England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Mr. Gillat did not quite know unless it was because he had failed
elsewhere. "But he really came to see your father," he said.
"Did he see him?" Julia inquired.
"No, he was out. To tell the truth, I don't believe your father ever
knew he came," Johnny confessed; "I meant to tell him, of course, but
he was late home that day, and when he came he was--was--well, you
know, he couldn't--it didn't seem--"
"Yes," said Julia, coming to the rescue, "he was drunk and could not
understand, and afterwards you forgot it; it does not matter; indeed,
it is better so; I am glad of it."
Mr. Gillat was fumbling in his shabby letter-case; he took out a card;
it bore Rawson-Clew's name and address of a London club.
"He gave me this," he said, "and told me to let him know if I heard
from you, if you were in any trouble, or anything--if I thought you
were."
Julia held out her hand. "You had better give it to me," she said;
"I'll let him know all that is necessary. Thank you;" and she put the
card away.
Soon after she went to her room, for it was growing late. But she did
not hurry over undressing; indeed, when she sat down to take off her
stockings, she paused with one in her hand, thinking of Rawson-Clew.
So he had tried to find out where she was; he did not then accept her
answer as final; he was bent on seeing that she came to no harm
through him--honourable, certainly, and like him. He had come to
Berwick Street and nearly seen her father--drunk; quite seen Mr.
Gillat, in the first floor sitting-room certainly, but no doubt shabby
and not very wise as usual. She was not ashamed; though for a moment
she had been glad he had missed her father; now she told herself it
did not matter either way. He knew what she was and what her people
were; what did it matter if he realised it a little more? They were
not of his sort, it was no good pretending for a moment that they
were. His sort! She laughed silently at the thought. The girls of his
sort eating steak and onions in a back bedroom with Johnny Gillat!
Caring for Johnny as she cared, liking to sit with him in the pokey
little room while he smoked Dutch cigars; not doing it out of kindness
of heart and charity, but finding personal pleasure in it and a sense
of home-coming! If Rawson-Clew had come that evening while they were
at supper, or while she cured the smoky fire or mended the blind, or
while they sipped black coffee out of earthenware breakfast-cups and
talked of her father's delinquencies! It would not have mattered; he
knew she was of the stoke-hole--she had told him so--and not like the
accomplished girls whom he usually met--who could not have got him the
explosive!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account