Hamlet had,however,won the hearts of the family;it was,indeed,Aunt Amy alone to whom he had not thought it worth while to pay court.To her alone he would not come when she called,by her alone he would not be cajoled,even though she offered him sugary tea,his deadliest temptation.No,he sat and looked at her through his hair,his fiery eye glinting,his peaked beard ironically humorous,his leg stuck out from his body,a pointing signal of derision.
She resolved to wait for an opportunity when she might conquer Hamlet and Jeremy together,but her power in the house was slight,so long as Mr.and Mrs.Cole were there."If I only had the children to myself,"she would say,"I would improve their manners in many ways.Poor Alice--!"Then suddenly she did have them.At the beginning of May Mr.Cole was summoned to take a mission to the seamen of Drymouth,and Mrs.Cole,who had relations in Drymouth,accompanied him.They would be absent from Pelchester a whole week.
"Oh,won't Aunt Amy be a nuisance,"said Jeremy,realising the situation.Then turning to Mary he added:"We'll pretend to do what she tells us and not do it really.That's much the easiest."A week is a short time,especially at the beginning of a shining and burning May,but Aunt Amy did her best not only with the children but with the servants,and even old Jordan,the gardener,who had been with the Cole family for twenty years.During that short week the cook,the parlourmaid,Rose,the housemaid,and the bootboy all gave notice,and Mrs.Cole was only able to keep them (on her return)by raising the wages of all of them.Jordan,who was an old man with a long white beard,said to her when she advised him to plant pinks where he had planted tulips and tulips where he had planted pinks,and further inquired why the cauliflower that he sent in was so poor and the cabbages so small:"Leave things alone,Miss,Nature's wiser than we be,not but what you mayn't mean well,but fussin's never done any good where Nature's concerned,nor never will";and when she said that he was very rude to her,he shook his head and answered:
"Maybe yes,and maybe no.What's rude to one ain't rude to another"--out of which answer she could make nothing at all.
In the schoolroom she sustained complete defeat.At the very outset she was baffled by Miss Jones.She had always despised Miss Jones as a poor unfortunate female who was forced to teach children in her old age because she must earn her living--a stupid,sentimental,cowed,old woman at whom the children laughed.She found now that the children instead of laughing at her laughed with her,formed a phalanx of protection around her and refused to be disobedient.Miss Jones herself was discovered to have a dry,rather caustic,sense of humour that Aunt Amy felt to be impertinence,but could not penetrate.
"And is that really how you teach them history,Miss Jones?Not quite the ******st way,surely.I remember an excellent governess whom we once had--""Perhaps,"said Miss Jones,gently,"you would give them a history lesson yourself,Miss Trefusis.I would be so glad to pick up any little hints--""I have,of course,no time,"said Aunt Amy hurriedly,"but,speaking generally,I am afraid I can't approve altogether of your system.""It isn't very good,I'm afraid,"said Miss Jones weakly."The children would be glad,I know,to have a few hints from you if you could spare a moment--"Jeremy,who was listening,giggled,tried to turn the giggle into a sneeze and choked.
"Jeremy!"said Aunt Amy severely.
"Oh,do look,Aunt Amy!"cried Mary,always Jeremy's faithful ally,"all your hairpins are dropping out!"She devoted herself then to Jeremy and worried him in every possible way,and after two days of this he hated her with a deep and bitter hatred,very different from that earlier teasing of Miss Jones.That had sprung from a sudden delicious discovery of power,and had been directed against no one.This was a real personal hatred that children of a less solid and tenacious temperament than Jeremy would have been incapable of feeling.
He did not laugh at her,he did not tease her,he no longer put out his tongue at her.He was older than that now--he was simply reserved and silent,watching her with his large eyes,his square body set,and resolved as though he knew that his moment would come.
Her experience with him was baffling.She punished him,petted him,she ignored him,she stormed at him;it seemed that she would do anything could she only win from him an acknowledgment of her power,her capability.But she could not.He only said:"Yes,Aunt Amy.""No,Aunt Amy."
She burst out:"You're a sullen,wicked little boy,Jeremy.Do you know what happens to little boys who sulk?""No,Aunt Amy."
"They grow into cross,bad-tempered men whom nobody likes and nobody trusts.Do you want to be like that when you're a man ?""I don't care."
"You know what happened to 'Don't Care.'I shall have to punish you if you're rude to me.""What have I done that's rude?"
"You mustn't speak to me like that.Is that the way you speak to your mother?""No,Aunt Amy."
"Well,then,if you don't speak to your mother like that,you mustn't speak to me like that,either.""No,Aunt Amy."
"Well,then ."