The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection. W. Somerset MaughamЧитать онлайн книгу.
have such a bad time--when I've broken her in to my ways."
"And are you under the impression that you can do that?"
"Yep."
"You're not expecting that there'll be much love lost between you and the girl whom you--you honor with your choice?"
"What's love got to do with it?" asked Taylor in affected surprise. "It's a business undertaking."
"What!" Nora's eyes were dark with indignation and anger.
"None at all. I give her board and lodging and the charm of my society. And in return, she's got to cook and bake and wash and keep the shack clean and tidy. And if she can do that, I'll not be particular what she looks like."
"So long as she's not cock-eyed," Reggie reminded him.
"No, I draw the line at that."
"I beg your pardon," said Nora with bitter irony; "I didn't know it was a general servant you wanted. You spend a dollar and a half on a marriage license and then you don't have to pay any wages. It's a good investment."
For the first time she seemed to have pierced the enemy's armor.
"You've got a sharp tongue in your head for a girl, Nora."
"Please don't call me Nora."
"Don't be so silly, Nora," said her brother with a trace of irritation. "It's the custom of the country. Why, they all call me Ed."
"I don't care what the custom of the country is. I'm not going to be called Nora by the hired man!"
"Don't you bother, Ed," said Frank, apparently once more restored to his normal placidity; "I'll call her Miss Marsh if she likes it better."
But Nora was not to be pacified. He wouldn't have dared take such a liberty with her had he not been on the eve of going away for good, she told herself. It was a last shot from a retreating enemy. Well and good. He should hear, if for the last time, what she thought of him!
"I should like to see you married to someone who'd give you what you deserved. I'd like to see your pride humbled. You think yourself very high and mighty, don't you? I'd like to see a woman take you by the heartstrings and wring them till you screamed with pain."
"Oh, Nora, how violent you are!" said Ed.
"You're overbearing, supercilious and egotistic," went on Nora bitingly.
"I'm not sure as I know what them long words means, but I guess they ain't exactly complimentary."
"I guess they ain't," she mimicked.
"I'm sorry for that." Taylor straightened himself a little in his chair. His blue eyes seemed to have caught a little of the light from Nora's.
"I was thinking of offering you the position before I went to the employment agency."
"How dare you speak to me like that!"
"Don't fly into a temper, Nora," said Ed. While he didn't blame Frank, he wished he had not made that last speech. Why didn't he go and get ready for town? Here was Nora all upset again just as things had calmed down a bit!
"He's got no right to say impudent things to me!"
"Don't you see he's only having a joke with you?" he said soothingly.
"He shouldn't joke. He's got no sense of humor."
She made a furious gesture, and the cup she was in the act of wiping flew out of her hand, crashing in a thousand pieces on the floor, just as Gertie returned.
"Butter fingers!"
"I'm so sorry," said Nora in a colorless tone. She was raging inwardly at having allowed that beast of a man to put her in such a temper. Why couldn't she control herself? How undignified to bandy words with a person she so despised. It was hardly the moment for Gertie to take her to task for carelessness. But Gertie was not the person to consider other moods than her own.
"You clumsy thing! You're always doing something wrong."
"Oh, don't worry; I'll pay for it."
"Who wants you to pay for it? Do you think I can't afford to pay for a miserable cup! You might say you're sorry: that's all I want you to do."
"I said I was sorry."
"No, you didn't."
"I heard her, Gertie," broke in Ed.
"She said she was sorry as if she was doing me a favor," said Gertie, turning furiously on the would-be peacemaker.
"You don't expect me to go down on my knees to you, do you? The cup's worth twopence."
"It isn't the value I'm thinking about, it's the carelessness."
"It's only the third thing I've broken since I've been here."
If Nora had been in a calmer mood herself she would not have been so stupid as to attempt to palliate her offense. Her offer of replacing the miserable cup only added fuel to the flame of Gertie's resentment.
"You can't do anything!" she stormed. "You're more helpless than a child of six. You're all the same, all of you."
"You're not going to abuse the whole British nation because I've broken a cup worth twopence, are you?"
"And the airs you put on. Condescending isn't the word. It's enough to try the patience of a saint."
"Oh, shut up!" said Marsh. He went over to his wife and laid a hand on her shoulder. She shook him off impatiently.
"You've never done a stroke of work in your life, and you come here and think you can teach me everything."
"I don't know about that," said Nora, in a voice which by comparison with Gertie's seemed low but which was nevertheless perfectly audible to every person in the room. "I don't know about that, but I think I can teach you manners."
If she had lashed the other woman across the face with a whip, she couldn't have cut more deeply. She knew that, and was glad. Gertie's face turned gray.
"How dare you say that! How dare you! You come here, and I give you a home. You sleep in my blankets and you eat my food and then you insult me." She burst into a passion of angry tears.
"Now then, Gertie, don't cry. Don't be so silly," said her husband as he might have spoken to an angry child.
"Oh, leave me alone," she flashed back at him. "Of course you take her part. You would! It's nothing to you that I have made a slave of myself for you for three whole years. As soon as _she_ comes along and plays the lady----"
She rushed from the room. After a moment, Ed followed after her.
There was an awkward pause. Nora stood leaning against the table swinging the dishcloth in her hand, a smile of malicious triumph on her face. Gertie had tried it on once too often. But she had shown her that one could go too far. She would think twice before she attempted to bully her again, especially before other people. She stooped down and began to gather up the broken pieces of earthenware scattered about her feet. Her movement broke the spell which had held the three men paralyzed as men always are in the presence of quarreling women.
"I reckon I might be cleaning myself," said Taylor, rising from his chair. "Time's getting on. You're coming, Ben?"
"Yes, I'm coming. I suppose you'll take the mare?"
"Yep, that's what Ed said this morning."
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