The Easter Egg

by H.H. Munro (SAKI)

　　It was distinctly hard lines for Lady Barbara, who came of good fighting stock,and was one of the bravest women of her generation, that her son should be soundisguisedly a coward. Whatever good qualities Lester Slaggby may havepossessed, and he was in some respects charming, courage could certainly neverbe imputed to him. As a child he had suffered from childish timidity, as a boyfrom unboyish funk, and as a youth he had exchanged unreasoning fears for otherswhich were more formidable from the fact of having a carefully-thought-outbasis. He was frankly afraid of animals, nervous with firearms, and nevercrossed the Channel without mentally comparing the numerical proportion of lifebelts to passengers. On horseback he seemed to require as many hands as a Hindugod, at least four for clutching the reins, and two more for patting the horsesoothingly on the neck. Lady Barbara no longer pretended not to see her son'sprevailing weakness; with her usual courage she faced the knowledge of itsquarely, and, mother-like, loved him none the less.Continental travel, anywhere away from the great tourist tracks, was a favouredhobby with Lady Barbara, and Lester joined her as often as possible. Eastertideusually found her at Knobaltheim, an upland township in one of those smallprincedoms that make inconspicuous freckles on the map of Central Europe.A long-standing acquaintanceship with the reigning family made her a personageof due importance in the eyes of her old friend the Burgomaster, and she wasanxiously consulted by that worthy on the momentous occasion when the Princemade known his intention of coming in person to open a sanatorium outside thetown. All the usual items in a programme of welcome, some of them fatuous andcommonplace, others quaint and charming, had been arranged for, but theBurgomaster hoped that the resourceful English lady might have something new andtasteful to suggest in the way of loyal greeting. The Prince was known to theoutside world, if at all, as an old-fashioned reactionary, combating modernprogress, as it were, with a wooden sword; to his own people he was known as akindly old gentleman with a certain endearing stateliness which had nothing ofstandoffishness about it. Knobaltheim was anxious to do its best. Lady Barbaradiscussed the matter with Lester and one or two acquaintances in her littlehotel, but ideas were difficult to come by."Might I suggest something to the Gnoedige Frau?" asked a sallow high-cheekbonedlady to whom the Englishwoman had spoken once or twice, and whom she had setdown in her mind as probably a Southern Slav."Might I suggest something for the Reception Fest?" she went on, with a certainshy eagerness. "Our little child here, our baby, we will dress him in littlewhite coat, with small wings, as an Easter angel, and he will carry a largewhite Easter egg, and inside shall be a basket of plover eggs, of which thePrince is so fond, 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, a fair, wooden-facedchild of about four years old. She had noticed it the day before in the hotel,and wondered rather how such a tow-headed child could belong to such a dark-visaged couple as the woman and her husband; probably, she thought, an adoptedbaby, especially as the couple were not young."Of course Gnoedige Frau will escort the little child up to the Prince," pursuedthe woman; "but he will be quite good, and do as he is told.""We haf some pluffers' eggs shall come fresh from Wien," said the husband.The small child and Lady Barbara seemed equally unenthusiastic about the prettyidea; Lester was openly discouraging, but when the Burgomaster heard of it hewas enchanted. The combination of sentiment and plovers' eggs appealed stronglyto his Teutonic mind.On the eventful day the Easter angel, really quite prettily and quaintlydressed, was a centre of kindly interest to the gala crowd marshalled to receivehis Highness. The mother was unobtrusive and less fussy than most parents wouldhave been under the circumstances, merely stipulating that she should place theEaster egg herself in the arms that had been carefully schooled how to hold theprecious burden. Then Lady Barbara moved forward, the child marching stolidlyand with grim determination at her side. It had been promised cakes and sweetiesgalore if it gave the egg well and truly to the kind old gentleman who waswaiting to receive it. Lester had tried to convey to it privately that horriblesmackings would attend any failure in its share of the proceedings, but it isdoubtful if his German caused more than an immediate distress. Lady Barbara hadthoughtfully provided herself with an emergency supply of chocolate sweetmeats;children may sometimes be timeservers, but they do not encourage long accounts.As they approached nearer to the princely dais Lady Barbara stood discreetlyaside, and the stolid-faced infant walked forward alone, with staggering butsteadfast gait. encouraged by a murmur of elderly approval. Lester, standing inthe front row of the onlookers, turned to scan the crowd for the beaming facesof the happy parents. In a side-road which led to the railway station he saw acab; entering the cab with every appearance of furtive haste were the dark-visaged couple who had been so plausibly eager for the "pretty idea." Thesharpened instinct of cowardice lit up the situation to him in one swift flash.The blood roared and surged to his head as though thousands of floodgates hadbeen opened in his veins and arteries, and his brain was the common sluice inwhich all the torrents met. He saw nothing but a blur around him. Then the bloodebbed away in quick waves, till his very heart seemed drained and empty, and hestood nervelessly, helplessly, dumbly watching the child, bearing its accursedburden with slow, relentless steps nearer and nearer to the group that waitedsheep-like to receive him. A fascinated curiosity compelled Lester to turn hishead towards the fugitives; the cab had started at hot pace in the direction ofthe station.The next moment Lester was running, running faster than any of those present hadever seen a man run, and - he was not running away. For that stray fraction ofhis life some unwonted impulse beset him, some hint of the stock he came from,and he ran unflinchingly towards danger. He stooped and clutched at the Easteregg as one tries to scoop up the ball in Rugby football. What he meant to dowith it he had not considered, the thing was to get it. But the child had beenpromised cakes and sweetmeats if it safely gave the egg into the hands of thekindly old gentleman; it uttered no scream but it held to its charge with limpetgrip. Lester sank to his knees, tugging savagely at the tightly clasped burden,and angry cries rose from the scandalized onlookers. A questioning, threateningring formed round him, then shrank back in recoil as he shrieked out one hideousword. Lady Barbara heard the word and saw the crowd race away like scatteredsheep, saw the Prince forcibly hustled away by his attendants; also she saw herson lying prone in an agony of overmastering terror, his spasm of daringshattered by the child's unexpected resistance, still clutching frantically, asthough for safety, at that white-satin gew-gaw, unable to crawl even from itsdeadly neighbourhood, able only to scream and scream and scream. In her brainshe was dimly conscious of balancing, or striving to balance, the abject shamewhich had him now in thrall against the one compelling act of courage which hadflung him grandly and madly on to the point of danger. It was only for thefraction of a minute that she stood watching the two entangled figures, theinfant with its woodenly obstinate face and body tense with dogged resistance,and the boy limp and already nearly dead with a terror that almost stifled hisscreams; and over them the long gala streamers flapping gaily in the sunshine.She never forgot the scene; but then, it was the last she ever saw.Lady Barbara carries her scarred face with its sightless eyes as bravely as everin the world, but at Eastertide her friends are careful to keep from her earsany mention of the children's Easter symbol.