Evening star., 1925-03-22

"HERE are number or persons
in this story. First there Is
Elfreda, who might be de-
scribed as the woman in the
case; there is Mrs. Melrood
with her attendant, Sarah; Mrs. JUDD
of Rosemary lane, a policeman, q
frightened bus conductor, stout
gentleman and, of course, Mr.. Gud-
geon himself. with whose mysterious
and extraordinary fate the story Is
primarily concerned. Nor must we
forget the 20 ragamuffins.
Mrs. Judd was Mrs Judd of Rose
mary lane because she had lived there
longer than any of the other inhabit-
ants.
Mr. Gudgeon she had known since
he had come to Rosemary lane as a
red-haired, freckled-nosed young mar
with a rosy complexion. In those
days Mr. Gudgeon drove the old Atlas
horse-bus from Camden Town tC
London Bridge. Later the red hair
had become a sandy halo round shiny
bald head, and the rosy complexion
a veined and weather-beaten purple
and the horse-bus a laundering, roar
ing. bustling motor Juggernaut. II
was the latter change that had mark
ed the turning-point in Mr.. Gud-
geon's development. Mrs. Judd could
lodged with her without grumble
for 80 years?
1T was them three motor busses be-
gun it," she told her listners. "UI
to then e was as nice-spoken. pleas
ant sort of chap you could wish to
meet-not larky, mind you. Always
a bit on the quiet side, as you might
say. but 'appy as bird. Always
full of is 'orses, e was. Sarah James
off her feed today Mrs. judd ed
tell me. If she'd been is own child
e couldn't ave fused more. And
then them there motor busses"
Not that Mr.. Gudgeon had failed
in any way He had faced the change
manfully, carrying over into his new
job that feeling for a wayward Great
ure's moods without which no man car
become a successful motor driver. He
had even transplanted his affection
and tended 1t with a kind of passion
ate absorption which had first given
Mrs. Judd the idea that he was going
queer"
TT weren't natural" she declared
calling a bloomin' old bus Gwindo-
line and pattin' it on its 'ead and
talkin' to 1t. 1 didn't old with it
and 1 told i'm so. Much good that
did! When a man goes queer, he's
queer. and there amt no 'elpin' i'm. >
Mrs. Piggot wiped a rheumy eye
with the corner of her shawl. And
now 'e's gorn, poor fellow"
X x
ELFREDA lived in the top room OF
IL the last and most decrepit house
in Rosemary lane. 1t was inhabited
not only by Elfreda, but by Mrs. Co
lightly and Mrs. Golightly's husband
and her three bouncing boys. Mr.
Golightly was a house painter by pro-
fession and an artist by instinct. The
artist tended to come home in the
small hours, singing at the top of a
shaky baritone in the sheer joy OF
life, and the house painter who rolled
out of his frowsy bed the next morn
ing was a surly person who would
as soon throw a boot as look at you
Mrs. Golightly was practical, Wig
orous woman. She believed in every
body pulling is weight in the 'ome,
and as Elfreda weighed exactly four
stone, Mrs. Golightly had no opinion
of her pulling powers. And she haC
a playful way of expressing hel
opinion which left Elfreda not quite
sure whether she were standing or
her head or feet for hours after.
ward. Mrs. Golightly was not Ell
freda's mother, for which Mrs. Co
lightly gave Heaven constant and
eloquent thanks. Elfreda herself
didn't know where she came from OF
where she was giong to, and didn't
think about it.
In the morning she went to school
and for the rest of the day she made
flowers. 1t was wonderful the way she
made flowers, because she had never
seen any. Her teachers remarked little
Elfreda was backward. They had
never met her on her high stool by
the attic window, trying to catch the
last CLEAN Of the dirty afternoon
light over the tumbled chimneys, the
stumpy, chilblained fingers making
marvellously lifelike rosebuds out OF
strips of pink silk and the contents
of a paste pot. They might even have
been astonished had they seen her
later still, under the candle light, not
quite so steady on her perch, the in
tent small face shade grubbier, the
blue, little fingers a shade bluer
making daffodils.
That was what Mrs. Golightly
meant by pulling ones weight"
X X X
CwENDoLINE, officially known a.
~ No. AK, began her career at the
Crown and, having made her way
across London, drew up in a rather
over-heated state at the top of Hill
Rise-the outpost of a suburb, and
guarded by the Kings arms, where
Mr.. Gudgeon and his brethren gath
cred strength for the return journey
What lay beyond that barrier OF
seedy and tawdry villas Mr.. Gudgeor
did not know.
He had brought Gwendoline to her
journeys end, and he had to take her
back again, avoiding the pedestrians
seeking slaughter under her wheels
and keeping to the company's time
That was Mr.. Gudgeon's business in
life. Life, If you were one Of the
lucky ones, consisted of doing today
what you did yesterday and what
you hoped to do tomorrow.
That was life-everybody's life.
Some men, of course, had wives
and children. Or they took to drink
Once Mr.. Gudgeon himself had had
a love affair, but that had been q
long time ago-'way back in the vii
lage whence he came and whose name
he had almost forgotten. Nothing ha6
come Of 1t. For Mr.. Gudgeon, like Sc
many red-headed, freckle-nosec
people, was awkward and diffident
And so he had just settled down.