Liza of LambethMaugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
General
Liza of Lambeth
Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
Working class -- England -- Fiction
Liza did not get up all day. Tom came to inquire after her, and was
told she was very ill. Liza plaintively asked whether anyone else had
been, and sighed a little when her mother answered no. But she felt
too ill to think much or trouble much about anything. The fever came
again as the day wore on, and the pains in her head grew worse. Her
mother came to bed, and quickly went off to sleep, leaving Liza to
bear her agony alone. She began to have frightful pains all over her,
and she held her breath to prevent herself from crying out and waking
her mother. She clutched the sheets in her agony, and at last, about
six o'clock in the morning, she could bear it no longer, and in the
anguish of labour screamed out, and woke her mother.
Mrs. Kemp was frightened out of her wits. Going upstairs she woke the
woman who lived on the floor above her. Without hesitating, the good
lady put on a skirt and came down.
'She's 'ad a miss,' she said, after looking at Liza. 'Is there anyone
you could send to the 'orspital?'
'Na, I dunno 'oo I could get at this hour?'
'Well, I'll git my old man ter go.'
She called her husband, and sent him off. She was a stout, middle-aged
woman, rough-visaged and strong-armed. Her name was Mrs. Hodges.
'It's lucky you came ter me,' she said, when she had settled down. 'I
go aht nursin', yer know, so I know all abaht it.'
'Well, you surprise me,' said Mrs. Kemp. 'I didn't know as Liza was
thet way. She never told me nothin' abaht it.'
'D'yer know 'oo it is 'as done it?'
'Now you ask me somethin' I don't know,' replied Mrs. Kemp. 'But now I
come ter think of it, it must be thet there Tom. 'E's been keepin'
company with Liza. 'E's a single man, so they'll be able ter get
married--thet's somethin'.'
'It ain't Tom,' feebly said Liza.
'Not 'im; 'oo is it, then?'
Liza did not answer.
'Eh?' repeated the mother, ''oo is it?'
Liza lay still without speaking.
'Never mind, Mrs. Kemp,' said Mrs. Hodges, 'don't worry 'er now; you'll
be able ter find aht all abaht it when she gits better.'
For a while the two women sat still, waiting the doctor's coming, and
Liza lay gazing vacantly at the wall, panting for breath. Sometimes
Jim crossed her mind, and she opened her mouth to call for him, but in
her despair she restrained herself.
The doctor came.
'D'you think she's bad, doctor?' asked Mrs. Hodges.
'I'm afraid she is rather,' he answered. 'I'll come in again this
evening.'
'Oh, doctor,' said Mrs. Kemp, as he was going, 'could yer give me
somethin' for my rheumatics? I'm a martyr to rheumatism, an' these
cold days I 'ardly knows wot ter do with myself. An', doctor, could
you let me 'ave some beef-tea? My 'usbind's dead, an' of course I
can't do no work with my daughter ill like this, an' we're very
short--.'
The day passed, and in the evening Mrs. Hodges, who had been attending
to her own domestic duties, came downstairs again. Mrs. Kemp was on the
bed sleeping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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