Madame Midas Part 28

CHAPTER II

DISENCHANTMENT

It is said that 'creaking doors hang the longest,' and Mrs Pulchop, of Carthage Cottage, Richmond, was an excellent ill.u.s.tration of the truth of this saying. Thin, pale, with light bleached-looking hair, and eyebrows and eyelashes to match, she looked so shadowy and unsubstantial, than an impression was conveyed to the onlooker that a breath might blow her away. She was often heard to declare, when anything extra-ordinary happened, that one might 'knock her down with a feather', which, as a matter of fact, was by no means a stretch of fancy, provided the feather was a strong one and Mrs Pulchop was taken unawares. She was continually alluding to her 'const.i.tootion', as if she had an interest in politics, but in reality she was referring to her state of health, which was invariably bad. According to her own showing, there was not a single disease under the sun with which she had not been afflicted, and she could have written a whole book on the subject of medicine, and put herself in, in every instance, as an ill.u.s.trative case.

Mr Pulchop had long since departed this life, being considerably a.s.sisted in his exit from this wicked world by the quant.i.ty of patent medicines his wife compelled him to take to cure him, which unfortunately, however, had the opposite effect.

Mrs Pulchop said he had been a handsome man, but according to the portrait she had of him he resembled a bull-dog more than anything else in nature. The young Pulchops, of which there were two, both of the female s.e.x, took after their father in appearance and their mother in temperament, and from the time they could talk and crawl knew as much about drops, poultices, bandages, and draughts as many a hospital nurse of mature age.

One day Vandeloup sent a telegram to Kitty saying he would be home to dinner, and as he always required something extra in the way of cooking, Kitty went to interview Mrs Pulchop on the subject. She found that lady wrapped up in a heavy shawl, turning herself into a tea-kettle by drinking hot water, the idea being, as she a.s.sured Kitty, to rouse up her liver. Miss Topsy Pulchop was tying a bandage round her face, as she felt a toothache coming on, while Miss Anna Pulchop was unfortunately quite well, and her occupation being gone, was seated disconsolately at the window trying to imagine she felt pains in her back.

'Ah!' groaned Mrs Pulchop, in a squeaky voice, sipping her hot water; 'you don't know, my dear, what it is to be aworrited by your liver--tortures and inquisitions ain't in it, my love.'

Kitty said she was very sorry, and asked her if nothing would relieve her sufferings, but Mrs Pulchop shook her head triumphantly.

'My sweet young thing,' said the patient, with great gusto, 'I've tried everything under the sun to make it right, but they ain't no good; it's always expanding and a contracting of itself unbeknown to me, and throwing the bile into the stomach, which ain't its proper place.'

'It does sound rather nasty,' a.s.sented Kitty; 'and Topsy seems to be ill, too.'

'Toothache,' growled Topsy, who had a deep, ba.s.s voice, and being modelled on the canine lines of her late lamented father, the growl suited her admirably. 'I had two out last week, and now this one's started.'

'Try a roasted fig, Topsy dear,' suggested her mother, who, now, having finished her hot water, looked longingly at the kettle for more.

'Toothache,' growled Topsy, in reply, 'not gumboil;' the remedy suggested by Mrs Pulchop being for the latter of these ills.

'You are quite well, at any rate,' said Kitty to Anna, cheerfully.

Anna, however, declined to be considered in good health. 'I fancy my back is going to ache,' she said, darkly placing her hand in the small of it. 'I'll have to put a linseed poultice on it tonight, to draw the cold out.'

Then she groaned dismally, and her mother and sister, hearing the familiar sound, also groaned, so there was quite a chorus, and Kitty felt inclined to groan also, out of sympathy.

'M. Vandeloup is coming to dinner tonight,' she said, timidly, to Mrs Pulchop.

'And a wonder it is, my sweet angel,' said that lady, indignantly, rising and glancing at the pretty girl, now so pale and sad-looking, 'it's once in a blue moon as he comes 'ome, a--leaving you to mope at home like a broken-hearted kitten in a coal box. Ah, if he only had a liver, that would teach him manners.'

Groans of a.s.sent from the Misses Pulchops, who both had livers and were always fighting with them.

'And what, my neglected cherub,' asked Mrs Pulchop, going to a looking-gla.s.s which always hung in the kitchen, for the three to examine their tongues in, 'what shall I give you for dinner?'

Kitty suggested a fowl, macaroni cheese, and fruit for dessert, which bill of fare had such an effect on the family that they all groaned in unison.

'Macaroni cheese,' growled Topsy, speaking from the very depth of the cork soles she wore to keep her feet dry; 'there's nothing more bilious.

I couldn't look at it.'

'Ah,' observed Mrs Pulchop, 'you're only a weak gal, and men is that obstinate they'd swaller bricks like ostriges sooner nor give in as it hurt 'em. You shall 'ave a nice dinner, Mrs Vanloops, tho' I can't deny but what it ull be bilious.'

Thus warned, Kitty retired into her own room and made herself nice for Gaston to look on when he came.

Poor thing, it was so rarely now that he came home to dinner, that a visit from him was regarded by her in the light of a treat. She dressed herself in a pretty white dress and tied a blue sash round her waist, so that she might look the same to him as when he first saw her. But her face was now worn and white, and as she looked at her pallor in the gla.s.s she wished she had some rouge to bring a touch of colour to her cheeks. She tried to smile in her own merry way at the wan reflection she beheld, but the effort was a failure, and she burst into tears.

At six o'clock everything was ready for dinner, and having seen that all was in good order, Kitty walked outside to watch for Gaston.

There was a faint, warm, light outside, and the sky was of a pale opaline tint, while the breeze blowing across the garden brought the perfume of the flowers to her, putting Kitty in mind of Mrs Villiers'

garden at Ballarat. Oh, those innocent days! would they never come again? Alas! she knew that they would not--the subtle feeling of youth had left her for ever; and this girl, leaning up against the house with her golden head resting on her arm, knew that the change had come over her which turns all from youth to age.

Suddenly she heard the rattle of wheels, and rousing herself from her reverie, she saw a hansom cab at the gate, and M. Vandeloup standing on the pavement paying the driver. She also heard her lover tell the cabman to call for him at eight o'clock, and her heart sank within her as she thought that he would be gone again in two hours. The cab drove off, and she stood cold and silent on the verandah waiting for Gaston, who sauntered slowly up the walk with one hand in the pocket of his trousers. He was in evening dress, and the night being warm he did not wear an overcoat, so looked tall and slim in his dark clothes as he came up the path swinging his cane gaily to and fro.

'Well, Bebe,' he said, brightly, as he bent down and kissed her, 'here I am, you see; I hope you've got a nice dinner for me?'

'Oh, yes,' answered Kitty, trying to smile, and walking before him into the house; 'I told Mrs Pulchop, and she has made special preparations.'

'How is that walking hospital?' asked Vandeloup, carelessly taking off his hat; 'I suppose she is ill as usual.'

'So she says,' replied Kitty, with a laugh, as he put his arm in hers and walked into the room; 'she is always ill.'

'Why, Bebe, how charming you look tonight,' said Vandeloup, holding her at arm's length; 'quite like your old self.'

And indeed she looked very pretty, for the excitement of seeing him had brightened her eyes and flushed her cheeks, and standing in the warm light of the lamp, with her golden hair floating round her head, she looked like a lovely picture.

'You are not going away very soon?' she whispered to Gaston, coming close to him, and putting her hand on his shoulder; 'I see so little of you now.'

'My dear child, I can't help it,' he said, carelessly removing her hand and walking over to the dinner table; 'I have an engagement in town tonight.'

'Ah, you no longer care for me,' said Kitty, with a stifled sob.

Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders.

'If you are going to make a scene,' he said, coldly, 'please postpone it. I don't want my appet.i.te taken away; would you kindly see if the dinner is ready?'

Kitty dried her eyes and rang the bell, upon which Mrs Pulchop glided into the room, still wrapped in her heavy shawl.

'It ain't quite ready yet, sir,' she said, in answer to Gaston's question; 'Topsy 'aving been bad with the toothache, which you can't expect people to cook dinners as is ill!'

'Why don't you send her to the hospital?' said Vandeloup, with a yawn, looking at his watch.

'Never,' retorted Mrs Pulchop, in a decisively shrill voice; 'their medicines ain't pure, and they leaves you at the mercy of doctors to be practised on like a pianer. Topsy may go to the cemetery like her poor dear father, but never to an inquisition of a hospital;' and with this Mrs Pulchop faded out of the room, for her peculiar mode of egress could hardly be called walking out.

At last dinner made its appearance, and Kitty recovering her spirits, they had a very pleasant meal together, and then Gaston sat over his coffee with a cigarette, talking to Kitty.

He never was without a cigarette in his mouth, and his fingers were all stained a yellowish brown by the nicotine. Kitty lay back in a big arm-chair listening to his idle talk and admiring him as he sat at the dinner table.

'Can't you stay tonight?' she said, looking imploringly at him.

Vandeloup shook his head gently.

'I have an engagement, as I told you before,' he said, lazily; 'besides, evenings at home are so dreary.'