half an hour till the horn goes. I should imagine it would take you longer than that to master the work.'
Mutely, as if he knew not what he did, Brodie sat down upon the high stool before the desk, the open ledger a white blur in front of him. He did not see the figures with which, in the future, he must occupy himself, nor did he feel the staring eyes of the two silent youths bent upon him in a strange constraint. He was a clerk!
A clerk working for fifty shillings a week. His mind writhed from the unalterable fact yet could not escape it. But no! He would never stand this this degradation. The moment he was out of this place, he would plunge away somewhere and drink, drink till he forgot his humiliation, steep himself in forgetfulness till the memory of it became a ridiculous nightmare. How long had that other said? Half an hour till the horn went! Yes, he could wait until then! He would remain for that short space of time in this ignoble bondage; then he would be free. A tremor seemed to run through him as, blindly, he reached out for a pen and dipped it into the inkwell.
BOOK III
'THEY couldna wear such a thing out there, even if they do have black skins,' said Nancy, with a slight titter. 'You're just try in' to take a rise out of me.' She cocked her head knowingly at Matt, as she surveyed him from her seat upon the kitchen table and swung her well-exposed ankles towards him to point her remark more emphatically.
'Sure as anything,' he replied in an animated tone, whilst from his reclining position against the dresser he ogled her with his eye, his posture, his air of elegance. 'That's what the native ladies a’ ye're pleased to call them wear.'
'Get away, you,' she cried roguishly; 'you know too much. You'll be tellin' me the monkeys in India wear trousers next.' They roared together at her joke, feeling that they were having a precious fine time; she, that it was good to break the monotony of her empty forenoon, to have a change from that dour black father of his; he, that the conversation was exhibiting his social graces to the best advantage almost as if he dazzled her as she sat behind a glittering saloon bar.
'You Ye a great blether,' she resumed, in an admonishing yet encouraging tone. 'After tellin' me that they niggers chew red nuts like blood and clean their teeth with a bit of stick, you'll be askin' me to believe that they comb their hair wi' the leg o' a chair like Dan, Dan the funny, wee man.' Again they laughed in unison until, drawing herself up with mock modesty she resumed, 'But I don't mind these kinds of fairy tales. It's when ye start a' these sly jokes o' yours that ye fair make me blush. You've got a regular advantage over a poor, innocent girl like me that's never been abroad you that's visited such grand, interestin' countries. Now tell me some more!'
'But I thought ye didn't want to hear,' he teased her. She pouted her richly red lips at him.
'Ye know fine what I mean, Matt. I love hearin' about a' these strange things out there. Never mind the ladies. If I had been out there, I wouldna have let ye even have a glink at them. Tell me about the flowers, and the braw coloured birds and beasts, the parrots, the leopards, the tigers. I want to know about the bazaars, the temples, the gold and ivory images I just can't get enough about them.'
'You're the lass to egg me on to it,' he replied. 'There's no satisfyin' you. What was I speakin' about before ye asked me about the about what I'm no allowed to mention?' He grinned. 'Oh! I remember now, 'twas about the sacred cows. Ay! Ye mightn't be lieve it, Nancy, but the cow is a sacred animal to millions of folks out in India. They'll have images of the animal stuck up in all places and
in the streets of the native quarters you'll see great big cows slushing about, with flowers on their horns and garlands of marigolds around their necks, poking their noses everywhere like they owned the place, into the houses and into the stalls that's like the shops, you know and not a body says 'no' to them. I once saw one of the beasts stop at a stall of fruit and vegetables and before you could say 'knife' it had cleared the place from end to end, and the man what owned the shop was obliged to sit helpless and watch it eat up all his stuff, and when it had finished he could do nowt but put up a bit prayer to it or string the remains of his flowers around its big neck.'
'Ye don't say, Matt,' she gasped, her eyes wide with interest; 'that's a strange thing you're tellin' me. To think they would worship the likes of a cow!'
'There's all kinds of cows though, Nancy,' replied Matt, with a wink; but immediately he resumed, more seriously:
'Yes! But what I'm telling you is nothing. I couldn't describe all that I've seen to you; ye've got to travel to appreciate such marvellous sights that you would otherwise never dream of. And there's other places finer than India, mind you, where the climate's better, with less mosquitoes and just as much freedom.'
She considered him deliberately as, carried away by his own enthusiasm, he talked; and, viewing the slender figure in the natty brown suit, the engaging neatness of his appearance, the inherent yet not unpleasing weakness of his pale face, she was amazed that she could ever have fled from him as she had done at their first encounter. During the six weeks that had elapsed since Mrs. Brodie's
funeral, when she had been formally installed as housekeeper to the Brodie menage she had gradually come to regard Matthew with favour, to protect him against his father, to look forward to his lighter conversation after the heavy taciturnity and laboured monosyllables of the elder man.
'You're not listening to me, you little randy,' he exclaimed suddenly. 'What's the good of a man using his breath and all his best adjectives if the bonnie lassie pays no heed to him? and you that i sked for it and all.'
'Do you think I'm bonnie, then, Matt?' she replied, continuing to regard him in a dreamy manner, yet making her eyes more seductive, her whole saucy pose more provocative.
'I do that, Nancy,' he cried eagerly, his glance lighting. 'You're as bonnie as a picture. It's a treat to have you about the house. I've always thought that since ever I saw you.'
'Ay,' she continued musingly. 'Ye were a richt bad boy the first time ye met me, but your manners have improved extraordinar' since then. In fact, when I came here I began to think ye were something feared to talk to me, but I see that's all gone now, and indeed I'm not sorry, though I wonder what your father would say to the change if he but knew.'
He had raised himself slightly as though about to move towards her, but at her last words the kindling gleam in his eye was suddenly quenched, and relaxing his body again upon the dresser, he replied moodily:
'I don't know what a young thing like you can see in an old man like him, with his sour, crabbed ways. He doesn't seem to fit you like a younger man would.'
'There's strength in him though, Matt,' she replied reflectively, but still drawing him with her eyes, 'and it pleases me to see that strength break down before me. The way things have turned out now I could have him like water in my hands. But don't forget,' she added, with a change of manner and a sudden toss of her head, 'I'm only the housekeeper here.'
'Yes,' he exclaimed bitterly, 'you've got a grand post! You've settled down pretty well here, Nancy.'
'And what about you?' she retorted pertly. 'You've settled down no' so badly yourself, for all your fine talk of finding these grand positions abroad.'
He laughed at her admiringly.
'Woman! I can't but admire that gleg tongue o' yours. You could strip a man with it if ye chose.'
'I could do all that,' she answered meaningly, 'quick enough.'
How she seemed to fire his blood, this coquettish baggage who belonged entirely to his father, who was so absolutely forbidden to him by the taboo of his father's possession.
'Ye know as well as I do, Nancy, that it's only a matter of time until I fix it up,' he replied earnestly. 'I've got my name down with half a dozen firms. The first vacancy is mine. I couldn't stay in this rotten hole of a town for the rest of my life. There's nothing to keep me here now since since my mother died. But I'm telling you to your face it'll be hard to leave you.'
'I'll believe ye better when you've gotten the job, Matt,' she remarked tartly. 'But ye shouldna let the old fellow down ye so much. Stick up for yourself. Have more faith in your own powers. What I think ye need is a woman with a good level head on her, that would stiffen ye up and give ye a notion of how to face things
out.'
'I'll get even with him, all right,' he asserted sulkily. 'My chance will come. I'll make him pay for all that he's
