IV
Miss Jones was pleased."Such a nice servant,"she said."One of the old kind.She had been with the family fifty years,she told me,and had nursed Mr.Andrews on her knee.Fancy!Such a large fat man as he is now.Too much beer,I suppose.I suppose they get so thirsty with all the straw and hay about.Yes,a really nice woman.She told me that there was no place in Glebeshire to touch them for cream.Idare say they're right.After all,you never can tell.I remember at home ."She broke off then and cried:"Where's Hamlet?"Mary,wickeder than ever,stared through her spectacles down the road."I don't know,Miss Jones,"she said.They had left the wood and the farm,and there was nothing to be seen but the long white ribbon of road hemmed in by the high hedges.
"Perhaps he stayed behind at the farm,"said Miss Jones.
Then Mary told her worst lie.
"Oh,no,Miss Jones.He ran past us just now.Didn't you see him?""No,I didn't.He's gone on ahead,I suppose.He runs home sometimes.Naughty dog!We shall catch him up."But of course they did not.They passed through the gates of Cow Farm and still nothing of Hamlet was to be seen.
"Oh dear!Oh dear!"said Miss Jones."I do hope that he's arrived.
Whatever will Jeremy say if anything has gone wrong?"Mary was breathing hard now,as though she had been running a desperate race.She would at this moment have given all that she possessed,or all that she was ever likely to possess,to recall her deed.If she could have seen Hamlet rushing down the road towards her she would have cried with relief;there seemed now to be suddenly removed from her that outside agency that had forced her to do this thing;now,having compelled her,it had withdrawn and left her to carry the consequences.Strangely confused in her sentimental soul was her terror of Jeremy's wrath and her own picture of the wretched Hamlet barking his heart out,frightened,thirsty,and lonely.Her teeth began to chatter;she clenched her hands together.
Miss Jones went across the courtyard,calling:
"Hamlet!Hamlet!"
The family was collected,having just sat down to tea,so that the announcement received its full measure of excitement.
"Has Hamlet come back?We thought he was ahead of us."A chair had tumbled over.Jeremy had run round the table to Miss Jones.
"What's that?Hamlet?Where is he?"
"We thought he must be ahead of us.He ran past us down the road,and we thought--"They thought!Silly women!Jeremy,as though he were challenging a god,stood up against Miss Jones,hurling questions at her.Where had they been?What road had they taken?Had they gone into the wood?Whereabouts had he run past them?
"I don't know,"said Miss Jones to this last."I didn't see him.
Mary did."
Jeremy turned upon Mary."Where was it you saw him?"She couldn't speak.Her tongue wouldn't move,her lips wouldn't open;she could but waggle her head like an idiot.She saw nothing but his face.It was a desperate face.She knew so much better than all the others what the thought of losing Hamlet was to him.It was part of the harshness of her fate that she should understand him so much better than the others did.
But she herself had not realised how hardly he would take it.
"I didn't--I couldn't--"
"There's the dog-man,"he stammered."He'll have stolen him."Then he was off out of the room in an instant.
And that was more than Mary could hear.She realised,even as she followed him,that she was giving her whole case away,that she was now,as always,weak when she should be strong,soft when she should be hard,good when she should be wicked,wicked when she should be good.She could not help herself.With trembling limbs and a heart that seemed to be hammering her body into pieces she followed him out.She found him in the hall,tugging at his coat.
"Where are you going?"she said weakly.
"Going?"he answered fiercely."Where do you think?"He glared at her."Just like you."He broke off,suddenly appealing to her.
"Mary,CAN'T you remember?It will be getting dark soon,and if we have to wait until to-morrow the dog-man will have got him.At any rate,he had his collar--"Then Mary broke out.She burst into sobs,pushed her hand into her dress,and held out the collar to him.
"There it is!There it is!"she said hysterically.
"You've got it?"He stared at her,suspicion slowly coming to him.
"But how--?What have you done?"
She looked up at him wild-eyed,the tears making dirty lines on her face,her hand out towards him.
"I took it off.I shut Hamlet into the barn at Mellot Farm.I wanted him to be lost.I didn't want you to have him.I hated him--always being with you,and me never."Jeremy moved back,and at the sudden look in his eyes her sobbing ceased,she caught her breath and stared at him with a silly fixed stare as a rabbit quivers before a snake.
Jeremy said in his ordinary voice:
"You shut Hamlet up?You didn't want him to be found?"She nodded her head several times as though now she must convince him quickly of this--"Yes,yes,yes.I did.I know I shouldn't,but I couldn't help it--"He clutched her arm,and then shook her with a sudden wave of fierce physical anger that was utterly unlike him,and,therefore,the more terrifying.
"You wicked,wicked--You beast,Mary!"
She could only sob,her head hanging down.He let her go.
"What barn was it?"
She described the place.
He gave her another look of contempt and then rushed off,running across the courtyard.