The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection. W. Somerset Maugham
sure that's very kind of you."
* * *
Two days, later Mrs. Jackson called on a similar errand.
She tripped up to James and frankly held out her hand, neatly encased as ever in a shining black kid glove.
"Captain Parsons, let us shake hands, and let bygones be bygones. You have taken my advice, and if, in the heat of the moment, we both said things which we regret, after all, we're only human."
"Surely, Mrs. Jackson, I was moderation itself?--even when you told me I should infallibly go to Hell."
"You were extremely irritating," said the Vicar's lady, smiling, "but I forgive you. After all, you paid more attention to what I said than I expected you would."
"It must be very satisfactory for you to think that."
"You know I have no ill-feeling towards you at all. I gave you a piece of my mind because I thought it was my duty. If you think I stepped over the limits of--moderation, I am willing and ready to apologise."
"What a funny woman you are!" said James, looking at her with a good-humoured, but rather astonished smile.
"I'm sure I don't know what makes you think so," she answered, bridling a little.
"It never occurred to me that you honestly thought you were acting rightly when you came and gave me a piece of your mind, as you call it. I thought your motives were simply malicious and uncharitable."
"I have a very high ideal of my duties as a clergyman's wife."
"The human animal is very odd."
"I don't look upon myself as an animal, Captain Parsons."
James smiled.
"I wonder why we all torture ourselves so unnecessarily. It really seems as if the chief use we made of our reason was to inflict as much pain upon ourselves and upon one another as we possibly could."
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Captain Parsons."
"When you do anything, are you ever tormented by a doubt whether you are doing right or wrong?"
"Never," she answered, firmly. "There is always a right way and a wrong way, and, I'm thankful to say, God has given me sufficient intelligence to know which is which; and obviously I choose the right way."
"What a comfortable idea! I can never help thinking that every right way is partly wrong, and every wrong way partly right. There's always so much to be said on both sides; to me it's very hard to know which is which."
"Only a very weak man could think like that."
"Possibly! I have long since ceased to flatter myself on my strength of mind. I find it is chiefly a characteristic of unintelligent persons."
* * *
It was Mary's way to take herself seriously. It flattered her to think that she was not blind to Jamie's faults; she loved him none the less on their account, but determined to correct them. He had an unusual way of looking at things, and an occasional flippancy in his conversation, both of which she hoped in time to eradicate. With patience, gentleness, and dignity a woman can do a great deal with a man.
One of Mary's friends had a husband with a bad habit of swearing, which was cured in a very simple manner. Whenever he swore, his wife swore too. For instance, he would say: "That's a damned bad job;" and his wife answered, smiling: "Yes, damned bad." He was rather surprised, but quickly ceased to employ objectionable words. Story does not relate whether he also got out of the habit of loving his wife; but that, doubtless, is a minor detail. Mary always looked upon her friend as a pattern.
"James is not really cynical," she told herself. "He says things, not because he means them, but because he likes to startle people."
It was inconceivable that James should not think on all subjects as she had been brought up to do, and the least originality struck her naturally as a sort of pose. But on account of his illness Mary allowed him a certain latitude, and when he said anything she did not approve of, instead of arguing the point, merely smiled indulgently and changed the subject. There was plenty of time before her, and when James became her husband she would have abundant opportunity of raising him to that exalted level upon which she was so comfortably settled. The influence of a simple Christian woman could not fail to have effect; at bottom James was as good as gold, and she was clever enough to guide him insensibly along the right path.
James, perceiving this, scarcely knew whether to be incensed or amused. Sometimes he could see the humour in Mary's ingenuous conceit, and in the dogmatic assurance with which she uttered the most astounding opinions; but at others, when she waved aside superciliously a remark that did not square with her prejudices, or complacently denied a statement because she had never heard it before, he was irritated beyond all endurance. And it was nothing very outrageous he said, but merely some commonplace of science which all the world had accepted for twenty years. Mary, however, entrenched herself behind the impenetrable rock of her self-sufficiency.
"I'm not clever enough to argue with you," she said; "but I know I'm right; and I'm quite satisfied."
Generally she merely smiled.
"What nonsense you talk, Jamie! You don't really believe what you say."
"But, my dear Mary, it's a solemn fact. There's no possibility of doubting it. It's a truism."
Then with admirable self-command, remembering that James was still an invalid, she would pat his hand and say:
"Well, it doesn't matter. Of course, you're much cleverer than I am. It must be almost time for your beef-tea."
James sank back, baffled. Mary's ignorance was an impenetrable cuirass; she would not try to understand, she could not even realise that she might possibly be mistaken. Quite seriously she thought that what she ignored could be hardly worth knowing. People talk of the advance of education; there may be a little among the lower classes, but it is inconceivable that the English gentry can ever have been more illiterate than they are now. Throughout the country, in the comfortable villa or in the stately mansion, you will find as much prejudice and superstition in the drawing-room as in the kitchen; and you will find the masters less receptive of new ideas than their servants; and into the bargain, presumptuously satisfied with their own nescience.
James saw that the only way to deal with Mary and with his people was to give in to all their prejudices. He let them talk, and held his tongue. He shut himself off from them, recognising that there was, and could be, no bond between them. They were strangers to him; their ways of looking at every detail of life were different from his; they had not an interest, not a thought, in common.... The preparations for the marriage went on.
One day Mary decided that it was her duty to speak with James about his religion. Some of his remarks had made her a little uneasy, and he was quite strong enough now to be seriously dealt with.
"Tell me, Jamie," she said, in reply to an observation which she was pleased to consider flippant, "you do believe in God, don't you?"
But James had learnt his lesson well.
"My dear, that seems to me a private affair of my own."
"Are you ashamed to say?" she asked, gravely.
"No; but I don't see the advantage of discussing the matter."
"I think you ought to tell me as I'm going to be your wife. I shouldn't like you to be an atheist."
"Atheism is exploded, Mary. Only very ignorant persons are certain of what they cannot possibly know."
"Then I don't see why you should be afraid to tell me."
"I'm not; only I think