 Part 5, Chapter 8 of Reiseman's Steps, by Arnold Bennett, this Liborvox recording is in the public domain, recording by Antoniogus, a climax. Mr. Earleforward woke up after what seemed to him a very long sleep, feeling appreciably better. He had less pain, at moments he had no pain, and his mind, he thought, was surprisingly clear and vigorous. He had ideas on all sorts of things. Most infidels got their perspective awry. He knew that, but his own perspective had remained absolutely true. Rising out of bed for a moment, he found that he could stand without difficulty, which was yet another proof of his theory that people at a vast deal too much. The doctor had been utterly wrong about him. The doctor had made a mystery about ordinary chronic indigestion. The present attack was passing, as the sufferer had always been convinced it would. A nice old mess of a complication they would have made of it at the hospital. Or more probably, he would have been bundled out of the place with contrimally as a malingering fraud. He straightened the bed a little, and then, slipping back into it with a certain neagerness, he began to concert plans to reorganise and resume his existence. The day was darkening. Four o'clock perhaps. Elsie, where was that girl? She ought to be coming. Had she got a bit above herself? Which she was the boss of the whole place, no doubt, and could do as she chose. An excellent creature, trustworthy, devoted, and yet in some things they were all alike. Give them an inch, and they'd take an L. He must be after her. Now what was it he had noticed, or thought he had noticed, when he was last awake? Oh yes, that was it, his keys. He had missed them from the top of the chest of drawers. He peered in the gloom. They were there right enough, perhaps hidden before by something else. The room had been tidied, dusted while he slept. He didn't quite care for that, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. Anyhow, it showed that she was not being utterly idle. Of course the girl was not going to bed properly, but she had ample opportunity to sleep. With the shop closed, she had practically nothing to do. Fibroid growth, fibroid, like fibre, of course. He scarcely understood how a growth could be like fibre, but it was a name, a definition, and therefore reassuring, much better than cancerous at the worst, an entirely different thing from cancer. But he was dreadfully concerned, frightened for violet. If she died, not that it was conceivable, but if she died, what a blank, sickening! No, he could not contemplate it. Yet simultaneously in his mind was a little elusive thought, as a widower, freed from the necessity of adapting himself to another, and of revealing to another to some extent his ideas, intentions, schemes. Not freedom, the old freedom. And he would plunge into it as into an exquisite warm bath, voluptuously. He would be more secretive, more self-centered, more prudent, more fixed in habit than ever. A great practical philosopher, yes. In no matter what event, he would discover compensations. And there were still deeper depths in the fathomless pit of his busy mind. Rest into which he himself would do no more than glance, rather scared. Elsie came in and saw a sinister, sick man, pale as the dying, shrunk by starvation, with glittering, suspicious little eyes. Oh, so you've come, miss! He wished that he had not said miss. It was a tiny presentry of reproof, but too familiar. Another inch, another L. Why, you be making your bed again! She exclaimed. But she exclaimed so nicely, so benevolently, that he could not take offence, and yet might she not be condescending to him. With all he enjoyed her presence in the bedroom, her youth, her reliability, her prettiness. He thought she was growing prettier and prettier every day, such dark eyes, such dark hair, such a curve of the lips, and her physical power and health. Her mere health seemed miraculous to him. Oh, she was a godsend. She had said nothing about Violet. Well, if she had had news, she would have told him. He hesitated to mention Violet. He would wait till she began. I'll run and make you some food, she said. Here, not so fast, not so fast. He stopped her. He was about to give an order when, for the second time, he noticed that her apron was wet in several places. Why is your apron all wet? He demanded sharply. Is it? She faltered, looking down at it. So it is. I've been doing things. She appeared to have dropped the sir completely. The fact was that she had been sponging Joe. Mr. Earlford became suspicious. He suspected that she was wasting warm water. Why are you always running upstairs? He asked in a curious tone. Running upstairs, sir? Ha, sir. He was recovering his grip on her. She blushed red. She had something to hide. Hordes of suspicions thronged through his mind. Well, sir, I have to go to the kitchen. I don't hear you so often in the kitchen, said he, dryly. It was true. And all footsteps in the kitchen could be heard overhead in the bedroom. He suspected that she was carrying on conversations from her own bedroom window with new-made friends in the yard of the next house, or the next house but one, and giving away the secrets of the house. But he did not utter the suspicion. He kept it to himself for the present. Yes, they were all alike. You haven't inquired, Elsie, but I'm much better. He said. Oh, I can see you are, sir. She responded brightly. But whether she really thought so, or whether she was just humoring him, he could not tell. Yes, and I'm going to get up. Not today, you aren't, sir. She burst out. He said placidly, No, tomorrow morning. And I think I shall put on one of my new suits and a new shirt. I think it's about time. I don't want to get shabby. Just show them to me. Elsie was evidently amazed at the suggestion. And he himself did not know why he had made it. But at any rate, it was not a bad idea. He fancied that he might feel better in a brand new suit. He indicated the right draws to her, and one by one she had to display on the bed the carefully preserved garments which he had bought for a song years ago and never persuaded himself into the extravagance of wearing. The bed was covered with new merchandise. He thought that he would have to wear the clothes sometime and might as well begin at once. It would be uneconomic to waste them. And worn or unworn, they would go for far less than a song after his death. He must be sensible. He must keep his perspective in order. He regarded his decision to have out a new suit as a truly great feat of considered sagacity on the part of a sick man. Elsie, with extreme care, restored all the virgin clothes to their drawers except one suit and one shirt, which for convenience he put separately into Mrs. Earl Forwards wardrobe. As all the suits were the same and all the shirts were the same, it did not matter which suit and which shirt were selected. But this did not prevent him from choosing and hesitating in his choice. Elsie seemed to be alarmed by the scene. He could not understand why. Of course, he said, being new they'll have a bit looser on me than my old suit that's all wrinkled up. I'm not quite so stout as I was, am I? Elsie turned round to him from the wardrobe with a nervous movement and then quickly back again. The fading light glinted for a second on a teardrop that ran down her cheek. This teardrop annoyed Mr. Earl Forward. He resented it and was not in the least touched by it. He had not perceived the extraordinary pathos in the phrase, not quite so stout, coming from a man who had never been stout or slim either, and who was now a stick, a skeleton. He thought she was merely crying because he had lost flesh, as if people weren't always either putting on flesh or losing it. As a fact, Elsie had not felt the pathos of the phrase either and her tears had no connection, whatever, with Mr. Earl Forward's wasting away. Nor had they sprung from the still more tragic pathos of his caprice about a new suit. In depositing the chosen suit in Mrs. Earl Forward's wardrobe, Elsie had caught sight of the satin shoe which on the bridal night she had tied to the very bedstead whereon the husband was now lying alone. She thought of the husband lying alone and desperately ill and did desperately determine not to be ill and the wife far off in the hospital and of her own helplessness and she simply could not bear to look at the shabby old shoe which some unknown girl had once worn in flashing pride. All the enigma of the universe was in that shoe with its curved high heel perched lifeless on a mahogany tray of the everlasting wardrobe. Elsie had never heard of the enigma of the universe but it was present with her in many hours of her existence. Mr. Earl Forward said suddenly, was the operation going to be done this morning or this afternoon? He knew that the operation had been fixed for the morning but he had to account to Elsie for his apparent lack of curiosity. This morning, sir, we ought to be getting some news soon then. Well, sir, that's just what I was wondering. I don't hardly think as they'll send out not unless it was urgent so I suppose it's gone off all right. A pause. But we ought to know for certain, sir. I would think I could run out and get someone to go down and find out. I mean someone who would find out and tell us all about it. Not a child. I dare say a chilling or two. With her experience, Elsie ought not to have mentioned money but she was rather distraught. The patient reacted instantly. It was evident to him that Elsie had old friends in the square or nearby upon whom she wanted to confer benefits through the medium of her employer's misfortune. They were always bent on lining their pockets, those people were. He was not going to let them pick up shillings and florins as easily as all that. His shop was perforce closed. His business was decaying. His customers would transfer their custom to other shops. Not a penny was coming in. Communism was rife. The political and trade outlook was menacing in the extreme. There was no clear hope anywhere. He saw himself as an old man begging his bread. And the girl proposed gaily to scatter shillings over Reisman's square for a perfectly unnecessary object. She had not reflected at all. They never did. They were always eager to spend other people's money, not their own. Oh, no. He alone had kept a true perspective and he would act according to his true perspective. He was as anxious as anybody for news of the results of the operation and Violet's condition, but he did not see the need to engage an army of special messengers for the collecting of news. An hour sooner or an hour later, what difference could it make? He would know soon enough, too soon if it was to be bad news, and if it was to be good news a little delay would only increase joy. And moreover, you would have thought that even the poorest and most rapacious persons would not expect money for services rendered in a great crisis to the sick and the bedridden. I see no reason for doing that, he said, placidly and firmly. Let me think now. Shall I run down there myself? It won't take me long. She was ready in the emergency, an indifference to his astounding whims to take the fearful risks of leaving the two men alone together in the house. Suppose Joe should rise up violent. Suppose Mr. Ohlford should begin in his weakness to explore the house. He was already suspecting something and she knew him for the most inquisitive being ever born. She trembled. Still she was ready to go and to run all the way there and all the way back. Oh no, he forbade positively. That won't do at all. He was afraid to lose her. He so seriously ill, he was now seriously ill again, to be left by himself in the house? It was unthinkable. Look here, step across to Bell Roses. Bell rose the man who had purchased Violet's confectionary business. I hear he's got the telephone now. Ask him to telephone for us to the hospital. Then we shall know at once. We don't do much with them, Elsie objected, diffident. The truth was that the Ohlford household bought practically nothing at Bell Roses. Bell Roses not being quite Violet's sort of shop under its new ownership. Mr. Ohlford almost sat up in his protest against the horrible suggestion contained in Elsie's remark. What? Would Bell Rose say, no you don't deal with me and therefore I won't oblige you by telephoning to the hospital to find out whether Mrs. Ohlford is alive or dead? A monstrous notion. Don't be silly, he chitter gravely. Do as I tell you and run down at once. And would you like me to ask them to telephone for another doctor for you while I'm about it? There's Dr. Adams, he's in Middleton Square too. They do say he's very good. When I want another doctor I'll let you know, Elsie. Said Mr. Ohlford with frigid calm. There's a great deal too many doctors. What has Rast done for me I should like to know? You wouldn't let him do anything, said Elsie sharply. He had never heard her speak with less benevolence. Of course he was entitled to give her a good dressing down and it might even be his duty to do so. But he lacked confidence in himself. Strange, but he was now in the last resort afraid of Elsie. She was like an amiable and tractable animal which astonishingly shows its teeth and growls. Leave the door open, he muttered. As Elsie descended to the shop there was a peremptory and loud rag-tap and then a tattoo on the glass of the shop door. It frightened her. She thought naturally of the possibility of bad news by special messenger or telegraph from the hospital. But Mrs. Perkins Boy Gerry was at the door. He wore his uniform, of which the distinguishing characteristics were a cap with brass letters on the peak and a leather apron initialed in black. In King's Cross Road an enormous motor lorry throbbed impatiently in attendance upon the gnome. Is your umbrella, Elsie? Said Gerry proudly. I thought you might be wanting of it. He made no inquiries to sick persons. He was only interested in the romantic fact that he had used the vast resources of his company to restore the umbrella to his queen, carrying it all day through a manner of streets in his long round and finally persuading that important personage, the motor driver, to stop at Riceman Steps on no business of the companies. Elsie took the umbrella from his dirty little hands, which were, however, no dirtier than his grinning face, and he ran off almost before she could thank him. Gerry, she summoned him back, and he came, risking the wrath of the driver. Come along tonight, will you? After you're done, wrap quiet on the door. I might want you. Right, oh, Elsie. He was gone. The lorry was gone. Elsie went upstairs again with the umbrella. Not because the umbrella would not have been safe in the shop, but because she felt that she must give another glance at Joe before she left the premises. It was an unconsidered movement. She had forgotten that Mr. Earl Forward's bedroom door was open. Elsie, he called out as she passed on the landing. Who was that? Her tired and exasperated brain worked with extraordinary swiftness. She decided that she could not enter into a long explanation concerning the umbrella and Gerry. Why should she? He was already suspicious. Postman, she answered, without the slightest hesitation, lying as glibly and lightly as a born lifelong liar, and continued her way upstairs. She was somehow vaguely, indirectly, defending the secrecy of Joe. In her room, she put the umbrella and its paper again under her bed, gazing at Joe as she did so. Joe was very ill. She had given him two doses of quinine, which Dr. Rasker, making Elsie ashamed of her uncharitable judgments on him, had had sent direct from a chemist's with an hour and a half of his departure. And she was disturbed that the medicine had not produced an immediate and marked effect on the patient. Joe had got one arm through the ironwork at the head of the bed, and was tearing off little slips of the peeling wallpaper in the corner. She took hold of his hot hand and silently guided it back through the ironwork onto the bed. Shall I give you another dose? She suggested tentatively, with brow creased. He nodded. He knew malaria and he knew quinine. And fortified by his expert approval, she gave him another dose. Both of them had the belief that if five grains were medicine, did you 10% of good, 10 grains would assuredly do you 20% of good, and so on in proportion. I'm coming in again in a minute or two. I've just got to go across the steps on an errand, she said, and kissed him. Both of them had also the belief that her kisses did him good, and this conviction was better founded than the other one. She had said nothing to him about Mrs. Earl Forward's operation. He had learned only that Elsie was mistress because Mrs. Earl Forward was in hospital. The full story might have aggravated his mental distress. Elsie, it was Mr. Earl Forward's summons as she crossed the landing on her way down. She put no more than her face, a rather metalsome face, into the room. What do you keep on going upstairs for? Yes, he suspected. With strange presence of mind, she replied promptly, I've just been up for the key of the shop, sir. I've rented up in my room. I can't go out and leave the shop door on the latch. Can I? Well, bring me all the letters. Ah, very well, very well. She was hostile again. This time she shut the bedroom door, ignoring his protest. Then she went upstairs once more and locked her own door on the outside and carried off the key. At any rate, if in some impossible caprice he should take it into his head to prowl about the house in her absence, he should not pry into her room. He had no right to do so. And she was absolutely determined to defend her possession of Joe. A moment later, she bounced into Mr. Earl Forward's bedroom and carelessly dropped all the letters onto the bed, a regular shower of envelopes and packets. There she exclaimed on a hard and inimical note as if saying, you asked for them, you've got them and I wash my hands of it all. Mr. Earl Forward saw that he must walk wearily. She was a changing Elsie, a disagreeably astonishing Elsie. He did not quite know where he was with her. As she emerged from the shop into the steps, a young woman with a young dog stopped suddenly, addressed her in soft, apprehensive, commiserating accent. How is Mr. Earl Forward this evening? He seems to think as he's a bit better a ma'am, thank you in himself. Elsie answered brightly. She was uplifted by the mere concern in the voice and at once felt more kindly towards her master. Frau was indeed rather ashamed of her recent harshness to him. Dusk had now fallen and she could not see very clearly, but the next instance she had recognized both the woman and the dog, quite a lady, a sort of a seal skin coat, gloves, utterly different from the savage creature of the previous night. The dog too was different. A dog lacking yet in experience of the world, an act to forget that a dog's business is to keep an eye on its guardian if it sets any stall on a quiet and safe existence. But still well disposed towards its guardian and apparently in no fear of her. More remorse for Elsie. Oh, I'm so glad. And Mrs. Earl Forward? Ah, ma'am, we haven't heard. We're expecting news. I do hope everything will be all right. Operation? Internal trouble, isn't it? Yes, ma'am. Yes, so I heard. Well, thank you. Good night. Skip, skip. Skip was the disturb of repose and he responded, leaping. The two disappeared round the corner. It was wonderful to Elsie how everybody knew and how kind everybody was. She was touched. The woman had given her the illusion that the whole of Clarkinwell was filled with anxiety for the welfare of her master and her mistress. Her sense of responsibility was intensified. If the whole of Clarkinwell knew that she was secretly harboring her young man in her bedroom, she went hot. The complexity of her situation frightened her afresh. Bell Roses was at its old royal game of expending vast quantities of electric current. The place had just been lighted up and had the air of a popular resort. It warmed and vitalised all the steps by its radiance, which seemed to increase from month to month. What neither Mr. Earl Ford nor anybody else of the old Clarkinwell tradition had ever been able to understand or approve was the continual illumination of the upper stories. And yet the solution of the mystery was simple and lay in a fact with which most of the district was familiar. Bell Roses had gone in for wholesale. Elsie entered the shop very timidly for she regarded her errand as presuming and in the midst of all her anxieties she had diffidence enough to be a little ashamed of it. The shop was most pleasantly warm. Its warmth was a greeting which would have overpowered some folk and there was a fine rich odour of cheese and humanity. Also the shop was full. You could scarcely move in it. The stock was plenteous and the character of the stock had changed. Advertised brands of commestibles of universal consumption were far less prominent than under previous regimes and there was a great deal more individuality. The travellers and the collectors of advertised brands now called establishment with the demeanour different from of old. They had to leave their hard-faced bullying manner on the doorstep. Two enormous and smiling young mature women stood behind the counter. Their magnificently rounded facades were covered with something that was only white on Saturdays and Wednesdays and certainly was not white tonight. Like the shop itself the servers were neither tidy nor clean but they were hearty, gay and active and they had authority for one of them was Mr Bellrose's sister and the other Mrs Bellrose's sister. Nevertheless they looked like sisters. They both had golden rough hair and ruddy complexions and the same experience comprehending jolly expression and fat greasy hands. There were four customers in the shop of course all women and the six women seemed to be all chatting together. The interior was the interior of a shop in full swing but it showed in addition the better qualities of a bar parlor whose landlord knows how to combine respectability with freedom of style. Miss Bellrose who was nearest to the door smiled benignly at they'll see on her entrance as if saying you're one of us and we are yours. When two outgoing customers squeezed themselves between Elsie and a pile of cheeses and her turn came to be served Elsie suddenly discovered that she could not straight away execute Mr Earl Ford's command. She had a feeling that shops did not exist in order to supply telephone accommodation gratis to non-customers and she was simply unable to articulate the request nor did the extreme seriousness of the case inspire her to boldness. She asked for a quarter of a pound of cheese and was immediately requested to name any cheese that she might fancy the implication being that no matter what her fancy it could and would be satisfied on the most advantageous terms. Now Elsie did not want any cheese she wanted nothing at all. Mrs Earl Ford before vanishing into the hospital had bought for the master a generous supply of invalid foods which for the most part refused by the obstinate master would suffice Joe for several days and of all such eatables as Bellrose's sold Elsie had in hand enough also for several days. She said cheddar reacting quite mechanically to the question put and then she was confronted with another problem she had no money not a penny it will be necessary for her to say I must run back for some money and having said that to return and somehow maneuver Mr Earl Ford's keys off the chest of drawers and rifle the safe once more and already he was suspicious how could she do it she could not do it but she must do it she saw the cheese wade and slipped into a piece of paper the moment of trial was upon her then the back door of the shop opened she recognized the old peculiar familiar sound of the latch and the third enormous white clad golden-haired jolly youngish woman appeared in the doorway this was Mrs Bellrose herself and your once saw and even felt that her authority exceeded the authority of her sister and her sister-in-law Mrs Bellrose was a ruler as soon as she saw Elsie her gigantic face softened into a very gentle smile of compassion a smile that conveyed nothing but compassion excluding all jollity she raised the stout finger and without a word beckoned Elsie into the back room and shut the door the ancient kitchen parlor was greatly changed it was less clean than Elsie had left it but it glittered with light more cheeses and in the corner by the mantelpiece was the telephone and through the window Elsie saw an oldish thin little man moving about in the yard with a lantern against a newly erected shed still more cheeses seemingly as many cheeses as Mr Elford would possess books the oldish man was Mr Bellrose guardian and overlord of the three women an original instigator of this singular wholesale trade in cheeses which he had caused to prosper despite the perfect unsuitability of his premises and other difficulties individuality and initiative had triumphed people asked one another how the Bellroses had contrived to build up such a strange success but they had only to look at the mean and gestures of the Bellroses to find the answer to the question how are you getting on my dear? demanded Mrs Bellrose who had scarcely spoken to Elsie in her life before master wished me to ask you if you mind telephoning to the hospital man said Elsie after she had given some details of course I will with the greatest pleasure Mrs Bellrose grabbed at the tattered telephone book and wetting her greasy thumb whipped over the pages rapidly where's them saints now? oh saintsbury's saint St Bartholomew's football and cricket ground I expect that's for the doctor and students St Bartholomew's hospital this is it here we are city 510 oh dear oh dear no telephone information given respecting patients oh dear oh dear she looked at Elsie never mind she went on brightly we can get over that I should think she obtained the number and got into communication with the reception office of the hospital I want you to be kind enough to give a message to Mrs Violent Earl Ford from her husband she's in your hospital for an operation oh but you must please he's very ill but is a bit better and it will do Mrs Earl Ford ever so much good to know oh please yes I know but they can't send anyone down oh you don't count rules when it's urgent it might be life and death but you can telephone up to the ward you're starred so you must have a private exchange oh yes to oblige yes Earl Ford Violent and you might just ask how she is while you're about it you are good she held the line and waited sitting down on a chair to rest herself and to Elsie they're very nice really at those hospitals once you get on the right side of them I suppose you've got about all you can do well there isn't much nursing and the shop's closed oh yes and the steps do look so queer with it closed somehow it makes it look like Sunday doctor has been today I suppose yes ma'am this morning said Elsie and stopped there not caring to divulge the secret of Mr Earl Ford's insane obstinacy yes I'm here I'm listening oh dear oh dear she's oh dear owing to what undernourishment he's running off Mrs Bell Rove sniffed as she hung up the receiver oh Elsie your poor mistress has died under it she died about half an hour ago according to what they say she might have pulled through but she hadn't strength to rally owing to undernourishment well I'm that cut up Mrs Bell Rose cried feebly Elsie stared at her and did not weep oh I to tell him ma'am oh yes you must tell him there's no sense in hiding them things especially as he's a little better he's got to know and he'd be very angry quite rightly if he wasn't told and at once I'll go and tell him would you like me to come with you you're very kind ma'am said Elsie Cunning even in disaster I can manage he's very peculiar but I know how to manage him there won't be nothing to be done till tomorrow anyway she had another and far more perilous secret to keep that of Joe therefore she dared not admit a stranger to the house of course soon she would have to admit strangers but not tonight not tonight she must postpone evil Mrs Bell Rose lifted her immense bulk and kissed Elsie and then Elsie cried saying not a word more she turned opened the door and passed through the shop wrapped totally ignoring the servers and the quarter of a pound of cheese tomorrow she said to herself I shall tell her Mrs Bell Rose all about Joe she'll understand the mere thought of Mrs Bell Rose was a refuge for her but Mrs can't be dead it was only yesterday morning leave me alone leave me breathed Henry Elford in a dismaying murmur when she gave him the news she obeyed end of chapter 8 part 5 chapter 9 of Reissmann's Steps by Arnold Bennett this Libra Fox recording is in the public domain recording by Antoniogus the kiss that night Elsie sat in the parlour as she stilted herself called the dining room by the gas-fire which she had lighted on her own responsibility an act and a situation which a few days earlier two days earlier would have been inconceivable to her but Joe's clothes had refused to dry in the kitchen the gas-ring there was incapable of drawing the water out of them in the damp weather now they were dry some of them were folded on a chair upon these were laid the braces which she had given to him on his birthday and which evidently had worn ever since to Elsie now these soiled and frail braces had a magic vital quality they seemed far more than the clothes to have derived from him some of his individuality to be a detached part of him she was sewing a button on the lifeless old trousers and she had taken the button and the thimble needle and thread from Mrs Earl Forward's cardboard sewing box in the left-hand drawer of the sideboard she was working with the tools of a dead lady at moments this irked and frightened her at other moments she thought that what must be must be and that anyhow the clothes ought to be put in order and she could not go upstairs and disturb Joe by searching for her own apparatus which certainly did not comprise trowels of buttons she tried to be natural and not to look ahead she would not for instance dwell upon the apparently insoluble problem of arranging a proper funeral for Mrs Earl Forward how could she the servant do anything towards that? she dare not leave her patience she knew nothing about the organization of funerals she had never even been to a funeral she had no knowledge of possible relatives of the Earl Forward's tomorrow, tomorrow not till tomorrow all that she said doggedly but she failed to push away everything in the midst of her great grief for the death of Mrs Earl Forward a perfect woman and a martyr the selfish thought of her own future wanted her and would not be dismissed would Joe ever again wear those clothes which he was mending? he had taken some bovril, Mr Earl Forward also but she could not persuade herself that he was really better she was terror struck by the varied possibilities attending his death a dead man secretly in her bed what a plight for her she determined afresh to confide the secret of Joe to Mrs Bellrose tomorrow morning not that the mirroring conveniences of death deeply troubled her no in truth they were not or rather if he died they would have absolutely no importance to her compared with the death itself having found Joe was she to lose him again? she could not face such a prospect and then Mr Earl Forward she was beginning to be convinced that the master really was better he had taken the bovril he had opened one or two of his letters the shock of the news about Mrs Earl Forward instead of shattering him to pieces had strengthened him morally if not physically he might recover he was an amazing man and of course she desired him to recover could she wish anyone's death? she could not be so cruel so wicked and yet and yet if he lived she was his slave forever she was a captive with no hope of escape the slave either bowed down by sorrow for the death of Joe or fatally desolated by the eternal reflection that Joe was alive and she could not have him because of her promise to Mr Earl Forward she saw no hope she made no reserves in the interpretation of her vow to the master she could not see that circumstances inevitably if slowly altered cases she yawned heavily in extreme exhaustion then her ear caught a faint cautious tapping below all trembling she crept downstairs Jerry was at the shop door in the turmoil of distress she had forgotten that she had commanded him to call for orders she was glad to have someone to talk to for a little while and she brought him into the office she saw in front of her on the opposite side of the desk a young lad who had most surprisingly and touchingly put on his best clothes for important events also he had washed himself also he was smoking a cigarette Jerry who was thin and pinched in the face saw in front of him an ample and splendid young woman not very young to him for his notion of youthfulness was rather narrow but much younger than his mother though much older than Nell his fancy of the square whose ears did correspond with his notion of youthfulness Elsie was slightly taller than himself he thought she had the nicest kindest face he had ever seen he loved her brow when she frowned in doubt or anxiety for him even her aprons were different from any other woman's aprons he was precocious in love as in other matters but he did not love Elsie did not aspire to love her she was above him out of his reach he went in awe of her he liked to feel that she was his tyrant she was the most romantic mysterious and beautiful of all women and girls Elsie very well understood his attitude towards her I thought I might want you to run down to the hospital for me, Jerry Boy she said but I shan't now Mrs. Earl Four would die this afternoon it's all over the square said Jerry spitting negligently into the dark fireplace and pushing his cap further back on his head Elsie saw that he did not understand death yes said she I suppose it is she said no more because of the uselessness of talking about death to a simple minded youth like Jerry it very nice of you to bring me my umbrella like that she said oh said he falsely scornful of himself it was easiest for me to bring it along like that he had been standing with his legs apart at this point he sat down familiarly and put his elbows on the desk and his jaw in his hands the cigarette hung loosely in his very mobile lips they were silent Jerry was proud and happy and had nothing in particular to say about it Elsie had too much to say to be able to talk then you haven't got anything for me to do he asked now I haven't oh he was disappointed but I might have tomorrow you'll be offered to a clock tomorrow, won't you? that's me very well then she rose Jerry was extraordinarily uplifted by this brief sojourn alone with Elsie in the private office of T.T. Reissmann's he felt that he was more of a grown man than ten thousand cigarettes and oaths and backchats with fragile virgins in the square could make him he sprang from the chair give me a kiss, Elsie he blurted out audaciously he was frightened by his own cheek Jerry Perkins Elsie admonished him aren't you ashamed of yourself? Mrs. Elford were dead and then too so ill upstairs what to? Jerry asked rather to cover his confusion than from curiosity I mean, Mr. Elford said Elsie she was not abashed at her slip with Jerry she had a grandiose role to play and no contra-tant could spoil her performance Jerry guessed instantly that she had got Joe hidden in the house but he never breathed a word of it he even tried to look stupid and uncomprehending which was difficult for him aren't you ashamed of yourself? she solemnly repeated he moved towards the door Elsie's glance followed him she was sorry for him she wanted to be good to somebody she could not help Mr. Elford she could do very little for Joe Mrs. Elford was dead and she could so easily give Jerry the light here she said he turned she kissed him quietly but fully there were no reservations in her kiss Jerry, being too startled by unexpected joy could not give the kiss back he lost his nerve and went off so absorbed in his sensations that he forgot even to thank the sweet benefactress in the square his behaviour to the attendant Nell was witheringly curt Nell did not know that she now had to cope with a genuine adult End of Chapter 9 Part 5, Chapter 10 of Ryseman's Steps by Arnold Bennett this Libravox recording is in the public domain recording by Antoniogus the safe not a sound in the house nor outside the house not a clock, not a watch going in the house Mr. Elford had listened interminably to get the time from the church but without success he knew only from the prolonged silence of the street that the hour must be very late work, he murmured to himself in the vast, airless desert and void created by the death of Violet that's the one thing the one thing his faculty for compromising with destiny aroused itself for a supreme achievement it was invincible he would not think himself into hell or madness or inonition by yielding feebly to the frightful grief caused by the snatching away of that unique woman so solicitous about him so sensible so vivacious so agreeable so energetic so enterprising so ready to adopt his ideas and yet so independent her little tantrums how exquisite girlish there'd always been a girl in her the memory of her girlishness desolated him more than anything insufficient nourishment no, it could not have been that had he ever on any occasion in the faintest degree discouraged her from satisfying her appetite or criticised her housekeeping accounts no, never had he interfered moreover, she had plenty of money of her own and the absolutely unfettered use of it he would give her such a funeral as had not been seen in Clarke and Welle for many a year the cost of course might be charged to her estate but he would not allow that though of course it would all be the same in the end he could not bear to lie in the bed which she had shared with him the feel of the empty half of it when he passed his hand slowly over the lower blanket in the dark tortured him intolerably and yet he must somehow keep on passing his hand over it futile and sick indulgence he got out of bed drew aside the curtains and drew up the blind he could not see the moon but it was lighting the roof's opposite and its light and that of the gas lamp lit the room sufficiently to reveal all the principal features of it animated by the mighty power of his resolution to withstand fate he felt strong he was strong his cold legs were quite steady yes though he still had a dull pain the attack of indigestion was declining he had successfully taken Bovell to work seated at his desk could not tire him and ought to do him good a queer affair that indigestion he had never suffered from indigestion until the day after his wedding night when he had eaten so immoderately of else's bride cake the bride cake seemed to have been the determining cause or perhaps it was merely the occasion of some change in his system but naturally he had said nothing of it however he was now better a little pain in the old spot no more he opened the wardrobe to get his new shirt and new suit and saw in the pale gloom violets garments arranged on their trays the sight of them shook him terribly he must assuredly save himself by the labour of reconstituting his existence it was impossible for him to remain in the bedroom he dressed himself in the new clothes putting a muffle around his neck instead of a collar then he filled his pockets with his personal belongings from the top of the chest of drawers none was missing he picked up the pile of correspondence which he had laid neatly on the pedestal he could walk without discomfort he must work the grim intention to work was irresistibly monopolizing his mind and driving all else out of it he left the bedroom, a deed in itself on the landing as he looked upwards he could see light under else's bedroom door the candles that girl must be burning he would correct her should he? supposing she rebelled else he had changed he did not quite know where he was with her and he did not want to lose her she was his mainstay in the world still it would never do to be afraid of correcting a servant he would correct her he would knock at her door and tell her not for the first time he mounted two steps but his legs nearly failed him he could walk downstairs but not up besides, if she knew that he was out of bed there might be trouble and he wished to avoid trouble therefore he turned and limped downstairs into the shop and lit it to see the shop was like revisiting after an immense period the land of his youth he recognized one by one the landmarks here was the loaded bookstand with its pair of casters which she had devised the shop was like a morselium of trade his trade had ceased it had to be brought back to life galvanized into activity could he do it he must and he would do it he was capable of the intensest effort his very sorrow was inspiring him on the floor at the entrance lay some neglected correspondence which bore footmarks servants were astounding Elsie had been too negligent even to pick the letters up she probably never would have picked them up she would have trod and trod them into the dirty boards demands for books offers of books possibly checks the stuff itself of trade he picked them up with difficulty and padded into the office which also he lit cold he shivered I'm not entirely cured yet he thought and began to doubt himself the fire was prepared violets influence again fires had never been laid in advance till she came he put a match to the fire and felt better undecided he stroked his cheek stubble how long was it since he had shaved his face must look a pretty sight happily there was no mirror in either the office or the shop so that he could not inspect himself work work memories were insinuating themselves anew in his mind he must repulse them fancy her running off like that without a word of goodbye to the hospital and now she was irrevocably gone it was incredible monstrous the most sinister piece of devil's magic that ever happened chloroform the knife fiboid growth dead vanished she with her vivacity and her optimism he was fatigued the pain had recurred it was very bad perhaps he had been ill advised to come downstairs for he could not get upstairs again he cautiously skirted the desk holding on to it and sat in his chair work work the reconstruction of his life he fingered the letters with one of them was a check and it must go into the safe for the night he would endorse it tomorrow never endorse a check till you paid it into the bank for an endorse check might be the prey of thieves he bent down sideways to his safe with a certain pleasure her safe was upstairs in the bathroom he would have to obtain her keys and open it and examine its contents he took his own keys from his pocket and not very easily unlocked his safe and swung forward its door the familiar act soothed him the sublime spectacle of the safe sole symbol of security in a world of perils in hardened him after all then he noticed that the silver bag was not precisely in its customary spot on the ledge over the nest of drawers he started in alarm and clutched at the bag it was not tied with his knot he unloosed it and felt crumpled paper within it sixpence Elsie's clumsy handwriting which he knew so well from having seen it now and then on the little lists of sales on the backs of envelopes it was not the loss of sixpence that affected him he could have borne that what so profoundly so formidably shocked him was the fact that Elsie had surreptitiously taken his keys rifled the safe and returned the keys and smiled on him and nursed him there was no security at all in the world of perils the foundations of faith had been destroyed Elsie but in the agony of the crisis he did not forget his wife he moaned aloud what would Violet have thought what would my poor Violet have thought of this his splendid fortitude his superhuman courage to recreate his existence over the ruins of it and to defy fate were broken down life was bigger, more cruel, more awful than he had imagined End of Chapter 10 Part 5, Chapter 11 of Reissmann's Steps by Arnold Bennett this Librevox recording is in the public domain recording by Antoniogus prison Joe inquired Elsie where's your papers? she had brought his clothes dry folded and possibly wearable back into her bedroom she had found nothing in the pockets of the suit except some cigarette-card portraits of famous footballers a charred pipe three French sews and a broken jackknife these articles, the raiment and a pair of battered shoes which she had pushed under the bed and forgotten seemed to be all that Joe had to show for more than twenty years of strenuous and dangerous life on earth much less even than Elsie could show the porcity of his possessions did not trouble her and scarcely surprised her for she knew that very many unmarried men with no incentive to accumulate what they could immediately squander in personal use had no more reserves than Joe but the absence of the sacred papers disturbed her every man in her world could when it came to the point produce papers of some sort from somewhere army discharge, pension documents, testimonials birth certificate, etc, etc even the tramps who flitted in and out of Roten House had their papers to which they rightly attached the greatest importance no man in Elsie's world could get far along without papers unless specially protected by heaven and sooner or later, generally sooner than later heaven grew tired of protecting all day Elsie had been awaiting an opportunity to speak to Joe about his papers the opportunity had now come Mr. Earl Ford could be left for an hour or so Joe was apparently in less pain the two bedrooms were tidied up both men had been fed Joe had had more quinine she could not sponge him again till the morrow she herself had drunk two cups of tea and eaten the last contents of the larder she had lighted a new candle, the last candle in the candlestick she had brought coal and mended the fire the next morning she would have a great deal to do and to arrange getting money, marketing, seeing the doctor and Mrs. Bell Rose discussing the funeral with Mr. Earl Ford terrible anxieties but for the present she was free Joe made no answer he seemed to be trying to frame sentences she encouraged him with a repetition where's your papers? I can't find them nowhere you haven't lost them have you? her brow contracted in apprehension I sold them said Joe in his deep vibrating and yet feeble voice he looked away sold them Joe? you never sold them? yes I have I tell you I sold them yesterday morning but shall we? I sold them yesterday morning to a man who came to meet a man who came out of Penthamville same time as me Penthamville Joe? do you mean you've been to prison? he nodded what a shame she exclaimed in protest not as his having done anything wicked enough to send him to prison but at the police having been wicked enough to send him to prison she assumed instinctively and positively that he was innocent victim of the ruthless blue men whom some people know only as pilots of perambulators across busy streets there was no option you know so I have fourteen days she dropped on her knees at the bedside and put her left arm under his neck and threw her right arm over his waist and with it felt again the familiar shape of his waist through the bedclothes and gazed into his homely ugly face upon which soft dark hair a beard on the chin was sprouting this faith and tenderness made Joe cry tell me she murmured scarcely hoping that he would succeed in any narrative oh it's nothing Joe replied gloomily almost his stay you know I had my afternoon and I went out where are you in a place Joe? I had a part time place in Oxford Street carrying coal upstairs and cleaning brasses and sweeping and errands and a bed yes in the basement sort of a watchman doctor he'd give me a testimonial at least he sent it me when I wrote and asked him no doubt whatever that she had been unjust to that doctor I went down to Piccadilly to see the sights and when it was about dark I see her old divisional general in a damn big car with two young ladies there was a block you see in Piccadilly Circus and he was stopped by the curb where them flower-guards are you know by the fountain and I was standing there as close I am to you Elsie we used to call him the slaughterer that was how we called him we never called him nothing else and there he was with his two rows of ribbons and his flashed women perhaps they weren't flashed and I didn't like the look of his face hard you know cruel we knowed him we did and then I thought of the two minute silence and at soft and stand at tension and the Senate half and it made me laugh I laughed at him through the glass and he didn't like it he didn't I was as close to him as I am to you you see and he lets down the glass and says something about insulting behaviour to these ladies and I put my tongue out to him that tore it that did that fair put the lid on I felt something coming over me you know then there was a crowd and I caught a policeman one on the shoulder they marched me off three of them the doctor at the station said I was drunk me as an addon and had dropped for three days next morning the beak he said he'd treat me lenient because it was armistice day and I'd add some and I'd fought for the old country but an assaulting an officer of the law he couldn't let that pass no option for that so he'd give me fourteen days but your master Joe it was an old woman wouldn't she no she wouldn't said Joe roughly and another thing I didn't go back there either afterwards did you leave your things there yes a bag and some things and I shan't fetch it either I shall said Elsie resolutely I won't let him have them I shall tell her you was taken ill and I shall bring them away Joe offered no remark but why did you sell your papers Joe he gave me four and six for him I was on me uppers he gave me four and six and then we went and had a meal after all that skilly and cocoa and dry bread no good me going back I'd left without notice I had but why didn't you come to me straight Joey Joe didn't answer after all this inordinate leucusity of his he had resumed his great silence Elsie still gazed at him the candlelight went down and up a burst of heavy traffic shook the bed and now Elsie had a desire to tell Joe all about her own story all about Mr. Earl forward and the death of Mrs. Earl forward and the troubles awaiting her in the morning she wanted to be confidential and she wanted to discuss with him a plan for putting him on his feet again after he was better for she was sure she could restore his self-respect to him and him to his proper position in the world but he did not seem interested in anything not even in herself he was absorbed in his aches and pains and fever and she was very tired so without moving her arms she just laid her head on his breast and was indignant against the whole of mankind on his behalf and regarded her harsh, pitiless self as the author of all his misfortunes and loved him end of chapter 11 part 5, chapter 12 of Reissmann's Steps by Arnold Bennett this Librevox recording is in the public domain recording by Antoniogus asleep Mr. and Mrs. Bellrose occupied a small bedroom at the top of their house as for her sister and his sister they fitted their amplitudes into some vague somewhere else and those of the curious who in the way of business or otherwise knew how nearly the entire house was devoted to wholesale wondered where the two sisters-in-law did in fact stow themselves the servants slept out in the middle of the night Mrs. Bellrose raised her magnificent form out of the overburdened bed and went to the window to look forth on the steps Charlie said she, coming back to the bed and shaking her husband he awoke unwillingly and grunted and muttered that she was taking cold an absurd suggestion as he knew well she never took cold and it was inconceivable that she should take cold that light still burning at T.T.'s in the shop I don't like the look of it she lit the room and the fancies of night seemed to be dispelled by an onrush of realism dailiness and sagacity Mr. and Mrs. Bellrose considered themselves to be two of most sagacious and imperturbable persons that ever lived and they probably were no circumstances were too much for their sagacity and their presence of mind each had complete confidence in the kindly but unsentimental horse-sense of the other Mrs. Bellrose, despite her youngishness was the more impressive she it was who usually said the final word in shaping a policy yet in her utterances there was an implication that Charles had a super wisdom which she alone could inspire and also that he being a man could do certain things that she being a woman was ever so slightly incapable of I don't like the look of it at all she said well I don't see we can do anything till morning said Charles not that he was allowing his judgement to be warped by the desire to sleep no he was being quite impartial that girl's got too much on her hands looking after that funny old man all by herself day and night she isn't a fool far from it but it's too much for one girl you better go over perhaps and have a look at things I was thinking you'd go Charlie but I can't do anything if I do go I can't help the girl I'm afraid said the authoritative and surgesious wife simply what of asked the wizards slip of a husband well I don't know but I am it'll be better for you to go anyway first I could come afterwards we can't leave the girl in the lurch nevertheless Mrs Bell Rose did know what she was afraid of and so did Mr Bell Rose she helped him to put on some clothes it was a gesture of sympathy rather than of aid and she exhorted him not to awaken those girls meaning her sister and his he went out shivering a fine night with a harsh wind moving dust from one part of the steps to another nobody about the church clock struck three Mr Bell Rose peered through the slit between the edge of the door blind and the door frame but could see nothing except that a light was burning somewhere in the background he rapped quietly and then loudly on the glass no response the explanation of the scene doubtless was that Elsie had come down into the shop on some errand and returned upstairs having forgotten to extinguish the light Mr Bell Rose was very cold he was about to leave the place and report to his wife when his hand discovered that the door was not fastened Elsie in the perturbation caused by doing a kindness to the boy Jerry had forgotten to secure it Mr Bell Rose entered and saw Mr Earl forward wearing a smart new suit move less in a peculiar posture in his office chair he now knew more surely than before what his wife had been afraid of but he had a very stout and stolid heart and he advanced firmly into the office a faint glow of red showed in the ashtrune grate the electric light descended on most palpable rays on Mr Earl forward's grizzled head the safe was open and there was a bag of money on the floor Mr Earl forward's chair was tilted and had only been saved from toppling over with Mr Earl forward in it by the fact that its left arm had caught under the ledge of the desk the electric light was patient so was Mr Earl forward he was leaning over the right arm of the chair his body at half a right angle to the perpendicular and his face towards the floor I've never seen anything like this before thought Mr Bell Rose this will upset the steps this will he was afraid he had what he would have called the creeps gingerly he touched Mr Earl forward's left hand which lay on the desk it was cold and rather stiff he bent down in order to look into Mr Earl forward's averted face what a dreadful face white, blotched, hairy skin drawn tightly over bones and muscles very tightly an expression of torment in the tiny unseeing eyes none of the proverbial repose of death in that face mustn't touch it mustn't disturb anything thought Mr Bell Rose straightening his knees he left the office and peered up the dark stairs no light no sound he felt for his matches but he had come away without them and he's suspected that he was not sufficiently master of himself to look effectively for matches still the house must be searched although much averse from returning into the office he did return on the chance of finding a box of matches and the first thing he saw was a box on the mantelpiece striking matches he stumbled up the stairs and came first to the bathroom empty nothing unusual therein except thick strings stretched across it and an orange box in the bath a bedroom well furnished the bed unmade a cup and saucer on the night table one door of the wardrobe ajar everything still and expectant he went back to the landing no sound the second flight of stairs dreadfully invited him to ascend as he reached and pushed against the door at the head of those stairs another of his matches died he struck a fresh one and when it slowly flamed he stepped into the faintly phallic room and was amazed astounded thrilled shocked and very seriously shaken to describe a young man lying on the bed in the corner and a young woman, Elsie, lying in abandonment across him her head sunk in his breast and he heard a regular sound of breathing there was something in the situation of the pair which penetrated right through Mr Bellrose's horse sense and profoundly touched his heart never had he had such a sensation at once painful and ravishing yes, ravishing to the odd cheese munger as he had then the young man raised his head an inch from the pillow and dropped it again she was asleep said the young man in a low, deep, tired voice don't wake her End of Chapter 12 Art 5, Chapter 13 of Reissmann's Steps by Arnold Bennett this Libravox recording is in the public domain recording by Antoniogus disappearance of T.T.'s the transience of things human was wonderfully illustrated in the next fortnight a shortened drab account of the nocturnal discoveries of Mr Bellrose at T.T.'s appeared in one morning paper and within six hours the evening papers with their sure instinct for the important had lifted Reissmann's Steps to a height far above prize-fighting national economics and the embroiled ruin of Europe such trivialities vanished from the contents bills which displayed nothing but mysterious death of a Miesmann-Clarkinwell the home of Bolshevism astounding story of love and death midnight tragedy in King's Cross Road and similar titles legends and captions Reissmann's Steps was filled with ferreting special reporters and photographers the morning papers next following elaborated the tale the Steps became the sign assure of all England and the subject of cables to America, South Africa and the antipodes the Steps rose dizzily to unique fame the coroner's inquest on the body of Henry Earl Forward was packed like a divorce court on an illustrious day and stenographed verbatim jurimon who were summoned to it esteemed themselves fortunate the Rev. Augustus Earl Forward, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary home for a holiday from his labours in the West Indies and brother of the deceased found himself in a moment extremely famous he had nearly missed the boat at Kingston, Jamaica and he saw the hand of Providence in the fact that he had not missed it he had not met his younger brother for over thirty years nor heard from him he did not even know his address had scarcely thought of trying to hunt him up and then at tea in the Thackeray Hotel, Broomsbury his stern eyes had seen the name of Earl Forward written large in a newspaper the affair was the most marvellous event the most marvellous coincidence of his long and honourable career wisely he flew to a solicitor he caused himself to be represented at the inquest he had reached England in a critical mood for like many colonials he suspected that all was not well with the blundering and decadent old country and the revelations of life in Clarkinwell richly confirmed his suspicions which did not surprise him because much commerce with Negroes had firmly established in his mind the conviction that he could never be wrong from the start he had his ideas about Elsie the servant girl asleep with a young man in her bedroom they were not nice ideas but it is to be remembered that he was taking a holiday from the preaching and practice of Christian charity his legal representative put strange questions to Elsie at the inquest during which he was tessified after post-mortem that Henry had died of a cancer at the junction of the gullet and the cardiac end of the stomach and these questions were reinforced by the natural cynicism and incredulity of the coroner Elsie was saved from a probrium by Dr Raster's statement that she had called him in to the young man Elsie indeed was cheered by her inflamed friends as she left the court she said never a word about the coroner or the missionary afterwards and inexcusably she never forgave either of them but the missionary forgave Elsie and permitted her and the sick young man to remain in the house neither Mr nor Mrs Earl forward had made a will and the missionary was put into a good humour by the proof that the wealthy violet had left no next of kin thus the whole of her property in addition to the whole of Henry's went to Augustus whereas if violet had had next of kin Augustus would have got only half of violet's property Clarkinwell expected that the world glory of the steps would continue indefinitely but it withered as quickly as it had flowered and by the afternoon of the Murrow of the Inquest it had utterly died the joint funeral of the Earl forwards did not receive a line in the daily press nevertheless it constituted a great spectacle in Kings Cross Road not by reason of its intrinsic grandeur for it fell short of Henry's conception of the obsequies which he would bestow on his wife but by reason of the vast multitude of sightseers and followers the Reverend Augustus aired to a very comfortable competency unwittingly amassed for him by the devices of Mr Arb the Clark of Works the prudent policy of Mr Earl forward and the imitativeness of violet found himself seriously inconvenienced for ready cash because before he could touch the heritage he had to fulfill all sorts of expensive and tedious formalities and tirelessly to prove certain facts which he deemed to be self-evident as for instance that he himself was legitimate he saw no end to the business and he cabled to the connexial authorities in Jamaica that he should take extra leave he did not ask for extra leave in his quality of a rich man he merely took it and heavenly propaganda had to be postponed the phrasing of that cable was one of his compensations in a trying ordeal he had various other compensations of which the chief was undoubtedly the status of landlord with unoccupied property at his disposition not only your Clark and well but apparently your London learned in a few hours that he had this status scores of people rendered desperate by the house famine telegraphed to him many scores of people wrote to him and some dozens personally called upon him at his hotel and they all supplicated him to do them the great favour of letting to them the TT Ryseman premises on lease at a high rent a few desired to buy the property the demand was so intense and widespread as to induce in Augustus the belief that he was a potential benefactor of mankind preferring to enjoy the fruits of riches without being troubled by the more irksome responsibilities thereof he decided to sell and not to let and he entered into a contract for sale to Mr Bellrose he chose Mr Bellrose because Mr Bellrose and all his women were Wesleyan Methodists and also perhaps because Mr Bellrose did not haggle and was ready and anxious to complete the transaction and indeed paid a substantial deposit before the legal formalities of Augustus's title to the property were finished thence forward events succeeded events with increasing rapidity the entire stock of books was sold by private treaty to a dealer in Charing Cross Road who swallowed it up and digested it with gigantic ease the books went away quietly enough in vans then the furniture and the clothes were sold including Mr Earl Forwood's virgin suits and shirts to another sort of dealer in Islington and a pan-technican came for the furniture etc including the safe and the satin shoe and it obtained permission from the highways authorities to pass over the pavement and stand on the flagstones of the steps at the shop door and furniture was swept into it almost like leaves swept by the wind and on that afternoon Mr Bellrose arrived from across with a group of shop fitting and decorating contractors and in the emptying interiors of the home and amid the flight of pieces of furniture Mr Bellrose discussed with the experts what he should do and at what cost to annihilate the very memory of Titi Reissamans by means of improvements, fresh dispositions and paint Idlers sauntered about watching the gorging of the pan-technican and the erasing of Titi Reissamans from the steps and what occupied their minds was not the disappearance of every trace of the sojourn on earth of Henry and Violet Earl forward but the conquering progress of that powerful and prosperous personage Charles Bellrose who was going to have two shops and who would without doubt make them both pay handsomely Henry and Violet might never have lived they're almost equally strangers to the Reverend Augustus who moreover was lying somewhat ill at his hotel result of the strain of inheriting Violet had always been regarded as a foreigner by the district she had had no roots there and as for Henry though he was not a foreigner but of the true ancient blood of Clarkinwell and though the tales of his riches commanded respect he had never won affection and was class sardonically as an oddity which designation would have puzzled and annoyed him considerably Violet and Henry did however survive in one place else's heart she arrived now in the steps dressed in mourning new black frock, new black hat, the old black coats and black gloves she had bought mourning from a sense of duty and propriety she had not wished to incur the expense but conscience forced her to incur the expense she was carrying a shabby grit bag which seemed rather heavy for her and she was rather flushed and breathless from exercise of an unaccustomed sort a dowdy over plump figure who nobody would have looked twice at a simple heavy face common except for the eyes and lips with a harassed look fatigued also she had been out nearly all day she pretended not to notice it but the sight of the formidable pantechnican squatted in the steps brought moisture into her eyes she sturdily entered the shop which Charles Bellrose and his company of renovators having left was empty save for one or two pieces of furniture waiting their proper niches in the pantechnican a man was pulling down the shelves and thus destroying the bays dead planks which had once been living burden-bearing shelves were stacked in a pile along one wall she had to wait at the foot of the stairs while a section of Violet's wardrobe awkwardly descended in the hairy arms of two Sampson's then she went up and on the first floor peeped into all the rooms one after another there were scenes of confusion, dirt, dust higgledy-piggled meanness difficult to believe that they had ever made part of a home been regularly cleaned watched over like helpless children incapable of taking care of themselves she lucked the grip bag up the second flight and went into the spare room which was quite empty stripped to the soiled and damaged walls even the plant pot even the plant pots were gone from the window sills and she went into the kitchen where the tap kept guard with its eternal drip drip over perfect desolation at last she went into her bedroom which by a magic UK's from on high in the Thackeray hotel had been preserved from the sack a fire was cheerfully burning all was as usual to the casual glance but the shut drawers were empty and Elsie's box and umbrella had gone back to Ryseman Square where she had been sleeping since the funeral Joe was sufficiently recovered to sleep alone in the house and had had no objection to doing so Joe fully dressed for the grand exodus sat waiting on the sole chair he smiled dropping the bag she smiled they kissed with his limited but imaginative intelligence Joe did not see that Elsie was merely Elsie he saw within the ill-fitting morning a saviour a powerful protractress a bright angel a being different from and superior to any other being they were dumb and happy in the island of hominess and round which swirled the tide of dissolution and change Elsie picked up a piece of bread and butter from a plate and began to eat it didn't you get any dinner Joe asked anxiously she nodded and the nod was a lie I got your bag and all your things in it she said there's a clean collar you better put it on munching she unfastened the bag and I've got the licence from the registry office she said he scrutinized the licence which by its complexity and incomprehensibility intimidated him he was much relieved and very grateful that he had not had to go forth and get the licence himself the clean collar which Elsie affixed made a wonderful improvement in Joe's frayed and elapidated appearance as the doctor been to look at you Elsie asked Joe shook his head well you can't go till he's been to look at you the doctor had re-engaged Joe who was to migrate direct to Middleton Square that afternoon and would take up his duties gradually as health permitted he had already been tentatively out in the morning but only to the other side of King's Cross Road to get a shave perhaps it was to be regretted that Joe was going off in one of Mr Earl Ford's grave-fannel shirts Elsie had she been strictly honest would have washed this shirt and returned it to the wardrobe but she thought that Joe needed it and her honesty fell short of the ideal there was a step on the stair the doctor came into the island and he himself was an island detached, self-contained, impregnable as ever he entered the room as though it was a room and not the emptying theatre of heroic and unforgettable drama and as though nothing worth mentioning had happened of late in Reissmann's steps has my daughter called here for me he asked abruptly deposing his prim hat on the little yellow chest of drawers no sir ah she was to meet me here he said in a casual even tone and yet there was something in his voice plainly indicating to the observant that deep down in his recondite mind burned a passionate pride in his daughter I think you'll do Joe he decided after some examination of the malaria patient I see you've had a shave Elsie said oh better sir yes makes you feel brighter doesn't it well you can be getting along by the way Elsie he coughed we've been wondering at home whether you'd care to go and have a chat with Mrs Raster yes sir but what about sir Joe well the fact is we thought perhaps you'd like he gave a short nervous laugh to join the staff I don't know what they call it Cook General no not quite that because there'd be Joe there'd be you and Joe you see Elsie drew back alarmed so alarmed that she did not even say thank you oh I couldn't do that sir I couldn't cook for you sir I couldn't undertake it sir I'm really only a child woman sir I couldn't face it sir but I thought you'd been learning some cookery from a Mrs old forward oh no sir nor as you might say only gas ring sir this was the once ambitious girl who had dreamed of acquiring the skill to wait at table in just such a grand house as the doctors extreme diffidence was not the only factor in her decision which she made instantly and positively as a strong-minded sensible masterful woman without any reference to the views of her protected fragile idle Joe for a quality of independence hardness had begun to appear in Elsie's spricket the fact was that she wanted a separate home as a refuge for Joe in case of need and she was arranging to rent a room in the basement of her older boat in Ryseman Square out of the measureless fortune of 32 pounds which she had accumulated in the post office savings bank she intended to furnish her home it had been agreed with the doctor that after the marriage Joe should have one whole night off per week she would resume charring which was laborious but more free than a regular situation if Joe should have a fit of violence it could spend itself on her in the home she even desired to suffer at his hands as a penance for the harshness of her earlier treatment of him of her well-meant banishing of the innocent victim deranged by his experiences in the war with her earnings and his they would have an ample income the fine sagacious scheme was complete in her brain and the doctor's suggestion attacked it in its fundamentals at Middleton Square worried by unaccustomed duties and the presence of others she might have scenes with Joe and be unable to manage him no she must be independent she must have liberty of action and this could not be if she was a servant in a grand house oh very well very well said the doctor frigid as usual but not offended Joe said no word knowing that he must not meddle in such high matters of policy scatterings expostulations reproofs on the stairs Miss Raster entered with the excited dog Jack her father had told her that if she saw no one familiar below she must mount two flights of stairs and knock at the door facing her at the top but in her eagerness she had forgotten to knock Miss Raster was growing in stature daily her legs were fabulously long and it was said of her at home that in time she would be in a position to stoop and kiss the crown of her father's head to everyone's surprise she impulsively rushed Elsie with thin arms outstretch and kissed her Elsie blushed as well she might Miss Raster had spoken to Elsie only once before but out of the memory of Elsie's face and that brief meeting she constructed a lovely fairy tale and a chance word of her mother's had set her turning it into reality she had dreamed of having the adorable fat comfortable kind Elsie for a servant in the house and her parents were going to arrange the matter for 24 hours she'd been in a fever about it is she coming papa the child demanded urgently no she can't she says she can't cook and so she won't come Miss Raster burst into tears her lank body shook with sobs everybody was grievously constrained nobody knew what to do at least of all the doctor Jack stood still in front of the fire mommy would have taught you to cook Miss Raster spluttered almost inarticulately mum is awfully nice Elsie's sugesa scheme for her married life was dissipated in a moment the scheme became absurd impossible inconceivable Elsie was utterly defeated by the child's affection ardour and sorrow she felt nearly the same responsibility towards the child as towards Joe she was the child's forever and she had kissed the child having kissed the child could she be a Judas oh then I'll go and see Mrs Raster said Elsie half smiling and half crying this was indeed a very strange episode upsetting as it did all optimistic theories about the reasonableness of human nature and the influence of logic over the springs of conduct no one quite knew where he was Dr Raster was intensely delighted and proud and yet felt the York to have a grievance Joe was delighted but egotistically Elsie was both happy and sad but rather more happy than sad Miss Raster laughed with glee while the tears still ran down her delicate cheeks Jack barked once not that Jack had that very mysterious intuitive comprehension of the moods of others which in the popular mind is usually attributed to dogs children women no Jack had heard footsteps on the stairs a tousaled white sleeved man in a green apron entered we're ready for here now miss he announced to Elsie and without waiting for permission he began rapidly to roll up the bedclothes in one vast bundle next he collected the crockery the bedroom had ceased to be immune from the general sack they didn't have a lot of luck said Mr Bell rose to Elsie and Joe that night in the steps at the locked door of t t's it was the decent whiz and little old fellow's epitaph on Henry Earl forward and violet it was his apology for dropping the keys of t t's into his pocket and for the blaze of electricity from his old shop and for the forlorn darkness of t t's and for the fact that he was prospering while others were dead he did not attribute the fate of the Earl forwards to Henry's formidable character he could not think scientifically and even had he been able to do so good nature would have prevented him and even if he had attempted to do so he might have thought wrong the affair like all affairs of destiny was excessively complex Elsie for her part laid much less stress than Mr Bell rose on luck with a gentleman like he was she thought meaning Henry Earl forward something was bound to happen sooner or later she held Mr Earl forward responsible for her mistress's death but her notions of the value of evidence were somewhat crude and similarly she held herself responsible for her master's death she had noticed that he had never been the same since the orgy of her wedding cake and she had a terrible suspicion that a moderate wedding cake caused cancer thus she added one more to the uncounted theories of the origin of cancer and nobody yet knows enough of the subject to be able to disprove Elsie's theory however that night Elsie with the sensations of a homicide the ruin of her home and family behind her a jail bird on her left arm and his heavy grip bag on her right could still be happy as she went up the steps into Rysam and Square and called at her old home to make certain dispositions and passed on in the chill darkness to Middleton Square she was apprehensive about future dangers and her own ability to cope with them but she was always apprehensive Joe belonging to the contemplative and passionate variety of mankind was not at all apprehensive he knew his soul as intimately as a pretty woman knows the externals of her body he was conscious of joy in retreading with Elsie the old familiar streets he had a perfect worshiping faith in Elsie's affection and in her powers his one affliction was to see Elsie lugging the heavy grip bag but even this was absurd for he had not yet the strength to carry it and he well knew that she would never have permitted him to try people saw a young humble mutually absorbed couple strolling along and looking at one another more correctly people did not see a humble couple any more than people at a court ball see a fashionably dressed and self-sure couple Elsie and Joe were characteristic of the district they would have had to look much worse than they did in order to be classed as humble in Clarkinwell nor were people shocked at the spectacle of the woman lugging a heavy grip bag while the man carried nought such dreadful things were often witnessed in Clarkinwell end of chapter 13 end of Rysam and Steps by Arnold Bennett