Jonah

by Louis Stone

  In his experience he had observed with some curiosity that drink and women were alike in throwing men off their balance. Drink, fortunately, had no power over him. Beer only fuddled his brain, and he looked on its effect with the curious dislike women look on smoking, blind to its fascinations. As for women, Ada was the only one he had ever been on intimate terms with, and, judging by his sensations, people who talked about love were either fools or liars. True, he had heard Chook talking like a fool about Pinkey, swearing that he couldn’t live without her, but thought naturally that he lied. And they had quarrelled so fiercely over the colour of her hair, that for years each looked the other way when they met in the street. But as he looked at Clara again, something vibrated within him, and he was conscious of nothing but a desire to look at her and hear her speak.

  “My idea was to buy a piano, an’ then yer could give Ray ’is lessons at ’ome,” he said.

  “That is the only way out of the difficulty,” said Clara.

  Jonah thought awhile, and made up his mind with a snap.

  “Could yer come with me now, an’ pick me a piano? I can tell a boot by the smell of the leather, but pianos are out of my line.”

  Clara’s manner changed instantly as she thought of the commission she would get from Kramer’s, where she had a running account for music.

  “I shall be only too pleased,” she said.

  As they left the house she remembered, with a slight repugnance, Jonah’s deformity. She hoped people wouldn’t notice them as they went down the street. But to her surprise and relief, Jonah hailed a passing cab.

  “Time’s money to me,” he said, with an apologetic look.

  Cabs were a luxury in Buckland Street, and Clara was delighted. She felt suddenly on the level of the rich people who could afford to ride where others trudged afoot. She leaned forward, hoping that the people would notice her.

  At Kramer’s she took charge of Jonah as a guide takes charge of tourists in a foreign land, anxious to show him that she was at home among this display of expensive luxuries. The floor was packed with pianos, glittering with varnish which reflected the strong light of the street. From another room came a monotonous sound repeated indefinitely, a tuner at work on a piano.

  The salesman stepped up, glancing at the hunchback with the quick look of surprise which Clara had noticed in others. They stopped in front of an open piano, and Clara, taking off her gloves, ran her fingers over the keys. The rich, singing notes surprised Jonah; they were quite unlike those he had heard on Clara’s piano. Clara played as much as she could remember of “The Wind Among the Pines”, and Jonah decided to buy that one.

  “’Ow much is that?” he inquired.

  “A hundred guineas,” replied the shopman, indifferently.

  “Garn! Yer kiddin’?” cried Jonah, astounded.

  The salesman looked in surprise from Jonah to Clara. She coloured slightly. Jonah saw that she was annoyed. The salesman led them to another instrument, and, with less deference in his tone, remarked that this was the firm’s special cheap line at fifty guineas. But Jonah had noticed the change in Clara’s manner, and decided against the cheaper instrument instantly. They thought he wasn’t good for a hundred quid, did they? Well, he would show them. But, to his surprise, Clara opposed the idea. The Steinbech, she explained, was an instrument for artists. It would be a sacrilege for a beginner to touch it. Jonah persisted, but the shopman agreed with Clara that the celebrated Ropp at eighty guineas would meet his wants. A long discussion followed, and Jonah listened while Clara tried to beat the salesman down below catalogue price for cash. Here was a woman after his own heart, who could drive a bargain with the best of them. At the end of half an hour Jonah filled in a cheque for eighty guineas, and the salesman, reading the signature, bowed them deferentially out of the shop.

  Clara walked out of the shop with the air of a millionaire. To be brought in contact even for a moment with this golden stream of sovereigns excited her like wine. All her life she had desired things whose price put them beyond her reach, and she felt suddenly friendly to this man who took what he wanted regardless of cost. She thought pleasantly of the ride home in the cab, but she was pulled up with a jerk when Jonah led the way to the tram. He wore an anxious look, as if he had spent more than he could afford, and yet the money was a mere flea-bite to him. But whenever he spent money, a panic terror seized him—a survival of the street-arab’s instinct, who counted his money in pennies instead of pounds.

  14

  ADA MAKES A FRIEND

  Ada moved uneasily, opened her eyes and stared at the patch of light on the opposite wall. As she lay half awake, she tried to remember the day of the week, and, deceived by the morning silence, decided that it was Sunday. She thought, with lazy pleasure, that a day of idleness lay before her, and felt under the pillow for the tin of lollies that she hid there every night. This movement awakened her completely, and stretching her limbs luxuriously between the warm sheets, she began to suck the lollies, at first slowly revolving the sticky globules on her tongue, and then scrunching them between her firm teeth with the tranquil pleasure of a quadruped.

  This was her only pleasure and the only pleasant hour of the day. She looked at Jonah, who lay on his side with his nose buried in the pillow, without repugnance and without liking. That had gone long ago. And as she looked, she remembered that he was to be awakened early and that it was Friday the hardest day of the week, when she must make up her arrears of scrubbing and dusting. Her luxurious mood changed to one of dull irritation, and she looked sullenly at the enormous wardrobe and dressing-table with their speckled mirrors. These had delighted her at first, but in her heart she preferred the battered, makeshift furniture of Cardigan Street. A few licks with the duster and her work was done; but here the least speck of dust showed on the polished surface. Jonah, too, had got into a nasty habit of writing insulting words on the dusty surface with his finger.

  Well, let him! There had been endless trouble since he bought the piano. As sure as Miss Grimes came to give Ray his lesson, he declared the place was a pigsty and tried to shame her by taking off his coat and dusting the room himself. Not that she blamed Miss Grimes. She was quite a lady in her way, and had won Ada’s heart by telling her that she hated housework. She thought Ada must be a born housekeeper to do without a servant, and Ada didn’t trouble to put her right. Anyhow, Jonah should keep a servant. He pretended that their servants in Wyndham Street had made game of her behind her back, and robbed her right and left. What did that matter? she thought—Jonah could afford it.

  The real reason was that he wanted no one in the house to see how he treated his wife. She cared little herself whether she had a girl or not, for she had always been accustomed to make work easy by neglecting it. If Jonah wanted a floor that you could eat your dinner off, let him get a servant. He was as mean as dirt. A fat lot she got out of his money. Here she was, shut up in these rooms, little better than a prisoner, for her old pals never dared show their noses in this house, and she could never go out without all the shophands knowing it. She never bought a new dress, but Jonah stormed like a madman, declaring that she looked like a servant dressed up. Well, her clothes knocked Cardigan Street endways when she paid her mother a visit, and that was all she wanted.

  There was her mother, too. She had never been a real mother to her; you could never tell what she was thinking about. Other people took their troubles to her, but she treated her own daughter like a stranger. And, of course, she sided with Jonah and talked till her jaw ached about her duty to her child and her husband. She would have married Tom Mullins if it hadn’t been for the kid, and lived in Cardigan Street like her pals. Her thoughts travelled back to Packard’s and the Road. She remembered with intense longing the group at the corner, the drunken rows, and the nightly gossip on the doorstep. That was life for her. She had been like a fish out of water ever since she left it. She thought with singular bitterness of Jonah’s attempts to introduce her to the wives of the men he met
in business, women who knew not Cardigan Street, and annoyed her by staring at her hands, and talking of their troubles with servants till they made her sick.

  Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Jonah. He turned in his sleep and pushed the sheet from his face, but a loud scrunch from Ada’s jaw woke him completely. He tugged at the pillow and his hand fell on the tin of sticky lollies.

  “Bah!” he cried in disgust, and rubbed his fingers on the sheet. “Only kids eat that muck.”

  “Kid yerself!” cried Ada furiously. “Anybody ’ud think I was eatin’ di’monds. Yer’d grudge me the air I breathe, if yer thought it cost money.”

  “Yah, git up an’ light the fire!” replied Jonah.

  “Yes, that’s me all over. Anybody else ’ud keep a servant; but as long as I’m fool enough ter slave an’ drudge, yer save the expense.”

  “You slave an’ drudge?” cried Jonah in scorn—“that was in yer dream. Are yer sure ye’re awake?”

  “Yes, I am awake, an’ let me tell yer that it’s the talk of the neighbourhood that yer’ve got thousands in the bank, an’ too mean ter keep a servant.”

  “That’s a lie, an’ yer know it!” cried Jonah. “Didn’t yez ’ave a girl in Wyndham Street, an’ didn’t she pinch enough things to set up ’er sister’s ’ouse w’en she got married?”

  “Yous couldn’t prove it,” said Ada, sullenly.

  “No, I couldn’t prove it without showing everybody wot sort of wife I’d got.”

  “She’s a jolly sight too good fer yous, an’ well yer know it.”

  “Yes, that’s wot I complain of,” said Jonah. “I’d prefer a wife like other men ’ave that can mind their ’ouse, an’ not make a ’oly show of themselves w’en they take ’em out.”

  “A fat lot yer take me out!”

  “Take yous out! Yah! Look at yer neck!”

  Ada flushed a sullen red. So far the quarrel had been familiar and commonplace, like a conversation about the weather, but her neck, hidden under grubby lace, was Ada’s weak point.

  “Look at the hump on yer back before yer talk about my neck,” she shouted. It was the first time she had ever dared to taunt Jonah with his deformity, and the sound of her words frightened her. He would strike her for certain.

  Jonah’s face turned white. He raised himself on his elbow and clenched his fist, the hard, knotty fist of the shoemaker swinging at the end of the unnaturally long arms, another mark of his deformity. Jonah had never struck her—contrary to the habit of Cardigan Street—finding that he could hit harder with his tongue; but it was coming now, and she nerved herself for the blow. But Jonah’s hand dropped helplessly.

  “You low, dirty bitch,” he said. “If a man said that to me, I’d strangle him. I took yer out of the factory, I married yer, an’ worked day an’ night ter git on in the world, an’ that’s yer thanks. Pity I didn’t leave yer in the gutter w’ere yer belonged. I wonder who yer take after? Not after yer mother. She is clean an’ wholesome. Any other woman would take an interest in my business, an’ be a help to a man; but you’re like a millstone round my neck. I thought I’d done with Cardigan Street, an’ the silly loafers I grew up with, but s’elp me Gawd, when I married you I married Cardigan Street. I could put up with yer want of brains—you don’t want much brains ter git through this world—but it’s yer nasty, sulky temper, an’ yer bone idleness. I suppose yer git them from yer lovely father. The ’ardest work ’e ever did was to drink beer. It’s a wonder yer don’t take after ’im in that. I suppose I’ve got something to be thankful for.”

  “Yes, I suppose yer’d like me ter drink meself ter death, so as yer could marry again. But yer needn’t fear I’ll last yous out,” cried Ada, recovering her tongue now that she was no longer in fear of a blow.

  “Ah well, yer can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, they say,” said Jonah. There was an intense weariness in his voice as he turned his back on Ada.

  “No more than yer can make a man out of a monkey on a stick,” muttered Ada to herself as she got out of bed.

  Ada got the breakfast and went about the house in sullen silence. Jonah was used to this. For days together after a quarrel she would sulk without speaking, proud of her stubborn temper that forced others to give in first. And they would sit down to meals and pass one another in the rooms, watching each other’s movements to avoid the necessity for speaking. The day had begun badly for Ada, and her anger increased as she brooded over her wrongs. Heavy and sullen by nature, her wrath came to a head hours after the provocation, burning with a steady heat when others were cooling down.

  But as she was pegging out some towels in the yard she heard a discreet cough on the other side of the fence. Ada recognized the signal. It was her neighbour, the woman with the hairy lip, housekeeper to Aaron the Jew. It had taken Ada weeks to discover Mrs Herring’s physical defect, which she humoured by shaving. Now Ada could tell in an instant whether she was shaven or hairy, for when her lip bristled with hairs for lack of the razor, she peered over the fence so as to hide the lower part of her face. Ada, being used to such things, thought at first she was hiding a black eye. But who was there to give her one? Aaron the pawnbroker, not being her husband, could not take such a liberty.

  She had introduced herself over the fence the week of Ada’s arrival, giving her the history of the neighbourhood in an unceasing flow of perfect English, her voice never rising above a whisper. For days she would disappear altogether, and then renew the conversation by coughing gently on her side of the fence. This morning her lip was shaven, and she leaned over the fence, full of gossip. But Ada’s sullen face caught her eye, and instantly she was full of sympathy, a peculiar look of falsity shining in her light blue eyes.

  “Why, what’s the matter, dearie?” she inquired.

  “Oh, nuthin’,” said Ada roughly.

  “Ah, you mustn’t tell me that! When my poor husband was alive, I’ve often looked in my glass and seen a face like that. He was my husband, and I suppose I should say no more, but men never brought any happiness to me or any other woman that I know of. The first day I set eyes on you, I said, ‘That’s an unhappy woman.’”

  “Well, yer needn’t tell the bloomin’ street,” growled Ada.

  “What you want is love and sympathy, but I suppose your husband is too busy making money to spare the time for that. Ah, many’s the time, when my poor dear husband was alive, did I pine for a kind word, and get a black look instead! And a woman can turn to no one in a trouble like that. She feels as if her own door had been slammed in her face. What you want is a cheerful outing with a sympathetic friend, but I hear you’re little more than a prisoner in your own house.”

  “Who told yer that?” cried Ada, flushing angrily.

  “A little bird told me,” said the woman, with a false grin.

  “Well, I’d wring its neck, if I ’eard it,” cried Ada. “And as fer bein’ a prisoner, I’m goin’ out this very afternoon.”

  “Why, how curious!” cried Mrs Herring. “This is my afternoon out. We could have a pleasant chat, if you have nothing better to do.”

  Ada hesitated. Jonah always wanted to know where she was going, and had forbidden her to make friends with the neighbours, for in Cardigan Street friendship with neighbours generally ended in a fight or the police court. She had never defied Jonah before, but her anger was burning with a steady flame. She’d show him!

  “I’ll meet yer at three o’clock opposite the church,” she cried, and walked away.

  She gave Jonah his meal in silence, and sent Ray off on a message before two o’clock. But Jonah seemed to have nothing to do this afternoon, and sat, contrary to custom, reading the newspaper. Ada watched the clock anxiously, fearing she would be baulked. But, as luck would have it, Jonah was suddenly called into the shop, and the coast was clear. It never took Ada long to dress; her clothes always looked as if they had been thrown on with a pitchfork, and she slipped down the outside stairs into the lane at the back. It was the first time she had
gone out without telling Jonah where she was going and when she would be back. And afterwards she could never understand why she crept out in this furtive manner. Mrs Herring was waiting, dressed in dingy black, a striking contrast to Ada’s flaring colours. They walked up Regent Street, as Mrs Herring said she wanted to buy a thimble. But when they reached Redfern Street, Mrs Herring put her hand suddenly to her breast and cried “Oh, dearie, if you could feel how my heart is beating! I really feel as if I am going to faint. I’ve suffered for years with my heart, and the doctor told me always to take a drop of something soothing, when I had an attack.”

  They were opposite the Angel, no longer sinister and forbidding in the broad daylight. The enormous lamps hung white and opaque; the huge mirrors reflected the cheerful light of the afternoon sun. The establishment seemed harmless and respectable, like the grocer’s or baker’s. But from the swinging doors came a strong odour of alcohol, enveloping the two women in a vinous caress that stirred hidden desires like a strong perfume.

  “Do you think we could slip in here without being seen?” said the housekeeper.

  “If ye’re so bad as all that, we can,” replied Ada.

  Mrs Herring turned and slipped in at the side door with the dexterity of customers entering a pawnshop, and Ada followed, slightly bewildered. The housekeeper, seeming quite familiar with the turnings, led the way to a small room at the back. Ada looked round with great curiosity. She had never entered a hotel before in this furtive fashion. In Cardigan Street she had always fetched her mother’s beer in a jug from the bar. On the walls were two sporting prints of dogs chasing a hare, and a whisky calendar. On the table was a small gong, which Mrs Herring rang. Cassidy himself, the landlord, answered the ring.