Part 20 (2/2)

I tried to reason with hihed at tiet up, and be about, where he could obtain for hiued, feeling as he did, was allowed to get up and put on his clothes for an hour or two, and have a sluice doouldn't it brighten that ht--he didn't knohat tiot out of bed One of the nurses came in just then ”'What are you doin' out there?' she said; 'you ought to be in bed' 'And so did you ought to be,' I says” To judge fro, he said it in no aive me Guildford Hospital before this, twenty tirumbled continuously ”There's old Hall in that bed over there _He's_ wantin' to go 'ome, too” Bettesworth spoke with a sneer, not at our poor old neighbour Hall, but at Hall's pitiful prospect of getting release froh, and of his age, and so forth, and for a rievances, but only for a minute or two I asked some question about the doctor The doctor? They never set eyes on hiive him any medicine much, either That bottle he” (Bettesworth) ”had fro home--he only had two doses out of it, but that was a _lot_ nicer than this stuff And the bed was hard--”nothin'

soft to lay on,” and his back was getting sore ”Let's see--'twas a fortnight last Thursday I coht 'twas a fortnight The tiirl were at old Hall's bedside, farther down the ward

I could see hi, white, the picture of despair

Then the woman turned and ca a little bewilderedly ”He wantsto Hall; ”he wants to go ho to Bettesworth One or two things I told hiarden awakened but a faint interest in hi up, his under-lip drooping, his eyes abnorht Yet I think he could not see hty years old And still we talked to Bettesworth His niece was as unsuccessful asto reason with hi that if he were at home he would be without anyone to nurse hi), ”No! and there won't _be_ none, neither, once I gets houed then that this place was so comfortable and so clean ”'Tis the patients has to do that,” said Bettesworth

At last a nurse came to old Hall, and we listened while he proffered his request to go hoo till you've seen the doctor!” The nurse spoke pleasantly, though of course with decision, and bustled away But Bettesworth, with his sneer, coht_ she'd snap his head off!”

Weary of hi utterly baffled Until I was quite close he did not recognize me, but then he shook hands joyfully To him, as to Bettesworth, I counselled patience Ah, but he felt he shouldn't get on, so long as he bid there He couldn't get on with the food The bread in the broth did not get soft, and as for the dry bread--”I've no teeth at all in the top row,” he said, and therefore he could notto leave was that his as ill with bronchitis at hoed to return to her

Well, I had no comfort for him, any more than for Bettesworth And when I left, they were still dissatisfied, and I was equally sure that their grievances were unreal What, then, was the matter with them?

The root of it all, I think, was in this: that they were hoood order, the cleanliness, the sense of air and space, the routine of the institution, had overwheler their ownfor their little poky rooms, nice and stuffy, with the s shut and the curtains half drawn; they missed their own furniture, pictures, and worthless rubbish endeared to thee, to begin practising hygiene and learn how to live to grow old They were old already, and wanted to be at home

_February 28_--I have no record of my second visit to the infirmary a week later; but, as I re up in a day-rooh still extremely feeble

xxxIV

_March 7, 1905_--Bettesworth left the infir, March the 4th I met hi eakness where he stood But he protested that he should get hoh; he had just had a nice rest, a friend oftaken him into his house to sit down by the fire My friend told me afterwards how the old man, invited in because of his pitiable condition, had seemed to crawl in a state of collapse to the chair set for him

His tale to avethe infirmary To the former he explained that on the Thursday he had desired to be allowed to go home The as communicated on the next day to the doctor, who asked, ”Do you want to go then?” and was answered ungraciously, ”I shan't get no better here” On Saturday, therefore, his clothes were brought to him, and out he came

But this was not quite the same story that he told me Perhaps I should pre out, since it was plain ould have to provide for him; and he may have seen that I was displeased when I said, ”You have no business out! You're not fit for work, and you ought to have stayed another week or two”

Soreeted hiht ”turned out” that et to co been tied in a bundle with a ticket on them, and tossed into a shed, had been returned to hi into them; and there was no fire by which to dress

What did he propose to do? washome, to make up a fire in his bedrooed with Liz and Jack to cos as orth anyone's buying he should sell--Mrs Eggar, for instance, would take the Windsor chairs; and then he was going to live, probably, at Jack's But his first care was to go and air his bed

Firing--coal, at least--he possessed; wood could be provided by knocking up two old tables which were grown rickety To ainst such destruction, he replied that already before his illness he had touched one of the tables with his little axe

He treot the impression, and that not for the first ti hard, fierce, suspicious

The discrepancy between his stories to thens the impression, and as I write this a hypothesis shapes itself: that he fears to lose his employet him permanently settled in the workhouse For this reason, perhaps, he reviles that hated place, hurries fro, will be independent as to coal and the rest I asked hi or so; but he did not want to get into debt

That was three days ago I was fro hione to live with Jack, in whose house he has a room to himself and ”a nice soft bed,” and is well looked after, he says Liz has even been giving hi to do so

I understand him to have said that the old cot used to cost hi And that, he added, would be nearly enough for him to live upon, in his new quarters