Circumcise
ye your foreskins, saith the Lord.
Orwell - Keep the Apidistra Flying
’
‘No. I was never angry with you. YOU’RE not to blame. ’
She looked up at him, trying to divine the expression of his face in the almost pitch
darkness. He drew her against him, and, as she seemed to expect it, tilted her face back
and kissed her. She clung to him eagerly; her body melted against his. She had been
waiting for this, it seemed.
‘Gordon, you do love me, don’t you? ’
‘Of course I do. ’
‘Things went wrong somehow. I couldn’t help it. I got frightened suddenly. ’
‘It doesn’t matter. Another time it’ll be all right. ’
She was lying limp against him, her head on his breast. He could feel her heart beating. It
seemed to flutter violently, as though she were taking some decision.
‘I don’t care,’ she said indistinctly, her face buried in his coat.
‘Don’t care about what? ’
‘The baby. I’ll risk it. You can do what you like with me. ’
At these surrendering words a weak desire raised itself in him and died away at once. He
knew why she had said it. It was not because, at this moment, she really wanted to be
made love to. It was from a mere generous impulse to let him know that she loved him
and would take a dreaded risk rather than disappoint him.
‘Now? ’ he said.
‘Yes, if you like. ’
He considered. He so wanted to be sure that she was his! But the cold night air flowed
over them. Behind the hedges the long grass would be wet and chill. This was not the
time or the place. Besides, that business of the eightpence had usurped his mind. He was
not in the mood any longer.
‘I can’t,’ he said finally.
‘You can’t! But, Gordon! I thought — ’
‘I know. But it’s all different now. ’
‘You’re still upset? ’
‘Yes. In a way. ’
‘Why? ’
He pushed her a little away from him. As well have the explanation now as later.
Nevertheless he was so ashamed that he mumbled rather than said:
‘I’ve got a beastly thing to say to you. It’s been worrying me all the way along. ’
‘What is it? ’
‘It’s this. Can you lend me some money? I’m absolutely cleaned out. I had just enough
money for today, but that beastly hotel bill upset everything. I’ve only eightpence left. ’
Rosemary was amazed. She broke right out of his arms in her amazement.
‘Only eightpence left! What ARE you talking about? What does it matter if you’ve only
eightpence left? ’
‘Don’t I tell you I shall have to borrow money off you in another minute? You’ll have to
pay for your own bus fares, and my bus fares, and your tea and Lord knows what. And I
asked you to come out with me! You’re supposed to be my guest. It’s bloody. ’
‘Your GUEST! Oh, Gordon. Is THAT what’s been worrying you all this time? ’
‘Yes. ’
‘Gordon, you ARE a baby! How can you let yourself be worried by a thing like that? As
though I minded lending you money! Aren’t I always telling you I want to pay my share
when we go out together? ’
‘Yes, and you know how I hate your paying. We had that out the other night. ’
‘Oh, how absurd, how absurd you are! Do you think there’s anything to be ashamed of in
having no money? ’
‘Of course there is! It’s the only thing in the world there IS to be ashamed of. ’
‘But what’s it got to do with you and me making love, anyway? I don’t understand you.
First you want to and then you don’t want to. What’s money got to do with it? ’
‘Everything. ’
He wound her arm in his and started down the road. She would never understand.
Nevertheless he had got to explain.
‘Don’t you understand that one isn’t a full human being — that one doesn’t FEEL a human
being — unless one’s got money in one’s pocket? ’
‘No. I think that’s just silly. ’
‘It isn’t that I don’t want to make love to you. I do. But I tell you I can’t make love to you
when I’ve only eightpence in my pocket. At least when you know I’ve only eightpence. I
just can’t do it. It’s physically impossible. ’
‘But why? Why? ’
‘You’ll find it in Lempriere,’ he said obscurely.
That settled it. They talked no more about it. For the second time he had behaved grossly
badly and yet he had made her feel as if it were she who was in the wrong. They walked
on. She did not understand him; on the other hand, she forgave him everything. Presently
they reached Farnham Common, and, after a wait at the cross road, got a bus to Slough.
In the darkness, as the bus loomed near, Rosemary found Gordon’s hand and slipped half
a crown into it, so that he might pay the fares and not be shamed in public by letting a
woman pay for him.
For his own part Gordon would sooner have walked to Slough and saved the bus fares,
but he knew Rosemary would refuse. In Slough, also, he was for taking the train straight
back to London, but Rosemary said indignantly that she wasn’t going to go without her
tea, so they went to a large, dreary, draughty hotel near the station. Tea, with little wilting
sandwiches and rock cakes like balls of putty, was two shillings a head. It was tonnent to
Gordon to let her pay for his food. He sulked, ate nothing, and, after a whispered
argument, insisted on contributing his eightpence towards the cost of the tea.
It was seven o’clock when they took the train back to London. The train was full of tired
hikers in khaki shorts. Rosemary and Gordon did not talk much. They sat close together,
Rosemary with her arm twined through his, playing with his hand, Gordon looking out of
the window. People in the carriage eyed them, wondering what they had quarrelled about.
Gordon watched the lamp-starred darkness streaming past. So the day to which he had
looked forward was ended. And now back to Willowbed Road, with a penniless week
ahead. For a whole week, unless some miracle happened, he wouldn’t even be able to buy
himself a cigarette. What a bloody fool he had been! Rosemary was not angry with him.
By the pressure of her hand she tried to make it clear to him that she loved him. His pale
discontented face, turned half away from her, his shabby coat, and his unkempt mouse-
coloured hair that wanted cutting more than ever, filled her with profound pity. She felt
more tenderly towards him than she would have done if everything had gone well,
because in her feminine way she grasped that he was unhappy and that life was difficult
for him.
‘See me home, will you? ’ she said as they got out at Paddington.
‘If you don’t mind walking. I haven’t got the fare. ’
‘But let ME pay the fare. Oh, dear! I suppose you won’t. But how are you going to get
home yourself? ’
‘Oh, I’ll walk. I know the way. It’s not very far. ’
‘I hate to think of you walking all that way. You look so tired. Be a dear and let me pay
your fare home. DO! ’
‘No. You’ve paid quite enough for me already. ’
‘Oh, dear! You are so silly! ’
They halted at the entrance to the Underground. He took her hand. ‘I suppose we must
say good-bye for the present,’ he said.
‘Good-bye, Gordon dear. Thanks ever so much for taking me out. It was such fun this
morning. ’
‘Ah, this morning! It was different then. ’ His mind went back to the morning hours, when
they had been alone on the road together and there was still money in his pocket.
Compunction seized him. On the whole he had behaved badly. He pressed her hand a
little tighter. ‘You’re not angry with me, are you? ’
‘No, silly, of course not. ’
‘I didn’t mean to be beastly to you. It was the money. It’s always the money. ’
‘Never mind, it’ll be better next time. We’ll go to some better place. We’ll go down to
Brighton for the week-end, or something. ’
‘Perhaps, when I’ve got the money. You will write soon, won’t you? ’
‘Yes. ’
‘Your letters are the only things that keep me going. Tell me when you’ll write, so that I
can have your letter to look forward to. ’
‘I’ll write tomorrow night and post it on Tuesday. Then you’ll get it last post on Tuesday
night. ’
‘Then good-bye, Rosemary dear. ’
‘Good-bye, Gordon darling. ’
He left her at the booking-office. When he had gone twenty yards he felt a hand laid on
his arm. He turned sharply. It was Rosemary. She thrust a packet of twenty Gold Flake,
which she had bought at the tobacco kiosk, into his coat pocket and ran back to the
Underground before he could protest.
He trailed homeward through the wastes of Marylebone and Regent’s Park. It was the
fag-end of the day. The streets were dark and desolate, with that strange listless feeling of
Sunday night when people are more tired after a day of idleness than after a day of work.
It was vilely cold, too. The wind had risen when the night fell. Sharply the menacing
wind sweeps over. Gordon was footsore, having walked a dozen or fifteen miles, and also
hungry. He had had little food all day. In the morning he had hurried off without a proper
breakfast, and the lunch at the Ravenscroft Hotel wasn’t the kind of meal that did you
much good; since then he had had no solid food. However, there was no hope of getting
anything when he got home. He had told Mother Wisbeach that he would be away all
day.
When he reached the Hampstead Road he had to wait on the kerb to let a stream of cars
go past. Even here everything seemed dark and gloomy, in spite of the glaring lamps and
the cold glitter of the jewellers’ windows. The raw wind pierced his thin clothes, making
him shiver. Sharply the menacing wind sweeps over The bending poplars, newly bare. He
had finished that poem, all except the last two lines. He thought again of those hours this
morning — the empty misty roads, the feeling of freedom and adventure, of having the
whole day and the whole country before you in which to wander at will. It was having
money that did it, of course. Seven and elevenpence he had had in his pocket this
morning. It had been a brief victory over the money-god; a morning’s apostasy, a holiday
in the groves of Ashtaroth. But such things never last. Your money goes and your
freedom with it.
Circumcise ye your foreskins, saith the Lord. And back we creep, duly
snivelling.
Another shoal of cars swam past. One in particular caught his eye, a long slender thing,
elegant as a swallow, all gleaming blue and silver; a thousand guineas it would have cost,
he thought. A blue-clad chauffeur sat at the wheel, upright, immobile, like some scornful
statue. At the back, in the pink-lit interior, four elegant young people, two youths, and
two girls, were smoking cigarettes and laughing. He had a glimpse of sleek bunny-faces;
faces of ravishing pinkness and smoothness, lit by that peculiar inner glow that can never
be counterfeited, the soft warm radiance of money.
He crossed the road. No food tonight. However, there was still oil in the lamp, tha nk
God; he would have a secret cup of tea when he got back. At this moment he saw himself
and his life without saving disguises. Every night the same — back to the cold lonely
bedroom and the grimy littered sheets of the poem that never got any further. It was a
blind alley. He would never finish London Pleasures, he would never marry Rosemary,
he would never set his life in order. He would only drift and sink, drift and sink, like the
others of his family; but worse than them — down, down into some dreadful sub-world
that as yet he could only dimly imagine. It was what he had chosen when he declared war
on money. Serve the money-god or go under; there is no other rule.
Something deep below made the stone street shiver. The tube-train, sliding through
middle earth. He had a vision of London, of the western world; he saw a thousand million
slaves toiling and grovelling about the throne of money. The earth is ploughed, ships sail,
miners sweat in dripping tunnels underground, clerks hurry for the eight-fifteen with the
fear of the boss eating at their vitals. And even in bed with their wives they tremble and
obey. Obey whom? The money-priesthood, the pink-faced masters of the world. The
Upper Crust. A welter of sleek young rabbits in thousand guinea motor cars, of golfing
stockbrokers and cosmopolitan financiers, of Chancery lawyers and fashionable Nancy
boys, of bankers, newspaper peers, novelists of all four sexes, American pugilists, lady
aviators, film stars, bishops, titled poets, and Chicago gorillas.
When he had gone another fifty yards the rhyme for the final stanza of his poem occurred
to him. He walked homeward, repeating the poem to himself:
Sharply the menacing wind sweeps over The bending poplars, newly bare, And the dark
ribbons of the chimneys Veer downward; flicked by whips of air,
Torn posters flutter; coldly sound The boom of trains and the rattle of hooves, And the
clerks who hurry to the station Look, shuddering, over the eastern rooves,
Thinking, each one, ‘Here comes the winter! Please God I keep my job this year! ’ And
bleakly, as the cold strikes through Their entrails like an icy spear,
They think of rent, rates, season tickets, Insurance, coal, the skivvy’s wages, Boots,
school-bills, and the next instalment Upon the two twin beds from Drage’s.
For if in careless summer days In groves of Ashtaroth we whored, Repentant now, when
winds blow cold, We kneel before our rightful lord;
The lord of all, the money-god, Who rules us blood and hand and brain, Who gives the
roof that stops the wind, And, giving, takes away again;
Who spies with jealous, watchful care, Our thoughts, our dreams, our secret ways, Who
picks our words and cuts our clothes, And maps the pattern of our days;
Who chills our anger, curbs our hope, And buys our lives and pays with toys, Who claims
as tribute broken faith, Accepted insults, muted joys;
Who binds with chains the poet’s wit, The navvy’s strength, the soldier’s pride, And lays
the sleek, estranging shield Between the lover and his bride.
Chapter 8
As the clock struck one Gordon slammed the shop door to and hurried, almost ran, to the
branch of the Westminster Bank down the street.
With a half-conscious gesture of caution he was clutching the lapel of his coat, holding it
tight against him. In there, stowed away in his right-hand inner pocket, was an object
whose very existence he partly doubted. It was a stout blue envelope with an American
stamp; in the envelope was a cheque for fifty dollars; and the cheque was made out to
‘Gordon Comstock’!
He could feel the square shape of the envelope outlined against his body as clearly as
though it had been red hot. All the morning he had felt it there, whether he touched it or
whether he did not; he seemed to have developed a special patch of sensitiveness in the
skin below his right breast. As often as once in ten minutes he had taken the cheque out
of its envelope and anxiously examined it. After all, cheques are tricky things. It would
be frightful if there turned out to be some hitch about the date or the signature. Besides,
he might lose it — it might even vanish of its own accord like fairy gold.
The cheque had come from the Californian Review, that American magazine to which,
weeks or months ago, he had despairingly sent a poem. He had almost forgotten about the
poem, it had been so long away, until this morning their letter had come sailing out of the
blue. And what a letter! No English editor ever writes letters like that. They were ‘very
favorably impressed’ by his poem. They would ‘endeavor’ to include it in their next
number. Would he ‘favor’ them by showing them some more of his work? (Would he?
Oh, boy! — as Flaxman would say. ) And the cheque had come with it. It seemed the most
monstrous folly, in this year of blight 1934, that anyone should pay fifty dollars for a
poem. However, there it was; and there was the cheque, which looked perfectly genuine
however often he inspected it.
He would have no peace of mind till the cheque was cashed — for quite possibly the bank
would refuse it — but already a stream of visions was flowing through his mind. Visions
of girls’ faces, visions of cobwebby claret bottles and quart pots of beer, visions of a new
suit and his overcoat out of pawn, visions of a week-end at Brighton with Rosemary,
visions of the crisp, crackling five pound note which he was going to give to Julia. Above
all, of course, that fiver for Julia. It was almost the first thing he had thought of when the
cheque came. Whatever else he did with the money, he must give Julia half of it. It was
only the barest justice, considering how much he had ‘borrowed’ from her in all these
years. All the morning the thought of Julia and the money he owed her had been cropping
up in his mind at odd moments. It was a vaguely distasteful thought, however. He would
forget about it for half an hour at a time, would plan a dozen ways of spending his ten
pounds to the uttermost farthing, and then suddenly he would remember about Julia.
Good old Julia! Julia should have her share. A fiver at the very least. Even that was not a
tenth of what he owed her. For the twentieth time, with a faint malaise, he registered the
thought: five quid for Julia.
The bank made no trouble about the cheque. Gordon had no banking account, but they
knew him well, for Mr McKechnie banked there. They had cashed editors’ cheques for
Gordon before. There was only a minute’s consultation, and then the cashier came back.
‘Notes, Mr Comstock? ’
‘One five pound, and the rest pounds, please. ’
The flimsy luscious fiver and the five clean pound notes slid rustling under the brass rail.
And after them the cashier pushed a little pile of half-crowns and pennies. In lordly style
Gordon shot the coins into his pocket without even counting them. That was a bit of
backsheesh. He had only expected ten pounds for fifty dollars. The dollar must be above
par. The five pound note, however, he carefully folded up and stowed away in the
American envelope. That was Julia’s fiver. It was sacrosanct. He would post it to her
presently.
He did not go home for dinner. Why chew leathery beef in the aspidistral dining-room
when he had ten quid in pocket — five quid, rather? (He kept forgetting that half the
money was already mortgaged to Julia. ) For the moment he did not bother to post Julia’s
five pounds. This evening would be soon enough. Besides, he rather enjoyed the feeling
of it in his pocket. It was queer how different you felt with all that money in your pocket.
Not opulent, merely, but reassured, revivified, reborn. He felt a different person from
what he had been yesterday. He WAS a different person. He was no longer the
downtrodden wretch who made secret cups of tea over the oil stove at 31 Willowbed
Road. He was Gordon Comstock, the poet, famous on both sides of the Atlantic.
Publications: Mice (1932), London Pleasures (1935). He thought with perfect confidence
of London Pleasures now. In three months it should see the light. Demy octavo, white
buckram covers. There was nothing that he did not feel equal to now that his luck had
turned.
He strolled into the Prince of Wales for a bite of food. A cut off the joint and two veg. ,
one and twopence, a pint of pale ale ninepence, twenty Gold Flakes a shilling. Even after
that extravagance he still had well over ten pounds in hand — or rather, well over five
pounds. Beer-warmed, he sat and meditated on the things you can do with five pounds. A
new suit, a week-end in the country, a day-trip to Paris, five rousing drunks, ten dinners
in Soho restaurants. At this point it occurred to him that he and Rosemary and Ravelston
must certainly have dinner together tonight. Just to celebrate his stroke of luck; after all,
it isn’t every day that ten pounds — five pounds — drops out of the sky into your lap. The
thought of the three of them together, with good food and wine and money no object took
hold of him as something not to be resisted. He had just a tiny twinge of caution. Mustn’t
spend ALL his money, of course. Still, he could afford a quid — two quid. In a couple of
minutes he had got Ravelston on the pub phone.
‘Is that you, Ravelston? I say, Ravelston! Look here, you’ve got to have dinner with me
tonight. ’
From the other end of the line Ravelston faintly demurred. ‘No, dash it! You have dinner
with ME. ’ But Gordon overbore him. Nonsense! Ravelston had got to have dinner with
HIM tonight. Unwillingly, Ravelston assented. All right, yes, thanks; he’d like it very
much. There was a sort of apologetic misery in his voice. He guessed what had happened.
Gordon had got hold of money from somewhere and was squandering it immediately; as
usual, Ravelston felt he hadn’t the right to interfere. Where should they go? Gordon was
demanding. Ravelston began to speak in praise of those jolly little Soho restaurants where
you get such a wonderful dinner for half a crown. But the Soho restaurants sounded
beastly as soon as Ravelston mentioned them. Gordon wouldn’t hear of it. Nonsense!
They must go somewhere decent. Let’s do it all regardless, was his private thought; might
as well spend two quid — three quid, even. Where did Ravelston generally go?
Modigliani’s, admitted Ravelston. But Modigliani’s was very — but no! not even over the
phone could Ravelston frame that hateful word ‘expensive’. How remind Gordon of his
poverty? Gordon mightn’t care for Modigliani’s, he euphemistically said. But Gordon
was satisfied. Modigliani’s? Right you are — half past eight. Good! After all, if he spent
even three quid on the dinner he’d still have two quid to buy himself a new pair of shoes
and a vest and a pair of pants.
He had fixed it up with Rosemary in another five minutes. The New Albion did not like
their employees being rung up on the phone, but it did not matter once in a way. Since
that disastrous Sunday journey, five days ago, he had heard from her once but had not
seen her. She answered eagerly when she heard whose voice it was. Would she have
dinner with him tonight? Of course! What fun! And so in ten minutes the whole thing
was settled. He had always wanted Rosemary and Ravelston to meet, but somehow had
never been able to contrive it. These things are so much easier when you’ve got a little
money to spend.
The taxi bore him westward through the darkling streets. A three-mile journey — still, he
could afford it. Why spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar? He had dropped that notion of
spending only two pounds tonight. He would spend three pounds, three pounds ten —
four pounds if he felt like it. Slap up and regardless — that was the idea. And, oh! by the
way! Julia’s fiver. He hadn’t sent it yet. No matter. Send it first thing in the morning.
Good old Julia! She should have her fiver.
How voluptuous were the taxi cushions under his bum! He lolled this way and that. He
had been drinking, of course — had had two quick ones, or possibly three, before coming
away. The taxi-driver was a stout philosophic man with a weather-beaten face and a
knowing eye. He and Gordon understood one another. They had palled up in the bar
where Gordon was having his quick ones. As they neared the West End the taximan drew
up, unbidden, at a discreet pub on a corner. He knew what was in Gordon’s mind. Gordon
could do with a quick one. So could the taximan. But the drinks were on Gordon — that
too was understood.
‘You anticipated my thoughts,’ said Gordon, climbing out.
‘Yes, sir. ’
‘I could just about do with a quick one. ’
‘Thought you might, sir. ’
‘And could you manage one yourself, do you think? ’
‘Where there’s a will there’s a way,’ said the taximan.
‘Come inside,’ said Gordon.
They leaned matily on the brass-edged bar, elbow to elbow, lighting two of the taximan’ s
cigarettes. Gordon felt witty and expansive. He would have liked to tell the taximan the
history of his life. The white-aproned bannan hastened towards them.
‘Yes sir? ’ said the barman.
‘Gin,’ said Gordon.
‘Make it two,’ said the taximan.
More matily than ever, they clinked glasses.
‘Many happy returns,’ said Gordon.
‘Your birthday today, sir? ’
‘Only metaphorically.
‘No. I was never angry with you. YOU’RE not to blame. ’
She looked up at him, trying to divine the expression of his face in the almost pitch
darkness. He drew her against him, and, as she seemed to expect it, tilted her face back
and kissed her. She clung to him eagerly; her body melted against his. She had been
waiting for this, it seemed.
‘Gordon, you do love me, don’t you? ’
‘Of course I do. ’
‘Things went wrong somehow. I couldn’t help it. I got frightened suddenly. ’
‘It doesn’t matter. Another time it’ll be all right. ’
She was lying limp against him, her head on his breast. He could feel her heart beating. It
seemed to flutter violently, as though she were taking some decision.
‘I don’t care,’ she said indistinctly, her face buried in his coat.
‘Don’t care about what? ’
‘The baby. I’ll risk it. You can do what you like with me. ’
At these surrendering words a weak desire raised itself in him and died away at once. He
knew why she had said it. It was not because, at this moment, she really wanted to be
made love to. It was from a mere generous impulse to let him know that she loved him
and would take a dreaded risk rather than disappoint him.
‘Now? ’ he said.
‘Yes, if you like. ’
He considered. He so wanted to be sure that she was his! But the cold night air flowed
over them. Behind the hedges the long grass would be wet and chill. This was not the
time or the place. Besides, that business of the eightpence had usurped his mind. He was
not in the mood any longer.
‘I can’t,’ he said finally.
‘You can’t! But, Gordon! I thought — ’
‘I know. But it’s all different now. ’
‘You’re still upset? ’
‘Yes. In a way. ’
‘Why? ’
He pushed her a little away from him. As well have the explanation now as later.
Nevertheless he was so ashamed that he mumbled rather than said:
‘I’ve got a beastly thing to say to you. It’s been worrying me all the way along. ’
‘What is it? ’
‘It’s this. Can you lend me some money? I’m absolutely cleaned out. I had just enough
money for today, but that beastly hotel bill upset everything. I’ve only eightpence left. ’
Rosemary was amazed. She broke right out of his arms in her amazement.
‘Only eightpence left! What ARE you talking about? What does it matter if you’ve only
eightpence left? ’
‘Don’t I tell you I shall have to borrow money off you in another minute? You’ll have to
pay for your own bus fares, and my bus fares, and your tea and Lord knows what. And I
asked you to come out with me! You’re supposed to be my guest. It’s bloody. ’
‘Your GUEST! Oh, Gordon. Is THAT what’s been worrying you all this time? ’
‘Yes. ’
‘Gordon, you ARE a baby! How can you let yourself be worried by a thing like that? As
though I minded lending you money! Aren’t I always telling you I want to pay my share
when we go out together? ’
‘Yes, and you know how I hate your paying. We had that out the other night. ’
‘Oh, how absurd, how absurd you are! Do you think there’s anything to be ashamed of in
having no money? ’
‘Of course there is! It’s the only thing in the world there IS to be ashamed of. ’
‘But what’s it got to do with you and me making love, anyway? I don’t understand you.
First you want to and then you don’t want to. What’s money got to do with it? ’
‘Everything. ’
He wound her arm in his and started down the road. She would never understand.
Nevertheless he had got to explain.
‘Don’t you understand that one isn’t a full human being — that one doesn’t FEEL a human
being — unless one’s got money in one’s pocket? ’
‘No. I think that’s just silly. ’
‘It isn’t that I don’t want to make love to you. I do. But I tell you I can’t make love to you
when I’ve only eightpence in my pocket. At least when you know I’ve only eightpence. I
just can’t do it. It’s physically impossible. ’
‘But why? Why? ’
‘You’ll find it in Lempriere,’ he said obscurely.
That settled it. They talked no more about it. For the second time he had behaved grossly
badly and yet he had made her feel as if it were she who was in the wrong. They walked
on. She did not understand him; on the other hand, she forgave him everything. Presently
they reached Farnham Common, and, after a wait at the cross road, got a bus to Slough.
In the darkness, as the bus loomed near, Rosemary found Gordon’s hand and slipped half
a crown into it, so that he might pay the fares and not be shamed in public by letting a
woman pay for him.
For his own part Gordon would sooner have walked to Slough and saved the bus fares,
but he knew Rosemary would refuse. In Slough, also, he was for taking the train straight
back to London, but Rosemary said indignantly that she wasn’t going to go without her
tea, so they went to a large, dreary, draughty hotel near the station. Tea, with little wilting
sandwiches and rock cakes like balls of putty, was two shillings a head. It was tonnent to
Gordon to let her pay for his food. He sulked, ate nothing, and, after a whispered
argument, insisted on contributing his eightpence towards the cost of the tea.
It was seven o’clock when they took the train back to London. The train was full of tired
hikers in khaki shorts. Rosemary and Gordon did not talk much. They sat close together,
Rosemary with her arm twined through his, playing with his hand, Gordon looking out of
the window. People in the carriage eyed them, wondering what they had quarrelled about.
Gordon watched the lamp-starred darkness streaming past. So the day to which he had
looked forward was ended. And now back to Willowbed Road, with a penniless week
ahead. For a whole week, unless some miracle happened, he wouldn’t even be able to buy
himself a cigarette. What a bloody fool he had been! Rosemary was not angry with him.
By the pressure of her hand she tried to make it clear to him that she loved him. His pale
discontented face, turned half away from her, his shabby coat, and his unkempt mouse-
coloured hair that wanted cutting more than ever, filled her with profound pity. She felt
more tenderly towards him than she would have done if everything had gone well,
because in her feminine way she grasped that he was unhappy and that life was difficult
for him.
‘See me home, will you? ’ she said as they got out at Paddington.
‘If you don’t mind walking. I haven’t got the fare. ’
‘But let ME pay the fare. Oh, dear! I suppose you won’t. But how are you going to get
home yourself? ’
‘Oh, I’ll walk. I know the way. It’s not very far. ’
‘I hate to think of you walking all that way. You look so tired. Be a dear and let me pay
your fare home. DO! ’
‘No. You’ve paid quite enough for me already. ’
‘Oh, dear! You are so silly! ’
They halted at the entrance to the Underground. He took her hand. ‘I suppose we must
say good-bye for the present,’ he said.
‘Good-bye, Gordon dear. Thanks ever so much for taking me out. It was such fun this
morning. ’
‘Ah, this morning! It was different then. ’ His mind went back to the morning hours, when
they had been alone on the road together and there was still money in his pocket.
Compunction seized him. On the whole he had behaved badly. He pressed her hand a
little tighter. ‘You’re not angry with me, are you? ’
‘No, silly, of course not. ’
‘I didn’t mean to be beastly to you. It was the money. It’s always the money. ’
‘Never mind, it’ll be better next time. We’ll go to some better place. We’ll go down to
Brighton for the week-end, or something. ’
‘Perhaps, when I’ve got the money. You will write soon, won’t you? ’
‘Yes. ’
‘Your letters are the only things that keep me going. Tell me when you’ll write, so that I
can have your letter to look forward to. ’
‘I’ll write tomorrow night and post it on Tuesday. Then you’ll get it last post on Tuesday
night. ’
‘Then good-bye, Rosemary dear. ’
‘Good-bye, Gordon darling. ’
He left her at the booking-office. When he had gone twenty yards he felt a hand laid on
his arm. He turned sharply. It was Rosemary. She thrust a packet of twenty Gold Flake,
which she had bought at the tobacco kiosk, into his coat pocket and ran back to the
Underground before he could protest.
He trailed homeward through the wastes of Marylebone and Regent’s Park. It was the
fag-end of the day. The streets were dark and desolate, with that strange listless feeling of
Sunday night when people are more tired after a day of idleness than after a day of work.
It was vilely cold, too. The wind had risen when the night fell. Sharply the menacing
wind sweeps over. Gordon was footsore, having walked a dozen or fifteen miles, and also
hungry. He had had little food all day. In the morning he had hurried off without a proper
breakfast, and the lunch at the Ravenscroft Hotel wasn’t the kind of meal that did you
much good; since then he had had no solid food. However, there was no hope of getting
anything when he got home. He had told Mother Wisbeach that he would be away all
day.
When he reached the Hampstead Road he had to wait on the kerb to let a stream of cars
go past. Even here everything seemed dark and gloomy, in spite of the glaring lamps and
the cold glitter of the jewellers’ windows. The raw wind pierced his thin clothes, making
him shiver. Sharply the menacing wind sweeps over The bending poplars, newly bare. He
had finished that poem, all except the last two lines. He thought again of those hours this
morning — the empty misty roads, the feeling of freedom and adventure, of having the
whole day and the whole country before you in which to wander at will. It was having
money that did it, of course. Seven and elevenpence he had had in his pocket this
morning. It had been a brief victory over the money-god; a morning’s apostasy, a holiday
in the groves of Ashtaroth. But such things never last. Your money goes and your
freedom with it.
Circumcise ye your foreskins, saith the Lord. And back we creep, duly
snivelling.
Another shoal of cars swam past. One in particular caught his eye, a long slender thing,
elegant as a swallow, all gleaming blue and silver; a thousand guineas it would have cost,
he thought. A blue-clad chauffeur sat at the wheel, upright, immobile, like some scornful
statue. At the back, in the pink-lit interior, four elegant young people, two youths, and
two girls, were smoking cigarettes and laughing. He had a glimpse of sleek bunny-faces;
faces of ravishing pinkness and smoothness, lit by that peculiar inner glow that can never
be counterfeited, the soft warm radiance of money.
He crossed the road. No food tonight. However, there was still oil in the lamp, tha nk
God; he would have a secret cup of tea when he got back. At this moment he saw himself
and his life without saving disguises. Every night the same — back to the cold lonely
bedroom and the grimy littered sheets of the poem that never got any further. It was a
blind alley. He would never finish London Pleasures, he would never marry Rosemary,
he would never set his life in order. He would only drift and sink, drift and sink, like the
others of his family; but worse than them — down, down into some dreadful sub-world
that as yet he could only dimly imagine. It was what he had chosen when he declared war
on money. Serve the money-god or go under; there is no other rule.
Something deep below made the stone street shiver. The tube-train, sliding through
middle earth. He had a vision of London, of the western world; he saw a thousand million
slaves toiling and grovelling about the throne of money. The earth is ploughed, ships sail,
miners sweat in dripping tunnels underground, clerks hurry for the eight-fifteen with the
fear of the boss eating at their vitals. And even in bed with their wives they tremble and
obey. Obey whom? The money-priesthood, the pink-faced masters of the world. The
Upper Crust. A welter of sleek young rabbits in thousand guinea motor cars, of golfing
stockbrokers and cosmopolitan financiers, of Chancery lawyers and fashionable Nancy
boys, of bankers, newspaper peers, novelists of all four sexes, American pugilists, lady
aviators, film stars, bishops, titled poets, and Chicago gorillas.
When he had gone another fifty yards the rhyme for the final stanza of his poem occurred
to him. He walked homeward, repeating the poem to himself:
Sharply the menacing wind sweeps over The bending poplars, newly bare, And the dark
ribbons of the chimneys Veer downward; flicked by whips of air,
Torn posters flutter; coldly sound The boom of trains and the rattle of hooves, And the
clerks who hurry to the station Look, shuddering, over the eastern rooves,
Thinking, each one, ‘Here comes the winter! Please God I keep my job this year! ’ And
bleakly, as the cold strikes through Their entrails like an icy spear,
They think of rent, rates, season tickets, Insurance, coal, the skivvy’s wages, Boots,
school-bills, and the next instalment Upon the two twin beds from Drage’s.
For if in careless summer days In groves of Ashtaroth we whored, Repentant now, when
winds blow cold, We kneel before our rightful lord;
The lord of all, the money-god, Who rules us blood and hand and brain, Who gives the
roof that stops the wind, And, giving, takes away again;
Who spies with jealous, watchful care, Our thoughts, our dreams, our secret ways, Who
picks our words and cuts our clothes, And maps the pattern of our days;
Who chills our anger, curbs our hope, And buys our lives and pays with toys, Who claims
as tribute broken faith, Accepted insults, muted joys;
Who binds with chains the poet’s wit, The navvy’s strength, the soldier’s pride, And lays
the sleek, estranging shield Between the lover and his bride.
Chapter 8
As the clock struck one Gordon slammed the shop door to and hurried, almost ran, to the
branch of the Westminster Bank down the street.
With a half-conscious gesture of caution he was clutching the lapel of his coat, holding it
tight against him. In there, stowed away in his right-hand inner pocket, was an object
whose very existence he partly doubted. It was a stout blue envelope with an American
stamp; in the envelope was a cheque for fifty dollars; and the cheque was made out to
‘Gordon Comstock’!
He could feel the square shape of the envelope outlined against his body as clearly as
though it had been red hot. All the morning he had felt it there, whether he touched it or
whether he did not; he seemed to have developed a special patch of sensitiveness in the
skin below his right breast. As often as once in ten minutes he had taken the cheque out
of its envelope and anxiously examined it. After all, cheques are tricky things. It would
be frightful if there turned out to be some hitch about the date or the signature. Besides,
he might lose it — it might even vanish of its own accord like fairy gold.
The cheque had come from the Californian Review, that American magazine to which,
weeks or months ago, he had despairingly sent a poem. He had almost forgotten about the
poem, it had been so long away, until this morning their letter had come sailing out of the
blue. And what a letter! No English editor ever writes letters like that. They were ‘very
favorably impressed’ by his poem. They would ‘endeavor’ to include it in their next
number. Would he ‘favor’ them by showing them some more of his work? (Would he?
Oh, boy! — as Flaxman would say. ) And the cheque had come with it. It seemed the most
monstrous folly, in this year of blight 1934, that anyone should pay fifty dollars for a
poem. However, there it was; and there was the cheque, which looked perfectly genuine
however often he inspected it.
He would have no peace of mind till the cheque was cashed — for quite possibly the bank
would refuse it — but already a stream of visions was flowing through his mind. Visions
of girls’ faces, visions of cobwebby claret bottles and quart pots of beer, visions of a new
suit and his overcoat out of pawn, visions of a week-end at Brighton with Rosemary,
visions of the crisp, crackling five pound note which he was going to give to Julia. Above
all, of course, that fiver for Julia. It was almost the first thing he had thought of when the
cheque came. Whatever else he did with the money, he must give Julia half of it. It was
only the barest justice, considering how much he had ‘borrowed’ from her in all these
years. All the morning the thought of Julia and the money he owed her had been cropping
up in his mind at odd moments. It was a vaguely distasteful thought, however. He would
forget about it for half an hour at a time, would plan a dozen ways of spending his ten
pounds to the uttermost farthing, and then suddenly he would remember about Julia.
Good old Julia! Julia should have her share. A fiver at the very least. Even that was not a
tenth of what he owed her. For the twentieth time, with a faint malaise, he registered the
thought: five quid for Julia.
The bank made no trouble about the cheque. Gordon had no banking account, but they
knew him well, for Mr McKechnie banked there. They had cashed editors’ cheques for
Gordon before. There was only a minute’s consultation, and then the cashier came back.
‘Notes, Mr Comstock? ’
‘One five pound, and the rest pounds, please. ’
The flimsy luscious fiver and the five clean pound notes slid rustling under the brass rail.
And after them the cashier pushed a little pile of half-crowns and pennies. In lordly style
Gordon shot the coins into his pocket without even counting them. That was a bit of
backsheesh. He had only expected ten pounds for fifty dollars. The dollar must be above
par. The five pound note, however, he carefully folded up and stowed away in the
American envelope. That was Julia’s fiver. It was sacrosanct. He would post it to her
presently.
He did not go home for dinner. Why chew leathery beef in the aspidistral dining-room
when he had ten quid in pocket — five quid, rather? (He kept forgetting that half the
money was already mortgaged to Julia. ) For the moment he did not bother to post Julia’s
five pounds. This evening would be soon enough. Besides, he rather enjoyed the feeling
of it in his pocket. It was queer how different you felt with all that money in your pocket.
Not opulent, merely, but reassured, revivified, reborn. He felt a different person from
what he had been yesterday. He WAS a different person. He was no longer the
downtrodden wretch who made secret cups of tea over the oil stove at 31 Willowbed
Road. He was Gordon Comstock, the poet, famous on both sides of the Atlantic.
Publications: Mice (1932), London Pleasures (1935). He thought with perfect confidence
of London Pleasures now. In three months it should see the light. Demy octavo, white
buckram covers. There was nothing that he did not feel equal to now that his luck had
turned.
He strolled into the Prince of Wales for a bite of food. A cut off the joint and two veg. ,
one and twopence, a pint of pale ale ninepence, twenty Gold Flakes a shilling. Even after
that extravagance he still had well over ten pounds in hand — or rather, well over five
pounds. Beer-warmed, he sat and meditated on the things you can do with five pounds. A
new suit, a week-end in the country, a day-trip to Paris, five rousing drunks, ten dinners
in Soho restaurants. At this point it occurred to him that he and Rosemary and Ravelston
must certainly have dinner together tonight. Just to celebrate his stroke of luck; after all,
it isn’t every day that ten pounds — five pounds — drops out of the sky into your lap. The
thought of the three of them together, with good food and wine and money no object took
hold of him as something not to be resisted. He had just a tiny twinge of caution. Mustn’t
spend ALL his money, of course. Still, he could afford a quid — two quid. In a couple of
minutes he had got Ravelston on the pub phone.
‘Is that you, Ravelston? I say, Ravelston! Look here, you’ve got to have dinner with me
tonight. ’
From the other end of the line Ravelston faintly demurred. ‘No, dash it! You have dinner
with ME. ’ But Gordon overbore him. Nonsense! Ravelston had got to have dinner with
HIM tonight. Unwillingly, Ravelston assented. All right, yes, thanks; he’d like it very
much. There was a sort of apologetic misery in his voice. He guessed what had happened.
Gordon had got hold of money from somewhere and was squandering it immediately; as
usual, Ravelston felt he hadn’t the right to interfere. Where should they go? Gordon was
demanding. Ravelston began to speak in praise of those jolly little Soho restaurants where
you get such a wonderful dinner for half a crown. But the Soho restaurants sounded
beastly as soon as Ravelston mentioned them. Gordon wouldn’t hear of it. Nonsense!
They must go somewhere decent. Let’s do it all regardless, was his private thought; might
as well spend two quid — three quid, even. Where did Ravelston generally go?
Modigliani’s, admitted Ravelston. But Modigliani’s was very — but no! not even over the
phone could Ravelston frame that hateful word ‘expensive’. How remind Gordon of his
poverty? Gordon mightn’t care for Modigliani’s, he euphemistically said. But Gordon
was satisfied. Modigliani’s? Right you are — half past eight. Good! After all, if he spent
even three quid on the dinner he’d still have two quid to buy himself a new pair of shoes
and a vest and a pair of pants.
He had fixed it up with Rosemary in another five minutes. The New Albion did not like
their employees being rung up on the phone, but it did not matter once in a way. Since
that disastrous Sunday journey, five days ago, he had heard from her once but had not
seen her. She answered eagerly when she heard whose voice it was. Would she have
dinner with him tonight? Of course! What fun! And so in ten minutes the whole thing
was settled. He had always wanted Rosemary and Ravelston to meet, but somehow had
never been able to contrive it. These things are so much easier when you’ve got a little
money to spend.
The taxi bore him westward through the darkling streets. A three-mile journey — still, he
could afford it. Why spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar? He had dropped that notion of
spending only two pounds tonight. He would spend three pounds, three pounds ten —
four pounds if he felt like it. Slap up and regardless — that was the idea. And, oh! by the
way! Julia’s fiver. He hadn’t sent it yet. No matter. Send it first thing in the morning.
Good old Julia! She should have her fiver.
How voluptuous were the taxi cushions under his bum! He lolled this way and that. He
had been drinking, of course — had had two quick ones, or possibly three, before coming
away. The taxi-driver was a stout philosophic man with a weather-beaten face and a
knowing eye. He and Gordon understood one another. They had palled up in the bar
where Gordon was having his quick ones. As they neared the West End the taximan drew
up, unbidden, at a discreet pub on a corner. He knew what was in Gordon’s mind. Gordon
could do with a quick one. So could the taximan. But the drinks were on Gordon — that
too was understood.
‘You anticipated my thoughts,’ said Gordon, climbing out.
‘Yes, sir. ’
‘I could just about do with a quick one. ’
‘Thought you might, sir. ’
‘And could you manage one yourself, do you think? ’
‘Where there’s a will there’s a way,’ said the taximan.
‘Come inside,’ said Gordon.
They leaned matily on the brass-edged bar, elbow to elbow, lighting two of the taximan’ s
cigarettes. Gordon felt witty and expansive. He would have liked to tell the taximan the
history of his life. The white-aproned bannan hastened towards them.
‘Yes sir? ’ said the barman.
‘Gin,’ said Gordon.
‘Make it two,’ said the taximan.
More matily than ever, they clinked glasses.
‘Many happy returns,’ said Gordon.
‘Your birthday today, sir? ’
‘Only metaphorically.
