The Descent of Man and Other Stories

in that nobody loved him below stairs. Mrs. Blinder took uncommon care with the dinner that night, but she snapped at the kitchen-maid in a way quite unusual wit

uch dreadful language that I was about to leave the table, when he assured me it was all

the hearth; a big fair bull-necked man, with a red face and little bad-tempered blue eyes: the kind of

e in my former places. Then he turned his back on me, and went on talking to his wife; and I knew what that meant, too. I was not

. Brympton in her kind voice; and he nod

ss to dress for dinner, and I noticed as I waited

ut on her hat and furs (for it was a fine winter morning) and went out for a walk in the gardens, coming back quite fresh and rosy,

on. He was a slight tall gentleman of about thirty, and I thought him rather melancholy-looking till I saw his smile, which had a kind of surprise in it, like the first warm day in spring. He was a great reader, I heard, like my mistress, and the two were forever borrowing books of one another, and sometimes (Mr. Wace told me) he would read aloud to Mrs. Brympton by the hour, in the big dark library where she sat in the winter afternoons. The servants all liked him, and p

a deal more than was good for him. After Mrs. Brympton left the table he would sit half the night over the old Brympton port and madeira, and once, as I was leaving my mistr

Mr. Brympton was coarse, loud and pleasure-loving; my mistress quiet, retiring, and perhaps a trifle cold. Not that she was not always pl

l languid from the fever, I was thankful for the quiet and the good country air. Nevertheless, I was never quite easy in my mind. My mistress, knowing I had been ill, insisted that I should take my walk regular, and often invented errands for me:-a yard of ribbon to be fetched from the village, a letter posted, or a book retur

go out, and sitting over my sewing all day, listening to the drip, drip of the eaves, I grew so nervous that the least sound made me jump. Somehow, the thought of that locked room across the passage began to weigh on me. Once or twice, in the long rainy nights, I fancied I heard noises there; but that was nonsense, of course, and the daylight drove such notions out of my head. Well, one morning Mrs. Brympton gave me quite a start of pleasure by telling me she wished me to go to town for some shopping. I hadn't known till then how low my spirits had fallen. I set off in high glee, a

the year at her place on the Hudson? My

ays I, offended somehow at her tone.

ow is she's had four maids in the last six months, and the last one

say why?"

sey, she says, if ever a young woman as you know of thinks of go

ndsome?" said I, thi

mothers engage when they've ga

y head, and my heart sank lower than ever as I drove up to Brympton in

e of some kind. Mrs. Blinder's hand shook so that she could hardly pour the tea, and Mr. Wace quoted the most dread

g my hand, "I'm so glad and th

gine. "Why," said I, "did you

e for a day even." She pressed my hand hard, and, "Oh, Miss Hartley," says she, "be good to yo

er-gown before going in. The dressing-room is a large room with a window over the portico that looks toward the gardens. Mr. Brympton's apartments are beyond.

tors in winter," Mrs. B

" he flung at

re so seldo

You make the place about as

hings, to give my mistress warni

meat in the ice-box. I felt nervous myself, and after I had put my mistress to bed I was half-tempted to go down again and persuade Mrs. Blinder to sit up awhile over a game of cards. But I heard her door closing for the night, and so I went on

go on jangling through the darkness. My hands shook so that I couldn't find the matches. At length I struck a light and jumped out of bed

und distinctly, and it frightened me so that I stood stock still. Then I heard a footstep hurrying down the passage toward the main house. The floor being carpeted, the sound

age ahead of you. The idea isn't pleasant, but you may as well face it. Your mistress has

's room. On the way I heard nothing and saw nothing: all was dark and quiet as the grave. When I reached my mistress's door the si

nt the door was opened by Mr. Brympton. He started back when he sa

r voice. "How many of you

elf that he had been drinking, and answered as steadily as

alked down the hall to his own bedroom. I looked after him as he wen

d to me to pour out some drops for her. After that she lay without speaking, her breath coming q

am," I said. "Do y

es wide and gave

rtley, and thank you kindly. I'm quite well agai