In 
 Hi 
 
University of California Berkeley 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 
^C- .2-5 
 
 . 
 
 \J 
 
 r 
 
 A<1 
 
 
 / ^ 
 
"I'VE JUST COME," SAID JANET 
 
STEVE'S 
 WOMAN 
 
 M RS HAVELOCK ELLIS 
 
 Endpapers and Illustrations 
 by Christopher Clark^ R. I. 
 
 NEW YORK :: THE JOHN McBRIDE CO :: MCMIX 
 
Copyright, 
 
 THE JOHN MCBRIDB Go. 
 
Co 
 
 ALL MY LOYAL FRIENDS 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 I've just come," said Janet .... Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " Come, Janet !" Ill 
 
 He shaded his face with his hands, and gazed across 
 
 the sands 197 
 
 " Thee art drunk," she said stolidly ... 236 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
Steve's Woman 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 "LORDY! Lordy! this be a 
 weary world for the old and feeble. 
 I sometimes wonder what us would 
 do without a bit of scented snuff or 
 a drop of good tea with a shake 
 of green in it eh, Steve, boy?" 
 
 A patient-looking man, who sat 
 near the fire with his head lowered, 
 raised his eyes, and grunted out, 
 "Humph!" 
 
 The woman was his mother, who 
 having arrived safely at her eight 
 ieth year, still kept the desire for 
 youth so vigorous that, when she 
 11 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 had a sick stomach or a touch of 
 "the new complaint they call the 
 flenzy," she felt that God was giv 
 ing her a test for her patience which 
 really ought not to come except to 
 those whom the Lord loveth well 
 enough to take to Himself. She sat 
 month after month, crooning over 
 the past or wailing at the future, 
 sometimes doing a bit of knitting, 
 but chiefly patting her wrinkled 
 hands one over the other, as if she 
 had a rhythmic cadence in her mind, 
 as she sighed "Lordy, Lordy" which 
 name would certainly sound irrever 
 ent on the lips of any but the Elect, 
 since it implies not only endearment, 
 but familiarity. 
 
 "It's a weary world, my son a 
 weary world and it's most more 
 nor I can bear when I do feel I'm 
 a burden on you and Janet." 
 
 She looked across at her son, and 
 12 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 her old eyes brightened as she made 
 one more attempt to draw the man 
 out. She waited for a loving re 
 monstrance, but Steve only coughed. 
 
 "It's well to be some folks, that 
 it be," she continued. "It's lone 
 some for you when you be left so 
 long, without your woman to do 
 chars for you. SheVe been gone 
 since yesterday, and even to me it do 
 seem a month. I miss her bits o' 
 tasties. You and me betwixt us 
 can scarce fit up a cup of tea; for 
 you be befoolt in your legs, and I 
 be in the same strait in my back and 
 arms. Lordy, Lordy, it is a weary 
 business, and I hope the good Je 
 sus will soon rid me of it all that I 
 do," she added with a whimper, 
 "for I be nothing but a burden now." 
 
 Her son looked up with a faint 
 smile on his face. 
 
 "Yes, yes, it is a bit dull at times, 
 13 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sure enough," he said, raising his 
 voice in the musical interrogative 
 peculiar to Cornwall, "but it ain't 
 so bad for you as me, mother. I do 
 belong to do something more nor 
 sit over the fire like an ash cat and 
 wait for a neighbour to drop in, so 
 that in talking with him I can for 
 get what sort I be now. It plagues 
 me like a fever when I reckon it all 
 up, and know I shan't never be no 
 good for nothing again. But what's 
 the use of jawing over it? I must 
 bear it and take the best I can and 
 stop snarling." 
 
 He stretched out his hand for a 
 thick length of iron which lay near, 
 and raked some stray pieces of 
 furze and faggots together on to 
 the smouldering fire, causing a blaze 
 of light to spring up in the open 
 chimney corner, illuminating both 
 faces with sham laughter, as if the 
 14 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 man and woman alike were grim 
 jokes over which the flames might 
 gibe. The man was partially para 
 lysed. A mining accident had pros 
 trated him with a disease the doc 
 tors called by a learned name, 
 which Steve declared he could never 
 quite roll round his tongue. Two 
 years after his marriage this disas 
 ter had come upon him. The dis 
 ease, while leaving him the use of 
 his hands and arms, had paralysed 
 both his legs, causing a total change 
 in his way of life. The once muscu 
 lar miner and hardy man of all 
 trades was reduced to making and 
 mending nets as his only means of 
 earning a living. 
 
 Before his accident he was a 
 good workman, much counted upon 
 in times of difficulty or strife as a 
 temperate and dependable sort of 
 man who carried more wisdom in 
 15 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 his little finger than most people 
 could boast of having in their whole 
 body. He had acquired the posi 
 tion of mentor in the small fishing 
 village of Carnwyn, because of his 
 short way of getting to the centre 
 of a difficulty without the usual 
 preamble, which to the rough sail 
 ors and their wives seemed indis 
 pensable before they could come near 
 the point at issue. 
 
 It had been whispered more than 
 once in the gossip of the village 
 corners that Steve Trenoweth, or 
 "Clibby Steve/* had not been in for 
 eign parts for nothing. In fact 
 there was no saying that he had not 
 got a tip or two from royalty in the 
 course of his travels, for some of 
 his ideas were quite "flash" enough 
 for that to seem possible. Many a 
 man and woman in the village had 
 come in, after Steve's accident had 
 16 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 disabled him, to ask for advice on 
 some domestic matter, "just to make 
 Clibby Steve feel hisself a man agin." 
 He always gave advice readily, and 
 cracked a joke as well as any of them, 
 even against himself, so that he 
 puzzled his old mates sorely; they 
 could not tell whether the man was 
 crushed or not, for he gave them no 
 chance to pity him or to scorn him. 
 His mother was the real trial to his 
 good humour. He had promised 
 many years ago that she should 
 never leave his home, and that he 
 would always provide for her, but 
 now, kindness having come home to 
 roost, with a magpie tendency to be 
 always droning out "Lordy, Lordy!" 
 "Deary me/' he often wished, with 
 out realizing any infamy in the 
 thought, that her "Lordy" would 
 take her to heaven, where, he firm 
 ly believed, she would enjoy the 
 17 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 perpetual youth for which she so 
 continuously and so wailingly craved. 
 He loved her in a long-suffering way, 
 with a love born of habit but not of 
 union or understanding. She was 
 his mother, he was her only idol, 
 and in that fact lay many of his 
 worst griefs. She had thwarted him 
 in his largest longings because she 
 loved him selfishly, and wanted him 
 exclusively, and he, in his rough way, 
 had realised how she had strained 
 the bond between them so tightly 
 that nothing but habit held him 
 to her. He was a rough sea-coast 
 dreamer, and her snuff-taking and 
 continual whining interrupted his 
 fancies and his memories. The fire 
 light rested him and made him 
 more a lover of his woman and the 
 sea than ever. His mother, al 
 ways sitting opposite to him by the 
 fireside, jerked his fancies contin- 
 18 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ually to the sordid contemplation 
 of a cripple's life, and a cripple's 
 chances of being neglected and then 
 forgotten. 
 
 "Steve!" Old Mother Trenoweth 
 spoke sharply, and even shrilly this 
 time. He raised his head once more 
 and fixed his eyes on the wrinkled 
 face before him. The thin, old 
 hand with its dark blue veins at 
 tracted her son's eyes as she fum 
 bled in her pocket for her snuff-box. 
 It was one she prized, for Steve had 
 picked it up some years ago when a 
 wreck had wakened Carnwyn into 
 hard work and new experiences; 
 for many a home could date its 
 miscarriages and its seizures from 
 the day when three vessels foundered 
 on Scryfa beach, and only six men 
 of all the crews were saved. Steve 
 Trenoweth remembered the day well, 
 and as he looked at his mother he 
 19 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 thought of it. That snuff-box had 
 a tale behind it for Clibby Steve, 
 and he just remembered he had 
 never told his wife how he came by 
 it. 
 
 "Steve do you hear me?" 
 
 "Yes, mother. What do you 
 want?" 
 
 The old woman took a big pinch 
 of snuff and spoke slowly and a 
 trifle cautiously, as if she were not 
 sure how the remark would be re 
 ceived. Her head on one side, and 
 her half-closed eyes, betrayed her 
 agitation. 
 
 "Do you believe that Janet's sea 
 weed messes do you much good, 
 Steve? There be folks/' she went 
 on rapidly, determined to finish her 
 sentence before he could stop her, 
 "who do say as your woman likes 
 a jaunt now and then, and is over 
 fond of fetching them weeds from 
 20 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 up along instead of biding always 
 with us and doing our coddles and 
 chars as she ought to do." 
 
 "Folks be danged!" said Steve 
 sullenly. 
 
 "Husht, boy, husht!" she said, 
 looking round as if the devil, for 
 whom she had as yet found no en 
 dearing name, might be within hear 
 ing. "I canna let you use swear 
 words like that, a Christian don't 
 belong to use such oaths. You nev 
 er did it afore" she was going to 
 add, "you married," but she changed 
 it as she looked at his face "afore 
 you was maimed. It is a great 
 affliction, Steve, my son, but the 
 Lord do know best, and perhaps He 
 've set you on your chair there so 
 that you could be of more spiritual 
 use to that flash woman of yours 
 than ever you was able to be when 
 you did go out from morning to 
 21 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 night and was in full work and pay." 
 
 She nodded her head and patted 
 one hand over the other in a way 
 which meant to convey to her son 
 that she could say more if she dared. 
 
 "Out with it; what do you mean, 
 mother? Let's hear. What have 
 you against my woman?" 
 
 "Nothing, lad, why nothing at all. 
 It isn't me as do talk of her. No; I 
 always pleads for her, knowing what 
 a power of life young things do be 
 long to have. I've heard many an 
 ill word of Janet, but I'm slow to 
 mind it all; but you do know I've 
 never thought she was the wife you 
 would have took to, no, that I 
 didn't,. for like it or not, Steve, they 
 be right when they do say that she's 
 a lass as is bound to make a man's 
 heart heavy one way or another." 
 
 "Mother, husht!" 
 
 "There, there! it's always the 
 22 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 way. Wives first and mothers ain't 
 nowhere. I shall be shoved out of 
 the door one day, and told not to 
 put my finger in your flour sack 
 again, like Molly Oliver was done to 
 by her son; things is coming that 
 way, I believe." 
 
 Steve took out his pipe, slowly 
 filled it, lighted up, and sent a 
 great cloud of smoke between his 
 face and his mother's, saying sul 
 lenly: 
 
 "You believe all the lies you can 
 fall on, I reckon. Do nobody tell 
 you truth by chance?" 
 
 He laughed stupidly, as if he'd 
 like to sleep if she would let him. 
 
 "Yes! Yes! and it is the truth 
 that fears me for you. You don't 
 believe as a big, bouncing woman 
 
 like Janet is going to bide true to 
 a 
 
 "Mother, husht! If I had the use 
 23 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 of my legs again I'd thrash every 
 blooming jackass as dares to take 
 the name of my woman on his dirty 
 mouth. Yes! I'll use words strong 
 enough to choke the parsons and 
 liars as come here because they 
 haven't enough to do without taking 
 up women's gossip. They fill your 
 head with rubbish enough to deafen 
 a Chinaman. I'm wild with it all 
 now!" and he spat angrily into the 
 fire. "I've listened and said noth 
 ing for months, but now hear a bit 
 of my mind on this job just for 
 once't. My woman's a darned sight 
 handsomer, straighter, and" he 
 laughed "decenter than any of the 
 maids up along or down along, a 
 darned sight better by yards, mind 
 that! And that's just why she's got 
 the women folks agin her. Do you 
 think I don't know?" He sneered 
 and laughed roughly. "I ain't watch- 
 24 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ed and walked with maids for nuth- 
 in', mind you. I've been a hot un 
 in my time you do know that 
 and Janet warn't the first woman as 
 I've kissed but I guess she's the 
 last." 
 
 He sat up and smoked hard, and 
 his mother muttered beneath her 
 breath: 
 
 "I shouldn't like to say as you was 
 the last man as Janet had made free 
 with anyway; seems to me as fe 
 males nowadays has too much tether 
 given to 'em, and by them as should 
 have the whip-hand on 'em, too. 
 I'm not one of they sort as believes 
 a female can captain herself; it 
 ain't the law of God as she should, 
 and a sensible man soon finds that 
 out for hisself. A woman must 
 be captained same as a ship, or 
 her '11 run on to rocks sure enough. 
 That's been your blunder, my son. 
 25 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 You began wrong with Janet, and 
 let a high-spirited, lusty woman get 
 you fast under her thumb. The 
 courtin' should be sweet enough, 
 but a man should feel the whip 
 handle and flick the cord betimes, 
 just to show the female as her lord 
 can do something more nor worship 
 
 a woman/ 1 
 
 She clasped her hands in a re 
 signed way and looked steadfastly 
 at Steve, who was smiling to him 
 self. She was not sure that he had 
 heard her, for he said slowly, and 
 a little absently: 
 
 "I'd weary work getting Janet. 
 Lancashire women must be mixed 
 up with different stuff, I reckon. 
 It was as stiff a job as ever I tackled 
 and made me sweat often enough, 
 I can tell you. Howsomever, that 
 time I was clipped tight, for I've 
 never been able to make free with 
 26 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 maids since. " He snorted and 
 smoked harder still. ' * I believe some 
 times it's that that do rile 'em that 
 and Janet's face, which makes 
 'em all feel as if they'd had the pest. 
 That's why they be all dead agin 
 her. It's because they be crazy 
 jealous of her. If she was a hedge 
 maid, like lots I know here by, who 
 go like cats creeping after dusk for 
 toms, and ready to take men or lads, 
 whichever comes handiest, why, 
 they'd leave her be. But no, be 
 cause she'd put her fist right in the 
 eye of any man as tried to kiss her, 
 and because she'd do a kind act for 
 any maid as wanted it, they come 
 here with their cursed whispering 
 and sniggering, and I tell you for 
 truth, mother, they ain't fit to 
 wash her clothes." 
 
 "Well! well! young uns will talk, 
 Steve, and I canna put wool in my 
 
 ears." 
 
 27 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "No! I know that, but ye needn't 
 wash out your ears for to listen 
 better, and you be soft enough to 
 harken and believe 'em " 
 
 "No, lad, it ain't exactly as I be 
 lieve 'em, but she do open the road 
 for talk about her. I don't bear no 
 grudge agin her, but " 
 
 "Yes you do, the lot of ye. I 
 know all you would like to spit out 
 about her. You have got a grudge 
 agin her. Say what you've a mind 
 to. Do you think because I holds 
 my tongue I don't know how you 
 all hate her? Bah!" he spat angri 
 ly on the floor and knocked the 
 ashes from his pipe, and then rubbed 
 the bowl of it quickly against his 
 sleeve, as if he'd brighten other 
 things than pipe bowls if he could 
 do as he liked. 
 
 "Thee art a bit teasy, Steve. 
 Thee dost want Janet to come and 
 28 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 lift you onto the sofa for a while. 
 Thee have sat there in thy chair too 
 long and art a bit cramped. Lordy! 
 Lordy! I wish her'd come home and 
 fit us up a snack of supper, for I 
 fancy a bit of tasty, and I reckon 
 that's why we're frettin' a bit one 
 against the other." 
 
 Steve kept up the rubbing of his 
 pipe, and said stolidly and slowly, 
 as if he had not heard his mother 
 speak: "It's six year come Christ 
 mas Eve since I took her to wife, and 
 you and old Mother Treglown have 
 butted your two heads together ever 
 since to try and ferret out if she 
 be splay-footed, or has a devil's 
 imp inside of her. Yes! you know 
 I be speaking truth and you may 
 'Husht!' as long as you like. I'm 
 going to give you for once't a bit 
 of my mind, and you've got to lis 
 ten, for I'm dead sick of all this talk 
 29 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 over my woman. I've borne things 
 till I'm real teasy at last. You hate 
 her" he put the pipe in his pocket 
 and clasped his hands behind his 
 big neck "because she's had a bit 
 more learning than we belong to give 
 our maids. I know she do use her 
 brains freely, instead of lettin' 'em 
 addle for want of big catches to try 
 'em on. She can't help that. It's 
 her nature as much as it is for one 
 dog to follow another. Our folks 
 takes an hour to tell a tale, and then 
 tells everythin' but the tale in the 
 end; and Janet tells you like the 
 click of a door all you wants to 
 know to once't. Same with fitting 
 a man's meat while one of our 
 maids '11 be fitting up a bit o' tasty, 
 Janet '11 have a spread fit for Bo- 
 litho himself to sit to, and it won't 
 cost as much as a bit of heavy cake 
 when all's said and done." 
 30 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Yes," nodded the old dame, and 
 she dragged herself across the room 
 to a side cupboard to get the tea 
 pot. "Yes! it be true enough. She 
 can fit up meat better nor anyone I 
 do know, sure enough, and" as 
 she put the bread and butter on a 
 little round table near the crippled 
 man "she do eat it hearty, too. 
 I marvels sometimes how a female 
 can eat like a great man, as she do 
 belong to do. It do take money, 
 I tell you, to keep her in plain 
 victuals, not to speak of coddles 
 which we do all like betimes." 
 
 The man laughed happily. 
 
 "That's it, mother. Hand me a 
 drop of tea and some bread. It 
 gives me a hungry feeling like, to 
 think of her and her eating. When 
 I first fell in with her I thought, 
 that's the maid for me. Her can eat 
 and sleep and work, and I'll lay 
 31 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 my head on it her can love on the 
 same plan. Here goes, says I, and 
 I went for courting that woman on 
 the same plan I'd go in for saving a 
 ship, neck or nothin'. I'd have 
 my man in that job it was a wom 
 an or go under for it. I knowed 
 her as soon as I clapped eyes on her 
 with her sturdy legs and great long 
 hands and her rosy mouth as could 
 
 settle a row in a " He snapped 
 
 his fingers to indicate the time it 
 would need for Janet to square 
 things. "I don't wonder they hate 
 her here. I know the sort of maid 
 you'd got cut out and dressed for me; 
 she do hunt hereabouts still. Yes! 
 you know she do, like as she were 
 mad with moonshine. No! I didna 
 want to marry a maid as 'd sit at 
 my feet and blink at me all day and 
 purr at me all night like a chintzy 
 cat. It shows what you all know 
 32 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 about me, if you do think as they 
 sort of women takes my fancy. 
 Some more tea, mother." 
 
 Dame Trenoweth poured out the 
 second cup of tea, and, as she gave 
 it to him, she rubbed her trembling 
 old hand through his thick hair and 
 gently kissed him. Her Steve was 
 her idol, and if she could only get 
 him to talk she did not mind a bit of 
 abuse. 
 
 "Eh, Steve! But you're over hard 
 on the maids. It be true I would 
 have liked you to wed a maiden like 
 Wilmot Tregarth, and it's true, as 
 you say, as she's always been over 
 fond of you, but if you don't take to 
 such as she well, well, thy old 
 mother won't make thy bed harder 
 for you to lie on. Mothers can't 
 count on choosing their sons' wives." 
 
 Steve handed her his cup and took 
 out his pipe again and sucked it 
 before filling it. 
 
 33 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "They sort o' women makes me 
 sick," he muttered; "I could take 
 my foot to 'em. The very scent of 
 their skirts spells foolishness to me. 
 They seems as addle-pated as gulls, 
 and they simper and chatter enough 
 to give you a sick stomach. But 
 
 Janet " and as he said the word 
 
 you could not tell whether the blaze 
 from the match as he lighted his pipe 
 or the vision his brain conjured up 
 gave the fire and strength to his 
 deep grey eyes "Janet, why, she's 
 never teased me once't nor tired me 
 neither, since we was married. 
 She's like a squirrel ; now ain't she, 
 mother?" 
 
 The old woman nodded. 
 
 "Like a bit eel, too eh?" he 
 asked with a merry twinkle in his 
 eye as he blew a smoke wreath from 
 his uplifted mouth. 
 
 "Yes, yes, so she be." 
 34 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "And like a skylark on the Tow- 
 ans at daybreak, eh, mother?" 
 
 "I don't belong to see 'em now, 
 lad," she answered cautiously, for 
 she had a dim idea he was taking her 
 into a maze where she would find 
 herself entrapped in the praises of 
 Janet. 
 
 "Well, she's like a rough colt, too 
 and a bit of a tiger thrown in." 
 He laughed loudly. "That last 
 you'll grant to her?" 
 
 "Yes! a bit like that, but not 
 quite so bad as you've painted her." 
 
 The old dame grunted, rather be 
 wildered at having her own weapons 
 used in her son's hands. 
 
 "No, not quite so bad." 
 
 He chuckled. 
 
 "And down below all they things, 
 
 mother, there's something else she 
 
 be like, and no feller, unless he's 
 
 been at a school, could get at it, 
 
 35 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and perhaps not then. I can't find 
 no way of telling of it, for it's like 
 the lighthouse lamp in a gale. I 
 can steer by it, but I'm blest if I 
 can whistle it into the boat with me. 
 There, you look mad again because 
 I've got off the tiger tack. Oh, 
 mother! I wish you'd try and love 
 her, for you do make her sad, many 
 and many a time, though she says 
 no word of it." 
 
 "Well, well, Steve. I'll try for to 
 please you, for, as I said afore, I've 
 nothing agin the woman, and after 
 all she do belong to thee and I sh'd 
 behave better; but" with a sly 
 glance at the man, who was now be 
 ginning to mend an old brown fish 
 ing net with a tatting spool "I do 
 miss the lill baby, Steve, and I do 
 want to dandle a brat of yours on my 
 knees afore the Lord do take me." 
 
 She pulled out of her pocket an 
 36 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 old red silk handkerchief and wiped 
 her eyes. This was her trump card, 
 and she had saved it all these months 
 to play against Janet. She smooth 
 ed out her apron and made a grand 
 mother's knee, while she rocked to 
 and fro as if hushing a child to sleep; 
 but only "Lordy! Lordy!" was 
 heard by Steve who never guessed 
 that it was a lullaby. He threw down 
 the net on the floor and the tatting 
 spool with it. 
 
 "Now we're at it," he said, and 
 belched out volumes of smoke from 
 his pipe. "She be childless! That's 
 your grudge agin her, be it? I've 
 stopped your tongue afore now when 
 you was going to run on that tack 
 and now by God! I'll stop you 
 altogether." 
 
 He knocked some more loose furze 
 into the smouldering heap in the 
 grate with one hand, tightly clutch- 
 37 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ing the iron which he held with the 
 other, and as the flames danced 
 round the wood he went on: 
 
 "That woman's biggest wish in 
 this world is to have a child, mind 
 that! Her biggest wish, I tell you. 
 She's made in body and bone and 
 breast for that job, better nor all 
 our maids in Cornwall." 
 
 His eyes kindled, and the smoking 
 ceased as he twisted himself further 
 round in his chair to face his mother. 
 
 "I'd never guessed afore I knew 
 her what a woman was. The maids 
 I walked with teached me no more of 
 women of Janet's make nor grey 
 birds or bantams. I never shot a 
 guess, afore I courted Janet, what a 
 parcel of feelings could fit into a 
 cream and white skin that looks as 
 if her own finger nails 'd scar it. 
 It's just them things I think on as I 
 sit here when I can't move about as 
 38 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 I belong women and maids . and 
 mothers and childer and I'm blest if 
 every one of 'em don't all fit into 
 the face of my woman." 
 
 Seeing the bewildered look in his 
 mother's face, he said, in a more 
 gentle voice: 
 
 "But that's not here nor yet there. 
 Mother, do you try to follow me a 
 bit and you're bound to come round 
 to my way of thinking. I'd cut 
 my hand off yes, I'd scoop out 
 one of my eyes as the Bible tells us 
 to do, rather than I'd think hard or 
 evil of Janet. There is no evil in 
 her." He knocked the ashes out 
 of his pipe against the arm of his 
 chair as he said it, and blew vigor 
 ously down the stem. 
 
 "She's a big brave woman as 
 
 clings hard to a man" his voice was 
 
 lowered, and he looked hardly at the 
 
 old woman "who never can have 
 
 39 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 no child! There, mother!'* with 
 a short, sharp breath "put that 
 in your snuff to scent it with, and 
 strike out the sum agin Janet. 
 You've got to put that fault to me 
 and not to she. When the neigh 
 bours come in next and set up their 
 cackling over maids and widders and 
 childer and parsons, tell 'em from 
 me that Clibby Steve can't get no 
 child and that Janet, his woman, do 
 cleave to him in spite of it, 'cause 
 she loves him, mark that! and has 
 vowed to love him till he dies and 
 tell 'em too, if they can spell it out, 
 that ever since she knowed her 
 could have no child, she's never 
 mouthed over it neither to me, 
 nor to any other body. Folks don't 
 mag except about pin pricks. I'm 
 not blind, and I watch her, as you 
 do know well enough, like a big fool 
 day in and day out. I watch that 
 40 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 woman of ours with childer, and it's 
 enough to send you mazed to see the 
 look on her face. Virgin Marys in 
 deed! them faces ain't none of 
 'em ripe enough to look like my 
 woman." He laughed softly. "The 
 childer know her, know her for a 
 full, ripe woman as wants somethin' 
 that she do belong to have and can't 
 have noways as I can see. Watch 
 her with beasts. It's just the same. 
 It makes a feller feel a skunkin' 
 hound to set fish hooks for starlings 
 or hunt a wild thing happy in the 
 sun. Oh, mother! do you hear me? 
 I'm sore pressed to plead for her 
 like this. I don't belong to be a 
 whining ninny like I be this day, 
 but you've set me on past my own 
 tongue, and I don't know myself 
 at all. No, not at all sure en 
 ough." 
 
 His face, aglow with the energy 
 41 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 with which he had spoken, grew soft 
 er. The lover had transfigured the 
 rough miner, and educated him be 
 yond the colleges and books he 
 craved to know in order that he 
 might be able to understand Janet. 
 Old Mother Trenoweth cowered un 
 der his strange look, for Steve, her 
 strong, quiet, and tender son, never 
 talked to her in this feverish way, 
 and she feared he was getting "not 
 exactly" through sitting still all day. 
 "Steve, my son, don't you take on 
 'bout what I said. I meant no hurt 
 to her. I'm a lone widdy," with a 
 whimper, "and I did want to dandle 
 a lill grandchild on my knees afore 
 I died; but, if it is the Lord's will 
 that you cannot be a good man to her 
 as is your lawful wife, well, it's not 
 for me to say one way nor another, 
 and I didna mean to tease you, sure 
 enough. When a woman be barren, 
 42 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 you knows yourself that folks will 
 talk and say that, if one chap winna 
 do, she do often hanker after an 
 other, specially if her master bides 
 always in the house place and she do 
 go up along at times, as Janet do. 
 I don't say but what seaweed can 
 do you good, but it be far for she to 
 go for it, and she so well set and live 
 ly in her talk, and not of this coun 
 try neither. " 
 
 This last sentence was delivered 
 with a little of the old venom, for 
 here was another sore which could 
 not heal: that her son had not chos 
 en a wife from his own village and 
 people. The man laughed. 
 
 "It's no use getting teasy with 
 thee, mother. I thank the Lord 
 I've taken a maid from another 
 place; I've told you over and over 
 again, I'm none taken with these 
 lurgy women hereabouts, giddy 
 43 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 heads with no sense nor no fling in 
 'em. I'm going to have forty winks 
 now, and so let's leave Janet to her 
 self! Her '11 be back betimes and 
 her '11 find me as mum as a gurnard 
 if I don't take care. Don't you mind 
 the sharp things I've said to you. 
 I'm not exactly to-day. There's 
 a gale o' wind brewing, I believe, 
 and that always stirs my bile a bit, 
 since I've had to be indoors." 
 
 With this apology he leaned back 
 in his chair and closed his eyes, a 
 bit of "play-acting" he indulged 
 in when he wanted to escape his 
 mother's chatter. She slowly pulled 
 herself together and began to collect 
 and wash up the tea-things, ponder 
 ing in her old-fashioned way on the 
 perversity of young blood. 
 
 44 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Steve Trenoweth, after his com 
 plaint to his mother that he was in 
 need of sleep, let his head drop on 
 his breast and gradually sank into a 
 quiet doze; but in between the wak 
 ing and sleeping he thought about 
 Janet, and wondered in a dim way 
 what kind of power had got posses 
 sion of him to have altered his life 
 so oddly. When Janet came near 
 him it was as if all gentle and strong 
 influences had come with her. It 
 always bewildered him that he never 
 tired of her, never ceased feeling 
 towards her as if he had but newly 
 loved her. One of his mates had 
 once told him that it was against 
 47 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 nature for him and his sort to live 
 always with the same woman, and 
 he added that with his wife he had to 
 pretend every now and then that she 
 was not married to him, and for 
 this purpose he took off her wedding 
 ring and acted like a lover to her in 
 order to stimulate his old passion 
 for her. Steve never felt the need 
 to lash up his old romance for Janet; 
 it never ceased spurring him, and 
 he dwelt in the heaven and hell of 
 an absorption which at times seemed 
 to threaten his reason. At first he 
 thought Janet had bewitched him 
 when he found that a subtler passion 
 followed on the mere physical spell 
 of the early days; for he had seen 
 so many of his mates bewitched and 
 befooled by the fortnight, or by the 
 year, and get over it, as they did a 
 fever. They always settled down 
 to a good-humoured married life, 
 48 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 neither drunk nor starved as far as 
 love was concerned, and they laugh 
 ed knowingly at the first love frenzy 
 in others, which they reckoned to 
 be the way of young boys, colts, 
 and soldiers. 
 
 But Janet had curiously become 
 as his actual daily bread to Tren- 
 oweth, until at times he felt he was 
 enslaved by his absorption and no 
 longer his own master. He was rest 
 less away from her, at rest with her, 
 and in both cases he was often puz 
 zled at the spell over him, which he 
 could not analyse or withstand. 
 His depression when she was not 
 with him for an interval, on seeing 
 her again was often followed by a 
 mood of exultation, which in his 
 homely way he compared to "the 
 feelin' a man has when he've saved 
 a poor devil from the sea and he 
 finds hisself warm and happy be- 
 49 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 tween white sheets again." Every 
 morning when he wakened he thank 
 ed God she lay by his side. To feel 
 her breathing near him soothed him 
 to a quiet happiness which rarely 
 grew less. She had educated him as 
 love alone can educate. He knew 
 little or nothing of books nor did 
 she; but the very scent of woman 
 hood, which seemed to lull his baser 
 passions as she moved near him, 
 set him thinking about matters which 
 had never before entered his head. 
 He knew nothing about modern 
 problems how could he? His first 
 problem had been how to fill his own 
 stomach. His second, how to feed 
 his mother; and before he had solved 
 these two the third problem, which 
 of course he never recognised as one 
 at all, appeared to him when he was 
 working in the mines near Barrow, 
 in the shape of this woman, Janet 
 50 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Nelson, with whom he fell in love, 
 and whom he wooed with a strength 
 and tenacity of purpose which be 
 wildered her. Being a strong, capa 
 ble Lancashire lass, she had several 
 lovers, as " wenches'* always had who 
 had any "grit" in them; but Steve 
 Trenoweth's southern ways, which, 
 like the modulations at the end of 
 his sentences, charmed her native 
 artistic sense with a feeling of grace 
 and refinement, at last won her. She 
 was swept away by his sincere pas 
 sion for her, and the twitting of her 
 companions, who called her "chap" 
 a "toff," only increased the attrac 
 tion towards the sober, tender, and 
 yet passionate lover who came to her 
 with none of the vulgar swagger or 
 selfish bombast of the men around 
 her, who worshipped money and 
 money-getting more than women. 
 Six years ago he had fought for her 
 51 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and won her. Two years after their 
 marriage, he came back to his old 
 Cornish home and accepted a vacant 
 place in one of the few mines still 
 offering regular work in Cornwall. 
 
 Almost immediately upon his re 
 turn to his old associations and work, 
 when in full health and pay, an acci 
 dent paralysed him, and he felt him 
 self at times almost like a dead man. 
 Janet had to mother him now, 
 sometimes almost to nurse him like 
 a child and carry him from chair to 
 sofa in her strong arms. The ten 
 der and protecting influence came 
 now from the woman to the man, 
 for her old powerful sweetheart 
 was no longer able to guard her; he 
 had to endure a cripple's life with its 
 physical drawbacks. The virile lov 
 er was laid aside, and Nature, as if in 
 revenge for her thwarted plan, had 
 pressed the subtler spiritual laws of 
 52 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 love-life into the fore-ground, and 
 made the mental war against the 
 physical, until the poor human, with 
 his pipe, his net-making and his 
 mother, presented a sorry spectacle 
 to those who had known him as a 
 strong, capable worker and organi 
 ser. 
 
 It was this subtle transformation 
 in the man and the lover which made 
 him at times unable to tell if he had 
 more pleasure or pain in this love 
 of his. It tormented him on the 
 days when he watched Janet's strong 
 young face brighten as some wel 
 come outsider poured out news or 
 told of some village frolic; he felt 
 then that he was old, grey, and stu 
 pid, and she well, she seemed to 
 him like a seagull and a mermaid 
 in one, meant to fly, dash, strike 
 out and fulfil herself in ways he could 
 not understand. He smoked the 
 53 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 matter in his pipe, he said to him 
 self sometimes, but the tobacco gave 
 out before he could arrive at any 
 definite consolation or conclusion. 
 Then, as he pondered over it once 
 more, she would come and nestle 
 close to him and caress him in her 
 strong womanly way, lay her long 
 firm hands on his shoulders, and tell 
 him what a good fellow he was, and 
 then he felt happy, very happy, 
 until the devil put it into his head 
 to argue with himself that if she had 
 told him he was a bad lot, but that 
 she loved him the bad lot better 
 than anything else in the world, he 
 would have been really happy and 
 for a long time. Once as they sat 
 together after the old dame had gone 
 to bed she had looked at him in a 
 strange way, and her face seemed 
 tired and a little pale, too, and he 
 had put his arm out, and rubbed the 
 54 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 back of his hairy hand on her smooth 
 long fingers, and lingered over the 
 one where the ring told him he was 
 safe. She turned round suddenly 
 and threw her strong arm round his 
 neck and held him so tightly that 
 the pressure hurt him, and she said 
 thickly: 
 
 "I wonder what I'd do without 
 thee, lad;*' and he could not answer 
 her, for it was as if his very blood 
 had danced in his flesh. She rarely 
 said words like that; her northern 
 training expressed itself more in 
 tender action than words, and she 
 could rarely speak when she felt 
 deeply. 
 
 Steve hungered often for a rough 
 Lancashire love speech, but it seldom 
 came. He had grown very restless 
 these last two years; he wondered 
 if books or clever people could help 
 him over one or two puzzles which be- 
 55 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 wildered him. He was growing 
 afraid of the silence Janet always 
 kept, about having no child; he felt 
 nervous about it, as he might of a 
 ghost. Her reserve, and her joy 
 less laughter over trivialities, which 
 he had noticed at times, worried 
 him, and he dared not question her 
 for fear of putting his own dread into 
 her mind in case his suspicions were 
 only the result of his doting passion. 
 The real trouble lay in the knowledge 
 that grew upon him in some unde 
 fined way, that the woman was more 
 than his match; that she was hiding 
 her real self away from him. 
 
 The girls with whom he had 
 flirted, the women familiarity had 
 led him to understand his mother, 
 for instance were not like Janet. 
 They had no inflexions, no modula 
 tions worth speaking of; they were 
 within the octave, as it were, and an 
 56 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 occasional tuning up at Christmas, 
 at Feast times, or when a revival 
 took place, was all they needed to 
 keep them both healthy and vir 
 tuous. Love had sharpened Treno- 
 weth's wits, and he was puzzled 
 about Janet's nature, until he had 
 once or twice come nearly to the 
 point of having a talk with the par 
 son, of whom he stood in awe as 
 more or less belonging to the ' 'gen 
 try, " to whom a poor man could not 
 easily pour out his human difficul 
 ties. He felt it would be a good deal 
 easier to beg for parish relief than to 
 ask advice on a subject he had pon 
 dered over until it had become a 
 part of Janet in his thoughts, and 
 would not bear talking over, any 
 more than the big brown mole un 
 der her breast. He smoked and 
 made his nets and cursed himself for 
 a doubting fool when he felt an icy 
 57 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 shiver run over him as he said to 
 himself: "Her's above the likes of 
 we she'll find it out one day, and 
 then well, what then?" These re 
 flections generally ended in his de 
 claring with astounding emphasis 
 that Janet belonged to him and to 
 him alone, and he was but a poor- 
 hearted fellow to addle his brains 
 with silly fears. 
 
 One day, after an hour spent in 
 thinking over these things, he had 
 suddenly called out gruffly: "Come 
 here, wench, and kiss your lawful 
 man; we're spliced for good, mind, 
 as you women say up along; you 
 can't get out of it, Janet, my lass." 
 Janet had pondered over this speech 
 and wondered if Steve would ever 
 become like Nathan Treweeke, who 
 ordered his woman about as if she 
 had neither soul nor body of her own, 
 and at last gave her two black eyes 
 58 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 in the endeavour to prove that man 
 is made on purpose to master a wo 
 man, and after that to praise God and 
 glorify Him for ever. 
 
 Steve Trenoweth had never spoken 
 so strongly or at such length in his 
 life as he had to his mother that af 
 ternoon, and the mental effort had 
 exhausted him. He dozed as he 
 thought over Janet and longed for 
 her return. His brain and spine 
 seemed alive and as if tiny hot in 
 sects were crawling over him, and 
 picking with teeth like needle-points 
 the very marrow out of his bones. 
 His manhood and his self-control 
 seemed to be fast ebbing away, 
 and he felt that if he did not see 
 Janet he should soon be "mazed." 
 His wife had been gone a day and a 
 night, but it seemed weeks to Steve. 
 She left home so rarely that he 
 thought when she had gone that he 
 59 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 had some idea of what it would be 
 like if she died, or he died, for he 
 could never imagine that even in 
 heaven he could be anything but 
 lost and "leery" without Janet. 
 
 Steve scarcely realised how his 
 whole religion had been uncon 
 sciously modified and in some re 
 spects utterly changed through his 
 love for this woman Janet. The 
 world, which he once affected to 
 look upon as a mere temporary dwel 
 ling place, had become his heaven, 
 simply because Janet moved in it. 
 The Golden Jerusalem, the judg 
 ment seat, and the harp and crown 
 which had always formed, as a good 
 Wesleyan, a background to his image 
 of God and Christ, had imaged 
 themselves very faintly in these 
 latter years, and he had once, in a 
 state of half waking and sleeping, 
 caught himself imagining heaven 
 60 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 with a woman on the Throne, croon 
 ing to little children who were play 
 ing at her feet. It was getting in 
 deed time that Clibby Steve should 
 consult his "leader," for Love and 
 Religion were becoming hopelessly 
 entangled in his simple brain. Jan 
 et being a churchwoman had got 
 into touch with the parish treats, 
 and this had added to the feeling 
 against her in her mother-in-law 
 and the gossips of the village, who 
 looked upon their chapels as the 
 meeting place where the worship of 
 God was the least conspicuous part 
 of the ritual. The newest styles 
 in dress and manners and the silent 
 flirtations made the Sabbath a day 
 of rejoicing more than prayer, and 
 Steve made up his mind that if he 
 went to a parson about his difficul 
 ties it should not be one of his own 
 sect. 
 
 61 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 "Who be there? Come in, if you 
 please," called Mother Trenoweth, 
 as a knock was heard at the door. 
 "Oh! be it you, Loveday? Well, 
 my dear, I'm real glad to see you. 
 Sit ye down. It be so mortal dull 
 at times here that I'm right glad to 
 have a neighbour drop in. Sit ye 
 down take a chair in front o' the 
 fire." Then, as she caught sight of 
 her neighbour's face, she said quick 
 ly, "Why, what's wrong with you, 
 woman?" 
 
 " What's wrong? My gosh ! What's 
 right, you might be asking! Be 
 Janet in?" Loveday Penberthy 
 peered round the room as she asked 
 the question, and seeing Trenoweth 
 65 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 apparently asleep, she smiled and 
 jerked her thumb in an interroga 
 tive way over her shoulder towards 
 the door by which she had just en 
 tered, at which gesture Mother Tren- 
 oweth shook her head, and sighed 
 wearily: "Lordy! my dear, her 
 bean't back yet." 
 
 "My blessed life!"ejaculated Love- 
 day, the gossip and ne'er-do-weel of 
 the village; "I be near faintin', that 
 I be; I can hardly stand upright 
 at all" to prove which she leaned 
 her stout person against the end of 
 the window seat, folded her large 
 bare arms, rested them on her ca 
 pacious stomach, and let all her 
 weight fall on one leg in her endeav 
 our to ease both mind and body. 
 
 "Whatever be the matter, Love- 
 day? Is Jan not so well agin?" 
 
 "Oh! brother Jan! he be right 
 enough, and if he warn't I don't 
 66 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 know as I'd fret over much about 
 he. Lazy lump! He don't earn 
 tuppence a week all told, and I've 
 to go down along o' Mazes to wash 
 and char and do coddles for him to 
 guzzle hisself out with baccy and 
 meat. I'll have you know, Mrs. 
 Trenoweth, that I'm fairly done 
 for." 
 
 "Mazes," said the old woman, 
 "Mazes? Who be they then? But 
 sit ye down, Loveday, sit ye down, 
 woman and tell me all about it." 
 
 "I'm feared I shall be upsetting 
 of Steve there." 
 
 "No, you won't; sit ye down 
 and don't mind me; mag on a 
 bit it'll do the old un good. 
 What's wrong with you, now?" 
 asked Steve quietly from the corner, 
 for Loveday's loud voice had brought 
 him back to ordinary matters. 
 67 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Why! I'm fair befoolt with them 
 up-along folks, them as have took 
 Maister Lander's house up by the 
 south cove. I can't tell what be 
 coming to pass them strangers do 
 seem to torment the life and soul 
 out of we dacent folks, with their 
 flash notions and lurgy ways and"- 
 with a sneer "as mean, my dear, 
 as mean as misards, every one of 
 them sort." 
 
 "They've sent for you then to do 
 their chars for 'em?" asked the old 
 woman. 
 
 "My Lord! I should just think 
 they had." 
 
 Loveday threw up her head and 
 sniffed the air with impatient scorn. 
 She had taken off her flat black hat 
 and thrown it on the floor, when she 
 caught sight of the door which was 
 being slowly opened from outside. 
 68 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Here comes Nan Curtis; she'll 
 tell you about Mazes, for she had 
 one of 'em lodging with her once't." 
 
 Nan Curtis opened the door and 
 peeped into the room in the familiar 
 way neighbours have with one an 
 other. She stepped into the house 
 place, and sat on a bench opposite 
 Steve, with a friendly though rough 
 greeting to him. 
 
 "How be you, old man?" 
 "'Bout same, Nan thank ye." 
 Nan wore a white sun bonnet, 
 which partially shaded her rough, 
 bony face; the skin was yellow and 
 coarse, and but for an expression 
 of intense animation she would have 
 been positively repellant in her ug 
 liness. She continually exposed 
 large yellow tusks, for she seemed to 
 yapp like a dog as she talked; the 
 same sound did duty for a laugh or a 
 grunt of disapproval. She sat square 
 69 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and taut, braced up for a scold or a 
 kind of rattlesnake gossip at any 
 hour. She was always clean and 
 even prim in her dress, and her 
 shrewish tendencies and quick re 
 torts made her respected and at the 
 same time feared by her slow and 
 easy-living neighbours. She and 
 Loveday were great cronies, for 
 they met on a common ground; 
 both kept their native vindictive- 
 ness on the surface and both were 
 willing at any hour to do a real ser 
 vice for a neighbour. Many a racy 
 story, by which the general world is 
 the loser, did these two women tell 
 one another over two-pennyworth of 
 the best gin. If ridicule and denun 
 ciation could have re-constructed a 
 community, Loveday and Nan would 
 have managed the whole task over 
 one noggin of the best Plymouth. 
 Nan sat opposite Steve, and smooth- 
 70 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ed out her clean apron over her dark 
 green dress with her small energetic 
 hands. Her upright, defiant atti 
 tude and her straight bust, which 
 did not seem to offer either tender 
 ness or forgiveness to the fallen or 
 strayed, suggested a grim, stern hu 
 mour, and a stolid common sense 
 which contrasted strongly with Love- 
 day's lazy slouch, ill-kempt hair and 
 voluminous bosom, which scandal 
 declared had more than once bidden 
 welcome to vagrant lovers. Nan 
 turned to Loveday, and preened her 
 self for a tale of woe and frolic in 
 one. 
 
 "What's that you was saying, 
 Loveday? Be you on the Mazes' 
 tack? Lord! You've been to char 
 for 'em ain't ye?" 
 
 A toss of the head was all the an 
 swer Loveday gave, but she looked 
 fixedly at her friend for a moment, 
 71 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and then winked, at which the other 
 yapped. 
 
 "They be parties sure enough. 
 How did they sarve you, then?" 
 
 "Sarve me! Why, woman they 
 sarved me so spicey that I can't 
 sit down, I'm that sore." She rub 
 bed affectionately the afflicted por 
 tion of her body, and coughed as 
 she saw Steve smiling to himself 
 in the corner. "My dear life! I 
 can't even move my arm .to my head, 
 I'm that stiff; I can't think what up- 
 along folks think we's made of 
 now!" settling down into a heap 
 in order to tell her tale with more 
 ease. "Just listen! I goes to them 
 Mazes fust thing in the mornin', 
 and then it's fust one thing and then 
 it's another, clack and clatter from 
 daybreak to midnight. My dear" 
 with a loud laugh and address 
 ing Nan "they do belong to have 
 72 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 their knives cleaned with some stuff 
 or another every day, every blessed 
 mornin', I tell you, and I've got to 
 shine their blooming shoes, not 
 once't a week, mind ye, but every 
 day." 
 
 "Lordy, Lordy!" sang the old 
 dame, "would you believe it, then? 
 One 'd almost think they made a 
 particular habit of finding mud to 
 dirty 'em. It ain't exactly seem 
 ly, seems to me, to dirt all over 
 your shoes every day; I shouldn't a 
 thought gentry would act so like 
 working folks." 
 
 "Gentry! they sort gentry? My 
 blessed! They ain't no gen try! They 
 do save up every crumble, and be 
 cause they can hitch up a veil to 
 their hats of Sundays they looks 
 down on we folks as has to work for 
 'em. Darned upstarts! That's 
 what they be." She beat her foot 
 73 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 impatiently on the brick floor and 
 looked envious. 
 
 "You be right there, Loveday. 
 They sort makes their money up 
 along and comes down along to save 
 it on we. Well, what else had you 
 to do?" 
 
 "Why, it's all fetchin' and 
 carryin' and bowin' and scrapin' 
 and they expects a blooming lot 
 of mag with it, too. They's for 
 ever 'begging pardin', and wants me 
 to do the same most all day and for 
 nothing too. I can't make it out. 
 If they hutch up too close to one 
 another they smirks thisards" imi 
 tating an inclination of the head and 
 a slow drawl " 'begging of your 
 pardin!' Lawks! look at the old 
 un; her's doing it too," for the old 
 woman was so keenly following Love- 
 day's tale that she had unconsciously 
 smirked and made a movement with 
 74 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 her lips. "It's all enough to turn 
 your stomach, and I said right out 
 once't that I'd beg no pardins to 
 no one for doing no wrong to 'em! 
 I knows gentry, Clibby Steve," 
 with a direct look at the cripple, 
 "I know 'em well enough when I 
 see 'em and if I do any person a 
 hurt I'm not so over-proud but 
 what I'll say I'm sorry for it, that 
 is, if I be sorry, you know" with 
 an apologetic smile at Nan "but 
 they must be real gentry if I'm to 
 bend my pride to them, and not 
 upstarts as can't fairly pay for a 
 drop of milk when they've drunk 
 it." 
 
 A loud laugh came from Nan at 
 this point, for she knew the farm 
 where the milk was bought, and she 
 could back Loveday's assertion with 
 another tale about unpaid debts. 
 
 "Yes! Yes! but what's the good 
 75 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 of keep begging pardin', Loveday; 
 what's it for at all?" asked the old 
 woman. 
 
 "Something to do, I should reck 
 on. I told Mrs. Maze pretty quick 
 that I warn't going to beg pardins 
 to no one, and that her blood and 
 mine, I guessed, was mostly of the 
 same colour both on us seemingly 
 has red blood in us and not black, 
 leastways I ain't none inside of me 
 and then I up and told her if anyone 
 was to beg pardins, it was she and 
 not me. Yes! I did," emphati 
 cally, for there was an incredulous 
 smile creeping over Nan's face. "I 
 just up and said them very words 
 to her, and why?" 
 
 Loveday drew her chair closer 
 to the fire and crossed her legs. 
 
 "Would you believe it of the mean 
 woman? They had a roast sent in 
 to the dining room for theirselves, 
 76 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and what do you think was put 
 abroad on the table for me?" point 
 ing with a fat finger to her capa 
 cious chest. 
 
 "Nay! I canna guess/' said the 
 old woman, whose eyes gleamed at 
 this rare chance of village gossip. 
 "What were it then?" 
 
 "Heavy cake, I should say/' 
 snarled Nan, whose experiences in 
 the gluttony of lodgers and "up- 
 along" people was sad. 
 
 "No, woman; it weren't even that. 
 It were a rusty herrin' and a bit o' 
 stale bread." 
 
 "Lordy, Lordy! did anybody ever 
 hear the likes o' that, but I've al 
 ways heard that strangers and ar 
 tists be very sparey," said Mother 
 Trenoweth. 
 
 "Divil take the bastely misards," 
 grunted Nan. "What did you do? 
 Did you eat it at all?" 
 77 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Eat it?" with a fine scorn. "I 
 just took it right under her nose when 
 her'd corned out of the dining room, 
 stuffed full of flesh meat, and I said 
 to her: 'Here, missis! yer cat must 
 be a stranger, too, I reckon! Her 
 don't take to rusty herrin's neither 
 do she? Her's waiting seemly for 
 the roast, I'm thinking.' ' 
 
 Loveday clasped her hands around 
 her crossed knee and chuckled. 
 
 "Drat ye! Did you say that for 
 sure?" cried Nan. 
 
 "Yes! sure enough that I did, to 
 try for to shame her. And that's 
 not all, my girl," and Loveday clap 
 ped her hands and changed the posi 
 tion of her legs. She screwed up 
 her eyes as if in pain as she did this; 
 winked and nodded to the two wom 
 en and looked across at Steve. "I 
 can scarce move easy yet; it's the 
 butter-making and the scrubbing 
 78 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 all to once't. Think of a shilling 
 a day for to char and rub and scrub 
 and make butter as well. You 
 know I can wash well enough; I've 
 done it anyways for the last fif 
 teen year and more eh, Nan?" 
 
 "That you can, my dear," an 
 swered Nan, "and git the dirt out 
 o' the clothes without any muck 
 put in the water to rend 'em abroad 
 as soon as they're on a body's back 
 again. Didna your washing suit 
 'em neither?" 
 
 Loveday put her hands to her 
 sides and laughed loudly. 
 
 "Oh! my Lord! I'll leave you 
 know a thing or two. If Steve 
 there don't like what I'm going to 
 say, I can't help it, but somehow now 
 I always look on you more like a 
 woman than a man, with always be 
 ing in and listening to our mag - 
 eh?" She looked kindly at Steve. 
 79 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Yes! I suppose you do. I'm 
 not harking much, Loveday, and if 
 you don't talk too loud I can't hear 
 you, if it's summat as belongs to 
 women folks." 
 
 He glanced at Loveday with a 
 look which combined repulsion and 
 familiarity. 
 
 "Well! my dear," addressing Nan, 
 "after I'd got through all them chars, 
 and the butter, and washed and dried 
 and mangled all the clothes (it took 
 me three days' slavin' like a nigger, 
 till I'm a mass of sores, I tell you, 
 what do you think that pert Miss 
 Maze had to say to it all? My 
 blessed life! She corned into me like 
 this if you please." 
 
 Loveday got up and mimicked 
 fine ladydom so well that all three 
 shouted with laughter, and Steve 
 chuckled as he called for more tobac 
 co. 
 
 80 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 " Ten!' (the cheek of she cutting 
 my name in two like that) 'Pen!' 
 says she," and the rough loud voice 
 rose to a mincing treble, " *y u have 
 not starched the legs o' my drawses, 
 and Ma and me always likes our 
 laces starched/ Now! what do you 
 think of that for lustful pride?" 
 
 "My dear life!" from Nan. "You 
 can't mean that, sure enough!" She 
 rocked backwards and forwards and 
 showed her large yellow tusks with 
 delight and amazement. 
 
 "Did you ever! Oh! my patience 
 on us! starch in their drawses! 
 Well! well! they be up-along no 
 tions!" 
 
 "And that ain't all," amicably 
 continued Loveday, "but it's the 
 same with the lace on their night 
 shifts too, and all sorts of different 
 clothes as they do wear; it ain't 
 only in the legs of their drawses, 
 81 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 I can tell you/' with a mysterious 
 wink at Nan. 
 
 "Lordy, Lordy! I wonder they can 
 sleep in comfort," said the old wo 
 man, moving her neck from side to 
 side as if she could feel the stiff laces 
 like a halter round her throat. 
 
 "What did you say to her when 
 she'd asked you to do such an unbe 
 known thing 'as that, Loved ay?" 
 queried Nan. Loveday had seated 
 herself again and was gazing with 
 the air of a conquering heroine into 
 the fire. 
 
 "I said to her, 'Starch in drawses, 
 Miss Maze?' Eduth, her maiden 
 name be, and after that I'd a real 
 mind to call her that to her face. 
 'Yes!' says I to her 'yes! I'll put 
 starch in your drawses, and all over 
 'em too!'" 
 
 "Oh! Oh! Oh! Darn ye!" from 
 Nan. "That's one of the best you've 
 82 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ever given them sort, Loveday. 
 They can't get to the windward of 
 you. What did the fool say to you 
 then?" 
 
 "Well," answered Loveday, mod 
 estly, "I'm not altogether sure she 
 heard that last, else she didn't quite 
 pick out what the meaning of it 
 were, but she went to the cupboard 
 and gave me the starch, and," with 
 a broad grin, "she's got starch enough 
 in her drawses now as' 11 let her know 
 what my body do feel like after 
 doin' chars enough for a month for 
 one day's pay." 
 
 "Up-along folks ain't all so near 
 as Mazes be, Loveday, you must 
 mind that. Do you recollect that 
 poor devil Macnab as lodged with 
 me last winter? I tended him like 
 my own child. He'd no sich ways 
 along o' him, I can tell you. He was 
 83 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 as free to help you as to laugh at 
 you, but sickly, sure enough. " 
 
 Nan took the corner of her white 
 apron and blew her nose vigorous- 
 
 ly- 
 
 "I did take to that feller, and I'm 
 miserable many a time when I do 
 think of him, poor fule." 
 
 "What's become of him since he 
 went to foreign parts?" asked Love- 
 day. 
 
 "My gosh! ain't I never told you? 
 Well! well! I believe I took it 
 pretty hard and said nothing of it 
 for long enough. My blessed life! 
 he be turned into a pepper-dredge, 
 so I've heard !" She beat the ground 
 quickly and fiercely with her foot 
 as she continued in an injured tone: 
 
 "That's a poor enough end for a 
 fellow to come to after all the slav 
 ing I did for him. I've rubbed that 
 man's back, which was nothin' to 
 84 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 begin with but a loose sack full of 
 nails and I have rubbed it till 
 it were blistered many a time, and 
 made him coddles enough to fright 
 en you, to tempt his appetite. Old 
 Nancy Nanquitho's stuff did noth 
 ing at all for him, I don't want to say 
 nothing for to dishearten Steve there, 
 but it seems to me that that sea 
 weed oil is nothing but a snare to 
 trap a fool's money." 
 
 "P'raps the oil bean't much worth 
 for a decline, Nan," answered Steve. 
 "It be good, I believe, for seizures 
 and rheumatics, leastways that's 
 what her's told Janet that it's most 
 ly for." 
 
 Loveday winked at Nan and said 
 surlily: 
 
 "Some folks is over fond of jaw 
 ing to your woman, Steve, and they 
 do feed her mind with untruths, 
 I'm fearing. I don't believe myself 
 85 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 in folks living in huts when there's 
 houses near by to be had for almost 
 nothing. If I was thee, Steve, I'd 
 stop Janet from going too much with 
 the likes of Nancy Nanquitho. There 
 be folks near by as would place her 
 character in the bottom of a beer 
 mug and then declare you couldn't 
 find it, drunk nor sober." 
 
 The old woman clasped her hands 
 and turned her thumbs one over the 
 other as she watched her son's face, 
 but she said no word for or against 
 the old witch doctor. 
 
 Steve laughed. 
 
 "Perhaps the woman have melted 
 her character into the seaweed stuff 
 and it'll come out by and by in us. 
 My legs is better for it, that I'll 
 swear. There be a damned sight 
 more witches living in houses than 
 in huts, let me tell you." 
 
 Nan and Loveday laughed at this 
 86 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sharp hit at the village women, but 
 the old dame feared that they were 
 getting on dangerous ground. 
 
 "You was joking, Nan, surely, 
 wasn't ye, when you said as Maister 
 Macnab was made into a pepper- 
 dredge?" 
 
 "No! I wasn't joking at all! not 
 a bit of it. Some feller wrote to 
 one of them artists as is staying 
 with Jane Hocking, and by all ac 
 counts he'd seen it done and wrote 
 to tell her all about it." 
 
 "My blessed!" grunted Loveday, 
 "it do sound like some devil's trick 
 or another; I should have thought 
 the police would have stopped such 
 goings on." 
 
 "Don't you see, Loveday, my dear, 
 they burnt him first; took him, poor 
 feller, and put him inside of a big 
 oven, so they do say, and fairly 
 roasted the poor devil until well 
 87 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 my dear life! it's awful to think 
 on it, until he was nothing but dust 
 and ashes like that there!" point 
 ing to the white ash from the burnt- 
 out wood which lay in a heap on the 
 red tiles of the hearth-place. 
 
 "Lordy, Lordy! it do fair make a 
 body's flesh go crawly; it's worse 
 than murder, seems to me," wailed 
 Mother Trenoweth. "Yes! so it 
 be. I lies awake at nights sometimes 
 and thinks of him afore he went 
 away, and I'm forced to get up and 
 take a drop of hot ginger to soothe 
 my stomach. The thought of that 
 dear man being rent limb from limb 
 with no soul by to save him makes 
 all the wind in my stomach fly to 
 my head. They say as after he was 
 burnt to nothing, as you might say, 
 they took what was left of him and 
 poured it into a pepper-drudge. I 
 could hardly credit it, but they as 
 88 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 told me says as this sort of burying 
 is coming over to us from foreign 
 parts, but I don't hardly believe 
 it." 
 
 "Well! I hope to the Lord it 
 won't be made into law afore I'm 
 safely under the ground. I should 
 feel as shamed as a maid to have 
 strange men a-fingering my corpse, 
 I can tell you. I hope I may be or 
 derly and becomin'ly buried when 
 my time is over," and Loveday's 
 big eyes looked grave and nervous 
 at the prospect of anything but a 
 churchyard grave. 
 
 "I do fervently hope that I may 
 have a proper hearse and bearers," 
 said the old woman solemnly. "Lor- 
 dy! Lordy! it do give you grave 
 thoughts upon the resurrection, 
 neighbour, when you do think of a 
 poor body being ground down like 
 snuff as that poor man was done by. 
 89 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 It do fairly make my skin crawl to 
 think of sich a thing! Lordy! Lor- 
 dy! have mercy upon we!'* and her 
 old head went from side to side as 
 she thought of her stocking stored 
 away between the mattress and the 
 tie in the upstairs room. This stock 
 ing was nearly full of silver coins 
 saved from "oddments," as she called 
 the gifts given to her by the district 
 visitors, and also the pence she occa 
 sionally earned for sitting to stray 
 artists. Next to the ambition to 
 have a grandchild, came her wish 
 to have a decent burial. She bright 
 ened many a weary day with the 
 thought of how, thanks to her fore 
 sight about money matters, she 
 would be carried in state to her last 
 resting-place, amid the hushed won 
 der of her neighbours, in a hearse 
 with big, black, nodding plumes. 
 Steve Trenoweth became half un- 
 90 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 conscious of the gossip of the women; 
 his eyes rested on the well-known 
 line of coast which he could plainly 
 see through the window from his 
 seat in the chimney corner. Since 
 his illness the colour and life of the 
 fishing village had been his chief 
 amusement; he could watch the 
 herring and mackerel boats come in, 
 and as he heard the clang of the bell 
 of the seller he knew exactly what 
 chaffing and bartering was going on, 
 and guessed by the gestures of the 
 men the state of the market on the 
 various days when big catches were 
 brought in. Just now he vaguely 
 heard Nan describing how she had 
 put green oil on her lodger* s throat, 
 how three doctor's '"prints" had been 
 administered to him at once and all 
 had failed to save him, and the voices 
 seemed far away, like echoes from a 
 distant hill. He was gazing in- 
 91 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 tently at a young sailor on the beach 
 who was throwing up a big ball, 
 while grouped round him were the 
 lasses and lads of the fishing village 
 alternately jeering and cheering him. 
 His lithe body and quick movements 
 riveted the crippled man, whose 
 muscles tightened with each suc 
 cessful catch of the ball. The sun 
 was setting behind a large black 
 rock; the water rippled and shim 
 mered in a blue listlessness as sky 
 and sea mingled into one colour. 
 The rough slouching figures of the 
 idling fishermen, who leaned against 
 the posts and sea-wall smoking and 
 chaffing, became transfigured in the 
 golden tints of the sunset, while they 
 woke into a romantic beauty and 
 freshness the loose-throated bronzed 
 and stalwart youngsters who had 
 come out to do a bit of courting and 
 idling before the night set in. Steve 
 92 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 watched the colours redden and 
 deepen, and was soothed at the scene 
 before him. The wavelets crept al 
 most noiselessly on the beach and 
 seemed to lilt a love-song to him. 
 The village gossip near him grew 
 faint, and he felt that the world 
 after all was a fresh flower-filled 
 valley where a man could rest him 
 self and love his fill. The swish- 
 swash of the sea, and the laughing 
 voices of the men and maids, gradu 
 ally drove away his irritable mood, 
 and he smiled happily as his eyes 
 rested on the setting sun, and noted 
 how the light sparkled on the oars 
 of a few fisher boats idling in the 
 bay. The brown sails of one or 
 two mackerel skiffs gave a sombre 
 touch to the blue fairyland before 
 him. Suddenly his fingers clutched 
 the stem of his pipe; round by the 
 harbour he had tracked the slow, 
 93 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 swinging walk of a woman, and he 
 leaned back in his chair and hummed 
 softly. 
 
 94 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 "Here! My blessed life! Steve! 
 waken up, man! I've just spied thy 
 woman along the quay," said Love- 
 day, sharply. Then, in an aside to 
 Mother Trenoweth: "And time 
 enough, too, I should say; seems to 
 me as we don't know all as goes on 
 over them weeds. I believe it's 
 mostly a passil of cunning, and that 
 physic ain't none in it at all, no!" 
 with a twist of the lips and a rough 
 laugh. "I've heered a sight of 
 things I shouldn't care to speak on 
 of Janet's ways with strangers, I 
 can tell you." 
 
 "Darn you!" interrupted Nan. 
 "Leave the woman be; devil take 
 ye, Loveday! if her's wrong, well, 
 97 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 her's wrong and her fault' 11 track 
 her sure enough. It fair turns my 
 blood to cabbage water to always 
 hear the unfavourablest side to a 
 woman's name. Leave her be, I 
 say, and don't make strife in anoth 
 er body's house," with a side look 
 at Steve, who was quite uncon 
 scious of what they were saying. 
 Mother Trenoweth shook her head 
 wearily. 
 
 "Lordy! Lordy! I always feel 
 myself as if a power of trouble was 
 a-coming on this house. I do say 
 many and many a time that it be 
 poor luck for a man to take a wife 
 from up-along strangers who don't 
 worship nor yet to live as we do 
 hereabouts." Then in a lower tone 
 she said to Loveday, after glancing 
 at the unconscious face of her son: 
 
 "Hark you, woman! I do wonder 
 what you have heard about Janet; 
 98 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 do you come in the day fur a cup of 
 tea, and while I be fitting of it up 
 you can tell me all about it, for I do 
 hate Steve's wife to be spoken evil 
 of and no one by to defend her." 
 Her cunning old eyes glanced side 
 ways at Loveday, who laughed out 
 right. 
 
 "I do believe myself as her is 
 nothing short of a bad 'un, and there's 
 more nor one as '11 bear that out, 
 sure enough. Well, my blessed! 
 how long have you been standing 
 there, Mrs. Trenoweth?" as her 
 eyes rested on the open door where 
 Janet stood. All three women start 
 ed guiltily and smiled in a con 
 strained way as they looked round 
 quickly at Steve, who was wide 
 awake now. "I've just come," said 
 Janet. 
 
 She moved into the middle of the 
 kitchen, and as she stood between 
 99 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 the door and the window the last 
 rays of the setting sun lit up her 
 strong face and tall figure and 
 seemed to throw the other women 
 into shadow. Her loose simple gown 
 of blue linen, such as is worn by 
 fisher folk, was caught at the waist 
 by a twisted band of dark red sateen, 
 which threw into relief her well- 
 developed breasts and sloping hips. 
 The muscles of her arms could be 
 clearly traced below the short bodice 
 sleeves, which were somewhat shrun 
 ken with constant washings. She 
 turned her large dark blue eyes upon 
 the little group before her and smiled 
 easily and pleasantly at the three 
 women. 
 
 She was evidently quite uncon 
 scious that their talk had been about 
 her, and asked kindly in her deep 
 voice: 
 
 "And how are you, mother? And 
 100 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Steve?" and her eyes met her hus 
 band's gaze and then fell as he smiled 
 at her. 
 
 The two women got up immediate 
 ly and said good-bye amid the head- 
 shaking of the old woman. When 
 the door was shut behind Nan and 
 Loveday, whose chatter could be 
 heard above the clatter of their 
 shoes down the village street, Moth 
 er Trenoweth hobbled off to her bed 
 room muttering: 
 
 "Lordy! Lordy!" adding in an 
 awe-struck whisper, "The devil's 
 in it, I believe. Janet a oh! Love- 
 day can't mean that, sure enough, 
 but I'll find out, yes, I'll find out, 
 and if the beauty should turn out to 
 be only a giddy head after all, it's 
 no more nor can be expected from 
 up-along folks." 
 
 She banged the door of her room 
 and sat down in her chair by her 
 101 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 bed, put on her glasses and, sighing 
 deeply, drew her old Bible towards 
 her, and read her usual evening chap 
 ter. After this was finished, a feel 
 ing of inward peace and satisfaction 
 stole over her, irradiating her old 
 sallow face, for she realised now that 
 the Almighty had indeed laid a mis 
 sion upon her shoulders, the mission 
 of sifting to the dregs the unknown 
 nature and ways of her daughter- 
 in-law, Janet. She rocked herself 
 to and fro and felt the exaltation of 
 a religious fervour stealing over her; 
 it gradually aroused hunger in her, 
 and she hoped that husband and 
 wife would soon call her to eat some 
 of Janet's "coddles." 
 
 Husband and wife, however, were 
 evidently in no hurry to summon 
 her, and she had plenty of time to 
 digest, not only the scriptures, but 
 the village gossip of the afternoon. 
 102 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 When Janet was left alone with 
 Steve she had gone quickly over to 
 him and taken him up in her arms 
 as if he had been a child and laid 
 him on his couch. She leaned over 
 him and put her soft warm hands on 
 each side of his head as she kissed 
 his eyes. 
 
 "Poor old man!" she murmured. 
 "How tired you must be! Here! 
 let me shake your pillows, so!" 
 
 He grasped her hands tightly in 
 his and then passionately kissed 
 them, laying them one over the oth 
 er. She moved away a little ner 
 vously as she glanced at his feverish 
 eyes, as if she dreaded his next move 
 ment. Then, almost impulsively, 
 she turned back to him again a 
 moment afterwards and said: 
 
 "I've brought your oil, Steve." 
 
 He looked at her, glad of the 
 chance to do so. 
 
 103 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "How long will it last this time?" 
 
 "A week; and then/' stammering, 
 "I'm to go for a larger bottle which 
 will last a month or so." 
 
 She turned her back to him and 
 raked the fire. 
 
 "Had a good time?" 
 
 "Yes: and you?" 
 
 "I've had those cackling women at 
 my elbows, I believe, all the day 
 long," with an impatient shrug. 
 "For heaven's sake, keep that lot 
 out now. It's time I was dead and 
 buried, I'm thinking, to be left alone 
 with a passil o' petticoats who mag 
 their tongues out and my ears off; 
 don't you think so?" 
 
 He looked eagerly at her and saw 
 her large brown hands clenched as 
 she looked at him. 
 
 "Don't say that," she muttered, 
 in her low voice, and a quick red 
 104 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 glow seemed to shiver for a moment 
 over her face. He noticed it. 
 
 " You* re warm with lifting me, lass. 
 We'd better get Sandy Dick to come 
 in at night-fall to save you; don't 
 you think?" 
 
 "No; you mustn't do that. I 
 like to lift you you know that, 
 lad." 
 
 He smiled. 
 
 "I'd give near all the rest of the 
 life left to me if I could lift thee now, 
 lass; yes, now, this minute, clean 
 and straight in my arms. I'd run 
 with thee round the room, catch thee 
 close and fast and hard to my heart 
 and smother thee close and warm 
 with all the love in me for thee. I 
 wouldn't let you stir no more nor a 
 starling in a trap. I'd make thy 
 cheeks burn with another sort of 
 colour. By God! Janet! I'm near 
 choked with it all! It's worse nor 
 105 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 hunger or thirst woman, that it be, 
 this love I have for thee." 
 
 She stood before him, trembling, 
 her long, brown hands hanging by 
 her sides. Her eyes were lowered, 
 and once or twice she seemed to be 
 going to speak, but the words never 
 came. At last she moved her hands, 
 clasping them in front of her, and 
 Steve's eyes followed the action. 
 He had often wondered why her 
 hands had such power over him; 
 they often thrilled his pulses more 
 than her face or her tall lithe body. 
 He looked at them now, and a great 
 love-storm seemed to shake him. 
 
 "Come." 
 
 He held out his arms. 
 
 She stood still and said brokenly: 
 
 "I want to talk quietly to you, 
 Steve, lad! Something strange has 
 happened me an' it's to thee I want 
 to tell it." 
 
 106 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 He seemed not to hear; his eyes 
 were fixed on her strong, keen face; 
 he looked like a thirsty man who 
 has found a well of water after hours 
 of wandering; he laughed at last, 
 a low, happy, cooing laugh. "Thou 
 art a beauty, Janet; it gives me a 
 summer's day feeling to look at you, 
 sure enough. God Almighty chuck 
 ed away the mould lass, after He'd 
 made thee. I reckon He'd grudge 
 throwing thy sort out by the gross." 
 
 He folded his arms across his 
 breast and eyed her hungrily. 
 
 "From head to heel there ain't a 
 flaw in thee, not one." 
 
 She blushed hotly, and he laughed 
 again. "That's it. That's like the 
 old days when I were so hot, and you 
 were so scared; do thee mind them 
 days? Hang it all! You're the on 
 ly maid as have ever mazed me; do 
 thee mind how I used to get so 
 107 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 crazed over your white flesh that 
 thee thought I was not exactly more 
 nor once't. Come!" 
 
 She came and sat on a low stool 
 near him. 
 
 "Do thee mind how one night I 
 was so crazed with joy and love 
 that I knelt down and prayed like 
 a parson? Do thee mind how 
 the words came pouring out think 
 ing of Him as had made women and 
 made 'em so different to we, do 
 thee mind? and how at last 
 thee pulled me by the sleeve and 
 tried to cool me down, for thee said 
 I were blaspheming !" He laughed 
 gaily now. "Well! sweetheart! I've 
 felt different over women folks ever 
 since then; there's a darned lot 
 of miracle work, strikes me, going 
 on in women as perhaps God Hisself 
 scarcely reckoned on when He start 
 ed 'em." He was mechanically 
 108 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 twisting and untwisting the button 
 of her dress bodice. She took his 
 hand once as if to hold it in hers, 
 but he clasped her hands together 
 and went on playing with her gown. 
 
 "I must seem a poor creature to 
 thee now, Janet," he went on; "it 
 do fret me near to maziness, in these 
 June days when the sun's so warm 
 and the birds sing. I'm no good to 
 thee. Damn it all! Nothing but 
 a bit of man wreck. Best do with 
 me what government made we do 
 with the big stranded vessels on the 
 shore; blow 'em up with dynamite 
 to make room for other things." 
 
 "Thou has been too long alone, 
 lad," she muttered, and her eyes wan 
 dered to his shrunken, crippled legs. 
 "I'll soon set thee right again. Thou 
 knows," with a quick jerk of her 
 head, "that I shall never do aught 
 but love thee." 
 
 109 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 She blushed and moved quickly 
 towards the hearth and put a sauce 
 pan of water on the fire for making 
 him a "coddle" before he went to 
 bed. As she knelt on the hearth 
 stone with one knee bent under her, 
 Steve's eyes rested on her bare neck 
 and bent head. A soft dark down 
 was traceable below the mark where 
 her hair stopped growing, and added 
 to the curves of her throat and neck. 
 Just now the droop of her head 
 seemed to madden Steve. Her ab 
 sence and his nervous irritability 
 after the scene with his mother had 
 told upon him. He rose up on his 
 couch, his eyes sparkling and his 
 hands twitching. 
 
 "Come here, wench." 
 
 She turned quickly and walked 
 over to him with an inquiring look 
 on her face. 
 
 110 
 
COME, JANET! " 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Come here!" he repeated, and 
 he glanced towards the door through 
 which his mother had gone. 
 
 "Lock that! let's have five min 
 utes free from spies. " 
 
 She slowly did his bidding and 
 came back with a puzzled look on 
 her face, and then knelt down by him 
 and stroked his hand, which was 
 twitching nervously. 
 
 "Come, Janet!" 
 
 His voice grew hoarse and pas 
 sionate. 
 
 " Janet!" he cried as he pulled 
 her face down to him, fiercely gath 
 ered her head on his breast and bur 
 ied his hand beneath the hair above 
 her neck. He stroked her cheek 
 and ear and then pressed his hand 
 once more on the warm neck, as if 
 he would never let her go. He 
 breathed heavily: 
 111 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "I'm a blasted fool, my girl, but 
 I'm mazed with love of thee. Quick ! 
 put thy arms tight round me, tight, 
 and tell me," and he pushed back her 
 head and looked into her eyes 
 "tell me, woman, that in spite of 
 old woman's mag and my smashed 
 limbs you do love me," with his 
 teeth set, "love me as a woman loves 
 
 a man." 
 
 Janet simply looked into his hun 
 gry face, gathered him to her, as a 
 woman would a child, and said in a 
 low, quiet voice: 
 
 "Thou knows that I love thee, 
 Steve as as" she hesitated "as 
 a limb of my own body." 
 
 He lay back calmed for a few mo 
 ments, and then he said wearily: 
 
 "It's a child. That's it. Devil 
 
 take it all. Give me my pipe or I 
 
 shall do and say more in a minute 
 
 nor I can make amends for in a year." 
 
 112 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 She went over to his chair by the 
 fireside, got his pipe and took it 
 from its shelf very slowly and delib 
 erately. She turned once more to 
 wards her husband. Her face had 
 grown grey and hard, and her firm 
 lips quivered slightly. The finely 
 cut nostrils were dilated and the 
 dark blue eyes had grown larger and 
 brighter. As she met the full gaze 
 of Steve's eyes she advanced rapid 
 ly towards him and threw the pipe 
 on the couch by his side. 
 
 "Steve!" 
 
 His name was uttered with such 
 bitterness that he started and looked 
 full at her once more. 
 
 "Steve! don't let me hear thee 
 speak of that again. Do you mind 
 what I say? Never! There's some 
 things I'd dare the angels to talk 
 over to me, and that's one." 
 
 "Why?" he muttered. 
 113 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 She stared at him, and a look of 
 repulsion mingled with the pain in 
 her face. 
 
 " Because/' she answered quickly, 
 " because it do never do to think of 
 some things, that's why. It's best 
 to throw them in the back of your 
 head and forget they're there, and 
 there let 'em wait till the day when 
 reckonings are made up." 
 
 She turned aside and shrugged her 
 broad shoulders. Steve watched her 
 closely as she went over to the fire 
 and stirred her "coddle." He had 
 lighted his pipe and was smoking 
 hard. He watched her put the 
 things on the table for their evening 
 meal, and he did not attempt to 
 speak to her. At last he saw her 
 lean her hands on the table and, 
 looking at him again with the same 
 worn hard look, she said: 
 
 "I hate a coward, always did, 
 114 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 either among wenches or lads, and 
 when I do think of that," with a 
 gesture, "I'm a poor, weak woman 
 who's not fit to work nor do for oth 
 
 ers." 
 
 The man sighed. 
 
 Janet turned her back on him and 
 took from the fire the boiling pot, 
 washed her hands quickly at the 
 sink, and as she wiped them she 
 again came over to Trenoweth and 
 said to him, in a weary, patient voice : 
 "Don't think I feel hardly against 
 thee, lad," she said gently. "Men's 
 made all different to women, I be 
 lieve; a woman would guess my 
 meaning at once. Men's more like 
 dogs, I reckon. Very knowing and 
 all that, but women's souls more 
 nor their bodies wants to breed." 
 
 He looked puzzled, and she laugh 
 ed as she kissed him once more on 
 his eyes. 
 
 115 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Never mind, old man; I've been 
 dumpy to-day, but I'm tired with 
 the journey and seeing" she hesi 
 tated "new things. It's better to 
 bide to home with thee, and then I 
 don't get moithered," she said, fall 
 ing into her native Lancashire 
 tongue. "Here! let me rub your legs 
 and then you can have your bit of 
 supper and be comfie again. I be only 
 making things worse for you 
 now, and there's lots I want to tell 
 you after you're rested." 
 
 She forced herself to be gay, and 
 he gradually fell into her mood and 
 calmed down into playful tenderness, 
 forgetting his doubts and misgiv 
 ings in the enjoyment of being min 
 istered to by this wife of his who had 
 given him new life and strength al 
 ready. His doubts, however, were 
 only lulled for the moment, for his 
 last intelligible thought as he fell 
 116 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 asleep that night was that women 
 folks being such " tetchy and unbe 
 known creatures," it would be just 
 as well, if the chance came, to see 
 what the parson had to say about 
 many things which addled his poor 
 brains so continuously that he could 
 get no peace nor sleep for the 
 thoughts which came to him. 
 
 117 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 As if fate willed it, Parson Trown- 
 son called during the following week 
 at Steve Trenoweth's house. Janet 
 occasionally attended his church, 
 and as he had a village children's 
 treat coming on, he dropped in, 
 on his way to a sick parishioner, to 
 ask Mrs. Trenoweth to help him 
 with one of the tea-tables. Steve 
 not being a churchman, he had seen 
 little of him at any time, and when 
 he entered the kitchen, as no answer 
 came to his knock, he was surprised 
 to find Steve alone and helpless, as 
 he had never realised from Janet's 
 brief accounts of her husband's 
 health that he was a cripple. He 
 advanced towards the fireplace and 
 121 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 said in a cheery voice as he removed 
 his hat, and in the sprightly tone the 
 healthy so often use to the sick: 
 
 "Well, my good fellow, and how 
 are you?" He extended his hand 
 with a smile which combined the 
 patronage of the gentry with the 
 professional sympathy of the cleric. 
 Steve shook it heartily and said 
 curtly: 
 
 "I'm glad to see you, Mr. Trown- 
 son. I've long been wantin' for 
 to see ye, for I shouldn't be sur 
 prised but what you could help me 
 out of a bit of a puzzle I'm bother 
 ing my head with most all my time." 
 
 "Yes, yes; just so!" said the friend 
 ly parson, separating the tails of his 
 long coat as he glanced hastily at 
 the wooden chair near him and seat 
 ed himself on it. "Certainly, cer 
 tainly. Are you in any spiritual 
 difficulty, my good fellow?" 
 122 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 He coughed, bit his under lip 
 with a slight smile on his face, and 
 folded his arms in a resigned manner. 
 He was so accustomed to the com 
 monplace travailings of these sim 
 ple souls, who wanted points of 
 doctrine settled for them, in the 
 same decisive way as their doctor's 
 nostrums were handed over and bolt 
 ed. He felt he could have closed his 
 eyes and mumbled out the very 
 words this simple miner would say. 
 He was kind-hearted and felt for 
 fisher-folk as he felt for his dogs or 
 his horses when he was obliged to 
 deprive them of liberty or to punish 
 them. He tilted back his chair and 
 crossed one leg over the other as he 
 looked complacently at Trenoweth, 
 with the smile growing in his eyes 
 as he waited for him to speak. He 
 almost lost his balance and fell 
 from his seat when, instead of the 
 123 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 usual commonplace query regarding 
 heaven or hell, Trenoweth asked him 
 in a stolid, slow way: 
 
 "Have ye ever had a wife, sir?" 
 "What, in heaven's name," he 
 said to himself, "is the blundering 
 idiot driving at? Is he mad or bad 
 or only curious?" His face paled 
 and a nervous little laugh rippled 
 away the merriment from his eyes 
 and mouth. What had the fellow 
 heard? What could be his object 
 in cornering him suddenly in this 
 way? He glanced quickly at him, 
 and then dropped his eyes. 
 
 "My good fellow, what do you 
 mean?" he asked sharply and quick- 
 
 ly. 
 
 "Have you ever had a woman, 
 sir?" repeated Steve stolidly. 
 
 Parson Trownson was puzzled. 
 He objected to telling lies except 
 under very special conditions, con- 
 124 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ditions which came rarely into his 
 uneventful life. He must either tell 
 Trenoweth a lie or run the risk of 
 disclosing his past, from which he 
 had escaped when he came to this 
 quiet fishing village, to the ridicule 
 or pity of these people, whom he 
 looked upon as mere children who 
 could not be trusted with the sor 
 rows of the educated, any more than 
 boys or girls in an infant school. 
 His perplexity increased as Steve's 
 eyes travelled over his well-tailored 
 person and finally rested full on his 
 face. 
 
 "I should not ask ye, sir, for pas- 
 time or foolishness, but if you's had 
 no dealings with a woman you can't 
 help me nohow as I can see, for what 
 I'm bothering over isn't put any 
 where in the Bible, nor yet preached 
 on in the pulpits leastways not in 
 my hearing of the Word. Forni- 
 125 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 cation and adultery" the vicar 
 stared blankly at Trenoweth "and 
 suchlike things is dealt with here 
 and there in the Bible, sure enough, 
 but there's a sight o' things, seems 
 to me, begging of your pardin, of 
 course, sir," with an apologetic jerk 
 of his head towards Mr. Trownson, 
 "that do fairly maze we unlearned 
 folks, that ain't dealt with neither 
 in the Book or in the churches or 
 chapels. It's a parcil of trouble 
 trying to ferret out the Almighty's 
 will in some things when there's 
 no chart nor pilot to guide you over 
 a difficult line. Don't you think 
 so, sir?" 
 
 Trenoweth's shrewd eyes sought 
 Parson Trownson' s face as if he 
 would read his answer there. The 
 parson coughed slightly and said: 
 
 "It is easy, my dear friend, to 
 guide one's life in the path of duty 
 126 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 if we are determined not to place 
 our inclinations in the face of the 
 will of the Almighty." 
 
 "Yes, sir," answered Steve slow 
 ly, and he put his hands in his trou 
 sers' pockets and looked down at his 
 feet as they hung loosely above the 
 ground. "I do know that, sure 
 enough; but what I'm wantin' to 
 find out is what is the will of the 
 Almighty. Is it the will of the Lord 
 that us should go right agin nature 
 and throttle a parcil of longings that 
 God Hisself or the devil throwed in 
 to we? It's just that as I'm try 
 ing to find out: whether the strifings 
 and pushings in us, that sends us 
 on whether we like it or no, comes 
 from on high or from down there, 
 sir," pointing with his finger to the 
 kitchen floor. 
 
 In all Parson Trownson's exper 
 ience he had never before been con- 
 127 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 fronted with so direct a question. 
 He was bewildered, and could have 
 given a rapid assent to Trenoweth's 
 next remark, which was also a 
 question. 
 
 "Anyways it's a puzzle which 
 ever way you look at it, seems to 
 me?" 
 
 In order to gain time the clergy 
 man determined to question Treno- 
 weth further and see if by any chance 
 he could use stratagem in fighting the 
 Lord's battle. 
 
 "I don't quite understand you, 
 my good fellow," he answered. "Just 
 put your difficulties before me quite 
 frankly, and my advice is at your 
 service. You see," he added with a 
 smile, "there are many matters a 
 little outside a clergyman's province, 
 but, of course, I will do anything I 
 can to help you." He crossed one 
 leg over the other, nursed his right 
 128 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 knee with both hands clasped round 
 it, showing, as he did so, the large 
 signet ring on the little finger of 
 his small right hand. Mechani 
 cally, Steve's eyes fell on the glit 
 tering object as he said nervously: 
 
 "Well, sir; look at my legs!" 
 
 Trownson glanced quickly at the 
 thin crippled limbs of the man be 
 fore him and said kindly and sim 
 ply: 
 
 "I'm so sorry, my poor fellow; it 
 must be a terrible trial for you." 
 
 "It ain't that, sir; it's this way," 
 went on Steve, in a sharper voice: 
 "I've a fine bouncing woman of my 
 own; you do know her, I believe; 
 how the devil is it the Lord's will for 
 her to be fitted in with a maimed 
 man as ain't no husband to she at 
 all, and" with a growl "never can 
 be no more?" 
 
 129 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 He hung his head, resenting in 
 his heart that something within him 
 forced him to tell a stranger his 
 trouble. 
 
 Trownson at once became inter 
 ested; and the man in him, which 
 was not by any means drowned in 
 the mere cleric, felt great sympathy 
 for Trenoweth. He began to un 
 derstand his drift, but all he said 
 was: 
 
 "It's hard luck, Trenoweth." 
 
 "It's this way, sir," muttered 
 Steve, sharply; "her do belong to 
 love me right enough, but her's 
 chafing cause her ain't got no child 
 that's the mischief with all women as 
 is worth their salt, the longing to 
 breed, and it's just rubbish to say 
 as it can be stopped, 'cause my legs 
 fails me; it can't, no more nor a 
 half-moon can stop makin' herself 
 a full one when her time comes." 
 130 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Trenoweth shuffled restlessly in 
 his chair, and tossed the hair back 
 from his forehead as he went on: 
 
 "You see, sir, I do know a thing 
 or two about both dogs and women 
 folks; they're unlike and yet like 
 in some things, but my woman ain't 
 quite the general make of maids; 
 her's a puzzler, I can tell ye, and 
 'twixt me and you I believe her's a 
 bit of a riddle to herself. I tell ye 
 what/' and he lowered his voice, 
 "I reckons that in this spring weath 
 er her do feel a want that's natural 
 and right; do ye mind my meaning, 
 sir? and I'm fair befool t over it, 
 for in a manner of speaking I'm 
 no more use to her in this job nor a 
 stone." 
 
 He breathed heavily and the sweat 
 stood on his forehead. 
 
 "There's no speaking of these 
 things in the chapels, do ye under- 
 131 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 stand, and it's them things as I do 
 want to hear on more nor about 
 heaven just now." 
 
 He spat into the fire and cleared 
 his throat. "I do worship that wom 
 an of mine, sir, sin or no sin, there 
 it be! Yes, worship her, I tell you. 
 The very sweat of her be a lot sweet 
 er to me than the scent of the sea 
 or the first flowers of the year, sure 
 enough! I can't help it no ways! 
 The very touch of her flesh is a bit 
 of heaven to me; it's true, sir, if I 
 have to go to hell for the idolatry 
 as we're warned agin. I don't care 
 a bit about what I've to lose over 
 this breeding job, but I do care 
 about her and what she suffers. 
 She ain't happy; a natural fool can 
 see that any day, and what do you 
 think can be done for to help her, 
 sir?" 
 
 " Absolutely nothing, my good 
 132 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 man, nothing/* answered Parson 
 Trownson, emphatically. "To speak 
 quite frankly between you and me," 
 and he glanced round the kitchen to 
 assure himself that they were alone, 
 "I think you've altogether exaggera 
 ted the situation." He waved his 
 hand in the air as one accustomed 
 to disperse doubts and lawlessness 
 at a word. "It is probably because 
 you spend so much time cooped up 
 in the house." He drew his chair 
 closer to Steve and said emphati 
 cally in a lowered voice: 
 
 "These matters are very delicate; 
 in fact they scarcely bear talking 
 over under any circumstance. In 
 your case, my good friend," he 
 looked quickly at Trenoweth, "the 
 matter is exceptionally painful, but 
 as a matter of fact there is absolute 
 ly nothing to be done. I can, how 
 ever, console you thus far by assur- 
 133 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ing you that women's natures are 
 quite different from ours; indeed 
 it is a kind of profanity to think it 
 could be otherwise. The chief ob 
 ject of man's chivalrous care of wo 
 man lies in the fact that he feels this, 
 and in his guardianship of her ac 
 knowledges her spiritual superior 
 ity to himself. A woman craves to 
 have a child; quite so, quite so," 
 with a condescending wave of the 
 ringed hand. "It is a wonderful dis 
 pensation of Providence that your 
 wife, whom I know to be an admir 
 able woman, should have this wish 
 it is one of the most glorious designs 
 of God, the desire to suckle children, 
 but" he coughed once more and a 
 slight smile made his lips twitch 
 "but, my good man, you don't sup 
 pose for one moment that women 
 have passions like ours, that they 
 are radically lawless and savage or 
 134 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 even temperately animal, as men are, 
 do you?" 
 
 "Yes, by God!" snorted Steve, 
 triumphantly, "when a woman's 
 suckling a child at her breast I be 
 lieve her do like the feeling right 
 enough, sir. I've seen women fit 
 to bite the baby with joy over that 
 job, like maids bite their sweethearts 
 sometimes when they love 'em most." 
 He snorted again and laughed fierce 
 ly. "I've never had no dealings with 
 sprites nor yet with angels in my 
 coorting jobs, I can tell ye. There's 
 summat behind the beast in a wo 
 man, I reckon, as makes her such a 
 powerful riddle to we men folks; 
 but if it's the beast as you're scorn 
 ing in men, I'm thinking you'd have 
 to use the same birch to get that out 
 of the women folks as well as out 
 of we." 
 
 Trownson positively blushed, and 
 135 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 thought to himself that, after all, 
 the common people were moulded 
 in totally different ways from the 
 well-born. He simply put down 
 Steve's statement as the summing up 
 of a village rake, and the man be 
 came lowered in his eyes. 
 
 "Has your wife ever expressed 
 any ahem! dissatisfaction with her 
 present life?" he queried with a 
 touch of contempt in his well-bred 
 voice. 
 
 Steve laughed brutally. 
 
 "What do ye take me for, sir? 
 Do ye think as I should be telling 
 you these fears of mine if her mouth 
 ed like a ninney to me? No! she 
 bean't no blabber, I can tell ye; 
 but I do see things ain't right,that's 
 all, and there's summat working in 
 me as I'm not learned enough 
 to understand nor yet to deal 
 with; that's all, and that's 
 136 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 why I've spoke to you, be 
 cause they tell me that college gents 
 knows a power of things as we folks 
 as works hard don't know nothing 
 about." 
 
 'This is scarcely a matter to do 
 with colleges, Mr. Trenoweth," the 
 parson replied; "it really is a very 
 simple affair if you will only look 
 at it in the right light." 
 
 He lifted his left hand and forced 
 back the thumb with the forefinger 
 of his right, as if to jot off conven 
 iently the several methods by which 
 the world, the flesh, and the devil 
 could be brought into complete sub 
 jection. He folded his arms to 
 gether again after a moment's re 
 flection and slightly raised his shoul 
 ders as he continued: 
 
 "You imagine your wife is rest 
 less, and your mind is a little over 
 strained with your physical trouble. 
 137 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Talk to her frankly; that is, as 
 frankly as one can to a woman, and 
 she will doubtless soon prove to you 
 that your fears are groundless. A 
 true woman finds her only happiness 
 in her husband's welfare, and Mrs. 
 Trenoweth is surely an exemplary 
 character in this respect. " 
 
 "You don't understand, sir. I 
 must be forthright with ye, I can see. 
 Janet, my woman, be no giddy spark 
 of a jade, nor yet a bloodless fool, 
 I can tell ye. She seems to have tak 
 en some of the beastly lustful devil 
 out of me, and put some of her own 
 breed in; it's her nature more nor 
 my own as is working in me now, I 
 reckon; it's like yeast moving in 
 me, the wish to see her well and 
 happy again as she do belong to be.' 
 He beat the sides of his chair with 
 the bowl of his pipe as if he were im 
 patient. "I'm wondering, sir, wheth- 
 138 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 er she oughtn't to have another man, 
 one as 'd be a strong sweetheart to 
 her and not a putty man like I be. 
 What do you think?" 
 
 Trownson became very grave, and 
 his lower lip hung loosely. 
 
 "Are you so unhappy as this, 
 Trenoweth?" he said at last, chang 
 ing his tone to one of almost equality. 
 "Is that your only remedy? Do you 
 seriously meditate allowing your wife 
 to proceed to such lengths as that? 
 No womanly woman could do it 
 no! no! no!" with a shrill tone in 
 his voice and a glitter in his eyes; 
 "it is only women who have for 
 gotten God and duty who do such 
 things. I thought Mrs. Trenoweth 
 understood the eternal sanctity of 
 the marriage bond better than that." 
 
 Trenoweth laughed. 
 
 "We ain't married, don't you see, 
 139 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sir? Not no more, in a manner of 
 speaking, than if I was a corpse. " 
 
 "Ahem!" coughed the bewildered 
 parson "don't you see, my good 
 man, that marriage is a divine or 
 dinance? It is not a mere animal 
 relationship, a mere dog and bitch 
 partnership." He looked askance 
 at Trenoweth, thinking his analogy 
 a little too strong for the occasion. 
 "It is a communion of souls, a twin 
 ing together of subtler needs than 
 can be expressed; a union not only 
 for time but for all eternity. To pro 
 fane this is to risk eternal punish 
 ment; not, of course, in the ordinary 
 hell-fire sense," with a smile, "but 
 the punishment which comes to all 
 those who break great spiritual or 
 moral laws. If your wife violates 
 your union for a mere physical whim, 
 she dishonours not only you, her 
 husband, but all womanhood, by 
 140 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 the unchaste desires to which she 
 falls a prey/' 
 
 Trenoweth had begun to smoke. 
 
 "Seems to me, sir, begging your 
 pardin of course, as you think a 
 damned lot of the dog part of the 
 business, after all. If my woman 
 lived with another man as she could 
 love in that way, and he her, there's 
 no call as I can see for her to hate 
 me nor yet to throw me on one side 
 like a worn-out sack. Seems to 
 me as if she could do that she'd 
 have got pretty well rid of all them 
 grand spiritual feelings as you seems 
 to set such store by. It all sounds 
 so fine, and all that, the way as you 
 puts it, sir, but I can't help reading 
 of it all backwards someway. I'll 
 give ye the straight tip. I ain't 
 no husband to her; that's sure; the 
 question I want for you to answer 
 for me is, am I to tie she for the 
 141 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 rest of her natural life to my useless 
 legs same as women folks is said to 
 tie childer to their apron strings? 
 Now speak straight and fair, sir, 
 as man to man; do you think it's 
 in the natural way of things that 
 she'll go on loving me if I do? I 
 think of it all till I'm scared lest 
 she'll long for heaven just to get 
 free a bit to pick up with a different 
 make of chap, and then, what the 
 devil '11 be the good of all this hold 
 ing of her in?" 
 
 He smoked fiercely, and sent grey 
 rings chasing one another into the 
 ceiling. He watched them for a 
 moment, and went on without tak 
 ing his eyes from his pipe. 
 
 "You may whistle to love, seems 
 to me, and hoot to her too, till 
 you're black in the face, and done 
 in the lungs, but she's a wayward 
 minx, that she be; she'll come if 
 142 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 she wants, and she'll go if she wants, 
 and neither parsons nor yet law 
 yers, so it seems to me, can't put 
 no salt on her tail, with all their 
 fine talk and bragging. It's my 
 opinion as there's a lot of trash 
 talked over these things by they 
 folks who'se never had their heart 
 strings tugged." 
 
 Steve spat impatiently on the 
 floor and sighed. He went on slow 
 ly, as no answer came from the be 
 wildered cleric. 
 
 "It's that sort of lesson a feller 
 learns when he grows to love a wo 
 man better nor hisself, and I'm fast 
 coming to think as books can't tell 
 you much about it. I've thought 
 over a sight of things settin' here, 
 sir," and he pointed to the bench near 
 him as he rested his elbow on the 
 arm of his chair. "There's some 
 thing in my woman's flesh as not 
 143 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 only crazes the man in me, sir, but 
 gives me a power of new insight al 
 together. It's the dog in me, as 
 you spoke on just now, would ken 
 nel her for my own uses; I often feel 
 as if I could snatch her and tear her 
 in bits, in a manner of speaking, like 
 a wolf rends a man, but there's some 
 thing new got hold of me lately; 
 I guess it's the man and not the dog, 
 sir, and it's made me think of things 
 
 more." 
 
 He went on dreamily, as if talk 
 ing to himself. 
 
 "If her heart and body turns to 
 another chap, let her go to him and 
 have it fair and square a'tween us, 
 that's what I do say; but I'm be- 
 foolt o'er the job at times, and won 
 der if I mean rightly what I do say, 
 and if I shouldn't be the first to 
 whistle her back." 
 
 "My good man," interrupted 
 144 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Trownson, "you're talking simple 
 balderdash, if you'll excuse my di 
 rectness; there is no law, human or 
 divine, which could countenance 
 such an absurd solution of your 
 difficulty. It is highflown and mor 
 bid to an almost insane degree. Do 
 you seriously mean to imply that 
 you have some idea of letting your 
 wife ahem ! live with another man 
 while keeping up a semblance of a 
 relationship with you?" 
 
 He pushed the air vigorously with 
 both hands, as if to turn back into 
 the Inferno such mad, bad ideas. 
 He was interested in Trenoweth in 
 spite of his erratic and what he con 
 sidered dangerous views; but he 
 was rapidly coming to the conclu 
 sion that the man was nearing the 
 verge of insanity, and he made up his 
 mind to give a hint to some re 
 sponsible person to note the case, 
 145 I0 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 for fear of evil consequences coming 
 to the young wife. 
 
 Trenoweth spoke with an effort. 
 
 "If you loved a woman, sir, loved 
 her a good length beyond your own 
 soul, and then you lost her, my mean 
 ing is, lost her in the way as she 
 couldn't be your wife, would it 
 make you hate her, sir?" 
 
 The parson merely coughed, and 
 smiled faintly. Trenoweth con 
 tinued in a stolid way: 
 
 "If, I say, straight and square, 
 m\nd you, to my woman: Look 
 you here, wench! If you do belong 
 to care anyway for some chap and 
 want him, take him, but let's have 
 it square and high and dry above 
 board and no shamming it's the 
 shamming I couldn't abide is that 
 ridiculous? Well! that's but my 
 meaning, sir. If," he pointed a 
 long thin finger at Trownson; "mind 
 146 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 you, I say, if my woman should 
 want a husband as well as a mate like 
 me, I don't see, if ye looks at it 
 fair and square, why the devil her 
 shouldn't have him, and not only 
 that, why should she be asked to 
 leave me out because of it. Ain't no 
 folks chums at all when they can't do 
 the honeymoon business any more? 
 Ain't none of them big folks as can 
 go into court and get unwed never 
 friends no more?" 
 
 "I should say assuredly not," 
 sternly replied Mr. Trownson. 
 
 "Then, sir, begging of your par- 
 din, there's summat wrong in the 
 way the things is fixed up in the 
 marriage laws down here, and I do 
 fervently trust that up-along," point 
 ing to the ceiling, "there'll be a new 
 line of conduct over such things. 
 Yer don't seem to see, sir, as Janet 
 '11 always love me, and she could no 
 147 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 more leave me out in the cold like 
 a pauper without love to warm me 
 than if I'd come right out of her 
 body." 
 
 "I suppose you understand that 
 what you are suggesting is an abom 
 ination, not only in the eyes of God, 
 but in the eyes of all good men?" 
 
 " Abomination," stammered Tren- 
 oweth; "to love your woman better 
 nor yourself do you mean that?" 
 
 The parson waved his hand. 
 
 "That is begging the question; 
 it is not loving a woman better than 
 yourself, but simply opening the 
 door to lustful desires and weak sen 
 timentalities. If such preposter 
 ous actions were countenanced by 
 law, what on earth do you think 
 would become of the family the 
 foundation of our Nation's happi 
 ness and prosperity?" 
 148 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "We ain't got no family, sir; 
 that's the touchy bit in it all, don't 
 you see?" 
 
 "Yes, yes!" testily answered the 
 cleric, "but laws are made for the 
 many, and these courses of conduct 
 that you suggest will assuredly un 
 dermine all family purity and do 
 mestic peace. Indeed! such ideas 
 can only be the outcome of evil 
 thoughts and lascivious desires." 
 
 "Then, sir," answered Trenoweth 
 sharply, "all I can say is I'm 
 hanged if the wicked uns ain't got 
 a tip or two from up atop that the 
 big wigs knows naught about. Do 
 you mean to say straight and fair 
 to me, sir, that it's wrong to love a 
 woman so that you could hand her 
 over to a bit of joy that you ain't in, 
 in a way of speaking, saving the liv 
 ing from the dead, so to speak, and 
 rejoicing at the pairing you've set 
 149 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 yourself to see through? Do ye 
 belong to tell me as it's sin in her 
 to go to a second man unless first 
 of all she do hate the first? that 
 the only way for her to do over this 
 job is to lie inside and out, both to 
 me and to herself, 'cause she can't 
 crush feelings as the Lord Hisself 
 blesses, we're told, if only the par 
 son, begging your pardin again, 
 bosses the show? If you can say as 
 I'm wrong to feel like this over the 
 job well, I'm sorry I corned to you 
 for help, for, in a manner of speak 
 ing, I feel now almost as if love have 
 teached me about as much, and like 
 ly more, nor the school and the 
 Bible together seems to have teached 
 you." 
 
 Trownson was about to answer 
 
 Steve in an authoritative manner, 
 
 as he was nettled at the change o 
 
 tone in this miner. In the begin- 
 
 150 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ning of the interview he had noticed 
 the deferential manner of Steve to 
 wards his superior, and he resented 
 as an insult the straight speaking 
 and calm smoking of this lover and 
 husband who dared to teach him 
 as if he were a schoolboy. The ar 
 gument would probably have ended 
 in a storm of abuse on Steve's side, 
 and of sharp satirical expostulations 
 on Trownson's side; but before the 
 parson could open his mouth to 
 defend himself from Steve's last 
 attack a noise made both the men 
 turn their heads sharply towards the 
 door. Janet had just lifted the 
 latch, and she stood in the entrance, 
 a little bewildered at seeing a visi 
 tor with her husband. She advanc 
 ed towards Trownson, and half curt 
 sied, a habit caught in her childish 
 days, when, at village treats and Sun 
 day school excursions in the North, 
 151 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 the little ones had stood in great awe 
 of the local clergyman. She greeted 
 Trownson simply and stood near her 
 husband. The cleric looked at her 
 sharply, almost savagely, as he 
 would have looked at Eve after con 
 versing with poor Adam about the 
 apple-stalk in his hand. When Par 
 son Trownson preached on Sundays 
 upon Womanhood, he felt himself 
 kindled by a divine fervour; the 
 vision which always came to him 
 was of the pure unsullied virgin, 
 the mother of little ones, the com 
 forter and helpmate of man, the re 
 finer of the world, the silent spiri 
 tual influence at work by the hearths 
 of any nation calling itself righteous, 
 chastening by her mystic power the 
 baser and grosser side of humanity, 
 and freeing it from its animal lusts 
 and stupid gluttonies. His ideal 
 of Woman carried him often be- 
 152 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 yond himself, and he rose on tip-toe, 
 perspiring with the effort of his own 
 eloquence. But this view of woman 
 which Trenoweth had presented to 
 him, a view sordid and gross, this 
 gave him a feeling of physical nau 
 sea as he looked at Janet. Woman 
 personified in this man's wife, not 
 only as a breeder, but as a conceiver, 
 not as one who submits meekly and 
 of necessity to the sacred work and 
 pains of motherhood, but as one 
 who craves and demands the law 
 less play of physical enjoyment! 
 Bah ! His spine began to creep at the 
 vulgarity of Trenoweth's descrip 
 tion and the rank materialism which 
 his words had implied. He turned 
 curiously and looked at Janet as she 
 faced her husband to tell him where 
 she had been. He noted her length 
 of limb and her rounded bust, the 
 swing of her hips as she moved 
 153 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Trenoweth higher and put his cush 
 ions closer to his back. He began 
 to think he was the victim of some 
 horrible suggestion, for he felt a 
 strange magnetic attraction as he 
 gazed at the woman before him. 
 
 Janet turned quickly from her 
 husband, and her blue cotton skirt 
 swung in a graceful curve, exposing 
 her well-shaped ankle and foot. The 
 vicar got up, looked hastily at his 
 watch and extended his hand to 
 Trenoweth, saying in a hurried voice: 
 
 "A little cooling draught at this 
 time of the year would be very 
 useful to you, my good fellow; try 
 it; magnesia or 
 
 He stopped abruptly, smiled in a 
 constrained way as he turned to 
 Janet: 
 
 "Good-bye, Mrs. Trenoweth. Ah! 
 I leave your husband in the best of 
 hands; he is feverish feverish and 
 154 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 over-excited, and you will doubtless 
 calm him." Janet raised her dark 
 eyes and looked at Trownson 
 gravely. 
 
 "Thank you kindly, sir," she said 
 simply, and held out her hand. The 
 vicar clasped it, and when he was in 
 the street he mechanically put the 
 hand she had held inside his clerical 
 vest, then he hastily withdrew it, 
 looked at it in a bewildered kind of 
 way, and muttered: 
 
 "The deuce!" 
 
 As he put his latchkey in the door 
 of his house he muttered stupidly : 
 
 "Got the text anyway next 
 Sunday eh? yes of course Lust 
 of the Flesh." 
 
 155 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 In a big hollow on Bos Kivven 
 sandhills a man lay dreaming; the 
 hot July sun, streaming in full noon 
 day force, had sent him to this 
 retreat among the miniature flowers 
 and coarse grasses which grew in 
 the hollows made by the winter 
 gales. He had shaped the sand at his 
 back into an easy seat; his legs were 
 raised and crossed, one hand was 
 thrown behind his head, and his 
 deep grey eyes were gazing vacant 
 ly but restfully out to sea. He 
 was puffing contentedly from a briar- 
 wood pipe, and now and then he 
 looked at his watch, seated him 
 self in an easier position and half 
 dozed as the sun here and there 
 159 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 caught him unawares in his shaded 
 nook. He was a ship's mate, "off 
 deck" in more ways than one, for he 
 was lounging in a summer's mood, 
 and feeling in his soul at the moment 
 that to be pinned to a post was the 
 one evil in the world, to be free and 
 at ease the supreme blessing. Nancy 
 Nanquitho was his nearest relation, 
 and he had several times almost 
 mechanically dropped down upon 
 the bit of ground which held his 
 own blood. He rented a room in the 
 village, when he came at rare in 
 tervals, and as she asked him no 
 questions he rarely vouchsafed any 
 information about his life. He came 
 and went, as his mood and circum 
 stances allowed, and Widow Nan 
 quitho gave him on coming a wel 
 come, and on going her blessing 
 that was all. To-day he had slow 
 ly sauntered towards the sandhills 
 160 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 after a dinner at the village inn, 
 which was calculated to make a man 
 drowse, smoke, and dream that all 
 was surely well on land and sea. 
 His sunburnt face was honest and 
 virile; one forgot to ask if it were 
 handsome; its strength and cheer 
 fulness banished the query. Sea- 
 salt and tobacco brought an air 
 of vigour and repose at the same time 
 to those who talked to him. Just 
 now his pipe drew well, he had had 
 his dinner, the sun shone, he could 
 hear the sea rippling in on the sands, 
 wooingly and slowly, as if it were 
 too full of noonday cc ntent to 
 hurry itself even to kiss the ground. 
 He threw open his coat and let the 
 soft winds play upon him, and he 
 smiled happily, for he was wait 
 ing, without any feverish excite 
 ment apparently, for a woman. He 
 looked at his watch again. She 
 161 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 was late. He closed his eyes and 
 languidly drew at his pipe; he knew 
 she would come, and a soft light 
 spread over his face as he thought 
 of her. Women were all alike, he 
 mused, all clinging and faithful and 
 sometimes bores with it, too, or 
 he pulled his moustache at one cor 
 ner with his under lip and bit it 
 meditatively shrewish hell-cats who 
 made a man's home too hot for him 
 to live in. Then he drowsily pulled 
 at his pipe and reviewed his ex 
 periences; he gave slight chuckles 
 as he recalled one or two of his 
 youthful escapades. Women had 
 ceased to torment him, for he had 
 faced his own nature and its needs 
 several years ago, and also had 
 realised, so he imagined, the limit 
 ations of women. He had invaria 
 bly found them easy to capture; 
 he had, until now, felt little need for 
 162 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 a permanent relationship with any 
 of them; that, he knew well enough, 
 was a perilous venture which might 
 turn a life keel upwards in no time. 
 He had thought at first that the 
 woman for whom he was waiting 
 would never belong to him, but it 
 had come, suddenly but surely; 
 she was his at last, and he lay back 
 in the repose of security and waited. 
 He was in love, he said to himself, 
 more so he believed than ever before, 
 the sun shone and all was ready; 
 what more could mortal man desire 
 to make him happy? Love and the 
 hot day were evidently too much for 
 him. At last he slept, the deep 
 dreamless sleep which comes in the 
 open air when nothing pinches or 
 maims the brain and nerves. His 
 pipe went out and lay in his out 
 stretched hand, which was being 
 rapidly investigated by ants and 
 163 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sand insects. His legs remained 
 raised and crossed, and one hand lay 
 idly behind his head. The mouth, 
 half open, revealed the strong white 
 teeth of a healthy man in his prime. 
 The woman for whom he waited 
 stood by him and watched him 
 watched him with contracted mouth 
 and heavy eyes. She had come to 
 the old haunt; she was ten minutes 
 late and he was asleep. Her eyes 
 wandered over his body; the big 
 chest rose and fell with his deep, 
 regular breathing. The woman shiv 
 ered and then sighed. Her large 
 nostrils moved rapidly. His dark 
 blue shirt was open at the throat, 
 and the thick hair on his chest was 
 moist with the summer's heat. The 
 woman stood quite still as she watch 
 ed the sleeper; he sighed in his sleep. 
 She moved backwards and her face 
 paled a little. She took off her large 
 164 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sun hat and threw it on the ground; 
 the man started and their eyes met. 
 
 "Janet!" 
 
 He sprang up, threw down his 
 pipe and folded his strong arms 
 around her. She made no movement 
 and he drew her face up to his with 
 a quick jerk of his hand and kissed 
 her passionately on the eyes and 
 mouth. 
 
 "There!" he said, and sighed hap 
 pily; "there! that's good! so! Now 
 another, my sweetheart!" and his 
 eyes shone with good-humoured pas 
 sion. 
 
 She put her ringed hand on his 
 open breast and pushed him back. 
 He laughed and caught her closer 
 to him in his lover's mood, for he 
 knew that she was being coy with 
 him, as is the way with women. 
 
 He glanced at her face and whis 
 pered: 
 
 165 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "My own girl! so you're here at 
 last! How I've waited, you loiterer! 
 Come! let's be happy now!" 
 
 "Don't!" she said in a thick slow 
 way, and she pushed him back again. 
 "Don't, I say!" 
 
 Still believing that it was a mere 
 woman's trick to intensify his ar 
 dour, he smiled. 
 
 "What's the row, Janet? Has 
 the new moon turned you fickle?" 
 and he advanced towards her again. 
 
 "Don't," repeated Janet. "I've 
 done what you said to me; I've not 
 told the man!" 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 "Of course not, my sweet! It 
 would be crazy!" 
 
 "I meant to," she went on, "when 
 I went home that night, but he was 
 strange and moithered, being by 
 hisself, and I couldn't get it out." 
 166 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Her hand was lowered and she 
 added in her deep sad voice: 
 
 1 'Somehow it all looked so different 
 when I got near him; not " hesi 
 tating and looking round at the 
 sandhills and then out to sea "not 
 like here in the sun, and I was 
 shamed, too shamed to think of it 
 even." 
 
 He glanced at her quickly. 
 
 "What the devil do you mean, 
 Janet?" he asked, testily. 
 
 "You know what happened," she 
 said, slowly, as if the words were 
 dragged out of her, "here, last week, 
 you know what corned to us. I was 
 mazed, I'm thinking, mazed with 
 the sun and and " she stammered 
 "something as I can't make out 
 now, corned over me. I'm think 
 ing," and she looked at him with 
 glassy eyes, "I'm thinking as I'm 
 about hating you and myself too 
 167 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 to-day. What am I to do? Eh? 
 Tell me?" 
 
 The sentence ended in a sort of 
 wail, and she raised her hand to 
 her eyes, as if to shut out the sun 
 light. 
 
 Her lover began to think she was 
 either ill or serious. He drew her 
 gently down on the sand beside him, 
 and she sank into the place he had 
 made for her. He seized her hand 
 and pressed it between both of 
 his her long strong hand which was 
 unlike that of any other woman he 
 had known. p 
 
 1 'Janet!'* he said tenderly, "be 
 reasonable, dear! What's up? You're 
 tired a bit, I see. I know you said 
 some nonsense last week about tell 
 ing your husband of our love affair, 
 but you couldn't have been serious. 
 I knew that right enough, and made 
 you promise not to tell him till I 
 168 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 saw you again, just to make your 
 mind easy. My sweet old darling! 
 It would be the maddest thing go 
 ing to do that!" He whistled. 
 "By heaven! there'd be ructions 
 then and no mistake. He'll never 
 be a pin the wiser, and it's not as if I 
 really took you away from him, 
 you know and and it might be 
 confoundedly bad for him and upset 
 him just now, don't you think?" 
 
 "It's the lies," she said simply. 
 
 "What lies?" he asked. 
 
 "Lies! lies! it's all lies," she went 
 on, wearily, "nothing but lies!" 
 
 "Nonsense, Janet," a little im 
 patiently "you're like all women, 
 dear, overstrung and all that. You 
 don't think men tell their wives 
 their love affairs, do you?" He 
 laughed and half closed his eyes. 
 "Not they, indeed! there'd be pret- 
 169 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ty scenes if they did, I can tell you. 
 Then why should you tell him?" 
 
 "I hate lies/' said Janet. 
 
 He smiled. 
 
 "My dear! it's too late now; we 
 may have done wrong, probably 
 have; we may have done right 
 don't believe we've quite done that 
 but anyway it's done, that's certain" 
 he looked at her meaningly 
 "and the best thing now is for us 
 both to hold our tongues. You par 
 ticularly if you've any sense or nice 
 feeling for that poor devil of a hus 
 band of yours." 
 
 He picked a sand thistle and rub 
 bed off with his thick forefinger the 
 grey and purple bloom on its leaves, 
 as delicate as the bloom on the grape. 
 It pricked him, and he flicked it 
 with finger and thumb over the 
 ridge of sand at his feet. She watch 
 ed him wearily, and he went on: 
 170 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Your husband would simply 
 raise the roof off the house in a jeal 
 ous man's tantrums, and what good 
 would that do any of us? You 
 can't help loving me/' he smiled at 
 her "I could not for the life of me 
 have helped loving you; here we 
 were; in fact, here we are; the 
 thing's in a nutshell and we've got 
 to make the best of it. Let's shut 
 up this parson's drivel. Don't spoil 
 a lovely day with old woman's rot, 
 for I've just hungered to get you 
 close and fast in my arms again. 
 Come!" 
 
 The words startled her. She look 
 ed round in terror, and her hands 
 shook so much that she clasped them 
 tightly behind her back. 
 
 "No!" she said huskily "never 
 no more never!" 
 
 "Nonsense," he said, suddenly 
 wakening to the fact that he was 
 171 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 losing her. " Don't you love me, 
 Janet?" 
 
 She turned her beautiful eyes full 
 on him and laughed in a stupid way. 
 
 "I don't know; I've never asked 
 myself that." 
 
 "What!" he retorted. "Is your 
 body nothing to you that you give 
 it for play on a summer's day?" 
 
 He spoke bitterly. She flinched 
 visibly, and he saw the anguish 
 creeping all over her face, and mak 
 ing it grey. 
 
 "I don't know." 
 
 "Whew!" he whistled. "If I 
 thought " 
 
 He stopped, for he had caught a 
 strange expression in her face as she 
 looked at him. He put his hands in 
 his pockets and looked on the ground. 
 
 "You've duped me, Janet," he 
 
 went on emphatically; "you've 
 
 
 172 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 She stopped him and said roughly : 
 
 "And what do you think I've 
 done to yon man, then?" 
 
 He waived aside the question with 
 a lover's impatience. 
 
 "Do you hear, Janet? You're a 
 flirt! that's certain, if you mean 
 what you said just now. You've 
 given yourself for an hour like a " 
 he hesitated as he saw her eyes glit 
 ter "well, like other women do, 
 and then you leave me" his voice 
 broke "leave me without a decent 
 word to pull up a fellow's faith in 
 women again." He covered his face 
 with his hands and the veins had 
 risen like cords in his thick neck, 
 and she pitied him. 
 
 "Forgive me," she said simply; 
 "it's been all wrong, and I'm the 
 worst, as you say." 
 
 He sprang towards her and put 
 his arm round her as she lay in the 
 173 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sand; he blinded her with kisses. 
 His breathing became quick and 
 heavy and he muttered between his 
 teeth: 
 
 "Damn it all! But you shan't go! 
 There! Do you hear? You shan't 
 go. I'll have you yet if I kill him 
 for it; you shan't waste your beauty 
 on that cripple; I'll strangle him first. 
 You belong to me, Janet yes, yes, 
 now and for always." 
 
 He had her fast and she felt that 
 her power over him was going; the 
 old delirious spell was creeping over 
 her; his strength and manhood were 
 lulling her soul to sleep again, and 
 a frenzy shook her. He leaned over 
 her as if he would devour her; his 
 lips pressed hers closely and fever 
 ishly, and she saw the animal rising 
 in him beyond all control as their 
 eyes were riveted together. 
 174 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 " Don't!'* she screamed. 
 
 But he burst out with an oath and 
 swore he would have her. Her lips 
 tightened and with a quick move 
 ment she freed her hands and with all 
 her strength she pushed him from 
 her, as she said in a voice which 
 made his heart beat madly: 
 
 "Stand up! Thou't nothing but 
 a coward." 
 
 Then slowly and with set teeth the 
 words came hissing to him. "Lis 
 ten! I hate thee, I say hate thee!" 
 
 He was sobered and stood up 
 ashamed of himself. 
 
 "Forgive me!" he said; "I was 
 mad; but it was your face, Janet, 
 and and your devilish coldness!" 
 
 "Is that how you do love me?" 
 
 She sighed wearily. 
 
 "Is that how men folks love? 
 That sort? You'd kill him and hurt 
 me and only fill yourself after all 
 175 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 like a pig without a ring through 
 its nose?" 
 
 "And what about you? Where's 
 your love that you told me of last 
 week?" he said more gently. "You 
 've maddened me, that's all, and I'm 
 a blundering idiot to frighten you. 
 But, dearest, where' s your love I 
 felt so sure of before?" 
 
 She looked out towards the rip 
 pling waves as they crept in on the 
 big yellow sands, but she said noth 
 ing, only sighed as she shrugged her 
 shoulders. 
 
 "Speak, Janet," he said quickly; 
 "out with it. Did you lie last week 
 or are you lying now? Speak, girl." 
 
 She looked at him in a stupid way 
 as she clasped the loose folds of her 
 bodice with both hands; he noticed 
 how her dress hung on her, and how 
 aged she had become. 
 176 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ''I'm shamed/ 1 she said. "It were 
 all right last week. What we did 
 seemed no uglier to me then than 
 bathing in yon sea; but now," she 
 shuddered, "I feel a big stain on me 
 as I cannot flick off noways, and I'm 
 fain to tell the only one as '11 like 
 ly forgive me." 
 
 The man was getting bored. Wo 
 men, women, women, he thought, 
 all the same the world over; ready 
 enough to rake up hell-fire, and then 
 fly screaming at the smoke and flame. 
 He had foolishly imagined that Janet 
 had "grit" enough in her to keep 
 passion fresh and strong and free 
 from morbid regrets and useless 
 taunts. It was a great nuisance, 
 for he really cared for her, and now 
 these tantalising women's fooleries 
 were going to interrupt their pleas 
 ure. He tried to pacify her. 
 
 "Look here, Janet, my girl! Just 
 177 I2 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 listen to me for a minute. You're 
 like all good women bless you for 
 it too nesh over these things. I 
 assure you, dear, we've done no 
 real wrong; it's only your rotten 
 straight-laced land-rules over these 
 things that's worrying you. It is, 
 indeed. Just look at the thing fair 
 ly for a second. Steve's no more a 
 husband to you than that log of 
 wood." He pointed to a piece of 
 old mast, lying on the beach, which 
 had become partially buried in the 
 drifting sand. "He's done for, and 
 you know it. You surely don't 
 want to spoil his last years by tell 
 ing him what's come between us. 
 Now, that's wrong, if you like, to 
 try and disturb a poor devil of a 
 cripple who's lopped off from women 
 and life altogether before his time." 
 
 "Don't!" she said. 
 
 "The fact is, Janet, you know well 
 178 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 enough the thing is done and can't 
 be mended now, do what we will." 
 
 "It's all lies," she said. 
 
 "Nonsense! To hold your tongue 
 isn't lying; we've got to shut our 
 mouths over this, and that's all." 
 
 "You don't see," she said wearily. 
 
 "With your sort love means most 
 ly that that " she stammered 
 "what you and me knows but 
 that ain't all to wenches, I'm think 
 ing. Steve do belong to me like as 
 if I'd weaned him and it's all 
 lies, I tell you," she ended abrupt 
 ly. 
 
 He looked at her closely and bit 
 his lip. 
 
 "What do you think will happen 
 if you do tell him, Janet?" he asked, 
 with the faintest trace of a sneer on 
 his mouth. 
 
 "I don't know," she answered. 
 179 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you. If he has a 
 bit of a man left in hin, he'll tip some 
 thickset mate of his to come and tan 
 my skin for me; if he's a mawk, it'll 
 kill him." 
 
 'Then why," she wailed, "why 
 did we do it?" 
 
 He coughed and pointed to two 
 flies crawling on his hand, but she 
 had not taken her eyes from his face. 
 "Why did we do it?" she muttered. 
 
 The why was taken up by a big bee 
 who buzzed the question in his ears 
 and flew off at last with a whizzing 
 sound of insect laughter. 
 
 "You don't love me, Janet," he 
 said despondingly, as he looked into 
 her sad eyes "not a bit, dear; 
 I've been a stupid fool to believe 
 what you said." 
 
 She shivered. 
 
 "You came to me," he went on 
 gently, resolved to try a different 
 180 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 plan, "rubbed off some of my low 
 ideas about love, and now" he 
 eyed her keenly "you throw me 
 off again to go back to bought wo 
 
 men." 
 
 She stared at him blankly. 
 
 "What!" she said suddenly. 
 
 "You see," he continued, think 
 ing he was influencing her, "men all 
 take love or lust; we're made like 
 that and it'll always be so whatever 
 the goody-goody sort say." 
 
 He laid his big hairy hand across 
 his open throat. "It's here, there, 
 everywhere, you know, all over a 
 man, and will out if he has to go to 
 hell for it." 
 
 "What will"? 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 "Why, it," he said "sex or what 
 
 you like to call it; I don't know what 
 
 women think about these things, 
 
 but a man can't live unless he has 
 
 181 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 women." He slipped both thumbs 
 in the thick yellow folds of his belt 
 and whistled. "Mind! it's a dam 
 ned nuisance and often enough it's 
 more fag than anything else, but it's 
 there, and you women have the whole 
 thing in your hands. You pitch 
 us into lust one day and then stand 
 bolt upright like saints the next 
 and offer us milk and water instead 
 of the first red love-wine." 
 
 She blushed why, she could not 
 quite tell, but her eyes fell and her 
 hands shook a little. 
 
 "Yes," he said harshly; "men all 
 take it one way or another; it can 
 be bought like tobacco or rum; 
 that's one sort; the other sort, I'm 
 thinking, isn't much better, for I 
 believe you pure women play the 
 same game with different cards be 
 hind the screen." 
 182 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "I don't know what you mean by 
 that/' said Janet, simply. 
 
 "Oh! nothing! Only you good 
 women are always so afraid and tick 
 lish about little things. You can 
 never go the whole length of love; 
 you offer us sugar-sticks, and when a 
 man opens his mouth to bite, you 
 scream and hide the thing away for 
 fear some other sinner should catch 
 you, then you see " he laughed 
 again "you've made a poor devil's 
 mouth water, and so he must drink 
 somehow, and then he damns him* 
 self and some other woman in quick 
 sticks." 
 
 She only dimly caught his mean 
 ing, but her face grew whiter and 
 the large rings under her beautiful 
 blue eyes darkened. 
 
 "Then I've done hurt to both of 
 you!" she said. 
 
 "Well that's about it," he an- 
 183 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 swered, thinking her pity and re 
 morse might make her yield to him. 
 "I wonder if you really love either 
 of us?" 
 
 She sobbed. Great deep breaths 
 shook her whole body. It was not 
 the hysterical grief of an over 
 wrought and somewhat shallow fem 
 ininity, but the convulsive throes of a 
 woman in extremity. The man 
 watched her and pitied her. Poor 
 souls, he muttered to himself; it 
 was always like this! They irri 
 tate and attract at the same time. 
 So yielding and soft and lovely in 
 their utter abandonment to senti 
 mentality of passion, and then 
 plunged into despair or weakness 
 when their own actions begin to 
 work out logically. He looked at 
 her tenderly from head to heel and 
 noted her singular grace and strength 
 and a curious feeling crept over him, 
 184 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 a feeling of longing to protect and to 
 always live with this woman who 
 had come so suddenly into his life. 
 He began to think that perhaps there 
 might be a new sort of happiness in 
 always being near a woman who puz 
 zled and charmed him with her fresh 
 goodness, which did not smell of 
 either parsons or books. He knelt 
 down on the sand near her and fold 
 ed his arms about her waist as she 
 stood sobbing. 
 
 "Don't," she said gently, as she 
 bent and unloosed his hands. He 
 obeyed her at once and she sat down 
 near him. He began to feel curious 
 ly afraid of her, and his voice sound 
 ed thick and unnatural as he spoke 
 to her. 
 
 "Janet, Janet, listen to me! Come! 
 
 try and cheer up a bit! Let's drop 
 
 this confounded subject; tell me, 
 
 just once, that you care for me, and 
 
 185 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 I'll be satisfied and wait for you 
 yes, I will, my dear." 
 
 His face had grown paler. 
 
 "I will, indeed until you feel 
 you can come. I will, upon my soul, 
 Janet, for I love you, as I have never 
 loved anyone before." 
 
 He spoke the truth, and she be 
 lieved him and smiled through her 
 tears. 
 
 "Thank you for that," she said. 
 
 His eyes were grave and tender as 
 one of her tears fell on his hand as he 
 held both of hers, and his thick 
 under-lip quivered. 
 
 "Hush! hush! Janet; you fright 
 en me. I will not hurt you nor 
 force you! I will wait! Wait for 
 years! but tell me, darling, just 
 once tell me you love me?" 
 
 She stammered out between her 
 sobs: 
 
 "I don't know; I seem to know 
 186 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 naught now, naught but that I 
 must tell that man; the thought of 
 that fairly eats into me the thought 
 that I've lied to him and him so 
 straight and fair and good to me." 
 
 She lay back in the sand and her 
 sobs came at longer intervals. 
 
 "You see," she said, "I knew 
 naught about things, seemly, till 
 last week; I've been a wife all these 
 years and yet " she stammered and 
 blushed "it seems now as I do un 
 derstand more what God Hisself 
 kens over women. I can't put it in 
 straight words even to myself, though 
 I've moithered my brains all night 
 over it." 
 
 The man watched her and longed 
 to touch her; a sweeping rush of 
 desire simply to kiss her hand took 
 hold of him. For the moment that 
 was all he wanted just to take that 
 long firm hand and hold it between 
 187 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 his in an ecstasy of silence, but he 
 never moved; something held him 
 back, and he looked at her hot face 
 and burning eyes. 
 
 "What else?" he said stupidly. 
 
 "We've longings like you," she 
 started, and then sat and faced him 
 "yes, I'll say out for once what's craz 
 ing me we're not cold and fright 
 ened like you do say; we're just as 
 fierce, just as warm and" with a 
 gasp "just as mad over the flesh 
 of what we do love as you, and 
 madder, too, for we can't rend our 
 selves from what we've kissed no 
 ways no, not noways, and you men 
 folks can." 
 
 "But you are going to leave me?" 
 he said meaningly, as he bent over 
 her. 
 
 "I don't know,"she said "I only 
 know as I can never leave him no 
 not for no one, and not if God His- 
 188 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 self told me it were right and fit as I 
 should. " She clasped her hands 
 together and gazed out to sea. 
 
 "We comes to love the men as we 
 does for as we grows to love the 
 childer we has pains for. When I'm 
 mending Steve's coat, and I comes 
 on a rubbed place like as seems to be 
 a bit of hisself, I feels something 
 come over me as I believe is the same 
 sort as men folks feel when they've 
 got a wench all to theirselves body 
 and soul for the first time. It's 
 not fudge," she said, as she saw 
 a smile in his eyes, "I know it 
 isn't, for I've seen it in other wen 
 ches when they're knitting or put 
 ting up their men's bagging in hay 
 ing time. Women lives on bits of 
 things men needs hunks of every 
 thing, but our bits taste as sweet 
 to us as your hunks to you." 
 
 He scarcely heard what she said; 
 189 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 he was trying to understand what 
 had come over him; he looked round 
 on the miles of yellow sands and then 
 out to sea. Not a soul was near. 
 He was strong, she was only a wo 
 man they were alone and she was 
 absolutely in his power, and yet 
 he was amazed at the strangeness 
 of the situation he had not even 
 the courage to take her hand and 
 hold it for an instant close to his 
 heart. He gazed at her in a stupid 
 way, like a man in a dream, and 
 asked : 
 
 "Did you speak, Janet?" 
 
 "I was only saying that when a 
 woman has done for a man, fettled 
 his house for him and tended him and 
 got used to his voice and his ways, it 
 don't really matter if he gets crippled 
 like Steve; he's hers she can't 
 get free of that, and she can no more 
 190 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 get loose from him than she can from 
 her own flesh." 
 
 He gazed at her in bewilderment: 
 
 "But, Janet," he hesitated, and 
 added nervously, "if you really feel 
 like that, how can you ahem 
 love two men?" 
 
 She blushed and faced him, and 
 her deep voice vibrated as she an 
 swered quickly: 
 
 "I've taken a whole week to puz 
 zle that out, and I'm no nearer see 
 ing things. I reckon I'll never find 
 out why what were sweet and good 
 to me a week ago is foul and bad to 
 me now. I know naught, I tell 
 thee naught but one thing, I must 
 tell the man, and this very night." 
 
 "Then it's all up," he said stupid 
 ly; "that's checkmate right enough. 
 I've lost you!" 
 
 "I don't rightly know; that's as 
 you reckon things. I can't abide 
 191 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 lies, and it is lies for a woman to 
 cheat her man. If I was a man I 
 would stand anything but that 
 that and wheedling, which is some 
 thing like cheating and lying in 
 
 one." 
 
 "Poor devil!" he said. "It'll fin 
 ish him." 
 
 "You don't know the likes of 
 Steve," she answered sharply. "I'm 
 shamed to go and tell him shamed," 
 and her face contracted, "but it 
 'd finish me if I went on acting to 
 him as I'm doing now. I must bide 
 by his will, and if he shoves me out I 
 can't help it, but I reckon he'll per 
 haps sum up the thing straighter than 
 I can, or you either." 
 
 "It's a confounded business," he 
 muttered. 
 
 "Nothing matters like lies," she 
 said. 
 
 192 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Not even love," he answered bit 
 terly. 
 
 She stood up, and put her hand on 
 his shoulder; her tight grip sent his 
 blood hotly through his veins; what 
 would happen next? He did not 
 care; a thrill of joy went over him 
 as she touched him, and he did 
 not attempt to move. 
 
 "Listen!" he heard her say. "I 
 don't know much about what goes 
 on out yonder, in the big cities 
 where you say women sells their 
 bodies for naught but common brass, 
 but I can tell you this:" her eyes 
 sought his and then suddenly drop 
 ped and her hand slipped from his 
 shoulder "if I hadn't felt a feeling 
 to you as seemed to come fresh and 
 sweet from God Hisself, I couldn't 
 have let you come nigh me no, 
 nor him neither" pointing inland. 
 "I want you to mind that for his 
 193 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 sake; it's his wife and not his wan 
 ton as you've kissed. Mind that 
 always, and some day" she laughed 
 softly "I'd be rare and glad to see 
 you two grip each other's hands. 
 Yes; I don't see why not, for you 
 meant no wrong to me, and he'll 
 ken that fast enough, I'm thinking." 
 
 The man looked at her and smiled. 
 
 "And what about you, Janet; 
 what do you think he'll say of that?" 
 
 She crimsoned painfully, and her 
 voice shook as she answered him: 
 
 "I'll be fair and tell him everything 
 how it came like a great wind over 
 me how I forgot even him for it 
 how how " she put out her hands 
 towards him "how something car 
 ried me away away something as 
 I've never even felt for him -some 
 thing as strong and awful as death 
 itself which cast me down and made 
 me forget the man as I love best in 
 194 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 all the world. Do you think he'll 
 not believe me? I reckon he'll per 
 haps give me the only comfort I 
 can get now, for he do love me and 
 and he'll believe in me in spite of 
 everything." 
 
 "You're a hopeful woman, Janet, 
 and I'm a damned fool to have ever 
 tempted you. No, I shall never see 
 Steve Trenoweth; women don't 
 know men, my dear, when they can 
 talk like you. You'll learn a little 
 more by and by. Don't you see 
 that if we met, if he didn't shie the 
 
 poker at me, I should have to " 
 
 He stopped abruptly, as he saw he 
 was paining her. "No, no Janet; 
 you can never understand ; men are 
 wolves when they really love a wo 
 man, and wolves don't share their 
 choicest morsels except in fairy 
 tales." 
 
 She turned to go, and he made no 
 195 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 attempt to stop her. He had grown 
 suddenly very tired ; his limbs ached 
 as if with fever, and noises came in 
 his ears and head. He tried to 
 speak, but no sound would come; 
 he willed himself to walk towards 
 Janet and take her in his arms, 
 but he felt the sensation of night 
 mare; his legs refused to move, 
 and he saw as in a dream the face 
 and figure of the woman who was 
 leaving him. She touched his hands, 
 and he thought he heard her say 
 quite close to him in her Lancashire 
 brogue, "Bless you," but he was not 
 sure. He was sure of nothing ex 
 cept that he must be going mad, for 
 the sea seemed to have suddenly 
 crept into the sky, and he distinct 
 ly saw the wavelets over his head 
 and heard the dash of the water 
 above him. This could only be the 
 beginning of some horrible delusion, 
 196 
 
HE SHADED HIS FACE WITH HIS HANDS, AND GAZED 
 ACROSS THE SANDS 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and he made a tremendous effort 
 to shake himself into his usual 
 self-possession. He moved at last 
 and leaned over the brink of the 
 sandhill where they had both lain. 
 He shaded his face with his hands 
 and gazed across the yellow sands 
 toward the black rocks in the dis 
 tance. A groan burst from him 
 as he sprang to his feet, for he had 
 traced her as she rounded the cliff. 
 Only one idea seemed to possess him 
 as he looked at her in the distance 
 the longing that she would turn and 
 wave her hands to him to give him 
 hope to wait for her. She had turn 
 ed towards him and was looking up 
 wards. The setting sun had wrap 
 ped her in colour; he stretched out 
 his hands towards her and waited 
 for a sign, but she turned and went 
 slowly behind the black ledge of 
 rocks. The man shivered as with 
 197 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 cold and cursed the fates, for he 
 suddenly realised that she could not 
 have seen him, since a heavy, dank 
 Cornish mist had spread over the 
 sandhills and covered from the eyes 
 of the woman who stood in the glow 
 of the sunset the figure of the man 
 who watched from the hills. 
 
 198 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 "Darn ye then!" said Nan Curtis, 
 as she opened her door in answer to a 
 loud peal at the bell which made her 
 jump quickly to her feet and leave 
 the cleaning of her slab. "Oh! my 
 dear! be it you? Darn ye, woman! 
 do ye want to scatter the house on 
 my ears with breaking the bell 
 pull?" 
 
 She looked at Loveday and snort 
 ed, smiling reproof and welcome at 
 her. "Come in, do," she went on, 
 "and sit ye down. Why! you're 
 all of a tremble, woman! What be 
 wrong?" 
 
 Loveday's fat face was bathed in 
 perspiration, and her eyes seemed 
 rounder than ever. She pulled Nan 
 201 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 into the kitchen, and stood facing 
 her with arms akimbo and legs 
 apart. 
 
 "Woman!" she gasped. "I've 
 tumbled on the secret of them weeds 
 at last. Guess? No! ye'll never 
 reckon it up. Oh! my blessed life! 
 It's worse nor awful the slyness of 
 the minx!" 
 
 She stopped for breath, and Nan, 
 who had seated herself on the horse 
 hair sofa opposite Loveday, folded 
 her arms and opened her mouth 
 wide, showing the yellow tusk which 
 seemed ready to devour gossip and 
 scandal wholesale. 
 
 "What the devil do you mean, 
 woman!" she snapped at last. 
 "Don't stand there gaping at a 
 body, but out with it. Is it some 
 thing gone wrong with Clibby 
 Steve's woman?" 
 
 Loveday smiled knowingly, and 
 202 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 pursed up one eye in a suggestive 
 wink. 
 
 "Why! the whole place '11 know 
 the truth afore nightfall. Mincing 
 jade! with her fine face and up- 
 along airs; she's been seen over Bos 
 Kivven way with a chap as don't 
 belong hereabouts at all, and" 
 with a gasp "them weeds is, what 
 I've reckoned all along, nothing but 
 pap to stop up Steve's mouth with, 
 and she's played the fool with all 
 of we, sure enough!" 
 
 She stopped a moment to pick 
 her teeth with a large brass pin she 
 took from the bosom of her dress, 
 and then laughed loudly. 
 
 "Oh! my Lord! I'm as glad as if 
 anybody 'd given me a maying, to 
 have found her out. Proud up 
 start ! as always seemed too good and 
 fine to have a man lay a finger on 
 her!" 
 
 203 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 She folded her arms and leaned 
 heavily on one leg as she continued : 
 
 "But mind you, mate," and she 
 stared fixedly at Nan, "I'm sorry for 
 Steve, for it's a bad job for him, sure 
 enough!" 
 
 "It's blasted lies, I'm thinking," 
 said Nan, emphatically. "I don't 
 belong to hearken nor yet to credit 
 all as I sees, much less hears! Any 
 ways, I'm none going to believe that 
 of Janet, or I should think as eyes 
 was given to some folks for the very 
 purpose of taking in their own flesh 
 and blood. Janet be no wanton, 
 I'll be bound, and if she's walked 
 with a man well let me tell ye, 
 Loveday, my dear, that none of us 
 can throw mud at her for that, for I 
 believe, if my winders don't lie, 
 as you've walked with three chaps 
 up-along and down-along this very 
 week." 
 
 204 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Walked!" grunted Loveday, who 
 was not very pleased that her full- 
 flavoured piece of news should be 
 disparaged in this way; "as likely 
 as not I've walked with chaps, but 
 none of ye have seed me lying with 
 a man now!" 
 
 She delivered this speech with full 
 force, and waited triumphantly for 
 the effect on Nan. 
 
 "Darn ye! what be you trying to 
 do now, Loveday? Flinging a wo 
 man's name in the mud because 
 your own petticoats is none so clean ! 
 I'm shamed for you. A bit of 
 dirty or measly talk over neighbours 
 is right enough; it do make the day 
 go by a bit quicker and sends a body 
 to bed with a chuckle, and that often 
 enough brings you to sleep, if you 
 be a bit waken; but there's a broad 
 difference, let me tell ye, between 
 a bit of pastime and a lump of malice 
 205 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and envy. Yes! I do mean what I 
 say," as she saw Loveday drop into 
 a chair with her lower lip pouting in 
 anger. "Yes! A lot of talk over 
 that woman be nothing in the world 
 but blooming spite. I likes her for 
 herself, for there was no talk of looks 
 when I were made, and I do belong 
 to seek beauty outside my own mir 
 ror. Fd believe flash things of she, 
 but never what you do say, though 
 you swore it on your family Bible." 
 
 " Humph!" sneered Loveday, net 
 tled by this new attitude in her 
 friend. "If you be for upholding 
 them sort of things it's getting time 
 as you and me should be seeing less 
 of one another. I always was one as 
 stood up for a married woman cleav 
 ing to her man, even if he's nothing 
 but a bundle of chaff, in a manner of 
 speaking, as Steve be; and it do turn 
 my liver and stomach sour to think 
 206 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 of that mincing jade kissing strange 
 men and meeting of 'em agin and 
 agin unbeknown to honest folks." 
 
 Nan was alarmed, for she began to 
 fear that Loveday had some reason 
 for her venom. 
 
 "Out with it, woman! Who's 
 seen what, and which devil have 
 been so close to thy earhole as to fill 
 it with this foul talk?" 
 
 Loveday grinned. 
 
 "Did you see me with Snowball 
 Jack up street a while since?" 
 
 "No!" snapped Nan; "were you 
 walking with a man then?" 
 
 Loveday laughed coarsely. 
 
 "Yes, woman, I were, sure enough, 
 but I weren't lying in the sand with 
 him and kissing of him, and that's 
 what Janet were seen doing of early 
 this afternoon, and him as seen her 
 said as how he'd take his oath afore 
 God and a whole bench of jurymen 
 207 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 as it were none other but Janet her 
 self. What do you think of her now 
 eh?" with a triumphant smile. 
 
 Nan stood taut and square, and 
 her short skirts seemed to bristle 
 out from her small stiff body, as if 
 in protest against their owner being 
 snared by a trap of any kind. She 
 cleared her throat and spat in the ash 
 pan, and then dug her knuckles in 
 a friendly way into Loveday's arm. 
 
 "I tell you what I do think/' she 
 said; "I think that Snowball Jack, 
 if it's him as has seed all this moon 
 shine, must be a darned fool; for 
 when Janet do go up-along for them 
 weeds, she's well beyond the reach of 
 the eyeholes of men as bides along 
 of us." Loveday smiled and blew 
 her nose on the corner of her dirty 
 apron: 
 
 "No; she's got within hail for 
 once't. Snowball Jack were sent up- 
 208 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 along last night to Bos Kivven Cliff 
 to watch for the mackerel boats and 
 to help unload, for there's shoals 
 of fish looked for thereabouts, and 
 he were coasting till three o'clock 
 and no boats had been sighted, so 
 he corned home to once't, and I 
 just met him with his mouth hot 
 to bursting with what he'd spied 
 up-along." 
 
 "He's mistook some coorting pair 
 for her, I'll be bound. Snowball 
 Jack, seems to me, is the onlikeliest 
 man as should spy over them things; 
 he do know how to coort, sure 
 enough, without prying over cliffs to 
 get new lights on that job." 
 
 Loveday laughed and smirked as 
 she rolled the corner of her apron 
 between her fat fingers. 
 
 "What's done in wedlock and 
 what's done out, seems to me, is two 
 different things. It can't be reckon- 
 209 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ed harm to kiss and cuddle before 
 hand, just to get your hand in for 
 a long job by and by, but when you 
 're fully wed, seems to me, it's worse 
 nor devil's work to chop and change 
 one man with another." 
 
 "Darn ye, woman!" snorted Nan* 
 who was now putting the finishing 
 touches to her slab ; "go to thy home 
 and do some chars and forget the 
 lies as thee's heard, for I'm certain 
 sure they're lies and that Steve's 
 Janet would do yet to plead for 
 both of us over kissing, even be 
 fore the Throne at the Judgment 
 time." 
 
 Loveday stared at Nan in a be 
 wildered sort of way and sighed. 
 
 "Well! it's the first time as a 
 neighbour have told me to go out of 
 her house, and all 'cause of a woman 
 as weren't never fitty and should 
 never have come among us honest 
 210 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 folks at all. Yes! I'll holler as 
 loud as I've a mind to;" as Nan put 
 her fingers in her ears to drown the 
 angry tones which Loveday's high- 
 pitched voice had taken. "I were 
 born hollering, and when I do want 
 a mate to understand me- I hollers 
 louder than be natural to me. Fm 
 fair befoolt over this job, and I 
 should' nt have thought as my own 
 companion, as I've knowed for years, 
 'd take sides with a loose female 
 agin me." 
 
 She sniffled and applied the apron 
 corner to her eye. Nan rubbed away 
 at her stove and said nothing for 
 sometime; then she suddenly turned 
 round, faced Loveday and yapped. 
 Loveday peeped from behind her 
 apron and sniffled louder than ever. 
 Nan went to a cupboard near the 
 stove and brought out a ginger beer 
 bottle containing some colourless 
 211 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 fluid. Loveday sobbed piteously 
 from behind the apron, and Nan 
 yapped fiercely as she undid the 
 cork. 
 
 "Here, woman! I canna abide to 
 see a female weep; it do always give 
 me the crawls," and she shivered as 
 she spoke. 
 
 "Dry thy eyes, mate, and have a 
 pennoth. I do keep it handy for 
 buryings and sudden qualms. I 
 didn't mean any hurt to you, my 
 dear, not at all, sure enough, but 
 I'm thinking lately when I do sit 
 here knitting a bit as it's women 
 theirselves as strips women of chan 
 ces every bit as close as men do be 
 long to do. Something as a artist 
 chap said to me back along have 
 made me hutch up closer to fe 
 males than I belong to do; none of 
 us be so mighty decent as we need 
 be flinging muck at otherfolk!" 
 212 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Gosh!" exclaimed Loveday. 
 "Seems to me you must be getting 
 not exactly, Nan, for you've always 
 been one as 'd uphold the tie between 
 husbands and wives, and it's not 
 that neither; it's the blooming 
 cheating of the jade, with her inno 
 cent rose-pink face and her grainy 
 way, as always gives you the notion 
 as she be mixed with different stuff 
 to us." She spat on the floor. "I 
 do hate her; she's never once't 
 spoke a seemly word to me since she 
 corned to the place, and Clibby 
 Steve's house ain't never been half 
 the house for a gossip since he 
 brought the maid home. I can reckon 
 the day when the old un had it all 
 her own way, and then it were 
 something like." 
 
 Loved ay's eyes were dry now, and 
 she folded her arms and put her head 
 sentimentally on one side. "Oh! 
 213 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 my blessed life! What times they 
 was to be sure! I've had many a 
 tasty bit and many a long mag with 
 the old un afore Janet corned and 
 made all so different like." 
 
 "Drat ye!" said Nan shortly, 
 "drink this, and don't be sparey with 
 the bottle, woman; you're welcome 
 you do know, and it'll happen make 
 you feel less down, I'm thinking." 
 
 Loveday's eyes gleamed, and she 
 took the bottle and poured out a 
 small quantity of the fluid without 
 adding any water to it. She smacked 
 her lips and looked fondly at Nan. 
 
 "My handsome! it's just splendid. 
 I could always feel chirpy if I'd be 
 sure of getting a drop of that once't 
 or twice in the week. It sends your 
 blood dancing and singing someway 
 and warms the very cockles of your 
 heart. Just a leetle sup more, my 
 dear." 
 
 214 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Nan poured out another generous 
 helping, and then raised the bottle 
 to the light, grunted audibly, and 
 put it back in its place in the cup 
 board. When she turned, Loveday 
 had drunk the second dose and was 
 standing up ready to go. 
 
 "Thank you, my dear/ 1 Her fat 
 hands were spread over her "lower 
 stomach," as she called the most 
 prominent part of her person. "It's 
 a lovely feeling I've got over me, 
 like nothing else as I do know, ex 
 cept," with a grin, "being converted. 
 My gosh! that is a lively thing any 
 way. You do know I've gone through 
 with it once't or twice, my dear, and 
 it give me a feeling just like I have 
 now, a sort of soothing restful kind 
 of feeling as took out all the snarls 
 and crusty thoughts as I had agin 
 everybody. Have you ever been 
 converted, mate?" 
 215 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Nan showed her large yellow tusks 
 and yapped. 
 
 "Yes, woman, but it ended in 
 coortship sure enough, and afore the 
 blooming feeling had passed off I 
 were being captained upstairs and 
 down till I were crazy. I should 
 never have been wedded, I'm think 
 ing, if I'd never have been converted, 
 and I've fought shy of the chapels 
 since, for I paid for that bit o' holi 
 day feeling for six year, and I'm 
 none going to put my head in the 
 
 noose no more." 
 
 "I commend ye," said Loveday, 
 slowly, and then looking at Nan in a 
 fixed way, she said suddenly: 
 
 "Woman! that stuff as you've 
 give me is doing me a power of good. 
 I've been nearly throwing myself 
 over the cliff this last week or two. 
 I'm most mazed with thinking about 
 things, Nan." She laughed stupid- 
 216 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 ly and sidled up to her friend and 
 jerked her in the ribs. "I've been 
 going a bit too far with Snowball 
 Jack, and and " she laughed again 
 "do you reckon there's much good 
 in taking green tea for to get clear 
 again? I've drunk pints of it since 
 last month, when I were sure." 
 
 Nan looked at her. 
 
 "Thee be a darned fool, woman!" 
 
 Loved ay smiled. 
 
 "Yes, I do know, but it can't 
 be helped now; he give me some stuff 
 or another to drink, my dear, and it 
 were a cold damping sort of day, and 
 I took it to keep the creeps off of me, 
 and " she sniggered, "well, woman, 
 you do know, but I'm fearing it's 
 going to be a pest this time. What 
 shall I do?" 
 
 "Do!" snapped Nan; "go down 
 on your marrow bones and bide your 
 217 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 time and don't you slime another wo 
 man with foul names." 
 
 Loveday whimpered. 
 
 "You said just now as how you 
 reckoned women should hold by 
 women, and so," with a hysterical 
 sob, "and so I told you, and all 
 you can do for me seemly is to 
 preach at me, and I'm that that 
 weary and down in the mouth till" 
 her sobs became louder "till I'm 
 not sure what I mayn't do yet!" 
 
 Nan went to the cupboard once 
 more and sighed wearily as she again 
 brought forward the ginger-beer bot 
 tle. She planted it on the table near 
 Loveday, and said sharply: 
 
 "Finish it, woman!" 
 
 Loveday meekly obeyed, and wip 
 ed her heated face with one corner of 
 her apron and blew her nose hastily 
 with the other corner. 
 
 "You be the only friend as I have, 
 218 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 my dear/' she sobbed, "and I don't 
 know what 'd become of me if you 
 died or anything; I don't indeed!" 
 
 The gin was beginning to take ef 
 fect. Her head lolled on one side, 
 she sank into a big chair, rested her 
 elbows on its arms and looked stupid 
 ly at Nan, who was now sitting taut 
 and grave, with her eyes fixed upon 
 Loveday, while her right hand clasp 
 ed the empty bottle. 
 
 "Don't you stare at me like that, 
 woman," whimpered Loveday. "I'm 
 no worse nor any other up-along or 
 down-along, and neither him nor 
 me's been fooling any other body!" 
 She raised her head. "I'd scorn to 
 do what some do belong to do, play 
 games with married men." 
 
 "Darn ye! husht!" interrupted 
 
 Nan. "There's little picking and 
 
 choosing in these jobs. It's like 
 
 walnuts and red cabbage in vinegar; 
 
 219 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 they're a different sort afore they 
 get in the bottle, but when you comes 
 to taste 'em afterwards they're much 
 of a muchness." 
 
 She folded her small thin hands 
 together and sighed. Then sudden 
 ly she sat down near Loveday and 
 smoothed out her gown carefully 
 over her knees. 
 
 "I've been thinking," she went on 
 slowly, "since I've seen more of 
 folks and things, that it's best to 
 hold your jaw and watch a bit. 
 No one, seems to me, can't rightly 
 blame nor yet praise another body, 
 for it's more nor likely ye'll praise 
 the devil and smut the saint, for 
 some of us have fleas' eyes for to 
 ferret out the good and asses' ears 
 for harking to the bad. The ways 
 of men and women is far enough be 
 yond the ken of common folks, and 
 I sometimes reckon that love's a 
 220 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 frenzy as He that has made us can 
 hardly count upon at all at times, 
 and" she suddenly remembered 
 Loveday, for she had been talking 
 to herself "and it be no manner of 
 use for thee to poison thy blood with 
 green tea; it's likely the will of God 
 for you to bear the fruits of thy 
 pleasuring, and, anyway, even if it's 
 only a bit of sport the devil be hav 
 ing wi' thee, it will happen to teach 
 thee not to grab the next bit of 
 dirty pleasure as comes along to ye 
 when thee be too drunk to reckon 
 with it." 
 
 But Loveday was fast asleep, and 
 her snoring made Nan smile. 
 
 "It's almost as loud as some folks 
 singing," she said, as she went over 
 and looked earnestly at her compan 
 ion. She sighed, and opened the 
 door softly and went into the "best 
 parlour" to dust it. She rubbed the 
 221 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 mahogany framework of a high- 
 backed chair with great vigour, and 
 then stopped a moment to take 
 breath. Her eyes lighted upon a 
 portrait of a stern old man which 
 held the place of honour in the room. 
 It was her dead "captain," and she 
 sighed once more, and as she rubbed 
 the twisted legs of the chair on her 
 bended knees, she muttered beneath 
 her breath: 
 
 "Darn the blooming mag! it do 
 grow like ferns in the lewth, and no 
 body, neither devil nor angel, can 
 stop it. It be like a gale of wind; 
 yer canna tell where it do rise from 
 of a suddint like, but it do drown a 
 body without showing of itself, or 
 tear up the houseplace like magic. 
 Ugh!" 
 
 She glanced out of her big windows 
 towards the shore. Regardless of 
 seasons, the sea on this summer night 
 222 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 was in one of its wildest moods. 
 Great white breakers dashed round 
 the black projecting rocks, and the 
 wind hissed and whistled as if it 
 were preparing itself for screaming 
 like a crazy woman. Twilight was 
 rapidly deepening into darkness. A 
 draught which came from the loose 
 ly fastened sash of the window made 
 Nan shudder; it seemed to pierce 
 through every nook and crevice of 
 the room, and intensified the roar 
 and scream of the north-east wind, 
 with its bass and treble groans and 
 yells as of sorrow and pain. To Nan 
 it brought strange memories. It 
 was on such a night as this that the 
 mates had brought in her ' 'cap tain," 
 drowned by the cold and cruel sea, 
 and then she had realised how habit 
 and tending had bound to her, and 
 she had grieved for him and half 
 forgotten his tyranny and cruelty. 
 223 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 A great gust swept round the house 
 and seemed to shake it, and Nan 
 tried to fasten the window more 
 tightly. As she did this she saw a 
 figure being swept along round the 
 corner near her house. The woman's 
 clothes were driven like sails before 
 her, and she could hardly stand. 
 Nan exclaimed as she watched her 
 frantic attempts to steady herself: 
 
 "Good Lord! she'll be down; 
 'tain't fit for a dog to be out." 
 
 She suddenly realised who the 
 woman was, and she opened the hall 
 door quickly and peered into the 
 street. 
 
 "Come!" she said sharply; "come, 
 Mrs. Trenoweth; you'll be most 
 killed with the wind, woman! Come 
 in and I'll get you a cup of tea, for I 
 should think this gale of wind has 
 about blowed the brains out of you !" 
 
 Janet laughed softly. 
 224 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "I can't get my breath/' she said. 
 "I'm done out, I fancy. Yes, thank 
 you, Nan, I'll rest a minute to get 
 my wind a bit." 
 
 She followed Nan into the hall 
 and leaned against the door as it 
 was closed behind her. The elder 
 woman turned and looked at her 
 guest. Janet's beautiful brown hair 
 was rumpled and tossed and hei 
 cheeks were red from the fight with 
 the wind ; her dark blue eyes, which 
 were shaded by purple rings under 
 them, had a wistful light which did 
 not escape Nan's keen look of in 
 quiry. She was gazing into Janet's 
 face to find the trail of the fiend, 
 for Loved ay's story had perplexed 
 her because of its unlikelihood. She 
 stared at Janet, and then yapped, 
 very gently for her, for fear of waken 
 ing Loveday. Janet laughed too. 
 
 "Oh!" she said with a gasp; 
 225 I5 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "I've not come here of my own will, 
 Nan, I've been swept here. I don't 
 believe I could have stood on my 
 feet a minute longer." 
 
 "Have you walked far?" asked 
 Nan. 
 
 "Yes," answered Janet sharply, 
 "I have a good long way!" 
 
 "Seaweed?" queried Nan. 
 
 "No," said Janet. 
 
 Nan smiled. Then she folded her 
 hands together in front of her small 
 waist, and said suddenly and with a 
 genial yap: 
 
 "Why the devil, woman, can't 
 I call you Janet?" 
 
 Janet laughed heartily. 
 
 "Why haven't you before, Nan? 
 I'd like it from you, and and 
 from others too," she said slowly. 
 
 "Darn ye, woman," said Nan, 
 "I wonder I've never thought on it 
 afore, but it's just corned in my head 
 226 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 like a swear word," and she fumbled 
 in her gown for her handerkchief 
 and blew her nose loudly. Then 
 she laughed again and said suddenly 
 and rather nervously: 
 
 " Janet! I'd be very well pleased 
 to have a kiss of you, my dear, if it 
 do please you," and the yellow teeth 
 snapped together as she looked into 
 Janet's face. "I fancy there be but 
 few females hereabouts with your 
 forthrightness in 'em, and I commend 
 you and like you for it. Now!" 
 standing taut before Janet and put 
 ting her hand on her arm. "There 
 now, I've said what I've wanted to 
 say to you before today; but a body 
 do feel a bit soft like when they 
 set to work telling of a woman as 
 they do set store by her." 
 
 She snorted and sidled up to Janet 
 and gave her a gentle poke in the ribs. 
 The tears had suddenly sprung into 
 227 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Janet's eyes; sympathy just then 
 seemed to crush her. With one of 
 those uncontrollable impulses which 
 sweep over women sometimes as 
 intuitions or as madnesses, she fell 
 on her knees at Nan's feet, clasped 
 the woman's gown with her two long 
 hands and bowed her head over 
 them. Nan snorted like a wild 
 creature and said thickly: 
 
 "Lord a mercy, my dear! get up 
 to once't. Whatever be you 
 a-kneeling like that to an old creature 
 like me? I'll stand by you, Janet. 
 Yes! I will. I'll keep to my word 
 till I've passed, now!" 
 
 The wind screamed and whistled 
 round the house until voices could 
 scarcely be heard. As it died away 
 in a moan the temporary lull seemed 
 to rouse Janet. She rose, and Nan, 
 on tip-toe, reached to her new friend's 
 face. She took it between her hard 
 228 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 thin little hands and dwelt for a 
 moment on its softness with the ex 
 pression one sees in a beautiful wo 
 man's face as she looks in her mirror. 
 Then she kissed the mouth again and 
 again with the sharp quick kiss of 
 one unaccustomed to tender love 
 ways. 
 
 "There!" she said, "that's for 
 always, mind. Folk may come and 
 jaw, but they won't draw me over 
 anything that you may tell me. 
 I'll stand square to you whether I 
 know or don't know all about ye." 
 
 Janet smiled wearily, but she said 
 slowly and almost cheerfully: 
 
 "Thank you for that, Nan. It's 
 a treat to know you mean what you 
 say. I'm I'm " 
 
 A sudden noise made the two wo 
 men turn. 
 
 Loveday stood in the doorway of 
 the kitchen. Her right thumb was 
 229 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 in her mouth and her face was vacant 
 with drunken wonder. 
 "My gosh!" she muttered. 
 
 230 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Old Mother Trenoweth was 
 asleep. Finding her son silent and in 
 clined to doze she had slipped from 
 the kitchen into her little bedroom 
 and had lain down with a weary sigh. 
 The tempest without and her own 
 desponding thoughts about Janet and 
 Steve had brought on a mood which 
 even the Big Book was powerless 
 to dispel. She closed her eyes and 
 gradually sank into unconsciousness. 
 She awakened suddenly from a dis 
 turbing dream, in which she saw 
 Steve's legs being sawn off with a 
 blunt file, to find Loveday bending 
 over her with her finger on her 
 lips. 
 
 "Husht!" she said solemnly, as 
 233 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 she shook the old woman's arm. 
 "I've crept in unbeknowns to Steve 
 there," pointing to the inner room; 
 "he be fast asleep and looks as snug 
 as a duck." She laughed roughly. 
 "Let him sleep, poor fool; it's the 
 best thing as he can do, seems to 
 me." 
 
 She sat on a chair near the bed and 
 leaned over towards the old woman. 
 
 "Thy Steve have got to know a 
 thing or two when he do waken, 
 let me tell you. Seems to me as his 
 woman 'd trample the life out of 
 him, and never shed a tear over it." 
 
 Loveday scratched her head slow 
 ly and then jerked out as she point 
 ed to the kitchen: 
 
 "She's been with a strange man for 
 hours to-day, kissing of him and cud 
 dling of him, and he sleeping in there 
 like a HI baby; a innocent forth 
 right fool he be, who thinks no hurt 
 234 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 of she and 'd never believe the truth 
 about her if God Hisself told him 
 it." 
 
 The old woman sat up and twist 
 ed round to face Loveday. Her old 
 thin legs hung loosely over the side 
 of the bed, and her two hands were 
 outstretched on either side of her 
 as she leaned forward and peered 
 into the eyes of her neighbour. 
 She sat speechless with horror. For 
 many months she had tried to over 
 take Janet in some fault; had watch 
 ed and waited in the hope that her 
 sou's wife, through some frailty of 
 nature or want of purpose, would 
 be found to be made of as common 
 clay as herself and her neighbours; 
 and perhaps what had chafed her 
 more than anything else was the 
 fixed conviction in her mind that her 
 quest would be a useless one. Her 
 private conviction was the same her 
 235 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 son had expressed when he declared 
 " there is no flaw in her." The 
 thought that perhaps Loveday's 
 words were true and there was not 
 only flaw but sin in this fair saint, 
 whom her son worshipped, almost 
 paralysed her, and for his sake she 
 now took up the cudgels for Janet. 
 
 "Thee art drunk," she said stolid 
 ly to Loveday, and her old hands 
 tightened on the white counterpane. 
 
 Loveday laughed. 
 
 "Yes, so I be, sure enough, but 
 with different stuff to a woman's 
 face. I'm thinking as the whole 
 place hereabouts be going crazy over 
 Janet. Nan's brains, seems to me, 
 have got soaked with her at last, 
 and now you" pointing with her 
 fat finger at Mother Trenoweth 
 "why, you, as be her natural enemy, 
 in a manner of speaking, be uphold 
 ing of her. Why, woman, don't 
 236 
 
THEE ART DRUNK," SHE SAID STOLIDLY 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 you recollect how you have set me 
 on Janet's tracks yourself, almost 
 against my own nature, for to find 
 out measley things of her? Well! 
 I've found out enough about her 
 to earn a Queen's pension, and you 
 sit up like a image and make ugly 
 faces at me because I've done the 
 very thing as you was longing for 
 me to do. Tain't neighbourly, to 
 say nothing else about it." 
 
 She stooped and pulled up a loose 
 stocking, and tied it over her knee 
 with a bit of flannel edging which 
 was frayed and black with age. Her 
 face was red from the exertion when 
 she again faced the old woman. 
 Mrs. Trenoweth still sat in the same 
 posture, except that one wrinkled 
 hand fumbled into her pocket for 
 her handkerchief. She carefully 
 wiped the corners of her mouth and 
 again clasped the quilt with the 
 237 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 handkerchief still in her hand. Love- 
 day waited for her to speak, but her 
 mouth was set and she uttered no 
 sound. 
 
 "Don't ye bear no grudge agin 
 her now, Mrs. Trenoweth?" asked 
 Loveday sharply. 
 
 "Yes, yes! sure enough/' she 
 muttered ; "but, my dear, if what you 
 do say be true it '11 about kill Steve, 
 and and" the old hands were now 
 clasped together "Oh! I'd sooner 
 bear all the mincing ways of forty 
 false females as was ever born nor 
 hurt him! Oh! Lordy! Lordy! it's 
 a judgment on us! it's a judgment, 
 sure enough. What shall we do? 
 What shall we do?" 
 
 She whimpered and buried her 
 face in her hands. 
 
 "Gosh!" murmured Loveday; 
 "here's a job! The muck's set roll 
 ing now and the old un's scared at 
 238 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 the sight of it. Pity but what 
 we'd all of us held our jaws about 
 her. It do never do to stir a dung 
 pile if you've got a tender nose for 
 stinks. Better let it rot and pre 
 tend it ain't about at all. But this 
 pile have been stirred, sure enough, 
 and we've got to stomach it the best 
 way we can." 
 
 The old woman still whimpered, 
 and Loveday's face grew graver and 
 graver. 
 
 "I wish Nan was corned," she said 
 under her breath, "for I'm none 
 fit to tramp down misfortune. Look 
 here," she said suddenly, "I'll shut 
 up Snowball Jack's mug over this 
 jobatonce't; now! though the news 
 by now, I'm fearing, will be like the 
 floods a bit since gone, whether we 
 will or no, right into everybody's 
 door. But cheer up; I'll do my best 
 for you and Steve, Mrs. Trenoweth, 
 239 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 even if I have to turn a willing liar 
 over it. After all, I believe it's a 
 good bit the itch in me to be thought 
 well of as have pushed me on over 
 this job. I've a parcil of proud 
 longings in me, and I'm pretty sure 
 as they have spurred me on to hate 
 Steve's woman. She could have 
 given me a leg up if she'd had a mind 
 to, but she's always treated me like 
 dung, and," with a vicious stamp, 
 "I do hate her for it, for if you prick 
 her finger and mine, you'll find the 
 same blood in both of us now! 
 I've always understood as you was 
 agin her yourself, too, Mrs. Treno- 
 weth, for many and many a time you 
 and me have set one another on a 
 heat of hate over her. There were 
 a time when if she'd only spoken fair 
 to me, likely as not I'd have gone 
 as crazed over her as Nan be now, 
 and I corned to know that as I walked 
 240 I6 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 here, for I were struck by Nan's 
 way as I left. She be like one under 
 conviction about that woman, and 
 I seed a sight afore I left her house 
 as fairly catched my breath!" 
 
 The old woman stared appealing- 
 ly at Loveday and touched her gent 
 ly on the arm. 
 
 "Loveday, my dear," looking 
 shrinkingly at the door, "tell me," 
 in a whisper, "what have Janet 
 done?" 
 
 "What we've all done once't or 
 twice, I reckon," laughed Loveday, 
 "kissed the wrong man." 
 
 "It's witchcraft, sure enough," 
 sighed the old woman. 
 
 "It's nature," snarled Loveday 
 fiercely. 
 
 "Lordy! Lordy!" and big tears 
 rolled down the old woman's cheeks, 
 "to think that I should have lived 
 to see my handsome befooled!" 
 241 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Why!" interrupted Loveday, 
 "you never thought, did you, but 
 what Janet was a flash sort all along? 
 Many and many's the time you've 
 told me so, and now, because it's 
 proved true, you seem most heart 
 broken over it." 
 
 "What shall we do? What shall 
 we do?" whined the old woman. 
 "Steve is bound to know afore long, 
 and who'll tell him, I wonder? It 
 '11 kill him, it will, sure enough; 
 dirty lying jade she be, and they as 
 has spied on her be no better. I 
 hope the Lord '11 punish her with 
 many stripes and with bitter pains." 
 
 Loveday's face had suddenly 
 grown bright, for an idea had crept 
 into her dull brain. 
 
 "Look you here, Mrs. Trenoweth," 
 
 she said. "I'll git over this job 
 
 for ye. Yes, I will. I'll tackle Janet 
 
 my own self," with a laugh, "and 
 
 242 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 tell her straight and square what I 
 do know. It* 11 happen then be 
 my turn to mince a bit, I'm thinking, 
 and her fat hands made a slender 
 flail of her apron, with which she 
 flicked her knees. "I'll have a forth 
 right talk with her this very night," 
 she added gaily, "if I can only hap 
 pen on her for a while without Steve 
 being by, and I'll mark her bearing 
 over this job and then act as it 
 do seem best afterwards. I'm in 
 agreement with you, Mrs. Treno- 
 weth, and I think as Steve should 
 know about this to once't, but if 
 she's very repentant," with a giggle, 
 "we might spare him most of it, 
 don't you see? Howsomever, I'll 
 face the hussey and see if her rose- 
 pink face do flush at all eh?" 
 
 She poked the old woman on the 
 knees with her knuckles and coughed 
 significantly. 
 
 243 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Lordy! Lordy!" whined the 
 miserable old mother as she slipped 
 from the bed and stood before Love- 
 day ; "are you certain sure it be true, 
 or is it all a tale made up by malice 
 and laziness?** 
 
 "It is true enough," answered 
 Loveday. "Snowball Jack see'd it 
 with his own eyes, and you'll likely 
 enough have a brat to tend in this 
 house-place one day for to witness 
 to her virtue." 
 
 She laughed coarsely, and then 
 said with a sudden impulse: 
 
 "But I'm getting sharp in the 
 tongue agin, and, after all, she's no 
 worse nor others hereabouts; all of 
 us ain't no great shakes, be us?' 
 with a quick look at the old dame; 
 "but that's the queer thing in this 
 job, as she's no better nor us," 
 and a gentle smile crept over her 
 face. "I do feel more kindlier to 
 244 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 her now, someway, than I did afore, 
 and I reckon perhaps when I've had 
 a forthright mag with her I'll like 
 ly feel more like Nan do feel towards 
 her." Then with bitterness as her 
 face clouded again: "No, I shan't 
 neither, for maids and wives should 
 have different ways with them; 
 I'm certain sure of that; for what's 
 nothing but a bit of a prank with 
 one, is the devil's own work with the 
 other." 
 
 A movement in the kitchen roused 
 both the women. 
 
 "Wait!" said Loveday, "I'll go 
 and move Steve, for it's he as have 
 wakened, and is wanting of ye. It 
 won't do for him to see you with 
 that look on thy face; it's enough 
 to frighten the craws, much less a 
 man like Steve, as do belong to read 
 to once't in a body's eyes what's 
 going on in their insides. I'll say 
 245 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 you be coming by and by, and do 
 you wash thy face and chirp up, 
 woman. Leave it all to me, and 
 I'll do for ye as I would for my own, 
 now!" 
 
 She opened the door and went 
 away, and the old woman fell on her 
 knees by the bed, and, shaking her 
 head from side to side, muttered: 
 
 "Blessed Lord and Saviour! have 
 pity on us! Take this burden 
 off of us, for it be none of our seek 
 ing. Have mercy, Lord, on a moth 
 er's broken heart oh! be gracious 
 i> 
 
 She was rudely interrupted by 
 Loveday, who had come back and 
 was shaking the old woman's arm 
 fiercely as she knelt with her head 
 bowed over her hands. 
 
 "Mrs. Trenoweth! Get up to 
 once't; Janet's come, and I'm too 
 late to jaw her; she's kneeling like 
 246 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 a innocent babe alongside Steve, 
 and they be staring in one another's 
 eyes like two fools just beginning 
 coortship. My Lord! that woman 
 beats a play actor for shamming !' ' 
 
 247 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 The wind of the previous night, 
 with its ghoulish yells and mocking 
 wails, had suddenly stilled. Na 
 ture for a brief hour seemed poised 
 between smiles and tears, and then, 
 as the dawn slowly crept over the 
 shadowy hills and the black cliffs, 
 she decided for shine and shimmer, 
 and soon the little hamlet of Carn- 
 wyn was roused to greet one of 
 those luscious days when light and 
 colour transform everything. The 
 sea was calm, and the little skiffs 
 moved on its blue surface as if pro 
 pelled by some mysterious sea-elves, 
 whose gliding motions under the 
 water gave it the sapphire tinge by 
 which mortals become soothed as by 
 fairy liltings, 
 
 251 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 Janet watched the sunrise from 
 their little window. 
 
 Steve was asleep in her arms, and 
 a smile played round his lips as he 
 dreamed. Janet turned to look at 
 him, and she smiled too as she drew 
 him closer to her. The movement 
 wakened him and their eyes met. 
 She cradled him in her arms and he 
 hungrily kissed her breast as she 
 folded him to her. 
 
 "Janet," he whispered softly. 
 
 "Well, mon," she answered. 
 
 He held her chin between his fin 
 ger and thumb and looked in her 
 eyes; then he spoke slowly: 
 
 "I pity them chaps as uses ring- 
 locks for to keep their wives from 
 flying from 'em. Janet, thee's been 
 near to the very heart and soul of 
 me this night." He stroked her 
 head tenderly as he went on. "It's 
 fools and worse nor fools that holds 
 252 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 what they love past bearing. Look 
 at that gull and don't go for to cry, 
 girl it's all like a bit of heaven, 
 sure enough." 
 
 Janet sobbed softly, but did his 
 bidding and looked out to sea, 
 where she saw the upward sweep of a 
 gull whose white wings gleamed in 
 the sunlight. Steve laughed happi 
 ly as he kissed his wife's hands. 
 
 "Hear her cry!" he said suddenly; 
 "she's free, woman free to go and 
 free to come." 
 
 He gazed at her with passion in 
 his eyes, but his mouth twitched with 
 tenderness as he went on: 
 
 "I do worship thee, woman, with 
 all my soul and all my body, and 
 and " taking her face between his 
 hands, "if thee would like that chap 
 fetched Yes!" with emphasis 
 "Yes, by God! he shall come and 
 dwell with us, and I'll throttle any 
 253 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 bit of jealous devil left in me right 
 away if it'll make thee happy again. 
 It have come over me like a dream 
 that jealousy be the meanest sin in 
 the whole world, for it breeds what 
 it's powerless to deal with." His 
 face saddened : "To lose thee would 
 be 'most death, I do know, but to 
 hold thee against thy will would be 
 hell for us both. It is borne in on 
 me and must stand so. If " 
 
 Janet stopped him as she pointed 
 to the sunrise. Her voice was low 
 as she almost whispered: 
 
 "That's like an answer to both 
 our fears: it's something so calm 
 and grand, and has nothing to do 
 with men's little ways at all." 
 
 "Ay!" said Steve. "It's a scare 
 we've both had; the gossips scared 
 me, and the man as thought he loved 
 thee, scared thee. We're together 
 now, lass, with no one by to meddle 
 254 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 and mag. It's the magging that al 
 ways rends things abroad and gives 
 a couple no chance, whether it's 
 in wedlock or out. It's we two and 
 we two only as can know and under 
 stand one the other ; and I feel young 
 and happy again, because it is thee 
 and thee only who can make up 
 what I've been ferriting out in my 
 blind way for months. We love 
 one another, woman love one an 
 other so well we ain't afraid of no 
 one not even of someone who tells 
 thee I'm a wolf over thee. I am a 
 wolf, sure enough, but thee's made 
 me feel to-night a longing to give 
 that other chap a handshake. He'll 
 never want another make of woman 
 again. Ah! lass, this night beats 
 our marriage night to fits. We're 
 married o'er again more like they 
 marry in heaven, I reckon. Once I 
 thought it a dull job, as the parsons 
 255 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 give it to us; but, by God, I'm not 
 sure we ain't all in a fog down here 
 o'er the marriage show. Our no 
 tions are a bit too musty and fusty 
 here for God's place, I'm thinking. 
 I reckon the first lesson over there 
 '11 be a bit like this one you and me 
 be learning." He laughed and held 
 Janet closely to him as he went on in 
 a happy voice: "I'm like a child 
 in the sun, woman o'erjoyed at the 
 thought that I'd grudge thee noth 
 ing in the world, nothing, mind 
 not even his child !" 
 
 He cleared his throat, and his 
 chest rose and fell. With a sud 
 den movement Janet turned and 
 looked at him. Her face was bathed 
 in light, for the sun had now risen 
 and its slanting beams made the 
 dust specks in the room roll and 
 dance, as if to keep time with the glad 
 twitting of the birds outside, who 
 256 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 were busy drilling their youngsters 
 for flight. 
 
 "Lad," she said slowly, and her 
 face was alight with wonderful 
 rest and happiness "lad, thee 
 thee and no other art all I want in 
 this world. Yes " as he shook his 
 head; "it's truth! If for one mad 
 hour I lusted for that man as I've 
 telled thee on, with that hour it pas 
 sed from me as if it had never been. 
 He told me hisself as it were just 
 that way as men folks feel like often 
 about women women, too, as they 
 happen never clap eyes on again; 
 just feelings as come and go like 
 those of the beasts in the field." 
 She shook her head slowly from side 
 to side and took her husband's hand 
 in her large firm one and kissed it 
 tenderly as she hung over it. As 
 she stroked it gently with her other 
 hand, she went on in a low happy 
 voice: 
 
 257 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 "Eh! But, lad! if thy fingers 
 were took like thy legs and all thy 
 body turned white like the lepers the 
 Bible tells on, dost thee think now 
 as thou wouldn't be the sweetest and 
 gradliest lad to me in all the world?*' 
 
 She fondled him and crooned over 
 him, as she continued: 
 
 "For why! Because thee've un 
 derstood as no one else could, as 
 yon man never would in all the earth 
 and as I can't even rightly myself, 
 how it was as I were mazed with life 
 and took the rope length as you gave 
 
 me." 
 
 She laughed softly and closed his 
 hairy hand between her own two 
 brown ones: 
 
 "You may let the rope go.- yes, 
 lad, the whole length of it, and be 
 cause you'll never tighten it nor 
 yet knot it, I've a mind to stop. 
 The queer part is I'm none repenting 
 258 
 
STEVE'S WOMAN 
 
 as I ought to; for if I'd never gone 
 from thee for that day I should never 
 in all this world know what I know 
 for sure now: that that " she 
 hesitated a moment and then held 
 him close to her breast "that it is 
 thee, and not him nor yet no other, 
 as I do love as a woman loves a 
 
 man." 
 
 THE END 
 
 259