Lady into Fox, Page 3

would, and that tooif you were changed to anything." But then, catching her grave look, hewould say: "Do you think I jest on these things, my dear? I do not. Iswear to you, my darling, that all my life I will be true to you, willbe faithful, will respect and reverence you who are my wife. And I willdo that not because of any hope that God in His mercy will see fit torestore your shape, but solely because I love you. However you may bechanged, my love is not."

  Then anyone seeing them would have sworn that they were lovers, sopassionately did each look on the other.

  Often he would swear to her that the devil might have power to work somemiracles, but that he would find it beyond him to change his love forher.

  These passionate speeches, however they might have struck his wife in anordinary way, now seemed to be her chief comfort. She would come to him,put her paw in his hand and look at him with sparkling eyes shiningwith joy and gratitude, would pant with eagerness, jump at him and lickhis face.

  Now he had many little things which busied him in the house--getting hismeals, setting the room straight, making the bed and so forth. When hewas doing this housework it was comical to watch his vixen. Often shewas as it were beside herself with vexation and distress to see him inhis clumsy way doing what she could have done so much better had shebeen able. Then, forgetful of the decency and the decorum which she hadat first imposed upon herself never to run upon all fours, she followedhim everywhere, and if he did one thing wrong she stopped him and showedhim the way of it. When he had forgot the hour for his meal she wouldcome and tug his sleeve and tell him as if she spoke: "Husband, are weto have no luncheon to-day?"

  This womanliness in her never failed to delight him, for it showed shewas still his wife, buried as it were in the carcase of a beast but witha woman's soul. This encouraged him so much that he debated with himselfwhether he should not read aloud to her, as he often had done formerly.At last, since he could find no reason against it, he went to the shelfand fetched down a volume of the "History of Clarissa Harlowe," which hehad begun to read aloud to her a few weeks before. He opened the volumewhere he had left off, with Lovelace's letter after he had spent thenight waiting fruitlessly in the copse.

  "Good God!

  "What is now to become of me?

  "My feet benumbed by midnight wanderings through the heaviest dews that ever fell; my wig and my linen dripping with the hoarfrost dissolving on them!

  "Day but just breaking...." etc.

  While he read he was conscious of holding her attention, then after afew pages the story claimed all his, so that he read on for abouthalf-an-hour without looking at her. When he did so he saw that she wasnot listening to him, but was watching something with strange eagerness.Such a fixed intent look was on her face that he was alarmed and soughtthe cause of it. Presently he found that her gaze was fixed on themovements of her pet dove which was in its cage hanging in the window.He spoke to her, but she seemed displeased, so he laid "ClarissaHarlowe" aside. Nor did he ever repeat the experiment of reading to her.

  Yet that same evening, as he happened to be looking through his writingtable drawer with Puss beside him looking over his elbow, she spied apack of cards, and then he was forced to pick them out to please her,then draw them from their case. At last, trying first one thing, thenanother, he found that what she was after was to play piquet with him.They had some difficulty at first in contriving for her to hold hercards and then to play them, but this was at last overcome by hisstacking them for her on a sloping board, after which she could flipthem out very neatly with her claws as she wanted to play them. Whenthey had overcome this trouble they played three games, and mostheartily she seemed to enjoy them. Moreover she won all three of them.After this they often played a quiet game of piquet together, andcribbage too. I should say that in marking the points at cribbage on theboard he always moved her pegs for her as well as his own, for she couldnot handle them or set them in the holes.

  The weather, which had been damp and misty, with frequent downpours ofrain, improved very much in the following week, and, as often happens inJanuary, there were several days with the sun shining, no wind and lightfrosts at night, these frosts becoming more intense as the days went ontill bye and bye they began to think of snow.

  With this spell of fine weather it was but natural that Mr. Tebrickshould think of taking his vixen out of doors. This was something he hadnot yet done, both because of the damp rainy weather up till then andbecause the mere notion of taking her out filled him with alarm. Indeedhe had so many apprehensions beforehand that at one time he resolvedtotally against it. For his mind was filled not only with the fear thatshe might escape from him and run away, which he knew was groundless,but with more rational visions, such as wandering curs, traps, gins,spring guns, besides a dread of being seen with her by theneighbourhood. At last however he resolved on it, and all the more ashis vixen kept asking him in the gentlest way: "Might she not go outinto the garden?" Yet she always listened very submissively when he toldher that he was afraid if they were seen together it would excite thecuriosity of their neighbours; besides this, he often told her of hisfears for her on account of dogs. But one day she answered this byleading him into the hall and pointing boldly to his gun. After this heresolved to take her, though with full precautions. That is he left thehouse door open so that in case of need she could beat a swift retreat,then he took his gun under his arm, and lastly he had her well wrappedup in a little fur jacket lest she should take cold.

  He would have carried her too, but that she delicately disengagedherself from his arms and looked at him very expressively to say thatshe would go by herself. For already her first horror of being seen togo upon all fours was worn off; reasoning no doubt upon it, that eithershe must resign herself to go that way or else stay bed-ridden all therest of her life.

  Her joy at going into the garden was inexpressible. First she ran thisway, then that, though keeping always close to him, looking very sharplywith ears cocked forward first at one thing, then another and then up tocatch his eye.

  For some time indeed she was almost dancing with delight, running roundhim, then forward a yard or two, then back to him and gambolling besidehim as they went round the garden. But in spite of her joy she was fullof fear. At every noise, a cow lowing, a cock crowing, or a ploughman inthe distance hulloaing to scare the rooks, she started, her ears prickedto catch the sound, her muzzle wrinkled up and her nose twitched, andshe would then press herself against his legs. They walked round thegarden and down to the pond where there were ornamental waterfowl, teal,widgeon and mandarin ducks, and seeing these again gave her greatpleasure. They had always been her favourites, and now she was sooverjoyed to see them that she behaved with very little of her usualself-restraint. First she stared at them, then bouncing up to herhusband's knee sought to kindle an equal excitement in his mind. Whilstshe rested her paws on his knee she turned her head again and againtowards the ducks as though she could not take her eyes off them, andthen ran down before him to the water's edge.

  But her appearance threw the ducks into the utmost degree ofconsternation. Those on shore or near the bank swam or flew to thecentre of the pond, and there huddled in a bunch; and then, swimminground and round, they began such a quacking that Mr. Tebrick was nearlydeafened. As I have before said, nothing in the ludicrous way that aroseout of the metamorphosis of his wife (and such incidents wereplentiful) ever stood a chance of being smiled at by him. So in thiscase, too, for realising that the silly ducks thought his wife a foxindeed and were alarmed on that account he found painful that spectaclewhich to others might have been amusing.

  Not so his vixen, who appeared if anything more pleased than ever whenshe saw in what a commotion she had set them, and began cutting athousand pretty capers. Though at first he called to her to come backand walk another way, Mr. Tebrick was overborne by her pleasure and satdown, while she frisked around him happier far than he had seen her eversince the change. First she ran up to him in a laughing way, all smiles,and then ran d
own again to the water's edge and began frisking andfrolicking, chasing her own brush, dancing on her hind legs even, androlling on the ground, then fell to running in circles, but all thiswithout paying any heed to the ducks.

  But they, with their necks craned out all pointing one way, swam to andfro in the middle of the pond, never stopping their quack, quack quack,and keeping time too, for they all quacked in chorus. Presently she camefurther away from the pond, and he, thinking they had had enough of thissort of entertainment, laid hold of her and said to her:

  "Come, Silvia, my dear, it is growing cold, and it is time we wentindoors. I am sure taking the air has done you a world of good, but wemust not linger any more."

  She appeared then to agree with him, though she threw half a glance overher shoulder at the ducks, and they both walked soberly enough towardsthe house.

  When they had gone about halfway she suddenly slipped