i
young henry trenchard, one fine afternoon in the spring of 1920, had an amazing adventure.
he was standing at the edge of piccadilly circus, just in front of swan and edgar's where the omnibuses stopped. they now stop there no longer but take a last frenzied leap around the corner into regent street, greatly to the disappointment of many people who still linger at the old spot and have a vague sense all the rest of the day of having been cheated by the omnibus companies.
henry generally paused there before crossing the circus partly because he was short-sighted and partly because he never became tired of the spectacle of life and excitement that piccadilly circus offered to him. his pince-nez that never properly fitted his nose, always covered one eye more than the other and gave the interested spectator a dramatic sense of suspense because they seemed to be eternally at the crisis of falling to the ground, there to be smashed into a hundred pieces—these pince-nez coloured his whole life. had he worn spectacles—large, round, moon-shaped ones as he should have done—he would have seen life steadily and seen it whole, but a kind of rather pathetic vanity—although he was not really vain—prevented him from buying spectacles. the ill-balancing of these pince-nez is at the back of all these adventures of his that this book is going to record.
he waited, between the rushing of the omnibuses, for the right moment in which to cross, and while he waited a curious fancy occurred to him. this fancy had often occurred to him before, but he had never confessed it to any one—not even to[pg 14] millicent—not because he was especially ashamed of it but because he was afraid that his audience would laugh at him, and if there was one thing at this time that henry disliked it was to be laughed at.
he fancied, as he stood there, that his body swelled, and swelled; he grew, like 'alice in her wonderland,' into a gigantic creature, his neck shot up, his arms and his legs extended, his head was as high as the barber's window opposite, then slowly he raised his arm—like gulliver, the crowds, the traffic, the buildings dwindled beneath him. everything stopped; even the sun stayed in its course and halted. the flower-women around the central statue sat with their hands folded, the policemen at the crossings waited, looking up to him as though for orders—the world stood still. with a great gesture, with all the sense of a mighty dramatic moment he bade the centre of the circus open. the statue vanished and in the place where it had been the stones rolled back, colour flamed into the sky, strange beautiful music was heard and into the midst of that breathless pause there came forth—what?
alas, henry did not know. it was here that the vision always stayed. at the instant when the ground opened his size, his command, his force collapsed. he fell, with a bang to the ground, generally to find that some one was hitting him in the ribs, or stepping on his toes or cursing him for being in the way.
experience had, by this time, taught him that this always would be so, but he never surrendered hope. one day the vision would fulfil itself and then—well he did not exactly know what would happen then.
to-day everything occurred as usual, and just as he came to ground some one struck him violently in the back with an umbrella. the jerk flung his glasses from his nose and he was only just in time to put out his hands and catch them. as he did this some books that he was carrying under his arm fell to the ground. he bent to pick them up and then was at once involved in the strangest medley of books and ankles and trouser-legs and the fringes of skirts. people pushed him and abused him. it was the busiest hour of the day and he was groping at the busiest part of the pavement. he had not had time to replace his pince-nez on his nose—they were reposing[pg 15] in his waistcoat pocket—and he was groping therefore in a darkened and confusing world. a large boot stamped on his fingers and he cried out; some one knocked off his hat, some one else prodded him in the tenderest part of his back.
he was jerked on to his knees.
when he finally recovered himself and was once more standing, a man again amongst men, his pince-nez on his nose, he had his books under his arm, but his hat was gone, gone hopelessly, nowhere to be seen. it was not a very new hat—a dirty grey and shapeless—but henry, being in the first weeks of his new independence, was poor and a hat was a hat. he was supremely conscious of how foolish a man may look without a hat, and he hated to look foolish. he was also aware, out of the corner of his eye, that there was a smudge on one side of his nose. he could not tell whether it were a big or a little smudge, but from the corner of his eye it seemed gigantic.
two of the books that he was carrying were books given him for review by the only paper in london—a small and insignificant paper—that showed interest in his literary judgment, and but a moment ago they had been splendid in their glittering and handsome freshness.
now they were battered and dirty and the corner of one of them was shapeless. one of the sources of his income was the sum that he received from a bookseller for his review copies; he would never now receive a penny for either of these books.
there were tears in his eyes—how he hated the way that tears would come when he did not want them! and he was muddy and hatless and lonely! the loneliness was the worst, he was in a hostile and jeering and violent world and there was no one who loved him.
they did not only not love him, they were also jeering at him and this drove him at once to the determination to escape their company at all costs. no rushing omnibuses could stop him now, and he was about to plunge into the piccadilly sea, hatless, muddy, bruised as he was, when the wonderful adventure occurred.
all his life after he would remember that moment, the soft blue sky shredded with pale flakes of rosy colour above him, the tall buildings grey and pearl white, the massed colour of[pg 16] the flowers round the statue, violets and daffodils and primroses, the whir of the traffic like an undertone of some symphony played by an unearthly orchestra far below the ground, the moving of the people about him as though they were all hurrying to find their places in some pageant that was just about to begin, the bells of st. james' church striking five o'clock and the soft echo of big ben from the far distance, the warmth of the spring sun and the fresh chill of the approaching evening, all these common, everyday things were, in retrospect, part of that wonderful moment as though they had been arranged for him by some kindly benignant power who wanted to give the best possible setting to the beginning of the great romance of his life.
he stood on the edge of the pavement, he made a step forward and at that moment there arose, as it were from the very heart of the ground itself, a stout and, to henry's delicate sense, a repulsive figure.
she was a woman wearing a round black hat and a black sealskin jacket; her dress was of a light vivid green, her hair a peroxide yellow and from her ears hung large glittering diamond earrings.
to a lead of the same bright green as her dress there was attached a small sniffing and supercilious pomeranian. she was stout and red-faced: there was a general impression that she was very tightly bound about beneath the sealskin jacket. her green skirt was shorter than her figure requested. her thick legs showed fairly pink beneath very thin silk black stockings; light brown boots very tightly laced compressed her ankles until they bulged protestingly. all this, however, henry did not notice until later in the day when, as will soon be shown, he had ample opportunity for undisturbed observation.
his gaze was not upon the stout woman but upon the child who attended her. child you could not perhaps truthfully call her; she was at any rate not dressed as a child.
in contrast with the woman her clothes were quiet and well made, a dark dress with a little black hat whose only colour was a feather of flaming red. it was this feather that first caught henry's eye. it was one of his misfortunes at this time that life was always suggesting to him literary illusions.
[pg 17]
when he saw the feather he at once thought of razkolnikov's sonia. perhaps not only the feather suggested the comparison. there was something simple and innocent and a little apprehensive that came at once from the girl's attitude, her hesitation as she stood just in front of henry, the glance that she flung upon the piccadilly cauldron before she stepped into it.
he saw very little of her face, although in retrospect, it was impossible for him to believe that he had not seen her exactly as she was, soul and body, from the first instant glimpse of her; her face was pale, thin, her eyes large and dark, and even in that first moment very beautiful.
he had not, of course, any time to see these things. he filled in the picture afterwards. what exactly occurred was that the diamond earrings flashed before him, the thick legs stepped into the space between two omnibuses, there was a shout from a driver and for a horrible moment it seemed that both the girl and the supercilious pomeranian had been run over. henry dashed forward, himself only narrowly avoided instant death, then, reaching, breathless and confused, an island, saw the trio, all safe and well, moving towards the stoutest of the flower-women. he also saw the stout woman take the girl by the arm, shake her violently, say something to her in obvious anger. he also saw the girl turn for an instant her head, look back as though beseeching some one to help her and then follow her green diamond-flashing dragon.
was it this mute appeal that moved henry? was it fate and destiny? was it a longing that justice should be done? was it the romantic spirit? was it youth? was it the spirit of the age? every reader of this book must make an individual decision.
the recorded fact is simply that henry, hatless, muddy, battered and dishevelled, his books still clutched beneath his arm, followed. following was no easy matter. it was, as i have already said, the most crowded moment of the day. beyond the statue and the flower-woman a stout policeman kept back the shaftesbury avenue traffic. men and women rushed across while there was yet time and the woman, the dog and the girl rushed also. as henry had often before noticed, it[pg 18] was the little things in life that so continually checked his progress. did he search for a house that he was visiting for the first time, the numbers in that street invariably ceased just before the number that he required. was anything floating through the air in the guise of a black smut or a flake of tangible dust, certainly it would settle upon henry's unconscious nose: was there anything with which a human body might at any moment be entangled, henry's was the body inevitably caught.
so it was now. at the moment that he was in the middle of the crossing, the stout policeman, most scornfully disregarding him, waved on the expectant traffic. down it came upon him, cars and taxi-cabs, omnibuses and boys upon bicycles, all shouting and blowing horns and screaming out of whistles. he had the barest moment to skip back into the safe company of the flower-woman. skip back he did. it seemed to his over-sensitive nature that the policeman sardonically smiled.
when he recovered from his indignant agitation there was of course no sign of the flaming feather. at the next opportunity he crossed and standing by the paper-stall and the pavilion advertisements gazed all around him. up the street and down the street. down the street and up the street. no sign at all. he walked quickly towards the trocadero restaurant, crossed there to the lyric theatre, moved on to the churchyard by the entrance to wardour street and then gazed again.
what happened next was so remarkable and so obviously designed by a kindly paternal providence that for the rest of his life he could not quite escape from a conviction that fate was busied with him! a happy conviction that cheered him greatly in lonely hours. out from the upper circle entrance to the apollo theatre, so close to him that only a narrow unoccupied street separated him, came the desired three, the woman and the dog first, the girl following. they stood for a moment, then the woman once more said something angrily to the girl and they turned into wardour street. now was all the world hushed and still, the graves in the churchyard slept, a woman leaning against a doorway sucked an orange,[pg 19] the sun slipped down behind the crooked chimneys, saffron and gold stole into the pale shadows of the sky and the morning and the evening were the first day.
henry followed.
around wardour street they hung all the shabby and tattered traditions of the poor degraded costume romance, but in its actual physical furniture there are not even trappings. there is nothing but cinema offices, public houses, barber shops, clothes shops and shops with windows so dirty that you cannot tell what their trade may be. it is a romantic street in no sense of the word; it is not a kindly street nor a hospitable, angry words are forever echoing from wall to wall and women scream behind shuttered windows.
henry had no time to consider whether it were a romantic street or no. the feather waved in front of him and he followed. he had by now forgotten that he was hatless and dirty. a strangely wistful eagerness urged him as though his heart were saying with every beat: "don't count too much on this. i know you expect a great deal. don't be taken in."
he did expect a great deal; with every step excitement beat higher. their sudden reappearance when he had thought that he had lost them seemed to him the most wonderful omen. he believed in omens, always throwing salt over his left shoulder when he spilt it (which he continually did), never walking under ladders and of course never lighting three cigarettes with one match.
some way up wardour street on the left as you go towards oxford street there is a public house with the happy country sign of the intrepid fox. no one knows how long the intrepid fox has charmed the inhabitants of wardour street into its dark and intricate recesses—tom jones may have known it and pamela passed by it and humphrey clinker laughed in its doorway—no one now dare tell you and no history book records its name. only henry will never until he dies forget it and for him it will always be one of the most romantic buildings in the world.
it stood at the corner of wardour street and a little thoroughfare called peter street. henry reached the intrepid fox[pg 20] just as the flaming feather vanished beyond the rows of flower and vegetable stalls that thronged the roadway. peter street it seemed was the market of the district; beneath the lovely blue of the evening the things on the stall are picturesque and touching, even old clothes, battered hats, boots with gaping toes and down-trodden heels, and the barrow of all sorts with dirty sheets of music and old paper-covered novels and tin trays and cheap flower-painted vases. in between these booths the feather waved. henry pursuing stumbled over the wooden stands of the barrows, nearly upset an old watery-eyed woman from her chair—and arrived just in time to see the three pursued vanish through a high faded green door that had the shabby number in dingy red paint of number seven.
number seven was, as he at once perceived, strangely situated. at its right was the grimy thick-set exterior of "the city of london" public house, on its left there was a yard roofed in by a wooden balcony like the balcony of a country inn, old and rather pathetic with some flower-pots ranged along it and three windows behind it; the yard and the balcony seemed to belong to another and simpler world than the grim ugliness of the "city of london" and her companions. the street was full of business and no one had time to consider henry. in this neighbourhood the facts that he was without a hat and needed a wash were neither so unusual nor so humorous as to demand comment.
he stood and looked. this was the time for him to go home. his romantic adventure was now logically at an end. did he ring the bell of number seven he had nothing whatever to say if the door were opened.
the neighbourhood was not suited to his romantic soul. the shop opposite to him declaring itself in large white letters to be the "paris fish dinner" and announcing that it could provide at any moment "fish fried in the best dripping" was the sort of shop that destroyed all henry's illusions. he should, at this point, have gone home. he did not. he crossed the road. the black yard, smelling of dogs and harness, invited him in. he stumbled in the dusk against a bench and some boxes but no human being seemed to be there. as his eyes grew accustomed to the half light he saw at the back of the yard a[pg 21] wooden staircase that vanished into blackness. still moving as though ordered by some commanding providence he walked across to this and started to climb. it turned a corner and his head struck sharply a wooden surface that suddenly, lifting with his pressure a little, revealed itself as a trap-door. henry pushed upwards and found himself, as mrs. radcliffe would say "in a gloomy passage down which the wind blew with gusty vehemence."
in truth the wind was not blowing nor was anything stirring. the trap-door fell back with a heavy swaying motion and a creaking sigh as though some one quite close at hand had suddenly fainted. henry walked down the passage and found that it led to a dusky thick-paned window that overlooked a square just behind the yard through which he had come. this was a very small and dirty square, grimy houses overlooking it and one thin clothes-line cutting the light evening sky now light topaz with one star and a cherry-coloured baby moon. to the right of this window was another heavily curtained and serving no purpose as it looked out only upon the passage. beside this window henry paused. it was formed by two long glass partitions and these were not quite fastened. from the room beyond came voices, feminine voices, one raised in violent anger. a pause—from below in the yard some one called. a step was ascending the stair.
from within voices again and then a sound not to be mistaken. some one was slapping somebody's face and slapping it with satisfaction. a sharp cry—and henry pushing back the window, stepped forward, became entangled in curtains of some heavy clinging stuff, flung out his arms to save himself and fell for the second time within an hour and on this occasion into the heart of a company that was most certainly not expecting him.
ii
he had fallen on his knees and when he stumbled to his feet his left heel was still entangled with the curtain. he nearly fell again, but saved himself with a kind of staggering, sud[pg 22]denly asserted dignity, a dignity none the easier because he heard the curtain tear behind him as he pulled himself to his feet.
when he was standing once more and able to look about him the scene that he slowly collected for himself was a simple one—a very ugly room dressed entirely it seemed at first sight in bright salmon pink, the walls covered with photographs of ladies and gentlemen for the most part in evening dress. there were two large pink pots with palms, an upright piano swathed in pink silk, a bamboo bookcase, a sofa with pink cushions, a table on which tea was laid, the pomeranian and—three human beings.
the three human beings were in various attitudes of transfigured astonishment exactly as though they had been lent for this special occasion by madame tussaud. there was the lady with the green dress, the girl with the flaming feather and the third figure was a woman, immensely stout and hung with bracelets, pendants, chains and lockets so that when her bosom heaved (it was doing that now quite frantically) the noise that she made resembled those japanese glass toys that you hang in the window for the wind to make tinkling music with them. the only sounds in the room were this deep breathing and this rattling, twitting, tittering agitation.
even the pomeranian was transfixed. henry felt it his duty to speak and he would have spoken had he not been staring at the girl as though his eyes would never be able to leave her face again. it was plain enough that it was she who had been slapped a moment ago. there was a red mark on her cheek and there were tears in her eyes.
to henry she was simply the most beautiful creature ever made in heaven and sent down to this sinful earth by a loving and kindly god. he had thought of her as a child when he first saw her, he thought of her as a child again now, a child who had, only last night, put up her hair—under the hat with the flaming feather, that hair of a vivid shining gold was trying to escape into many rebellious directions. the slapping may have had something to do with that. it was obvious at the first glance that she was not english—scandinavian perhaps with the yellow hair, the bright blue eyes and the clear[pg 23] pink-and-white skin. her dress of some mole-coloured corduroy, very simple, her little dark hat, set off her vivid colour exquisitely. she shone in that garish vulgar room with the light and purity of some almost ghostly innocence and simplicity. she was looking at henry and he fancied that in spite of the tears that were still in her eyes a smile hovered at the corners of her mouth.
"well, sir?" said the lady in green. she was not really angry henry at once perceived and afterwards he flattered himself because he had from the very first discovered one of the principal features of that lady's "case"—namely, that she would never feel either anger or disapproval—at any member of the masculine gender entering any place whatever, in any manner whatever, where she might happen to be. no, it was not anger she showed, nor even curiosity—rather a determination to turn this incident, bizarre and sudden though it might be, to the very best and most profitable advantage.
"you see," said henry, "i was in the passage outside and thought i heard some one call out. i did really."
"well you were mistaken, that's what you were," said the green lady. "i must say——! of all the things!"
"i'm really very sorry," said henry. "i've never done such a thing before. it must seem very rude."
"well it is rude," said the green lady. "if you were to ask me to be as polite as possible and not to hurt anybody's feelings, i couldn't say anything but that. all the same there's no offence taken as i see there was none meant!"
she smiled; the gleam of a distant gold tooth flashed through the air.
"if there's anything i can do to apologize," said henry, encouraged by the smile, but hating the smile more than ever.
"no apologies necessary," said the green lady. "tenssen's my name. danish. this is mrs. armstrong—my daughter christina——"
as she spoke she smiled at henry more and more affectionately. had it not been for the girl he would have fled long before; as it was, with a horrible sickening sensation that in another moment she would stretch out a fat arm and draw him towards her, he held his ground.
[pg 24]
"what about a cup of tea?" she said. at that word the room seemed to spring to life. mrs. armstrong moved heavily to the table and sat down with the contented abandonment of a cow safe at last in its manger. the girl also sat down at the opposite end of the table from her mother.
"it's very good of you," said henry, hesitating. "the fact is that i'm not very clean. i had an accident in piccadilly and lost my hat."
"that's nothing," said mrs. tenssen, as though falling down in piccadilly were part of every one's daily programme.
"come along now and make yourself at home."
he drew towards her, fascinated against his will by the shrill green of her dress, the red of her cheeks and the strangely intimate and confident stare with which her eyes, slightly green, enveloped him. as he had horribly anticipated her fat boneless fingers closed upon his arm.
he sat down.
there was a large green teapot painted with crimson roses. the tea was very strong and had been obviously standing for a long time.
conversation of a very bright kind began between mrs. tenssen and mrs. armstrong.
"i'm sure you'll understand," said mrs. tenssen, smiling with a rich and expensive glitter, "that mrs. armstrong is my oldest friend. my oldest and my best. what i always say is that others may misunderstand me, but ruby armstrong never. if there's one alive who knows me through and through it's mrs. armstrong."
"yes," said henry.
"you mustn't believe all the kind things she says about me. one's partial to a friend of a lifetime, of course, but what i always say is if one isn't partial to a friend, who is one going to be partial to?"
mrs. armstrong spoke, and henry almost jumped from his chair so unexpectedly base and masculine was her voice.
"ada expresses my feelings exactly," she said.
"i'm sure that some," went on mrs. tenssen, "would say that it's strange, if not familiar, asking a man to take tea with one when one doesn't even know his name, and his entrance[pg 25] into one's family was so peculiar; but what i always say is that life's short and there's no time to waste."
"my name's henry trenchard," said henry, blushing.
"i had a friend once" (mrs. tenssen always used the word "friend" with a weight and seriousness that gave it a very especial importance), "a mr. william trenchard. he came from beckenham. you remember him, ruby?"
"i do," said mrs. armstrong. "and how good you were to him too! no one will ever know but myself how truly good you were to that man, ada. your kind heart led you astray there, as it has done often enough before."
mrs. tenssen nodded her head reminiscently. "he wasn't all he should have been," she said. "but there, one can't go on regretting all the actions of the past, or where would one be?"
she regarded henry appreciatively. "he's a nice boy," she said to mrs. armstrong. "i like his face. i'm a terrible woman for first impressions, and deceived though i've been, i still believe in them."
"he's got kind eyes," said mrs. armstrong, blowing on her tea to cool it.
"yes, they're what i'd call thinking eyes. i should say he's clever."
"yes, he looks clever," said mrs. armstrong.
"and i like his smile," said mrs. tenssen.
"good-natured i should say," replied mrs. armstrong.
this direct and personal comment floating quite naturally over his self-conscious head embarrassed henry terribly. he had never been discussed before in his own presence as though he didn't really exist. he didn't like it; it made him extremely uneasy. he longed to interrupt and direct the conversation into a safer channel, but every topic of interest that occurred to him seemed unsuitable. the weather, the theatres, politics, bolshevism, high prices, food, house decoration, literature and the arts—all these occurred to him but were dismissed at once as unlikely to succeed. moreover, he was passionately occupied with his endeavour to catch the glimpses of the girl at the end of the table. he did not wish to look at her deliberately lest that should embarrass her. he would not, for the world bring her into any kind of trouble. the two women whom he hated[pg 26] with increasing vehemence with every moment that passed were watching like vultures waiting for their prey. (this picture and image occurred quite naturally to henry.) the glimpses that he did catch of the soft cheek, the untidy curls, the bend of the head and the curve of the neck fired his heart to a heroism, a purity of purpose, a quixotism that was like wine in his head, so that he could scarcely hear or see. he would have liked to have the power to at that very instant jump up, catch her in his arms and vanish through the window. as it was he gulped down his tea and crumbled a little pink cake.
as the meal proceeded the air of the little room became very hot and stuffy. the two ladies soon fell into a very absorbing conversation about a gentleman named herbert whose salient features were that he had a double chin and was careless about keeping engagements. the conversation passed on then to other gentlemen, all of whom seemed in one way or another to have their faults and drawbacks, and to all of whom mrs. tenssen had been, according to mrs. armstrong, quite marvellously good and kind.
the fool that henry felt!
here was an opportunity that any other man would have seized. he could but stare and gulp and stare again. the girl sat, her plate and cup pushed aside, her hands folded, looking before her as though into some mirror or crystal revealing to her the strangest vision—and as she looked unhappiness crept into her eyes, an unhappiness so genuine that she was quite unconscious of it.
henry leant across the table to her.
"i say, don't . . . don't!" he whispered huskily.
she turned to him, smiling.
"don't what?" she asked. there was the merest suggestion of a foreign accent behind her words.
"don't be miserable. i'll do anything—anything. i followed you here from piccadilly. i heard her slapping you."
"oh, i want to get away!" she whispered breathlessly. "do you think i can?"
"you can if i help you," henry answered. "how can i see you?"
"she keeps me here . . ."
[pg 27]
their whispers had been low, but the eager conversation at the other end of the table suddenly ceased.
"i'm afraid i must be going now," said henry rising and facing mrs. tenssen. "it was very good of you to give me tea."
"come again," said mrs. tenssen regarding him once more with that curiously fixed stare, a stare like a glass of water in which floated a wink, a threat, a cajoling, and an insult.
"we'll be glad to see you. just take us as you find us. come in the right way next time. there's a bell at the bottom of the stairs."
mrs. armstrong laughed her deep bass laugh.
he shook hands with the two women, shuddering once more at mrs. tenssen's boneless fingers. he turned to the girl. "good-bye," he said. "i'll come again."
"yes," she answered, not looking at him but at her mother at the other side of the table. the stairs were dark and smelt of fish and patchouli. he stumbled down them and let himself out into peter street. the evening was blue with a lovely stir in it as in running water. the booths were crowded, voices filled the air. he escaped into shaftesbury avenue as h?nsel and gretel escaped from the witch's cottage. he was in love for the first time in his young, self-centred life[pg 28]. . . .
