«How d'ye know that?»
«I 'eard 'im say somethin' to 'er about it. 'Mother was there', 'e says. Then afterwards 'e 'ad one 'o them sleepy fits.»
«It's in the family.»
«Yes, it is,» retorted the woman. «If you 'adn't sleepy fits you'd get some work to do, like other men.»
«Oh, shut it, woman! What I mean is, that my brother Tom gets them fits, and this lad o' mine is said to be the livin' image of his uncle. So he had a trance, had he? What did you do?»
The woman gave an evil grin.
«I did what you did.»
«What, the sealin'-wax again?»
«Not much of it. Just enough to wake 'im. It's the only way to break 'im of it.»
Silas shrugged his shoulders.
«'Ave a care, my lass! There is talk of the p'lice, and if they see those burns, you and I may be in the dock together.»
«Silas Linden, you are a fool! Can't a parent c'rect 'is own child?»
«Yes, but it ain't your own child, and stepmothers has a bad name, see? There's that Jew woman next door. She saw you when you took the clothes' rope to little Margery last washin'-day. She spoke to me about it and again to-day about the food.»
«What's the matter with the food? The greedy little bastards! They had a 'unch of bread each when I 'ad my dinner. A bit of real starvin' would do them no 'arm, and I would 'ave less sauce.»
«What, has Willie sauced you?»
«Yes, when 'e woke up.»
«After you'd dropped the hot sealin'-wax on him?»
«Well, I did it for 'is good, didn't I? It was to cure 'im of a bad 'abit.»
«Wot did he say?»
«Cursed me good and proper, 'e did. All about his mother – wot 'is mother would do to me. I'm dam' well sick of 'is mother!»
«Don't say too much about Amy. She was a good woman.»
«So you say now, Silas Linden, but by all accounts you 'ad a queer way of showin' it when she was alive.»
«Hold your jaw, woman! I've had enough to vex me to-day without you startin' your tantrums. You're jealous of the grave. That's wot's the matter with you.»
«And her brats can insult me as they like – me that 'as cared for you these five years.»
«No, I didn't say that. If he insulted you, it's up to me to deal with him. Where's that strap? Go, fetch him in!»
The woman came across and kissed him.
«I've only you, Silas.»
«Oh hell! don't muck me about. I'm not in the mood. Go and fetch Willie in. You can bring Margery also. It takes the sauce out of her also, for I think she feels it more than he does.»
The woman left the room but was back, in a moment.
«'E's off again!» said she. «It fair gets on my nerves to see him. Come 'ere, Silas! 'Ave a look!»
They went together into the back kitchen. A small fire was smouldering in the grate. Beside it, huddled up in a chair, sat a fair-haired boy of ten. His delicate face was upturned to the ceiling. His eyes were half-closed, and only the whites visible. There was a look of great peace upon his thin, spiritual features. In the corner a poor little cowed mite of a girl, a year or two younger, was gazing with sad, frightened eyes at her brother.
«Looks awful, don't 'e?» said the woman. «Don't seem to belong to this world. I wish to God 'e'd make a move for the other. 'E don't do much good 'ere.»
«Here, wake up!,» cried Silas. «None of your foxin'! Wake up! D'ye hear?» He shook him roughly by the shoulder, but the boy still slumbered on. The backs of his hands, which lay upon his lap, were covered with bright scarlet blotches.
«My word, you've dropped enough hot wax on him. D'you mean to tell me, Sarah, it took all that to wake him?»
«Maybe I dropped one or two extra for luck. 'E does aggravate me so that I can 'ardly 'old myself. But you wouldn't believe 'ow little 'e can feel when 'e's like that. You can 'owl in 'is ear. – It's all lost on 'im. See 'ere!»
She caught the lad by the hair and shook him violently. He groaned and shivered. Then he sank back into his serene trance.
«Say!» cried Silas, stroking his stubbled chin as he looked thoughtfully at his son, «I think there is money in this if it is handled to rights. Wot about a turn on the halls, eh? 'The Boy Wonder or How is it Done?' There's a name for the bills. Then folk know his uncle's name, so they will be able to take him on trust.»
«I thought you was going into the business yourself.»
«That's a wash-out,» snarled Silas. «Don't you talk of it. It's finished.»
«Been caught out already?»
«I tell you not to talk about it, Woman!» the man shouted. «I'm just in the mood to give you the hidin' of your life, so don't you get my goat' or you'll be sorry.» He stepped across and pinched the boy's arm with all his force. «By Cripes, he's a wonder! Let us see how far it will go.»
He turned to the sinking fire and with the tongs he picked out a half-red ember. This he placed on the boy's head. There was a smell of burning hair, then of roasting flesh, and suddenly, with a scream of pain, the boy came back to his senses.
«Mother! Mother!» he cried. The girl in the corner took up the cry. They were like two lambs bleating together.
«Damn your mother!» cried the woman, shaking Margery by the collar of her frail black dress. «Stop squallin', you little stinker!» She struck the child with her open hand across the face. Little Willie ran at her and kicked her shins until a blow from Silas knocked him into the corner. The brute picked up a stick and lashed the two cowering children, while they screamed for mercy, and tried to cover their little bodies from the cruel blows.
«You stop that!» cried a voice in the passage.
«It's that blasted Jewess!» said the woman. She went to the kitchen door. «What the 'ell are you doing in our 'ouse? 'Op it, quick, or it will be the worse for you!»
«If I hear them children cry out once more, I'm off far the police.»
«Get out of it! 'Op it, I tell you!» The frowsy stepmother bore down in full sail, but the lean, lank Jewess stood her ground. Next instant they met. Mrs. Silas Linden screamed, and staggered back with blood running down her face where four nails had left as many red furrows. Silas' with an oath, pushed his wife out of the way, seized the intruder round the waist, and slung her bodily through the door. She lay in the roadway with her long gaunt limbs sprawling about like some half-slain fowl. Without rising, she shook her clenched hands in the air and screamed curses at Silas, who slammed the door and left her, while neighbours ran from all sides to hear particulars of the fray. Mrs. Linden, staring through the front blind, saw with some relief that her enemy was able to rise and to limp back to her own door, whence she could be heard delivering a long shrill harangue as to her wrongs. The wrongs of a Jew are not lightly forgotten, for the race can both love and hate.
«She's all right, Silas. I thought maybe you 'ad killed 'er «
«It's what she wants, the damned canting sheeny. It's bad enough to have her in the street without her daring to set foot inside my door. I'll cut the hide off that young Willie. He's the cause of it all. Where is he?»
«They ran up to their room. I heard them lock the door.»
«A lot of good that will do them.»
«I wouldn't touch 'em now, Silas. The neighbours is all up and about and we needn't ask for trouble.»
«You're right!» he grumbled. «It will keep till I come back.»
«Where are you goin'?»
«Down to the 'Admiral Vernon'. There's a chance of a job as sparrin' partner to Long Davis. He goes into training on Monday and needs a man of my weight.»
«Well, I'll expect you when I see you. I get too much of that pub of yours. I know what the 'Admiral Vernon' means.»
«It means the only place in God's earth where I get any peace or rest» said Silas.
«A fat lot I get – or ever 'ave 'ad since I married you.»
«That's right. Grouse away!» he growled. «If grousin' made a man happy, you'd be the champion.»