Three Men on the Bummel | Page 4

a beautiful woman. She said she felt that herself, and that therefore
she did not intend to accompany him down the shafts; she would see
him off in the morning, and then amuse herself until his return, looking
round the Vienna shops, and buying a few things she might want.
Having started the idea, he did not see very well how to get out of it;
and for ten long summer days he did visit the mines in the
neighbourhood of Vienna, and in the evening wrote reports about them,
which she posted for him to his firm, who didn't want them.
I should be grieved to think that either Ethelbertha or Mrs. Harris
belonged to that class of wife, but it is as well not to overdo
"business"--it should be kept for cases of real emergency.
"No," I said, "the thing is to be frank and manly. I shall tell Ethelbertha
that I have come to the conclusion a man never values happiness that is
always with him. I shall tell her that, for the sake of learning to

appreciate my own advantages as I know they should be appreciated, I
intend to tear myself away from her and the children for at least three
weeks. I shall tell her," I continued, turning to Harris, "that it is you
who have shown me my duty in this respect; that it is to you we shall
owe--"
Harris put down his glass rather hurriedly.
"If you don't mind, old man," he interrupted, "I'd really rather you
didn't. She'll talk it over with my wife, and--well, I should not be happy,
taking credit that I do not deserve."
"But you do deserve it," I insisted; "it was your suggestion."
"It was you gave me the idea," interrupted Harris again. "You know
you said it was a mistake for a man to get into a groove, and that
unbroken domesticity cloyed the brain."
"I was speaking generally," I explained.
"It struck me as very apt," said Harris. "I thought of repeating it to
Clara; she has a great opinion of your sense, I know. I am sure that if--"
"We won't risk it," I interrupted, in my turn; "it is a delicate matter, and
I see a way out of it. We will say George suggested the idea."
There is a lack of genial helpfulness about George that it sometimes
vexes me to notice. You would have thought he would have welcomed
the chance of assisting two old friends out of a dilemma; instead, he
became disagreeable.
"You do," said George, "and I shall tell them both that my original plan
was that we should make a party--children and all; that I should bring
my aunt, and that we should hire a charming old chateau I know of in
Normandy, on the coast, where the climate is peculiarly adapted to
delicate children, and the milk such as you do not get in England. I
shall add that you over-rode that suggestion, arguing we should be
happier by ourselves."

With a man like George kindness is of no use; you have to be firm.
"You do," said Harris, "and I, for one, will close with the offer. We will
just take that chateau. You will bring your aunt--I will see to that,--and
we will have a month of it. The children are all fond of you; J. and I
will be nowhere. You've promised to teach Edgar fishing; and it is you
who will have to play wild beasts. Since last Sunday Dick and Muriel
have talked of nothing else but your hippopotamus. We will picnic in
the woods--there will only be eleven of us,--and in the evenings we will
have music and recitations. Muriel is master of six pieces already, as
perhaps you know; and all the other children are quick studies."
George climbed down--he has no real courage--but he did not do it
gracefully. He said that if we were mean and cowardly and false-
hearted enough to stoop to such a shabby trick, he supposed he couldn't
help it; and that if I didn't intend to finish the whole bottle of claret
myself, he would trouble me to spare him a glass. He also added,
somewhat illogically, that it really did not matter, seeing both
Ethelbertha and Mrs. Harris were women of sense who would judge
him better than to believe for a moment that the suggestion emanated
from him.
This little point settled, the question was: What sort of a change?
Harris, as usual, was for the sea. He said he knew a yacht, just the very
thing--one that we could manage by ourselves; no skulking lot of
lubbers loafing about, adding to the expense and taking away from the
romance. Give him a handy boy, he would sail it himself.