at the very moment that millie was knocking on peter's door henry was sitting, a large bump on his forehead, looking at a dirty piece of paper. only yesterday he had fought baxter in piccadilly circus; now baxter and everything and every one about him was as far from his consciousness as heaven was from 1920 london. the real had departed—the coloured life of the imagination had taken its place. . . . the appeal for which all his life he had been waiting had come—it was contained in that same dirty piece of paper.
the piece of paper was of the blue-grey kind, torn in haste from a washing bill; the cheap envelope that had contained it lay at henry's feet.
on the piece of paper in a childish hand was scrawled this ill-spelt message: "please come as quikley as you can or it will be to late."
mr. king's factotum, a long, thin young man with carroty hair, had brought the envelope five minutes before. the st. james' church clock had just struck five; it was raining hard, the water running from the eaves above henry's attic window across and down with a curious little gurgling chuckle that was all his life afterwards to be connected with this evening.
there was no signature to the paper; he had never seen christina's handwriting before; it might be a blind or a decoy or simply a practical joke. nevertheless, he did not for a moment hesitate as to what he would do. he had already that afternoon decided in the empty melancholy of the deserted hill street library that he must that same evening make another attack on peter street. he was determined that this time he would discover once and for all the truth about christina even though he had to wring mrs. tenssen's skinny neck to secure it.
[pg 321]
he had returned to panton street fired with this resolve; five minutes later the note had been delivered to him.
he washed his face, put on a clean collar, placed the note carefully in his pocket-book and started out on the great adventure of his life. the rain was driving so lustily down peter street that no one was about. he moved like a man in a dream, driven by some fantastic force of his imagination as though he were still sitting in panton street and this were a new chapter that he was writing in his romance—or as though his body were in panton street and it was his soul that sallied forth. and yet the details about mrs. tenssen were real enough—he could still hear her crunching the sardine-bones, and peter street was real enough, and the rain as it trickled inside his collar, and the bump on his forehead.
nevertheless in dreams too details were real.
as though he had done all this before (having as it were rehearsed it somewhere), he did not this time go to the little door but went rather to the yard that had seen his first attack. he stumbled in the dusk over boxes, planks of wood and pieces of iron, hoops and wheels and bars.
once he almost fell and the noise that he made seemed to his anxious ears terrific, but suddenly he stumbled against the little wooden stair, set his foot thereon and started to climb. soon he felt the trap-door, pushed it up with his hand and climbed into the passage. once more he was in the gallery, and once more he had looked through into the courtyard beyond, now striped and misted with the driving rain.
no human being was to be seen or heard. he moved indeed as in a dream. he was now by the long window, curtained as before. this time no voices came from the other side; there was no sound in all the world but the rain.
again, as in dreams, he knew what would happen: that he would push at the window, find it on this occasion fastened, push again with his elbow, then with both hands shove against the glass. all this he did, the doors of the window sprang apart and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he saved himself from falling on to his knees as he had done on the earlier occasion.
he parted the curtains and walked into the room. he found[pg 322] a group staring towards the window. at the table, her hands folded in front of her, sat christina, wearing the hat with the crimson feather as she had done the first time he had seen her. on a chair sat mrs. tenssen, dressed for a journey; she had obviously been bending over a large bag that she was trying to close when the noise that henry made at the window diverted her.
near the door, his face puckered with alarm, a soft grey hat on his head and very elegant brown gloves on his hands, was old mr. leishman.
henry, without looking at the two of them, went up to christina and said:
"i came at once."
mrs. tenssen, her face a dusty chalk-colour with anger, jumped up and moved forward as though she were going to attack henry with her nails. leishman murmured something; with great difficulty she restrained herself, paused where she was and then in her favourite attitude, standing, her hands on her hips, cried:
"then it is jail for you after all, young man. in two minutes we'll have the police here and we'll see what you have to say then to a charge of house-breaking."
"see, henry," said christina, speaking quickly, "this is why i have sent for you. my uncle has come to london at last and is to be here to-morrow morning to see us. my mother says i am to go with her now into the country to some house of his," nodding with her head towards leishman, "and i refuse and——"
"yes," screamed mrs. tenssen, "but you'll be in that cab in the next ten minutes or i'll make it the worse for you and that swollen-faced schoolboy there." there followed then such a torrent of the basest abuse and insult that suddenly henry was at her, catching her around the throat and crying: "you say that of her! you dare to say that of her! you dare to say that of her!"
this was the third physical encounter of henry's during the months of this most eventful year: it was certainly the most confused of the three. he felt mrs. tenssen's finger-nails in his face and was then aware that she had escaped from him,[pg 323] had snatched the pin from her hat and was about to charge him with it. he turned, caught christina by the arm, moved as though he would go to the window, then as both mrs. tenssen and leishman rushed in that direction pushed christina through, the door, crying: "quick! down the stairs! i'll follow you!"
as soon as he saw that she was through he stood with his back to the door facing them. again the dream-sensation was upon him. he had the impression that when just now he had attacked mrs. tenssen his hands had gone through her as though she had been air.
he could hear leishman quavering: "let them go. . . . this will be bad for us. . . . i didn't want . . . i don't like . . ."
mrs. tenssen said nothing, then she had rushed across at him, had one hand on his shoulder and with the other was jabbing at him with the hatpin, crying: "give me my daughter! give me my daughter! give me my daughter!"
with one hand he held off her arm, then with a sudden wrench, he was free of her, pushing her back with a sharp jerk, was through the door and down the stairs.
christina was waiting for him; he caught her hand and together they ran through the rain-driven street.
down peter street they ran and down shaftesbury avenue, across the circus and did not stop until they were inside panton street door. the storm had emptied the street but, maybe, there are those alive who can tell how once two figures flew through the london air, borne on the very wings of the wind. . . . in such a vision do the miracles of this world and the next have their birth!
up the stairs, through the door, the key turned, the attic warm and safe about them, and at last henry, breathless, his coat torn, his back to the door:
"now nobody shall take you! . . . nobody in all the world!"
