Collected works of j s f.., p.148
Collected Works of J S Fletcher, page 148
IV
TAFFENDALE, ALWAYS A man of action, and supremely interested in his numerous affairs, had been out and about during the whole of a long day. From an early hour of the morning until close upon noon he had been busied with the demands made upon him by his farm and his lime quarry; after dinner he had galloped into the market-town to attend the weekly auction sale, and had subsequently gone to a special meeting of the Board of Guardians; on his return home he had had his correspondence to deal with; his early supper over, he had given two hours to his account books. And when Rhoda’s knock sounded at his door, he had just put on his slippers, lighted his pipe, mixed himself a glass of whisky-and-water, and was about to spend a quiet hour over the newspaper before going to bed. That last hour at night, he was accustomed to say, was the only one he ever really got to himself.
The sound of the firm, decisive knock, reverberating through the stone-walled passages of the big house, caused Taffendale to take his pipe out of his mouth and to look vaguely around him. His farmstead was so isolated in the midst of the lonely land, so far away from any other habitation and from the nearest high-road, that it was a rare thing for any person to come there at any time except by invitation or on business; that any one should call there at such a late hour of the night was something quite out of the common. He sat for a moment wondering if he had heard aright; then he remembered that his housekeeper and servants always went to bed at nine o’clock, and that there was no one to answer this unusual summons. With the unwillingness of a man who dislikes disturbance all the more because its cause is unknown to him, Taffendale slowly raised himself out of his chair and went down the hall to open the front door. In the light of the swinging lamp he recognised Rhoda Perris. The rustic porch in which she stood made a sort of setting and frame around her; behind her the red glow of the burning lime-kilns, across the garden and the road, conspired with the deep blue of the night to form a background to her figure and to the warm tint of her hair. Taffendale felt himself start at the unexpected sight of her.
“Mrs. — Mrs. Perris?” he said questioningly.
“Good evening, Mr. Taffendale,” she replied in tones which were curiously suggestive of timidity and yet of assurance. “You’ll excuse me for calling at a time like this, but can I have a word with you?”
Taffendale stood aside and motioned her to enter.
“Come in — come in!” he said. “Yes — yes; certainly, Mrs. Perris.”
Closing the door, he led the way back to his sitting-room, wondering greatly what had brought Perris’s wife there. No reason for her visit suggested itself to him; he was still speculating about it in a vague, indefinite fashion when he led her into the room and pushed forward the easy-chair from which he had just risen. And as Rhoda took it he plunged his hands deep into the pockets of the riding-breeches in which he had been going about all day, and had been too busy to take off before his supper, according to his usual practice, and stood looking down at her with the doubtful expression of a puzzled man. As he looked, the consciousness of the woman’s attractive and compelling femininity forced itself upon him; he felt, rather than saw, the healthy glow of her cheeks, reddened by the rush of the wind across the uplands over which she had walked, and the clearness of her grey eyes and the warmth of her hair, and something stirred within himself and troubled him. He withdrew one hand from a pocket and rubbed his chin as if in perplexity.
“It’s — it’s rather cold to-night,” he said suddenly. “It — it turns cold of a night. Will you take anything, Mrs. Perris?”
He glanced at the spirit-case which stood on the table, and he made a move towards it with the zest of a man who finds relief from embarrassment in action.
Rhoda raised her head and shook it.
“Oh, no, thanking you kindly, Mr. Taffendale,” she hastened to say. “I never touch spirits.”
“A glass of wine, then,” said Taffendale. “Come — a glass of port won’t do you any harm. And if you’re afraid of drinking it without eating, there’s a cake somewhere. My housekeeper’s gone to bed, but I know there’s always a plum-cake at hand.”
He had turned to a sideboard as he spoke, and had begun fumbling about in one of its recesses. Rhoda made no answer to this second invitation except to murmur something inarticulate which might be taken as acquiescent; she sat in front of the blazing fire, instinctively appreciative of its warmth and cheeriness. And Taffendale’s back being now turned, she glanced round about her with swift comprehension of the details of her host’s surroundings. She was quick to notice the comfort and even luxury upon which she had entered out of the night; her woman’s eyes realised the significance of the fine old furniture, the thick carpet, the silver and glass on the sideboard, the family portraits on the walls, the books and papers, the little evidences of the possession of money in plenty. And as swiftly as she took all this in, she visualised with equal swiftness her recollection of her own house-place at Cherry-trees — poverty-stricken, cheerless, and Abel Perris, unkempt, toil-stained, sitting, hands crossed on stomach, and heavy with sleep, before a dying fire in a badly-polished grate.
“Aye, here it is,” said Taffendale, turning to the table and setting upon it a plum-cake which stood in a silver basket. “My housekeeper prides herself on her cakes, Mrs. Perris. Now you’ll take a glass of port — it’ll do you no harm after your walk.”
Rhoda let him help her without further demur on her part; it was a long time since anybody had offered her hospitality, or waited upon her. She crumbled a piece of the cake and sipped at the red wine, and Taffendale, feeling less embarrassed, drank off his whisky and mixed himself another glass. He was still wondering why the woman had come to see him, but no explanation of her presence suggested itself to him.
“How’s that man of yours?” he asked suddenly. “Any the worse?”
Rhoda shook her head.
“No, he’s no worse, Mr. Taffendale, thank you,” she answered. “He’s done his work to-day.” Taffendale laughed gently.
“I should think Pippany Webster’s day’s work isn’t worth much,” he said. “He was always a shammocking sort.” Rhoda nodded.
“He isn’t worth what little he gets,” she answered. “But—”
She paused suddenly and looked up from the plate on her knee to gaze with resolute steadiness at her host, who had taken a chair on the other side of the hearth, and had re-lighted the pipe which he had laid down on her entrance.
“Mr. Taffendale,” she said, “you’re wondering what I came for?”
Taffendale, surprised by the directness of her look and tone, nodded.
“Just so,” he answered, with equal directness, “I am.”
Rhoda put the tip of a finger on a crumb and began to move it round and round the rim of the plate.
“I always believe in saying things straight out,” she said, after a brief pause. “The truth is, Mr. Taffendale, I’ve come to see if you’ll lend me some money.”
Taffendale’s brows knitted, but Rhoda was quick to see that the alteration arose not from resentment but from surprise.
“Oh!” he said. “Why, what is it? What’s it all about? Of course, I couldn’t think why you’d called.”
“No,” she said. “Of course, you couldn’t, Mr. Taffendale. Well, you see, it’s this, to put it shortly. Perris, he hasn’t the money for the rent.”
Taffendale smiled quietly.
“Did he send you?” he asked.
“No,” she answered quickly. “No, he didn’t, Mr. Taffendale. Perris doesn’t know that I’m here. I’m not asking you to help him — I’m asking you to help me. I wouldn’t ask anybody to help Perris. He’s — he’s — well, he’s not fit to be trusted with money.”
Taffendale frowned, and began to rub his chin with the back of his hand — a habit of his when he was puzzled.
“Make it clear, Mrs. Perris,” he said. “Take your time, but make it clear.”
Rhoda put her plate on the table and faced her host.
“Well, it’s like this, Mr. Taffendale,” she said. “I’ll make it as clear as I can. You see, when we came there to Cherry-trees, two years ago, Perris and me had just been married, and he said he’d five hundred pounds, and he could do well on that bit of farm, and of course I believed him. But it didn’t take so long to see that he wasn’t doing well — I knew that plain enough, because I come of farming folk. All the same, I never knew that he was doing as badly as it turns out he was. I thought he’d some — a good deal — of that five hundred pounds left in the bank. Then the other day he went off, saying that he’d business with some of his relations, and last night, after you’d gone away, he came home, and he out with the truth. He’d been to try to borrow money for the rent, and he couldn’t borrow it, and he’s naught but a pound or two in the bank. That’s where it is, Mr. Taffendale.”
“Aye,” said Taffendale. “Aye — I see. And the rent-day’s early next week.”
“And the rent-day’s early next week,” repeated Rhoda. “And what’s more, Mr. Taffendale, the steward ‘ll have no mercy on Perris. You saw what there was about the place.”
Taffendale laughed softly and nodded.
“I saw,” he said. “Um! And if I did lend you the money for the rent, Mrs. Perris, you’d be no better off than before. You’d—”
Rhoda interrupted him with a quick turn of her head.
“Wait a bit, Mr. Taffendale,” she exclaimed. “I said I’d ask you to lend the money to me, not to Perris. I’ve considered matters. I’ve been considering all day long. I’ve talked matters over with Mr. Marriner, the minister. It was Mr. Marriner advised me to come to you. He wrote me this letter to give to you. Perhaps you’ll read it, Mr. Taffendale.” Taffendale took the note which Rhoda held out to him, and read its contents carelessly.
“Yes,” he said, laying the note on the table, “I know Mr. Marriner, of course. But supposing I lend you this money, Mrs. Perris, what are you going to do afterwards? — after the rent-day, I mean?”
Rhoda involuntarily straightened her figure, and Taffendale, covertly watching her, gained an impression of strength and purpose.
“Do?” she exclaimed. “Do? I know what I’d do, Mr. Taffendale. I’d keep a tight hand on Perris. I said — I’ve been considering matters all day, and I’ve explained my notions to Mr. Marriner. That Cherry-trees farm can be made to pay, and I can make it pay — if only I’m master! If I’d had the management of the money it would have been paying now, and there’d have been no need to ask help from anybody. Once let me get that rent paid, and perhaps have a bit of money to go on with, and then I shall have Perris under my thumb, and there I’ll keep him. Oh, he’s a good farmer, and a good worker, is Perris, so long as he’s made to work, and I can make him. I made him work like a nigger to-day, I can assure you, Mr. Taffendale.”
Taffendale laughed delightedly. His neighbour’s wife was beginning to amuse, as well as interest, him.
“How?” he asked.
“I told him if there wasn’t so much work done by dinner-time there’d be no dinner,” answered Rhoda, with a flash of her grey eyes and her white teeth; “and if there wasn’t so much more done by supper-time there’d be no supper. He worked right enough, did Perris, after that, for he knew I meant what I said. But that’s Perris all over. He wants a master. Let me get the chance, and I’ll master him: I’ll keep him at it till he’s made that farm pay, or I’ll know why. He’s weak, is Perris, and he’s let things slide, and I was that silly that I didn’t see how it was all going. But I see now, and I see how I can right ’em. It’s never too late to mend, Mr. Taffendale.”
Taffendale laughed again. He had risen from his chair, and, hands plunged in his breeches pockets, was standing at an angle of the fire-place, looking down at his visitor with the amused eyes of a man to whom something new and entertaining is presented. And suddenly he blurted out the thought that was in his mind.
“However came a woman like you to marry a man like Perris?” he exclaimed. “How was it?”
Rhoda looked quickly up and met his inquiring gaze with eyes of childlike candour.
“Well, you see, Mr. Taffendale, it was like this,” she answered. “My poor father, he had the foolishness to have a very big family — there’s eleven of us, all alive, and I was the eldest of the lot. And he’s naught but a little farmer, and, as you know, Mr. Taffendale, little farmers is sore put to it to make ends meet, and to scratch a living, at the best of times; and, of course, when there’s a family as big as that you can guess what it’s like — shameful, I call it, for folk to have such families! However, that’s neither here nor there — eleven of us there was, and eight of us girls, which made it all the worse; and, of course, it was about all we could do to scrape along And then when I grew up it came to it that the older ones had to go out to work. And what can such-like as we do, Mr. Taffendale? We never had any education, except such as there was at the village school, so there was naught for it but going to service. Well, I was in service at the Squire’s for three or four years, and I didn’t like it because I wanted to be my own mistress — I’ve a good deal of pride about me, Mr. Taffendale. And then when I was nineteen, Perris yonder came along, and he said he’d taken this Cherry-trees farm at Martinsthorpe here, and he’d five hundred pounds in the bank, and he wanted a wife, and — and so, well, I married him, Mr. Taffendale. That’s how it was.”
Taffendale, who had watched Rhoda closely while she gave him this history of her career, nodded his head.
“Aye, I see, I see,” he said. “You’ve never had any children?”
Rhoda, who had kept her eyes fixed on his while she talked, turned them swiftly away, and he saw a curious flicker play for an instant around the corner of her lips.
“No,” she answered quietly. “We’ve had no children, Mr. Taffendale.”
Taffendale took his hands out of his pockets and his pipe out of his mouth, and moved across the room to an old bureau which stood, filled with books and papers, in one corner. He sat down, turning the papers over.
“Let’s see, Mrs. Perris,” he said. “How many acres is that Cherry-tree farm?”
“It’s sixty-seven acres, Mr. Taffendale,” answered Rhoda.
“And what’s the rent?” he asked. “I used to know, but I’ve forgotten.”
“It’s twenty-six shillings an acre, Mr. Taffendale,” she replied.
Taffendale made a rapid calculation.
“Eighty-seven pounds, two shillings a year,” he said presently. “And there’s how much rent owing, Mrs. Perris?”
“Only half a year’s, Mr. Taffendale,” she answered. “This last half-year. All’s clear up to then. And, what’s more, I made sure to-day that there’s naught else owing.”
Taffendale turned his back upon her, and for the next minute or two occupied himself in writing. When he turned round again, he rose and handed her a slip of pink paper.
“There’s a hundred,” he said carelessly. “Now, mind, Mrs. Perris, I’m lending that to you, not to Perris. You’ll observe I’ve made the cheque out to ‘cash’ — you cash it yourself to-morrow when you go to market. Give Perris the exact amount that is needed when he goes to pay his rent at the Dancing Bear next week, and take care of the rest yourself. And you run that place as you’ve told me you would, and you’ll make it pay.”
Rhoda stood up, trembling. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes shone, and Taffendale suddenly grasped the fact that she was a very handsome woman. Affecting unconcern, he picked up his glass and nodded to her.
“Here’s good luck to you!” he said laughingly. “You seem a good hand at business, Mrs. Perris.” Rhoda’s flushed cheeks deepened in colour.
“I don’t know what to say to thank you, Mr. Taffendale,” she said in a low voice. “It’s hard to find the right words, and—”
“Then don’t bother to find them,” Taffendale broke in. “I’m glad to help you. There’s one thing — if I were you, I should tell your husband who’s helped you. And then, perhaps, you could just have that bit of talk with him — eh? — about pulling things round.”
Rhoda’s eyes flashed back her recognition of his meaning.
“Oh, I’ll tell him!” she answered. “I’ll tell him, Mr. Taffendale! And — I’ll talk to him. You’ll see I’ll straighten things up down there. And now I’ll go — and thank you, again.”
“You aren’t afraid of going home alone?” he asked, looking at her narrowly.
“I’m afraid of nothing,” she said quietly. “I’ve walked lonelier roads than this, and later at night.”
Taffendale walked down to the garden gate with her, and lingered there for some time listening to her retreating footsteps. When at last he went back to the parlour he looked at the chair in which his visitor had sat, and for a moment he seemed to see her still sitting there, and the parlour was warm and alive with the remembrance of her womanhood.
V
PERRIS, HEARING NEXT morning just as much as Rhoda chose that he should hear, was conscious of only two feelings — the first, of relief at the knowledge that the half-year’s rent was going to be paid; the second, of unbounded admiration at his wife’s cleverness in raising a loan. He began to laugh foolishly.
“Gow, but that were a rare clever notion on your part, Rhoda, my lass!” he exclaimed, slapping his bony knees. “Ecod, I should never ha’ conceived that there notion as long as I lived! I mun express my obligations to Mestur Taffendale when I meet him at t’ rent dinner, and, of course, we mun aim to repay him his loan as soon as we can. I expect he’d hand yer t’ amount in a cheque — what? — so I can get t cash for it when I go t’ market to-day. I’ll get myself cleaned up, and be off afore noon.”
