The Blue Suit
I was just going into my tailor's in Sackville Street, when who shouldbe coming out of the same establishment but Mrs Ellis! I was startled,as any man might well have been, to see a lady emerging from mytailor's. Of course a lady might have been to a tailor's to order atailor-made costume. Such an excursion would be perfectly legal and notat all shocking. But then my tailor did not "make" for ladies. Andmoreover, Mrs Ellis was not what I should call a tailor-made woman. Shebelonged to the other variety--the fluffy, lacy, flowing variety. I hadmade her acquaintance on one of my visits to the Five Towns. She wasindubitably elegant, but in rather a Midland manner. She was a finespecimen of the provincial woman, and that was one of the reasons why Iliked her. Her husband was a successful earthenware manufacturer.Occasionally he had to make long journeys--to Canada, to Australia andNew Zealand--in the interests of his business; so that she was sometimesa grass-widow, with plenty of money to spend. Her age was aboutthirty-five; bright, agreeable, shrewd, downright, energetic; a littleshort and a little plump. Wherever she was, she was a centre ofinterest! In default of children of her own she amused herself with thechildren of her husband's sister, Mrs Carter. Mr Carter was anothersuccessful earthenware manufacturer. Her favourite among nephews andnieces was young Ellis Carter, a considerable local dandy and "dog."Such was Mrs Ellis."Are you a widow just now?" I asked her, after we had shaken hands."Yes," she said. "But my husband touched at Port Said yesterday, thankHeaven.""Are you ordering clothes for him to wear on his arrival?" I adopted ateasing tone."Can you picture Henry in a Sackville Street suit?" she laughed.I could not. Henry's clothes usually had the appearance of having beenpicked up at a Jew's."Then what are you doing here?" I insisted."I came here because I remembered you saying once that this was yourtailor's," she said, "so I thought it would be a pretty good place."Now I would not class my tailor with the half-dozen great tailors of theworld, but all the same he is indeed a, pretty good tailor."That's immensely flattering," I said. "But what have you been doingwith him?""Business," said she. "And if you want to satisfy your extraordinaryinquisitiveness any further, don't you think you'd better come rightaway now and offer me some tea somewhere?""Splendid," I said. "Where?""Oh! The Hanover, of course!" she answered."Where's that?" I inquired."Don't you know the Hanover Tea-rooms in Regent Street?" she exclaimed,staggered.I have often noticed that metropolitan resorts which are regarded byprovincials as the very latest word of London style, are perfectlyunknown to Londoners themselves. She led me along Vigo Street to theHanover. It was a huge white place, with a number of little alcoves anda large band. We installed ourselves in one of the alcoves, withsupplies of China tea and multitudinous cakes, and grew piquantlyintimate, and then she explained her visit to my tailor's. I propose togive it here as nearly in her own words as I can.
II wouldn't tell you anything about it (she said) if I didn't know fromthe way you talk sometimes that you are interested in people. I meanany people, anywhere. Human nature! Everybody that I come across isfrightfully interesting to me. Perhaps that's why I've got so manyfriends--and enemies. I have, you know. I just like watching people tosee what they do, and then what they'll do next. I don't seem to mind somuch whether they're good or naughty--with me it's their interestingnessthat comes first. Now I suppose you don't know very much about mynephew, Ellis Carter. Just met him once, I think, and that's all. Don'tyou think he's handsome? Oh! I do. I think he's very handsome. But thena man and a woman never do agree about what being handsome is in a man.Ellis is only twenty, too. He has such nice curly hair, and hiseyes--haven't you noticed his eyes? His father says he's idle. But allfathers say that of their sons. I suppose you'll admit anyhow that he'sone of the best-dressed youths in the Five Towns. Anyone might think hegot his clothes in London, but he doesn't. It seems there's a simplymarvellous tailor in Bursley, and Ellis and all his friends go to him.His father is always grumbling at the bills, so his mother told me.Well, when I was at their house in July, there happened to come forEllis one of those fiat boxes that men's tailors always pack suits in,and so I thought I might as well show a great deal of curiosity aboutit, and I did. And Ellis undid it in the breakfast-room (his fatherwasn't there) and showed me a lovely blue suit. I asked him to goupstairs and put it on. He wouldn't at first, but his sisters and Iworried him till he gave way.He came downstairs again like Solomon in all his glory. It really was alovely suit. No--seriously, I'm not joking. It was a dream. He was veryshy in it. I must say men are funny. Even when they really likehaving new clothes and cutting a figure, they simply hate putting themon for the first time. Ellis is that way. I don't know how many suitsthat boy hasn't got--sheer dandyism!--and yet he'll keep a new suit inthe house a couple of months before wearing it! Now that's the sort ofthing that I call "interesting." So curious, isn't it? Ellis wouldn'tkeep that suit on. No; as soon as we'd done admiring it he disappearedand changed it.Now I'd gone that day to ask Ellis to escort me to Llandudno the weekafter. He likes going about with his auntie, and his auntie likes tohave him. And of course she sees that it doesn't cost him anything.But his father has to be placated first. There's another funny thing!His father is always grumbling that Ellis is absolutely no good at allat the works, but the moment there's any question of Ellis going awayfor a holiday--even if it's only a week-end--then his father turns rightround and wants to make out that Ellis is absolutely indispensable.Well, I got over his father. I always do, naturally. And it was settledthat Ellis and I should go on the next Saturday.I said to Ellis:"You must be sure to bring that suit with you."And then--will you believe me?--he stuck to it he wouldn't! Truly I wasunder the impression that I could argue either Ellis or his father intoany mortal thing. But no! I couldn't argue Ellis into agreeing to bringthat suit with him to Llandudno. He said he should wear whites. He saidit was a September suit. He said that everybody wore blue at Llandudno,and he didn't want to be mistaken for a schoolmaster! Imagine him beingmistaken for a schoolmaster! He even said there were some things Ididn't understand! I told him there was a very particular reason why Iwanted him to take that suit. And there was. He said:"What is the reason?"But I wouldn't tell him that. I wasn't going to knuckle down to himaltogether. So it ended that we didn't either of us budge. However, Ididn't mean to be beaten by a mere curly-headed boy. I can do what Iplease with his mother, though she is my eldest sister-in-law. Andbefore he started in the dogcart to meet me at the station on our way toLlandudno she gave Ellis a bonnet-box to hand to me, and told him totake great care of it. He handed it over to me, and I also told him totake great care of it. Of course he became very curious to know what wasin it. I said to him:"You may see it on the pier on Monday. In fact, I believe you will."He said: "It's heavy for a hat."So I informed him that hats were both heavy and large this summer.He said, "Well, I pity you, auntie!"Naturally it was his blue suit that was in the box. His mother hadburgled it after he'd done his packing, while he was having lunch.I was determined he should wear that suit. And I felt pretty sure thatwhen he saw my reason for asking him to bring it he'd be glad at thebottom of his heart that I'd brought it in spite of him. There is onegood thing about Ellis--he can see a joke against himself.... Haveanother cake. Well, I will, then.... Yes, I'm coming to the reason.
IIA girl, you say? Well, of course. But you mustn't look so proud ofyourself. A body needn't be anything like so clever as you are to beable to guess that there's a girl in it. Do you suppose I should haveimagined for a moment that it would interest you if there hadn't been agirl in it? Not exactly! Well, it's a girl from Winnipeg. Came toEngland in June with her parents. Or rather, perhaps, her parents camewith her. I'd never seen any of the three before--didn't know themfrom Adam and Eve. But my husband had made friends with them out therelast year--great friends. And they wanted to make the acquaintance of myhusband's wife. I'd gathered from Harry that they were quite my sort....What is my sort? You know perfectly well what my sort is. There areonly two sorts of people--the decent sort and the other sort. Well, theywere doing England--you know, like Colonial people do--seriously,leaving nothing out. By the way, their name was only "Smith," withouteven a "y" in it or an "e" at the end. They wished to try a good seasideplace, so I wrote to them and suggested Llandudno as a fair specimen,and it was arranged that we should meet there and spend at least a weektogether, and afterwards they were to come to the Five Towns. Isuggested we should all stay at Hawthornden's ... Hawthornden's? Don'tyou know--it's easily the best private hotel in Llandudno. Lift and aFrench chef and all kinds of things; but surely you must have seen allabout it in the papers!Now that was why I took Ellis with me. I hate travelling about alone,especially when my husband's away. And it was particularly on account ofthe girl that I stole the blue suit. But I didn't tell Ellis a wordabout the girl, and I only just mentioned the father and mother--and noteven that until we were safely in the train. These young dandies arereally very nervous and timid at bottom, you know, in spite of theirairs. Ellis would walk ten miles sooner than have to meet a stranger ofthe older generation. And he's just as shy about girls too. I believemost men are, if you ask me.The great encounter occurred in the hall, just before dinner. They werelate, and so were we. I tell you, we were completely outshone. I tellyou, we were not in it, not anywhere near being in it! For one thing,they were in evening-dress. Now at Hawthornden's you never dress fordinner. There isn't a place in Llandudno where it's the exception not todress for dinner. They seemed rather surprised; not put out, not ashamedof themselves for being too swagger, but just mildly disappointed withHawthornden's. The fact is, they didn't think much of Hawthornden's. Ilearnt all manner of things during dinner. They'd been in Scotland whenI corresponded with them, but before that they'd stayed at the Ritz inLondon, and at the Hotel St Regis in New York, and the something else--Iforget the name--at Chicago. I was expecting to meet "Colonials," but itwas Ellis and I who were "colonial." I could have borne it better ifthey hadn't been so polite, and so anxious to hide their opinion ofHawthornden's. The girl--oh! the girl.... Her name is Nellie. Reallyvery pretty. Only about eighteen, but as self-possessed as twenty-eight.Evidently she had always been used to treating her parents as equals;she talked quite half the time, and contradicted her mother as flatly asEllis contradicts me. Mr Smith didn't talk much. And Ellis didn't atfirst--he was too timid and awkward--really not at all like himself.However, Miss Nellie soon made him talk, and they got quite friendly andcurt with each other. Curious thing--Ellis never notices women'sclothes; very interested in his own, and in other men's, but not inwomen's! So I expect Nellie's didn't make much impression on him. Buttruly they were stylish. Much too gorgeous for a young girl--oh! you'veno idea!--but not vulgar. They'd been bought in London, in Dover Street.Better than mine, and better than her mother's. I will say this forher--she wore them without any self-consciousness, though she came infor a good deal of staring. Heaven knows what they cost! I'd be afraidto guess. But then you see the Smiths had come to England to spendmoney, and--well--they were spending it. All their ideas were largerthan ours.When dinner was over Nellie wanted to know what we could do to amuseourselves. Well, it was a showery night, and of course there wasnothing. Then Ellis said, in his patronizing way:"Suppose we go and knock the balls about a bit?"And Nellie said, "Knock the balls about a bit?""Yes," said Master Ellis, "billiards--you know."All four of us went to the billiard-room. And Ellis began to knock theballs about a bit. His father installed a billiard-table in his ownhouse a few years ago. The idea was to "keep the boy at home." Itdidn't, of course, not a bit. Ellis is a pretty good player, but he didnearly all his practising at his club. I've often heard his motherregret the eighty pounds odd that that billiard-table cost.... I playa bit, you know. Nellie Smith would not try at first, and Papa Smith wassmoking a cigar and he said he couldn't do justice to a cigar and a cueat the same time. So Ellis and I had a twenty-five up. He gave me tenand I beat him--probably because he would keep on smoking cigarettes,just to show Papa Smith how well he could keep the smoke out of hiseyes. Then he asked Nellie if she'd "try." She said she would if her pawould. And she and her pa put themselves against Ellis and me.Well, I'll cut it short. That girl, with her pink-and-whitecomplexion--she began right off with a break of twenty-eight. You shouldhave seen Ellis's face. It was the funniest thing I ever saw in my life.I can't remember anything that ever struck me as half so funny. It seemsthat they have plenty of time for billiards out in Winnipeg, and a veryhigh-class table. After a while Ellis saw the funniness of it too. Hemade a miss and then he said:"Will someone kindly take me out and bury me?"That kind of speech is supposed to be very smart at his club. And theSmiths thought it was very smart too. Nellie and her pa beat us hollow,and then Nellie began to take her pa to task for showing off with toomuch screw instead of using the natural angle!Ellis went to bed. He was very struck by Nellie's talents. But he wentto bed. Probably he wanted to think things over, and consider how hecould be impressive with her. I should like to have broken it to himabout his blue suit, because it was Sunday the next day, and Nellie wasbound to be gorgeous for chapel and the pier, and I felt sure he'd bereally glad to have that suit--whatever he might say to me. And Iwanted him to wear it too. But there was no chance for me to tell him.He went off to bed like a streak of lightning. And usually, you know, hesimply will not go to bed. Nothing will induce him to go to bed, just asnothing will induce him to get up. I said to myself I would send thesuit into his room early in the morning with a note. I did want him tolook his best.And then of course there was the fire. The fire was that very night.What?...
IIIDo you actually mean to sit there and tell me you never heard about thefire at Hawthornden's Hotel last July? Why, it was the sensation of theseason. There was over a column about it in the Manchester Guardian.Everybody talked of it for weeks.... And no one ever told you that wewere in it? Half the annexe was burnt down. We were in the annexe, allfour of us. I fancy the Smiths had chosen it because the rooms in theannexe are larger. Have you ever been in a fire?... Well, thank yourstars! We were wakened up at three o'clock. It was getting light, even.Somehow that made it worse. The confusion--you can't imagine it. We gotout all right. Oh! there was no special danger to life and limb. Butafter all we only did get out just in time. And with practicallynothing but our dressing-gowns--some not even that! It's queer, in afire, how at first you try to save things, and keep calm, and pretendyou are calm, until the thing gets hold of you. I actually began toshovel clothes into my trunks. Somebody said we should have time forthat. Well--we hadn't. And it was a very good thing there wasn't a liftin the annexe. It seems a lift well acts like a chimney, and half of usmight have been burnt alive.I must say the fire-brigade was pretty good. They got the fire out verywell--very quickly in fact. We women, or most of us, had been bundledinto private parlours and things in the main part of the hotel, whichwasn't threatened, and when we knew that the fire was out we naturallywanted to go back and see whether any of our things could be saved outof the wreck.Oh! what a sight it was! What a sight it was! You'd never believe thatso much damage could be done in an hour or so. Chiefly by water, ofcourse. All the ground floor was swimming in water. In fact there was ariver of it running across the promenade into the sea. About five-sixthsof Llandudno, dressed nohow, was on the promenade. However, policemenkept the people outside the gates.The firemen began bringing trunks down the stairs; they wouldn't let usgo up at first. It really was a wonderful scene, at the foot of thestairs, lots of us paddling about in that lake, and perfectly lost toall sense of--what shall I say?--well, correctness. I do believe most ofus had forgotten all about civilization. We wanted our things. We wantedour things so badly that we even lost our interest in the origin of thefire and in the question whether we should get anything out of theinsurance company. By the way, I mustn't omit to tell you that we neversaw the proprietors after the fire was out; the proprietors could onlybe seen by appointment. The German and Swiss waiters had to bear thebrunt of us.I was very lucky. I received both my trunks nearly at once. They camesliding on a plank down those stairs. And most of my things were in themtoo. I was determined to be energetic then, and to get out of all thatcrowd. Do you know what I did? I simply called two men in out of thestreet, and told them to shoulder my trunks into the main building ofthe hotel. I defied policemen and the superintendent of thefire-brigade. And in the main building I demanded a bedroom, and I wastold that everything would be done to accommodate me as quickly aspossible. So I went straight upstairs and told the men to follow me, andI began knocking at every door till I found a room that wasn't occupied,and I took possession of it, and gave the men a shilling a piece. Theyseemed to expect half-a-crown, because I'd been in a fire, I suppose!Curious ideas odd job men have! Then I dressed myself out of what wasleft of my belongings and went down again.All the people said how lucky I was, and what presence of mind I had,and how calm and practical I was, and so on and so on. But they didn'tknow that I'd been stupid enough not to give a thought to Ellis's bluesuit. One can't think of everything, and I didn't think of that. Ibelieve if I had thought of it, at the start, I should have taken thebonnet-box with me at any cost.I came across Ellis; smoking a cigarette, of course, just to show, Isuppose, that a fire was a most ordinary event to him. He was completelydressed, like me. He had saved the whole of his belongings. He said theSmiths were fixing themselves up in private rooms somewhere, and wouldbe down soon. So we moved along into the dining-room and had breakfast.The place was full and noisy. Ellis was exceedingly facetious. He said:"Well, auntie, did you have a pretty good night?"Also:"A fire is a very clumsy way of waking you up in the morning. A bellwould be much simpler, and cost less," etcetera, etcetera. And then hesaid:"A nice thing, auntie, if I'd followed your advice and brought mybeauteous new suit! It would have been bound to be burnt to a cinder.One's best suit always is in a fire."I ought to have told him then the trick I'd played on him, but I didn't.I merely agreed with him in a lame sort of way that it would have beena nice thing if he'd brought his beauteous suit. I hoped that I might beable later on to invent some good excuse, something really plausible,for having brought along with me his newest suit unknown to him. But themore I reflected the more I couldn't think of anything clever enough.Then the three Smiths came in. There was some queer attire in thatdining-room, but I think that Mrs Smith won the gold medal forqueerness. All her "colonialness" had come suddenly out. They evidentlyhadn't been very fortunate. But they didn't seem to mind much. Theyhadn't thought very highly of the hotel before, and they accepted thefire good-humouredly as one of the necessary drawbacks of a hotel thatwasn't quite up to their Winnipeg form. Nellie Smith was delightful. Imust say she was delightful, and she looked delightful. She was wearinga blue-and-red striped petticoat, rather short, and a white jersey, andover that a man's blue jacket, which fitted her pretty well. She lookedindescribably pert and charming, though the jacket was dirty andstained.I noticed Ellis staring and staring at that jacket....I needn't tell you. You can see a mile off what had happened.Ellis said in his casual way:"Hello! Where did you pick up that affair, Miss Smith?" Meaning thejacket.She said she had picked it up on one of the landings, and that there wasa pair of continuations lying in a broken bonnet-box just close to it,and that the continuations were ruined by too much water.I could feel myself blushing redder and redder."In a bonnet-box, eh?" said Master Ellis.Then he said: "Would you mind letting me look at the right-handbreast-pocket of that jacket?"She didn't mind in the least. He looked at the strip of white linen thatyour men's tailors always stitch into that pocket with your name andaddress and date, and age and weight, and I don't know what.He said, "Thank you."And she asked him if the jacket was his."Yes," he said, "but I hope you'll keep it."Everybody said what a very curious coincidence! Ellis avoided my eyes,and I avoided his.... Will you believe me that when we "had it out"afterwards, he and I, that boy was seriously angry. He suspected me of aplan "to make the best of him" during the stay with the Smiths, and hevery strongly objected to being "made the best of." His notionapparently was that even his worst was easily good enough for myColonial friends, although, as he'd have said, they had "simply wipedthe floor with him" in the billiard-room. Anyhow, he was furious. Heactually used the word "unwarrantable," and it was rather a long wordfor a mere stripling of a nephew to use to an auntie who was paying allhis expenses. However, he's a nice enough boy at the bottom, and soongot down off his high horse. I must tell you that Nellie Smith wore thatjacket all day, quite without any concern. These Colonials don't reallyseem to mind what they wear. At any rate she didn't. She was just asmuch at ease in that jacket as she had been in her gorgeousness theevening before. And she and Ellis were walking about together all day.The next day of course we all left. We couldn't stay, seeing the statewe were in.... Now, don't you think it's a very curious story?Thus spake Mrs Ellis across the tea-table in an alcove at the Hanover."But you've not finished the story!" I explained."Yes, I have," she said."You haven't explained what you were doing at my tailor's in SackvilleStreet.""Oh!" she cried, "I was forgetting that. Well, I promised Ellis a newsuit. And as I wanted to show him that after all I had larger ideasabout tailoring than he had, I told him I knew a very good tailor's inSackville Street--a real West End tailor--and that if he liked he couldhave his presentation suit made there. He pooh-poohed the offer atfirst, and pretended that his Bursley tailor was just as good as any ofyour West End tailors. But at last he accepted. You see--it meant anauthorized visit to London.... I'd been into the tailor's just now topay the bill. That's all.""But even now," I said, "you haven't finished the story.""Yes, I have," she replied again."What about Nellie Smith?" I demanded. "A story about a handsome girlnamed Nellie, who could make a break of twenty-eight at billiards, and ahandsome dog like Ellis Carter, and a fire, and the girl wearing theyouth's jacket--it can't break off like that.""Look here," she said, leaning a little across the table. "Did youexpect them to fall in love with each other on the spot and be engaged?What a sentimental old thing you are, after all!""But haven't they seen each other since?""Oh yes! In London, and in Bursley too.""And haven't they--""Not yet.... They may or they mayn't. You must remember this isn't thereign of Queen Victoria.... If they do, I'll let you know."
zpostcode
Recruit
weather
mreligion
Yellowpages
sport
constellation
shopping
name
game
directory
literature
Word
tour
furnish
Lottery
tftnews
lyrics
News
digital
car
dir
Edu
Finance
