Leslie Hartley - The Complete Short Stories of L.P. Hartley

As the stranger took no notice, but continued to sit wrapped in thought, the night-watchman hazarded a remark to his bent back. ‘A fine night,’ he said rather loudly, though it was ridiculous to raise one’s voice in an empty street. The stranger did not turn round.

‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘but cold; it will be colder before morning.’ The night-watchman looked at his brazier, and it struck him that the coke was not lasting so well as on the previous nights. I’ll put some more on, he thought, picking up a shovel; but instead of the little heap he had expected to see, there was nothing but dust and a few bits of grit—his night’s supply had been somehow overlooked. ‘Won’t you turn round and warm your hands?’ he said to the person sitting on the barrier. ‘The fire isn’t very good, but I can’t make it up, for they forgot to give me any extra, unless somebody pinched it when my back was turned.’ The night-watchman was talking for effect; he did not really believe that anyone had taken the coke. The stranger might have made a movement somewhere about the shoulders.

‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘but I prefer to warm my back.’

Funny idea that, thought the watchman.

‘Have you noticed,’ proceeded the stranger, ‘how easily men forget? This coke of yours, I mean; it looks as if they didn’t care about you very much, leaving you in the cold like this.’ It had certainly grown colder, but the man replied cheerfully: ‘Oh, it wasn’t that. They forgot it. Hurrying to get home, you know.’ Still, they might have remembered, he thought. It was Bill Jackson’s turn to fetch it—Old Bill, as the fellows call him. He doesn’t like me very much. The chaps are a bit stand-offish. They’ll be all right when I know them better.

His visitor had not stirred. How I would like to push him off, the night-watchman thought, irritated and somehow troubled. The stranger’s voice broke in upon his reflections.

‘Do you like this job?’

‘Oh, not so bad,’ said the man carelessly; ‘good money, you know.’

‘Good money,’ repeated the stranger scornfully. ‘How much do you get?’

The night-watchman named the sum.

‘Are you married, and have you got any children?’ the stranger persisted.

The night-watchman said ‘Yes,’ without enthusiasm.

‘Well, that won’t go very far when the children are a bit older,’ declared the stranger. ‘Have you any prospect of a rise?’ The man said no, he had just had one.

‘Prices going up, too,’ the stranger commented.

A change came over the night-watchman’s outlook. The feeling of hostility and unrest increased. He couldn’t deny all this. He longed to say, ‘What do you think you’re getting at?’ and rehearsed the phrase under his breath, but couldn’t get himself to utter it aloud; his visitor had created his present state of mind and was lord of it. Another picture floated before him, less rosy than the first: an existence drab-coloured with the dust of conflict, but relieved by the faithful support of his wife and children at home. After all, that’s the life for a man, he thought; but he did not cherish the idea, did not walk up and down hugging it, as he cherished and hugged the other.

‘Do you find it easy to sleep in the daytime?’ asked the stranger presently.

‘Not very,’ the night-watchman admitted. ‘Ah,’ said the stranger, ‘dreadful thing, insomnia.’

‘When you can’t go to sleep, you mean,’ interpreted the night-watchman, not without a secret pride.

‘Yes,’ came the answer. ‘Makes a man ill, mad sometimes. People have done themselves in sooner than stand the torture.’

It was on the tip of the night-watchman’s tongue to mention that panacea, the blue blinds. But he thought it would sound foolish, and wondered whether they would prove such a sovereign remedy after all. ‘What about your children? You won’t see much of them,’ remarked the stranger, ‘while you are on this job. Why, they’ll grow up without knowing you! Up when their papa’s in bed, and in bed when he’s up! Not that you miss them much, I dare say. Still, if children don’t get fond of their father while they’re young, they never will.’

Why didn’t the night-watchman take him up warmly, assuring him they were splendid kids; the eldest called him daddy, and the younger, his wife declared, already recognized him. She knew by its smile, she said. He couldn’t have forgotten all that; half an hour ago it had been one of his chief thoughts. He was silent.

‘I should try and find another job if I were you,’ observed the stranger. ‘Otherwise you won’t be able to make both ends meet. What will your wife say then?’

The man considered; at least he thought he was facing the question, but his mind was somehow too deeply disturbed, and circled wearily and blindly in its misery. ‘I was never brought up to a trade,’ he said hesitatingly; ‘father’s fault.’ It struck him that he had never confessed that before; had sworn not to give his father away. What am I coming to? he thought. Then he made an effort. ‘My wife’s all right, she’ll stick to me.’ He waited, positively dreading the stranger’s next attack. Though the fire was burning low, almost obscured under the coke ashes that always seem more lifeless than any others, he felt drops of perspiration on his forehead, and his clothes, he knew, were soaked. I shall get a chill, that’ll be the next thing, he thought; but it was involuntary: such an idea hadn’t occurred to him since he was a child, supposedly delicate.

‘Yes, your wife,’ said the stranger at last, in tones so cold and clear that they seemed to fill the universe; to admit of no contradiction; to be graven with a fine unerring instrument out of the hard rock of truth itself. ‘You won’t see much of her either. You leave her pretty much to herself, don’t you? Now with these women, you know, that’s a risk .’ The last word rang like a challenge; but the night-watchman had taken the offensive, shot his one little bolt, and the effort had left him more helpless than ever.

‘When the eye doth not see,’ continued the stranger, ‘the heart doth not grieve; on the contrary, it makes merry.’ He laughed, as the night-watchman could see from the movement of his shoulders. ‘I’ve known cases very similar to yours. When the cat’s away, you know! It’s a pity you’re under contract to finish this job’ (the night-watchman had not mentioned a contract), ‘but as you are, take my advice and get a friend to keep an eye on your house. Of course, he won’t be able to stay the night—of course not; but tell him to keep his eyes open.’

The stranger seemed to have said his say, his head drooped a little more; he might even be dropping off to sleep. Apparently he did not feel the cold. But the night-watchman was breathing hard and could scarcely stand. He tottered a little way down his territory, wondering absurdly why the place looked so tidy; but what a travesty of his former progress. And what a confusion in his thoughts, and what a thumping in his temples. Slowly from the writhing, tearing mass in his mind a resolve shaped itself; like a cuckoo it displaced all others. He loosened the red handkerchief that was knotted round his neck, without remembering whose fingers had tied it a few hours before, or that it had been promoted (not without washing) to the status of a garment from the menial function of carrying his lunch. It had been an extravagance, that tin carrier, much debated over, and justified finally by the rise in the night-watchman’s wages. He let the handkerchief drop as he fumbled for the knife in his pocket, but the blade, which was stiff, he got out with little difficulty. Wondering vaguely if he would be able to do it, whether the right movement would come to him, why he hadn’t practised it, he took a step towards the brazier. It was the one friendly object in the street. . . .