Watt, Page 21

  This room was furnished solidly and with taste.

  This solid and tasteful furniture was subjected by Mr Knott to frequent changes of position, both absolute and relative. Thus it was not rare to find, on the Sunday, the tallboy on its feet by the fire, and the dressing-table on its head by the bed, and the nightstool on its face by the door, and the washhand-stand on its back by the window; and, on the Monday, the tallboy on its head by the bed, and the dressing-table on its face by the door, and the nightstool on its back by the window, and the washhand-stand on its feet by the fire; and, on the Tuesday, the tallboy on its face by the door, and the dressing-table on its back by the window, and the nightstool on its feet by the fire, and the washhand-stand on its head by the bed; and, on the Wednesday, the tallboy on its back by the window, and the dressing-table on its feet by the fire, and the nightstool on its head by the bed, and the washhand-stand on its face by the door; and, on the Thursday, the tallboy on its side by the fire, and the dressing-table on its feet by the bed, and the nightstool on its head by the door, and the washhand-stand on its face by the window; and, on the Friday, the tallboy on its feet by the bed, and the dressing-table on its head by the door, and the nightstool on its face by the window, and the washhand-stand on its side by the fire; and, on the Saturday, the tallboy on its head by the door, and the dressing-table on its face by the window, and the nightstool on its side by the fire, and the washhand-stand on its feet by the bed; and, on the Sunday week, the tallboy on its face by the window, and the dressing-table on its side by the fire, and the nightstool on its feet by the bed, and the washhand-stand on its head by the door; and, on the Monday week, the tallboy on its back by the fire, and the dressing-table on its side by the bed, and the nightstool on its feet by the door, and the washhand-stand on its head by the window; and, on the Tuesday week, the tallboy on its side by the bed, and the dressing-table on its feet by the door, and the nightstool on its head by the window, and the washhand-stand on its back by the fire; and, on the Wednesday week, the tallboy on its feet by the door, and the dressing-table on its head by the window, and the nightstool on its back by the fire, and the washhand-stand on its side by the bed; and, on the Thursday week, the tallboy on its head by the window, and the dressing-table on its back by the fire, and the nightstool on its side by the bed, and the washhand-stand on its feet by the door; and, on the Friday week, the tallboy on its face by the fire, and the dressing-table on its back by the bed, and the nightstool on its side by the door, and the washhand-stand on its feet by the window; and, on the Saturday week, the tallboy on its back by the bed, and the dressing-table on its side by the door, and the nightstool on its feet by the window, and the washhand-stand on its face by the fire; and, on the Sunday fortnight, the tallboy on its side by the door, and the dressing-table on its feet by the window, and the nightstool on its face by the fire, and the washhand-stand on its back by the bed; and, on the Monday fortnight, the tallboy on its feet by the window, and the dressing-table on its face by the fire, and the nightstool on its back by the bed, and the washhand-stand on its side by the door; and, on the Tuesday fortnight, the tallboy on its head by the fire, and the dressing-table on its face by the bed, and the nightstool on its back by the door, and the washhand-stand on its side by the window; and, on the Wednesday fortnight, the tallboy on its face by the bed, and the dressing-table on its back by the door, and the nightstool on its side by the window, and the washhand-stand on its head by the fire; and, on the Thursday fortnight, the tallboy on its back by the door, and the dressing-table on its side by the window, and the nightstool on its head by the fire, and the washhand-stand on its face by the bed; and, on the Friday fortnight, the tallboy on its side by the window, and the dressing-table on its head by the fire, and the nightstool on its face by the bed, and the washhand-stand on its back by the door, for example, not at all rare, to consider only, over a period of nineteen days only, the tallboy, the dressing-table, the nightstool and the washhand-stand, and their feet, and heads, and faces, and backs and unspecified sides, and the fire, and the bed, and the door, and the window, not at all rare.

  For the chairs also, to mention only the chairs also, were never still.

  For the corners also, to mention only the corners also, were seldom vacant.

  Alone the bed maintained the illusion of fixity, the bed so tasteful, the bed so solid, that it was round, and clamped to the ground.

  Mr Knott’s head, Mr Knott’s feet, in nightly displacements of almost one minute, completed in twelve months their circuit of this solitary couch. His coccyx also, and adjacent gear, performed their little annual revolution, as appeared from an examination of the sheets (changed regularly on Saint Patrick’s Day), and even of the mattress.

  Of the strange doings above stairs, that had so preoccupied Watt during his time below stairs, no explanation was to be had. But they did not preoccupy Watt any longer.

  From time to time Mr Knott disappeared from his room, leaving Watt alone. Mr Knott was there one moment, and the next gone. But on these occasions Watt, unlike Erskine, did not feel impelled to institute a search, above stairs and below, assassinating with his tread the quiet house, and pestering his colleague in the kitchen, no, but he remained quietly where he was, not wholly asleep, not wholly awake, until Mr Knott came back.

  Watt suffered neither from the presence of Mr Knott, nor from his absence. When he was with him, he was content to be with him, and when he was away from him, he was content to be away from him. Never with relief, never with regret, did he leave him at night, or in the morning come to him again.

  This ataraxy covered the entire house-room, the pleasure-garden, the vegetable-garden and of course Arthur.

  So that when the time came for Watt to depart, he walked to the gate with the utmost serenity.

  But he was no sooner in the public road than he burst into tears. He stood there, he remembered, with bowed head, and a bag in each hand, and his tears fell, a slow minute rain, to the ground, which had recently been repaired. He would not have believed such a thing possible, if he had not been there himself. The humidity thus lent to the road surface must, he reckoned, have survived his departure by as long as two minutes at least, if not three. Fortunately the weather was fine.

  Watt’s room contained no information. It was a small, dingy, and, though Watt was a man of some bodily cleanliness, fetid compartment. Its one window commanded a very fine view of a race-course. The painting, or coloured reproduction, yielded nothing further. On the contrary, as time passed, its significance diminished.

  From Mr Knott’s voice nothing was to be learnt. Between Mr Knott and Watt no conversation passed. From time to time, for no apparent reason, Mr Knott opened his mouth in song. From bass to tenor, all male registers were employed by him, with equal success. He did not sing well, in Watt’s opinion, but Watt had heard worse singers. The music of these songs was of an extreme monotony. For the voice, save for an occasional raucous sally, both up and down, to the extent of a tenth, or even an eleventh, did not leave the pitch at which, having elected to begin, it seemed obliged to remain, and finally to end. The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance. The open a sound was predominant, and the explosives k and g. Mr Knott talked often to himself too, with great variety and vehemence of intonation and gesticulation, but this so softly that it came, a wild dim chatter, meaningless to Watt’s ailing ears. This was a noise of which Watt grew exceedingly fond. Not that he was sorry when it ceased, not that he was glad when it came again, no. But while it sounded he was gladdened, as by the rain on the bamboos, or even rushes, as by the land against the waves, doomed to cease, doomed to come again. Mr Knott was also addicted to solitary dactylic ejaculations of extraordinary vigour, accompanied by spasms of the members. The chief of these were: Exelmans! Cavendish! Habbakuk! Ecchymose!

  With regard to the so important matter of Mr Knott’s physical appearance, Watt had unfortunately little
or nothing to say. For one day Mr Knott would be tall, fat, pale and dark, and the next thin, small, flushed and fair, and the next sturdy, middlesized, yellow and ginger, and the next small, fat, pale and fair, and the next middlesized, flushed, thin and ginger, and the next tall, yellow, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, middlesized, ginger and pale, and the next tall, thin, dark and flushed, and the next small, fair, sturdy and yellow, and the next tall, ginger, pale and fat, and the next thin, flushed, small and dark, and the next fair, sturdy, middlesized and yellow, and the next dark, small, fat and pale, and the next fair, middlesized, flushed and thin, and the next sturdy, ginger, tall and yellow, and the next pale, fat, middlesized and fair, and the next flushed, tall, thin and ginger, and the next yellow, small, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, flushed, ginger and tall, and the next dark, thin, yellow and small, and the next fair, pale, sturdy and middlesized, and the next dark, flushed, small and fat, and the next thin, fair, yellow and middlesized, and the next pale, sturdy, ginger and tall, and the next flushed, fair, fat and middlesized, and the next yellow, ginger, tall and thin, and the next sturdy, small, pale and dark, and the next tall, fat, yellow and fair, and the next small, pale, thin and ginger, and the next middlesized, flushed, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, small, ginger and yellow, and the next middlesized, thin, dark and pale, and the next tall, fair, sturdy and flushed, and the next middlesized, dark, yellow and fat, and the next thin, pale, tall and fair, and the next ginger, sturdy, small and flushed, and the next dark, tall, fat and yellow, and the next fair, small, pale and thin, and the next sturdy, ginger, middlesized and flushed, and the next yellow, fat, small and fair, and the next pale, middlesized, thin and ginger, and the next flushed, tall, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, yellow, ginger and middlesized, and the next dark, thin, pale and tall, and the next fair, flushed, sturdy and small, and the next ginger, yellow, tall and fat, and the next thin, dark, pale and small, and the next flushed, sturdy, fair and middlesized, and the next yellow, dark, fat and small, and the next pale, fair, middlesized and thin, and the next sturdy, tall, flushed and ginger, and the next middlesized, fat, yellow and fair, and the next tall, pale, thin and ginger, and the next small, flushed, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, tall, fair and pale, and the next small, thin, ginger and flushed, and the next middlesized, dark, sturdy and yellow, and the next small, ginger, pale and fat, and the next thin, flushed, middlesized and dark, and the next fair, sturdy, tall and yellow, and the next dark, middlesized, fat and pale, and the next fair, tall, flushed and thin, and the next sturdy, ginger, small and yellow, and the next flushed, fat, tall and fair, and the next yellow, small, thin and ginger, and the next pale, middlesized, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, flushed, ginger and small, and the next dark, thin, yellow and middlesized, and the next fair, pale, sturdy and tall, and the next dark, flushed, middlesized and fat, and the next thin, fair, yellow and tall, and the next pale, sturdy, ginger and small, and the next flushed, dark, fat and tall, and the next yellow, fair, small and thin, and the next sturdy, middlesized, pale and ginger, and the next small, fat, flushed and fair, and the next middlesized, yellow, thin and ginger, and the next tall, pale, dark and sturdy, and the next fat, middlesized, ginger and flushed, and the next tall, thin, dark and yellow, and the next small, fair, sturdy and pale, or so it seemed to Watt, to mention only the figure, stature, skin and hair.

  For daily changed, as well as these, in carriage, expression, shape and size, the feet, the legs, the hands, the arms, the mouth, the nose, the eyes, the ears, to mention only the feet, the legs, the hands, the arms, the mouth, the nose, the eyes, the ears, and their carriage, expression, shape and size.

  For the port, the voice, the smell, the hairdress, were seldom the same, from one day to the next, to mention only the port, the voice, the smell, the hairdress.

  For the way of hawking, the way of spitting, were subject to daily fluctuation, to consider only the way of hawking, and of spitting.

  For the belch was never the same, two days running, to go no further than the belch.

  Watt had no hand in these transformations, and did not know at what hour of the twenty-four they were carried out. He suspected, however, that they were carried out between the hours of midnight, when Watt ended his day by helping Mr Knott into his nightdress,3 and then into bed, and eight in the morning, when Watt began his day by helping Mr Knott out of his bed, and then out of his nightdress. For if Mr Knott had modified his appearance during Watt’s hours of attendance, then it was unlikely that he could have done so without attracting Watt’s attention, if not at the time, at least in the hours following. So Watt suspected that it was in the depths of the night, when the risk of disturbance was small, that Mr Knott organised his exterior for the day to come. And what went far to strengthen this suspicion in the heart of Watt was this, that when sometimes, in the small hours of the morning, unable or unwilling to sleep he rose and went to the window, to look at the stars, which he had once known familiarly by name, when dying in London, and breathe the night air, and listen to the night sounds, of which he was still extremely curious, he sometimes saw, between him and the ground, lightening the darkness, greyening the leaves and, in wet weather, tinseling the rain, a fascia of white light.

  None of Mr Knott’s gestures could be called characteristic, unless perhaps that which consisted in the simultaneous obturation of the facial cavities, the thumbs in the mouth, the forefingers in the ears, the little fingers in the nostrils, the third fingers in the eyes and the second fingers, free in a crisis to promote intellection, laid along the temples. And this was less a gesture than an attitude, sustained by Mr Knott for long periods of time, without visible discomfort.

  Other traits, other little ways, little ways of passing the little days, Watt remarked in Mr Knott, and could have told if he had wished, if he had not been tired, so very tired, by all he had told already, tired of adding, tired of subtracting to and from the same old things the same old things.

  But he could not bear that we should part, never to meet again (in this world), and I in ignorance of how Mr Knott put on his boots, or his shoes, or his slippers, or his boot and shoe, or his boot and slipper, or his shoe and slipper, when he did so, when he did not merely put on a boot, or a shoe, or a slipper. So, taking his hands from my shoulders, and laying them on my wrists, he told how Mr Knott, when he felt the time come, taking on a cunning air would begin to sidle sidle up to the boots, up to the shoes, up to the boot and shoe, up to the boot and slipper, up to the shoe and slipper, sidle sidle little by little with an artless air little by little nearer and nearer to where they lay, in the rack, till he was near enough, pouncing, to secure them. And then, while he put on the one, the black boot, the brown shoe, the black slipper, the brown boot, the black shoe, the brown slipper, on the one foot, he held the other tight, lest it should escape, or put it in his pocket, or put his foot upon it, or put it in a drawer, or put it in his mouth, till he might put it on, on the other foot.

  Continuing then, when he had told me this, then he loosed my hands from his shoulders, and backwards through the hole went back, to his garden, and left me alone, alone with only my poor eyes to follow him, this last of many times to follow him, over the deep threshing shadows backwards stumbling, towards his habitation. And often he struck against the trunks of trees, and in the tangles of underwood caught his foot, and fell to the ground, on his back, on his face, on his side, or into a great clump of brambles, or of briars, or of thistles, or of nettles. But ever he picked himself up and unmurmuring went on, towards his habitation, until I saw him no more, but only the aspens. And from the hidden pavilions, his and mine, where by this time dinner was preparing, the issuing smokes by the wind were blown, now far apart, but now together, mingled to vanish.

  1 Watt liked the sun at this time, or at least supported it. Nothing is known about this volte-face. He seemed pleased that all the shadows should move, not only himself.

  2 A Latin expression meaning: I (Ego) also (autem).

&n
bsp; 3 For the guidance of the attentive reader, at a loss to understand how these repeated investments, and divestments, of the nightdress, did not finally reveal to Watt Mr Knott’s veritable aspect, it is perhaps not superfluous here to note, that Mr Knott’s attitude to his nightdress was not that generally in vogue. For Mr Knott did not do as most men, and many women, do, who, before putting on their nightclothes, at night, take off their dayclothes, and again, when morning comes, once again, before they dream of putting on their dayclothes are careful to pull off their soiled nightclothes, no, but he went to bed with his nightclothes over his dayclothes, and he rose with his dayclothes under his nightclothes.

  IV

  As Watt told the beginning of his story, not first, but second, so not fourth, but third, now he told its end. Two, one, four, three, that was the order in which Watt told his story. Heroic quatrains are not otherwise elaborated.

  As Watt came, so he went, in the night, that covers all things with its cloak, especially when the weather is cloudy.

  It was summer, he thought, because the air was not quite cold. As for his coming, so now for his going, it seemed a kindly summer’s night. And it came at the end of a day that was like the other days, for Watt. For of Mr Knott he could not speak.