"He may have to do some dirty tricks in his job," she had said of him.
"But ’e’s got a ’eart, ’as my young man, if you know where to touch it."
And seemingly, Jill had known; tho’ the knowledge was unconscious. It
was just that she had believed--that was all. She had believed he was
the Mr. Chesterton, presumably a great writer, a man to command respect.
He had never commanded respect before in his life. Abuse! Plenty of
that! So much of it that his skin had become hardened and tough. But
respect--never.
Ah! She was a lady, certainly--a delightful, a charming young lady. He
could quite believe that she would not understand the likes of him. He
would even dare to swear, and did, when eventually he went home to his
old woman, that she had never heard of a bailiff in her life.
And while John laid out the tea things, she talked to him all the time
as if he were a great man--bless her little heart! He was a fine
fellow, whoever this Chesterton was, and he seemed to have said some
mighty smart things. Anyhow, if writing books was not a paying game,
as, judging by this young Mr. Grey, it would not seem to be, it
certainly brought one a deal of credit. The little bailiff basked in
the light of it, feeling like a beggar who has awakened in the King’s
bed-chamber, ensconced in the King’s bed. Only when, occasionally he
caught sight of the expression on John’s face, did he realise how
abominably he must be in the way.
At last, when tea was ready, the kettle spitting on the little spirit
stove in the grate, Mr. Chesterton rose to his feet. A look had passed
between those two, a look unmistakable to his eyes--a look of mute
appeal from her, an answering look of despair from John. Had it been
John alone, he would have taken no notice. John had been making
grimaces to himself for the last quarter of an hour; besides, he had
brought it on himself. Young men should pay their rent up to time. He
had little or no sympathy for John. But when he saw that look in Jill’s
eyes, realising that it was only her gentle politeness which made her
talk to him so nicely--only her gentle politeness and the kudos which he
had stolen from the name of Chesterton--then, he felt he could stay
there no longer. He had always had a tender heart for women, so long as
they were not unsexed by journalism, by a bit of a beard and a fair tidy
moustache. He had no sympathy for them then if their rents were
overdue. But now, this was a different matter. That look in Jill’s
eyes had cut him to the quick.
"I’ve got to be goin’ now, Mr. Grey," he said.
John’s mouth opened in amazement. He had just decided in his mind that
Kensington Gardens was the only place left to them from this abominable
interloper.
"Going?" he echoed. It might almost have seemed as if he were intensely
sorry, his surprise was so great.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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