Mrs. Adis
by Sheila Kaye-Smith
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Set in the dark woods of north-east Sussex, this poignant story turns on a tragic irony. Peter Crouch, a poor poacher, comes to Mrs. Adis's cottage begging shelter from the keepers after he has, in panic, shot a man while poaching rabbits. Mrs. Adis reluctantly hides him in her shed, not for his sake but 'for Tom's sake', because Peter is the childhood friend of her son Tom. She even gives him seven shillings for a train to London. But before he can escape, the keepers arrive carrying a body: it is Tom, killed by Peter's own gunshot. Overcome with horror and guilt, Peter no longer wishes to escape. Though heartbroken, Mrs. Adis does not betray him to the keepers, telling them she has not seen him. Then she silently unlocks the shed door, a wordless signal, and Peter quietly goes out to face justice.
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'Mrs. Adis' by Sheila Kaye-Smith is a short story of compassion, guilt and tragic irony set in the wooded borderland of Sussex and Kent. It explores how a mother's kindness and quiet moral strength are tested by a terrible, unforeseen tragedy.
A desperate man at the door
On a dark, moonless, silent night, Peter Crouch, a poor, unsuccessful working man, comes fearfully along the road to Mrs. Adis's lonely cottage. He has been poaching and, in panic when the keepers surprised him, has fired his gun and killed a man. He begs Mrs. Adis to shelter him from the law.
Mrs. Adis is blunt and reluctant, Peter has not been a good friend to her son Tom, but agrees to hide him 'for Tom's sake', since Peter and Tom have been friends since their schooldays. She hides him in the dark back shed, promises to say she has not seen him, and even gives him seven shillings for the London train, telling him to slip away toward Cansiron before Tom returns.
The terrible revelation
As Peter waits, footsteps approach. The keeper Vidler enters, awkward and grim, and breaks 'bad news' to Mrs. Adis. The men bring in a body and lay it on the kitchen floor, it is Tom, shot dead 'down by Cinder Wood' by the very poacher they are hunting. They suspect Peter Crouch, whose gun they have found.
In the shed, Peter listens and realises with unbearable horror that the man he shot in the dark was Tom, his own faithful friend. 'Oh, Tom, and I was thinking it was one of the keepers.' Strength comes to him with despair; he no longer wants to escape, feeling he must pay with his life for what he has done.
A mother's silent justice
When Vidler asks whether she has seen Peter, Mrs. Adis, dry-eyed and composed even in her grief, answers steadily that she has not seen him 'since Tuesday', her hand on the shed key in her apron. She does not betray him. After the men carry Tom's body to the bedroom and leave, she crosses the kitchen with a heavy, dragging step, unlocks the shed door without a word, and shuts herself in with her dead son.
Peter understands the only thing she wants of him, and the only thing he can do. He opens the door and silently goes out, presumably to surrender and face the consequences of his crime. Mrs. Adis's restraint is her own form of justice and dignity: she neither shields the guilty nor stoops to revenge.