Free Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington Page A

smelling of horse-piss and oats.
    The Hartlys thought he was “rich”. George Augustus was so very comfortable and exalts that he too really thought he was “rich”.
    One night, a sweet rural night, with a lemon moon over the sweet, breast-round, soft English country, with the nightingales jug-jugging and twit-twitting like mad in the leafy lanes, George Augustus kissed Isabel by a stile, and – manly fellow – asked her to marry him. Isabel – she had a pretty fiery temperament even then – had just sense enough not to kiss back and let him know that other “fellows” had kissed her, and perhaps fumbled further. She turned away her pretty head with its Pompadour knot of dark hair, and murmured – yes, she did, because she had read the stories in the Quiver and the Family Herald:
    â€œO Mr. Winterbourne, this is so unexpected!”
    But then her common-sense and the eagerness to be “rich” got the better of her Quiver artificiality, and she said, oh so softly and moderately:
    â€œYes!”
    George Augustus quivered dramatically, clasped her, and they kissed a long time. He liked her ever so much more than the London whores, but he didn’t dare do any more than kiss her, and exclaim:
    â€œIsabel! I love you. Be mine. Be my wife and build a home for me. Let us pass our lives in a delirium of joy. O that I need not leave you tonight!”
    On the way home Isabel said:
    â€œYou must speak to father tomorrow.”
    And George Augustus, who was nothing if not the gent, replied:
    â€œI could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more.”
    Next morning, according to schedule, George Augustus called on Pa Hartly with a bottle of 3s. 6d. port and a leg of fresh pork; and after a good deal of hemming and blushing and talking round the subject (as if old Hartly hadn’t heard from Isabel what was coming), formally and with immense solemnity applied for the job of supporting Isabel for the rest of his and her natural lives.
    Did Pa Hartly refuse? Did he hesitate? Eagerly, gratefully, effusively, enthusiastically, he granted the request. He slapped George Augustus on the shoulder, which military expression of goodwill startled and slightly annoyed the prim George Augustus. He said George Augustus was a man after his own heart, the man he would have chosen to make his daughter happy, the man he longed to have as a son-in-law. He told two barrack-room stories, which made George Augustus exquisitely uneasy; drank two large glasses of port; and then launched out on a long story about how he had saved the British Army when he was an Ensign during the Crimea. George Augustus listened patiently and filially; but as hour after hour went by and the story showed no signs of ending, he ventured to suggest that the good news should be broken to Isabel and Ma Hartly, who (unknown to the gentlemen) were listening at the keyhole in an agony of impatience.
    So they were called in, and Pa Hartly made a little speech founded on the style of old General Snooter, K.C.B., and then Pa kissed Isabel, and Ma embraced Isabel tearfully but enthusiastically and admiringly, and Pa pecked at Ma, and George Augustus kissed Isabel; and they were left alone for half an hour before “dinner” – 1.30 P.M., chops, potatoes, greens, a fruit-suet pudding, and beer.
    The Hartlys still thought George Augustus was “rich”.
    But before he left rural Kent he had to write home to his father for ten pounds to pay his inn bill and his fare. He told dear Papa about Isabel, and asked him to break the news to dear Mamma. “An old Armyfamily,” George Augustus wrote, and “a sweet, pure girl who loves me dearly and for whom I would fight like a T IGER and willingly lay down my life.” He didn’t mention the poverty and the vulgarity and the catch-as-catch-can atmosphere of the Hartly family, or the innumerable progeny. Dear Papa almost thought George Augustus