| |
|
A LANTERN
light from deeper in the barn
Shone on a man and
woman in the door
And threw their lurching shadows on
a house
Near by, all dark in every glossy window.
A horse's hoof pawed once the hollow floor,
And the
back of the gig they stood beside
Moved in a little.
The man grasped a wheel,
The woman spoke out sharply,
"Whoa, stand still!"
"I saw it just as plain as a
white plate,"
She said, "as the light on the
dashboard ran
Along the bushes at the roadside--a
man's face.
You must have seen it too."
"I didn't
see it.
Are you sure----"
"Yes, I'm sure!"
"--it was a face?"
"Joel, I'll have to look. I can't
go in,
I can't, and leave a thing like that
unsettled.
Doors locked and curtains drawn will make
no difference.
I always have felt strange when we
came home
To the dark house after so long an absence,
And the key rattled loudly into place
Seemed to warn
someone to be getting out
At one door as we entered
at another.
What if I'm right, and someone all the
time--
Don't hold my arm!"
"I say it's someone
passing."
"You speak as if this were a travelled
road.
You forget where we are. What is beyond
That
he'd be going to or coming from
At such an hour of
night, and on foot too.
What was he standing still
for in the bushes?"
"It's not so very late--it's only
dark.
There's more in it than you're inclined to say.
Did he look like----?"
"He looked like anyone.
I'll never rest to-night unless I know.
Give me the
lantern."
"You don't want the lantern."
She pushed
past him and got it for herself.
"You're not to
come," she said. "This is my business.
If the time's
come to face it, I'm the one
To put it the right way.
He'd never dare--
Listen! He kicked a stone. Hear
that, hear that!
He's coming towards us. Joel, go
in--please.
Hark!--I don't hear him now. But please
go in."
"In the first place you can't make me believe
it's----"
"It is--or someone else he's sent to watch.
And now's the time to have it out with him
While we
know definitely where he is.
Let him get off and
he'll be everywhere
Around us, looking out of trees
and bushes
Till I sha'n't dare to set a foot
outdoors.
And I can't stand it. Joel, let me go!"
"But it's nonsense to think he'd care enough."
"You
mean you couldn't understand his caring.
Oh, but you
see he hadn't had enough--
Joel, I won't--I won't--I
promise you.
We mustn't say hard things. You mustn't
either."
"I'll be the one, if anybody goes!
But
you give him the advantage with this light.
What
couldn't he do to us standing here!
And if to see was
what he wanted, why
He has seen all there was to see
and gone."
He appeared to forget to keep his hold,
But advanced with her as she crossed the grass.
"What
do you want?" she cried to all the dark.
She
stretched up tall to overlook the light
That hung in
both hands hot against her skirt.
"There's no one; so
you're wrong," he said.
"There is.--
What do you
want?" she cried, and then herself
Was startled when
an answer really came.
"Nothing." It came from well
along the road.
She reached a hand to Joel for
support:
The smell of scorching woollen made her
faint.
"What are you doing round this house at
night?"
"Nothing." A pause: there seemed no more to
say.
And then the voice again: "You seem afraid.
I
saw by the way you whipped up the horse.
I'll just
come forward in the lantern light
And let you see."
"Yes, do.--Joel, go back!"
She stood her ground
against the noisy steps
That came on, but her body
rocked a little.
"You see," the voice said.
"Oh."
She looked and looked.
"You don't see--I've a child
here by the hand."
"What's a child doing at this time
of night----?"
"Out walking. Every child should have
the memory
Of at least one long-after-bedtime walk.
What, son?"
"Then I should think you'd try to find
Somewhere to walk----"
"The highway as it happens--
We're stopping for the fortnight down at Dean's."
"But if that's all--Joel--you realize--
You won't
think anything. You understand?
You understand that
we have to be careful.
This is a very, very lonely
place.
Joel!" She spoke as if she couldn't turn.
The swinging lantern lengthened to the ground,
It
touched, it struck it, clattered and went out.
|
|
|
