Part 20 (1/2)

And on the following hter went that weary journey to the relieving officer, and brought back to me by ten o'clock his order for the medical officer's attendance It seeh several times before was to be entered upon once more; but to expedite matters I enclosed the order for attendance in a note of irl started off with it to the town, to add another three

That, one would have supposed, should have al it is not easy, under the existing Poor Law, to get him that help which the ratepayers provide, for the machinery is cumbersome, and the people who should profit by it do not appreciate its intricacies, or kno to make it work smoothly In the present instance hbours had known enough to correct an oversight of the doctor's There was no delay on his side; but unfortunately it was the _locuiving his verbal assent to Bettesworth's going to the infirmary

That, of course, was useless; but the wo Bettesworth did not know it On the contrary, they supposed that the formal certificate could be dispensed with, and that a note froe fro me to write such a note, which, they said, Bettesworth's nepheould take over to Moorway's in the evening

Of course the suggestion was utterly futile The relieving officer could not recognize a request from me as an order, and an atte worse, would certainly delay Bettesworth's reh, as it was, the unhappy old norant if well- of Bettesworth's nephew for a long walk on such a fool's errand Strong passionate man that he was, it was more than likely that he would quarrel with the officer; and to applicants for relief a relieving officer is an autocrat hom it is not well to quarrel

These considerations, duly weighed, persuaded er back with the request that Bettesworth's nephew should call upon : a black-haired powerful builder's-labourer, tired with his day's work, but prepared to be sent on a five-mile walk As we discussed Bettesworth's condition, and the desirability of getting him to the infirmary, the man's tone jarred a little He said, ”It's the best place for hi passed over ht: that Jack Bettesworth was not eager for the responsibility which would rest upon him, if his uncle should coed the er to secure his help Al about” ”Well, can't 'elp it,” was the laconic answer

We did help it to so officer, which would have cost another five miles, but to the doctor, at the expense of no et the doctor's certificate, and post it in the town to the relieving officer; and for this purpose he was furnished with a stamped and addressed envelope, in which was enclosed a letter to the relieving officer, begging hie in the o well, notofwould have sufficed for getting Bettesworth the help of which he was officially certified to be in need

_February 9, 1905_--And all did go well On Thursday e, and found preparations in progress for his going away There was more than preparation With all their kindliness, itpeople that they want tact Bettesworth's poor home had become a sort of show, in its small squalid fashi+on The door stood wide open; there were half a dozen people in the living-room, where the old man had of late shut himself in with his loneliness and his independence; and upstairs in his bed he must have been aware of the nakedness of the place now displayed The unswept hearth and the extinct fire were pitiful to see; yet there stood woood right to be there She had sat up a second night, and, albeit sleepy-eyed and untidy, there was helpfulness in her large buxohter's being there with the baby Another woht two more children; and she toldthe old o with him on his journey

I went up into the little square-ed dirty bedroom and saw hi up his hoarden--perhaps dearer to hihtened him up It pleased him to learn that some early peas had been sown In what part? he wanted to know And being told, ”Ah,” he said, ”and there's another place where peas 'd do well: up there under George Bryant's hedge” When I left, it ith a pro day Going out I saw old Nanny Norris at her door, observant of all that went on, but unserviceably deaf She earing her bonnet and black shawl, looked ill, and coh and of pains across her shoulders I think there were two or three other wo to see Bettesworth removed, as he duly was, at mid-day

xxxII

_February 10_--The day after his departure a rather annoying circuht The monthly contribution to the club was found to be a whole year in arrear As the sum was but threepence a s were due, it seelected the payments which at least secured him a doctor's attendance and at his death would produce four pounds for funeral expenses Perhaps, however, he was not so much to blame as appeared; at any rate, the manner by which we learnt of his carelessness offers to the i picture of the old ar who, in soht his club-membershi+p card to me, and told how he had asked her to find it On the eve of his departure he had taken her into his confidence, spoken of the possibility that heaway only to die, and desired, in that event, to be brought home from the infirmary and buried decently, ”same as his wife,” with this sum which the club would pay Of course the ar undertook to pay it to the club secretary on the next day, when she went to the town to do her Saturday's shopping Bettesworth had further asked her, she said, to find his discharge papers froe was stated, since he had forgotten I have never understood why he should have been curious on that point, at such a ti reason alleged

And now, its occupant gone and Mrs Eggar's rus done, the squalid tenement next door to the Norris's stood shut up, with the door locked on the few poor belongings it contained To the neighbours there seemed to be all the circuan to remember, what I had failed to observe yet could well believe, how greatly Bettesworth had changed of late; others recalled co unbearably lonely

It was the general opinion that, even if he lived, he would never work again, and never again come back to the place he had left Three or four arden; while as for the cottage, had I cared to give it up, there were already (the owner told er to take it What I should do, and what Bettesworth, forood deal of speculation Old Nanny, ed excitedly into thevoice she assured arded Bettesworth, the infirive up the cot?” she asked ”No” ”Oh!Beagley” (the owner) ”told young Cook as you had?” ”I haven't” ”Well, he _said_ you had” For soed, Nanny had conceived a violent animosity towards Bettesworth, which I then supposed to be peculiar to herself; but in other respects her uns only betrayed the attitude of alhbours Bettesworth was done for: he had better stay at the infire Such was the prevailing opinion The people were not intentionally unkind; but in the le for life oneBettesworth had held his own

On the other hand, the opposite side, Bettesworth's side, was chathese was George Bryant Bryant had been doing a few necessary jobs forBettesworth's illness, and it was to his interest, if anybody's, that the old ain When I repeated to hi--naht now to stay in the infirree Finally, ”Well, of course, we knows 'tis a place where old people _ought_ to be looked after, but--well, Bettesworth likes his liberty And so should I, if I was in his place!”

With a cordial feeling which warrey narrative, he spoke of the change he had lately observed in Bettesworth, who had confessed to hirown so lonely ”he didn't kno ever to put up with it” On the very last Sunday evening Bryant had been over at the old e, ”and 'tis a _lot_ cleaner 'n what it used to be in the old lady's time” But the difficulty was that Bettesworth could not see I assented,shallots Bryant s a year ago, with soeneral, he admired Bettesworth ”He's a man that don't talk much till he's started, and then He was tellin' ot a lot to do with the way he is now: the cold winds, when the tents blowed over, and he'd have to lay out all in the ht think 't didn't hurt 'n,” but in all likelihood Bettesworth was now feeling the effects of these sufferings of so long ago The Crimean wind, as described by Bettesworth, seeiets which 'twas; but one o' the regiht up into the air an'

carried out to sea by the wind”

xxxIII

The remainder of Bettesworth's story may for the most part be told in the notes o to the infir day after his adet to him a week later, namely on Tuesday, the 21st of February, when he had been there twelve days; and on the next day the following account of the visit was jotted down

_February 22, 1905_--At the infire ward on the ground floor Out of doors, though it was a day of fair sunshi+ne generally, the north-east as bitter, and a stor as it drove across the eastern sky, and which had reached et inside the fine arh the tall s of the ward, distant fields and the grey stor slowly over theainst the soht--plentiful air and warmth too, and cleanly order The place looked al or unhappy One only was sitting up, who coughed exhaustedly, not violently; he see with debility In the beds the patients mostly lay quite still The man next beyond Bettesworth drew the counterpane up over his ears, and I saw a glowing feverish eye watching me There were but few other visitors--only four, I think, besidesattendant with sleeves stripped up ca cheerily all down the ward She had been washi+ng dishes or so in a kind of scullery just outside when I cah to interest the sick men, ”This is how I do my work--see? Walkin' about like this!”

My first impression of the place was favourable; all looked so well-appointed, so sumptuous even And there lay Bettesworth under his white counterpane, hi a floppy white nightcap I had hoped to find hi up; but still

”How are you?” I shook his hand--unrecognizably thin and clean and soft--and he flushed and sat up, pleased enough But, ”I'm as well as ever I shall be,” he murmured; or was it (I don't quite remember) ”I shan't never be no better” Shocked, and not sure of having heard aright, I asked again, and the answer ca as I bides here”

What was theThe interview turned forthwith into one protracted, unreasoning gruh Bread and butter--just a little piece at one time, and a little piece more at some other time And beef-tea--”they calls it beef-tea, but 'tis only that stuff out o' the bottle--_I_ forgets the name of it Bovril? Ah, that's it One cup we has at home 'd make twenty o' these”