CHAPTER IX

THE INVENTOR

LANCE, as we know, could not devote himself

wholly to his novel, and even on those occasions when he had time, he sometimes found himself tired or not in the humour, so the novel did not make fast progress. But that is no harm.

Lance had a great deal of walking to do—or riding on the trams which ran east, west, north and south through Ganton. Reporters can't sit in the office and do their work, they must go afield like sowers and reapers. In walking through Ganton's streets Lance occasionally met Dorothy Ewins. If "the time and the place" and the opportunity were convenient, Lance stopped and spoke. Dolly was not talkative; her dull home life checked jollity and the gay speech. She was accustomed to long silences, long quiet evenings, and friends were not encouraged at home, for Mr. and Mrs. Ewins "couldn't be bothered." In a way this gave Dolly a slight attraction, for it made her a little timid, apparently shy, though it was not really that, but it emphasised a feminine note. The male might see the claim for protection in her. And she was pleasant looking.

Lance, too, at home, heard her often referred to as "Poor Dolly." That was when her unsatisfactory parents were mentioned and their shortcomings as parents were dwelt on. And "Poor Dolly" was probably an

apt kind of remark. But it had an effect on Lance, who was inclined to the romantic. His imagination travelled fast when he heard Dolly pitied and sympathised with: he really felt as if he ought to do something to succour her. She became to him a maiden in distress and his chivalrous soul wished to don armour, couch lance and do doughty deeds to rescue her from the monsters who held her in bondage. Young Lochinvars are quite common at the age of twenty-three.

The point of this was that Lance thought of Dolly when he did not see her, and thought all the more of her immediately after seeing her. Not that he was in love with her it wasn't that. But he was not quite. sure. He had never been really in love and so had no standard to guide him. But he was sympathetic and protecting and thought of Dolly a good deal, and that is a dangerous mood for a crusader, when the holy land is near and the Saracens are not really difficult to dislodge. A dashing assault or an elopement will effect the desired result.

Love is something to be seriously discussed because it is much misunderstood at times. Lance began to fancy he was in love and that is a very dangerous mood, particularly when other things are alluring— such as the armour, the lance and the spirit of chivalry.

When Lance met Dolly he would chat with her and walk a little way with her if possible, and leave her feeling that her parents were abominable and she really ought to be rescued.

This idea recurred to him. Dolly Ewins to be rescued . . . and she was really very nice, had a pleasant voice, sweet eyes, luxurious hair, was trim.. But nothing superlative the discerning will notice, and those in love properly deal in nothing but superlatives.

Dolly, it is to be feared or merely noted, interfered occasionally with the novel, and the novel occasionally interfered with Lance's thoughts and designs concerning Dolly. And certainly if Mr. Ewins had had an inkling of Lance's thoughts and designs concerning Dolly he would have interfered, too.

There was also another person who observed and wondered whether it was best to say nothing or to interfere with such tact so that the interference could not be noted, and that was Mrs. Harvey. She began to note Lance's feeling for Dolly and seized the truth by her motherly instinct, observation and reticence. Too many women dash in headlong in cases of this kind: they make up their mind and slog accordingly, just as some people show their sympathy by taking the bandages off the wound, poking their fingers in the raw and saying "Dear me! Does it hurt?"

Mrs. Harvey watched and observed. She felt sorry for Dolly but she did not want her own son to treat marriage as a kind of hospital for the distressed, but as a haven of joy and gladness, an antechamber to Paradise. She knew what the real thing was and feared the sham. Dolly might be a good wife, but it would be a lottery. And yet interference in these matters sometimes rivets the bond it would fain dissipate.

This is mentioned because it was Lance's mood at the moment, and marriages and families and matters irreparable have sometimes grown out of such moods.

When Lance came home one night with very valuable "copy" in his pocket referring to "a concert and entertainment held in support of the Young Men's Class in connection with Holy Trinity Church," he found a visitor-Ralph Higgins.

When his wife died Ralph Higgins had gone speedily down hill. The disappointments that she could get him to tide over, mastered him now and he forgot his troubles only by emptying his pocket and filling his stomach. Futile from any point of view. He lived alone in a little cottage: but its condition was depressing. Occasionally he had a woman in to clean it, and now and then he cleaned it himself. He lived from hand to mouth and found the plan of pursuing invention rather slow on the floor of a public house.

Mrs. Harvey called now and then to see how he was and to make things a little respectable at home. She had met him in the street to-day and had persuaded him to come to supper.

After the comfortable meal he felt better and the fact that he was amongst real friends cheered him. George Harvey said:

"He's got another invention, Lance."

"A good one, Mr. Higgins?" Lance asked.

"I hope so," he said. His eye was still bright and beamed with hope when he thought of the thing his soul loved-not his stomach.

"He's going to make his fortune," said George Harvey. "Aren't you, F 1ph?"

"I think so, this time.' He rubbed his hands together nervously. "I think it will. . . . It wouldn't work a while back an' then I had a bit o' trouble... But it'll go all right now, I think: go like one o'clock." He leaned forward in the attitude of the enthusiast.

"Go like two, three, four, five, up to twelve o'clock, I hope, Ralph," said Mr. Harvey, who did not mean to have the success of his friend restricted by the clock.

Higgins hesitated.

"I said 'well,' Ralph."

"I know. . .

Higgins shook his head. There were things that other people did not think of . . . "What's up now? You said 'only': we don't have onlys in this family, do we, Margaret?"

"Not if we can get rid of them. What is the trouble, Ralph?" asked Mrs. Harvey.

"Well-you see.. " Higgins spoke hec tatingly, "inventions don't grow

"I should think not, otherwise we should be warned off the grass, shouldn't we? "Trespassers will be prosecuted: Any one picking up inventions on this field will be pursued by the utmost rigour of the law. By Order. Takem and Keepem .' Inventions don't grow; well, that's settled, Ralph, in our favour and the point can't be raised again. 'Not guilty,' but don't do it again! Now 'only' . . . Come on, Ralph. Only -you said 'only' and we must put the only on trial. What do you know about 'only,' sir?"

Higgins smiled.

"You're a good 'un, George," he said. George Harvey winked at his son.

"Trying to dodge, isn't he? Collared, sir, put the ball down and play it at once; phew

"He made

a noise as if he were whistling, like a referee.

Higgins looked at Mrs. Harvey, and said:

"George sounds as if he never had had any trouble." And in the voice there was a hint of that envy which is not evil.

"And neither has he," said Mr. Harvey quickly. "We don't have trouble in our family. Trouble-we