CHAPTER III
Walden
As Avelyn Watson is one of the central figures of this story, it will bewell to go back some months, and follow the events which preceded herappearance at Silverside. Though apparently trivial enough, they areimportant, because if they had not happened, she would have come toschool as a day girl instead of a boarder, and the part which fate putinto her hands to play could never have been acted.
It all began with Daphne forgetting to change her wet stockings. Daphnehad done many imprudent things before, and had suffered more or lessfrom them. This time Dame Nature, tired of having her laws flouted,determined to teach her a lesson. The specialist who was called in toconsult with the family doctor made an exhaustive examination of thecase, then pronounced his verdict.
"She mustn't live in the town. If you want her to grow up into healthywomanhood, a year or two in the country is an imperative necessity."
Up to the time when Sir Basil Hunter delivered this ultimatum, theWatsons had always lived in Harlingden. Daphne and Avelyn couldremember the old days when Daddy had been alive, and Mother's hair hadbeen brown and not grey; and she had laughed as gaily and easily as theydid now. That was many years ago, and to David and Anthony, at any rate,their father was little more than an enlarged photograph on thedining-room wall. They had all been born in the comfortable, commonplacehouse in Gerrard Square, and had taken it and its uninteresting view,and its smoky little garden, together with the round of town life,entirely for granted. Then the change came. Mrs. Watson, thoroughlyalarmed at the doctor's diagnosis, and nervous over the health of herwhole family, took immediate steps to carry out his advice. She let thehouse in Gerrard Square, and removed into the country. The place sheselected was a tiny village named Lyngates, two miles from the stationat Netherton, and twenty miles away from Harlingden. Its pure air,gravel soil, and record of sunshine were exactly what Daphne required;the boys could go in to town every day by train, and thus continue atKing James's School, and Avelyn, who was sufficiently like Daphne tomake the fatigue of a daily train journey seem a risky experiment, couldbe sent as a weekly boarder to Silverside.
By a most fortunate chance, Mrs. Watson came across the very littleproperty she wanted. It was an old farm-house, with a few outbuildingsat the back, and a field or two for poultry--the doctor had suggestedthat Daphne should interest herself in poultry. It was smaller by farthan No. 7 Gerrard Square, but big enough for their requirements.
"With present war prices, and income-tax what it is, and four childrento educate, I consider I'm very wise to make the move," she decided,"though I should never have had the courage to do it if Sir Basil Hunterhadn't been so emphatic."
So the house, gardens, outbuildings, and fields that composed the smallholding were bought and paid for, and formally transferred by deed fromtheir former owner, George Hethersedge, yeoman, to the possession ofHelena Watson, widow, and the bargain was complete. That it was abargain the children had no doubt. So many extra things were includedthat were never even mentioned in the title-deeds--the thrushes andblackbirds and tits in the garden, the wagtails that flitted up and downthe little stream, the owls that sat and hooted in the elm tree at dusk,the wild bees' nest in the bank, the ferns in the crannies of the oldwall, the morning view when the sun shone over the valley, and the calm,quiet sunsets when the sky was aflame with rose and violet. It was themost exciting experience to explore their new kingdom. They were alwaysmaking fresh discoveries. Up till now, beyond their annual summerholiday at some seaside resort, they had had no practical knowledge ofthe country. To live side by side with Nature was like being transferredinto another world.
To Mrs. Watson, no less than to her children, the change was welcome.She had often pored over Nature books from the library, and they hadbeen wont to stir in her a vague yearning to get away from bricks andmortar and chimneys, and spend a sylvan year somewhere far from thesound of trams or steam hooters. She chafed sometimes against themonotony of her daily shopping and household cares. She longed for lanesand woods, but there seldom seemed time to go for walks at Harlingden;it was a long way from Gerrard Square into the fields. We are suchcreatures of habit, that it had never struck her to uproot herself andreorder the lives of herself and her children; and if Daphne had notforgotten her galoshes, and thus brought about the visit of Sir BasilHunter, the family might have remained town birds to the end of thechapter. As it was, they stepped into a fresh inheritance. They namedthe house "Walden", after Thoreau's famous _Walden_, a book which hermother loved, and which Avelyn was just beginning to read andappreciate; the magic of its radiant love of Nature, and the breadth ofits philosophy appealed to her strongly.
Though the Watsons' Walden was quite unpretentious, it was certainlymore comfortable than the shanty in Concord, Massachusetts, where HenryDavid Thoreau spent his immortal two years and two months. There was asitting-room on each side of the little hall, a big kitchen and pantrybehind, and four bedrooms upstairs. Outside, across the yard, was acottage, with a lower room which could be used as a den for fretwork,painting, carpentering, or the pursuit of any other cherished hobbies,and an upper storey containing two extra bedrooms for emergencies. Thestable and barn were interesting, and held dim, cobwebby recesses, wherebats hung head downwards, and a brown owl sometimes perched blinkingupon the cross-beams.
In front was a small raised garden, bordered by a very wide ivy-coveredstone wall. The house stood on the slope of a steep hill, so that thiswall overtopped the road below like a crag. When you leaned your arms onits golden sweet-scented ivy blossom, or sombre berries and smoothleaves, you could look out over a tract of country that spread formiles--green meadows, hazel copses bursting into leaf, thick woods thathid the stream whose rushing waters yet made themselves heard, the reedyreaches of a river, and fir-clad hills that melted faint and blue into amisty horizon. There was a patch of gravel in front of the wall, and arustic garden seat, dilapidated, but firm enough for occupation. Thesite made a natural outdoor parlour: a yew tree, grown slantwise withthe prevailing wind, formed an umbrella overhead. At the side of thecottage, between the yard and the kitchen garden, purled a shallowlittle brook, at the edge of which grew watercresses and marshmarigolds. It was spanned by a bridge made of rough slabs of stone.Beyond the stables lay a couple of small meadows, containing an upperreach of the stream, and a little marshy tract interspersed with gorseand alder bushes.
The Watson family had reviewed the whole premises slowly, critically,and with unbounded satisfaction.
"It's the sort of place you read about in a novel," sighed Daphne, whosetastes were romantic. "Somehow you feel as if anything could happenhere--interesting things, I mean. Mysteries and tragedies, and--andeven----"
"Love affairs!" finished Avelyn promptly. "Perhaps they may--sometime."
Avelyn was at the stage when life is full of dreams. It was her constantamusement to imagine all kinds of delightful but wildly improbablefuture happenings for Daphne, for herself, and for the boys. The numberof castles in the air which she constructed would have built a city.They were all shadowy and unsubstantial, but none the less fascinatingfor that. Walden appeared to her, as to Daphne, an appropriate settingfor golden visions.
David and Anthony, still in the age of blunt uncompromising frankness,regarded the new home from a practical standpoint.
"It's top-hole!" decided David. "I'll have a thingumjig--what d'you callit?--lathe, I mean, inside that cottage, and a joiner's bench. There's aman in the village who says he's got one to sell cheap, and a vice withit. I'm going to make a rabbit hutch, and all sorts of things."
"There are trout in that part of the stream up the field," beamedAnthony. "Not very big ones, but certainly trout. I saw them jump. Theboy who brought the telegram yesterday told me that he catches themwith his hands. He knows of sixteen birds' nests on the road to thestation, and he's got a young hedgehog at home. I'm going to just sitand sit in the field when it's getting dark till I see one for myself."
"I shall grow ten years yo
unger when I've had a summer here," announcedMrs. Watson to her flock. "You won't know your poor old mother verysoon. The country air's making her so frisky and juvenile, she wants torun about like a girl!"
"_Do_, Muvvie darling! We love you in your skittish moods," imploredAvelyn. "When you wear that short skirt and that rush hat you don't looka day older than Auntie Belle--truly! You never climbed up step laddersin Gerrard Square!"
"I've begun to do many things I never did before," laughed Mrs. Watson,"partly from necessity. If I could have found anybody else to go up thestep ladder, perhaps I shouldn't have tried. We've all got to work if wewant to make the place look nice. It'll be worth it when we'vefinished."
Walden had been empty for two years before its owner sold it, and,though it was in a fair state of repair as regarded masonry andwoodwork, it sadly needed decorating. The question of its repaperingand painting had been the one hitch in the proceedings, for, when Mrs.Watson had sought to obtain estimates for its renovation, she foundthat, in the present war-time shortage of workmen, no firm wouldundertake to carry out a job so far in the country. For three horribledays matters had seemed at a dead-lock, and the purchase of Walden (notquite concluded) had trembled in the balance. But Daphne's white cheeksbrought all Mrs. Watson's native obstinacy to the fore. She wasdetermined not to be vanquished. She enquired in the village, andsecured the services of an old soldier who used to be handy-man at theVicarage, and with his experienced aid and the willing, though unskilledhands of her young flock, she determined to do up Walden herself. Shesecured lodgings for a few weeks at a farm close by, and the familydevoted the Easter holidays to the purpose. It was a new experience forthem, and they enjoyed it thoroughly. Armed with pails of distemper andwhitewash brushes, they splashed away at the walls, painted woodwork,stained floors, or laid linoleum. They made a delightful discovery inthe dining-room, for, when they came to tear down the old wall paper,they found an overmantel of ancient oak beams. The fireplace was largeand old-fashioned, with ingle nooks on either side, the woodwork hadbeen completely covered with paper and plaster, but when this wascleared away, and it was cleaned, stained, and varnished, it presented amost quaint and handsome appearance. The great beam that spanned thehearth had a flat surface, and on this Mrs. Watson decided to carve amotto. The family put their heads together over it for many days. Theylooked up mottoes in books, and consulted their friends, but could notfind exactly the right one. Daphne and Avelyn were in favour of English,but Mrs. Watson and the boys plumped for Latin, and finally evolved thefollowing:--
POST LABOREM HAEC REQUIES HAEC FELICITAS. (After work, here is rest and happiness.)
"When you've finished your lessons in the evenings, we can make a circleround the fire and talk about the day's doings; and it will seem acentre for the whole house and for our lives," said Mrs. Watson. "Ibelieve this little home is going to be far more precious to us thanGerrard Square."
To the children the doing up of the establishment was the utmost fun.Thoreau himself could not have obtained more enjoyment from his "Walden"than they did from theirs. There were many humorous incidents; as whenAnthony sat down in the colour wash pail, or when Daphne dropped a potof pink paint on the top of David's head, or when Avelyn poured inparaffin by mistake, instead of methylated spirit, to thin the varnish.It was a proud day when at last colour wash and paint were dry, and thefloor was swept and cleaned, and the vans arrived and the furniture wascarried in. Mrs. Watson had sold most of the heavy possessions whichthey owned in Gerrard Square, and had bought in their place tastefulantiques which suited the house far better, and gave it an air of quaintculture and comfort. When all was arranged it looked a charming littleabode, and thoroughly in harmony, from the black beams of its ingle nookto the carved settle and gate-legged oak table, or the framed samplerson its walls.
Many surprising incidents happened in the first days of occupation. Veryearly one morning, as Daphne and Avelyn lay in bed, they were awakenedby a tweeting and whirr of wings, and found that a pair of newly-arrivedswallows had flown in through the open window, and were whirlingoverhead, evidently with designs on the big cross beam for nestingpurposes. The sight of the girls, who sat up in bed, seemed to annoythem, for they twittered with anger, scintillated rapidly round theroom, then flashed out through the window into the spring sunshine.
"Well," exclaimed Daphne, "this certainly is living in the country!Actually swallows in our bedroom!"
"The poor darlings!" declared Avelyn. "They've had a horribledisappointment. They'd made up their minds to have their nest on thatbeam. I remember Martin Jones pulled down a swallow's nest before hewhitewashed, and said they had built there last year, and had got inbecause the window was broken. They must think we're dreadful intruders.They were scolding us as hard as they could in bird language."
"Shall we hang out a notice: 'To Let, Eligible Quarters for Swallows'?"laughed Daphne. "We might even put nesting boxes round the walls, andextend the invitation to other birds."
To anyone who wished to study natural history, Walden certainly offeredadvantages. There was a friendly robin that domesticated itself, andwould fly into the dining-room at meal times, hop on to the table, andeven perch upon the loaf. He would haunt the kitchen in quest of crumbs,and grew so cheeky that when Ethel, the maid, who resented hisoccasional flounders into her pudding dishes, drove him out through thewindow, he would merely fly round the corner and pop in again throughthe open door.
As at first the Watsons possessed neither dog nor cat, their gardenbecame for that spring at any rate a veritable bird sanctuary. A piedfly-catcher built in the thatch of the summer-house, a pair ofgold-crested wrens swung their dainty cradle under a pine bough, anettle creeper nested in the long grass of the orchard, cole tits andblue tits haunted the yew tree, a family of young water wagtails issuedfrom a hole under the stone bridge, and a wood pigeon took possession ofthe top storey of a fir tree, to say nothing of the blackbirds,thrushes, robins, and other everyday birds that availed themselves ofthe hospitality of the bushes.
"I thought I owned Walden, but I'm beginning to doubt it," said Mrs.Watson. "It seems to me that the wild creatures put in a prior claim,and come unasked to share it."
"They're welcome, bless 'em!" murmured Avelyn, fondling a newly-fledgedand quite undismayed young missel-thrush, which she had temporarilytaken from its nest just outside the drawing-room window.
Some of the incidents which happened were decidedly funny. The Watsonswere not used to the country, and had to learn by experience. Onemorning they had left some washing in the field, and found that aneighbour's calves had strayed through a hole in the hedge and werecontentedly sucking stockings and pyjamas, and reducing them to ajelly-like pulp. It took several sharp lessons before the family graspedthat cardinal rule of country life: "Keep your gate shut". On the firstSunday of their occupation they had gone to church, and on returning hadstrolled into the dining-room, to find three pigs comfortably inpossession. A wild scene ensued, for the intruders, instead of allowingthemselves to be chased through the door, careered madly round and roundthe table, squeaking and grunting in protest, and finally jumped on tothe sofa, and made their exit through the open window, knocking overbooks, work-baskets, and pots of geraniums in their hurried flight, andcompletely flattening a bed of young pansies that had just been planted.
One night the family, who had sat up later than usual, heard stealthysteps in the garden, and, fearful of burglars, issued forth in a body,armed with the poker and other implements of aggression, only to find amelancholy donkey cropping the grass beyond the laurel bushes, withapparent appreciation of its superior juiciness.
These little adventures, however, added a spice of excitement to theirexistence. They agreed that life at Walden was supremely interesting.
Daphne, who was nearly eighteen, had finished with lessons, and for thesummer term Mrs. Watson allowed Avelyn also to stay at home and runwild. She had been growing fast, and a rest was considered good for her.David and Anthony left the house every morn
ing at half-past seven,walked to Netherton Station, caught the train to Harlingden, andproceeded to King James's School, where they spent the day and dined,returning home by about six in the evening. They were sturdy boys offourteen and twelve, and enjoyed the daily expedition. Time had oftenhung heavy on their hands out of school hours in Gerrard Square; it wasnow agreeably filled in with a railway journey and a walk across fieldswhere birds' nests might be found, and where they sometimes saw stoatsand squirrels.
To the whole family the first sylvan spring and summer had been one longround of delight. By the end of August they felt that town had fadedaway from their mental vision, and that they had become "sons of thesoil".
In September Avelyn began school again as a weekly boarder atSilverside. She had left The Hawthorns the preceding Christmas, and thenine months' absence, with the intervening removal to Lyngates, had verymuch blurred its memory. She had liked some of the girls, though she hadnever made any really intimate friends there. She had been mildly sorryto leave, but the regret had soon worn off. She had come to Silversidequite ready to hallmark herself with the stamp of her new school, andcentre her interests there. To find that the greater part of "TheHawthorns" was now incorporated with "Silverside", and that the boardersidentified her with her old set, had struck her somewhat as a shock.What attitude she should adopt she could not quite determine. She wantedto think over the situation carefully before she committed herself toeither side.