The Easter Egg

by H.H. Munro (SAKI)

　　It was distinctly hard lines for Lady Barbara, who came of goodfighting stock, and was one of the bravest women of hergeneration, that her son should be so undisguisedly a coward.Whatever good qualities Lester Slaggby may have possessed, and hewas in some respects charming, courage could certainly never heimputed to him. As a child he had suffered from childishtimidity, as a boy from unboyish funk, and as a youth he hadexchanged unreasoning fears for others which were more formidablefrom the fact of having a carefully thought-out basis. He wasfrankly afraid of animals, nervous with firearms, and nevercrossed the Channel without mentally comparing the numericalproportion of lifebelts to passengers. On horseback he seemed torequire as many hands as a Hindu god, at least four for clutchingthe reins, and two more for patting the horse soothingly on theneck. Lady Barbara no longer pretended not to see her son'sprevailing weakness, with her usual courage she faced theknowledge of it squarely, and, mother-like, loved him none theless.Continental travel, anywhere away from the great tourist tracks,was a favoured hobby with Lady Barbara, and Lester joined her asoften as possible. Eastertide usually found her at Knobaltheim,an upland township in one of those small princedoms that makeinconspicuous freckles on the map of Central Europe.A long-standing acquaintanceship with the reigning family made hera personage of due importance in the eyes of her old friend theBurgomaster, and she was anxiously consulted by that worthy on themomentous occasion when the Prince made known his intention ofcoming in person to open a sanatorium outside the town. All theusual items in a programme of welcome, some of them fatuous andcommonplace, others quaint and charming, had been arranged for,but the Burgomaster hoped that the resourceful English lady mighthave something new and tasteful to suggest in the way of loyalgreeting. The Prince was known to the outside world, if at all,as an old-fashioned reactionary, combating modern progress, as itwere, with a wooden sword; to his own people he was known as akindly old gentleman with a certain endearing stateliness whichhad nothing of standoffishness about it. Knobaltheim was anxiousto do its best. Lady Barbara discussed the matter with Lester andone or two acquaintances in her little hotel, but ideas weredifficult to come by."Might I suggest something to the Gndige Frau?" asked a sallowhigh-cheek-boned lady to whom the Englishwoman had spoken once ortwice, and whom she had set down in her mind as probably aSouthern Slav."Might I suggest something for the Reception Fest?" she went on,with a certain shy eagerness. "Our little child here, our baby,we will dress him in little white coat, with small wings, as anEaster angel, and he will carry a large white Easter egg, andinside shall be a basket of plover eggs, of which the Prince is sofond, and he shall give it to his Highness as Easter offering. Itis so pretty an idea we have seen it done once in Styria."Lady Barbara looked dubiously at the proposed Easter angel, afair, wooden-faced child of about four years old. She had noticedit the day before in the hotel, and wondered rather how such atowheaded child could belong to such a dark-visaged couple as thewoman and her husband; probably, she thought, an adopted baby,especially as the couple were not young."Of course Gndige Frau will escort the little child up to thePrince," pursued the woman; but he will be quite good, and do ashe is told.""We haf some pluffers' eggs shall come fresh from Wien," said thehusband.The small child and Lady Barbara seemed equally unenthusiasticabout the pretty idea; Lester was openly discouraging, but whenthe Burgomaster heard of it he was enchanted. The combination ofsentiment and plovers' eggs appealed strongly to his Teutonicmind.On the eventful day the Easter angel, really quite prettily andquaintly dressed, was a centre of kindly interest to the galacrowd marshalled to receive his Highness. The mother wasunobtrusive and less fussy than most parents would have been underthe circumstances, merely stipulating that she should place theEaster egg herself in the arms that had been carefully schooledhow to hold the precious burden. Then Lady Barbara moved forward,the child marching stolidly and with grim determination at herside. It had been promised cakes and sweeties galore if it gavethe egg well and truly to the kind old gentleman who was waitingto receive it. Lester had tried to convey to it privately thathorrible smackings would attend any failure in its share of theproceedings, but it is doubtful if his German caused more than animmediate distress. Lady Barbara had thoughtfully providedherself with an emergency supply of chocolate sweetmeats; childrenmay sometimes be time-servers, but they do not encourage longaccounts. As they approached nearer to the princely das LadyBarbara stood discreetly aside, and the stolid-faced infant walkedforward alone, with staggering but steadfast gait, encouraged by amurmur of elderly approval. Lester, standing in the front row ofthe onlookers, turned to scan the crowd for the beaming faces ofthe happy parents. In a side-road which led to the railwaystation he saw a cab; entering the cab with every appearance offurtive haste were the dark-visaged couple who had been soplausibly eager for the "pretty idea." The sharpened instinct ofcowardice lit up the situation to him in one swift flash. Theblood roared and surged to his head as though thousands offloodgates had been opened in his veins and arteries, and hisbrain was the common sluice in which all the torrents met. He sawnothing but a blur around him. Then the blood ebbed away in quickwaves, till his very heart seemed drained and empty, and he stoodnervelessly, helplessly, dumbly watching the child, bearing itsaccursed burden with slow, relentless steps nearer and nearer tothe group that waited sheep-like to receive him. A fascinatedcuriosity compelled Lester to turn his head towards the fugitives;the cab had started at hot pace in the direction of the station.The next moment Lester was running, running faster than any ofthose present had ever seen a man run, and--he was not runningaway. For that stray fraction of his life some unwonted impulsebeset him, some hint of the stock he came from, and he ranunflinchingly towards danger. He stooped and clutched at theEaster egg as one tries to scoop up the ball in Rugby football.What he meant to do with it he had not considered, the thing wasto get it. But the child had been promised cakes and sweetmeatsif it safely gave the egg into the hands of the kindly oldgentleman; it uttered no scream, but it held to its charge withlimpet grip. Lester sank to his knees, tugging savagely at thetightly clasped burden, and angry cries rose from the scandalizedonlookers. A questioning, threatening ring formed round him, thenshrank back in recoil as he shrieked out one hideous word. LadyBarbara heard the word and saw the crowd race away like scatteredsheep, saw the Prince forcibly hustled away by his attendants;also she saw her son lying prone in an agony of overmasteringterror, his spasm of daring shattered by the child's unexpectedresistance, still clutching frantically, as though for safety, atthat white-satin gew-gaw, unable to crawl even from its deadlyneighbourhood, able only to scream and scream and scream. In herbrain she was dimly conscious of balancing, or striving tobalance, the abject shame which had him now in thrall against theone compelling act of courage which had flung him grandly andmadly on to the point of danger. It was only for the fraction ofa minute that she stood watching the two entangled figures, theinfant with its woodenly obstinate face and body tense with doggedresistance, and the boy limp and already nearly dead with a terrorthat almost stifled his screams; and over them the long galastreamers flapping gaily in the sunshine. She never forgot thescene; but then, it was the last she ever saw.Lady Barbara carries her scarred face with its sightless eyes asbravely as ever in the world, but at Eastertide her friends arecareful to keep from her ears any mention of the children's Eastersymbol.