第41章

If Jonah wanted a floor that you could eat your dinner off,let him get a servant.He was as mean as dirt.A fat lot she got out of his money.

Here she was,shut up in these rooms,little better than a prisoner,for her old pals never dared show their noses in this house,and she could never go out without all the shop-hands knowing it.She never bought a new dress,but Jonah stormed like a madman,declaring that she looked like a servant dressed up.Well,her clothes knocked Cardigan Street endways when she paid her mother a visit,and that was all she wanted.

There was her mother,too.She had never been a real mother to her;you could never tell what she was thinking about.Other people took their troubles to her,but she treated her own daughter like a stranger.And,of course,she sided with Jonah and talked till her jaw ached about her duty to her child and her husband.She would have married Tom Mullins if it hadn't been for the kid,and lived in Cardigan Street like her pals.

Her thoughts travelled back to Packard's and the Road.She remembered with intense longing the group at the corner,the drunken rows,and the nightly gossip on the doorstep.That was life for her.She had been like a fish out of water ever since she left it.She thought with singular bitterness of Jonah's attempts to introduce her to the wives of the men he met in business,women who knew not Cardigan Street,and annoyed her by staring at her hands,and talking of their troubles with servants till they made her sick.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Jonah.He turned in his sleep and pushed the sheet from his face,but a loud scrunch from Ada's jaw woke him completely.He tugged at the pillow and his hand fell on the tin of sticky lollies.

"Bah!"he cried in disgust,and rubbed his fingers on the sheet."Only kids eat that muck.""Kid yerself!"cried Ada furiously."Anybody 'ud think I was eatin'di'monds.Yer'd grudge me the air I breathe,if yer thought it cost money.""Yah,git up an'light the fire!"replied Jonah.

"Yes,that's me all over.Anybody else 'ud keep a servant;but as long as I'm fool enough ter slave an'drudge,yer save the expense.""You slave an'drudge?"cried Jonah in scorn--"that was in yer dream.

Are yer sure ye're awake?"

"Yes,I am awake,an'let me tell yer that it's the talk of the neighbourhood that yer've got thousands in the bank,an'too mean ter keep a servant.""That's a lie,an'yer know it!"cried Jonah."Didn't yez 'ave a girl in Wyndham Street,an'didn't she pinch enough things to set up 'er sister's 'ouse w'en she got married?""Yous couldn't prove it,"said Ada,sullenly.

"No,I couldn't prove it without showing everybody wot sort of wife I'd got.""She's a jolly sight too good fer yous,an'well yer know it.""Yes,that's wot I complain of,"said Jonah."I'd prefer a wife like other men 'ave that can mind their 'ouse,an'not make a 'oly show of themselves w'en they take 'em out.""A fat lot yer take me out!"

"Take yous out!Yah!Look at yer neck!"

Ada flushed a sullen red.So far the quarrel had been familiar and commonplace,like a conversation about the weather,but her neck,hidden under grubby lace,was Ada's weak point.

"Look at the hump on yer back before yer talk about my neck,"she shouted.

It was the first time she had ever dared to taunt Jonah with his deformity,and the sound of her words frightened her.He would strike her for certain.

Jonah's face turned white.He raised himself on his elbow and clenched his fist,the hard,knotty fist of the shoemaker swinging at the end of the unnaturally long arms,another mark of his deformity.Jonah had never struck her--contrary to the habit of Cardigan Street--finding that he could hit harder with his tongue;but it was coming now,and she nerved herself for the blow.But Jonah's hand dropped helplessly.

"You low,dirty bitch,"he said."If a man said that to me,I'd strangle him.I took yer out of the factory,I married yer,an'worked day an'night ter git on in the world,an'that's yer thanks.Pity I didn't leave yer in the gutter w'ere yer belonged.I wonder who yer take after?Not after yer mother.She is clean an'wholesome.Any other woman would take an interest in my business,an'be a help to a man;but you're like a millstone round my neck.I thought I'd done with Cardigan Street,an'the silly loafers I grew up with,but s'elp me Gawd,when I married you Imarried Cardigan Street.I could put up with yer want of brains--you don't want much brains ter git through this world--but it's yer nasty,sulky temper,an'yer bone idleness.I suppose yer git them from yer lovely father.The 'ardest work 'e ever did was to drink beer.It's a wonder yer don't take after 'im in that.I suppose I've got something to be thankful for.""Yes,I suppose yer'd like me ter drink meself ter death,so as yer could marry again.But yer needn't fear I'll last yous out,"cried Ada,recovering her tongue now that she was no longer in fear of a blow.

"Ah well,yer can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear they say,"said Jonah.There was an intense weariness in his voice as he turned his back on Ada.

"No more than yer can make a man out of a monkey on a stick,"muttered Ada to herself as she got out of bed.

Ada got the breakfast and went about the house in sullen silence.Jonah was used to this.For days together after a quarrel she would sulk without speaking,proud of her stubborn temper that forced others to give in first.And they would sit down to meals and pass one another in the rooms,watching each other's movements to avoid the necessity for speaking.The day had begun badly for Ada,and her anger increased as she brooded over her wrongs.Heavy and sullen by nature,her wrath came to a head hours after the provocation,burning with a steady heat when others were cooling down.

But as she was pegging out some towels in the yard she heard a discreet cough on the other side of the fence.Ada recognized the signal.It was her neighbour,the woman with the hairy lip,housekeeper to Aaron the Jew.