"Loose the traces!" Philip shouted.
Adeline shrieked, "Loose the traces!"
Two men sprang forward. Massive shapes strove together above the ravine. The driver leaped from his seat in time to save himself. The heavy draught horses moved forward lightly, free of their load which crashed inexorably to the stream. It broke off branches and young trees as it fell, then came to rest supported by two boulders, so that it was not actually in the water.
"By the Lord Harry", said Philip, "that was a close shave!"
"I’ll bet that pianner is bust to bits", said a man with a red neckerchief. "Nobody’ll never play on it no more".
All but the driver ran through the icy slush to look down at the piano. It had been made in France, crossed the ocean, stood for many years in the drawing-room of the house in the Rue St. Louis, travelled by barge, boat and wagon to this place, and now lay, dumb and disgraced, at the bottom of the ravine.
"Can we get it up, do you think?" asked Adeline, still white from the shock.
"It’ll take four horses to haul it up and it’ll fall to pieces on the way", said the man who had spoken before.
"Certainly we shall raise it", said Philip comfortingly to Adeline. "You will play ’The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls’ on it yet". He turned to the man with the red neckerchief. "It was you who directed the driver. Otherwise the piano would not be where it is. Now you say it can’t be raised whole. I don’t want men like you working on my place. Ask the foreman for your money. You’re discharged".
The man stared at him. "The foreman engaged me", he said. "It’s for him to discharge me. Not you".
Philip took him by the red neckerchief. "I have a mind", he said, "to throw you down on top of the piano". He gave him a hearty push. "Now go, and be quick about it". The man skulked off.
All the rest of the day Adeline felt shaky. Her knees trembled as she hastened to and from the bedroom she was preparing. They had chosen the room at the end of the hall behind the drawing-room as their own; cool in summer and warm in winter, far from the noise of the children. A servant had been engaged, the daughter of a farm labourer, who followed Adeline about, getting in her way rather than helping her. The girl could neither read nor write. Her incompetence and stupidity were a marvel to Adeline, but she was good-natured and strong as an ox.
A married couple, the man a trained gardener and the woman a good cook, were on their way from Devon. They had been engaged by Philip’s sister and it was hoped that they would be installed in the house before the time of Adeline’s confinement, a fortnight or more hence. Their bedroom, comfortably furnished, in the basement awaited them. They were bringing with them a supply of kitchen utensils and garden tools such as they had been accustomed to. Adeline wished with all her heart that they were at Jalna as she strove to bring some slight order out of the chaos which surrounded her. Everywhere she went the girl, Lizzie, followed her, tripping over the litter on the floor, dropping things, exclaiming at the wonders from India.
"Sakes alive!" she said, pointing to the painted bedstead. "Is that there to sleep in?"
"Yes. Draw the mattress toward you. It’s not on straight".
"Land sakes, I’d have bad dreams if I slept in it".
"I dare say. Now help me to open this chest".
"What’s them things all over it?"
"Dragons".
"They look heathenish".
"They are".
"Your furniture don’t look like Christian furniture".
"It isn’t. What have you dropped now?"
"It looks like a doll".
The small porcelain figure had been wrapped in a piece of Eastern embroidery which the girl had taken from the chest. Adeline snatched it up from the floor. She examined it anxiously. "Thank God", she exclaimed, "it isn’t broken! If you had broken that, my girl, I’d have made an end of you". She held the porcelain figure tenderly in her hands. It was the goddess Kuan Yin.
"Is it a doll?" asked Lizzie.
"It is a Chinese goddess. Oh, how beautiful and wise she is! How glad I am she wasn’t broken! See her sweet hands and her little feet like flowers!"
"She looks comic", said Lizzie.
"I wish I could put you down in China for five years, Lizzie, and see what would happen to you".
Lizzie giggled. "Perhaps I’d come back looking like that there", she said.
Adeline set the goddess on the mantelpiece. "There I shall place her", she said, "to guard this room. She shall stay there always".
"It’s sinful to worship images", said Lizzie. "My pa wouldn’t let me work for folks that worship images".
"Well, when next you see him, you can tell him I say my prayers to this one. It will be fun to see what happens".
"I won’t do that, Ma’am. I want to stay here".
"Good for you, Lizzie! Now gather up some of the paper and shavings from the hall and lay a fire here. It’s very cold".
"You don’t look cold", observed Lizzie. "Your cheeks is red as if you had the fever". She crammed paper and shavings tightly into the grate.
"No, no, not that way, Lizzie!" Adeline was worn out by the girl’s stupidity but she liked her. She wondered what the well-trained Devon servants would make of her.
Mrs. Pink came in later to see what she could do to help but her admiration for what was already unpacked, and her shock over the disaster to the piano, took most of her energy. Mr. Pink called for her and he too joined in the inspection and condolence. Still later Philip came, accompanied by Captain Lacey, Thomas D’Arcy, and Michael Brent. It was like a party. Philip tore down to the wine-cellar, where already a case of wine was installed, and brought up a bottle of Madeira. Wine-glasses were discovered. Wilmott appeared and at once said that he knew the proper method for rescuing the piano from the ravine, and that if he had been there it never would have fallen. Adeline was suddenly gay and full of confidence. When she and Philip drove back to Vaughanlands, she felt strong and hopeful of having everything in order before the arrival of her child. It was disgraceful, Mrs. Vaughan thought, the way Adeline laced herself, though, after all, who could blame her, considering how she was exposed to public view? Her condition might well pass unnoticed, so small was her waist, so voluminous her skirts.
When Adeline woke in the dawn with a mild rain pattering on the roof and the song of a chickadee coming from the maple tree outside the window, she had a startled feeling as though someone had put their hand on her and roughly disturbed her. She lay very still, her heart beating quickly. She lay waiting, her wide-opened eyes fixed on the window, pale in the early light.
Then she felt the touch again. It was a sharp pain that stabbed her very vitals. She was filled with apprehension. Was this the warning of her confinement? Was she to be caught here, be forced to have her child where she was determined not to have it? Sweat broke out on her forehead. She gave a little moan.
Then she felt better. Probably it was a false alarm. She had had others in her time. But she would take no risks. Let Philip oppose her as he might, she would sleep that night in her own house! She lay planning each step of the day. After a while she slept.
When she woke it was still gently raining. Though the unseasonable heat was gone, there was a feeling of spring in the air. She found that Philip had dressed. The house was very quiet. She had slept late. At breakfast there were only herself and Daisy. The men had gone out and Mrs. Vaughan was not well. She had come down, had a cup of tea and been forced to return to her bed. She was subject to severe headaches.