Like Stars that Fall

Chapter I Joshua Coker

had piled his first supply of oranges in a pyramid in the middle of his shop-window, and he was searching beneath the counter for a piece of white card-board upon which to write the price with a blue pencil. He had been busy since seven in the morning, polishing the squares of glass in the window until there was not a smear nor a speck upon them. This furbishing of the glass, and scrubbing of the floor and counter, was one morning's work during each week of the year ; for Mr. Coker was a neat and orderly man, with his whole heart in his business. Since his marriage, three years ago, the one great and absorbing aspira tion of Joshua Coker's life had been to " work up a connection " as a greengrocer, fruiterer, and confec tioner. Owing to the opening of a new coal-pit on Folly Moor, there had been a revival of trade in Thrusselbridge, and Joshua began to talk of buying 1 A THA T FALL a pony and cart with which to carry vegetables, fish, and rabbits from door to door.

But at present there seemed to be very little hope of extending his trade by this means. He had never been able, since he began shopkeeping, to lay his hand upon a surplus five pounds. The business was slowly, very slowly, improving ; but the position of the shop was only second-rate, and rent, and rates, and gas appeared to eat up most of the takings. An old pony, with some years of light work in its legs, had been offered to him for four pounds ; but Joshua Coker had been forced to decline the purchase. The alternative of a pony and cart was a hand-barrow, which needed neither stabling, keep, nor attendance ; but on the score of offering no violence to the susceptibilities of his wife's relatives, Mr. Coker had, with a struggle, abandoned the barrow scheme. No doubt the barrow would pay for itself in a month ; he had carefully worked out that.

Still, Louisa was not to be convinced that the departure from her standard of respectability would be anything but a "come down." When Joshua had written 2 a Penny on the card, and thrust the pointed stick into the orange at the apex of the pyramid, he went out into the street to study the effect. The window-glass was so bright and transparent that the oranges, boxes of haddocks and herrings, and heaps of cocoa and Brazil nuts, seemed to be unprotected from pilfering hands. "Ah, that's how glass should look," said Mr. Coker, enjoying the illusion. He went in to cover a small haddock with a large one, and to affix a tin ticket, with the characters, Prime, 4d., at the back of the box. When he had done this, the warm and comforting odour of Irish stew found its way from the parlour into the shop, reminding Joshua that it was dinner-time, and tick ling his already keen appetite.

The parlour-door opened, and Louisa summoned him to dinner. "Come on, Joshua," she said; "the hot plates are in the kitchen oven. Now, Dolly," she called to a toddling girl of two, who was playing with a kitten in the passage, "come on, my dear." Louisa Coker was very fair, with a pink com plexion, prominent blue eyes, and a pair of full, moist lips. Her pale yellow, fluffy hair was arranged in thick coils at the back of her head, and curled over the forehead. The figure was soft, rounded, and rather plump, the figure of a young Venus. She looked no older than eighteen or nineteen, but she was twenty-three that autumn. Joshua came in with the plates ; and when Dolly was fixed in her high chair, with a spoon in her chubby hand, and a bib fastened around her neck, they began to eat the savoury stew.

Last night Joshua and Louisa had been to the music-hall, which Mr. Peacock, Louisa's uncle, had just opened at the back of his public-house, the Royal Arms. For some months there had been a Saturday night harmonic meeting at the house, at which amateur vocalists sang. The success of these entertainments was very great. Peacock was an enterprising man ; he could sing many of Dibdin's songs, and his daughter was a pianist. He resolved to cater for the amusement of the pit Geordies and Sallies ; and out of the sing-song had grown a concert-hall, with a stage and footlights and professionals. All day Louisa's thoughts had wandered from the kitchen to the brightly-lighted music-hall, and several of the songs were humming in her head while she cut up the onions and carrots for the Irish stew. She had felt a thrill of emulation and envy when Miss Katie Aytoun, "the charming song and dance artiste," was recalled to the stage by the shouts of the pitmen.

And what had this girl done to invoke those deafening plaudits ? She simply sang a few verses in a strident voice, and frisked about the stage in a lilac silk skirt, with an artificial rose at her bosom, and paint and powder upon her cheeks. " I believe I could do as well as that," whispered Louisa to her husband. "Nonsense, Lou," he chuckled. THA T FALL 5 " Well, I should like to have a chance. You know I can sing. And I should be sorry if I'm not as good-looking as that girl. Look how she's painted up — lips and all. I dare say half her hair is false, too." " But you wouldn't like to lead the life she do," remarked Joshua. "Besides, you're a married woman, and it would be very unbecoming of you to jig about in that style before a lot of young men." Louisa did not reply. A contortionist came upon the stage; and while he embraced his neck with his legs, Louisa sat musing upon the difference between her life, with its continual round of cooking, needle work, cleaning, and minding the child, and that of Miss Katie Aytoun.

She knew that she was pretty; she had had plenty of admirers besides Joshua Coker. Why she had married the little green grocer, and consented to pass the rest of her life in the parlour and kitchen at Postgate Wynd, was never quite clear to her. She liked him ; he was kind and stead}', and her people had told her that he was the sort of man to get on in the world, and that he would be a good husband and father. But in a year she discovered that she was not designed by Nature for the humdrum life of a small trades man's wife. Her child had been a distraction ; but she had suffered terribly in bearing it, and it was not strong, and rather fretful and " trying." For months she had scarcely been able to leave the house for half a day. Dolly had had a long and serious attack of whooping-cough, and Joshua had been anxious and worried, and sometimes hasty in temper.

And to these trials was added the con stant dread of getting into debt, the terror that haunts the petty shopkeeper's nights. The shop brought just enough money to the exchequer to buy food ; but dress seemed to be a luxury, instead of a necessity ; and there was never a shilling to spare upon amusements or Bank Holiday jaunts. The visit to the music-hall served to further dis affect Louisa with her life. Such dissipation was rare — so rare that it made her reflect upon the very few pleasures of the past three years. Once Joshua, in a mood of extravagance, had hired a horse and trap for the day, and they had driven out into the country early on a Sunday morning, to spend the day with Joshua's brother, a gamekeeper, who lived in a little thatched cottage close to a great beech wood. This had been a pleasant day, and they had hoped to repeat the visit when the shop began to pay.

But months and months passed, and all the money went to the landlord, the rate-collector, and the butcher and baker. When the dish of stew was cleared, Joshua leant back in his chair and said — " Thank God for a good dinner ! And now I must get back to the shop and make out an order for sweets. How are we off for Striped Tigers, Lou ? " "There's plenty of them. The only thing that seems to sell now is almond rock." " Ah, well. There's fashions in lollies like everything else," said Joshua. " But we shall get a stir soon; Christmas is coming." " I wonder if Uncle James will do well with his hall ? " said Louisa, as her husband rose. " Still thinking about last night," said Joshua, with a smile. " Your head's full of that hall and the performers." " Well, it was a change. We get very little change, do we now, Josh ?

" " That's true enough, Lou ; but for my part I can always find plenty to occupy myself with in the business. It's marvellous what a deal there is to learn about the qualities and prices of things, and the cheapest firms to go to." " Still, that isn't amusement exactly," ventured Louisa. " Here's winter coming on ; I wonder if I shall be able to go to a dance. I haven't danced since we were married." " Oh, you shall have a hop, my girl, if trade looks up," replied Joshua cheerily. " I wish I could earn some money," she said. " But how ? You've enough to do with the house and the child, I should think." " I'll tell you what's in my mind, Josh," she said, after a pause. " I dare say you'll put your foot on it when I tell you." " I don't know; it depends, Lou." "Well, I've a good mind to learn up a song or two, and ask Uncle James to let me appear at his hall."

Her face flushed with eager pleasure at the scheme, and she watched her husband's face, hoping to read some sign of approval. But he looked startled, and then ominously grave, as he said — " What a wild notion ! I could never give my permission for that. 'Tisn't as though you had no appearances to keep up." " Appearances ! Come, I like that, Josh. Didn't you want a time back to go hawking with a barrow, just like a common costermonger ? I can't see any thing vulgar in singing a song on a stage." " I'm quite sure your Aunt Martha would never adone talking about it, if you was to do such an unbecoming thing as to appear in one of those halls in a low dress. / should not like it, neither. As it is, Aunt Martha is very much against your cousin Jenny playing the piano at Mr. Peacock's show." " Bother Aunt Martha!" said Louisa.

"What's she got to do with me and you ? Would she pav our debts if we were to go bankrupt ? No, not likely ; she's too mean. And yet she'd try to stand in our way when there may be a chance of earning a few extra shillings. That Katie Aytoun gets two pounds a week from Uncle James for a fortnight's engagement. I feel almost certain that I could act and sing as well as her. And I believe I could soon learn stage-dancing." " You must be crazed, Lou," laughed Joshua. "Well, there I'm wasting my time;" and he went into the shop. Louisa pouted as she began to clear away the plates. How unreasonable Joshua was about this proposal of hers. Why should she not try to earn a little money in this way ? It would be for the benefit of both of them. She could not imagine what Aunt Martha had to do with the matter.

While she washed the plates, she began to hum the air of Miss Katie Aytoun's song — the song with a dance at the end of each verse. Presently the words of the refrain came to her; and lifting her skirt above her ankles, she danced before the kitchen fire, singing : " Where the maids are tossing hay, Through the happy summer day." She looked down at her small feet, moving briskly and in time with the melody. How would they look in low shoes, with big buckles and pointed toes? Miss Katie Aytoun had said mutes for "maids," and hy and dy for "hay" and "day." Louisa had noticed this curious pronunciation, so unlike the North Country way of speaking; and Josh, who had lived for a time in London, told her that it was Cocknified talk. Dolly, with one finger in the corner of her mouth, looked at her mother with an expression of bewildered amusement.

" What 'oo doin' ? " the child said stolidly. Louisa gave a loud laugh, caught up Dolly, and sat her on the table. "There, you sit there, Dolly," she said. "You're my audience." " Me don't want to sit here," grizzled Dolly. " Me want to go in sop with daddy." " Very well, little disagreeable, run away, then," said Louisa. The child's nostrils began to twitch, the cheeks puckered, and a "boo-hoo" came from the little mouth. "You Uttle cross patch," said Louisa. "There, get down and run to your daddy." Dolly went choking and sobbing from the room, suffering, as children do, from the sting of words. When she had gone, Louisa went to a little looking glass that hung in a corner of the kitchen ; and holding her head on one side, she smiled in the arch manner of Miss Katie Aytoun, while she swayed her body from side to side, and held a corner of her apron to her mouth.

She thought the pose perfect; it had the conventional hoydenish charm of the variety stage. Perhaps it was even more "fetching" than that of the model. For nearly half-an-hour she diverted herself by practising steps, frisking her apron as this Katie Aytoun had whisked her big white pinafore, and singing the chorus over and over again. In the meantime, the hot water cooled in the basin ; and when she re turned to her washing-up, she found that the water was not warm enough to remove the grease from the plates and forks. The fire was almost dead, too, and there was no water in the kettle. It was past three o'clock before she had put the dinner things away. After tea, Joshua brought his day book into the parlour, and spread a number of bills before him on the table. He kept his accounts with the exactness of a bank cashier.

A deficit of a halfpenny at the end of the week was regarded as a serious matter, a reflection upon his mode of book-keeping. He had files for paid and unpaid accounts, and a tin cash-box, with a patent lock, which he took to his bedroom every night. Louisa looked up from a novelette which lay upon her lap, and yawned, as her husband sat down to his even ing task. This very regularity, which other people commended in Joshua, was becoming annoying. Would he always spend his days and nights in this methodical manner? No doubt it was a good thing to have a steady, hard-working husband, a teetotaler and a Christian ; but she wished that he had some other interests and hobbies besides his shop. " You won't want me for anything this evening, shall you ? " she asked presently. Joshua looked up from his account book, rubbed his forehead in a preoccupied way, and murmured : "Eh?"

She repeated her question. " No, my dear," said Joshua. " I sha'n't want to go out. Do you want to run round to Aunt Martha's ? " "No, I want to get some calico to make some under-clothes for Dolly. I had better go before the shops shut." " All right," said Joshua, with his eyes on his book, and his fingers tapping in time to the figures which he was calculating with slow precision.

Chapter II

"You won't be cross with me, Josh," said Louisa, at breakfast the next morning. " I went into the hall for half-an-hour yesterday evening ; and I told Uncle James that I thought I could sing and dance as well as Miss Aytoun, with a little practice, of course." " I told you you're crazed about that music-hall," said Joshua. " What did your uncle say to that ? " " He said that if Katie Aytoun heard me say that, she would most likely want to scratch my face. However, he says I can 'have a show,' as he calls it ; and if the people like my singing, he will give me a sovereign for a week's engagement. Now, think of that, Josh ! " Joshua looked severe. There was a strong leaven of Puritanism in his blood, an innate convention alism, which he felt had been outraged in two ways. First of all, a wife who knew her Bible and her duty towards her husband would not attend a place of amusement without a respectable male escort ; nor would she wish to go without the •3 i ■; permission of her head and chief.

And then this strange whim of Louisa's for a trial of her abilities as a performer, was altogether preposterous and unseemly in the wife of a respectable tradesman. How quickly her head had been turned, and her imagination dazzled, by the contemplation of a worldly and dangerous life ! " I don't want to scold you, Lou," he began ; " but really, my lass, this is going the right way to get your name up in Thrusselbridge. For you to go to this music-hall, the resort of all sorts of shady folks, and mostly young men, was an improper thing for a married woman — without her husband, that's to say. I don't like that at all, Lou How soever, I'll say no more about it. But as to your performing there, I can never give my leave for such a thing. Why, it would be the talk of Thrussel bridge. They'd talk about it at the Chapel — yes, and in the publics.

A married woman, and a mother, capering for the amusement of a lot of pit laddies, isn't at all the thing. Do you really think it is, now ? " " I can see nothing against it," said Louisa, playing with her knife. " If my own uncle doesn't mind, I don't think you nor your relations ought to object. Supposing I was a success ? Why, I might be able to keep both of us." Joshua waved his hand. "That's altogether a wrong way of looking at it. I know my duty," he said, "and that duty is to maintain you and the child by the labour of head and hands. That I'm trying my best to do. Keep me in laziness ! I should hate myself; I shouldn't feel a man, Lou." "Well, there's no reason why a man's wife shouldn't help him, is there, now ? Now, Josh, do talk sense a bit, and come round and see the matter in a sensible sort of way. / shouldn't feel any disgrace ; why should you ?

" "But I should. I couldn't abide to see you jigging in short skirts, and to know that a crew of fast men were passing remarks about your figure, and the likes. No — be hanged if I could stand thatl' "Am I bound to obey you in everything?" asked Louisa, looking down and biting her underlip. " I don't see that you've a right to order me to do this, or not to do that, as if I was your servant, or a child. I'm a woman of twenty-three, and you're only a man of thirty. ... I didn't marry you to be a slave, Josh." "But, my pretty, you must remember that I've given into your will more than once. It's give and take in marriage. You know you stopped the barrow." "Yes, and for good reasons." "Well, and mayn't my reasons be good in this matter ? " " No, they're foolish objections." "Come, Lou, you're much prettier when you're smiling," said Joshua.

"You'll make me look such a fool," she continued. "I as good as arranged to appear next week, and now you stand in my way with your old-fashioned notions." Joshua arose with a deep sigh, stood his chair against the wall, and went into the shop. He hated tiffs, and this contest threatened to become serious. " I wish I had never taken her to that hall," he said, as he sprinkled water on the shop-floor before sweeping it. He was even methodical in this insignificant detail of sprinkling the floor and flagstones before the shop. He threw the water in circles, whose edges overlapped each other, and made a pattern on the boards. Then he swept all the dust into a neat heap in the middle of the shop, and after taking it up in a dustpan, he carried it to the bin in the back-yard. Success in trade, he said, de pended upon attention to such small affairs.

He never wasted string or matches, or used more than sufficient paper for purchases of fish. That was the way to get on from meagre beginnings; and thrift was a firmly fixed principle in his family. About eleven a short old lady, wearing a thick black veil, came into the shop. Joshua was smooth ing out sheets of paper on the counter when she came in and raised her gauze veil. " Good morning, Joshua," said Aunt Martha Leaver. "Ah, aunt," he said, " hope you're well ?" " Pretty fair, Joshua. How's yourself and Louisa ? And is the child quite right again after the whooping-cough ? " " Yes, thanks, we're all well. Will you go in and sit down with Lou for a bit ? " Miss Leaver was an extremely genteel person. She had been a lady's maid to a countess; and for the last ten years she had lived upon her savings, and a pension from her deceased mistress of twenty-five pounds a year.

On her pointed nose she wore silver-rimmed spectacles, and her mouth was turned down at the corners. "I can't stay long," she said, "and I don't want to disturb Louisa if she's busy. I'll just go in and speak to her." Joshua looked intently at the parlour door for a moment. "By the way, aunt," he said, dropping his voice, " I wish you'd just try to persuade Lou off a B silly idea she's just got hold of. You know Mr. Peacock has started a music-hall at the back of his premises. Well, Lou and me went the other night, and since then she's all for going on the stage as a singer and a dancer." " Good gracious ! " exclaimed Aunt Martha. " Yes, she's so set her mind on it, that her uncle has promised for her to make an appearance. Now, is it seemly, aunt, for a married woman, and " " Seemly ; no, I should think not !

" said Miss Leaver. " What possesses the girl ? These per formers are a dreadful low-lived set. I wouldn't have any niece of mine mixed up with them. I'll talk seriously to her, Joshua. You know she's a little giddy still, although she's a wife. Pretty girls are generally flighty. Yes, I'll talk to her." Aunt Martha pursed her mouth, and went to the kitchen, where she found her niece putting away cups and saucers in a cupboard. "My dear Louisa," said the old lady, "how late you are with the breakfast washing-up. It's past eleven. When I was at the countess's the maids had everything neatly sided by ten at latest." "Well, aunt, perhaps they hadn't so much to do as I have," replied Louisa. "And how are you, aunt ? " " I am well for an old woman, dear. Come and kiss me, Dolly. Bless my heart, she's looking bonnie.

Well, Louisa, so you actually talk about appearing on the stage." " I suppose Josh told you that," said Louisa, frowning. " Oh, I heard it. But, my dear, you don't surely mean it ? " " Of course I do," said Louisa, clattering the cups and saucers in the cupboard. " You astonish me, Louisa. No other member of our family ever wanted to do such a vulgar thing as that." " It doesn't seem more vulgar to me than keeping a little general shop," returned Louisa. " But these people are so low, so immoral, you know." " Did you ever know any of them ? " asked Louisa sharply. " No, Louisa, I have moved in different circles. But it ought to be enough for you that your hus band and your relatives do not approve of your plan." "Well, Uncle James does approve," said Louisa. "And am I a woman or a child, Aunt Martha?

Really, it's a piece of impertinence, / call it, for you to come interfering here as you do. Ever since I've been married you've come prying and meddling with me and my child, as though I was not old enough to act for myself. I'm just sick of it, Aunt Martha, and I'm not going to put up with it." Tears deepened the blue of Louisa's gleaming eyes as she stood undaunted before the dreaded family monitress. The hour of revolt had come at last. There was no more terror in Aunt Martha's steely eyes, severe nose, and proud mouth. Louisa felt that she would like to box the old lady's ears, and send her out of the house. "Louisa," remarked Miss Leaver, "remember that you are talking to a woman who is old enough almost to be your grandmother." " I don't care if you're ninety," said Louisa, stamping her foot.

" It's a shame of Josh to set you on me like this ! He's no man to do it, to get an old woman to jaw me! I won't have it; I tell you I won't have it, Aunt Martha! If I'm Joshua's slave, let him say so, and have done with it. I shall know what to do then. . . . Don't you and Josh think that I'm so meek and mild that I can be treated like a baby. I married Joshua Coker ; but I didn't bargain for giving him my body and soul like this. . . . Here's the first favour I've asked of him since our marriage, and he won't give it to me." The door opened, and Joshua appeared, white and nervous, plucking at his short black beard with coarse fingers. "What's the matter, my dear?" he said to Louisa. " Matter ! you and Aunt Martha are the matter. You think you're going to drill me. You'll see, you'll see ! . . .

I've never carried on like this before. But I can do it; yes, I can fly into passions." "Lou, Lou ! " said Joshua, putting up a finger. "Oh, I'm not going to be put down like that," she cried, bringing her hand down on to the table with a violent bang that shook the knives in the drawers. " Go away. ... I may throw something at you in a minute. Aunt Martha, I should like to tweak your great nose, that I would ! " With a loud cackle of hysterical laughter, Louisa sat down in a chair, and held a handkerchief to her flooded eyes. "Louisa," said Joshua, "I couldn't have be lieved this of you. I'm amazed, quite taken by surprise." " Go away, go away ! " sobbed Louisa, as he stepped to her side. " I was never so insulted in my life, Mr. Coker," said Aunt Martha, in a tearful tone, as she rose and let down her veil.

" I hope Louisa will come to her senses soon. / shall not intrude here again until she apologises for her rude behaviour. It's scandalous, scandalous." Aunt Martha walked erect to the shop, and taking her bag from the counter, went into the street. "You've made a pretty exhibition of yourself," said Joshua to Louisa. " I wonder you're not ashamed." "Well, I'm not a bit, Mr. Coker," said Louisa, looking up, and smiling saucily. " Perhaps you would like to give me a whipping, sir. Do it, do it, do it ! " she screamed. " Lou, my good girl "Don't you 'good girl' me, Joshua Coker. . . . I'm your slave, that's all. I must yield to you in everything ; I must scrub and clean for you the rest of my life. Yes, and bear you a large family, too, I suppose ! That's married life, is it ? What a fool I've been !

" . . . "Louisa, I shall go away. I can't bear to hear you say these things," said Joshua, restraining his anger. Louisa sat rocking herself in the chair, moaning and sobbing, with her hands to her face. At the door Joshua hesitated, with his hand on the knob. For the moment he despised his wife for this foolish outbreak of pique and rage. It was so childish, so unreasonable. He looked at Dolly, staring with great blue eyes at her mother. "Louisa," he said, softening at the dreary sound of his wife's weeping, " I have not spoken harsh to you, though you've given me some precious hard words. We've never fallen out like this before, and I can't bear to think that we ever shall again." He came to her again, and put his hand on her silky yellow hair, bending as though he meant to kiss her. Louisa moved her head aside quickly.