The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Author:Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

In Two Houses

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The blank, boarded windows, with which the two old Marshall houses faced, or rather sided, each other, told no tales of midnight danger; but shrill infant screams were more successful.

‘Fire! Fire! O Lawdy, Lawdy, de house is afire!’ yelled little black Polly, her red-tied pigtails seeming to bristle and prance with horror.

‘Be still, child!’ said Miss Diana sternly. ‘Hold your tongue—we can put this out. Be still, I tell you!’

With a clear head and a strong hand she proceeded to assail the leaping flames in the back kitchen, but could not at the same time capture and quiet the vociferous Polly, who ran out into the moonlit silence of the back yard, shrieking to heaven that they would all be burned alive. The dark house next door stirred inwardly, it would seem reluctantly.

Distant knocks and cries were heard: ‘Mas’r Marshall! Mas’r Marshall! De house afire nex’ door! Dat lady’ll be bun in her baid! O Mas’r Marshall!’

Steps were heard; a moving light glimmered through the cracks of the close-shuttered windows and presently a tall man, somewhat incomplete in costume, leaped over the high brick wall and rushed in, followed by an old negro in a state of uncontrolled excitement.

Miss Diana Marshall paused in her task, smoky and dishevelled, but a commanding figure none the less.

‘I thank you for your kind intentions, Dr Blair,’ she said. ‘There is not the least necessity for assistance.’ Neither of the men paid any attention to her; Dr Marshall Blair taking hold with swift intelligence, while the old negro rushed about so madly that he seemed rather to spread the flames than to quench them, adding his cries to Polly’s.

‘Get out, Polyphemus!’ said his master at length. ‘Go out there and choke that child! I can put this out if you’ll let it alone.’

Polyphemus took himself off at the word, and a sudden silence fell upon him and Polly as they withdrew behind the smoke house.

‘Just pass me the water—let me throw it,’ the visitor commanded, and Miss Marshall, grim and silent, did as she was told. In a few moments the flames were entirely extinguished.

‘There is no great damage done,’ he remarked on examination.

‘I did not think there would be,’ replied Miss Marshall. ‘I could have put the fire out easily without any man’s assistance; but I couldn’t stop that foolish child.’

‘No,’ he politely agreed, ‘it is impossible to stop a woman’s tongue—even when very young.’

She regarded him coldly. Her thick, coppery hair was in a condition only to be described as tousled; a towel-girt wrapper and shapeless bedroom slippers formed her costume; but the free grace of her athletic body, and the rich color of health and sudden exertion made her a lovely picture for all that. Perhaps the glint of anger in her clear eyes heightened it; at any rate, he looked at her with admiration, though it seemed strangely reluctant.

‘I apologise for my intrusion,’ he said. ‘Kindly excuse me. I supposed the house was in danger.’

‘I thank you for your interest in the house, Dr Blair.

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