"Upon my word", said Philip to Adeline, when they were in their room, "I shall be glad when we are in our own home. I like to be able to put a friend to bed when he needs it, without all this secrecy. Vaughan has thoroughly spoiled his wife. But why did that fool, Wilmott, choose this house of all places to get tight in?"
"He was so tired, poor man".
Philip turned his full blue eyes on her. "Tired of what? Sitting in a punt fishing? Or teaching young Tite to make pot-hooks?"
"Ah, he has worries you will never know".
"What worries?"
"I’m not at liberty to tell them".
"Now, look here, Madam", said Philip, "I don’t want you to be made the confidante for Wilmott’s past. If his past is such as to make him drink too much at the mere thought of it, let him keep it to himself or confide in another man".
"True", said Adeline mildly. "True". Then with a long-drawn breath she added, "I feel ailing tonight. D’ye think I am perhaps going to have a miscarriage?" She crept into the deep feather bed.
Philip’s expression became one of concern but he said stoutly, "I think you are tired and a bit worried by Wilmott’s behaviour. What you need is a good night’s rest". He drew the blankets snugly about her. "There now, isn’t that cosy? I’ll be beside you in a jiffy. Egad, listen to the rain! It’s coming down in a torrent".
XIV. Winter Sport
The rains were heavy in November. Often they were joined by winds, mostly from east and north-east. These swept the last of the leaves from the trees, leaving the conifers in dark possession of the woods. On the roads, wheels sank in the deep mud, carpenters were forced to wait for the material to work with, but still the building of Jalna proceeded at a satisfactory speed. The workmen built themselves a log weather-proof shelter with bunks, and a stove was installed in the shed where they took their meals. They were healthy and, on the whole, jolly, for they had months of well-paid work ahead of them. Several of them played on mouth-organs, one on a flute. Then there was Fiddling Jock, who had more music in him than many a concert musician. There were the two French-Canadians who could dance, and others had good voices for a song, so their evenings passed cheerfully and, on Saturday nights when they had had a good deal to drink, noisily. There were a few quite bloody fights among them.
The wind veered to the north, the wet weather turned to frosty brightness. There were snow flurries. Nero, the Newfoundland dog, grew a tremendously thick coat and bounded in riotous health over the estate which he considered to be his to guard. He knew all the carpenters, masons and bricklayers. He was hail-fellow-well-met with the wood-cutters, but to a stranger looking for work he was fierce and formidable. The foreman fed him many a heaping tin plate of potatoes and pork in addition to the regular meals he had at Vaughanlands, so that he grew rather more stout than he should have been. He also devoured the bones of wild-fowl which the men threw him. Some canine Providence must have had him in mind, for though he occasionally was very sick, it was only for a few minutes. Neither did splinters of bone pierce his vitals. He was robust, he was good-tempered, he was as happy as a lark. He was bounding. He was rough.
Adeline had contracted whooping-cough from Augusta and coughed with frightening violence up to Christmas-time. Indeed, the cough never really left her till the following spring. Dr. Ramsay dosed her with flax-seed tea. Mrs. Vaughan gave her large quantities of honey and rum. Mr. Pink, the Rector, brought her a bottle of Radway’s Ready Relief, Mrs. Lacey a bottle of Pine and Tar Syrup. Philip never went into the town without returning with some new tablets or lozenges for her relief. These multiple remedies had little effect on her except to spoil her appetite. She consequently grew thin and, because of this, would have shown her condition of pregnancy more but for the way she laced. By means of long French stays and a wide crinoline she continued to look graceful and even elegant. It is true that Mrs. Vaughan counselled her otherwise. She would injure the health of the infant, Mrs. Vaughan said, but she sympathised with Adeline’s desire to conceal her state, especially with Robert coming home for his holidays. It would have been embarrassing indeed to have had a bulky Adeline about, with Robert and Daisy in the house. She was so kind to Adeline in these days that Adeline never forgot it.
The various cough medicines of which Gussie partook, along with her mother, had a worse effect on the little girl. She not only lost her appetite but could ill digest the little she did eat. Her eyes looked enormous with the dark rings about them, her lips had a bluish colour except after a bout of coughing when her whole face would become almost purple. Nicholas, on the other hand, flourished like a weed. He weighed more than Gussie and, though he had not begun to walk, he crept everywhere with surprising strength and speed. He had a temper when things went wrong and would fill the house with his roars of rage. He slept like a top but woke at sunrise shouting and chuckling his pleasure in the new day. He was a pet with everyone and promised to be a spoilt and headstrong boy but he had great charm, and his smile could not be resisted by anyone in that house.
Oh, how cold it suddenly was! Clear and cold and sharp as a knife. The cold woods stood darkly waiting. The trees marched on to meet the great forests of the north, on and on till their march was ended and there were no more trees but only frozen lakes and ice-bound land. The night Robert returned from his university the weather moderated, the sky grew heavy. All night the snow fell. There was to be real Christmas weather.
With Robert’s luggage carried to his room, with Robert tall and fair and smiling in the house, Mrs. Vaughan’s heart sang. She felt that she really was to become acquainted with the son of whom she had seen so little. But Robert found it easier to be natural with Adeline than with his parents.
"Perhaps it is that they expect so much of me", he said when he had voiced this feeling to Adeline. "They expect me to be a loyal Canadian when I scarcely know the country. They expect me to be a noble character when I am really full of faults. They expect me to show my affection when I’m really confoundedly shy. But you expect no more of me than I can achieve". He gave her an eloquent look. "If you knew my thoughts as the train was bringing me home you would have been surprised".
She smiled. "Should I?"
"Yes. I was wondering what it was all about. Why was I cramming my head with book learning at the university? What fate had thrown you into my life…? What would my life be…? Should I ever really belong anywhere…? Was I real…? What do all our struggles mean? Now this house you are building-can you cling to it? Does it make you feel safe? I was wondering about these things".
"From season to season is enough for me", she said. "If I have my very own roof and those who belong to me under it-that is real".
"My friendship means nothing to you!" he exclaimed.
"I should love this place less if you were not my friend".
"I should hate it if you weren’t here", he exclaimed hotly. "This country is just a great waste to me. Perhaps my son, if I have one, will love it, but I never shall. Look at the snow. It will cover everything for months. In Montreal it is worse".
Adeline touched his cheek with her fingers.
"Ah, Bobbie", she said, "what a one you are for talking! Let us go out and make snowballs. I used to make them in Quebec with the Balestrier children".
"Am I a child too?" he asked, mournfully.
"You are very sweet", she answered.
Mrs. Vaughan groaned as she saw the two pelting each other with snowballs. Adeline’s recklessness frightened her. To handle snow and she with such a cough! To so exert in her condition was almost wicked. But she held the children up to the window to see their mother’s wild behaviour. As Philip appeared from the woods he was greeted by a snowball full on the breast and, when he entered the battle, it became fierce indeed. Nero bounded after the snowballs, he jumped up on the opponents, almost overthrowing them.