The Tale of Timber Town Part 51

"And to follow, you shall have stewed plums and cream."

"Better than ever," said Benjamin; his mouth watering behind his ragged beard.

"I believe I understand mankind," said Gentle Annie, going to a cupboard, whence she took a big bottle, which she placed on the table.

"If all the women in the world understood men as you do, my dear, we should have Arcadia here, instead of Gehennum."

"Instead of what?"

"Gehennum, my dear; a place where they drive men into the wilderness and cut them off from supplies, and they rot in damp caves, dest.i.tute of bread, beer, and even tobacco."

"No; I really can't supply that last. If I let you smoke, some old cat would come sniffing round to-morrow morning, and say, 'Phew! a _man_ has been here.' Good food and drink you shall have, but no tobacco."

"But you'll let me wash?"

"Certainly. Cleanliness is next to G.o.dliness. If you can't have the one, I wouldn't bar you from the other." She led him to the door of her bedroom, and said, "Walk in."

The room was a dainty affair of muslin blinds and bed-hangings. To Benjamin it was a holy of holies dedicated to the sweet, the lovely, the inscrutable. All the feminine gear lying around, the little pots of powder and ointment, the strange medicaments for the hair, the mirrors, the row of little shoes, the bits of jewellery lying on fat pincus.h.i.+ons, the skirts and wrappers and feminine finery hanging behind the door, these and fifty other things appealed to the softest spot in his susceptible nature. He took up the ewer, and poured water into the basin; but he was ashamed to place his dirty coat on a thing so clean as was the solitary dimity-covered chair, so he put the ragged garment on the floor. Then he took up a pink cake of soap, and commenced his ablutions.

A strong and agreeable odour tickled his olfactory nerves--the cooking had begun. Though his ears were full of lather, he could hear the meat frying in the pan, and the spluttering of the fat.

"What punishment do they give to people who harbour malefactors?" Gentle Annie called from over her cooking.

"Who's a malefactor?" called Tresco from the middle of a towel with which he was drying his roseate face.

"What are _you_ then?"

"I'm a gentleman at large, my dear. No one has charged me with anything yet, let alone convicted me."

"But there's a warrant out against you, old gentleman."

"Maybe. I haven't seen it."

"But what's _my_ position?"

"You're accessory after the fact, if there is a fact."

"What am I liable for?"

"That depends on the judge, my dear. It might be two, three, or more kisses. If I was on the bench, the sentence would be as heavy as possible, and I'd insist on executing it myself."

A laugh came from over the frying-pan.

"If you're not careful, old party, you'll have some of this hot fat on your head."

Benjamin had finished his toilette, and walked into the other room.

The small, square table was spread with a white cloth, and a place was set for one.

"But, my dear, won't you partake?" said Benjamin, eyeing the arrangement of the table.

"I'm not hungry," the girl replied. "I'll watch the lion feed."

The little room was filled with the smell of cooked viands, and Tresco seated himself in readiness to eat.

The smoking steak, garnished with fried onions and potatoes, was placed before him.

"For what I am about to receive, my dear, I thank you." Gently squeezing the ex-bar-maid's hand, he kissed it.

"Now, that'll do. You're getting giddy in your old age--it must be the effect of the steak. Cupboard love, cupboard love!"

Tresco drew the cork of the big bottle, which he handed to Gentle Annie.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"You pour it out, my dear. It'll make it taste so much sweeter."

"You gay old deceiver: you're like the rest of them."

"No, my dear: they're imitation; I'm the genuine article."

Gentle Annie filled his tall gla.s.s deftly, so that the froth stood in a dome over the liquor. She was about to replace the bottle on the table, when Tresco took a tumbler from the dresser, and filled it for her.

"Keep me company," he said. "It looks more comfortable."

"But stout's so fattening."

"My dear, a lean woman is a reproach to her s.e.x."

"Then, what's a fat one?"

"A credit, like I am to mine, or used to be before I got thin through semi-starvation. Here's to your very good health; may your beauty never grow less." Benjamin raised his gla.s.s to his lips.

"More flattery." Gentle Annie's comfortable laugh shook her whole body.

"I'm sorry I can't return the compliment."

"You do better: you supply the inner man--steak, done to a turn; stout; sweet stuffs. You couldn't have treated me better, if I'd been a bishop."

"Why a bishop?"

"I've looked round, and taken stock of my fellows; and I think a bishop has a rousing good time, don't you?"

"I can't say; I don't often entertain bishops."

"Bishops and licensed victuallers; I think they get the cream of life."

"But what about lords and dukes?"