登陆注册
5393100000011

第11章

"But, I thought, Susan, he was dead," was my very natural comment upon this outbreak.

"So did I, Master Paul," was Susan's rejoinder; "that was his artfulness."

"Then he isn't buried in Manor Park Cemetery?"

"Not yet; but he'll wish he was, the half-baked monkey, when I get hold of him."

"Then he wasn't a good man?"

"Who?"

"Your husband."

"Who says he ain't a good man?" It was Susan's flying leaps from tense to tense that most bewildered me. "If anybody says he ain't I'll gouge their eye out!"

I hastened to assure Susan that my observation had been intended in the nature of enquiry, not of assertion.

"Brings me a bottle of gin--for my headaches--every time he comes home," continued Susan, showing cause for opinion, "every blessed time."

And at some such point as this I would retire to the clearer atmosphere of German grammar or mixed fractions.

We suffered a good deal from Susan one way and another; for having regard to the admirable position of her heart, we all felt it our duty to overlook mere failings of the flesh--all but my aunt, that is, who never made any pretence of being a sentimentalist.

"She's a lazy hussy," was the opinion expressed of her one morning by my aunt, who was rinsing; "a gulping, snorting, lazy hussy, that's what she is." There was some excuse for my aunt's indignation. It was then eleven o'clock and Susan was still sleeping off an attack of what she called "new-ralgy."

"She has seen a good deal of trouble," said my mother, who was wiping.

"And if she was my cook and housemaid," replied my aunt, "she would see more, the slut!"

"She's not a good servant in many respects," admitted my mother, "but I think she's good-hearted."

"Oh, drat her heart," was my aunt's retort. "The right place for that heart of hers is on the doorstep. And that's where I'd put it, and her and her box alongside it, if I had my way."

The departure of Susan did take place not long afterwards. It occurred one Saturday night. My mother came upstairs looking pale.

"Luke," she said, "do please run for the doctor."

"What's the matter?" asked my father.

"Susan," gasped my mother, "she's lying on the kitchen floor breathing in the strangest fashion and quite unable to speak."

"I'll go for Washburn," said my father; "if I am quick I shall catch him at the dispensary."

Five minutes later my father came back panting, followed by the doctor. This was a big, black-bearded man; added to which he had the knack of looking bigger than even he really was. He came down the kitchen stairs two at a time, shaking the whole house. He brushed my mother aside, and bent over the unconscious Susan, who was on her back with her mouth wide open. Then he rose and looked at my father and mother, who were watching him with troubled faces; and then he opened his mouth, and there came from it a roar of laughter, the like of which sound I had never heard.

The next moment he had seized a pail half full of water and had flung it over the woman. She opened her eyes and sat up.

"Feeling better?" said the doctor, with the pail still in his hand;

"have another dose?"

Susan began to gather herself together with the evident intention of expressing her feelings; but before she could find the first word, he had pushed the three of us outside and slammed the door behind us.

From the top of the stairs we could hear Susan's thick, rancorous voice raging fiercer and fiercer, drowned every now and then by the man's savage roar of laughter. And, when for want of breath she would flag for a moment, he would yell out encouragement to her, shouting:

"Bravo! Go it, my beauty, give it tongue! Bark, bark! I love to hear you," applauding her, clapping his hands and stamping his feet.

"What a beast of a man," said my mother.

"He is really a most interesting man when you come to know him," explained my father.

Replied my mother, stiffly: "I don't ever mean to know him." But it is only concerning the past that we possess knowledge.

The riot from below ceased at length, and was followed by a new voice, speaking quietly and emphatically, and then we heard the doctor's step again upon the stairs.

My mother held her purse open in her hand, and as the man entered the room she went forward to meet him.

"How much do we owe you, Doctor?" said my mother. She spoke in a voice trembling with severity.

He closed the purse and gently pushed it back towards her.

"A glass of beer and a chop, Mrs. Kelver," he answered, "which I am coming back in an hour to cook for myself. And as you will be without any servant," he continued, while my mother stood staring at him incapable of utterance, "you had better let me cook some for you at the same time. I am an expert at grilling chops."

"But, really, Doctor--" my mother began. He laid his huge hand upon her shoulder, and my mother sat down upon the nearest chair.

"My dear lady," he said, "she's a person you never ought to have had inside your house. She's promised me to be gone in half an hour, and I'm coming back to see she keeps her word. Give her a month's wages, and have a clear fire ready for me." And before my mother could reply, he had slammed the front door.

"What a very odd sort of a man," said my mother, recovering herself.

"He's a character," said my father; "you might not think it, but he's worshipped about here."

"I hardly know what to make of him," said my mother; "I suppose I had better go out and get some chops;" which she did.

同类推荐
  • 黄帝内经素问

    黄帝内经素问

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说四品法门经

    佛说四品法门经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 胎金两界血脉

    胎金两界血脉

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 人谋下

    人谋下

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 秽迹金刚说神通大满陀罗尼法术灵要门

    秽迹金刚说神通大满陀罗尼法术灵要门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 我在讲一个故事

    我在讲一个故事

    18岁之前我可能是废物,18岁之后,你就是个废物。
  • 爱情公寓之再起续缘

    爱情公寓之再起续缘

    樱花飘舞之处,那是爱情的聚集地,不论是时间的流逝,还是人海的潮变,在这个被爱盯上了的公寓,依旧永远充满欢声笑语。(ps:内容有改动,不喜忽喷。)
  • The Age Of Reason

    The Age Of Reason

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 圣武时代

    圣武时代

    阴影降临,整个世界如同被扎了十二个洞眼的皮球,绽放出十二个彩色的漏斗,以这十二个漏斗为中心,无数的凶兽如同潮水般涌入地球,无穷无尽,给地球造成了巨大的灾难。灾难来临的同时,也造就出了许多英雄人物,而原本只是宅在家中玩游戏的风虎就是其中之一……
  • 曼斯菲尔德庄园(简·奥斯丁小说全集)

    曼斯菲尔德庄园(简·奥斯丁小说全集)

    《曼斯菲尔德庄园》在心理描写和叙事技巧上有重大突破,是英国小说发展史的一个“里程碑”。简·奥斯丁创作《曼斯菲尔德庄园》时,已是个“更加成熟”的女作家。寄人篱下的范妮自小受富有的姨母和姨丈——贝特伦爵士夫妇收养,虽然受到二表哥埃德蒙以外的众人的冷落,但她始终能明辨是非,知人知心,始终不渝地暗恋着埃德蒙。最后,她的高尚人品赢得埃德蒙的爱,两位年轻人终于结成伉俪。译者孙致礼先生是我国著名文学翻译家,因其理论研究和英美文学翻译实践,以其敏锐的洞察力、深厚的中英文造诣和笔墨功力在我国翻译界享有极高的威望和知名度,所译文字流畅、精确、通顺并具有异国情调。
  • 一吻定情:高冷老公请放手

    一吻定情:高冷老公请放手

    他是令人闻风丧胆的冷血总裁,世人眼里,没有他得不到的东西!可偏偏对她束手无策,当他在火车上劫持她的那一刻,她却将锋利的刀刺进了他的胸口.看着那张被绝望扭曲的脸,双手颤抖:“沈煜城,你以为我不想你死吗!”沈煜城冷笑起来,殷切的看着她,“那太好了,死在你手上我也没什么不甘心的,我把你的人生都毁了,我糟蹋了你的身体和尊严,我还卑鄙的毁约,霸占着你,你有足够的理由恨我啊!来啊,快动手吧!
  • 倒插门

    倒插门

    他相亲的第一眼就看差了。第一眼见她,就像他家里那只洋瓷盆上的洋美人,在水中晃悠,晃起他眼光深处的几分暧昧。他有些晕。资产阶级小姐原来真是这样的,这一趟来对了,我!他脸上的疙瘩红辣辣的。那个洋瓷盆儿是祁红家的,拿到学校当资产阶级批判。盆底画着的女人,素花绸旗袍,粉红脸儿,粉红胳膊腿,他看得心惊肉跳,跳到最后,竟然做了一件天大的事。资产阶级小姐敢情都会在水里飘悠。老姨介绍这个对象时说:成分高点,听村里人叫她家资本家。
  • 爆笑修仙:师姐,快变身

    爆笑修仙:师姐,快变身

    这是个强者为尊的世界。三界生灵皆可通过修行的方式、踏碎虚空、飞升仙界。修行之路漫……
  • 酱油党的修仙人生

    酱油党的修仙人生

    一个名叫蒋由的酱油党的修仙生活。村姑出生,灵根不显,机遇不断,这明显就是励志修真文的女猪脚。重生女配、穿越女主斗得死去活来,不过这些和蒋由并无关系。蒋由只是酱油党一枚。这是一个酱油党和其他酱油党一起走上人生巅峰的故事。
  • 重生轻狂:绝色女公子

    重生轻狂:绝色女公子

    众人嘲笑她平凡木讷,好啊,那她就高调肆意。众人嘲笑她平凡无依靠,好啊,那她就用手编织出一箩筐的依靠,地方首富算什么?看我拿个全国首富给你们瞧瞧。每当她处于危难,他都出手相援。“这位公子,多谢你对小女子的救命之恩,滴水之恩,小女子愿...”“你误会了,那些人仅仅是挡住了我的路而已"你妹,你以为我要以身相许吗?当她以另一种身份出现在众人眼中时,他的视线早已无法从她的身上离开。“我曾经救过你,你还没有谢我呢,怎么可以赶你的救命恩人出去呢?”你妹,当初是谁以一种高傲的姿态如君临天下般俯视我的,现在想改了?没门。