BOOK I MRS. BAINES - CHAPTER VI - ESCAPADE - PART II

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_ On the day of Mr. Scales's visit to the shop to obtain orders and
money on behalf of Birkinshaws, a singular success seemed to
attend the machinations of Mrs. Baines. With Mr. Scales
punctuality was not an inveterate habit, and he had rarely been
known, in the past, to fulfil exactly the prophecy of the letter
of advice concerning his arrival. But that morning his promptitude
was unexampled. He entered the shop, and by chance Mr. Povey was
arranging unshrinkable flannels in the doorway. The two youngish
little men talked amiably about flannels, dogs, and quarter-day
(which was just past), and then Mr. Povey led Mr. Scales to his
desk in the dark corner behind the high pile of twills, and paid
the quarterly bill, in notes and gold--as always; and then Mr.
Scales offered for the august inspection of Mr. Povey all that
Manchester had recently invented for the temptation of drapers,
and Mr. Povey gave him an order which, if not reckless, was nearer
'handsome' than 'good.' During the process Mr. Scales had to go
out of the shop twice or three times in order to bring in from his
barrow at the kerb-stone certain small black boxes edged with
brass. On none of these excursions did Mr. Scales glance wantonly
about him in satisfaction of the lust of the eye. Even if he had
permitted himself this freedom he would have seen nothing more
interesting than three young lady assistants seated round the
stove and sewing with pricked fingers from which the chilblains
were at last deciding to depart. When Mr. Scales had finished
writing down the details of the order with his ivory-handled
stylo, and repacked his boxes, he drew the interview to a
conclusion after the manner of a capable commercial traveller;
that is to say, he implanted in Mr. Povey his opinion that Mr.
Povey was a wise, a shrewd and an upright man, and that the world
would be all the better for a few more like him. He inquired for
Mrs. Baines, and was deeply pained to hear of her indisposition
while finding consolation in the assurance that the Misses Baines
were well. Mr. Povey was on the point of accompanying the pattern
of commercial travellers to the door, when two customers
simultaneously came in--ladies. One made straight for Mr. Povey,
whereupon Mr. Scales parted from him at once, it being a universal
maxim in shops that even the most distinguished commercial shall
not hinder the business of even the least distinguished customer.
The other customer had the effect of causing Constance to pop up
from her cloistral corner. Constance had been there all the time,
but of course, though she heard the remembered voice, her
maidenliness had not permitted that she should show herself to Mr.
Scales.

Now, as he was leaving, Mr. Scales saw her, with her agreeable
snub nose and her kind, simple eyes. She was requesting the second
customer to mount to the showroom, where was Miss Sophia. Mr.
Scales hesitated a moment, and in that moment Constance, catching
his eye, smiled upon him, and nodded. What else could she do?
Vaguely aware though she was that her mother was not 'set up' with
Mr. Scales, and even feared the possible influence of the young
man on Sophia, she could not exclude him from her general
benevolence towards the universe. Moreover, she liked him; she
liked him very much and thought him a very fine specimen of a man.

He left the door and went across to her. They shook hands and
opened a conversation instantly; for Constance, while retaining
all her modesty, had lost all her shyness in the shop, and could
chatter with anybody. She sidled towards her corner, precisely as
Sophia had done on another occasion, and Mr. Scales put his chin
over the screening boxes, and eagerly prosecuted the conversation.

There was absolutely nothing in the fact of the interview itself
to cause alarm to a mother, nothing to render futile the
precautions of Mrs. Baines on behalf of the flower of Sophia's
innocence. And yet it held danger for Mrs. Baines, all unconscious
in her parlour. Mrs. Baines could rely utterly on Constance not to
be led away by the dandiacal charms of Mr. Scales (she knew in
what quarter sat the wind for Constance); in her plan she had
forgotten nothing, except Mr. Povey; and it must be said that she
could not possibly have foreseen the effect on the situation of
Mr. Povey's character.

Mr. Povey, attending to his customer, had noticed the bright smile
of Constance on the traveller, and his heart did not like it. And
when he saw the lively gestures of a Mr. Scales in apparently
intimate talk with a Constance hidden behind boxes, his uneasiness
grew into fury. He was a man capable of black and terrible furies.
Outwardly insignificant, possessing a mind as little as his body,
easily abashed, he was none the less a very susceptible young man,
soon offended, proud, vain, and obscurely passionate. You might
offend Mr. Povey without guessing it, and only discover your sin
when Mr. Povey had done something too decisive as a result of it.

The reason of his fury was jealousy. Mr. Povey had made great
advances since the death of John Baines. He had consolidated his
position, and he was in every way a personage of the first
importance. His misfortune was that he could never translate his
importance, or his sense of his importance, into terms of outward
demeanour. Most people, had they been told that Mr. Povey was
seriously aspiring to enter the Baines family, would have laughed.
But they would have been wrong. To laugh at Mr. Povey was
invariably wrong. Only Constance knew what inroads he had effected
upon her.

The customer went, but Mr. Scales did not go. Mr. Povey, free to
reconnoitre, did so. From the shadow of the till he could catch
glimpses of Constance's blushing, vivacious face. She was
obviously absorbed in Mr. Scales. She and he had a tremendous air
of intimacy. And the murmur of their chatter continued. Their
chatter was nothing, and about nothing, but Mr. Povey imagined
that they were exchanging eternal vows. He endured Mr. Scales's
odious freedom until it became insufferable, until it deprived him
of all his self-control; and then he retired into his cutting-out
room. He meditated there in a condition of insanity for perhaps a
minute, and excogitated a device. Dashing back into the shop, he
spoke up, half across the shop, in a loud, curt tone:

"Miss Baines, your mother wants you at once."

He was launched on the phrase before he noticed that, during his
absence, Sophia had descended from the showroom and joined her
sister and Mr. Scales. The danger and scandal were now less, he
perceived, but he was glad he had summoned Constance away, and he
was in a state to despise consequences.

The three chatterers, startled, looked at Mr. Povey, who left the
shop abruptly. Constance could do nothing but obey the call.

She met him at the door of the cutting-out room in the passage
leading to the parlour.

"Where is mother? In the parlour?" Constance inquired innocently.

There was a dark flush on Mr. Povey's face. "If you wish to know,"
said he in a hard voice, "she hasn't asked for you and she doesn't
want you."

He turned his back on her, and retreated into his lair.

"Then what--?" she began, puzzled.

He fronted her. "Haven't you been gabbling long enough with that
jackanapes?" he spit at her. There were tears in his eyes.

Constance, though without experience in these matters,
comprehended. She comprehended perfectly and immediately. She
ought to have put Mr. Povey into his place. She ought to have
protested with firm, dignified finality against such a ridiculous
and monstrous outrage as that which Mr. Povey had committed. Mr.
Povey ought to have been ruined for ever in her esteem and in her
heart. But she hesitated.

"And only last Sunday--afternoon," Mr. Povey blubbered.

(Not that anything overt had occurred, or been articulately said,
between them last Sunday afternoon. But they had been alone
together, and had each witnessed strange and disturbing matters in
the eyes of the other.)

Tears now fell suddenly from Constance's eyes. "You ought to be
ashamed--" she stammered.

Still, the tears were in her eyes, and in his too. What he or she
merely said, therefore, was of secondary importance.

Mrs. Baines, coming from the kitchen, and hearing Constance's
voice, burst upon the scene, which silenced her. Parents are
sometimes silenced. She found Sophia and Mr. Scales in the shop. _

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