Joe Wilson and His Mates | Page 8

I was, and it's a wonder we didn't spill the whole lot between us. I got away from the window in as much of a hurry as if Jack had cut his leg with a chisel and fainted, and I was running with whisky for him. I blundered round to where he was, feeling like a man feels when he's just made an ass of himself in public. The memory of that sort of thing hurts you worse and makes you jerk your head more impatiently than the thought of a past crime would, I think.
I pulled myself together when I got to where Jack was.
`Here, Jack!' I said. `I've struck something all right; here's some tea and brownie -- we'll hang out here all right.'
Jack took a cup of tea and a piece of cake and sat down to enjoy it, just as if he'd paid for it and ordered it to be sent out about that time.
He was silent for a while, with the sort of silence that always made me wild at him. Presently he said, as if he'd just thought of it --
`That's a very pretty little girl, 'Possum, isn't she, Joe? Do you notice how she dresses? -- always fresh and trim. But she's got on her best bib-and-tucker to-day, and a pinafore with frills to it. And it's ironing-day, too. It can't be on your account. If it was Saturday or Sunday afternoon, or some holiday, I could understand it. But perhaps one of her admirers is going to take her to the church bazaar in Solong to-night. That's what it is.'
He gave me time to think over that.
`But yet she seems interested in you, Joe,' he said. `Why didn't you offer to take her to the bazaar instead of letting another chap get in ahead of you? You miss all your chances, Joe.'
Then a thought struck me. I ought to have known Jack well enough to have thought of it before.
`Look here, Jack,' I said. `What have you been saying to that girl about me?'
`Oh, not much,' said Jack. `There isn't much to say about you.'
`What did you tell her?'
`Oh, nothing in particular. She'd heard all about you before.'
`She hadn't heard much good, I suppose,' I said.
`Well, that's true, as far as I could make out. But you've only got yourself to blame. I didn't have the breeding and rearing of you. I smoothed over matters with her as much as I could.'
`What did you tell her?' I said. `That's what I want to know.'
`Well, to tell the truth, I didn't tell her anything much. I only answered questions.'
`And what questions did she ask?'
`Well, in the first place, she asked if your name wasn't Joe Wilson; and I said it was, as far as I knew. Then she said she heard that you wrote poetry, and I had to admit that that was true.'
`Look here, Jack,' I said, `I've two minds to punch your head.'
`And she asked me if it was true that you were wild,' said Jack, `and I said you was, a bit. She said it seemed a pity. She asked me if it was true that you drank, and I drew a long face and said that I was sorry to say it was true. She asked me if you had any friends, and I said none that I knew of, except me. I said that you'd lost all your friends; they stuck to you as long as they could, but they had to give you best, one after the other.'
`What next?'
`She asked me if you were delicate, and I said no, you were as tough as fencing-wire. She said you looked rather pale and thin, and asked me if you'd had an illness lately. And I said no -- it was all on account of the wild, dissipated life you'd led. She said it was a pity you hadn't a mother or a sister to look after you -- it was a pity that something couldn't be done for you, and I said it was, but I was afraid that nothing could be done. I told her that I was doing all I could to keep you straight.'
I knew enough of Jack to know that most of this was true. And so she only pitied me after all. I felt as if I'd been courting her for six months and she'd thrown me over -- but I didn't know anything about women yet.
`Did you tell her I was in jail?' I growled.
`No, by Gum! I forgot that. But never mind I'll fix that up all right. I'll tell her that you got two years' hard for horse-stealing. That ought to make her interested in you, if she isn't already.'
We smoked a while.
`And was that all she said?' I asked.
`Who?