The Heart of Una Sackville | Page 8

reminded me of Miss Martin and her advice, and it came to me
with a shock that I'd been home a whole month, and had been so taken
up with my own affairs that I had had no time to think of my "sister." I
was in a desperate hurry to find her at once. I always am in a hurry
when I remember things, and the sight of the cottages put an idea into
my head.
"Do you know the people who live in these cottages, Mr Dudley? I
knew the old tenants, of course, but these are new people, and I have
not seen them. Are they old or young, and have they any children?"
He puffed out words and smoke in turns.
"John Williams--puff--wife--puff--one baby, guaranteed to make as
much noise as five--it's a marvel it's quiet now--puff. You can generally
hear it a mile off--"

"Is it ill, then, the poor little thing?"
"Healthiest child in the world to judge from its appearance and the
strength of its lungs! Natural depravity, nothing else"--puff!
"And in the next house?"
"Thompson--oldish man--widower. Maiden sister to keep the house in
order--Thompson, too, I suspect by the look of him. Looks very sorry
for himself, poor soul!"
"What's the matter with him--rheumatism? Is he quite crippled or able
to get about?"
"Thompson? Splendid workman--agile as a boy. It was his mental
condition to which I referred!"
"And in the end house of all?"
"Don't know the name. Middle-aged couple, singularly uninteresting,
and two big hulking sons--"
Big--hulking! It was most disappointing! No one was delicate! I twisted
about on my seat, and cried irritably--
"Are they all well, every one of them? Are you quite sure? Are there no
invalid daughters, or crippled children, nor people like that?"
"Not that I know of, thank goodness! You don't mean to say you want
them to be ill?" He stared at me as if I were mad, and then suddenly his
face changed, and he said softly, "Oh, I see! You want to look after
them! That's nice of you, and it would have been uncommonly nice for
them, too; but, never fear, you will find plenty of people to help, if
that's what you want. Their troubles may not take quite such an obvious
form as crutches, but they are in just as much need of sympathy,
nevertheless. In this immediate neighbourhood, for instance--" He
paused for a moment, and I knew he was going to make fun by the
twinkle in his eye and the solemn way he puffed out the smoke.

"There's-- myself!" So I just paid him back for his patronage, and led
up to the mystery by saying straight out--
"Yes, I know! I guessed by what you said about town that you had had
some disappointment. I'm dreadfully sorry, and if there's anything at all
that I can do--"
He simply jumped with surprise and stared at me in dead silence for a
moment, and then--horrid creature!--he began to laugh and chuckle as
if it was the most amusing thing in the world.
"So you have been making up stories about me, eh? Am I a blighted
creature? Am I hiding a broken heart beneath my Norfolk jacket? Has a
lovely lady scorned me and left me in grief to pine--eh, Babs? I did not
know you were harbouring such unkind thoughts of me. You can't
accuse me of showing signs of melancholy this last week, I'm sure, and
as to my remarks about town, they were founded on nothing more
romantic than my rooted objection to smoke and dust, and bachelor
diggings with careless landladies. I assure you I have no tragic secrets
to disclose! I'm sorry, as I'm sure you would find me infinitely more
interesting with a broken heart."
"Oh, I'm exceedingly glad, of course; but if you are so happy and
contented I don't see how you need my help," I said disagreeably; and
just then father came out of the cottage, and we started for home.
Mr Dudley talked to him about business in the most proper fashion, but
if he caught my eye, even in the middle of a sentence, he would drop
his head on his chest and put on the most absurd expression of misery,
and then I would toss my head and smile a scornful smile. Some day,
when he finds out how old I am, he will be ashamed of treating me like
a child.
William Dudley is the first stranger mentioned in these pages. For that
reason I shall always feel a kind of interest in him, but I am
disappointed in his character.
CHAPTER FOUR.

July 10th. To-day I went a round of calls with mother, driving round
the country for over twenty miles. It was rather