rdquo; roared Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I say, what&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; replied Eileen,
+coolly, as she obeyed the order.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No room to pass under the bridge,&rdquo; said
+Thrale. &ldquo;I suppose we&rsquo;ll have to navigate, as you call it.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb290" href="#pb290" name=
+"pb290">290</a>]</span>Go dead slow, and be prepared to stop her at a
+moment&rsquo;s notice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">They spent over an hour in finding a passage round the
+approach to the bridge. They had laboriously to pole the launch through
+the tops of hedges, and in one place they were aground for ten minutes.
+But after they had returned to the stream once more they had a rapid
+and easy passage down to Bray. They shot the great arch of the
+Maidenhead railway bridge triumphantly. Eileen said it was
+&ldquo;glorious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The weir at Bray proved even more difficult to negotiate
+than the one above, and by the time it was fully opened the dull
+December afternoon was closing in.</p>
+<p class="par">They spent that night moored to two of the elms that
+ring the isolated little church in the meadows by Boveney.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;At this rate,&rdquo; remarked Thrale as they
+settled themselves for the night, &ldquo;it&rsquo;ll take us a week to
+get to Richmond. We&rsquo;ve done two weirs out of thirteen, so
+far.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Thrale&rsquo;s estimate proved excessive. They
+reached Richmond on the fourth day out from Marlow, having opened
+another nine weirs&mdash;the one at Old Windsor had been swept away,
+and the one below Richmond Bridge Thrale opened that afternoon.</p>
+<p class="par">During those four days they had seen few signs of life.
+They had moved, keeping to the main stream <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb291" href="#pb291" name="pb291">291</a>]</span>for
+the most part, in the midst of a wide expanse of water; exploring a
+desolate and wasted country.</p>
+<p class="par">Once they had been hailed by three women, who looked out
+at them from a house in Windsor, and shouted something they did not
+catch; and a woman had been standing on Staines Bridge as they careered
+intrepidly through the centre arch&mdash;they had no time even to
+distinguish her dress. But with these exceptions they might have come
+through the land of an extinct civilization, devoid of life; a land in
+which deserted houses and church towers stood up from the silver sheet
+of a vast lake, that was threaded by this one impetuous torrent of
+swelling river.</p>
+<p class="par">Richmond, also, was deserted. The emigrants had passed
+on over the river or southwards to Petersham and so into Surrey.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well!&rdquo; said Eileen, wiping her
+oil-blackened hands on a bunch of cotton waste, &ldquo;that job&rsquo;s
+done. We&rsquo;ve fairly drawn the plug of the cistern now. And how are
+we going to get back?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll find a couple of bicycles somewhere
+here,&rdquo; said Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">It had been a clear day, and there was a suggestion of
+frost in the air. The sun was setting very red and full behind the bare
+trees across the river. Save for the gurgle and hiss of the eddying
+flood, everything was very still. The little launch which had served
+them so well, and bore the marks of its great adventure in broken rails
+and bruised sides, was run aground by the side of the bridge. Thrale
+was standing in the road, but Eileen still sat by her engine.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb292" href="#pb292" name=
+"pb292">292</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I hate to leave the launch,&rdquo; she said,
+after a long pause.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We can come back and fetch her up when the flood
+goes down,&rdquo; returned Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done pretty well, the three of
+us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, the three of us,<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e4929" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span> he echoed.<a id=
+"xd23e4932" name="xd23e4932"></a></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It has been great fun,&rdquo; sighed Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale did not reply. He was thinking himself back into
+the past. He saw a street in Melbourne on a burning December evening,
+and the figure of a gaily-clad little brunette who spoke purest cockney
+and asked him why he looked so glum. &ldquo;We ain&rsquo;t goin&rsquo;
+to a funeral,&rdquo; she had said. Yet afterwards he had believed that
+something had been buried that night. He had faced his own passion and
+the sight of it had disgusted him. He had seen the shadow of a demon
+who might master him, and he had grappled with it; he believed that he
+had slain and buried lust in Melbourne ten years ago. It had not risen
+up to confront him when the plague had put a world of women at his
+command. He had not been forced to fight, he was not
+tempted&mdash;surely the thing was dead and buried. Only once, on that
+warm September night, had he felt a sudden furious desire to take this
+girl into his arms and fly with her into the woods. The desire had come
+and gone, he was master of it, and in any case it bore no resemblance
+to the brutal thing he had faced in Melbourne.</p>
+<p class="par">Nor, as he stood now by Richmond Bridge watching the
+vault of the sky deepen to an intenser blue, did the feeling that
+possessed him in any way resemble that old cruel passion which had
+flared up and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb293" href="#pb293" name=
+"pb293">293</a>]</span>died&mdash;surely it had died. He could not
+analyse his feeling for this brave, clear-eyed companion, who had faced
+with him all the dangers of the past four days without a sign of fear.
+She had made no advances to him, they were friends, she might have been
+some delightfully clean, wholesome boy. And then his thought was
+pierced and broken by a horrible suggestion.</p>
+<p class="par">A picture of the hill to Handy Cross flashed before him,
+and he saw a little lonely figure creeping furtively away from Marlow.
+He drove his nails into his palms and suddenly cried out.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; said Eileen, turning
+round and looking up at him. &ldquo;Have you forgotten
+anything?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He stepped into the boat and sat down beside her.
+&ldquo;I want to know&mdash;I must know,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">She looked at him and smiled. &ldquo;All right, old
+man,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Fire away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I told you once that I was frightened of
+you,&rdquo; said Thrale. &ldquo;I want to know if you have ever been
+frightened of yourself&mdash;or of me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I could never be frightened of you,&rdquo; she
+replied, and looked away towards the rising darkness of the shadows
+across the hurrying river, &ldquo;and I haven&rsquo;t been afraid of
+myself&mdash;yet. I don&rsquo;t think&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t you be frightened of me if I
+picked you up and ran shouting into the woods?&rdquo; he asked,
+fiercely.</p>
+<p class="par">Her eyes met his without reserve. &ldquo;Dear old
+man,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I should love it. I&rsquo;m so glad you
+understand. That was the one thing that prevented our being real
+friends. I&rsquo;ve wanted so much to be frank <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb294" href="#pb294" name="pb294">294</a>]</span>and
+open with you. It&rsquo;s all these silly reserves that make love
+abominable. Now we can be two jolly, clean human beings who understand
+each other, can&rsquo;t we? And we shall be such ripping good friends
+always; quite open and honest with each other.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He drew a deep, sighing breath and put his arms round
+her, drew her close to him and laid his face against hers.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been such an awful ass,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always thought that love was unclean. I&rsquo;ve been
+like that Jenkyn woman. I&rsquo;ve been prurient and suspicious and
+evil-minded. I&rsquo;ve been like the people who cover up statues. But
+there was an excuse for me&mdash;and for them, too. I didn&rsquo;t
+know, because there was no woman like you to teach me. All the women
+I&rsquo;ve known have been secretive and sly. They&rsquo;ve fouled love
+for me by making it seem a hidden, disreputable thing. Oh! we shall be
+ripping good friends, little Eileen&mdash;magnificent
+friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;This is a jolly old boat, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;
+replied Eileen, inconsequently. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t smother me, old man.
+And, I say, do you think we&rsquo;ll be able to raid some soap from
+somewhere? Do look at my hands! You couldn&rsquo;t be friends with a
+chap who had hands like that!&rdquo; ...</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;d like to
+remark,&rdquo; said Eileen the next morning. There had been a frost in
+the night, and there was every promise of an easy ride back to
+Marlow.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; said Thrale, examining the deflated
+tyres of two bicycles they had chosen from a shop in the High
+Street.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;d never have understood each other so
+well <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb295" href="#pb295" name=
+"pb295">295</a>]</span>if we hadn&rsquo;t worked together on the same
+job,&rdquo; said Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, of course not,&rdquo; returned Thrale. His
+tone seemed to imply that she had stated a truth that must always have
+been obvious to sensible people.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That and there being no footle about
+marriage,&rdquo; concluded Eileen.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">4</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">A third factor that had contributed to the
+perfection of that complete understanding was not realized by either
+until they were descending the hill into Bisham.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I rather wish we weren&rsquo;t going back,&rdquo;
+said Eileen. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s stop a moment. I want to talk.
+We&rsquo;ve never thought of what we&rsquo;re going to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Do?&rdquo; said Jasper, as he dismounted.
+&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve just got to make an announcement and
+that&rsquo;s the end of it. The Jenkyns lot have all gone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the end, it&rsquo;s the
+beginning,&rdquo; replied Eileen. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you see that we
+can&rsquo;t even explain?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t try.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We shall. We shall have to&mdash;in a way.
+It&rsquo;ll take years and years to do it. But the point is that they
+won&rsquo;t understand, now, none of them, not even Elsie Durham. We
+aren&rsquo;t free any longer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t alone,&rdquo; she added, bringing
+the hitherto unacknowledged factor into prominence.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale frowned and looked up into the thin brightness of
+the frosty sky. &ldquo;Yes, I understand,&rdquo; <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb296" href="#pb296" name="pb296">296</a>]</span>he
+said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s public opinion that compels one to regard love
+as shameful and secret. Alone together, free from every suspicion, we
+hadn&rsquo;t a doubt. But now, we have to explain and we can&rsquo;t
+explain, and we are forced against our wills to wonder whether we can
+be right and all the rest of the world wrong.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We <i>are</i> right,&rdquo; put in Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only we can&rsquo;t prove it to anyone but
+ourselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And we shouldn&rsquo;t want to, if we
+hadn&rsquo;t got to live with them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they looked at one another
+thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No, we mustn&rsquo;t run away,&rdquo; Jasper
+said, with determination, after a pause. &ldquo;Look, the flood has
+begun to go down already. That&rsquo;s our work. There&rsquo;s other
+work for us to do yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a time they were silent, looking down on to Marlow
+and out over the valley.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t go over <i>that</i> hill,&rdquo;
+said Eileen, at last, pointing to the distant rise of Handy Cross.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Jasper, and then, &ldquo;we
+won&rsquo;t hide behind hills. Damn public opinion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, yes, damn public opinion,&rdquo; agreed
+Eileen. &ldquo;But we won&rsquo;t stay in Marlow always.&rdquo;
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb297" href="#pb297" name=
+"pb297">297</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch20" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XX&mdash;</span>THE TERRORS OF
+SPRING</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The frost gave way on the third night, and for ten
+days there was a spell of mild weather with some rain. Carrie Oliver
+began to contemplate the possibility of getting forward with such
+ploughing as still remained to be done. She proposed to have an
+increased acreage of arable that year, and less pasture, less hay and
+less turnips; the arable was to include potatoes, beans and peas. For
+the community was rapidly tending towards vegetarianism. They had no
+butcher in Marlow, and the women revolted against the slaughter of
+cattle and sheep. They were hesitating and clumsy in the attack, and so
+inflicted wounds which were not fatal, they turned sick at the sight of
+the brute&rsquo;s agonies and at the appalling spurts of blood, and
+finally when the animal was at last mercifully dead, they bungled the
+dissection of the carcase.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sooner starve than do it again,&rdquo;
+was the invariable decision pronounced by any new volunteer who had
+heroically offered to provide Marlow with meat, and even Carrie Oliver
+admitted that it was a &ldquo;beastly dirty job.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Only,&rdquo; she added &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll
+&rsquo;ave to go on breeding <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb298" href=
+"#pb298" name="pb298">298</a>]</span>calves or we won&rsquo;t get no
+milk, an&rsquo; what are we goin&rsquo; to do with the
+bullocks?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The committee wondered if some form of barter might not
+be introduced. Wycombe and Henley might have something to offer in
+exchange, or, failing that, might be urged to accept these superfluous
+beasts as a present, returning the skins and horns, for which there
+might be a use in the near future. Sheep must be reared for their
+wool&mdash;the clothes of the community would not last for ever. The
+subjects of tanning and weaving were being studied by certain members
+of the now enlarged committee. Neither operation presented insuperable
+difficulties.</p>
+<p class="par">Now that a certain supply of food was provided for, the
+community was already turning its energy towards the industries. Many
+schemes were being planned and debated. Marlow was well situated, with
+such abundance of water and wood at its gates; and the question of
+attracting desirable immigrants had been raised.</p>
+<p class="par">Time was afforded for the consideration of all these
+schemes by the great frost which began on New Year&rsquo;s Day and
+lasted until the end of February.</p>
+<p class="par">The frost came first from the south-west, and for three
+days the country was changed into a fairy world built of sharp white
+crystals, a world that was seen dimly through a magic veil of mist.
+Then followed a black and bitter wind from the north-east, that bought
+a thin and driving snow, and when the wind fell the country was locked
+in an iron shell that was not relaxed for six weeks. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb299" href="#pb299" name="pb299">299</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">The flood had nearly subsided before the first frost
+came, but the river was still high, and presently the water came down
+laden with ice-floes, that jammed against the weir and the mill, and
+formed a sheet of ice that gradually crept back towards the bridge.</p>
+<p class="par">All field and mill work was stopped, and Thrale and
+Eileen spent two or three days a week making excursions to London,
+bringing back coal and other forms of riches.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Their fear of being misunderstood had proved to
+have been an exaggeration. In that exalted mood of theirs, which had
+risen to such heights, after four days of adventurous solitude, they
+had come a little too near the stars. In finding themselves they had
+lost touch with the world.</p>
+<p class="par">Elsie Durham had smiled at their defensive
+announcement.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;My dear children,&rdquo; she had said,
+&ldquo;don&rsquo;t be touchy about it. I am so glad; and, of course,
+I&rsquo;ve known for months that you would come to an understanding.
+And there&rsquo;s no need to tell me that your&mdash;agreement, did you
+say?&mdash;was entirely different to any other. I know. But be human
+about it. Don&rsquo;t apologize for it by being superior to all of
+us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; Eileen had said
+enthusiastically.</p>
+<p class="par">Nevertheless there were many women still left in
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb300" href="#pb300" name=
+"pb300">300</a>]</span>Marlow who were less spiritually-minded than
+Elsie Durham. Comparative idleness induced gossip, and there was more
+than one party in the community which regarded Thrale and Eileen with
+disfavour.</p>
+<p class="par">The old ruts had been worn too deep to be smoothed out
+in a few months, however heavy had been the great roller of necessity.
+And, strangely enough, the life of Sam Evans at High Wycombe was
+regarded by many of the more bigoted with less displeasure than this
+perfectly wholesome and desirable union of Thrale and Eileen. The
+prostitution of Sam Evans was a new thing outside the experience of
+these women, and it was accepted as an outcome of the new conditions.
+The other affair was familiar in its associations, and was condemned on
+both the old and the new precedents.</p>
+<p class="par">The mass of the women were quite unable to think out a
+new morality for themselves....</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">Relief from all these foolish criticisms,
+gossipings and false emotions came when the frost broke. A warm rain in
+the first week of March released the soil from its bonds, and as the
+retarded spring began to move impatiently into life there was a great
+call for labour.</p>
+<p class="par">But as the year ripened the temperament of the community
+exhibited a new and alarming symptom.</p>
+<p class="par">There was a terrible spirit of depression abroad.</p>
+<p class="par">All Nature was warm with the movement of reproduction.
+Nature was growing and propagating, <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb301" href="#pb301" name="pb301">301</a>]</span>thrusting out and
+taking a larger hold upon life. Nature was coming to the fight with new
+reserves and allies, a fruitful and increasing army, eager for the
+struggle against this little decreasing band of sterile humanity.
+Nature was prolific and these women were barren.</p>
+<p class="par">And in some inexplicable way the consciousness of
+futility had spread through the Marlow community. Some posthumous
+children had been born since the plague, a few young girls&mdash;Millie
+among them&mdash;were pregnant, but death had been busier than life
+during the winter, and from outside came stray reports that in other
+communities death had been busier still.</p>
+<p class="par">What hope was there for that generation? They were too
+few to cope with their task. Grass was growing in their streets, their
+houses were in need of repair, and after their day&rsquo;s labour in
+the fields to provide themselves with food, they had neither strength
+nor inclination to take up the battle anew.</p>
+<p class="par">Moreover, the spice was gone from life. Some inherent
+need for emulation was gone. They were ceasing to take any pride in
+their persons, and in their clothes. They wore knickerbockers or
+trousers for convenience in working, and suffered a strange loss of
+self-esteem in consequence. Many of the younger women still returned in
+the evenings to what skirts and ribbons they still possessed, but the
+habit was declining. The uselessness of it was growing even more
+apparent. There were no sex distinctions or class distinctions among
+them. Of what account was it that one girl was prettier or better
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb302" href="#pb302" name=
+"pb302">302</a>]</span>dressed than her neighbour? What mattered was
+whether she was a stronger or more intelligent worker.</p>
+<p class="par">Above all, the woman&rsquo;s need for love and
+admiration could find no outlet. They realized that they were becoming
+hardened and unsexed, and revolted against the coming change. Something
+within them rose up and cried for expression, and when it was thwarted
+it turned to a thing of evil....</p>
+<p class="par">The mind of the community was becoming distorted.
+Hysteria, sexual perversions, and various forms of religious mania were
+rife. Young women broke into futile and unsatisfying orgies of foolish
+dancing, and middle-aged women became absorbed in the contemplation of
+a male and human god.</p>
+<p class="par">Even the committee did not escape the influence of the
+growing despair. They looked forward to a future when such machines and
+tools as they possessed would be worn out, and they had no means of
+replacing them.</p>
+<p class="par">Thrale had reported that the line to London was becoming
+unsafe for the passage of his trucks. Rust was at work upon the rails;
+rain and floods had weakened embankments; young growths were springing
+up on the permanent way, and it was hopeless to contemplate any work of
+repair. In the old days an army of men had been needed for that work
+alone. The country roads needed re-metalling, and the houses
+restoration; they had not the means or the labour to undertake half the
+necessary work. There were breaches in the river bank and a large and
+apparently permanent lake was forming in the low <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb303" href="#pb303" name=
+"pb303">303</a>]</span>meadows towards Bourne End. All about them
+Nature was so intensely busy in her own regardless way, and they were
+helpless, now, to oppose her.</p>
+<p class="par">The age of iron and machinery was falling into a swift
+decline. All that the community could look for in the future was a
+return to primitive conditions and the fight for bare life. Every year
+their tools and machines would grow less efficient, every year Nature
+would return more powerful to the attack. In ten years they would be
+fighting her with rude and tedious weapons of wood, grinding their
+scanty corn between two stones, and living from hand to mouth. In the
+bountiful South such a life might have its rewards, but how could they
+endure it in this uncertain and cruel North?</p>
+<p class="par">So while the sun rose higher in the sky and the earth
+was wonderfully reclothed, the women of Marlow fell deeper and deeper
+into the horrors of mental depression. What had they to work for, and
+to hope for, save this miserable possession of unsatisfied life?
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb304" href="#pb304" name=
+"pb304">304</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch21" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main"><span class="divNum">XXI&mdash;</span>SMOKE</h2>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">1</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">One bright morning, at the end of April, Jasper
+and Eileen sat on the cliffs at the Land&rsquo;s End and talked of the
+future.</p>
+<p class="par">Ten days before, they had left Marlow on bicycles to
+make exploration. They intended to return; they had explained they
+would be away for a month at the outside, but in view of the growing
+depression and the loss of spirit shown by the community, they
+considered it necessary to go out and discover what conditions obtained
+in other parts of England. It might be, they urged, that the plague had
+been less deadly in other districts.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We should not know, here,&rdquo; Jasper had
+argued. &ldquo;There may be many men left elsewhere; but they might not
+have been able to communicate with us yet. Their attention, like ours,
+would have been concentrated upon local conditions for a time. Eileen
+and I will find out. Perhaps we may be able to open up communication
+again. In any case we&rsquo;ll come back within a month and
+report.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">His natural instinct had taken him into the West
+Country.</p>
+<p class="par">They had left Elsie Durham slightly more cheerful.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb305" href="#pb305" name=
+"pb305">305</a>]</span>They had given her a gleam of hope, given her
+something, at last, to which she might look forward.</p>
+<p class="par">Their own hopes had quickly faded and died as they rode
+on into the West. By the time they reached Plymouth they were thinking
+of Marlow as a place peculiarly favoured by Providence.</p>
+<p class="par">At first they had passed through communities conducted
+on lines resembling their own, greater or smaller groups of women
+working more or less in co-operation. In many of these communities a
+single man was living&mdash;in some cases two men&mdash;who viewed
+their duty towards society in the same light as the Adonis of
+Wycombe.</p>
+<p class="par">But the unit grew steadily smaller as they progressed.
+It was no longer the town or village community but the farm which was
+the centre of activity, and the occupied farms grew more scattered. For
+it appeared that here in the West the plague had attacked women as well
+as men. Another curious fact they learned was that the men had taken
+longer to die. One woman spoke of having nursed her husband for two
+months before the paralysis proved fatal....</p>
+<p class="par">And if the depression in Marlow had been great, the
+travellers soon learned that elsewhere it was greater still. The women
+worked mechanically, drudgingly. They spoke in low, melancholy voices
+when they were questioned, and save for a faint accession of interest
+in Thrale&rsquo;s presence there, and the signs of some feeble flicker
+of hope as they asked of conditions further north and east, they
+appeared to have no thought beyond the instant necessity of sustaining
+the life to which they clung so feebly. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb306" href="#pb306" name="pb306">306</a>]</span>Thrale and Eileen
+rode on into Cornwall, not because they still hoped, but because they
+both felt a vivid desire to reach the Land&rsquo;s End and gaze out
+over the Atlantic. They wanted to leave this desolate land behind them
+for a few hours, and rest their minds in the presence of the
+unchangeable sea.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Let us go on and forget for a few days,&rdquo;
+Eileen had said, and so they had at last reached the furthest limit of
+land.</p>
+<p class="par">Cornwall had proved to be a land of the dead. Save for a
+few women in the neighbourhood of St Austell, they had not seen a
+living human being in the whole county.</p>
+<p class="par">And so, on this clear April morning, they sat upon this
+ultimate cliff and talked of the future.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">2</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">The water below them was delicately flecked with
+white. No long rollers were riding in from the Atlantic, but the fresh
+April breeze was flicking the crests of little waves into foam; and,
+above, an ever-renewed drift of scattered white clouds threw coursing
+shadows upon the blues and purples of the curdling sea.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen and Thrale had walked southwards as far as Carn
+Voel to avoid the obstruction to vision of the Longships, and on three
+sides they looked out to an unbroken horizon of water, which on that
+bright morning was clearly differentiated from the impending sky.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb307" href="#pb307" name=
+"pb307">307</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;One might forget&mdash;here,&rdquo; remarked
+Eileen, after a long silence.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it were better to forget,&rdquo; said
+Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen drew up her knees until she could rest her chin
+upon them, embracing them with her arms. &ldquo;What can one do?&rdquo;
+she asked. &ldquo;What good is it all, if there is no
+future?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Just to live out one&rsquo;s own life in the best
+way,&rdquo; was the answer.</p>
+<p class="par">She frowned over that for a time. &ldquo;Do you really
+believe, dear,&rdquo; she said, when she had considered Jasper&rsquo;s
+suggestion, &ldquo;do you really believe that this is the end of
+humanity?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have
+changed my mind half a dozen times in the last few days. There may be a
+race untouched somewhere&mdash;in the archipelagos of the South Seas,
+perhaps&mdash;which will gradually develop and repeople the world
+again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Or in Australia, or New Zealand,&rdquo; she
+prompted.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We should have heard from them before
+this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We must have heard before this.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And is there no hope for us, here in England, in
+Marlow? There are a few boys&mdash;infants born since the plague, you
+know&mdash;and there will be more children in the
+future&mdash;Evans&rsquo;s children and those others. There were two
+men in some places, you remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Can they ever grow up? It seems to me that the
+women are dying. They&rsquo;ve nothing to live for. It&rsquo;s only a
+year since the plague first came, and look at them now. What will they
+be like in five years&rsquo; time? They&rsquo;ll die of hopelessness,
+or commit suicide, or <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb308" href=
+"#pb308" name="pb308">308</a>]</span>simply starve from the lack of any
+purpose in living, because work isn&rsquo;t worth while. And the
+others, the mothers, that have some object in living, will fall back
+into savagery. They&rsquo;ll be so occupied in the necessity for work,
+for forcing a living out of the ground somehow, that they&rsquo;ll have
+neither time nor wish to teach their children. I don&rsquo;t know, but
+it seems to me that we are faced with decrease, gradually leading on to
+extinction.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And I doubt,&rdquo; he continued, after a little
+hesitation, &ldquo;I doubt whether these sons of the new conditions
+will have much vitality. They are the children of lust on the
+father&rsquo;s side, worse still, of tired lust. It does make a
+difference. Perhaps if we were a young and vigorous people like the old
+Jews the seed would be strong enough to override any inherent weakness.
+But we are not, we are an old civilization. Before the plague, we had
+come to a consideration of eugenics. It had been forced upon us. A
+vital and growing people does not spend its time on such a question as
+that. Eugenics was a proposition that grew out of the necessity of the
+time. It was easy enough to deny decadence, and to prove our fitness by
+apparently sound argument, but, to me, it always seemed that this
+growing demand for some form of artificial selection of parents, by
+restriction of the palpably unfit, afforded the surest evidence. Things
+like that are only produced if there is a need for them. Eugenics was a
+symptom.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen sighed. &ldquo;And what about us?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy,&rdquo; replied Jasper.
+&ldquo;Probably the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb309" href="#pb309"
+name="pb309">309</a>]</span>happiest people in the world at the present
+time. And we must try to give some of our happiness to others. We must
+go back to Marlow and work for the community. And I think we&rsquo;ll
+try in our limited way to do something for the younger generation.
+Perhaps, it might be possible for us to go north and try our hands at
+making steel, there are probably women there who would help us. But I
+don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s worth while, unless to preserve our
+knowledge and hand it on. We can only lessen the difficulty in one
+little district for a time. As the pressure of necessity grows, as it
+must grow, we shall be forced to abandon manufacture. The need for food
+will outrun us. We are too few, and it will be simpler and perhaps
+quicker to plough with a wooden plough than to wait for our faulty and
+slowly-produced steel. The adult population, small as it is, must
+decrease, and I&rsquo;m afraid it will decrease more rapidly than we
+anticipate, owing to these causes of depression and lack of
+stimulus....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; said Eileen at last, getting to
+her feet, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re happy, as you say, and our job seems
+pretty plain before us. To-morrow, I suppose, we ought to be getting
+back, though I hate taking the news to Elsie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper came and stood beside her, and put his arm across
+her shoulders. &ldquo;We, at any rate, must keep our spirits up,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;That, before everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m all right,&rdquo; said Eileen,
+brightly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got you and, for the moment, the sea.
+We&rsquo;ll come back here sometimes, if the roads don&rsquo;t get too
+bad.&rdquo; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb310" href="#pb310" name=
+"pb310">310</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, if the roads don&rsquo;t get too
+bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And, already, the briars are creeping across the
+road from hedge to hedge. The forest is coming back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The forest and the wild.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He drew her a little closer and they stood looking out
+towards the horizon.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">3</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">In the south-west the clear line had been wiped
+out and what looked like mist was sweeping towards them.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a shower coming,&rdquo; said
+Thrale.</p>
+<p class="par">They stood quietly and let the sharp spatter of rain
+beat in their faces, and then the shadow of the storm moved on and the
+horizon line was clear again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a queer cloud out there,&rdquo; said
+Eileen. &ldquo;Is it another shower?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">She pointed to a tiny blur on the far rim of the
+sea.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> queer,&rdquo; said Thrale.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so precisely like the smoke of a steamer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">For a few seconds they gazed in intent silence.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting bigger,&rdquo; broke out
+Eileen, suddenly excited. &ldquo;What is it, Jasper?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I can&rsquo;t make it
+out,&rdquo; he said. He moved away from her and shaded his eyes from
+the glare of the momentarily cloudless sky.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t make it out,&rdquo; he repeated
+mechanically.</p>
+<p class="par">The blur was widening into a grey-black smudge, into a
+vaguely diffused smear with a darker centre. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb311" href="#pb311" name="pb311">311</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;With the wind blowing towards
+us&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; said Jasper, and broke off.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, yes&mdash;what?&rdquo; asked Eileen, and
+then as he did not answer, she gripped his arm and repeated
+importunately. &ldquo;What? Jasper, what? With the wind blowing towards
+us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;By God it is,&rdquo; he said in a low voice,
+disregarding her question. &ldquo;By God it <i>is</i>,&rdquo; he
+repeated, and then a third time, &ldquo;It <i>is</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh! what, what? Do answer me! I can&rsquo;t
+see!&rdquo; pleaded Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">But still he did not answer. He stood like a rock and
+stared without wavering at the growing cloud on the horizon.</p>
+<p class="par">And then the cloud began to grow more diffused, to die
+away, and Eileen could see tiny indentations on the sky line,
+indentations which pushed up and presently revealed themselves as
+attached to a little black speck in the remotest distance.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Jasper!&rdquo; she cried, and her eyes filled
+with inexplicable tears, so that she could see only a misty field of
+troubled blue.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a liner,&rdquo; said Jasper at last,
+turning to her. He looked puzzled and his eyes stared through her.
+&ldquo;And its coming from America. Do you suppose the American
+women&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The boat was revealed now. They could see the shape of
+her, the high deck, the two tall funnels and the three masts. She was
+passing across, fifteen miles or so to the south of them, making up
+Channel.</p>
+<p class="par">For a moment they felt like shipwrecked sailors on a
+lonely island, who see a vessel pass beyond hail. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb312" href="#pb312" name="pb312">312</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, Jasper, what can it be?&rdquo; Eileen
+besought him.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a White Star boat,&rdquo; he said, and
+he still spoke as if his mind was far away. &ldquo;Is it possible, is
+it anyway possible that America has survived? Is it possible that there
+is traffic between America and Europe, and that they pass us by for
+fear of infection? How do we know that vessels haven&rsquo;t been
+passing up the Channel for months past? Why should we think that this
+is the first?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It <i>is</i> the first,&rdquo; proclaimed Eileen.
+&ldquo;I feel it. Oh, let us hurry. Let us ride and ride as fast as we
+can to Plymouth or Southampton. I know they&rsquo;ll be coming to
+Plymouth or Southampton. Men, Jasper, men! No women would dare to run a
+boat at that pace. See how fast she is going. Oh hurry,
+hurry!&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He caught fire then. They ran back to find their
+bicycles. They ran, and presently they rode in silence, with fierce
+intensity. They rode at first as if they had but ten miles to go, and
+the lives of all the women in England depended upon their speed.</p>
+<p class="par">And though they slackened after the first few miles they
+still rode on with such eager determination that they reached Plymouth
+at sunset.</p>
+<p class="par">But they could see no sign of the liner in the waters
+about Plymouth. They saw only the deserted hulks of a hundred vessels
+that had ridden there untouched for twelve months, futile battleships
+and destroyers among them; great, venomous, useless things that had
+become void of all meaning in the struggle of humanity. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb313" href="#pb313" name="pb313">313</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not here. Let&rsquo;s go on!&rdquo;
+said Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper shrugged his shoulders. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s well
+over a hundred miles to Southampton,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nearer a
+hundred and fifty, I should say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But we must go on, we must,&rdquo; urged
+Eileen.</p>
+<p class="par">It was evident that Jasper, too, felt a compelling
+desire to go on. He stood still with a look of intense concentration on
+his face. Eileen had seen him look thus, when he had been momentarily
+frustrated by some problem of mill machinery. She waited expectant for
+the solution she was sure would presently emerge.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;A motor,&rdquo; he said, speaking in short
+disconnected sentences. &ldquo;If we can find paraffin and petrol and
+candles&mdash;light of some sort. The engines wouldn&rsquo;t rust, but
+they&rsquo;d clog. It must be paraffin. We daren&rsquo;t clean with
+petrol by artificial light. It&rsquo;s possible. Let&rsquo;s
+try....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">That night Jasper did not sleep, but Eileen, as she sat
+beside him in the softly moving motor, soon lost consciousness of the
+dim streak of road and black river of hedge. The moon, in her third
+quarter, had risen before midnight, and when they started was riding
+deep in the sky, half veiled by a vast wing of dappled cirrus. And
+that, too, merged into her dream. She thought she was driving out into
+the open sea in a ship which became miraculously winged and soared up
+towards an ever-approaching but unincreasing moon. She woke with a
+start to find that it was broad daylight and that a thin misty rain was
+coming up from the sea. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb314" href=
+"#pb314" name="pb314">314</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;The Solent,&rdquo; said Jasper, pointing to a
+distant gleam below them.</p>
+<p class="par">On the common they stopped and stood up in the car,
+watching a distant smear of smoke that stained the thin mist.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll be coming up Southampton Water with
+the lead going,&rdquo; said Jasper, trying desperately to be calm.
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb315" href="#pb315" name=
+"pb315">315</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="epi" class="div0 book">
+<h2 class="main">EPILOGUE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb317" href="#pb317" name=
+"pb317">317</a>]</span></p>
+<div id="epi1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="super">EPILOGUE</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE GREAT PLAN</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first">On the evening of that day Jasper and Eileen dined
+on board the &ldquo;Bombastic,&rdquo; that latest development of the
+old trans-Atlantic competition in shipbuilding, the boat that had made
+her first journey to New York carrying fugitives from England in the
+days when the threat of the plague grew hourly more imminent. The
+&ldquo;Bombastic&rdquo; had not justified her name, she had fled from
+Southampton without ceremony, and she had not returned for over a year.
+The &ldquo;Apologetic&rdquo; would have been more apt.</p>
+<p class="par">And on this evening of her return, the demeanour of that
+crowd of quiet serious men in the huge over-decorated saloon, gave no
+hint of bombast. As they listened intently to the rapid story of their
+two travel-stained and somewhat ragged guests, there was no hint of
+brag or boast among them all. They came not as conquerors but as
+friends.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But oh, it&rsquo;s <i>your</i> story we want to
+hear,&rdquo; broke in Eileen at last.</p>
+<p class="par">She had been strangely quiet so far, she had become
+suddenly conscious of the defects of her dress. The old associations
+were swarming about her. Eighteen months ago she had sat in just such
+another saloon as this, courted and flattered, the daughter
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb318" href="#pb318" name=
+"pb318">318</a>]</span>of a great aristocrat, a creature on a remote
+and gorgeous pedestal. Now it seemed that she was neither greater nor
+less than any man present. She was one of them, not set apart. She
+looked down at her hands, still oil-stained by her struggles with the
+motor on the previous night.</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper had been more patient. He was not less eager than
+Eileen to hear the explanation of this wonderful visit, of the
+resurrection of these twelve hundred men from a dead and silent world.
+But he had restrained his impatience and told his story first. He knew
+that so he would be more quickly satisfied. He would be able to listen
+to men who were not tense with an anxiety to ask questions.</p>
+<p class="par">They were sitting now at one end of a long table in the
+saloon, after eating a meal that had provided once more the longed-for
+satisfaction of salt.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said an American at the head of the
+table, turning to Eileen in answer to her protest, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve
+maybe been selfish in putting all these questions but we&rsquo;re
+looking ahead. We aren&rsquo;t forgetting that we&rsquo;ve a big work
+to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;But how did you get here?&rdquo; asked Eileen
+impetuously. &ldquo;How is it that you&rsquo;re all alive?&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, as to that, you&rsquo;d better ask the
+doctor, there,&rdquo; replied the American. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a
+countryman of yours, and he&rsquo;s been in the thick of it and knows
+the life story of that plague microbe like the history of
+England.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The doctor, a bearded, grave-eyed man, looked up and
+smiled.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hardly that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We shall
+never know <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb319" href="#pb319" name=
+"pb319">319</a>]</span>now, I hope, the history of the plague organism.
+It was never studied under the microscope&mdash;we were too
+busy&mdash;and now we trust that the bacillus&mdash;if it were a
+bacillus&mdash;has encompassed its own destruction. What interests you,
+however, is that this sudden, miraculously sudden, development of its
+deadly power as regards humanity ran through a determinable cycle of
+evolution. From what you&rsquo;ve told us, already, it seems clear, I
+think, that even in England the bacillus was losing what I may call its
+effectiveness. The men in the West Country you&rsquo;ve described,
+probably died from starvation and neglect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">He paused for a moment and then continued: &ldquo;Now in
+America both men and women were attacked. There was certainly a greater
+percentage of male cases, but I suppose something like half the female
+population was infected as well. As far as one can judge the bacillus
+was simply losing power. But for all we know it may have developed, it
+may be entering on a new stage of evolution, and in some apparently
+haphazard way now be beneficial to man instead of deadly. Such things
+may be happening every day below the reach of our knowledge. The little
+world is hidden from us, even as the great world is hidden....</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;However,&rdquo; he went on more briskly,
+&ldquo;the thing we do know is that the symptoms of the new plague in
+America differed materially from our expectation of them, gathered from
+the accounts that had reached us from the Old World. In England the
+paralysis lasted, I believe, some forty-eight hours and ended in death.
+In America the paralysis <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb320" href=
+"#pb320" name="pb320">320</a>]</span>rarely ended fatally, but it
+lasted in some cases for six months. &lsquo;Paresis,&rsquo; we called
+it. The patient was perfectly conscious but practically unable to move
+hand or foot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That paresis gave us time to do some very clear
+and consecutive thinking, I may remark,&rdquo; put in an American.
+&ldquo;I had four months to study my ideas of life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The doctor nodded thoughtfully. &ldquo;America is no
+less changed than England,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it is another
+change. Well, you understand that we did not all get the plague over
+there; the thing was less deadly in attack and about ten per cent of us
+were left to look after the patients.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And find food,&rdquo; interpolated one of the
+listeners.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;That was a time we won&rsquo;t ever
+forget,&rdquo; agreed another.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Sure thing,&rdquo; said some one, and a general
+murmur of assent ran round the table.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And all the machines were idle, of course,&rdquo;
+continued the doctor, &ldquo;and even when the tide of recovery began
+to flow we had to turn our attention first to the getting of
+food.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for that we&rsquo;d have
+been here before this,&rdquo; said a young man. &ldquo;I feel we owe
+England and Europe some kind of an apology, but we just had to get busy
+on food growing right away. We couldn&rsquo;t spare a ship&rsquo;s crew
+till three weeks ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And the others are hard at it over there
+still,&rdquo; put in another. &ldquo;This is just a pioneer
+party.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so comprehensible now,&rdquo; said
+Thrale <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb321" href="#pb321" name=
+"pb321">321</a>]</span>after a silence, &ldquo;but we had no idea, we
+never thought there could be any one living in America. We thought that
+somehow we must have heard. One forgets....&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We tried to get on to you,&rdquo; said one of the
+party, &ldquo;by cable and wireless. We kept on tapping away for
+months, but we got no reply. We thought you must be all dead
+too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we guessed you were having a real bad time
+anyway,&rdquo; amended another. &ldquo;You see we knew the way that
+plague had taken Europe but we kept hoping and trying to get on to you
+all the same.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class="tb">
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a message for Elsie, after
+all,&rdquo; Eileen said to Jasper the next day. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+hope for us yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Yes, there&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; said Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">They had been up at the town railway station assisting a
+party of Americans to investigate the condition of the rolling stock
+and the permanent way. Neither could be pronounced satisfactory. A few
+women had come in from the neighbouring country that morning attracted
+by the sight of an inexplicable pillar of smoke, and their report of
+local conditions had been equally uninspiring. They had spoken of
+famine and failure, but their faces had been lit by a new brightness at
+the sight of this miraculous little army of men. There had been hope in
+the faces and bearing of these toil-worn women, faith in the promise of
+support and succour.</p>
+<p class="par">Now Jasper and Eileen stood looking down towards the
+harbour. The tide was creeping in to <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb322" href="#pb322" name="pb322">322</a>]</span>efface the repulsive
+ugliness of the mud flats, and the sluggish water rippled faintly
+against the foul sloping sides of small boats that had lain anchored
+there for more than twelve months. Behind them, across the line, was a
+row of unsightly houses, hung with weather-slating.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, there&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; repeated
+Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">He was thinking of all the work that lay before them,
+and yet he had faith that a new and better civilization would arise.
+&ldquo;We must get things going again,&rdquo; had been the
+Americans&rsquo; phrase, and they apparently faced the future without a
+qualm.</p>
+<p class="par">But Jasper&rsquo;s mind was perplexed with the detail of
+the mechanical work that must be faced, detail so intricate and
+confused that he was bewildered by its complexity. It appeared to him
+that the crux of the whole problem lay in the North, in the counties of
+coal and iron. Coal and steel were the first essentials, he thought.
+They must begin there in however small a way, and America must send out
+more men, continually more men. To-morrow he was going back in the
+motor, with two experts, to the cable hut in Sennen Cove. They were
+going to test the cable and hoped to re-establish communication with
+America, and then more ships would come and more men, ever more
+men.</p>
+<p class="par">And, even so, they could do little at first, and beyond
+lay the whole of Europe and still further the whole of Asia. Were women
+there, also, maintaining the terrible fight against Nature in the awful
+struggle to find food? Steel and coal we must have, <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb323" href="#pb323" name="pb323">323</a>]</span>was
+the burden of his thought, and in his imagination he pictured the
+waking of factories and mines, he had a vision of little engines
+running....</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen&rsquo;s thought had flown ahead. With one
+magnificent leap she had passed from the contemplation of present
+necessity to a realization of the dim future. And <i>her</i> thought
+found words.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Hope, lots of hope,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Hope
+of a new clean world. We&rsquo;ve got such a chance to begin all over
+again, and do it better. No more sweated labour, Jasper, and no more
+living on the work of others. We&rsquo;ve just got to pull together and
+work for each other. If we can get enough food, and we can now with all
+these dear men come to help us, we can do such wonderful things
+afterwards. There&rsquo;ll be lots of children growing up in a few
+years&rsquo; time, and we shall teach them the things we&rsquo;ve had
+to learn by the force of necessity. They&rsquo;ll begin so differently
+because, although we have had the experience of all history, we
+sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t be bound by all the foolish conventions that grew
+out of it. Such a silly incongruous growth, wasn&rsquo;t it? But I
+suppose it couldn&rsquo;t be helped in one way. We were so penned in.
+We all had our rotten little places to keep and that took all our time.
+We never had a chance to consider the broad issues, the real
+fundamental things. But you&rsquo;ve got to consider the fundamental
+things when you start clean away from a new beginning.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;And, oh! Jasper, surely we have all learnt
+certain things to avoid, haven&rsquo;t we? I mean class distinctions
+and sex distinctions, and things like that. Women won&rsquo;t trouble
+any more about titles and all that rot <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb324" href="#pb324" name="pb324">324</a>]</span>now, and anyway there
+aren&rsquo;t any left to trouble about. And social conditions will be
+so different now that there won&rsquo;t be any more marriage. Marriage
+was a man&rsquo;s prerogative; he wanted to keep his woman to himself,
+and keep his property for his children. It never really protected
+women, and anyway they were capable of protecting themselves if
+they&rsquo;d been given a chance. I know the children were a difficulty
+in the old days, but they won&rsquo;t be now. It&rsquo;ll be
+everybody&rsquo;s business to see that the children get looked after,
+and a woman won&rsquo;t starve just because she hasn&rsquo;t got a
+husband to keep her. She&rsquo;ll get better wages than that. The women
+who have children will be the most precious things we shall have.
+They&rsquo;ll live healthier lives, too, and they won&rsquo;t be
+incapacitated as they used to be. They&rsquo;ll work and be strong
+instead of spending all their time either in doing nothing or pottering
+about the house in an eternal round of cleaning the stupid, ugly things
+we used. We shall have to have all new houses, Jasper, when we get
+things going again.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it <i>will</i> be splendid,&rdquo; she broke
+out in a great burst of enthusiasm, &ldquo;and we begin to-day. We have
+begun.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">Jasper nodded. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a wonderful
+opportunity,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Wonderful, wonderful,&rdquo; repeated Eileen.
+&ldquo;We all, men and women, start level again. Equality, Jasper,
+It&rsquo;s a beautiful word&mdash;Equality. Of course I know how
+unequal we all are from one point of view, and there must come a sort
+of aristocracy of intellect and efficiency. But underneath there will
+<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb325" href="#pb325" name=
+"pb325">325</a>]</span>be a true equality for all that, and we shall
+see to it that no man or woman can abuse their powers by making slaves
+again. What a world of slaves it used to be, and we weren&rsquo;t even
+slaves to intellect and efficiency, only to wealth and to money, and to
+some foolish idea of position and power.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ve got <i>our</i> work to do, here
+and now,&rdquo; said Jasper after a long pause.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Work? Of course, and I love it,&rdquo; returned
+Eileen, &ldquo;and while we work we&rsquo;ve got to think and
+teach.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par">The tide was coming in steadily, and near them an old
+boat that had been lying on the mud was now afloat once more and had
+taken on some of its old dignity.</p>
+<p class="par">Eileen pointed to it. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re afloat
+again,&rdquo; she remarked.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Embarked on the greatest plan the world has ever
+known,&rdquo; added Jasper.</p>
+<p class="par">&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all part of the great plan,&rdquo;
+concluded Eileen.</p>
+<p class="trailer xd23e5427">THE END</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="back">
+<div class="div1 imprint"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e5433width"><img src="images/logo.png" alt=""
+width="117" height="125">
+<p class="par first">THE ARDEN PRESS<br>
+LETCHWORTH</p>
+</div>
+<p class="par"><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb329" href="#pb329" name=
+"pb329">1</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<div class="figure xd23e5442width"><img src="images/adtitlepage.png"
+alt="Title page for advertisement section." width="493" height=
+"720"></div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="titlePage">
+<div class="docTitle">
+<div class="mainTitle">A LIST OF<br>
+CURRENT FICTION</div>
+</div>
+<div class="byline">PUBLISHED BY <span class="docAuthor">WILLIAM
+HEINEMANN</span></div>
+<div class="docImprint">AT 21 BEDFORD ST., LONDON, W.C.</div>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb330" href="#pb330" name=
+"pb330">2</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="div1 ads"><span class="pagenum">[<a href=
+"#toc">Contents</a>]</span>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="par first adTopLine">MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN&rsquo;S
+<span class="corr" id="xd23e5462" title="Source: NE">NEW</span>
+FICTION</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">BETWEEN TWO THIEVES</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by RICHARD DEHAN (2nd Impression) <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Dop Doctor,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is really an amazing piece of
+work. Its abounding energy, its grip on our attention, its biting
+humour, its strong, if sometimes lurid word painting have an effect of
+richness and fullness of teeming life, that sweeps one with it. What an
+ample chance for praise and whole hearted enjoyment. The thing unrols
+with a vividness that never fails.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily News and
+Leader.</i></p>
+<p class="par">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27966">THE DOP DOCTOR</a></p>
+<p class="par xd23e5485">[<i>Now in its 13th Edition.</i></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Pulsatingly real&mdash;gloomy, tragic,
+humorous, dignified, real. The cruelty of battle, the depth of
+disgusting villainy, the struggles of great souls, the irony of
+coincidence are all in its pages.... Who touches this book touches a
+man. I am grateful for the wonderful thrills &lsquo;The Dop
+Doctor&rsquo; has given me. It is a novel among a
+thousand.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily Express.</i></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12154">THE WEAKER VESSEL</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by E. F. BENSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">A really good &ldquo;Benson novel&rdquo; than
+which no more can be said.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<div class="table">
+<table class="xd23e5509">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellTop"></td>
+<td class="cellRight cellTop">JUGGERNAUT</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE LUCK OF THE VAILS</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">ACCOUNT RENDERED</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40797">MAMMON &amp; CO.</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight">AN ACT IN A BACKWATER</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">PAUL</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44210">THE ANGEL OF PAIN</a></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE PRINCESS SOPHIA</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE BOOK OF MONTHS</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">A REAPING</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE CHALLONERS</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46057">THE RELENTLESS CITY</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE CLIMBER</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40795">SCARLET AND HYSSOP</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft"></td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45800">THE HOUSE OF DEFENCE</a></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight cellBottom">SHEAVES</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">*</td>
+<td class="cellRight">THE IMAGE IN THE SAND</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Each Crn. 8vo. Price 6/-.</p>
+<p class="par">Those volumes marked * can also be obtained in the Two
+Shilling net Edition (Heinemann&rsquo;s Two Shilling Novels), uniformly
+bound, with coloured picture wrapper and frontispiece, and also the
+following volumes</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5606">
+<li>THE OSBORNES</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5606">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46782">THE VINTAGE</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5606">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44486">DODO</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par">&#8258; &ldquo;The Book of Months&rdquo; and &ldquo;A
+Reaping&rdquo; form one volume in this Edition. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb331" href="#pb331" name="pb331">3</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2774">THE PATRICIAN</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by JOHN GALSWORTHY <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;I cannot find better praise in which to
+sum up Mr. Galsworthy&rsquo;s &lsquo;Patrician&rsquo; than the one that
+it is &lsquo;deeply interesting&rsquo;. Indeed, there is a vividness
+about the whole story which is absolutely fascinating. It lingers in
+the memory long, long after other novels of a less distinguished but
+more thrilling nature have been completely
+forgotten.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Tatler</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5635">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2772">THE COUNTRY HOUSE</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2773">FRATERNITY</a></li>
+<li>A MOTLEY</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5635">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2771">THE ISLAND
+PHARISEES</a></li>
+<li>THE MAN OF PROPERTY</li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2903">THE INN OF <span class=
+"corr" id="xd23e5652" title=
+"Source: TRANQUILLITY">TRANQUILITY</span></a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">MINNA</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by KARL GJELLERUP <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">A charming idyllic love story set in the
+beautiful &ldquo;Saxon Switzerland.&rdquo; A simpler, sweeter theme
+than the author&rsquo;s last book, but written with the same
+distinction of style and thought.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">By THE SAME AUTHOR.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE PILGRIM KAMANITA</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Behind the imagination which floats
+&lsquo;The Pilgrim Kamanita&rsquo; above the common there is a solid
+background of historical study which enables Mr. Gjellerup to make his
+characters and his scenes real<span class="corr" id="xd23e5671" title=
+"Source: ,">.</span> He has managed to catch the atmosphere of ancient
+India, and so wrap it about every place and act and speech in the story
+that the illusion and spell are on us from beginning to end.... It is a
+real romance, full of life and colour&mdash;and such colour as only
+India, in the full sensuous splendour of Hindu rites, can offer.... It
+is a beautiful allegory of the higher life, full of suggestion and even
+inspiration for those who have ears to hear. Mr. Gjellerup is to be
+congratulated not only on a noble idea, most skilfully presented, but
+also upon a translator who hardly ever lets us feel that we are not
+reading the original.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb332" href="#pb332" name="pb332">4</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44773">A LIKELY STORY</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by WILLIAM DE MORGAN <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;How delightful it all is.... Mr. De
+Morgan is worth having for himself alone and for the point of view of
+the world that he shows us.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is great fun.... Much
+amusement, much cause for sly chuckling throughout the book.... I have
+enjoyed every line of it.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>T.P.&rsquo;s Weekly</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;You cannot resist the charm of the
+narrator, who makes you feel as if you were listening to an
+improvisation.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Spectator</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5704">
+<li>JOSEPH VANCE</li>
+<li>ALICE FOR SHORT</li>
+<li>AN AFFAIR OF DISHONOUR</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul class="xd23e5704">
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46228">IT NEVER CAN HAPPEN
+AGAIN</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28345">SOMEHOW GOOD</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">SIR GUY AND LADY RANNARD</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by H. N. DICKINSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Keddy,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;<span class="corr" id="xd23e5730" title=
+"Source: Extraodinarily">Extraordinarily</span> clever indeed in this
+study. Apart from the absorbing interest of the two central characters,
+the book is full of able and suggestive studies. The whole book is one
+of the most remarkable that a young man has produced for many a long
+year.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE MAGNATE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ROBERT ELSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is a story that every reader will
+recommend after reading it&mdash;and with excellent reason, for it is
+fresh, original, and powerfully written.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Graphic</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Elson has what Dickens and Thackeray
+and other great writers of fiction have. He has a personality.
+&lsquo;The Magnate&rsquo; is quite the freshest story that we have read
+for a long time. We have no hesitation in recommending it to all
+persons who like a novel which is full of thought and detail and brims
+over with optimism.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb333" href="#pb333" name="pb333">5</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/113">THE SECRET GARDEN</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by Mrs. HODGSON BURNETT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Shuttle,&rdquo; &ldquo;Little Lord
+Fauntleroy,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par">Large Cr. 8vo, with coloured Illustrations by CHARLES
+ROBINSON.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The treatment by the authoress is as
+skilled in technique and vivid in human interest as the reader would
+expect from her.... The illustrations by Mr. Charles Robinson are the
+work of an artist rarely gifted.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">HE WHO PASSED</p>
+<p class="par adByline">To M. L. G. (Anon.) <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;As a story, it is one of the most
+enthralling I have read for a long time.... Six&mdash;seven
+o&rsquo;clock struck&mdash;half-past-seven&mdash;and yet this
+extraordinary narrative of a woman&rsquo;s life held me absolutely
+enthralled.... I forgot the weather; I forgot my own grievances; I
+forgot everything, in fact, under the spell of this wonderful book....
+In fact the whole book bears the stamp of reality from cover to cover.
+There is hardly a false or strained note in it. It is the ruthless
+study of a woman&rsquo;s life.... If it is not the novel of the season,
+the season is not likely to give us anything much
+better.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Tatler</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">Ready shortly, by the same author: &ldquo;The Life
+Mask.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">LESS THAN THE DUST</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by MARY AGNES HAMILTON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;There is something delightfully fresh in
+the method of treatment, something that seems to mark the passing of
+another milestone in the work of the literary woman. Literary is the
+right word, for Miss Hamilton&rsquo;s style bears the stamp of a
+natural purity of diction, while her analysis of emotion and character
+is keen without being over-protracted.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb334" href="#pb334" name=
+"pb334">6</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39794">KING ERRANT</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by FLORA ANNIE STEEL <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40140">On the Face of the
+Waters</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Steel has made for herself a high
+reputation by the excellence of her Indian novels; in the vividness of
+the Oriental picture which it presents her &lsquo;King Errant&rsquo;
+stands on quite as high a level as her other books.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Historically accurate and sufficiently
+absorbing, and the results of Mrs. Steel&rsquo;s careful study of his
+character is that Baber stands out from the mists of nearly four
+centuries as a very real and attractive
+person.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39810">A PRINCE OF
+DREAMERS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39987">THE FLOWER OF
+FORGIVENESS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39821">FROM THE FIVE
+RIVERS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39991">THE HOSTS OF THE
+LORD</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39795">IN THE GUARDIANSHIP OF
+GOD</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39832">IN THE PERMANENT
+WAY</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40142">MISS STUART&rsquo;S
+LEGACY</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40140">ON THE FACE OF THE
+WATERS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39985">THE POTTER&rsquo;S
+THUMB</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40141">RED ROWANS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39813">A SOVEREIGN
+REMEDY</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40045">VOICES IN THE
+NIGHT</a></li>
+<li>and other stories.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">ESSENCE OF HONEYMOON</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by H. PERRY ROBINSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Perry Robinson has never written a
+more fascinating and delightful little story than &lsquo;Essence of
+Honeymoon&rsquo;.... Mr. Perry Robinson says exactly the right
+thing.... An inimitable piece of sporting fun, admirably carried out,
+and we can recommend no better literature for all young people about to
+be married, or even after they have taken that sobering step, than Mr.
+Perry Robinson&rsquo;s delightful pages.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The
+Field</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">A PRISON WITHOUT A WALL</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by RALPH STRAUS <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Scandalous Mr. Waldo.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;This beautiful, whimsical, tragic
+biography. We are lost in admiration of Mr. Straus&rsquo; skill to
+portray the quintessential don. His pictures of combination room
+etiquette are literally to the life. But be knows also a wider world,
+and his touch is sure in drawing the eccentric great lady, the
+old-school politician, the passionate mondaine, and the fashionable
+charlatan.... This perfectly told story.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily
+Mail</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb335" href="#pb335" name=
+"pb335">7</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">JOHN CHRISTOPHER:</p>
+<div class="table">
+<table class="xd23e5895">
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellTop">I.</td>
+<td class="cellRight cellTop"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7979">Dawn and Morning</a>.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">II.</td>
+<td class="cellRight">Storm and Stress.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">III.</td>
+<td class="cellRight"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8149">John Christopher in
+Paris</a><span class="corr" id="xd23e5914" title=
+"Not in source">.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">IV.</td>
+<td class="cellRight cellBottom"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7967">The Journey&rsquo;s
+End</a><span class="corr" id="xd23e5922" title=
+"Not in source">.</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ROMAIN ROLLAND <span class="adPrice">each
+6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Translated by GILBERT CANNAN. Author of &ldquo;Little
+Brother,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;To most readers he will be a revelation,
+a new interest in their lives. Take the book up where you will, and you
+feel interested at once. You can read it and re-read it. It never
+wearies nor grows irritating.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily
+Telegraph</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;His English exercises so easy an effect
+that the reader has never for an instant the irritating sense of
+missing beauties through the inadequacies of a borrowed language; we
+have also compared it in many cases with the original and found it
+remarkably accurate. Readers may then be assured that they will lose
+but little of Mr. Rolland&rsquo;s beauty and wisdom, even though they
+are unable to read him in the original, and Mr. Cannan is to be warmly
+congratulated.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;A noble piece of work, which must,
+without any doubt whatever, ultimately receive the praise and attention
+which it so undoubtedly merits.... There is hardly a single book more
+illustrative, more informing and more inspiring ... than M. Romain
+Rolland&rsquo;s creative work, &lsquo;John
+Christopher&rsquo;.&rdquo;&mdash;Extract from descriptive review in
+<i>The Daily Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb336" href=
+"#pb336" name="pb336">8</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO...?</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ELIZABETH ROBINS</p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Come and Find Me,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;She has, indeed, in this fine novel,
+splendidly fulfilled the high purpose that inspired her to draw
+attention to a social danger and existing evil, no less horrible than
+real.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Never, not even when Charles Reade,
+making robust romance from Blue books, was denouncing our prison and
+madhouse systems, has such determined and forceful use been made of
+fiction for the purpose of undoing a grevious social
+evil.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Daily Chronicle</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">MOLYNEUX OF MAYFAIR</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by DUNCAN SCHWANN</p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Book of a Bachelor,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;This the third of Mr. Schwann&rsquo;s
+novels, is by a very long way his best. Mr. Schwann has beyond question
+written a book that may be termed light and frivolous, if you wish, but
+that nevertheless, as a picture of a certain section of modern London
+Society, has its more important side to it. In deftness, interest, and
+human nature it shows a great advance on &lsquo;The Book of a
+Bachelor.&rsquo;&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE MAGIC OF THE HILL</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is in fact, to be read for its
+light-hearted pictures of modern Paris, Paris seen with eyes of someone
+who knows it intimately and loves it. Mr. Schwann has more than a
+little of Thackeray&rsquo;s absorbing interest in minor characters,
+minor events, and minor problems. The book proves that Mr. Schwann, as
+a student of life, has the right touch and the right
+humour.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id=
+"pb337" href="#pb337" name="pb337">9</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1845">ZULEIKA DOBSON</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by MAX BEERBOHM <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14667">A Christmas
+Garland</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;In a word, he has achieved a
+masterpiece. He has written a book in which wit and invention never
+flag: a book, the writing of which he has enjoyed so tremendously that
+the reader enjoys it with him, as it were, personally, a book that is
+all of a piece, never halts, never drops; a book that is a sheer
+delight from cover to cover.&rdquo;&mdash;Alfred Sutton in <i>The Daily
+Mail</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39145">THE DEVOURERS</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ANNIE VIVANTI CHARTRES <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is delightfully written....
+Mrs. Chartres has humour, she has style, she has
+pathos.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is a great feat for any author to
+succeed in interesting her readers in three successive generations of
+heroines within the covers of a single novel without diminution of
+sympathy; yet that feat has been accomplished in &lsquo;The
+Devourers&rsquo; ... it is an irresistible story and full of
+sympathetic charm.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Evening Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5964">LOVE&rsquo;S PILGRIMAGE</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by UPTON SINCLAIR <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140">The Jungle</a>,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4923">King Midas</a>,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mr. Upton Sinclair has written around
+such a great subject with such marvellous intuition and skill, and has
+presented so many problems which are engaging general attention, that
+all feminists and theorists upon social subjects will be eager to read
+his latest book.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb338" href="#pb338" name="pb338">10</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">PASSION FRUIT</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by E. C. VIVIAN <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The interest all through depends mainly
+upon the male characters, who are drawn with unusual vigour and
+certainty.... The book as a whole is marked by a breadth of handling
+which sets it apart from the average novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning
+Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;Passion Fruit&rsquo; is the work
+of a past-master in story telling.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Sheffield
+Independent</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">BORROWERS OF FORTUNE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by JESSIE LECKIE HERBERTSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Young Life,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">A novel of happier vein than has sometimes been
+the case with Miss Herbertson. Her lighter heart is as infectious as
+her gravity was impressive.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE DECLENSION OF HENRY D&rsquo;ALBIAC</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by V. GOLDIE <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Nigel Thomson,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Majorie Stevens.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is by far the best and the liveliest
+of the suffragist stories we have come across, though by the way, the
+particular propaganda is by no means the chief object of the book.
+Indeed, propaganda of any kind is in its pages always subordinate to
+the author&rsquo;s abundant and vivacious sense of
+humour.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb339" href="#pb339" name="pb339">11</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF HALL CAINE</p>
+<p class="par">(of which over 3 million copies have been sold).</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;These volumes are in every way a
+pleasure to read. Of living authors, Mr. Hall Caine must certainly sway
+as multitudinous a following as any living man. A novel from his pen
+has become indeed for England and America something of an international
+event.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33999">THE BONDMAN</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25572">CAPT&rsquo;N <span class=
+"corr" id="xd23e6112" title="Source: DAVEYS">DAVY&rsquo;S</span>
+HONEYMOON</a></li>
+<li>MY STORY</li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52342">THE WHITE
+PROPHET</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19732">THE ETERNAL CITY</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25570">THE MANXMAN</a></li>
+<li>THE PRODIGAL SON</li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1303">THE SCAPEGOAT</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8407">THE CHRISTIAN</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">A PORTENTOUS HISTORY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ALFRED TENNYSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;With considerable skill we are shown how
+ignorant and conventional prejudice of all the normal inhabitants of
+the village are roused against the poor, good giant, only because he is
+greater than they are. Mr. Tennyson gives a vivid and unpleasant
+picture of prejudice and instinctive cruelty. In Mr. Tennyson we have a
+new novelist with something real and weighty to
+say.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN KETTLE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Captain Kettle,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;When one has once opened &lsquo;The
+Marriage of Kettle&rsquo; it is impossible to put it down unfinished.
+Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne has such a vivid pen and seems so intimately
+acquainted with the sea and seafaring life, and introduces us to so
+many humorous and realistic characters, that we feel as if we had
+actually sailed with the great Kettle on his adventurous voyages, and
+had shared his hairbreadth escapes.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Evening Standard
+and St. James&rsquo;s Gazette</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb340"
+href="#pb340" name="pb340">12</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">TALES OF THE UNEASY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by VIOLET HUNT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Wife of Altamont.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Miss Violet Hunt is eminently skilful,
+albeit a relentless &lsquo;raconteuse&rsquo;, the light of her
+inspiration burns with a hard gemlike flame. Miss Hunt has gained
+greatly in craftsmanship during the last few years: her style is
+excellent, her grip of subjects sure, and her insight exceptionally
+clear and sane.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Athen&aelig;um</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">ESTHER</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by AGNES E. JACOMB <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;The book is well written and the
+characters are well drawn.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Miss Jacomb has written in
+&lsquo;Esther&rsquo; a very interesting novel; its situations are
+original, and the characters are sufficiently individual to make a
+convincing whole....&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3728">THE GETTING OF WISDOM</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by HENRY HANDEL RICHARDSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3727">Maurice Guest</a>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;An extraordinarily intimate and
+sympathetic study of a little girl and of the influence school-life has
+upon her gives unusual charm and interest to this
+story.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;Stalky for Girls&rsquo; might
+very well be the sub-title of Mr. Richardson&rsquo;s story. What
+&lsquo;Stalky &amp; Co.&rsquo; did for the boy, &lsquo;The Getting of
+Wisdom&rsquo; tries to do for the girl. It is a bright, vivid piece of
+character writing.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Saturday Review</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb341" href="#pb341" name="pb341">13</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/746">BURNING DAYLIGHT</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by JACK LONDON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/215">The Call of the Wild</a>,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;<a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1056">Martin Eden</a>,&rdquo;
+etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;I have long regarded the stories of Mr.
+Jack London as a welcome relief from the dulness of most contemporary
+fiction, and his latest, &lsquo;Burning Daylight,&rsquo; did not
+disappoint me in this respect. No one who has read the author&rsquo;s
+previous works will need to be told with what wonderful skill the
+atmosphere of this grim and unfriendly land is conveyed. There is one
+chapter, especially, which tells how, for a bet, Daylight raced two
+thousand miles over an unbroken trail of ice in sixty days that seems
+to me absolutely the best piece of descriptive writing of its kind that
+ever I read.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Punch</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38561">THE WHITE PEACOCK</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by D. H. LAWRENCE <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;A book of real distinction, both of
+style and thought. Many of the descriptive passages have an almost
+lyrical charm, and the characterisation is, generally speaking, deft
+and life-like. &lsquo;The White Peacock&rsquo; is a book not only worth
+reading but worth reckoning with, for we are inclined to think that its
+author has come to stay.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">LOVE LIKE THE SEA</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by J. E. PATTERSON <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Tillers of the Soil,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;He tells his story to the sound of wind
+and waves, and if now and again his ardour for and knowledge of the sea
+leads him aside from the purpose of his scheme, the digressions are so
+admirably done that the book would lose from the point of view of
+literary interest were they omitted.... The three principal characters
+are well drawn (there are minor ones also excellently
+delineated).&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Globe</i>. <span class=
+"pagenum">[<a id="pb342" href="#pb342" name="pb342">14</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">ADNAM&rsquo;S ORCHARD</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by SARAH GRAND <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par xd23e167">Author of</p>
+<table class="splitlisttable">
+<tr>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8676">THE HEAVENLY
+TWINS</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6855">IDEALA</a></li>
+<li><a class="pglink xd23e43" title="Link to Project Gutenberg ebook"
+href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28088">THE BETH BOOK</a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>OUR MANIFOLD NATURE</li>
+<li>etc., etc.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="par"></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Admirers of Mrs. Grand will be glad to
+find in her new book &lsquo;Adnam&rsquo;s Orchard&rsquo; the same
+vivacity and the same provocative spirit that gave its wide currency to
+her &lsquo;Heavenly Twins,&rsquo; Both qualities sustain and inspire
+her to the last page of the six hundred and thirty which make up her
+latest novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE REWARD OF VIRTUE</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by AMBER REEVES <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;There is cleverness enough and to spare,
+but it is ... a spontaneous cleverness, innate, not laboriously
+acquired.... The dialogue ... is so natural, so unaffected, that it is
+quite possible to read it without noticing the high artistic quality of
+it.... For a first novel Miss Reeves&rsquo;s is a remarkable
+achievement; it would be a distinct achievement even were it not a
+first novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE COST OF IT</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by ELEANOR MORDAUNT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;The Garden of Contentment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Packed full of character and real
+life.... The character of the heroine is admirably drawn upon quite
+unconventional lines ... the situation is worked out with remarkable
+vigour and intensity. This is a fine, powerful and impressive novel,
+triumphing over inadequacies of literary training by sheer force of
+sincerity and of glowing human sentiment.<span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e6324" title="Not in source">&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb343" href="#pb343" name=
+"pb343">15</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">A RUNAWAY RING</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by Mrs. HENRY E. DUDENEY <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Maids&rsquo; Money,&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+Orchard Thief,&rdquo; &ldquo;A Large Room,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Her previous work has been good, but in
+&lsquo;A Runaway Ring&rsquo; she has surpassed her best previous
+efforts, and it is no easy matter to do her sufficient honour. To make
+a romance from life&rsquo;s &lsquo;fedious afternoon&rsquo; without
+being simply sentimental is a task which scarcely any accomplish, and
+so, when the thing is done, it can only be judged on its own merits and
+without comparison.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Standard</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE ADJUSTMENT</p>
+<p class="par adByline">by MARGUERITE BRYANT <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Author of &ldquo;Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker,&rdquo;
+etc.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;&lsquo;The Adjustment&rsquo; ... is a
+notable novel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;It is an admirable book, of an original
+and impressive nature, the authoress well understands the portrayal of
+human passions, whether love or hate, and makes her characters
+singularly attractive.... Many excellent situations add to the general
+interest.... We advise all who enjoy a thoroughly good novel to add
+&lsquo;The Adjustment&rsquo; to their library list.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The
+Globe</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19943">THE HIPPODROME</a></p>
+<p class="par adByline">by RACHEL HAYWARD <span class=
+"adPrice">6/-</span></p>
+<p class="par">Illustrated by CLARA WATERS.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">A brightly coloured story, the scene of which
+is laid in Barcelona. A young Irish girl who is dependent on herself
+for a means of subsistence becomes a &ldquo;star&rdquo; turn at a
+circus. While in the back-waters of that existence she falls in with
+certain gentlemen of international importance. She becomes their dupe
+and slave and passes through many adventures. But there is a way of
+escape and she takes it. Decidedly a book of swift movement and keen
+excitement. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb344" href="#pb344" name=
+"pb344">16</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF LEO TOLSTOY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT</p>
+<p class="par adTitle"><a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1399">ANNA <span class="corr" id=
+"xd23e6387" title="Source: KARENIN">KARENINA</span></a> <span class=
+"adPrice">2/6 net</span></p>
+<p class="par adTitle">WAR AND PEACE <span class="adPrice">3/6
+net</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Garnett&rsquo;s translations from
+the Russian are always distinguished by most careful accuracy and a
+fine literary flavour. In this new rendering of Tolstoy she has
+surpassed herself.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Bookman</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;Mrs. Garnett&rsquo;s translation has all
+the ease and vigour which Matthew Arnold found in French versions of
+Russian novels and missed in English. She is indeed so successful that,
+but for the names, one might easily forget he was reading a foreign
+author.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>The Contemporary Review</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">THE NOVELS OF DOSTOEVSKY</p>
+<p class="par adByline">Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT</p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;By the genius of Dostoevsky you are
+always in the presence of living, passionate characters. They are not
+puppets, they are not acting to keep the plot in motion. They are men
+and women&mdash;I should say you can hear them
+breathe&mdash;irresistibly moving to their appointed
+ends.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Evening News</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">I. <a class="pglink xd23e43" title=
+"Link to Project Gutenberg ebook" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28054">THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV</a>
+<span class="adPrice">3/6 net</span></p>
+<p class="par adReview">&ldquo;No other writer perhaps has given to
+materials so ugly, not merely strength and life, but grave pathos and
+tragic beauty.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+<p class="par adTitle">II. THE IDIOT</p>
+<p class="par">Ready Shortly:</p>
+<p class="par">Now for the first time translated in full from the
+Russian by CONSTANCE GARNETT, translator of the Novels of TURGENEV and
+TOLSTOY.</p>
+<p class="par adBottomLine">21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="transcribernote">
+<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2>
+<h3 class="main">Availability</h3>
+<p class="par first">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
+cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
+it away or re-use it under the terms of the <a class="seclink xd23e43"
+title="External link" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/license" rel=
+"license">Project Gutenberg License</a> included with this eBook or
+online at <a class="seclink xd23e43" title="External link" href=
+"https://www.gutenberg.org/" rel="home">www.gutenberg.org</a>.</p>
+<p class="par">This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at <a class="exlink xd23e43" title="External link"
+href="http://www.pgdp.net/">www.pgdp.net</a>.</p>
+<h3 class="main">Encoding</h3>
+<p class="par first"></p>
+<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>2016-11-24 Started.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 class="main">External References</h3>
+<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These
+links may not work for you.</p>
+<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3>
+<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p>
+<table class="correctiontable" summary=
+"Overview of corrections applied to the text.">
+<tr>
+<th>Page</th>
+<th>Source</th>
+<th>Correction</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e336">10</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4932">292</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e461">16</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rsquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e901">43</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">premisses</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">premises</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1025">50</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&ldquo;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&lsquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1073">52</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1076">52</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1183">62</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e1188">62</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1206">63</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4363">257</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e4673">277</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4693">278</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5914">7</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e5922">7</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e1773">96</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2688">152</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e3206">183</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e3250">185</a>,
+<a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4311">255</a>, <a class="pageref" href=
+"#xd23e4929">292</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6324">14</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&rdquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2849">162</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">maladorous</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">malodorous</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e2936">167</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">&ldquo;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e3626">209</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">your</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">you&rsquo;re</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4227">248</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">remainded</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">remained</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e4468">263</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5462">2</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">NE</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">NEW</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5652">3</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">TRANQUILLITY</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">TRANQUILITY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5671">3</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e5730">4</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Extraodinarily</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Extraordinarily</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6112">11</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">DAVEYS</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">DAVY&rsquo;S</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd23e6387">16</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">KARENIN</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">KARENINA</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<div class="div1" id="toc">
+<h2 class="main">Table of Contents</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">I.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk1">THE NEW
+PLAGUE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">I.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch1">THE GOSLING
+FAMILY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch1">3</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">II.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch2">THE OPINIONS OF
+JASPER THRALE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch2">19</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">III.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch3">LONDON&rsquo;S
+INCREDULITY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch3">39</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">IV.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch4">MR BARKER&rsquo;S
+FLAIR</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch4">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">V.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch5">THE CLOSED
+DOOR</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch5">52</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">VI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch6">DISASTER</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch6">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">VII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch7">PANIC</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch7">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch8">GURNEY IN
+CORNWALL</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch8">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">IX.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch9">THE DEVOLUTION OF
+GEORGE GOSLING</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch9">98</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">X.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch10">EXODUS</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch10">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">II.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk2">THE MARCH OF THE
+GOSLINGS</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk2">127</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch11">THE SILENT
+CITY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch11">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch12">EMIGRANT</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch12">150</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XIII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href=
+"#ch13">DIFFERENCES</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch13">171</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XIV.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch14">AUNT MAY</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch14">186</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XV.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch15">FROM SUDBURY TO
+WYCOMBE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch15">196</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XVI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch16">THE YOUNG BUTCHER
+OF HIGH WYCOMBE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch16">212</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">III.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#bk3">WOMANKIND IN THE
+MAKING</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#bk3">227</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XVII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch17">LONDON TO
+MARLOW</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch17">229</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XVIII.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch18">MODES OF
+EXPRESSION</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch18">250</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XIX.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch19">ON THE
+FLOOD</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch19">283</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XX.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch20">THE TERRORS OF
+SPRING</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch20">297</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum">XXI.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#ch21">SMOKE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#ch21">304</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum"></td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="2"><a href="#epi">EPILOGUE</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#epi">315</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class="tocDivNum"></td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="1"><a href="#epi1">THE GREAT
+PLAN</a></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><a class="pageref" href="#epi1">317</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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