DOI Artikel:
King, K. Douglas: Lucretia
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26393#0239
By K. Douglas King 235
hurriedly, over her shoulder, as her husband moved heavily away.
There was the suspicion of a sob in her voice. “You never have
understood me—never ! And talking of ill-treatment and all
that shows you don’t and can’t understand me ! ”
Burnett showed a face of blank, mystified despair at the eternal
feminine wail. It was as incomprehensible to him as if it had
been uttered in a foreign language of which he was entirely
ignorant. It was the navvy’s loss that Caldwell understood it as
completely as man ever can.
The day after Burnett ventured his appeal, a momentous thing
happened. It occurred at noon, and was nothing less than the
breathless descent on the Burnett fold of Mrs. Burnett’s twin
sister.
Mrs. Burnett’s sister was also a wife of ten years’ experience ;
but she was not a mother. It was her one bitter sorrow.
Tidings of the Burnett-Caldwell scandal had reached her in
her little Northamptonshire village, and her unexpected visit was
the result. It occurred at the midday dinner hour, which, strange
to say, was up to time that day. The Burnett flock were des-
patching slabs of suet pudding and treacle, carved and ladled out
by Mrs. Burnett, at the kitchen dresser, when the cloaked and
bonnetted apparition, omitting the formality of knocking, appeared
in the doorway. Burnett was eating a solitary dinner on the
bank overlooking the line in course of construction.
“Annie!” cried Mrs. Burnett. She fell back a step j her
face, dyed suddenly scarlet at sight of her visitor, rapidly changed
to a deadly pallor.
“ Luce,” said the other woman.
“ Not before the children ! ” cried Lucretia, putting out her
hands, as if warding off a blow. “ Oh, not a word before the
children, Annie ! ” she cried, passionately.
The
hurriedly, over her shoulder, as her husband moved heavily away.
There was the suspicion of a sob in her voice. “You never have
understood me—never ! And talking of ill-treatment and all
that shows you don’t and can’t understand me ! ”
Burnett showed a face of blank, mystified despair at the eternal
feminine wail. It was as incomprehensible to him as if it had
been uttered in a foreign language of which he was entirely
ignorant. It was the navvy’s loss that Caldwell understood it as
completely as man ever can.
The day after Burnett ventured his appeal, a momentous thing
happened. It occurred at noon, and was nothing less than the
breathless descent on the Burnett fold of Mrs. Burnett’s twin
sister.
Mrs. Burnett’s sister was also a wife of ten years’ experience ;
but she was not a mother. It was her one bitter sorrow.
Tidings of the Burnett-Caldwell scandal had reached her in
her little Northamptonshire village, and her unexpected visit was
the result. It occurred at the midday dinner hour, which, strange
to say, was up to time that day. The Burnett flock were des-
patching slabs of suet pudding and treacle, carved and ladled out
by Mrs. Burnett, at the kitchen dresser, when the cloaked and
bonnetted apparition, omitting the formality of knocking, appeared
in the doorway. Burnett was eating a solitary dinner on the
bank overlooking the line in course of construction.
“Annie!” cried Mrs. Burnett. She fell back a step j her
face, dyed suddenly scarlet at sight of her visitor, rapidly changed
to a deadly pallor.
“ Luce,” said the other woman.
“ Not before the children ! ” cried Lucretia, putting out her
hands, as if warding off a blow. “ Oh, not a word before the
children, Annie ! ” she cried, passionately.
The