by George Moore
William did not like going into the hospital; it would be a bad omen. If he did, he felt sure that Chasuble would not win.
“What has going or not going to the hospital to do with Chasuble’s chance of winning the Cambridgeshire?” said the doctor. “This window is loose in its sash, a draught comes under the door, and if you close out the draughts the atmosphere of the room becomes stuffy. You’re thinking of going abroad; a fortnight’s nice rest is just what you want to set you up for your journey.”
So he allowed himself to be persuaded; he was taken to the hospital, and Esther remained at home waiting for the fateful afternoon. Now that the dying man was taken from her she had no work to distract her thought. The unanswerable question — would Chasuble win? — was always before her. She saw the slender greyhound creatures as she had seen them at Epsom, through a sea of heads and hats, and she asked herself if Chasuble was the brown horse that had galloped in first, or the chestnut that had trotted in last. She often thought she was going mad — her head seemed like it — a sensation of splitting like a piece of calico…. She went to see her boy. Jack was a great tall fellow of fifteen, and had happily lost none of his affection for his mother, and great sweetness rose up within her. She looked at his long, straight, yellow-stockinged legs; she settled the collar of his cloak, and slipped her fingers into his leathern belt as they walked side by side. He was bare-headed, according to the fashion of his school, and she kissed the wild, dark curls with which his head was run over; they were much brighter in colour when he was a little boy — those days when she slaved seventeen hours a day for his dear life! But he paid her back tenfold for the hardship she had undergone.
She listened to the excellent report his masters gave of his progress, and walked through the quadrangles and the corridors with him, thinking of the sound of his voice as he told her the story of his classes and his studies. She must live for him; though for herself she had had enough of life. But, thank God, she had her darling boy, and whatever unhappiness there might be in store for her she would bear it for his sake. He knew that his father was ill, but she refrained and told him no word of the tragedy that was hanging over them. The noble instincts which were so intrinsically Esther Waters’ told her that it were a pity to soil at the outset a young life with a sordid story, and though it would have been an inexpressible relief to her to have shared her trouble with her boy, she forced back her tears and courageously bore her cross alone, without once allowing its edge to touch him.
And every day that visitors were allowed she went to the hospital with the newspaper containing the last betting. “Chasuble, ten to one taken,” William read out. The mare had advanced three points, and William looked at Esther inquiringly, and with hope in his eyes.
“I think she’ll win,” he said, raising himself in his cane chair.
“I hope so, dear,” she murmured, and she settled his cushions.
Two days after the mare was back again at thirteen to one taken and offered; she went back even as far as eighteen to one, and then returned for a while to twelve to one. This fluctuation meant that something was wrong, and William began to lose hope. But on the following day the mare was backed to win a good deal of money at Tattersall’s, and once more she stood at ten to one. Seeing her back at the old price made William look so hopeful that a patient stopped as he passed down the corridor, and catching sight of the Sportsman on William’s lap, he asked him if he was interested in racing. William told him that he was, and that if Chasuble won he would be able to go to Egypt.
“Them that has money can buy health as well as everything else. We’d all get well if we could get out there.”
William told him how much he stood to win.
“That’ll keep you going long enough to set you straight. You say the mare’s backed at ten to one — two hundred to twenty. I wonder if I could get the money. I might sell up the ‘ouse.”
But before he had time to realise the necessary money the mare was driven back to eighteen to one, and he said —
“She won’t win. I might as well leave the wife in the ‘ouse. There’s no luck for them that comes ’ere.”
On the day of the race Esther walked through the streets like one daft, stupidly interested in the passers-by and the disputes that arose between the drivers of cabs and omnibuses. Now and then her thoughts collected, and it seemed to her impossible that the mare should win. If she did they would have £2,500, and would go to Egypt. But she could not imagine such a thing; it seemed so much more natural that the horse should lose, and that her husband should die, and that she should have to face the world once more. She offered up prayers that Chasuble might win, although it did not seem right to address God on the subject, but her heart often felt like breaking, and she had to do something. And she had no doubt that God would forgive her. But now that the day had come she did not feel as if he had granted her request. At the same time it did not seem possible that her husband was going to die. It was all so hard to understand.
She stopped at the “Bell and Horns” to see what the time was, and was surprised to find it was half-an-hour later than she had expected. The race was being run, Chasuble’s hoofs were deciding whether her husband was to live or die. It was on the wire by this time. The wires were distinct upon a blue and dove-coloured sky. Did that one go to Newmarket, or the other? Which?
The red building came in sight, and a patient walked slowly up the walk, his back turned to her; another had sat down to rest. Sixteen years ago patients were walking there then, and the leaves were scattering then just as now…. Without transition of thought she wondered when the first boy would appear with the news. William was not in the grounds; he was upstairs behind those windows. Poor fellow, she could fancy him sitting there. Perhaps he was watching for her out of one of those windows. But there was no use her going up until she had the news; she must wait for the paper. She walked up and down listening for the cry. Every now and then expectation led her to mistake some ordinary cry for the terrible “Win-ner, all the win-ner,” with which the whole town would echo in a few minutes. She hastened forward. No, it was not it. At last she heard the word shrieked behind her. She hastened after the boy, but failed to overtake him. Returning, she met another, gave him a half-penny and took a paper. Then she remembered she must ask the boy to tell her who won. But heedless of her question he had run across the road to sell papers to some men who had come out of a public-house. She must not give William the paper and wait for him to read the news to her. If the news were bad the shock might kill him. She must learn first what the news was, so that her face and manner might prepare him for the worst if need be. So she offered the paper to the porter and asked him to tell her. “Bramble, King of Trumps, Young Hopeful,” he read out.
“Are you sure that Chasuble hasn’t won?”
“Of course I’m sure, there it is.”
“I can’t read,” she said as she turned away.
The news had stunned her; the world seemed to lose reality; she was uncertain what to do, and several times repeated to herself, “There’s nothing for it but to go up and tell him. I don’t see what else I can do.” The staircase was very steep; she climbed it slowly, and stopped at the first landing and looked out of the window. A poor hollow-chested creature, the wreck of a human being, struggled up behind her. He had to rest several times, and in the hollow building his cough sounded loud and hollow. “It isn’t generally so loud as that,” she thought, and wondered how she could tell William the news. “He wanted to see Jack grow up to be a man. He thought that we might all go to Egypt, and that he’d get quite well there, for there’s plenty of sunshine there, but now he’ll have to make up his mind to die in the November fogs.” Her thoughts came strangely clear, and she was astonished at her indifference, until a sudden revulsion of feeling took her as she was going up the last flight. She couldn’t tell him the news; it was too cruel. She let the patient pass her, and when alone on the landing she looked down into the depth. She thought she’d like
to fall over; anything rather than to do what she knew she must do. But her cowardice only endured for a moment, and with a firm step she walked into the corridor. It seemed to cross the entire building, and was floored and wainscotted with the same brown varnished wood as the staircase. There were benches along the walls; and emaciated and worn-out men lay on the long cane chairs in the windowed recesses by which the passage was lighted. The wards, containing sometimes three, sometimes six or seven beds, opened on to this passage. The doors of the wards were all open, and as she passed along she started at the sight of a boy sitting up in bed. His head had been shaved and only a slight bristle covered the crown. The head and face were a large white mass with two eyes. At the end of the passage there was a window; and William sat there reading a book. He saw her before she saw him, and when she caught sight of him she stopped, holding the paper loose before her between finger and thumb, and as she approached she saw that her manner had already broken the news to him.
“I see that she didn’t win,” he said.
“No, dear, she didn’t win. We wasn’t lucky this time: next time—”
“There is no next time, at least for me. I shall be far away from here when flat racing begins again. The November fogs will do for me, I feel that they will. I hope there’ll be no lingering, that’s all. Better to know the worst and make up your mind. So I have to go, have I? So there’s no hope, and I shall be under ground before the next meeting. I shall never lay or take the odds again. It do seem strange. If only that mare had won. I knew damned well she wouldn’t if I came here.”
Then, catching sight of the pained look on his wife’s face, he said, “I don’t suppose it made no difference; it was to be, and what has to be has to be. I’ve got to go under ground. I felt it was to be all along. Egypt would have done me no good; I never believed in it — only a lot of false hope. You don’t think what I say is true. Look ’ere, do you know what book this is? This is the Bible; that’ll prove to you that I knew the game was up. I knew, I can’t tell you how, but I knew the mare wouldn’t win. One always seems to know. Even when I backed her I didn’t feel about her like I did about the other one, and ever since I’ve been feeling more and more sure that it wasn’t to be. Somehow it didn’t seem likely, and to-day something told me that the game was up, so I asked for this book…. There’s wonderful beautiful things in it.”
“There is, indeed, Bill; and I hope you won’t get tired of it, but will go on reading it.”
“It’s extraordinary how consoling it is. Listen to this. Isn’t it beautiful; ain’t them words heavenly?”
“They is, indeed. I knew you’d come to God at last.”
“I’m afraid I’ve not led a good life. I wouldn’t listen to you when you used to tell me of the lot of harm the betting used to bring on the poor people what used to come to our place. There’s Sarah, I suppose she’s out of prison by this. You’ve seen nothing of her, I suppose?”
“No, nothing.”
“There was Ketley.”
“No, Bill, don’t let’s think about it. If you’re truly sorry, God will forgive.”
“Do you think He will — and the others that we know nothing about? I wouldn’t listen to you; I was headstrong, but I understand it all now. My eyes ‘ave been opened. Them pious folk that got up the prosecution knew what they was about. I forgive them one and all.”
William coughed a little. The conversation paused, and the cough was repeated down the corridor. Now it came from the men lying on the long cane chairs; now from the poor emaciated creature, hollow cheeks, brown eyes and beard, who had just come out of his ward and had sat down on a bench by the wall. Now it came from an old man six feet high, with snow-white hair. He sat near them, and worked assiduously at a piece of tapestry. “It’ll be better when it’s cut,” he said to one of the nurses, who had stopped to compliment him on his work; “it’ll be better when it’s cut.” Then the cough came from one of the wards, and Esther thought of the fearsome boy sitting bolt up, his huge tallow-like face staring through the silence of the room. A moment after the cough came from her husband’s lips, and they looked at each other. Both wanted to speak, and neither knew what to say. At last William spoke.
“I was saying that I never had that feeling about Chasuble as one ‘as about a winner. Did she run second? Just like my luck if she did. Let me see the paper.”
Esther handed it to him.
“Bramble, a fifty to one chance, not a man in a hundred backed her; King of Trumps, there was some place money lost on him; Young Hopeful, a rank outsider. What a day for the bookies!”
“You mustn’t think of them things no more,” said Esther. “You’ve got the Book; it’ll do you more good.”
“If I’d only have thought of Bramble… I could have had a hundred to one against Matchbox and Bramble coupled.”
“What’s the use of thinking of things that’s over? We should think of the future.”
“If I’d only been able to hedge that bet I should have been able to leave you something to go on with, but now, when everything is paid for, you’ll have hardly a five-pound note. You’ve been a good wife to me, and I’ve been a bad husband to you.”
“Bill, you mustn’t speak like that. You must try to make your peace with God. Think of Him. He’ll think of us that you leave behind. I’ve always had faith in Him. He’ll not desert me.”
Her eyes were quite dry; the instinct of life seemed to have left her. They spoke some little while longer, until it was time for visitors to leave the hospital. It was not until she got into the Fulham Road that tears began to run down her cheeks; they poured faster and faster, like rain after long dry weather. The whole world disappeared in a mist of tears. And so overcome was she by her grief that she had to lean against the railings, and then the passers-by turned and looked at her curiously.
XLIV
WITH FAIR WEATHER he might hold on till Christmas, but if much fog was about he would go off with the last leaves. One day Esther received a letter asking her to defer her visit from Friday to Sunday. He hoped to be better on Sunday, and then they would arrange when she should come to take him away. He begged of her to have Jack home to meet him. He wanted to see his boy before he died.
Mrs. Collins, a woman who lived in the next room, read the letter to Esther.
“If you can, do as he wishes. Once they gets them fancies into their heads there’s no getting them out.”
“If he leaves the hospital on a day like this it’ll be the death of him.”
Both women went to the window. The fog was so thick that only an outline here and there was visible of the houses opposite. The lamps burnt low, mournful, as in a city of the dead, and the sounds that rose out of the street added to the terror of the strange darkness.
“What do he say about Jack? That I’m to send for him. It’s natural he should like to see the boy before he goes, but it would be cheerfuller to take him to the hospital.”
“You see, he wants to die at home; he wants you to be with him at the last.”
“Yes, I want to see the last of him. But the boy, where’s he to sleep?”
“We can lay a mattress down in my room — an old woman like me, it don’t matter.”
Sunday morning was harsh and cold, and when she came out of South Kensington Station a fog was rising in the squares, and a great whiff of yellow cloud drifted down upon the house-tops. In the Fulham road the tops of the houses disappeared, and the light of the third gas-lamp was not visible.
“This is the sort of weather that takes them off. I can hardly breathe it myself.”
Everything was shadow-like; those walking in front of her passed out of sight like shades, and once she thought she must have missed her way, though that was impossible, for her way was quite straight…. Suddenly the silhouette of the winged building rose up enormous on the sulphur sky. The low-lying gardens were full of poisonous vapour, and the thin trees seemed like the ghosts of consumptive men. The porter coughed like a dead man as she passed, and
he said, “Bad weather for the poor sick ones upstairs.”
She was prepared for a change for the worse, but she did not expect to see a living man looking so like a dead one.
He could no longer lie back in bed and breathe, so he was propped up with pillows, and he looked even as shadow-like as those she had half seen in the fog-cloud. There was fog even in the ward, and the lights burned red in the silence. There were five beds — low iron bedsteads — and each was covered with a dark red rug. In the furthest corner lay the wreck of a great working man. He wore his hob-nails and his corduroys, and his once brawny arm lay along his thigh, shrivelled and powerless as a child’s. In the middle of the room a little clerk, wasted and weary, without any strength at all, lay striving for breath. The navvy was alone; the little clerk had his family round him, his wife and his two children, a baby in arms and a little boy three years old. The doctor had just come in, and the woman was prattling gaily about her confinement. She said —
“I was up the following week. Wonderful what we women can go through. No one would think it…. brought the childer to see their father; they is a little idol to him, poor fellow.”
“How are you to-day, dearie?” Esther said, as she took a seat by her husband’s bed.
“Better than I was on Friday, but this weather’ll do for me if it continues much longer…. You see them two beds? They died yesterday, and I’ve ‘eard that three or four that left the hospital are gone, too.”
The doctor came to William’s bed. “Well, are you still determined to go home?” he said.
“Yes; I’d like to die at home. You can’t do nothing for me…. I’d like to die at home; I want to see my boy.”
“You can see Jack here,” said Esther.
“I’d sooner see him at ‘ome…. I suppose you don’t want the trouble of a death in the ‘ouse.”
“Oh, William, how can you speak so!” The patient coughed painfully, and leaned against the pillows, unable to speak.