None Other Gods

yself a picture of his adventure more or less complete in all its parts, lies about ten miles north-west of Doncaster, in a

al hard living, into which the initiation began with his series of almost wholly sleepless nights and heavy sleep-burdened days. Night was too strange-in barns, beneath hay-ricks, in little oppressive rooms, in stable-lofts-for him to sleep easily at first; and between his tramps, or in the dinner-hour,

concerned a piece of brutality to a dog in which Frank interfered.... (He was extraordinarily tender to animals.) Then there was the learning as to how work was obtained, and, even more considerable, the doing of the work. The amateur, as Frank pointed out later, began too vigorously and became exhausted; the professional set out with the same del

, the kind of man who meant what he said, and the kind of man who did not; the kind of woman who would threaten the police if milk or bread were asked for-Frank learned to beg very quickly-the kind of woman who would add twopence and tell him to be off, and the kind of woman who, after a pause and a slow scrutiny, would deliberately refuse to supply a glass of water. Then there was the atmosphere of the little towns to be learned-the intolerable weariness of pavements, and the patient persistence of policemen who would not allow you to sit down. He discovered, al

ng home for the holidays for the first time, cannot make clear to his mother, or even to himself, w

ith

e associations roused by walking for half a day past the split-oak paling of a great park, with lodge-gates here and there, the cooing of wood-pigeons, and the big house, among its lawns and cedars and geranium-beds, seen now and then, far off in the midst. But what he could not describe, or understand, was the inner alchemy by which this new relation to things modified his own soul, and gave him a point of view utterly new and bewildering. Cur

to the rest, he honestly did not care at all. He sent her a picture postcard once or twice-from Ely, Peterborough, Sleaford and Newark-towns where he stayed for a Sunday (I have seen in Sleaford the little room where he treated himself to a bed for two nights)-and was c

t at this kind of thing, and Jack has described to me, as taught by Frank, a few devices of which I was entirely ignorant. Frank tramped for a couple of days with a gamekeeper out of work, and learned these things from him, as well as one or two simple methods of out-of-door cookery. As regards his religion, I think I had better not say m

e point when he came out one evening at sunset from one of the fields of Hampole where he had made hay a

I

with string, like Frank's, and one of those long, square-tailed, yellowish coats with broad side-pockets such as a gamekeeper might have worn twenty years ago. One of his boots was badly burst, and he, seemed to rest his weight by preference on the other foot. He was not prepossessing; but Frank saw, with his newly-gained experience, that he was different from other tramps. He glanced at the girl and

lmost imperceptibly as he went past. (He proposed to go back to the farm to get his dwindl

sign. He had no particular desire for company. He also knew by instinct, practically for certai

ay,

as bucolicall

direct this lady and

s kind of voice, as of a servant or a groom out of

kind of lodging

us," said the Major geni

sir," said Frank. "I

e words, "What d'you say, Gertie?" There was a mu

you. My good lady here is good for a mile or t

he least wish for company himsel

ou'll wait here I'll be back in five

m buildings in the valle

r," said the Major magnific

that under the circumstances he could not pretend to be anything else himself. But he was perfectly determined not to tell his name. None of his belongings had anything more than

wo as they sat side by side

said. "Yes; you've

lic school boy," said t

ambridge,"

jor sp

Army," he said

was

said t

k gr

h me," he said. "But F

will do for me. It has the advantage of being t

se of humor saved him. The girl gave a little awkward bow in response, a

. "We may as well have on

or cons

Trustcott?" he ask

Major and Mrs. Trustcott..

g else. There is, I believe, some kind of routine amongst the roadsters; and about that time of the year most of them are as far afield as at any time from their winter quarters. The Major and Mrs. Trustcott, he soon learned, were Sou

about here," observed the Major pr

le tract of ground, very limited and circumscribed, and the rail that ran through it was the only sign of the century. But the brig

en here befo

st year, wasn't it, Gertie? I und

lmost live here t

ht, sir," sa

s statement that he had been in the army. The air of him seemed the right thing. A militia captain would h

long on the r

d not appear

ng on the roads?"

vely and rather insolently. "T

k sm

"Well, I have left Cambrid

hing disg

ve me, I suppose

aresay I

then,

may I

er-I needn't go into details. I sold

ean to sti

least for a

tastrophe was, I think, cards. Not that I cheated, you understand. I will allow no man to say that of me. But that was what was said. A gentleman of spirit, you understa

k no

in it at all, obviously the Major had cheated. So he just took the story and put it away, so to speak. It was to form, he perceived,

hs ago. We had been acquainted before that, however. That was when I was consenting to ser

hem, just glanced up at Frank and down again. He wondered exactl

he Major in a tone of genial finality. "S

I

fortunate

pression-at any rate, from a motor-that there is nothing but villages. But that is not a fact. There are stretches of road, quite solitary at certain hours; and in one of

lly, perhaps, for the purpose of keeping it barred, and useful for holding it in its place. The Major and Gertie kept watch

pped of everything-table, furniture, and even the range itself. The Major kicked something presently in t

le loaf. The Major announced presently that he would make a savory; and, indeed, with cheese melted on to the bread, and sardines on the top, he did very well. Gertie moved silently about; and Frank, in the intervals of rather abrupt conversation with the Major, found his eyes following her as she spread out their small possessions, vanished up the stairs and reappeared.

ttend to the Maj

h to tell you," sa

ow

nothing else,

hey shabb

, by the light of the single candle-end,

ut, first-though that doesn't settle it. But these are gray flann

been given me," s

ou too well

when I get a chanc

s well," assen

r. It had been possible to keep up a kind of pose so far; to imagine the adventure in the light of a very much prolonged and very realistic picnic. But with this other man the thing became impossible. It was tolera

ed himself up only just in time to prevent a retort when it first happened, but it was not the slightest use to be resentful. The thing had to be borne. And it became easier when it occurred to him to

giment he had belonged to, and a certain type of adventure connected with women and champagne. And underneath the whole crust of what the Major took to be breeding, there was a piteous revelation of a feeble, vindictive, and rather nasty character. It became more and more evident that the cheating incident-or, rather, the accusation, as he persisted in calling it-was merely

emarked the Major. "There are plenty to

Frank, "but it'

I

too, was a

m, and Frank had heard him creaking about upstairs for a minute or two; there had followed two clumps as the boots were thrown off; a board

r whom he was beginning to be sorry. He did not suppose that the man actually bullied her; probably he had done this sufficiently for the present-she was certainly

ition of Gertie on which he opened his eyes from his corner, in an amazingly dirty petticoat, b

he was in his tr

do that,

said Gertie

to-day he had two, and there was a silvery sort of growth in the stubble that made it look wet. His eyes, too, were red and sun

said, "if you'll get me t

d the Major. "Pubs aren't open

wait, then," sai

ake a fire burn better than that. He elbowed her out of the way and set to work at it himself. She said nothing

previous night, and eating it, with or without cooking, all alone; but there was something astonishingly unpleasant in observing sardines that were now common property lying in greasy newspaper, a lump of bread from which their hands tore pieces, and a tin bow

e were still clouds hanging, mixed with the smoke from the chimneys; the hedges seemed dulled and black in spite of their green; the cinder path they walked on was

h such feelings come, that the whole matter was pre-arranged, and that the company in which he found himself was as inevitably his-at least for the present-as the family to a child born into it. And there was, o

-house that was ope

derellas now, if y

Frank's idea, but

he said. "Her

sh of sweet and sickly scent-beer, spirits, tobacco-poured upon the fres

patient donkey, and, like a prudent one, had le

e, too?"

ook he

e." ... An

minutes the Maj

ced one penny in Frank's hand. He had the air of one who is insistent on the little honesties of life

ded over th

one myself," h

one before li

"and I wish I could give you one of my

comes home," observed Fran

head as with an air

That means 'forward,' my d

They took up their

V

ertie did that which was to effect

ping of garden-paths that ran round the small pink house of a retired tradesman, who observed them magnificently though a plate-glass window all the while, with a cigar in his teeth, and ultimately gave them ninepence between them. They slept here

he morning and had managed to hear mass; they had dined well off cold bacon and beans, and had walked on in the afternoon some miles further; and they came to the village a little after six o'clock. The Major had a blister, which he had exhibi

with her child, sinks down fainting as the folk are going to church in the old village on a June evening among the trees-leading up to moonlight effect

n something of a thoroughfare. Voices came along presently, grew louder, and stopped as the speakers climbed the stile. The first pair was of a boy and girl, who ins

e side, who gloried in being talked at and pretended to be rapt in abstraction. Then some children came; then a family-papa walking severely apart in a silk hat, and mamma, stout and scarlet-faced, in the midst of the throng. Finally there came along a very old Darby and Joan,

orning had not been a success from an emotional point of view; he had had an uncomfortable seat on a pitch-pine bench in a tin church with an American organ; the very young priest had been tiresome and antipathetic....

e; he was still looking for his. He was watching, too, the strangely unreal appearance of the sunlit fields, the long shadows, the golden smoky light, and the church tower, set among cypresses half a mile away-yet without any conscious sentimen

ank, "whatever's the ma

rly ignorant of what to say. He thought perhaps she was in pain ... should he run for the Major or a doct

d girl ... it's all so beautiful .

tie's little suburban soul responded to it as a bell to a bell-rope. It was this kind of thing that stood to her for holiness and peace and purity, and it had gone clean through her heart. And he understood, too, that it was his presence that had allowed her to break down. The Major's atmosphere had held her taut so far.

" he said.

on, her pretty, weak, sunburned face disfigured

rank; "he isn't

"Oh!... Oh!... I'm a wicked girl.... My mother

ou chuck it?" said

I can't! I ..

ie sobbed more and more gently; and Frank's mind worked like a mill, revolving developments. Finally, she grew quiet, lay still, and, as the bells gave

she said, "but I can't help it. I

an't!" said Fra

ly, at the "too.") "I can see that you're polite to a lady. And I don't

Frank courageously. A little wav

t it does come over you sometimes; doesn't it?" (Her face w

's you

r head in a v

id. "But that's all done w

inly: does h

e said. "He struck me

f he does

look came into her eyes

arance. (He did not yet see that that made it all the more touching.) He did not quite see what to do next. He was Christian enough to resent the whole affair; but he was aristocratic enough in his fastidiousness to think a

say that you Catholics don't mind this

ss about this remark that stung him. He explo

ics simply loathe it. And even,

l-I

nts, nice home, religious-instead of which "-he ended in a burst of ironical reminiscence-"you go

uddenly stricken again with

er occurred to him. And yet how am

eave hi

poor Gertie. "I c