The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection. W. Somerset Maugham

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СКАЧАТЬ what happened to me," said Taylor. "I was hailed out and I hadn't got any capital, so I just had to hire out." He turned suddenly to Nora. "If it hadn't been for that hail storm you wouldn't have had the pleasure of makin' my acquaintance."

      "How hollow and empty life would have been without that!" she said ironically.

      "I wonder you didn't just quit and start out Calgary way," put in Gertie.

      "Well," said Taylor slowly, "it was this way: I'd put in two years on my homestead and done a lot of clearing. It seemed kind of silly to lose my rights after all that. Then, too, when you've been hailed out once, the chances are it won't happen again, for some years that is, and by that time I ought to have a bit put by."

      "What sort of house have you got?" asked Nora.

      "Well, it ain't what you might call a palace, but it's large enough for two."

      "Thinking of marrying, Frank?" asked Marsh.

      "Well, I guess it's kind of lonesome on a farm without a woman. But it's not so easy to find a wife when you're just starting on your own. Canadian girls think twice before taking a farmer."

      "They know something, I guess," said Gertie grimly.

      "You took me, Gertie," laughed her husband.

      "Not because I wanted to, you can be sure of that. I don't know how you got round me."

      "I wonder."

      "I guess it was because you was kind of helpless, and I didn't know what you'd do without me."

      "I guess it was love, and you couldn't help yourself." Gertie stopped her work long enough to make a little grimacing protest.

      "I'm thinking of going to one of them employment agencies when I get to Winnipeg," said Taylor, moving his chair so that he could watch Nora's face, "and looking the girls over."

      "Like sheep," said Nora scornfully.

      "I don't know anything about sheep. I've never had to do with sheep."

      "And may I ask, do you think that you know anything about women?"

      "I guess I can tell if they're strong and willing. And so long as they ain't cock-eyed, I don't mind taking the rest on trust."

      "And what inducement is there for a girl to have you?"

      "That's why he wants to catch 'em young, when they're just landed and don't know much," laughed Trotter uproariously.

      "I've got my quarter-section," went on the imperturbable Frank, quite undisturbed by the laughter caused by Trotter's sally, "a good hundred and sixty acres with seventy of it cleared. And I've got a shack that I built myself. That's something, ain't it?"

      "You've got a home to offer and enough to eat and drink. A girl can get that anywhere. Why, I'm told they're simply begging for service."

      "Y-e-e-s. But you see some girls like getting married. There's something in the word that appeals to them."

      "You seem to think that a girl would jump at the chance of marrying you!" said Nora with rising temper.

      "She might do worse."

      "I must say I think you flatter yourself."

      "Oh, I don't know. I know my job, and there ain't too many as can say that. I've got brains."

      "What makes you think so?"

      "Well, I can see you're no fool."

      Gertie chuckled with amusement. "He certainly put one over on you then, Nora."

      "Because you've got no use for me, there's no saying but what others may have."

      "I forgot that there's no accounting for tastes."

      "I can try, can't I?"

      Wishing to escape any further conversation with the object of her detestation, and seeing her opportunity now that the dishes were washed, Nora started to empty the dishpan in the sink in the pantry. But Gertie, who divined her motive and wished the sport to continue, forestalled her.

      "I'll do it," she said. "You finish wiping the dishes."

      "It's very wise of you to go to an agency," said Nora in answer to his last question. "A girl's more likely to marry you when she's only seen you once than when she's seen you often."

      "It seems to make you quite mad, the thought of me marrying!" with a wink at the others.

      "You wouldn't talk about it like that unless you looked down upon women. Oh, how I pity the poor wretched creature who becomes your wife!"

      "Oh, I guess she won't have such a bad time--when I've broken her in to my ways."

      "And are you under the impression that you can do that?"

      "Yep."

      "You're not expecting that there'll be much love lost between you and the girl whom you--you honor with your choice?"

      "What's love got to do with it?" asked Taylor in affected surprise. "It's a business undertaking."

      "What!" Nora's eyes were dark with indignation and anger.

      "None at all. I give her board and lodging and the charm of my society. And in return, she's got to cook and bake and wash and keep the shack clean and tidy. And if she can do that, I'll not be particular what she looks like."

      "So long as she's not cock-eyed," Reggie reminded him.

      "No, I draw the line at that."

      "I beg your pardon," said Nora with bitter irony; "I didn't know it was a general servant you wanted. You spend a dollar and a half on a marriage license and then you don't have to pay any wages. It's a good investment."

      For the first time she seemed to have pierced the enemy's armor.

      "You've got a sharp tongue in your head for a girl, Nora."

      "Please don't call me Nora."

      "Don't be so silly, Nora," said her brother with a trace of irritation. "It's the custom of the country. Why, they all call me Ed."

      "I don't care what the custom of the country is. I'm not going to be called Nora by the hired man!"

      "Don't you bother, Ed," said Frank, apparently once more restored to his normal placidity; "I'll call her Miss Marsh if she likes it better."

      But Nora was not to be pacified. He wouldn't have dared take such a liberty with her had he not been on the eve of going СКАЧАТЬ