by J. M. Barrie
CHAPTER XXXIV
WHO TOLD TOMMY TO SPEAK
"Miss Alison Cray presents her compliments to--and requests the favor oftheir company at her marriage with Mr. Ivie McLean, on January 8th, atsix o'clock."
Tommy in his Sabbath clothes, with a rose from the Dovecot hot-house forbuttonhole (which he slipped into his pocket when he saw other boysapproaching), delivered them at the doors of the aristocracy, where, bythe way, he had been a few weeks earlier, with another circular.
"Miss Alison Cray being about to give up school, has pleasure in statingthat she has disposed of the good-will of her establishment to MissJessy Langlands and Miss S. Oram, who will enter upon their scholasticduties on January 9th, at Hoods Cottage, where she most cordially," andso on.
Here if the writer dared (but you would be so angry) he would introduceat the length of a chapter two brand-new characters, the MissesLanglands and Oram, who suddenly present themselves to him in the mostsympathetic light. Miss Ailie has been safely stowed to port, but theirlittle boat is only setting sail, and they are such young ones, neitherout of her teens, that he would fain turn for a time from her to them.Twelve pounds they paid for the good-will, and, oh, the excitingdiscussions, oh, the scraping to get the money together! If little MissLanglands had not been so bold, big Miss Oram must have drawn back, butif Miss Oram had not had that idea about a paper partition, of whatavail the boldness of Miss Langlands? How these two trumps of girlssucceeded in hiring the Painted Lady's spinet from Nether Drumgley--inthe absence of his wife, who on her way home from buying a cochin-chinamet the spinet in a cart--how the mother of one of them, realizing in aklink that she was common no more, henceforth wore black caps instead ofmutches (but the father dandered on in the old plebeian way), what theenterprise meant to a young man in distant Newcastle, whose favoritename was Jessy, how the news travelled to still more distant Canada,where a family of emigrants which had left its Sarah behind in Thrums,could talk of nothing else for weeks--it is hard to have to pass onwithout dwelling on these things, and indeed--but pass on we must.
The chief figure at the wedding of Miss Ailie was undoubtedly Mr. T.Sandys. When one remembers his prominence, it is difficult to think thatthe wedding could have taken place without him. It was he (in hisSabbath clothes again, and now flaunting his buttonhole brazenly) whoin insulting language ordered the rabble to stand back there. It was hewho dashed out to the 'Sosh to get a hundred ha'pennies for the fiftypennies Mr. McLean had brought to toss into the air. It was he who wentround in the carriage to pick up the guests and whisked them in and out,and slammed the door, and saw to it that the minister was not keptwaiting, and warned Miss Ailie that if she did not come now they shouldbegin without her. It was he who stood near her with a handkerchiefready in his hand lest she took to crying on her new brown silk (MissAilie was married in brown silk after all). As a crown to his audacity,it was he who told Mr. Dishart, in the middle of a noble passage, tomind the lamp.
These duties were Dr. McQueen's, the best man, but either demoralized bythe bridegroom, who went all to pieces at the critical moment and wasmuch more nervous than the bride, or in terror lest Grizel, who had senthim to the wedding speckless and most beautifully starched, shouldsuddenly appear at the door and cry, "Oh, oh, take your fingers off yourshirt!" he was through other till the knot was tied, and then it was toolate, for Tommy had made his mark. It was Tommy who led the way to theschool-room, where the feast was ready, it was Tommy who put the guestsin their places (even the banker cringed to him), it was. Tommy whowinked to Mr. Dishart as a sign to say grace. As you will readilybelieve, Miss Ailie could not endure the thought of excluding herpupils from the festivities, and they began to arrive as soon as thetables had been cleared of all save oranges and tarts and raisins.Tommy, waving Gavinia aside, showed them in, and one of them, curious totell, was Corp, in borrowed blacks, and Tommy shook hands with him andcalled him Mr. Shiach, both new experiences to Corp, who knocked over atable in his anxiety to behave himself, and roared at intervals "Do yousee the little deevil!" and bit his warts and then politely swallowedthe blood.
As if oranges and tarts and raisins were not enough, came the Punch andJudy show, Tommy's culminating triumph. All the way to Redlintie had Mr.McLean sent for the Punch and Judy show, and nevertheless there was aprobability of no performance, for Miss Ailie considered the showimmoral. Most anxious was she to give pleasure to her pupils, and thisshe knew was the best way, but how could she countenance anentertainment which was an encouragement to every form of vice andcrime? To send these children to the Misses Langlands and Oram, freshfrom an introduction to the comic view of murder! It could not be done,now could it? Mr. McLean could make no suggestion. Mr. Dishart thoughtit would be advisable to substitute another entertainment; was there nota game called "The Minister's Cat"? Mrs. Dishart thought they shouldhave the show and risk the consequences. So also thought Dr. McQueen.The banker was consulted, but saw no way out of the difficulty, nor didthe lawyer, nor did the Misses Finlayson. Then Tommy appeared on thescene, and presently retired to find a way.
He found it. The performance took place, and none of the fun wasomitted, yet neither Miss Ailie--tuts, tuts Mrs. McLean--nor Mr. Dishartcould disapprove. Punch did chuck his baby out at the window (roars oflaughter) in his jovial time-honored way, _but_ immediately thereafterup popped the showman to say, "Ah, my dear boys and girls, let this be alesson to you never to destroy your offsprings. Oh, shame on Punch, forto do the wicked deed; he will be catched in the end and serve himright." Then when Mr. Punch had wolloped his wife with the stick, amidthunders of applause, up again bobbed the showman, "Ah, my dear boys andgirls, what a lesson is this we sees, what goings on is this? He havebashed the head of her as should ha' been the apple of his eye, and hedoes not care a--he does not care; but mark my words, his home it willnow be desolate, no more shall she meet him at his door with kindlysmile, he have done for her quite, and now he is a hunted man. Oh, bewarned by his sad igsample, and do not bash the head of your lovingwife." And there was a great deal more of the same, and simple Mrs.McLean almost wept tears of joy because her favorite's good heart hadsuggested these improvements.
Grizel was not at the wedding; she was invited, but could not gobecause she was in mourning. But only her parramatty frock was inmourning, for already she had been the doctor's housekeeper for two fullmonths, and her father had not appeared to plague her (he never didappear, it may be told at once), and so how could her face be woefulwhen her heart leapt with gladness? Never had prisoner pined for thefields more than this reticent girl to be frank, and she poured out herinmost self to the doctor, so that daily he discovered somethingbeautiful (and exasperating) about womanhood. And it was his love forher that had changed her. "You do love me, don't you?" she would say,and his answer might be "I have told you that fifty times already;" towhich she would reply, gleefully, "That is not often, I say it all dayto myself."
Exasperating? Yes, that was the word. Long before summer came, thedoctor knew that he had given himself into the hands of a tyrant. It wasidle his saying that this irregularity and that carelessness were habitsthat had become part of him; she only rocked her arms impatiently, andif he would not stand still to be put to rights, then she would followhim along the street, brushing him as he walked, a sight that waswitnessed several times while he was in the mutinous stage.
"Talk about masterfulness," he would say, when she whipped off his coator made a dart at the mud on his trousers; "you are the most masterfullittle besom I ever clapped eyes on."
But as he said it he perhaps crossed his legs, and she immediatelycried, "You have missed two holes in lacing your boots!"
Of a morning he would ask her sarcastically to examine him from top totoe and see if he would do, and examine him she did, turning him round,pointing out that he had been sitting "again" on his tails, that oh, oh,he must have cut that buttonhole with his knife. He became most artfulin hiding deficiencies from her, but her suspicions once roused wouldnot sleep, and all subterfug
e was vain. "Why have you buttoned your coatup tight to the throat to-day?" she would demand sternly.
"It is such a cold morning," he said.
"That is not the reason," she replied at once (she could see throughbroadcloth at a glance), "I believe you have on the old necktie again,and you promised to buy a new one."
"I always forget about it when I'm out," he said humbly, and nextevening he found on his table a new tie, made by Grizel herself out ofher mamma's rokelay.
It was related by one who had dropped in at the doctor's houseunexpectedly, that he found Grizel making a new shirt, and forcing thedoctor to try on the sleeves while they were still in the pin stage.
She soon knew his every want, and just as he was beginning to want it,there it was at his elbow. He realized what a study she had made of himwhen he heard her talking of his favorite dishes and his favorite seat,and his way of biting his underlip when in thought, and how hard he wason his left cuff. It had been one of his boasts that he had no favoritedishes, etc., but he saw now that he had been a slave to them for yearswithout knowing it.
She discussed him with other mothers as if he were her little boy, andhe denounced her for it. But all the time she was spoiling him. Formerlyhe had got on very well when nothing was in its place. Now he roaredhelplessly if he mislaid his razor.
He was determined to make a lady of her, which necessitated her beingsent to school; she preferred hemming, baking and rubbing things tillthey shone, and not both could have had their way (which sounds fatalfor the man), had they not arranged a compromise, Grizel, for instance,to study geography for an hour in the evening with Miss Langlands (go toschool in the daytime she would not) so long as the doctor shaved everymorning, but if no shave no geography; the doctor to wipe his pen on theblot-sheet instead of on the lining of his coat if she took threelessons a week from Miss Oram on the spinet. How happy and proud shewas! Her glee was a constant source of wonder to McQueen. Perhaps sheput on airs a little, her walk, said the critical, had become a strut;but how could she help that when the new joyousness of living wasdancing and singing within her?
Had all her fears for the future rolled away like clouds that leave nomark behind? The doctor thought so at times, she so seldom spoke of themto him; he did not see that when they came she hid them from him becauseshe had discovered that they saddened him. And she had so little time tobrood, being convinced of the sinfulness of sitting still, that if theclouds came suddenly, they never stayed long save once, and then it was,mayhap, as well. The thunderclap was caused by Tommy, who brought it onunintentionally and was almost as much scared by his handiwork as Grizelherself. She and he had been very friendly of late, partly because theyshared with McQueen the secret of the frustrated elopement, partlybecause they both thought that in that curious incident Tommy hadbehaved in a most disinterested and splendid way. Grizel had not beensure of it at first, but it had grown on Tommy, he had so thoroughlyconvinced himself of his intention to get into the train with her atTilliedrum that her doubts were dispelled--easily dispelled, you say,but the truth must be told, Grizel was very anxious to be rid of them.And Tommy's were honest convictions, born full grown of a desire forhappiness to all. Had Elspeth discovered how nearly he had deserted her,the same sentiment would have made him swear to her with tears thatnever should he have gone farther than Tilliedrum, and while he waspersuading her he would have persuaded himself. Then again, when he metGrizel--well, to get him in doubt it would have been necessary to catchhim on the way between these two girls.
So Tommy and Grizel were friends, and finding that it hurt the doctor tospeak on a certain subject to him, Grizel gave her confidences to Tommy.She had a fear, which he shared on its being explained to him, that shemight meet a man of the stamp of her father, and grow fond of him beforeshe knew the kind he was, and as even Tommy could not suggest aninfallible test which would lay them bare at the first glance, heconsented to consult Blinder once more. He found the blind man by hisfire-side, very difficult to coax into words on the important topic, butTommy's "You've said ower much no to tell a bit more," seemed to impresshim, and he answered the question,--
"You said a woman should fly frae the like o' Grizel's father though itshould be to the other end of the world, but how is she to ken that he'sthat kind?"
"She'll ken," Blinder answered after thinking it over, "if she likes himand fears him at one breath, and has a sort of secret dread that he'sgetting a power ower her that she canna resist."
These words were a flash of light on a neglected corner to Tommy. "Now Isee, now I ken," he exclaimed, amazed; "now I ken what my mother meant!Blinder, is that no the kind of man that's called masterful?"
"It's what poor women find them and call them to their cost," saidBlinder.
Tommy's excitement was prodigious. "Now I ken, now I see!" he cried,slapping his leg and stamping up and down the room.
"Sit down!" roared his host.
"I canna," retorted the boy. "Oh, to think o't, to think I came to speirthat question at you, to think her and me has wondered what kind he was,and I kent a' the time!" Without staying to tell Blinder what he wasblethering about, he hurried off to Grizel, who was waiting for him inthe Den, and to her he poured out his astonishing news.
"I ken all about them, I've kent since afore I came to Thrums, butthough I generally say the prayer, I've forgot to think o' what itmeans." In a stampede of words he told her all he could remember of hismother's story as related to him on a grim night in London so long ago,and she listened eagerly. And when that was over, he repeated first hisprayer and then Elspeth's, "O God, whatever is to be my fate, may Inever be one of them that bow the knee to masterful man, and if I wasborn like that and canna help it, O take me up to heaven afore I'mfil't." Grizel repeated it after him until she had it by heart, and evenas she said it a strange thing happened, for she began to draw backfrom Tommy, with a look of terror on her face.
"What makes you look at me like that?" he cried.
"I believe--I think--you are masterful," she gasped.
"Me!" he retorted indignantly.
"Now," she went on, waving him back, "now I know why I would not give into you when you wanted me to be Stroke's wife. I was afraid you weremasterful!"
"Was that it?" cried Tommy.
"Now," she proceeded, too excited to heed his interruptions, "now I knowwhy I would not kiss your hand, now I know why I would not say I likedyou. I was afraid of you, I--"
"Were you?" His eyes began to sparkle, and something very like rapturewas pushing the indignation from his face. "Oh, Grizel, have I a powerower you?"
"No, you have not," she cried passionately. "I was just frightened thatyou might have. Oh, oh, I know you now!"
"To think o't, to think o't!" he crowed, wagging his head, and then sheclenched her fist, crying, "Oh, you wicked, you should cry with shame!"
But he had his answer ready, "It canna be my wite, for I never kent o'ttill you telled me. Grizel, it has just come about without either of uskenning!"
She shuddered at this, and then seized him by the shoulders. "It hasnot come about at all," she said, "I was only frightened that it mightcome, and now it can't come, for I won't let it."
"But can you help yoursel'?"
"Yes, I can. I shall never be friends with you again."
She had such a capacity for keeping her word that this alarmed him, andhe did his best to extinguish his lights. "I'm no masterful, Grizel," hesaid, "and I dinna want to be, it was just for a minute that I liked thethought." She shook her head, but his next words had more effect. "If Ihad been that kind, would I have teached you Elspeth's prayer?"
"N-no, I don't think so," she said slowly, and perhaps he would havesucceeded in soothing her, had not a sudden thought brought back theterror to her face.
"What is 't now?" he asked.
"Oh, oh, oh!" she cried, "and I nearly went away with you!" and withoutanother word she fled from the Den. She never told the doctor of thisincident, and in time it became a mere shadow in the bac
kground, so thatshe was again his happy housekeeper, but that was because she had foundstrength to break with Tommy. She was only an eager little girl,pathetically ignorant about what she wanted most to understand, but shesaw how an instinct had been fighting for her, and now it should nothave to fight alone. How careful she became! All Tommy's wiles werevain, she would scarcely answer if he spoke to her; if he had everpossessed a power over her it was gone, Elspeth's prayer had saved her.
Jean Myles had told Tommy to teach that prayer to Elspeth; but who hadtold him to repeat it to Grizel?