登陆注册
15677500000029

第29章

She took the bread, when it was put into her hand, and broke a bit, but could not eat. She was past hunger. She fell down on the floor with a heavy unresisting bang. The men looked puzzled. "She's well-nigh clemmed," said Barton. "Folk do say one mustn't give clemmed people much to eat, but bless us, she'll eat nought." "I'll tell you what I'll do," said Wilson. "I'll take these two big lads, as does nought but fight, home to my missis's for to-night, and I'll get a jug o' tea. Them women always does best with tea, and such-like slop. So Barton was now left alone with a little child, crying (when it had done eating) for mammy; with a fainting, dead-like woman; and with the sick man, whose mutterings were rising up to screams and shrieks of agonized anxiety. He carried the woman to the fire, and chafed her hands. He looked around for something to raise her head. There was literally nothing but some loose bricks. However, those he got; and taking off his coat he covered them with it as well as he could. He pulled her feet to the fire, which now began to emit some faint heat. He looked round for water, but the poor woman had been too weak to drag herself out to the distant pump, and water there was none. He snatched the child, and ran up the area-steps to the room above, and borrowed their only saucepan with some water in it. Then he began, with the useful skill of a working-man, to make some gruel; and when it was hastily made, he seized a battered iron table-spoon (kept when many other little things had been sold in a lot), in order to feed baby, and with it he forced one or two drops between her clenched teeth. The mouth opened mechanically to receive more, and gradually she revived. She sat up and looked round; and recollecting all, fell down again in weak and passive despair. Her little child crawled to her, and wiped with its fingers the thick-coming tears which she now had strength to weep. It was now high time to attend to the man. He lay on straw, so damp and mouldy no dog would have chosen it in preference to flags; over it was a piece of sacking, coming next to his worn skeleton of a body; above him was mustered every article of clothing that could be spared by mother or children this bitter weather; and in addition to his own, these might have given as much warmth as one blanket, could they have been kept on him; but as he restlessly tossed to and fro, they fell off and left him shivering in spite of the burning heat of his skin. Every now and then be started up in his naked madness, looking like the prophet of woe in the fearful plague-picture; but he soon fell again in exhaustion, and Barton found he must be closely watched, lest in these falls he should injure himself against the bard brick floor. He was thankful when Wilson re-appeared, carrying in both hands a jug of steaming tea, intended for the poor wife; but when the delirious husband saw drink, he snatched at it with animal instinct, with a selfishness he had never shown in health. Then the two men consulted together. It seemed decided, without a word being spoken on the subject, that both should spend the night with the forlorn couple; that was settled. But could no doctor be had? In all probability, no; the next day an infirmary order must be begged, but meanwhile the only medical advice they could have must be from a druggist's. So Barton (being the moneyed man) set out to find a shop in London Road. It is a pretty sight to walk through a street with lighted shops; the gas is so brilliant, the display of goods so much more vividly shown than by day, and of all shops a druggist's looks the most like the tales of our childhood, from Aladdin's garden of enchanted fruits to the charming Rosamond with her purple jar. No such associations h ad Barton; yet he felt the contrast between the well-filled, well-lighted shops and the dim gloomy cellar, and it made him moody that such contrasts should exist. They are the mysterious problem of life to more than him. He wondered if any in all the hurrying crowd had come from such a house of mourning. He thought they all looked joyous, and he was angry with them. But he could not, you cannot, read the lot of those who daily pass you by in the street. How do you know the wild romances of their lives; the trials, the temptations they are even now enduring, resisting, sinking under? You may be elbowed one instant by the girl desperate in her abandonment, laughing in mad merriment with her outward gesture, while her soul is longing for the rest of the dead, and bringing itself to think of the cold-flowing river as the only mercy of God remaining to her here. You may pass the criminal, meditating crimes at which you will to-morrow shudder with horror as you read them.

You may push against one, humble and unnoticed, the last upon earth, who in heaven will for ever be in the immediate light of God's countenance.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 雏鹰计划二之寻找地球之轴

    雏鹰计划二之寻找地球之轴

    一群素不相识的少年,因为一次集训聚集在了一起。他们中诞生了著名的”三虎七鹰“集训为他们带来前途跟荣誉的同时也让他们肩负起了保家卫国的重任,而当中突出的几人更是陷入了一个巨大的迷局中。这个开始于民国时期的迷局一直未被解开,纳粹进入西藏是为了什么,军统十三太保之首为何突然失踪,而被选中的少年们又与此事有何种历史渊源。神秘的生物,削铁如泥利刃,刀枪不入的盔甲,一座隐藏在深山中的超古代遗迹,一个被几十吨黑火药包围的古墓,几个发疯的前辈,这所有的所有到底隐藏着什么?一支由基层军官组成的小组,强大的情报网络,以及暗藏的大国博弈。
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • The Metal Monster

    The Metal Monster

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 方舟适者生存

    方舟适者生存

    学生,未来的花朵;恐龙,末日的起源;突如其来的方舟,似乎在预示着什么......是末日还是新生?让我们走进ARK!(本故事纯属虚构,情节需要,如有雷同切勿模仿!)
  • 高冷老公,打折甩卖

    高冷老公,打折甩卖

    找了一只萌宠属性却又傲娇成瘾的老公是什么体验?顾总下厨差点把厨房炸飞—“手艺低劣,差评!”“宝贝儿,昨晚在床上我已经全额返现了!”顾总为了花痴老婆自编自演一出韩剧—“演技拙劣,一分不给!”“我的吻技,包你满意!”夜里能在自家媳妇洗澡时悄悄戳破“小雨伞”的男人,除了顾盛肆再无第二人。某天,秦诗嘶吼:“顾盛肆,说好的小雨伞呢,现在这只包子是几个意思?”顾总恬不知耻:“噢,某宝打折促销价格公道,漏雨实属正常;老婆一直倡导勤俭节约,我很听话,嗯!”“nnd!一分钟之内把他们的仓库买下来,差评到明年过年!”顾总勾唇邪肆一笑,“好嘞!”【总之,这就是一对无敌好“闺蜜”恋爱结婚,婚后使劲生包子的故事…】
  • 云里端详

    云里端详

    校园里不仅仅有的是欢乐,还有意想不到的恐惧。在校园中的我们····
  • 天真女孩不爱我

    天真女孩不爱我

    本文讲的是一个外表冷漠的骄傲男与一个单纯的天真女的故事,也许爱情的萌芽早在高中的时候就在骄傲男心里生根,当爱的尾巴再一次甩过来,骄傲男能否顺利抓牢?让我们拭目以待吧~~
  • 战神传说之回归

    战神传说之回归

    天生被认为无法修炼的废物他将何去何从?多年后,当真正的王者回归他将面临怎样的困境?敬请期待战神传说系列。
  • 都市至尊魔少

    都市至尊魔少

    我的未来我做主,或许你现在可以欺负我,但下一秒,我就会还回去!一个普通少年,遇到黑暗之神后,命运就发生逆转,美女,宝贝一个也少不了!
  • 金枝攻略

    金枝攻略

    重活一世,她当然不会再受世俗礼教的束缚,喜欢谁就把他抢过来!咱有个执掌天下的父皇,才不会怕某些莺莺燕燕找上门来呢!美男了不起啊,不要仗着长得好看就想诱惑她!新书求支持!求收藏!本书YY之作