The Paying Guest - George Gissing (story read aloud txt) š
- Author: George Gissing
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Emmeline protested against this awkward proceeding. Why should not both come together and have a cup of tea? If it were desired, Miss Derrick could step into the garden whilst her mother said whatever she wished to say. The girl assented, and in excellent spirits betook herself to the railway station. Emmeline waited something less than a quarter of an hour; then a hansom drove up, and Mrs. Higgins, after a deliberate surveyal of the house front, followed her daughter up the pathway.
The first sight of the portly lady made the situation clearer to Mrs. Mumford. Louise Derrick represented a certain stage of civilisation, a degree of conscious striving for better things; Mrs. Higgins was prosperous and self-satisfied vulgarity. Of a complexion much lighter than the girlās, she still possessed a coarse comeliness, which pointed back to the dairymaid type of damsel. Her features revealed at the same time a kindly nature and an irascible tendency. Monstrously overdressed, and weighted with costly gewgaws, she came forward panting and perspiring, and, before paying any heed to her hostess, closely surveyed the room.
āMrs. Mumford,ā said the girl, āthis is my mother. Mother, this is Mrs. Mumford. And now, please, let me go somewhere while you have your talk.ā
āYes, thatāll be best, thatāll be best,ā exclaimed Mrs. Higgins. āDear, āow āot it is! Run out into the garden, Louise. Nice little āouse, Mrs. Mumford. And Louise seems quite taken with you. She doesnāt take to people very easy, either. Of course, you can give satisfactory references? I like to do things in a business-like way. I understand your āusband is in the City; shouldnāt wonder if he knows some of Mr. āIgginsās friends. Yes, I will take a cup, if you please. Iāve just had one at the station, but itās such thirsty weather. And what do you think of Louise? Because Iād very much rather you said plainly if you donāt think you could get on.ā
āBut, indeed, I fancy we could, Mrs. Higgins.ā
āWell, Iām sure Iām very glad of it. It isnāt everybody can get on with Louise. I dessay sheās told you a good deal about me and her stepfather. I donāt think sheās any reason to complain of the treatmentāā
āShe said you were both very kind to her,ā interposed the hostess.
āIām sure we try to be, and Mr. āIggins, he doesnāt mind what he gives her. A five-pound note, if youāll believe me, is no more than a sixpence to him when he gives her presents. You see, Mrs. Rumfordāno, Mumford, isnāt it?āI was first married very youngāscarcely eighteen, I was; and Mr. Derrick died on our wedding-day, two years after. Then came Mr. āIggins. Of course I waited a proper time. And one thing I can say, that no woman was ever āappier with two āusbands than Iāve been. Iāve two sons growing up, hearty boys as ever you saw. If it wasnāt for this trouble with Louiseāā She stopped to wipe her face. āI dessay sheās told you that Mr. āIggins, who was a widower when I met him, has a daughter of his first marriageāher poor mother died at the birth, and sheās older than Louise. I donāt mind telling you, Mrs. Mumford, sheās close upon six-and-twenty, and nothing like so good-looking as Louise, neither. Mr. āIggins, heās kindness itself; but when it comes to differences between his daughter and my daughter, well, it isnāt in nature he shouldnāt favour his own. Thereās more beāind, but I dessay you can guess, and I wonāt trouble you with things that donāt concern you. And thatās how it stands, you see.ā
By a rapid calculation Emmeline discovered; with surprise, that Mrs. Higgins could not be much more than forty years of age. It must have been a life of gross self-indulgence that had made the woman look at least ten years older. This very undesirable parentage naturally affected Emmelineās opinion of Louise, whose faults began to show in a more pronounced light. One thing was clear: but for the fact that Louise aimed at a separation from her relatives, it would be barely possible to think of receiving her. If Mrs. Higgins thought of coming down to Sutton at unexpected momentsāno, that was too dreadful.
āShould you wish, Mrs. Higgins, to entrust your daughter to me entirely?ā
āMy dear Mrs. Rumford, itās very little that my wishes has to do with it! Sheās made up her mind to leave āome, and all I can do is to see she gets with respectable people, which I feel sure you are; and of course I shall have your references.ā
Emmeline turned pale at the suggestion. She all but decided that the matter must go no further.
āAnd what might your terms beāinclusive?ā Mrs. Higgins proceeded to inquire.
At this moment a servant entered with tea, and Emmeline, sorely flurried, talked rapidly of the advantages of Sutton as a residence. She did not allow her visitor to put in a word till the door closed again. Then, with an air of decision, she announced her terms; they would be three guineas a week. It was half a guinea more than she and Clarence had decided to ask. She expected, she hoped, Mrs. Higgins would look grave. But nothing of the kind; Louiseās mother seemed to think the suggestion very reasonable. Thereupon Emmeline added that, of course, the young lady would discharge her own laundressās bill. To this also Mrs. Higgins readily assented.
āA hundred and sixty pounds per annum!ā Emmeline kept repeating to herself. And, alas! it looked as if she might have asked much more. The reference difficulty might be minimised by naming her own married sister, who lived at Blackheath, and Clarenceās most intimate friend, Mr. Tarling, who held a good position in a City house, and had a most respectable address at West Kensington. But her heart misgave her. She dreaded her husbandās return home.
The conversation was prolonged for half-an-hour. Emmeline gave her references, and in return requested the like from Mrs. Higgins. This astonished the good woman. Why, her husband was Messrs. āIggins of Fenchurch Street! Oh, a mere formality, Emmeline hastened to addāfor Mr. Mumfordās satisfaction. So Mrs. Higgins very pompously named two City firms, and negotiations, for the present, were at an end.
Louise, summoned to the drawing-room, looked rather tired of waiting.
āWhen can you have me, Mrs. Mumford?ā she asked. āIāve quite made up my mind to come.ā
āIām afraid a day or two must pass, Miss Derrickāā
āThe references, my dear,ā began Mrs. Higgins.
āOh, nonsense! Itās all right; anyone can see.ā
āThere you go! Always cutting short the words in my mouth. I canāt endure such behaviour, and I wonder what Mrs. Rumford thinks of it. Iāve given Mrs. Rumford fair warningāā
They wrangled for a few minutes, Emmeline feeling too depressed and anxious to interpose with polite commonplaces. When at length they took their leave, she saw the last of them with a sigh of thanksgiving. It had happened most fortunately that no one called this afternoon.
āClarence, itās quite out of the question.ā Thus she greeted her husband. āThe girl herself I could endure, but oh, her odious mother!āThree guineas a week! I could cry over the thought.ā
By the first post in the morning came a letter from Louise. She wrote appealingly, touchingly. āI know you couldnāt stand my mother, but do please have me. I like Sutton, and I like your house, and I like you. I promise faithfully nobody from home shall ever come to see me, so donāt be afraid. Of course if you wonāt have me, somebody else will; Iāve got two hundred to choose from, but Iād rather come to you. Do write and say I may come. Iām so sorry I quarrelled with mother before you. I promise never to quarrel with you. Iām very good-tempered when I get what I want.ā With much more to the same effect.
āWe will have her,ā declared Mumford. āWhy not, if the old people keep away?āYou are quite sure she sounds her hās?ā
āOh, quite. She has been to pretty good schools, I think. And I dare say I could persuade her to get other dresses and hats.ā
āOf course you could. Really, it seems almost a duty to take herādoesnāt it?ā
So the matter was settled, and Mumford ran off gaily to catch his train.
Three days later Miss Derrick arrived, bringing with her something like half-a-ton of luggage. She bounded up the doorsteps, and, meeting Mrs. Mumford in the hall, kissed her fervently.
āIāve got such heaps to tell you Mr. Higgins has given me twenty pounds to go on withāfor myself; I mean; of course heāll pay everything else. How delighted I am to be here! Please pay the cabman Iāve got no change.ā
A few hours before this there had come a letter from Mrs. Higgins; better written and spelt than would have seemed likely.
āDear Mrs. Mumford,ā it ran, āL. is coming tomorrow morning, and I hope you wonāt repent. Thereās just one thing I meant to have said to you but forgot, so Iāll say it now. If it should happen that any gentleman of your acquaintance takes a fancy to L., and if it should come to anything, Iām sure both Mr. H. and me would be most thankful, and Mr. H. would behave handsome to her. And whatās more, Iām sure he would be only too glad to show in a handsome way the thanks he would owe to you and Mr. M.āVery truly yours, Susan H. Higgins.ā
āRunnymedeā (so the Mumfordsā house was named) stood on its own little plot of ground in one of the tree-shadowed roads which persuade the inhabitants of Sutton that they live in the country. It was of red brick, and double-fronted, with a porch of wood and stucco; bay windows on one side of the entrance, and flat on the other, made a contrast pleasing to the suburban eye. The little front garden had a close fence of unpainted lath, a characteristic of the neighbourhood. At the back of the house lay a long, narrow lawn, bordered with flower-beds, and shaded at the far end by a fine horse-chestnut.
Emmeline talked much of the delightful proximity of the Downs; one would have imagined her taking long walks over the breezy uplands to Banstead or Epsom, or yet further afield The fact was, she saw no more of the country than if she had lived at Brixton. Her windows looked only upon the surrounding houses and their garden foliage. Occasionally she walked along the asphalte pavement of the Brighton Roadāa nursemaidsā promenadeāas far as the stone which marks twelve miles from Westminster Bridge. Here, indeed, she breathed the air of the hills, but villas on either hand obstructed the view, and brought London much nearer than the measured distance. Like her friends and neighbours, Emmeline enjoyed Sutton because it was a most respectable little portion of the great town, set in a purer atmosphere. The country would have depressed her.
In this respect Miss Derrick proved a congenial companion. Louise made no pretence of rural inclinations, but had a great liking for tree-shadowed asphalte, for the results of elaborate horticulture, for the repose and the quiet of villadom.
āI should like to have a house just like this,ā she declared, on her first evening at āRunnymede,ā talking with her host and hostess out in the garden. āItās quite big enough, unless, of course, you have
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